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The Trump administration has implemented an
unprecedented pressure campaign on Iran's leaders with two
objectives: First, to deprive the Iranian regime of the money it
needs to support its destabilizing activities. Second, to force the
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the negotiating table to conclude a
comprehensive and enduring deal. The comprehensive deal we seek with
the Iranian regime should address four key areas: its nuclear
program, its ballistic missile development and proliferation, its
support for terrorist groups and proxies, and its treatment and
illegal detention of U.S. citizens.
Two weeks after a visit to Tehran by representatives
from HAMAS, Israeli media on Tuesday August 6 reported an
eye-catching increase in Iran's financial assistance to this
Palestinian group. Quoting unnamed Israeli government sources, these
reports say Iran has increased its usual annual $100 million aide to
HAMAS to $360 million after the visit. The Jerusalem Post and
Israel's Channel 12 TV say the 3.5 fold rise in aide to HAMAS is
aimed at meeting certain demands by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. According
to these reports, Iran has asked HAMAS to provide Tehran with
information about Israel's missile capabilities.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani issued a chilling
warning in a speech broadcasted live on state-television on Tuesday.
"Peace with Iran is the mother of peace," Rouhani said.
"War with Iran is the mother of all war." Tensions with
Iran have steadily increased since U.S. President Trump withdrew the
United States from the 2015 Iranian Nuclear Agreement and re-imposed
harsh economic sanctions on Iran. Rouhani and other Iranian officials
accuse the United States of engaging in "economic
terrorism." Iran, according to Rouhani, is willing to talk with
the United States - if all sanctions are lifted.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC
NEWS
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani had another telephone
conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron August 6, to
discuss issues surrounding U.S. sanctions on Iran and related
tensions. Rouhani and Macron have been reportedly discussing ways to
reduce heightened tensions in recent weeks, with several telephone
contacts between the two. Rouhani's office quoted him as having told
Macron, "Concurrent with attempts by Iran and France to reduce
tensions and create helpful conditions for lasting coexistence in the
region, we are witnessing provocative actions by the Americans."
Iran asked U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on
Tuesday to push back against the United States after it imposed
sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,
describing the move as a "a dangerous precedent." In a
letter to Guterres, Iran's U.N. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi
accused the United States of a "brazen violation of the
fundamental principles of international law" and urged the
international community to condemn the U.S. behavior.
MISSILE PROGRAM
Iran has unveiled three new precision-guided missiles on
Tuesday amid tensions between Iran and the US and European countries
in the Strait of Hormuz. The air-to-air missiles revealed by Tehran are
called the "Yasin" and the "Balaban," as well as
a new series of the "Qaem" missile, and were developed
jointly by the Iranian Defense Ministry and Sa Iran (Iran Electronics
Industries). According to Iran's Mehr News Agency, the Yasin is a
smart guided missile with folding wings that can be fired from a
range of 50 km. of its target from manned or unmanned aircraft.
TERRORISM & EXTREMISM
Iran has agreed to increase Hamas' monthly payments in
exchange for "information about Israel's missile
capabilities," an Israeli report said on Tuesday. The Israeli
Channel 12 said that Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, during a recent
meeting in Tehran with nine Hamas officials, expressed his readiness
to raise the movement's monthly allocated financial support to $30
million. Iran has long provided financial support to Hamas, but has
decreased it sharply in recent years because of differences over the
Syrian crisis. The new Iranian support is a powerful boost to Hamas,
which is suffering a severe financial crisis in the Gaza Strip and
elsewhere in the West Bank and abroad.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
In an open letter to the Islamic Republic's Supreme
Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fourteen women's rights activists
have called upon him to step down and pave the way for a transition
towards a new political system for Iran. Referring to a similar
demand presented by fourteen political activists last month, the
signatories to the new letter published August 5 have also protested
what they described as "gender apartheid" and
"patriarchal approach" dominating the country.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS & NEGOTIATIONS
Iran on August 6 asked the UN to push back on U.S.
sanctions and the Islamic republic's President Hassan Rohani said
restrictive measures must be lifted first before negotiations can
start about the country's nuclear program. Tension between the two
countries stems from last year when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew
from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and imposed
new and harsher sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors.
Iranian state TV showed Rohani meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad
Zarif, who both are on a U.S. sanctions list, while reiterating that
the restrictive measures are an act of "economic
terrorism."
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday threatened
the United States and the United Kingdom with reciprocal action,
saying "peace for peace, war for war and oil for oil". In a
speech he delivered at Iran's foreign ministry, where he praised the
foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who has been sanctioned by the
U.S., Rouhani also declared, "Peace with Iran is the mother of
all peace and war with Iran is the mother of all wars". He
added, "We are for negotiations. If America is really ready for
talks it should dismantle all its sanctions and refrain from criminal
actions and economic terrorism. The path for America is real
repentance."
