Iran has confirmed for the first time that forces from its revolutionary guards corps (IRGC) are in Syria helping Bashar al-Assad's government crush rebels, and warned that it would get involved militarily if its Arab ally came under attack.
In a clear public signal of Tehran's continuing support for Assad, the commander of the Islamic republic's elite military formation said that a number of members of the IRGC's Qods force were in Syria, though General Mohammad Ali Jafari gave no further details and claimed this did not constitute "a military presence".
It was a surprisingly candid response to persistent claims by western countries, the Syrian opposition and Israel that Iran is actively helping the regime in the 18th month of a bloody war. Lakhdar Brahimi, the veteran Algerian diplomat who replaced Kofi Annan as UN envoy to Syria earlier this month, met Assad in Damascus on Saturday but warned afterwards that any progress would be slow and halting given the yawning gap between government and opposition. "The crisis is dangerous and getting worse, and it is a threat to the Syrian people, the region and the world," said Brahimi.
Reports from Syriaon Sunday described government forces fighting rebels amid shelling and sniper fire in Damascus and Aleppo, as well as in Homs and Deir ez-Zor. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, reported 103 dead. Opposition activists reported 115 people killed on Saturday. According to the UN around 20,000 people have been killed. Opposition sources say the figure is closer to 30,000.
Jafari's admission underlines the way in which the Syrian uprising has become enmeshed in regional and international rivalries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are arming Syrian rebel groups, while the US, Britain and France have called for Assad to go but are offering only limited and non-lethal backing to the armed opposition. Russia and China have repeatedly blocked action against Syria at the UN.
The Qods force includes elements of special forces, intelligence gathering and aid, and answers to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It has been accused of planning attacks inside Iraq since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Jafari said that the IRGC was providing "intellectual and advisory help" to Syria.
British officials say that the IRGC has provided riot control equipment and technical advice on how to crush dissent, for example on how to flood areas with security forces. Iran is also providing support to improve the Syrian regime's intelligence gathering capabilities and help to monitor protesters' use of the internet and mobile phone network, including text messaging.
Iran is said to have been dismayed at the heavy-handed way its long-standing Arab ally responded when the unrest began in March 2011, contrasting it with the more sophisticated response to protests that followed its own disputed presidential election in 2009.
"If Syria came under military attack, Iran would also give military support but it … totally depends on the circumstances," AFP reported Jafari as saying at a rare press conference in Tehran.
The general also said that the Strait of Hormuz, the channel at the mouth of the Gulf through which a third of the world's traded oil passes, would be a legitimate target for Iran should it be attacked. "If war occurs in the region and the Islamic republic is involved, it is natural that the Strait of Hormuz as well as the energy [market] will face difficulties. The US has many vulnerabilities around Iran, and its bases are within the range of the guards' missiles. We have other capabilities as well, particularly when it comes to the support of Muslims for the Islamic republic," he said.
In Damascus, Brahimi also met Syrian opposition figureswho are still tolerated by the regime. "We told Mr Brahimi … of our support for his efforts to resolve the crisis by ending the violence and killings, providing medical care and releasing political prisoners," said Hassan Abdel Azim, spokesman for the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. But the head of the Free Syrian Army's military council in Aleppo, Colonel Abdel Jabar al-Oqaidi, predicted that the envoy's mission would fail, like Annan's, because he had nothing to offer those fighting for their freedom, al-Arabiya TV reported.
Syria's state news agency Sana quoted Assad as telling Brahimi that the success of his mission hinged on "pressuring countries which finance and train the terrorists, and which traffic weapons to Syria, to stop these actions."
In Istanbul, Tariq al-Hashimi, the fugitive Iraqi vice-president, said in interview that the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was failing to stop ammunitions and armaments reaching Syrian government forces. "My country is unfortunately becoming an Iranian corridor to support the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad," he said. "There is no doubt about that."
Guardian
NEW YORK (AP) — Regulators are investigating whether several major US banks failed to monitor transactions properly, allowing criminals to launder money, according to a New York Times story. The newspaper cited officials who it said spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal agency that oversees the biggest banks, is leading the money-laundering investigation, according to the Times. The report said the OCC could soon take action against JPMorgan Chase & Co., and that it is also investigating Bank of America Corp. Money laundering allows people to make money — often obtained illegally — appear like it came from another source.
The OCC didn’t immediately comment. JPMorgan and Bank of America declined to comment.
The financial industry is struggling to mend its public image. Four years after the financial crisis, banks are getting closer scrutiny. And regulators are under pressure to show that they’re not missing any questionable activity.
This summer, British bank Barclays PLC settled charges that it had manipulated a key global interest rate. Standard Chartered PLC, also based in the U.K., agreed to settle charges that it had improperly processed money for Iran, brought by the New York Department of Financial Services after the bank voluntarily informed regulators that it was reviewing relevant practices. In the spring, JPMorgan surprised shareholders with an unexpected trading loss.
If the OCC takes action, it could be similar to a cease-and-desist order that it filed against Citigroup in April. At the time, the OCC said that Citi had deficient internal controls and anti-money laundering procedures. In bank regulation, a cease-and-desist order doesn’t mean that a bank has to shut down, but it is a serious sanction that requires a bank to change its practices. Citi had already told the regulator that from 2006 to 2010, it had “failed to adequately monitor” some of its transactions connected to “foreign correspondent banking.”
