Top Stories
Reuters: "South Korea blacklisted on Wednesday 102 companies, including the Seoul
branch of Iran's Bank Mellat, and 24 individuals accused of facilitating Iran's
efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Bank Mellat has been at the heart of U.S.
demands for tougher South Korean sanctions, as it has been accused of
facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions for Iranian
nuclear, missile and defence entities. 'We based the measures on the need to
join in international efforts related to Iran's nuclear programme,' a government
official told reporters." http://bit.ly/aGhmY9
Reuters: "The U.S. Treasury
Department on Tuesday said it designated an Iranian-owned bank in Germany as
facilitating Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, a move that effectively
prevents the firm from doing business with international financial
institutions. The European-Iranian Trade Bank AG, called EIH Bank in Germany,
has facilitated billions of dollars of transactions with Iranian banks that the
United States and European Union have blacklisted for aiding Iran's nuclear or
missile programs. 'EIH has acted as a key financial lifeline for Iran,' Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said in a
statement." http://bit.ly/arzooA
CNN: "Iran has put the stoning
sentence of a woman convicted of adultery and murder 'on hold,' Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told state-run Press TV on Wednesday. While
the statement did not differ greatly from previous, sometimes contradictory
reports from the Iranian government about the fate of the woman, Sakineh
Mohammadi Ashtiani, it did indicate continued attention to the murder aspect of
her case." http://bit.ly/a3CamE
Nuclear Program
BBC: "The latest report from UN
weapons inspectors has raised new fears that Iran could be building the
capability to make nuclear weapons. Until now, most experts believed that there
were certain clear 'red lines' that Iran would need to cross in order to make a
bomb. Most importantly, it would need to block UN monitoring, in order to
divert uranium from the existing programme to make it suitable for a nuclear
warhead. But it seems from the latest UN report that Iran is trying to stretch
or blur those 'red lines', enabling it to move closer to the ability to make a
bomb without a major confrontation with the UN or the West." http://bbc.in/9PkXLS
AFP: "Iran will circumvent
international sanctions aimed at halting its controversial nuclear programme,
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Tuesday. 'The enemies of the
nation seek to frustrate the people with economic pressures so the people blame
the government for them and ties are cut between the government and the people,'
Khamenei said. 'But the nation and officials will undoubtedly circumvent the
sanctions and render them ineffective just as (they have) in the past three
decades,' state media quoted him as saying in a speech." http://bit.ly/d0TakE
AFP: "The United States said
Tuesday that a new report by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
reinforces US concerns about Iran's nuclear program. 'The IAEA is documenting
that Iran continues to fail to cooperate with IAEA,' State Department spokesman
Philip Crowley told reporters. The report 'underscores our concern about
ongoing Iranian enrichment, the continued construction of a heavy-water
research reactor, concerns about cooperation with the IAEA, access of
inspectors to key sites,' he said." http://bit.ly/cEYIAd
Reuters: "China called on Iran on
Tuesday to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency which said the
Islamic Republic was hampering its work in the country by barring some of its
inspectors... 'We have noted the IAEA report,' Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing in Beijing. 'We hope that
Iran and the agency can fully cooperate, and establish the trust of the
international community in the peaceful nature of their nuclear plants,' she
added." http://bit.ly/bngkAp
Reuters: "Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Iran needs to answer the
demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over its nuclear
programme. 'The IAEA must continue its work ... Iran must answer the demands of
the IAEA,' Lavrov told a news conference in Paris, where he met French
counterpart Bernard Kouchner." http://bit.ly/drddPn
Commerce
Bloomberg: "Lebanese banks will
have to comply with stricter sanctions by the United Nations, the U.S. and the
European Union on Iran, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said. 'It is up to
the Lebanese banks to act in accordance with their interests and be sure, if
they have to make an operation, that it's an operation that can't be contested
internationally,' Salameh said in an interview late yesterday at his office in
Beirut. The latest UN resolution 'is very clear and we will respect it and make
sure it is respected.'" http://bit.ly/bk53sk
AFP: "Oil
Minister Masoud Mirkazemi said on Tuesday that Iran has attained
self-sufficiency in producing petrol, a commodity targeted by world powers in
new sanctions imposed against Tehran. 'We have attained daily domestic
production of 66.5 million litres of petrol in our refineries,' Mirkazemi was
quoted as saying on state television's website. He said Iran previously used to
produce 44 million litres of petrol a day and imported 20 million litres in
order to meet its domestic need." http://bit.ly/bG2XvM
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) has denounced the arrest of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh,
RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Ten Iranian Intelligence Ministry officials
raided Sotoudeh's home and office on August 28 and confiscated files and
personal belongings. They also told her to appear at the prosecutor's office at
Evin prison on charges of 'collusion against national security' and 'spreading
propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime.' She was arrested when she went
to the prosecutor's office on September 4." http://bit.ly/9FrKU6
Domestic Politics
AFP: "Iran's main audit body has slammed the government's plan to scrap subsidies
from later this month and its policy of privatising state firms, Iranian media
reported on Tuesday. 'The implementation of the (subsidy) plan will lead to
rise in prices,' Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, who heads the Supreme Audit Court of
Iran, a body set up by parliament, was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. He
urged the government to inform the people of the 'repercussions' of the plan, adding
that implementing such a 'dangerous' reform might 'result in severe political
disputes in the country.'" http://bit.ly/c6fgxI
Opinion
WSJ Editorial: "Another
International Atomic Energy Agency report serves up more data on Iran's atomic
progress. Ho-hum. So, barring an epiphany of seriousness by the so-called
international community, one of these days Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will usher his
regime into the world's club of nuclear states. The IAEA's 11-page report,
circulated to member countries Monday, suggests that day looms sooner than
later. What's most striking isn't the latest, fast-growing tally of enriched
uranium but Iran's escalating war against the Vienna-based watchdog itself.
Tehran is closing the blinds even on its declared, supposedly peaceful,
civilian sites... As Iran now pulls a longer shroud over its nuclear work, how
can anyone not consider anything Iran does in the nuclear field a significant
proliferation threat?" http://bit.ly/beOefI
Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic: "Castro's
message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was not so abstract,
however. Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly
returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for
denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better
serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism
and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence. He began this
discussion by describing his own, first encounters with anti-Semitism, as a
small boy." http://bit.ly/cAZXoB
Launch of Iran180:Sign the declaration of Iran180, a movement of people and organizations who
have to come together to demand a 180 by the Iranian government in their
pursuit of nuclear weapons and the treatment of their citizens. http://bit.ly/cTXMWu
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