In a speech replete with both bellicose and conciliatory
impulses, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic
favored talks with the US administration if the latter lifted all the
sanctions it reimposed following its withdrawal in May 2018 from the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). "Before everything
else, they need to remove all of the sanctions regardless of whether
they want to return to the deal or not, which is up to them,"
Rouhani told senior officials at the country's Foreign Ministry
headquarters Aug. 6. The comment demonstrated an apparent shift from
Rouhani's earlier adamant stance that pinned any potential
rapprochement to the US reentry in the JCPOA. "What they are
doing today is but economic terrorism," the Iranian president
noted in reference to the sanctions, which Tehran has repeatedly
lamented as a campaign targeting the livelihood of ordinary citizens.
IRANIAN REGIONAL AGGRESSION
The continued detention of British-flagged tanker Stena
Impero is "unacceptable and unjustifiable" and there are
concerns for the welfare of the crew after 19 days in confinement,
the vessel's owner said on Tuesday. Iran's Revolutionary Guards
on July 19 seized the Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz waterway
for alleged marine violations. That came two weeks after Britain
seized an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, accusing it of violating
sanctions on Syria. Britain has repeatedly ruled out any swap of tankers.
Iran has seized another oil tanker in the Persian Gulf -
this one, it says, was smuggling oil to Arab nations - weeks after it
detained a British-flagged tanker and attacked several others. So
far, the United States has not succeeded in building a Western-led
coalition to respond in the gulf; Germany initially declined to join
the U.S. last week but said it is consulting, considering and
"reviewing ... in close cooperation" with Britain and
France. Thus, it seems time to consider a time-honored tactic to
respond to Iran's belligerence: Decoys.
Russia and Iran are to hold joint naval exercises around
the Strait of Hormuz, raising the risk of a dangerous confrontation
with western forces in the Gulf. They have pledged to stage the war
games by the end of the year, even as Britain and the United States
step up their military presence in Gulf waters with a new joint task
force to protect commercial shipping. The announcement marks a
milestone in improving relations between Tehran and Moscow, former
rivals who have found common ground in Syria's civil war where both
are supporting the Assad regime. Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz
have increased since the US pulled out of a 2015 deal curbing Iran's
nuclear activities and reimposed punishing sanctions that have cut
off...
RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Israel is playing a role in a US-led coalition to secure
the Persian Gulf from the threats posed by Iran, the Jewish state's
foreign minister revealed on Tuesday. The Israeli news site Mako
reported that Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed the cooperation
at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
Katz said Israel was a participant in a dialogue on the Gulf
situation with the US and its allies, and was also involved in
intelligence operations. He said that such collaboration was very
much in Israel's interest, as it helped curb Iran's power and
aggression while strengthening burgeoning ties with Gulf Arab states.
The US Treasury has added Lebanese businessman Fadi
Hussein Serhan to a list of sanctioned foreign nationals for
providing material support to Hezbollah. The US government has
accused Serhan of aiding the militant group through his Beirut
electronics store.
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based political party, is facing
huge political and financial challenges because of the increased U.S.
sanctions against Iran and the party's military involvement in
different parts of the Arab world, analysts told Xinhua "To
start with, salaries of Hezbollah's fighters who are at the forefront
of any military confrontation have dropped by around 30
percent," Youssef Diab, political analyst, told Xinhua. Since
U.S. President Donald Trump introduced new restrictions on trade with
Iran last year, Iran's ability to finance allies such as Hezbollah
has been reduced.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN
Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih met U.S.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday in Washington and said both
sides expressed concern over threats targeting freedom of maritime
traffic in the Arabian Gulf. "The meeting... dealt with
the two countries' concern over threats targeting freedom of maritime
traffic in the Arabian Gulf. We affirmed our determination to work
together to ensure the security of global energy supplies,"
Falih said in a series of tweets.
Operating in plain sight for years: that's the claim
behind calls for an investigation into a Qatar state-owned bank in
the UK with reported links to terror and extremist groups. The
British-registered bank Al Rayan has been linked to at least 15
controversial entities - four of whom were banned by British high
street banks - but had accounts with the Qatari institution. The
clientele included people linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood,
proscribed a terrorist organisation by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the
UAE. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood was accused of the deaths of
20 people in a car bombing near a cancer hospital in Cairo.
IRAQ & IRAN
Rhetoric by pro-Iranian groups in Iraq, as well as the
threat from Iranian-backed militias operating there, have increased
in the last several months, according to a US report. The quarterly
Lead Inspector General Report covers incidents from April to the end
of June and examines the US-led anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and
Syria.
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