IRAN TENSIONS: With internet shutdown, Iran seeks to limit protest outcry

After Iran last month imposed an internet shutdown lasting several days in a southeastern region during a rare upsurge of unrest, activists say the government is now using the tactic repeatedly when protests erupt.

Rights groups say at least 10 people were killed when security forces opened fire on fuel porters around Saravan in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan on February 22, prompting protests where live ammunition was used on unarmed demonstrators.

But little information filtered out due to a near total shutdown of the internet in the impoverished region bordering Pakistan, which has a large ethnic Baluch population and has been a flashpoint for cross-border attacks by separatists and Sunni extremists.

The internet shutdown was a “measure authorities appear to be using as a tool to conceal gross human rights violations and possible international crimes such as extrajudicial killings,” freedom of expression groups Access Now, Article 19 and Miaan Group said in a joint statement with Amnesty International.

Campaigners say such shutdowns, which recall those seen in recent months during street protests in Belarus and Myanmar, have a dual purpose.

They seek to prevent people from using social media messaging services to mobilize protests but also hinder the documentation of rights violations that could be used to rally support at home and abroad.

Iran in November 2019 imposed nationwide internet limits during rare protests against fuel hikes that the authorities suppressed in a deadly crackdown.

Rights groups fear the same tactic risks being used again during potentially tense presidential elections this summer.

‘Control the narrative’

The Sistan-Baluchistan shutdown saw mobile internet services halted, effectively shutting down the net in an area where phones account for over 95 percent of internet use.

“It is aimed at harming documentation and the ability of people to mobilize and coordinate,” Mahsa Alimardani, Iran researcher with the Article 19 freedom of expression group, told AFP. “It helps the authorities to be able to control the narrative.”

State media said there were attacks on government buildings in Saravan and that a policeman was killed when unrest spread to the provincial capital Zahedan.

The governor of the city’s region, Abouzarmahdi Nakahei, denounced “fake” reports of deaths in the protests, blaming “foreign media”.

Alimardani noted that targeting mobile internet connections made the shutdown different from the one seen in November 2019.

Then, Iranians were cut off from international internet traffic but were able to continue highly-filtered activities on Iran’s homegrown internet platform the National Information Network (NIN).

She said the documentation of atrocities was the authorities’ biggest fear. “It is a big rallying call when these videos go viral,” she said.

‘Lethal force’

Unlike some other minority groups in Iran like Arabs and Kurds, the Baluch do not have major representation in the West to promote their cause and draw attention to alleged violations on social media.

Most Baluch adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam rather than the Shiism dominant in Iran and rights groups also say Baluch convicts have been disproportionately targeted by executions.

According to information received by Amnesty from Baluchi activists, at least 10 people were killed on February 22 when Revolutionary Guards “unlawfully and deliberately used lethal force” against unarmed Baluchi fuel porters near Saravan.

The crackdown came after the security forces blocked a road to impede the work of the porters, who cross between Iran and Pakistan to sell fuel.

Amnesty added that security forces also used unlawful and excessive force against people who protested in response to the killings, as well as bystanders, leaving another two dead.

‘A pattern’

Amnesty’s Iran researcher Raha Bahreini told AFP that the toll was a “minimum figure” that Baluchi activists verified after confirming the victims’ names.

The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran have an even higher toll of 23 dead, citing local sources.

The internet shutdown “severely restricted the flow of information to rights defenders from contacts and eyewitnesses,” Bahreini told AFP.

“The authorities are fully aware they are preventing the outside world from learning about the extent and gravity of violations on the ground,” she added.

She said such unlawful shutdowns had turned into a “pattern” in Iran.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Rupert Colville said that the shutdown has impeded precise verification of the death toll and had “the apparent purpose of preventing access to information about what is happening there.”

The CHRI said Iran blocked internet access “to kill protesters indiscriminately and out of the public eye and prevent protesters from communicating and organizing.”

“Security forces killed hundreds of protesters with impunity in November 2019, and they are doing it again now,” said its director Hadi Ghaemi.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Belgium tries Iranian diplomat over bomb plot

 

An Iranian diplomat goes on trial in Belgium on Friday accused of plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside Paris, in a case that has stoked tensions with Tehran.

In June 2018 Belgian authorities thwarted what they said was an attempt to smuggle explosives to France to attack a meeting of one of Iran’s exiled opposition movements.

Later that year, the French government accused Iran’s intelligence service of being behind the operation, a charge the Islamic republic has furiously denied.

Assadollah Assadi, a 48-year-old Iranian diplomat formerly based in Vienna, faces life in prison if convicted.

The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), which includes the People’s Mojahedin of Iran or (MEK), organised a rally in Villepinte outside Paris on June 30, 2018.

Several well-known international figures — including former US and British officials and Franco-Colombian former senator Ingrid Betancourt — and NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi were to attend. 

On the same morning, Belgian police intercepted a Belgian-Iranian couple driving from Antwerp and carrying half-a-kilo of TATP explosives and a detonator.

The arrested couple, 36-year-old Nassimeh Naami and 40-year-old Amir Saadouni, join Assadi in the dock, alongside another alleged accomplice, Mehrdad Arefani, 57. 

All four are charged with attempting to carry out a terrorist attack and taking part in the activity of a terrorist group. All face life sentences.

Assadi was arrested while he was travelling through Germany where he had no immunity from prosecution, being outside of the country of his diplomatic posting.

Arefani, an Iranian poet who had lived in Belgium for more than a decade, was arrested in France in 2018 after Belgium issued an European arrest warrant.

– ‘Absolutely furious’ –

Counsel representing those targeted by the alleged attack say Arefani was close to Assadi, said to be the architect of the plot, and point to an Austrian SIM card found in his possession.

The two men deny any connection.

“We are looking at a clear case of state terrorism,” said lawyer Georges-Henri Beauthier, who is representing the interests of the NCRI, along with French colleague William Bourdon. 

