Iran Focus
London, 17 August – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo named senior policy adviser Brian Hook as Washington’s special representative for Iran on Thursday.
This announcement came as the Trump administration is increasing economic pressure on Iran by restoring sanctions last week, which are designed to get Iran to close down its nuclear weapons programme and end its support for militant groups in the Middle East, where Iran is exacerbating several conflicts.
Iran Focus
London, 17 August – Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are reported to have “agreed in principle” that Iranian forces should leave Syria, during their meeting in Helsinki last month.
A US official in the Trump administration spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity about the closed-door meeting in July and explained that both parties agreed about the need for forces from the Iranian military and militias back by Iran to leave the war-torn nation.
Iran Focus
London, 17 August – An Iranian ship, the Saviz near Bab-el-Mandeb raised suspicions because of its obviously non-commercial activity. The ship falls under the lifted sanctions within the nuclear deal, but US officials inspected it and determined that it was likely transporting weaponry or was being used for military purposes. Experts believe that it will be returned to the list of US sanctions against Tehran in the second batch scheduled for next November.
The Saviz was delisted from US sanctions as part of the effort to implement the landmark nuclear deal with Iran, US officials confirmed.
Iran Focus
London, 17 August – The political situation in Iraq has degraded once again and the Iran is meddling and taking advantage of the turmoil. Again.
The Islamic State group is back and picking up pace. There are thousands of active militants in the country and in Syria. The United States Defense Department believes that there are around thirty thousand Islamic State fighters. This is not far off the number of fighters that it had during its peak three years ago.
Iran Focus
London, 17 August – Following the imposition of the first round of US sanctions on Iran, there is little evidence of either side changing its stance, which means that the second round of sanctions (this time targeting Iran’s oil exports) will likely go ahead in November and create a much bigger impact on the Iranian economy.
Indeed, Donald Trump has already made clear that he wants all of Iran’s oil exports reduced to zero by November 5, when sanctions would take place.
Any buyers that are granted sanctions waivers by the US (and Trump has so far denied that any will be given out) will still have to make sweeping cut to their Iranian oil and gas imports.
Iran Focus
London, 17 August – The Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Business has said that fluctuations in the local forex market over the past four months has tripled the number of applications for import licenses, which have now risen to $250 billion.
Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari described the figure as “unbelievable” and described those seeking licences as profiteering individuals who are trying to “fish in troubled waters”, which is believed to be a reference to the current economic crisis facing Iran.
The $250 billion figure is also triple that of Iran’s annual oil income.
Iran Focus
London, 16 August – US President Donald Trump signed The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday. This Act encourages the Defense Department and State Department to come up with a strategy to confront Iran in Syria, and prevents US support for Iraq in aiding Iran’s allies. It has an unprecedented focus on Iran as a threat to both the Middle East and US national security.
The Trump administration’s stated goal is the confrontation of Iran in the region, beginning with its exit from the Iran deal and reinstating sanctions. The NDAA goes further, proposing a strategy on how to best confront Iran’s activities in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere.
Iran Focus
London, 16 August – German carmaker Daimler has shelved its business plans with Iran in light of returning US sanctions, despite attempts by the EU to get businesses to continue investing in Iran, and they’re far from the only firm taking such a move.
These companies are bravely resisting the EU’s demands that European firms ignore US sanctions, which call for all companies to cut ties with Iran or face US secondary sanctions.
Last week, when the first of US nuclear-related sanctions came into force, following Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in May, the European Commission issued a blocking statute that instructed that all firms continue to do business with Iran, unless they have already withdrawn or have special permission from the EU. If the firms ignore the EU’s warnings, they could face being sued by EU member states.
Iran Focus
London, 16 August – Following the June arrest of Iran’s award-winning human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, she was told she had already been found guilty “in absentia” on spying charges by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court.
On Wednesday, her lawyers said that her five-year sentence on spying charges was unlawful as she was never charged or given the chance to appear in court.
Payam Derafshan, one of her lawyers, told the press that the trial took place some time ago, but the sentence was not implemented until after she represented several women arrested for protesting the mandatory wearing of the Islamic headscarf in public. These women were arrested for removing their hijabs in public areas — a controversial issue since it was made mandatory in Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Iran Focus
London, 16 August – Last week, US sanctions on Iran came back into force, fulfilling a promise that Donald Trump made in May when he pulled the US out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump tweeted: “Anyone doing business with Iran will not be doing business with the United States.”
On the same day, the EU instituted a “blocking statute”, which was supposed to protect any European firms doing business with Iran from current and future US sanctions. In fact, it bars any EU individual or company from complying with US secondary sanctions, which means that European firms who still wish to trade with the US are being penalised. It also allows EU firms affected by the sanctions to sue the US, but there is no method in place to reclaim any settlement.
