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Reuters: "France and Iran hailed a set
of business tie-ups and export deals on Thursday including the sale of
dozens of Airbus planes and a car factory revamp that re-ignites a
decades-old relationship between Tehran and carmaker Peugeot. The deals,
some of which were not yet finalised, were announced at a Franco-Iranian
business forum attended by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and a host of
ministers and business leaders. The visit follows a deal between Iran and
the west on the middle-eastern country's nuclear program that resulted in
the lifting earlier this month of trade sanctions. With four business
arrangements flagged by France's main industry body including the PSA
Peugeot Citroen tie-up and a plan to sell over 100 Airbus passenger
planes, French Prime Minister Valls said there would also be agreements
signed in the areas of health, agriculture and the environment. The deals
come despite a background of continued diplomatic tension with France,
one of Iran's fiercest critics during the sanctions-lifting talks, and as
human rights protests against the visit took place in the French capital.
'Let's forget past differences and start anew,' Rouhani said in a speech
to the forum. Exactly what stage the Airbus deal was at remained unclear
on Thursday, but French officials said Iran was putting the finishing
touches to the deal... Pierre Gattaz, head of France's Medef employers
association, said French national railway operator SNCF and aluminum
company Fives were also expected to unveil deals. 'Iran's needs are
enormous,' Gattaz told reporters. 'Iranians need everything. The country
is not starting from scratch, it's got a very educated workforce, a real
development potential.'" http://t.uani.com/1RP5pqo
Daily
Telegraph:
"Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, has marked
Holocaust Memorial Day by publishing a Holocaust denying video on his
official website. While nations around the world remembered the millions
of people who were killed in Auschwitz and other concentration camps,
Iran's hardline leader questioned whether the Holocaust 'is a reality or
not'. Khamenei's website promotes the video with a banner across its
homepage, featuring a montage of images, including one of Adolf Hitler...
Khamenei's message comes as President Hassan Rouhani tours Italy and
France, attempting to drum up trade and diplomatic links after his
country signed a historic deal to limit its nuclear ambitions. Khamenei,
who has the final word on high matters of state including last summer's
nuclear deal, used his video to call on the 'dear people of Iran' to
'stand up against the ignorance' of the West. In the video, titled Are
The Dark Ages Over?, Khamenei says: 'No one in European countries dares
to speak about Holocaust. 'While it is not clear whether the core of this
matter is a reality or not. Even if it is a reality, it is not clear how
it happened.' The video, which features images of Holocaust deniers Roger
Garaudy, Robert Faurisson, and David Irving, is just under three minutes
long. Khamenei bemoans the fact that 'speaking about Holocaust and
expressing doubts about it is considered to be a great sin' in the West.
'If someone does this, they stop, arrest, imprison and sue him,' he says.
'This is while they claim to be the supporters of freedom. This is the
ignorance that exists in today's world, we should be awake.' He brands the
'western powers' liars for assisting the 'fake Zionist regime' while
saying they are opposed to terrorism and Isil." http://t.uani.com/1KHx4lz
Navy
Times: "Iran's
supreme leader is hailing his hard-line paramilitary forces as heroes for
their arrest of 10 American sailors at gunpoint, but an emerging
consensus of U.S. legal experts believe the provocative act was a
dangerous violation of international law that has so far gone without
repercussions. The U.S. riverine boats had the right to pass
expeditiously through Iran's territorial waters under the right of
innocent passage without being boarded and arrested so long as they
weren't engaged in a military operation such as spying. Pentagon
officials have said the riverine boat crews mistakenly entered Iran's
waters in the Persian Gulf due to a 'navigation error' while en route to
a refueling... Iran did not have the legal standing to arrest the sailors
at gunpoint and that demands a U.S. response, said one expert. 'This
should be very concerning for the Navy community,' said James Kraska, a
maritime law expert at the U.S. Naval War College. 'This says that U.S.
vessels don't have innocent passage and that their sovereign immunity is
not respected.' ... The U.S. has expressed discontent through diplomatic
channels over Iran's handling of the incident, the use of the sailors for
propaganda and Iran's flouting of international norms, a State Department
official said. 'We have expressed our strong concern to Iran over the
incident,' the official said, but declined to go into detail about those
concerns, who relayed them or whether Iran could face further
repercussions. The legal experts referenced the theU.N. Convention on the
Law of the Sea, which the U.S. abides by and Iran has signed but not
ratified. Under it, a warship has 'sovereign immunity' and can transit
the territorial waters of another so long as they move 'continuously and
expeditiously' and do not conduct any military operations, said Craig
Allen, a professor of marine and environmental affairs at the University
of Washington School of Law. Iran had the right to query the U.S. assault
boats and if they didn't like their answer, they had the right to expel them
from their waters. But they didn't have the right to arrest them. 'They
can say, You are no longer conducting an innocent passage, get out,'
Allen said. 'You expel them - you don't haul them into your port.'" http://t.uani.com/1SdLVMN
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Fars
(Iran): "Iran's
massive military drills in international waters displays that the US
attempts to prevent Iran's progress and contain its growing power have
been futile, the head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
intelligence unit said on Wednesday. 'The Americans tried to contain us
through UN resolutions. They wanted to undermine our deterrence power,'
Hossein Ta'eb said Wednesday, addressing a meeting in the Western city of
Kermanshah. After Iran unveiled two deep underground tunnel facilities
packed with sophisticated cruise missiles and batteries; after Iran
test-fired the long-range Emad missile back in October and January; and
after the IRGC and the Army staged massive drills in recent months, 'the
United States got the message that Iran's deterrence power is here to
stay,' he said. His remarks came after the Iranian Navy forces began the
main phase of its massive drills in the Sea of Oman and the Indian Ocean.
