Daily Report for Thursday, October 13, 2016
1
Report for
Thursday,
October 13, 2016 Mehr 22, 1395
Highlights, Page 2
News Briefs, Page 3
Other Stories, Page 3
Iran foils plot by Takfiri terrorists in Fars Province. Page 5
Is Turkey ditching Saudi Arabia for Iran? Page 7
Daily Report for Thursday, October 13, 2016
2 Highlights
Takfiri terrorists seem to be extending the scope of their operations into the central parts of Iran. In the most recent operation, which was foiled by Iranian security forces, they have been trying to infiltrate into Fars Province.
(See Page 5)
The recent string of high-level meetings between Iranian and Turkish officials suggests that the two regional powerhouses may be moving closer on Syria.
(See Page 7)
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News Briefs
* Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports that Kuwaiti security forces arrested two Iranians for taking
“suspicious pictures” of a Shia congregation hall in Hawalli governorate, Kuwait, on October 6.
Kuwaiti authorities later released the two Iranians.
* Tasnim News Agency reports that a
“2,000-person” rally will be held in Tehran on October 21 to commemorate casualties from the Fatehin, a Basij special operations unit, in Syria.
* Aftab News website reports that recently a collision between passenger car with another being driven by an MP from Tehran left the two persons dead. The MP was injured and the passengers from other car died. The traffic police declared that driver from other car was at fault. However, it is now become known that the Tehran MP was driving a luxurious and expensive car. Now he has come under widespread criticism and many are asking how he can afford an expensive car.
* Aftab News website reports that police in Gilan-e Gharb [Kerman Province] have arrested a dangerous gang of extortionists comprising of eight men and two women. The police confiscated several counts of weapons from the gang, such as guns and swords.
* Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reports that Health Minister Dr. Seyyed Hassan Hashemi says that Rouhani government plans to add 21,000 hospital beds by the end of its term next year.
Other stories
Iranian officials denounce Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen
Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reports that President Hassan Rouhani condemned the Saudi-led airstrike that killed over 140 mourners and wounded more 500 at a funeral in Yemen on October 8. Rouhani criticized Saudi Arabia for “attacking their Muslim brothers without any reason” and continuing “the massacre of women and children in the holy month of Muharram.”
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon proposing that Iran’s Red Crescent Society send humanitarian aid to Yemen. Zarif also proposed evacuating wounded civilians to Iran for treatment.
Artesh Ground Forces Commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan claimed that “Yemen’s fury” will throw Saudi Arabia’s “empty palaces” into the “dustbin of history.”
IRGC Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the president of the Supreme National Defense University, claimed that Saudi Arabia’s “arrogance” is due to “America’s support.” Vahidi added that the airstrike shows that Riyadh “does not respect any human, ethical, or political principle.”
IRGC Air Force Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh blamed the U.S. and Israel for being “directly implicated” in the airstrike.
Senior Military Advisor to the Supreme Leader Maj.
Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi denounced Saudi Arabia and added that the “solution to this issue is for Islamic youth
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to come together and clean Islamic lands of Wahhabism. God willing, this will occur soon.”
IRGC forces clash with Kurdish militants
Mehr News Agency reports that IRGC forces clashed with fighters belonging to the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) near the city of Marivan, Kurdistan province.
Separately, Iranian security forces also arrested 12 armed individuals in Kermanshah province.
In a related news, Tasnim News Agency reports that two IRGC members were killed when their “ultralight gyroplane”
crashed into electrical cables near the city of Iranshahr, Sistan and Baluchistan province.
One of the occupants of the gyroplane, Ahmad Mayeli, was reported as the
“commander of the Saberin unit’s aviation battalion.”
Each of the provincial IRGC units has a Saberin unit, which has limited special operations capabilities.
Further information on the operation was not reported, but Sistan and Baluchistan province has witnessed an increasing number of clashes between Iranian security forces and militants in recent months.
