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TOP STORIES
Iran's LPG shipments lifted, or scheduled for loading,
in October fell for the second month to 279,400 mt so far, ahead of
new US sanctions next month, initial fixtures from shipping sources
showed.
To understand how the United States is countering Iran's
expansion across the Middle East, consider the outpost at Tanf.
The Israeli military on Monday said it uncovered a
militant outpost on the Lebanese border that Hezbollah guerrillas
have set up under the guise of an environmental advocacy group.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
The United States cannot stop Iranian oil exports by
imposing sanctions on Tehran, Iran's oil minister said on Tuesday,
warning that such restrictions will ensure the market remains
volatile.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
U.S. Senate has recently passed two bills sanctioning
the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Once signed by
U.S. President Donald Trump, the sanctions will target foreign
nationals and companies that provide financial, material or technological
support to Hezbollah and its affiliates in the region.
A report from Iranian dissidents shows how the hard-line
Islamic regime places terrorist operatives abroad under the cover of
diplomacy. From Austria to Albania to Iraq, an expansionist Iran has
turned embassies into terrorism planning sites to meddle in host
governments and hunt down the opposition, according to the report by
the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The coalition includes
the activist chapter known as MEK, which operates far-flung spy
networks in Iran.
An extremist militant group has claimed responsibility
for the abduction of 12 Iranian security personnel near the border
with Pakistan, Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA reported
Monday.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Members and supporters of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a demonstration outside Downing Street
on Saturday in the hope of attracting the Prime Minister's attention.
According to the opposition party, in 2017, Iran executed over 500
people which accounted for nearly 60 percent of all executions in the
region. Amnesty International says that of the over 500 executions,
at least 31 of them were done so publicly.
Iranian officials, under international pressure and
facing domestic unrest, have reacted by increasing their pressures on
activists.
Security forces of the rival Palestinian governments
routinely use torture and arbitrary arrests, among other tactics, to
quash dissent by peaceful activists and political rivals, Human
Rights Watch said Tuesday. The charges came in a new report released
by the New York-based watchdog, following a two-year investigation
that included interviews with nearly 150 people, many of them
ex-detainees. It accused both the Western-backed Palestinian
Authority in the West Bank and the Islamic militant Hamas in Gaza of
using "machineries of repression" to stifle criticism.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
A new batch of US sanctions announced on October 16
targeted some 20 companies and financial institutions that finance
Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary organization linked to the
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran's state TV is reporting that the Supreme Court has
upheld the death sentences for two individuals convicted of financial
crimes.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iranian militias intensified their presence west of the
Euphrates River in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has
said, noting these militias' presence in Abu Kamal and Mayadin east
of Syria near the borders with Iraq.
Israel is expressing confidence that it can pursue
attacks on Iran's forces in Syria even after Iranian partner Russia
transferred an advanced air defense system to Syrian territory
earlier this month.
The alliance between Iran and Syria is a historical
constant. A strategic axis since 1979, the year of the Iranian
Revolution. It is a privileged relationship that revolves around
three factors: hostility towards Israel, the counter-balancing of
Western influence in the Middle East and the containment of
revanchist Sunnism.
The Qatari government has denied rumours that a cargo
plane carrying weapons from Iran landed in Doha before heading to
Beirut, according to an official statement issued by the Qatari
Ministry of Transport and Communications yesterday. "Qatar's
Ministry of Transport and Communications is aware of the surprising
news being reported in some media outlets, which claims that arms
shipments have passed through Doha from Tehran in a cargo aircraft
that landed at Hamad International Airport and then left for the
Lebanese capital Beirut," the ministry's statement read.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested 15 militants
planning attacks on Shi'ite Muslims making an annual pilgrimage to
Iraq.
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