During the drills on Wednesday, a US Navy warship received a serious
warning from several Iranian destroyers to keep away from their zone near
the Strait of Hormuz... The USS MONTEREY (CG 61), a TICONDEROGA class
cruiser, was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz where the Iranian forces
were staging the main phase of the Velayat 94. According to the Iranian
Army, the US warship left the region immediately after receiving the
warning. Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the warship
seemed to be planning to spy on Iranian vessels and weapons. 'Some still
seem to be holding no belief in Iran's naval power; hence they attempt to
come close to get informed of our moves and capabilities,' the Admiral
said on Wednesday. The incident was the second naval showdown between the
United States and Iran in Persian Gulf waters in just two weeks." http://t.uani.com/1RP5Qko
Congressional
Action
The Hill: "A bipartisan pair of lawmakers
is calling for the Obama administration to provide more 'clarity' about
the strategy for implementing the nuclear deal with Iran. Reps. Seth
Moulton (D-Mass.) and Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) plan to introduce a resolution
urging the administration to outline how the U.S. will keep Iran to the
terms of the deal, including an affirmation of potentially using military
force to prevent the country from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Under the
anticipated resolution, which has not yet been formally introduced, the
House 'expresses its concern over the lack of clarity from the
administration with regards to its response in the event of minor or
incremental violations by Iran of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action.' Moulton said Iran's recent ballistic missile tests - which
international officials say violated United Nations Security Council
resolutions - and ties to terrorism continue to raise concerns about the
country's trustworthiness. The freshman Democrat, who voted in support of
the deal last year, suggested that the White House should clarify how it
would respond to behavior from Iran that it finds objectionable as it
works to implement the deal. 'Frankly, if we were satisfied with the
administration's response to date, we wouldn't have written the
resolution,' Moulton said Wednesday. Ribble, who voted against the
accord, said the measure would be a 'pragmatic' recognition that the deal
is going into effect and needs to be effectively implemented whether
lawmakers originally supported the deal or not. He posited that fellow
Republicans would find the resolution's language sufficiently 'tough,'
even though virtually all of them opposed the Iran deal. 'We're not
taking anything off the table,' Ribble said of potential repercussions
for Iran... The House is slated to conduct a do-over vote on legislation
when it returns from recess next week that would prevent the Obama
administration from lifting sanctions on Iranian entities unless it
certifies they aren't affiliated with terrorism or ballistic missile
development. Lawmakers were originally slated to pass that bill before
Iran was expected to receive sanctions relief, but more than 100
lawmakers missed the vote earlier this month after Speaker Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.) closed the vote on time to punish tardiness." http://t.uani.com/1KHlgQ4
Al-Monitor: "Democrats who supported
President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran say it has already
defanged that country's nuclear program, and they want their constituents
to know about it. A half-dozen pro-deal lawmakers ranging from liberals
to pro-Israel hawks took turns Jan. 27 on the Senate floor touting the
deal's early successes and urging critics to help make it stronger. This
group effort comes as Republicans highlight recent Iranian actions deemed
aggressions, such as the detention of US sailors and a ballistic missile
launch. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Al-Monitor that he and other
Democrats 'want to start fighting back against Republicans who want to
rewrite the agreement.' 'Republicans continually want this agreement to
be about something other than preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon,' Murphy said. 'And I don't want us to be sitting around three
years from now, with the nuclear agreement having been fully implemented,
and the American public thinking the agreement failed simply because Iran
is still funding Hezbollah.' According to Murphy, the deal needs a sales
pitch, even after its passage, not unlike Obama's health care law. He
predicted such an effort could help Democrats in the 2016 presidential
election against Republican candidates who have vowed to terminate the
deal on their first day in office... Democrats are pushing back by
focusing on the progress that has already been made on the nuclear front.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., touted an 'extraordinary victory for diplomacy
in taking the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran and evaporating it,
eviscerating it, pushing it back at least 15 years.'" http://t.uani.com/1RP5Dhj
Sanctions
Enforcement
AP: "France has asked its European
Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent missile
tests, officials have told The Associated Press, even as Paris welcomed
the president of the Islamic Republic, which is flush with funds from the
lifting of other sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. The ambiguous
signals emerging Wednesday from France came as President Hassan Rouhani,
a relative moderate elected in 2013, signed billions of dollars in
business deals on an earlier stop in Italy and met with Pope Francis in
the first such Iranian foray into Europe since 1999. France hopes for similarly
lucrative deals during Rouhani's two-day visit, along with regional
peacemaking efforts as the once-pariah state emerges from decades of
isolation. But amid the courting of Iran, two officials from EU nations
told AP that the request for new sanctions came shortly after the EU and
the U.S. lifted sanctions on Tehran on Jan. 16 in exchange for U.N.
