1 Report for

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Daily Report for Thursday, August 10, 2017

1 Report for

Thursday,

August 10, 2017 Mordad 19, 1396

* Highlights. Page 2

* News Briefs. Page 3

* Iran rejects Tajikistan claim. Page 3

* Not all Iranian officials like North Korea. Page 4

* 64 arrested at a night party. Page 4

* Tehran’s Iraqi proxies and looming conflict with U.S.. Page 5

* Structural changes in MOFA; speculations and implications. Page 10

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2 Highlights

 An Iranian news website based outside Iran posts an article about Iraqi proxies and their looming conflict with America. (See Page 5)

 A few days after President Hassan Rouhani’s second term officially began, media reports are saying the Iranian foreign ministry will undergo major structural changes in Rouhani’s new administration, mainly with the aim of strengthening its role in Iran’s economic diplomacy. (See Page 10)

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3 Briefs

* Farsi-language Iranian Students’

News Agency (ISNA) reports that Majlis’ Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy has allocated 1,000 billion tomans to be equally divided between the ministries of intelligence, foreign affairs and defense to expand Iran’s activities for nuclear propulsion and defense, strengthening diplomacy and intelligence observation. ISNA reports that 1,000 billion tomans will be allocated to the army for expanding Iran’s missile programs. It is unclear whether 1,000 billion tomans will cover both issues or there will be two 1,000 billion tomans allocations.

* Farsi-language website Aftab News writes that Tehran City Councillor- elect Mohsen Hashemi says that the council has positive view towards Mohammad Ali Najafi’s candidacy for the post of Tehran Mayor.

* Farsi-language BBC Persian writes that Daesh has said it has killed an Iranian IRGC person it had captured earlier. He is reportedly Mohsen Hajajaji from IRGC’s Najaf Ashraf 8th Armored Division.

* Farsi-language Mashregh News Agency reports that Speaker Ali Larijani addressed the presence of foreign dignitaries at President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration. Larijani stated that the foreign officials’

attendance of the inauguration ceremony show “how futile and misguided the project of isolating Iran is.”

* Farsi-language website Aftab News writes that Tehran police have arrested a three-person gang who used to kidnap their victim, force the victim to contact the family to demand ransom.

Iran rejects Tajikistan claim

Farsi-language state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency has rejected accusation by Tajikistan that it had taken part in a series of murders in 1990s in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan’s state television had aired a documentary, accusing Iran in participating in murders of prominent Tajik politicians and researchers. The Embassy rejected the accusation on Monday.

In a 45-minute documentary broadcast on Tajik state television, the Interior Ministry claimed that Tehran was interested in fomenting civil war in Tajikistan and provided financial assistance to the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and trained militants linked to the party on Iranian soil.

According to the ministry, Iranian financial support and instructions to carry out assassinations were conveyed to IRPT militants through Khoji Halim Nazarzoda, a former deputy defense minister who was one of the Islamic opposition party’s commanders in the 1990s.

Nazarzoda was killed in September 2015 during an anti- coup operation near the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

A number of Tajik public figures – Mohammad Aseemi, a professor; Yusuf Isaki, a doctor; novelist Saif Afardi;

presidential political adviser Karim Yuldashev; and a former grand mufti of Tajikistan – were killed between 1997 and 2004, as were 20 Russian officers.

In the documentary, a man who identified himself as a former Islamic opposition fighter said that he traveled to Iran in 1995 and received sabotage training along with 200 compatriots in the city of Qom. He said he returned to Tajikistan in 1997 with clear instructions to kill political and public figures.

The documentary aired amid tensions between Tajikistan and Iran over Iranian support for the IRPT, which was

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represented in the Tajik parliament for 15 years after the war but was outlawed and branded a terrorist organization by the Tajik Supreme Court of in 2015.

Several IRPT leaders have been convicted and sentenced to long prison terms on charges they say are politically motivated, prompting criticism from the UN and human rights groups.

