Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Eye on Iran: Iran Says Will Open New Chapter in Relations with Cuba






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Reuters: "Kicking off a six-day tour of Latin America, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday in Havana his visit would open a new chapter in the Islamic Republic's relations with Communist-ruled Cuba. Iran, which has long been friendly with Cuba, is on a drive to improve foreign commerce after the removal in January of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic. 'We will start a new chapter in the bilateral relations with Cuba on the basis of a big (business) delegation accompanying me on this visit,' Zarif said at a meeting with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez... 'We have always been on the side of the great Cuban people in view of atrocities and unjust sanctions,' Zarif said. 'The government and Cuban people have also always shown us solidarity with regards to the atrocities committed by the empire.' ... Zarif's tour will also take him to Chile, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Venezuela. Just last week, Cuba's new Economy Minister Ricardo Cabrisas made a trip to Tehran where he met with President Hassan Rouhani." http://t.uani.com/2bx3KDL

Reuters: "The Russian military said on Monday its aircraft operating from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes in Syria had completed their tasks, but left open the possibility of using the Hamadan base again if circumstances warranted. Iran's Foreign Ministry said Russia had stopped using the base for strikes in Syria, bringing an abrupt halt to an unprecedented deployment that was criticized both by the White House and by some Iranian lawmakers. 'Russian military aircraft that took part in the operation of conducting air strikes from Iran's Hamadan air base on terrorist targets in Syria have successfully completed all tasks,' a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement. 'Further use of the Hamadan air base in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Russian Aerospace Forces will be carried out on the basis of mutual agreements to fight terrorism and depending on the prevailing circumstances in Syria,' Konashenkov said. Last week, long-range Russian Tupolev-22M3 bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers used Nojeh air base, near the city of Hamadan, in north-west Iran to launch air strikes against armed groups in Syria. It was the first time a foreign power had used an Iranian base since World War Two." http://t.uani.com/2bJOCmQ

AP: "The cyber-arm of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard says it has summoned, detained and warned some 450 administrators of social media groups in recent weeks. The announcement Tuesday, carried on a website affiliated with the Guard's cyber arm, says those detained used social media like the messaging app Telegram, which is popular in Iran. The announcement says those detained or summoned made posts that were considered immoral, were related to modeling, or which insulted religious beliefs. It says the Guard only took action after 'judicial procedures' were completed, without elaborating." http://t.uani.com/2bf5x4e

U.S.-Iran Relations

Free Beacon: "The State Department issued a warning on Monday urging U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to Iran, which has made the detention of Americans a priority. The latest travel advisory, which emphasizes Iran's desire to capture U.S. citizens, comes on the heels of a growing scandal over the Obama administration's decision to pay Iran $400 million in cash on the same day that it freed several U.S. hostages. The payment has been cast by lawmakers and others as a ransom payment and prompted concern among U.S. officials that Iran is making arresting Americans a priority. The travel warning is meant to 'highlight the risk of arrest and detention of U.S. citizens, particularly dual national Iranian-Americans,' according to a State Department announcement on Monday. 'Foreigners, in particular dual nationals of Iran and Western countries including the United States, continue to be detained or prevented from leaving Iran.' 'U.S. citizens traveling to Iran should very carefully weigh the risks of travel and consider postponing their travel,' the warning adds. 'U.S. citizens residing in Iran should closely follow media reports, monitor local conditions, and evaluate the risks of remaining in the country.' Iran continues to imprison Americans, particularly those holding dual Iranian citizenship, according to the State Department." http://t.uani.com/2beaXYX

Congressional Action

The Hill: "Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is demanding Secretary of State John Kerry hand over details on a $400 million payment to Iran that GOP lawmakers have called a 'ransom' paid for the release of U.S. hostages. The Missouri Republican, who is the vice chairman of the Senate GOP conference, sent a letter to Kerry on Monday asking for quarterly financial records for the foreign military sales account at the center of a decades-old arms sale dispute between the U.S. and Iranian governments. 'While your agency continues to deny it made a ransom payment to secure the release of American hostages, the facts clearly suggest otherwise,' Blunt wrote in the letter. 'Your apparent dishonesty regarding the timing of the settlement has consequently cast serious doubt on the answers you provided regarding the source of funds that were used to pay off the Iranian regime.' Blunt added that the funds from the foreign military sales account should have been used to compensate American victims of Iranian-supported terrorism. 'Given your other misleading statements, I have serious concerns that the $400 million you provided in hard currency to a terrorist regime will also come out of U.S. taxpayers' pockets,' he wrote in the letter." http://t.uani.com/2bKZAZM

