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TOP STORIES
The Trump administration on Tuesday targeted Iran-backed
Hezbollah with fresh terrorism-related sanctions, as the U.S. moves to
keep up pressure on Tehran and its tools of foreign-policy
abroad despite resistance from European allies. The U.S. Treasury
Department imposed sanctions on four men it says lead Lebanon-based
Hezbollah's operations in Iraq. In a separate but coordinated action,
the State Department added Jawad Nasrallah, the son of the group's
leader, and the al-Mujahidin Brigades, a militia with alleged links to
Hezbollah, to its list of individuals and groups designated as
terrorists.
Austria has rejected hosting a special payment system
designed to help EU countries trade with Iran despite US sanctions, the
Austrian foreign ministry said Tuesday. "We were asked if Austria
would be prepared in principle to host this special purpose
vehicle," foreign ministry spokesman Peter Guschelbauer said. But
after studying the idea "very closely", the Austrian
government "came to the conclusion that at the moment we are not
in a position to host this vehicle," Guschelbauer told the
Austrian APA agency.
At this year's Baghdad International Fair, Iranian
businessmen displayed thick, colorful Persian rugs to impressed
onlookers while others showcased the latest in Iranian manufacturing in
power generators and industrial tools. For Iranian companies, the
annual Baghdad International Fair is a major event, as exporters in
carpets, foodstuffs and heavy equipment look to score sales in Iraq's
import-dependent economy.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
The United States has chosen the wrong path in reimposing
sanctions on Iran and will be defeated, Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani said Wednesday, according to the Tasnim news
agency. Washington reinstated sanctions targeting Iran's oil
industry on Nov. 5 as it seeks to force the Islamic Republic to accept
tougher curbs on its nuclear program, halt its development of ballistic
missiles as well as its support for proxy forces in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon
and Yemen.
Houshang Shahbazi saved the lives of more than 100
passengers and crew in 2012 when he successfully landed a 747
commercial airplane with a disabled wheel carriage. As emergency
workers at Tehran's international airport prepared for the worst,
Shahbazi delicately brought an Iran Air flight to a halt using
only landing gear under the wings.
Iraq has agreed with Iran to exchange Iraqi food items for
Iranian gas and energy supplies, two Iraqi government officials said on
Wednesday. Baghdad is now seeking U.S. approval to allow it to
import Iranian gas which is used in its power stations, and needs more
time to find an alternative source, they said. The sources are a senior
government official and a member of Iraq's ministerial energy
committee. "The American deadline of 45 days to stop
importing Iranian gas is not enough at all for Iraq to find an
alternative source," the first official said.
OPEC and Russian crude production continued to climb in
October, more than offsetting losses from Iran where U.S. sanctions
have curbed output, the oil cartel said on Tuesday. Crude production
from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
rose by 127,000 barrels a day in October, to average 32.9 million
barrels a day, the group said in its monthly report.
Turkey is in close cooperation with the United States, the
European Union and other parties to reduce the negative impact of U.S.
sanctions on its relations with Iran, the text of a speech by Foreign
Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu showed on Wednesday. Cavusoglu was speaking
to a parliamentary committee in Ankara on Wednesday.
The United States has entered a new phase in its
containment strategy against Iran by re-imposing
all sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Tehran is continuing to abide by its commitments under the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), thereby securing the
economic support of China and Europe and defining a more prominent
role for the government in the country's economy. President Hassan
Rouhani's recent cabinet reforms can be viewed as an important step in
this regard.
The tough economic sanctions imposed recently on Iran by
the United States has sent different messages to the Iranian society
and the ruling regime. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted in
regard to the punitive measures on Iran: Secretary Pompeo's remarks signal
the end of four decades of policy appeasement toward Iran. This
reality, along with a willingness by the United States to shift to
maximum pressure, has put the theocracy in a political and economic
impasse, which will restrict regime's capacity to continue its
destructive behavior across the Middle East.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran has executed a currency trader known as the
"Sultan of Coins" for his amassing of gold coins. Vahid
Mazloumin and another member of his currency trading network received
the death penalty for "spreading corruption on earth".
According to the Iranian Students' News Agency, Mr Mazloumin and
associates had hoarded about two tonnes of gold coins. Demand for gold
coins and US dollars in Iran has soared as the country's currency has
declined in value.
Amnesty International is calling on Iran to
immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of members of
the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority being held incommunicado after
reports suggested some have been executed in secret. Unconfirmed
reports on Sunday suggested that Iran may have executed more than 22
people, accusing them of being behind the ISIS-claimed attack on a
military parade in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahwaz last October.
Forty civil society organizations, including Amnesty
International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the New York based
Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) have signed a letter deploring
violation of human rights by the Islamic Republic in Iran and urging UN
member states to support human rights efforts in the country. Meanwhile
they have called upon UN General Assembly to support Canada's
resolution on human rights in Iran that is scheduled to be presented to
the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on November 14, 2018.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took aim at Newsweek
on Monday over a magazine article that he said suggested that the U.S.
was preparing to sanction food being imported into Iran. In a tweet,
Pompeo accused the magazine of "helping" Iranian Foreign
Minister Javad Zarif spread "lies" about the U.S. after Zarif
tweeted a screenshot of the article and accused Pompeo of
threatening to starve Iranians.
