Eye On Iran: Iran Curbs LNG-Export Ambitions

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group. Top Stories WSJ: "Iran is greatly curbing its once-lofty ambitions to become a major liquefied natural-gas exporter, a reversal that energy executives and analysts tie to the country's difficulty accessing Western technology amid fresh international sanctions. In several recent interviews with state-controlled outlets, Iranian energy officials have said they have suspended two of the country's big LNG projects. Tehran said it is shifting its focus to building more gas pipelines." http://bit.ly/bMu8eG Reuters: "Russian oil giant LUKOIL (LKOH.MM: Quote) has resumed gasoline sales into Iran together with China's state-run firm Zhuhai Zhenrong, even as the United States urges the global community to be tough with Tehran. Iran is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter but lacks adequate refining capacity to meet domestic demand for motor fuel, forcing it to import up to 40 percent of its requirements." http://bit.ly/a8SF31 AP: "As Iran and world powers prepare for new nuclear talks, letters from Tehran's envoys to top international officials suggest little prospect of major progress, with Tehran combative and unlikely to offer any concessions. Two letters, both written late last month and obtained by The Associated Press, reflect Iran's apparent determination to continue the nuclear activities that have led to new rounds of U.N., EU, and U.S. sanctions over fears that Tehran might be seeking to develop nuclear arms." http://bit.ly/aLXTkM Nuclear Program Radio Farda: "The United States says it wants to give Iran sanctions time to work before turning to other ways to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Jim Jones, President Barack Obama's national security adviser, told CNN that Washington would keep pressure on Iran over its nuclear program but that the administration believed it had time before considering military action." http://bit.ly/cwo7IA AFP: "Western countries' sanctions against Iran are boosting rather than hurting the Iranian government, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi said in an interview with a British newspaper published Thursday. Karroubi said the sanctions gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government a justification for clamping down on opponents." http://bit.ly/czcibR Bloomberg: "Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi and Chinese officials pledged for their countries to cooperate more closely in the energy industry during talks in Beijing on Aug. 6, Iran's government-run Press TV reported. Russia's state-controlled OAO Rosneft and OAO Gazprom Neft may step up fuel shipments to the Islamic republic this month, the Iran Commission of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in July." http://bit.ly/aAWJ11 Bloomberg: "Iran won't avoid keeping euros and dollars in its foreign currency basket as a result of international sanctions over the country's nuclear program, though it will decrease the proportion the Western currencies represent in its reserves, Reza Nadali, director of the bank's international department, said in a phone interview from Tehran. Iran won't reduce the amount of foreign currency it holds in accounts outside the country, he said." http://bit.ly/9zaUnS Human Rights LAT: "Seven leaders of the Bahai community in Iran were sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of spying for foreign nations, cooperation with Israel and undermining Islam, according to Bahai representatives in the United States and France. All those accused have denied the charges. The Bahai leaders have been held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since 2008." http://bit.ly/aF50c1 Radio Farda: "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman whose death sentence by stoning sparked international outrage, appears to have been shown on Iranian state television confessing to adultery. In the broadcast, the interviewee also admits that a man with whom she was acquainted offered to kill her husband and that she let him carry out the crime." http://bit.ly/cnDBYT Foreign Affairs The Telegraph: "The UK ambassador to Iran has angrily attacked comments by a senior Tehran government minister that the English are 'a bunch of thick people'. Simon Gass said the comments were 'illogical and worthless' and showed 'a lack of respect for human dignity'. The remarks were made by Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, a vice-president of Iran, in a speech on Monday to education officials." http://bit.ly/blCQil AP: "Iran's president called Thursday for a stronger alliance with other countries in the region straddling the Middle East and Central Asia, saying NATO-led troops have failed to restore peace in Afghanistan. Iran sees the presence of American forces on its doorstep in Afghanistan as a threat, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged neighboring countries to increase cooperation instead." http://bit.ly/bUxY6R Opinion Michael Eisenstadt and David Crist in Foreign Policy: "There are a number of reasons that Iran, rather than the United States or Israel, may act first. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and other senior officials have proclaimed on numerous occasions their belief that the United States is a declining power, that the international order that underpinned U.S. influence is crumbling, and that U.S. strength has been sapped by long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq." http://bit.ly/9ZUgGF Steve Clemons in The Washington Note: "What simultaneously disturbs and fascinates about this essay by Goldberg, who in past conversations has told me that he is ambivalent personally when it comes to bombing or containing Iran, is that it lays out a fairly comprehensive roster of the probable high costs for Israel (and the U.S.) of a military attack - and yet Israel's national leadership, for the most part, as reflected in their interviews, maintains a consequences-be-damned posture on a military strike - as opposed to a containment strategy." http://bit.ly/cZ9pAe Golnaz Esfandiari for Radio Farda: "Ahmadinejad is known for his frequent use of crude language when discussing Western countries and adversaries. But recently the Iranian president has stepped up his use of undiplomatic language, reaching new lows in the process. Ahmadinejad didn't stop at the breast reference. Addressing the United States, he alluded to another phrase that describes angry people as having 'burning asses.'" http://bit.ly/97Pvbl Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

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