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Do you know about the Iranian Feast of NowRuz? Its the Persian New Year, and falls on March 21. Now means new and ruz means day, so NowRuz means new day. Here we know it as the vernal equinox and the start of springtime. In Iran, its also a pre-Muslim holy day for Zoroastrians, a day when Iranian families visit each other and talk about what they hope to see in the new year.

It would be a good opportunity for President Trump to mark a new day in US-Iran relations one that corrects his predecessors poor treatment of the Iranian people.

March 21, 2017, will be the 38th NowRuz since the 1979 fall of the shah and the Khomeinist revolution. How cruel the promise of a happy new year must have seemed during all those years!

Have you seen photos from pre-Khomeini Iran? Theyre heartbreaking. They show women fashionably dressed in the city or in bathing suits at the beach, boys and girls together on the sidewalks of Tehran.

Iranians who conducted themselves like that today would be busted by the countrys morality police. Theyre everywhere. Some of its members are simply volunteer busybodies, some are looking for the perks the regime has to offer college slots for their kids, government jobs, bank loans. At NowRuz theyll be out in force, to police those doffing winter coats to greet the sun.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the morality police but hasnt reined them in. Last year at this time, the regime announced that an additional 7,000 undercover officers would patrol the streets to arrest women who had too much hair showing from under a headscarf or were out walking with a boyfriend.

For criticizing the morality police, Rouhani was slapped down by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man the morality police answer to, and thats put Rouhani on the defensive. Hes up for re-election on May 19, and its by no means a sure thing. He is opposed by several hardliners, and in any event the possibility of real liberalization is constrained by the real powers in Iran: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Thats why change will come to Iran, if at all, from the streets, from an Iranian Spring. And the Iranians who want to rid their country of its oppressive regime must be told that America shares their goals. Unlike the Arab Spring movements in Egypt and Libya, an Iranian Spring would replace an implacable foe of the United States with a more liberal and pro-Western government.

Elsewhere, Arab Spring movements replaced friendly governments in Egypt, or defanged ones in Libya, with the anti-American Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Islamic jihadists who killed our ambassador to Libya. Those were the kinds of uprisings President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton supported.

That was American foreign policy over the last eight years. For our friends betrayal. For our enemies submission.

What Obama and Hillary didnt support were the street protests in Tehran after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2009. Tens of thousands of people marched down the streets of Tehran shouting Down with dictatorship! while fighting running battles with the Revolutionary Guards. Obamas response was a tepid statement that its up to Iranians to make decisions about who Irans leaders will be, and that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran.

By contrast, an Obama spokesman supported the Tahrir Square protesters in Egypt even before the Mubarak government fell.

Its time to show our solidarity with the people of Iran. With Obama in office, we sided with one of the worlds greatest human-rights abusers, but they no longer have a friend in the White House.

I have a suggestion for Trump. After we ignored the street protests against the Iranian dictatorship, after we cut our disastrous Iran deal, after we abandoned Israel to the threat of medium-range missiles from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, after American hostages were allowed to rot in Iranian jails, let the president welcome NowRuz with a message to the Iranian people.

Let him wish them a happy and prosperous new year, and the freedom that all men deserve from their cruel oppressors.

F.H. Buckley teaches at Scalia Law School. His most recent book was The Way Back: Restoring the Promise of America.

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Show Iran's oppressed people they have a friend in the White House - New York Post

Iran is home to one of the oldest civilisations on Earth, where turquoise-domed mosques, glittering palaces, and the tombs of long gone poets reveal the mysteries and intrigues of the ancients. Yet beneath the footprints of man lies an even lesser known, wilder Iran, brimming with remarkable geologic formations, ancient forests, and overgrown monuments that nature has reclaimed as its own.

