GREEN MOVEMENT LEADER STILL LANGUISHES
Remember Mehdi Karroubi? The former chairman of Iran's parliament, or majles, was a key leader - along with former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi - of the so-called "Green Movement" that emerged in the aftermath of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial 2009 reelection. Karroubi, who has languished under house arrest since 2011 for his role in the protests, is breaking his silence to request that Iran's current president, Hassan Rouhani, throw his weight behind getting him an open trial. Karroubi has declared that he would like to use this venue to disseminate new details about electoral fraud surrounding the 2009 election. (Associated Press, April 9, 2016)
THE JCPOA'S ENERGY DIVIDEND
While the nuclear deal struck last summer between Iran and the P5+1 nations has not yet fully normalized the Islamic Republic's trade with the outside world, it has already yielded enormous benefits in at least one arena: energy. The Iranian government has announced that the country is currently exporting 1.7 million barrels of crude oil daily - an increase of some 90 percent over export levels while under international sanctions. At current prices, Iranian officials say, that volume of energy trade would yield the regime $21 billion a year in revenue. (Moscow Sputnik, April 11, 2016)
EUROPE BECOMES THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC'S LOBBYIST
Iranian officials have found a new ally in their attempts to lobby the United States for still greater sanctions relief. In recent weeks, Iranian officials have made the case - both publicly and in their meetings with their American counterparts - for greater access to the U.S. dollar and the U.S. financial system as a means of helping Iran normalize trade with foreign nations. Now, Iran can apparently count on Europe's support for their diplomatic initiative.
In mid-April, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini visited Iran on an official trip that yielded significant insights into Europe's softening political stance vis-a-vis the Islamic Republic. "The main message that I have delivered here is the fact that we Europeans have as much as an interest as the Iranians that this issue is solved," Mogherini told reporters following her meetings in Tehran. "We have an economic interest also in coming back here as the first trading partner... In order to do that we need our banks to be present here." (Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2016)
IRAN SETS ITS SIGHTS ON INDIA
Iranian officials are exploring the possibility of expanding the country's trade ties to India. According to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh, the Islamic Republic is ready to significantly expand the volume of its oil exports to India. Currently, Iran exports 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the South Asian state. But the lifting of sanctions restrictions in the wake of last summer's nuclear deal has paved the way for an expanded energy trade between the two countries - and stepped up cooperation in the energy field. The "Islamic Republic is ready to facilitate energy ties with India in several areas including providing natural gas to Indian petrochemical projects as well as other energy-intensive projects in Iran," Zangeneh has said. (Tehran MEHR, April 10, 2016)
AN IRANIAN GENERAL IN MOSCOW
Russia and Iran are coordinating their strategy anew. In mid-April, Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's feared Qods Force paramilitary unit, traveled once again to Moscow in violation of an international ban on his movement. The purpose of Soleimani's visit, multiple news sources have reported, "was to discuss new delivery routes for shipments of Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems" to Iran - an issue long under consideration between the two countries - as well as to discuss "how Russia and Iran could help the Syrian government take back full control of the city of Aleppo." While in Moscow, Soleimani reportedly met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Iranian general's previous trip to the Russian capital, taken last summer, set the stage for Russia's military intervention in support of the Assad regime this past September. (Reuters, April 15, 2016)
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