Top Stories
Reuters: "A top U.S. government
official prodded Turkey on Thursday to enforce international sanctions against Iran,
increasing pressure on Ankara to scale back its flourishing trade ties with its
neighbor. 'All we want is the sanctions to be imposed throughout the world,'
Stuart Levey, the treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence,
told Turkish broadcaster NTV after meeting Turkish government and banking
officials for two days to discuss U.S. and U.N. sanctions.' The purpose of this
visit is to maximize our chances that the sanctions imposed on Iran are
successful,' Levey was quoted by the Hurriyet Daily News as telling a group of
journalists." http://reut.rs/dqQ5mQ
AFP: "The United States will be
vigilant of the energy cooperation deals made between Iran and Venezuela to
make sure they do not violate sanctions against Tehran, the US State Department
said Thursday. 'Venezuela like all countries has clear responsibilities,' State
Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. 'We will watch to see if
any of these deals amount to anything and if they do, whether they constitute a
violation of the (UN) Security Council resolutions and sanctions against Iran.'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday signed 11 deals with Tehran
focused on energy cooperation between the two major oil producers and US foes."
http://bit.ly/aYaVkn
AFP: "The United States said
Thursday that Iran is trying to establish banks in Muslim countries to
circumvent sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions. 'It's not a
surprise, frankly, we've seen them try to do this before,' Mark Toner, a State
Department spokesman, told reporters when asked to confirm a report in the
Washington Post. 'I know they are attempting to,' Toner added. 'In fact, it's
something that's a topic of discussions with our allies and partners in the
region and around the world, frankly. And to us it's an indication, frankly,
that the sanctions are having some effect,' Toner said." http://bit.ly/cg0Yuu
Nuclear
Program
Bloomberg: "In its search for
American-built F-5 fighter jet parts, Iran turned to a father-son company
operating out of a yellow stucco cottage on a country road on Ireland's
northwest coast. Tom and Sean McGuinn are accused in a U.S. indictment of
conspiracy, trade violations and making false statements to illegally export
items with military uses beginning in 2005. Over the past decade, the McGuinns
shipped more than $120 million in U.S.-made equipment to the Islamic Republic,
Clark Settles, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, said in an
interview. They succeeded through simple deceptions and persistence, according
to court and government documents and interviews with U.S. officials and people
who did business with their company, Mac Aviation Ltd." http://bit.ly/9O9USY
AP: "Italian Premier Silvio
Berlusconi has expressed doubts about the effectiveness of sanctions against
Iran and argued that a gentle approach might be more helpful. Iran has been hit
with several rounds of international sanctions over its nuclear program, which
the United States and allies believe could be used to produce nuclear weapons.
Iran insists the program is meant purely for peaceful purposes. On Friday,
Berlusconi was quoted as telling Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily
that, although Italy has participated in the sanctions, 'I fear that sanctions
will not bring success.'" http://yhoo.it/dr6qrw
Human
Rights
AP: "A California man who spent
more than two years in an Iranian prison on allegations of passing money to a
rebel group has returned to his California home. Reza Taghavi, 71, arrived at
Los Angeles International Airport late Thursday where he was greeted by dozens
of friends and relatives who chanted 'We love you' as they burst into tears. In
halting English, he told reporters: 'My name is Reza Taghavi, I've been in Iran
in jail for 29 months. Now I'm glad that I'm back to the United States in my
home now.' ... Former U.S. diplomat Pierre Prosper, who worked for Taghavi's
release and accompanied him on the flight home from Tehran, told The Associated
Press that although Iran allowed Taghavi to leave, it did not dismiss his case
outright." http://bit.ly/aDfQJn
AP: "Germany's
foreign minister says an embassy official has been granted access to two
Germans arrested in Iran earlier this month while reportedly trying to
interview the son of a woman sentenced to death by stoning. Minister Guido
Westerwelle said the official was able to visit the two Germans in the
northwestern city of Tabriz and found them to be 'doing well, considering the
circumstances.' He says the visit was granted after 'very intensive and very
difficult talks.'" http://apne.ws/aCIuj0
Domestic Politics
Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears to have scored a political success by gathering
leading clerics in the holy city of Qom around him in a show of unity after
months of in-fighting. Iranian media highlighted pictures on Thursday of a
smiling Khamenei sitting with several top Shi'ite Muslim dignitaries, including
some who have been critical since the disputed re-election of hardline
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year. The carefully filtered images
reinforced Khamenei's call for Iranians to unite against foreign enemies he
accused of trying to destabilize the country through economic sanctions and
denying it the right to advanced nuclear technology." http://nyti.ms/dlc0AA
Foreign Affairs
AP: "An Israeli has broken the
record for most simultaneous games of chess played by an individual, seizing
the title from a chess master from his country's archenemy, Iran.
