Iran (October 9, 2020)
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1a)
US vice presidential candidates debate Iran policy
By Adam Lucente
October 8, 2020
Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris took on Iran issues like the nuclear deal and the killing of Qasem Soleimani. […] The Republican and Democratic candidates for vice president sparred over US Iran policy during the debate Wednesday night. The two candidates expressed very different views on Iran. […]
1b)
Trump or Biden? Iran weighs the pros and cons of closely watched vote
By Borzou Daragahi
The Atlantic Council
October 6, 2020
Trump or Biden? Iran weighs the pros and cons of closely watched vote
„US intelligence officials have concluded that Iran prefers a Joe Biden win come November. And why wouldn’t it? Biden has vowed to return to the Iran deal, the nuclear agreement that was forged when he served as vice president to Barack Obama. […] Even before Trump won in 2016 and began steps to pull the US out of the JCPOA in 2018, Tehran was grumbling that Washington wasn’t holding up its end of the bargain and was continuing to block trade with the Islamic Republic. No matter who wins on November 3, there may be more continuity than change in US-Iran relations.“
2a)
President at cabinet session: Iran doesn’t let some bring terrorists that we have fought in Syria for many years to our border points under any pretext
October 7, 2020
„Emphasising that maintaining security in the border areas of Islamic Iran is a priority, and that Iran does not accept any disturbance in its security, the President called on the Republic of Azerbaijan as a brother country and Armenia as a neighbour to pay special attention to this point. […]“
2b)
Is The War Over Nagorno-Karabakh Already At A Stalemate?
By Moon of Alabama
October 3, 2020
„[…] Before President Trump stopped the program the CIA had used the Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines in more than 350 flights to bring weapons from Bulgaria to Turkey to then hand them to ‚Syrian rebels‘. Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is not only a CIA station but also a Mossad center for waging its silent war against Iran. […] Russia’s (and Iran’s) interest is to refreeze the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. But that requires compliant people on both sides. It therefore does not mind that Azerbaijan currently creates some pressure on Pashinyan. But it can not allow Azerbaijan to make a significant victory. One of its main concern will be to get Turkey out of the game and that will require support for Armenia. Iran has a quite similar strategy. The U.S. will probably try to escalate the situation and to make it more complicated for Russia. It seems to silently tell Turkey to increase its involvement in the war. […]“
2c)
Explosive Stakes On Armenia-Azerbaijan Chessboard
Pulling Russia back into the Nagorno-Karabakh morass means more Turkish freedom of action in other war theaters.
By Pepe Escobar
October 05, 2020
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55681.htm
„[…] Then, to round it all up, there’s the all-important Iran-Armenia relationship. Here is a forceful attempt to put it in perspective. As Mr. C stresses, “Iran favors Armenia, which is counter-intuitive at first sight. So the Iranians may help the Russians out (funneling supplies), but on the other hand they have a good relationship with Turkey, especially in the oil and gas smuggling business. And if they get too overt in their support, Trump has a casus belli to get involved and the Europeans may not like to end up on the same side as the Russians and the Iranians. It just looks bad. And the Europeans hate to look bad.” We inevitably come back to the point that the whole drama can be interpreted from the perspective of a NATO geopolitical hit against Russia – according to quite a few analyses circulating at the Duma. Ukraine is an absolute black hole. There’s the Belarus impasse. Covid-19. The Navalny circus. The “threat” to Nord Stream-2. To pull Russia back into the Armenia-Azerbaijan drama means turning Moscow’s attention towards the Caucasus so there’s more Turkish freedom of action in other theaters – in the Eastern Mediterranean versus Greece, in Syria, in Libya. Ankara – foolishly – is engaged in simultaneous wars on several fronts, and with virtually no allies. What this means is that even more than NATO, monopolizing Russia’s attention in the Caucasus most of all may be profitable for Erdogan himself. As Mr. C stresses, “in this situation, the Nagorno-Karabakh leverage/’trump card’ in the hands of Turkey would be useful for negotiations with Russia.” […]“
3)
Iran warns UAE over disputed islands near Strait of Hormuz
By News Desk; AMN
October 5, 2020
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iran-warns-uae-over-disputed-islands-near-strait-of-hormuz/
„The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, stated on Monday that the three islands in the Gulf (Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb) are an integral part of his country’s territory. In response to the Emirates’ statements regarding the three islands and the project to build the Emirati oil pipeline with Israel in the Gulf, Khatibzadeh said in his weekly press conference, as quoted by the Fars News Agency: “Regardless of the amount of error that one of the neighboring countries commits, we are trying to return it to the right track of regional procedures according to the policy of good neighbors. T UAE has gone in the wrong direction in some areas for years.” […]“
4a)
Iran to prosecute 46 US officials for imposing medical bans on country: Deputy Judiciary chief
By Press TV
October 5, 2020
„A senior official with the Iranian Judiciary says the body is planning to prosecute 46 American natural and legal persons involved in the imposition of unjust sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which among other things, have prevented the country from importing medications necessary to treat patients with serious diseases. Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to a children’s hospital in Tehran on Monday, the head of the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights, Ali Baqeri-Kani, commented on the imposition of tough unilateral sanctions on Iran by the United States, which has prevented the country from buying essential medications, saying, “These enemies have spared no effort in this regard.“ “We are using all legal means, at domestic and international levels, to counteract these crimes and today, I announce that the names of 46 American natural and legal persons, who have been one way or another involved in imposing unjust and inhumane sanctions on the Iranian nation, have been given to Tehran prosecutor’s office” to prosecute them in accordance with a law on countering terrorist measures of the United States, he said. […]“
