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All in News
◢ The United States on Wednesday accused Iran of bad faith for challenging Washington's renewed nuclear-linked sanctions against it at the UN's top court. Iran has asked the International Court of Justice to order the United States to lift the sanctions, reimposed after US President Donald Trump pulled out of a multilateral 2015 accord.
◢ Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his government should be ready to "set aside" the 2015 nuclear deal if it is no longer in the country's national interests. "The JCPOA (nuclear deal) is not the objective, it is only a means," he said in a meeting with the cabinet, according to his website.
◢ The United States told UN judges Tuesday they had no jurisdiction to rule on Tehran's demand for them to order the suspension of debilitating nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. US State Department lawyer Jennifer Newstead told the court in The Hague that the 1955 treaty under which Iran has challenged the sanctions "cannot... provide a basis for this court's jurisdiction."
◢ Iran's parliament voted its dissatisfaction with President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday after grilling him over the deteriorating economy. It was the first time Rouhani had been summoned by parliament in his five years in power, and MPs demanded answers on unemployment, rising prices and the sharp depreciation of the rial, which has lost more than half of its value since April.
◢ Iran on Monday demanded the UN's top court suspend US nuclear-linked sanctions against Tehran, accusing Washington of plotting its "economic strangulation.” The Islamic Republic launched a suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over US President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose the sanctions that had been lifted in a 2015 accord.
◢ Iran's parliament impeached Economy Minister Masoud Karbasian on Sunday in the latest blow to embattled President Hassan Rouhani as he struggles to face down a mounting economic crisis. Karbasian is the second cabinet minister to be sacked this month, following the impeachment of Labour Minister Ali Rabiei on August 8. Critics say the government squandered the opportunities presented by the 2015 nuclear deal and have failed to tackle high rates of inflation and joblessness.
◢ A European Union aid plan for Iran sends "the wrong message at the wrong time" to the government in Tehran, the US State Department said Friday. The USD 20.7 million EU assistance package "perpetuates the regime's ability to neglect the needs of its people and stifles meaningful policy changes," read a statement Friday signed by US special representative for Iran Brian Hook.
◢ Iran's legal challenge against renewed sanctions by the United States goes before the UN's International Court of Justice on Monday. The case has two elements, said Eric De Brabandere, professor of international dispute settlement at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Firstly, "Iran genuinely considers the re-imposition of sanctions a violation of international law." Secondly, "Iran has the support of many European states on the question of sanctions, politically speaking.”
◢ Iran unveiled its first domestic fighter jet on Tuesday, with President Hassan Rouhani insisting that Tehran's military strength was only designed to deter enemies and create "lasting peace.” Images on state television showed Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new "Kowsar" fourth-generation fighter at the National Defence Industry exhibition in Tehran. State media said it had "advanced avionics" and multi-purpose radar, and that it was "100-percent indigenously made" for the first time.
◢ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump's national security adviser met in Jerusalem Monday and called on European nations to do more to pressure Iran. John Bolton arrived in Israel on Sunday for three days of talks expected to focus mainly on Iran and its presence in Syria. Netanyahu strongly urged Trump to withdraw from the nuclear deal between Israel's main enemy Iran and world powers, and the US president did so in May, resulting in the reimposition of sanctions.
◢ French energy giant Total has officially quit its multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on Monday, following the reimposition of US sanctions. "Total has officially left the agreement for the development of phase 11 of South Pars (gas field)," he told parliament's news agency ICANA, adding that it had been more than two months since the French firm announced it would leave.
◢ Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday that Europe had not yet shown it was willing to "pay the price" of defying Washington in order to save the nuclear deal. Zarif said European governments had put forward proposals to maintain oil and banking ties with Iran after the second phase of US sanctions return in November. But he told Iran's Young Journalist Club website that these measures were more "a statement of their position than practical measures".
◢ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new high-level team to focus US and international efforts to increase diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran. The Iran Action Group will drive Washington's "maximum pressure" strategy to change Tehran's behavior, including potentially sanctioning other countries which trade with the country. The group will be headed by Brian Hook as the State Department's Special Representative for Iran.
◢ With hotels facing mass cancellations, Iraqis in the holy city of Najaf are being hit hard by US sanctions on neighboring Iran, which have forced cash-strapped pilgrims to stay home. At the city's edge, surrounded by mosaic-covered walls and topped by a golden dome, sits the shrine of Imam Ali, son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and a revered figure among Shiite Muslims.
◢ British group Quercus, an investor in renewable energy, said Tuesday it will halt work on a major solar plant in Iran after the country was hit by US economic sanctions. "Following the US sanctions on Iran, we have decided to cease all activities in the country, including our 600 MW (megawatt) project," Quercus chief executive Diego Biasi said Tuesday in comments later confirmed by a company spokesman.
◢ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday defended his stance on US sanctions against Iran in the face of harsh criticism from Tehran and its allies in Baghdad. "Some people want to put pressure on us to place the interests of gangs ahead of those of the Iraqi people," he told a news conference. "This is not possible."
◢ Iran is selling oil and gas at a discount to Asian customers as it prepares for the return of US sanctions, state news agency IRNA reported on Monday. The "informed source" in Iran's oil ministry did not give details of the discount, but sought to downplay the move as common industry practice. "Discount is part of the nature of the global markets being offered by all oil exporters," the source told IRNA.
◢ Iran's supreme leader said Monday there would be neither war nor negotiations with the United States, and that the country's problems were the result of government mismanagement more than renewed sanctions. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments add to the pressure on President Hassan Rouhani following a collapse in the currency and widespread protests over high prices and corruption.
◢ Iran's judiciary said Sunday that 67 people have been arrested in recent weeks as part of a corruption crackdown approved by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. More than 100 government employees have also been barred from leaving the country, spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie said, according to the judiciary-linked Mizan news agency. "Our enemy America has decided to put pressure on people and it intends to put our economy under pressure, but to no avail," Ejeie said.
◢ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has cancelled a visit to Iran, his press office said Sunday, as the premier came under strong Iranian criticism over his stand on renewed US sanctions against Tehran. Abadi will still go ahead with a planned visit to Turkey on Tuesday but has scrapped the Iran leg of the trip "because of his busy schedule,” his office said.