Guinness World Records confirmed Friday that Israeli chess champ Alik Gershon
is the new record holder. He played 523 people in a Tel Aviv plaza, beating 86
percent of them. The previous record, 500 games, was set last year by Iranian
champ Morteza Mahjoob. Acknowledging the tensions between the countries,
Gershon said he hoped 'this is the only war we are going to have with this
enemy, ever.'" http://wapo.st/8YD2Ws
Reuters: "Israel needs good ties
with the United States to survive and must be more understanding of U.S.
demands over securing peace with the Palestinians, Israeli President Shimon
Peres said in remarks aired on Friday. Peres, Israel's elder statesman, said an
end to the Palestinian conflict would improve the United States' own security
position in the Middle East and help isolate Iran... 'In our own small way we can
be of help, and of help means (to) enable an anti-Iranian coalition in the
Middle East. And the contribution will not be by a declaration, but if we will
stop the secondary conflict between us and the Palestinians.'" http://yhoo.it/bkxYhL
AFP: "Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad told Saudi King Abdullah in a telephone call that the aim of his
controversial visit to Lebanon last week was to promote its unity, his office
said on Thursday. The Wednesday evening conversation between the two leaders --
their second in eight days -- came as the regional arch-rivals have been
competing for influence in both Lebanon and Iraq. Praising King Abdullah's own
visit to Lebanon in July, Ahmadinejad said: 'We too have now travelled to
Lebanon so the efforts to create unity and solidarity are complete.'" http://yhoo.it/blnBW6
Opinion
Simon Tisdall in The Guardian: "The
US is quietly ratcheting up economic and financial pressure on Iran amid signs
that talks about Tehran's suspect nuclear programme could resume next month.
These two developments may be connected. But neither sanctions nor diplomacy can
wholly obviate the dread possibility of military confrontation unless something
fundamental changes soon at the heart of Iran's fundamentalist regime. The US
squeeze has been gathering force since July, when Congress passed the Comprehensive
Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, which in effect denies
foreign banks access to the US financial system if they trade with targeted
Iranian banks and businesses or the country's Revolutionary Guards... Even if the
talks do recommence, few people would be rash enough to suggest they will
achieve a breakthrough after so many past disappointments. Despite all the
pressure and despite some positive signs in recent months, there is little or
no evidence so far that Iran's top leadership is willing, or can be forced, to
fundamentally change its ways. Ahmadinejad's provocative posturing in Lebanon
last week made that plain enough. And so the dread juggernaut of direct,
physical confrontation rolls ever closer." http://bit.ly/ay8nm0
Chris Zambelis in Asia Times: "Because
of the IRGC's crucial role in Iranian defense, Tehran will also surely redirect
funds usually earmarked to support other sectors to maintain the group's
capabilities. At the same time, any diversion of funds from other sectors to
bolster the IRGC has the potential to cause instability. As the sanctions
target the networks of front companies and subsidiaries attached to IRGC firms,
Tehran is also likely to establish new front companies and subsidiaries to
circumvent sanctions blacklists. In this regard - at least in the near- to
medium-term - a further clampdown against the IRGC's economic wing will have a
negligible impact on the group's ability to defend Iran against a potential US
or Israeli attack, or to further other Iranian interests." http://bit.ly/b977cu
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