Iran
After being hit by European and U.S. sanctions, Iran’s oil sales are stabilizing as the country entices buyers with attractive prices and a form of barter. But proposed new U.S. restrictions could further bite into its crude exports later this year. – Wall Street Journal
Iran’s nuclear enrichment program is progressing faster than western intelligence had initially realized, raising the stakes in Tehran’s showdown with the international community over the controversial program. – DEFCON Hill
The chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday blasted a group of 120 developing nations as Iran prepares to take the helm of the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement at a summit in Isfahan. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
A senior Iranian foreign policy official said his government wants to pursue further dialogue over its atomic efforts with six major governments, Interfax reported on Monday – Global Security Newswire
Mehfi Khalaji writes: On the human-rights question, persistent and steady action offers the best way for the West to demonstrate its concern over Iranian abuses. Such action will also prevent the Islamic Republic from labeling Western sanctions as something they are not intended to be: a Western attack on the Iranian public. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Syria
Rebel forces in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, said on Wednesday that government forces had launched a ground assault, forcing them to pull back from parts of a key neighborhood because their ammunition was running low, as new disputes arose around the contentious issue of foreign military support for President Bashar al-Assad. – New York Times
As the Arab world’s bloodiest revolt continues to maim, kill and ravage lives on an ever-escalating scale, anti-American sentiments are hardening among those struggling to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, in ways that could have profound consequences for the future of the country and the region in a post-Assad era. – Washington Post
The collapse of the U.N. initiative on Syria, rebel gains that opened corridor from Turkey to Aleppo, and a rash of high-level defections mark a turning point in the Syrian crisis and in the 44th administration’s plans for influencing the outcome. – Washington Post
Iran moved on Tuesday to reframe the Syrian conflict as part of a wider battle with the United States and other hostile world powers, dispatching the personal representative of its paramount leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to Damascus for a televised display of solidarity with Syria’s president as battles raged and dozens of Iranian hostages in rebel custody were threatened with death. – New York Times
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that the world must plan urgently to prevent sectarian warfare or imported terrorism in Syria after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime falls, citing the pace of government defections and the fact that Syrian rebel gains have opened up a safe corridor to Turkey. – Washington Post
A band of 48 Iranians being held hostage by Syria’s rebel army journeyed from Tehran on a trip organized by a travel agency owned by the elite troops who support and protect the Iranian regime, people familiar with the trip said. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who has been a leading proponent of joint efforts by the United States and Russia to reduce their arsenals of nuclear and chemical weapons, urged on Tuesday that the two countries team up to eliminate the stockpile of chemical weapons in Syria. – New York Times
Iran said Tuesday that it was holding the United States responsible for the fate of a group of Iranians held by Syrian rebels, as the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit Syria since the antigovernment uprising began there arrived in Damascus to show support for President Bashar al-Assad and attempt to secure the release of the hostages. – New York Times
The Syrian workers who once thronged Beirut’s southern suburbs have fled, local residents say, in what analysts see as a disturbing sign of how the uprising is spilling over into other countries in the region. – Washington Post
As fighting rages in Syria between the government forces and the rebels, the conflict is playing out on a smaller scale in Syrian Druse villages like this one, on the Israeli-held portion of the Golan Heights across the old cease-fire line. – New York Times
Rebel forces in Syria are planning an intense offensive in the eastern part of the civil war-torn nation over the next two weeks as they seek to put the final dagger in Bashar al-Assad’s regime. – DOTMIL
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that the United States should provide Syrian rebels with weapons. – Hill Tube
Some of the Iranians kidnapped by Syrian rebels are retired members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and military, Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying on Wednesday in Iranian media. – Reuters
A Syrian rebel group said on Wednesday it had killed a Russian general working as an adviser to Syria’s ministry of defense in an operation in the western Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus. – Reuters
More than 1,300 Syrians fled to Turkey overnight to escape the civil war, as rebels tried to expand their hold inside Syria’s largest city despite two weeks of withering counterattacks by President Bashar Assad’s troops. – Associated Press
