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Congress, which was overwhelmingly opposed to the nuclear deal when it was signed, is working on new sanctions. Republicans in particular have pressed Mr. Trump to toughen his approach. In a recent letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, four senators said Iran continues to wage regional aggression, sponsor international terrorism, develop ballistic missile technology and oppress the Iranian people. Theres truth in that. But the nuclear deal was intended to alleviate only the nuclear threat, and they, like other critics, fail to acknowledge that it represented important progress toward decreasing the risk of war in the region.

Top American officials have turned up their rhetoric and have hinted at support for regime change, despite the dismal record in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Mr. Tillerson accused Iran of seeking regional hegemony at the expense of American allies like Saudi Arabia. Our policy toward Iran is to push back on this hegemony and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government, he told a congressional committee. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis recently called Iran the most destabilizing influence in the Middle East.

Since the 1979 revolution that installed a theocracy in Iran, American leaders have periodically toyed with regime change. But some experts say this time is more serious, because Mr. Trump accepts the simplistic view of Sunni-led Saudi Arabia that Shiite-led Iran is to blame for all thats wrong in the region, taking sides in the feud between two branches of Islam.

The Saudis, who were already facing off against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen, have taken an even harsher stance since their leadership change. This month, they created a crisis by mounting a regional boycott against Qatar, which has relations with Iran. Israel also considers Iran a virulent threat, one reason for a deepening alignment between Israel and the Sunni states, and from time to time has reportedly urged America to attack Iran or considered doing so itself.

Anti-Iran voices outside government are trying to push Mr. Trump and Congress toward confrontation with Iran. The head of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a hawkish group that tried to block the Iran nuclear deal, urged Mr. Trump in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion article to systemically dismantle Iranian power country by country in the Middle East and to strengthen Irans pro-democracy forces. Prominent Trump supporters like John Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations; Newt Gingrich, former House speaker; and Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor, are pressing Mr. Trump to abandon the deal and are speaking out on behalf of the Mujahedeen Khalq, exiled Iranian dissidents who back regime change.

Most Americans are aware of Irans crimes against this country, including the 52 Americans taken hostage in 1979; the 241 Marines killed in the 1983 bombing of their barracks in Lebanon; and the 1996 bombing of the Air Force quarters in Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps less known are events that still anger Iranians like the 1953 coup aided by the C.I.A. that ousted Irans democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh, and Americas intelligence support for Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Irans grievances do not make its recent behavior any less concerning. Tehran continues to fund Hezbollah and other extremists; detain Americans; and work to expand its reach, including in Iraq. Iran and the United States appear to be entering a particularly risky time. As the Islamic State gets pushed out of Iraq and Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, along with their proxy forces, will be competing for control. Any attempt at regime change in Iran could destabilize the volatile Middle East in even more unpredictable ways.

Irans government continues to be torn between anti-American hard-liners and moderates like President Hassan Rouhani who are willing to engage with America. Mr. Trump would make a grave mistake if instead of trying to work with those moderate forces he led the nation closer to war.

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A version of this editorial appears in print on July 20, 2017, on Page A24 of the New York edition with the headline: Avoiding War With Iran.

Continue reading here:
Avoiding War With Iran - New York Times

By Matt Trevithick By Matt Trevithick July 20 at 2:56 PM

Matt Trevithick spent 41 days in Irans Evin prison after completing an intensive immersion program at Tehran University. He is the co-founder of several companies, including a Middle East-based monitoring and evaluation firm, and author of An Undesirable Element.

An American student, Xiyue Wang, who was in Tehran studying a dynasty that ended nearly a century ago, has been detained and sentenced to jail in Iran, likely without convincing proof. Universities in the United States must ban sending students to Iran until it demonstrates a willingness to stop turning them into geopolitical pawns. Based on my experiences, and in light of the long list of Westerners detained by the Iranian government in recent decades, it is reckless for American universities to ignore the real threat that students face when they travel to Iran.

This is a painful position to for me to promote. Such exchanges have had a transformative effect on my life. I was introduced to the Middle East through the Beirut Exchange. I worked for four years at the American University of Afghanistan, having the honor of representing Americas envied higher education system while doing my part to find more effective tools for U.S. foreign policy through research and writing. I wrote a short book detailing the life of a little-known Persian poet from Afghanistan whose studies in the United States in the 1970sled to a groundbreaking PhD documenting the previously unknown influence of Rumi on Walt Whitman. I am a member of the annual Dartmouth Conference, established in the 1960s so that prominent civilians in Russia and the United States could work together to avoid war; all its participants readily agree that student exchanges must continue, a position the institution has hewed toeven at times when the Washington consensus considered the Soviet Union a rough approximation of the Death Star.

