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TOP STORIES
French energy giant Total has yet to permanently pull
out of Iran following the renewal of U.S. sanctions, but CEO Patrick
Pouyanne on Wednesday sounded a pessimistic note about his company's
prospects in the country... "There's not a single international
company like Total who can work in any country with secondary
sanctions. I don't have the right. It's just the reality of the
world," Pouyanne told CNBC at an OPEC seminar in Vienna.
Iran has announced a list of 15 demands for improving
relations with the United States, including a U.S. return to the 2015
nuclear accord, in response to a similar list of demands made by
Washington last month.
One of Iran's most popular football television shows had
grand plans to lure viewers ahead of the World Cup that began last
week - offer a Peugeot car for those who correctly predicted match
results. But days before the tournament began, the scheme was
scrapped after the programme's sponsors balked at the soaring price
of the vehicle.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
The U.S. trade dispute with China, in a roundabout way,
could determine how successful the U.S. will be in sanctioning Iran's
oil this time around - and that uncertainty is also playing out at
OPEC.
President Trump is embroiled in several simmering trade
disputes, but perhaps most concerning to investors are the tensions
between the U.S. and China: Most recently, in retaliation to a slew
of tariffs imposed by the White House last week, Beijing slapped
tariffs on American oil... The decision sparked concerns in the U.S.
that China would turn to Iran as a potential oil supplier, buoying
the Iranian market in the midst of the White House's reinstatement of
hardline sanctions on Tehran.
The odds of OPEC reaching an oil-production deal
increased as Iran edged away from a threat to veto any agreement that
would raise output and Saudi Arabia put forward a plan that would add
about 600,000 barrels a day to the global market. At the end of a day
of diplomatic back-and-forth in Vienna on Wednesday, delegates were
increasingly positive that a deal would be reached at Friday's
meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
OPEC's leader Saudi Arabia and Russia were trying on
Thursday to convince fellow oil producers to raise output from July
to meet rising global demand, with Iran still signaling it would
support only a modest increase in supply.
Effects of the U.S. decision to renew sanctions on OPEC
member Iran are already spreading beyond the world of crude to some
corners of the oil market. Refiners in South Korea, a U.S. ally as
well as one of Iran's largest customers, are shunning a type of oil
known as condensate from the Islamic Republic to feed the nation's
petrochemical plants, and instead buying unusually large amounts of a
processed fuel known as naphtha from elsewhere.
Iran has offered OPEC something that could begin to ease
the fraught atmosphere in Vienna. A potential compromise, though,
would require the group to abandon individual output targets and see
it cede market share to Saudi Arabia.
Iran's decision in April to outlaw the use of the
encrypted messaging app Telegram, which shielded communications from
the government's prying eyes, has been a civil rights calamity for
millions of Iranians. But the ban has also had an unintended
consequence: It's been a drag on Iran's economy just as the threat of
renewed American sanctions looms, according to a new report by a
nongovernmental human rights organization.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Trump's end-game is a negotiated settlement, not the
forcible overthrow of the Islamic Republic.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iraqi paramilitary groups have threatened to launch
attacks against the U.S. and Israel after yet unclaimed airstrikes
reportedly killed a number of Iraqi militiamen battling the Islamic
State militant group (ISIS) on the Syrian side of the Iraqi border.
Bahrain is the America's oldest ally in the Middle East.
Our relationship has grown and deepened for more than a century. The
global war on terrorism has only strengthened those ties. Bahrain
stands shoulder to shoulder with President Trump and the U.S.
government in this battle, especially against the Iran-backed
subversive group Hezbollah. Hezbollah has long been Tehran's
extremist proxy, meddling almost everywhere in Middle Eastern
affairs.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
In the wake of more than 20 deaths that punctuated the
early days of Iran's nationwide protests, the country's police chief
boldly identified the principal provocateurs. Iranians, declared
Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari on January 1, seek primarily better
living conditions, but "opportunists exploited this situation
with the support of the sworn enemies of the country, headed by
America," to spread discontent... But Ashtari, of all people,
ought to know better: The Iranian police, along with other
paramilitary forces, constitute the main executor of Tehran's bloody
crackdown. To counter Ashtari's narrative and bolster global pressure
on Iran for its systemic human rights abuses, the United States and
the European Union should sanction the police chief and his top
deputies.
Female soccer fans in Iran were taken through a roller
coaster of emotions on Wednesday - and all before their team stepped
onto the field to play against Spain. For 38 years, women have
been banned from watching men's sporting events in Iran. But on
Tuesday, local news agencies in Iran reported that women would be
allowed to watch a live broadcast of Iran's World Cup match against
Spain, taking place in Russia the next day, at Tehran's Azadi
Stadium.
OTHER IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A barrage of almost unprecedented diatribes from both
conservatives and moderates in Iran has targeted a group of political
figures who issued a joint statement June 16 calling for direct talks
with the United States.
CHINA & IRAN
China will maintain normal relations with Iran, the
Commerce Ministry in Beijing said on Thursday. Ministry spokesman Gao
Feng made the comment when asked at a regular news briefing if
Chinese firms would withdraw from the Iranian market.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
A Saudi-led military coalition said Yemeni forces
captured the airport of Hodeidah Wednesday, a milestone in their bid
to wrest control of the Red Sea port from Houthi rebels without
causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
IRAQ & IRAN
Three people were wounded in Baghdad on Wednesday when
pro-Iranian Hezbollah brigades clashed with Iraqi police, the
interior ministry said.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran has "no need to join" global agreements
on areas such as terrorism and money laundering, the country's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday as the issue
divides parliament.
MISCELLANEOUS
Hoping that the United States is serious about directly
confronting the Islamic Republic, Iranian Kurdish opposition groups
are maneuvering to become an essential part of a new White House
policy of weakening and ultimately overthrowing the government in
Tehran.
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