The post EU Slams US Sanctions Policy appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Several thousand protesters irate over US airstrikes on Iraq staged a demonstration outside of the US Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, hurling stones as security forces and embassy guards hit back with stun grenades and tear gas.

The post US Embassy in Baghdad under rage after air raids appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Germany does not support the US ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Iran and keeps making efforts to preserve Iran’s nuclear deal instead, according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Rainer Breul, on Wednesday.

The post US maximum pressure policy not supported by Germany appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In a statement issued Sunday, as fresh protests in Baghdad begin, the White House asked the Iraqi government “to halt the violence against protesters and fulfill President [Barham] Salih’s promise to pass electoral reform and hold early elections.”

“The United States is seriously concerned by continued attacks against protesters, civic activists, and the media, as well as restrictions on internet access, in Iraq,” it said.

The US has been openly backing protesters in Iraq since they flooded the streets for the first time in early October to vent their anger over corruption and poor living conditions in one of the world’s wealthiest countries in terms of energy resources.

However, the relatively peaceful movement soon turned violent as armed elements opened fire on police and protesters alike and attempted to infiltrate the heavily-protected Green Zone in the capital Baghdad, which is home to the government as well as foreign diplomatic missions.

The first wave of the protests killed more than 150 people before stopping temporarily during the Arba’een processions for Shia Muslims’ third Imam, Imam Hussein.

The second more violent wave, however, began late last month with the demonstrators calling on the entire government of Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to step down.

According to the Iraqi Parliament’s human rights committee, so far 319 people, including demonstrators and security forces, have been killed in the violence.

Iraqi officials have on several occasions arrested armed elements and snipers who indiscriminately killed officers and protesters. They have also reprimanded soldiers who resorted to excessive force in dealing with the unrest.

Protests continued in Iraq on Sunday, a day after police and security forces ended blockades on three key bridges that led to the Green Zone.

More than 20 people were injured in clashes between police and demonstrators. One person died in hospital from wounds sustained the previous day in the same area, police confirmed.

At least three people were shot dead in the southern city of Nassiriya on Sunday, while more than 100 others were wounded.

Police said late Sunday that a car had exploded in an area under the control of security forces, setting fire to several other vehicles parked next to it.

The protests have ended a brief period of relative calm in Iraq, as the war-weary Arab country basked in its historic victory against foreign-backed terrorists of Daesh.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that certain countries were stirring up unrest in Iraq. “We can guess who is behind the unrest in Iraq,” he said.

“What makes us worry about the problems of people who are thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers away from our country is Islam as a common denominator and the consciousness of being an Ummah,” Erdogan said.

The Turkish president speculated that those behind Iraq’s unrest probably planned to spread the protests into Iran, apparently meaning Saudi Arabia and its allies.

US doesn’t want Abdul-Mahdi to stay

Abdul-Mahdi’s government has taken some steps in its efforts to quell the unrest, including arranging cash handouts to the poor and creating job opportunities for college graduates.

However, the demonstrators are now saying that they won’t back down unless the current government resigns.

The immense pressure on Abdul-Mahdi to resign has been partially attributed by some experts to Washington, which sees the prime minister as a major hurdle to its continued military presence in the Arab country.

When last month President Donald Trump announced that he would take US forces out of northern Syria and station them in Iraq, Abdul-Mahdi warned that the presence was unauthorized and the soldiers would be given a limited stay until they headed back to their own country.

Abdul-Mahdi also maintains close ties with Iran, which is a contributing factor to the US pressure for his resignation.

President Salih has already announced that Abdul-Mahdi would resign once a new election law comes to effect and his replacement is elected.

The embattled prime minister, who is under pressure from powerful Shia Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as well as powerful militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr to fulfill the protesters’ demands, has pledged even more changes including electoral reform.

Iraqi leaders meeting in Baghdad on Sunday agreed that electoral reform could encourage the youth to take on a more active role in politics and bring more color to a political scene that has been dominated by a number of parties since 2003.

UN proposes a new push to end violence

Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) unveiled its new proposal to resolve the ongoing situation.

