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TOP STORIES
France on Wednesday condemned a
failed Iranian satellite launch that it said used technology
applicable to long-range missiles and urged Tehran to stop all
ballistic tests which are not in line with U.N. resolutions. It
was the latest in a string of French comments expressing irritation
at Iran's ongoing ballistic missile program despite attempts over the
last two years by France and other European powers to open talks on
the subject with Iranian authorities.
Iranian hackers have congregated
since at least 2002 in online forums to share tips on the best ways
to create successful cyberattacks. Those conversations have given
birth to some of the most significant global cybersecurity incidents,
including devastating attacks on Saudi Aramco, attacks against the
public-facing websites of large banks and espionage campaigns on a
wide range of Western targets, according to new research by
cybersecurity intelligence firm Recorded Future.
Iranian authorities carried
out arbitrary mass arrests and serious due process violations during
2018 in response to protests across the country over deteriorating
economic conditions, perceptions of corruption, and the lack of
political and social freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today in
its World Report 2019. Authorities tightened their grip on
peaceful activism, detaining lawyers, human rights defenders, and
women's rights activists.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu told members of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday that the US withdrawal from the 2016
nuclear deal with Iran was the most important event of 2018,
according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office.
"The most important thing that happened in the last year in the
Middle East was President Trump's decision to leave the nuclear
deal which led to a weakened the Iranian economy," Netanyahu
said.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Iran will be ready for a new
satellite launch in a few months' time after a failed attempt this
week, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, ignoring U.S. and
European warnings to avoid such activity. Western officials say
the missile technology used in such launches could be applied to
delivering a nuclear weapon. Iran's bid to send a satellite,
named Payam, into orbit failed on Tuesday as its launching rocket did
not reach adequate speed in its third stage.
The recent resignation of Iran's
minister of health, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, led to many
speculations. Officially, insufficient allocations in the next
Iranian year (beginning March 21) was cited as the reason, but
commentators also referred to factional infighting within the Hassan
Rouhani administration as well as shifting interests as a result of
renewed sanctions.
MISSILE PROGRAM
France on Wednesday condemned a
failed Iranian satellite launch that it said used technology
applicable to long-range missiles, hours after the United States
accused Tehran of posing a missile threat. "The Iranian
ballistic program is a source of concern for the international
community and France," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von
der Muhll said. Paris urged Tehran to stop all ballistic tests which
are not in line with UN resolutions.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has
ended her three-day hunger strike following a decision by Iranian
prison authorities to grant her medical treatment. The former charity
worker and her fellow prisoner, Narges Mohammadi, called the strike
after allegedly being denied healthcare by Iranian authorities. Ms
Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband claimed that she had not been granted
medical attention for lumps in her breasts, severe neck pain, and
numbness in her arms and legs.
The Iranian ambassador to the UK
has told the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe that his
campaign to secure her release from a Tehran jail is reducing her
chances of freedom. Speaking in response to the announcement by
the Free Nazanin campaign that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had brought her
three-day hunger strike to an end after prison authorities
agreed she could receive medical treatment for a lump in her breast, the
Iranian ambassador, Hamid Baeidinejad, claimed that she had already
been given full access to the required facilities.
"We urge the Government to
immediately and unconditionally provide Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and
Narges Mohammadi with access to the appropriate treatment and care
they have repeatedly requested in light of their serious health
concerns," the experts said in a statement. According to the
human rights experts, Ms. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual UK-Iranian
national, has been denied appropriate health care by the Iranian
authorities, after finding lumps in her breasts, enduring severe neck
pain, and numbness in her arms and legs."
The Islamic Republic's
Prosecutor-General has expressed regret that a number of "divine
punishments" are set aside to save Iran from being condemned by
international bodies. Divine punishments in Islam, Hudud, refers to
punishments that under Islamic law are mandated and fixed by God,
including Qisas, meaning "retaliation in kind", "eye
for an eye", "nemesis" or retributive justice, cutting
the hand of a thief, and flogging.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
A prominent American-born
journalist working for an Iranian state-run satellite television
channel has been arrested in the United States, the broadcaster said
Wednesday. The reported action, which has not been confirmed by the
American authorities, was condemned by Iranian officials. The
journalist, Marzieh Hashemi, who has lived in Iran since 2009, is an
anchor at the channel, Press TV. It said that Ms. Hashemi, 59, was
arrested at the St. Louis airport on Sunday and transferred by the
F.B.I. to Washington, where she remained in custody.
