Top Stories
Reuters: "Asian workers in a Dubai port load an
Iran-bound ship with sacks of sugar. U.S. and U.N. sanctions over Tehran's
nuclear work do not bar such goods, but Iranian traders based here are feeling
the heat all the same. Morteza
Masoumzadeh, shipping agent for the 3,300-tonne cargo, says punitive
international measures against Tehran are increasingly hurting Iranian
businessmen in Dubai." http://bit.ly/c2XNZF
AP: "Iran's foreign minister has expressed optimism that
a deal on providing Tehran with nuclear fuel will soon be struck with the
international community. Manouchehr
Mottaki's remarks on Tuesday are part of a new diplomatic push to stave off
more sanctions over Iran's controversial nuclear program." http://bit.ly/csoEjg
AP: "Facing the threat of new U.N. sanctions, Iran's
president said Monday the veto power held by the U.S. and other permanent
Security Council members is a 'satanic tool.' Washington and its allies have been pressing for a fourth round of U.N.
penalties on Iran for its refusal to halt a key part of its nuclear program that
could be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran says it only wants the technology
for producing nuclear power." http://bit.ly/bmD3iI
Nuclear Program
Dow Jones: "Japan isn't particularly concerned that two
Japanese energy-related firms are on a list of 41 companies that could be
subjected to U.S. government sanctions under draft legislation targeting Iran,
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima said Tuesday. 'We understand that (being on the list) does
not automatically mean they will be sanctioned, as it would depend on what is
required by a new law,' Naoshima said. 'But we will keep an eye on
developments.'" http://bit.ly/9NtW1f
TIME: "Western governments may be scrambling to push
through tougher international sanctions against Iran, but the Islamic
Republic's nuclear program may be facing a more immediate hurdle: How to
replenish its dwindling uranium stocks. Iran's
need to find fresh supplies of raw uranium supplies is increasingly urgent,
according to some reports. That may be one reason for the bear hug President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe last Thursday, when
the Iranian leader landed in Harare on the first leg of an African trip." http://bit.ly/arzZNU
Commerce
WSJ: "But one country, otherwise quite friendly with
China in foreign-policy terms, won't be shipping more of the steelmaking
ingredient to slake China's industrial thirst, according to an industry report
Monday: Iran. Iran was China's
eighth-largest iron ore supplier in 2008 and 2009. Last year, it shipped 7
million tons of ore to China, up 33% on 2008, Chinese customs data showed. This
year, as of March, it had already exported 3 million tons of ore to its Asian
ally, a whopping rise of 115% on the same period last year, according to China
Customs. But not for much longer,
according to the SteelOrbis industry information portal." http://bit.ly/9xr4GK
Dow Jones: "Eni SpA (E), Italy's biggest energy company
by market value, is working on handing over the operatorship of the Iranian
Darquain oil field to local partners, as it limits its presence in the
hydrocarbon-rich Islamic republic. Development
activities in Darquain were concluded in 2009, said Eni in its annual report to
the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission released late Monday. The oil field
was the only activity operated by Eni in Iran." http://bit.ly/d5Qv2x
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on
Monday a U.S. report was 'absolutely false' that Iranian special forces had an
increasing presence in his South American nation. The report by the Pentagon to Congress
earlier in April said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' elite Qods force
had a growing Latin American presence, 'particularly in Venezuela.'" http://bit.ly/951iDn
AFP: "UN Security Council member Brazil reiterated on
Monday its support for Iran's quest for 'peaceful' nuclear energy, as world
powers built pressure for a new set of UN sanctions against Tehran." http://bit.ly/aPykfh
Opinion
NPR: "Many analysts argue it's only a matter of time before
Iran gets its hands on the materials and the know-how to create a nuclear bomb.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, White House national security adviser during the 1979
Iranian Revolution, proposes a plan to derail Iran's underground nuclear
program." http://n.pr/bxIRr0
Simone Dinah Hartmann in WSJ: "While the Western world is
trying to rally international support for tougher sanctions against Tehran to
stop its nuclear-weapons program, Austria seems to seek even closer ties with
the mullahs. Instead of isolating the Islamic Republic, Vienna just welcomed
Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, who in 2006 gave the opening speech
at Tehran's Holocaust denial conference." http://bit.ly/9mFUVA
Hossein Aryan for Radio Farda: "The events that have
roiled Iran since the disputed June 12, 2009, presidential election are
unprecedented in the 31-year history of the Islamic republic. Never before have
citizens protested in such numbers to demand their rights be respected. In
spite of repression, torture, widespread arrests, and even killings by the
regime, the people took to the streets, although intermittently. And never before have the rifts among the
ruling factions been so noticeable." http://bit.ly/d442lH
Frederick Kagan in The Weekly Standard: "It is unlikely that
these messages-intended to 'allow Iran to make a different kind of calculation,'
according to President Obama-have thus far made the regime feel isolated or
persuaded it to change its behavior, based on the responses and actions of the
regime." http://bit.ly/aEmCCZ
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