Page 7 - IRANRptOct19

Trump has demanded a new accord that would mean Iran agreeing to even harsher restrictions aimed at keeping its nuclear programme civilian, plus limits placed on its ballistic missile programme and measures that would bar its provision of support militias in Middle East conflict zones that variously oppose Israel and Arab allies of the US, such as Iran’s regional arch rival Saudi Arabia.
In his speech, Trump also accused Iranian leaders of "fuelling the tragic wars in both Syria and Yemen".
Thousands of people have been killed in the Yemen fighting, widely seen as a "humanitarian nightmare". Both sides have accused each other of human rights violations, while the UK is under fire for providing the Saudis with munitions that have been dropped on Yemeni civilians.
In his speech at the General Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Iran and the US to pursue negotiations. He said: "Now more than ever is the time for negotiations between Iran, the United States, the signatories of the [nuclear pact], and regional powers, centred on the region's security and stability."
The attack on Saudi Arabia had "changed the situation" in the Gulf region, Macron also said. "Today the risk is of a conflagration arising from a miscalculation or a disproportional response."
However, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Trump on September 23 dismissed Macron’s recent attempts to mediate between the US and Iran. “We don’t need a mediator,” said Trump. “He’s [Macron] a friend of mine, but we’re not looking for any mediators. They know who to call.”
2.3 ​The Eurasian Union meets Velvet Revolution in Armenia
What happens when the club of authoritarian states meets in the home of the “Velvet Revolution”?
The last time the heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) met, in May in Kazakhstan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was conspicuously snubbed. Many interpreted his chilly reception as evidence that the new Armenian leader’s route to office – popular street protests that overthrew an authoritarian government – was a bit uncomfortable for the group’s other leaders, from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.
But when the EEU convened next, on October 1, it was Pashinian’s turn to host. And this time they played by his rules, exemplified by one of the PM’s signature selfies that instantly went viral across Eurasian social media.
Up until his plane touched down​ ​it was not certain​ ​whether the EEU’s most prominent leader – Russian President Vladimir Putin – would show up at all, given the amount of bad blood alleged to exist between him and Pashinian. Ahead of the visit, anti-Pashinian and Russia-friendly Armenian media made much of Putin’s dissatisfaction with the fact that his friend, former president Robert Kocharyan, is in jail awaiting charges in relation to the​ ​violent breakup of protests​ ​from his time in office.
7​ IRAN Country Report​ October 2019 www.intellinews.com