Eye on Iran: Iran's Businesses Begin to Buckle Under Sanctions Threat

TOP STORIES Iran's Businesses Begin to Buckle Under Sanctions Threat | Wall Street Journal New U.S. sanctions are sending an economic shock through Iran even before they take effect. Since President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in May, Iran's manufacturers, Persian-rug exporters and shopkeepers have increasingly struggled to make transactions in dollars for imports of needed supplies. European Investment Bank Casts Doubt on EU Plan to Salvage Nuclear Deal | Reuters The European Investment Bank's global operations would be put at risk if it were to invest in Iran, its president said on Wednesday, casting doubt on the EU's ability to deliver on its pledge to save a nuclear deal with Tehran that Washington has abandoned. Iran Says It's Continuing to Increase Uranium-Enrichment Capacity | Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Iran says it is continuing to acquire uranium and is close to finishing a plant where it can build more centrifuges to enrich uranium. NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM Iran Claims It Rejected Trump Meeting Requests 8 Times | The Hill A top Iranian official on Wednesday claimed Iran rejected eight requests to meet with President Trump last year. What the Stolen Iranian Nuclear Secrets Do, and Don't, Reveal | Simon Henderson for the Hill The Israeli discovery makes the argument of sticking with the accord much more difficult to sustain. SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS EU Shield Looks Flimsy Against Trump's Iran Sanctions | Politico As it races to save the Iran nuclear deal, the EU has so far failed to give European companies the certainty they need to keep trading with Tehran. Iran Seeks to Secure Global Trade Deals Before Fresh US Sanctions | Al Jazeera (Qatar) In exactly three weeks time, the first wave of US sanctions against Iran will come into effect after President Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal. The new sanctions are likely to have a severe effect on the Iranian economy. The Iranian government is trying to secure support from other nations, with mixed results. U.S. Delegation to Meet Turkish Officials on Iran Sanctions | Reuters A U.S. delegation of Treasury and State Department officials will meet Turkish authorities on Friday to discuss sanctions targeting Iran, an official from Turkey's foreign ministry said.  PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS Rivers Dry and Fields Dust, Iranian Farmers Turn to Protest | Associated Press The small group of Iranian farmers gathered around their tractors - long idle, parked at the town entrance next to a canal that once irrigated their fields but has been dry for years - and they protested, pleading for help from the government. MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS Iran to Manufacture, Upgrade Up To 800 Tanks: Deputy Minister | Reuters Iran intends to manufacture or upgrade up to 800 tanks, the Tasnim news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Reza Mozaffarinia as saying on Wednesday.   Iran's Dire Straits | Steven Ward for the Cipher Brief In early July, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani threatened to prevent other countries from exporting oil if U.S. sanctions prevented Iran from selling its oil... Such threats are nothing new... Except for the so-called "tanker war" during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, such threats have been mere political posturing. But, could this change? RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN Trump and Putin Promised Israel Security. Someone Tell Iran. | Daily Beast Amid all the surreal talk of "Pakistani gentlemen," "Hillary's servers," and "witch-hunts" earlier this week in Helsinki, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin did both address one concrete policy issue: Syria, and in particular, a possible looming confrontation on the Israeli-Syrian border. The Syrian civil war may be reaching its wretched denouement, but concern in Israel is only increasing... Have Putin and Netanyahu Struck a Grand Bargain? | Hillel Frisch for the Algemeiner Israel allegedly struck the T4 base near Homs, Syria on July 8, but did not conduct any airstrikes to stop the advance of Syrian and Hezbollah forces southward from Daraa all the way to the Jordanian border - a mere 20 miles east of the Israeli Golan Heights. How could Israel be so forceful against a target more than 100 miles from its northern border, and yet so passive as Syrian, Hezbollah, and possibly Iranian forces crushed the rebels and reconquered territory? The meeting that took place between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a week after the Syrian advance might go a long way toward explaining Israel's passivity. Putin Needs Iran in Syria | Alexandra Gutowski and Caleb Weiss for Real Clear Defense Following their meeting in Helsinki, Donald Trump hailed Vladimir Putin as a potential partner in Syria, who can provide humanitarian relief and preserve Israeli security. But if the United States hopes to deny Iran "open season to the Mediterranean," as the President previously said, Russia is anything but an ally. OTHER IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS Calls for 'Secure' Universities In Iran, Not 'Securitized' | Radio Free Europe A recent crackdown on students in Iran has come under criticism by university professors and others who hold President Hassan Rohani responsible for the pressure and are calling on him to take action.  Teachers in Iran Launch a Campaign to Protest Low Wages | Radio Farda Protests by Iranian teachers against their low salaries has gained momentum in recent days, social media reports say. Meet the New Generation of Iranian Hard-Liners | Al Monitor Hard-liners in Iran face the key challenge of a new generation questioning the approach being taken by the old guard. GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN How Qatar, Iran Colluded to Force Shiite Demography on Syria-Lebanon Border Town | Al Arabiya (Saudi Arabia / UAE) A recent report by BBC on Qatar's involvement in paying over $1 billion ransom to a terrorist group, in exchange for the release of Qatari hostages held in Iraq by the Iraqi Hezbollah organization, has highlighted the country's role in altering sectarian demography on the Sunni populated town of al-Qusayr located on the Syrian-Lebanese border. TERRORISM & EXTREMISM The Amia Bombing: 24 Years Without Justice | Tower This week is the twenty-fourth anniversary of the bombing of the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, one of the worst terrorist acts against Jews since World War II.  How Canada Can Fight Tehran's Murderous Theocrats and Their Terrorist Proxies | Michael Mostyn for the National Post Twenty-four years ago, on July 18, 1994, a suicide bomber drove a vehicle full of explosives into the Jewish community centre of Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds more... Though Western intelligence services have long believed Iran to be responsible for the attack, it has never been held fully accountable for its role in the bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA). Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.