Tensions have flared between Tajikistan and Iran in the past, with Dushanbe accusing Tehran’s diplomats of carrying out excessive activities in the country.

But the documentary represents the first time Dushanbe has openly accused Iran of financing and directing political killings following the civil war.

Not all Iranian officials like North Korea

Farsi-language news website IranWire reports that in 2006, Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Council and former chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps—who had led an official delegation to Pyongyang in 1993—

described North Korea’s example as one to be avoided.

For Rezaei and other critics, North Korea had fallen behind in terms of development and had become reactionary, two traits they believed Iran should definitely not adopt.

Although North Korea has supported Iran’s “right to peaceful nuclear technology,” Gholam Ali Khoshroo, former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International Affairs, challenged comparisons between the two countries’

nuclear programs in 2010: “North Korea has withdrawn from the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. It does not follow it and does not wish to return to it [and] it has even produced nuclear bombs…North Korea has been threatening other countries, but in the past few years we have been witnessing Iran as a target of threats made by other countries.”

64 arrested at a night party

Farsi-language news media write that a group of young men and women have been arrested during a raid on a night party in Isfahan. The youngsters were reportedly

“semi naked”, dancing and consuming alcohol.

A total of 64 Iranians were arrested on Wednesday. The police have prepared a case on these Iranians and forward the case to the court. The Iranians were accused of promoting corruption and prostitution in cyberspace.

It has become customary for police to raid what they call “night parties” in which the young Iranian boys and girls party and dance. Earlier this year, police arrested 45 boys and girls in Qom and 35 in Isfahan.

Last year also, police arrested 150 boys and girls in Tehran, and another 40 boys and girls in Golestan Province.

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5 Tehran’s Iraqi proxies and looming conflict with U.S.

On Monday, the Islamic State claimed it had killed scores of Iraqi troops and captured one soldier in an ambush near the al-Tanf border-crossing along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

On August 2, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported: “The ISIL terrorist group has prepared a large number of fighters and a large volume of military hardware in two desert regions in Anbar province in Western Iraq to storm border crossings with Syria and Jordan to slow down Iraqi forces’ rapid advances there.” may have found it

embarrassing to admit his forces were killed by the Islamic State although the terrorist group had announced its plan for the attack.

In a related news, the commander of an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary unit has accused the American troops of colluding with the Islamic State and killing dozens of Iraqi militiamen and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) officers along the Iraqi- Syrian border last night a charge the U.S.-led coalition denied.

“Last night, the positions of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (K.S.S.) along the [Syrian-Iraqi]

borders was heavily bombarded by the Americans, and they claimed in a statement that they had conducted strikes against the Daesh [Islamic State] terrorist group.

Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups are shifting their attention from fighting the Islamic State to challenging the presence of American troops stationed in Iraq.

As posted on Kaleme news website: On Monday, the Islamic State claimed it had killed scores of Iraqi troops and captured one soldier in an ambush near the al-Tanf border-crossing along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (K.S.S.), an Iranian-backed unit of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), however, blamed U.S. air strikes for its losses and vowed revenge. The U.S.-led coalition dismissed the allegation.

While conflicting accounts of the incident continue to surface, a survey of reports prior to and in the wake of the attack helps us get a clearer image of the event.

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On August 2, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported: “The ISIL terrorist group has prepared a large number of fighters and a large volume of military hardware in two desert regions in Anbar province in Western Iraq to storm border crossings with Syria and Jordan to slow down Iraqi forces’ rapid advances there.”

A day after the attack, however, Karim al-Nouri, a P.M.F. spokesman, told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen TV that “the U.S. threatened Hashd al-Shaabi [P.M.F.] and then acted against them.” He claimed that the U.S. military now blamed it on the Islamic State to sway public opinion in Iraq and around the world.

