Top Stories
NYT: "Iran said Friday that it was ready to resume talks with the European Union about its nuclear program next month. In a two-paragraph letter to the bloc's foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, the Iranians said their senior negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was willing to hold discussions from Nov. 10 on. Ms. Ashton, who had written to Mr. Jalili earlier this month, described Iran's offer to resume discussions as 'a very important' development. If a date and place can be agreed, they will be the first talks between Mr. Jalili and Ms. Ashton, who took over in December as the European Union's foreign policy chief. The talks will also include senior officials from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain. The Europeans have proposed a three-day meeting in Vienna starting November 15, but Iran favors Geneva as a venue which is likely to be acceptable to the Ms. Ashton, said one European official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgooPCnYXevLveuz7Fl4aoGAZ9ATpGigI1IdVxs3XywAuOoRnF2MCCuZr_K2fQF5o1oqPabr-TnNq0utMnGRZ1i49-ZF3sbzrxaq1kGcTaO7Tg==
AP: "The United States on Thursday accused the militant group Syria and its allies Iran and Syria of attempting to endanger Lebanon's stability and undermine its independence. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice singled out Syria for displaying 'flagrant disregard' for Lebanon's sovereignty and political independence, citing its provision of increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah and other militias in violation of a U.N. resolution and issuance of 33 arrest warrants for senior Lebanese officials and foreigners. 'Hezbollah remains the most significant and most heavily armed Lebanese militia,' she said. 'It could not have done so if not for Syria's aid, and facilitation of Syrian and Iranian arms.' Rice delivered the statement on behalf of the Obama administration to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council where members were holding a closed-door meeting Thursday on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's latest report on Lebanon." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgqXOGjATKhWivho1niYQLT4Q5JhI-tLCLsxVjXZJ01zGL_q53ZCBPLL0bNRM2xeknYZaJO_rf59OkA2uSnOFgEHVxgZtQpx0bk=
AP: "Iran's exports to the United States more than doubled to $77 million in the first half of the Iranian calendar year. State television reports that exports in last year's April-September period totaled $37 million. Friday's report quotes Deputy Economy Minister Ardeshir Mohammadi as saying imports from the U.S. in the first half of this year totaled $79 million, a drop of 37 percent from the same period in 2009. The report did not detail the items that made up the bulk of Iran's exports to the U.S., but they normally include carpets, caviar and pistachios. At the end of September, a U.S. ban on Iranian pistachio imports went into effect in response to Iran's nuclear policies." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgoUvf1EM672GvOqPdxZV-L6CfvnPF_Jx25KZ_--VzZCw45ilgpIDqUVBxHzA0RUVuSD8pX1OrQJgNsVCoQyLCJqdKRS2o2_0ug=
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Azerbaijan has so far seen no impact from European sanctions against Iran on its Shah Deniz gas project, in which Iranian state energy firm NIOC has a stake, a senior Azeri energy official said on Thursday. The EU sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, launched in July, aim to block oil and gas investment in Iran and curtail Tehran's refining and natural gas capability. 'This question has not been raised so far,' Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijan's minister of industry and energy, told Reuters. He was accompanying Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on a trip to Ukraine. 'The Iranian company that takes part in the Shah Deniz project has a status of a so-called sleeping partner. It has a certain stake for which it pays according to an annual investment schedule,' he said." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgo5FjrrVWSi4PNWkSRAMBvZMNmGyLEHRySGVLHijr7n13WGb8zVIQJ70uwES7xmvDAlRwhzeeG2lUkJpO4_dand_spX84-xAP8=
CSM: "As US and European leaders fine-tune a new offer for Iran nuclear talks, Iranian traders are busy figuring out how to circumvent the sanctions Western powers hoped would push Iran toward a nuclear deal. One of Iran's main trade routes runs through the emirate of Dubai, which has tripled its trade with Tehran in the past five years. Today, the United Arab Emirates is Iran's top source of imports - far outweighing even China, its next-biggest trading partner. While much of the commercial trade flows through the Jebel Ali Free Zone, everyday necessities are loaded onto small ships known as kashtis along Dubai's Deira Creek. On a recent sunny afternoon, hundreds of piles of miscellaneous goods stood along the creek. Everything from Cheerios, Heinz ketchup, and soy sauce to mattresses, car tires, and automotive parts could be found among the stacks, along with the odd piece of furniture or box of toys." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgomVf9Y1qRd54C1pG_CeMOKArcagXy7tjdo9xqxbFs5zQ59i4eFccdwInZUAdlxraO8eDlfjI6c_nc0gGGuphnkOilYJ8qqu-k=
