Top Stories
NYT: "The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Iran's
nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year - and
perhaps longer - for Iran to complete what one senior official called a 'dash'
for a nuclear weapon, according to American officials. Administration officials
said they believe the assessment has dimmed the prospect that Israel would
pre-emptively strike against the country's nuclear facilities within the next
year, as Israeli officials have suggested in thinly veiled threats." http://nyti.ms/cjYl7l
AFP: "Iran is ready for immediate talks with world powers over a nuclear
fuel swap deal, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview published in
Japan on Friday. Iran is 'ready to resume in late August or in early September'
talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany
over an exchange of enriched uranium, Ahmadinejad told the Yomiuri Shimbun. Ahmadinejad
hinted Iran could stop its controversial programme of uranium enrichment if a
deal were struck to ensure the supply of nuclear fuel to Tehran." http://bit.ly/9Lkwv5
AFP: "Iran's first nuclear power station will be loaded with fuel on
Saturday, a showcase for Tehran's claim that its atomic ambitions are purely
peaceful. Experts say firing up the $1-billion Bushehr plant will not take Iran
any closer to building a nuclear bomb as Russia will supply the enriched
uranium for the reactor and take away spent fuel rods which could be used to
make weapons-grade plutonium. Iran insists it does not want nuclear weapons
anyway." http://yhoo.it/cNaPbL
Nuclear Program
AFP: "Defence
Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Friday that Iran has test fired a
surface-to-surface missile, Qiam, a day before it is due to launch its
Russian-built first nuclear power plant. State television showed images of the
sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert terrain, amid
chants of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest). The words 'Ya Mahdi' were written
on the side of the missile, referring to Imam Mahdi, one of the 12 imams of
Shiite Islam, who disappeared as a boy and whom the faithful believe will
return one day to bring redemption to mankind." http://bit.ly/a2WPXo
WashPost: "South Korea, a nation that prides itself on its adaptive economy
and its tight alliance with the United States, has come under pressure from the
Obama administration to sacrifice the first for the sake of the second by
signing on to stringent new sanctions against Iran. After much dithering, Seoul
learned this week that it is running out of time to respond." http://bit.ly/cvzThA
Bloomberg: "Russia will switch on
Iran's first nuclear power plant tomorrow as the government seeks to bolster
its global influence by acting as a power broker between the U.S. and its
European allies and the Persian Gulf nation. Rosatom Corp., the state-run
Russian company building the plant at Bushehr in southern Iran, plans to open
it after repeated delays over 15 years of construction." http://bit.ly/abL4ip
JPost: "EGL's 25-year gas
contract, signed in 2008, to import more than 5 billion cubic meters of Iranian
gas each year caused friction between Israel and Switzerland, resulting in the
Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem summoning the Swiss ambassador in 2008. The EGL
contract was signed with the National Iranian Export Company, a subsidiary of
the National Iranian Gas Company that was placed on the United Kingdom's
Proliferation Concerns List in February 2009." http://bit.ly/d5xj3y
AP: "The Swiss government says it
has frozen 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.4 million) in Iranian accounts in
Switzerland. A spokesman for the government's office of economic affairs says
the accounts were frozen as a result of U.N. sanctions imposed on the Islamic
Republic because of its nuclear program." http://yhoo.it/bXLSfR
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "Iranian filmmaker and journalist Mohammad Nourizad has been summoned to
Evin prison two months after having been released, RFE/RL's Radio Farda
reports. Nourizad told RFE/RL in a phone interview before he went back to
prison on August 18 that he was called by officials and told to return to Evin prison
as soon as possible... Nourizad said he was returning to prison because 'Iran is
beautiful' and he loved his country. It's not clear why he was summoned by
officials." http://bit.ly/dxJqg3
Foreign Affairs
CNN: "Sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman rescued eight
Iranian mariners in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, the U.S. Navy said Thursday. An
F/A-18 attack jet spotted the Iranians' burning vessel about 50 miles from the
carrier, according to a statement from the Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in
Bahrain. Two helicopters were dispatched to assist the stranded sailors, with a
search-and-rescue swimmer dropped into the water for the men." http://bit.ly/dDxu5a
Opinion
Aurel Braun in Globe and Mail: "It
is certainly legitimate for Russia to protect its national interest, but how it
perceives and pursues that interest is the problem. Superpower restoration for
a Russia saddled with a unidimensional, energy-based economy confronting a dire
demographic decline is a dangerous pipe dream. Enhancing regional power seems
more attractive and realistic, but encouraging Iranian nuclear ambitions and
gravely undermining sanctions could prove to be an extremely costly mistake
where the world, including Russia, may have to pay a very heavy price." http://bit.ly/bXRNtM
Amir
Taheri in Asharq Alawsat:"Does Iran have an identity of its own? In fact, could anything called Iran
even be imagined outside of Islam? These are some of the questions raised in a
heated debate that has pitted key figures of the Khomeinist establishment in
Tehran against one another in what promises to become a massive washing of
dirty laundry in public. The debate was triggered earlier this month during a
gathering of some 1,300 Iranian exiles, who had come to Tehran for an 'introductory
visit' at the invitation of the government. The man who raised the issue is
Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, a self-styled philosopher who serves as Cabinet
Director for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." http://bit.ly/dcgJzX
Johan Bergenas in The Guardian: "Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said Wednesday that talks about his
country's nuclear programme will not take place 'under the shadow' of threats.
The United States and other countries should grasp this opportunity, rein in
the rhetoric of military action and return to talks with Iran without delay.
The time is ripe to take steps towards a negotiated solution to the Iranian
nuclear conundrum. Previous diplomatic efforts with Iran failed because the
United States was not at the table and because Iran seemed immune to outside
pressure and did not have much to gain by talking to Europe alone. Now, the
circumstances are fundamentally improved." http://bit.ly/bVEQy2
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