Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Eye on Iran: Iran's Secret Weapons-Smuggling Air Routes to Lebanon Revealed by Intel Sources



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TOP STORIES


An Iranian civil aviation company is suspected of smuggling arms into Lebanon, destined for the militant group Hezbollah and Iranian weapons factories -- and western intelligence sources said Monday they've uncovered the unexpected routes that Iran apparently took to try avoiding detection.


The world's top oil buyers are discovering that U.S. sanctions on Iran will squeeze their trade flows whether they agree with America or not.


Iran may be considering a plan to ration foodstuffs and other essential commodities, according to reports of developments at the Iranian Parliament.

NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM


Europe is not helping preserve an accord on Iran's nuclear program by asking for additional talks on issues like missiles, powerful anti-Western cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said on Tuesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. 


President Trump slammed John Kerry on Monday, labeling the former Massachusetts senator and secretary of state the "father" of the Iran nuclear deal amid speculation that Kerry could challenge Trump in the 2020 election. 


A junior British minister held talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran on Saturday, Iran's television reported, the first visit by a UK minister since US President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. 

SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS


India is allowing state refiners to import Iranian oil with Tehran arranging tankers and insurance after firms including the country's top shipper Shipping Corp of India (SCI) (SCI.NS) halted voyages to Iran due to U.S. sanctions, sources said. New Delhi's attempt to keep Iranian oil flowing mirrors a step by China, where buyers are shifting nearly all their Iranian oil imports to vessels owned by National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC). 


Iran's rial dropped sharply and foreign-exchange traders shut shop as concerns grew that authorities may be powerless to defend the currency as U.S. sanctions bite. 


Discounts, bartering and smuggling are among the tactics Iran may lean on to keep almost 800,000 barrels a day of its oil exports flowing after U.S. sanctions resume in November. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh alluded to this toolbox, which was used in the past, when he said Iran will find "other ways" to keep its crude in the market.


Iran will keep selling oil in spite of an expected resumption of U.S. sanctions on the country's crude shipments, President Hassan Rouhani said.


By sanctioning [Iranian judge Mohammad] Moghiseh as part of its larger maximum pressure campaign against Iran, it can make clear that Washington will not relent until Iran becomes, in the words of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a "normal country" that respects its people's rights.


Precarious. That is the best word to describe the current situation in Iran.

MISSILE PROGRAM


Iran plans to boost its ballistic and cruise missile capacity and acquire modern fighter planes and submarines, the Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted a senior Defence Ministry official as saying on Saturday. 


The U.S. is deeply concerned over reports of Iran moving ballistic missiles into Iraq, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.


Iraq's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday it was "astonished" at a Reuters report that Iran had moved missiles to Iraq and that the article was "without evidence", but stopped short of denying its contents. 

PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS


The British mother who has been jailed in Iran since 2016 threatened to go on a hunger strike, her husband has said.

MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS


Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday war was unlikely but called on Iran's armed forces to boost their defense capacities, according to his official website, as the country faces increased tension with the United States.

IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS


Iran's parliament called off a planned vote to impeach the education minister on Sunday, Iranian media reported, offering some respite for the embattled government of President Hassan Rouhani. 

RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN.


Donald Trump has warned Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian president's allies Iran and Russia not to "recklessly attack" in the rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. 


A convoy of Iranian forces was hit by air strikes near the U.S.' Al-Tanf base in Syria, as reported on Monday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors victims of the fighting. 


Iran's foreign minister said at the start of a visit to Damascus on Monday that "terrorists must be purged" from Syria's Idlib and the entire northwestern province returned to government control. Mohammad Javad Zarif's comments in Damascus were reported by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency and came as Syrian forces and their allies are preparing for an assault on Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in the country.


Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif traveled to Damascus on Monday for talks with Syrian officials, the Tasnim news agency reported.

IRAQ & IRAN


Israel signaled on Monday that it could attack suspected Iranian military assets in Iraq, as it has done with scores of air strikes in war-torn Syria.






Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

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