WSJ: "Singapore said Friday it will tighten its trading regime with North Korea and Iran in line with United Nations' sanctions from November to curb 'illicit diversions of strategic controlled goods.' A Singapore Customs statement said the Southeast Asian city-state would not allow trade in a host of military-related items, including conventional arms, with either nation. Singapore will also halt trade in perfumes, luxury cars, watches with precious metals, art and jewelry to North Korea, the statement read." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgqOisLKQaPB0J3HKjwTJ4ai0dA0KW_Y4SMhnrQUOsCOvDySOk5ZTvzYMFJr8TfApTaaG7CccHzFfJO5EsuXeKMB40B0hKqeLVg=
Human Rights
AP: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's spokesman sent a birthday greeting to the president of Iran, who turned 54 this week. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) to send American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. In a tweet sent Thursday on Ahmadinejad's birthday, Crowley said, 'What a gift that would be.'" http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgoVW1lsA_vEdd5sTAj2qB4MwtzDUeb36YGtWFSlS1yRQ4MzrO_VqlWoHXc3psQLA5DpwTyq-gASzcjCNK_pLAsjPxqtkGDF1M0=
Reuters: "A former senior diplomat at Iran's embassy in Helsinki, who resigned and joined the opposition, said Thursday he had been granted political asylum by Finland only weeks after applying for it. Hossein Alizadeh, deputy head of mission at the Iranian embassy until early last month, was at least the third Iranian diplomat this year to seek political asylum in Europe, all saying they were protesting against electoral and human rights abuses." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgpgxPYf7K0ot1j1ns7_e87F2lESHyaWWNmEqYM6pNtbgQJ2XtWP173oTC8MdK3VnZpi8SbcTx35jcUKsp7ub0TC1f2lljwXxmR60UWNMqxUaw==
AFP: "A top Iranian reformist from a banned political party was released on bail by the authorities on Thursday, two weeks after he was arrested, an opposition website reported. The report did not specify how much bail Ali Shakouri-rad had to pay to secure his release. Shakouri-rad, a leader from the Islamic Iran Participation Front and former member of parliament, was arrested on October 13 for what Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi had said were 'security reasons.' But opposition website Rahesabz said his arrest was provoked by his criticism of Iran's public prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgqczfq1i3YTGaYvx4_hc-6P79Tb8eDG8dSIceW55gbKuVlJ7Wb4EIAIU1elZP3xt5Q7DoJZo6sbnZmK4rVgWxH5vV5GhCEj1cg=
AFP: "A reformist Iranian journalist close to opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi on Thursday was allowed to leave prison on sick leave, an opposition website reported. 'Hengameh Shahidi ... was temporarily released from Evin prison (in Tehran) to seek treatment,' said Kaleme.com, the mouthpiece of main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. There was no indication of how long she would be allowed to stay out of prison. In May, Iranian media reported that Shahidi was given a hefty jail term by the Islamic republic's hardline judiciary following her arrest in the wake of a disputed presidential election in June 2009." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgq272UftQKYliLAoKr-jtbNFBDfLDL2gcfLLrOHGJuLkX-VzFRiBWf8gg9PuYq1E29gZePakeQSWpADXwAKhQ_AxgYFiHeJtkw=
Radio Farda: "The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) says the number of unannounced executions at the Vakilabad prison in the eastern Iranian city of Mashhad has increased, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The U.S.-based organization said in a statement on October 26 there are more than 600 inmates on death row at Mashhad." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgpoL-_JxyJCYwdlm6UhqJ818UmF49GomBm0kiRewpdYthPaONZ22BIoFBRd8qlr6Z4ldR9KLGcOejTfONDYXM6Gc9uL0IhRUT0=
Foreign Affairs
VOA: "The top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan says Iran's cash payments to the Afghan government are 'disingenuous,' when it is also funding the Taliban. U.S. General David Petraeus told VOA's Persian News Network Friday that Iran's activities are conflicting, providing funding to the Afghan government, while on the other hand undermining that government by assisting those creating the country's security problems. General Petraeus said Iran has always had a conflicted approach to Afghanistan. He compared the situation to Iran's efforts in Iraq, which he described as 'lethal and destructive.'" http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgr0PkZWuE2GfKnrnJUBKDb6Q4p515CIXBptYrSvtmo4m3FgUCKnZgbmLW3J5w7FQFRT7NIHbiVQ-8VS2PkaO32Tse5iqjVnCuI=
AP: "Israeli officials said Thursday that the military-grade armaments seized at a shipping terminal in Nigeria came from Iran and were bound for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The military officials would not provide evidence to support their claims, citing 'security concerns.' However, the information initially appeared to conflict with claims by Nigerian customs officials that the weaponry, which included 107 mm artillery rockets, were to be brought into the oil-rich West African nation. The Israeli officials spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to speak with journalists." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgqSKW8D0KFt4xbD800AxhwdaXS_eZNHFm88tmMv5tZnRRCMS_ovAJq5GYq5xVuBAQZdriG-fpZtsUaRvK7XSG2x0ft1aI52j3s=
Opinion
