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BEIRUT President Hassan Rouhani should apologize to the Iranian people if he cannot show that the economy has improved, one of Iran's most prominent hardliners said on Tuesday, setting a battle line for a presidential election in May.

Rouhani is opposed by hardliners who resent the nuclear deal he struck with world powers including the United States which lifted economic sanctions and was supposed to boost the economy.

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Assembly of Experts, a body that selects Iran's supreme leader, starkly criticized that policy and what he said was Rouhani's failure to improve the economy over his four years in office.

If the resistance economy has not been followed in the way that it should and must have been, then he must apologize and tell them (Iranians) the reasons, Jannati told a meeting of the Assembly where Rouhani was present, Fars News reported.

Rouhani said that his administration would present a full economic report by the end of the Iranian calendar year, in late March, according to the state TV's website.

While hardliners, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have criticized Rouhani's economic record in recent weeks, the president has sought to move the political discourse to other matters that might appeal to moderate voters.

In a speech to lawyers at the Iranian bar association later on Tuesday, he expressed, in unusually blunt terms, his hopes for better civil rights in Iran.

We need to make people more aware of their rights than in the past, Rouhani said, according to Fars News. When an investigator asks about peoples private lives they should stand strong and say this is my private area and you dont have a right to ask me about my private life.

We shouldnt interfere in peoples private lives and shouldnt search them.

The conservatives who hope aim to stop Rouhani winning a second four-year term, have yet to identify their candidate, but they hope the election of U.S. President Donald Trump and his ban on travelers from Iran will swing public opinion their way.

Its a gift to the most radical elements of the Islamic Republic of Iran who have been saying for years that America is not interested in genuinely good relations with Iranian people, said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies program at Stanford University.

(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

KABUL Gunmen dressed as doctors attacked a military hospital close to the U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday and were engaging security forces inside the building, officials and witnesses said.

SEOUL A man claiming to be the son of the slain, estranged half brother of North Korea's leader said he was lying low with his mother and sister, in a video posted online by a group that said it helped rescue them following the murder a month ago.

KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak struck a softer tone with North Korea on Wednesday, a day after accusing it of treating Malaysians as "hostages" amid a diplomatic meltdown over the murder of the estranged half-brother of the North's leader.

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Rouhani talks rights as Iran election nears, critic attacks him on economy - Reuters

He was the leader who presided over a Twitter ban in Iran, but now former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made his own debut on the social networking site complete with an English-language video message and posts encouraging mercy and love.

Off social media, Ahmadinejad is better known as a hard-line conservative who worked hard to censor the Internet, blocking Facebook and Twitter amid anti-government protests in 2009.

But on Sunday, tweets began to flow from an account first created in January that bears Ahmadinejad's name and a personalized video message. The former leader quickly gained more than 14,000 followers, and top aides retweeted his posts. He also drew jeers from Iranian and other Twitter users alike, with some joking about a potential Twitter war with President Trump, another prolific user of the site.

(Twitter is still technically banned in Iran, but an increasing number of Iranian officials use it, including Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its current president,Hassan Rouhani).

"Follow me at @Ahmadinejad1956 that's me," Ahmadinejad said in a short video message posted Sunday, in which he speaks English and stands next to an Iranian flag.

Later, on Monday, he wrote: "The merciful creator created all human beings from the essence of love."

"Let's all love each other," he wrote.

The tone of his new tweets is a departure from his political image as a populist firebrand who challenged the West. Ahmadinejad served two terms as Iran's president from 2005 to 2013, a period when human rights deteriorated, government corruption spread and Iran became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world.

Late last year, Ahmadinejad emerged as a potential chief rival of Rouhani, who is seeking reelection this spring. But Khamenei, who holds considerable sway over the political process, urged Ahmadinejad to abandon any presidential ambitions he might have ahead of new elections in May.

Still, Ahmadinejad is seen as an influential player and potential spoiler. His former vice president, Hamid-Reza Baghaei, announced in February his intention to run for president a move widely seen as having Ahmadinejad's backing.

Other hard-liners have joined Twitter in recent months, including the ultra-conservative editor of Kayhan newspaper. Other conservative-affiliated organizations, including the Mizan News Agency and even state-run businesses, maintain Twitter accounts, according to the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, Ahmadinejad's bio describes him as: "Husband, Dad, Grandfather, University Professor, President, Mayor, Proud Iranian.

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Iranians have studied in U.S. universities for decades. Trumps ban has left many stranded.

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Former Iranian president Ahmadinejad banned Twitter. Then he joined it. - Washington Post

Continuing a pattern of provocative actions, Iran this weekend test-fired a pair of ballistic missiles and sent fast-attack vessels close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials confirmed to Fox News.

One of Iran's ballistic missile tests were successful, destroying a floating barge approximately 155 miles away, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the launch told Fox News. The launches of the Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missiles were the first tests of the missile in two years, one official said.

It was not immediately clear if this was the first successful test at sea -- raising concerns for the U.S. Navy, which operates warships in the area, one of which had an "unsafe and unprofessional" interaction with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. boats on Saturday.