The U.S. envoy for hostage affairs Tuesday called on Iran
and Russia to use their influence in Syria to help free Austin Tice, an
American freelance journalist who was taken captive there six years
ago. Robert C. O'Brien, the point man trying to secure the release of
about 20 Americans held unjustly around the world, said some countries
are being "very helpful" in trying to get Tice freed. Asked
which countries were not being helpful, he replied: "The Iranians
are not helpful. And they're heavily involved in Syria."
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Has the CIA lost their tradecraft mojo? Could the same
agency that invented the forerunner to the modern devices like the
Blackberry and iPhone lose dozens of spies in multiple countries from
2009-2013 through something as simple as a Google search? The
terrifying answer is yes. It would be far easier to understand the devastating
losses if it had truly been something you could have found in a movie -
some fabulous invention dreamed up by a brilliant criminal mastermind
seeking to defeat his James Bond. But it wasn't.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran executed two men accused of
economic crimes on Wednesday, part of an effort to stem financial
misconduct as the country faces an economic crisis and new U.S.
sanctions targeting its oil sector. One of the two executed men
was Vahid Mazloumin, dubbed the "sultan of coins" by media, a
trader accused of manipulating the currency market, according to Mizan,
the news site of the Iranian judiciary.
Sarpol-e Zahab was the city hardest hit by a devastating
earthquake that rocked most of Iran's western Kermanshah province Nov.
12, 2017, killing over 600 people. It is also where children still play
a game where they simulate the quake by making the horrible sounds and
frightening each other in the rubble - an indication of just how
entangled the disaster has become with the lives of traumatized
survivors Media reports on the ground show that the misery is far from
over and a complete return to normal life remains a dream to come true.
Dozens of "dollar traders" have been arrested in
the Iranian capital, Tehran, announced Tehran Police Chief Brig. Gen.
Hossein Rahimi, amid fears of a deepening Iranian currency crisis, a
week after the US renewed its sanctions on Iranian oil. "Over
the past few days, 130 dollar brokers have been arrested and taken to
jail," he announced. The Tasnim news agency quoted Rahimi as
saying that selling US dollars in the streets or the market is a crime
and the police will fight it.
Recent statements by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed
Javad Zarif about the spread of money laundering in his country stirred
a wave of angry reactions among opponents to Iran's plans to join money
laundering and counter-terrorism financing agreements. Zarif had
pointed out in controversial statements on Monday that many were
benefitting from money laundering in the country, less than a week
after the guardian council refused to pass a government law adopted by
parliament on combating the financing of terrorism. The Iranian
government is trying to pass domestic laws enabling it to join the
International Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on
Tuesday blamed the Iran-backed Hezbollah for what he called a "big
obstacle" in efforts to form a new government, indicating there
could be no solution if it did not back down.
A crime ring with links to Lebanese Shiite militia
Hezbollah accused of trafficking cocaine for a Colombian drug cartel
and laundering the profits to buy weapons in Syria for the group is to
go on trial in Paris on Tuesday. The main agent accused of being the
cell's ringleader as a middleman for Hezbollah is Mohamad Noureddine, a
44-year-old Lebanese businessman with interests in real estate and
jewellery arrested after an international investigation that took in
seven countries, including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday designated Jawad
Nasrallah, son of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah, a terrorist and accused him of carrying out attacks against
Israel in the West Bank. The department also blacklisted Al-Mujahidin
Brigades (AMB), which it said had links to Hezbollah and had plotted a
number of attacks against Israeli targets from a base in the
Palestinian Territories. "Today's designations seek to deny
Nasrallah and AMB the resources to plan and carry out terrorist
attacks," the State Department said in a statement.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Yemeni Minister of Fisheries Fahd Kafayen accused on
Tuesday Iranian ships of harassing and threatening fishermen in the
Yemeni waters in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The international
community must assume its responsibilities in halting the Iranian violations
and its meddling in Yemeni affairs, he said while overseeing the
delivery of 100 fishing boats in the Shabwa region. He listed the
violations committed by the Iran-backed Houthis against Yemeni
fishermen, such as kidnappings and preventing them from carrying out
their jobs.
Iran is prepared to help Qatar host the soccer World Cup
in 2022, and is offering to provide extra training space or even put
whole islands at its disposal, Iranian Sport Minister Masud Soltanifar
has said. "We can assist with training facilities before the World
Cup, especially with areas that provide similar climates to that of
Qatar," he said in an interview on state TV on November 13. Qatari
officials said they are considering Iran's offer.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iranian authorities have seized more than six tonnes of
heroin destined for Europe and dismantled five international gangs who
were trafficking the drugs, state media reported on Tuesday.
European nationals were among 11 members of one of the main gangs who
were arrested, Iran's intelligence ministry said. A ministry
statement carried on state news agency IRNA did not specify the
nationality of the detainees or the date of the operations.
Iran has been told it could face suspension from the Asian
Cup in January over a law interfering in the national soccer
federation's independence. The Asian Football Confederation says it is
"closely monitoring the current issues" with its top-ranked
team, and will not tolerate "third-party interference in their
member associations." The Malaysia-based AFC says Iran's
parliament announced a law "designating the (soccer federation) as
a non-government public body and prohibiting the engagement of retired
personnel."
The Asian Football Confederation has warned Iran they
could face sanctions ahead of January's Asian Cup over government
interference in their national football association. It follows the
Iranian parliament passing a law barring the employment of retirees in
government, state or public institutions which use state funds or
facilities. Local media reported that the law applied to the current
president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) Mahdi Taj and a
number of other board members.
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