Iran President Says US 'Leader of World Terrorism'

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday accused the United States of being the real "leader of world terrorism", hitting back after Washington blacklisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

Tehran was quick to retaliate on Monday by declaring US troops "terrorists" following Washington's move, which was welcomed by Iran's regional arch-rivals Israel and Saudi Arabia.

It was the first time that Washington has branded part of a foreign government a terrorist group, meaning that anyone who deals with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could face prison in the United States.

"Who are you to label revolutionary institutions as terrorists?" an angry Rouhani demanded in a speech broadcast live by state television.

Rouhani hailed the Guards for fighting terrorism since their creation in 1979, and accused US forces of having always been involved with terrorist groups or acts of terrorism.

“You want to use terrorist groups as tools against the nations of the region... you are the leader of world terrorism.”

"Who is propagating and encouraging terrorism in today's world? Who wanted to use ISIS (the Islamic State group) as a tool?" Rouhani asked, saying that the US is "hiding" the leaders of the jihadist organization.

The Revolutionary Guards are the ideological arm of the country's military and deeply embedded in Iranian political and economic life.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the Guards on their National Day, saying they were at the "forefront' of defending the country and its interests, according to his official website.

He lashed out at US officials, saying: "Their vice and deceit will return boomerang on them, leading the enemies of the Islamic Republic such as (US President Donald) Trump and those around him at the US ruling apparatus to go down the drain."

'Everything Imaginable'

To support his accusations, Rouhani cited the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 in July 1988 by missiles fired from the US naval ship the USS Vincennes.

"You have done everything imaginable. Which force was it that shot down our civil airliner in the waters of the Persian Gulf?" he said, adding that it was aimed at intimidating Iran. 

"You wanted to tell the Iranian nation that we do not have any red lines, you wanted to say that we also kill children, you wanted to say that we also kill women," Rouhani said, concluding that the US was transmitting "a message of terrorism in the whole world."

The US move comes on top of Trump's decision last year to pull the United States out of an international deal with Iran that was meant to lift crippling economic sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Washington had been encouraged to blacklist the Guards by Trump's allies Saudi Arabia and Israel, which both cheered the declaration.

"The US decision (follows) the kingdom's repeated demands to the international community to address the issue of Iranian-backed terrorism," the official Saudi Press Agency quoted a foreign ministry source as saying on Tuesday.

The source welcomed the US move as a "practical and serious step" in curbing what the kingdom describes as Iranian meddling in the region.

The US decision came hours before an Israeli election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a close race for re-election. 

In a statement, Netanyahu thanked his "dear friend" Trump who he said had responded to a "request of mine.”

In a statement carried by the Iranian official news agency IRNA, the Supreme National Security Council declared the United States a "state sponsor of terrorism" and its forces in the region "terror groups.”

Quickly adapting to the decision, the semi-official Fars News Agency, close to ultra-conservatives, described the US casualties in the latest suicide bombing on a military convoy in Afghanistan as "terrorists."

In a report on the attack, Fars said Tuesday: "American army terrorists killed in Afghanistan."

NATO announced on Monday that a suicide car bomb on a convoy in Iran's eastern neighbor had killed three US troops and a military contractor and wounded three more.

Photo Credit: IRNA

IMF Sees Deeper Iran Recession Hitting Regional Growth

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday worsened its forecast for Iran's recession as US sanctions bite, with Tehran's slump denting overall growth in the Middle East and North Africa. 

The global lender's World Economic Outlook projected Iran's economy will shrink by a massive 6.0 percent this year, its worst performance since it contracted by 7.7 percent in 2012.

The latest figure represented a sharp deterioration from October's prediction of a 3.6 percent contraction, as US sanctions batter the Islamic Republic's crucial oil sector. 

The report also estimated that Iran's economy, the second largest in the region behind Saudi Arabia, shrunk by 3.9 percent in 2018, as opposed to 1.5 percent projected earlier.

The prediction of deeper pain for Iran, lower oil growth and civil strife saw the IMF cut its overall forecast for the Middle East and North Africa to 1.3 percent, down 0.9 percent from January.

"The outlook for the region is weighed down by multiple factors, including slower oil GDP growth in Saudi Arabia... US sanctions in Iran and civil tensions and conflict across several other economies, including Iraq, Syria, and Yemen," the IMF said.

It maintained its projections for Saudi Arabia, saying the region's leading economy is expected to grow by a muted 1.8 percent this year and 2.1 percent in 2020.

The IMF said it expected the kingdom's growth, which reached 2.2 percent last year, to stabilize at a modest rate in the medium term due to the subdued outlook for oil prices and output. 

Overall the wider regional economy is projected to improve in 2020 to a healthy growth rate of 3.2 percent, the IMF said.

