Iran Digest Week of April 16- April 23
/Iran Digest Week of April 16 - April 23
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
Biden Urged to Lift Sanctions ‘Obstructing’ Iran’s Covid-19 Response
More than 40 grassroots organisations have called on US President Joe Biden's administration to lift restrictions that "have obstructed the flow" of critical medicine and humanitarian goods into Iran, amid the devastating toll of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The antiwar, human rights, and religious organisations, in an open letter on Wednesday, accused the administration of compounding "the suffering of people in Iran" through US sanctions.
Iran has entered its fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with the death toll surpassing 250 people a day. Experts have warned that the numbers will soon reach an average of 600 daily deaths.
Nuclear Accord
US Outlines Possible Sanctions Relief for Iran in Nuke Talks
A senior U.S. official said Wednesday that the Biden administration has laid out examples of the kinds of sanctions on Iran it’s willing to lift in exchange for Iran’s return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.
The official said the U.S. through intermediaries has presented Iran with three baskets of sanctions: those it’s prepared to lift, those it’s not prepared to lift and those that will require further study to determine if they are in fact appropriate for relief under the nuclear deal. The official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the discussions.
The official declined to specify which sanctions fall into which baskets but said the third group is the most problematic. That’s because it includes measures that current officials believe may have been imposed by the previous administration simply to complicate any potential return to the deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.
Iran Boosts Oil Exports Amid Nuclear Deal Talks
Iran’s sanctioned oil production has risen to its highest level in almost two years thanks to growing Chinese imports—a development that could lessen the West’s leverage in talks over reviving a nuclear deal with Tehran.
In two closely followed oil market reports released this week, OPEC and the International Energy Agency separately cited big jumps in Iranian crude production. The Islamic Republic pumped 2.3 million barrels a day in March, according to the IEA. The agency said that was its highest production level since May 2019, when the Trump administration imposed a full embargo on Iranian oil sales.
The IEA said the production hike was driven by China, which boosted purchases from Tehran to 600,000 barrels a day, five times more than in the first nine months of 2020. The agency said the secretive nature of Iran’s global sales makes it difficult to track the exact amount Iran is selling.
Iran Names Suspect in Natanz Attack, Says He Fled Country
Iran named a suspect Saturday in the attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that damaged centrifuges there, saying he had fled the country “hours before” the sabotage happened.
While the extent of the damage from the April 11 sabotage remains unclear, it comes as Iran tries to negotiate with world powers over allowing the U.S. to re-enter its tattered nuclear deal with world powers and lift the economic sanctions it faces.
Already, Iran has begun enriching uranium up to 60% purity in response — three times higher than ever before, though in small quantities. The sabotage and Iran’s response to it also have further inflamed tensions across the Mideast, where a shadow war between Tehran and Israel, the prime suspect in the sabotage, still rages.
(Politico)
Regional Politics
Saudi and Iranian Officials Hold Talks to Patch Up Relations
Senior Saudi and Iranian officials have been holding direct talks in a bid to repair relations between the two regional rivals, five years after they cut off diplomatic ties, according to three officials briefed on the discussions.
The negotiations, which took place in Baghdad this month, are thought to be the first significant political discussions between the two nations since 2016 and come as Joe Biden seeks to revive the nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015 and de-escalate regional tension.
Saudi Arabia is keen to end its war in Yemen against Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels, who have stepped up their attacks against Saudi cities and oil infrastructure. The Houthis have launched dozens of missiles and explosive-laden drones into the kingdom this year.
Iran Provides Yemen’s Houthis ‘Lethal’ Support, U.S. Official SaysFinancial Times
Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi movement is “quite significant and it’s lethal,” U.S. special envoy on Yemen Tim Lenderking said on Wednesday, as he called a battle for Yemen’s gas-rich Marib region the single biggest threat to peace efforts.
Lenderking told U.S. lawmakers that Iran supports the Houthis in several ways including through training, providing lethal support and helping them “fine tune” their drone and missile programs.
“Unfortunately all of this is working to very strong effects as we see more and more attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - and potentially other countries - more accuracy and more lethality. So this is a great concern to us,” Lenderking told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.
Inside Iran
Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake Hits Southern Iran
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has struck Iran’s southern province of Bushehr, where a nuclear power plant is located, but there were no immediate reports of considerable damage.
At least five people were injured, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported. The epicentre of the earthquake on Sunday was the town of Rig.
Electricity and landline telephone and internet in the regional city of Gonaveh were cut off “and people are taking to the streets for fear of earthquakes”, semi-official news agency Tasnim reported.
Iranian Commander’s Death Sparks Speculation
Iranian media announced the death of the Quds Force deputy over the weekend. However, the words used to describe his death have left doubts among citizens and led to speculation about the true cause of his death.
Mohammad Hejazi, 62, reportedly died of a heart attack according to Iranian media. Immediately after the announcement, some media outlets began referring to him as a “martyr,” which is a reference only used for individuals who are killed while engaged in official duty. On state television, another theory was put forward. The presenter suggested that Hejazi had no previous illnesses and had died within 24 hours after contracting a virus. He added that the virus was not the coronavirus, which continues to spread wildly across the country.
Gunmen Kill Two Guard Members in Iran’s Kurdish Area
Unknown gunmen suspected of terrorism killed two members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, the official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday.
The Guard members also killed two gunmen and wounded several of their accomplices in the Wednesday night shootout near Kurdish town of Marivan, near the border of Iraq.
It said other several other members of the terrorist group fled the site of the clash.
The report identified the fallen Guard members as Osman Jahani and Nasser Amini without giving their rank. It said they were buried on Thursday in Marvian cemetery, which suggested they were local forces of the Guard.
Analysis
The Clock is Ticking for Biden on Iran
By: Vali R. Nasr
Since early April, Iranian officials have been meeting in Vienna with British, Chinese, French, German and Russian counterparts, the remaining members of the 2015 nuclear deal that the United States abandoned in 2018. The United States is participating indirectly, with European diplomats going back and forth between the Iranians and the U.S. diplomats, led by President Biden’s special envoy, Robert Malley.
This diplomatic process, which is crucial to avoiding further conflict in the Middle East and allowing President Biden to focus on competition with China, will falter unless the Biden administration moves quickly. American negotiators should list the sanctions that the United States is prepared to remove in exchange for Iranian compliance. Iran is about three months from breakout time, the time it would take to produce sufficient weapons-grade enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon. If diplomacy fails, the United States will slide into another dangerous crisis in the Middle East.