Sanctions Relief

Business Standard (India): "As the sanctions are easing out against Iran, Aban Offshore has said that it started receiving payments from the country. S Srinivasan, senior vice-president, Aban Offshore Ltd said that the last whole year of 2015-2016, the company received about $51 million from Iran whereas in the first quarter itself the company has received around $51 million. 'But still we have about $260-270 million as of July 31 to receive from Iran,' he said during an analyst call recently. Queried whether the company is expecting the entire receivables to come down to normal situation, he responded saying: 'It may not happen in four to five months, but we hope the trend will continue.' He added, the company is taking the help of all agencies to collect the receivables. Earlier, the company also said that it started talking with the Iran government to get more contacts so that it can deploy its rigs in Iran waters, which is one of the oil rich countries in the World. It has been in talks with companies in Iran are as far as contract deployment is concerned including several subsidiaries of National Iranian Oil Company, who are the company's client." http://t.uani.com/2bB2Jwr

Syria Conflict

AFP: "Russian warplanes bombed Aleppo at Iran's request to assist its military advisers on the ground in the flashpoint Syrian city, a senior Iranian official said Tuesday. Ali Shamkhani, the top official coordinating security and political affairs between Tehran and its allies, Moscow and Damascus, was quoted by state television saying Iran called in Russian strikes 'next to the land operation' in Aleppo. 'Iran has brought the powerful Russia along... due to its need to cooperate with Syria' in the fight against extremists, added Shamkhani." http://t.uani.com/2be9cL3

Saudi-Iran Tensions

AP: "A semi-official news agency in Iran is reporting that Tehran's City Council has voted to rename a street near the Saudi Embassy for a Shiite cleric executed by the Sunni-ruled kingdom in January. The ISNA news agency says the council voted unanimously Tuesday to rename the Naaz Street after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Saudi Arabia executed al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric and dissident, in January, along with 46 other prisoners. His execution sparked protests in Iran that saw demonstrators storm the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and another diplomatic post in the country." http://t.uani.com/2biytWm

Domestic Politics

AP: "Iran's parliament on Tuesday pushed back against the military over it dismissing civilian oversight following Russia's use of an Iranian air base to launch airstrikes on Syria. The rare parliamentary response is part of the larger give-and-take between civilians and the country's powerful security services since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. It also highlights the public unpopularity of allowing Russia to use the air base - which marked the first time since the revolution that a foreign military has used Iran as a staging ground. Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani brought up the topic Tuesday as lawmakers gathered in Tehran for the body's opening session, a day after Iranian officials announced Russia's use of the Shahid Nojeh Air Base has stopped for the time being. The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as criticizing Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Hossein Dehghan for not 'speaking properly' to lawmakers' concerns. Dehghan over the weekend said Russia's use of the air base was not their concern, though parliament has oversight of all government ministries. Dehghan 'should have observed the ethics of governing,' Larijani said. Larijani added that the mission wouldn't have needed prior parliamentary permission as it was 'temporary and only for refueling.'" http://t.uani.com/2bdFOrf

Opinion & Analysis

UANI Policy Director Jason Brodsky in JPost: "It is clear that Iran's former firebrand-in-chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president from 2005-2013, is attempting a political comeback. First were the well-timed media profiles of visitors making the pilgrimage to his home in Tehran's Narmak neighborhood seeking favors; next, the Iranian press accounts of Ahmadinejad's opportunistic trips to Iran's provinces; then rumors from spokespeople that he intends to run for the presidency in 2017; and now a public letter to the president of the United States seeking the repatriation of $2 billion of assets frozen in the US. But will all of these efforts and publicity help him succeed in reclaiming the presidency, and winning the mandate of the Islamic Republic's hardliners? An Iran poll survey suggests that the former president now trails incumbent Hassan Rouhani by just eight percentage points in a head-to-head match-up, compared with 27 points in May 2015. But the numbers don't tell the whole story - indeed, Ahmadinejad faces an uphill battle in regaining the regime imprimatur due to heavy political baggage... So, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is once again entering the political limelight, his record and reputation precede him. His list of enemies is long, but will memories of his reign be short with the lack of economic improvement in the aftermath of the Rouhani administration's nuclear deal? Only time will tell." http://t.uani.com/2bdJ1aq