In the northern Mazandaran Province, a striking panorama of rust-colored travertine terraces cuts across the mountains. The stepped, limestone formations were created over thousands of years by the flowing and cooling of water from two mineral hot springs. While travertine terraces are found in other placeslike Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone and Pamukkale in TurkeyBadab-e Surts distinctive colouring results from a high concentration of iron oxide sediments. Not only does it make for dreamy views, but one of the springs is thought to have healing properties due to its high salinity and mineral content.

Hikers descendMount Damavand, the highest peak in the Middle East. PHOTOGRAPH BY DIETMAR DENGER, LAIF/REDUX

Sixty-five kilometres northeast of Tehran, Mount?Damavands iconic ivory-frosted cone soars 5,671 meters into the clouds, claiming the title highest peak in the Middle East. Located in the Alborz mountain range, the 1.8 million-year-old dormant volcano is literally a thing of legends, immortalised in ancient Persian folklore and poetry. Climbers can take one of 16 major routes up Damavand in two to five days, navigating its rocky terrain, mineral hot springs, and rich flora and fauna. Mount Damavand was nominated for World Heritage status in 2008 and remains on Iran's Tentative List.

A rock formation rises from the desert floor in Dasht-e Lut, Iran. PHOTOGRAPH BY JAKOB FISCHER, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

In south-east Iran, the shifting sands of Lut Desert forge a living work of art. Between June and October, subtropical tempests sweep over the landscape, creating aeolian formscorrugated ridges caused by wind erosion. The same phenomenon has also been observed on other planets like Mars, giving it an otherworldly quality. In 2016, Dasht-e Lut was inscribed as Irans first and only natural UNESCO World Heritage site for being an exceptional example of ongoing geological processes. Its also one of the hottest places on Earth, according to NASA. In 2005, it reached a record temperature of 159.3F (70.7C), beating out the previous record held by El Azizia, Libya.

Certain climatic conditions produce a type of algae that periodically turns Lake Urmia bright red. PHOTOGRAPH BY FRIEDRICHSMEIER, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Nestled in the Iranian territory between East and West Azerbaijan, Lake Urmia was once the largest saltwater lake in the Middle East. Over the past 45 years, the lake has shrunk at an alarming speed due to decreased rainfall, agriculture, and irresponsible environmental practicesit now holds less than 10 percent of its original volume, an issue that has prompted thousands of Iranian protestors to take to the streets in recent years. What remains of Urmias salt-caked shores continues to increase in salinity as more water evaporates, promoting a breeding ground for a specific type of algae that periodically turns the emerald lake bright red.

The verdant hills of Turkmen Sahra in Golestan Province, Iran PHOTOGRAPH BY ALI MAJDFAR, GETTY IMAGES

Bordering Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea, an endless tableau of rolling green hills announces Turkmen Sahra, a region of Golestan Province inhabited by seminomadic Iranian Turkmen. Notable landmarks are the Khalid Nabi cemetery, known for hundreds of mysterious genitalia-shaped tombstones, and Gonbad-e Qabus, an 11th-century Ziyriad tower and UNESCO World Heritage site. The structure is considered a testament of cross-cultural exchange, and an outstanding example of early Islamic innovative structural design based on geometric formulae that became a prototype for tomb towers across Iran, Anatolia, and Central Asia.

Qeshm's salt caves are among the world's longest. PHOTOGRAPH BY ARV, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Off the southern coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, Bandari villages, monumental forts, and ancient shrines dot the rocky coastline of Qeshm, whispering of a long, storied past. The significance of the islandthe largest in the Persian Gulfdates back to the pre-Islamic era, when it was a strategic trade and navigation centre, and consequently a frequent target for invaders. Today the islanders are primarily fisherman, salt miners, and date and melon farmers. The biodiverse isle is also home to salt caves, mangroves, coral reefs, turtle hatching sites, and the Hara forestsfeatures that earned its place as Irans first UNESCO Geopark.