CSM Editorial Board: "Once again, the United States and its allies are readying an offer to Iran that supports the peaceful use of nuclear materials but denies Tehran the ability to build a nuclear bomb. The international community went through this a year ago and failed. Will this time prove any different? ... The potential game changer since last fall is a new round of sanctions against Iran that was approved by the UN Security Council in June. The sanctions, which targeted Iran's military and nuclear programs, are starting to bite... Iran's rulers haven't been this hard-line since the 1980s. And the harder the line, the more one might expect Iran's theocrats to react to this year's sanctions like, say, the rulers of North Korea or Burma - that is, to be impervious to them. Remember that in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the regime sustained a far more serious blow than sanctions in terms of about 1 million lives lost. It's impossible to know how the differences of a year will play out in a new round of negotiations, if that comes about. But one thing for sure will be required of the international community: Its coalition must hang together if it is to have any hope of changing Iranian behavior before it develops a nuclear-weapons capability or Israel tries a military strike on Iran's facilities." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgqZVLA4_nQIVNzrRTHMaLjndeVBvmEQ5A4KmQu8ZvSPP9vPjJl0ShL0AtYJCb5eJV0F31d8CiyvJVULRgxKOBsFf6n3i49NHIg=
Emma Belcher in CFR: "Iran's fueling this week of the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant has not in itself raised concerns in the West. But it is a reminder of continuing worries about Iran's nuclear program, says Emma Belcher, a CFR nuclear expert. It is still uncertain whether Iran will attend a meeting next month in Vienna called by international powers including the United States, which is reportedly interested in reviving a deal for Iran to send some of its stockpile overseas in exchange for assistance with peaceful nuclear technology. Belcher points out that internal political divisions in Iran, notably between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Parliament, make it difficult to read Iran's intentions or reach an agreement on the nuclear program. She says that the United States should start entertaining the possibility of Iran as a uranium-enriching nation, and that while the 'chance of negotiations on a broad set of issues are quite slim... that's what might be needed to engage Iran: [to] take away some of the arguments Iran's hardliners have about the United States, and try to bring Iran more into the international community.'" http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgoISJL9HndA-xH4KwhoEjNnSLMuhOgpNdjtuGkNXP7HHXBrFBgImb3y--L4jMVgKvxQHwYUYwtfIUNr6_CDtODp8mmubfJa3tY=
News Analysis
Joel D. Hirst and Jonathan Pearl in CFR: "Venezuela'sPresidentHugo Chavez returned to Caracas last Sunday after completing a whirlwind tour of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Iran, Syria, Libya, and Portugal. Chavez's goal was to advance agreements 'to accelerate the fall of imperialist (read American) hegemony and the birth of the new world of equilibrium and peace,' as he stated in Damascus.While the rhetoric is familiar, the initiatives pursued on this trip could pose major challenges to the Obama administration. Washington must develop sensible policy options, particularly when it comes to Venezuela's cooperation with Iran and Chavez' own nuclear ambitions... The reactors may be of limited direct proliferation threat, but Venezuela's close ties with Iran and its significant untapped deposits of uranium--which might total as much as fifty thousand tons--raise questions about whether Caracas could pose a proliferation risk in the future." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgpA2z1sVSvox2qv59t1TNrUa5A0kImPxEERY4r6byPsT9ZiChTdB3bdhn9zlNg2GpgjGu_IYpeaEyBtKPBjyCsiMAcX4qc8yFk=
Vivienne Walt in TIME: "Tougher U.S. and European sanctions against Iran might be hitting its economy, with fears of looming inflation and cuts in food and gas subsidies. But that doesn't mean the Islamic Republic is out of friends; far from it. Even the U.S.'s close allies in Europe have stopped short of cutting their relations with Iran, allowing it to continue its trade in oil and gas. And on Iran's other flank, it is cementing alliances with Asian countries, which are eager to build links with one of the world's biggest oil producers and are angling to snap up contracts abandoned by departing Western companies. 'The Chinese and especially the Malaysians have been buying up Iran's oil assets recently, and reselling a lot of Iranian oil,' says Philippe Vasset, editor of the Paris-based newsletter Intelligence Online, which monitors energy deals. 'Many of the tough sanctions against Iran are in fact U.S. sanctions.' ... Yet even with the toughest-ever E.U. sanctions now in force, Europe maintains an economic relationship with Iran. Unlike U.S. companies, European firms are free to buy Iranian crude oil and natural gas, and to sell refined petroleum products to Iran. And the E.U. this week urged financial institutions to lend their support to that legitimate trade." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103845514440&s=30860&e=001Bl89GVptvgrovyMgLtmSxOMlh0LT8X3wJ8E4Efb4q2AbKCmlQe0O9lFXjNtJwgWeVExkZmwGPkAfKTLs8CFnY_WxV02B4C0rGAlRUVHZ6iY=
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