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TOP STORIES
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Wednesday
European powers were incapable of bypassing sanctions imposed on
Tehran by the US after it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. Iran
and six world powers agreed on a deal in 2015 that severely
restricted Tehran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief
and economic incentives. However President Donald Trump withdrew
Washington from the deal -- technically called the Joint Comprehensive
Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- last May, reimposing punishing sanctions on
the Islamic republic.
South Korea has begun testing super-light U.S. oil sold
by energy firm Anadarko Petroleum Corp as a substitute for Iranian
crude as it awaits word from Washington whether it can keep buying
oil from the Middle Eastern nation, sources said. South Korea is
one of Iran's biggest Asian customers, and was one of eight importers
that received waivers to keep buying Iranian oil when the United States
re-imposed sanctions in November.
The case for getting tougher with Iran grows daily, and
Tuesday offered a two-fer: The State Department blamed Tehran for the
deaths of hundreds of US servicemen in Iraq, while a new report shed
fresh light on Iran's past nuclear activities - and its ongoing
efforts to lie about them. Citing newly declassified reports, Special
Representative Brian Hook held Iran "responsible" for
"at least" 608 US deaths, up about 100 from an earlier
count and 17 percent of the entire US toll in Iraq from 2003 to
2011.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) has reaffirmed Iran's compliance with its
nuclear-related commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "I don't see
activities that are contrary to the Iran nuclear agreement ... but we
need to monitor very, very carefully," Yukiya Amano said in an
interview with CBS on Wednesday.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Iran's oil minister on Wednesday urged local oil and gas
firms to help with providing aid to victims of severe flooding, as
one international aid agency announced extra funds to bolster relief
efforts. At least 26 of Iran's 31 provinces have been hit by
heavy downpours that began on March 19. The flooding - the country's
worst in a decade - has killed 62 people, the head of crisis
management at the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization said on
Wednesday, according to student news agency ISNA.
Two influential Democratic senators for the first time
are urging President Trump to use sanctions relief for countries that
want to do business with Iran as leverage to help secure the release
of Americans unjustly imprisoned in the Islamic republic. Sens. Tim Kaine
and Chris Coons, both senior Democrats on the Foreign Relations
Committee, sent a letter to Trump Monday imploring him to use
"all leverage possible" in trying to free Americans
imprisoned in Iran and elsewhere.
Traders in Lebanon are angry over a surge in imports of
cheap Iranian steel and iron this year, which no one is admitting to
bringing in for fear of US sanctions imposed for doing business with
Tehran. Businessmen are accusing each other and Hezbollah, Tehran's
main political ally in Lebanon, for the low-cost Iranian imports that
have disrupted the local market. Traders quietly held a meeting with
the Minister of Economy to discuss the issue but all are reluctant to
speak publicly.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Since I was released from captivity in Iran in January
2016, Iran has continued its 40-year habit of taking foreign
nationals hostage. I write about this issue extensively, in large
part because it seems as though there is a new case every month. But
of the many innocent people being held as political leverage by the
regime in Tehran, there is one case that has, from the very start, been
harder than the rest for me to stomach.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The U.S. military has revealed it believes Iran has
helped kill 608 U.S. troops in Iraq since 2003, according
to newly revealed and formerly-classified
numbers. "In Iraq, I can announce today, based on
declassified U.S. military reports, that Iran is responsible for the
deaths of at least 608 American service members," Brian Hook,
U.S. Special Representative for Iran, said during a State Department
briefing Tuesday. "This accounts for 17 percent of all
deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011.
President Hassan Rouhani has once again attacked the
United States for imposing sanctions on the Islamic Republic,
accusing Washington of blocking international aid from reaching
flood-hit Iran. At a meeting with the Islamic Republic's Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday, April 3, Rouhani
maintained, "Those who did not let Iranians residing outside the
country send aid to their own people should be ashamed."