certification that Iran had scaled back its nuclear programs. Iran said
those programs were peaceful but critics feared it wanted to build
nuclear weapons. The two officials said the French request came after the
United States had imposed new sanctions on Iran over the firing of a
medium-range ballistic missile. A French diplomat who spoke only on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly on
the topic cited Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying the EU is
reviewing the possibility of new sanctions on Iran. He declined to say
which nation initiated the process. Disclosure that the French asked for
such a review - even if it is ultimately unsuccessful - could complicate
Rouhani's low-key visit. About 20 accords between companies and
ministries were to be signed Thursday, the French president's office
said." http://t.uani.com/1nqirNZ
Sanctions
Relief
FT: "PSA Peugeot Citroen became the
first western company on Thursday to sign a binding contract with an
Iranian group following the lifting of sanctions earlier this year. The
French car maker signed a joint venture with Iran Khodro to produce a
range of cars, saying it expected to invest €400m over the next five
years in developing facilities in the country. Carlos Tavares, the chief
executive of PSA, said at a press conference in Paris that the deal
'turns the page on the period of international sanctions' and allows the
group and Iran Khodro to start a 'new chapter in their 30-year
relationship'... PSA said it had been talking to its Iranian partner for
18 months. Peugeot is the number one foreign brand in Iran, with 30 per
cent of the market today. The company sold nearly half a million cars a
year before 2012, when sanction forced it to pull out. Iran Khodro
continued making Peugeot branded cars, however. PSA will now invest in
modernising platforms, particularly in the main Iran Khodro site near
Tehran. The investment will also allow for the export of vehicles to the
region as well, said Mr Tavares. It will begin by producing 200,000 cars
a year in a 50:50 joint venture, producing the Peugeot 208, 2008, and the
301. Vehicle production will start in the second half of 2017. The
company also said that the Iranian car market should bounce back to 2011
levels of selling 1.6m cars a year within two years. Sales would reach 2m
by 2020, it said." http://t.uani.com/1VupZKI
Reuters: "Low oil prices and the
economic and geopolitical scars of years of international sanctions all
point to a high risk 'junk' credit rating for Iran when it starts feeling
its way back into borrowing markets. With sanctions related to its
nuclear program now being lifted, Tehran is expected to start tapping
bond markets in the next six to 12 months, to try and breathe new life
into the second biggest economy in the Middle East. A credit rating from
one of the big three agencies, Standard and Poor's, Moody's or Fitch,
while not essential, would help. Ratings are a standard tool investors
use to judge how likely they are to get their money back and also to
gauge what incentive in terms of interest payments they should expect by
comparing countries to others with similar scores. The last time Iran had
a rating almost a decade ago it was firmly in 'junk' grade territory at
B2 with Moody's and had an equivalent B from Fitch, while the complex
politics meant S&P never rated it... Moody's estimates growth will
pick up to 4-5 percent this year and one of the few upsides of the
sanctions is that Iran's debt as a proportion of annual GDP is only 15-16
percent... But then there are the negatives. Nominal per capita income
has dropped to $4,900 from $7,500 pre sanctions, similar to B1 and B3
junk rated Albania and Bosnia, and oil prices at $30 a barrel aren't
helping as much as they could either. Fitch said recently it expected
Iranian oil and gas production to take years to get back to previous
peaks, though it would not comment on any potential sovereign rating. In
terms of political stability, corruption and rule of law, Mohammadi at
Moody's said Iran was something of a mix of Thailand, Guatemala,
Honduras, Ecuador, Mongolia and Indonesia, which on average would also
suggest a non-investment rating. 'Political and geopolitical risk would
probably be one of the higher risks of Iran,' she said, also highlighting
the war of words going on with Saudi Arabia." http://t.uani.com/1QGhsVN
Reuters: "Iranian banks will have to
adjust to tougher international regulations and may need to offload
non-performing loans into a 'bad bank' to pick up where they left off
when sanctions were imposed almost four years ago. The banks will be
crucial to deal-making and cash flow as Iran seeks to win business from
foreign firms and attract investment to upgrade its infrastructure now
that curbs have been lifted on its banking, insurance, shipping and oil
sectors. They are expected to be able to link up with international
lenders to process transactions within a matter of weeks following a deal
with world powers earlier this month curbing Iran's nuclear program. But
restrictions preventing U.S. banks dealing with the country will remain
in place and Iran's banks will have to contend with a financial world
very different from when they were cut off in 2012. 'Isolation of Iran's
money market from international markets resulted in the inability of the
Iranian banks to coordinate with international developments,' said Ali
Sanginian, chief executive of privately owned Amin Investment Bank. 'This
has led to these banks severely lacking in the areas of investment
quality, capital adequacy, internal control and other safeguarding
regulations in comparison to international standards,' said Sanginian,
whose institution is Iran's biggest investment bank with more than $1
billion of assets under management. Many of Iran's banks struggled with
