Top Stories
Reuters: "Western powers accused
Iran on Wednesday of trying to intimidate the U.N. atomic agency by barring
some nuclear inspectors and the United States warned Tehran of possible diplomatic
consequences. The dispute has further strained ties between Iran and the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and deepened concern about Iran's
nuclear programme, which the West suspects is designed to develop atomic
weapons... 'It is unprecedented for a state to reject inspectors because they
report accurately ... what they see and hear,' U.S. ambassador Glyn Davies said
according to a copy of his speech." http://bit.ly/aaW78A
WSJ: "Iran released Sarah Shourd,
one of three American hikers held in detention for more than 13 months, on
$500,000 bail Tuesday but ruled out freeing her two male companions until they
stand trial... Ms. Shourd, 32 years old, left Iran for the Arabian country of
Oman on a chartered plane hours after her release. She was reunited with her
mother, Nora, who had traveled from the U.S. to Oman, to meet her, according to
family members.Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, said this
week that Shane Bauer, 28, and Josh Fattal, 28, would remain in Evin prison for
at least two more months." http://bit.ly/alzbIM
Daily Telegraph: "Iran
has agreed to donate $25 million (£16 million) to Turkey's ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) in a move that will increase fears that Prime Minister
Tayyip Erdogan is preparing to abandon the country's secular constitution. Western
diplomats say they are alarmed by reports that Mr Erdogan has negotiated a deal
with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Tehran to make a substantial
contribution to the campaign funds of Turkey's leading Islamic party." http://bit.ly/bkfNdJ
Nuclear Program
LAT: "The upcoming launch of Iran's
Bushehr nuclear power plant has sparked fresh worries in the Persian Gulf about
a possible atomic accident, but also will usher in an era of business
opportunities for the oil-rich and strategically vital region. Most experts see
little chance of a Chernobyl-like accident at Bushehr that would spread a vast
radioactive cloud. But gulf residents remain concerned about what they describe
as a lack of transparency on the plant and the safety records of Iran as well
as Russia, which completed the plant and will help run it for at least a year."
http://lat.ms/d5jWob
Reuters: "Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called off plans to attend a high-level U.N. meeting
next week aimed at reviving stalled global disarmament talks, U.N. officials
said on Tuesday. The meeting, scheduled for Sept. 24 during the annual
General Assembly gathering of world leaders in New York, follows 12 years of
inaction at the world's sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum in
Geneva." http://bit.ly/aiz7XX
Reuters: "Several Turkish banks
with close ties to the European Union and the United States have halted
financial trade with Iran due to United Nations sanctions though others could
step in, according to Iran's Bank Mellat. Younes Hormozi, chairman of Bank
Mellat's Turkish unit, told Reuters that Bank Mellat Turkey had dealt with a
higher number of transactions since Turkish banks halted activities." http://bit.ly/dzpEvl
Human Rights
Reuters: "Iranian police arrested 60 people at a party last weekend where alcohol
was served and men and women mingled freely, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Under Iran's Islamic laws, women must cover their hair and bodies and alcohol
is banned. Men and women are not allowed to mix freely if they are not related.
Penalties can include lashes, fines or imprisonment." http://bit.ly/9zgE8R
FT: "A senior Iranian judge who
symbolised the regime's repression for more than a decade will stand trial for
allegedly ordering the torture of protesters, according to Tehran's prosecutor.
Saeed Mortazavi, 43, played a key role in crushing the demonstrations that
followed 2009's disputed presidential election. As Tehran's prosecutor, he
brought cases against hundreds of the regime's critics in a campaign that saw
thousands of arrests and dozens of deaths." http://bit.ly/cKxXB8
Foreign Affairs
AP: "President Barack Obama
welcomed Tuesday's release of one of the U.S hikers detained in Iran for more
than a year and said he remains hopeful that the Tehran government would
release the two other Americans. 'I am very pleased that Sarah Shourd has been
released by the Iranian government, and will soon be united with her family,'
Obama said in a statement. 'All Americans join with her courageous mother and
family in celebrating her long-awaited return home.'" http://yhoo.it/9Wf5FI
CNN: "The Iran-Africa summit
continues Wednesday, a day after the sides pledged stronger political and
economic ties among their countries. During an opening speech Tuesday, Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran and Africa have excelled despite
sanctions, state media reported. 'Rich culture, a history full of ups and downs
and an aspiration for a bright future for the human kind are part of commonalities
of Iran and Africa,' Ahmadinejad said, according to Press-TV." http://bit.ly/dqGIoA
Opinion
WashPost Editorial Board: "The release of American Sarah Shourd,
who left Iran Tuesday after more than a year of cruel and unjust imprisonment,
was clearly in the interest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr. Ahmadinejad
is due to visit New York next week for a disarmament meeting at the U.N.