One of Syria’s most prominent defectors has been touring regional powers to seek support for the uprising, but many in the opposition are deeply suspicious of the handsome former general, a longtime friend of President Bashar Assad with a taste for expensive cigars. They suspect he is just trying to vault to power. – Associated Press
Seventeen months into the uprising against Assad, Syria’s rebels are grateful for the support of Islamist fighters from around the region. They bring weapons, money, expertise and determination to the fight. But some worry that when the battle against Assad is over they may discover their allies – including fighters from the Gulf, Libya, Eastern Europe or as far as the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area – have different aims than most Syrians. – Reuters
Many of the main drugmakers in conflict-torn Syria have closed down, causing severe shortages of medicines for treating chronic diseases and a rising number of casualties, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. – Reuters
As the situation on the ground becomes ever more bloody, both sides in Syria are also waging what seems to be an intensifying conflict in cyberspace, often attempting to use misinformation and rumor to tilt the war in reality. – Reuters
Analysis: Turkey’s worst nightmares are beginning to come true in Syria – a protracted sectarian civil war on its long southern border with the emergence of a de facto Kurdish-controlled region friendly to its main domestic foe. – Reuters
Zalmay Khalilzad writes: The time has come for greater U.S. engagement in Syria. By forging a coalition of the relevant, Washington can facilitate a political transition that ends the bloodshed, precludes an array of crises — from terrorism to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction — and lays the groundwork for a stable, democratic Syria. – Washington Post
Sophia Jones and Erin Banco write: Syria’s former Prime Minister Riyad Hijab, who announced his defection from the Assad government Monday, is one of several high-ranking Syrian government officials to defect in recent months. But if it’s increasingly clear that Assad officials are eager to separate themselves from the regime, it’s not yet clear what role they will be able to play in the Syrian opposition. – The New Republic
Egypt
Egypt was reported to have launched its first airstrikes in decades in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday, deploying attack helicopters to strike at gunmen following the shooting of 16 Egyptian soldiers on Sunday. – New York Times
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi did not attend the military funeral Tuesday for the 16 soldiers killed over the weekend in an attack by militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a conspicuous absence for a leader whose thorny relationship with the military is being closely watched. – Washington Post
Instead of pushing people away, Morsi has established a mechanism for his staff to receive and review complaints. The gesture is the latest way in which Morsi, the country’s first Islamist president, is seeking to burnish his image as a man of the people and a public servant who represents the dawn of democratic rule in Egypt. – Washington Post
Egypt began to seal off smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, a security source said, two days after gunmen shot dead 16 Egyptian border guards in an attack blamed partly on Palestinian militants. – Reuters
Barak Barfi writes: Egypt’s elected leaders are bound to stumble as they assume control after 60 years of authoritarian rule. Washington should be able to help them avoid the pitfalls. But if the United States continues to neglect Egypt’s structural problems, the country’s new leaders risk falling into the same traps as their predecessors. – New York Times
Yemen
The United States will provide Yemen with the largest amount of U.S. government assistance to date for both the civilian and security sectors, the State Department announced Tuesday. – CNN’s Security Clearance
U.S. drones killed 10 al-Qaida militants — one believed to be a top bomb-maker — in separate strikes targeting moving vehicles in Yemen, officials and the country’s state-run agency said on Tuesday. – Associated Press
Katherine Zimmerman writes: Countering Ansar al Sharia is a difficult task: the insurgency has, with limited success, been able to tap into a widespread anti-government sentiment or provide benefits to local fighters. The emergence of an organized tribal resistance to Ansar al Sharia certainly facilitated the Yemeni military’s task of regaining control of seized territory. But will the tribal resistance collapse in the face of increased pressure from Ansar al Sharia? A Will Yemen once again be facing a situation where insurgents control an entire governorate? Given our reliance on local Yemeni forces to counter the insurgent threat, America has a significant stake in the answer. – AEI Ideas
Gulf States
Kuwaiti lawmakers boycotted a parliament session on Tuesday to foil another attempt to swear in a new cabinet – a move that makes the assembly’s dissolution likely and throws the U.S. ally into more turmoil. – Reuters
A petrol bomb attack on a patrol of Bahraini policemen seriously wounded one officer, the state news agency said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks police in the Gulf Arab state say they have suffered in recent months. – Reuters
Editorial: What’s needed is not just support for Bahrain’s reformers but greater pressure on its hard-liners — especially those who are complicit in torture and other illegal acts. In testimony before the Tom Lantos commission, Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch proposed that officials and security force members linked to human rights crimes be denied U.S. visas and access to the U.S. banking system. Since Bahrain regularly denies visas to critical U.S. journalists and human rights activists, it should have no cause for complaint if those who are sustaining its repression are similarly sanctioned. – Washington Post