But I, too, became caught up in geopolitical forces when I was studying Farsi at Tehran University. I was grabbed off the street without reason or apology and ended up spending 41 days in Evin prison.

Exchanges and related programs represent an important component of relations between countries, even those that cant find much to agree on. At one end of the spectrum, such initiatives model polite behavior between nations looking to impart a positive image, and at the other, they assist with the generation of informed and creative approaches to regional policy, authored by folks who have actually been there. In either case, they are invaluable for building trust in the community of nations.

As a result, most governments have the decency to decouple politics from young foreign students researching obscure topics in dusty libraries.

But this is not true in Iran, where a hostile approach to all things America is the bedrock of Iranian policy. That suspicion occasionally bleeds into a skepticism of our Western allies; European students I met in Tehran spoke with muted voices about their purposefully mundane studies, which consisted of muted discussions with academics who knew far more than they would ever publish. As for me, simply walking up and down Tehrans main thoroughfare, Vali Asr, most days after classes with a Lonely Planet guide in hand, proved strange to the same government that was admitting American tourists in unprecedented numbers, and I wound up in solitary confinement as a result.

Iran has never shown that these exchanges can be done in good faith without extreme risk to students and researchers. Xiyue Wangs sentencing is not an outlier. After I was released, the outpouring of support from academics and students from around the world as well as requests to pass on any information on loved ones who had gone missing in Tehran was overwhelming, with more than a few darkly joking about my admission to Evin University, given its reputation for targeting academics. There are almost certainly more foreigners in these jails than the Western public is aware of. I personally know at least two Americans and several more Europeans who were detained and released without fanfare, who stay quiet because they continue to work on regional issues. And knowing firsthand the unique pain that detention causes family members, I think such exchanges with Iran are something that should give American academia pause.

But even as American students should stop going to Iran, the U.S. government should keep the door open to foreign students, including Iranians.

Simply put, Iranian students thrive on American campuses. Maryam Mirzakhani, who was born in Tehran and sadly died from illness last week in the United States, redefined the poetry of mathematics at Harvard and Stanford and received the Fields Medal for her work the first woman in history to be given the award. Jasmin Moghbeli, elegantly profiled this month in the New Yorker, is an Iranian American who studied at MIT, flew 150 combat missions in Afghanistan as a Marine and is now a member of NASAs newest class of astronauts. Iranian Americans are, depending on whom you ask, leading or in the running for the most highly educated minority group in the United States.

And when theyre admitted to study here, its likely they will come away with the understanding that the kind of cultural conformity Iran dictates back home is self-defeating, a root cause of violence, and, as Iran needs no reminder of, very bad for business.

We must stay true to our deepest American values while trying to minimize the risk inherent in engaging with todays world. With this open-minded realism, the United States doesnt need to slam the door shut to students completely. But until Iran can ensure that Western academics can study and better understand the fascinating Persian world in peace, its best that American universities keep their distance.

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American colleges should stop recklessly sending students to Iran - Washington Post

Irans national flags are seen on a square in Tehran in 2012, a day before the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters

WASHINGTON Iran continues to be the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Trump administration said Wednesday in a new report that also noted a decline in the number of terrorist attacks globally between 2015 and 2016.

In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism released Wednesday, the State Department said Iran was the planets foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2016, a dubious distinction the country has held for many years. It said Iran was firm in its backing of anti-Israel groups as well as proxies that have destabilized already devastating conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. It also said Iran continued to recruit in Afghanistan and Pakistan for Shiite militia members to fight in Syria and Iraq. And, it said Iranian support for Lebanons Hezbollah movement was unchanged.

In terms of non-state actors, the report said the Islamic State group was responsible for more attacks and deaths than any other group in 2016, and was seeking to widen its operations particularly as it lost territory in Iraq and Syria. It carried out 20 percent more attacks in Iraq in 2016 compared with 2015, and its affiliates struck in more than 20 countries, according to the report. Iran has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department and subjected to a variety of U.S. sanctions since 1984, and many of the activities outlined in the report are identical to those detailed in previous reports. But, this years finding comes as the Trump administration moves to toughen its stance against Iran. The administration is expected to complete a full review of its policy on Iran next month.

President Donald Trump has been particularly critical of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and only reluctantly certified early this week that Iran remained entitled to some sanctions relief under its provisions.