The international lender expects oil prices to average around $59 a barrel this year and next, down from its October projections of above $65 a barrel.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Standard Chartered Reaches $1.1 bn US Settlement on Iran Sanctions

Standard Chartered will pay USD 1.1 billion to settle charges it processed transactions that violated US sanctions on Iran and flouted anti-money laundering requirements, US and British regulators announced Tuesday.

The British bank moved through hundreds of millions of dollars of US transactions from Iran and other sanctioned countries, said US Treasury officials, who were joined in the action by other federal and state agencies. 

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority—which worked with the US bodies—punished the bank for doing little to detect and counter the laundering of funds that may have come from crimes or which could have been used to finance terrorism 

"Standard Chartered's oversight of its financial crime controls was narrow, slow and reactive," said FCA Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight Mark Steward, who said the fine would have been "even higher" if the bank had not cooperated with the probes.

The British portion of the fine amounted to GBP 102.2 million (USD 133.7 million). 

A statement from the bank described the violations as "historical," adding that the "vast majority" of the problems predated 2012 and that none occurred since 2014.

"The circumstances that led to today's resolutions are completely unacceptable and not representative of the Standard Chartered I am proud to lead today," said Standard Chartered Group Chief Executive Bill Winters.

 "Fighting financial crime is central to what we do and who we are; we do not tolerate misconduct or lax controls and we will continue to root out any issues that threaten the trust we have built over more than 160 years."

Blindly accepting deposits?

 The FCA listed a number of flagrant instances in which the bank's money laundering controls fell short.

In one case, the Dubai branch opened an account for a customer with 3 million UAE Dirham (USD 815,000) in cash, apparently without investigating the source of the funds. 

The bank also did not sufficiently question a customer who exported a commercial product with potential military application to 75 countries, including two that had armed conflicts or where conflict was likely, the FCA said. 

The penalties also cover some USD 600 million in US transactions from 2008 to 2014 that originated at Standard Chartered's London and Dubai offices and went through its US branch, the New York State Department of Financial Services said in a statement.  

US regulators said a majority of the problem transactions violated US sanctions on Iran, with a smaller number involving Syria, Sudan, Cuba and Burma.

The US Treasury Department said the agreement requires the bank to conduct regular risk assessments and provide ongoing sanctions compliance training.

Other US bodies joining the agreement included the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice, which extended a previously-written deferred prosecution agreement with the bank for two years. 

"Global financial institutions serve as the first line of defense against money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities and those that fail to foster a strong compliance culture will be held accountable," said Linda Lacewell, acting superintendent of the New York agency.

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

Zarif Calls for US Forces to be Put on Iran 'Terror' List

Iran's top diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday urged President Hassan Rouhani to place US forces in the region on Tehran's list of "terrorist" groups, the foreign ministry said.

The foreign minister requested the move against US Central Command (CENTCOM), which has forces stationed from Central Asia to Egypt, shortly after Washington announced it was designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization.

 The Iranian foreign minister wrote to Rouhani asking him "to put the American Forces in Western Asia known as CENTCOM on the Islamic Republic of Iran's list of terrorist groups", the ministry said.

Zarif also blasted the US move on Twitter, saying it was done to support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary election in the Jewish state.

"A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous U.S. misadventure in the region," he wrote.

Part of America's vast military presence around the globe, CENTCOM's area of command covers multiple war zones and hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Gulf.

The US decision came as part of already far-reaching attempts to undermine the Iranian government.

President Donald Trump said the "unprecedented" move "recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft."

"The IRGC is the Iranian government's primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign," Trump said in a statement.

It is the first time the United States has applied the designation to part of a foreign government, rather than guerrilla groups or other more informal entities.

The move follows Trump's decision to pull the United States out of a multilateral deal with Iran that was meant to lift crippling economic sanctions in return curbs on Tehran's nuclear program.

Photo Credit: IRNA

US Designates Iran's Revolutionary Guards as Terrorist Organization

The United States on Monday designated Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, ramping up already far-reaching efforts to undermine the clerical government in Tehran—which swiftly retaliated by calling US troops terrorists.

It is the first time that Washington has branded part of a foreign government a terrorist group, meaning that anyone who deals with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could face prison in the United States.

President Donald Trump called the unit—which has some 125,000 troops and vast interests across the Iranian economy—Tehran's "primary means of directing and implementing its global terrorist campaign."

"This action will significantly expand the scope and scale of our maximum pressure on the Iranian regime," Trump said in a statement.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, addressing reporters, said that all businesses and banks around the world "now have a clear duty" to cut off all dealings that involve the Revolutionary Guards.

"The leaders of Iran are racketeers, not revolutionaries," Pompeo said. 

