Top Stories
NYT: "The European Union is considering tough new
sanctions against Iran to protest its nuclear program, including banning
investment in the oil and gas sector and tightening restrictions on shipping
and finance." http://nyti.ms/bJJDwT
AP: "Iran's parliament authorized tit-for-tat retaliation
Tuesday against countries that inspect cargo on Iranian ships and aircraft as
part of new U.N. sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. A fourth Security Council sanctions resolution
imposed last month calls on, but does not require, all countries to cooperate
in such cargo inspections if there are 'reasonable grounds' to believe the
items could contribute to the Iranian nuclear program, and any inspection must
receive the consent of the ship's flag state." http://bit.ly/cHVSUN
AFP: "Global energy majors are welcome to help develop
oil and gas projects in Iran despite new sanctions imposed on the Islamic
republic, a top official told reporters on Monday.
'We welcome all international companies, eastern or
western. The oil industry cannot be deprived of cooperation,' said Mohammad
Hossein Mousavizadeh, adviser to Pars Oil and Gas Co, which is developing the
giant South Pars fields in Gulf waters." http://bit.ly/a2iOYK
Nuclear Program
AP: "German authorities are investigating the activities
of a Hamburg-based bank that specializes in financing trade between Europe and
Iran, after it was blacklisted by the U.S. government in connection with
sanctions against Tehran." http://bit.ly/cSTlYQ
WSJ: "Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused
the U.S., Pakistan and allied forces of utilizing Afghanistan to support
terrorist strikes inside Iran, including last week's bomb blasts in eastern
Sistan-Baluchistan province." http://bit.ly/b9TKaX
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "You Can Tell Web Censorship Is Really Bad
In Iran...When even websites based inside the country and close to the
establishment provide users with antifiltering tools. The popular 'Tabnak' website, which is said
to be close to the former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai, has
posted a link to a proxy server on its website for users to bypass Internet
filtering in Iran. (According to media watchdog 'Reporters Without Borders,'
Iran is only second to China in the extent and sophistication of its web
censorship.)" http://bit.ly/9WgxrT
AFP: "Iran has hanged three men in a prison in Kerman in
the south and one in public in the western city of Ahvaz after they were
convicted of drug trafficking, newspapers reported on Tuesday. Shargh newspaper identified three men executed
in Kerman city on Monday as Abbas Y., Ruhollah B., and Mohammad Naim Sh." http://bit.ly/cEEN9T
CNN: "Want a job in Iran's executive branch? Quit
smoking. People addicted to tobacco
cannot get jobs with the government's executive branch, according to the
semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency, which cited a directive published
Monday by the Cabinet's information office." http://bit.ly/acoday
Toronto Sun: "It's a country that will execute women for
adultery, has more than 100 children under 18 on death row and answered public
protests over election results by opening fire on crowds numbering in the
thousands. Still, Iran thinks it has
lessons to teach Canada when it comes to human rights. Last week, Iran summoned Canada's top
diplomat in Tehran to ask him about how Canadian police handled protests at the
G20 summit in Toronto." http://bit.ly/avlxhr
Domestic Politics
LAT: "A recently concluded strike throughout Iran's main
traditional markets, or bazaars, was initially embraced by the opposition
movement born out of last year's allegedly fraudulent reelection of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But as it became
clear the stakes were more about cash than politics, those supporting the
self-described Green movement appeared to distance themselves from it." http://bit.ly/909Th9
Opinion
Reuel Marc Gerecht in The Weekly Standard: "There is only
one thing that terrifies Washington's foreign policy establishment more than
the prospect of an American airstrike against Iran's nuclear-weapons
facilities: an Israeli airstrike. Left, right, and center, 'sensible' people
view the idea with alarm. Such an attack would, they say, do great damage to
the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Tehran would counterattack,
punishing 'the Great Satan' (America) for the sins of 'the Little Satan'
(Israel)." http://bit.ly/9TW4Uz
Bret Stephens in WSJ: "Why hasn't Israel bombed Iran yet?
It's a question I often get from people who suppose I have a telepathic hotline
to Benjamin Netanyahu's brain. I don't, but for a long time I was confident
that an attack would happen in the first six months of this year. Since it
didn't, it's worth thinking through why." http://bit.ly/aeozAL
Arang Keshavarian in FP: "The government is right to be
concerned. The Iranian capital's marketplace has proven among the most reliable
catalysts of political upheaval in the country's long history. Bazaaris have
used similar methods of resistance to channel opposition to rulers and show
support for larger political movements. Bazaari dissent was instrumental to the successes of Iran's constitutional
movement of 1905, the nationalization of the oil industry in the 1950s, and the
overthrow of the monarchy in 1979." http://bit.ly/bBN5qN
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