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The United States accused Iran on Tuesday of supplying
Yemen's Houthi rebels with a missile that was fired into Saudi Arabia
in July and called for the United Nations to hold Tehran accountable
for violating two U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The European Union's top diplomat got a frosty reception
on Capitol Hill today as she lobbied lawmakers to preserve the
nuclear deal with Iran.
Indeed, Tehran has twice crossed [the] line, including
surpassing the designated limit on heavy water, although some
officials and experts have downplayed the violations. Iran's
development of advanced centrifuges is also seen as problematic, as
per the accord's stated restrictions. Prof. Emily Landau, a senior
research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel
Aviv, shared with The Media Line her belief that Iran is not
complying with the deal, and expressed particular reservations about
the Procurement Working Group, which was set up to monitor Tehran's
nuclear-related purchases.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
President Donald Trump's decision not to certify the
Iran nuclear deal has consequences only in the U.S. - for the moment.
But American lawmakers are now in a crucial position: their next
moves will have a significant impact on the security of the U.S. and
its allies in Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the world. One
thing is clear: renegotiation is not an option.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson will fly to
Washington in an attempt to persuade the U.S. not to abandon the Iran
nuclear deal, as he battles to save his own job in London.
NUCLEAR & BALLISTIC-MISSILE PROGRAMS
Iran, along with Syria and Pakistan, may have obtained
technology that can be applied to military programs that can cause
widespread destruction, intelligence services in the Netherlands said
late last month.
U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS
Iran is determined to terrorize and weaken American
interests, whether it is helping proxies fire missiles at the Saudi
Arabian capital, trying to kill Americans, attacking Iraq, Israel,
Lebanon, and Syria, or supporting Sunni-terrorist groups such as the
Taliban. Only now are we learning how diverse the mullah's
malevolence really is.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says his country will
"not hesitate" to help maintain the stability of Lebanon
following the resignation of the Lebanese Saudi-backed prime minister
that threw the government into disarray.
MILITARY MATTERS
In October 2016, an article by the Tasnim news agency
reported that an Iranian company showcased the first-ever unmanned
GEV vehicle ever in an exhibition, though the article was promptly
taken down after posting and the exhibitors refused to speak with
media afterwards.
SYRIA CONFLICT
Syria's state-run news agency SANA says President Bashar
Assad and a visiting Iranian official have vowed to defend their
national interests amid rising regional tensions. Tuesday's report on
Assad and Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, comes as the Trump administration and Saudi
Arabia accuse Iran of backing groups opposed to both Riyadh and
Washington
IRAQ CRISIS
Iraq's highest-ranking Sunni leader said Tuesday the
growing influence of Iranian-backed Shiite militias looms as the
nation's most pressing future security threat and called for
bolstering U.S. military aid to Sunni forces. In Washington for talks
this week with Trump administration officials and congressional
leaders, Iraqi Vice President Osama al-Nujaifi is hoping the
administration will deliver on pledges to counter Iran's growing
influence inside Iraq and across the Middle East.
In early September, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi,
a senior Iranian official and cleric, flew to the holy city of Najaf
in southern Iraq. His entourage included a sizable security detail
and the former head of the Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful
military force in the Islamic Republic. Shahroudi, 69, spent several
days on a charm offensive meeting officials, clerics and seminary
students at his office near the golden dome shrine of Imam Ali, one
of the world's holiest Shi'ite sites. His aim was to raise his
profile as a replacement for the top Shi'ite cleric and most powerful
man in Iraq: the 87-year old Ayatollah Ali Sistani, according to
current and former Iraqi officials. While attention has focused on
Iraq's battle against Islamic State, the country's future could
equally hinge on what is happening in Najaf.
GULF STATES & IRAN
Saudi Arabia is more aggressively confronting its rival
Iran on multiple fronts. It's a policy that risks sharpening several
conflicts in the Middle East, even though so far it has failed to
score any successes in stemming Tehran's influence.
Saudi Arabia has opened a new front in its regional
proxy war with Iran, threatening Tehran's powerful ally Hezbollah and
its home country Lebanon to try to regain the upper hand.
Saudi Arabia, locked in a struggle for regional
dominance with Iran, will have no choice but to create and strengthen
militias in countries across the region, a prominent columnist wrote
in a state-owned daily. Direct military conflict with Iran is
"something that no one wants'' unless Iran launches a direct
attack on Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Al Rashid wrote in the Asharq
Al-Awsat newspaper. With that off the table, "countries will
have no choice but to resort to proxies'' to curb Iran's influence,
he wrote.
President Hassan Rouhani warned Saudi Arabia on
Wednesday that it will achieve nothing by threatening the might of
Iran, as a war of words between the regional heavyweights
intensifies.
Iran's President Rouhani said on Wednesday that Yemen's
missile attack targeting Riyadh on Saturday was "a reaction to
Saudi aggression." "How should the Yemeni people react to
bombardment of their country. So they are not allowed to use their
own weapons? You stop the bombardment first and see if the Yemenis
would not do the same," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Tasnim
news agency.
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