Foreign Minister Zarif: “Dangerous US escalation in Syria will only serve Islamic State”

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UPDATE 1600 GMT: The Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, has declared that “undoubtedly the US’ unwise and adventurous behaviors in Syria are clear examples of playing with fire”.

Shamkhani insisted US warnings of the Assad regime’s preparations for another chemical weapons attack were “delusional” and fabricated to undermine pro-Assad gains against rebels.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Continuing his appeal to Europe and criticism of the US, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif challenged Washington on two different fronts on Tuesday.

Zarif, who is in Berlin for a series of meetings, responded on Twitter to the US warning of the Assad regime’s possible preparations for another chemical attack inside Syria:

An essential backer of the Assad regime since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, Iran has consistently backed Assad’s denials of his chemical warfare since 2013, trying to prevent US intervention over the attacks.

Zarif also reacted to the US Supreme Court’s permission for part of Trump’s ban on US entry for refugees and citizens of six mainly-Muslim countries — including Iran — to proceed, pending hearings and a final ruling in October.

“We always believed that the Muslim ban that President Trump imposed soon after assuming office had no basis in facts and would not help fight terrorism,” the Foreign Minister told a joint news conference with German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel.

Zarif called the Supreme Court decision the “greatest gift” for militant groups seeking new recruits and tweet:

He used the development to repeat his challenge, made on Monday in an address to the European Council on Foreign Relations, to the $110 billion US arms sale to Saudi Arabia: “For some terrorism and support for terrorism is measured by the amount of arms they buy from the US, and not by actually being involved in acts of terrorism.”

Facing ongoing American sanctions despite the July 2015 nuclear deal — and their possible expansion by the US Congress — the Rouhani Government has been seeking European links, including trade and investment, in contrast to Washington’s approach.

Zarif spoke with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and other officials about the restoration of banking and financial links to support Iranian recovery.

Revolutionary Guards Head to Rouhani: “You Will Be Humiliated”

In the latest round of confrontation between the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and President Rouhani, Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari has said that the Government, “without a gun”, will eventually give in and be humiliated.

Rouhani said last weekend that the Government was proceeding with economic reforms to ensure effective privatization, rather than the changes under the Ahmadinejad Administration that allowed the Guards to expand their holdings as they took large shares of State enterprises.

Jafari countered that the Guards are now in Iran’s economy at the “requests and insistence” of past administrations. He claimed that the IRGC is “not concentrating on economic and business-related activities” but “feels bound to protect the Islamic Revolution and its achievements through “fighting poverty, development plans in underprivileged areas, and thwarting the plots that the enemies hatch to put economic pressure on Iran”.

In a further jab at the Government, the Guards commander said that putting trust in outsiders will only result in “embarrassment and encountering successive acts of betrayal”, as they will try to “milk Iran”.

The economy has been a battleground ever since Rouhani became President in August 2013. His recent remarks appear to be an attempt to establish his authority over economic affairs after his re-election on May 2017, as the Government tries to attract foreign investment and trade while restructuring parts of the Iranian system such as banking and finance.

UN Heads Appeals to President for Release of 81-Year-Old Namazi

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has appealed to President Hassan Rouhani for the release from prison of former UNESCO official Baqer Namazi, 81.

Namazi, a Canadian-Iranian national, was arrested four months after the detention of his son Siamak, an Iranian-American oil executive, in October 2015. Both were charged with espionage and collaborating with a foreign
government and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Guterres wrote his secret letter a week ago to Rouhani, to ask for Baqer Namazi’s freedom on humanitarian grounds.

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the former chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and other US officials have asked the Secretary-General to help secure the Namazis’ freedom.