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Iran's Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Arrested For Inciting Unrest: Report
The London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports this morning that former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been arrested by security forces for allegedly inciting unrest against the government, according to "reliable sources in Tehran."
The newspaper describes the former president's arrest in the southwest city of Shiraz as coming after a series of provocative statements given in support of anti-government protests that have gripped the country for more than a week, and that his detention was granted approval by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Starting early in the protests, Ahmadinejad, who led the nation from 2005 to 2013 and has long been considered a hardliner, made public statements denouncing the Rouhani government as well as the clerical establishment as being detached from the daily reality of ordinary Iranians.

What If Iran Becomes the Next Syria?

Donald Trump's Iran policy is a threat to European security. It's time for the EU to stand up to the U.S. president.

A DER SPIEGEL Editorial By Christiane Hoffmann
August 14, 2018  05:15 PM

It's very possible that we will soon be talking about the Iran crisis. After the euro crisis, the Ukraine crisis and the refugee crisis, it could mark the next milestone of Angela Merkel's chancellorship. Yet again, Germany and Europe could be stumbling into a crisis that is eminently predictable. After the refugee crisis, Merkel said herself that a policy of "looking away" was wrong. We should have realized what was happening and done something about it early on.

It's no different with Iran. The country is restless. People have been taking to the streets to vent their daily dissatisfaction for months. The last time the regime was under this much pressure was in the days of the Green Movement in 2009. This time, however, the dissatisfaction is neither restricted to one political movement, nor to Tehran. In many Iranian provinces, people are rising up to protest water shortages, bread prices, unemployment and nepotism. They protest with anger and distress. Crippling inflation is sending food prices soaring as the currency collapses. Iran's economic crisis is rooted in both domestic and international problems a result on the one hand of mismanagement and corruption but also of years of sanctions and isolation.

The harsh sanctions United States President Trump now plans to reimpose will serve only to worsen the crisis. His administration has made no bones about its goal: that of bringing the Islamic regime to its knees. The sanctions are designed to force the Iranians to the negotiating table -- or to destabilize the regime. It's a highly dangerous approach. Politically, Iran is one of the only half-way stable countries in the region and Trump could be in the process of turning it into another Syria.

Iran isn't the only country made unstable by Trump's foreign policy either. His provocative, unilateral support for Saudi Arabia and Israel has hardened the fronts in the region. For its part, Iran is weighing in all over the Middle East, with proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

Trouble at Europe's Backdoor

The Middle East is Europe's neighbor. What happens there has immediate repercussions for Europe, as the refugee crisis showed. The civil war in Syria helped the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party gain traction, it altered the political landscape in Germany and Europe and it undermined Merkel's leadership. If the U.S. fans the flames of instability in the region, Europe's security will be at stake.

The U.S. itself is in a very different situation. The Middle East is an important supplier of oil and gas to the country, and it has close ties with Israel. But it wouldn't be directly affected by the outbreak of civil war in Iran, a multiethnic country with a population of over 80 million people -- four times as large as the population of Syria before the war.

So far, Germany's response to Trump's inflammatory Middle East policy has been far too passive. In May, when he announced his intention to pull out of the nuclear deal, Merkel joined France and Britain to voice only moderate criticism. That was understandable. Iran's anti-Israeli, Islamic theocracy, after all, is not a regime that Germany is keen to support.

On the other hand, Iran and the Middle East are far too low down on Germany's list of foreign policy priorities. In Washington in June, when Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen met with Trump's national security adviser, the secretary of state and the defense secretary, she didn't even mention Iran. That was a serious omission that bordered on recklessness.

In early November, Trump plans to impose a second round of even tougher sanctions, which will leave Iran unable to export oil. The White House wants to cut off the Iranian economy's life support. The EU is struggling to salvage the nuclear deal, opposing the U.S. sanctions and looking for ways to maintain trade with Iran and thwart the measures. It's the right thing to do but it doesn't go far enough. An end to the nuclear deal is not the only danger looming ahead.

It is not enough for Europe to seek to preserve the nuclear deal. Washington needs to be told that a policy of destabilization toward Iran and the Middle East runs contrary to European security interests. Trump's Middle East policy must become a European priority. This time, in contrast to previous crises, Germany and Europe need a forward-looking, preventative foreign policy.


http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/editorial-what-if-iran-becomes-the-next-syria-a-1223167.html

Iran vows 'crushing response' after gunmen kill 29 at army parade
2 hrs ago

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani vowed a "crushing response" after gunmen shot dead at least 29 people including women and children Saturday in an attack on an Iranian military parade.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed to have carried out the rare assault in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, while Iranian officials accused "a foreign regime" backed by the United States of being behind it.

"The response of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the smallest threat will be crushing", Rouhani said on his official website, after earlier addressing a similar military parade in Tehran to mark the start of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq.

"Those who give intelligence and propaganda support to these terrorists must answer for it," he said.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the attack near the Iraqi border was carried out by "terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime".

"Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks," he wrote on his Twitter account.

The city lies in Khuzestan, a province bordering Iraq that has a large ethnic Arab community and has seen separatist violence in the past that Iran has blamed on its regional rivals.

Saudi role?

IS jihadists said via their propaganda mouthpiece Amaq that "Islamic State fighters attacked a gathering of Iranian forces" in Ahvaz.

