Top Stories
AFP: "Iran has made a proposal to
Moscow to jointly produce nuclear fuel for its Russian-built Bushehr plant and
future facilities, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation was quoted as
saying Thursday. 'We have made a proposal to Russia for the creation of a
consortium, licensed by that country, to do part of the work in Russia and part
of it in Iran,' state news agency IRNA quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying." http://bit.ly/ajz2cL
Reuters: "French
President Nicolas Sarkozy told Iran on Wednesday that failure to reach a
credible agreement over its nuclear program would force world powers to
mobilize to protect threatened states in the region. In an annual address to
France's ambassadors, Sarkozy laid out his foreign policy objectives as the
country prepares to take over the chair next year of the Group of 20 powers and
the narrower club of rich countries known as the G8." http://bit.ly/b8sRvW
NYT: "In a further clampdown on Iran's
cowed political opposition, the authorities have issued a ban on any news
relating to the leaders of the protest movement that arose after the disputed re-election
of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year, opposition Web sites reported. A
leaked copy of a letter that has appeared on opposition Web sites orders the
editors of all domestic newspapers and news agencies to refrain from publishing
the names, photographs and statements of two defeated presidential candidates, Mir
Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as former President Mohammad
Khatami, because of the 'probable negative influence' this would have on the
public mind." http://nyti.ms/9YYn69
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Iran denied on Wednesday reports that sanctions are making it harder to
import gasoline, one of the most vulnerable parts of the Iranian economy, which
lacks sufficient domestic refining capacity. 'We do not have any problem in
securing the country's gasoline and we have not been facing any fuel
deficiency,' Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi was quoted as saying by the
students news agency ISNA. According to Reuters calculations based on trade
sources, Iran's gasoline imports for August look set to be around half those of
the previous month and down by almost 90 percent from a year ago." http://bit.ly/dt6qy3
AP: "Iran has taken measures to
increase domestic production and will soon stop importing gasoline, the
country's oil minister said Wednesday, in a show of defiance as U.S. sanctions
target Iranian fuel supplies... In remarks carried on the official IRNA news
agency, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi dismissed the gasoline-related sanctions
as ineffective. 'Soon, domestic gasoline production will increase by 20 million
liters (5.3 million gallons)' per day, Mirkazemi said after a Cabinet meeting
Wednesday. 'Therefore, we won't need to import gasoline.'" http://bit.ly/bUsxcV
Reuters: "Iran has stockpiled enough
low-enriched uranium for 1-2 nuclear arms but it would not make sense for it to
cross the bomb-making threshold with only this amount, a former top U.N.
nuclear official was quoted as saying. In unusual public remarks about Iran's
disputed nuclear programme Olli Heinonen, the former chief of U.N. nuclear
inspections worldwide, told Le Monde newspaper that Iran's uranium reserve
still represented a 'threat.'" http://bit.ly/cm58Lf
Commerce
FT: "While the Middle East's stock markets languish in the summer heat, still
unable to recover from the financial crisis, one bourse has kept on gaining -
the Tehran Stock Exchange... This comes in spite of the dire state of the Iranian
economy, a tightening international sanctions regime and the most severe global
financial crisis in generations... The strong performance has increased
speculation among many Iranians that the Tehran bourse is overheating and could
be entering bubble territory." http://bit.ly/ai9qKS
Domestic Politics
LAT: "Iranian authorities are cracking down, but this time their target isn't
political dissidents or drug traffickers. It's dogs. Or rather, pets in
general. This week, Ayatollah Nasser Makkarem Shirazi, a powerful cleric,
issued a fatwa that was later passed into law banning any advertisements about
pets or alluding to the buying, selling or keeping of pets, according to
the Mehr news agency... In June, Shirazi issued a fatwa against keeping dogs
as pets, although that ruling was not made into law. At the time, Shirazi
slammed dog owners for 'blindly imitating the West,' which, he said, would
result in 'evil outcomes.'" http://bit.ly/c4aArm
Radio Farda: "Iran's intelligence
minister, Heydar Moslehi, has repeated the accusation that the leaders of the
opposition Green Movement received a billion dollars from Western countries. Moslehi
said that the allegations made by Guardians Council head Ayatollah Ahmad
Jannati about the financial assistance of foreign countries to the 'leaders of
the sedition' is not only true, but that the amount given was probably higher."
http://bit.ly/bEgCrk
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Iranian natural gas flows
to Turkey were halted after an explosion and could take up to a week to resume
after repairs are completed, officials at the Turkish pipeline operator Botas
said on Wednesday. It was the second time in a little over a month that an
explosion halted gas imports from Iran on the key link." http://bit.ly/cw9sw7
Opinion
Michael Adler in Salon: "It is
the summer of 2010, and despite some dramatic developments, the almost
decade-old Iranian nuclear crisis seems stuck in a predictable rut. The United
Nations Security Council has levied yet another round of sanctions and the
United States and the European Union have added even tougher measures on their
own, but Iran continues to push ahead with nuclear work that raises fears it
seeks the bomb. Will anything ever change? Then, into this discomforting world
of same-old, same-old comes a blockbuster article in The Atlantic that lays out
the logic for an Israeli attack against Iran. It even sets a deadline." http://bit.ly/ajwvEn
Cherie Blair in The Guardian: "When
a mother of two can be sentenced to death by stoning on the basis of a disputed
confession of adultery and without proper legal representation, there is little
reason for faith in the fairness or mercy of Iran's judicial system. But as in
the appalling case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 20-year jail sentences
just handed out to seven Bahá'í leaders must provoke an international outcry in
the hope that the Iranian government can be shamed into thinking again. The
sentences follow a sham trial in which the accused faced a variety of charges
ranging from spreading propaganda against the state and engaging in espionage,
to conspiring to commit offences against national security. Unless
international pressure can force a change of mind, many of the Bahá'í leaders
are doomed to die in prison. The oldest - Jamaloddin Khanjani - is already 77
years old." http://bit.ly/d0TKmS
Liam Denning in WSJ: "LyondellBasell
Industries' decision to withdraw from Iran is a smart move, and not just
because it wants to list shares in New York. Lyondell's technology division,
which licenses, processes and sells catalysts to Iranian petrochemical plants,
among others, is less than 2% of sales, so the revenue loss is minimal. Its
withdrawal will, however, add pressure to an already struggling Iranian
chemicals industry. Therein lays the advantage for Lyondell."
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