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TOP STORIES
The UN General Assembly on
Monday approved a resolution urging Iran to stop its widespread use
of arbitrary detention and expressing serious concern at its
"alarmingly high" use of the death penalty. The
Canadian-drafted resolution was adopted by a vote of 84 to 30 with 67
abstentions. The resolution "strongly urges" Iran to
eliminate discrimination against women in law and practice and
expresses "serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and
restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion
or belief."
Iran called on the European
Union on Monday to press U.S. authorities to allow delivery of Airbus
passenger aircraft purchased by Tehran, Iran's student news agency
ISNA reported. To upgrade its aging fleet, Iran Air ordered 200
passenger aircraft - 100 from Airbus, 80 from Boeing and 20 from
Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR - after a 2015 nuclear deal was
reached between Iran and six major powers.
Israel asked the United States for assistance in
destroying Hezbollah-dug attack tunnels on the Lebanese side of the
border, according to Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. The report said that
Israel had asked the Trump Administration to pressure the Lebanese Army
into cooperating with UNIFIL in Lebanon, to locate and destroy
Hezbollah's attack tunnels, while Israel carries out its Operation
Northern Shield on the Israeli side of the border.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
A former Iranian nuclear
official and a confidant of Iran's Supreme Leader has attacked the
policy of relying on Europe to help Iran in trade, essentially
circumventing U.S. sanctions. Saeed Jalili, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's
representative to the influential Expediency Discerning Council (EDC)
said, "After seven long months, are the Western Europeans going
to run the SPV and save the [nuclear] deal or not?" Jalili was
referring to a mechanism designed by EU to keep the Iran nuclear deal
alive after Washington dropped it last May.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Chilean law enforcement
officials are investigating the delivery of Iranian crude oil to the
state energy company ENAP as a possible source of the noxious fumes
that caused hundreds of people to seek hospital treatment in August,
the prosecutor's office told Reuters. Police and prosecutors
raided ENAP's oil refinery and maritime port in Hualpen and
Talcahuano, two adjoining towns 315 miles south of Santiago, early on
Monday morning, ENAP confirmed.
Iran's revenues from crude oil
and oil products surged by 55 percent between March and October, the
first seven months of the Iranian year, compared to the same period
of the previous year, the Islamic Republic News Agency
(IRNA) reported on Monday, quoting data from the Central Bank of
Iran. Between March and October, Iran's oil exports revenues were
helped by high volumes of exports early in the period-with Iran's oil
exports at record in April and May, and later on with the high
oil prices in the late summer and early fall.
In Iran's hierarchical political
system, it is rare to see an outsider granted a senior position. That
is why the Islamic republic's newest weapon in its battle with US
president Donald Trump is so unusual. Laya Joneydi, a 50-year-old
academic, is a woman with no ties to conventional politicians and no
personal stories from Iran's revolutionary years. But as Iran's
vice-president for legal affairs she has already secured a rare if
symbolic victory over the US on the global stage.
In recent months, it's been
difficult to hear any positive statements coming from Iran's troubled
oil sector, particularly since President Trump decided in May to
reinstate tough sanctions over what he sees as Iran's non-compliance
with the 2015 nuclear accord it reached with the U.S. and other
western powers. However, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan
Zanganeh praised OPEC on Saturday over what he claimed was
the oil-producing cartel's ability to reach an oil output agreement
despite intense internal political differences.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The embattled Iranian government
is increasingly resorting to the most severe punishment - execution -
as it tries to tamp down a wave of financial crimes amid an economic
downturn fueled in part by tough U.S. sanctions, according to
activists and human rights groups. Newly formed "corruption
courts" have overseen high-profile executions, including the
hanging of a notorious smuggler whom Tehran's police labeled the
"Sultan of Coins" and his alleged accomplice.
The lawyer of an Iranian-British
dual citizen imprisoned in Iran told the official news agency IRNA
that his client will ask for conditional release from jail. Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Tehran in April 2016, while
visiting her family. She was convicted on an ambiguous charge of "sedition"
and sentenced to five years in prison.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran President Hassan Rouhani's
son-in-law resigned on Monday just two days after his appointment as
head of Iran's geological survey sparked accusations of nepotism,
official news agency IRNA reported. Kambiz Mehdizadeh, in his early
thirties and reportedly married to Rouhani's daughter in a low-key
wedding this August, was appointed to the senior position in the
industries and mining ministry on Saturday. The move sparked
criticism on social media and from some lawmakers.