Dimitri de Beco, defence counsel for Assadi, has accused the civil plaintiffs of trying to turn the case into a political trial on behalf of the opposition movement. 

According to Iran expert Francois Nicoullaud — a former French ambassador to Tehran — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was surprised to learn about the failed attack.

“Visiting Europe at the time, he was absolutely furious to learn about this intelligence service operation, on which he hadn’t been consulted,” the diplomat told AFP. 

At the time of the alleged plot, Rouhani was trying to maintain the support of European capitals for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which US President Donald Trump had abandoned.

When Paris pointed the finger at Iranian intelligence, an Iranian spokesman voiced denial and alleged that opponents of the deal in “certain quarters” were attempting to frame Tehran.

That idea was dismissed by observers like Nicoullaud as a smoke screen. “It’s not serious,” he said. 

The trial is scheduled to take two days, Friday and then Thursday next week. The court is then expected to adjourn to consider its verdict before ruling early next year.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Trump vows ‘1,000 times greater’ response to any Iran attack

 

US President Donald Trump on Monday vowed that any attack by Iran would be met with a response “1,000 times greater in magnitude,” after reports that Iran planned to avenge the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani.

A US media report, quoting unnamed officials, said that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa was planned before the presidential election in November.

“According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani,” Trump tweeted.

“Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!”

Relations between Washington and Tehran have been tense since the Iranian revolution, and have spiralled since Trump unilaterally pulled out of a landmark international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018.

In January, a US drone strike killed Soleimani in Baghdad, and Washington is pushing to extend an arms embargo on Iran that starts to progressively expire in October as well as reimposing UN sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The Iranian navy last week said it drove off American aircraft that flew close to an area where military exercises were underway near the Strait of Hormuz.

The military said three US aircraft were detected by Iran’s air force radars after they entered the country’s air defence identification zone.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Trump to announce US troop withdrawals from Iraq, Afghanistan

US President Donald Trump was expected to announce further troop withdrawals Wednesday from Afghanistan and from Iraq, where several thousand US troops hunting down jihadist sleeper cells have faced increasing attacks blamed on pro-Iran factions.

The deadly bomb and rocket attacks have put additional pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who has pledged to rein in rogue groups pledged to fight the US military presence.

Kadhemi travelled to Washington last month for strategic talks, including on the future of the US-led coalition deployed in Iraq since 2014 to fight the Islamic State group.

At the time, Trump told Kadhemi US forces would leave Iraq but gave no timetable or cap for troop levels.

A senior US official told reporters the president would make an announcement Wednesday but offered no details. There was no immediate response from the US-led coalition to a request for comment from AFP.

The US has already been steadily downsizing its troop levels in Iraq in recent months as Iraqis take over combat and training roles.

“These withdrawals are part of the agreed transition of the US-led coalition’s role in Iraq,” an Iraqi official told AFP.

US and other coalition troops stayed on after IS’s defeat in 2017 to support Iraqi forces with air strikes, drone surveillance and training to prevent a jihadist resurgence.

By late 2018, there were an estimated 5,200 American troops still stationed in Iraq, making up the bulk of the 7,500 coalition forces there, according to US officials.

Over the past year, dozens of rocket attacks have targeted those forces, the US embassy and logistics convoys heading to Iraqi bases, killing at least six military personnel — three Americans, one Briton and two Iraqis.

US officials have blamed the violence on hardline factions close to Tehran, which as Washington’s longtime foe has repeatedly demanded US troops leave the Middle East.

Tensions skyrocketed when a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in January, prompting Tehran to mount a retaliatory missile strike against US troops in western Iraq.

Iraq’s parliament voted to oust all foreign troops still left in Iraq, although Kadhemi’s government — seen as friendly to the US — has delayed implementation.

Instead, the coalition has been quietly drawing down troops on its own since March, consolidating its presence from a dozen bases across the country to just three.

Some troops were redeployed to the main bases in Baghdad, Arbil in the north and Ain al-Asad in the west, but most were transferred outside of Iraq, US officials told AFP.

They said the downsizing was long-planned as IS had been defeated, but admitted the withdrawal timeline was accelerated in response to rocket attacks and the fear Covid-19 could spread among military partners.

France has already withdrawn its troops and Britain has significantly downsized to just 100 personnel in recent months.

British, French and US special forces will remain in undisclosed locations around the country, diplomatic sources said.

Late Tuesday, a bomb targeted a supply convoy heading to an Iraqi base where US troops are deployed, killing one member of the Iraqi security forces.

Trump has sent mixed signals on troop levels in Iraq.

While he has vowed to bring troops home “quickly,” he also refused to include the word “withdrawal” in a joint statement following Kadhemi’s visit to the US, preferring the vaguer “redeployment,” a top Iraqi official told AFP.

And even as coalition officials insist their mission is exclusively focused on IS remnants, Trump has told troops in Iraq they are partly there to “watch over Iran.”

Finally, Iraqi officials have worried Trump’s decision-making could be linked to domestic concerns, two months ahead of a US presidential election.

“This seems tied more to Trump’s political calendar and the increasing threats to our troops sparked by his own ill-conceived policies,” wrote Brett McGurk, the former US special envoy to the coalition, on Wednesday.

The US president is also set to announce further withdrawals from Afghanistan in the coming days, the senior administration official said.

Washington currently has 8,600 soldiers deployed in accordance with a bilateral agreement signed in February between Washington and the Taliban.

The Pentagon said in August that its goal was to get down to fewer than 5,000 troops as inter-Afghan peace talks progress.

Trump previously mentioned in an interview with Axios that the White House aimed to reach 4,000 to 5,000 troops in Afghanistan before the US election on November 3.

Under the US-Taliban deal, all foreign troops must leave the country by the spring of 2021, in exchange for security commitments from the militants.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran’s Khamanei says UAE ‘betrayed’ Muslim world with Israel deal

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused the United Arab Emirates of betraying the Muslim world with its agreement to normalise relations with Tehran’s arch-foe Israel.

