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Thursday’s Iran Mini Report – May 23, 2019

Thursday's Iran Mini Report - May 23, 2019

• Up To 10,000 More Troops May Head To Middle East To Deter Iran
ABC News: U.S. Central Command is requesting additional defensive capabilities that could lead to as many as 5,000 to 10,000 additional troops being sent to the Middle East to deter Iran, a U.S. official told ABC News. There will be a meeting at the White House on Thursday where the Central Command request will be considered, according to two U.S. officials, who stressed that it is unclear which portions of the CENTCOM request could be approved at this White House meeting.

• Khamenei Blames Rouhani, Zarif For Nuclear Deal, Denies Responsibility
Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has openly shrugged off responsibility for the nuclear agreement Iran concluded with world powers in 2015. Khamenei, who was speaking to hand-picked representatives of Iranian students on Wednesday, May 22, expressed his dissatisfaction with the way President Hassan Rouhani and his team handled the nuclear deal also known as JCPOA.
• The Latest: Iran Supreme Leader Critical Of FM In Nuke Deal
Associated Press: As tensions with the U.S. mount, Iran’s supreme leader has said the country’s president and foreign minister didn’t act as he wished in implementing the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The comments Wednesday night, posted on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s official website, are the first time he’s blamed both President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by name in his concerns about the deal.

• Security Forces Raid Restaurant Serving Food During Ramadan Fast

The state security forces on Wednesday, May 22, 2019, raided a restaurant in a university in the northeastern city of Mashhad that was serving food during the Ramadan fast.
A video circulated on social media showed college students fleeing from rooftops as state authorities raiding the restaurant to arrest anyone eating during fasting hours.

There are other videos published on social media during the past few days, showing the state security forces arresting people for eating during fasting hours.

• 1,600 Iran child brides forced into marriage in south-central province

A judicial official in the province of Hamedan said that 1,596 child brides married in the south central province last year.

The Social Deputy of Crime Prevention at the Hamedan Judiciary also said that from these marriages, 10% had led to divorce.

These kinds of marriages have dire consequences for child brides including child pregnancy, death from childbirth, depression and sometimes suicide in addition to divorce and lack of education.

According to official sources, the marriages of at least 37,000 child brides between the ages of 10 to 14 were registered in Iran in 2017. This does not include marriages that were not legally registered.
• Senior German Diplomat In Tehran For Nuclear Deal Talks
Associated Press: A senior German diplomat is in Tehran to press Iran to continue to respect the landmark nuclear deal, despite the unilateral withdrawal of the US and increasing pressure from Washington. The Foreign Ministry says Political Director Jens Ploetner is meeting with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday. The visit comes amid mounting tensions in the region.
• Ankara Stopped Buying Iran Oil Out Of ‘Respect’ For US Sanctions
AFP: Ankara stopped importing oil from Iran at the beginning of May out of “respect” for American sanctions despite disagreeing with them, a Turkish official said on Wednesday. “As a strategic ally” of the United States, “we respect” the sanctions, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous, during Turkish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yavuz Selim Kiran’s visit to Washington. Since pulling out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal a year ago, President Donald Trump’s administration has hit Iran with severe sanctions prohibiting the export of Iranian oil, as well as targeting countries that continue to purchase it.
• Iran Has Amassed The Largest Ballistic Missile Force In The Middle East
The National Interest: Deterring regional adversaries from threatening Iran is the primary reason Tehran has amassed the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East. The missile program actually began under the Shah, but it was accelerated during the Iran-Iraq War in order to threaten Saddam Hussein with strikes deep in Iraqi territory. Since then, Iran has worked with countries like Libya, North Korea and China in order to develop a large and diverse arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles that form one part of its three-leg deterrent strategy.
• US Think Tank Releases Interactive Map Detailing Iran-Backed Militias
Al Arabiya: The Washington Institute released an interactive map showcasing Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East by detailing the whereabouts, operations and force deployments of Iran-backed militias in the region. The American think tank said that the information and sources used to create the map was compiled mainly from primary source data, including contacts within militia circles and social media analysis collected for nearly ten years.
• Iranian Singer Gets Summons Over Solo Performance
BBC News: A female singer in Iran has been summoned to appear in court after performing solo in public, according to media reports. Negar Moazzam sang for a group of tourists in the historic village of Abyaneh last week, wearing the traditional costume of that part of Isfahan Province, until local Cultural Heritage Organisation staff cut short her performance, Fars news agency reports.
• Iran Youth Will Witness Demise Of Israel, ‘American Civilization’: Khamenei
Reuters: Iran’s youth will witness the demise of Israel and American civilization, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday in comments published on his official website. “You young people should be assured that you will witness the demise of the enemies of humanity, meaning the degenerate American civilization, and the demise of Israel,” Khamenei said in a meeting with students. He gave no further details.
• Congress Forgoes Iran War Restrictions To Save Anti-Assad Bill
Al Monitor: The Senate has struggled to pass a long-stalled Syria sanctions bill since 2016, even as the House has unanimously passed the largely noncontroversial legislation several times. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee finally advanced the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act by a 20-2 vote today. But first, lawmakers had to vote down an amendment barring the Donald Trump administration from attacking Iran.
• Iran’s Rouhani Asks For More Powers, Khamenei’s People Say ‘No’
The spokesman of Iran’s hardliner-dominated Guardian Council, Abbasali Kadkhodaei has criticized President Hassan Rouhani for complaining about his “limited powers.” Kadkhodai tweeted that “Iranian Presidents have always had extensive powers,” adding that “even more authority has been vested in the president in this presidential term in view of the country’s situation.” The hardliner spokesman of the Guardian Council then asked Rouhani “Have you used these extensive powers to solve the country’s problems?”
• Iranian Children Are Dancing To Pop Music, And The Government Is Furious
The Washington Post: As the United States and Iran have traded threats these past weeks and inched closer to the brink of a military confrontation, Iranian hard-liners have identified a new “political plot” by an “enemy” who is “trying different ways to create anxiety among the people,” Education Minister Mohammad Bathaei warned. Bathaei was not speaking about the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group or a bomber task force dispatched to the region earlier in May.
• Yemen’s Houthis Attack Saudi Arabia’s Najran Airport Again
Middle East Monitor: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group said today it had carried out another drone attack on Najran airport in south-western Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border. “Houthis’ Qasef K2 combat drones hit Saudi Arabia’s Najran Regional Airport for the second time in 24 hours,” a military source told the group’s Lebanon-based Al-Masirah. The source added that the airstrike was targeting a hanger at the airport containing warplanes.
• Iran Closes Border Crossing With Iraq Citing ‘Backlog’ Of Export Goods
The Iranian Customs Administration closed Soumar border crossing in Western Iran on Tuesday May 21, bringing export of Iranian goods to Iraq to a halt, Mehr news agency reported. A statement issued by the Iranian Customs Administration orders transportation companies “To stop sending export goods to the Soumar border until further notice.” The Iranian Customs Administration has issued the statement reportedly after a huge backlog was built up at the border with Iraq.