Top Stories
WashPost: "In a rare response to
increasingly tough sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies, Iran's
supreme leader said Tuesday that such measures appeared aimed at 'creating a
division' between the people and the leaders of the Islamic republic... Khamenei
said the 'harshening' sanctions are aimed at increasing pressure on the Iranian
people. He spoke in the city of Qom, Iran's main center of Shiite Islamic
learning, at the start of a scheduled 10-day visit. 'Fortunately . . . it has
been proved that in practice the sanctions have had no impact on the people's
livelihood,' Khamenei told worshipers gathered in a central square in Qom,
about 80 miles south of Tehran. Iranian lawmakers and businessmen, however, are
complaining about rising prices and difficulties carrying out international
financial transactions." http://wapo.st/aJi6RV
CNN: "Russia joined Germany and
France on Tuesday in supporting sanctions against Iran if it fails to cooperate
with leading international bodies on its nuclear program, the leaders of the
three nations said after a two-day summit. The talks between Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy in Deauville, on France's northern coast, were the first in five years
exclusively involving leaders from the three European powers, Medvedev said.
The heads of state engaged on a wide variety of subjects, from Middle East
peace to European security to the role of other, broader international forums
going forward." http://bit.ly/dzuArJ
Reuters: "Iran confirmed that some companies at European airports were
refusing to sell it fuel, and its flag carrier said planes were making
unscheduled stops en route to Tehran because they could not refuel in London. Iran
has played down the impact of international sanctions, which were tightened in
June, and previously dismissed reports that Iranian airlines were having
problems refuelling abroad as part of a 'psychological war.' But when asked
about the issue at his weekly news conference on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesman
Ramin Mehmanparast said, 'Unfortunately, some western companies have adopted
inappropriate policies.'" http://reut.rs/cMHXL8
Nuclear
Program
AP: "Iran said Tuesday it has
discovered higher uranium reserves than previously thought at a key southern
mine and was stepping up exploration of the ore - which is the basis for the
country's nuclear program - across the nation. Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi
said the new reserves were found at Iran's only operating uranium mine near
Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, 840 miles (1,340 kilometers) south of the
capital, Tehran." http://yhoo.it/cohKXd
WSJ: "Iran's government has
announced cash subsidies will be paid into personal accounts Tuesday as a first
step before long-awaited cuts in fuel subsidies, a semi-official news agency
said Tuesday. 'Cash subsidies will be credited to people's accounts in the
provinces of North Khorasan, South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi Tuesday,' the
Mehr news agency said. 'People in other provinces will receive cash subsidies
within two weeks.' Though the measure has long been announced, its
implementation comes amid recently-enacted U.S. sanctions on the country's
gasoline imports and has sparked fears of a repeat of 2007 riots over petrol
rationing." http://bit.ly/crPCSj
Commerce
Reuters: "Unlisted Iranian
appliance maker Entekhab Industrial Group will sign a deal soon to buy South
Korea's Daewoo Electronics for about 577.8 billion won ($513 million), Daewoo's
leading creditor said on Wednesday. Woori Bank, which represents
creditors-turned-shareholders of the unlisted Korean firm, said they will sign
an official contract with Entekhab as soon as possible after receiving letters
of endorsements from creditors by early next week." http://reut.rs/b4X8ms
WSJ: "In roughly 30 years of U.S.
sanctions against Iran, one thread of controversy has remained constant:
Persian rugs. The importation of Iranian-made rugs, still in high-demand among America's
well-heeled, was illegal through much of the 1980s and 1990s, made legal as a
gesture of goodwill by the Clinton administration, and banned again last
month under the most recent sanctions law. Improbably, the issue has required
considerable attention in the Treasury Department over the years." http://bit.ly/bi5M3z
Human
Rights
Reuters: "Iran's intelligence
minister confirmed on Wednesday that two U.S. citizens detained for more than a
year will face trial, news reports said. 'The two Americans will be tried,'
Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency. 'We
will hand any evidence we have to the judiciary.' Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told reporters on Tuesday that she had heard Shane Bauer and Josh
Fattal would be tried on November 6 but she still hoped they would be released."