Iran kept up its criticism
Thursday of the FBI's apparent arrest of an American anchorwoman from
Iran's state-run English-language TV channel, with its foreign
minister saying "she's done nothing but journalism." The
hard-line Vatan-e Emrooz paper criticized the detention of Press TV's
Marzieh Hashemi as "Saudi-style behavior with a critical
journalist." That's a reference to the Oct. 2 assassination of
Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in
Istanbul.
Iraq could bear the brunt if
conflict intensifies between Iran and the United States, a think-tank
study said Wednesday. The International Crisis Group, which
researches ways to prevent war, interviewed officials around the
world including Iran for an extensive report on the state of the 2015
denuclearization accord between Tehran and major powers.
US Special Representative for
Iran, Brian Hook, has condemned the terror activities conducted by
Iran that aim to destabilise the region during a roundtable
discussion in Bahrain. "Bahrain is a key partner in our Iran
strategy. Iran's support of proxies here in Bahrain is part of a much
larger strategy to destabilise the region. Iran must stop testing and
proliferating missiles, stop launching and developing nuclear-capable
missiles, and stop supporting its militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq,
Bahrain, and Yemen."
The Trump administration will
roll out a new strategy for a more aggressive space-based missile
defense system to protect against existing threats from North
Korea and Iran and counter advanced weapon systems being
developed by Russia and China. Details about the
administration's Missile Defense Review - the first compiled since
2010 - are expected to be released during President Donald
Trump's visit Thursday to the Pentagon with top members of his administration.
US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo's Middle East tour brings to mind the sport of hurdling, as he
tries to overcome obstacles while eyeing the last objective:
Confronting Iran. The list of hurdles grows long: The Kurds, Turks,
Syrians (both the government and fighting factions), Israelis,
Iraqis, Saudis and Qataris. However, Pompeo left the region before
completing the list.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
At the height of his power in
1971, Iran's Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi drew world leaders to a
wind-swept luxury tent city, offering a lavish banquet of food flown
in from Paris to celebrate 2,500 years of Persian monarchy in the
ruins of Persepolis. Only eight years later, his own empire would be
in ruins. The fall of the Peacock Throne and the rise of the Islamic
Revolution in Iran grew out of the shah's ever-tightening control
over the country as other Middle East monarchies toppled.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
US President Donald J Trump's
threat to devastate Turkey's economy if Turkish troops attack Syrian
Kurds allied with the United States in the wake of the announced
withdrawal of American forces potentially serves his broader goal of
letting regional forces fight for common goals like countering
Iranian influence in Syria.
Iran will keep military forces
in Syria, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on
Wednesday, defying Israeli threats that they might be targeted if
they do not leave the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israeli forces would continue to
attack Iranians in Syria and warned them "to get out of there
fast, because we will continue with our resolute policy".
IRAQ & IRAN
Iranian firms should have a key
role in rebuilding Iraq after the fight against the Islamic State
group, Tehran's top diplomat said Wednesday in a rare meeting with
Iraqi paramilitary units. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke
in Iraq's holy city of Karbala to commanders of the Hashed al-Shaabi,
which is dominated by Iran-backed Shiite groups opposed by
Washington.
Iran is ready to sign a deal with Iraq to drop the
bilateral customs tariffs to zero, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif said while on a visit to Iraq on Wednesday. "The
Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to zero tariff rates between the
two countries," Iran's Fars news agency quoted the foreign
minister as saying. According to Zarif, Iran exports US$2
billion worth of gas and electricity to Iraq every year, despite the
U.S. sanctions on Iran.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran has stopped issuing tourist
visas for Poles, Polish private Radio Zet said on Wednesday.
Earlier this month Iran protested at Poland jointly hosting a global
summit with the United States focused on the Middle East,
particularly Iran to be held in February. On Wednesday
afternoon the Iranian embassy in Warsaw was not immediately available
for comment.
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