Iran Digest Week of July 15-22
/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 associate Samuel Howell. Please note that the news and views expressed in the articles below do not necessarily reflect those of AIC.
US-Iran Relations
Iran sanctions 61 more Americans as nuclear talks hit impasse
Iran has imposed sanctions on 61 more Americans, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for backing an Iranian dissident group, Tehran said on Saturday as months of talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal remained at an impasse.
Others blacklisted by Iran's Foreign Ministry for voicing support for the exiled dissident group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) included Republican former President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House national security adviser John Bolton, Iranian state media reported.
The sanctions, issued against dozens of Americans in the past on various grounds, let Iranian authorities seize any assets they hold in Iran. The steps, announced as Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up his trip to the Middle East, appear largely symbolic given the likely absence of such assets.
(Reuters)
Health
Seventh Covid Wave Sweeps Iran
Health Minister Bahram Einollahi on Saturday announced that Iran had entered the seventh wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and encouraged the public to administer booster shots as soon as possible.
“We’re at the start of the seventh wave because we’ve witnessed a rise in infections and hospitalizations in the past two weeks,” the minister was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Pointing out that 13 people had died from the disease a day earlier, he added, “In these circumstances, it is not unexpected to see an increase in mortalities.”
New subvariants of the highly contagious Omicron are circulating across the country, placing over 50 cities on red and orange alert as they easily spread from one person to another, a new update by the Health Ministry showed.
(Financial Tribune)
Inside Iran
Iranian filmmaker Panahi sent to prison to serve 6-year sentence
Iran’s judiciary has said award-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was arrested earlier this month in Tehran, must serve a six-year sentence that was originally handed to him in 2010.
Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday that Panahi was arrested and sent to Evin prison in Tehran on July 11 to begin serving his sentence.
Panahi had received the sentence for supporting anti-government demonstrations, but after several months received a conditional release, although it was liable to be revoked at any time.
He was arrested after he went to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran to inquire about the condition of two fellow filmmakers who had been arrested days earlier.
Iran Navy unveils drone carrier
The Iranian Army’s Navy has unveiled the first drone carrier that includes a variety of modern and advanced types of drones that were produced and manufactured by Iranian experts in the Army and the Ministry of Defense.
The naval division, which joined the southern fleet, consists of military ships and submarines carrying a broad range of combat, reconnaissance and suicide drones, according to Tasnim.
The event, held on Friday, was attended by Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi and Navy Commander Rear Admiral Admiral Shahram Irani .
General Mousavi affirmed the growing progress of Iran’s defense capabilities, noting that the drones and reconnaissance planes have increased the intelligence of Iranian ships and their monitoring capabilities in international waters, according to Al Alam.
Regional Politics
Iran’s Khamenei warns Erdogan against Syria military operation
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has advised Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to launch a new military operation in Syria, in advance of the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin for a trilateral summit.
A new military operation would “be to the detriment of Syria, Turkey and the region”, Khamenei was quoted as saying on Tuesday by his website.
The supreme leader did say that Iran would “certainly cooperate” with Turkey “in fighting terrorism”, but he argued that a new offensive in Syria would actually benefit “terrorists”, who he was quoted as saying “are not limited to a certain group”, without elaborating.
Khamenei sought to reassure Erdogan by saying Iran considers the security of Turkey’s borders as it would its own, and said issues in Syria must be resolved through dialogue.
Israeli attacks feed distrust and fear in Iran
In a rare display of public solidarity, Iran’s intelligence minister and the Revolutionary Guard’s intelligence chief this month posed for a photograph, vowing to work together to boost security — widely understood to mean combating Israeli operations in the Islamic state.
The decision to curb their rivalry speaks to the anxiety at the highest levels of the Iranian establishment as well as on the Iranian street about an uptick in attacks attributed to Israel, including the assassination in May of a commander on his doorstep in central Tehran.
Esmaeil Khatib, the intelligence minister, and Brigadier General Mohammad Kazemi, whose predecessor was replaced in the wake of the assassination, promised “co-operation of intelligence and security systems” amid concerns that a decades-long shadow war with Israel was about to burst into the open.
Global Relations
Putin forges ties with Iran's supreme leader in Tehran talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin had talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran on Tuesday, the Kremlin leader's first trip outside the former Soviet Union since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
In Tehran, Putin also held his first face-to-face meeting since the invasion with a NATO leader, Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss a deal that would resume Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports as well as the conflict in northern Syria.
Putin's trip, coming just days after U.S. President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, sends a strong message to the West about Moscow's plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India in the face of Western sanctions.
Khamenei called for long-term cooperation between Iran and Russia, telling Putin that the two countries needed to stay vigilant against "Western deception", Iran's state TV reported.
(Reuters)
Belgium Ratifies Prisoner-Exchange Treaty With Iran
After two days of contentious debate, Belgium’s Parliament has approved a much-criticized treaty with Iran that would allow prisoner exchanges between the two countries.
Critics of the treaty, which was ratified late Wednesday by a vote of 79 to 41, with 11 abstentions, argue that Belgium is giving in to a form of hostage-taking by Iran.
In late February, the Iranian authorities detained a Belgian aid worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, 41, on charges of espionage. His arrest was not made public, but on March 11, Belgium signed the prisoner-exchange treaty with Iran that was ratified on Wednesday.
Analysis
Middle East politics: From hyper to hybrid
By: Marwan BisharaAs a new type of Cold War came to dominate American-Russian relations after the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, major Middle Eastern players are maintaining a distance, refusing to take sides.
It is a sign that the hyper-strategic alliances that polarised the region, and the world, during the old Cold War are turning hybrid, fluid, pragmatic and unpredictable.
During the old Cold War, the Middle East was characterised by greater foreign intervention and relatively more frequent high-intensity conflicts.
The post-Cold War was even worse for the ill-fated Middle East – in the past 20 years, it featured most of the world’s deadliest conflicts. But as the wars in Syria, Yemen and Libya wind down; as regional conflicts reach dead ends, and regional and global powers show signs of faintness and fatigue, a new geopolitical environment is now taking shape.
Why is Biden joining the warpath against Iran?
By: Ted Snider
On March 24, President Biden drew a red line: if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, it “would trigger a response” from NATO. Asked to elaborate on the nature of the response, Biden had no script to guide him. “The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.” Then, he elaborated: “It would trigger a response in kind,” seemingly announcing that the US would respond to a Russian chemical weapons attack with a chemical weapons attack of their own.
Two days later, at the end of his speech, Biden seemed to call for a coup in Russia, adding the line, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
The White House fixers had to walk back Biden’s threats. Biden has the dangerous habit for a president of going off script and saying things that don’t seem to reflect the U.S. policy he is supposed to be articulating.
On July 13, he seemed to do it again. Asked by an interviewer if the U.S. would use force to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, Biden answered, “if that was the last resort, yes.”