Iran remained the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2016 as groups supported by Iran maintained their capability to threaten U.S. interests and allies, said the report, the Trump administrations first, which was released just a day after the administration slapped new sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile activity. Some of those sanctions were imposed on people and companies affiliated with Irans Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the report said continues to play a destabilizing role in military conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Iran used a unit of the IRGC, the Qods Force, to implement foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations and create instability in the Middle East, the report said. It added that Iran has publicly acknowledged its involvement in Syria and Iraq.

Hezbollah worked closely with Iran to support the attempt by Syrian President Bashar Assads government to maintain and control territory, according to the report. And with Iranian support, Hezbollah continued to develop long-term attack capabilities and infrastructure around the world, it said.

New sanctions were slapped on individuals and groups tied to Irans ballistic missile program, hours after the State Department again certified that Iran is complying with the nuclear deal struck two years ago. William Brangham speaks with chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner and Nick Schifrin about the schism within the Trump administration about Iran and the nuclear deal.

The report also accused Iran of supplying weapons, money and training to militant Shia groups in Bahrain, maintaining a robust cyberterrorism program and refusing to identify or prosecute senior members of the al-Qaida network that it has detained.

As in previous reports, Sudan and Syria were also identified as state sponsors of terrorism.

In its final days, the Obama administration suspended some sanctions against Sudan in recognition of that countrys improved counterterrorism record. In early July, the Trump administration extended those suspensions by three months. Countries can be removed from the list at any time following a formal review process, but the report offered no explanation for why Sudan remains on it.

In fact, it said counterterrorism is now a national priority for the Khartoum government and that Sudan is a cooperative partner of the United States on counterterrorism, despite its continued presence on the state sponsors of terrorism list.

Despite the activities of Iran and groups like the Islamic State in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria, and Boko Haram and al-Shabab in Africa, the total number of terrorist attacks in 2016 decreased by 9 percent from 11,774 in 2015 to 11,072, according to statistics compiled for the report by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland.

That reduction was accompanied by a 13 percent decrease in deaths from 28,328 to 25,621 from such attacks over the same period. Of those killed in 2016, 16 were American citizens, including seven in high-profile attacks in Brussels in March and Nice, France, in July. Seventeen Americans were injured in the Brussels attack and three in Nice, the report said.

The report attributed the drops to fewer terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen. At the same time, the report said attacks in the Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan and Turkey increased between 2015 and 2016.

READ MORE: Can Trump improve his record-low approval rating?

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Iran still top state sponsor of terrorism, US report says - PBS NewsHour

Shuttle diplomacy.

The worlds biggest gas field lies between Qatar and Iran, and the half-competitive, half-cooperative race to exploit it has taken a new turn. For both countries, this enormous resource is also a source of political power. Now, with the emirate at odds with Tehrans foe, Saudi Arabia, its tacit cooperation with Iran is gaining, even as the two are set to compete more intensely in gas markets.

In 1971, Shell first drilled into what became Qatars North Field and was disappointed to find not oil, but gas, though in vast quantities. The country was only a modest oil producer with a tiny domestic and regional energy market. Through the 1980s and 1990s, it struggled to develop a liquefied natural gas project to export to Asia, but with low global energy prices, a cost-cutting BP gave up and Mobil took over. The emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who took power from his cautious father in a bloodless coup in 1995, was keen to press ahead.

Exxon might not have had the entrepreneurial mindset to create the project, but when it bought Mobil in 1998, and soon afterwards oil and gas prices began to rise, it had one of its most valuable global assets. The wily former oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, worked with the emir to use Qatars strategic position to sell gas both east and west. Total, ConocoPhillips and Shell also built LNG plants, while the Abu Dhabi state firm Mubadala, with Total and Occidental, constructed the Dolphin pipeline to the neighboring United Arab Emirates.

When the U.S. import market disappeared because of the rise of shale gas, Qatar was nimble enough to focus on Europe and Asia, and reacted rapidly to boost supplies to Japan after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The Japanese were grateful, even if they felt they paid a stiff price as LNG prices soared to records. And in less than two decades, Qatar became the worlds wealthiest country per capita, a major global investor and an expansive political actor involved across the Middle East.

Meanwhile, despite Qatari maps showing the field conveniently ended at the border, Iran drilled its sector in 1991, and gradually established that it had about a third of the total reserves in what it called South Pars. But it was slowed by sanctions, mismanagement, and indecision and political infighting over what the gas should be used for -- reinjected in ageing oil fields to boost recovery, sold to petrochemical industries, burnt to generate power or heat homes, or exported by pipeline to neighbors or as LNG.