Interestingly, Iranian state-run outlets backed Washington’s account that the Islamic State was behind the attack. Defa Press identified that one I.R.G.C. soldier captured and then killed by the Islamic State was Mohsen Hojaji, a native of Iran’s Isfahan Province serving in the I.R.G.C.’s 8th Najaf-e Ashraf Armored Division.

The Iraqi Fatwa al-Defae al-Moqadassa [Fatwa of the Sacred Defense] website, which regularly releases information about P.M.F. combat fatalities, also refuted K.S.S.

account. On Wednesday, the website released the names of four P.M.F. fighters killed

“in the frontiers of Iraq” on August 7: Aziz Hossein Qomi, Mavid Hassan Oboud al- Halafi, Mostafa Saleh Kanaan al-Obeidi, and Sahi Abd al-Saheb Karim Mahdi al- Mansouri. The site described the four individuals killed as “martyrs of the fatwa of the sacred defense,” referring to Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s June 13, 2014 call to arms against the Islamic State. This indicates the P.M.F. fighters were killed in an Islamic State ambush rather than in US air strikes.

The motives behind K.S.S. commander’s accusations against the United States are unclear. K.S.S. may have found it embarrassing to admit his forces were killed by the Islamic State although the terrorist group had announced its plan for the attack.

Nouri may also have found it more honorable to claim his men were “martyred” by the superior U.S. Air Force rather than a terrorist group on the verge of collapse.

Regardless of Nouri’s motives, this incident raises the bigger question of the fog of war or disinformation.

The United States has attacked Tehran’s proxies in Syria in the past, and Tehran at some point may believe accusations such as Nouri’s. To what length are Tehran’s proxies likely to go in advancing their own interests regardless of the strain it may put

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on relations between Tehran and Washington? How would Tehran react to such attacks in the future if it thinks are carried out by the U.S. military against its proxies?

What mechanisms are in place in Tehran and Washington to avoid further escalation of such conflicts?

It appears that the August 7 incident will not trigger a confrontation between Tehran and Washington as K.S.S. account is inaccurate. However, with relations between Tehran and Washington deteriorating fast, the potential for conflict between the countries is very real. Next time an Iranian proxy engages in disinformation campaigns for any reasons, the consequences may be grave.

In a related news, the commander of an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary unit has accused the American troops of colluding with the Islamic State and killing dozens of Iraqi militiamen and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) officers along the Iraqi-Syrian border last night – a charge the U.S.-led coalition denied. He said Hossein Qomi, a senior I.R.G.C. commander and military strategist in charge of security operations along the Syrian-Iraqi border, was among the casualties. The militia group, which is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.), warned that it will hold the U.S. military responsible for the killing.

“Last night, the positions of Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (K.S.S.) along the [Syrian- Iraqi] borders was heavily bombarded by the Americans, and they claimed in a statement that they had conducted strikes against the Daesh [Islamic State] terrorist group. However, these areas were cleared by our forces four days ago, and we had stationed some of our forces there. Complete information about the location of cleared areas had also been given to the Syrian Army and Russian forces,” Abu Ala al- Welayi, the secretary-general of K.S.S. said in an interview with I.R.G.C.-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.

The Iraqi militia commander alleged that the U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria support the Islamic State against “resistance” forces and hinted that P.M.F. forces and American troops stationed in al-Tanf region are on a collision course in the near future. “Our forces were hit by smart bombs in the border area across the al-Akashat region [in Anbar Province] and east of al-Tanf region, where the Americans have declared their red line. American forces have conducted air strikes against our resistance forces in the past too. All these attacks have been filmed by our photographers,” he added.

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“What happened last night was a great tragedy. And we have asked the Iraqi government to soon launch an investigation into the incident,” he continued.

“Everyone shares the view that the Americans in al-Tanf region is cooperating with Daesh. We have fought for years and based on our experience understand well that last night’s attack by the Americans can in no way be by mistake. American spy drones monitor our forces round the clock and they understand well that Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada forces had days ago cleared terrorists’ bases and were stationed there. In addition, we had declared our plan to liberate this area.”