The IRGC boats approached to within 600 yard of the tracking ship USNS Invincible and then stopped, officials confirmed to Fox News. The Invincible was accompanied by three ships from the British Royal Navy and all four ships were forced to change course, Reuters reported.

The Iranian provocations were partially obscured by a worldwide focus on North Korea's own ballistic missile tests.

Between North Koreas saber-rattling and Irans willful defiance, we certainly dont lack for evidence of these rogue regimes intentions," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a Monday statement. "This is why we need to develop a strong missile-defense system and to take a harder line toward these regimes. No amount of words, however clear or forceful, will prevent this kind of aggression; only firm action to defend America and our allies will stop them in their tracks."

SOUTH KOREA: NORTH KOREA FIRES FOUR BANNED BALLISTIC MISSILES

According to one official, Iran launched its two short-range ballistic missiles from an IRGC base in Bandar-e-Jask, in southeastern Iran. The first missile was fired on Saturday, but missed its target, though it landed in the vicinity, one official said. A day later, Iran made another attempt and was successful.

The Iranian Fateh-110 Mod 3 has a new active seeker, helping the missile locate ships at sea, according to one official.

"It's a concern based on the range and that one of the missiles worked," said one official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the launch.

Two years ago, Iranian cruise missiles destroyed a large barge designed to look like an American aircraft carrier. Iranian state-television broadcast the images publicly at the time.

The new Iranian short-range ballistic missile launches come a week after Iran successfully test-fired Russian surface-to-air missiles, part of the S-300 air defense system Russia sent to Iran recently.

According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Iran has conducted as many as 14 ballistic missile launches since the landmark nuclear agreement in July 2015.

A senior U.S. military official told Fox News that Iran had made great advances in its ballistic missile program over the past decade.

Late last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said Irans behavior had not changed since the White House put the Islamic Republic on notice following Irans successful intermediate-range ballistic missile test-launch in late January.

Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel. You can follow him on Twitter: @LucasFoxNews

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Iran launched 2 ballistic missiles, US officials say - Fox News

New York Times

Iran Nuclear Deal Could Be Gateway for Terrorism Legal Claims New York Times The United States and Iranian flags at the negotiations of the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna, Austria, in July 2015. Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions so it could reintegrate into the world economy. Credit ...

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Iran Nuclear Deal Could Be Gateway for Terrorism Legal Claims - New York Times

A lengthy new investigative story published by Adam Davidson in the New Yorker reveals that Donald Trumps business dealings in Azerbaijan likely violated the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, and may have served as a conduit for money-laundering and other underhanded activities undertaken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Its a very long New Yorker-y story that deserves your time and attention. But one of the main things it shows isnt anything specific to Azerbaijan or Iran. Its simply that we know very little overall about who Trump is in business with currently and even less about who he has been in business with in the recent past.

The kind of exacting scrutiny that his finances would necessarily undergo in the event of a thorough investigation of Trumps possible links to the Russian government would bring an enormous amount to light about a huge range of deals. That, in turn, might uncover illegal or scandalous activity that, like this story about Trump in Azerbaijan, has no apparent relationship at all with Vladimir Putin or Russian intelligence.

The key points:

The story raises two related legal issues.

One is whether Trumps business ties to an extraordinarily corrupt Azerbaijani family involved violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that Trump has been sharply critical of in public but which remains on the books and which Attorney General Jeff Sessions swore during his confirmation hearings he was committed to upholding.

The other is whether the Mammadov-Azarpassillo nexus violates US sanctions against Iran. The legal rules barring US firms from receiving funds that originated with a sanctioned Iranian entity, which certainly includes the Revolutionary Guard, are quite strict. You cant simply say you didnt know that the developer who was paying you for your licensing services was actually getting his money from a Revolutionary Guard front group. You need to do strict due diligence.

Davidsons case is strictly circumstantial since he cant subpoena the kind of internal corporate records that would demonstrate clearly what the Trump Organization knew or didnt want to know about the Mammadovs or their Iranian friends. But Trumps Atlantic City casinos paid $10 million in fines two years ago for noncompliance with federal rules about money laundering. The Trump SoHo project also seems to have been a front for money laundering, though Trump himself evades legal liability for that one on the grounds that he didnt actually own the project.

To know whether there is really a prosecutable offense here (as there was with the Atlantic City money laundering) or just some ties to shady friends (as seems to be the case with Trump SoHo), you would need to take a close look at the financial details of the Trump Organization and other such matters. And the fact that there may be crimes associated with this deal or with other deals that we dont happen to have in-depth journalism on is one reason that an independent inquiry into the Russia situation is dangerous for Trump.

An independent prosecutor looking into Russia matters would want to see those documents. And once you pry into the documents, theres no telling what youll find. Trump has been paying a political price for nondisclosure of his finances since long before the Russia story started dominating the headlines. The reason for that could have something to do with Moscow. But it might be something else entirely.

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A Trump hotel project seems to have involved a front for Iran's Revolutionary Guard - Vox