US Senators Express Alarm Over Iran After Briefing

The money-losing Russian lender is one of many key Russian banks now blocked from the SWIFT international financial messaging service.

Ties with Iran, also disconnected from SWIFT since 2018, have become ever more crucial for Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The two countries have already connected their interbank communication and transfer systems, and Tehran has for months been planning to accept Russia's Mir payment cards, Moscow's alternative to Visa and Mastercard.

"The number of foreign banks' representative offices in recent years dropped from around 45 to 15, and VTB is the only bank to open its office during this period," semi-official news agency ILNA quoted Alireza Peymanpak, the head of Iran's Trade Promotion Organization, as saying. "Due to its active presence in the banking networks of Iran's export destinations such as CIS countries, India, Vietnam and particularly China, VTB will help to attract export earnings and reduce foreign transfer costs for Iran."

A source familiar with the Iranian banking market said VTB had already opened correspondent accounts with Iranian banks.

Meanwhile, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina may visit Iran in the coming weeks to strengthen financial ties, a separate source told Reuters.

Dominant lender Sberbank's SBER.MM CEO, German Gref, has also discussed reinforcing ties with the Islamic Republic, but has not yet entered the market, another source said, while fellow state-owned lender Promsvyazbank, which focuses primarily on the defense sector, is already present in Iran.

Reporting by Reuters

Oman Air said Tuesday that its flight WY2435 from Shiraz to Muscat was grounded on Monday after the aircraft was damaged.

The Muscat-based airline did not specify what debris struck the Boeing 737 during the landing at Shiraz International Airport.

“Our engineering team is undertaking the necessary measures to safely bring the aircraft back to Muscat,” the airline said in an online statement. Passengers on the flight were given accommodation in Shiraz, 680 kilometers southeast of Tehran.

Another plane was sent to take them back to Muscat.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the incident by the Iranian officials.

There have been a number of similar incidents over the past few years, as Iran’s air sector struggles with the effects of US sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

Norwegian Air Shuttle landed a brand-new Boeing 737 Max in Shiraz in December 2018 after one of its engines failed at altitude while flying from Dubai. The aircraft remained on the ground for several months before finally departing.

Shiraz airport serves both commercial and military flights, as do many other airports in the Middle East.

Oman has often served as a mediator for the West with Iran, against a backdrop of Tehran's tense relations with its Arab neighbors and the US.

Iran’s advancements in uranium enrichment technology, its continuing interventions in the region and changed circumstances make the 2015 nuclear agreement out of place. However, Washington and its European allies are worried about Iran reaching the nuclear break-out point and are looking for ways to forge a new deal with Tehran.

Jalal Sadatian, Iran’s former ambassador in Britain told ILNA news website in Tehran that if the United States does not find a solution to the nuclear crisis with Iran, it might up the ante and trigger the return of international sanctions at the UN Security Council.

Sadatian argued that Washington was not after more tensions with Iran in 2021 and 2022 as it negotiated for the revival of the JCPOA, but all attempts to reach a deal failed. Now, some reports speak of a limited deal in which Iran receives partial sanctions relief in exchange for limiting the production of fissile material.

Amir-Ali Abolfat’h, a commentator on international affairs who is considered an expert on US issues in Iran, told Fararu website that a partial agreement does not seem to a feasible alternative for both sides. The US is concerned about the knowhow Iran has achieved in uranium enrichment and what it really wants is to eliminate the danger for good. 

The US is concerned that if problems emerge in the future after a deal, Iran “would have plenty of means to achieve new progress in its nuclear program,” he said and added that the US cannot limit the scientific advances Iran has made, “nor bomb it out of existence.”

Iran on the other hand, would not agree to serious nuclear curbs simply for partial lifting of sanctions, Abolfat’h said. 

What the United States wants from Iran goes even beyond the nuclear issue, the Iranian expert said. “They want multiple JCPOAs,” not just nuclear deal, he said. They want a comprehensive deal preventing Iran’s interventions in the region and weapons proliferation, making the revival of the 2015 accord impractical. 