The proposal details a set of principles and measures that are designed to address the demands of the protesters in a timely manner.

“The risk of ‘spoilers’ hijacking peaceful demonstrations is increasing and potentially derailing any attempt at genuine change,” UNAMI said. “Time is therefore of the essence, as are tangible results.”

The principles included protecting all lives, guaranteeing the right to peaceful protests, practicing maximum restraint in dealing with protests and holding perpetrators accountable.

The proposal also invited both sides to act within the framework of the law in all matters, including in dealing with public and private properties.

The measures, which UNAMI said should be implemented in less than a week, included protecting “peaceful demonstrators” by releasing them from detention according to law and investigating possible abductions.

The immediate measures also included issuing a public call “on all regional and international parties not to interfere in Iraq’s internal affairs and respecting its sovereignty.”

The post Early Election as fresh protests in Baghdad begin, US way appeared first on Iran News Daily.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in Antalya on Saturday, before the 24 edition of Economic Countries Organization (ECO) meeting.

The post Zarif hails Turkish Erdogan’s view towards recent protests in Iraq appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Al-e Habib made the remarks as he was addressing a UN General Assembly conference with a focus on the need to end “economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

Following is the full text of his statement published by IRNA:

At the outset, I wish to take this opportunity to offer our warm welcome to Mr. Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, the Foreign Minister of Cuba.

My delegation associates itself with the statements delivered yesterday by the representatives of Palestine, Azerbaijan, and Uganda, on behalf of Group of 77 and China, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries as well as Organization of Islamic Conference. However, I would also like to add the following remarks in my national capacity.

Today, we are witnessing that the expansionist and arrogant approach of a certain Government presents the greatest threat and challenge to world peace and security. The growing resort to unilateral coercive measures is one of the clear symptoms of unilateralism coupled with an interventionist, flawed and short-sighted foreign policy.

Among others, unilateral embargoes and coercive sanctions, as a means to achieving national policy objectives, have a seriously adverse impact on the promotion of peace at the regional and international levels. They are fundamental impediments to establishing not only a peaceful and prosperous world but also a just and equitable international order which is a vital prerequisite for sustainable development.

The inhumane sanctions and blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba for almost six decades is the most unjust and prolonged system of unilateral sanctions applied against any country. These aggressive measures constitute a gross violation of the norms and principles underpinning the international relations order. No Cuban citizen or sector of the economy has been immune from the negative effects of this unilateral policy which hinders the development that every country is entitled to construct in a sovereign manner.

In the past year, the tightening of the blockade has continued to be the central pivot of U.S. government policy towards Cuba, with ever more notable effects in its extraterritorial application.

Regretfully, we have observed that the U.S. Department of State has on different occasions expanded the “Restricted List of Cuban Entities”, to the blockade regulations, which caused considerable damage to the country’s economy because of its effects of intimidating the international business community.

In fact, the U.S. has been addicted to imposing unilateral sanctions when it comes to States that do not submit to or follow its contradictory and expansionist policies. In reality, Iran and Cuba are paying the price for their resistance and insistence on their independence from the United States’ colonialist policies. Iran has experienced the U.S. unlawful sanctions since the triumph of the Islamic Revolution 40 years ago.

Within the last four decades, the U.S. has imposed unilateral coercive measures on the Iranian people at an increasing rate to the extent that the current U.S. Administration, defiant of the established norms, has even targeted importation of medicine and medical equipment. Thus, patients, women and children, refugees, poor and those in vulnerable situations have become the prime target of the U.S. genocidal economic terrorism–against all principles of international law.

The U.S. Administration wants the world to believe that it is concerned about the Iranian people. Yet the very first sanctions it reimposed have canceled licenses for sales of more than 200 passenger jets under absurd pretexts, endangering ordinary Iranians. U.S. hypocrisy knows no bounds.

The economic war that the United States has initiated under the rubric of putting “Maximum Pressure” through imposing new sanctions, not only targets the Iranian public but also has harmful repercussions for the peoples of other countries, and has disrupted the state of global trade.

