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TOP STORIES
The U.S. Navy stands ready to ensure free navigation and
the flow of commerce, the U.S. military's Central Command said on
Thursday, as Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned they would block oil
shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.
French shipping group CMA CGM has decided to pull out of
Iran following the Trump administration's decision to renew sanctions
on companies operating in the country, its chief executive said on
Saturday.
The Iran nuclear deal looked in doubt on Friday as
European powers failed to convince Tehran that they would be able to
fully compensate for economic losses caused by the US's exit. The
signatories to the landmark accord met for the first time since Donald
Trump, the US president, withdrew in May to discuss how they could
salvage the deal in the face of a reimposition of US sanctions.
UANI IN THE NEWS
United Against Nuclear Iran chairman and former US
senator Joe Lieberman said in response to the arrests of four
individuals, including the Iranian diplomat, who are accused of
wanting to bomb the Iranian exile opposition group meeting in Paris:
"While the investigation is ongoing, any involvement by Tehran
would further signify the danger the regime represents
globally," adding that "Iran has earned the
distinction of being the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism
for good reason. The latest incident is part of the regime's long
history of plotting, planning and scheming. In recent years, Iranian
agents have attempted to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the
United States."
The scale of the Yemen tragedy will rightly be a stain
on this generation. But the United States should ensure that its
actions meaningfully contribute to an end to this conflict and do not
inadvertently extend the war or Iran's malign influence. Doing so
offers the best prospect of ending the suffering of Yemen's people
and ensuring the stability of the region and America's interest
requires.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran could reduce its co-operation with the U.N. nuclear
watchdog, President Hassan Rouhani told the body's head on Wednesday,
after he warned U.S. President Donald Trump of
"consequences" of fresh sanctions against Iranian oil
sales.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
South Korea will not lift any Iranian crude and
condensate in July, halting all shipments for the first time in six
years amid U.S. pressure to cut all imports of Iranian oil from
November, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Japanese customers, however, are continuing to import for now, with
multiple buyers considering buying Iranian oil through September
loading, said a North Asia trading source familiar with Iranian oil
shipping arrangements.
Dutch airline KLM says it will halt flights to Tehran
"as a result of the negative results and financial outlook"
following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear accord.
EU lawmakers gave approval on Wednesday for the European
Investment Bank (EIB) to do business in Iran, overcoming a blocking
attempt and keeping alive plans to save the 2015 nuclear deal with
Tehran that Washington has abandoned... However, the EU lawmakers'
decision does not oblige the EIB to work with Iran, a move that could
jeopardize its ability to raise money on U.S. markets and so have far
reaching consequences for its operations.
Iran's remaining partners in the 2015 nuclear deal vowed
Friday to keep the energy exporter plugged into the global economy
despite the US withdrawal and sanctions threat.
World powers agreed to keep looking for ways to ensure
Iran gets the financial and energy benefits it signed up for under a
landmark nuclear deal after they fell short of providing tangible
guarantees sought by the Islamic Republic.
After ripping up the Iran nuclear deal in May, the Trump
Administration is fanning out across the globe to rally support for a
return to economy-crippling sanctions against Tehran. The effort
comes ahead of President Donald Trump's trip next week to Europe,
where he is expected to pressure leaders into joining the
far-reaching campaign to handcuff major aspects of Iran's economy, including
driving oil exports to zero.
Recently, Iran's government has been revisiting a
familiar refrain: the threat to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. authorities are allowing China's ZTE Corp. to
resume some business with American companies, temporarily easing a
ban imposed over the telecom giant's export of sensitive technology
to Iran and North Korea.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh says his country's
Foreign Ministry officials are not happy with the details of the
package of economic measures offered to Tehran in order to make sure
that Iran stays in the nuclear deal with the West.
