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TOP STORIES
Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a
bill that labels all U.S. military forces as terrorist, state TV
reported, a day after Washington ratcheted up pressure on Tehran by
announcing that no country would any longer be exempt from U.S.
sanctions if it continues to buy Iranian oil. The bill is a step
further from the one last week, when lawmakers approved labelling
just U.S. troops in the Middle East as terrorist, in response to the
U.S. terrorism designation for Iran's Revolutionary Guard earlier
this month.
President Trump wants to exert "maximum
pressure" on Iran, which is why he is giving the sanctions
screws another firm twist. Any country that imports Iranian oil will
soon face U.S. penalties-with no exceptions. Last year seven nations
and Taiwan were granted waivers through May 2, giving them time to
adjust supply lines. These waivers won't be extended, the State
Department said Monday, helping to push the benchmark oil price to
$74 a barrel, a nearly six-month high.
The United States on Monday offered a reward of up to
$10 million (€8.9 million) for information that would allow the US to
disrupt the finances of Lebanon's Shiite militant movement Hezbollah.
The State Department said it would give money to anyone who could
provide intelligence that allows the United States to disrupt
Hezbollah in key ways, including information on Hezbollah's donors,
on financial institutions that assist its transactions and on
businesses controlled by the movement. The State Department listed
three alleged Hezbollah financiers as examples of the activities they
are hoping to stop.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Most of the Democrats running for president are vowing
to put the United States back in the Iran nuclear deal
that President Trump withdrew from nearly a year ago.
"Our intelligence community told us again and again: The
#IranDeal was working to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon. If Iran continues to abide by the terms of the deal, you bet
I will support returning to it," Sen. Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass.) recently tweeted.
The Trump administration on Monday took another
important step toward unwinding the disastrous Iran deal
by ending the waivers that allowed many countries to continue
purchasing oil from the terrorist regime, but now President Trump
should take the final step to kill it off for good. It's been nearly
a year since Trump made the wise decision to announce that the U.S.
was leaving the Iran deal negotiated by the Obama administration, but
at the same time, he left many avenues open that have allowed the
deal to be kept alive so that it could be resurrected by a future
Democratic president.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Once a major customer, the U.S. hasn't bought oil from
Iran for more than 25 years. How, then, can it lead a global movement
to stop Iran from selling its chief export? The answer is simple: Any
nation continuing to buy Iranian oil will face U.S. sanctions,
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Monday after announcing
temporary waivers granted to some nations late last year won't be renewed
when they expire on May 2.
Iran said it's holding "intensive" talks with
its partners in the region and beyond to contain the fallout from the
Trump administration's decision not to renew waivers that let
countries buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions. The Foreign
Ministry "is in continuous contact with the relevant domestic
entities, and is having intensive consultations with many of its
foreign partners including Europeans and neighbors," the
official Islamic Republic News Agency reported, citing the ministry's
spokesman, Abbas Mousavi.
In tightening sanctions on Iran, the Trump
administration moved on Monday to isolate Tehran economically and
undercut its power across the Middle East. But the clampdown has
complicated relations with China at a particularly sensitive moment.
The decision to stop five of Iran's biggest customers from buying its
oil was an audacious strike at Tehran's lifeline - one million
barrels of oil exports daily, fully half of which go to China. The
order was also aimed at India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, all
countries that trade robustly with the United States.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Tuesday welcomed a
U.S. decision to end all Iran sanction waivers by May, saying it was
a necessary step to halt Tehran's "destabilizing" policy in
the region. "Saudi Arabia fully supports this step taken
by the United States as it is necessary to force the Iranian regime
to end its policy of destabilizing stability and its support and
sponsorship of terrorism around the world," Ibrahim al-Assaf
said in comments carried on state media.
Saudi Arabia will coordinate with other crude producers
to ensure that adequate supplies are available and the market
"does not go out of balance," Energy Minister Khalid
Al-Falih said, after the U.S. ended waivers for buyers of Iranian
oil. The Saudis are closely monitoring oil-market developments after
the U.S. announcement regarding export sanctions on Iran, Al-Falih
said in a statement. "In the next few weeks, the Kingdom will be
consulting closely with other producing countries and key oil
consuming nations to ensure a well-balanced and stable oil market,
for the benefits of producers and consumers as well as the stability
of the world economy."
Oil prices hit a near six-month high Monday as the U.S.
government moved to halt all Iranian oil exports, eliminating a
key revenue source for the Islamic Republic. West Texas Intermediate
futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, rose 2.7% to $65.70 a barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange-their highest close since late October.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, advanced 2.9% to $74.04 a
barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.
Japan expects a limited impact from a U.S. decision to
force buyers of Iranian crude oil to stop purchases from next month,
trade and industry minister Hiroshige Seko said on Tuesday.
Seko also told reporters at a regular press conference that the Japanese
government did not see any need to tap national oil reserves
following the U.S. decision by the U.S. The United States on Monday
demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1 or face
sanctions, a move to choke off Tehran's oil revenues which sent crude
prices to six-month highs on fears of a potential supply crunch.
U.S. officials have strongly responded to IRGC Naval
Force Commander's threat about closing the strait of
Hormuz if Iran cannot ship its oil through the strategic
waterway. A senior U.S. official who spoke on the condition of
anonymity told reporters in Washington on Monday April 22 that any
move by Iran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to
the United States ending waivers for purchases of Iranian oil would
be unjustified and unacceptable.