The move comes on top of Trump's decision last year to pull the United States out of an international deal with Iran that was meant to lift crippling economic sanctions in return for the government allowing its nuclear technology to be restricted and kept under close supervision.

The United States has long debated the terrorist designation and has been encouraged to do so by Saudi Arabia and Israel, arch-rivals of Iran which enjoy close relationships with Trump.

The decision comes hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces re-election in tight polls. In a statement, he thanked his "dear friend" Trump.

Swift Retaliation

Iran swiftly took retaliatory action. The Supreme National Security Council, in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA, declared the United States to be a state sponsor of terrorism and both called the US Central Command and forces underneath it terrorist groups.

Part of America's vast military presence around the globe, CENTCOM's area of command covers multiple conflict zones and hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Gulf.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who recommended the CENTCOM designation, denounced the move against the Revolutionary Guards as a way to sway the Israeli election.

"A(nother) misguided election-eve gift to Netanyahu. A(nother) dangerous US misadventure in the region," Zarif tweeted.

The Revolutionary Guards were formed after the 1979 Islamic revolution with a mission to defend the religious regime, in contrast to more traditional military units that protect borders.

Abroad, the Guards' prized Quds Force, named for the Arabic word for Jerusalem, supports Iranian allies including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon's Hezbollah and militias from Iraq's Shiite majority.

At home, the Guards have amassed sweeping political and economic influence, with Brian Hook, the State Department's representative on Iran, citing estimates that they control up to half of the Iranian economy.

Pompeo and Hook said that 603 troops killed in Iraq since the United States invaded in 2003—or 17 percent of the total US death toll—could be attributed to Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards were also at the forefront of assisting Iraqi forces in defeating Islamic State extremists.

Criminalizing Contact With Guards

The United States has long mulled designating the Revolutionary Guards as terrorists but held off, fearing threats to US troops and questioning whether the move would do much to pressure a force already under a raft of sanctions.

US officials said the terrorist label, which takes effect on April 15, would make it a criminal offense in the United States to provide "material support" to the Revolutionary Guards, with violators subject to up to 20 years in prison.

Pompeo set his sights directly on Qassem Soleimani, the major general who leads the Quds Force.

"We are sending... a clear message to Iran's leaders, including Qassem Soleimani and his band of thugs, that the United States is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime's outlaw behavior," Pompeo said.

The United States insists that its goal is not regime change but several of Trump's top advisers have long been close to Iranian exiles seeking to topple the Islamic republic.

Critics in the United States said that the Trump administration was seeking to stir up a crisis that could lead to confrontation or at least push Iran to violate the 2015 nuclear accord. Europeans strongly support preserving the agreement and UN inspectors say that Iran remains in compliance.

"This is yet another dangerous escalation of conflict with Iran that is disturbingly reminiscent of the lead-up to the failed war in Iraq," said Tom Udall, a Democratic senator from New Mexico.

"The Trump administration is ratcheting up confrontation, undercutting diplomacy and putting American troops at risk," he said.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Floods Force Evacuation of Hospital in Southwest Iran

Iranian authorities on Monday evacuated patients from a hospital threatened by floodwaters in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

Iran has been hit by several weeks of unprecedented flooding across most of the usually arid country that has killed 70 people, according to the emergency services.

On Monday, authorities were battling to prevent floods reaching Ahvaz, which is the capital of Khuzestan province and home to about 1.3 million people.

The advancing waters sparked fears that a hospital on the city's northern outskirts would be submerged after the nearby Karkheh river burst its banks.

“Salamat hospital has been evacuated and all patients transferred to Golestan hospital on the orders of the crisis management authorities due to the risk of the hospital being flooded," the head of Golestan hospital, Meysam Moazi, told ISNA.

The huge floods have forced authorities to release water from one of the largest dams in the area, which has left some of the cities downstream under threat.

A "significant amount" of floodwater from Karkheh started moving toward Ahvaz on Sunday, according to city mayor Mansour Katanbaf.

"We've been trying to manage the water ... most of it has been diverted toward other channels and what's left is being handled," Katanbaf told ISNA.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of six new cities along the Karkheh river on Saturday as the situation neared "critical" status.

According to ISNA, a total of 210 villages along the river have been evacuated, 61 of which are now flooded.

Flooding swamped northeast Iran in mid March before spreading to the west and southwest of the country later in the month.

Heavy rains brought more floods to the west and southwest at the start of April.

The flooding has caused damage worth IRR 150 trillion—more than USD 1 billion at the free market rate, according to an official estimate given by lawmaker Mehrdad Lahooti.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Will Need to Tap Wealth Fund for Flood Damage

Flood damage in western Iran exceeds the government’s budget for disaster relief and officials will have to tap the country’s sovereign wealth fund to cover reconstruction costs, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. 

