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All in News
◢ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday accused the United States of being the real "leader of world terrorism", hitting back after Washington blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization. Tehran was quick to retaliate on Monday by declaring US troops "terrorists" following Washington's move, which was welcomed by Iran's regional arch-rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia.
◢ The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday worsened its forecast for Iran's recession as US sanctions bite, with Tehran's slump denting overall growth in the Middle East and North Africa. The global lender's World Economic Outlook projected Iran's economy will shrink by a massive 6.0 percent this year, its worst performance since it contracted by 7.7 percent in 2012.
◢ Standard Chartered will pay USD 1.1 billion to settle charges it processed transactions that violated US sanctions on Iran and other prohibited countries, US regulators announced Tuesday. The penalty covers some USD 600 million in US transactions from 2008 to 2014 that originated at Standard Chartered's London and Dubai offices.
◢ Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged President Hassan Rouhani to place US forces in the region on Tehran's list of "terrorist" groups, the foreign ministry said. The foreign minister requested the move against US Central Command (CENTCOM), which has forces stationed from Central Asia to Egypt, shortly after Washington announced it was designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.
◢ President Donald Trump on Monday announced the United States is designating Iran's elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a terrorist organization. Trump said in a statement that the "unprecedented" move "recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft."
◢ Iranian authorities on Monday evacuated patients from a hospital threatened by floodwaters in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported. Iran has been hit by several weeks of unprecedented flooding across most of the usually arid country that has killed 70 people, according to the emergency services.
◢ Flood damage in western Iran exceeds the government’s budget for disaster relief and officials will have to tap the country’s sovereign wealth fund to cover reconstruction costs, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. Around IRR 9.5 trillion—equivalent to USD 230 million at Iran’s official exchange rate—of damage has been caused to agricultural fields in the southwestern province of Khuzestan alone.
◢ Iranian authorities ordered the evacuation of six cities along the Karkheh river in southwestern Khuzestan province on Saturday after more rain sparked fears of new flooding, state news agency IRNA said. Floods in Iran since March have killed 70 people the head of the emergency services said on Friday according to the official IRNA News Agency.
◢ The US government has interviewed one Schlumberger Ltd. worker and wants access to four other current and former employees as part of a probe into potential sanctions violations in Iran and Sudan, according to federal court documents. The unnamed worker for the world’s biggest oil-services provider was interviewed on March 8 about a matter related to a company Schlumberger acquired in 2014.
◢ Responding to the devastating floods that have recently affected northern and south western parts of Iran, the European Commission has announced an initial amount of EUR 1.2 million of emergency funding to assist the most vulnerable communities.
◢ Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Wednesday European powers were incapable of bypassing sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US after it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. Iran and six world powers agreed on a deal in 2015 that severely restricted Tehran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief and economic incentives.
◢ The death toll from major floods swamping much of Iran over the past 15 days has risen to 62, the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization told local media Wednesday. Ahmad Shojaee told the semi-official Fars news agency the southern province of Fars has been hit the hardest with 21 dead.
◢ Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi will travel to Iran on Saturday, a member of his office said, in his first official visit to the country rivalling Washington for influence over Baghdad. The US reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran's energy and finance sectors last year but has granted Baghdad several exemptions to keep temporarily importing Iranian gas and electricity, crucial to Iraq's faltering power sector.
◢ UniCredit SpA is nearing an agreement with US authorities over allegations that the bank provided dollar-clearing services to Iranian clients in violation of US sanctions, people with the knowledge of the matter said. The deal would cost the Italian lender about USD 900 million but spare it from criminal prosecution, the people said.
◢ Britain, France and Germany are accusing Iran of developing missile technology, following recent activities, that they said was inconsistent with a UN resolution, and are calling for a full UN report, according to a letter released Tuesday. The European trio cited Iran's launch of a space vehicle and the unveiling of two new ballistic missiles in February.
◢ Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the United States of impeding aid efforts and "economic terrorism" on Monday as authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in western Iran. US sanctions are "impeding aid efforts by #IranianRedcrescent to all communities devastated by unprecedented floods," Zarif tweeted.
◢ The OPEC+ group could easily extend its agreement on oil-production cuts, according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. Iran is exempt from oil-output cuts following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on the country last year.
◢ Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in a western province as rivers burst their banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication. The highest level of alert was declared in Lorestan province with four or five cities "completely critical", state television news network IRINN reported from Khorramabad, the region's capital.
◢ Snapp, also known as the Uber of Iran, said its ride-hailing app is generating two million fares a day as young people in Tehran embrace technology in a market that’s off-limits for western investors. “Snapp Tehran is now larger than any Uber city globally," co-founder Eyad Alkassar said in a statement.
◢ Iraq's parliament speaker voiced hope Friday that the United States will keep waiving sanctions on energy purchases from Iran, saying his country will need to import electricity from its neighbor for three years. President Donald Trump's administration has sought to cut off all exports from Iran but has twice granted three-month exemptions to Iraq, mindful of chronic blackouts that have reignited unrest in the war-torn country.