“The #UAE betrayed the world of Islam, the Arab nations, the region’s countries, and #Palestine,” Khamenei said, according to his official Twitter account.

“Of course, this betrayal won’t last long but the stigma will stay with them,” he added in a series of tweets.

In the agreement, only the third such deal it has struck with an Arab country, Israel pledged to suspend annexation of Palestinian lands.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that did not mean Israael was abandoning plans to annex the Jordan Valley and Jewish settlements across the occupied West Bank.

“I hope the Emiratis soon wake up and compensate for what they have done,” Khamenei said.

“The UAE rulers opened the door of the region to the Zionists, and they have ignored and normalised the question of Palestine.”

It was Khamenei’s first reaction to the agreement between the UAE and Israel that US President Donald Trump announced on August 13.

His remarks came after a US-Israeli delegation landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday on the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to mark the normalisation of ties, with Saudi Arabia allowing the flight to cross its airspace.

The Iranian foreign ministry had previously denounced the deal as an act of “strategic stupidity”.

The UAE downgraded its relations with Iran in January 2016 amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic republic.

Tehran-Riyadh relations deteriorated further last year following a series of attacks on tankers in sensitive Gulf waters, which Washington blamed on Iran.

Tehran denied the allegation.

Saudi Arabia and Iran, the region’s two leading powers, take opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: UN blocks US bid to trigger ‘snapback’ sanctions on Iran

The United Nations on Tuesday blocked a controversial bid by the US to reimpose international sanctions on Iran, with the Security Council saying it could not proceed with the disputed move.

The presidency of the Council, assumed in August by Indonesia, is “not in a position to take further action” on Washington’s request, said Indonesian ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani.

In a video conference on the Middle East, he cited the lack of consensus in the UN’s highest body on the US strategy as the main reason.

The Trump administration accuses Tehran of failing to comply with the terms of the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and is demanding the Security Council reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Washington insists on its legal right to trigger the disputed procedure, called “snapback” — despite pulling out of the deal two years ago.

The move threatens to torpedo the Iran accord and plunge the Council into crisis, while widening the gulf between the US and almost every other member on Iran policy.

Thirteen of the 15 Council members had written to the Indonesian presidency to reject its validity.

The US “is alone” in their approach, and “their ultimate goal is to destroy the nuclear agreement when they have already imposed (national) sanctions on Iran,” one diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP.

Another said that, with the sound rejection of the US bid by almost the entire Council, “normally the matter is closed.”

The US did not see it that way.

“We reminded members of our right under Resolution 2231 to trigger snapback, and our firm intent to do so in the absence of courage and moral clarity by the Council,” stated US ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft.

‘Completely inadmissable’
Washington has previously accused Council members of “siding with the ayatollahs.”

The move, never before used, comes after the US suffered a humiliating defeat at the Security Council earlier this month when it failed to muster support for a resolution to extend a conventional arms embargo on Iran.

According to the 2015 agreement, in which sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for it agreeing not to develop nuclear weapons, a notification that Tehran has broken its promise must in principle be followed by a draft resolution by the presidency of the Security Council.

The exclusion of this option by Indonesia was welcomed Tuesday by the majority of Council members.

According to diplomats, Washington could go so far as to table its own draft resolution, opening the way for even more confusion.

In this case, said one ambassador, opponents in the Council could go as far as abstaining from the vote.

In a statement Tuesday evening, the Iranian mission to the UN welcomed the council’s rejection of the US move.

Iran said the US request, “including all references therein, are null and void, have no legal standing and effect and are thus completely inadmissible.”

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: UN Security Council rejects US bid to extend Iran embargo

The United Nations Security Council has resoundingly rejected a bid by the United States to extend a global arms embargo on Iran.

In the Security Council vote on Friday, Washington got support only from the Dominican Republic for its resolution to indefinitely extend the embargo, leaving it far short of the minimum nine "yes" votes required for adoption.

Eleven members on the 15-member body, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom, abstained.

Russia and China strongly opposed extending the 13-year ban, which was due to expire on October 18 under a 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and six world powers.

Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, announced the defeat of the resolution ahead of a very brief virtual council meeting to reveal the vote.

"The Security Council's failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and security is inexcusable," he said in a statement.

Israel and the six Arab Gulf nations who supported the extension "know Iran will spread even greater chaos and destruction if the embargo expires", Pompeo said, "but the Security Council chose to ignore them".

Zhang Jun, China's ambassador to the UN, said in a statement that the result "once again shows that unilateralism receives no support and bullying will fail".

Washington could now follow through on a threat to trigger a return of all UN sanctions on Iran using a provision in the nuclear deal, known as snapback, even though US President Donald Trump had unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018. On Thursday, the US had circulated to council members a six-page memo outlining why Washington remains a participant in the nuclear accord and still has the right to use the snapback provision.

In a statement after the vote, US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft said Washington has "every right to initiate" the snapback mechanism, and added: "In the coming days, the United States will follow through on that promise to stop at nothing to extend the arms embargo."

'Diplomatic catastrophe'
Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said the US's defeat on Friday was not a surprise.

"But it's a surprise that the US bid failed so miserably," she said.

"Any party to the nuclear accord could trigger the 'snapback' provision if Iran is seen to be in violation of the accord. But Russia and China say the US's withdrawal from the deal two years ago means it has forfeited its right to do that. Other members of the council would seem to agree," she said.

"The Europeans have expressed some misgivings about conventional weapons going into Iran. But at the end of the day, they say their concern about a nuclear weapon is paramount."

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and other benefits. Following the US withdrawal and imposition of unilateral sanctions, Tehran has already scaled back compliance with parts of the accord. Diplomats have said triggering the "snapback" provision would put the fragile agreement further at risk because Iran would lose a major incentive for limiting its nuclear activities.

Iran's UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi warned Washington against trying to trigger a return of sanctions.