Around IRR 9.5 trillion—equivalent to USD 230 million at Iran’s official exchange rate—of damage has been caused to agricultural fields in the southwestern province of Khuzestan alone, Keykhosro Changlavaee, head of the Agricultural Administration of Khustanestan said, according to ISNA. 

The floods that started last month have killed 70 people, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, and devastated swathes of Western Iran. The waters have destroyed towns and villages, mostly in the provinces of Lorestan and Khuzestan, prompting mass evacuations throughout the area.

“The government cannot finance the heavy cost of the damage alone,” Gholamreza Tajgerdoun, head of the parliamentary commission for budget affairs was cited as saying in the ISNA report. “There needs to be help from elsewhere. The overall cost of the damage hasn’t yet been finalized, but what’s clear is that the damage is greater than the annual budget has allowed for.”

Tajgerdoun said the government will probably have to dip into the National Development Fund, Iran’s sovereign wealth fund, which consists largely of income from oil exports. Iran’s oil sales have declined steeply in the past six months following the U.S. government’s decision to reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s economy and energy industry after abrogating the 2015 nuclear deal.

Earlier on Saturday, officials said some 36 villages in and around the city of Sushtar in Khuzestan were being evacuated before an expected increase in rainfall that’s anticipated to cause rivers to overflow further in the coming days. 

One of the major dams serving Khuzestan, which borders Iraq and the site of several major oil fields, is at risk of overspilling and filled beyond normal capacity, Hamidreza Lashgari, deputy head of Khuzestan’s Water and Electricity Administration, told ISNA. Lashgari warned that authorities may not be able to control the dam if water levels continue to climb.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Orders New Evacuations Amid Fresh Flood Fears

Iranian authorities ordered the evacuation of six cities along the Karkheh river in southwestern Khuzestan province on Saturday after more rain sparked fears of new flooding, state news agency IRNA said.

Floods in Iran since March have killed 70 people the head of the emergency services said on Friday according to the official IRNA News Agency.  

Six cities alongside Karkheh river in southwestern Iran "must be evacuated as soon as possible," Khuzestan governor Gholamreza Shariati told IRNA.

The oil-rich province of Khuzestan has an extensive range of dams, which have swelled upstream due to fresh downpours.

The floodwater's intensity has forced authorities to open emergency discharges at Karkheh dam, one of the largest in the area, thus sparking fears of fresh flooding.

The situation appears to be "critical", he said.  "We advise all women and children to be evacuated to shelters and youngsters to remain and help," he added.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli warned that up to 400,000 people in Khuzestan could be exposed to the floods, IRNA reported.

Iran, a usually arid country, has been hit by unprecedented flooding across most of the country since mid-March with 70 people killed, according to the country's emergency services.

Heavy rain was forecast for Saturday in Khuzestan.

The country's northeast was swamped on March 19 before the west and southwest of the country were inundated on March 25, killing a total of 45people.

On April 1 the west and southwest were again swamped by floods when heavy rains returned to the area.

The government said the flooding had damaged nearly 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of roads, or 36 percent of the country's entire network.

The worst hit in the latest deluge was Lorestan Province where in some cities whole neighborhoods were washed away and many villages are still cut off. 

Fourteen deaths have been reported from Lorestan so far.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Schlumberger Workers Sought by U.S. on Iran, Sudan Sanctions

The US government has interviewed one Schlumberger Ltd. worker and wants access to four other current and former employees as part of a probe into potential sanctions violations in Iran and Sudan, according to federal court documents.

The unnamed worker for the world’s biggest oil-services provider was interviewed on March 8 about a matter related to a company Schlumberger acquired in 2014. That undisclosed company was under investigation by the Justice Department, and Schlumberger later disclosed a potential “matter” related to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to filings.

Schlumberger “understands that the government remains interested in interviewing two current company employees and two former company employees,” according to an April 1 federal court filing by the company in Washington D.C. “The company is committed to continuing to work with counsel for the employees, where applicable, to schedule these interviews according to the government’s preferences.”

In 2015, Schlumberger pleaded guilty to sanctions violations in Iran and Sudan and was put on three-year probation. That probation was extended for another year so the government could investigate whether the company violated terms of its plea agreement. The Financial Times first reported that the government interviewed a Schlumberger worker.

Schlumberger has said in court filings it voluntarily reported four separate matters related to the Powers Act over the past two years, including the issue related to the company it acquired in 2014. Joao Felix, a spokesman for Schlumberger, declined to comment beyond the company’s most recent court filings.

“The company provided detail to the government regarding the substantial remediation it has undertaken in response to lessons learned from its investigation of the matters,” Schlumberger said in this week’s filing. It expects the term of the probation to expire at the end of this month “without issue.”

