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NYT: "The State Department conceded
for the first time on Thursday that it delayed making a $400 million
payment to Iran for several hours in January 'to retain maximum leverage'
and ensure that three American prisoners were released the same day. For
months the Obama administration had maintained that the payment was part
of a settlement over an old dispute and did not amount to a 'ransom' for
the release of the Americans. Instead, administration officials said, it
was the first installment of the $1.7 billion that the United States
intends to pay Iran to reimburse it for military equipment it bought
before the Iranian revolution that the United States never delivered. But
at a briefing on Thursday, John Kirby, the State Department spokesman,
said the United States 'took advantage of the leverage' it felt it had
that weekend in mid-January to obtain the release of the hostages and 'to
make sure they got out safely and efficiently.' Republicans opposed to
the nuclear deal President Obama reached with Iran have described the
payment as ransom and a further sign of his administration's feckless
dealings with Tehran... 'It was ransom,' said Representative Ed Royce of
California, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 'We now know
it was ransom. And on top of that it put more American lives at risk. And
we've emboldened Iran. We've encouraged them, frankly, to take more
hostages and put more American lives at risk of being taken
hostage.'" http://t.uani.com/2b9dntp
WashPost: "Kirby's assurance that the two
negotiations were 'completely separate' is hard to square with the fact
that the $400 million was contingent upon the prisoner release. While the
negotiations over the prisoners and the cash might have been separate,
the resolutions clearly weren't. Of course, the money was already due to
Iran - at some point - for an expressly different reason than the
prisoner exchange. The Obama administration announced it in January, at
the same time it reached a deal on the prisoner exchange and began
implementation of the nuclear deal. The proximity of those events also
makes it harder to separate them. But the cash transfer wasn't news; the
timing and contingency was... Thursday's revelation does indeed look bad
for the administration, as did the after-the-fact revelation of the $400
million transfer made to Iran, and they both breathe life into
Republicans' long-standing allegations that this was a quid pro quo in
which prisoners were released in exchange for cash. There's a reason such
things are avoided; they risk putting overseas Americans in danger of
being held in exchange for money." http://t.uani.com/2bCEgWi
LAT: "Two men squatted before a
freshly dug stretch of earth in a public cemetery here as traffic buzzed
by on the adjacent highway. They had just buried their 18-year-old
brother, Seyyed Zia Hoseyni. His photograph poked out of a bundle of
flowers. Hoseyni joined hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Afghans who were
killed in Syria after enlisting in Iran's effort to bolster the embattled
forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Nearly all are from
Afghanistan's Hazara minority. As Shiite Muslims, they fled to Iran in
hopes that it would be more hospitable than Afghanistan, where they faced
religious persecution and the economic hardships of a country racked by
war and terrorism. But they wound up embroiled in another war. The
Iranian government has relied heavily on the Afghan immigrants, sending
them to battle in greater numbers than it does Iranians in the
Revolutionary Guard... Many Hazaras have few options but to enlist. Those
caught sneaking across the Afghan-Iranian border are often presented with
a stark choice: Go to jail and face deportation, or fight in Syria for a
few months and gain legal residence in Iran... 'Iranians see the Hazara
as cannon fodder,' said Hassan, a 50-year-old sheik in Qom who refused to
give his full name for fear of retribution by Iranian security forces...
