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TOP STORIES
The U.S. embassy in Germany said on Thursday it was
seeking additional details about a new European mechanism to
facilitate non-dollar trade with Iran, but did not expect it to
affect its effort to apply maximum economic pressure on Tehran.
President Donald Trump on
Wednesday called U.S. intelligence chiefs "extremely passive and
naive" on Iran and dismissed their assessments of the threat
posed by North Korea a day after they contradicted his views during
congressional testimony. His comments drew criticism from some of his
fellow Republicans in Congress, some of whom have introduced
legislation that would counter Trump's policies on national security
in an unusual break from their party's leader.
The US ambassador to Germany
called on European countries with diplomats in the Islamic Republic
of Iran to condemn the January public hanging of man who was
found guilty of violating the country's lethal anti-gay law. The US
envoy, Richard Grenell, wrote on his Twitter feed on Sunday,
"Many of our European allies have Embassies in Tehran. This
barbaric act must not go unanswered. Speak up."
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Nearly all of Iran's advanced
centrifuges used for enriching uranium potentially towards a nuclear
bomb are failing, one of the world's leading nuclear weapons experts
revealed to The Jerusalem Post this week. Many have been
worried that if Iran succeeds in developing advanced centrifuges, the
machines which spin rapidly to enrich uranium, it could "sneak
out" a nuclear weapon in a matter of weeks without being
detected.
Iran is carrying out its
commitments under its nuclear deal with major powers, International
Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in the text of a speech
posted online by his agency on Wednesday. "Iran is implementing
its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA," Amano said,
repeating his position on the deal, known officially as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action. "It is essential that Iran
continues to fully implement those commitments."
Tehran says that China has
slowed down working on its redesign of a heavy water reactor in Iran,
following the U.S. withdrawal from Tehran's nuclear agreement with
world powers. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's nuclear agency, was
quoted by state-run news agency IRNA as saying that "the Chinese
side decreased the speed of cooperation with us despite their
commitments." He says Iran has "alternative" choices
if China cannot not fulfill its job.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog policing Iran's deal with
major powers said on Wednesday that attempts to pressure it on
inspections were "counter-productive and extremely
harmful", though it stopped short of naming those responsible.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Iranian crude oil imports by Asia's top four buyers
dropped to the lowest volume in three years in 2018 amid U.S.
sanctions on Tehran, but China and India stepped up imports in
December after getting waivers from Washington. Asia's top four
buyers of Iranian crude - China, India, Japan and South Korea -
imported a total 1.31 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2018, down 21
percent from the previous year, data from the countries showed.
France, Germany and Britain have set up a European
mechanism for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions,
although diplomats acknowledged it is unlikely to yield big
commercial transactions Tehran says it needs to keep a nuclear deal
afloat.
Iran may be discussed during Chancellor Angela Merkel's
trip to Japan next week but other countries are not immediately
expected to join a European mechanism to facilitate non-dollar trade
with Iran, a senior German government official said on Thursday.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
A U.S.-born anchor for Iran's
state-run Press TV arrived in Iran on Wednesday after 10 days of
detention in the United States, Press TV reported, after U.S.
authorities said she had testified as a material witness in an
undisclosed federal investigation. The anchor, Marzieh Hashemi,
was freed on Thursday.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran's theological seats of learning appear set to face major
difficulties in the coming Iranian year (beginning March 21) as the
government has significantly reduced their budget allocations.
Various institutions and seminaries receive money from the government
to promote religion and train clerics. In the budget bill submitted
by the administration to the parliament, religious institutions and
seminaries are facing a serious reduction in their annual budgets.
Dog-walking has reportedly been
banned from public places in Iran's capital. "Certain people who
bring their dogs to public places cause panic and anxiety among the
public," Tehran's chief of police Hossein Rahimi told state news
agency Young Journalists Club, or YJC. He added that local police
have obtained permission from the judiciary to confront dog owners
walking their pets in public. "People who walk their dogs in
public places shall be dealt with severely," he told YJC.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
As Moscow urges Damascus
and Ankara to cooperate and to revive the Adana agreement,
Russian-Iranian relations in Syria face their next challenge. The
controversy between Moscow and Tehran has always been a
part of the Syrian conflict. However, the debates between the
two have started to become more political in nature, influencing the
future of Syria's armed forces and other military entities.
The top US intelligence chief
warned that Israel's ongoing strikes against Iranian targets in
Syria increase the threat of regional war. "We assess that Iran
seeks to avoid a major armed conflict with Israel," Dan Coats,
the director of national intelligence, told the US Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence on Tuesday. "However, Israeli strikes
that result in Iranian casualties increase the likelihood of Iranian
conventional retaliation against Israel."
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
U.S. lawmakers said on Wednesday they expect Congress
will pass a resolution ending U.S. involvement in the Yemen war,
which would force President Donald Trump to issue the first veto of
his presidency in order to continue supporting the Saudi-led
coalition.
The Arab Coalition in Yemen shot
down a "Iranian specification" drone launched by Houthi
rebels towards Abha, a Saudi city in the kingdom's south-west. Saudi
authorities "tracked an unidentified object (over) the city of
Abha and dealt with it in accordance with the rules of
engagement", coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Malki said in
a statement published by the Saudi state news agency on Wednesday.
While Israel is once again pushing back against the
Iranian buildup in Syria, Iran is marking the fourth anniversary of
its rise to power on Saudi Arabia's border. Out of sight and out of
the headlines, the Yemen conflict should not escape the attention of
those concerned about the future of the region, and Iran's role in
it.
MISCELLANEOUS
Asghar Farhadi, the most
successful director in the history of Iranian cinema, may have little
interest in global politics, but global politics are interested in
him. On Jan. 27, 2017, less than a week after "The
Salesman," Farhadi's seventh feature film, was nominated for an
Academy Award for best foreign-language movie, President Trump
signed Executive Order 13769, more commonly known as the Muslim ban.
Under its terms, citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, Iran
among them, were barred from entering the United States for 90 days -
apparently the time it would take the new president to figure out
"what the hell is going on."
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