|
TOP STORIES
President Trump is expected to announce Tuesday that he
will not continue a waiver of sanctions against Iran, according to
current and former U.S. and foreign officials... He is free to
reimpose all U.S. sanctions, and even announce new ones. But he is
expected to stop short of reneging on the deal altogether. Instead,
he will address a portion of the wide range of sanctions that were
waived when the deal was first implemented, while leaving in limbo
other waivers that are due in July.
France, Britain and Germany will keep to the 2015
nuclear deal with Iran irrespective of the United States' decision
later this week because it is the best way to avoid nuclear
proliferation, France's foreign minister said on Monday.
Iran's oil exports accelerated to a recent record in
April, indicating Tehran is seeking to maximize revenue ahead of the
U.S. President Donald Trump's upcoming decision on the 2015 nuclear
deal and the possible re-imposition of sanctions.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran's president said his country would fiercely resist
efforts to contain its regional influence as President Donald Trump
weighs withdrawing from the nuclear deal, a scenario that threatens
to escalate the country's destabilizing rivalry with Saudi Arabia.
During a speech May 7, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
suggested that if the United States were to exit the comprehensive
nuclear deal between Iran and the five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council plus Germany, European countries could
keep the deal alive.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the possible withdrawal
of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal would have harmful
consequences.
The recent parade of EU leaders to Washington to
convince US President Donald Trump to keep the Iran deal may have
been in vain. Some analysts say they should have been flying to
Tehran instead. Teri Schultz reports. French President Emmanuel
Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister
Theresa May have all done their best to convince US President Donald
Trump that his beef with the Iran nuclear deal is misguided and that
the agreement limiting Tehran's potential pursuit of nuclear weapons,
while flawed, should be preserved, while other concerns are
addressed.
If Washington retains the nuclear agreement, even
economic pushback against the regime for its barbarism in Syria is an
illusion, since any serious coercion runs smack into the guiding
principle of the JCPOA: sanctions relief in exchange for temporary
nuclear restraint..
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran is preparing a barrage of missiles to retaliate
against Israel, according to recent reports. But Israel has a message
of its own. By reporting Iran's threats to the media, Israel is
showing Iran's hand and playing a high-stakes game to see which side
will blink first.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg announced last week the
deferral until 2019 of the planned delivery of three Boeing 777's to
Iran Air, fueling speculation that Boeing's $16.6 billion dollar deal
with the Iranian national airline may be in jeopardy. Critics of the
Boeing deal insist the company should go further and cancel the deal
outright. Yet it is not and should not be Boeing's responsibility to
formulate U.S. policy vis-à-vis Iran. Rather, it is President Trump
who should clarify that for as long as Tehran suborns its civil
aviation sector to its reckless and criminal adventurism in the
region, the full force of U.S. sanctions will stand in the way of its
attempt to rejuvenate its fleet.
CONGRESS & IRAN
President Donald Trump will decide Tuesday whether or
not to quit the Iran nuclear deal. He should not hesitate to
nix this flawed and dangerous agreement that is beyond fixing.
SANCTIONS
The Iranian oil
industry will continue to develop even if the United States pulls out
of the 2015 nuclear deal, and Tehran would see the accord as
operational as long as it can sell oil, the Oil Ministry's news
service quoted senior officials as saying on Monday.
ECONOMIC NEWS
President Donald Trump says he will announce his
decision on Iran Tuesday at 2 p.m. Geopolitical jitters -- along with
the start of the summer driving season and positive jobs data -- had
helped push oil above $70 a barrel for the first time since November
2014. Stocks pared gains and oil futures dipped as investors weighed
the forthcoming announcement. The U.K. and Israel are making their
final pitches as Trump mulls an exit.
HUMAN RIGHTS
On Jan. 30, 2018, a young woman, Mahboubeh Mofidi, was
executed by hanging in Nowsharh prison in northern Iran. She was 20
years old. Allegedly, she had murdered her husband and thus was
condemned to death according to the Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic
Republic of Iran. She was not the only one.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Today, the evidence is mounting that the Islamic
Republic has entered a... death spiral.
HEZBOLLAH & LEBANON
Hezbollah's yellow flags stretched for miles along the
highway to Baalbek, a Lebanese city near the frontier with Syria.
They hung from every light post, interspersed with images of Hassan
Nasrallah, the leader of the party. In some, he smiled; in others, he
wore a grave expression and saluted. The message to voters on the
party's banners was simple: We protect, and we build.
IRAQ & IRAN
There is nowhere in the region where Iranian influence
has played a more conspicuous role than in neighboring Iraq. While
the international community is focused on the potential ramifications
of a U.S. pullout from the deal, Iraq is preparing to hold
parliamentary elections on May 12. USIP's Sarhang Hamasaeed and Elie
Abouaoun discuss Iran's evolving role in Iraq and its objectives for
Saturday's elections with Iran Primer Managing Editor Garrett Nada.
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment