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TOP STORIES
Companies using a European
initiative meant to facilitate trade with Iran face U.S. retaliation,
President Donald Trump's envoy in Brussels said in a warning that
casts even greater doubts about the plan's effectiveness in
contending with U.S. sanctions. "Anyone actually using it to
trade on anything other than humanitarian activity is going to be
sanctioned by the United States," U.S. Ambassador to the
European Union Gordon Sondland said in a Feb. 7 interview.
The United States on Thursday
vowed to remain "relentless" in pressuring Iran to deter
its missile program after the Islamic Republic unveiled a new
ballistic weapon days after testing a cruise missile. Iran's
Revolutionary Guards unveiled a new ballistic missile with a range of
1,000 kilometers (620 miles), their official news agency Sepah News
reported.
The Iranian government arrested,
imprisoned or executed at least 860 journalists in the three decades
between the Islamic revolution in 1979 and 2009, according to
documents leaked to media monitoring group Reporters Sans Frontieres
(RSF). At a news conference in Paris attended by Iranian human rights
lawyer Shirin Ebadi, recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, RSF
said whistleblowers had passed on 1.7 million records detailing
judicial proceedings against an array of citizens, including
minorities, government opponents and journalists.
UANI IN THE NEWS
When President Trump stood in the Rose Garden last May
to announce the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, he put
180 days on the clock for businesses worldwide to sever their ties
with Tehran or else lose access to U.S. markets. The rush for the
exits began immediately, despite the efforts of politicians,
particularly those in the European Union. They were unable to stop
European businesses fleeing Iran despite any number of grand schemes
and proclamations.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran is ready to boost
uranium enrichment, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization
of Iran said on Sunday during a visit to a park in Qazvin. Behrouz
Kamalvandi said that this would include boosting uranium enrichment
to 190,000 Separative Work Units (SWU). The announcement could raise
concerns in Europe about Iran's goals under the Iran deal and comes
amid US sanctions that were put in place last year after the US
withdrew from the Iran deal.
The Friday Prayer Imam of
Tehran, Ahmad Khatami who is an influential conservative cleric has
said that Iran "has the formula for building a nuclear
bomb". IRNA reports that in a mourning ceremony in Mashhad on
February 9 Khatami has announced, "Iran never had the intention
to build an atomic bomb. Of course we have the formula but we do not
want to use weapons of mass destruction".
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Thousands of Iranians rallied and marched in Paris
yesterday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Iran uprising which
toppled the country's monarchy. The powerful march swept through the
streets of Paris, with the rhythms of the drums echoing as demonstrators
chanted powerful slogans against the Iran regime. Protesters called
on the global community to act now and end atrocities in Tehran - but
it was Europe which was most heavily condemned as the demonstrators
stood behind US President Donald Trump for his tough stance on the
regime.
When Sina Ghanbari took to
Tehran's streets during nationwide demonstrations at the
beginning of 2018, he was speaking out against corruption, a sluggish
economy and soaring fuel and food prices. Ghanbari was detained
during the protests. After being held in the so-called quarantine
ward of Tehran's Evin prison for five days, he died on his 22nd
birthday.
Sadegh Zibakalam is not
expecting much from the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
"On the anniversary, politicians will hold speeches again. They
will talk about exporting the Islamic Revolution, about the
destruction of Israel and the war against the US. But what almost
never appears in their speeches are the true aims of the revolution
40 years ago," the political scientist from Tehran told DW.
"The revolution promised us democracy, the rule of law and
freedom of the press.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The Trump administration is
pressuring Iraq to stop buying energy from its neighbor and sole
foreign supplier, Iran, in what has become a major point of conflict
between Washington and Baghdad. Iraqi leaders, fearing that a further
shortfall in power would lead to mass protests and political
instability in their electricity-starved country, are pushing back on
the demand, which is rooted in President Trump's sanctions against
Iran.
When Iran uses the slogan
"Death to America," the country's supreme leader said on
Friday, it is specifically wishing death on President Trump and two
of his senior officials. "'Death to America' means death to
Trump and John Bolton and Pompeo," the supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, said, referring to John R. Bolton, the president's national
security adviser, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state. "It
means death to American leaders, who happen to be these people at
this time," he added.
US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo called for tougher international restrictions on Iran
following its latest missile launch. "We must restore tougher
international restrictions to deter Iran's missile program,"
Pompeo said via Twitter. Iran appears to have attempted a satellite
launch as part of its space program, according to satellite images
released on Thursday.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
A senior commander in Iran's
Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that Tehran would "firmly
punish" aggressors who attack the country, as tensions rise
between Iran and the United States and its regional allies.
"Islamic Iran has reached a level ... to protect its borders by
effective military capabilities, and firmly punish any
aggressor," Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted as
saying by state news agency IRNA...
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Forty years after Iranians
overthrew the U.S.-backed shah, leaders in Tehran face public dissent
over a broken promise of the Islamic Revolution: its failure to
provide better economic conditions for all. As labor
unrest, corruption and the toll of a currency
reeling from U.S. sanctions fuel discontent, Iran's leaders
today are worried about fortifying national unity. To rally Iranians
behind the state, they employ the same imperialist stance that
powered the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
founder of the Islamic Republic.
