Top Stories
WSJ: "Iran's parliament revealed it planned to impeach President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but refrained under orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, exposing a deepening division within the regime. Lawmakers also launched a new petition to bring a debate on the president's impeachment, conservative newspapers reported Monday. The reports of challenges to Mr. Ahmadinejad were intended as retorts to a powerful body of clerics that urged Mr. Khamenei to curb the parliament's authority and give greater clout to the president. In a report released Sunday and discussed in parliament Monday, four prominent lawmakers laid out the most extensive public criticism of Mr. Ahmadinejad to date. They accused him and his government of 14 counts of violating the law, often by acting without the approval of the legislature. Charges include illegally importing gasoline and oil, failing to provide budgetary transparency and withdrawing millions of dollars from Iran's foreign reserve fund without getting parliament's approval. 'The president and his cabinet must be held accountable in front of the parliament,' the report stated. 'A lack of transparency and the accumulation of legal violations by the government is harming the regime.'" http://on.wsj.com/esi2Qx
WashPost: "Iran's nuclear program has experienced serious problems, including unexplained fluctuations in the performance of the thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium, leading to a rare but temporary shutdown, international inspectors are expected to reveal Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. unit that monitors nuclear programs, will provide no explanation of the problems. But speculation immediately centered on the Stuxnet worm, a computer virus that some researchers say appears to have been designed specifically to target Iran's centrifuge machines so that they spin out of control. Iran denies the worm caused any problems... The Associated Press first reported on the centrifuge shutdown, which was confirmed by a person familiar with the report. The official said the shutdown is mentioned in a much-anticipated IAEA report expected to be released Tuesday." http://wapo.st/hh3Xwm
AFP: "Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on Monday accused Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson of aiding monitoring in Iran, and encouraged members of the Iranian diaspora in Sweden to protest to the company. 'I am urging you Iranians in Sweden to please email Ericsson and object and say, 'Why are you selling the Iranian government software with which it can control its people',' the lawyer and human rights activists said. Ebadi, who was speaking at Stockholm University, said Ericsson had entered dealings with the Iranian government similar to those Nokia Siemens previously had, alleging the company sold Iran software that allowed it to monitor text messages and mobile phone calls. Ebadi also blasted European satellite operator Eutelsat for giving into an Iranian demand and removing the Persian-language BBC and Voice of America channels from a satellite broadcasting to Iran." http://bit.ly/fUMyoZ
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
WSJ: "North Korea's apparent upgrade to its nuclear-fuel production capabilities is raising fears among lawmakers and proliferation experts about Pyongyang's potential role in supplying Iran and others with the sophisticated machinery. Tehran and Pyongyang have developed expansive military ties over the past three decades and have collaborated in developing missile systems, submarines and small arms. U.S. and allied intelligence services have also interdicted a number of Iran-bound North Korean arms shipments, by sea and by air, in recent years. Lawmakers and proliferation experts said North Korea, desperate for hard currency, could seek to expand on these military ties to aid Iran's nuclear work-particularly at a time when Tehran is facing technical challenges in producing nuclear fuel." http://on.wsj.com/eGN3iu
AFP: "Iran Tuesday denied claims that its sensitive uranium enrichment work has been hit by technical problems and stressed that its nuclear programme has not been harmed by the Stuxnet computer worm. Also rejecting allegations by Western powers that Iran lacks the know-how to make nuclear fuel plates, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was adamant the Islamic republic would be producing fuel for a research reactor by September 2011. Salehi 'denied Western media reports that enrichment has stopped in Iran,' the official news agency IRNA reported." http://bit.ly/eRPSVn
AP: "Gambia's government is cutting off economic, political and social ties with Iran and expects Iranian government officials to leave the tiny West African nation by Wednesday. Gambia's Foreign Ministry did not say why it was abruptly severing relations, but a senior Gambian security official said Tuesday the move was linked to Nigeria's recent seizure of arms sent from Iran which were allegedly destined for Gambia. The official declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. Habib Jarra, permanent secretary at Gambia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied the weapons seizure was part of the decision, but he gave no other explanation." http://wapo.st/dEhpbY
AFP: "Stalled negotiations between world powers and Iran on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme will likely resume on December 5 in Geneva, the European Union's top diplomat said Monday. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters she had received 'informal confirmations' from Iran about the date and location for the talks, 'but I want a formal confirmation.' Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time since October 2009. The six powers rejected an Iranian proposal to hold the talks in Turkey. Instead, they suggested meeting in Switzerland or Austria, but the Islamic republic has yet to respond." http://bit.ly/eynXtl
