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TOP STORIES
Top American national security officials sought to
convince a divided Congress on Tuesday about the seriousness of new
threats from Iran as they defended intelligence that has prompted
military deployments aimed at deterring attacks by Tehran. Democrats
emerged from the classified briefings on Capitol Hill with sharp
questions about whose actions ultimately led to the recent
escalation: Tehran's or the Trump administration's.
Turkey has closed its ports to Iranian oil, fully
complying with U.S. sanctions against its main supplier, despite
Ankara publicly criticising the United States' move to end import
waivers and warning of a struggle to tap alternative producers.
The U.S. decision to fully re-impose sanctions on Iranian oil ended a
six-month reprieve for Turkey and seven other big importers as
Washington steps up attempts to isolate Iran and choke off its oil
revenues.
Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has said
his country won't negotiate with President Donald
Trump unless the US shows Tehran "respect" by honoring
its commitments under the disputed nuclear deal. In an exclusive
interview with CNN, Zarif warned the US was "playing a very,
very dangerous game" by boosting its military presence in the region.
Zarif criticized the US for sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier
strike group and a bomber task force to the Gulf.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
European powers are facing huge pressure from the United
States to drop its proposed trade channel with Iran and it will also
not succumb to ultimatums from Tehran, French Finance Minister Bruno
Le Maire said on Tuesday. Britain, France and Germany, which
signed a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran along with the United States,
China and Russia, are determined to show they can compensate for last
year's U.S. withdrawal from the accord, protect trade and still
prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.
President Trump's Iran policy appears to be careening
between diplomacy and belligerence. One day Trump tweets,
"I'm sure that Iran will want to talk soon." The next
he warns that "if Iran wants to fight, that will be
the official end of Iran." Confused? Well, there is a method to
the madness. The Trump administration understands that Iran doesn't
want war because Iran knows it will lose. That's why Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made clear via a government Twitter
account - a medium he knew would reach Trump - that "this
is not a military confrontation because no war is to happen."
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
The Islamic Republic judiciary spokesman says that the
order issued by the city of Isfahan' prosecutor to ban cycling for
women has been misunderstood. Speaking on Tuesday, Gholam Hossein
Esmaeili reiterated that women's cycling is not banned, provided the
religious rules are respected. Earlier on May 14, the prosecutor in
Iran's third largest city had announced that women had been banned
from cycling in public, saying it was "haram," or
prohibited under Islam.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
The Trump administration said Tuesday that the threat of
hostilities with Iran has receded in the face of U.S. military
deployments and sought to assure lawmakers in classified briefings
that a war wasn't imminent. The briefings were the first for all
members of Congress since the Trump administration more than two
weeks ago declared a threat of an imminent Iranian attack and
deployed several warships and bombers to the region.
Threats of conflict between the United States and Iran
have highlighted the places and ways their forces, proxies or allies
could clash. Iran backs militias in Iraq, Syria, and
Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are also based, and in Lebanon and
Yemen, located next to Washington's closest regional allies Israel
and Saudi Arabia. It is situated opposite Saudi Arabia on the Gulf,
and along the Strait of Hormuz, passageway for almost a fifth of the
world's daily crude oil consumption.
Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on
Tuesday after briefing lawmakers on the threat from Iran that the
United States had deterred possible attacks by deploying forces to
the region. "We have deterred attacks based on our
reposturing of assets - deterred attacks against American forces. Our
biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian
miscalculation," Shanahan told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Half of all Americans believe that the United States
will go to war with Iran "within the next few years,"
according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Tuesday
amid increased tensions between the two countries. While
Americans are more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the
United States now than they were last year, few would be in favor of
a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian military.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the U.S.
administration "novice politicians with naive ideas",
saying President Donald Trump had stepped back from his threats
against Tehran after military aides advised him against a war with
the Islamic Republic. In a speech broadcast live on state television,
Rouhani also said the unity of the Iranian nation changed Trump's
decision to wage war.
Iran will "under no circumstances" enter a war
either directly or indirectly with the United States, a prominent
reformist Iranian lawmaker said Wednesday, as both Washington and
Tehran try to ease heightened tensions in the region. The reported
comments by Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh come after the White House
earlier this month sent an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the
region over a still-unexplained threat it perceived from Iran.
