Iran arrests European accused of swindling $1 billion

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country's top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries. Zarif, a critical figure in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, dismissed the action and said it would not affect him. US President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the deal last year and ramped up sanctions to put pressure on Iran's economy.
The move dismantled part of President Barack Obama's legacy and upset US allies who were party to the agreement, which was designed to restrict Tehran's pathway to a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief. Strains between Washington and Tehran have risen more in recent months after attacks on tankers in the Gulf that the United States blames on Iran and Iran's downing of a US drone that prompted preparations for a US retaliatory air strike that Trump called off at the last minute.

"Javad Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran's Supreme Leader, and is the regime's primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The sanctions against Zarif would block any property or interests he has in the United States, but the Iranian foreign minister said he had none.

"The US' reason for designating me is that I am Iran's 'primary spokesperson around the world'," Zarif said on Twitter. "Is the truth really that painful? It has no effect on me or my family, as I have no property or interests outside of Iran. Thank you for considering me such a huge threat to your agenda." Zarif lived in the United States, from the age of 17 as a student of international relations in San Francisco and Denver, and subsequently as a diplomat at the United Nations in New York, where he was Iranian ambassador from 2002 to 2007.

The Trump administration said it would make decisions on whether to grant Zarif travel visas, including for trips to the United Nations, on a case by case basis, holding open the possibility that he might attend the annual UN General Assembly in September. If Zarif received such a visa, that would allow direct or indirect US contacts with him during that gathering, which brings most of the world's leaders to New York and has been the venue for previous US-Iranian contacts.

Negotiator
A senior US official reiterated that Trump was open to talks with Iran, but said the administration would want to deal with a key decision maker, which it did not consider Zarif to be. Zarif, who has said a so-called B-team including Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, an ardent Iran hawk, and conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could goad Trump into a conflict with Tehran, said in a later tweet: "We know that calling for dialog & peace is an existential threat to #B_Team." Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic member of the Foreign Relations Committee, questioned the administration's move.

"If our position is really that we want to negotiate with Iran than maybe we shouldn't sanction their chief negotiator," Murphy posted on Twitter. Wendy Sherman, who was the lead US negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal under Obama, echoed that view and said placing sanctions on Zarif "risks dangerous escalation." She linked the action to what Bolton said was a US decision to renew sanctions waivers for Iranian nuclear programs that allow Russia, China and European countries to continue their civilian nuclear cooperation with Tehran.

"One assumes sanctioning Zarif is the price for those waivers. The internal administration battle of war or diplomacy apparently wages on," said Sherman, who is director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. On June 24 Trump targeted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials with sanctions. Mnuchin said then that Zarif would be blacklisted that week, but the designation did not happen quickly. Reuters reported in mid-July that the administration had decided to hold off on sanctions against him for the time being.

Iran arrests European
In another development, Iran has arrested a European accused of swindling at least $1 billion out of an investor in the aftermath of a nuclear deal that saw sanctions lifted, state media reported Wednesday. "Police managed to discover a fraud case and arrest a European national who scammed 120 billion rials" since 2015 through claiming to invest in agriculture, said the force's spokesman Brigadier-General Ahmad Noorian.

Currently 120 billion rials amounts to around $1 billion, or nearly 900 million euros, under the unofficial exchange rate in the Iranian capital. The accused had come under suspicion when authorities discovered forged documents, the spokesman was quoted as saying in a report by the website of state television. The European national was then identified as a butcher by profession who had no capital and was "linked to an international conman wanted by Interpol".

State news agency IRNA said the accused had been arrested in the city of Birjand, South Khorasan, and had an accomplice who was also European. They had presented themselves as investors in the wake of the deal-known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - that gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program. "The investigation indicated that after the JCPOA, two European nationals introduced themselves to Iran's embassy" in a Gulf Arab country, said South Khorasan police chief Majid Shoja.

They were introduced to authorities in the province and then "encouraged one of the domestic investors to invest", he was quoted as saying by IRNA. "The Iranian partner incurred a lot of expenses," said the police chief. "In addition to accommodation, health care, business tickets for flights… and the provision of an office with the most up-to-date facilities, (the Iranian partner) paid about 120 billion rials into the accounts of these two European nationals."- Agencies