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TOP STORIES
Iran is forgoing plans for now to transfer about 300
million euros ($347 million) in funds held in Germany to Iran after
strong opposition from the United States, two sources with knowledge
of the matter said on Wednesday. The funds are held at the
Hamburg-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank (eihbank).
The Iranian Parliament's Research Center has forecast
two dystopian economic growth rates for Iran by the end of the
Iranian year (March 20, 2019) as a result of the U.S. pull-out from
the nuclear deal with Tehran.
America's allies in Europe are plotting ways to bypass
President Donald Trump's sanctions on Iran as they work to keep the
nuclear deal alive without the United States.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Japanese news media are reporting that the country's
major oil wholesalers are preparing to suspend crude imports next
month.
Iran's state-run oil company is in talks to salvage a $1
billion oil deal with Swiss trader Vitol Group as companies sever
ties with the Islamic Republic ahead of U.S. sanctions.
President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Iran will
continue exporting crude oil despite U.S. efforts to stop it through
sanctions.
Oil reserves in western Europe, Africa and Mediterranean
region are rapidly falling since major buyers are scared by the US
sanctions imposed on Iran, reports say.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iranian authorities have detained Reza Khandan, the
husband of prominent jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Khandan's arrest early on September 4 comes just hours after he
raised concerns in a Facebook post about human rights violations in
Iran, including the imprisonment of human rights defenders and the
prosecution of women who have campaigned against the Islamic hijab.
An Iranian police officer has deserted his post and fled
Iran, saying his life was in danger for refusing orders to suppress
anti-government protests that have swept the country this year.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
President Donald Trump will lead a United Nations
Security Council session on Iran later this month, and could find
himself seated in the historic chamber across from the Islamic
Republic's president or foreign minister, according to U.S.
Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the creation of
an Iran Action Group (IAG) on August 16. The new group is a
substantive departure from the current policies, which have been
disparate and poorly coordinated. The new policy is not only an
outgrowth of President Donald Trump's desire to withdraw from the
Iran Deal, it has also been driven by Congress and the National
Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed on August 6.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
The military balance between Iran, its Arab neighbors,
and the United States has been a critical military issue in the
Middle East since at least the rise of Nasser in the 1950s. Iran,
Iraq, and the other Gulf states have been the scene of a major arms
race since the mid-1950s.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Mohammad Javad Zarif has been Iran's foreign minister
for the past five years... Over the past two years, however, Zarif's
power has dramatically waned. Although he has continued his speaking
tours in the West, he has been supplanted on the regional policy
portfolios that most matter to Tehran-including Iran's presence in
Iraq, Syria, and Yemen-by a quieter but far more influential figure:
Ali Akbar Velayati, the longtime foreign-policy advisor to the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had a busy
August. He released a controversial video in which he condemned his
successor Hassan Rouhani's handling of the economy and published an
open letter to US President Donald Trump, urging him to release the
names of relatives of Iranian officials who hold green cards.
Iran officially inaugurated Tuesday two petrochemical
projects -- the Marjan petrochemical plant, with capacity to make
1.65 million mt/year of methanol, and the third phase of the Pardis
petrochemical plant, with capacity to produce 1.755 million mt/year of
urea and ammonia.
A leading Iranian reformist has called upon the panel of
conservative clerics tasked with supervising the work of Iran's
supreme leader to hold Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accountable instead of
showering him with "praise." Reformist cleric Mehdi
Karrubi, who's been under house arrest since 2011, said Iran's
Assembly of Experts should hold Khamenei responsible for three
decades of policies that he says have brought Iran to its current
"regrettable" situation.
Censors for Iran's state-controlled broadcasters
routinely go to considerable lengths to prevent audiences from seeing
anything they might consider un-Islamic, offensive, or politically
sensitive. Women and the female form, including the ears, are
one of the most frequent targets, say actors and actresses who have
taken to social media in response to a recent push from a well-known
thespian and screenwriter to highlight censorship on state television.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN.
Israeli jets attacked military targets in the
northwestern Syrian city of Hama on Tuesday, Syrian state media
reported, adding that one person was killed and 12 others were
wounded.
Israel has carried out more than 200 attacks against
Iranian targets in Syria in the last two years, a senior Israeli
official said on Tuesday, in a rare summary of its campaign.
Israel's defense minister described Iran on Friday as
having slowed down its long-term force deployment in Syria,
attributing this to Israeli military intervention as well as an
economic crisis gripping Tehran as U.S. sanctions are restored.
President Donald Trump needs to take a side seat when it
comes to Syria, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
"Mr. Trump needs to stand aside and allow those who battled
terrorism in Syria to do their work," Zarif told reporters according
to state-run Mehr news agency. "The U.S. doesn't have a good
track record confronting radicalism and terrorism."
Russia announced in early August that it had convinced
Iranian forces in Syria to keep away from the Israeli border by about
85 kilometers (53 miles)... However, if Lebanese history has taught
us anything, Iranian retreat from southwest Syria will be short
lived. It will be more a tactical maneuver by the Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (IRGC) to ease tension and consolidate its gains rather than
a permanent retreat.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
A number of Houthi leaders, Iranian experts, and
Hezbollah fighters have been killed during battles in the last two
days against the Yemeni army in the Marran district in Saada,
according to a Yemeni military source.
IRAQ & IRAN
The U.S. sent a message to Israel warning it not to
attack Iranian targets in Iraq, the Kan public broadcaster reported,
citing Western sources.
Iraq says its senior military commanders have met in
Baghdad with their counterparts from Russia, Iran, and Syria to
discuss regional security and the fight against Islamic State (IS)
and other militants.
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