Margoon Waterfallmeaning snake-likesurges through Iran's Fars province. PHOTOGRAPH BY ALI MAJDFAR, GETTY IMAGES

Shiraz will forever be the birth and resting place of Irans most beloved poet, Hafez, but just an hour west, the 60-meter Margoon Waterfall surges through the north-west Fars province. True to its namewhich translates to snake-like in Persianwater streams down its slopes in a serpentine fashion. The region is also home to several plant communities and wildlife, including eagles, bears, hyenas, and boars. Scientists have warned that unregulated tourism has led to the erosion of these ecosystems, and called for increased protections.

Header Image:The rising sun illuminates the stacked terraces of Badab-e Surt, Iran.PHOTOGRAPH BY JAKOB FISCHER, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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Iran's Most Wild and Beautiful Places - National Geographic Australia

If the Trump administration is serious about taking on Iran in the Middle East it must transform its strategy in Syria for fighting the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS). Our current strategy will only continue to strengthen Tehrans grip on the region.

The US needs a new approach that gives it the independence and leverage it needs to begin pushing back successfully.

It wont be easy. The strategy the administration inherited from President Obama sees Iran as a partner in the fight. The U.S. has therefore done nothing to contain the dramatic and alarming Iranian expansion of military power in Syria.

Yet the expansion was avoidable.

Tehran had used Syria as a base for Lebanese Hezbollah, HAMAS, and its own subversive activities for decades at no cost. The 2011 uprising against Syrian President Bashar al Assad was a blow to its position. Therefore Iran rushed to support Assad, sending in special Qods Force operatives, then advisors from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

As the revolt against Assad deepened, Tehran added thousands of fighters from Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqs Shia militias. Conventional combat forces of the IRGC joined in when a Russian air campaign in support of Assad started in late 2015.

Today, Iran commands tens of thousands more fighters in Syria than it did before the Arab Spring uprising. It has established its own military headquarters and embedded troops and advisors so deeply in the Assad regime that it cannot survive without them.

President Obama not only saw Iran as an ally against ISIS, but also feared that weakening Assad would hand Syria over to ISIS and al Qaeda. Washingtons single-minded focus on ISIS enabled the expansion of Irans military footprint and will continue to do so.

The U.S. fear was unfounded in 2011 and 2012, when secular forces dominated the opposition to Assad. Obamas failure to support the opposition at that time was an enormous missed opportunity.

But now, Al Qaeda has thoroughly co-opted the opposition. Current American strategy, with its anti-ISIS focus, has thus trapped us in a dilemma. Defeating ISIS in the current situation will leave Iran permanently entrenched in Syria and the U.S. will have no partner on the ground it can use to weaken Irans position.

This dilemma requires a counter-intuitive solution, which we have outlined in a report, Americas Way Ahead in Syria.

The U.S. must reframe its strategy away from the rush to retake territory from ISIS and toward building a new Sunni Arab partner force that can fight Al Qaeda as well as ISISand that we can ultimately support against the Iranian presence in Syria and the Assad regime.

We will not find such a force in northern Syria, where our current military efforts are concentrated.

The neighboring Turkish government has helped its proxies, heavily infiltrated and partly controlled by Al Qaeda, to dominate the opposition in the north, especially after the fall of Aleppo destroyed the last remaining acceptable opposition forces there.

The U.S. currently relies on minority Kurdish forces in Syria. They cannot form the nucleus of a Sunni Arab opposition movement even though they have brought some Sunni into their campaign.

The problem is not primarily ethnicArab vs. Kurdbut rather political. The Kurdish objective of carving out an autonomous or independent Kurdish zone, thereby precipitating the partitioning of Syria, alienates the overwhelming majority of Syrias Arabs. We will not be able to build an Arab partner in Syria on the basis of that political program.

The U.S. must therefore shift the focus of its efforts to southeastern Syria, where neither the Kurds nor Al Qaeda have yet coopted Sunni tribes. We must send troops to fight alongside the tribes, first against ISIS, then ultimately against Al Qaeda, Assad, and the Iranians.

Only then will we escape the dilemma that paralyzes usthe fear that weakening Iran and Assad will hand Al Qaeda or ISIS the victory.

