Short News Summary for Saturday, November 10, 2018. Continuous updates on the most important news from Iran and the world.
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Discussion between Trump and Macron on European Defense Issues Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump, the Presidents of France and the United States, during a meeting on Friday in Paris, attempted to reduce recent tensions between Paris and Washington. Upon arriving in Paris, Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Macron's remarks about the necessity of forming a European army for defense against China, Russia, and even the United States were 'very insulting.' However, the French President's office stated that Mr. Trump had misunderstood, and Mr. Macron's intention was that Europe should reduce its reliance on the United States for defense. Emmanuel Macron also stated after his meeting with Donald Trump that it is not right for Europe's security to be entirely dependent on the United States today. On the other hand, Donald Trump emphasized that the United States wants to help Europe in terms of defense. He reiterated that NATO members should take on a larger share of NATO's costs. The U.S. President said, 'We want to help Europe, but fairness must prevail. Currently, a large part of this cost is borne by the United States.'
A Judge Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Bribery The Tehran prosecutor announced that a judge in Tehran named Hojjatollah Yazarlu has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for receiving bribes. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi stated that this judge was arrested and transferred to prison last week. Previously, judicial officials had reported the arrest of several 'misbehaving' judges. However, there are also reports indicating that some individuals have been arrested for exposing corruption within the judiciary. Among these individuals is Mansour Nazari, known for being part of the 'Hezbollah' forces, who was imprisoned for exposing a 'corruption ring of judges' in the judiciary. Mr. Nazari stated that he discovered a corruption ring in Chahardangeh city that was active in 'land grabbing,' 'water grabbing,' 'drug trafficking,' 'arms trafficking,' and 'moral corruption,' and that the Ministry of Intelligence and the Parliament have been unable to confront them.
Hezbollah's Secretary-General Condemns Normalization of Relations between Islamic Countries and Israel The Secretary-General of Hezbollah in Lebanon condemned any normalization of relations between Islamic countries and Israel and called for a fight against this action. Hassan Nasrallah stated in a speech on Saturday that the normalization of relations between some Islamic countries and Israel, which previously occurred secretly, is now being done openly. Mr. Nasrallah also considered the missile capability to be a 'point of strength' for Hezbollah and emphasized that the group insists on developing its missile capabilities despite opposition. The remarks from the Secretary-General of Hezbollah came two weeks after the Israeli Prime Minister's visit to Oman. Following this visit, the Israeli Minister of Transport traveled to Muscat, and Bahrain officially invited the Israeli Minister of Economy to visit Manama.
Trump Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to Elvis, Babe Ruth, and Five Others Donald Trump announced the first individuals to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his presidency, including rock music star Elvis Presley and legendary baseball player Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth passed away in 1948, and Elvis died in 1977 at the age of 42. The five other individuals receiving this medal include Antonin Scalia, a deceased Supreme Court Justice, Miriam Adelson, a physician and wife of prominent casino owner Sheldon Adelson, who has been a financial supporter of the Republicans, Orrin Hatch, a senator from Utah who is retiring after 41 years of service, Robert Stauffer, a former American football player, and Alan Page, another former football player who pursued a career in law after retirement.
Iraq Joins the List of Exemptions from U.S. Sanctions Less than a week after the official implementation of U.S. sanctions against Iran began, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq announced that Baghdad is currently exempt from these sanctions. Under this exemption, Iraq is allowed to import natural gas and electricity from Iran for another 45 days. Reuters reported based on a video published on the U.S. Embassy's Facebook and Twitter pages that this 45-day exemption is intended to give Iraq 'time to take necessary steps towards energy self-sufficiency.' In the video, embassy staff also explain in Arabic and English subtitles that U.S. sanctions do not include medicine and medical equipment, among others. This explanation seems to be an attempt to respond to some criticisms regarding the new U.S. sanctions potentially harming the Iranian people. On Monday, November 5, the U.S. announced the reinstatement of all sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industry as well as shipping. However, it was announced that eight countries, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Italy, Greece, and Taiwan, would be temporarily exempt from these sanctions.
