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TOP STORIES
From [Norman Roule's] vast Middle East experience, he
has good knowledge about the Israeli intelligence community and has
met many of its past and current senior officials, including Mossad
heads Meir Dagan, Tamir Pardo and Yossi Cohen, and military
intelligence chiefs such as Amos Yadlin... We met last month in a New
York hotel. He came to town to moderate a panel at a conference
organized by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a bipartisan NGO of
former US senators, diplomats and intelligence officials as well as
European and Middle Eastern personalities - among them, the late Meir
Dagan and former German BND (Federal Intelligence Service) chief
August Hanning.
South Korea did not import any oil from Iran in
September for the first time in six years, before U.S. sanctions
against the Middle East country take effect in November, customs data
showed on Monday.
Russia and Iran have agreed on a mechanism to spare Iran
the impact of what are intended by the US to be crippling sanctions
on its oil industry from next month, an Israeli Foreign Ministry
document reportedly warns. The mechanism provides for Iran to export
crude oil to Russia across the Caspian Sea.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, the
national security adviser, spoke at a meeting in New York of United
Against Nuclear Iran, a well-financed hard-line group. Mr. Bolton was
especially belligerent, warning the Iranians, "If you cross us,
our allies, or our partners, if you harm our citizens, if you
continue to lie, cheat, and deceive, yes, there will indeed be hell
to pay."
Trump and Bolton both singled out Iran during remarks at
the United Nations General Assembly late last month. The president
urged other member nations to "isolate Iran's regime as long as
its aggression continues." "If you cross us, our allies, or
our partners; if you harm our citizens; if you continue to lie,
cheat, and deceive, yes, there will indeed be Hell to pay,"
Bolton said in a speech at an event organized by a group called
United Against a Nuclear Iran.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
While the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran is deepening
week by week, the Islamic Republic's official news agency, IRNA,
says, the number of Iranians travelling abroad in the past six months
has dropped by 13%, compared with the same period, last year.
India hasn't worked out yet a payment system for
continued purchases of crude oil from Iran, Subhash Chandra Garg,
economic affairs secretary at India's finance ministry, said on
Friday.
US and India will resume high-stakes negotiations Friday
over the US request for India to slash its Iranian oil imports when
sanctions snap back in about three weeks. Platts Analytics expects
Iranian crude and condensate exports to fall to 1.1 million b/d by
October loadings, and to 800,000 b/d by Q4 2019, down from 2.91
million b/d in April.
President Trump's "America First" foreign
policy has run into an obscure obstacle at the heart of the global
financial system.
Iran's president on Sunday tried to downplay U.S.
sanctions targeting the country's vital oil and gas sector that are
set to be restored next month. Speaking in Tehran University to mark
the start of the academic year, Hassan Rouhani said the Nov. 4 sanctions
"will have no effect," because "the U.S. has already
done whatever it wanted to do."
Iran is resurrecting its stock exchange, last used four
years ago, to sell one million barrels of crude, the National Iranian
Oil Company said in a statement quoted by S&P Global Platts. Now,
the analysts quoted by the news outlet are of the opinion this won't
do much about the country's oil exports after November 4, when the
U.S. sanctions will come into effect, but it does demonstrate what
some warier observers have noted repeatedly: Iran is not as helpless
as it may seem.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan has stressed
that US sanctions on Tehran are aimed at changing the Iranian
regime's behavior, saying Washington is working with its allies to
enforce them.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group is using Iran as its
main transit point for illegal charcoal exports from Somalia,
enabling the group to earn millions of dollars in profits, a report
to the UN Security Council seen by media says.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday it was
not clear whether a foiled attack on a Paris-based Iranian opposition
group was ordered by the higher echelons of authorities in
Tehran.
Ali Kourani, 34, was arrested on terrorism charges after
he tried to become an informant for the F.B.I., offering information
about Hezbollah.
Iran dismissed reports on Monday of a suicide bomb
threat at its embassy in Ankara, Iranian state television said, after
a Turkish newspaper reported a planned attack on the building.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran's judiciary spokesman is saying a court has
sentenced a dual national man to eight and a half years in prison
after finding him guilty of infiltration of important governmental
bodies.
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF)
has condemned a reported call by the Islamic Rebulic's judiciary,
including the head of Qazvin Judicial Department, for issuing the
death penalty against 17 activists involved in a widespread truckers'
strike.
Last week, Iranian authorities executed Zeinab Sakaavand
for allegedly murdering her husband when she was 17. During her trial
the court discounted Sakaavand's claims that her husband frequently
beat and abused her.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The United States is seeking "regime change"
in Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday, adding that the
current U.S. administration is the most hostile that the Islamic
Republic has faced in its four decades.
One of Iran's top foreign policy officials has called
for negotiations with "anti-Trump movements" in the US to
dampen the impact of sanctions, local media reported Saturday.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran's official IRNA news agency is saying that
authorities have detained a member of the military over the September
attack on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz that
killed 24 people.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
The U.S. Senate passed two measures targeting Hezbollah
by sanctioning its funders and supporters, as well as those who
assist in the Lebanese terror group's using civilians as human
shields. Both bills were approved Thursday with bipartisan
sponsorship.
The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah made no mention of
weapons capability on Friday in his first speech since Israel claimed
that the Islamic militant group has a missile-launching facility near
Beirut's international airport.
The anti-Iran Lebanese Saydet el-Jabal gathering
announced on Friday that it was again barred from holding its annual
conference. Two weeks ago, it accused the Hezbollah party of
preventing it from meeting at Beirut's Bristol hotel.
A senior cleric in Iran has once again threatened Tel
Aviv with destruction, while on Thursday, October 11, the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps Chief Commander has also claimed that
"Israel is near its end."
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Yemeni Minister of Endowments and Guidance Ahmad Attia
slammed Iran for training and brainwashing loyalists with radical
ideology on its territory. Houthi militia leaderships are attending
Iran-tailored intensive courses abroad and are then being sent back
home to Yemen, he said. "Houthi loyalists and followers are
being schooled in terrorist-run programs in Lebanon," Attia said
in a phone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.
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