Globe Trot: U.S. wired money to Iran twice

IRAN: The U.S. Treasury made two separate payments to Iran via wire transfer—one while Iran was under U.S. sanctions that prohibited such activity—in the last 14 months.

The payments totaled nearly $10 million and contradicted President Barack Obama’s statement last month defending a $400 million cash payment in January to the Islamic regime: “[T]he reason that we had to give them cash is precisely because we are so strict in maintaining sanctions and we do not have a banking relationship with Iran that we couldn’t send them a check and we could not wire the money.”

SYRIA: A cease-fire is near collapse after airstrikes by the United States and its coalition partners on Saturday hit Syrian forces near Deir Ezzor, killing perhaps 90 Syrian soldiers. The United States called the airstrikes a mistake, with ISIS the intended target. U.S. forces halted a raid on ISIS after learning of the miss—a missed opportunity, perhaps, as defections in the ISIS ranks there are underway.

According to a report from Aleppo received by William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, U.S.-supported rebels in Aleppo have refused to separate from al-Nusra, the jihadist umbrella group the United States supposedly is not supporting:

“In the agreement with the Russians [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry agreed to separate ‘our’ rebels out from the terrorists but that seems not to be possible. The Russians will start bombing again unless we can identify the areas where ‘our good rebels’ are located. Since that cannot be done expect the bombing to start next week.”

It appears also the United States may be shielding al-Qaeda-linked groups from targeting for airstrikes in Syria, including Ahrar al-Sham in a list of groups Russian airstrikes should avoid.

Correction: About 250,000 are living in rebel-held areas of Aleppo (Friday’s Globe Trot gave that as the total population), while approximately 1.4 million live in government-held Aleppo.

No aid has reached Aleppo, according to UN sources.

UNITED STATES: Authorities have arrested this morning Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Afghan descent and the prime suspect in weekend explosions in Manhattan and New Jersey. So far there’s no indication Rahami had ties to international terrorist groups, but Islamic State has claimed responsibility via its Amaq News Agency for a knife attack in a Minnesota shopping mall that injured nine people.

IRAQ: Britain denied refugee status to Iraqi Christian Sarmad Ozan, even though it granted asylum to his brother, a Syriac Orthodox priest, in 2010. Ozan was a Mosul student when his home was confiscated by ISIS in 2014 and his church destroyed: “I’m still appealing because it’s impossible to go back to a place with nothing.”

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly begins today with the world body’s first-ever summit on refugees. President Obama will speak before the General Assembly for the last time as head of state and will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

NOTE: No Globe Trot on Wednesday, but it will return Friday.