Top Stories
WSJ: "The engineering arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Corps said Friday it was pulling out of projects in a giant Iranian natural-gas
field in the Persian Gulf, blaming mounting sanctions from the West. The decision is a blow to a push by President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to tighten control of the country's oil and gas industry
and suggests a round of fresh international sanctions specifically targeting
the IRGC is causing new difficulty for the group, a paramilitary organization
with a range of business subsidiaries." http://bit.ly/duQ1fy
BBC News: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said
the US must stop using 'cowboy logic' if it wants dialogue with Iran over its
nuclear program. He said he was for
negotiations, but that imposing sanctions would not make his country change
course." http://bit.ly/9ztB0M
WP: "The Iranian scientist who returned to his homeland
this week was one of two CIA informants whisked out of Iran last year by the
agency amid concerns that the Tehran government had discovered they were
providing secrets to the United States, current and former U.S. officials said."
http://bit.ly/9F9zDN
Nuclear Program
NYT: "The Educational Testing Service has announced that
it is temporarily suspending registration for its tests in Iran, including the
popular Test of English as a Foreign Language, in what may be one of the first
tangible effects of the new sanctions levied against the country by the
international community." http://nyti.ms/aT4zUO
WSJ: "India's petroleum secretary said the latest round
of U.S. sanctions against Iran could complicate the activities of Indian
state-controlled companies that are looking to invest in Iran's oil and gas
sector. The official, S. Sundareshan,
said in an interview that Indian public-sector firms, including Oil and Natural
Gas Corp., are exploring opportunities in Iran, a huge potential market as
India hunts for energy resources abroad. India also recently renewed talks with
Iran over a proposed $7.4 billion pipeline that would deliver natural gas to
Pakistan and India." http://bit.ly/aRtVO9
WSJ: "As the international sanctions noose tightens
around Iran's nuclear program, Tehran is increasingly relying on a small,
Iranian-owned bank in Germany to conduct business on behalf of the regime's
blacklisted companies, Western officials say. The European-Iranian Trade Bank AG-known as EIH Bank for its German
initials-has done over a billion dollars of business for Iranian companies
associated with Iran's conventional military and ballistic missile procurement
programs, including companies blacklisted by the U.S., the United Nations and
the European Union, according to a person familiar with the matter." http://bit.ly/bNwnU6
NYT: "Viewed one way, Mr. Amiri's decision to return is a
huge propaganda boon for the Iranians. For months they have insisted that Mr.
Amiri was kidnapped in Saudi Arabia in June 2009, by the C.I.A. and Saudi
intelligence, then drugged and tortured into making up stories about Iran's
covert nuclear program. 'I was under the harshest mental and physical torture,'
Mr. Amiri said when he landed in Tehran, an account American officials
dismissed as a 'fantasy' spun to save his life. Viewed another way, the Amiri case must be deeply unsettling to the
Iranians." http://nyti.ms/9bJa9n
Domestic Politics
NYT: "Having successfully suppressed the opposition
uprising that followed last summer's disputed presidential election, President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters are now renewing their efforts to
marginalize another rival group - Iran's traditional conservatives." http://nyti.ms/c8xwFP
NYT: "Iran's deputy police chief accused Pakistan on
Saturday of providing a haven for members of an armed rebel group that has
claimed responsibility for the deadly twin suicide bombings last week in front
of a mosque in the southeastern city of Zahedan." http://nyti.ms/aYQmmt
NYT: "Market-design maven Al Roth points to a new working
paper about Iran's kidney market. Kidney donors in Iran receive regulated payments
from the recipients, a gift from the government 'for appreciation of her
altruism,' and occasionally an additional payment from the recipient. Once
administrators identify an available donor, 'a meeting between the two parties
is arranged (they are provided with a private area within the foundation
building if they want to reach a private agreement) and they will be sent for
tissue tests.'" http://nyti.ms/b8qgfE
AP: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday
Iran will file a complaint to international bodies over the deadly mosque
bombing by an insurgent group he says the U.S. supports. The twin suicide bombings of a mosque in
southeast Iran killed 28 people Thursday night, in an attack claimed by the
Jundallah insurgent group as revenge for the execution of its leader by Iranian
authorities in June." http://bit.ly/d3hP3v
AP: "Iranian police arrested 40 people following the
devastating bombings of a mosque in the country's southeast as funerals were
under way for the victims, local media reported on Saturday. Gen. Ahmad Reza Radan, Iran's deputy police
chief, told the semiofficial Fars news agency that those detained 'intended to
create insecurity in Zahedan after the bombing,' but all was now calm in the
city." http://bit.ly/9Y2Aza
AP: "President Barack Obama is condemning the double
suicide bombing against a mosque in Iran as an outrageous terrorist attack. In a statement Friday, Obama says the deaths
of innocent civilians in their place of worship is an 'intolerable offense' and
says those who carried out the attack must be held accountable. Obama says the
U.S. stands with the families of those killed and with the Iranian people." http://bit.ly/aSZpF4
Opinion
WP Editorial Board: "The more information becomes
available about Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, the more the Obama
administration's version of events seems borne out: He freely chose to leave
Iran for the United States, and he freely chose to return. That he was allowed
to do so is in keeping with U.S. law and common decency. But it also ought to
provide an example for the government of Iran, whose respect for its own laws,
not to mention decency, is sporadic at best." http://bit.ly/d7ZYb5
WSJ Editorial Board: "If an Iranian prosecutor has his
way, a 43-year-old mother of two will soon be taken from her cell in Tabriz
prison, wrapped in a white shroud, buried up to her chest in a dirt pit, and
stoned to death. In accordance with Iran's penal code, the rocks pelted at her
head will be big enough to inflict pain, but not large enough to kill her
immediately. It will take time-maybe half an hour-for her to die." http://bit.ly/cWTRyq
Gabriel Schoenfeld in WSJ: "Since late last year, U.S.
intelligence has been preparing a new estimate of Iran's nuclear program. The
critical question is whether the forces that led to politicization in 2007 have
been eradicated. Will the drafters of the new Iran NIE call the shots as they
are, or will they once again use intelligence as a political lever? Already some hints are emerging." http://bit.ly/bHDflg
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