bad debt during the sanctions era. The situation was compounded by
several banks having exposure to the country's property market, which
turned sour in 2012 leaving problem loans in the system. Official data
showed the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans was 13.4 percent
in the Iranian month ending June 21, 2015. Market estimates point to
nearly double that figure with the equivalent of $40 billion at the top
end of estimates for non-performing loans. 'The biggest issues Iranian
banks face is the high level of non-performing loans and the low capital
buffers,' said Constantinos Kypreos, senior analyst at ratings agency
Moody's Financial Institutions Group. Kypreos said the Iranian banking
sector remains undercapitalised with a reported 2014 capital adequacy
ratio of 6.8 percent versus a regional average capital adequacy ratio of
over 13 to 14 percent. '(With) concerns about the under-reporting of
problematic loans, the sector is in need of substantial new capital,' he
added... European banks are still cautious though. A senior manager at a
large financial institution in Germany said: 'We don't want to be the
pioneer. It would still be very complicated for us to do business with
Iran because many U.S. sanctions are still in place.' Amin Investment
Bank's Sanginian said there was still 'some mistrust' between banks due
to in part previous fines imposed by U.S. regulators. 'We even predict
that some giant international banks ... will refuse to cooperate with
Iranian financial institutions,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1QuTFGz
WSJ: "After a flurry of big deals
aimed at revamping Iranian commercial aviation, officials and executives
here now face a host of obstacles that could keep many of their biggest
ambitions grounded for some time to come. Iranian officials have been
eager to court Western buyers for its crude oil and natural gas, but they
have signaled that civil aviation is also a priority. Iran has committed
to buying more than 100 commercial jets from Airbus Group SE-an order
that could top $20 billion at list price-to help replace its aging fleet
of jetliners, some bought before the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Tehran has
also signed deals this week with a handful of French firms to revamp
Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. But residual financial
sanctions, capital restrictions, aging infrastructure, and limits on
Iranian flights abroad could all slow growth, Iranian and foreign
officials warn... So far, the industry has appeared to be the single
biggest beneficiary of the lifting of a set of broad international
sanctions against Tehran. Iran Air would gain from any new plane
orders... No one is expecting those planes to show up on the tarmac right
away. Airbus and rival Boeing Co., whose planes Tehran is also interested
in buying, are working through record backlogs, so new planes ordered
today might not show up until after 2020. Another obstacle: Most airplane
purchasing and finance deals are based in dollars. Executing those deals
amid the U.S. banking restrictions would be difficult, especially for
nonstate owned airlines. Deputy Transport Minister Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan
told an audience of international aviation executives at a conference
here this week that Iran's central bank is engaging with the U.S.
Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces
sanctions, to address the issue. 'The banking sanctions limit our growth
vision,' said Iraj Ronaghi, Vice President of Meraj Air, an independent
airline that operates domestic flights and some to neighboring states.
Iran was suspended in 2011 from the global aviation-payment system run by
the International Air Transport Association. Iran Air's Mr. Parvaresh
said the airline is hoping to be readmitted, a move that would make
international ticketing easier." http://t.uani.com/20v1AZ0
Bloomberg: "Iranian asset-management firm
Turquoise Partners plans to start a $200 million private equity fund with
Swiss bank Reyl & Cie's Dubai unit in the first half of the year as
the country opens up to foreign investors. The fund will mainly invest in
Iranian consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, consumer finance and hospitality
companies, which 'can be ramped up and turned around because they're
inefficiently managed,' Chairman Rouzbeh Pirouz said in an interview in
Tehran on Wednesday. As a joint venture between Turquoise and the
Dubai-based entity Reyl Finance, the fund plans to capture 'the value of
the consumer market that Iran has to offer,' Pasha Bakhtiar, chief
executive officer of Reyl Finance, said by telephone from Dubai on
Thursday. The $200 million target will be raised in several rounds, he
said. Iran is opening up to foreign investors after the lifting of
international sanctions earlier this month ended a decade of isolation.
Griffon Capital, a Tehran-based firm set up by a group of international
and Iranian investors, said this week it's seeking to raise 100 million
euros ($108.8 million) for a new offshore fund specializing in the
country's stocks. Turquoise also started an institutional fund with
Charlemagne Capital Ltd. to buy Iranian securities earlier this month.
That fund, which has raised about $50 million so far from mainly European
investors, has gained about 20 percent after investing mainly in consumer
and pharmaceutical stocks, Pirouz said." http://t.uani.com/1ZVG6Co
AP: "Several European airlines aim
to resume their flights to Iran following a landmark nuclear deal between
Tehran and world powers, the state-owned IRAN daily reported on Thursday.
The newspaper quoted Mohammad Khodakarami, deputy head of Iran's civil
aviation authority, as saying British Airways officials visited Tehran on
Tuesday to discuss resumption of flights. He did not elaborate.
