Top Stories
AP: "Adm. Mike Mullen said Monday he believes Iran will
continue to pursue nuclear weapons, even if sanctions against the country are
increased. Speaking at the Aspen
Security Forum, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it would be 'incredibly
dangerous' for Iran to achieve nuclear weapons, and that there's 'no reason to
trust' Iran's assurances that it is only pursuing a peaceful nuclear program,
especially after the discovery of the secret nuclear facility in Qom." http://bit.ly/c1gsKC
LAT: "Iran set tough terms Monday for the resumption of
nuclear talks, vowing to punish world powers for imposing new sanctions on the
Islamic Republic. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said Monday that stalled talks could continue only if the United
States, Russia, China and Western Europe included other countries in the
discussions, clarified their stance on Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons
arsenal, submitted to the rules of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and
specified whether the talks would be friendly or hostile." http://bit.ly/aiPFQF
WP: "Iran is ready to retaliate if its vessels are
searched and will postpone nuclear talks with major powers until late August in
response to new international sanctions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
Monday." http://bit.ly/9RnHll
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "The U.N. chief on Monday called for more talks
on Iran's atomic program, saying new sanctions against Tehran have not shut the
door to a diplomatic resolution of its nuclear standoff with the West. 'Even with the Security Council's resolution
adopted on other sanctions, the door is still open for a negotiated settlement,'
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters." http://bit.ly/a24686
Reuters: "Russia complained to the Security Council on
Monday about what U.N. diplomats said was Germany's seizure of items bound for
a nuclear power plant in Iran, saying such moves were 'not in line' with U.N.
rules." http://bit.ly/aq6Nqo
AP: "Russia's foreign minister is expressing little
concern over U.S. claims that Iran has enough uranium to make two nuclear bombs
within two years, saying the information is not new. Speaking in Israel on Tuesday, Sergey Lavrov
responded to a new CIA assessment that Iran could produce the bombs by further
enriching uranium it already has." http://bit.ly/atUxcF
WSJ: "A former lead Iranian nuclear negotiator has taken
up residence at Princeton University, marking the highest-ranking member of
Tehran's political elite to relocate to the U.S. since last year's political
uprising against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. U.S. and European officials view Hossein Mousavian as particularly
important, as he has spent more than two decades working on foreign-policy
issues for the Islamic Republic ranging from helping secure the release of
hostages held by the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon to working with the
West to establish a new government in Afghanistan following the overthrow of
the Taliban." http://bit.ly/9aYg1O
Reuters: "The G8 highlighted fears over nuclear
proliferation, and fingered North Korea and Iran as major threats. 'The governments of Iran and North Korea have
chosen to acquire weapons to threaten their neighbors. The world must see to it
that what they spend on these weapons will not be the only costs they incur,'
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said." http://bit.ly/a6Qb79
Commerce
Reuters: "Iran sees no risks to its gasoline imports, an
oil official said on Tuesday, a day after France's Total TOTA.PA joined the
list of Western oil companies stopping sales to Iran due to sanctions. The head of the National Iranian Oil Products
Distribution Company told the oil ministry website SHANA that consumption was
declining, helping trim Iran's reliance on gasoline imports." http://bit.ly/cpVPUF
Reuters: "Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM), the oil arm of Russian
energy firm Gazprom (GAZP.MM), is looking to expand its foreign operations into
oil-rich Cuba and Iran, which are both hindered by trade sanctions. The company is actively seeking to increase
its resource base to meet an ambitious oil output goal of 100,000 million
tonnes a year by 2020, up from around 60,000 million." http://bit.ly/ahKUtb
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "Former Iranian President Ayatollah Hashemi
Rafsanjani, a top Iranian cleric who has supported the opposition, has severely
criticized the country's political situation, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The criticism came in a letter published on
Rafsanjani's website on June 27, one day before the 29th anniversary of a 1981
blast at the Tehran office of the Islamic Republican Party that killed many
political leaders." http://bit.ly/bFaEgF
Radio Farda: "Iran's Intelligence Ministry has called for
a 'decrease' in ties with Russia, according to Hossein Ebrahimi, a parliament
deputy and a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee." http://bit.ly/ctwyyy
Opinion
George Perkovich for the Carnegie Endowment: "Coming on
the heels of a new round of United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran,
the United States and Europe have added additional measures to increase
pressure and change the behavior of the Iranian regime. But, are sanctions the
best option? Will the international community be able to contain Iran's nuclear
ambitions? In a Q&A, George Perkovich explains that no one is under the
illusion that sanctions alone will persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, but
there are other reasons to adopt sanctions and there's no good alternative." http://bit.ly/9hedf9
Robert Kagan in WP: "The second success was the U.N.
Security Council resolution on Iran. Yes, it was too mild, badly watered down
by China and Russia. Yes, the administration oversold how much Russia acceded
to American desires. But the administration did get a resolution, only a little
later than planned, and passage kicked off additional sanctions by Europeans
and others. Will this by itself stop Iran from getting a bomb? No. But it does
increase the pressure on the Tehran regime, which may indirectly help those
Iranians who dare to struggle for a new kind of government." http://bit.ly/bKwpFc
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