Subject: Morning Brief: Iran’s Supreme Leader: “Death to America” Means Death to Trump
From: "Foreign Policy" <[email-masked]>
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Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2019 08:24:16 -0600 (CST)

Iran’s Supreme Leader: “Death to America” Means Death to Trump

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MORNING BRIEF

Today's Global News from Foreign Policy

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02/08/2019

02/08/2019

TOP NEWS

Iran’s Supreme Leader: “Death to America” Means Death to Trump

Top News: As Iran marked the 40-year anniversary of its revolution on Friday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told an audience of officers from the country’s air force that one of the world’s most controversial chants is not directed at the United States as a whole, but at its leadership. Khamenei said, “‘Death to America’ means death to [U.S. President Donald] Trump, [National Security Adviser] John Bolton, and [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo. It means death to American rulers.”

Amid increasing tensions with European powers, who have worked with Iran to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive, but placed increasing pressure on Tehran to walk back its testing of ballistic missiles, Khamenei said, “I recommend that one should not trust the Europeans just as the Americans.”

Thailand: Following a nomination by the populist Thai Raksa Chart Party, Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Varnavadi, the elder sister of Thailand’s king, is running to be the country’s next prime minister. After five years of governance by a military junta, voters are set to go to the polls on March 24 in what optimists hope will mark a return to democracy, and critics fear will be little more than an exercise in rubber-stamping electoral authoritarianism. Due to Thailand’s strict lèse-majesté laws, which forbid any insults to the monarchy, few have commented on her candidacy. The deputy prime minister, Wissanu Krea-ngam, told reporters on Friday that he had no comment on Ms. Ubolratana’s candidacy. “If I could answer you, I would,” he said. “But I can’t.”

AFRICA

•  Morocco is set to withdraw from the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, and has recalled its ambassador from Saudi Arabia.

•  Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio, moved to counter the prevalence of sexual violence in the country by declaring it a national emergency.

•  Civil society groups in Uganda are calling for its tourism minister to resign after he launched a campaign around the country’s “curvy women.” Former opposition MP Winnie Kiiza told Reuters, “We have been outraged...that a government can parade curves of women as a tourist attraction.”

AMERICAS

•  Trucks carrying U.S. aid to Venezuela are stalled at the border city of Cúcuta, where troops loyal to President Nicolás Maduro have blocked a key bridge.

•  The United States is set to ban members of Maduro’s constituent assembly, a parallel body to Venezuela’s National Assembly, from obtaining visas to travel to the United States.

•  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos alleges that the National Enquirer attempted to blackmail and extort him.

ASIA

•  In Myanmar, activists reported that the authorities have arrested 46 people since Thursday after crackdowns on protesters.

•  Hackers attempted to gain access to the digital infrastructure of Australia’s Parliament.

•  In New Zealand, massive sections of ice have broken off Tasman Glacier, the country’s largest. “We’ve got skyscraper sized icebergs floating around in the lake,” a kayaking guide told Radio New Zealand on Friday.

EUROPE

•  The Finnish government announced its initial findings after the conclusion of a two year trial, which saw a universal basic income paid to 2,000 randomly-selected unemployed Finns. The cash grants improved well-being but did not reduce unemployment among recipients.

•  Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway have finalized an agreement with Britain over the rights of their citizens in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

•  Britain is leading efforts within the European Union to prevent Saudi Arabia being added to a blacklist of states seen as posing a greater risk for money laundering and terrorist financial flows.

MIDDLE EAST

•  The United States is planning to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria by April, raising concerns about the future of its Kurdish allies, among others.

•  In a conversation intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman told a close aide in 2017 that he would “use a bullet” on the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one year before Saudi operatives killed him at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

•  An aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Saudi government for their “complete lack of transparency” throughout the investigation into Khashoggi’s murder.

- By Jefcoate O'Donnell

(IRAN'S RELIGIOUS LEADER'S PRESS OFFICE / ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES)

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