|
TOP STORIES
France, Germany and Britain expressed concern in a
letter released Tuesday that Iran's latest ballistic missile
activities are part of increasing actions to develop missiles capable
of delivering a nuclear weapon. Ambassadors from the three U.N.
Security Council nations said in a letter to Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres that Iran's latest development and launching of
ballistic missiles is having a destabilizing effect in the Middle
East and increasing existing tensions.
Three of eight importers granted waivers by Washington
to buy oil from Iran have now cut their shipments to zero, a U.S.
official said on Tuesday, adding that improved global oil market
conditions would help reduce Iranian crude exports further. The United
States reimposed sanctions on Iran after President Donald Trump last
May withdrew the country from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and
several world powers, accusing it of supporting terrorism and
conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
UniCredit SpA is nearing an agreement with U.S.
authorities over allegations that the bank provided dollar-clearing
services to Iranian clients in violation of U.S. sanctions, people
with the knowledge of the matter said. The deal would cost the
Italian lender about $900 million but spare it from criminal
prosecution, the people said.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Democrats are talking about re-entering the 2015 Iran
nuclear deal if they defeat President Trump next year. At least three
challengers-Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren
say they'll do so, and the Democratic National Committee passed a
resolution in February calling for a return to the
agreement. But the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action, is about to get sweeter for Tehran. Key restrictions on
Iran's nuclear and missile programs and access to heavy weaponry begin
to lapse in 2020, when the United Nations conventional-arms embargo
ends.
The United States has countered suggestions that its
sanctions to try and change Tehran's political behavior are hurting
relief efforts amid deadly flooding in Iran, accusing Iranian
authorities of mismanaging the current crisis. U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo said in an April 2 statement that the floods
"once again show the level of Iranian regime mismanagement in
urban planning and in emergency preparedness."
MISSILE PROGRAM
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conveyed to Lebanon's
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other officials he met during his
visit to Beirut, last week, an Israeli warning that Iran and
Hezbollah were building a new plant to produce precision rockets on
the Lebanese territory, political sources in Tel Aviv revealed on
Tuesday. The sources, citing two officials - one American and the
other Israeli - said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
informed Pompeo, during his recent visit to Tel Aviv, of data, maps
and satellite images showing that Hezbollah was secretly building a
new plant for the production of precision Iranian missiles...
Britain, France and Germany are accusing Iran of
developing missile technology, following recent activities, that they
said was inconsistent with a UN resolution, and are calling for a
full UN report, according to a letter released on Tuesday. The
European trio cited Iran's launch of a space vehicle and the
unveiling of two new ballistic missiles in February as forming
"part of trend of increased activity inconsistent" with the
resolution, according to the letter sent to UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
On the fortieth anniversary of a referendum that led to
the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran, a human rights
organization has published the first volume of a series of books,
titled "The Face of Crime." The first volume of the series
exclusively covers the cases of 100 human rights violators in Iran,
says Justice for Iran, JFI. Established in July 2010, Justice for
Iran is a non-governmental, not-for-profit human rights organization,
JFI according to its website.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday blamed Iran
for the level of devastation from major floods, and said Washington
was ready to help. Pompeo issued a statement in implicit response to
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who on Twitter blamed
"economic terrorism" by the United States whose sanctions
have led to a chronic shortage of rescue helicopters. "These
floods once again show the level of Iranian regime mismanagement in
urban planning and in emergency preparedness.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Forty years after the 1979 revolution, Islamism is
exhausting itself as a legitimizing force for the Islamic Republic of
Iran. Studies sponsored by the Iranian government show that
resentment toward the state's religious symbols is at an all-time
high. According to the research arm of the Iranian parliament,
around 70 percent of Iranian women do not strictly follow
the official diktats for wearing a veil. Anticlerical sentiments have
turned violent.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told
high-ranking civilian officials and military commanders Tuesday
evening, April 2, that they should have anticipated damage caused by
floods and prepared for it. He said rivers and dams should have been
dredged before the floods, construction in the vicinity of rivers
should have been banned and cutting of trees should have been
prevented among other necessary measures.
Political controversy has never ceased to surround the
artistic career of Iranian rapper Amir Hossein Maghsoudlou, known by
his fans as Amir Tataloo. On March 24, the 35-year-old rapper created
a fresh backlash of furious reactions during his latest performance
at a Tbilisi concert attended by hundreds of Iranians. Tataloo
apparently smoked marijuana on stage and even encouraged his fans to
do so.
On the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution
back in February, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei underlined
the necessity of leading an Islamic lifestyle in the Second Step
of the Revolution, his most important public message in the past
few months. It was one of several other instances of
Khamenei raising this subject in the last few years. The
hard-line preacher Alireza Panahian has asserted, "The
revolution has progressed in most areas except for
[enhancing an Islamic] lifestyle."
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
Russia has expressed its anger over Damascus' granting
of Iran the right to operate the western Latakia port on the
Mediterranean. This marks the first time that Tehran is given a
foothold on the Mediterranean near Russia's bases in Tartus and
Latakia. On February 25, Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud had
requested that the port director form a team to hold talks with
Iranian officials on the management of the facility.
Swedish police arrested a Stockholm-based Iraqi
journalist for operating as a spy for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
British newspaper The Telegraph reported the arrest of Raghdan
al-Khazali on Friday. According to the paper, al-Khazali "is
suspected of spying on members of an Ahwazi opposition group, which
has been repeatedly targeted by Iranian assassins in Europe."
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
On Friday, a Miami court sentenced Ali Nasreeddine
Kassir, a Miami-based Lebanese businessman and suspected Hezbollah
facilitator, who pleaded guilty to passport fraud and conspiring to
commit money laundering totaling over $70 million. Kassir's
conviction is the opening salvo in a string of interconnected cases
implicating alleged Hezbollah financiers Nader Mohamad Farhat and
Mahmoud Ali Barakat, and their U.S.-based business counterparts. When
combined, these cases involve money transfers worth hundreds of
millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system, allegedly for
laundering criminal proceeds, including from drug trafficking, and
terror finance.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
In August last year, Twitter announced that it had
suspended hundreds of accounts that appeared to be linked to
Iran. The reason? Twitter said the accounts had engaged in
"coordinated manipulation." Then, in October, Twitter
made tweets from 770 accounts "potentially originating in
Iran" publicly available. And when researchers at the Oxford
Internet Institute analyzed the languages those accounts tweeted in,
they discovered a trend that may shed light on how Iran seeks to
wield influence online.
Houthi forces denied the United Nations access to a grain
storage site in the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Tuesday, sources
familiar with the matter said, hindering efforts to increase food aid
to millions facing severe hunger.
Five people were injured, including a woman and a child,
when two Houthi drones targeting civilian areas in Saudi Arabia were
intercepted and destroyed on April 2. "At 21:35 local time on
Tuesday, the Royal Saudi Air Defense systems detected two
unidentified objects headed towards civilian objects in Khamis Mushait,"
said Col. Turki S. Al-Malki, official spokesman for the Coalition to
Restore Legitimacy in Yemen. "They were directed at densely
populated civilian areas, and were intercepted and destroyed
according to the rules of engagement."
CYBERWARFARE
Iran is behind a wave of cyber-attacks on key
elements of UK infrastructure such as the Post Office, spies believe.
The postal service and local government networks were hit in a major
assault just before Christmas, it was reported last night.
Private sector companies, including banks, were also allegedly
compromised in what was described as an 'ongoing' campaign.
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment