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All by Bloomberg News
◢ The U.S. said it has sanctioned members of an Iranian government agency that it says rigs elections in the country by disqualifying candidates who don’t echo the political ideology of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Five members of Iran’s Guardian Council and its Elections Supervision Committee, who are appointed by Khamenei, were added to the U.S. sanctions list on Thursday.
◢ When Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran in 2013, supporters pinned their hopes on him to revive the country’s fortunes and rehabilitate its relationship with the rest of the world. For retired teacher Manzar Zarabi, that hope crumbled into more insecurity, economic stagnation—and then unspeakable loss with the shooting down of an airplane that killed four close members of her family.
◢ So-called “principlists”—conservatives wedded to the theocratic ideals of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and often connected to the IRGC—are set to win elections to Iran’s parliament on Friday. And although the legislature has only limited powers, the vote will set the foundations for presidential elections due next year and the eight-year political cycle to follow.
◢ Oman is working to reduce tensions in the Persian Gulf and sees prospects of talks between arch-rivals Iran and the U.S., its foreign minister said. “We are in touch with the U.S. and Iran,” Yousef Bin Alawi, Oman’s foreign minister, was cited as saying on Sunday at the Munich Security Conference.
◢ The Senate voted to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to take military action against Iran, with eight Republicans joining Democrats to approve a measure that would require express congressional approval before a strike.
◢ France condemned efforts by Iran to build a new ballistic missile with a range of more than 500 kilometers, further complicating efforts to keep Tehran operating within the framework of a faltering nuclear accord. France also said Iran had fired off a “space launcher” with ballistic missile technology.
◢ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was jeered by supporters of hard-line conservative rivals as he called for national unity and fair elections in a key address just weeks head of parliamentary polls. Marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Rouhani praised Iranians for withstanding the economic hardship.
◢ The Senate will take up a resolution this week intended to rein in President Donald Trump’s ability to attack Iran without congressional authorization, as Democrats and a small group of Republican senators push back following the killing in January of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
◢ Iran overtook Russia to emerge as the top buyer of Indian tea last year, after sanctions against the Islamic Republic halted imports other than specially negotiated deals. India and Iran have been trading through a rupee-based bank account to bypass restrictions imposed by the U.S.
◢ Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani asked his top aides and lawmakers to draft a bill revising the election-related powers of the Guardian Council, one of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful institutions. The move comes after swathes of candidates, including allies of Rouhani, were disqualified from standing in the February 21 parliamentary vote.
◢ Iran has launched a new domestic bond to support manufacturers and non-oil sectors, Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati said. The new bond is expected to raise the equivalent of $3.6 billion at the current free market exchange rate.
◢ A federal appeals court granted a temporary halt in the U.S. prosecution of Turkish lender Halkbank over sanctions violation charges while it weighs other requests by the bank. Halkbank had previously sought to pursue a dismissal of the case without entering a plea on the charges.
◢ The U.S. lifted sanctions against a unit of China’s biggest shipping company that was accused of hauling Iranian crude in violation of American restrictions. The penalties had barred U.S. citizens and companies from dealing with the firms, effectively blocking them from American banks at the heart of the global financial system.
◢ The Trump administration will extend sanctions waivers allowing limited work on Iran’s civil nuclear program for another 60 days, two people familiar with the matter said. At the same time, the administration will announce sanctions on the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and its chief, Ali Akbar Salehi.
◢ Five Katyusha rockets were fired at the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad Sunday night, targeting the U.S. embassy compound there, Iraq’s security forces reported. No injuries were reported but one of the rockets directly hit the embassy building itself.
◢ The U.S. sanctioned four companies that it says have traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals in its latest effort to clamp down on Iran’s revenue sources. All property and interests in the property of the designated companies are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.
◢ Iran will withdraw from a major non-proliferation treaty if European nations attempt to refer the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council over its infringements of the 2015 nuclear deal, the country’s foreign minister said. “If Europeans continue their untenable conduct or send Iran’s nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council, we will withdraw from the N.P.T.,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told lawmakers.
◢ Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran had delivered a “slap to the U.S.’s image as a superpower” in this month’s military confrontation, seeking to rally Iranians around an embattled establishment as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years.
◢ Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned European countries that their soldiers in the Middle East could be exposed to greater danger in the future if instability fueled by the presence of their American counterparts continues. Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran wanted U.S. forces to exit the region “sensibly” to improve stability, before he extended his caution to Europe.
◢ Iran said it’s arrested a number of people linked to the Jan. 8 downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, and the country’s president called on the judiciary to form a special court and fully investigate the disaster. “I promise that the government, with all its ability and using everything at its disposal, will investigate this matter,” Rouhani told officials in remarks broadcast live on state TV.