Claudia Rosett in NY Sun: "Congressional investigators trying to uncover the trail of $1.3 billion in payments to Iran might want to focus on 13 large, identical sums that Treasury paid to the State Department under the generic heading of settling 'Foreign Claims.' The 13 payments when added to the $400 million that the administration now concedes it shipped to the Iranian regime in foreign cash would bring the payout to the $1.7 billion that President Obama and Secretary Kerry announced on January 17. That total was to settle a dispute pending for decades before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in at The Hague. Mr. Kerry told the press at the time that the settlement included $400 million that Iran under the Shah had paid into a U.S. trust fund for an arms deal that collapsed after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Plus, said Kerry, the U.S. had agreed to pay 'a roughly $1.3 billion compromise on the interest.' The Wall Street Journal's Jay Solomon and Carole E. Lee broke earlier this month the news that on the same day that Mr. Obama announced the settlement, his administration secretly sent Iran the $400 million payment in cash. Last week, the State Department finally confirmed that the January 17 cash shipment was used as 'leverage' to ensure Iran's release that same day of four American prisoners - fueling questions about whether the Obama administration, despite its denials, had paid ransom. Yet more questions surround the administration's handling of the remaining $1.3 billion. Could this have been drawn from a fund bankrolled by American taxpayers and housed at Treasury, called the Judgment Fund? And why were the 13 payments in amounts of one cent less than $100,000,000? The Judgment Fund has long been a controversial vehicle for federal agencies to detour past one of the most pointed prohibitions in the Constitution: 'No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.' The Judgment Fund, according to a Treasury Department Web site, is 'a permanent, indefinite appropriation' used to pay monetary awards against U.S. government agencies in cases 'where funds are not legally available to pay the award from the agency's own appropriations.' In March, in letters responding to questions about the Iran settlement sent weeks earlier by Representatives Edward Royce and Mike Pompeo, the State Department confirmed that the $1.3 billion 'interest' portion of the Iran settlement had been paid out of the Judgment Fund. But State gave no information on the logistics. The 13 payments that may explain what happened are found in an online database maintained by the Judgment Fund. A search for 'Iran' since the beginning of this year turns up nothing. But a search for claims in which the defendant is the State Department turns up 13 payments for $99,999,999.99. They were all made on the same day, all sharing the same file and control reference numbers, all certified by the U.S. Attorney General, but each assigned a different identification number. They add up to $1,299,999,999.87, or 13 cents less than the $1.3 billion Messrs. Obama and Kerry announced in January. Together with a 14th payment of just over $10 million, the grand total paid out by Treasury from the Judgment Fund on that single day, January 19, for claims pertaining to the State Department, comes to roughly $1.31 billion. Treasury has provided no answers to my queries about whether these specific payments were for the Iran settlement. Nor why these transfers comprised 13 payments, each of which was a cent under $100,000,000. Nor whether the $10 million related to the same matter." http://t.uani.com/2biEz8Z

Aaron David Miller in WSJ: "It's not clear how much worse things will get for the Obama administration over its $400 million payment to Iran in January, but the cash-for-prisoners scandal may end up being the least of U.S. concerns in all this. I write that knowing that Congress plans to hold hearings in September. I also know that so close to Election Day, this issue is likely to remain a highly politicized he-said/she-said among Republicans eager to take aim, an administration on the defensive, and a Democratic nominee in an increasingly difficult position because of the optics: a choreographed and sequenced transaction in which cash was delivered after U.S. prisoners were released, regardless of whether you consider it ransom. Here's the larger and more potentially damaging perception beyond the general embarrassment: In the Middle East, strength and negotiating acumen are prized; they demonstrate power and credibility. And the region tends to consider actions and strategy in a time frame that stretches far beyond the four- and eight-year scale of U.S. politics. Meanwhile, the Obama administration's handling of Iran in this situation plays into the narrative that the U.S. is weak and feckless and behaving as if it doesn't know what it's doing. Some will see this as proof that the U.S. is unable or unwilling to contain Iran's influence in the region, whether because the administration fears that pushing the Iranians too hard on Syria might jeopardize the international agreement over Tehran's nuclear program-a seminal achievement for Mr. Obama-or because the U.S. is wary of deeper involvement in the region... All of this feeds into an image of U.S. policy fundamentally constrained by a changing region, one that seems beyond Washington's willingness and capacity to manage. The central actor in this new landscape is a rising Iran, willing to sacrifice much for its vital interests. What can be hard to keep in mind in all the back-and-forth is that Iran isn't 10 feet tall-its regime has its own constraints in Syria and Iraq. But in a region of weak Arab states, alongside a Russia willing to assert  its power, and a Washington constrained by a nuclear accord that has expanded Iran's ambitions, Tehran is a force to be reckoned with. This will be the case even more when the constraints on its nuclear program begin to sunset in a few years. At which point cash-for-prisoners may end up being the least of U.S. concerns." http://t.uani.com/2beRMxI
       

Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

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