Top Trump administration officials worked Tuesday to
lower the temperature after weeks of escalating tension with Iran,
arguing the decision to deploy U.S. military assets to the Persian
Gulf has worked. "We have deterred attacks based on our
reposturing of assets, deterred attacks against American
forces," acting Defense Secretary Patrick
Shanahan said. "Our biggest focus at this point is to
prevent Iranian miscalculation. We do not want the situation to
escalate. This is about deterrence, not about war."
House Armed Services Committee member Michael
Waltz, R-Fla., said Tuesday the Trump administration has
told Iran that it will hold the country responsible for any
attacks by proxies and that the United States is hoping to
"deter war by showing strength." "I think what came
across loud and clear is that we are going to deter war by showing
strength. Iranians are emboldened by weakness and deferred by
strength.
Rep. Mark Green, R, Tenn., said he hopes to hear
more information detailing the "credible threats"
from Iran discussed by the Trump administration.
Calling Iran "probably one of the clearest enemies
America has had in a long time," during a Tuesday interview on
"America's Newsroom," Green said he trusted
the president's decision to warn of potential action being taken
against alleged threats from Iran, although Congress admittedly
has not been given much information about specifics.
MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS
Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Tuesday
that top administration officials told senators in a briefing the
recent attacks on shipping and a pipeline in the Middle East was
directed by the Iranian government and the ayatollah. "They
explained to us how the Iranian threat streams were different than in
the past, that the attack on the ships and the pipeline was coordinated
and directed by the Iranian government, the ayatollah," Graham
told reporters.
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
When Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri
Borisov paid a visit recently to Damascus to meet
with Palestinian President Bashar al-Assad, the trip
fueled speculation about Russia's future trade role in
Syria and whether it might challenge Iran's dominance. Borisov is
also co-chair of the Russian-Syrian Commission on Trade, Economic,
Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The April 20 visit also
spurred more talk about a recent agreement under which Russia is
to lease Syria's Tartus port for years.
For now, dialogue with the Trump administration is not
on Iran's agenda. The Islamic Republic is instead implementing a
policy of "resistance" by focusing on improving its economy
and mobilizing public support. In parallel, it is engaged in active
diplomacy to boost trade and circumvent US sanctions. As part of the
diplomatic frenzy, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently
visited Russia, Turkmenistan, Japan, India and China.
Reports that Israeli missiles pounded targets near
Damascus in Syria were literally drowned out by the singing
and dancing of the Eurovision finals in Tel Aviv. As
usual, Israel did not openly acknowledge
Saturday's strikes, which were reported by the Syrians and
drifted under the news radar. In the past, Israel has said it is
targeting Iran's attempts to build military infrastructure in
Syria.
The US intercepted conversations between Iran and
Hezbollah in which Iran ordered Hezbollah to conduct attacks on
Americans, according to KAN news.
After United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan
Kubis met with Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem of Hezbollah,
Israel officials condemned the meeting. "We are shocked and
disappointed by this meeting with a designated terror organization's
leader, threatening Israel, Lebanon and the whole region,"
Israel's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted.
"One doesn't need to read the Naim Qassem book, courtesy of
#Hezbollah terrorists, in order to understand this !!"
GULF STATES, YEMEN & IRAN
Air defense crews raced to action in the southern Saudi
Arabian city of Najran Tuesday night to intercept an attack from
Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels as tensions remain high between
Tehran and the United States. The attack on Najran, about 10 miles north
of the Saudi border with Yemen, was carried out by one Qasef K-2
drone armed with an explosive warhead and targeted a Saudi airport
and military facility, the Houthi news outlet Al Masirah said. The
broadcaster added that the drone struck an "arms depot,"
causing a fire.
IRAQ & IRAN
Iraq will send delegations to Washington and Tehran to
help "halt tension" amid fears of a confrontation between
the United States and Iran in the Middle East, Prime Minister Adel
Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday. He said there were no Iraqi groups
that wanted to push towards a war, two days after a rocket fired in
Baghdad landed close to the U.S. Embassy, the latest in a series of
regional attacks the United States believes may have been inspired by
Iran.
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