MUST-READS

• Iran
  Iran seeks to mend fences with Chinese oil firms to get projects going

  Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil producer, hopes to nearly double its exports from just over 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in two months once sanctions are lifted, although analysts say it will take longer.

• Iraqi Kurdistan
  Iraqi Kurdistan’s battle with Baghdad over oil revenues

  Under the constitution, Baghdad requires the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) to share its own oil production with the rest of the country. The Kurds should then be reimbursed with 17% of the total nationwide budget, which is currently set at $105bn (£71bn).

  • BBC News - Baghdad Budget Dispute: Audio
• Anti-ISIS Campaign: Syria
  The war against Islamic State: Creeping toward Damascus

  Syria’s rebels in the south are better equipped and less extreme than their northern peers, but even they are receiving only limited help from American and Arab states. For now, it is Mr Assad who is bombing IS in Yarmouk. In a perverse but characteristic contortion, he is claiming to defend the same 18,000 people whom he has besieged for the past two years.

  • Daily Star - PLO rejects idea of joining Yarmouk fighting
  • Reuters - Red Cross demands access to Islamic State-held Yarmouk camp in Syria
• Authorized Use of Military Force
  Does president’s request to use force go far enough?

  Experts disagreed Wednesday on whether President Obama's draft authorization for the use of military force goes too far, or doesn't go far enough.

• Iran Negotiations: Framework Agreement
  Lausanne: Is there really much Disagreement between US, Iran on those Talking Points?

  "Demonstrating the value domestically is vital to keeping hardline critics of the deal at bay in Washington and Tehran while the negotiations are ongoing," Davenport adds. "But nothing that has been said about framework in the United States and Iran is fundamentally contradictory."

  • Washington Post - Iran's supreme leader voices pessimism on nuclear deal
  • Al-Monitor - Differences emerge in US, Iran interpretations of nuclear deal
• Cyber: Iran
  Opinion: Iran Advances Beyond ‘Third Tier’ Cyber Power

  While most of Iran’s cyber attacks appear to have been retaliatory in nature or aimed at acquiring intelligence, that doesn’t mean they will always remain so.

• ISIS and War Crimes
  ISIS and the ICC: Why it’s will be tough to prosecute the Islamic State for war crimes

  There have been an increasing number of calls for ISIS leaders to be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Today, the ICC’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, addressed the issue, saying that that while ISIS has committed “crimes of unspeakable cruelty,” her jurisdiction is too narrow to launch a prosecution.

• Turkey and Syria
  Despite Crackdown, IS Says Turkey-Syria Border Still Open

  The message comes amid signs of increased efforts by IS -- including Russian-speaking militants -- to attract new recruits to come to Syria, and increased efforts by Turkey to crack down on those trying to cross the Turkish border into Syria illegally.

• Anti-ISIS Campaign
  Iraqi forces move against Islamic State in Sunni heartland Anbar

  Iraqi security forces launched a new offensive against Islamic State insurgents in the Sunni Muslim heartland of Anbar on Wednesday, seeking to build on a victory over the jihadist group last week in the city of Tikrit.

  • RFE/RL - Despite Crackdown, IS Says Turkey-Syria Border Still Open
• Counterterrorism
  The U.S. and Saudi Arabia Take Joint Action Against Terrorist Financing Entity Attempting to Evade U.S. and UN Sanctions and Violate Saudi Laws

  “Today’s joint action reflects the strength of U.S. and Saudi cooperation on countering the financing of terrorism,” said Adam J. Szubin, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  “We are committed to exposing terrorist financiers, especially those who masquerade as charities.”

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