Human Rights
AP: "Iranian state radio says an arrest warrant has been issued for the son of influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on charges of fomenting the 2009 postelection unrest. The Tuesday report quotes deputy judiciary chief Ebrhim Raisi as saying the arrest warrant for Mahdi Hashemi has been issued and 'he will be detained upon arrival in the country.' Hashemi has been in Britain since the summer of 2009." http://wapo.st/hdACIT
AP: "Family members of the two Americans still held in Iran on espionage charges called the postponement of their trial until Feb. 6 an unwanted delay and stressed they were not looking forward to spending a second holiday season without their loved ones. 'It's unbearable for my parents. It's unbearable for all our families, and it needs to end,' Alex Fattal said Monday. His brother, Josh, along with Shane Bauer and Bauer's fiance, Sarah Shourd, were arrested by Iran near its border with Iraq in July 2009 and accused of espionage. Bauer and Fattal remain jailed in Tehran more than two months after Shourd was released on medical grounds." http://bit.ly/hAjKLf
Reuters: "Iran has closed down a reformist weekly in the latest crackdown on pro-reform publications more than a year after a disputed presidential election, Iran's student news agency ISNA reported on Monday. 'Based on a decision by the press supervisory board Chelcheragh has been banned for publishing articles contradictory to public morals,' ISNA said. Chelcheragh, popular among young people for its articles on culture, art, satire and cartoons, had previously received two warnings from the authorities, ISNA said." http://reut.rs/fbPAPu
Domestic Politics
AP: "High air pollution has forced Iranian authorities to close offices and declare a one-day public holiday in the capital, Tehran. State television says a government committee late Monday decided the pollution levels warranted the closure of all government and private offices, as well as schools and industries on Wednesday because of 'polluted and unhealthy' weather... Critics say each holiday incurs about $130 million in financial losses." http://wapo.st/e3qpFS
Reuters: "An Iranian Internet site for devotees of Nazi Germany has been allowed to reopen after being blocked briefly by government censors, a news website reported, raising questions about the official attitude to anti-Semitism. The site, irannazi.ir, says it is the home of the 'Historical Research Society for World War Two and the Third Reich.' According to conservative news website TABNAK it was blocked temporarily but then reopened, saying the suspension had been due to complaints by Iranian Jews. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has many times denied the Nazis' extermination of millions of Jews during World War II. Ahmadinejad angered Israel and its allies by calling the Holocaust a 'myth' and a 'lie' and has predicted the end of Israel as a state." http://reut.rs/fpGHZK
Daily Telegraph: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to auction off his 1977 Peugeot 504 - a key plank of his populist image - to raise money for charity, state television reported on Monday. The money earned from the sale at international auction will be given to the Mehr housing project, a network of co-operatives that provides affordable housing for low-income families, the television's website said. 'In order to help the Mehr housing project, as an act of charity yesterday (Sunday) Mr Ahmadinejad put his car up for sale,' the website quoted Welfare and Social Security Minister Sadeq Mahsouli as saying. 'This car is to be sold in an international auction,' the minister added." http://bit.ly/hyjEhT
Opinion & Analysis
Brian Murphy in AP: "In one of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first major policy speeches back in 2005, he laid out some bedrock principles: Iran will never halt uranium enrichment and the West needs to deal with the Islamic Republic on equal footing. Jump ahead to today, and Iran's stance remains unchanged as it and world powers prepare to resume talks on Tehran's nuclear program on Dec. 5. That puts the new round of negotiations already on shaky ground. Iran's dealings with the West often can appear erratic and mystifying - often it seems to avoid straight answers in negotiations or to throw unexpected ideas into the agenda. But behind the twists and turns, it has stuck to the principles in Ahmadinejad's speech five years ago: Iran's deep pride in its mastery of atomic technology and its self-image as an emerging global force that deserves respect." http://wapo.st/eRg4uZ
Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi in The Daily Star: "The Obama administration's Iraq policy is in chaos. Seven months after Iraq's national elections, the United States has publicly denied taking sides in the wrangling over who will be prime minister. Privately, however, the US is backing the incumbent, Nuri al-Maliki. The United States has applied tremendous diplomatic pressure on Iraq's Arab neighbors to get them to accept another Maliki term in office. Most have refused. Initially, the US backed Maliki in order to keep the Sadrist bloc from gaining a share of power. But that has now backfired, since the Sadrists are the only group other than Maliki's coalition of Shiite parties that supports the incumbent. One unsettling consequence of Washington's diplomacy is that it has reinforced Iran's role in Iraq, because Maliki is Iran's preferred candidate to become prime minister. Thus, at the very moment that the United States is leading a global campaign to isolate Iran over its nuclear program, it is also strengthening Iran's regional position." http://bit.ly/ijq6YR
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.
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