Photo Credit: Wikicommons

EU Provides €1.2 Million in Emergency Support Following Iran Floods

Responding to the devastating floods that have recently affected northern and south western parts of Iran, the European Commission has announced an initial amount of EUR 1.2 million of emergency funding to assist the most vulnerable communities.

In a statement released on Thursday, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides declared, “We stand in full solidarity with the Iranian people at this difficult time. Our thoughts are with the thousands of families affected by the deadly floods as well as with the brave responders on the ground. The EU will help deliver essential support in the impacted areas.” 

The commissioner added, “The new funding will support humanitarian partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in delivering much needed relief assistance which will allow the most in need to cover their urgent needs. For over 20 years the EU has funded humanitarian operations in Iran, providing assistance to the most vulnerable refugees, including protection, shelter, water and sanitation, food security, and access to basic education and healthcare services.”

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran FM Says Europe Incapable of Bypassing US Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Wednesday European powers were incapable of bypassing sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US after it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

Iran and six world powers agreed on a deal in 2015 that severely restricted Tehran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief and economic incentives.

However President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the deal—technically called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—last May, reimposing punishing sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The other parties to the nuclear deal—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia along with the European Union—however insist they remain committed to making the deal work.  

"The Europeans at first viewed the JCPOA (nuclear deal) as an achievement, but maybe they were not prepared to, and certainly they were not capable of standing up against U.S sanctions," Zarif said in an interview with Khamenei.ir, the official website of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“We will continue pressing the Europeans to implement their commitments. Europe must know that they cannot shy away from their responsibilities with a few statements and some unaccomplished plans," he added.

Zarif, who was his country's chief negotiator in the negotiations leading to the deal, said that Iran would continue to pressure the Europeans to act on their obligations within the deal but added that "we never had any hopes" in them.

Instead of the western powers the Islamic republic has turned to its traditional partners such as Russia and China, Zarif said, adding "the future of our foreign policy lies in that way."

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Flood Death Toll Reaches 62

The death toll from major floods swamping much of Iran over the past 15 days has risen to 62, the head of the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization told local media Wednesday.

Ahmad Shojaee told the semi-official Fars news agency the southern province of Fars has been hit the hardest with 21 dead.

The western province of Lorestan and the northern province of Golestan followed with 14 and 8 dead respectively, he said.

Flood-related deaths have been reported in 11 out of Iran's 31 provinces, Shojaee added.

The semi-official ISNA news agency said the current toll was a tally of the victims whose bodies have been transferred to coroner offices across the country—indicating the count could still rise. 

Iran has been hit by flooding across most of the country since March.

The country's northeast was swamped on March 19 before the west and southwest of the country were inundated on March 25, killing a total 45 people.

Flooding in the west and southwest continued on April 1 when heavy rains returned to the area. 

"Seventy-eight intercity roads have been blocked, as many as 2,199 rural roads and 84 bridges have been washed away," said Behnam Saeedi, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Organisation.

"Across 15 provinces, 141 rivers burst their banks and around 400 land slides were reported," he told state TV.

The government said the flooding had damaged nearly 12,000 kilometers (7,500 miles) of roads, or 36 percent of the country's entire street network.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iraq PM to Make First Official Iran Visit Saturday

Iraqi premier Adel Abdel Mahdi will travel to Iran on Saturday, a member of his office said, in his first official visit to the country rivaling Washington for influence over Baghdad.

The US reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran's energy and finance sectors last year but has granted Baghdad several exemptions to keep temporarily importing Iranian gas and electricity, crucial to Iraq's faltering power sector.

Abdel Mahdi, 77, has repeatedly said Iraq wants good ties with both the US and Iran. 

The prime minister would spend two days in the Islamic republic, a member of his office told AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to press.

He was expected to discuss "the issue of trade outside the framework of sanctions" in addition to "the rapprochement and the convergence of views between Iran and Arab countries", the official said. 

Iran is the second-largest supplier of imported goods to Iraq and also enjoys vast political influence in the country, particularly among Iraq's Shiite parties. 

Those factions credit Iran for helping Iraqi armed forces defeat the Islamic State group in a fierce three-year battle that ravaged much of the country. 

Since declaring victory over IS in 2017, Iraq has strived to make a diplomatic comeback as a mediator among regional rivals.

A string of top officials have visited the Iraqi capital in recent months, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in March, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in January, and a host of Arab leaders. 

During his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Abdel Mahdi said he was planning trips to Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, without specifying dates. 

The premier has rarely travelled since coming to power in October, making his first trip abroad in late March to Egypt.

There, he met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss economic and security cooperation among the three countries. 

Last month, Iraq's speaker of parliament Mohammed al-Halbusi travelled to the US, where he said his country would need to rely on Iranian gas and electricity for another three years.

Photo Credit: President.ir

UniCredit Said Near $900 Million Sanctions Accord With U.S.