General Assembly, where his crude propaganda initiatives and half-baked
proposals have become an annual event. No doubt the president anticipated some
awkward questions or even demonstrations about the case of an Iranian woman who
was sentenced to death by stoning on adultery charges. Ms. Shourd, one of three
Americans captured while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border, is also reported to
be facing serious health problems." http://bit.ly/aXZvTC
Tony Karon in TIME: "There will undoubtedly be some observers who will take
Iran's release of an American hiker held for more than a year on spying charges
as a portent of rapprochement in the fraught U.S.-Iran relationship, but that
would be unwise. Nothing is ever simple when it comes to the Islamic Republic,
and the tug-of-war between different arms of the Iranian government that
preceded Sarah Shourd's release on Tuesday reveals a level of chaos and
political infighting inside the regime that could complicate future diplomatic
efforts." http://bit.ly/c8Skpm
Maziar
Bahari in Newsweek: "Even after
almost a year since my release, in October 2009, I still receive threatening
phone calls from Iran. The callers tell me that I should be silent about what I
saw and endured in prison. 'Otherwise you will be brought back in a bag to
Iran,' they say. I am not sure what threats Sarah Shourd received in the days
leading to her release, but I am sure she has been threatened that if she talks
negatively about the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guards who
arrested and held her since July 2009, she would jeopardize the release of her
fiancé, Shane Bauer, and her friend Josh Fattal, who were arrested with her
somewhere along the Iran-Iraq border. While the threats against me may just be
threats, Sarah has two friends in the hands of the Guards. That is why I am not
going to call Sarah as a journalist and ask her questions about her experience.
And I ask all my colleagues around the world to refrain from harassing her for
information as well." http://bit.ly/9p6w2h
Barbara Slavin in FP: "Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is coming to New York again next week for the annual opening of the
U.N. General Assembly. If the past is any guide, he will try to use the U.S.
press as a prop to distract from his shaky standing at home. Since he was first
elected in 2005, the Iranian president has perfected the art of slipping and
sliding around even the most seasoned interviewers. Typically, he answers
questions with questions and deflects criticism by attacking the United States
or Israel... Reporters need to be armed with in-depth knowledge of Iran's
economy, politics, and society -- and even then they may have difficulty
getting Ahmadinejad to admit the truth." http://bit.ly/9qI6zA
Hossein Askari in Asia Times: "To
get some perspective on the state of the Iranian economy, it may be useful to
begin by providing a few benchmarks. In 1970, Iran's gross domestic product
(GDP) was US$10.6 billion (ranking 27 among all countries), while the
commensurate figure for South Korea was $8.9 billion (32nd). Ten years on,
Iran's GDP was $90 billion (19th) and Korea's $63 billion (28th); and in 2005,
Iran had sunk to 31st in GDP ranking at $190 billion and Korea had climbed to
13th, with $791 billion. Moreover, for Iran, real per capita income growth in
the period 1980-2005 was about zero; and although it increased after 2005
because of rapidly rising oil prices, over the long haul there has been
insignificant growth in real per capita incomes over the past 30 years since
the Revolution... To say that the Iranian economy has underperformed since the
Shah's overthrow in 1979 would be an understatement." http://bit.ly/9Ikhtl
Jameed Chomsky in Yale Global: "The
firing up of Iran's Bushehr reactor has provoked anxiety among Americans and
Israelis. Yet a poll this summer by the University of Maryland and the Carnegie
Corporation indicated that 77 percent of Arabs in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco believe Iran has a
right to its nuclear program and 57 percent see a positive outcome to Iran's
developing nuclear weapons. Another poll by the Pew Research Center, while not
as favorable for Iran, also found growing support. This shift in Middle Eastern
perception is one result of the Islamic Republic's drive to expand its global
influence." http://bit.ly/aofb08
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