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TOP STORIES
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be
willing to meet Iran's leader without preconditions to discuss how to
improve ties after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal, saying, "If they want to meet, we'll meet."
Iran's currency traded at a fresh record-low of 119,000
to the dollar on Tuesday, a loss of nearly two-thirds of its value
since the start of the year as US sanctions loom.
Russia cannot compel Iranian forces to quit Syria,
Moscow's ambassador to Tel Aviv said on Monday, rebuffing Israel's
long-standing demand that it should work to ensure their total
withdrawal from the country.
UANI IN THE NEWS
For a very long time, the governments of Europe have
tended to downplay the threat posed to their own national security
and to the stability of the world as a whole by the Islamic Republic
of Iran. The overriding trend in Western strategies toward that
country has involved misguided negotiations, often rising to the
level of outright appeasement. Yet each instance of reaching out to
so-called moderates like current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has
ultimately reminded the world of Tehran's unwavering commitment to
belligerence and the principles of Islamic extremism.
In early July, Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi was
arrested and charged with acting as a foreign agent and conspiracy to
commit murder following his alleged involvement in a failed bomb plot
targeting a gathering of Iranian opposition groups in Paris. This
thwarted terror attack, the latest in a long Iranian pattern of
murdering its detractors, is symptomatic of the regime's expansive
global agenda and highlights Iran's singular status as the world's
leading state sponsor of terrorism. A successful response to this
latest example of Iranian aggression must go beyond this incident, as
Iran's effort to export its anti-Western, anti-U.S. Khomeinist
ideology of terror is truly a global undertaking.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iranian officials reacted skeptically on Tuesday to
President Donald Trump's comments that he's willing to negotiate with
his Iranian counterpart, saying instead that if Trump wants talks, he
needs to rejoin the international nuclear deal he unilaterally pulled
out of earlier this year.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday the
U.S. withdrawal from a nuclear deal was "illegal" and it
was up to Europe to preserve the landmark accord with Tehran.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Iran's currency plummeted to a record low Monday, a week
before the United States restores sanctions lifted under the
unraveling nuclear deal, giving rise to fears of prolonged economic
suffering and further civil unrest.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in unusually pointed
language, called on President Hassan Rouhani to do more to prop up
the rial after the currency fell to a historic low this week in
anticipation of renewed U.S. sanctions.
The German sportswear company Adidas is the latest
European business to pull out of Iran's increasingly volatile market
due to pending US sanctions on the mullah regime in Tehran.
An Iranian trade official said that Tehran is looking
for potential solutions to maintain trade with Africa by bartering
oil products for gold, Press TV reported on Monday.
President Trump said Monday that he'd meet Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani with "no preconditions," and after
meetings with Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin this was probably only a
matter of time. Mr. Trump has preternatural confidence in his
negotiating ability-and every other ability. But give Mr. Trump
credit for noticing at the same time that Iran's regime is
"having a hard time right now," for which he can take some
credit.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran has begun mass production of a long-range air-to-air
missile. And if it looks familiar, it should. The Fakour 90 is
Tehran's knockoff of the U.S. AIM-54 Phoenix missile, once the prime
weapon of the U.S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
An Iranian news agency says railway workers protesting
unpaid salaries in northwestern Iran have received pledges of
assistance from local authorities but no apparent timeline for
getting their wages.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
When Iran threatens war with the U.S., it's not
necessarily talking about war in the conventional sense. But where
Tehran can cause damage is an escalation of activities that's likely
to send further ripples across regional conflicts and oil markets.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Donald Trump has said he would "certainly
meet" Iranian president Hassan Rouhani without preconditions, a
move that was later rejected by Trump's own administration and one of
Rouhani's advisers.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington are building as
new sanctions approach on August 6, the first set since the U.S.
withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal... This doesn't mean war is
imminent between Tehran and Washington. The Trump administration's
strategy still centers on economic pressure, rather than military
measures. And Iran's leadership is nothing if not the master of
snappy responses to threats from Washington, which offer a welcome
distraction from mounting economic pressures at home.
Turns out that when Donald Trump recently warned Iran's
president on Twitter that more threats against the United States
would bring "CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT
HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE," it was just the first part
of his message. The second was, essentially, "AND IF YOU'D
RATHER TALK, I'D LOVE TO!"
CONGRESS & IRAN
President Donald Trump's comment that he's willing to
meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with no preconditions
shows diplomatic over-confidence, a Democratic lawmaker on the House
Armed Services Committee said Monday.
NORTH KOREA & IRAN
North Korea has constructed two new buildings at a
missile facility in the northern suburbs of Pyongyang and appears to
be actively continuing production there, according to an analysis of
newly available commercial satellite imagery, the latest sign of
continued progress in the country's nuclear and missile program. The
satellite imagery, which was captured on Sunday by San
Francisco-based imagery provider Planet Labs Inc. and analyzed by
experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at
Monterey, Calif., shows two buildings-believed to be an
administrative building and a museum-newly erected at the site.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria plans talks
with Iran, Russia and Turkey in September to start finalizing the
composition of the body intended to draft a new Syrian constitution,
a statement said on Tuesday.
While the intelligence community still thinks the
probability of war initiated by Hezbollah is low, the main concern is
that local events in Syria or Lebanon will trigger an escalation
Although Lebanon held its parliamentary elections in
early May, the prime minister designate, Saad Hariri, has yet to form
a new government. That's not surprising since the country is at a
crossroads and clashing agendas and ambitions were always certain to
delay what was never an easy process... It will take considerable
time for a new government to see the light of day. Yet time is not a
luxury Lebanon has in a severe economic crisis. Mr Hariri is walking
a tightrope to get his government right.
Russia wants to use the gains it made in Syria as a
bargaining chip with the US on Ukraine and the economic sanctions.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Forty years after revolutionary leader Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini described the Iranian Senate as a
"stupid" entity, certain political figures are saying that
such a chamber now is a "necessity" for the country. Prior
to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Senate was part of the political
structure of Iran. But the new constitution written by the
revolutionaries abolished it and introduced unicameral government.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
One of the West's key allies in the Middle East has
called on the U.S. and Europe to resolve their differences over Iran.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London last week, the
UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash voiced
concern about the split between the U.S. and European governments
over how to deal with Tehran.
Yemen's Houthi rebels are still arming themselves with
ballistic missiles and drones that "show characteristics
similar" to Iranian-made weapons, a report by a UN panel of
experts has found. In a confidential report to the Security Council,
a copy of which was seen by AFP on Monday, the panel said it
"continues to believe" that short-range ballistic missiles
and other weaponry were transferred from Iran to Yemen after an arms
embargo was imposed in 2015.
IRAQ & IRAN
A senior Iranian Kurdish official warned that Tehran is
planning extensive attacks on Iranian Kurdish parties amid economic
turmoil, electricity cuts, and protests inside Iran. Loghman H.
Ahmedi, a senior member of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan's (PDKI) leadership, told Kurdistan 24 on Monday that Iran
is worried about domestic problems posing an existential threat to
the "regime," and is looking to divert attention from its
internal issues by attacking Kurds.
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