The Iranian-linked commander stressed that while the Americans will try to prevent P.M.F. forces from seizing Akashat region, his forces are determined to liberate it – describing the region as more strategically important for P.M.F. than Tal Afar in western Mosul. He criticized the Baghdad government for procrastinating and not allowing the P.M.F. to begin operations in Akashat.

He added that the paramilitary forces are an integral and legal entity within the Iraqi security forces responsible for maintaining security for the Iraqi people. The commander emphasized that his militants follow the command of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and expect more attacks by the U.S. troops as the militiamen are advancing closer to “the den of the Great Satan” – a reference to the U.S. base in al- Tanf region.

There are conflicting reports about last night’s incident. While P.M.F. officials say American air strike killed their fighters, the U.S.-led coalition has denied it.

“Allegations of Coalition strikes vs. Popular Mobilization Forces near Iraq – Syria border are inaccurate. No Coalition strikes there ATT [at that time],” the Coalition spokesman US Army Col Ryan Dillon tweeted on Tuesday.

A statement circulated by Islamic State supporters said the terrorist group carried out the attack and added that its fighters captured armored vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

With the Islamic State on the verge of defeat in Iraq, the I.R.G.C. and its Iraqi militia proxies have recently dialed up their propaganda campaign against the U.S. and its regional allies – accusing the U.S. troops of colluding with the Islamic State. This poses security risks to U.S. military advisers that are still helping the Iraqi security forces battling the Islamic State and stabilizing the country. It also increases the

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potential for a dangerous confrontation between Iran-backed Iraqi militias and U.S.

troops in Iraq.

Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups are shifting their attention from fighting the Islamic State to challenging the presence of American troops stationed in Iraq. The U.S. military has recently targeted Iranian-backed militias approaching the de- confliction zone near al-Tanf in southern Syria. Remarks by Welayi and other Iranian- linked P.M.F. leaders indicate that a potentially more dangerous confrontation between Iranian-supported Iraqi militias and U.S. forces in Anbar Province is also on the horizon.

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1 0 Structural changes in Foreign Ministry;

speculations and implications

After the nuclear deal and signing the JCPOA, the ministry of foreign affairs had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of this case which was in fact a combination of economic and political issues.

Zarif and his colleagues, who also enjoyed the trust of Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the special trans-organizational permissions he gave the foreign minister, actually compensated for the heterogeneous and bureaucratic structure of Iran’s foreign ministry.

Following the reintroduction of Zarif as the foreign minister in the second

administration of Hassan Rouhani on August 8, the Tasnim News Agency has, in a Farsi article, unveiled a structural reorganization plan at the ministry of foreign affairs, which shows that the plan is in its final stages.

Recently, Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Abolfazl Hassan-Beigi, said that a new structure of economic diplomacy will be created in the foreign ministry.

Moreover, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has recently defended the ministry’s performance in the economic sphere, saying they are considering some mechanisms to boost the economic structure of the foreign ministry.

Based on some media speculations, four new posts called “Neighbourhood Deputy,”

“Political Deputy”, “Citizens’ and Iranians’ Rights Deputy”, and “Economic Deputy”

will be added to the structure of the foreign ministry and the “Political Deputy” will follow up the nuclear deal case.

In this regard, it has been decided to demote the minister’s field deputies including Deputy for European and American Affairs, Deputy for Arab and African Affairs, and Deputy for Asia and Pacific Affairs to Director-Generals.

As posted on Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA): When Rouhani’s first presidential term started in 2013, the case of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear activities was taken from the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and instead the ministry of foreign affairs took over the responsibility to pursue this important international case.

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It seems to be the first and the most important dual mission of the Iranian foreign ministry, since it is difficult to separate the political and economic dimensions of the nuclear case.