Khodakarami also said both Air France and Dutch flagship KLM have already
expressed their readiness to resume flights to Tehran. Air France said
last month it would resume flights to Tehran for the first time in more
than seven years starting in April. A KLM spokesman said the carrier
always looks for opportunities for new destinations but has not yet make
a decision about resuming flights that were suspended in 2013. 'At this
moment there are no concrete plans to open Tehran. KLM follows the
current situation concerning the lifting of sanctions against Iran closely,'
spokesman Joost Ruempol said. BA also has not announced any firm plans to
return to Iran, though Willie Walsh, the chief executive of its parent
International Airlines Group, reportedly told a recent conference the
airline is interested in flying to Tehran soon." http://t.uani.com/1PV7P0T
Presidential
Visit to Europe
AP: "Italy's culture minister has
criticized as 'incomprehensible' the decision to cover up naked statues
at a Rome museum where Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was visiting,
adding a new twist to the controversy that has dominated Rouhani's
deal-making visit to Italy. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini told
reporters Wednesday that neither he nor Premier Matteo Renzi were
informed about the decision, which was apparently taken by lower-ranking
officials in a bid to avoid offending the visiting leader. The cover-up
involved the placement of several wooden panels to shield nude statues at
Rome's Capitoline Museums, where Rouhani and Renzi held a joint press
conference Monday. The measures made headlines across Italy and prompted
some politicians to accuse the government of caving into 'cultural
submission.' 'I think there easily would have been other ways to not
offend an important foreign guest without this incomprehensible choice of
covering up the statues,' Franceschini said. He spoke to reporters at the
Colosseum, where he gave Rouhani a guided tour before the Iranian
delegation left for France. Rouhani, for his part, said the Iranians
hadn't requested any such measures by saying 'there were no contacts
about this.' But he seemed to appreciate the gesture. 'I know that
Italians are a very hospitable people, a people who try to do the most to
put their guests at ease and I thank you for this,' he told reporters
when asked about the cover-up." http://t.uani.com/1KcWfS1
RFE/RL: "Memes are making the rounds
mocking Italy's decision to cover up nude statues at Rome's Capitoline
Museum with big white boxes for a visit by Iranian President Hassan
Rohani. The decision has caused anger in Italy, where it has been
condemned by critics as 'incomprehensible,' 'ridiculous,' and
'submission' to principles that are against Western culture... A
photoshopped picture of the Mona Lisa wrapped in the Islamic hijab that
is compulsory for women in Iran was being shared on social media ahead of
the trip, which follows the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic
republic under a landmark deal restricting its nuclear program.
'Preparations by Louvre Museum for Rohani's visit,' reads the tweet. Some
Iranians have likened Italy's decision to cover up nude statues to Iran's
state censorship, including tough Internet censorship that targets tens
of thousands of websites. 'Smart filtering of statues during #Rohani's
trip to #Italy,' reads the tweet that includes a photo of the nude
statues covered in the page that Iranians see when they try to access
banned websites. A photoshopped photo of Rohani posing with Pope Francis
under a nude painting was widely circulated... In 2013, a relief carving
of a naked man at the UN's headquarters in Geneva was covered up by a
large white screen apparently in an effort not to offend Iranian
diplomats who were due to take part in talks over Iran's nuclear
activities." http://t.uani.com/1Slti7N
Terrorism
JPost: "Hezbollah is expected to start
mediating soon between Hamas and Iran in order to reconcile between both
parties and bring Hamas, which is financed today buy the Gulf states,
back into Tehran's fold. London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported on
Thursday that the new mediation comes after Iran failed in its previous
attempts to convince Hamas to announce its support for Iran in the
Islamic Republic's battle with Saudi Arabia for regional supremacy, in
exchange for Iranian financial aid. According to the report, Naim Qassem,
the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, has invited the deputy
chairman of Hamas' political bureau, Mousa Abu Marzouk, to Lebanon to
meet senior Iranian officials, including officers in Iran's Revolutionary
Guard. The reported meeting is expected to take place after the end of
reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah that will start in Doha in
February." http://t.uani.com/1SdMm9K
Al-Monitor: "As Palestinians hope for a
potential windfall of support from Iran's newly restored wealth, some
observers are warning them not to hold their breath. Iran has provided
financial and military support for some Palestinian factions in the Gaza
Strip, especially Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, since the early 1990s. But
Iran dramatically reduced this support in early 2011, when the factions
refused to take sides in the ongoing war in Syria. Now that the crippling
sanctions that had been in place against Iran since 1979 were lifted Jan.
16, these groups hope to benefit. However, Tehran's stance on Syria
hasn't changed, so observers believe Iran isn't likely to increase its
support unless the factions side with Iran - and they don't appear ready
to do so. The only Palestinian faction to even comment publicly on the
sanctions removal was the pro-Iran Harakat Al-Sabireen ('Movement of
Those Who Endure with Patience'), which called the agreement a victory
for the nation and a sign of pride and strength. 'Iran's power is the
strength of vulnerable people around the world, and all the free people
must unite to fight the global arrogance and eliminate the Zionist entity
from the land of Palestine,' Harakat Al-Sabireen said in an official
statement issued Jan. 17. Ahmed Yousef, a Hamas leader and political
adviser to former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh,
confirmed to Al-Monitor that although the financial and military support
Iran provides to the movement's military wing has never stopped, it has
been reduced over the past five years, and the movement has especially
distanced itself from the Syrian war. He stressed that all Palestinian
resistance forces need Iran's financial, political and military
support." http://t.uani.com/1TpIBNm
Syria
Conflict
Reuters: "Iran said on Thursday it
strongly opposed moves by its regional foe Saudi Arabia to allow
'terrorists in a new mask' to sit down for talks between the Syrian
government and the opposition. Preparations for Syria peace talks, due in
Geneva on Friday, have been beset by difficulties, including a dispute
over who should be invited to negotiate with President Bashar al-Assad's
government as it claws back territory with help from Russia and Iran.
