Top Stories
Reuters: "Iran has begun using extra equipment installed
earlier this year to enrich uranium more efficiently, stepping up its nuclear
work despite U.N. sanctions, a Western think-tank said on Friday. The Institute for Science and International
Security said on its website that Iran was now using a second set, or 'cascade,'
of centrifuge machines at its Natanz pilot plant. It did not disclose the
source of its information." http://yhoo.it/awHZb2
Dow Jones: "Iran is suspending some liquefied natural gas
projects, including Persian LNG, and shifting focus on pipeline exports
instead, the head of the country's state oil company was quoted as saying
Saturday. Iran's LNG schemes largely
depend on key technologies owned by Western companies. But Western companies have been deterred by
mounting sanctions, with Repsol YPF (REP) recently ending talks to start
Persian LNG." http://bit.ly/cpGjz0
NYT: "President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton, arguing that an orchestrated series of global sanctions has
brought more economic pain than Iran's government anticipated, are making a
renewed appeal to Iranian leaders to reopen negotiations on the country's
nuclear program." http://nyti.ms/bLARIV
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Iran has nothing to fear from new sanctions and
any move to isolate the country economically will only spur self-sufficiency,
its central bank chief said. 'About
sanctions, (we should not) be scared and frightened by them ... we should fight
back, and that's for sure. But how? We should change these threats into
opportunities,' Governor Mahmoud Bahmani told a news conference on Sunday to
mark the central bank's fiftieth anniversary." http://bit.ly/d1NUKL
AP: "Iran's state media say the country's navy has taken
charge of four new Iranian-built submarines as part of Tehran's efforts to
upgrade its defense capabilities. The
official IRNA news agency says Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and Navy
chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari attended Sunday's ceremony marking the delivery
of the vessels to the Iranian navy." http://bit.ly/d1NUKL
LAT: "Efforts by the United States and its European
allies to build a united front to halt Iran's nuclear program are facing
increasingly bold resistance from China, Russia, India and Turkey, which are
rushing to boost their economies by seizing investment opportunities in
defiance of sanctions imposed by the West." http://bit.ly/9YWdYe
NYT: "Mr. Castro had requested the Parliament session,
which was broadcast live by Cuban state television, to discuss his warnings
that the confrontation between Iran and the United States and its allies over
the issue of nuclear weapons had pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. Standing on the podium and speaking in a firm
but sometimes halting voice, Mr. Castro read a 12-minute statement saying that
a nuclear confrontation could break out if President Obama ordered an attack on
Iran, should it resist American and Israeli efforts to enforce international
sanctions against it for its nuclear activities." http://nyti.ms/aMesA3
Domestic Politics
NYT: "Over the past year, conservatives here have often
fulminated against the role played by Iranian exiles, who helped organize
protests against the disputed 2009 presidential election across the globe. But last week, the Iranian government paid
for several hundred "highly placed" Iranians living abroad to come back for a
three-day, all-expenses-paid trip. They were invited as part of a high-profile
effort to repair Iran's pariah image, win over some of the expatriates and, not
least, draw some much-needed foreign capital to Iran's troubled economy." http://nyti.ms/aq02uW
Bloomberg: "Iran's Islamic Azad University, which has
more than 400 locations, has opened a branch in the Afghan capital, Kabul. The Kabul site is the university's fourth
international center after those in the U.K., the U.A.E. and Lebanon, according
to its president, Abdollah Jassbi, the state-run Fars news agency reported
today." http://bit.ly/cRz6k7
Opinion
NYT Editorial Board: "President Obama says he hears 'rumblings'
that sanctions are beginning to bite. Aides believe that technical problems
with Iran's nuclear program have bought at least a year for sanctions and
diplomacy to work. The Iranian
government continues to churn out nuclear fuel and block international
inspections. There's no guarantee it will ever agree to curb its nuclear
program. But Washington and its partners are creating a plan that might have a
chance of affecting Iran's calculations." http://nyti.ms/aLhYft
John Vinocur in NYT: "Last Thursday, regardless of
American resets and separate new sanctions decided by the European Union and
the U.S. Congress, here was the Moscow Chamber of Commerce telling Bloomberg
News that state-controlled Russian oil companies, including Gazprom and Rosneft,
were in talks with the Iranians about delivering them gasoline this month or
next. This followed up on a joint Russian-Iranian announcement that they are 'developing
and widening their joint work' in the petroleum sector." http://nyti.ms/cfOahG
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