"Imposition of any sanctions or restrictions on Iran by the Security Council will be met severely by Iran and our options are not limited. And the United States and any entity which may assist it or acquiesce in its illegal behavior will bear the full responsibility," he said in a statement.

Jarret Blanc, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Al Jazeera the US's failed bid amounted to a "diplomatic catastrophe".

"It demonstrates that President Donald Trump and his team are not only bad at the strategy of approaching Iran, they are bad at the day to day tactics of diplomacy. It is unconscionable that the US couldn't round up more than one vote for a resolution like this."

But some analysts said they suspect that Washington put forward a hardline draft purposefully, knowing that council members would not be able to accept it.

"The fact is that everybody at the UN believes this [resolution] is just a prelude to a US effort to trigger snapback and sink the Iranian nuclear deal," Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the International Crisis Group, told AFP news agency.

While voting on the US draft resolution was under way, Russia said its President Vladimir Putin called for a meeting of leaders of the five permanent members of the Security Council along with Germany and Iran to avoid escalation over US attempts to extend the Iranian arms embargo.

In statement released by the Kremlin, Putin said "the question is urgent", adding that the goal of the videoconference would be "to outline steps to avoid confrontation and exacerbation of the situation in the UN Security Council".

"If the leaders are fundamentally ready for a conversation, we propose to promptly coordinate the agenda," Putin said. "The alternative is to further build up tension, to increase the risk of conflict. This development must be avoided."

Asked if he would take part, Trump told reporters: "I hear there's something, but I haven't been told of it yet."

French President Emmanuel Macron's office confirmed France's "availability in principle" to Putin's proposal. "We have in the past deployed initiatives in the same spirit," it said.

Jarret Blanc, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the US’s failed bid a “diplomatic catastrophe”.

“It demonstrates that President Donald Trump and his team are not only bad at the strategy of approaching Iran, they are bad at the day to day tactics of diplomacy. It is unconscionable that it couldn’t round up more than one vote for a resolution like this.”

Source: Al Jazeera

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran wary of Lebanon change after blast

Iran is watching developments in Lebanon closely, wary of losing any of its hard-won influence after a deadly mega-blast in Beirut sparked angry demands for reforms to its delicately balanced system.

One week on from the chemical explosion that wreaked destruction across swathes of the Lebanese capital, the strategic eastern Mediterranean country is still reeling.

Lebanese have taken to the streets over the disaster that claimed at least 158 lives and injured 6,000, with many calling for heads to roll and for major changes.

Late Monday, Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the resignation of his government, spelling even deeper turmoil ahead.

While some protesters have chanted slogans against Lebanon’s powerful Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah, most vented their fury against a wider ruling class whose corruption, incompetence and negligence they say caused the August 4 tragedy.

In Tehran, student members of Iran’s Basij militia gathered in front of the Lebanese embassy, lighting candles and waving the flags of the disaster-hit country and Hezbollah.

Many Iranians posted photos online of Beirut’s devastated port accompanied by poems for the city by Syrian writer Nizar Kabbani, who is hugely popular in the Islamic republic.

In another tribute, Azadi Tower, the symbol of the Iranian capital, was lit up in the colours of the Lebanese flag.

The day after the explosion, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged the people of Lebanon to show “patience”.

Khamenei sought to assure them that Iran would support Lebanon in the face of this “painful tragedy”.

‘Light the wick’
Iran’s top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed his country’s support for the “resilient” people of Lebanon.

“As always, Iran is fully prepared to render assistance in any way necessary. Stay strong, Lebanon,” the foreign minister tweeted soon after the monster blast.

Politically multi-confessional Lebanon is dominated by former warlords from its 1975-1990 civil war.

Shiite Iran wields huge influence through Hezbollah.

So when French President Emmanuel Macron called for major reforms to Lebanon, he was met with criticism in the Islamic republic.

“I think Mr. Macron’s views were interventionist, although the historical background of relations between Lebanon and France should also be taken into account,” said Ali Esmailzadeh, a student in Tehran.

“I think these words are to light the wick of the fire of unrest in this country, which seems to have started since last night,” he told AFP, referring to violent protests in Beirut on Saturday night.

Macron’s call, issued during a visit to Beirut in the wake of the blast, saw Iran’s ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan accuse him of trying to “weaken the Lebanese resistance”.

The daily branded a French-hosted conference at which international donors pledged 250 million euros in aid to Lebanon on Sunday as a “bluff”.

Iran did not take part in the forum, but Tehran said Monday it has sent 95 tons of medical supplies to Lebanon and will continue to send more humanitarian aid.

“If they are honest, they should lift sanctions against the Lebanese government and people,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said, referring to the United States.

‘Complicated for Iran’
For Kayhan’s editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari, “Macron’s changes” meant “the elimination of Hezbollah” and the “rescue of the Israeli regime” — Iran’s main regional foe.

“In the name of Israel, Macron has sent a message to the Lebanese people that if they continue to resist and support Hezbollah, they will face another catastrophic event of this type,” Shariatmadari told AFP on the phone.

Analysts have expressed doubts about Iran’s ability to provide significant financial assistance to Lebanon as a result of its own economic woes.

Iran’s economy has been battered since its arch enemy the United States unilaterally withdrew from a nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Since February, Iran has also struggled to contain the Middle East’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus, which the government says has killed more than 18,600 and infected nearly 329,000.

Pro-reform journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi said that “in such a situation, Iran’s hands are tied, unable to do much” to help Beirut’s reconstruction.

“If Tehran had the financial means, we know what it would do, as it did during the (Israel-Hezbollah) war in 2006 when Iran compensated for heavy losses suffered at the time” in Lebanon, he told AFP.

On that occasion, however, the government of then Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “had a lot of money by selling oil at a high price”, he added.

Zeidabadi said this time Iran would be better off working together with European countries that are coordinating the reconstruction effort.