4b)
The Return of UN Sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran
Press Statement
By Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
September 19, 2020
The Return of UN Sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran
„[…] The United States took this decisive action because, in addition to Iran’s failure to perform its JCPOA commitments, the Security Council failed to extend the UN arms embargo on Iran, which had been in place for 13 years. The Security Council’s inaction would have paved the way for Iran to buy all manner of conventional weapons on October 18. […] If UN Member States fail to fulfill their obligations to implement these sanctions, the United States is prepared to use our domestic authorities to impose consequences for those failures and ensure that Iran does not reap the benefits of UN-prohibited activity. […] In the coming days, the United States will announce a range of additional measures to strengthen implementation of UN sanctions and hold violators accountable. Our maximum pressure campaign on the Iranian regime will continue until Iran reaches a comprehensive agreement with us to rein in its proliferation threats and stops spreading chaos, violence, and bloodshed.“
5a)
India works to boost influence in Iran as Beijing-Tehran ties warm
By Sabena Siddiqui
October 8, 2020
„India is seeking to remain involved in the development projects at Iran’s ports, especially since Chabahar Port helps India gain access to an important geopolitical region. […] Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar both visited Tehran last month, on separate occasions but within the same week. Though the purpose of the meetings — according to official statements — was aimed at “strengthening bilateral cooperation” and discussing some “important regional issues,” the agenda likely included the handling of Chabahar Port in Iran.[…]“
5b)
Iranian Luminaries Join Forces to Say No to China Deal
By Arash Azizi
September 24, 2020
https://iranwire.com/en/features/7650
„More than 100 Iranians from around the world have penned a letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, expressing concern about an upcoming deal between Iran and China which they say will erode Iranian sovereignty. The co-signatories are a remarkable group of luminaries from all walks of life: artists, former cabinet ministers, scholars and journalists. […]“
6)
U.S. Crisis with Iraq Over Iranian Threat
By Garrett Nada
The United States Institue of Peace
Original: September 30, 2020
Updated: October 1, 2020
https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/sep/30/us-crisis-iraq-over-iranian-threat
„Tensions between the United States and Iran created a political crisis in Baghdad in September after months of attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities by Iraqi militias armed, trained and aided by Tehran. The militias targeted U.S. bases, supply convoys and diplomatic facilities almost daily in September. “We have had more indirect fire attacks around and against our bases the first half of this year than we did the first half of last year,” General Kenneth McKenzie Jr., the head of U.S. Central Command, told NBC News on September 10. The escalation follows the U.S. assassination in January of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force, and Abu Mahdi al Muhandis, chief of Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah militia and the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The PMF is an umbrella for some 60 militias that operate in separate brigades. […]“
7)
As Iran’s Elite Fall Victim to Coronavirus, Succession Questions Arise
None of Iran’s leadership hopefuls can seize power without IRGC support, and any future leader of the Islamic Republic will be beholden to the IRGC.
By Ali Alfoneh
The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW)
October 7, 2020
As Iran’s Elite Fall Victim to Coronavirus, Succession Questions Arise
„[…] The Iranian public is more concerned about the government’s mismanagement of the economy, failure to protect them in the face of the disastrous coronavirus pandemic, and incapacity to neutralize the impact of the U.S.-imposed sanctions. Accordingly, those who may have leadership aspirations, including Rouhani, Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, Hassan Khomeini (grandson of Ruhollah Khomeini), and Mojtaba Khamenei (son of Ali Khamenei), alternate between aligning themselves with or blaming each other and the IRGC for Iran’s chronic problems. But none of the leadership hopefuls can seize power in Iran without IRGC support, and any future leader of the Islamic Republic will, for all practical purposes, be beholden to the IRGC. The IRGC will also most likely decide the fundamental tenet of Iran’s behavior toward the United States. Regardless of the outcome of the November U.S. presidential election, Washington and Tehran will remain at odds over the IRGC’s vision for the Islamic Republic as a regional hegemon. In this regard, there will most likely be a greater degree of continuity than change in Iran’s behavior. Notwithstanding the pandemic, those engaged in formulating U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic should look beyond Khamenei, shift the focus away from potential individual leadership candidates, and pay more attention to the likely transformation of the Islamic Republic into a military-style dictatorship, albeit one with a clerical figurehead.“
8)
Iran frees prominent rights activist, news agency reports
By Reuters Staff
October 8, 2020
„Iran has released prominent rights activist Narges Mohammadi, according to a report by an Iranian news agency, which said her 10-year sentence had been reduced. […]
9)
Reza Pahlavi Urges Iranians to Join Forces and Liberate Homeland
By Ahmad Rafat
September 30, 2020
Reza Pahlavi Urges Iranians to Join Forces and Liberate Homeland
„Prince Reza Pahlavi presented his “new covenant” in a live broadcast. He said his speech was a “response to the innumerable messages of those of you who are rightly worried about Iran and its future.” […]“
Amir Mortasawi (alias Afsane Bahar) (امیر مرتضوی (افسانه بهار 