Israel
A $450 million agreement between Israel and Lockheed Martin to allow Israel’s own electronic warfare (EW) equipment on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter paves the way to finalizing an initial 19-jet, $2.75 billion JSF deal between the U.S. and Israel, a cornerstone of Middle East defense cooperation. But it also means much more. – Aviation Week
John Hannah writes: We are living in momentous and perilous times, of that there should be no doubt. Powerful forces of revolution, technology, and ideology are mixing in highly combustible ways. In some cases, the fate of nations hang in the balance. America’s stake in how this drama unfolds, in a region so vital to our national interests, seems obvious to me — as does the proposition that our own wellbeing is best served by standing strong in support of those alarmingly few friends and allies we actually have in the Middle East (or around the world, for that matter) who possess both the will and the capability to act in concert with us to defend our common interests and values against those who, given their druthers and the necessary means, would surely destroy us. – Shadow Government
South Asia
The Supreme Court issued a contempt-of-court notice against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday, signaling what appeared to be a rerun of judicial proceedings that saw his predecessor ousted from office in June. – New York Times
A man who had been arrested on suspicion of insurgent activity and then released by the Afghan authorities detonated a remote-controlled bomb along a road outside Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least eight people in a packed minibus, the Afghan police said. – New York Times
India said its first home-built nuclear submarine was set for sea trials as it detailed billion-dollar projects to arm its navy with warships, aircraft and modern weaponry. – Defense News
The Obama administration, in a move aimed at reviving Afghan peace talks, has sweetened a proposed deal under which it would transfer Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for a U.S. soldier held by Taliban allies in Pakistan. – Reuters
China
During a holiday banquet for China’s military leadership early this year, a powerful general lashed out in a drunken rage against what he believed was a backhanded move to keep him from being promoted to the military’s top ruling body…The general’s tirade was one of a series of events this year that have fueled concerns among Communist Party leaders over the level of control they exercise over military officials, who are growing more outspoken and desire greater influence over policy and politics. – New York Times
A bipartisan quartet of senators has called on the Chinese government to investigate companies in that nation that are producing high-quality counterfeit American driver’s licenses, saying the practice is a serious national security threat to the United States. – Washington Times
When Gu Kailai—the wife of a disgraced Chinese politician—walks into a courtroom here on Thursday, it will recall the trial of another once-powerful woman, more than a quarter-century ago—and a watershed moment in China’s modern history. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The top two members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are demanding the Obama administration provide answers on the full national security impact of illegal ties between a US defense firm and the Chinese military. – DEFCON Hill
Chinese President Hu Jintao is maneuvering to promote one of his closest allies to the Communist Party’s inner sanctum, two independent sources said, in a bid to retain clout and preserve his legacy after retiring as party chief. – Reuters
The wife of a fallen Chinese leader goes on trial Thursday on charges of murdering a British businessman in a politically charged case that may have little to do with whether she really killed him – Associated Press
The son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai has broken his silence and submitted a witness statement to the murder trial of his mother, CNN said on Wednesday, citing an e-mail from the young man. – Reuters
Chinese law, she explained, did “not mince words”. Now Gu finds herself on the other side of Chinese law in a case that experts say is hardly likely to show any signs of judicial reform. – Reuters
North Korea
North Korea at some point is anticipated to carry out a third nuclear test, which is likely to involve highly enriched uranium and the possible detonation at the same time of multiple devices, issue experts concluded in a Monday report for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – Global Security Newswire
Southeast Asia
Sri Lanka handed over 37 Chinese fishermen to their embassy on Tuesday, officials said, two days after the Sri Lankan navy arrested them for fishing without permission in the island nation’s offshore waters. – Reuters
Matthew Smith writes: Transition from authoritarian rule will not come without setbacks. But no one is served when the state fails to address the gravity of such abuses. Rather than generate undue optimism for the country’s investment prospects, world leaders need to let Burma’s rulers know they will not be rewarded for continuing these atrocities. – Wall Street Journal Asia (subscription required)
Russia
A Russian court on Wednesday reduced the prison sentence for an associate of the oil tycoon Mikhail B. Khodorovsky in a rare show of leniency amid a spate of criminal cases against opposition leaders. – Reuters
