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As someone characterized as part of the Iran Deal echo chamber in 2015, many might anticipate that I would oppose the sanctions against Iran presentlybeing developed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But, with modifications and in the right context, the bills being developed in theHouse and in the Senate may actually point the way for the kind of approach to sanctions against Iran that preserves and advances the common cause ofJPOCA proponents and skeptics alike.

Though sometimes lost in the public debates of 2015, the United States neither gave away all of its sanctions leverage over Iran in the JCPOA nor did itlose the right and the ability to impose targeted measures against Iran for actions incompatible with the JCPOA or outside its aegis. Under the JCPOA,what was agreed is that we would exchange nuclear relief for sanctions relief, offering Iran the promise of some economic renewal and securing for theUnited States the relief of Iran being unable to produce a nuclear weapon undetected and in less than a year.

Recognizing the very real threat such a development would pose, the House and Senate bills now under consideration would largely preserve the Obama-era approach. Modifications to the bills are necessary, particularly the Senate bills sweeping, mandatory sanctions on activities with Iran that pose a riskof contributing to Irans missile program, its mandatory terrorism designation of the IRGC (which adds nothing to the sanctions already in place against theIRGC but which military analysts fear could pave the way for retaliation against U.S. forces in the region), and language that could prejudice the ability ofthe U.S. to terminate in time some sanctions designations covered by the deal. These changes do need to be made to make the bill JCPOA compliant.But, by and large, both bills take the approach of imposing targeted sanctions for specific bad acts. They will engender caution in international businesses,but perhaps not outright fear. Iran will benefit economically, but lagging due to its policies.

What is missing now is a reaffirmation that the objective of the United States is not to undermine the JCPOA. Both the White House and the Congressshould state clearly, publicly, and in advance of any movement of this legislation that the JCPOA is working and merits protection and implementation. Thelegislation should reflect this specifically and in the construction of its waiver provisions. U.S. sanctions experts at the State and Treasury Departmentsshould be authorized to continue conversations with international businesses and banks about how to take advantage of JCPOA relief within the sanctionsregime, and to give assurances that so long as Iran fulfills its commitments the rug will not be jerked from under their feet. Absent this reaffirmation, itwould be a mistake to move the bills and certainly to sign them into law.

Irans hardliners are desperate for the United States to walk away from the JCPOA and looking to capitalize on U.S. missteps. Though they may profit inthe short term due to the control they exert over the Iranian economy (made possible in part because of the exigencies imposed by sanctions), economicopenness is seen by hardliners as a wedge through which political change may one day be pursued. Domestic Iranian efforts at reform are based in largepart on demonstrating success being attained via access to the international economy. Instead of granting perverse relief to our opponents in Tehran bydoubling down on a hostile policy, we should avoid chest thumping and grandstanding, including in sanctions form. For example, an aggressive sanctionsapproach to the IRGC that harms the JCPOA will do the IRGCs work for it. Tehran wont scrap the IRGC because it has been designated or targeted. TheUnited States cannot sanction it into oblivion. Its role can only be curtailed by showing that, particularly in the economic space, its involvement does moreharm than good. We should impose some limited, targeted sanctions to be sure; abandoning sanctions altogether for fear of offending the Iranians easesthe pressure on the system to resolve the contradictions in Irans own policies and government management. But, we must tailor our measures in a waythat makes the necessity of reform easier to argue and keeps the pressure on the IRGC and on Iran where it counts: at home.

We must proceed carefully, sensibly, and with a measure of respect for the needs and requirements of our adversary, our partners, and our own nationalsecurity. After all, if the JCPOA is damaged or lost, we lose something as well. Far from being something Iran should be grateful for getting, the JCPOA isdelivering value to the United States. For the first time in a generation, U.S., Israeli, and Gulf Arab national security thinkers can imagine a Middle East inwhich the near term risk is not Iranian nuclear weapons acquisition. In todays Middle East, that is a win worth preserving.

Richard Nephew was the lead sanctions expert for the U.S. team negotiating with Iran from 2013-15 and before thatserved as Director for Iran on the National Security Council staff. He is now a Fellow at the Center on Global EnergyPolicy at Columbia University.

