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TOP STORIES
France, Britain and Germany are struggling to persuade
their EU partners to back new sanctions on Iran to preserve its
nuclear deal, diplomats said, with Italy doubting whether the
measures can stop the United States pulling out in May... Rome said
they would not be enough to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump not
to withdraw from the nuclear deal and would endanger burgeoning
business ties with Iran. Spain was also wary of the knock-on effects.
The United Nations Security Council has condemned
missile attacks on Saudi Arabia launched by Yemen's Huthi rebels last
weekend and expressed "grave concern" at reports the Huthis
obtained the weapons in violation of a UN arms embargo... The council
statement did not name who is violating the arms embargo against the
Huthis. But independent UN experts concluded in January that Iran had
manufactured the missiles used in a series of similar missile attacks
by the Huthis last year and Tehran violated the arms embargo because
it failed to prevent those missiles from getting into Huthi hands.
Despite the UN conclusions, last month Russia used its veto power in
the council to block a Western resolution outing Tehran for violating
the arms embargo.
A businessman described by U.S. prosecutors as the son
of the "Bill Gates of Iran" was ordered held without bail
after pleading not guilty late Wednesday to charges that he helped
circumvent sanctions restrictions and launder $115 million in
payments through American banks.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
The Iranian chairman of a Maltese bank on Wednesday
pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges that he took part in a scheme to
evade U.S. sanctions against Iran by funneling more than $115 million
from a Venezuelan company to an Iranian company through the U.S.
financial system under a construction contract.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister accused Iran and its
Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, of being behind Sunday's ballistic missile
attacks on the kingdom, saying that the country has the right to
respond at the "appropriate time and place."
The French foreign minister said on Thursday that Iran
was supplying weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
HUMAN RIGHTS
About two weeks ago, I received a gruesome death threat
from Hamid Reza Ahmadabadi, one of the more prominent figures of the
Basij - Iran's much-dreaded paramilitary arm.
Iranian judicial officials revealed that 43 people have
been indicted in Iran's western province of Kermanshah for
participating in recent anti-establishment protests.
President Donald Trump's upcoming Iran nuclear agreement
deadline also is an opportunity, according to Hua Qu. Her husband,
Xiyue Wang, is a Princeton graduate student, an American citizen, and
is imprisoned in Iran... Qu said she wants the Trump administration
to use its negotiations on Iran policy to help free her husband.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A number of protests have broken out in Iran since the
beginning of the year over water, a growing political concern due to
a drought which residents of parched areas and analysts say has been
exacerbated by mismanagement.
Last fall, the World Bank forecast that Iran's economy
will grow by merely 4% and 3.4% in 2018 and 2019, respectively. These
rates are much lower than what the Islamic Republic is seeking in its
sixth five-year development plan (2016-2021) and 20-Year Vision
(2005-25). As such, it seems that Iran is set to fail in implementing
its strategic plans to achieve economic growth of 8%, including
schemes that were deemed vital to boost productivity and job creation
in the country. Economic growth achieved by capital-rich industries
rather than human capital is incapable of lowering unemployment.
Reports are circulating in Iranian media that Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is planning to appoint Ayatollah
Mohammad Reza Modarresi Yazdi as the new judiciary chief.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on
Wednesday that his ally Hamid Baghaie was on hunger strike and in
deteriorating health after being imprisoned on what he said were
politically motivated charges.
In a move that has raised eyebrows in some quarters,
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been quoted as
saying that he does not support polygamy... Based on Sharia, men are
allowed to take more than one wife. However, many Shiite scholars in
Iran do not speak in favor of this while abstaining from labeling it
as forbidden.
CHINA & IRAN
According to the Washington Times and other sources,
China plans to build a naval and air base on Pakistan's southwestern
Jiwani Bay, just across the border from Iran and nearly 500
kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz... [T]he alleged plans follow
the pattern of other Chinese military activities in the region,
raising concerns in India, Iran, and elsewhere.
IRAQ & IRAN
Shipments of Kirkuk crude oil to Iran under an oil swap
deal will begin in two weeks, Alaa al-Yasiri, head of Iraq's oil
marketing company SOMO has said, adding that the initial flow to Iran
will be 30,000 bpd.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Top diplomats from Turkey and the United States are
working hard to bridge the deep gulf between the two NATO allies...
However, the effort may be complicated, as Ankara improves ties with
neighboring Iran while America prepares a tougher approach to that
nation.
ISRAEL AND IRAN
Israel and Iran, with two of the most powerful
militaries in the Middle East, appear on a collision course that some
experts fear could ignite a regional war that might ultimately drag
in the United States and Russia. The tensions are centered in
Israel's northern neighbor Syria, where both Russia and Iran have
been emboldened by their success in shoring up the government of
President Bashar al-Assad.
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