Weve tried the hands-off, no-boots-on-the-ground approach for six years, and it has brought us to this unacceptable dilemma.

This is no call for a 2003-style invasion of Syria. The U.S. must work primarily through local partners. But we must choose the right partners, not the most expedient ones.

In the current situation, when no good partners exist, we must help create them.

Kimberly Kagan is the president of the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C,-based think tank

Frederick W. Kagan is the Christopher DeMuth Scholar and the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute.

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It's time for the US to quit enabling Iran in Syria - Fox News

A current senior official at the State Department was a key component of President Obamas operation to sell the Iran nuclear deal to the American people under false pretenses. Chris Backemeyer, who serves as deputy assistant secretary for Iranian affairs under Sec. Rex Tillerson, was intimately involved in convincing public and private agencies of the Iran deals supposed merits.

As part of his duties under Obama, Backemeyer as the U.S.principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy traveled throughout the country (and the world) hoping to convince multinational corporations to do business with the theocratic Iranian regime. Moreover, he was the lead sanctions negotiator in the P5+1 talks that resulted in the disastrous Iran deal.

Right now, Backemeyer is the highest-ranking official at the State Department when it comes to Iran policy.

Backemeyer reassured mega-companies such as Boeing that investing in Iran was a safe bet, while at the same time the Iranian regime was exporting its caliphatist ideology across the globe. Iran is the worlds foremost state-sponsor of international terrorism. The dictatorship in Tehran funds and aids several terrorist groups throughout the Middle East and the world at large.

The Iran deal was a windfall for Tehran. As part of the deal, Iran received an estimated $100-plus billion in assets for agreeing to stop its rapid nuclear development. But that hasnt quite worked out. In fact, the Iran deal gives Tehran an accelerated path to a nuclear weapon. In the end, Chris Backemeyer helped charter a deal that served as a lifeline to a regime that was in dire straits due to a flailing economy (further compounded by international sanctions).

Last year, it was revealed that President Obama paid a $1.7 billion ransom to Iran for the release of American hostages. Testifying before Congress on the matter, Backemeyer misled the American people, claiming that the money would go to serve the critical needs that Iran has had. Instead, some of the cash was handed over to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the group responsible for conducting Irans worldwide terrorist operations.

Last year, the State Department official spoke at an annual confab hosted by the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a group that many Iranian dissidents consider to be a front group for Tehran. NIAC, with its deep ties to the regime, consistently pans skeptics of the deal as warmongers.

Looking forward to joining @NIACouncil today to provide update on @TheIranDeal and discuss US policy toward Iran. #NIAC2016

Chris Backemeyer (@chrisbackemeyer) September 25, 2016

The group is known for its attacks on Jewish leaders and pro-Israel institutions. In 2015, NIAC published an arguably anti-Semitic advertisement in The New York Times, alleging that supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are disloyal to America. In a recent op-ed, NIACs leadership alleged that a group of Jewish leaders are responsible for an apparent anti-Iranian climate in America.

Backemeyer is far from the only prominent Obama-era official to maintain his position at the highest echelons of the State Department.

Michael Ratney, who is currently in charge of the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio at the State Department, was one of John Kerrys closest confidants in the former secretary of states demonization campaign against Israel.

Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, who was another driving force for Obamas Iran deal, is currently in charge of Iran and the Persian Gulf on Secretary Tilllersons policy planning staff.

Why Rex Tillerson continues to allow for so many Obama loyalists to retain their posts in the State Department remains a mystery.

Jordan Schachtel is the national security correspondent for CR. Follow him on Twitter @JordanSchachtel

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The top Iran official at the State Department is an Obama loyalist who sold Iran deal lies - Conservative Review

Article Chapman Tripp

The easing of United Nations sanctions against Iran in 2016 has created export opportunities for New Zealand. There is significant scope for increased trade, but care is needed.Exporting to Iran

16 March 2017 | BRIEF COUNSEL

The easing of United Nations sanctions against Iran in 2016 has created export opportunities for New Zealand. There is significant scope for increased trade, but care is needed.

