Top Stories
AFP: "Under threat of US
sanctions, European oil firms Total, Shell, Statoil and Eni have pledged to
stop investing in Iran in what amounts to a 'significant setback' to Tehran, a
US official said Thursday. The pledges fall in line with new energy and financial
measures against Iran that US President Barack Obama signed into law in July in
the wake of UN Security Council sanctions imposed in June to curb Iran's
nuclear ambitions. 'We have received commitments from four international energy
firms to terminate their investments and avoid any new activity in Iran's
energy sector,' Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg told reporters. The
move dealt 'a significant setback to Iran,' Steinberg added as analysts agreed
that most major Western firms have now come to the conclusion that it is no
longer worth doing business in Iran." http://bit.ly/czG6r1
AP: "The Obama administration on
Thursday slapped sanctions on a Swiss-based Iranian company involved in Iran's
oil and gas sector and claimed success in persuading several European energy firms
to divest from the country. The move comes as Washington steps up pressure on
Iran to prove its nuclear program is peaceful and comes a day after it
broadened its efforts to push reform in the Islamic republic by imposing
financial and travel sanctions on eight senior Iranian officials accused of
serious human rights abuses after last year's disputed presidential elections. In
the latest step, the State Department placed the Naftiran Intertrade Company, a
subsidiary of Iran's national oil company, on a financial blacklist, barring it
from doing business with or in the United States or with U.S. institutions." http://bit.ly/b8iimp
Reuters: "European oil majors resisted pressure from the United
States to abandon all Iranian activities, saying they would continue buying
Iranian crude and exit the country only upon expiry of existing contracts. France's
Total said it was still buying Iranian crude as itwas not illegal under the
latest United Nations sanctions, while Norway's Statoil said it was providing
Tehran with technical assistance and Italy's ENI said it would exit Iran only
when existing deals expire. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said
on Thursday Total, Statoil, ENI and Royal Dutch Shell will suspend all dealings
with Iran voluntarily to avoid American sanctions designed to pressure Iran
over its nuclear program." http://fxn.ws/bpr2bJ
Nuclear
Program
Reuters: "Iran is making steady
progress in its nuclear enrichment programme but there is still time to find a
diplomatic solution over work the West fears is aimed at making bombs, a former
top U.N. nuclear official said. Olli Heinonen, who stepped down in August as
chief of U.N. nuclear inspections worldwide, also voiced doubt about reports
that Iran's atomic activities were the target of a cyber attack... Heinonen noted
that Iran's monthly output of low-enriched uranium, which can fuel power plants
or provide material for bombs if refined much further, had been stable at about
120 kg." http://bit.ly/cyZBog
AFP: "Tehran hit out Friday
against US 'interference' after Washington ordered sanctions against senior
Iranian officials for alleged human rights abuses during a crackdown on
post-election protests last year. 'This decision is in line with the US
interference in the internal affairs of Iran for the past 30 years,' foreign
ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the official IRNA
news agency. 'It goes against international law,' he added." http://bit.ly/duRsNb
Human
Rights
NYT: "In an unusually bold public
request, families of three antigovernment protesters who died after beatings at
Iran's notorious Kahrizak prison have demanded the prosecution of high-ranking
officials responsible for running the extralegal detention center. The
families, in a letter to Iran's judiciary published widely in Iranian media,
stated that they were prepared to spare the lives of two prison officers who
were convicted of murder, under the Islamic legal provision of ghesas, which
grants the families of murder victims the right to either request or forgo the
death penalty for the killers. Instead, the families called for the punishment
of the officers' supervisors." http://nyti.ms/b6IZIR
Reuters: "President
Barack Obama met on Thursday with Sarah Shourd, an American hiker who was
detained for more than a year in Iran, and vowed to press for the release of
two U.S. men who are still being detained by the Iranian government, the White
House said. Shourd, 32, was released this month after being held with two
friends on suspicion of spying after crossing into Iran from Iraq. She left the
country on September 14 after being released on bail. In a meeting with Shourd,
her mother and the mothers of the two hikers still detained in Iran, Obama
stressed the administration would continue to do everything it could to secure
their release, the White House said in a statement." http://yhoo.it/cKLwCR
Domestic Politics
AFP: "Iranian newspapers will receive government aid based on their loyalty
to the establishment, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini
was quoted as saying by media on Thursday. 'The subsidies allocated to
