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TOP STORIES
The European Union agreed 18 million euros ($20.6 mln)
in aid for Iran on Thursday, including for the private sector, to
help offset the impact of U.S. sanctions and salvage a 2015 deal that
saw Tehran limit its nuclear ambitions.
"OK, so the whole idea that sanctions, and I was
really actively involved in them when I was in the Senate, was to say
to Iran, there is a price for developing nuclear weapons and
threatening the United States of America. We also were saying in this
United Against Nuclear Iran group, which I am privileged to chair, is
focused on this. We are saying to businesses across the world, you
got a choice to make now. You can go into Iran, but then you are
subject to American adopted sanctions which say that you cannot have
access to the American economy, the American markets and the American
financial system."
Oil exports from Iran have fallen steeply in the first
half of August, according to preliminary tanker tracking data, as the
threat of US sanctions is already beginning to curb demand from some
of the OPEC member's key customers.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she agreed with her
foreign minister that relations with the United States are changing
but she stopped short of backing his call for a separate EU payments
system to save an international nuclear deal with Iran.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
The US is prepared to use sanctions to drive Iranian oil
exports down to zero, the US national security adviser, John Bolton,
has said.
The German government is under fire for betraying its
pledge to combat anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, in light of
Berlin's efforts to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on
Wednesday it will continue increasing the country's defensive
capabilities, and will not surrender to pressure over its missile
program.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
News reports are saying that Sunni worshipers who had
gathered outside a prayer hall in Tehran's eastern Resalat
neighborhood were dispersed by the police and barred from entering
the venue to hold communal prayers on the occasion of Eid al-Adha,
the Feast of Sacrifice, commemorating Abraham's willingness to
sacrifice his son as God had commanded.
A European Union spokesman said last week that the EU
"attaches high importance to the human rights situation in
Iran." But the EU's inaction speaks louder than its words.
Whereas the Trump administration has issued fresh sanctions against
17 human rights abusers to date, the EU has imposed no new human
rights sanctions since the 2015 nuclear deal.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The U.S. has charged two alleged agents of Iran,
accusing them of conducting covert surveillance of Israeli and Jewish
facilities in the United States and collecting intelligence on
Americans linked to a political organization that wants to see the
current Iranian government overthrown.
Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced
the formation of an "Iran Action Group" to direct, review
and coordinate Iran-related activity in Washington. Pompeo hinted at
a much larger goal of working closely in concert as a "whole-of-government
effort to change the Iranian regime's behavior." This
interagency approach, coordinated by Pompeo's director of policy
planning, Brian Hook, is exactly what has been lacking in attempts to
pressure Iran on various fronts.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Claims by Iran that is has produced a new
domestically-produced fighter jet have been questioned by military
experts.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on
Wednesday it will continue increasing the country's defensive
capabilities, and will not surrender to pressure over its missile
program.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN.
Russian state media report that the top national
security advisers for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian
President Vladimir Putin are meeting in Geneva to discuss subjects
including the presence of Iranian troops in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the United States
that an Iranian presence in Syria does not tally with Russian interests
and that he would be content to see all Iran-linked forces go home,
national security adviser John Bolton said Wednesday.
Russia has challenged recent statements made by U.S.
national security adviser John Bolton regarding the conflict in
Syria, where Moscow and Washington have been involved in rival
military missions.
Some have suggested US sanctions on Lebanon would
curtail Hezbollah - but weakening the state would only fortify the
group.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Kazakh coastal city of Aktau hosted Aug. 12 the
fifth summit of the five Caspian littoral states - Iran, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan - on the legal status of the
Caspian Sea.
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