The Government puts its shoulder to the wheel

Since United Nations sanctions were eased in 2016, there has been an uptick in government-to-government contact between New Zealand and Iran. The latest visit was by Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy early this month.

While in Iran, Minister Guy witnessed the conclusion of a Meat Agreement between the Iranian Veterinary Organisation and the New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries and the signing of a Statement of Intent between Zespri and Irans Ministry of Agriculture.

These developments are commercially significant. Iran, with a population of over 80 million people, is the second largest economy in the Middle East-North Africa region. It was among New Zealands top five export markets for lamb in the 1980s and remains a critical market for New Zealand butter.

Other recent political contacts include:

Irans Foreign Minister Dr Mohammed Javad Zarif coming to New Zealand in March 2016

Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully going to Iran in May 2016, and

Minister of Trade Todd McClay leading a trade delegation to Iran in December 2016.

During Dr Zarifs visit in 2016, the New Zealand Export Credit Office (NZECO) signed an arrangement with the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) designed to help facilitate economic cooperation between the two countries.

Dealing with financial institutions in Iran

The lifting last year by the US Government of secondary sanctions which constrained the engagement of non-US banks in financial transactions with Iranian individuals and entities has removed an obvious impediment to trade although problems remain.

On the plus side, there is now far greater scope for non-US banks to legally process Iranian payments. They may transact with Iranian financial institutions not on the US Treasurys List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List). According to the US Treasury, the institutions removed include most Iranian financial institutions.

However:

US persons are still broadly prohibited from engaging in transactions or dealings with Iran, unless the activity is specifically exempt from regulation or authorised by US Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Controls (OFAC). This means that non-OFAC approved Iran-related transactions cannot be routed through US banks or involve US persons, and

the US maintains rules with respect to US persons serving as directors or senior managers in non-US, non-Iranian entities, and concerning non-US entities that are owned or controlled by a US person.

It is also important for companies to be aware that in the event of significant non-performance by Iran of its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) pursuant to which United Nations sanctions were lifted, those sanctions will snapback and be re-imposed. The US has committed not to retroactively impose sanctions for legitimate activity undertaken before the date of re-imposition of sanctions, and OFAC has indicated that if a snapback occurred, it would work with non-US companies to minimise any impact on that legitimate activity.

In addition, there are autonomous (i.e. non-United Nations) US sanctions related to terrorism and human rights violations, as well as questions about how aspects of the OFAC guidance relating to the lifting of the United Nations sanctions is to be interpreted.

In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has imposed new sanctions on persons or organisations which procure technology or materials to support Irans ballistic missile programme or have links to Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard. While this is unlikely to have any real impact on New Zealand companies looking to export to Iran, it may have a cooling effect on banks already reluctant to update their risk profiles to reflect the new regulatory environment outlined above.

Chapman Tripp comment

Pursuing opportunities with Iran will not be straightforward Minister McCully noted only last week that while the Government is seeking to deepen economic ties with Iran, remaining banking restrictions make this a bit difficult.1

It has been reported that Western banks have been hesitant to deal with Iran, due in part to concerns about whether doing so might cause them to run into problems with the US Treasury. But OFAC released guidance in 2016 that should give banks some comfort that they can structure transactions so as not to fall foul of the sanctions that remain in place.

Those remaining sanctions must be carefully managed. But they should not stop businesses from working with their financial institutions to investigate ways of accessing the Iranian market or increase their exports to Iran.

Undertaking thorough due diligence both on the part of exporters and financial institutions will be critical. But the potential prize may be well worth the effort. If you need guidance understanding the risks, and how to mitigate them, please contact a member of our expert team.

1Government hopeful of free-trade deal with Gulf states this year McCully, http://www.stuff.co.nz, 7 March, 2017.

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