'Terrorists with a new mask should not sit down at a negotiating table
with the representatives of the Syrian authorities,' Deputy Iranian
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told a news conference during a
visit to Russia. 'This is the most important condition.' The Syrian
government, aided by Russian air strikes and allied militia including
Iranian forces, is gaining ground against rebels in western Syria, this
week capturing the town of Sheikh Maskin near the Jordanian border."
http://t.uani.com/1lWGXW1
Human
Rights
HuffPost: "At least 160 young Iranians
are currently awaiting execution and 73 others have been put to death
between 2005 and 2015, a chilling new report from Amnesty International
says. As the world's leading executioner of offenders under 18 and one of
the world's largest users of the death penalty overall, Iran had nearly
700 people executed in the first half of 2015 alone. 'The situation
overall is shocking and distressing,' Raha Bahreini, the report's lead
researcher, told The WorldPost. 'It is absolutely shocking that the
majority of countries in the world have rejected the death penalty, but
Iran continues to sentence girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 15 to
death.' Among the 73 executed youth was Makwan Moloudzadeh, who was
sentenced to death as a 13-year-old and executed eight years later, in
2007. Moloudzadeh was accused of having 'forced male-male anal
penetration' with another boy, but withdrew his pre-trial confession in
court, saying he had been coerced and tortured into confessing. Two boys
who had also accused Moloudzadeh of raping them retracted their
accusations, saying they had lied or had been forced to lodge complaints
by the police. Iran also hanged Janat Mir, an Afghan boy believed to be
14 or 15 at the time of his execution, in 2014. Mir was executed
following an arrest for drug offenses after his friend's house, where he
was living, was raided." http://t.uani.com/1Slup7t
RFE/RL: "A woman from the activist
group Femen hung from a bridge in Paris on January 28, to protest Iranian
President Hassan Rohani's visit to the French capital. With an Iranian
flag painted on her chest, the activist staged a mock execution. The
group said it was protesting against widespread executions of 'women,
feminists and freethinkers' in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1ORNvj1
Foreign
Affairs
Al-Monitor: "Despite the rising death toll,
with 156 Palestinians killed since Oct. 1, 2015, President Mahmoud Abbas
made a point of discussing larger regional conflicts during his Jan. 6
speech in Bethlehem. Abbas exclaimed three separate times, 'We stand with
Saudi Arabia' in its clash against Iran. In a wide-ranging interview with
Al-Monitor at the Negotiations Affairs Department's office of the PLO,
chief negotiator Saeb Erekat adopted a harsh tone against Tehran, saying,
'The Iranians should stop poking their noses into the affairs of others
or exporting their revolution.' Ghassan Khatib, former Palestinian
minister of labor and director of the Palestinian Authority's government
media center... said that Iran's previous support for Hamas 'has led PA
officials to think that Iran is a factor contributing to a split in
internal Palestinian politics, which is bad for the Palestinian
cause.'" http://t.uani.com/207Zwt5
Opinion
& Analysis
Giulio
Maria Terzi in Politico: "The nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic of
Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S.)
was a significant development. But there are a number of reasons why it
should be considered with more caution than excitement. Is it really a
landmark achievement for world peace and security? Many friends of the
Iranian people would like to see the country make steps toward freedom,
human rights, pluralism and tolerance. Unfortunately the odds are that
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will neither make the Middle East
safer nor fundamentally change the nature of the Iranian regime and its
conduct in the region. Since signing the agreement in mid-July Tehran has
shown a clear lack of interest in changing course. This fact is
particularly significant in light of President Hassan Rouhani's visits to
Italy and France this week, the first such state visits in a decade. By
all accounts, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei only agreed to the
nuclear talks because the Iranian economy was suffering under crippling
U.S. and EU sanctions, raising the specter of massive uprisings
reminiscent of those in 2009. Khamenei took great care to emphasize, even
at the beginning of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action's
implementation phase, that dialogue and cooperation with the West should
not expand to other areas, namely regional security and human rights. The
regime has carried out 52 hangings since the beginning of the year,
intensifying a pervasive climate of terror and fear. In the almost three
years of Rouhani's tenure, more than 2,000 people have been executed,
according to a report by Hands Off Cain (an anti-death penalty and
torture group), some for political charges... Iran has long led the world
in per capita executions, but this is a sharp increase compared to the
same period during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The regime has
also stepped up its arrests and its judicial abuses against activists,
dissidents, minorities and others. Beyond its borders, Tehran has been
pouring billions of dollars into support for Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and has dispatched more than 5,000 Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)
and some 25,000 non-Iranian mercenaries to Syria. The international
community has made efforts to bring Iran into the discussion over a
political solution to the Syrian civil war and Tehran's refusal to
negotiate over the future of the Assad regime makes it clear that Iranian
officials are abiding by Khamenei's directive to avoid negotiation. There
have been other provocations... It seems quite evident that the nuclear
agreement has given the regime added motivation to crack down on Iranian
civil society, become more belligerent in the region, and keep Western
influence at bay... It is clear that the West will continue to face major
strategic challenges from Iran. Hope cannot be a substitute for prudent
policy, particularly in dealing with a volatile region like the Middle
East or issues like the growth of Islamic extremism. Italy, France and
the European Union should not only use Rouhani's visit to explore trading
opportunities. First and foremost Rouhani's visit should be a test of his