Official resigns over concert controversy
State-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports that Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati accepted the resignation of Abbas Daneshi, the ministry’s managing director in the city of Qom, over a controversial concert on October 9.
Senior clerics had criticized President Hassan Rouhani’s administration for issuing a permit for musical concert held in Qom, a center of Shia religious scholarship, last month.
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a former Assembly of Experts chairman, called upon Daneshi to resign and criticized Rouhani’s administration in remarks on October 2.
Artesh Navy plans to send ships into the Atlantic
Fars News Agency reports that Artesh Navy Commander RADM Habibollah Sayyari announced that Iran will dispatch the Artesh Navy’s 43rd Fleet to Tanzania, South Africa, and into the Atlantic Ocean if “weather conditions” allow.
Sayyari announced that the 43rd Fleet will depart after the 42nd Fleet returns to Iran.
Sayyari added that the ships will be protecting trade ships and oil tankers from piracy off the African coast.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
Daily Report for Thursday, October 13, 2016
5 Iran foils plot by Takfiri terrorists in Fars Province
State-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports that Takfiri terrorists seem to be extending the scope of their operations into the central parts of Iran. In the most recent operation, which was foiled by Iranian security forces, they have been trying to infiltrate into Fars Province.
Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi says a Takfiri [extremist] terrorist plot has been discovered and thwarted in the southern province of Fars.
Alavi made the announcement on Wednesday, October 12, adding that during the operations, several foreign nationals were detained and around 100 kilograms of explosives were discovered.
He also said that the Takfiris had planned to carry out their plot during the mourning ceremonies commemorating the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third Shiite Imam, as reported by Press TV.
The Takfiri terrorists’ plot in Fars indicates that they are extending the scope of their operations from border areas to the heart of Iran.
A few weeks ago, elements affiliated with the ISIS terrorist group had planned attacks in Semnan Province, central Iran, but their plot was foiled.
Also on June 20, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced in a statement that its agents thwarted a major plot by the Takfiri-Wahhabi groups for a series of bombing raids across the country during religious events in the holy month of Ramadan.
Later, Intelligence Minister Alavi said a series of operations to arrest the terrorists had begun on June 14 and continued until June 20, as reported by Tasnim.
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According to the Minister, 10 Takfiri-Wahhabi terrorists were arrested in Tehran and three border and central provinces of the country, saying they had masterminded different operations including planting bombs, detonation of remote control bombs, suicide attacks, and blowing up explosive-laden vehicles.
The terrorists wanted to carry out bombing raids in crowded locations, and had located 50 targets, the Minister explained, saying they had even prepared the explosive material for some of the attacks and were preparing or receiving some for the others.
Daily Report for Thursday, October 13, 2016
7 Is Turkey ditching Saudi Arabia for Iran?
Al-Monitor news website. Saeid Jafari. Saeid Jafari is an Iranian journalist and Middle East analyst. He has worked for Iranian publications such as Aseman, Khordad, Mosalas and Mehrnameh. He is the editor of the international and diplomatic section of the weekly Seda. He also works for Khabar Online.
In recent years, tension between Iran and Turkey has been rooted in differences over regional developments rather than bilateral disagreements. Indeed, if one reviews the exchanges between the two neighbors during the past two decades, one can see that clashing policy toward regional issues has been virtually the only source of conflict.
Now, however, more than five years after the beginning of the crisis in Syria, evidence pointing to a decline in Iranian-Turkish disagreements over the war-torn country is beginning to emerge.
Though one of Turkey’s main demands has been that Syrian President Bashar al- Assad step down, he has yet to be toppled and the crisis in Syria has continued.
