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TOP STORIES
Hackers based in Iran and
implicated in attacks on the U.S. and Western allies were behind
a computer breach of Australia's Parliament and political
parties, a U.S. cyber research company alleged. This month's attacks
were part of a global espionage campaign that cybersecurity companies
say began last year and that has mostly targeted the Five Eyes
intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., Canada, the U.K.,
Australia and New Zealand.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed
Javad Zarif accused Israel of engaging in "adventurism"
with its bombing campaigns in Syria and said he could not rule out
the possibility of a military conflict between the
countries. Zarif told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that
Iran was in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government, while
Israel was violating Lebanese and Syrian air space, as well as
international law.
Two years ago Hossein was
optimistic about the future of his booming Iranian oil services
businesses. Iran's landmark nuclear agreement with world powers had
lifted the economy out of recession, western companies were
re-engaging with the Islamic republic and his revenue was surging.
But in May last year everything changed. US president Donald Trump
pulled out of the nuclear deal and began the process of reimposing
American sanctions.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
President Trump understands that
Iran is the root cause of terrorism in the Middle East and
beyond and poses a danger to America and our allies. This is why
the president is so concerned by the Islamic Republic's
support for terrorist groups, its intervention in foreign wars, its
creation of unrest in sovereign countries, and its determination to
possess nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN
Danny Danon sent a letter to the members of the United Nations
Security Council on Wednesday, calling on them to act against Iran's
nuclear threat. In his letter, Danon mentioned that Iran had
a failed attempt to launch a satellite into space at the
beginning of February, and was carried by a rocket that is capable of
carrying a nuclear head.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Oil prices hovered just below
2019 highs on Thursday, bolstered by OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S.
sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. U.S. West Texas Intermediate
(WTI) crude oil futures were at $57.30 per barrel at 0046 GMT, up 14
cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last settlement and not far off
their 2019 high of $57.55 reached the previous
day. International Brent crude futures had yet to trade, but
also hit a 2019 peak the day before, at $67.38 per barrel.
Budget carrier Norwegian Air
expects to fly a plane out of Iran in the next few days after it made
an emergency landing there in December and became stranded, partly
due to U.S. sanctions on Tehran. The plane took off from Dubai
on Dec. 14 bound for Oslo but had to land in Shiraz in Iran because
of problems with one of its engines.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Commander of the IRGC Aerospace
Force, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said on Wednesday that
Iran has thwarted an attempt to infiltrate its missile program
through a range of indigenous equipment and spare parts. IRGC news
agencies also quoted Hajizadeh denying recent claims made by US
officials that Washington has managed to sabotage Tehran's missile
program, describing them as "a very big lie".
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The US State Department released
a video showing what it called a well-looked after Iranian embassy in
Washington and sending a message to the Iranian people that all the
items at the location are being maintained once diplomatic ties are
restored. The Trump administration's special representative for Iran,
Brian Hook, is shown in the highly-produced video strolling past the
embassy.
U.S. prosecutors announced
last week that a former Air Force intelligence specialist defected to
Iran, and charged her with espionage for allegedly sharing sensitive
national security information with the Tehran regime. The revelation
has reopened an uncomfortable conversation about treason. It is also
raising questions about the murky world of Americans who cooperate
with the Iranian regime. Hundreds of thousands of American citizens,
through heritage or marriage, are eligible to become citizens of
Iran.
As a former CIA station chief, I
know that the men and women who serve in the military and civilian
components of the U.S. intelligence community are loyal, dedicated
and brave American patriots. Yet on extremely rare occasions, a few
switch sides - betraying their country and colleagues to spy for
one of our foreign adversaries. Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, a former
Air Force counterintelligence specialist who once held a top-secret
security clearance, stands accused of being one of these disloyal
Americans.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Iran's navy says it will hold an
annual drill in the strategic Strait of Hormuz as pressure mounts on the
country months after the United States re-imposed sanctions on Iran,
targeting its vital oil sector. The strait is located at the mouth of
the Persian Gulf and is crucial to global energy supplies, with about
a third of all oil traded at sea passing through it.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
After a calm period in the
Iranian markets, the Iranian rial has returned to drop against the
dollar over the past two days. Tehran Police Chief Brigadier General
Hossein Rahimi announced the arrest of 20 active "brokers"
in the dollar market. There are more than 190 detainees on charges of
selling dollars in light of the drop in the local currency, ISNA
quoted Rahimi as saying.
With the signatures of 94 lawmakers, a bill has been
presented to the Iranian parliament's presiding board,
titled, "Support for Whistleblowers of Economic and
Administrative Corruption." If approved by the presiding
board, the bill could become law and facilitate the government
campaign to fight corruption. Tackling corruption has been on the
Iranian government's agenda since the mid-2000s. In fact, the
abovementioned bill was initiated based on a 2008 law,
"Promotion of Administrative Compliance."
2018 was a busy year for Iran's
former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who began a transformation from
statesman to opposition leader. Ahmadinejad is trying to restore the
popularity he lost during his second presidential term, especially
following the Green Movement protests in 2009. The question is: will
Ahmadinejad's methods work or is he just a controversial has-been
with good a good Twitter account? After Ahmadinejad left office
in 2013, he kept a low public profile for about a year.
"A social Democrat pursuing political revolution in the United
States," wrote Iran's official IRNA news agency
of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders after he launched his
campaign for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020
presidential race for the White House. Sanders introduced his fight
as one about "creating a government based on the principles of
economic, social, racial and environmental justice." Based on
that agenda, "Sanders has come forth with 'revolution' as his
slogan," reported leading Iranian business
daily Donya-e Eqtesad.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iranian-led efforts to upgrade
Hezbollah's missile arsenal in Lebanon represents the most dangerous
regional flashpoint that could trigger an Israeli counter-strike,
according to UK defence think-tank RUSI. The smuggling of
precision-guided missile systems into Lebanon represents the most
"serious risk" of starting a major war with Iran that could
involve the United States, according to new research by the group
published on Thursday.
CHINA & IRAN
China's desire to develop close
ties with Iran will remain unchanged, regardless of the international
situation, President Xi Jinping told the speaker of Iran's
parliament, ahead of Thursday's visit to Beijing by Saudi Arabia's
crown prince. China has traditionally played little role in
Middle East conflicts or diplomacy, despite relying on the region for
oil, with Iran its fourth largest supplier last year, but has been
trying to raise its profile, especially in the Arab world.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraq is close to finalizing a
deal that will allow it to import Iranian energy despite American
sanctions by avoiding the U.S. dollar, an Iraqi official said.
"A big delegation came from the Iranian central bank and the
idea was proposed to trade with Iran in euros," Abdulkarim
Hashim Mustafa, special adviser to Iraq's prime minister, said in an
interview Tuesday in Moscow on the sidelines of a Middle East
conference hosted by the Kremlin-backed Valdai discussion club.
"There are other ideas to pay in Iraqi dinars, or in oil."
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Pakistan has rejected allegations by senior Iranian
officials that it is harbouring the armed group, Jaish al-Adl, which
claimed responsibility for last week's attack that killed 27 members
of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the southern
province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
France is in touch with Iran to
improve the conditions of a French woman who was arrested in October
on the Gulf island of Kish for allegedly signing an illegal mining
contract, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on
Wednesday. Nelly Erin-Cambervelle, a 59-year-old businesswoman
from Martinique, had been on the island as part of her import-export
business and her arrest until now had not been made public.
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