Iran Digest Week of January 21 - January 28
/AIC’s Iran digest project covers the latest developments and news stories published in Iranian and international media outlets. This weekly digest is compiled by Communications Associate Elizabeth Kos. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
U.S. Helps Thwart Attack by Yemen Rebels on American Air Base in U.A.E
The U.S. military intervened on Monday to help the United Arab Emirates thwart a missile attack by rebels in Yemen on an air base where about 2,000 American personnel are stationed, U.S. and Emirati officials said.
The attack marked a sharp escalation in tensions as it was the second in a week aimed at the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen for years. Though the Houthis frequently target Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, strikes aimed at the Emirates had been rare until recently, as have American interventions like the one on Monday, and the country has been considered a safe haven in a tumultuous region.
The rebels said that they had targeted Al Dhafra Air Base in the capital, Abu Dhabi, which hosts the U.S. Air Force’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing and has about 2,000 U.S. military and civilian personnel stationed there. The U.S. deployed Patriot missile defenses at the base.
Republicans Pile Pressure on Biden to Re-Designate Yemen’s Houthis as ‘Terror Group’
US Senator Ted Cruz has joined a chorus of Republicans calling on the Biden administration to re-designate Yemen's Houthis as a "terrorist organisation" and reimpose sanctions on the Iran-aligned group.
In a statement released on Monday, Cruz said he introduced a bill last week that would reverse a February 2021 decision by the Biden administration to lift terrorism-related sanctions on the Houthis and their leaders.
“Biden made it an immediate priority to unwind pressure on Iran and its proxies, including by lifting terrorism sanctions on the Houthis and their leaders – a reckless, self-indulgent, and catastrophic move," Cruz said as he introduced his bill.
Nuclear Accord
Nuclear Deal Unlikely Unless Iran Releases US Prisoners: Report
The United States is unlikely to strike a deal with Iran to save the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement unless Tehran releases four US citizens Washington says it is holding hostage, the lead US nuclear negotiator told the Reuters news agency on Sunday.
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley repeated the long-held US position that the issue of the four people held in Iran is separate from the nuclear negotiations. He moved a step closer, however, to saying that their release was a precondition for a nuclear agreement.
“They’re separate and we’re pursuing both of them. But I will say it is very hard for us to imagine getting back into the nuclear deal while four innocent Americans are being held hostage by Iran,” Malley told Reuters in an interview.
U.S. Safety Firm Withdraws Certifications for Two Oil Tankers Over Iran Sanctions
Two tankers have had their environmental and safety classification withdrawn by a U.S. company that provides such certification, after accusations by a U.S. advocacy group that they had shipped cargoes of Iranian oil, documents seen by Reuters show.
Several shipping sources involved in legal advisory and insurance services to the industry have told Reuters that inadvertent breaches are also a growing danger for ship certification societies such as American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), which in the past month withdrew cover for the two tankers.
"Classification societies are faced with the challenge of keeping up with Iran's tactics in order to avoid facing sanctions themselves," Claire Jungman, chief of staff at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), said.
(Reuters)
Seoul Says it Paid Iran’s Delinquent UN Dues to Restore Vote
Using Iranian bank funds freed from American sanctions, South Korea has paid Iran’s $18 million in delinquent dues owed to the United Nations, Seoul said Sunday. The step was apparently approved by Washington to restore Tehran’s suspended voting rights at the world body.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Seoul had paid the sum using Iranian assets frozen in the country after consulting with the United States Treasury — a potential signal of flexibility amid floundering nuclear negotiations.
The ministry said it expected Iran’s voting rights to be restored immediately after their suspension earlier this month for delinquent dues.
COVID-19
COVID: Iran Sees ‘Red’ Again as Omicron Cases Jump
Following a period of relative calm, Iran is once again experiencing an alarming rise in the number of COVID-19 infections, fuelled by the spread of the Omicron variant across the country.
Daily registered cases jumped from 700 in early January to more than 9,000 on Tuesday. But the number of fatalities recorded over 24 hours remains in the lower double-digits amid a widespread vaccination campaign – far below the 709 peak figure registered in late August 2021 when the Delta variant was dominant across the country at a time when it had limited access to vaccines.
Iran, however, remains the country worst affected by the pandemic in the Middle East, having officially registered more than 132,000 deaths and 6.2 million cases – figures that health officials attest are likely much higher.
Regional Politics
Iran, Iraq Exchange Accusations Over Water Flow
Iraq is planning to file a lawsuit against Iran for water cuts, according to Iraq's Minister of Water Resources Mahdi Rashid Al Hamdani.
Iraq has received only one-tenth of what it was receiving in the past from Iran, while water from Turkey also fell by almost two-thirds.
“The Ministry of Water Resources submitted a letter to the Foreign Ministry and has completed all technical and legal procedures for the lawsuit,” Hamdani said in December 2021.
Iran is blaming climate change and asking Iraq to understand its position, saying Iraq should follow up on the matter with Turkey instead.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Set to Visit Iran to Meet Top Officials
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is expected to travel to Tehran on Thursday to discuss regional issues with top Iranian officials, sources familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera.
The trip comes after Al Thani, who is also Qatar’s deputy prime minister, held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Tuesday over the phone.
At the time, they discussed the latest developments in Vienna, where negotiations are ongoing to restore the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers through lifting United States sanctions and scaling back Iran’s nuclear programme.
'I Got 12 Years and 74 Lashes’: Confess, the Band Jailed for Playing Metal in Iran
For almost as long as it’s existed, heavy metal has been used as protest music. On Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, the first thing you’re barraged with is War Pigs: a seven-minute savaging of the politicians who instigated the Vietnam war. Iron Maiden once had their mascot, Eddie, murder Margaret Thatcher on a single’s artwork; Metallica and Megadeth spent the 1980s lambasting cold war superpowers that didn’t know whether to shake hands or nuke each other.
In late 2015, Khosravi and his Confess bandmate, Arash Ilkhani, were arrested in their native Iran. Their crime was writing anti-establishment metal music, for which they were charged with blasphemy and propaganda against the state and taken to Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. They endured 18 months of incarceration while awaiting trial before making bail and, following a guilty verdict that sentenced them to six years in prison, sought asylum in Norway.
Analysis
Why is Biden Compounding Trump’s Mistake on Iran?
By: Michael A. Cohen
Late last year, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman called the Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal “one of the dumbest, most poorly thought out and counterproductive U.S. national security decisions of the post-Cold War era.”
It’s not often that I find myself in violent agreement with Friedman, but when you’re right, you’re right. Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (or JCPOA, in the argot) was a disastrous move that has put Iran within disturbingly close range of becoming a nuclear power.
But three and a half years later, the even bigger question is: Why has Joe Biden taken that grim situation and made it worse?