“This requires a change in behaviour and vision for the regional positions of the Islamic republic… The situation as a whole is very complicated for Iran”.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran’s Khamenei urges fight against ‘tragic’ virus resurgence

Iran’s supreme leader Sunday called the resurgence of the novel coronavirus in the country “truly tragic” and urged all citizens to help stem what has been the region’s deadliest outbreak.

“Let everyone play their part in the best way to break the chain of transmission in the short term and save the country,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a video conference with lawmakers, according to his office.

Iran has been struggling to contain the outbreak since announcing its first cases in February and has reported more than 12,800 deaths since then.

Khamenei’s speech was his first to the new parliament which took office at the end of May, dominated by conservatives and ultraconservatives elected in February elections.

According to his official site, Khamenei praised healthcare workers for “their sacrifices”.

But he also strongly criticised “some people who do not even do something as simple as wearing a mask”, saying he felt “ashamed” of such behaviour.

Khamenei’s comments came as infections have again been on the rise in Iran since early May.

According to figures announced Sunday, 194 deaths from the COVID-19 disease and 2,186 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours.

The health ministry announced a record 221 deaths in a single day on Thursday.

In total, 257,303 cases have been reported in the country, including 12,829 deaths, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said Sunday in a televised press conference.

The outbreak’s rising toll has prompted authorities to make wearing masks mandatory in enclosed public spaces and to allow the hardest hit provinces to reimpose restrictive measures.

Iran had closed schools, cancelled public events and banned movement between its 31 provinces in March, but the government progressively lifted restrictions from April to reopen its sanctions-hit economy.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Killing of Iraq expert stirs fear of new violent phase

The killing of jihadism expert Hisham al-Hashemi has stirred fears Iraq is entering a dark and violent phase, as boiling tensions between pro-Iran factions and the government reach new heights.

Hashemi, 47, was gunned down outside his home in east Baghdad late Monday by masked assailants on motorcycles.

While the perpetrators remain on the run, experts say the death signals a dramatic turn for political violence brewing since mass protests erupted in October.

“Armed forces of various affiliations have killed protesters and others willing to publicly criticise the government and armed forces with impunity,” said Belkis Wille of Human Rights Watch.

“But killing someone of his stature smacks of a country where some groups have become so emboldened by the complete impunity for serious abuses, that they can kill anyone they want to without paying a price,” he said.

Over the course of years, Hashemi had developed a vast network encompassing top decision makers, former jihadists and rival political parties, often mediating among them.

His exceptional access had granted him a level of protection, those close to him said, but the balance started to tip in October.

His support for popular protests against a government seen as too close to Iran infuriated Tehran-backed factions in Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi military network.

Hashemi skirted threats to mediate between protesters and senior government officials, even as activists were fatally shot outside their homes and dozens more abducted.

“The parameters changed starting in October. There was a new modus operandi, and a shift in the confrontation with pro-Iran factions,” said Adel Bakawan, an Iraqi expert who knew Hashemi.

‘Won’t be the last’
Other experts say the real turning point was in January, when a US strike on Baghdad killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Hashed deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Hardline factions within the Hashed, particularly those close to Iran like Kataeb Hezbollah, vowed revenge against both the US and its allies inside Iraq, whatever the cost.

As someone with close ties to foreign governments, Hashemi was seen as a potential target, and he left Baghdad for a few days in late January, he told AFP at the time.

“Hisham was aware that things had shifted,” said Renad Mansour, a researcher at London-based Chatham House who worked with Hashemi for years.

“The killing of Abu Mahdi unleashed all of these groups that he had been trying to control and centralise. We’re still feeling the shock waves,” he said.

Hashed al-Shaabi itself published a statement mourning Hashemi’s murder.

“We demand security forces follow up on this crime and catch the terrorist group that assassinated Hashemi,” it said.

Within the network, Kataeb Hezbollah has accused then-spy chief Mustafa al-Kadhemi of complicity in the deadly strike and deeply opposed his rise to Iraq’s premiership in May.

Hashemi had advised Kadhemi for years, a relationship that put the expert in “danger” when the former intelligence head became premier, those close to him said.

In recent weeks, Hashemi had been particularly critical of rogue elements of the Hashed and had received threats from at least two hardline factions, his associates said. His family, meanwhile, said he had been threatened by the Islamic State (IS) group.

“For the first time since 2003, there is a sacred alliance between the government and an influential group of intellectuals. Now, people who are both symbols of the protests and the government are being targeted,” said Bakawan, who knew Hashemi personally.

“This may be the first prominent figure killed but it won’t be the last. There are other names on this blacklist,” he added.

‘Suicidal mission’
Kadhemi has pledged to hold Hashemi’s killers to account, and swiftly sacked the police chief in the Baghdad district where the expert was killed.

But there is little hope for real accountability.

Less than two weeks ago, Kadhemi ordered the arrests of Kataeb Hezbollah fighters who were allegedly preparing a rocket attack on Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, home to the US embassy and other foreign missions.

But within days, all but one of those detained were released and their faction even pledged court action against Kadhemi.

Hashemi’s killing appears to be a new challenge, said Iraqi politician Raed Fahmi.

“This is a political assassination that represents both the silencing of freedom of speech, and a challenge to the government, its prime minister and any reform plan,” he said.

Other Iraqi activists told AFP they had long feared being targeted for speaking out against Iran-backed groups.

“This could have been any one of us. Our friends have already been notified to leave immediately,” said Omar Mohammad, a historian who documented atrocities in Mosul under IS.

“If Kadhemi will not take a strong step, civil life in Iraq will vanish. But I’m afraid he won’t do it. It’s a suicidal mission,” he told AFP.

 Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Canada, Sweden pave way for compensation talks with Iran on downed plane

Canada announced Thursday an agreement to launch negotiations with Iran on compensation for the families of the foreign victims of a Ukrainian passenger plane shot down in January, with Sweden expressing confidence Tehran would pay.

An international “coordination and response group” of countries whose nationals died on the plane signed a memorandum of understanding, formally paving the way for negotiations with Tehran, according to a Canadian government statement.