As Iranian Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei's health waivers, the central government's control over the
periphery appears increasingly weak, a news report has claimed.
According to the National Interest report, there are ample
signs that Iranian security forces are beginning to lose their grip.
The report cites the history of political protests in the country and
also lists the various uprisings over the years.
In recent years, the Turkmen
government has refused to toe the line of the United States and
Europe, continuing gas sales to Iran, despite misunderstandings over
costs affecting the economic relations of both countries. These
issues must be ironed out once and for all if any increase in ties is
to be realized at a time when Iran desperately needs allies in the
region. According to 2017 figures, the volume of trade between
Iran and Turkmenistan has already grown to a value of $1.7 billion.
Mahmoud Vazei, the Iranian president's chief of staff, has set out
the goal of pushing this to an overall value of $60 billion.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Israel's efforts against Hezbollah after the discovery
of the attack tunnels under the Lebanese border enter the diplomatic
sphere Wednesday.
Russia, Iran and Turkey are
close to agreement on composition of a Syrian constitutional
committee that could pave the way for drafting a new charter followed
by elections, diplomats said on Monday. The foreign ministers of the
three nations, who support opposing sides in Syria's nearly eight-year
war, meet for talks on Tuesday in Geneva, where they are expected to
seek the United Nations' blessing for their joint proposal, they
added.
On Dec. 16, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab
leader to visit Syria since the civil war began seven years ago. From
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad greeting Bashir at the airport to
Bashir's comments in support of Syria retaking its important place in
the region, the meeting was heavily publicized by Syria's state-run
news agency, SANA. Officials said the purpose of the meeting, which
lasted for one day at the presidential palace without the presence of
journalists, was to discuss bilateral ties.
For a brief moment earlier this month, the possibility of a
regional confrontation engaging Israel on two fronts
appeared to increase, when Israel launched Operation
Northern Shield, an open-ended action to destroy Hezbollah
tunnels from Lebanon into northern Israel. "[We
are] operating decisively and responsibly on all fronts
simultaneously ... [against] any party that "tries to
harm the State of Israel," said Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu hours after announcing the
operation on Dec. 4. The Israeli army moved artillery
to the north and called up reserves, heightening
the atmosphere of uncertainty.
Israel's Operation Northern
Shield, which recently exposed Hezbollah's cross-border attack
tunnels, has prompted the perennial question: Are Israel and
Hezbollah about to go to war in Lebanon? Long before these latest
revelations, conventional wisdom held that another war
between Hezbollah and Israel was simply a matter of time. While
the date remained uncertain, the results were thought to be
predetermined.
GULF STATES, YEMEN & IRAN
Yemen's internationally recognised government vows to
include the Houthis in country's political future if they disarm and
cut ties with Iran, with a ceasefire in Hodeidah from Tuesday
providing the first test of the rebels' intentions. A ceasefire went into
effect at midnight on Monday, with early reports suggesting sporadic
clashes continued in Hodeidah into Tuesday morning. "The Houthis
will be a part of Yemen's political framework," Foreign Minister
Khalid Al Yamani told The National following the conclusion of peace
negotiations in Sweden last week.
Qatar's Doha Forum has been criticized for providing
Iran's regime with a platform to push its agenda, including
excoriating US policy. In gathering together Iran and Turkey's
foreign ministers, Qatari leaders, US Congressional Democrats, and a
plethora of other voices, the forum provided a place for discussions
about the Middle East as the region shifts from the ISIS threat to an
US-Iranian confrontation.
CYBERWARFARE
High-profile cyber attacks on
U.S. military and civilian infrastructure networks and a possible
proxy war with Iran top the list of possible national security
threats facing the U.S. in the coming year, according to a new survey
of foreign policy and national security analysts. The assessment,
released by the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, said there
was a "moderate" chance of one of the two threats occurring
in the coming year, but noted that either would have a severe impact
on U.S. interests across the globe.
According to a
cyber security research lab Certfa Iran backed hackers targeted
U.S. government officials, think-tank employees and nuclear
scientists around the world. The hackers used sophisticated
"Phishing attacks through email or social media and messaging
accounts of public figures." The attackers allegedly also
managed to breach two-factor authentication.
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