Daily Report for Thursday, August 25, 2016
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Report for
Thursday,
August 25, 2016 Shahrivar 4, 1395
Highlights, Page 2 News Briefs, Page 3 Other Stories, Page 3
Iran eyes Nicaragua rival to Panama Canal, Page 5
Strategic patience to bear fruit with regional transition settled, Page 9
Daily Report for Thursday, August 25, 2016
2 Highlights
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is interested in a massive project to build a canal across Nicaragua which will link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. (See Page 5)
Alireza Miryousefi tells Etemad that the Middle East is in a transitional state and is undergoing a metamorphosis during which foreign policies, coalitions,
friendships and animosities will characteristically change at a rapid rate. The winner at the end of the day is Iran. (See Page 9)
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News Briefs
* Ebtekar newspaper reports that Abolqasem Jazayari, the Secretary for Scientific Affairs at the 2nd Int‟l and 14th Iranian Nutrition Congress, has said that 40% to 50% of Iranians suffer from being overweight.
* Ebtekar newspaper reports that the Director of 2nd International Nutrition Congress Korosh Jafarian says that 30% of Iranians are anemic and 41 million Iranians have been deficient in vitamin B2 since 10 years ago.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that Advisor to the head of Iran‟s Drug Control HQ Hamid Sarami says that Iranian women are increasingly drawn towards using psychedelic drugs, so much so that there has been an increase 9.3% use of psychedelic drugs since 2011. He also said that 21% of Iranian workers are dealing with addiction.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that five died after an ambulance overturned in Rudan [Hormozgan Province] when it was transporting patients who were injured during a gas explosion in a residential complex.
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that police have arrested 20 girls and boys during a raid on a night party in Gorgan [north east of Tehran].
* Etemad newspaper reports that 12 persons were poisoned from a swimming pool‟s chlorine gas in Kohdasht [Lorestan Province].
* Mardom Salari newspaper reports that there were other accidents. A collision between Pride and truck leaves one dead and four injured;
collision between Saman and Peogeot 405 leaves one dead and one injured, and finally a collision between a truck and Pride leaves one dead and one injured.
Other stories
Supreme Leader: The nuclear deal proved we cannot trust
any U.S. administration
Kayhan hard-line conservative newspaper highlights that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outlined several priorities for President Hassan Rouhani‟s administration during a meeting with Rouhani and his cabinet on August 24.
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the U.S. has shown
“misconduct” in its implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
He stated, “This experience teaches us that one cannot trust the promises of any administration in America.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also called upon the Rouhani administration to focus on how to “serve the nation”
rather than preparing for the May 2017 presidential elections.
Electoral laws forbid presidential candidates from campaigning more than a week ahead of election day.
IRGC warns, detains
450 social media administrators
The IRGC warned, detained, or summoned 450 administrators of social media applications, according to a report from Gerdab, a website affiliated with the IRGC‟s cyber wing.
The report claimed that the administrators were “active in areas of immorality, modeling, and insulting religious beliefs.”
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It also identified them as users of Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
Iranian security forces previously arrested several models in mid-May for posting photos without headscarves on Instagram, several days after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called cyberspace a “battlefield”.
Boroujerdi: Russia does not have permission to use any base other than Shahid Nojeh
State-owned newspaper Iran reports that Alaeddin Boroujerdi, MP and the chairman of Parliament‟s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, commented on Russia‟s use of Iranian military bases.
Boroujerdi denied that Russia is using a base other than Shahid Nojeh Air Base, which Russia used to launch airstrikes in Syria from August 16 to 18.
When asked if Iran has allowed Russia to use a base in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan province, Boroujerdi responded, “No.
Nojeh was chosen because it is in the direction of Russia‟s flights towards Iraq and Syria.”
Boroujerdi also reiterated his previous remarks that Iran‟s permission for Russia to use the base falls within the framework of a “four-way decision” made among Iran, Russia, Syria, and Iraq last year to facilitate military cooperation.
Moscow will continue using Iranian air base
“if necessary”
Levan Dzhagaryan commented on Russia‟s use of Shahid Nojeh Air Base when he spoke to conservative Iranian news outlet Tasnim News Agency.
Tasnim reported that the Russian ambassador to Tehran “made it clear that such cooperation between Tehran and Moscow „may repeat in the future‟ if necessary, with the approval of the two sides‟ high-ranking officials.”
Dzhagaryan also “stressed that Russia fully respects the Iranian Constitution,”
which forbids the establishment of foreign military bases in the country.
Fatimiyoun Brigade fighters buried
Tasnim News Agency reports that the funerals for at least four fighters in the Afghan Shia militia Fatimiyoun Brigade who were killed in Syria.
Mohammad Ali Mohammadi was buried in Aran and Bidgol County, Isfahan province on August 24. He was reported as the first Fatimiyoun casualty from Aran and Bidgol.
Ahmad Soltani and Mohammad Bani Mohammadi will be buried in Shiraz, Fars province on August 25.