UniCredit SpA is nearing an agreement with US authorities over allegations that the bank provided dollar-clearing services to Iranian clients in violation of US sanctions, people with the knowledge of the matter said. The deal would cost the Italian lender about USD 900 million but spare it from criminal prosecution, the people said.

A settlement of that size would be one of the largest for violations of U.S. sanctions laws, exceeded only by agreements reached with Societe Generale SA, Commerzbank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and BNP Paribas SA. Among them, only BNP Paribas admitted guilt. The others entered into deferred-prosecution agreements.

“This is very positive for UniCredit because it eliminates one of the remaining pending risks for the bank,” said Fidentiis Equities analyst Fabrizio Bernardi. “This can improve UniCredit’s valuation for the future.

Chief Executive Officer Jean Pierre Mustier inherited the case from previous management when he took the who took the helm in July 2016. He announced provisions for related to the probe in November and said he didn’t expect it to have a material impact on the bank’s accounts.

A deal is expected in the coming weeks, the people said. It would resolve investigations of UniCredit by the U.S. Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Federal Reserve, the Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York’s Department of Financial Services.

Representatives from those offices declined to comment or didn’t immediately respond to messages. A UniCredit spokesman declined to comment.

UniCredit rose as much as 2.3 percent in Milan trading and was priced at 12.10 euros as of 9:14 a.m. The stock has gained 21 percent this year, boosting the company’s market value to about 26 billion euros.

UniCredit’s German unit, HypoVereinsbank, was subpoenaed in March 2011 by the New York district attorney’s office over transactions with certain Iranian entities that were subject to U.S. sanctions. The lender set aside 741 million euros (USD 831 million) in provisions and charges, including funds to eventually settle the allegations in the third quarter. Additional funds were provisioned by HVB in the first half, according to the unit’s financial report.

UniCredit has declined to disclose the total amount of provisioning related to the sanctions. The bank’s provisions for the settlement are expected to fully cover the fine, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Italy’s biggest bank, UniCredit is one of several European financial institutions settling cases for alleged sanctions-busting. Fifteen European banks have paid more than USD 18.5 billion over the last 15 years for violating U.S. sanctions on certain countries, particularly Iran. BNP Paribas’ USD 18.97 billion penalty in 2014 was by far the largest.

Standard Chartered Plc may also be getting close to settling allegations that it violated Iran sanctions. On Monday, it agreed to a short extension of its non-prosecution agreement with supervising authorities to “allow for additional time to resolve the outstanding investigation into our historical U.S. sanctions compliance.”

The UniCredit settlement would be the second by an Italian bank. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, the country’s second-biggest bank, agreed to pay USD 235 million in December 2016 to resolve a New York regulator’s allegations that it flouted money-laundering controls for a decade.

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Britain, France, Germany Seek Full UN Report of Iran Missile Activity

Britain, France and Germany are accusing Iran of developing missile technology, following recent activities, that they said was inconsistent with a UN resolution, and are calling for a full UN report, according to a letter released Tuesday.

The European trio cited Iran's launch of a space vehicle and the unveiling of two new ballistic missiles in February as forming "part of trend of increased activity inconsistent" with the resolution, according to the letter sent to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231—adopted just after the 2015 nuclear deal—calls on Iran "not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons." 

Tehran insists that its missile program is defensive and that it has no intention of developing a nuclear capability.

The three countries asked Guterres to "report fully and throughly on Iranian ballistic missile activity" in his next report, which is expected in June.

The letter from the European countries, which are signatories to the nuclear deal along with the United States and Russia, came nearly a month after the United States made a similar appeal to the council, saying it was time to bring back tougher international restrictions on Tehran.

President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear accord in May last year and reimposed sanctions on Iran, citing concerns about missile development among its reasons.

At a council meeting in December, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for tighter restrictions on Iran to curb its missile program but Russia flatly asserted that there was no proof that Iran's missiles can carry a nuclear payload.

The European countries said the Safir space launch vehicle used for a satellite blastoff on February 6 is based on two other missiles and uses technology closely related to the development of long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

On February 7, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards unveiled the Dezful surface-to-surface missile which they claimed had a range of 1,000 kilometers, according to the letter sent on March 25.

During a public display in Tehran on February 4, Iran revealed a variant of the Khorramshahr ballistic missile that the letter said was "potentially an intermediate-range ballistic missile." 

Iran reined in most of its nuclear program under the landmark nuclear deal with major powers but has kept up development of its ballistic missile technology.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran FM Accuses US of 'Economic Terrorism' as Flood-Hit Cities Evacuated

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the United States of impeding aid efforts and "economic terrorism" on Monday as authorities ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in western Iran.