Turkey’s tacit acceptance of Assad remaining in power originally came at a high price for Ankara, but it has gradually tried to adapt itself to new realities. This process of change in Turkey’s foreign policy has intensified in the wake of thefailed coup attempt in July. One week prior to the putsch, in late June, Turkey officially apologized to Russia over the downing of a Russian fighter jet, thus ending the self- made controversy with Moscow. Moreover, in August, on his first trip abroad since the failed coup attempt, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited St. Petersburg, where he discussed bilateral and regional issues with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Since then, there have been rumors about a possible change in Turkey’s strategic approach toward Syria, especially considering Russia’s clear stance on the issue.
Meanwhile, prior to the failed coup, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had to twice cancel visits to Turkey. In contrast, during his trip to Turkey in August, he met not only with his Turkish counterpart but with Erdogan as well and even attended Friday prayers alongside Turkey’s president.
Zarif’s visit came after Iran’s adoption of a supportive stance toward Erdogan as the coup was unfolding, helping improve relations with Turkey. Indeed, in spite of the two neighbors’ serious disagreements over Syria, their bilateral relations have continued to improve. After his visit to New York to attend the UN General
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Assembly, Zarif on September 28 made an unexpected stop in Ankara for a few hours on his way back to Tehran.
A source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity,
“It is natural that Turkey will not officially comment on its change of strategy regarding Syria. We don’t expect them to change their position so quickly. However, we can see a change in the way they view Syria — both in practice and in bilateral discussions. We are not in a hurry, since we know that this process takes time.”
The question is whether Iran and Turkey can really overcome their differences on Syria. Former senior Iranian diplomat Nosratollah Tajik told Al-Monitor, “Turkey’s game in Syria, be it in Aleppo, Jarablus or other areas, can be very dangerous and make things worse, considering that they are fighting against both the Kurds and Islamic State while they are at the same time aiding other armed opposition groups in Syria. After the failed coup and Erdogan’s visit to Russia, the general view was that Ankara would change its strategy toward Syria. We should remember, however, that this change is tactical and not strategic. In other words, instead of supporting the Islamic State, Turkey will now support other groups.”
Nonetheless, the geopolitics of the region is forcing Iran and Turkey to strive for better relations with one another. As the coup attempt was unfolding, Iran was the first country to condemn the actions of the putschists. Iran’s decision to stand with Erdogan resulted in Turkey realizing that Tehran is its most reliable friend in the region. In addition, the passage of time has probably made it clear to Ankara that its previous regional strategy, and especially its strategy in Syria, has not helped it achieve anything.
On the other hand, following Zarif’s September 28 stopover in Ankara, he and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu announced through a statement issued by Iran’s Foreign Ministry that Iran and Turkey have agreed to collaborate with each other on ending the conflict in Syria and sending humanitarian aid. This is a new and important development that can be seen as a sign pointing to the impending unfolding of an important development in Syria.
However, this is the official version of the story, and little is known about the agreements made behind the scenes. Nonetheless, Zarif’s visit is important if for no reason other than the fact that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Nayef, visited Turkey the very next day. This was in keeping with the trend of senior
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Saudi officials, particularly Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, seemingly following Zarif on his travels and visiting any place he has recently visited. The most recent example of the latter was Jubeir’s trip to Africa immediately after Zarif’s tour of the continent. The pro-Saudi Asharq Al-Awsat believes that the reason behind Jubeir’s African trip was to curb Iran’s influence. Saudi Arabia’s efforts in this regard extend to public diplomacy. For instance, when Zarif wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on Jan. 10, singling out Saudi Arabia over its alleged support for militant extremists, Jubeir wrote a piece in the very same newspaper just over a week later, on Jan. 19, in which he attacked Iran over its alleged support for terrorism.
As such, the key question is whom Turkey will side with when it comes to the next steps on Syria. A source in the Iranian Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “These recent successive visits [by Iranian and Turkish officials] are signs of a possible new development in Iran-Turkey relations. This development can change the course of events in the region and push Saudi Arabia toward strategic isolation. This is similar to developments in Saudi-US relations, which have worried and angered the Saudi government and have placed them in a situation where they have to fight on all fronts.”