Zia Hosseini was buried in Baghestan, Tehran province on August 22.
Daily Report for Thursday, August 25, 2016
5 Iran eyes Nicaragua rival to Panama Canal
As posted on Press TV farsi website: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is interested in a massive project to build a canal across Nicaragua which will link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
“Cooperation between Iran and Nicaragua can include collaboration in the construction of the [Grand] Interoceanic Canal to the areas of agriculture, energy production, petrochemistry, banking, credit, transportation, food and pharmaceutical industries, and science and technology,” Zarif noted.
Zarif visited Nicaragua on Tuesday, August 23, along with representatives of Iranian companies and discussed their possible involvement in the 50-billion-dollar project which is groomed to rival the Panama pathway.
China‟s HKND group is tasked with carrying out the megaproject, with the construction about to begin at the end of this year.
At 172 miles (278 km), Interoceanic Grand Canal is over three times the length of the 100-year-old Panama Canal, which was completed by the United States 34 years after French engineers began it.
The new route is also deeper and wider than the Panama Canal, triggering a flurry of resentment from the US and its allies which have tried to cast doubt on the project and question its viability.
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Moreover, China‟s involvement would be a direct challenge to the United States, which controlled the Panama Canal until 1999.
Iran greatly values Latin America ties: Zarif
Speaking in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Wednesday and after meeting with his counterpart Samuel Santos López, Zarif said the large politico-economic delegation accompanying him on the trip testifies to the significance that Iran attaches to ties with Nicaragua and other Latin American countries.
The Nicaraguan foreign minister, for his part, said his country had for long been awaiting a visit by the Iranian delegation.
The visit, he said, signalled that Iranian officials and enterprises were determined to expand the Islamic Republic‟s already-good relations with countries in the Latin American region.
During his stay in Nicaragua, Zarif also met with René Nuñez Tellez, the head of Nicaragua‟s National Assembly (Parliament), as well as the country‟s President Daniel Ortega.
Zarif has travelled to the region at the head of a high-ranking politico-economic delegation comprising 120 businessmen and financial executives from government and private sectors. The tour started off in Cuba on Monday, and has now taken him to Ecuador.
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Zarif is on the landmark tour of six Latin American nations to boost trade relations following the lifting of US-led sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
He started his visit in Havana where he met Cuban leaders, including President Raul Castro in what they described a new chapter in bilateral ties.
His tour of Latin American countries will further take him to Chile, Bolivia, and finally Venezuela.
Boosting trade profile
Representatives of state and private companies are accompanying Zarif in the visit which also includes trips to Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela.
Iran has good relations with almost all Latin American countries, including with Nicaragua where Zarif discussed investment opportunities in a variety of areas.
Zarif told reporters aboard the flight to Cuba that promoting diplomatic and economic relations with Latin American countries is among Iran‟s fundamental policies.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has had strong and age-old relations with the Americas and Latin American states and is determined to expand its relations with and political and economic presence in this important region of the world,” he said.
Zarif said Iranian firms have implemented several projects in Latin American countries over the past few years, and Iran has diplomatic relations with nearly all the counties in the region.
Among the Latin American countries, Iran has developed more advanced ties with Venezuela. The country is involved in a series of joint ventures worth several billion dollars in energy, agriculture, housing, and infrastructure sectors in Venezuela.
In June, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the Islamic Republic had agreed to a $500 million credit line for his country to finance joint investments there.
Iran‟s main industrial projects in Venezuela include a car assembly plant, a tractor manufacturing complex and a cement factory. It has also built more than 3,000
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residential housing units for less privileged citizens in Venezuela, with 7,000 more to be completed.
Shared grievances
Most Latin American states and Iran have shared grievances toward the US because of Washington‟s history of supporting authoritarian regimes and engineering coups in those countries and pressuring them through sanctions and other means.
On Monday, Zarif was told in Cuba that US sanctions on the Latin American country and Iran have opened a common ground for the two countries to forge special trade ties.
“Both Cuba and Iran have reached a roadmap after years of sanctions which they should use to explore new economic opportunities and take advantage of each other‟s capabilities,” Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Malmierca Diaz said, as reported by Press TV.
The first Iran-Cuba economic forum opened in Havana on Monday, with Diaz telling Iranian companies that they could become the engine of economic growth and dynamism in his country.
Daily Report for Thursday, August 25, 2016
9 Iran’s strategic patience to bear fruit
with regional transition settled
Last Saturday, Etemad reformist newspaper printed an interview with Alireza Miryousefi, who is now directing the Middle East department of Iran‟s Institute for Political and International Studies.
The interview, for the most part, focuses on remarks recently made by Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim in which he said Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council are partners. Al-Ghanim has called for grounds to be prepared in order to strengthen ties between GCC member states, including Kuwait, and Iran.
These remarks were warmly received by Iran‟s foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi who said it was doubtlessly a political priority for Iran to establish the best possible relations with neighbors and countries in the region.