The countries — Canada, Britain, Ukraine, Sweden and Afghanistan — each had citizens die when Tehran’s armed forces mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

“The five states created the legal structure necessary to start these negotiations,” Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told AFP.

“It is a first step — necessary but only a first step — to begin negotiations to obtain reparations for the victims’ families,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde told news agency TT that Tehran had agreed to compensate the families of foreign victims.

There is “no doubt” that Iran would follow through on the compensation, she said, adding that it was still unclear what sums would be paid out.

“We have signed an agreement of mutual understanding that we will now negotiate with Iran about amends, compensation to the victims’ next of kin,” Linde said.

Ukraine, the group’s designated speaker on the negotiations, will be responsible for proposing a date to launch the talks in Tehran, Champagne said.

“These kinds of negotiations generally take several months or even years,” added Champagne, whose country chairs the coordinated group.

“Iran had indicated to us its desire to start negotiations. I always judge Iran not by its words but by its actions,” he warned.

The 176 victims of the crash, which occurred shortly after taking off from Tehran airport on January 8, were mostly Iranian-Canadians.

Of countries apart from Iran, Canada was the hardest hit, with a total of 85 victims (both citizens and permanent residents).

The Islamic Republic admitted days after the downing that its forces accidentally shot the Kiev-bound jetliner.

At the end of June Iran officially enlisted the help of France’s BEA air accident agency to download and read the data on the flight recorder.

Ottawa had been demanding that Iran, which does not have the technical means to extract and decrypt the data, send the plane’s black boxes abroad.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump, asks Interpol to help

Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, a local prosecutor reportedly said Monday.

While Trump faces no danger of arrest, the charges underscore the heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Trump and more than 30 others whom Iran accuses of involvement in the Jan. 3 strike that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad face “murder and terrorism charges,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alqasimehr also was quoted as saying that Iran requested a “red notice” be put out for Trump and the others, which represents the highest level arrest request issued by Interpol. Local authorities end up making the arrests on behalf of the country that requests it. The notices cannot force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on the spot and limit suspects’ travel.

After receiving a request, Interpol meets by committee and discusses whether or not to share the information with its member states. Interpol has no requirement for making any of the notices public, though some do get published on its website.

It is unlikely Interpol would grant Iran’s request as its guideline for notices forbids it from “undertaking any intervention or activities of a political” nature.

The U.S. killed Soleimani, who oversaw the Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force, and others in the January strike near Baghdad International Airport. It came after months of incidents raising tensions between the two countries and ultimately saw Iran retaliate with a ballistic missile strike targeting American troops in Iraq.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

IRAN TENSIONS: Half year on, activists fear no justice for Iran protest killings

Half a year after protests which Iran has now acknowledged claimed more than 200 lives, rights groups fear the real toll from the crackdown was far higher and that nobody will be brought to justice.

Protests erupted across Iran from November 15-19 after a sudden fuel price hike, in the most vocal eruption of public dissent since the 2009 “green movement” rocked the Islamic Republic in the wake of disputed elections.

Activists say the latest crackdown on protests by the Iranian security forces, accompanied by a near-total internet blackout, was even fiercer than that of 10 years earlier.

For the first time this month, Iran acknowledged there had been civilian deaths on a major scale.

Mojtaba Zolnour, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign affairs committee, said on June 1 that 230 people were killed — including six members of the security forces.

But Amnesty International issued a report in May detailing 304 verified protester deaths, which it said was in no way a final toll.

“We believe that the real number of deaths is far higher than what they have announced,” Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International’s Iran researcher told AFP.

“Our report details the cases of men, women and children we have been able to document. The authorities are still actively suppressing the truth,” she added.

The Iranian authorities, she said, had failed to provide any detail — the victims’ names, ages, or genders.

“The latest official statement reflects the continuation of the authorities’ strategy to deny and distort the truth and escape accountability and justice,” Bahreini said.

– ‘Investigate each case’ –
Scrutiny of how Iran deals with the protest aftermath comes at a tricky moment for its leadership.

Its economy already driven into crisis by sanctions, the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in January sparked further protests while the coronavirus has extracted a heavy human toll and caused more economic pain.

Rights groups outside Iran complain that not a single person of any rank has been investigated to date.

According to Amnesty, all but four of the victims were shot dead by the Iranian security forces.

Shots to the head or neck were the most commonly-listed cause of death.

“By announcing that number they did not admit to their wrongdoings and violation of the right to life,” Shadi Sadr, a lawyer who leads the Justice for Iran (FJI) accountability group, told AFP.

“They have to open an investigation for every individual case,” she said.

A directive issued by the office of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has classified victims into three categories — bystanders, protesters with weapons, and those without.

The directive considered all the killings lawful and did not recommend any investigation, said Sadr.

“The only remaining matter for the authorities is to determine which victim falls in which category of lawfully killed persons as catalogued in the Iranian laws,” added a JFI report.

Bystanders killed are considered martyrs and their families will receive regular payments from the state.

The families of those who died while protesting without weapons will receive blood money — known as diyeh — a common practice in Iran.

Sadr said “many families have been silenced by the government using different methods”, which have also included blackmailing people into signing a vow of silence before being allowed to see the body of their loved one.

– ‘Impunity entrenched’ –
UN human rights experts said in December that more than 400 people may have been killed according to unverified reports, and pointed to a “breach of international standards on the use of force”.

Hadi Ghaemi, chief executive of the New York-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran, told AFP the crackdown was the most serious in Iran since the end of the war against Iraq in the late 80s.

“The 2009 protests were spread over 10 months. There was direct shooting then too but not at this scale leading to the killing of hundreds of protestors in a few days,” he said.

It remained unclear who gave the orders to shoot, he added.

Amnesty International has called on the UN Human Rights Council to open an inquiry into the November 2019 killings.