http://reut.rs/aImchE
AP: "The mother of one of two
American hikers still jailed in Iran said Tuesday that she's been told they
will stand trial in November and that she's relieved they will get to formally
deny the espionage charges against them. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal remain in
Tehran's Evin Prison more than a month after the release of Bauer's fiancee,
Sarah Shourd, who was freed after complaining of health problems. Bauer's
mother, Cindy Hickey of Pine City, Minn., said a Tehran-based lawyer
representing the hikers' families told them recently that her son and Fattal
would stand trial Nov. 6." http://bit.ly/au5Kbc
Reuters: "Iran will allow consular
access on Tuesday to two Germans arrested in Iran last week after they tried to
interview the son of a woman sentenced to be stoned to death, the Foreign
Ministry spokesman said. Germany has been seeking the release of its two
nationals and had been denied access to them. Iran says they entered the
country on tourist visas and were working as reporters illegally." http://reut.rs/aa3khm
Radio Farda: "The new police chief
of the Iranian city of Esfahan says it is a crime for women to cycle or
roller-skate in public, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The two were among a
range of women's activities deemed criminal by Hassan Karami in an announcement
on October 18. Further criminal activities include singing near Esfahan's famous Khajoo Bridge
and playing volleyball in public. Karami also said that it is a crime for
either sex to play cards in public parks. Karami said police will 'severely
prosecute' offenders. He added that the number of police stations and patrols
in Esfahan should be increased in order to combat crime in the city." http://bit.ly/aZxZzf
Domestic Politics
NYT: "Iran's supreme leader
quickly set the tone Tuesday for his long visit among some of the country's
most influential clerics, demanding loyalty to the Islamic state and an end to
defiance that had blurred once-clear lines of power since last year's disputed
elections. At the start of a planned 10 days of speeches and meetings, the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the seminary city of Qum,
underscored the concerns among Iran's theocrats that their control is under
threat by dissent from clerics and the rising influence of security forces
after the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution." http://nyti.ms/arjM8T
AFP: "Iranian authorities have
blocked access within Iran to the official website of reformist former
president turned key opposition figure Mohammad Khatami, an opposition website
said on Tuesday. Kaleme.com, the mouthpiece of main opposition leader Mir Hossein
Mousavi, said 'governmental committee has ordered the filtering on Khatami.ir,'
which carries news and comments of Iran's former president. Iranian authorities
tightly control Internet access and the websites of opposition leaders such as
Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, while news sites critical of the government have
also long been blocked, opposition websites claim." http://bit.ly/dgPiah
Foreign Affairs
AFP: "Visiting Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez vowed on Tuesday to back ally Tehran 'under any
circumstances,' as his Iranian counterpart praised Caracas for fighting
sanctions against the Islamic republic. 'Venezuela will remain alongside Iran
under any circumstances,' Chavez, who is on his ninth visit to the Iran, told
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a meeting, according to the presidency
website. 'Venezuela seriously considers cooperation with Iran as a holy matter,'
he said, adding that 'independent nations' can join forces to 'strengthen our
power in facing imperialists.'" http://yhoo.it/aegDeE
Opinion
Ambassador Mark
Wallace in The Hill: In presenting his
conspiracy theories on 9/11 at the United Nations and doing nothing to
address fears of his regime's nuclear ambitions, President Ahmadinejad
managed to do what few thought possible - he pushed Iran and its people
into deeper isolation... In the past three months, the United States,
Canada, the European Union, Australia, Japan, and South Korea have all
enacted comprehensive new sanction laws targeting Iran. With respect to the new
U.S. law, September 29th was significant because it marked the day that
the most biting of U.S. sanctions, covering a wide-range of energy,
telecommunications, and financial sectors, took effect. From this point
forward, any company bidding on contracts with the U.S. government, the
largest business in the world, must certify that they do not also
engage in business covered under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions,
Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 signed into law by President
Obama this past July. These new changes are long overdue." http://bit.ly/ddpR9s
Kenneth Pollack in The National
Interest: "The most interesting thing about the Obama administration's Iran
policy is that it is working, but it probably isn't going to work. The United
States has achieved some truly remarkable feats in pursuit of the White House's
Iran policy over the course of the past twelve months, achievements many
critics from left, right and center all thought impossible. With perseverance
and perspicacity, and some help from the stupidity of the Islamic Republic's
leadership, Washington has secured widespread backing in Europe, East Asia and
the Middle East for imposing various new sanctions on the country... The problem
with Washington's current approach is that it is intended to put intense-enough
pressure on Tehran that the government will negotiate a halt (or even a
rollback) of its current nuclear program. It is a reasonable position-one I
proposed back in 2004 and staunchly supported up until Iran's disputed
presidential election on June 12, 2009. But it is no longer enough." http://bit.ly/9ROHhM
Zvi Bar'el in Haaretz: "On his trip to the southern Lebanese town
of Bint Jbail last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was greeted by
thousands of Hezbollah sympathizers who held up his picture and waved Iranian
flags. But back home, especially after it was reported that Tehran would give
Lebanon a $450 million long-term loan, both rivals and supporters of the
Iranian president were up in arms. How is it possible, they wanted to know,
that Iran is going to help Lebanon while people stand in line in the streets of
Tehran to fill reserve containers with gasoline in anticipation of the expected
cut in government fuel subsidies. Ahmadinejad's plan to eliminate within five
years some $100 billion in annual subsidies on fuel, electricity and some basic
consumer goods has already been severely criticized within Iran. In Friday
sermons in the mosques, preachers have referred fearfully to the inflation that
is expected in the wake of the cuts. Even radical conservatives are heeding the
public complaints." http://bit.ly/aTYWhJ
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