'If the Hazara are the Muslim Shiite brethren of Iranians,' he said,
'then why are they the least important people in the devastating civil
war in Syria?'" http://t.uani.com/2bCFp0c
Nuclear
& Ballistic Missile Program
AP: "The State Department says it
can't determine who ordered several minutes of videotape deleted from a
news briefing about nuclear negotiations with Iran. Spokesman John Kirby
said Thursday the department also couldn't say why the tape was edited. A
seven-page report says facts remained unclear after 34 interviews of
current and former officials, and email searches. The report was shared
with Congress. The deleted section from the Dec. 2, 2013, briefing with
then-spokeswoman Jen Psaki included questions about another official's
months-old denial of then-secret U.S.-Iranian negotiations. Psaki said,
'There are times where diplomacy needs privacy.'" http://t.uani.com/2bm0o8r
Press TV
(Iran):
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his administration pulled off
the task of removing the bases for sanctions against the Islamic Republic,
not just the bans themselves, by achieving a nuclear deal with six world
powers. Speaking in a meeting with government officials in the
southwestern Iranian city of Yasuj on Monday, President Rouhani said the
administration could have reached a deal in the course of nuclear
negotiations 'much sooner' but was after eliminating the bases for the
sanctions, which he implied was the reason why the talks took more
time... In his Monday's remarks, President Rouhani said his
administration also succeeded in removing the foundations used to impose
the nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, explaining that the bases for the
sanctions were derived from Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, as
well as the issue of the so-called possible military dimensions (PMD) of
the Iranian nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA). He said some people were of the opinion that the Security Council
resolutions, which had been adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter,
could not be removed in a single day, 'but we had them annulled in one
day and before implementing the JCPOA.'" http://t.uani.com/2b30xzP
Congressional
Action
AP: "The Obama administration is
facing a storm of Republican criticism after acknowledging that a $400
million cash payment to Iran seven months ago was contingent on the
release of a group of American prisoners. Thursday's explanation was the
first time the U.S. had so clearly linked the two events, which critics
have painted as a hostage-ransom arrangement. State Department spokesman
John Kirby has said the negotiations to return the Iranian money from a
1970s account to buy U.S. military equipment were conducted separately
from talks to free four U.S. citizens in Iran. But he recently noted the
U.S. withheld the delivery of the cash as leverage until Iran permitted
the Americans to leave the country. Kirby said Friday on MSNBC's 'Morning
Joe' program that the U.S. offers 'no apologies.' ... The hostage release
and cash transfer occurred Jan. 17, fueling suspicions from Republican
lawmakers and accusations from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump of a
quid pro quo that undermined America's longstanding opposition to ransom
payments. Several members of Congress immediately pounced on Thursday's
shift. 'If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. If a cash payment is
contingent on a hostage release, it's a ransom. The truth matters and the
president owes the American people an explanation,' Sen. Ben Sasse,
R-Neb., said. 'Decisions like these are putting our nation and our allies
at risk,' added Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the Senate Intelligence
Committee chairman." http://t.uani.com/2breHeG
Sanctions
Enforcement
WSJ: "The U.S. government extended a
lifting of sanctions against ZTE Corp. for the second time, as the
Chinese maker of telecommunications equipment works to repair its
reputation after allegedly violating U.S. trade rules. In a statement
Thursday, the U.S. Commerce Department said its temporary sanctions
relief will be extended to Nov. 28, which allows ZTE to continue working
with U.S. suppliers. As it cooperates with U.S. authorities, ZTE is trying
to minimize the damage to its business and brand image from the
sanctions, which were put in place in March. The U.S. Commerce Department
added ZTE to its 'Entity List,' a list of foreign groups or individuals
that present risks to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.
The department alleged that ZTE violated rules restricting exports of
U.S. technological goods to Iran." http://t.uani.com/2bCTbkh
Sanctions
Relief
IRNA
(Iran): "Iran
and Norway signed an insurance memorandum of understanding (MoU) on in
the field of shipping. The MoU was signed between Islamic Republic of
Iran Shipping Line (IRISL)and Norway's Skuld P&I Company on different
kinds of sea insurances. The MoU also covers the complaints in relation
to sea insurance, training of personnel and upgrading knowledge and
capabilities of the Iranian experts." http://t.uani.com/2bLidkg
Extremism
AFP: "It is Iran's answer to the
Academie Francaise, keeping the Farsi language safe from the corrupting