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Sanctioning Iran while preserving the JCPOA - The Hill (blog)

The Hindu

15 fishermen return from Iran The Hindu The 15 fishermen released from an Iranian prison landed at the Chennai airport on Thursday night. They were arrested on October 22 last on charges of entering Iranian waters without permission. They reached Chennai by an Emirates flight from Dubai. Iran ordeal over, 15 fishermen reach ChennaiThe New Indian Express all 4 news articles »

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15 fishermen return from Iran - The Hindu

By Maher Chmaytelli | ERBIL, Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq Iraq's Kurds plan to hold a referendum on independence this year to press their case for "the best deal" on self-determination once Islamic State is defeated, a senior Kurdish official said.

The Kurds already run their own autonomous region in northern Iraq and the official, Hoshiyar Zebari, indicated the expected 'yes' outcome in a vote wouldn't mean automatically declaring independence.

But with Kurdish forces also controlling wider territory regained from Islamic State, the referendum plan adds to questions about Iraq's unity after the militants have been ousted from Mosul.

The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), agreed at a meeting on Sunday that a referendum should be held this year, Zebari, a senior member of the KDP leadership, told Reuters.

"The idea of a referendum has been re-energized," Zebari, a former Iraqi foreign and finance minister, said in an interview in Erbil on Wednesday evening, commenting on the meeting held with the PUK's leadership.

The Kurds played a major role in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group that overran about a third of Iraq nearly three years ago. The militants are now fighting off Iraqi forces in Mosul, their last major city stronghold in Iraq from where they declared a "caliphate" that also includes parts of Syria.

While the fall of Mosul would effectively end the "caliphate", it will not solve deep divisions over power, land and resources between Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority, and the important Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities.

The two rival Kurdish groups issued a joint statement on Sunday declaring support for the plan of holding a referendum, leaving its exact timing to an agreement with other, smaller Kurdish groups.

Zebari described the aim as "self-determination", leaving open the exact nature of any deal with Baghdad following the referendum when Kurds would be likely to vote strongly for independence.

"It will give a strong mandate to the Kurdish leadership to engage in talks with Baghdad and the neighbors in order to get the best deal for Kurdish self-determination," he said.

Iraqi Kurdish independence has been historically opposed by Iraq and also its neighbors, Iran, Turkey and Syria, as they fear the contagion for their own Kurdish populations.

Iraq's Kurds are the community to have advanced the most toward their long-held dream of independence. Iraq has been led by the Shi'ites since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, following a U.S.-led invasion.

They run their own affairs in the north, through a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), led by KDP leader Massoud Barzani.

They have their own armed force, the Peshmerga, which prevented in 2014 Islamic State from capturing the oil region of Kirkuk, after the Iraqi army fled in the face of the militants.

The Kurds have historical claims over Kirkuk, which is also inhabited by Turkmen and Arabs. Hardline Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militias have threatened to expel the Kurds by force from this region and other disputed areas.

Kirkuk's Kurdish-led provincial council rejected this week a resolution by the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad to lower Kurdish flags raised since last month next to Iraqi flags over public buildings of the region.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also warned the Kurds on Tuesday that failure to lower the Kurdish flags would damage their relations with Turkey.

"We don't agree with the claim 'Kirkuk is for the Kurds' at all. Kirkuk is for the Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds, if they are there. Do not enter into a claim that it's yours or the price will be heavy. You will harm dialogue with Turkey," he said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

The KRG government rejected the Iraqi and Turkish demands, arguing that the Kurds' role in defending Kirkuk against Islamic State justified the hoisting of their flag.

"If it wasn't for the Peshmerga, there would be neither Iraq's flag in the city nor Kurdistan's," KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told reporters in Erbil on Wednesday.

Masrour Barzani, head of the KRG's Security Council and son of President Barzani, said in June that Iraq should be divided into three separate entities to prevent further sectarian bloodshed, with a state each given to the Shi'ites, the Sunnis and the Kurds.

The Shi'ites live mainly in the south, the Sunnis and the Kurds are on opposite corners of the north while the central region around Baghdad is mixed.

(editing by David Stamp)

WASHINGTON A Chinese fighter plane has been spotted on a Chinese-held island in the South China Sea, the first such sighting in a year and the first since U.S. President Trump took office, a U.S. think tank reported on Thursday.