Explosion in Ammunition Depot Claims Lives of Seven Turkish Soldiers Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, officially announced on Saturday the death of seven soldiers in an explosion at an ammunition depot in the Hakkari province of the country. According to Mr. Erdogan, who spoke before his trip to France, 25 soldiers were also injured in this explosion. Reuters reported, citing a statement from the Hakkari governor, that this massive explosion occurred at a base near the Turkish border with Iran and Iraq.
Government Measures to Bring Back Currency from Iranian Exporters Abdolnaser Hemmati, the head of the Central Bank, announced on Saturday the implementation of measures designed to bring back currency from Iranian exporters into the country's economy. In recent months, with the establishment of a secondary market to meet Iran's import needs, one of the ongoing issues has been exporters' refusal to return their export currency to the Iranian economy. Now, according to ISNA news agency, the head of the Central Bank has expressed hope that with the implementation of these measures, the amount of export currency supplied to the NIMA system will increase. Petrochemical companies, producers of basic metals, and colored metals are among the exporters who, despite government officials' insistence and threats, have refrained from returning and supplying their export currency in the secondary market. According to Abdolnaser Hemmati, in the first seven months of this year, Iran's non-oil exports reached $27 billion. The head of the Central Bank of Iran also announced that Iran's imports in the first seven months of this year amounted to $31 billion, of which more than $23 billion of this import volume's currency was provided by the Central Bank and less than $7 billion by non-oil exporters in the NIMA system. He stated that during this period, $10 billion was allocated to the import of essential goods, medicines, and medical equipment.
Lebanon Stops Refueling Iranian Planes Hours after news broke in Lebanese media, an Iranian official confirmed that due to U.S. sanctions, Iranian airlines can no longer 'refuel in Lebanon.' The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon reported on Saturday that an order had been issued to international fueling companies at Beirut airport to refrain from supplying fuel to Iranian airlines. ISNA news agency quoted Masoud Asadi Samani, the secretary of the Iranian Airlines Association, stating, 'Unfortunately, discussions in this regard have been raised in recent days and have now reached the implementation stage, and currently, Iranian airlines cannot refuel at Lebanese airports.' Last week, several reports indicated that due to Turkish fueling companies' refusal to supply fuel to Iranian airlines on Friday, November 2, at least one flight was canceled, and some planes flew with fewer passengers. Mr. Asadi Samani also referred to this issue concerning Turkey, stating, 'Unfortunately, despite negotiations, this problem has not yet been resolved, and our airlines have been unable to receive the necessary fuel in Turkey.' He added that 'even when Iranian companies proposed to purchase their required fuel in cash, the Turkish company refused to sell them fuel.'
Rouhani on New U.S. Sanctions: 'No Impact on the Country's Economic Process' In a recent reaction to the new U.S. economic sanctions, the President of Iran stated on Saturday in remarks broadcast on state television that these sanctions 'have had no impact on the country's economic process.' According to Hassan Rouhani, the U.S. government is not seeking to pressure the 'system and government' but rather to exert pressure on the Iranian people. Hassan Rouhani believes that these new unilateral sanctions, which began on November 5, 'are intended for psychological impact against the Iranian nation and have no other purpose.' He stated, 'In this round of sanctions that started on November 5, we saw that they had no impact on the country's economic process because the Americans had already released all the arrows they had in their quiver against the Iranian nation and had nothing new to offer.'
Meeting between Taliban and Afghanistan's High Peace Council Held in Moscow A meeting of representatives from the Taliban group and several members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council was held for the first time in Moscow on Friday, hosted by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. This meeting was attended by representatives from several countries, including Iran, the United States, China, and Pakistan, and was held without a representative from the Afghan government. The Afghan Foreign Ministry emphasized that talks with the Taliban should be conducted directly and led by the Afghan government, stating that the High Peace Council is acting as a 'non-governmental entity' in Moscow. On the other hand, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the head of the Taliban delegation to Moscow, stated that the Taliban is not interested in talks with the Afghan government and wants to negotiate with the United States. The Taliban and the Afghan government had previously engaged in talks about three years ago in Pakistan.