newspapers will be given in line with their stance. We cannot aid newspapers
that go against the path of the establishment,' Hosseini added without naming
specific media." http://bit.ly/bShfaX
Foreign Affairs
CBS: "The prime minister of Iraqi
Kurdistan, a U.S. ally, admits his region may be selling fuel oil products to
Iran. Though it may seem to undermine U.S. sanctions against Tehran, the prime
minister stresses the sales are not meant to offend the U.S. During their
visit, Stahl and her crew videotaped a long line of fuel oil trucks entering
Iran from Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous region of Iraq." http://bit.ly/bbmhni
AFP: "Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad will travel to Tehran on Saturday for talks with Iranian counterpart
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on regional developments, the state SANA news agency
reported. Assad would meet Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leader with 'talks to
focus on the excellent bilateral ties between the two nations and the latest
developments on the regional and world stage,' SANA reported on Friday." http://bit.ly/btf6BN
AFP: "Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's expected tour of south Lebanon during his official visit to the
Mediterranean country was criticised as a 'provocation' on Friday by the
largest bloc in parliament. On the two-day visit from October 13, Ahmadinejad
is scheduled to hold talks with his counterpart Michel Sleiman, who invited the
Iranian leader, as well as Prime Minister Saad Hariri and parliament speaker
Nabih Berri." http://bit.ly/d3aaTg
Opinion
Vladimir Radyuhin in The
Hindu: "Russia has thrown its defence ties with Iran on the altar of its 'reset'
with the United States. President Dmitry Medvedev last week imposed a sweeping
ban on defence sales that goes beyond even the international sanctions on Iran
and is likely to have a long-term negative impact on Moscow-Tehran relations. The
decree 'On Measures to Implement the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929 of
June 9, 2010' Mr. Medvedev signed bans supplies of Russian tanks, fighter jets,
helicopters, ships, heavy artillery systems and missiles, including the S-300
air defence systems, to Iran. Russia will also stop supplying spares and
components for the weapons sold earlier, and ban the transit of arms bound for
Iran through its territory. The decree contains a list of Iranian officials
involved in the country's nuclear programme, who will henceforth be prohibited
from entering Russia. By and large, the Russian sanctions are in line with the
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929, which Moscow backed, except
for one crucial point: the S-300 missiles do not fall under the category of
offensive weapons banned by the U.N. resolution. The move added another
puzzling zigzag to Moscow's back-and-forth policy on Iran." http://bit.ly/bkPJGx
Daniel Gordis in Commentary: "In
August, two pieces of news about Iran's nuclear ambitions were revealed almost
simultaneously. The first was that Iran had fired up its first nuclear reactor.
The second, delivered in an ostentatious leak to the New York Times,
was that the Obama administration had determined that Iran was at least a year
away from a 'dash' necessary to complete a working nuclear weapon-and that the
White House had succeeded in convincing Israel that there was no imminent
threat. The reactor news suggested the seriousness with which Iran was pursuing
its nuclear ambitions. The 'dash' story suggested the degree to which the
United States was determined not to view the working Iranian reactor as a
crisis requiring immediate and determined attention. Despite the Times article's
sense of certainty that Israel's leaders had achieved a state of sangfroid
about the approaching danger, the August news unquestionably accelerated the
sense inside the Jewish state that action against Iran would be unavoidable,
and that Israelis would not be delivered from the overwhelming burden of taking
action themselves." http://bit.ly/9yt8t3
News
Analysis
Paul Richter in LAT: "The Obama
administration rolled out its first penalty Thursday under the new U.S.
sanctions on Iran, but carefully avoided any challenge to Russian and Chinese
companies that would have risked diplomatic fallout. The administration
sanctioned a Swiss subsidiary of Iran's national oil company, while declaring
that it was weighing punishments against other, unidentified foreign companies.
The 4-month-old sanctions are aimed at drying up foreign investment in Iran's
oil and gas sector in hopes of persuading Tehran to agree to limits on its
disputed nuclear program. Some members of Congress have pressed the Obama
administration to not shy away from penalizing huge Chinese, Russian and
Turkish firms that have been seeking energy deals with Iran as Western
companies have pulled out. The restrained approach drew criticism from some
lawmakers and private analysts, who argue that unless these companies are
quickly persuaded to back off, the Western companies that have abandoned the
Iranian market - and lost substantial revenue - will demand an end to the
sanctions and the entire effort will collapse." http://lat.ms/9382GJ
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment