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TOP STORIES
International inspectors said on Monday that Iran was
ramping up its production of nuclear fuel, following through on a
threat to begin walking away from restrictions agreed to in a 2015
nuclear accord that President Trump has abandoned. The
announcement of Iran's actions came from Yukiya Amano, the director
general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is
responsible for verifying Iran's compliance with its obligations
under the 2015 deal negotiated by the Obama administration.
The Trump administration is weighing sanctions against
the Iranian financial body set up as a go-between for humanitarian
trade with Europe, a move likely to sever the economic and
humanitarian lifeline that France, Germany and the U.K. have sought
to create for Tehran. The U.S. measures would target the Special
Trade and Finance Institute, which Iran established as a counterpart
to the European mechanism known as Instex, according to a senior
administration official who asked not to be identified discussing
internal deliberations.
Germany's foreign minister made a bid to salvage the
Iran nuclear deal, reassuring leaders in Tehran of Europe's
commitment to the pact and showcasing European support for Iran at a
time when the Islamic Republic is locked in a high-stakes battle with
Washington. Tehran has accused the U.K., France and Germany-who
are part of the 2015 accord-of failing to provide the pledged
economic support to Iran in return for restrictions on the
country's nuclear program.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Israel's ground troops are physically and operationally
capable of defeating Hezbollah, but the Iranian-backed militia has
waged a psychological war of such effectiveness that the IDF soldiers
feel deterred from believing in their capacities against them.
NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM
Iran has followed through on its threat too accelerate
its production of enriched uranium, the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief
Yukiya Amano said on Monday. Iran's nuclear deal with major
powers caps the amount of low-enriched uranium Iran can produce.
Given fluctuations in production, it was not clear when Iran might
reach that limit, Amano told a news conference, declining to
elaborate further on the production rate.
The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog urged world powers
Monday to continue dialogue with Iran to keep it in the landmark 2015
deal aimed at preventing the country from building nuclear weapons,
and to help defuse mounting tensions in the region. After his regular
update to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors
in Vienna, Yukiya Amano told reporters that Tehran had increased its
uranium enrichment activities as it threatened it would.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
China's imports of crude oil stumbled in May, and while
the loss of Iranian cargoes offers a convenient explanation, there
are other reasons to be cautious over the strength of demand in the
world's biggest oil importer. China brought in 9.47 million
barrels per day (bpd) in May, a drop of 11% from April's record 10.64
million bpd, according to calculations based on customs figures
released on Monday.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
As the Women's World Cup kicks off, female football
fans in Iran's capital have been attacked by security
guards for trying to watch a men's football match between Iran
and Syria. The women managed to buy tickets to watch the game
after the official website of the Iranian football federation
initially put tickets on sale without blocking the option for women,
despite the fact Iranian women are forbidden from watching football
matches.
Iran on Tuesday freed Nizar Zakka, a U.S. permanent
resident and Lebanese national, from prison after nearly four years
behind bars, his lawyer said. Zakka was arrested in 2015 and
convicted of spying for the U.S. government - charges he denies. He
was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Iranian authorities are setting up text-messaging
services to allow self-appointed guardians of morality in the capital
turn in their neighbours or strangers for violating murky codes of
public conduct, officials have said. Iran's judiciary has provided
residents of the capital with a text-messaging service to report
"crimes against morality and public chastity," according to
the official Mizan news agency.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Iran's foreign minister warned the U.S. on Monday that
it "cannot expect to stay safe" after launching what he
described as an economic war against Tehran, taking a hard-line
stance amid a visit by Germany's top diplomat seeking to defuse
tensions. A stern-faced Mohammad Javad Zarif offered a series of
threats over the ongoing tensions gripping the Persian Gulf. The
crisis takes root in President Donald Trump's decision over a year
ago to withdraw America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world
powers.
The authorities in Iran have barred the Tehran-based
correspondent for The New York Times from working for the past four
months, the newspaper said Monday. The correspondent, Thomas
Erdbrink, a Netherlands citizen, has reported for The Times from Iran
since 2012. He resides in Tehran but has been unable to work since
late February, when his press credential was revoked.
Iran has ruled out holding talks with the Trump
administration on its ballistic missiles and interventions in Middle
Eastern affairs until it receives assurances that the US is ready to
offer concessions. After meeting his German counterpart in Tehran,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, warned the US that it
could not expect to "stay safe" while it imposed an
"economic war" against the Islamic republic.
The Donald Trump administration has yet to inform
Congress on how long it will keep troops, a carrier group, bombers
and missile defense batteries in the Middle East that were recently
sent to the region to counter threats from Iranian-backed proxy
groups, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said
today. Just hours after the commander of US forces in the region
publicly hinted at plans to restore a larger American
military presence to the Middle East, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said
the Pentagon had not "given us any indication of how long this
is going to last or where they think they see it going."
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
A decade has passed since Iran held its most bitterly
contested elections ever, the aftermath of which shook the Islamic
republic to its core over allegations of mass electoral fraud.
Massive demonstrations and counter demonstrations by protesters and
state supporters raged across major cities for 19 months, nowhere
more so than in the capital Tehran, in what was later described by
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the "edge of the
abyss".
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
A British lawmaker is calling for answers after it was
revealed at the weekend that authorities swooped on a Hezbollah
"bomb factory" in London four years ago - just weeks after
Britain, the U.S. and others concluded the nuclear deal with the regime
in Iran, Hezbollah's chief sponsor and patron.
The ongoing military assault in Idlib - spearheaded
by the Syrian army and supported by Russia - may be the
first significant military operation in which pro-Iranian militant
groups have not taken part. The main attacking units of the
government forces are pro-Russian structures within the Syrian army:
the Tiger Forces division, led by Suheil al-Hassan, and Zayd Salih's
5th Volunteer Assault Corps.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Iranian
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif in a video released
on Monday, calling him a serial liar. Netanyahu said that it is
"Iran who is openly threatening to destroy [Israel]."
He also called out against Iran attempting to establish a military
presence in Syria and pointed to a Monday release that the
Islamic republic is speeding up its nuclear program. Netanyahu
said that Iranian nuclear capacities "will endanger us and the
whole world," and Israel will not allow it to happen.
The UK's MI5 and the Metropolitan Police uncovered the
foundations of a Hezbollah plot when they raided four sites in London
in September 2015, according to a shocking report in The Telegraph.
Although then prime minister David Cameron and home secretary Theresa
May were briefed on the raid, it was "kept hidden from the
public," the report says. This fits a disturbing pattern of
attempts by intelligence and law enforcement agencies to track Hezbollah's
global activities, only to have them met with the cold shoulder at
political levels.
GULF STATES, YEMEN & IRAN
Yemen's Houthi rebels have launched at least two drones
targeting a southwest Saudi city that's home to an air base. The
Houthis' Al-Masirah satellite news channel reported early Tuesday the
rebels launched Qasef-2K drones to strike the city of Khamis Mushait.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday, quoting military
spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki, that soldiers "intercepted"
two drones launched by the Houthis.
OTHER FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Lebanon's security chief is due to escort a detained
Lebanese man home from Iran on Tuesday after Beirut secured his
release from an Iranian prison, with Iranian officials saying it was
due partly to their close ties with Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
Lebanon's president and foreign minister had urged Tehran to grant an
amnesty to Nizar Zakka, who also holds U.S. residency and was
sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison and a $4.2 million fine for
"collaborating against the state".
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will meet Iranian Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani on a visit
to Tehran this week, in a bid to ease tension between Washington and
Iran that experts called a bold move for a Japanese leader.
Tension has escalated a year after Washington pulled out of a deal
between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program in
return for lifting sanctions.
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