The message of today’s meeting is a reaffirmation of the fact that the time for interventionist policies and interference in the farthest reaches of the world is long over.

Iran will keep working with its partners to create a new environment in which self-respecting nations can pursue their own interests and international obligations. We will continue to work to offset unlawful U.S. sanctions and irrevocably eliminate the destabilizing phenomenon of the U.S. extraterritorial application of domestic legislation.

The world needs to find solutions against such destructive interventions and unilateralism.

Iran strongly believes in cooperating with friendly countries, including Cuba to address this challenge prudently and will not allow the U.S. Administration, which has stripped the U.S. foreign policy of any principles, to achieve its illegitimate objectives.

The post US Unilateralism, greatest threat to intl. security, Iran says appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Ex-IRGC Commander Recognize US Role in Iraq Unrest appeared first on Iran News Daily.

“What I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go Syrian oil fields and do it properly … and spread out the wealth,” Trump said during a news conference about the US special forces operation that reportedly led to the death of ISIS ringleader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp, the two largest US oil companies operating in the Middle East, declined to comment on his remarks.

“International law seeks to protect against exactly this sort of exploitation,” said Laurie Blank, an Emory Law School professor and director of its Center for International and Comparative Law, Reuters reported.

“It is not only a dubious legal move, it sends a message to the whole region and the world that America wants to steal the oil,” said Bruce Riedel, a former national security advisor and now senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think-tank.

“The idea that the United States would ‘keep the oil’ in the hands of ExxonMobil or some other US company is immoral and possibly illegal,” said Jeff Colgan, an associate professor of political science and international studies at Brown University. Colgan also said US companies would face “a host of practical challenges” to operate in Syria.

Even getting Exxon or another major oil company to develop Syrian oil would be a “hard sell” given its relatively limited infrastructure and small output, said Ellen R. Wald, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center.

Syria produced around 380,000 barrels of oil per day before the country’s foreign-backed war erupted. An International Monetary Fund working paper in 2016 estimated that production had declined to just 40,000 barrels per day.

The post Trump Suggestion of Taking Syrian Oil Draws Rebukes appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Arab Paper: under Cover of Iraq Protests is a Coup plot appeared first on Iran News Daily.

In an exclusive Interview with ILNA news agency, the U.S professor added “most of the concerns the United States have with the Middle East now involve Iran to some extent, but this does not necessarily mean that Trump is opposed to more open diplomatic communications with Iran,” before remarks on attack on Aramco.

“Europe has some influence on American foreign policy, and members of the European Union might be able to act as intermediaries for negotiations between Iran and Trump.  It is unlikely that they will be able to convince Trump to take any action that he would not otherwise take.”

He pointed to Iran nuclear deal and said “The United States withdrew from this agreement in 2018 and of course conditions around this agreement have deteriorated since then. There seems to be continual problems that would derail these efforts such as attack on Aramco.”

The international affairs analyst said There is no reason to think that Iran could not negotiate with Trump. Adding that I definitely agree negotiations without results are undesirable. In addition, negotiations with North Korea have not been a complete failure.  There is at least dialogue between the U.S. and North Korea, so things are better than they were before.”

Michael Hollingsworth referred to attack on oil giant Saudi Aramco and said “Saudi Arabia stated that they had evidence, but this was never presented.  There should be radar tracks regarding where the attack came from, although there are many reasons this might not be released but Iran might not have launched the attack.

“Barring a direct attack on either Saudi Arabia or U.S. assets, I do not think there will be significant military action by the United States.  They will continue with various displays of power, and a carrier battle group will be available if needed.”

He also responded to a question about the impact of Bolton’s departure from the Trump administration and added that I believe that it can have an effect.  Many liberals accused Bolton of being anti-Islamic in general, which might be too strong of a statement. His departure opens up more possibilities of negotiations with Iran, but there are still multiple issues that have to be addressed

“But negotiations under sanctions are not ideal, but are going to be necessary.  There is no reason for the United States to lift these sanctions before negotiations take place and Iran should not expect them to do that,” he said.

The post US prof: Iran might not have launched attack on Aramco appeared first on Iran News Daily.