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TOP STORIES
Iran's nuclear chief said on
Tuesday he was warning the European Union's top diplomat that Iranian
patience was running out on the bloc's pledges to keep up oil trade
despite U.S. sanctions. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy
Organisation of Iran, said the Islamic Republic could resume
enriching uranium to 20 percent puritay - seen as well above the
level suitable for fuelling civilian power plants - if it fails to
see the economic benefit of the 2015 deal that curbed its nuclear
program.
The European Union's top
diplomat on Tuesday reiterated the bloc's resolve to preserve the
2015 nuclear deal with Iran after meeting the head of Islamic
Republic's atomic energy agency. "They equally expressed
their determination to preserve the nuclear agreement as a matter of
respecting international agreements and a key pillar for European and
regional security," the European External Action Service,
referring to both its head Federica Mogherini and Iranian nuclear
energy chief Ali Akhbar Salehi, said in a statement.
Only a few weeks after a fresh
Cabinet reshuffle triggered by multiple impeachments, a group of
Iranian hard-line lawmakers is going out of its way to unseat
four ministers. The foreign, interior, science and education
ministers are now on the list. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
seems to be the main target of the campaign; the lawmakers are
demanding explanations on issues ranging from his
"money-laundering accusations against the Islamic Republic"
to "failures in economic diplomacy" to "weakening the
country's defenses."
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Japan's oil refiners will
continue to ask the Japanese government to seek an early
extension of the temporary U.S. waiver to import oil from Iran, the
head of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ), Takashi Tsukioka,
said on Tuesday. Ahead of the return of the U.S. sanctions on Iran's
petroleum industry, Japan had completely stopped buying Iranian oil,
hoping to get a waiver from the U.S. Administration. It did, alongside
seven other Iranian oil customers, including the biggest buyers China
and India, all of whom will now be able to continue importing reduced
volumes of oil from Iran for 180 days after the sanctions snapped
back on November 5, until early May 2019.
Some countries are trying to
harm Iran by manipulating the oil market, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan
Zanganeh said on Wednesday, according to the semi-official Mehr news
agency. Zanganeh did not name a country but Iranian officials
have accused Saudi Arabia of trying to take Iran's share of the oil
market in recent months. The United States restored sanctions
targeting Iran's oil, banking and transport sectors this month.
The labourers edge their way
across a field of bright purple flowers gathering up the world's most
expensive spice, a bounty that makes this dusty corner of Iran a
crucial part of global cuisine. The delicate purple leaves of the
Crocus sativus plant hold just three or four of the even more
delicate red stamen, better known as saffron, that sprouts for just
10 days a year.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
While media attention has
recently been focused on the Iranian government's decision to
allow female football fans to attend men's matches, Iranian women are
winning small but significant victories for the sport - inside the
football pitch. On November 13, the Iranian women's team
made it to the next round of qualifications in Thailand for
the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The Trump administration's effort to rebuild the
U.S.-Saudi Arabia partnership isn't popular in the salons of
Washington, where politicians of both parties have long used the
kingdom's human-rights record to call for the alliance's downgrading.
The October murder of Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey has
heightened the Capitol Hill caterwauling and media pile-on. But
degrading U.S.-Saudi ties would be a grave mistake for the national
security of the U.S. and its allies.
US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo stressed that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a powerful force
for stability in the Middle East. Pompeo's comment came in an
article he penned in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, in
which he added that Saudi Arabia is working to "secure Iraq's
fragile democracy and keep Baghdad tethered to the West's interests,
not Tehran's."
Iran is determined to fight
against US Donald Trump's anticipated Israel-Palestinian peace plan,
parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Tuesday according to semi-official
news agency ISNA. Trump has dubbed his administration's long-awaited
plan the "ultimate deal", which has already unsettled the
Palestinians although no details have yet been disclosed. Speaking in
Tehran, Larijani said the "deal of the century" was a "plot"
between Iran's arch foe Israel and the United States to establish the
Jewish state's domination in the Middle East.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran should increase its
military capability and readiness to ward off enemies, Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday in a meeting with Iranian
navy commanders, according to Khamenei's official website. "The
technology will always be the difference maker for us.
"Increase your capability and readiness as much as you can so
Iran's enemies will not even dare threaten these great people,"
Khamenei said. He added, "The Islamic Republic does not intend
to start war with anyone."
The managing director of the
Iran Aviation Industries Organization (AIO) has said Iran will export
planes fully designed and manufactured inside the country in the near
future, the Tasnim news agency reported on Monday. Pointing to the
9th International Iran Air Show which opened on the southern island
of Kish on Monday, Brigadier General Abdolkarim Banitarafi said the
objective of the air show is to present advances in aviation industry
and set the ground for closer cooperation between foreign and
domestic companies in this field.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Sunni cleric has been shot and
killed in Iran"s northern Golestan Province, Iranian media
report. Abdolghafour Jamalzai, the Friday Prayers
leader of Reza Abad village, was reportedly shot in the back with a
hunting rifle early on November 27. Iranian government news
agency IRNA said Jamalzai, an ethnic Baluch, was shot four times as
he returned home from Reza Abad mosque near the northern city of
Ramiyan, around 120 kilometers northeast of the capital, Tehran.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran's deputy interior minister
for security affairs, Hossein Zolfaqari, met with
Vasilii Piskarev, the chairman of the Russian Duma's Committee
on Security and Corruption Control, on Nov. 5. At the meeting,
both sides stressed the need to finalize a bilateral security
agreement and described cybersecurity, the fight against
terrorism and countering drug proliferation and illegal
immigration as key aspects of such an accord.
Jewish people have called Iran
home for nearly 3,000 years. The Trump administration and U.S. ally
Israel often depict the Iranian government as composed of
anti-Semitic radical Islamists bent on destroying Israel. But within
Iran, many of the estimated 15,000 Jews say they're safe and happy
living in the Islamic Republic. Reza Sayah takes a rare inside look
at life for Iran's Jewish minority.
IRAQ & IRAN
Gas exports from Iran to Iraq were halted late on
Tuesday for several days, as Iranian authorities work to repair
damages caused to the pipeline during a recent earthquake. The cuts
deprive Iraq's power grid of 2,500 megawatts (MW), Iraq's electricity
ministry said in a statement, as Iraq relies heavily on Iranian gas
to feed its power stations. Iranian authorities informed the
electricity ministry in Baghdad that the flow of gas exports will be
resumed "during next few days" after maintenance on the
pipeline inside Iranian territory are completed.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
In a new demonstration of the
rapprochement between Iran and Islamist political group Hamas, the
movement on Tuesday expressed its "thanks" to Tehran for
sponsoring victims of the great march of return. Iran has announced
its "adoption" of the families of those killed and wounded
in the "return marches" in Gaza. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum
said in a statement that the movement "values" and
"highly appreciates" Iran's positions and support.
The relationship between Hamas
and Iran has been the subject of widespread controversy for years
both within the movement and among the Palestinian people.
This controversy has increased in recent years, when the
relationship between the two sides has witnessed a collapse or
deterioration due to the conflict in Syria and Hamas being forced, in
one way or another, to take a position on this conflict. The question
of the relationship between Tehran and Hamas comes up from time to
time, and the Hamas movement does not resolve this argument
explicitly.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif is attending the UN-sponsored Geneva Conference on Afghanistan,
which opened in the Swiss city on Tuesday. According to Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi, Zarif has taken part in the two-day
conference to clarify Tehran's position on the restoration of peace
to Afghanistan, Tasnim News Agency reported.
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