Madonna, the pop megastar known for her own less-than-pious adaptation of religious symbols and settings, used a sold-out concert here on Tuesday night to voice support for the three women from a feminist punk band who are being tried on hooliganism charges for staging an anti-Putin stunt on the altar of Moscow’s main Russian Orthodox cathedral. – New York Times
Europe
Political insiders call Johnson the clown who would be prime minister, a lion of the Conservative Party who has deftly leveraged Britain’s overdeveloped funny bone to become the second-most-powerful man in the country behind Prime Minister David Cameron, a fellow Conservative. – Washington Post
Belarus said on Wednesday it was withdrawing its remaining embassy staff from Sweden over a pro-democracy stunt involving an air drop of teddy bears on its territory and gave Sweden until the end of the month to pull its diplomats out of Minsk. – Reuters
44’s policies regarding Russia and the CEE states seem to consist in eschewing some old, faithful allies without acquiring new ones. In the long run, the decline of American influence in the region and the failure of the Russian “reset” will undermine the U.S.’s strategic foreign-policy goals. – National Review Online
United States of America
The White House and CIA are firmly denying a report that 44 believes Mitt Romney wants CIA Director David Petraeus as his running mate. And one GOP source doubts Petraeus would even accept. – DOTMIL
A former U.S. military commander has a blunt message for America: Fix your own myriad problems before lecturing Middle East nations about theirs. – DOTMIL
Josh Rogin reports: America’s lawmakers skipped town last week for a five-week recess, leaving several important national security agenda items on the table. Most, if not all of them, are expected to be ignored until after the election, meaning it could be months before Congress takes action. – The Cable
Latin America
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced it was freezing the assets of three Belize residents alleged to be drug traffickers and “key associates” of the Mexican drug trafficking group. The Treasury Department has also prohibited U.S. citizens from doing business with the suspects or their companies. – LA Times’ World Now
West Africa
A rare diplomatic opening inside Islamist-held northern Mali was tried on Tuesday by the foreign minister of neighboring Burkina Faso — an attempt to avert a war that some Western officials say is now nearly inevitable. – New York Times
Little more than a year ago, Alassane Ouattara was under siege in a luxury hotel in Abidjan as Laurent Gbagbo, the loser of Ivory Coast’s presidential poll, refused to give up power. Supporters of both sides fought pitched battles on the streets of the commercial capital. Now, Mr Gbagbo awaits trial for crimes against humanity in The Hague while Mr Ouattara tries to make up for lost time in a country that was once an economic engine for francophone west Africa but whose growth in recent years has been stymied by corruption and conflict. – Financial Times
Fighters loyal to Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo were behind a series of attacks that killed 10 soldiers in the commercial capital Abidjan since Sunday, the interior minister said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Gunmen killed three people in an attack on a mosque in the Nigerian town of Okene on Tuesday, a day after 19 were killed in gunfire at a church in the same town in a new outbreak of sectarian violence in central Nigeria, police said on Wednesday. – Reuters
East Africa
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the rebel-turned-technocrat who has led Ethiopia since 1991, is sick. And his long absence from public view has given Ethiopians cause to contemplate what their nation — now enjoying one of the longest sustained periods of economic development in its history — might look like without him. – Washington Post
The US wants China and Arab states to help foot the $3bn bill for a deal designed to unlock oil production and set Sudan and South Sudan back on the path to peace. – Financial Times
South Sudan hopes to resume oil production in September after reaching an interim agreement with Sudan on oil export fees, but it may take a year to return to full capacity, its top negotiator said on Tuesday. – Reuters
Uganda’s military, which forms the backbone of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, has deployed an air force contingent to reinforce troops who hope to retake a city from al Qaeda-linked militants before the government’s mandate expires. – Reuters
Congo
East and central African states agreed Tuesday to deploy a joint force to tackle armed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a restive and mineral-rich nation, officials said. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Rwanda and Great Lakes neighbors on Tuesday to stop supporting Congolese rebels as regional leaders met in Uganda to discuss ways to end the insurgency in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. – Reuters
A U.S. law and an electronics industry code governing the use of conflict minerals have slashed profits among armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo by 65 percent in the past two years, a report by a nonprofit rights group found on Tuesday. – Reuters
South Africa
44 is committed to preserving the United States’ preferential trade deal with Africa and will immediately begin working with the new Congress to renew it if he’s reelected, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday during a stop in South Africa. – The Hill’s Global Affairs
