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TOP STORIES
The United States on Tuesday welcomed a push by some EU
states to impose new sanctions on Iran and warned firms considering
doing business with the Islamic Republic that they could be funding
militant groups and regional instability.
Now, [the president] has to act... [The action has] got
to be military and it has to hurt the Assad regime... [The military
action's purpose] is first to punish Assad for this unacceptable use
of chemical weapons. But now, it is also to make to clear that the
United States, under President Trump, will not be bullied by the
Russians or the Iranians to hold back.
Iran's currency plumbed another record low against the
U.S. dollar Monday as people lined up outside exchange houses in
Tehran to buy the greenback, adding to the Islamic Republic's economic
pressures. Iran's inflation is in double digits, and unemployment
remains high, factors that contributed to the widespread protests
that rocked the government earlier this year.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Now, calling out Assad and his Russian and Iranian
backers, the president has to take decisive action and I think it has
to [be] military.
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday that the latest
chemical attack in Syria shows that President Obama made a major
error when he threatened to act against Syria if it used chemicals
against its own people, and then did nothing when it happened.
"I think one of the big mistakes President Obama made was
drawing that red line, saying if [Syrian President Bashar] Assad uses
gas he will respond. He used gas, and we didn't do anything... And
that just invited a lot of the troubles that have happened since
then."
NUCLEAR DEAL
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday that the
United States would regret withdrawing from the nuclear deal, and
that Iran would respond in "less than a week" if that
happened.
Iran's leaders warned President Donald Trump he would
regret pulling out of the nuclear deal with Tehran, and vowed a
strong response if the U.S. withdrew, Reuters reported. The threat
was made as John Bolton, who is well known for his hawkish stance on U.S.
foreign policy, particularly toward Iran, began his tenure as Trump's
national security adviser. Tehran's message was no doubt intended to
show that Iran would not be intimidated by the new White House
national security team.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC-MISSILE PROGRAMS
The twentieth day of Farvardin, which usually coincides
with April 8 or 9, is known in Iran as "National Nuclear
Technology Day." The unusual celebration began under former president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who declared it an official holiday in 2006
after Iran reached a significant milestone in its uranium enrichment
efforts. Since then, it has served as an opportunity for the regime
to overplay the status of its nuclear program by publicizing new,
sometimes exaggerated advancements and accomplishments.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran's president lashed out at the United States on
Monday as Iran marked "National Nuclear Day," dedicated to
its achievements in nuclear technology.
In the Middle East, Mr. Bolton will look for ways to
push back against Iran while persuading Russia that all-out
opposition to the U.S. in the region carries too many costs to be
worth it. President Trump and Mr. Bolton are on record as wanting to
withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Accomplishing this
without losing British and French support for a robust policy to
counter Russia and Iran in the Middle East will be an early test of
Mr. Bolton's savvy.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Iran and Russia... have blood on their hands as they
have been partners in carrying out these atrocities. They must not be
left off the hook. Both countries need to be subject to additional
economic and diplomatic penalties for propping up Assad, sponsoring
terror, and supporting other destabilizing actions in the Middle
East.
Israel on Monday appeared to have escalated its shadow
war in Syria against Iran, with a predawn airstrike against a
military base that coordinates Iranian-backed militias, killing four
Iranian military advisers. The dead included a colonel who served as
a senior officer in Iran's drone program, according to Iranian news
reports.
The prospect of a U.S. strike on Syria in retaliation
for an alleged chemical attack, coupled with a missile raid
apparently carried out by Israel that killed Iranian military
personnel, has underscored the risk that the conflict is on the brink
of a dangerous escalation.
Four Iranian military personnel were killed in an air
strike on a Syrian air base on Sunday, Iran's Fars news agency said,
as Syria and its main allies Iran and Russia blamed Israel for
carrying out the attack.
We must not overlook Russia and Iran's roles in enabling
the Assad regime's murderous destruction. Russia and Iran have
military advisers at Assad's airfields and operations centers.
Russian officials are on the ground helping direct the regime's
"starve and surrender" campaign, and Iranian allied forces
do much of the dirty work.
The missile strikes targeting a Syrian air base on
Monday highlight the nightmare scenario Israel is facing: arch-enemy
Iran entrenching to the east. Russia blamed Israel for the pre-dawn
strike in Homs province. Two U.S. officials later confirmed to NBC
News that Israel fired the missiles after informing Washington.
Israel did not comment on the strikes, which a London-based
monitoring group says killed 14 people, including Iranians.
With another round of allegations that the Syrian
government has used chemical weapons, this time on April 7 in Douma,
Iran has been put in the position of condemning the action while
rejecting claims that the Syrian government was involved.
The president should... target the financial lifeblood
of Iran's strategic hold on Syria: the Central Bank of Iran. In
January, Trump promised to stop waiving sanctions on the bank unless
Europe helped him fix Obama's nuclear deal. But the deal can never be
truly fixed so long as Iran can use its central bank to spread evil
outside its borders... The pressure campaign Trump built against
North Korea should be replicated against the Islamic Republic - and
that means not giving out exceptions. The timing is perfect for the
re-imposition of sanctions on the bank. This weekend, Iran's currency
cratered to a new record low. Protests are continuing throughout the
country. The signs of regime instability and vulnerability to outside
pressure are growing. Now is the ideal time to hit Iran's central
bank and shake the regime to its core.
The Syrian civil war has fast become the Syrian war:
Russia and the Assad regime accused Israel Monday of striking a
military airport where Iran is known to operate, reportedly killing
14 people.
The attack on the T-4 base in Syria, which was
attributed to Israel, raises the tensions between Jerusalem and
Moscow and sends a message that Israel will not allow Iranian
military presence in Syria, even at the cost of friction with Russia.
Israeli officials have said that they would not tolerate
the IRGC's military build up in Syria. The Guard Corps' obsessive
calls for Israel's destruction and support for groups that fight it
have made the Syrian build up a top security priority for Israel...
[Iranian media's initial and later retracted] acknowledgement [that
Iranians were killed in the strike] has put the IRGC in a tough spot.
It knows that it cannot respond in kind to Israel without a high risk
of triggering a major war that would threaten its gains in Syria.
SANCTIONS ENFORCEMENT
ECONOMIC NEWS
Iran will try to unify its currency starting Tuesday and
control sales of the dollar in a bid to stem a record decline in the
rial's value on the unregulated market.
HUMAN RIGHTS
A spokesman for the Islamic Republic's Foreign Ministry
denies any connection between the imprisonment of an Iranian-British
mother in Tehran and the UK's four-decade-old debt to Iran, after
Radio Farda aired an interview with her husband alleging the
contrary.
RUSSIA & IRAN
Putin could certainly try to step in and referee this
conflict. But that's not what he signed up for. Between this and the
chemical weapons attacks, the Russian leader may finally coming to
understand that Iran's actions in Syria are not aligned with Russian
interests. This is long-sought leverage for Trump, in a conflict that
has afforded little. More importantly, it's a window of opportunity
to finally craft a Syria policy that works to marginalize both Russia
and Iran - the main drivers of a mass slaughter that stretches into its
seventh year.
ISRAEL AND IRAN
Two weeks ago a large-scale joint US-Israeli military
exercise took place in Israel, focused on the scenario of an Iranian
attack on Israel. Should the United States defend Israel from such a
threat?
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