The order in April didn’t make any new, specific accusations. But it did instruct Citigroup to tighten its rules so it could improve compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and related regulations. The act requires financial institutions to report suspicious activity and to put rules in place to try to make money laundering impossible for customers.
Last year, JPMorgan paid $88 million to settle charges from the Treasury that it had unlawfully processed money for Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Liberia.
At the time, JPMorgan said it had had no intent to violate regulations. It pointed out that it oversaw “hundreds of millions of transactions and customer records per day, and annual error rates are a tiny fraction of a percent.”
It’s not expected that banks would be accused of trying to show support for countries like Cuba and Iran. It’s more likely that they would be accused of faulty oversight that made any unlawful transactions possible. The industry has maintained that such violations are almost always unintentional.
According to the Times, the Justice Department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office are also involved. The Manhattan US attorney’s office and the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Times of Israel
The United States and more than two dozen allies are gearing up for the largest naval exercise ever in the Middle East focused on countering the threat of anti-ship mines. A wary Iran says it will be watching closely.
The maneuvers starting next week are the latest flexing of American military muscle in and around the Persian Gulf, even as Washington tries to convince ally Israel that diplomacy and sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to scale back its nuclear program need more time to work.
U.S. Navy officials insist that the anti-mine exercise is not about any specific country or a response to Iranian threats to shut the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the route for one-fifth of the world's oil.
But the drills will likely be perceived around the world as a challenge to Tehran, which has thousands of anti-ship mines it could deploy to disrupt shipping and drive up oil prices in response to any airstrike on its uranium enrichment facilities. The U.S. and several of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran says its atomic program is solely for peaceful purposes.
"This is one of many engagements conducted alongside regional defense forces," said Lt. Greg Raelson, a spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet. "Freedom of navigation through international waterways is critical to the international community and to nations in the region, including Iran."
The exercises, which will focus on a hypothetical extremist organization, are a way to boost cooperation with foreign navies and prepare to deal with threats that could block vital trade routes at sea, American officials say.
Raelson noted that waterborne bombs have struck a number of ships in the region in recent years, including a mysterious blast that damaged the Japanese oil tanker M. Star as it entered the Strait of Hormuz in 2010. An obscure Al Qaeda-linked group later claimed responsibility for that attack.
Even so, the maneuvers carry an implicit message for Tehran.
"Who is the 800 pound gorilla in the room? It's Iran," said Scott Truver, a Washington-based naval analyst who has written about mine warfare. "I'm sure we're sending them a message of: Here's what we can do. So don't try it."
In 1988, an Iranian mine ripped open the hull of the guided missile frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts in the middle of the Gulf, injuring 10 crew members. The warship was part of a Navy force assigned to protect merchant vessels flying the U.S. flag. Washington responded days later with a one-day assault that destroyed two Iranian oil platforms and sank or crippled six Iranian vessels.
Next week's maneuvers are unprecedented in scope. France, Japan, Jordan and New Zealand are among the more than 30 countries expected to take part in the exercise, which begins Sunday and lasts through Sept. 27. Some, such as Britain, will be contributing ships and other hardware. Others are sending personnel and observers.
In addition to the Gulf, anti-mine practice is planned for the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf of Aden, the gateway to the Red Sea that has been a focus of international efforts to fight Somali pirates.
Practice exercises are vital in ensuring allied navies are able to work in tandem with their American counterparts, Truver said. Each country has its own command structures and routines, and problems arise in times of war if "you don't practice in peacetime," he noted.
Iran has said its forces will be monitoring the maneuvers.
"We are very sensitive about security in the highly strategic Persian Gulf and we are watching closely," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said when asked about the exercise. "They should pay attention that violations of security and tranquility in the region can be a very sensitive phenomenon."
Iran frequently conducts war games of its own, and is expected to launch another round sometime in the fall. The head of Iran's navy, Adm. Habibollah Sayyari, pledged earlier this month to put Iranian warships in international waters off the U.S. coast "in the next few years." Iran already has sent military vessels into the Mediterranean for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The comments are a sign of Tehran's growing alarm over a buildup of additional U.S. Navy ships and other reinforcements to the region.
Over the summer, the Pentagon deployed four more minesweepers to the Gulf along with the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport dock that was recently retrofitted to become what is known as an afloat forward staging base. That effectively means it is a mother ship that can act as a floating stop-off point for helicopters, patrol ships and special forces.
They join the four Avenger-class minesweepers the U.S. has long stationed in Bahrain, the tiny Gulf island nation that hosts the Mideast-focused 5th Fleet. Britain also stations minesweepers in the Gulf.
The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis recently deployed several months ahead of schedule as part of a Pentagon plan to ensure that two carrier strike groups are constantly in the region.
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Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday the Middle East region was at risk of descending into "chaos" following a deadly attack on the US mission in Libya and violence in Egypt and Yemen.
"We are afraid that the region may descend into chaos, which is essentially what is happening already," the Russian leader said in comments broadcast on state television from his summer residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
NDTV
