Top Stories
Reuters: "Iran is ready to return
to nuclear talks with major powers 'as soon as tomorrow', but only if the
subject of the negotiations is made clear in advance, a senior official said on
Monday. Last week, the European Union proposed a three-day negotiation in
mid-November between Iran and six powers -- the United States, Russia, France,
Britain, China and Germany -- in Vienna, where the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency
is based... Iran's terms are that a greater variety of states should join the
talks, the parties must say whether they seek friendship or hostility with Iran
and they must state their view on the alleged nuclear arsenal of Tehran's
arch-enemy, Israel. Western officials have
dismissed such conditions as irrelevant to what they regard as the main topic
in talks -- regulating Iran's nuclear work and making it more transparent --
and a possible diversion to buy time for advances in enrichment." http://bit.ly/asg3oc
AP: "The United States and Israel on Monday said Iran is among
the 'greatest challenges' to stability in the Middle East and reaffirmed their
commitment to preventing the country from developing nuclear weapons. After
talks in Washington, senior U.S. and Israeli officials said in a joint
statement that Iran's nuclear program, along with its support of anti-Israel
militant groups, are of 'grave concern,' and they pledged to keep Iran from
acquiring atomic arms. The discussions were part of the semiannual U.S.-Israel
Strategic Dialogue. 'While today's strategic dialogue covered many subjects, it
is clear that Iran is among the greatest challenges we face today in the Middle
East,' said the statement, which was released by the State Department in the
names of Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Israeli Deputy Foreign
Minister Daniel Ayalon." http://bit.ly/cD5GDi
WSJ: "The Obama administration
dispatched its point man on Iran sanctions to Turkey and Azerbaijan, as the
U.S. attempts to further constrict trade flows between Tehran and its closest
neighbors. Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism
and financial intelligence, will meet with Turkish and Azeri businessmen and
government officials beginning Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan, said U.S.
officials. Mr. Levey will then travel to Istanbul and Ankara. 'We're looking to
follow up on the steps needed to implement the latest United Nations sanctions
against Iran and to share information, especially with the private sector,
about threats posed by Iranian illicit conduct,' Mr. Levey said in an interview
last week. Turkey has emerged in recent months as a possible weak link in the
growing international campaign to punish Iran financially for its nuclear work."
http://bit.ly/auyw98
Nuclear
Program
Reuters: "Beijing is committed to
enforcing United Nations sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear
program, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, responding to a U.S. media
report that Chinese firms were bypassing the sanctions. The Washington Post,
citing an unnamed senior U.S. official, reported on Monday that the Obama
administration had asked Beijing to ensure Chinese companies were not helping
Iran improve missile technology or develop nuclear weapons... 'The Chinese side
has always advocated that every country should implement the relevant U.N.
resolutions about the Iran nuclear issue comprehensively, accurately and
seriously,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular news briefing."
http://yhoo.it/acpGVN
Reuters: "The dispute over Iran's
nuclear programme risks turning into an all-out crisis next year unless Tehran
shows seriousness in negotiations expected to resume next month with world
powers, an expert on nuclear diplomacy said. Iran could face further U.N.
sanctions and its mounting uranium stockpile could prompt a military strike by
arch-foe Israel, Mark Fitzpatrick, an Iran watcher at the London-based
International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Reuters in an interview in
Istanbul. 'I think we could be in an out and out crisis in a year's time,' Fitzpatrick
said." http://reut.rs/azizzH
AFP: "The foreign minister of
Pakistan said Monday that Iran had no justification to pursue nuclear weapons
and urged the neighboring country to embrace overtures from the United States. In
some of Pakistan's strongest statements on Iran's controversial nuclear
program, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that he wanted to avoid 'another
major crisis in the region.' 'In my view, I don't think they have a
justification to go nuclear,' Qureshi said at Harvard University." http://yhoo.it/a0y9m2
Reuters: "A Namibian uranium mine
majority-owned by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said it is
considering what to do with a stake held by the Iranian government in light of
the latest U.N. sanctions. U.N. Security Council resolution 1929, adopted in
June, bans the sale of any stakes in uranium mines to Iran, as well as shares
in any commercial operations linked to the production of nuclear materials or
technology. It also says that 'all states shall prohibit such investment.' Council
diplomats told Reuters that the latest steps clearly ban the sale of new stakes
to Iran but are less clear on whether any previously held Iranian stakes in
uranium mines or other nuclear-related operations should be divested." http://reut.rs/ctCAtP
Human
Rights
ABC: "American hikers Josh Fattal
and Shane Bauer spent day 444 in detention in Iran like the previous
443, in a special section of Tehran's Evin prison, separated from the other prisoners. 444
days has long symbolized the U.S. embassy hostage crisis, when, from Nov. 4, 1979, to Jan.
20, 1981, armed Iranian students held 52 Americans hostage after seizing the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Fattal's brother Alex said it's a milestone the hikers
and their families never expected to reach. But it's now clear they will add to
it. Iranian officials tell ABC News
they will face trial for spying. 'It's just another heartbreaking day,' Alex
Fattal told ABC News." http://bit.ly/dgcTOF
Reuters: "Three Iranian football
players are facing jail for kissing a woman fan in the Islamic state where
physical contact between unrelated men and women is legally forbidden, an
Iranian website reported on Monday. Under Iran's Islamic Sharia law, imposed
since the 1979 Islamic revolution, violators of the law can be sentenced to
lashes, fines or imprisonment. 'The arrest warrants have been issued for the
three because of their unIslamic behaviour,' said the Rajanews website, quoting
an unnamed source." http://reut.rs/c67mIZ
Domestic Politics
CSM: "Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a high-profile visit
today to Qom, Iran's holy city and the heart of Shiite learning. The trip is a
bid to demonstrate that he remains in firm control of a religious establishment
that has been shaken and divided by last year's controversial election and the
violent protests that ensued. State-run media highlighted the visit as 'historic,'
and for days in advance showed images of clerics painting welcoming messages on
cars and motorcycles, and readying stacks of posters. Ayatollah Khamenei basked
in the adulation of crowds given the day off from work and school, in welcoming
scenes far removed from those of a year ago, when protesters across Iran
chanted 'Death to Khamenei.'" http://bit.ly/bQTn8K
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei called on political factions in Iraq to reach a consensus on
forming a new government, state television reported on Monday. Since Iraq's
election in March, its leaders have been unable to agree on a new government,
raising concerns over a revival of violence between once dominant Sunnis and
majority Shi'ites propelled into power after Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003. Incumbent
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki flew to Tehran on Monday to seek support for his
bid for a new term. Shi'ite power Iran has wielded great influence in Baghdad
since the fall of Saddam, who waged an eight-year war against Iran in the
1980s." http://reut.rs/d1Z4Qj
AFP: "The United States on Monday
played down the importance of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's visit to
Tehran, but urged Iran to be a better neighbor to Iraq. 'Prime Minister Maliki
is visiting Iran today. I wouldn't over-interpret this. We understand that Iran
and Iraq are neighbors. They have to have a relationship,' State Department
spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. 'But we certainly think that Iran can
be a better neighbor by respecting Iraqi sovereignty and ending its support to those
who use violence in Iraq,' Crowley added." http://bit.ly/cYhQca
NYT: "For the first time, Iran
has sent a representative to a meeting of an international group that convenes
regularly to discuss developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a move welcomed
Monday by both American and international officials. The Iranian, Mohammed Ali
Qanezadeh, a high-ranking diplomat, even attended an in-depth briefing Monday
morning by the American military commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, on NATO's
strategy for transition in Afghanistan. Iran, which shares a long and porous
border with western Afghanistan, has deep political, cultural and economic ties
there." http://nyti.ms/czD8l2
Reuters: "Iran has rejected an Argentine
proposal to nominate a third country to host a trial of Iranian officials
accused by Buenos Aires of masterminding a Jewish center bombing that killed 85
people. Argentina is seeking the arrest of senior government officials
over the 1994 attack, in which a truck laden with explosives leveled the
Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building. Iran has repeatedly
denied any links to the attack... In a
letter to the General Assembly dated Sept. 28, Tehran's permanent
representative to the United Nations rejected Fernandez's proposal, saying 'any
request for judicial cooperation is untenable.'" http://bit.ly/cuS1hh
Reuters: "Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received his close Latin American ally Hugo Chavez on
Tuesday and welcomed the Venezuelan president's support against the Islamic
Republic's western 'bullies.' Both men are eyed with great suspicion by the
United States which has led tougher international sanctions against Iran over
the nuclear programme Washington fears would lead to a bomb. The leaders of the
two major oil exporters inspected a guard of honour before heading into talks
which Iranian media said were aimed at boosting cooperation in the oil, gas,
and petrochemical sectors." http://bit.ly/cwDGR5
Opinion
Mark
Dubowitz in Forbes: "As the Obama
administration looks for ways to persuade Chinese energy companies to end their
trade with the Iranian regime, China is seeking a strategic foothold in the
United States energy sector. Earlier this week China's state-owned CNOOC signed
a $2.16 billion agreement with Chesapeake Energy Corporation, an Oklahoma City-based
oil and natural gas firm, to buy a 33 percent share in an oil and natural gas
project in south Texas, and access to cutting-edge drilling technologies that
can extract energy resources from shale rock formations... U.S. officials should
determine whether CNOOC is in violation of U.S. sanctions law. If CNOOC moves
forward on its current deals and engages in transactions that would trigger
action under the Iran Sanctions Act - investing $20 million or more in the
Iranian energy sector, providing it with technology, goods or services, or
selling refined petroleum to Iran - Washington should prohibit it from making
major investments like the Chesapeake deal." http://bit.ly/cNdrzQ
Michael Knight in The Guardian: "'Today,
Iraq is to Iran as Lebanon was to Syria,' intoned an Iraqi politician during a
recent off-the-record briefing in Washington. The sentiment is commonly expressed
by Iraqis, the US's Arab allies and by many American diplomats and soldiers:
that the United States removed Iran's most inveterate opponent - Saddam
Hussein's regime - and then allowed Tehran to become the most influential
outside power in Iraq. But is it really 'game, set, match to Iran'? Any
assessment of Iran's influence in Iraq must centre on a review of Tehran's
interests and objectives vis-a-vis its neighbour and historic rival. Above all
other considerations, Tehran seeks to prevent Iraq from recovering as a
military threat or as a launchpad for an American attack. Some of these
objectives have been achieved, for at least the current decade, by the removal
of Saddam's regime, the de-Ba'athification of the security services and the
ascent of former armed oppositionists into the leadership of post-Saddam Iraq."
http://bit.ly/9sSEk5
Nussaibah Younis in The Guardian: "Coverage of the Iranian-brokered deal between Nouri al-Maliki and
Muqtada al-Sadr has focused on fears that Iranian influence is eclipsing US
power in Iraq. But the threat to the US is exaggerated. Being forced to turn to
Iran for help has been embarrassing for Maliki, who ran an Iraqi nationalist
election campaign that distanced itself from Iran and emphasised Iraq's
sovereignty. Rabid anti-Iranian sentiment among both Shia and Sunni Iraqis,
including many of Sadr's supporters, mean that Iran's grip over Iraq is largely
limited to times of political desperation. Among ordinary Iraqis, Iran is
almost as unpopular as the US. Thus, with some political will, the US can claw
back the narrow strategic advantage that the Iranians may win through a Shia
coalition deal. A far more worrying prospect is the irreparable damage that a
Maliki-Sadrist government could inflict on Iraq." http://bit.ly/cfp7Vv
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