After the nuclear deal and signing the JCPOA, the ministry of foreign affairs had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of this case which was in fact a combination of economic and political issues. However, the traditional structure of the ministry was not ready to play this role.

The nuclear agreement could not be achieved and no one could take over the complicated process of maintaining the deal in the domestic and international arena without FM Mohammad Javad Zarif’s great talent and the capacities of the active team of negotiators.

Zarif and his colleagues, who also enjoyed the trust of Iran’s Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the special trans-organizational permissions he gave the foreign minister, actually compensated for the heterogeneous and bureaucratic structure of Iran’s foreign ministry.

It should be acknowledged that, although US has not complied with its commitments under the deal, for several times the international organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have certified Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement which is a success for the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs.

Now after having successfully completed the first “political-economic” mission in the international arena, the foreign ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran seeks to reorganise its administrative structure and its bureaucratic system to continue the process that it has been working on in the past four years.

Following the reintroduction of Zarif as the foreign minister in the second administration of Hassan Rouhani on August 8, the Tasnim News Agency has, in a Farsi article, unveiled a structural reorganization plan at the ministry of foreign affairs, which shows that the plan is in its final stages.

If this plan is approved and implemented, the responsibility of the nuclear deal will be transferred from the legal deputy to the political deputy, which means a more significant role for politics in smoothing the course of nuclear deal implementation.

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Changes in the structure of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

There are media speculations about structural and fundamental changes in Iran’s ministry of foreign affairs. According to a Farsi report by Tasnim, the media and even the lawmakers insist that the ministry needs some drastic changes in its economic departments to become more agile.

Draft bill ready to be submitted in near future

Recently, Deputy Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Abolfazl Hassan-Beigi, said that a new structure of economic diplomacy will be created in the foreign ministry. He also announced that qualified people and experts would be recruited for this purpose.

Hassan-Beigi also stated that changes in some structures of the foreign ministry require parliamentary authorization, and some others have to be approved by the government.

“Provisions have been provided and the foreign ministry is supposed to submit a draft bill to the government, and then the government will send the bill to the parliament,”

Hassan-Beigi added.

Moreover, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has recently defended the ministry’s performance in the economic sphere, saying they are considering some mechanisms to boost the economic structure of the foreign ministry.

Based on some media speculations, four new posts called “Neighbourhood Deputy,”

“Political Deputy”, “Citizens’ and Iranians’ Rights Deputy”, and “Economic Deputy”

will be added to the structure of the foreign ministry and the “Political Deputy” will follow up the nuclear deal case.

Prior to this, there were only economic attachés in four countries of the world, but with the establishment of the “Economic Deputy”, this issue would be followed up more seriously. No news has yet been released on the removing or merging of other departments of the ministry.

Tasnim has come up with some new findings on the structural changes in the ministry.

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The following are the possible changes in the ministry’s structure which are currently being discussed there.

Political Deputy; Link between Minister and Director- Generals

In this regard, it has been decided to demote the minister’s field deputies – including Deputy for European and American Affairs, Deputy for Arab and African Affairs, and Deputy for Asia and Pacific Affairs – to Director-Generals.

All of these director-generals will be linked to the minister via a deputy called

“Political Deputy”, and the affairs will be followed up through this deputy. This change is being sought for what is called the “Agility in Foreign Affairs Ministry”.

Political Deputy to take over responsibility for JCPOA

In another change, the nuclear agreement case will be forwarded to the Political Deputy from the Legal and International Affairs Deputy.

The purpose of this change seems to be sending a message to the world, especially the United States, saying that the legal proceedings of the JCPOA are over for Iran and are not subject to revision.

It seems that these changes to the foreign ministry are inevitable since its structure has not undergone a fundamental change over the past few decades. On the other hand, the world has been rapidly transformed over the course of these decades. However, it seems that no final agreement has been reached on this issue yet.

Furthermore, given the global and regional developments, it is important to pay more attention to the issue of economic diplomacy in the foreign ministry’s structure.