State television gave a casualty toll of 29 dead and 57 wounded, while the official news agency IRNA said those killed included women and children among spectators at the rally. Many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Zarif did not specify which regional government he held responsible for the shooting, but Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said the attackers were funded by Sunni arch-rival Saudi Arabia.
"Those who opened fire on civilians and the armed forces have links to the Ahvazi movement," Guards spokesman Ramezan Sharif told the semi-official agency ISNA.
"They are funded by Saudi Arabia and attempted to cast a shadow over the Iranian armed forces."

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi said the dead included a young girl and a former serviceman in a wheelchair.

Three attackers were killed at the scene, he said, and the fourth died later of his injuries, he told state television.
Khuzestan deputy governor Ali-Hossein Hosseinzadeh told ISNA that "eight to nine" troops were among those killed, as well as a journalist.

Support from allies

In a message of condolence to Russia's close regional ally, President Vladimir Putin said he was "appalled by this bloody crime" which was a reminder of the "necessity of an uncompromising battle against terrorism".
Syria, another ally, also condemned the attacks, standing in "full sympathy and solidarity with the Islamic Republic of Iran", said a Syrian foreign ministry official.

Neighbouring Turkey expressed "great sorrow" at what it called "a heinous terrorist attack".
Khuzestan was a major battleground of the 1980s war with Iraq and the province saw unrest in 2005 and 2011, but has since been largely quiet.

Attacks by Kurdish rebels on military patrols along the border further north are relatively common.

But attacks on regime targets inside major cities are far rarer.

On June 7, 2017, 17 people were killed and dozens wounded in simultaneous attacks in Tehran on the parliament and on the tomb of revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini -- the first inside Iran claimed by IS.
In April, 26 alleged members of the Sunni extremist group went on trial on charges connected with that twin attack.
Rouhani defiant

The attack in Ahvaz came as Rouhani was among dignitaries at the main anniversary parade in Tehran.
In a keynote speech, he vowed to boost Iran's ballistic missile capabilities despite Western concerns that were cited by his US counterpart Donald Trump in May when he abandoned a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.
"We will never decrease our defensive capabilities... we will increase them day by day," Rouhani said at a military parade. "The fact that the missiles anger you shows they are our most effective weapons," he said, referring to the West.

The United States reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran last month, and a new round of even harsher sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil sector is set to go back into effect on November 5.

Washington has said it is ready to open talks on a new agreement to replace the July 2015 accord, but Tehran has said repeatedly it cannot negotiate under the pressure of the sanctions.

Trump and Rouhani will both be in New York next week for the United Nations General Assembly. But Iran has repeatedly ruled out any meeting.

EU, Russia and China agree special payments system for Iran



The EU’s three biggest member states have agreed a deal with Russia and China to set up a special payments system to facilitate trade with Iran as global powers step up measures to protect a nuclear deal with Tehran after the US reimposed sanctions.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Germany, the UK and France agreed to “assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran” including its oil exports.

The five countries remain signatories to a 2015 Iran nuclear deal which Donald Trump withdrew from earlier this year after calling it the “worst deal ever”.The co-ordinated move is the latest step by the five powers to protect the foundering nuclear deal by circumventing US sanctions. The White House will hit Iran with a second batch of measures – targeting its oil exports and payments from its central bank – next month.

Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, said the financial tool – known as a “special purpose vehicle” – would allow for legitimate financial transfers between European and Iranian companies. She added technical teams from EU governments would work on how the tool would work in the coming weeks. The SPV would “allow European companies to trade with Iran in accordance with EU law and could be open to other partners in the word”, Ms Mogherini told the UN general assembly on Tuesday.

Bolton said the United States would be "aggressive and unwavering" in enforcing economic sanctions on Iran that are resuming after Washington withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. He said the United States would not allow the European Union or anyone else to undermine them.

In a statement after a meeting of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran on Monday - the countries still in the deal, the group said they were determined to develop payment mechanisms to continue trade with Iran despite skepticism by many diplomats that this will be possible.


Bolton, however, was skeptical that the European Union could create a "special purpose vehicle" - described by diplomats as a sovereign barter channel much like one used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War - that would sustain Iran's oil sales.

"The European Union is strong on rhetoric and weak on follow-through," Bolton said. "We will be watching the development of this structure that doesn't exist yet and has no target date to be created. We do not intend to allow our sanctions to be evaded by Europe or anybody else."

Bolton also said the United States expected Iran's oil customers to slash their imports of Iranian crude to zero by Nov. 4 before U.S. sanctions kick back in on Nov. 5. U.S. officials have sent mixed signals on whether the oil purchases needed to be eliminated by then or simply significantly reduced.

"Banks and financial messaging services such as SWIFT must take a good hard look at their business with Iran and ask themselves whether it is worth the risk," Bolton said. "SWIFT should follow the example of a growing number of businesses ... that reexamined their dealings with the Iranian regime."

Iran was barred from SWIFT, the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, in 2012, crippling its ability to make international bank transfers crucial to foreign trade. After the 2015 nuclear deal, it was reconnected, but European officials have said they expect the United States to apply pressure on SWIFT to once again cut Iran off.

Iran sanctions waivers granted to: South Korea Taiwan Turkey Greece Japan China India Italy