“Impunity in Iran is so entrenched that there is no prospect in the near future that domestic criminal investigations would be conducted,” said Bahreini.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran calls on US to ‘stop violence’ against its people

Iran’s foreign ministry Monday called on the US to “stop violence” against its own people following protests across the country over the death of black American man George Floyd.

“To the American people: the world has heard your outcry over the state of oppression. The world is standing with you,” spokesman Abbas Mousavi said at a news conference in Tehran.

“And to the American officials and police: stop violence against your people and let them breathe,” he told reporters in English.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iranian warship hit by missile in training accident, killing 19 sailors

One Iranian warship accidentally struck another with a missile during an exercise, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15 others, Iran’s navy said on Monday.

The incident took place during training in the Gulf of Oman, a sensitive waterway that connects to the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Iran regularly conducts exercises in the area.

The frigate Jamaran fired at a training target released by a support ship, the Konarak. However, the support ship stayed too close to the target and was hit, state broadcaster IRIB said.

“The incident took place in the perimeter of Iran’s southern Bandar-e Jask port on the Gulf of Oman during Iranian Navy drills on Sunday afternoon, in which 19 sailors were killed and 15 others were injured,” state TV said, quoting the navy.

Fars news agency quoted an unidentified military official as denying some Iranian media reports that the Konarak had sunk. The navy statement said investigations were undergoing regarding the cause of the incident, student news agency ISNA said.

Video posted on Twitter purportedly of the Konarak showed a heavily damaged ship with black smoke rising from one side.

Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video.

IRIB said the Dutch-made Konarak vessel, which was purchased before Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, had been overhauled in 2018, and is equipped with four cruise missiles.

The incident took place at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States since 2018, when the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal between major powers and Iran, and Washington re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.

Animosity deepened in early January when a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Iran retaliated on Jan. 8 by firing missiles at U.S. military bases in Iraq. Later that day, Iran’s armed forces shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 people aboard, in what the military later acknowledged was a mistake.

Many of those killed aboard the airliner were Iranian and postings on social media on Monday drew comparisons between the two incidents.

“Until when does the Islamic Republic want to play with the lives of Iranians,” a Twitter user name Sedighe Taheri wrote.

Source: Reuters

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran quake kills at least one, sparks panic in capital

An earthquake near Iran’s highest mountain killed at least one person and jolted the capital Tehran early Friday, forcing panicked residents to flee buildings.

The shallow 4.6 magnitude quake hit at 00:48 am (2018 GMT) near the city of Damavand, about 55 kilometres (34 miles) east of Tehran, the US Geological Survey said.

It saw scores of residents of the capital exit buildings for the safety of streets and parks, AFP journalists reported.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Twitter that the tremor claimed the life of one person and injured seven others.

He called on people to “keep calm” and to follow safety guidelines.

The USGS said on its website that the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres. Its epicentre was south of Mount Damavand, a volcanic mountain which at 5,671 metres (18,606 feet) is Iran’s highest peak.

Iran sits on top of major tectonic plates and experiences frequent seismic activity.

A 5.7 magnitude earthquake that rattled the western village of Habash-e Olya on February 23 killed at least nine people over the border in neighbouring Turkey.

In November 2017, a 7.3-magnitude quake in Iran’s western province of Kermanshah killed 620 people.

In 2003, a 6.6-magnitude quake in southeastern Iran decimated the ancient mud-brick city of Bam and killed at least 31,000 people.

Iran’s deadliest quake was a 7.4-magnitude tremor in 1990 that killed 40,000 people in northern Iran, injured 300,000 and left half a million homeless.

In December and January, two earthquakes struck near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.

Iran’s Gulf Arab neighbours have raised concerns about the reliability of the country’s sole nuclear power facility, which produces 1,000 megawatts of power, and the risk of radioactive leaks in case of a major earthquake.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Israel vows to pursue Syria operations until Iran leaves

Israel will keep up its operations in Syria until its arch-enemy Iran leaves, Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday after strikes on Iranian-backed militias and their allies killed 14 fighters.

Israel has launched hundreds of attacks in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The Jewish state rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its attacks.

Bennett, speaking to the state-owned Kan 11 television news channel, did not claim Israeli responsibility for the latest overnight strikes on Syria.

But he said: “Iran has nothing to do in Syria… (and) we won’t stop before they leave Syria”.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the strikes came minutes after Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli air raids over the north of the country.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State (IS) group said it was not responsible for the raids in the desert near the eastern Syrian town of Mayadin.

Bennett said Iran was “trying to establish itself on the border with Israel to threaten Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa”.

His allegation is not new and has often been made by Israeli officials.

“They have to leave Syria,” Bennett said.

“This is our life we are talking about, the life of our children, and if we allowed them to settle in Syria… in a year we will wake up with 10,000 missiles, 20,000 missiles, that would put us in danger.

“For them it’s an adventure, they are 1,000 kilometres away… it’s their Vietnam in a way,” Bennett said.

– ‘Problems at home’ –
The Israeli defence minister said Iran should be more concerned with its own citizens and mounting domestic problems.

“They have enough problems at home with the coronavirus (and) the collapsing economy,” he said.

Iran on Tuesday announced that confirmed coronavirus infections had reached almost 100,000 in the Islamic republic while the overall death toll from COVID-19 topped 6,000.

Iran is facing economic hardship that worsened after US President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark nuclear clear and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran in 2018, targeting key oil and banking sectors.

Bennett said Iran had become a “burden” for the Assad regime.

“It used to be an asset for the Syrians, it helped Assad deal with Daesh, but now it’s a burden,” he said, referring to IS.

The overnight attacks in Syria were the latest in a spate of strikes on Israel’s neighbour.

On Friday, the Observatory said Israeli raids hit a missile depot in eastern Syria that belonged to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese movement that fought a war with Israel in 2006.

That strike came a day after Germany designated Hezbollah a “Shiite terrorist organisation,” winning applause from the Israeli government.

Israel and the United States have long designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

And last week, Israel was accused of hitting pro-regime positions in Syria at least three times.

