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TOP STORIES
President Trump asserted Thursday that his decision to
abandon the Iran nuclear deal had already curbed Iran's aggressive
behavior, and he predicted that his hard-nosed tactics would also
result in a successful nuclear negotiation with North Korea. Iran, he
said, was no longer as adventurous in Syria and Yemen, and had
relaxed its ambitions to extend its influence all the way to the
Mediterranean Sea. "Iran is not the same country that it was a
few months ago," Mr. Trump said at a news conference.
"They're a much, much different group of leaders," he
concluded.
Belgium's KBC will limit Iran-related transactions to
only humanitarian trade after the U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions
on Tehran, the financial group said, becoming the latest company to
scale back activities.
The United States has reached a deal with Chinese
telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. that includes a $1 billion fine,
according to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
The star of a live television interview in Iran's new
nuclear workshop wasn't the head of the country's atomic agency, but
three centrifuges labeled in English in the background, advanced
devices Tehran is prohibited from using by the nuclear deal with
world powers. The placement of the centrifuges, identified as IR-2M,
IR-4 and IR-6, may have served as a subtle warning to Europe as it
tries to salvage the atomic accord after President Donald Trump's
decision to withdraw from it and restore U.S. sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a
letter to the foreign ministers of the countries who signed on to the
2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
(JCPOA), to update them on the status of attempts to keep the deal
alive despite the US withdrawal.
A day before U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from
the Iran nuclear deal, one of his senior officials phoned Saudi
Arabia to ask the world's largest oil exporter to help keep prices
stable if the decision disrupted supply. Riyadh, Tehran's arch rival,
has long been a close Washington ally, but direct pressure on a
member of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
over oil policies is rare. Washington last pressed Saudi Arabia to
increase output in 2012.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
President Donald Trump on Thursday slammed the Obama
administration over a waiver it issued that would have allowed the
Iranian government to briefly route money through a U.S. bank,
suggesting that special counsel Robert Mueller include the revelation
in his current investigation.
The list of companies planning to pull out of Iran or
cease doing business with Iranian business is growing by the
week. With high profile companies like Boeing, Total and General
Electric announcing that they plan to end all business dealings with
Iran by the time U.S. sanctions return, the focus is now turning to
which companies that indent, at least for now, to continue doing
business in Iran.
The coach of Iran's national team has urged world
soccer's governing body, FIFA, to step in against U.S. sportswear
giant Nike for refusing to provide his players with shoes at this
month's World Cup in Russia.
CONGRESS & IRAN
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman said he wants future
agreements with Iran and North Korea to be informed by a recent
report from Senate Republicans accusing the Obama administration of
secretly trying to give Tehran access to the US financial system.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened
to carry out direct military strikes targeting President Bashar
al-Assad's regime unless all Iranian forces are withdrawn from Syria.
Iran's ability to sit on the Golan border depends
largely on Russia, which provides air cover and a certain degree of
deterrence against Israel. If, as it now appears, the Russians do not
want Iran to threaten Israel from the Golan, Iran will find it very
difficult to remain there. Two things seem clear. First, Israel is
quite determined to prevent Iran from recreating in southern Syria
what it has done in southern Lebanon with Hezbollah. Second, Russia
has no desire to see Iran threaten Israel or fully control Syria.
The Supreme Council of Syrian Tribes and Clans says
Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups enter Syria and commit
"terrorist attacks" against the Syrian people, Arab media
reported.
Israel has accused Iran of fuelling recent violence on
the Gaza border that has seen more than 100 Palestinians killed amid
protests against Israel.
Iran held its annual day of protest against Israel on
Friday, determined to show defiance at a time of mounting pressure
from the United States and its regional allies.
While previous calls for a national defense strategy,
under former President Michel Sleiman, have fallen on deaf ears,
Hezbollah now has a staunch ally in the country's top post but more
importantly, allies who control an almost two-thirds majority in Parliament.
London's mayor has called on the UK government to
proscribe the political wing of Hezbollah as pressure grows for
action to stop the group's flag from being flown during the annual Al
Quds march in the capital on Sunday.
On Sunday, thousands of demonstrators will gather
outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in London for the annual al-Quds
Day march. From there, they will proceed through the capital chanting
'from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free' - which is to
say, the State of Israel will be destroyed. Alongside the Palestinian
tricolour, many will be waving another flag: the banner of Hezbollah.
In doing so, none of them will be breaking the law.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Shima Babaei, who is awaiting an Appeals Court decision
on her conviction for peacefully protesting Iran's compulsory hijab
rules, is facing more charges along with her husband Dariush Zand,
she told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on June 6, 2018.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Former and current Algerian officials accuse the Iranian
Embassy in Algiers of promoting sectarianism in Algeria and the
broader region, according to recent reports.
The speaker of Iran's parliament Ali Larijani said on
Friday security in the Middle East could be threatened if Tehran was
further pressured by Israel and Saudi Arabia. Tens of thousands of
Iranians took part in anti-Israel rallies to mark Iran's annual day
of solidarity with the Palestinians. They chanted "Death to
Israel", "Death to America" and burned Israeli and
U.S. flags.
CHINA & IRAN
Next week, President Rouhani of Iran will visit China
for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the margins of a
meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Two weeks ago,
coincidentally, I spoke in Shanghai at a mid-sized meeting billed as
"the first conference on Syria ever held in China"-which
included an influential Iranian foreign policy adviser-cosponsored by
two leading local institutes and facilitated by China's embassy in
Washington... My main takeaways about China's own policy in this
arena are as follows: a strong intent to preserve the JCPOA, despite
President Trump's recent withdrawal from it, and a clear desire for a
UN-led "political settlement" in Syria-both to avert wider
regional conflict and to benefit from the country's eventual
reconstruction effort.
TURKEY & IRAN
Negotiations to remove Kurdish troops from a small
Syrian town could push away America's allies.
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