influence of foreign words. Its latest, unlikely target: something called
'Nutella Bars'. The state-run Academy of Persian Language and Literature
has imposed a number of changes in recent years, particularly aimed at
curbing the intrusion of English. Its success has been varied. Most
people now use the Farsi word 'balgard' (meaning 'spinning wings')
instead of 'helicopter'. But practically no one -- except perhaps
newsreaders on state television -- calls their fax machine a 'durnegar'
(meaning 'distant message-receiver'), or uses 'rayaneh' ('organising
machine') when they mean 'computer'. The Academy's latest target has
caused some bafflement: a popular chain of waffle and crepe cafes called
Nutella Bars after the Italian hazelnut and cocoa spread in which they
smother their snacks. 'The authorities said the signs must change. They
are very strict about it,' said a staff member at one branch, asking not
to be named. To the amusement of many on social media, the Academy
suggested the chain rename itself 'Hot Bread, Hot Chocolate' in
Farsi." http://t.uani.com/2bsA79U
Domestic
Politics
Reuters: "A man grabs a dog by the ears
and bashes it against the side of a pickup truck in a rural area of
northern Iran. As the dog tries to find shelter in the back of the truck,
the man beats it with a shovel. When the video was posted online, it
rocketed across social media and kicked off protests in Tehran and other
Iranian cities. Several other videos showing the abuse of domestic pets,
mostly dogs, have since been posted online. Public criticism has mounted
and there is now a push for a law against cruelty to animals in Iran,
which has no such legislation. 'We hope that if there is a law as a
foundation this problem can be controlled in society,' said Javid Ale
Davoud, head of the Society for Protection of Animals, a non-governmental
organization. 'The government has become sensitive to this issue.' Social
media has played a key role in highlighting animal abuse cases and is
ramping up pressure on officials to act." http://t.uani.com/2bCDGrK
Opinion
& Analysis
WSJ
Editorial: "The
Obama Administration's handling of the Iran ransom-for-hostages story
brings to mind the classic Chico Marx line in the movie 'Duck Soup': 'Who
are you going to believe-me or your own eyes?' After everyone in the
Administration from President Obama on down denied that a $400 million
cash payment to Iran had anything to do with the same-day release of four
American hostages, the State Department on Thursday said your own eyes
had it right the first time. While still not using the R-word, State
Department spokesman John Kirby said of the two events: 'We of course
wanted to seek maximum leverage in this case as these two things came
together at the same time.' Credit here goes to Wall Street Journal
reporters Jay Solomon and Carol E. Lee, who on Aug. 3 broke the story of
the $400 million payment to Iran coincident with the hostage release in
January. Despite Mr. Obama himself trying to knock down the Journal's
story by asserting, 'we do not pay ransom for hostages,' the reporters
this week established the linkage. U.S. officials acknowledged to the
Journal that they wouldn't allow a plane from Iran Air, loaded with
pallets of cash, to take off from a runway in Geneva until the hostages'
plane in Tehran was 'wheels up.' State's Mr. Kirby was finally obliged to
admit this publicly. One may reasonably ask: Why did the Obama
Administration persist with such an obviously preposterous cover story?
Mr. Obama offered one honest answer amid his original denial. We didn't
pay a ransom, the President said, 'precisely because if we did we'd start
encouraging Americans to be targeted.' There's another reason. Mr. Obama
didn't want to sully what he obviously considers the crowning
foreign-policy achievement of his Presidency with an admission that a
grubby payoff to Iran's mullahs is what got it done. Coming clearer by
the day is the reality that Mr. Obama in fact ransomed his second term's
entire foreign policy to getting the nuclear deal, which along with
lifting sanctions was supposed to be the incentive for Iran to help stabilize
the Middle East. Iran had its own ideas about that... Since the January
'leverage' moment, Iran has taken three more Americans as hostage and is
now demanding the return of $2 billion in funds that U.S. courts have
ordered held for the victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism. The eyes of
the world can simply stare." http://t.uani.com/2b992q9
Charles
Krauthammer in WashPost: "This week Russian bombers flew out of Iranian air
bases to attack rebel positions in Syria. The State Department pretended
not to be surprised. It should be. It should be alarmed. Iran's intensely
nationalistic revolutionary regime had never permitted foreign forces to
operate from its soil. Until now. The reordering of the Middle East is
proceeding apace. Where for 40 years the U.S.-Egypt alliance anchored the
region, a Russia-Iran condominium is now dictating events. That's what
you get after eight years of U.S. retrenchment and withdrawal. That's
what results from the nuclear deal with Iran, the evacuation of Iraq and
utter U.S. immobility on Syria." http://t.uani.com/2b6kOQy
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