US sanctions are "impeding aid efforts by #IranianRedcrescent to all communities devastated by unprecedented floods," Zarif tweeted, referring to search and rescue operations being conducted after huge rainfalls triggered vast flooding.

"Blocked equipment includes relief choppers," the tweet read, adding that "this isn't just economic warfare; it's economic TERRORISM."

The evacuation was ordered after rivers burst their banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication.

A chronic shortage of rescue helicopters in Iran, due to US sanctions, has forced the emergency services to request help from military helicopters and amphibious armored personnel carriers to assist in the rescue operations.

The authorities declared a "situation red", the highest level of alert, in Lorestan province with four or five cities "completely critical", state television news network IRINN reported from Khorramabad, the region's capital.

"In Khorramabad the water has risen by as much as three meters (nearly 10 feet) in parts... and reports are coming in of regions... completely submerged with residents stranded on their rooftops," it added.

The Red Crescent's provincial director, Sarem Rezaee, said his organization had lost contact with much of the region.

“Telephones are not working, our radio communications are down... at this moment we have no news of other cities and villages," he told IRINN, adding roads were flooded and helicopters were unable to take off due to the bad weather.

“We have requested emergency help from neighboring provinces but at the present no one can do anything."

The airport in the western city of Khorramabad was flooded, with images showing water submerging the runway and cutting the province's main air link to the rest of the country.

Authorities in Lorestan ordered evacuations in many regions, bringing in the armed forces to forcibly remove those who do not comply, local media reported.

'Lost All Contact'

The authorities said Pol-e-Dokhtar and Mamulan cities were already half submerged, with one fatality reported in Mamulan.

Images on local media show water gushing through streets in Pol-e-Dokhtar where the water level had reached 1.5 meters (five feet).

Every village in the vicinity of the two cities had been surrounded by flood waters while all five dams in Lorestan had reached capacity and four of them were overflowing.

"We have lost all contact with Pol-e-Dokhtar," the Lorestan Governor General Mousa Khademi told the semi-official ISNA News Agency.

"We do not have any information on the situation there... we do not know how many people have been affected by the floods," he added.

Numerous rivers had burst their banks and landslides blocked many roads, said the reports.

Media outlets showed images of collapsed bridges and oil and gas pipelines destroyed by the flood.

The main railway line linking Tehran to the south of the country had also been blocked by the flood.

This is the third major flood to hit Iran in the past two weeks with unprecedented rainfalls in the mostly arid country that had endured a decades-long drought until this year.

The first occurred in the northeast of the country on March 19 and the second struck the west and southwest of Iran on March 25 with a combined toll of 45 people killed.

The present flood has again struck in the west and southwest following heavy rain that is set to continue into Tuesday. Apart from Lorestan half a dozen other provinces are also facing critical circumstances, with the emergency services reporting 23 out of Iran's 31 provinces have been affected and could face floods.

With the consecutive floods the reservoirs of many dams have reached full capacity forcing emergency discharge, as much as 1,800 cubic meters per second in some cases, to prevent them from breaking.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Iran Says OPEC+ Pact Will Be `Easy' to Extend Beyond June

The OPEC+ group could easily extend its agreement on oil-production cuts, according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.

“My understanding is, there is no difficulty extending the cooperation. It should be easy” to prolong the deal beyond the first half of the year, Zanganeh told reporters in Moscow following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak. The current OPEC+ pact “is going ahead well,” Zanganeh added.

Iran is exempt from oil-output cuts following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to re-impose sanctions on the country last year. When the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies met in Vienna in December to work out the details of the new production-cuts pact, Iran’s opposition was one of the stumbling blocks to reaching a deal. Russia helped to overcome this and get a deal agreed.

The OPEC+ agreement to reduce oil output by 1.2 million barrels a day expires at the end of June. So far, there’s little clarity on how willing the key members of the group are to extend it. Russia, OPEC’s main ally outside the group, has advocated a wait-and-see approach, proposing to postpone a decision until May or June. Saudi Arabia, which was initially in favor of making a new commitment quickly, later agreed more time is needed.

Oil just had its best quarter in a decade which prompted Trump to criticize OPEC, saying the cartel should increase production because prices are getting “too high.”

Despite pressure from Trump to raise production, Saudi Arabia and the other members of OPEC+ seem resolved to continue restraining output to avert a glut. OPEC’s crude production slid in March for a fourth month, according to a Bloomberg survey, as Saudi Arabia pressed on with output curbs aimed at balancing global markets, and as an economic crisis in Venezuela escalated.

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

Iran Orders Evacuation of Flood-Hit Western Cities

Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in a western province as rivers burst their banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication.

The highest level of alert was declared in Lorestan province with four or five cities "completely critical", state television news network IRINN reported from Khorramabad, the region's capital.