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
An Iraqi journalist suspected of spying for Iran has
been arrested in Sweden, according to British newspaper The Daily
Telegraph. The newspaper said Stockholm-based Iraqi journalist
Raghdan al-Khazali was arrested in Sweden for allegedly spying on
members of a group of Ahwazis- members of Iran's minority Arab
community- for Iran's government.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iranian media are reporting that the number of dead from
recent flooding has risen to 62, up from 57 the day before. A
Wednesday report by the semi-official Fars news agency quotes Ahmad
Shojaei, head of the country's forensic medicine department, as
saying the casualties were in various provinces that experienced
flooding over the past two weeks.
As Iran returns to business after the Nowruz holidays,
lawmakers are resuming discussions on a controversial draft motion
that has the potential to alter parliamentary politics. The
proposed bill, which was first brought to the floor by 120 parliamentarians last
November, calls for parliamentary elections to be held at provincial
levels. At present, constituencies commonly cover towns and cities.
As non-stop heavy downpours continued to wreak havoc upon Iran, the
country's supreme leader expressed gratitude to the nation
for Iranians' "mobilized efforts" and "spirit of
solidarity" in their cooperation with the
government-led relief process. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was
addressing Iran's political elite as well as ambassadors from Muslim
countries in the capital Tehran March 3, in a traditional
speech for the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's first
revelation.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who is
visiting Lebanon, denies US claims that his country harbours
Hezbollah cells. "He said that the US sometimes accuses
Venezuela of having Hezbollah cells but that's not true,"
Lebanese MP Yassine Jaber said after meeting Mr Arreaza on Wednesday.
Mr Jaber, head of the foreign affairs committee in Parliament,
replaced Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri to meet Mr Arreaza. US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox Business in early February
that Hezbollah had active cells in Venezuela.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Yemen's Houthi rebels have refused to rule on an appeal
against a prominent Baha'i leader who has been sentenced to death.
Hamed Bin Haydara, has been in Houthi detention since 2013, and is
charged with espionage and apostasy. A hearing was held for Mr
Haydara on Tuesday but remained inconclusive, and the next court
session is scheduled for the end of the month, according to the US
Baha'i office of Public Affairs.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi will travel to Iran on
Saturday, a member of his office said, in his first official visit to
the country rivaling Washington for influence over Baghdad. The US
reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran's energy and finance sectors last
year but has granted Baghdad several exemptions to keep temporarily
importing Iranian gas and electricity, crucial to Iraq's faltering
power sector.
AFGHANISTAN & IRAN
The Ministry of Defense in Kabul has denied reports that
the members of Iran-supported Liwa Fatemiyoun have returned to
Afghanistan. Liwa Fatemiyoun, also known as Fatemiyoun Division, is
an Afghan Shi'ite militia formed, trained and funded by the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) beginning in 2014 to fight in Syria on
the side of Bashar Assad's forces. Reportedly, by late 2017, the unit
numbered between 10,000-20,000 fighters.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has
criticized a letter three European powers have sent to UN's secretary
general asking for a full report on Islamic Republic's missile
activities. Zarif has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying
to appease U.S. President Donald trump. In their letter the three
countries have accused Iran of developing missile technology
"inconsistent" with UN resolution 2231, which wrapped up
the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and called for limiting Tehran's
missile program.
CYBERWARFARE
Britain's Sky News says U.S.-based cybersecurity experts
have found that a group linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps has carried out two cyberattacks on British institutions in
recent years. A Wednesday report by the British news
agency said the California-based cyber experts, whom it did not
identify, determined that a suspected IRGC-linked group was behind a
previously undisclosed attack on British public and private entities
on Dec. 23, 2018, and a previously reported attack on the
British parliament's email network on June 23, 2017.
Iran has been accused of launching a number of cyber
attacks on the Post Office and the UK's local government networks in
the lead-up to Christmas, it has been reported. According to Sky News,
the attacks took place on December 23, with more than 10,000 pieces
of data records stolen, such as email addresses, postal addresses,
company positions and phone numbers, including the mobile number of
Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells and at least 10 peers and
MPs.
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