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TOP STORIES
China, Russia and India say they will continue to buy
petroleum from Iran, despite U.S. sanctions that would prohibit those
sales, although banking difficulties are hampering their ability to
invest in the Islamic Republic's oil fields.
Daimler has abandoned plans to expand in Iran as US
sanctions targeting the country snap back into place.
The U.S. campaign to rein in Iran has scored a victory
in the German financial sector, after the Deutsche Bundesbank− the
country's central bank− imposed a rule stopping a $400 million cash
delivery to Tehran. Iran's cash-starved economy desperately needs
hard currency ahead of crippling U.S. bank sanctions that will be
introduced in November.
UANI IN THE NEWS
"For Renault to explicitly express their desire to
comply with U.S. law, even though they do not have any existing
American operations, suggests that even the prospect of future U.S.
business is far more enticing than anything they currently have in
Iran," said David Ibsen of United Against Nuclear Iran, an
advocacy group chaired by former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Despite the promise of protection, many European
corporations have begun to leave Iran, says Amir Paivar, a reporter
for the BBC's Persian service. "If you are a big multi-national
with a massive exposure to U.S. market, and at the same time you have
a small business in Iran, it's not a difficult choice to make quite
frankly," he tells Here & Now's Robin Young. "At the
end of the day, it's a risk and reward calculation. They are more
accountable to their shareholders and boards rather than being
accountable to what the politicians in Brussels decide."
Iran's oil exports dropped by 7 percent to 2.32 million
bpd in July-their lowest level in four months-as South Korea and
Europe are slashing imports ahead of the return of the U.S. sanctions
on Tehran, data from S&P Global Platts showed on Tuesday.
However, Iranian oil exports to its top two customers-China and
India-continued to stay high last month.
European banks that deny companies access to
dollar-based bank accounts because of US sanctions against Iran could
find themselves being sued by their own customers.
New U.S. sanctions against Iran took effect on Tuesday,
and President Donald Trump, who defied Washington's allies to impose
them, pledged that companies doing business with Tehran would be
barred from doing business with the United States. Following are
comments and responses from companies in Europe which last year did
far more business with Tehran than U.S. firms did:
A U.S. plan to reduce Iran's oil exports to zero will
not succeed, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was cited
as saying by an Iranian newspaper on Wednesday.
Russia said Tuesday it will do "everything
necessary" to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and protect its
shared economic interests with Tehran.
China's business ties with Iran are open, transparent
and lawful, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after U.S.
President Donald Trump said companies doing business with Iran would
be barred from the United States.
Although he likely meant to touch upon a vast array of
issues of concern to Iranians, President Hassan Rouhani couldn't help
but focus on Donald Trump's recent offer of talks and on Iran's
economic problems during his live interview on state TV on Aug. 6.
The Southern Gas Corridor has received a waiver from US
sanctions against Iran's energy customers, an expected win for the
project, designed to transport 16 Bcm/year of Caspian natural gas to
Turkey and southern Europe while bypassing Russia. The language appeared
in an executive order that President Donald Trump signed Monday.
Italy's biggest bank UniCredit expects to reach a deal
with the United States in a dispute over alleged sanctions violations
in Iran in the coming months, its CEO said on Tuesday.
Major companies have continued to withdraw from Iran
despite the European Union's announcement that the blocking statute
entered into force on August 7, to protect EU companies doing
legitimate business with Iran from the impact of US extra-territorial
sanctions.
Trump is reimposing sanctions that were frozen by the
agreement, threatening to penalize even close allies if they keep
doing business with Iran. That's undermining Iran's economy and --
though the U.S. says it isn't seeking regime change -- raising the
pressure on President Hassan Rouhani, who pushed hard for the nuclear
accord.
The question now is whether President Trump, or if
necessary a successor, will push this pressure campaign-which the
Administration is supplementing with outreach to Iran's people and
more security cooperation with its regional adversaries-to its
conclusion. If so, the regime in Tehran, which is presiding over an
increasingly troubled economy and restive populace, may reach a point
where it must choose between its nuclear program and its continued
rule.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Twenty years ago today al Qaeda bombed two U.S.
embassies and killed 224 people. Iran helped them do it.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Days of unprecedented protests aimed at Iran's sluggish
economy along with "biting" sanctions imposed by President
Trump are ramping up pressure Tuesday on the Islamic Republic's
ruling class and causing many analysts to wonder if regime change could
be on the horizon.
Sporadic street clashes and other protests have hit
major cities in Iran since late July as Iranians express anger over
economic woes that include rising prices and a sustained fall in the
value of Iran's national currency. The extent and seriousness of
protests in Iran can be difficult to gauge, with tight controls on
newsgathering and the publication of information regarded as
subversive or even critical of the religious establishment that has
run the country since the 1979 revolution.
On Wednesday, Iran will mark its annual celebration of
the press. It's called "Journalists' Day." This
long-running display of cognitive dissonance is a reminder that
Iran's Islamic republic aspires to present itself as something it is
certainly not: representative, transparent and tolerant.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian lawmakers have voted to sack President Hassan
Rouhani's labor minister, in a victory for hard-liners opposed to the
relative moderate.
CONGRESS & IRAN
U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) says he supports
sanctions on Iran that just took effect.
NORTH KOREA & IRAN
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed
his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, to Tehran on Tuesday, hours
after the United States reintroduced sanctions against the Islamic
Republic. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported
the two officials met and "expressed satisfaction with existing
bilateral relations and called for further expansion of ties."
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander admitted that
the Houthi attack that targeted the two Saudi oil tankers in Bab
al-Mandeb Strait was carried out as per a request from the
Revolutionary Guards.
Yemen's military reports that the Saudi-led military
coalition killed two Hezbollah "military experts'' in an
airstrike Thursday. Several Houthi fighters were reportedly killed as
well.
Despite Tehran's repeated denials of arming Shiite
Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen, government and military officials
insist President Trump's withdrawal from the landmark Iran nuclear
deal has had an immediate impact in helping bring the four-year
conflict at least a step toward closure.
IRAQ, TURKEY & IRAN
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Tuesday he
would reluctantly comply with renewed US sanctions on neighbouring
Iran, but recalled his country's 12 years under international
embargo.
CYBERWARFARE
The U.S. is bracing for cyberattacks Iran could launch
in retaliation for the re-imposition of sanctions this week by
President Donald Trump, cybersecurity and intelligence experts
say.
Iranian hackers are developing software attacks that
render computer systems inoperable until a digital ransom is paid, a
new report says, a threat that comes as the U.S. moves to reimpose
tough economic sanctions on the country.
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