"In Khorramabad the water has risen by as much as three metres (nearly 10 feet) in parts... and reports are coming in of regions... completely submerged with residents stranded on their rooftops," it added.

The Red Crescent's provincial director, Sarem Rezaee, said his organization had lost contact with much of the region.

"Telephones are not working, our radio communications are down... at this moment we have no news of other cities and villages," he told IRINN, adding roads were flooded and helicopters were unable to take off due to the bad weather.

"We have requested emergency help from neighbouring provinces but at the present no one can do anything."

The airport in the western city of Khorramabad was flooded, with images showing water submerging the runway and cutting the province's main air link to the rest of the country.

Authorities in Lorestan ordered evacuations in many regions, bringing in the armed forces to forcibly remove those who do not comply, local media reported.

The authorities said Pol-e-Dokhtar and Mamulan cities were already half submerged, with one fatality reported in Mamulan. 

Images on local media show water gushing through streets in Pol-e-Dokhtar where the water level had reached 1.5 metres (five feet).

Every village in the vicinity of the two cities had been surrounded by flood waters while all five dams in Lorestan had reached capacity and four of them were overflowing.

Numerous rivers had burst their banks and landslides blocked many roads, said the reports.

Media outlets showed images of collapsed bridges and oil and gas pipelines destroyed by the flood.

The main railway line linking Tehran to the south of the country had also been blocked by the flood.

This is the third major flood to hit Iran in the past two weeks with unprecedented rainfalls in the mostly arid country that had endured a decades long drought until this year.

The first occurred in the northeast of the country on March 19 and the second struck the west and southwest of Iran on March 25 with a combined toll of 45 people killed.

The present flood has again struck in the west and southwest following heavy rain that is set to continue into Tuesday.

Apart from Lorestan half a dozen other provinces are also facing critical circumstances, with the emergency services reporting 23 out of Iran's 31 provinces have been affected and could face floods.

With the consecutive floods the reservoirs of many dams have reached full capacity forcing emergency discharge, as much as 1,800 cubic meters per second in some cases, to prevent them from breaking.

Photo Credit: IRNA

Uber of Iran Hits Two Million Rides-a-Day Mark Amid Growth Spurt

Snapp, also known as the Uber of Iran, said its ride-hailing app is generating two million fares a day as young people in Tehran embrace technology in a market that’s off-limits for western investors.

“Snapp Tehran is now larger than any Uber city globally," co-founder Eyad Alkassar said in a statement. “Reaching this milestone in only three years makes Snapp one of the fastest-growing internet companies in the world.”

The Middle East has been grabbing the attention of international investors in the past two years, with the largest-ever tech deal in the region struck last week as ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc. agreed to buy its regional competitor Careem Networks FZ for USD 3.1 billion. The Middle East and North Africa has seen up to a 50 percent increase in funding year-on-year in startups since 2015, according to Magnitt, a regional data platform for startups.

Iran, home to more than 80 million people, remains out of reach to U.S. and European investors after President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions in November, forcing Western companies out and hitting Iran’s oil exports and economy.

Backed by South African telecommunication provider MTN Group, Snapp operates in 34 cities across Iran and partners with 1.5 million drivers. Snapp Group, has grown its business into other services, including food and grocery delivery and a travel booking app. It’s one of the two major ride-hailing apps currently operating in Iran.

Photo Credit: Snapp

Iraq Needs Three Years on Iran Power: Parliament Speaker

Iraq's parliament speaker voiced hope Friday that the United States will keep waiving sanctions on energy purchases from Iran, saying his country will need to import electricity from its neighbor for three years.

President Donald Trump's administration has sought to cut off all exports from Iran but has twice granted three-month exemptions to Iraq, mindful of chronic blackouts that have reignited unrest in the war-torn country.

"Hopefully this waiver will be extended until Iraq can stand on its feet economically," Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi said at the US Institute of Peace on a visit to Washington, where he met leaders including Vice President Mike Pence.

Halbusi, a member of the Sunni minority whose bloc is nonetheless considered sympathetic to Shiite power Iran, said Iraq imported 30 percent of its power despite its plentiful oil reserves and needed about three years to develop its own capacity.

“After these three years, maybe we can see Iraq as economically independent and we won't need to import power or electricity from a foreign country. Maybe we can address this issue after three years," he said.

Speaking afterwards to reporters, Halbusi warned the United States of the negative effect of "any hasty, uncalculated step to adopt policies and procedures against countries in this region."

Trump last year exited an international agreement on curbing Iran's nuclear program and reimposed punishing sanctions with hopes of curbing the clerical regime's influence around the Middle East.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meeting Thursday with Halbusi, said he supported an Iraq "open to the region and the world" and pledged US help for the country's development, according to a State Department statement that did not mention Iran.

Photo Credit: MAPNA