Iraq is ready to boost oil exports by 250,000 barrels a
day to compensate for any shortfalls once US sanctions waivers
for Iranian oil end, a government official said Monday. The US last
year re-imposed tough sanctions against Iran's energy sector but
granted select countries six-month waivers to continue importing oil
products from Tehran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the
length of new U.S. sanctions on Iran's oil industry will
depend "solely on the Islamic Republic of Iran's senior
leaders." "The goal remains simple: to deprive the outlaw
regime of the funds it has used to destabilize the Middle East for
four decades and incentivize Iran to behave like a normal
country," Pompeo said at the State Department. He added
that the sanctions will divert "well north of $10 billion"
away from the Iranian regime.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The United States is looking to sign a new agreement
with Iran that covers its nuclear and missile programs, the country's
regional aggression, and the arbitrary detention of foreign
nationals, which include Americans, according to US Special
Representative for Iran Brian Hook. In an interview with Al Arabiya
English, Hook said, "That is the kind of deal we need. We are
ready to negotiate something like that."
The United States has denied the Iranian regime over $10
billion in revenue and expect that number to increase dramatically,
US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told Al Arabiya English
after Washington declared it would start ending waivers to Tehran's
oil customers. Hook also said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates share a lot of the United States' national security goals
when it comes to Iran.
President Trump took aim at former Secretary of
State John Kerry after his administration announced it
would crack down on Iran's oil exports. The president suggested that
Kerry, who has met with Iranian leaders over the Obama-era
nuclear deal that Trump scrapped, broke an obscure law banning
private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments without
permission from the U.S.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
CIA Director Gina Haspel is reorienting the nation's top
intelligence agency, shifting its emphasis from counterterrorism to
combating nation-state rivals such as Russia and
Iran. Increasing investment into "hard targets" is the
top priority under her watch, Haspel told Auburn University's
national security forum last week. "Our Russia and Iran
investment has been strengthened after years of falling behind our
justifiably heavy emphasis on counterterrorism in the wake of
9/11," Haspel said in her speech.
In a rare double-up deployment close to Iran, the U.S.
Navy currently has two carrier strike groups in the Mediterranean
Sea. Just a few days sail from the Arabian Sea, the Stennis and
Lincoln carrier strike groups conducted joint exercises last week. The
Navy's current posture gives President Trump significantly added
means of deterrence and action against Iran. It's a relevant concern
in that U.S.-Iran tensions are escalating quickly.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Iran's first vice president has announced that the government
has sent a draft bill to parliament to allow children born to Iranian
mothers to obtain citizenship. Currently, children of Iranian fathers
can obtain citizenship, while the offspring of women married to
non-Iranians cannot receive Iranian passports. Vice president Es'haq
Jahangiri in announcing the government's proposal mentioned Maryam
Mirzakhani, an Iranian-born professor who in 2014 became the first
woman to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious international
mathematical prize.
The repair bill for flood damage in Iran is
expected to be around $2.5bn. Millions of Iranians are rebuilding
their lives after devastating floods a month ago. As Al Jazeera's
Zein Basravi reports from Lorestan Province, the crisis has come at a
bad time for Iran's shrinking economy, hampered by US sanctions.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Iran has appointed as the next head of its Revolutionary
Guards Corps, or IRGC, a veteran fighter who spearheaded a series of
policies to develop advanced missiles capable of
"annihilating" Israel, an announcement that comes just
weeks after the Trump administration designated the entire IRGC as a
terrorist entity. Over the weekend, Iran announced that Maj. Gen.
Hossein Salami would be promoted as the next head of the IRGC,
replacing Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari.
Syria is experiencing a worsening fuel shortage as a
result of Western sanctions, bringing some major cities to a near
standstill and causing some of the war's worst economic circumstances
for President Bashar al-Assad's loyalists. In choking off much of the
Syrian government's access to gasoline, diesel and heating oil, U.S.
officials and other opponents of the Assad regime are hoping to
pressure it to make compromises after eight years of conflict. Mr.
Assad has long counted on a significant loyalist faction to support
his grip on power, but those people are now coming under severe
pressure.
GULF STATES,
YEMEN, & IRAN
The US has demanded that Houthis rebels release all the
detained followers of Yemen's Bahai faith, after reports they are
being mistreated and tortured while in custody. Houthi leaders are
indicting dozens of Bahais, including Hamed bin Hayadara, who has
been in Houthi detention in Sanaa since 2013. The prominent leader
was sentenced to death by a Houthi court for charges of espionage and
apostasy in January 2018. Members of the community describe the
accusations as "baseless". "We are deeply concerned
about credible reports that the Houthis continue to severely
mistreat, arbitrarily detain, and torture Bahais in Yemen," US
State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said on Monday.
"This persistent pattern of vilification, oppression, and
mistreatment by the Houthis of Bahais in Yemen must end."
Houthi forces' widespread use of landmines
along Yemen's western coast since mid-2017 has killed and
injured hundreds of civilians and prevented aid groups from reaching
vulnerable communities, Human Rights Watch said today. Yemeni law and
the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty ban all use of antipersonnel mines;
anti-vehicle mines have been used indiscriminately in violation of
the laws of war, posing dangers to civilians long after hostilities
have ceased.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that a new
joint security force with Pakistan will be formed to combat militants
based along the two countries' shared border. Both Pakistan and Iran
have said militant groups operate from the other country's soil,
occasionally carrying out deadly cross-border attacks. The agreement
comes after Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that a group of
militants crossed from Iran earlier in the week and attacked
Pakistani armed forces in southwestern Baluchistan province, killing
14.
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