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TOP STORIES
Iran on Friday began large-scale
naval drills at the mouth of the Gulf, which will feature its first
submarine cruise missile launches, state media reported, at a time of
rising tensions with the United States. More than 100 vessels were
taking part in the three-day war games in a vast area stretching from
the Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean, the state news agency IRNA
reported.
Iran has until June to fix its
anti-money laundering and terrorism financing rules or face increased
international scrutiny of its banks, a global watchdog said on
Friday. Last October, the Paris-based Financial Action Task
Force (FATF) watchdog had already given Iran until February to complete
an action plan of reforms that would bring it in line with global
norms, or face consequences.
The European Union is trying to
have it both ways on U.S. sanctions against Iran. It voices
solidarity with the Trump administration's concerns about the Islamic
Republic's rising threat to stability in the Middle East - most
recently by expressing alarm at Iran's ballistic-missile program and
other "unacceptable behavior." At the same time, EU leaders
condone efforts by their member countries to skirt U.S. restrictions
- as if to reassure the Iranian regime that trade can continue
despite the U.S. decision to pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal.
UANI IN THE NEWS
The U.S. administration's maximum pressure campaign
against Iran can receive a boost when the Paris-based
intergovernmental group chaired by the United States, the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF), meets this week. The FATF, which develops
policies to combat money-laundering and terrorist-financing, has the
power to apply what it calls countermeasures that could further
imperil Iran's economy.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
In a stark indication of the
impact of US sanctions and regional political tensions, the UAE's
exports to Iran dropped by over 30 per cent in the first 10 months of
the Iranian year, which began on March 21, 2018. Tumbling exports to
the isolated country were recorded with four of Iran's largest
trading partners - China, Turkey, Germany, and the UAE, according to
data from Iran's customs administration. China, the top exporter of
goods to Iran, saw the value of its imports decline 15 per cent,
while Turkey saw an even steeper fall of 24 per cent.
To Iranians, Shiraz is known as
the city of poetry and roses. To Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, it
has become the focus of a two-month battle to retrieve a Boeing
Co. jet that's been trapped in the net of U.S. sanctions. The 737 Max
aircraft made an emergency landing in Shiraz on Dec. 14 after
developing engine problems while en route from Dubai to Oslo.
Passengers were flown out the next day, but the stricken plane has
been grounded in the ancient city at the foot of Iran's Zagros
mountains ever since.
Renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran's
oil exports are giving a boost to the profits of one of India's
smaller state-owned banks, which has been struggling under the weight
of a mountain of bad loans. Kolkata-based Uco Bank expects
its privileged status processing refiners' payments for Iranian oil
shipments to add more than 8 billion rupees ($110 million) to annual
earnings, according to Chief Executive Officer Atul Kumar Goel.
Long before being famous for its
firebrand hardliners, problematic missile and nuclear programs,
chaotic foreign relations and compulsory hijab, Iran was always known
as an oil-rich country. Yet the scarcity of gasoline has always been
a major problem in the Islamic Republic's domestic energy market.
Like most other things about Iran, there is yet another paradox about
gasoline which remains a mystery to some observers.
As Iran continues to bear the
brunt of punishing economic sanctions imposed by the United States,
the regime is exploring creative new ways to raise much-needed
capital. Among the strategies: exporting art. "The international
sanctions against Iran exclude cultural products," Minister of
Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi was quoted by
Jordanian media as saying last week during a festival in Tehran.
"We should take the export of art products seriously and use
this opportunity."
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Islamic Republic's Intelligence
Ministry announced on Thursday the arrest of 13 "elements"
of the Islamic State group who it said had plans to launch
"military" operations in Iran's Western Kurdistan province.
The state financed ILNA quoted the ministry as saying the arrested
individuals were operating in two teams "planning to plant bombs
and kill people, as well as assassinate Sunni religious leaders"
but were identified and arrested.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iranian security has arrested
six Iranian Christian converts in the northern city of Rasht during
February, according to sources who spoke to Radio Farda. Converting
to another religion is forbidden in Islam and in countries where
religious law applies converts can be prosecuted. Iran regularly
arrests Christian converts, whose numbers have been rising in recent
years, reaching tens of thousands or more according to some
estimates.
The Iranian authorities must
immediately halt plans to execute three young men who are on death
row for crimes that took place while they were under the age of 18,
said Amnesty International. The organization has learned that
Mohammad Kalhori, Barzan Nasrollahzadeh and Shayan Saeedpour, who
were all convicted for separate crimes that took place while they
were minors, are at risk of imminent execution.
