Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Eye on Iran: U.S. Targets 'Vast Network' Evading Iran Sanctions



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The U.S. blacklisted members of what officials said was a "vast network" operating in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that helped Iran exchange over $1 billion in currency to finance Iranian military operations throughout the region. The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that more than two dozen sanctioned currency-exchange houses, trading companies and officials helped Iran's military exchange Iranian rials into euros and U.S. dollars.


A senior Hamas official, speaking anonymously to Israel Hayom on Tuesday, claimed that the rocket which struck a moshav in central Israel on Monday was ordered by Iran. Hamas reportedly gave its blessing for the rocket attack in hopes of disrupting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election campaign. The rocket attack on Mishmeret, which hit and destroyed a home, left seven family members injured, including two infants, as well as a neighboring child.


Last week, Iran's economic minister was in Beijing for talks on bilateral trade and investment. An official readout of the discussions from China's commerce ministry describes China and Iran as "comprehensive strategic partners." This echoes the language used by President Xi Jinping a few weeks earlier, when he welcomed a delegation that included Iran's foreign minister, oil minister and parliament speaker. Xi declared that "No matter how the international and regional situation changes, China's resolve to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran will remain unchanged."
  
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS  


The United States on Tuesday imposed fresh sanctions on a network of companies and people in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates it said was helping to raise billions of dollars to fund the operations of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. The U.S. Treasury blacklisted 25 people and organizations, including a clutch of front companies based in the three countries, that were working on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Iran's defence ministry to raise money for their activities.


With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar, only about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's largest outside the Gulf. It is also the only Iranian port with exemptions from unilateral economic sanctions reimposed by the United States in 2018.


On the surface, the Trump administration is united behind a tough Iran policy. The Treasury Department continues to issue sanctions on Iranian individuals and subsidiaries to drain Tehran's finances - the latest batch being a March 22 designation of 14 Iranians and 17 entities for involvement with the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research. State Department officials are repeating ad nauseam that Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism with hegemonic ambitions to dominate the region.

TERRORISM & EXTREMISM


Iran International did not breach the broadcasting code by interviewing a spokesman for a separatist group who praised last September's terrorist attack in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, the British regulator Ofcom has ruled. The news channel, which broadcasts in Farsi but is based west London, interviewed Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz in the immediate aftermath of the attack on a military parade which left 30 people dead, and which was later condemned by the UN security council as a "heinous and cowardly terrorist attack".

U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used the welcoming of the Iranian new year (Nowruz) on the official United States State Department's website to advocate that the Iranian public should have free access to social media sites. Currently, the Iranian government restricts social media use. In 2014, Iranians launched a campaign on Twitter asking the social network to allow Iran-based users full account verification services, at the same time as the Twitter CEO called on the Islamic Republic to end its ban on the popular social network.

IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS


Flash floods in Iran have killed at least 24 people and injured hundreds more after days of torrential rain caused rivers to overflow in various parts of the country, local news media reported on Tuesday. The sudden, destructive deluge hit the country during Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, when many take to the road for vacations. At least 19 people died in Shiraz, a city in southern Iran that is a popular tourist destination, according to the privately owned Tasnim News Agency, based in Tehran.

A trail of death and destruction left behind by heavy downpours in Iran's north and south has cast a dark shadow over Nowruz this year. The Iranian New Year - which began March 21 - characterized by celebrations, family visits and holiday trips has so far been but a mess for many who had planned it months ahead. The government says it has been mobilizing all facilities to adequately respond to the disaster, but that does not seem to have appeased many critics. 

Is Ezzatollah Zarghami the next populist to rise from Iran's hard-line camp? The recent activities of the former head of the conservative-dominated state broadcaster, who has been in constant verbal clashes with moderate President Hassan Rouhani, certainly raises this question. Born into a religious family in 1959, Zarghami's father never bought a television. He, however, ended up being a cinephile, binging on movies.


It has been almost a year since President Trump withdrew the United States from the landmark nuclear deal with Iran. Yet the expectation Washington will rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) at a future date remains stubbornly strong. More than 50 retired generals and diplomats issued a statement urging Washington to reenter the deal. The Europeans, the Russians and the Chinese remain keen on keeping the deal going. So, too, is the American public. 

RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday that regional countries must unite to fight against U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognise the Golan Heights as part of Israel. "The excessive demands of the Zionist regime and the wrong decisions of Washington necessitate closer cooperation among regional countries," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB in a phone call with Iraq's Adel Abdul Mahdi. 


In Islamic State's former eastern Syrian stronghold, the Islamic Republic of Iran is parlaying its military and economic might into a lasting foothold. On the heels of an Iranian military intervention that has helped bring President Bashar al-Assad to the edge of victory in Syria's eight-year-long war, Tehran is moving to cement its long-term influence in Syria by cultivating goodwill and winning converts to the Shiite Muslim sect. To Syrians battered by war, Iran is offering cash, food, Iranian ID cards, public services and free education.
  

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that regional countries must unite to fight against US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel, in a phone call with Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday. "The excessive demands of the Zionist regime and the wrong decisions of Washington necessitate closer cooperation among regional countries," Rouhani was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster IRIB in a phone call with Iraq's Adel Abdul Mahdi. Rouhani said developments in the Golan Heights were "very dangerous for regional security". 


The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group could have its illicit activities in Venezuela disrupted due to the ongoing political and humanitarian crises besieging the country, according to some analysts. For years, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro maintained a close relationship with Hezbollah and Iran, which empowered Hezbollah in terms of both money and influence. Now, the group can raise money through illicit means and funnel it through financial hubs in Central and South America.

GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN


The Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Jaber, said that the "Decisive Storm" - led by Saudi Arabia against the coup in Yemen - was necessary to prevent the country from sliding into civil war. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the ambassador noted that the Houthis have committed themselves to "implement the Iranian project and shed the blood of Yemenis."

IRAQ & IRAN


Iranian President Hassan Rouhani termed relationship between Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq as 'strategic, historic'. Rouhani made the remarks in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi late on Tue. and said, "the amicable relationship will benefit both countries and will not harm any country in the region." He pointed to the recent achievements of his travel to neighboring Iraq and said, "Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to implement important and historic agreements of this trip that can bring about a considerable jump in relationship between the two countries."

OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS    


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is finally doing something about his country's sluggish approach to the Middle East. Over the past five years, he has pushed an aggressive strategy of partnering with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel in a bid to attract investments and forge deeper security partnerships. In doing so, he has largely ignored Iran and broken with India's Cold War-era legacy in the region. Since his election in 2014, Modi has made foreign policy a priority, prompting some observers to claim that a "Modi doctrine" is now in effect.






Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

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