Commenting on the apparent intensification of Israeli raids, Yoram Schweitzer of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies told AFP the Jewish state might be reacting to increased hostile action from Iran and Hezbollah.

It is also possible that Israel is trying to apply added pressure as its rivals endure the fallout of the coronavirus crisis, he said.

“I don’t know which one of the two it is, but it might be a combination of the two,” Schweitzer said.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Iran general says Trump should ‘save’ US from virus, not make threats

Iran’s military spokesman on Wednesday said US President Donald Trump should concentrate on “saving” his own country from the “major crisis” caused by coronavirus, instead of making threats.

“Today, instead of intimidating others, the Americans would do better to save their troops infected by the coronavirus,” said Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for Iran’s armed forces.

His comments, in an interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency, came after Trump said on Twitter he had “instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea”.

The Pentagon later said the US military considered the tweet a message to the Iranian regime, suggesting that no new orders had been issued to US Navy ships patrolling the Gulf.

“If the US is skilful and competent, they will withdraw their troops (from the Middle East) in order to save (the country) from the coronavirus disease… before mobilising all other forces in the US… to save the people from this major crisis hitting their country,” Shekarchi said.

This renewed tension between longtime foes Iran and Washington comes after an incident last week in Gulf waters between US Navy ships and patrol boats of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Washington accused the patrol boats of harassing US ships in international waters.

The Revolutionary Guards in turn accused the US of giving a “Hollywood” version of events and behaving “unprofessionally” in the Gulf.

Iran considers itself the guardian of the Gulf and opposes any western military presence in the channel, which is vital for global shipping and oil transport.

Source: Agence France-Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Amnesty says Iran killed two dozen children in November crackdown

Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the Iranian security forces of killing 23 children, mostly with live ammunition, during a November crackdown on anti-government protests.

Protests broke out across Iran from November 15 after the announcement of a surprise petrol price rise. The authorities responded with a crackdown that Amnesty has already said left 304 people dead, a figure vehemently disputed by Tehran.

Amnesty said in its new report it had evidence that at least 23 children were killed, with 22 of them killed by the security forces “unlawfully firing live ammunition at unarmed protesters and bystanders.”

The children killed included 22 boys, aged between 12 and 17, and a girl reportedly aged between eight and 12.

“There must be independent and impartial investigations into these killings, and those suspected of ordering and carrying them out must be prosecuted in fair trials,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty’s research and advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

‘Quash dissent at any cost’

Twelve of the 23 deaths — recorded in 13 cities in six provinces across the country — took place on 16 November, a further eight on 17 November, and three on 18 November, according to Amnesty.

“The fact that the vast majority of the children’s deaths took place over just two days is further evidence that Iranian security forces went on a killing spree to quash dissent at any cost,” said Luther.

Amnesty International said it had written to Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli with the names of the 23 children recorded as killed but had received no response.

It said relatives of some of the children killed described being subjected to harassment and intimidation, including surveillance and interrogations by intelligence and security officials.

It said this corresponded with a broad pattern of families of those killed in protests being intimidated by the state to prevent them talking openly about the deaths.

“Families of children killed during the protests are facing a ruthless campaign of harassment to intimidate them from speaking out,” said Luther, denouncing a “state cover-up”.

Its report was based on evidence from videos and photographs, as well as death and burial certificates, accounts from eyewitnesses and victims’ relatives as well as information gathered from human rights activists and journalists.

In one child’s case, there were conflicting reports on the cause of death, with one source referring to fatal head injuries sustained by beatings by security forces and another referring to the firing of metal pellets at the victim’s face from a close distance, it said.

Source: Agence France Presse

IRAN TENSIONS: Pompeo meets US troops in Saudi visit focused on Iran

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited American troops in Saudi Arabia Thursday after talks with King Salman on the second day of a visit focused on countering Iran.

The United States began building up its military presence at the Prince Sultan airbase, south of Riyadh, last year following a series of attacks in the Gulf that Washington and Riyadh have blamed on their common foe Iran.

“Pompeo’s visit to Prince Sultan airbase and a nearby US Patriot battery highlights the longstanding US-Saudi security relationship and reaffirms America’s determination to stand with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian malign behaviour,” the State Department said in a statement.

It said the US deployment of missile defence systems and fighter jets was part of “a defensive mission to deter and protect against any future attacks”.

Pompeo’s three-day visit to close US ally Saudi Arabia comes in the wake of a US-ordered drone strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful general, in Baghdad on January 3.

The killing sparked a surge in regional tensions and Iran responded with missile strikes on bases hosting US forces in Iraq.

US President Donald Trump and his oil-rich ally Riyadh have accused Iran of attacking tankers in the Gulf and Saudi oil installations, incidents which roiled global energy markets last year.

Tehran denies involvement in the attacks and Riyadh has since appeared keen to engage in cautious diplomacy to ease friction.

Before visiting the airbase, Pompeo held talks with King Salman in Riyadh.

Later, the top US diplomat met de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and is also expected to meet deputy defense minister Prince Khalid bin Salman.

Pompeo faces a tough balancing act in Saudi Arabia as he said he would also discuss “human rights” alongside economic issues during his visit.

The 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which sparked global condemnation of the powerful crown prince, has tested relations between the two allies.

Five US senators have urged Pompeo to press Saudi Arabia for a resolution of a case against dual US-Saudi national Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor who was allegedly tortured and detained without charge for nearly two years, with his family banned from traveling.

The kingdom also faces criticism over the jailing and trial of women activists, some of whom have accused interrogators of sexual harassment and torture in detention.

“The Saudis share our strategic objectives, they are an important ally,” Pompeo told reporters, without saying whether any specific cases were raised with Saudi leaders.

“At the same time we continue to make clear our expectations with respect to a broad range of human rights issues which include the return of people… that aren’t being held in a way that we think is consistent with the rule of law,” he said.

Source: Agence France-Presse