willingness to change Iran's egregious conduct and an opportunity to hold
him accountable for his actions. If Iran needs to open up its economy
vis-a-vis the EU and the West, the Iranian president should be reminded
that unless the regime truly moderates its conduct, the West will have no
political appetite for investment or improved relations. The nuclear deal
is not the only obvious area in which Iran can demonstrate a real
commitment to moderation: releasing political prisoners, safeguarding the
rights of citizens, withdrawing support for terrorist groups, retracting
hateful propaganda, and ending their meddling in the affairs of other
countries are just as important. Until such results are achieved, the
narrative of Iranian moderation will remain a fantasy. The West needs a
better foundation on which to base moral and politically-effective
policies." http://t.uani.com/208767g
Suzanne
Maloney in Brookings:
"If you want to understand what drove the intense opposition to the
nuclear deal with Iran in certain quarters of the American political
establishment, as well as across the broader Middle East, all you have to
do is look at the photos from Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's
inaugural tour of Europe this week. The most notorious shot shows plywood
barricades concealing ancient Roman statues, apparently out of concern
that their nudity would shock or offend the leader of an Islamic
theocracy. The alacrity with which Italian leaders jettisoned their
values and historical legacy in hopes of gaining some advantage in Iran's
post-sanctions gold rush is precisely what nuclear deal opponents
predicted and hoped to forestall. After all, a Europe that would so
readily censor the treasures of its own glorious antiquity, in an obsequious
gesture that was apparently unbidden by Tehran, is unlikely to jeopardize
any budding business to penalize any Iranian infractions of the
agreement, or to put pressure on Iran over any of its other objectionable
policies... Much of the U.S. unilateral sanctions regime remains intact,
and these measures-along with some residual uncertainty about the
longevity of the nuclear deal-will restrain the horizons of Iran's
economic and geopolitical reintegration into the international community.
But for all practical purposes, the Islamic Republic's redemption is
complete. So in the wake of this broad normalization, how can the world
continue to nudge Tehran toward 'acting like a normal country'? For
starters, by restraining the impulse to placate ideological excesses of
Iranian politics-or, for that matter, those of its neighbors. The Italian
deference to Rouhani is not without precedent: similar measures were
taken last year to protect the delicate sensibilities of Abu Dhabi's
crown prince. And it was not without foundation-in 1999, photos of a
previous Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, enjoying an Italian state
dinner provoked a furor among opponents of his reformist agenda because
they revealed wine glasses on the tables. However, there were an infinite
number of ways for circumventing these civilizational conflicts without
repudiating Italian artistic glory. To avoid a repeat of his Roman
fiasco, Khatami simply adapted his future European visits to incorporate
a greater number of official breakfast meetings, where abstinence was
more easily ensured. Iran's rehabilitation without full-fledged
reformation compounds the already urgent challenges of an unstable Middle
East. Its reintegration can be a stabilizing force, but only if Tehran
reconciles itself to the world, rather than the reverse." http://t.uani.com/1QGAZFx
Daniel
Henninger in WSJ:
"Some wonder how history will treat Barack Obama's presidency. That
depends on who writes the histories. Secretary of State John Kerry's
account will fist-pump the Iran nuclear deal as the central
foreign-policy event of the Obama presidency, a triumph for Western
diplomacy. But news photographs in recent weeks are producing a different
history. These photos document the abject humiliation of the West by
Iran. Americans who plan to vote in their presidential election should
look hard at these photos, because the West's direction after this will
turn on the decisions they make. The first photo is of a hallway in
Rome's Capitoline Museums, a repository of art dating to Western
antiquity. Out of what the government of Italy called 'respect' for the
sensibilities of visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, the museum
placed large white boxes over several nude sculptures, including a Venus
created in the second century B.C. Then, because Mr. Rouhani will not
attend a meal that serves alcohol to anyone, the nominally Italian
government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi declined to serve wine. They
did so for the same reason that beggars grub change in front of Rome's
churches. Freed by the Obama nuclear deal with Iran, Italy's tin-cup
businesses signed about a dozen deals with Mr. Rouhani this week,
totaling $18 billion. The bowing and scraping to Mr. Rouhani continues
this week as France and Germany sign more deals. This is not economic
re-normalization. Rather than reform its weak, politically unstable
economies, Europe is content to make itself a dependency of the aborning
Iranian empire. The second photo of Western submission depicts what
appears to be a glee-filled meeting between the president of Iran and the
leader of the world's Catholics, Pope Francis, who gave Mr. Rouhani 40
minutes of his time. The Vatican argues this is realpolitik by a pope
trying to protect Christians in the Middle East by inducing Iran to play
an 'important role' in the peace process. Set aside the 'role' Iran has
played in the death of a quarter-million Syrians and the refugees now
destabilizing Europe. One still may ask: Why such public and jolly
photo-ops with this person? The U.S. State Department's religious-freedom
report says in 2014 Iran executed at least 24 individuals for the crime
of moharebeh (enmity against God). And surely that understates the total
killed. The persecuted in Iran include Bahais, Sunni Muslims, Christians
(notably evangelicals), Jews, Yarsanis and even Shia groups. Mr. Rouhani
is grinning in this photo because he knows these people can't move Iran's
culture out of the 16th century. The third photograph is of 10 sailors
from the U.S. Navy who are kneeling in rows, hands on their heads, on the
deck of an Iranian boat. The Obama administration hasn't provided an
explanation for how this 'deviation' and capture by Iran in the Persian Gulf
happened. Instead of outrage over Iran's treatment of the sailors, Sec.