One year ago, the quiet,
upper-class Tehran neighborhood of Golestan Haftom became a war zone.
In late January 2018, bloody clashes broke out between dervishes of
the Gonabadi Sufi order, a beleaguered religious minority in Iran,
and the security forces of the Islamic Republic. When the carnage
ended three weeks later, an untold number of dervishes were dead, as
were three members of the police and Baseej (Basij)
(paramilitary regime supporters).
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
"The Iranian navy launched
"large-scale" drills in the Strait of Hormuz and
the Sea of Oman in a show of its maritime force amid escalating
tensions with the United States in the region. Rear Admiral
Hossein Khanzadi, commander of Iran's navy, said the manoeuvres began
on Thursday and will run for a week. For the first time, the
exercises will feature missiles launched from a submarine."
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
When Iran's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the final decision-maker on major
matters of state, recently announced there would be a "second
step" of the Islamic revolution, details were vague.
However, on Feb. 11, Khamenei's website published a comprehensive
statement on the "second step." Accompanying the statement
was an illustration of Khamenei taking a step forward while
leading a group of engineers, scientists and athletes.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran's foreign minister has
accused Israel of "adventurism" for its attacks in Syria
and says he cannot rule out a military confrontation between Iran and
Israel. In an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung
published on Thursday, February 21, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that
Iran is in Syria by the invitation of the host government, but Israel
with its attacks violates Syrian and Lebanese airspace and
international law.
The Warsaw Conference on Middle East Peace and Security
last week didn't seem to deliver much in the way of peace or security
for the assorted countries attending. There was, to be sure, a lot of
tough talk against Iran and the projection of a united front as
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior Arab
officials all gathered in one room. Yet far away from the bright
lights of the Trump-engineered summit, on the business end of the
battle against Iran, Israeli security officials have a singular
preoccupation: suitcases.
Hezbollah is "well-entrenched" in Venezuela -
and will likely stay that way even if there is a regime change,
according to RAND political scientist and analyst Colin Clarke. In a
commentary, Clarke said no one should be surprised at Hezbollah's
presence - or its incentive.
CHINA & IRAN
Amid the geopolitical quagmire
among Iran, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. over a number of issues ranging
from Tehran's nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile program and
its regional hegemony overtures which have Riyadh scrambling for a
response, China is joining the fray. Yesterday, Chinese President Xi
Jinping told the speaker of Iran's parliament that China's
desire to develop close ties with Iran will remain unchanged,
regardless of the international situation.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
The commander of the overseas
arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards threatened Saudi Arabia with
revenge over a suicide bomb attack in southeastern Iran on Feb. 13
that killed 27 Guards members, the semi-official Tasnim news agency
reported on Thursday. "Saudi Arabia is building its
regional influence with money only. This is a false influence and a
failure...We will take revenge for our martyrs...(and) it might be
anywhere around the world," Qasem Soleimani said, according to
Tasnim.
Representatives of international aid and humanitarian
organizations operating in war-wracked Yemen say they are
increasingly being targeted by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a
scale that could jeopardize efforts to assist millions of civilians
caught in what is already the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Aid
workers told Foreign Policy that they are facing threats of attack in
the areas controlled by the Houthis, which includes western parts of
the country and Yemen's capital, Sanaa.
Yemen's government has urged the US to designate the
Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation, citing the Iran-backed
rebels' human rights record. The Minister of Information, Muammar Al
Iryani, said late on Wednesday that the crimes committed by some
members of the Houthi group amount to war crimes. "Since the
start of the war, Houthi rebels have mobilised a generation of Yemeni
youths, in areas that are under their control, with terror and
aggressive ideologies," Mr Al Iryani said during a meeting with
the US Ambassador to Yemen, Mathew Tueller.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Jordan's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs announced on Wednesday that Iran has informed the senior
Jordanian diplomat about its decision to release three Jordanian
detainees, who were held by Tehran around two months ago on charges
of "mistakenly" entering the country's territorial waters
while on a fishing trip off the UAE. Sufian Qudah, Jordan's Foreign
Ministry spokesman, said in a statement that the Iranian Foreign
Ministry has informed the Jordanian embassy of the decision.
MISCELLANEOUS
Amnesty International (AI) has
listed Iran among the fifty countries using "bullying techniques
and repressive regulations" to prevent non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) from doing their work. The February 21 report,
titled Laws Designed to Silence: The Global Crackdown on Civil
Society Organizations, accuses Tehran of suppressing NGOs by
designing laws and regulations to criminalize and otherwise hinder
their activity.
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