In 2005, Qatar imposed a moratorium on further development of the North Field, saying it needed to study the reservoir. That moratorium has only just been lifted -- but a field study does not take 12 years. There were good commercial reasons to halt -- the LNG market was becoming oversupplied and domestic construction capability was overstretched. Saudi pressure blocked new pipelines to Bahrain and Kuwait, which even made difficulties over the route of the Dolphin pipeline.

But there has also been suspicion that the Iranians warned Doha to stop new projects that they felt would start draining their gas. Since 2014, Irans production has been gaining rapidly as long-delayed phases of South Pars, awarded to domestic contractors who were hampered by sanctions and financing problems, have finally been completed. By 2020, Irans output from South Pars will exceed Qatars from the North Field.

The South Pars phases that have not begun development -- 13, 14 and 22-24 -- are at the northeastern end of the field, well away from the border. The one exception is Phase 11, which lies on the border, and has been a priority to prevent gas migrating from the Iranian to the Qatari side.

The contract that Total and China National Petroleum Corporation signed on July 3 for Phase 11 is thus a crucial part of Irans strategy, as the first deal awarded under the new Iran Petroleum Contract, designed to attract foreign investment following the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions at the start of last year. The production will initially go to the domestic market, but later could support Irans first LNG export project. It is a key public relations win for both post-sanctions Iran and for theadministration of recently re-elected President Hassan Rouhani.

This came only two months after Qatar announced the end of its moratorium, with the beginning of a new gas production project. Just a day after the signature of the South Pars Phase 11 deal, Qatar Petroleum Chief Executive Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said its new project would double in size, raising total LNG export capacity by 30 percent to 100 million metric tons per year by about 2023, maintaining it as the worlds largest, outpacing Australia and the U.S.

This was a signal to high-cost LNG competitors that Qatar would fight for its market share, and it was a sign of defiance to the Saudi-led coalition. The chief executives of ExxonMobil, Total and Shell all visited Doha recently.

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The interesting question is, what deal or understanding did Iran reach with Qatar over its expansion? If the emirate had instituted its moratorium on account of warnings against further projects by the Iranians around 2005, this could not be sustained now that their own production nearly matches Dohas, from just a third of the total reserves. The Saudi-led blockade has pushed Doha closer to its big northern neighbor, and at the same time, the Iranians, seeing a chance to divide their Arab neighbors, may be willing to make life a little easier for the Qataris. Cooperation suits both owners of this field -- for now.

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To contact the author of this story: Robin M. Mills at robin@qamarenergy.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net

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Qatar Warms Up to Iran on Natural Gas - Bloomberg

A view of the Iranian parliament in Tehran September 2, 2009.

Under Irans current drug law, at least 10 offenses, including some that are nonviolent, are punishable by death, including possession of as little as 30 grams of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamines. The law also mandates the death penalty for trafficking, possession, or trade of more than five kilograms of opium or 30 grams of heroin; repeated offenses involving smaller amounts; or the manufacture of more than 50 grams of synthetic drugs.

On December 6, 2016, 146 members of parliament introduced a draft amendment that sought to replace capital punishment for drug offenses with imprisonment for up to 30 years, while allowing the death penalty if the accused or one of the participants in the crime used or carried weapons intending to use them against law enforcement agencies. The death penalty also would still apply to a leader of a drug trafficking cartel, anyone who used a child in drug trafficking, or anyone facing new drug-related charges who had previously been sentenced to execution or 15 years to life for drug-related offenses.

In mid-July, Human Rights Watch interviewed via smartphone applications six family members of prisoners who are on death row. They said that they are hopeful that the new law would spare their loved ones from execution. The mother of a man executed in Khoram Abad prison in Lorestan province on June 24, said, If authorities hadnt executed my son today, [under the new law] he would have been sentenced to imprisonment.

Under article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified, countries that still retain capital punishment may apply the death penalty only for the most serious crimes. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the independent expert body that interprets the covenant, has said that drug offenses are not among the most serious crimes, and that the use of the death penalty for such crimes violates international law. Human Rights Watch opposes capital punishment in all circumstances because it is inherently inhumane and irreversible.

Parliament should resist any pressure to curb reforms to the drug law and move forward with a bill that better protects the right to life, Whitson said. This would be the first step in addressing the epidemic of executions in Iran and a move toward abolishing the death penalty.

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Iran: Halt Drug-Related Executions - Human Rights Watch