A recent article in Foreign Policy by university professors Ali Vaez and Vali Nasr in the United States has attracted a lot of attention among experts in Iran. The authors argued that a comprehensive deal, including a nuclear and a regional agreement would be the best solution for the Middle East. But comments about the article in the Iranian media reveal a misunderstanding by local pundits, who see the suggestion more as a partial deal than a comprehensive solution.

Abolfat’h for example argued that the proposal by the two US experts is “reductionist and unrealistic,” and Iran would not agree with any partial lifting of sanctions. He added that the two authors are close to the Biden administration and “their proposals is not necessarily compatible with Iran’s national interests.”

Sadatian, however, sounded more optimistic that reduction of regional tensions could help the process of achieving a lasting deal with the United States. He pointed out that although Iran’s March agreement with Saudi Arabia to restore relations is not a decisive factor by itself, but it can help smooth the way toward a deal with the West.

He also warned about Russia’s interest in torpedoing any agreement, echoing past concerns by many Iranian observers.

“If we want to revisit all the strange ups and downs in our relations with the West, we can easily see the footprint of Russia that has tried not to allow us to get closer to the United States.”

Recovering in hospital from a hunger strike of more than two months, the campaigner posted a video Tuesday saying: “Through my contacts in Iran, I have been given this latest information that the religious platform for my death has been issued by one of the clerics of Islamic Republic of Iran connected to IRGC.”

A defiant Beheshti added: “If you release 10 fatwas for my death. We won't stop our activities. We wouldn't step in this path.”

He has been in hospital since May 5, before which he had survived for 73 days on nothing but water, coffee, salt and sugar cubes.

His hunger strike outside the British Foreign Office in London had been devoted to raising awareness about atrocities committed in his homeland and to pressure UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to proscribe the IRGC as a terror group, Beheshti described it as “the most brutal mafia in the world”.

Beheshti said Sunak's government should not wait any longer to proscribe the IRGC but rather move forward now.

The activist warned if ministers refuse to act, IRGC agents will eventually force them to do so: “If they come to the streets of London and do something tragic, then it’s too late to wake up.”

Beheshti is not the only UK citizen under threat from Tehran. MI5, the UK's domestic security agency, revealed last year that at least ten Iranian plots to kill or abduct British citizens had been discovered.

Although no detailed reports are yet available, scant information shows that Republican senators sharply criticized the administration for lack of a new policy on Iran and what some said was lack of effective sanctions enforcement.

Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) released a brief statement saying that after six months since President Joe Biden declared the 2015 nuclear accord, the JCPOA “dead” the US “is no closer to a more comprehensive Iran policy. Strategic ambiguity on Iran policy only serves to embolden the regime and push our partners closer to China.”

Biden administration’s indirect negotiations with Iran to revive the agreement, abandoned by former President Donald Trump in 2018, reached a deadlock last September. Since then, senior US officials have repeatedly said that they are no longer focused on the JCPOA.

President Biden was heard saying in November 2020 that the JCPOA is dead, but the administration has continued to emphasize its commitment to a diplomatic solution.

Sen. Risch went on to say that “As Iran continues to illegally seize vessels, target Americans in the region, and support its terror proxies and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Americans deserve a policy that is more than a failed nuclear negotiation.”

Iran appears to have been emboldened by a Chinese-brokered deal to restore relations with Saudi Arabia after years of regional isolation. It has openly taken credit for supporting Palestinian and other militant groups for their attacks on Israel in April and May and has seized two commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf region in recent weeks.

The Saudi-Iranian agreement was seen as empowerment of China in the Middle East and a sign of waning US influence in the region.

Israeli officials have been urging more military and economic pressure on the Islamic Republic, but the Biden administration appears to be reluctant to get entangles in a new conflict, as it is focused on the war in Ukraine and the Taiwan crisis.

Politico quoted a Senate Democratic aide Monday that there has been progress in indirect nuclear talks with Iran, but so far, there is no indication that this was part of the briefing in the Senate.

Republicans have long been demanding a more forceful approach by the administration toward Iran, including a vigorous enforcement of key sanctions,

Senator Lindsey Graham criticized the fact that Iran’s oil illicit oil exports to China are increasing and the Biden administration does little to enforce third-party penalties on those who buy Iranian crude.