CARACAS Venezuelan opposition protesters and security officers clashed on Thursday as the country's fragmented opposition gained new impetus against a socialist government it blames for the country's social and economic collapse.

U.S. officials should be respectful of the Mexican 2018 presidential election, Mexico's foreign minister said on Thursday, after a top U.S. security official suggested a win by a leftist candidate would be bad for both nations.

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Kurds 're-energize' independence referendum plan for post-jihadist Iraq - Reuters

Bethanie Mitchell

Bethanie Mitchell is a freelance visual journalist. Previously, she was based in Myanmar for nearly six years where she focused on a long-term documen

The abduction of children in Iraq by IS militants has sent minorities fleeing for their lives.

Infidels, pagans, nonbelieversthese are terms that Islamic State (IS) militants use when referring to minority groups within their reach.The Islamic States aggressive entry into Iraq, which is home to mostly Sunni Muslims, made additional targets of minorities who practice Yazidism or Christianity. Some of the groups most brutal tactics are its public penchant for the abduction and forced conversion of children from these minorities.

In 2014, IS entered the town of Qaraqosh, located in the Nineveh plains, an area of Iraq home to many Assyrian Christians.Qaraqosh was home to Iraqs largest Christian community, mostly those who practice Catholicism or Orthodox Christianity. Iraq, which has one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, has seen its numbers dwindle in recent years, leaving Christianity in the country vulnerable toextinction. The abduction of minority children only intensified the fragility of both Christian and Yazidi populations.

In December 2016, Qaraqosh was liberated from IS but the scars remain. Iraqs missing children are living shadows amidst the burned out churches, mosques and other destroyed buildings that IS left in its wake.

Christina, who comes from a Qaraqosh Catholic family, was only 4 years old at the time of her abduction. The tragedy has left her family living in a refugee camp and too afraid to return home. Christina is thought to still be alive. Her fate, like so many other minority children abducted by IS militants, is one of forced conversion or even conscription.

A 2016 United Nations report on children and armed conflict said the number of children abducted by the Islamic State is greatly under-documented due to a lack of access to conflict areas.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

Photo Credit: Bethanie Mitchell

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Losing Christina in War-Torn Iraq - Fair Observer

Isis has shot down an Iraqi army helicopter flying over Mosul, killing two pilots on board as the gruelling battle to drive militants out of the city continues.

The joint operations force said the aircraft went down in eastern parts of the city, where government forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and international allies are battling to dislodge jihadis.

It had been providing air support to Federal Police forces battling militants on the ground, according to military officials.

An Iraqi helicopter fires a missile against Isis militants during a battle in Mosul, Iraq, on 28 March (Reuters)

The helicopter was hit by a rocket launched from western Mosul, where Isis militants are holding out in areas housing an estimated 400,000 people, Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw reported.

Footage from an Associated Press cameraman showed it falling out of the sky in a large ball of fire with a long trail of thick black smoke on Thursday afternoon.

It is the first aircraft downed by Islamic State over Mosul since the start of the US-led coalition backed offensive in October.

Extremists have fought the advance using mines, booby traps, snipers, ambushes and suicide bombings in densely populated districts, where militants have been using civilians as human shields.

Progress has slowed in the narrow lanes of Mosuls Old City, which Isis had prepared by making tunnels between buildings, screening streets from view with sheets and planting explosives.

Daesh fighters are resisting on a professional level because they have no escape routes left, said federal police officerHussein Qassem.

They are resisting until they are killed. God willing we will not leave any Islamic State fighters. We will fight till the end.

Isis has previously claimed to shoot down helicopters in Syria.

It has seized weapons from government stockpiles in territory seized across Iraq and Syria, as well as manufacturing its own munitions and weaponising modified drones.

The group has since lost almost all of its major strongholds, with Mosul the last city remaining under its control in Iraq.

More than 302,000 people have fled Mosul since the start of the offensive, with the International Organization for Migration saying 30,000 people were displaced last week alone.

Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of the groups self-declared caliphate from Mosuls historic al-Nuri mosque in 2014.

The so-called Islamic States de-facto capital is the city of Raqqa in neighbouring Syria, which has been isolated by Kurdish-led forces in preparation for an offensive.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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Isis shoots down Iraq army helicopter over Mosul killing two pilots - The Independent