In February of 1979, Tehran was
in chaos. A cancer-stricken Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Western-backed
autocrat, had gone into exile in mid-January, leaving behind a
rickety regency council. On Feb. 1, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the godfather of the revolution, returned from exile in
Paris. And in the Iranian version of "Ten Days That Shook the
World," street demonstrations raged until the government
collapsed on Feb. 11.
Four decades ago, in the months
leading up to the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the exiled Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini made many promises. He spoke about respecting the
rights of minorities, democracy and equality for women. Western
intellectuals like the late French philosopher Michel
Foucault praised Khomeini's vision. In Iran, liberals and
communists were happy to join with his followers to topple the
corrupt regime of the shah.
Hundreds of thousands of
Iranians marched and some burned U.S. flags on Monday to mark the
40th anniversary of the triumph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the
Shi'ite cleric who toppled the Shah in an Islamic Revolution that
rattles the West to this day. On Feb 11, 1979, Iran's army declared
its neutrality, paving the way for the collapse of the Shah Mohammad
Reza Pahlavi, the United States' closest ally in the Middle East.
Inspired in part by Iran's
Islamic Revolution, a young Egyptian army lieutenant emptied his
machine gun into President Anwar Sadat in 1981, killing a leader who
made peace with Israel and offered the shah a refuge after his
overthrow. The assassination carried out by Khalid al-Islambouli and
others from a Sunni Islamic extremist group showed the power of
Iran's Shiite-led revolution across the religious divides of the
Muslim world.
It is a subject that perturbs
Iran's inner circle and is all but forbidden in public discourse. Who
will take over when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies? The
uncertainty is magnified by an unusual contrast; Iran's theocratic
system is only 40 years old but most of its revolutionary leaders are
nearing the end of their lives.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday that
he would bring anti-aircraft weapons to Lebanon from Iran in order to
confront Israeli aircraft, calling on Beirut to accept the offer.
"Will the Lebanese government dare to accept the Iranian
proposals? Why should Lebanon remain afraid to cooperate with
Iran?" Nasrallah asked in a televised address marking the 40th
anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
The United Nations Security Council has taken aim at
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and its role in Syria, issuing a
warning late on Friday for all Lebanese parties to dissociate
themselves from any external conflicts. The statement appeared to be
directed at the Teheran-backed movement as fears rise about Iran's
increasing influence in the Lebanese government after a cabinet
formation was confirmed on January 31.
Responding to a question on current instability in
Venezuela and the presence of terrorist groups in the region,
specifically Lebanese Hezbollah, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
confirmed in a recent interview that the Trump administration
believes that the "Party of God," as Hezbollah is known,
maintains "active cells" in Venezuela. He went on to say
that "Iranians are impacting the people of Venezuela," because
Hezbollah is trained, financed, and equipped by Tehran.
The United Nations' humanitarian chief Thursday called
on Yemen's Houthi rebels to give aid workers access to unused grain
that could feed nearly 4 million starving people. The grain is stored
in silos near the port city of Hodeida and is at risk of rotting.
"I am deeply concerned that the United Nations has been unable
to access the Red Sea Mills in Hodeida since September 2018,"
Mark Lowcock said in a statement. "Enough grain to feed 3.7
million people for a month has sat unused and possibly spoiling in silos
at the mills for more than four months, while nearly 10 million
people across the country remain just a step away from famine."
Iran's foreign minister extended
an offer for Iranian military assistance to the U.S.-backed Lebanese
army on Sunday, saying Iran is ready to assist in all sectors should
the Lebanese government want it. Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke to
reporters Sunday at Beirut's airport shortly after his arrival in the
Lebanese capital for a two-day official visit.
Iran is waiting for Lebanon to
show a desire to accept its military assistance, Iran's foreign
minister said on Sunday, reiterating an offer of support to the
U.S.-backed Lebanese military. Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose
government backs the powerful Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, was
speaking at Beirut airport at the start of his first visit to Lebanon
since its new government was formed late last month.
IRAQ & IRAN
An official with the Iraqi
government-sanctioned umbrella of mainly Shiite paramilitary groups
says a militia commander was arrested after he criticized Iran's
influence in the country. The official from the Popular Mobilization
Forces said on Friday that Aws al-Khafaji, commander of the Abu
al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, was detained the previous night.
MISCELLANEOUS
Forty years after its Islamic
Revolution that toppled US-backed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iran is
still controlled by hardliners and has become "an ideology with
a state", former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in an
exclusive interview with Al Arabiya in London. "I would say,
frankly, that the hardliners are still very much in control of Iran,
and I think we in the West tend to view this sometimes very
naively," he said.
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner
Shirin Ebadi said she first had doubts about the 1979 Islamic
Revolution when members of the Shah's regime were executed on the
rooftop of a school housing its leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
She has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of Iran's
clerical leadership, 40 years after Khomeini returned from exile in
Paris on a special Air France flight to ecstatic crowds on Feb. 1,
1979.
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