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TOP STORIES
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo unleashed a new
broadside against Iran on the sidelines of the NATO summit in
Brussels on Thursday, asking U.S. allies to "cut off all
funding" so the regime can't finance terrorism.
A top aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said on Friday that Iran would immediately withdraw its
"military advisers" from Syria and Iraq only if their
governments wanted it to.
President Donald Trump on Thursday forecast an
unspecified "escalation" between the United States and Iran
following his withdrawal from a landmark deal that provided sanctions
relief for Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
US President Donald Trump said Iran's economic troubles
were going to force it to seek a security deal with Washington
following his withdrawal from a nuclear pact.
The United States has rejected a French request for
waivers for its companies operating in Iran that Paris sought after
President Donald Trump imposed sanctions
Chief Executive of France's Oil Major Patrick Pouyanné
said that his company left Iranian South Pars Gas Field since it
could not receive US sanctions waiver. There is no other way than to
leave Iran's lucrative project, he said, adding, "you cannot
operate in 130 countries in the world without accessing to US
financial system. Therefore, we are enforcing and complying with US
laws and have to leave Iran's profitable market."
Iran imported 36 percent less gasoline than a year
earlier during the first quarter of the Iranian year beginning on
March 21 in what may well be a signal the country is shoring up its
domestic supply as the start of U.S. sanctions draw near.
Iran will do its best to ensure security of oil supply
to India by offering "flexible measures" to boost bilateral
trade, a statement from Tehran's embassy in New Delhi said.
Chinese tech giant ZTE has signed an agreement with the
US clearing the way for it to resume business in the country. Once
ZTE makes a $400m (£303m) security deposit, an order to lift the ban
will be issued, the US Commerce Department said. ZTE was blocked from
buying US parts in April after the US found it violated trade bans
with Iran and North Korea.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
A top U.S. official focused on sanctions against Iran
linked American financial pressure on Tehran with ongoing economic
protests roiling the country, saying she hoped the strain would limit
the Islamic Republic's "malign activities" across the
Mideast.
A federal judge in California has ordered the Trump
administration to reconsider the asylum requests of nearly 90 Iranian
refugees - overruling the blanket denial the government had issued to
all of them. Instead, the Department of Homeland Security must
disclose individual reasons for the denials, which allows the
claimants to file an appeal.
Iranian police on Thursday killed a man while trying to
disperse a protest over water scarcity, The Associated Press
reported, citing Iranian media. The IRNA news agency quoted Col.
Mohammad Ebadi Nejad, a local police chief in southern Iran, as
saying police fired shots in the air after ordering a crowd to
disperse. He said the man was shot in the neck and taken to a
hospital, where he died.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
It was not the deal he was hoping for, but Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel left Moscow on Thursday saying
he had won an important commitment from President Vladimir V. Putin.
Israel, he said, did not object to President Bashar al-Assad's
regaining control over all of Syria, a vital Russian objective, and
Russia had pushed Iranian and allied Shiite forces "tens of
kilometers" away from the Israeli border.
The top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on
Thursday had been "very constructive and friendly" and that
Moscow would invest in the Iranian oil sector.
An Israeli general says his nation's recent strikes on
Iranian forces in Syria have left Iran far from cementing a presence
there but also have left Israel needing support to end that presence
completely.
When President Donald Trump meets Russia's Vladimir
Putin on Monday, the Syrian conflict will be one of the most
immediately pressing issues on a wide-ranging agenda.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who for months has
said Israel will not tolerate an Iranian military presence anywhere
in Syria, prioritized matters on Thursday, saying the most important
immediate objectives are to remove Iran's long-range missiles from
Syria, and to distance Iranian forces from Israel's border.
Iran's supreme leader sent a message through one of his
top aides to Vladimir Putin on Thursday, just one day after the
Russian president met with the leader of Iran's top foe, Israel. Ali
Akbar Velayati, the international affairs adviser to Iran's Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, visited Putin as part of a three-day visit to Moscow at
a time of heightened international tension between Tehran and Israel.
OTHER IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
July temperatures in Iran have reached a whopping 52-53
degrees Celsius (125-127 F) in some spots, as residents struggle with
a lack of water and now a looming danger to the electricity network.
A former Iranian deputy prime minister who spent years
in jail on charges of spying for the US died Thursday at the age of
86, state media reported.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Argentina's Foreign Ministry says it has asked Russia to
arrest and extradite former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar
Velayati, citing his alleged role in a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires
that killed 85 people. Velayati, who is now a top aide to Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was visiting Moscow on July 12
for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, but planned to travel to
China on July 13.
In a rare lucid moment in January 2016, then-Secretary
of State John Kerry admitted that the Tehran regime would use some of
the funds from the Iranian nuclear deal to fund terrorism.
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