Miryousefi tells Etemad that Iran hopes countries in the region return to their previously logical positions, after the transitional phase, which has already taken five years. Here is the interview:
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker has welcomed strengthening amicable ties with Iran. Could we expect improvements while the GCC, led by the Saudi Arabia, is pursuing escalation of tension against Iran?
Such hope does exist and all the sides should work toward it, in addition to hope. The first think one should consider when analyzing regional ties in the Middle East and the Gulf is that the region has been in a transitional state for the past five years and one of the characteristics of such an era is the instability and inconsistency of policies, positions and collaborations. Of course, such fluctuations are more in some countries and less in some others. Particularly speaking of the Gulf sub-region, there is no univocal approach toward relations with Iran among the GCC member states.
In other words, the member states do not have a consensus on Iran and there are some difference among them.
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On the one side of the council is Saudi Arabia and on the other side stand some countries such as Oman, which do not show much alignment with Saudi policies regarding Iran and pursue neighborly relations with Tehran. In such circumstances, Kuwait is one with traditional and long-standing ties with Iran. However, it is sometimes pressed by third-party countries due to its bonds with the Saudi Arabia.
A second point is that Iran has always tried to improve its ties with its southern neighbors and this has been declared as one of the priorities of Mr. Rouhani‟s administration. In line with the same policy, Mr. Zarif‟s proposition on the establishment of an assembly for regional talks between Iran and GCC member states as well as some major Middle East countries should be noted.
It was brought up for the first time in the foreign minister‟s article published in New York Times in April 2015.
Then, four months later, it was repeated in an article jointly published by four major Arabic newspapers in August 2015.
Even in the midst of tensions with the Saudi Arabia, Mr. Zarif stressed that the proposition is still on table, at the end of an article published by the Washington Post.
However, the KSA and its allies adopted a non-constructive approach toward Iran in response to the proposition. Propositions by some countries in the region to host the assembly or contribute in its establishment did not receive Saudi affirmative.
This refusal is in large part caused by the KSA‟s domestic issues and unstable policies. At any rate, even though there is no univocal position in foreign policy among these countries or their domestic groups, Iran has always welcomed any stance based on positive collaboration and interaction.
Where does Kuwait stand in the Gulf Cooperation Council?
Traditionally, Kuwaitis have had long-standing amicable relations with Iran. Many Kuwaiti traders are of Iranian origin. Despite the vicissitudes in mutual relations, there have always been strong bonds between the two countries. However, Kuwait also has strong ties with the Saudi Arabia and the hardline division of the GCC, putting it in the middle of the existing spectrum in the council.
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In other words, in spite of their positive interactions with Iran, some groups in the country are concerned about third-party considerations in these interactions.
Inside Kuwait, just like in any other countries, there is a variety of inclinations toward the country‟s foreign policy and the way Kuwait should work with Iran. Some factions seek positive cooperation with Iran while others, influenced by their relations with third-party states, prefer an approach that is not quite friendly.
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker has recently called Iran an equal partner for his country and other GCC members. Could Kuwait play the role of a mediator between Iran and the Arab countries of the Gulf?
Two essential points should be taken into account, here. The first is that, Iran‟s principled, stable policy has been one of the advantages of the country‟s foreign policy in the past decades and will continue to be so. The structure of Iran‟s foreign policy has succeeded to control the adoption of excited and hurried policies in recent years, when seen in comparison with other countries [in the region].
This has given Iran a stable position, not changing its strategies in wake of events, but showing instead having strategic patience. This sophistication and stability is an advantage other countries fail to have in their foreign policy so that they can have the possibility to return to their more logical policies when excitements fade away after a while. Because of this, Iran has never demonstrated excited and destructive responses and has been able to control crises with more ease at the same time. Other countries have found it easier to adapt their policies with Iran.
The second point is that, the region is in a transitional state and is undergoing a metamorphosis during which foreign policies, coalitions, friendships and animosities will characteristically change at a rapid rate. Some Persian Gulf countries, have seen their policies undergoing interim shifts influenced by foreign pressures or excitements, but there is hope that they return to their past policies and relations as these pressures or excitements ease, with the help of Iran‟s strategic patience.
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker has said that Iran should always support stability and solidification in the region in order to better pave the way for other countries [in the region] to cooperate with Tehran and take the steps necessary to realize common interests. What does this stability and solidification in the region mean?
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Any relations and improvements in them require political will among the sides and both sides should really want it. Iran is considered as a regional power that looks for stability and solidification because it enjoys all power factors equally.
In addition, it is among the main regional powers since it has a remarkable population, is geographically vast, geopolitically located in an important place. On the other hand, it enjoys a robust economy and unique military power. It is also the only country in the region, whose defense strategy is autonomous, self-reliant.
All these make Iran a regional power that seeks stability, territorial integrity and integration among the countries in the region and disagrees with any kind of secession and expansionism. That is why Iran naturally welcomes any proposition to improve relations.