Iran's representative to OPEC says U.S. President Donald
Trump should stop tweeting about wanting lower oil prices, saying
that doing so has the opposite effect. Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was
quoted by the oil ministry's website Thursday as telling Trump to
"please stop," adding that "with your frequent and
indecent tweets oil prices have gone up 10 dollars."
Donald Trump's new envoy to Berlin is on a campaign to
remind Germans that the business of America is business. In a bid to
coax small- and medium-sized German companies active in Iran away
from the Islamic Republic, Ambassador Richard Grenell has quietly
begun engaging business executives with an offer to help them tap the
much larger and lucrative U.S. market, according to people briefed on
the talks.
The fresh outbreaks of street protests in Tehran that
have taken place in recent days raise the question of whether this
will be just a temporary disturbance or a sign of more significant
changes to come.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran has arrested a number of people for posting videos
on Instagram, including a young woman whose targeting for her clips
of her dancing to music has prompted outrage. According to activists,
Maedeh Hojabri, who appears to be in her late teenage years, was one
of a number of users behind popular Instagram accounts who have been
arrested.
Thousands of residents of Borazjan, the center of
Dashtestan County in Bushehr province, southern Iran, poured into the
streets on Saturday, July 7, to protest "shortage" and
"chaotic" distribution of water.
Iranian rights groups say a court has sentenced four
women of Iran's Gonadabi Dervish minority to five years in prison
each for participating in an anti-government protest that turned
violent in Tehran.
Up to fifty persons have been arrested in northwestern
Iran, days ahead of the annual gathering at a historic fortress in
Eastern Azerbaijan province, human rights activists report.
As Iran suffers from economic stagnation, the country is
ripe for more sustained protests and armed opposition to the regime.
Iranians are protesting in the streets again, only a few
months after the regime crushed nationwide demonstrations over the
country's sagging economy and widespread corruption. The periodic
eruptions are a sign of discontent that may spread as the pressure
from renewed U.S. sanctions increases.
Once again, Iran is ranked with some of the worst places
in the world in terms of the fight against human trafficking - the
buying and selling of men, women and children in the labor and
commercial sex markets.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
President Trump on Sunday noted that harassment of
United States warships by the Iranian navy in the Persian Gulf has
stopped in the second year of his administration.
SYRIA, RUSSIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Syria on Sunday accused Israel of targeting an airbase
in the central province of Homs, saying its defences hit a jet
involved in the third such attack in five months.
In a recent speech, the deputy commander of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) boasted that the "Islamic army in
Syria" in the Golan Heights was awaiting orders to eradicate the
"evil regime" of Israel. He also said the Tehran-backed
Hezbollah terror group had 100,000 missiles aimed at Israel.
While Hezbollah's military expansion across the Middle
East, particularly since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011,
has drawn a great deal of attention, the Lebanese organization's
efforts to increase its presence and influence in Africa has largely been
overlooked. Nigeria is a case in point. Sources close to Hezbollah
say the organization provides ideological and military training to
Nigerian Shiites inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah is helping to lead a Russian-backed offensive
in southern Syria, pro-Damascus sources said, exposing the limits of
U.S. policy that hopes Moscow can get Iran and groups it backs out of
the country.
The Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah has
significantly cut back the number of its troops on Syrian soil,
according to Arab media reports confirmed by Israeli sources.
Israel and the US are actively trying to force Tehran
out, and even its allies Russia and the Assad regime don't seem eager
for the Islamic Republic to stay
RUSSIA & IRAN
Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday
that other parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal had agreed to work out
ways of trading with Iran independently of the United States'
"whim", Interfax news agency reported.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The leader of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq has declared
support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, strengthening Tehran's influence
in the region.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on a
plan to visit Iran this summer, Kyodo News said on Wednesday, as U.S.
President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly tough line against
Tehran.
The Netherlands has expelled two Iranian embassy staff,
the Dutch Intelligence service AIVD said on Friday.
Iran protested on Sunday against the Netherlands'
expulsion of two of its diplomats and threatened to retaliate for the
"unfriendly and destructive move."
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