Kerry praised the Iranians' 'cooperation and quick response.'
Cooperation? Iran humiliated the sailors by making them kneel in the
style of an Islamic State execution ceremony and then humiliated the U.S.
by releasing that photo. Meeting in a congratulatory ceremony with the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members who took the sailors, Iranian
supremo Ayatollah Khamenei said, 'This event should be considered God's
work.' One is tempted to tip one's hat to the Khamenei-Rouhani strategy
team. Iran took the West's measure with its nuclear brinkmanship and the
West bent. Some may say the Italians are the Italians, the pope has his
reasons, and Barack Obama and John Kerry are just finishing their apology
tour. But that understates the long series of political compromises and
cultural surrenders that have brought the U.S. and Europe to this point.
Italy's repudiation of its own heritage to accommodate Iran's president
is a significant symbolic event." http://t.uani.com/1P00nS8
Shirin
Ebadi in WashPost:
"Last week, the Iranian government released Washington Post reporter
Jason Rezaian and four other international prisoners. This is, of course,
wonderful news. But more than 800 Iranians remain behind bars, imprisoned
for their political beliefs, their journalism or their human rights work.
The current Iranian regime has 'brutally repressed' its civil society.
According to the U.N. secretary general, Iran maintains an ongoing
'crackdown' on free expression, with scores of reporters, human rights
defenders and activists in jail. Labor leaders, women's rights supporters
and representatives of Iran's minority communities are all languishing
behind bars. No one is immune - four young people were imprisoned after
they put out a YouTube video of themselves dancing to Pharrell's 'Happy.'
As a human rights lawyer, I have defended many of these men and women in
court. I have seen the sham trials that the state runs. Security forces
from the Intelligence Ministry and Revolutionary Guard have long been
able to arrest who they want, when they want, for whatever reason. These
agencies essentially dictate verdicts to Revolutionary Court judges, who
see themselves as a extension of the 'security' system, not independent
arbiters of justice and law. As a result, political prisoners and
prisoners of conscience are deprived a fair trial. Routinely, I see
people convicted on vague charges like 'propaganda against the state' or
'endangering the security of the state.' Almost all are put behind bars
for the peaceful expression of their political views, religious beliefs,
artistic vision or human rights advocacy. They are being held hostage by
security forces against Iranian law and international law. If Iran's
rulers can release a handful of Iranian American dual nationals, why
can't authorities free the young physicist Omid Kokabee, jailed for
refusing to work for Iran's military? What about human rights lawyer
Abdolfattah Soltani, student leader and women's rights worker Bahareh
Hedayat, journalist Issa Saharkhiz, political activist Saeed Madani or
hundreds of others? Why can't authorities free lawyer Narges Mohammadi?
Mohammadi is vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, an
organization I helped establish. She co-founded the coalition Step by
Step to Stop the Death Penalty, and has also worked as an investigative
journalist. Mohammadi spoke out for victims of torture such as Sattar
Beheshti, and briefed foreign dignitaries such as Catherine Ashton. Are
these acts grounds for imprisonment? Apparently so. Six years ago,
Mohammadi was sentenced to 11 years in prison. She is currently serving a
prison sentence and facing new charges. Upon arrest, political detainees
are held in solitary confinement, denied access to their lawyers and
family and subjected to physical and psychological torture. All this to
produce a confession to 'crimes' that no true judicial system would ever
consider crimes. If they fall ill, political prisoners are regularly
denied medical treatment. In Mohammadi's case, a medical examiner
determined in 2012 that she was unable to serve her sentence as a result
of poor health. She was granted furlough only to be returned to prison
last year. Now she is suffering from paralysis caused by a neurological
disorder and only receiving minimal care. I am overjoyed that Rezaian and
three other Iranian American prisoners are now free. But I am incredibly
sorry that other prisoners, who possess only Iranian citizenship, remain
behind bars. I hope that some day soon, we witness the release of
all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran." http://t.uani.com/20v4fSq
IranWire: "Only somebody like Mohammad
Dadkan, the former Persepolis footballer who served as president of the
Iranian Football Federation, can get away with making a comment like this
live on state television: 'Iranian sports are full of police and
Revolutionary Guards commanders. What are they doing in sports? What are
they doing in football? Do they want to hold Iranian sports back? If they
are good managers, they should go back to their jobs in the barracks.' It
may be a controversial statement, but it is true. Revolutionary Guards'
transition from barracks to boardrooms began back in the mid-1990s, when
they took on management roles in some of the country's most high profile
sports. So why have sports in Iran become so inundated by former
Revolutionary Guards? What is their agenda? And what kind of influence do
they have? Whatever the answers, it is safe to assume that the divisions
so prevalent in all aspects of Iranian society -the military, politics,
religion - also play a key role in Iran's sports. In fact, the politics
of sports holds such sway in Iran that one hardliner drew comparisons
between celebrating the nuclear deal and one of last year's biggest
football controversies, Tractor Sazi Football Club's 'false victory,'
where fans believed their team had won, only to be informed amid
celebrations that this was not the case. In Iranian sport, how often are
influential figures put in high-ranking sports jobs to do something
similar: control the course of events, and public expectations? Below, we
look at a few prime examples of the links between Iran's powerful
Revolutionary Guards and professional sport in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1nRiKSD
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