Top Stories
AP: "Russia's nuclear agency said Friday that it will
load fuel into Iran's first nuclear power plant next week, defying U.S. calls
to hold off the start of the launch. Rosatom
spokesman Sergei Novikov said Friday that uranium fuel shipped by Russia will
be loaded into the Bushehr reactor on Aug. 21, beginning the startup process." http://bit.ly/bSNwtA
WP: "An intelligence report recently delivered to the
NDS, Afghanistan's domestic intelligence agency, says that Iran has supplied
fresh batteries for some three dozen shoulder-fired SA-7 missiles stockpiled by
Taliban forces in Kandahar, in anticipation of a U.S. attack. Although uncorroborated, the June 25 report
from a human intelligence asset fits with information from other sources that
the Taliban has obtained Iranian-made SA-7's and other, older shoulder-fired
missiles, including U.S.-made Stingers left over from the mujaheddin's
CIA-backed war against the Soviet Red Army." http://bit.ly/amZQUi
Reuters: "A gasoline tanker, which shipping sources said
was forbidden by its owner to carry gasoline from Turkey to Iran, was expected
to arrive in New York on Aug. 16, according to sources and Reuters data on
Thursday. The impact of new
international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities are
seen having some impact on day-to-day business, possibly making some players
more reluctant to deal with the Islamic Republic." http://bit.ly/dc5jpn
Nuclear Program
NPR: "In northern Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan,
the long lines of tanker trucks carrying oil into Iran are under scrutiny. Some observers say it represents smuggling
that violates international sanctions and Iraq's own rules on the sale of oil.
Others say it's perfectly legal." http://n.pr/beSn16
VOA: "Iraq says it has agreed to allow its neighbor,
Iran, to build a natural gas pipeline to Syria through Iraqi territory. Iraq's government says Oil Minister Hussein
al-Shahristani approved the project in principle at a meeting Wednesday with a
visiting Iranian delegation in Baghdad." http://bit.ly/dDw22C
Human Rights
AP: "A lawyer for an Iranian woman who had faced death by
stoning on an adultery conviction said Thursday he suspects she was tortured
into confessing that she was an unwitting accomplice to her husband's murder. Iranian state television broadcast the
purported confession of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, on Wednesday night in
an apparent attempt to deflect criticism of her case by the U.S., other
countries and rights groups." http://bit.ly/bQztyC
Radio Farda: "The Iranian government has set new
restrictions on Iranian expatriates coming into the country, RFE/RL's Radio
Farda reports. Mohammad Sharif
Malekzadeh, head of the High Council of Iranian Expatriates, said on August 11
that Iranians residing abroad can return to Iran for academic reasons only
after being approved by certain institutions, ILNA reported." http://bit.ly/cF1dX4
Radio Farda: "An Azerbaijani scientist has arrived in
Baku after being released from an Iranian jail after serving a two-year
sentence for espionage, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. Rashid Aliyev travelled to Iran in 2006 to
work for the Sazan Electronics Industry Company in the city of Semnan, east of
Tehran." http://bit.ly/bUSuYg
Culture
FOX News: "A Toronto-based rock band is garnering
worldwide attention after remaking Pink Floyd's 'The Wall,' into a new anthem -
'Hey, Ayatollah, leave those kids alone!' -- as a sign of solidarity with
Iranians fighting against Tehran's regime." http://bit.ly/cfP3H4
Opinion
Roula Khalaf in FT: "In squeezing Iran, there are visible
and invisible pressures. The most obvious tool is the growing raft of
international sanctions. More quietly, western powers are waging another
campaign - to distance Syria from its Iranian partner." http://bit.ly/b92ihD
Arms Control Wonk: "The point is, Iran could dig a bunch
of holes in mountainsides and even perfect the IR-3 or -4 or -5000 centrifuge,
but that doesn't guarantee that they'd immediately complete a facility or two,
quietly commence enrichment operations, build bombs, etc. They might wait for
the heat to die down first, or hold the option in reserve against being
attacked. By the same token, if they were really prepared to accept the risk,
they could have started doing it today or last week or last year at Natanz with
the machines they have, and just dared us to bomb it. Breakout is fundamentally
a political decision, not a technical threshold." http://bit.ly/cOYziP
Mehdi Khalaji for The Washington Institute: "During an
August 9 visit to Syria, Ali Akbar Velayati, influential advisor to Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei, stated that Iran is ready to negotiate with the United
States regarding its nuclear program. Yesterday, however, Foreign Ministry
spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced that Iran has no plans for bilateral
negotiation with Washington. These and other conflicting signals point to deep
internal divisions among former allies in Iran's hardline camp. Such divisions
are part of a longstanding pattern in the Islamic Republic: as soon as one
faction seizes power by cutting out its opponents, it splits into warring
parties." http://bit.ly/bKewud
Frida Ghitis in World Politics Review: "After the Obama
administration shifted gears in its strategy to stop Iran's nuclear program,
moving from diplomacy to sanctions, a sense of skepticism about its chances for
success emanated from all corners. From top American generals saying they did
not think the sanctions would work, to a wide variety of politicians, analysts
and journalists -- including your humble correspondent -- a growing consensus
emerged that the weak United Nations sanctions obtained by Washington with
enormous difficulties would simply fail to deter Iran's defiant push in pursuit
of nuclear know-how and, most likely, nuclear weapons." http://bit.ly/aZiuh5
Howard LaFranchi in CS Monitor: "The two prominent
dissidents who have spoken up are the unsuccessful presidential candidate in
last year's elections, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and a former speaker of Iran's
parliament, Mehdi Karroubi. They say in a public letter that the tougher
sanctions only hurt 'the most vulnerable social classes of Iran' and are a boon
to the ruling powers." http://bit.ly/bBmtuR
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