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TOP STORIES
The 2015 Iran nuclear agreement faces a potentially
fateful week, with a series of deadlines awaiting President Donald
Trump as Tehran reacts to recent antigovernment protests. Mr. Trump
is expected to again notify Congress he doesn't believe the Iran deal
is in the best interest of the U.S., restating a well-known position.
More important, Mr. Trump will have several opportunities starting
Wednesday to refuse to extend U.S. sanctions relief to Iran under the
deal, which would put Washington in breach of its terms. To stay in
the deal, Mr. Trump must periodically agree to waive penalties
imposed under a variety of U.S. statutes.
The Trump administration is working with key lawmakers
on a legislative fix that could enable the United States to remain in
the Iran nuclear deal, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in an
interview with The Associated Press.
Dozens of students have been detained by Iranian
authorities who have arrested more than 1,000 people in their attempt
to quell anti-government protests, according to Iranian MPs.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Former CIA veteran, [UANI Senior Advisor] and Iran
specialist Norman T. Roule told News Corp that Iran had been hit by a
"political meteorite'' and did not yet know how to respond. He
said that if the protests remained at current levels, and did not
coalesce into an organised movement, the regime did not appear in
danger of imminent collapse. "If the demonstrations do not
expand ... and security forces remain reliable, I believe the regime
will continue on for some time,'' Roule said.
[UANI
Senior Advisor] Norman T. Roule, former national intelligence manager
for Iran at the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence,
recently said that "fueled by funding, weapons and
training" from the IRGC, "this multinational web of groups
has transformed Iran from a largely localized security challenge to a
region-wide threat to multiple US strategic interests and partners, while
simultaneously minimizing Tehran's exposure to international blowback
for its actions."
In 1973, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, told
the journalist Oriana Fallaci that "[t]o get things done, one
needs power, and to hold onto power one mustn't ask anyone's
permission or advice." Fast forward to 2018, and Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei is likely to follow that maxim in the
days ahead. Despite the clarion calls for citizen activism in Iran,
change is likely to be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and
not in a good way.
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
As a new year's wave of street protests rocks Iran, the
demonstrations put President Trump in an awkward bind-right as he
faces a new deadline to decide whether to continue on with the Iran
nuclear deal he loathes. By the end of this week, in fact, the
president who called that agreement the "worst deal
ever"-and refused, despite the evidence, to certify Iranian
compliance with it-is expected to once again keep the deal alive by
waiving U.S. sanctions on the Iranian government that were suspended
when the agreement was made.
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley called an emergency session
of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to focus on deadly
protests in Iran, but the hearing didn't go as planned. While most
envoys criticized the violence and called on Iran's government to
show restraint with protesters, several -- including U.S. allies
France and the U.K. -- also used the opportunity to defend the 2015
nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, an accord increasingly
seen as under threat by President Donald Trump's administration.
IRAN PROTESTS
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared Sunday
that the country's unrest of recent days has been quelled. But even
as the force made the declaration, there remained signs of protest on
social media. Dozens of videos of the burning of government documents
have shown up online in recent days, although they couldn't be
independently verified.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday the country's
people and security forces had put an end to unrest fomented by
foreign enemies, as parliament and security officials met to discuss
the boldest challenge to the clerical establishment since 2009.
The eruption of political unrest in Iran has presented
an unforeseen challenge to Tehran's rising influence in the Middle
East, potentially threatening the country's claims to dominance just
when it seemed to have secured an unassailable role.
The head of the CIA on Sunday denied his agency had any
role in fomenting the recent anti-government protests in Iran but
predicted the violent unrest "is not behind us."
The man stood outside the notorious Evin Prison in
Tehran on Sunday, his hands deep in his pockets as snow continued to
fall. His son Majid had been inside the prison for over a week, after
being arrested during the largest antigovernment demonstrations Iran
has seen in years.
Ninety university students are among the more than 1,000
people arrested in Iran's unrest, an Iranian MP has said.
France's ambassador to the United Nations told a U.N.
Security Council meeting on Friday that recent protests in Iran do
not threaten international peace and security, in what may be an
implicit criticism of the United States for calling the meeting.
Iran's U.N. ambassador says the Security Council's
emergency meeting on protests in his country is "a preposterous
example" of "U.S. bullying."
For many Iranians living in exile, the past nine days
have been a mix of emotions - fear, foreboding, hope - as they
intently watch, as best they can, the deadly unrest unfolding in
their native land.
Iranian lawmakers held a closed-door session on Sunday
to discuss the deadly protests that hit the country last week, while
more pro-regime rallies were held in several cities.
TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM
The Islamic State group has declared support for the
anti-government protests in Iran.
GULF STATES, YEMEN, LEBANON, AND IRAN
As protests rattled Iran this week, Tehran's main rival
in the region has stayed unusually quiet.
IRANIAN DOMESTIC ISSUES
The former president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
been arrested for inciting unrest against the government, it was
reported.
Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary
schools, a senior education official said, after the country's
Supreme Leader said early learning of the language opened the way to
a Western "cultural invasion."
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