Top Stories
AP: "Iran offered Tuesday to resume nuclear talks with the United States and other world powers next week after pushing for a shift of venue to Turkey to give Tehran an ally on the sidelines. It was not immediately clear, however, whether the mothballed negotiations could be restarted as quickly as next Monday - under the Iranian proposal carried by the semiofficial Mehr news agency. After the Iranian announcement, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said no firm date has been set for the talks, Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency reported. But the proposal attributed to Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki shows Iran's apparent eagerness to reopen dialogue over its nuclear ambitions after facing tighter international economic sanctions." http://wapo.st/bwKYTU
AP: "The U.N. nuclear chief said Monday he still can't confirm that all aspects of Iran's nuclear program are peaceful, and he expressed serious concern at North Korea's refusal to allow the return of nuclear inspectors. Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called on Iran to fully implement all resolutions of the IAEA board of governors and the U.N. Security Council, including demands to suspend uranium enrichment and start negotiations to ease global concerns that it is seeking to make atomic weapons... Amano's statement that 'Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities' came as Tehran is negotiating on a date and place to resume talks with six major powers - the U.S., China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany. Tehran has said it would be ready to renew talks, which foundered a year ago, some time after Nov. 10, and on Sunday it proposed Turkey as a venue." http://wapo.st/dpgvtD
AP: "Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said Monday that opposition to the Iranian government is growing, spurred by an increase in government violence, more human rights violations and deepening poverty. The human rights lawyer, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote democracy, said in an interview with The Associated Press that she came to the United Nations to talk about the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and seek support for a draft U.N. General Assembly resolution that would condemn the country's rights record. Although much of the opposition movement has gone underground since the violent crackdown after the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Ebadi said it definitely isn't faltering. 'I can tell you that opposition is increasing in Iran,' she said. 'Not only the government is becoming more violent every day, and there are more violations of human rights, but the issue of poverty has become another issue now. ... And, of course, poverty plays a big role in opposition.'" http://wapo.st/9Ub0wr
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Guardian: "George Bush ordered the Pentagon to plan an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and considered a covert attack on Syria, the former president reveals in his memoirs. Bush, in the 497-page Decision Points, a copy of which was obtained by the Guardian in advance of its publication in the US tomorrow, writes of Iran: 'I directed the Pentagon to study what would be necessary for a strike.' He adds: 'This would be to stop the bomb clock, at least temporarily.' ... Two other options under consideration by Bush were direct US-Iranian negotiation, which Barack Obama favours but Bush ruled out, saying talking to a tyrant seldom worked out well for democracies; and joining the Europeans in a mixture of sanctions and talks with Iran, the option he finally chose. 'Military action would always be on the table, but it would be my last resort,' he said... Bush says: 'One thing is certain. The United States should never allow Iran to threaten the world with a nuclear bomb.'" http://bit.ly/c2prXN
BBC: "Police have been deployed on the streets of Tehran as the government begins making dramatic cuts to a wide range of subsidies. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described the reforms as 'the biggest economic plan in the past 50 years.' The changes are expected to save billions of dollars in public money each year. Yet they will drive up food and energy prices for millions of Iranians. Opposition figures have questioned the need for the overhaul as Iran deals with the effects of international economic sanctions over its nuclear programme. Iranians - both rich and poor - have long benefited from blanket subsidies on natural gas, electricity, petrol, water and many staple foods. Under the subsidy system they have enjoyed some of the lowest petrol prices in the world - paying as little as $0.40 (25p) per gallon ($0.10 per litre)." http://bbc.in/95LwvY
JPost: "Iran is the greatest threat to the world, and its nuclear program must be stopped, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in his keynote address to the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly in New Orleans on Monday. 'The greatest danger facing the world is the prospect of a nuclear Iran,' he said. 'It sponsors terror in Lebanon and Gaza, confronts the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, establishes beachheads in Saudi Arabia. Its influence has spread even to this hemisphere in South America. It has done all this without nuclear weapons. Imagine what it will do with them.' Speaking at the biggest annual Jewish conference in North America, Netanyahu called on the West to take greater measures against Iran, including the possibility of military action, if it wants to prevent nuclear terrorism." http://bit.ly/cB5rDf
Bloomberg: "Turkey, which has backed diplomacy over sanctions to contain Iran's nuclear program, can help broker an accord as the host of talks between the Islamic republic and world powers, President Abdullah Gul said. Turkey expects to host the 'very important' negotiations and 'has the capacity to contribute,' Gul said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in London. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today that Turkey was 'agreed upon' as the location and the talks may start Nov. 15, state-run Mehr news agency reported." http://bit.ly/9XWpkF
Human Rights
NYT: "The United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization decided on Tuesday to pull the plug on another embarrassment to its reputation, dissociating itself from this year's celebration of philosophy, to be held in Iran in less than two weeks. Unesco has been celebrating World Philosophy Day since 2002, but an agreement made quietly in 2008 to host this year's event in Iran became extremely controversial, given Iran's record of repression and censorship after disputed elections in 2009. Academics vowed to boycott this year's event, scheduled for Nov. 21 to 23, and European nations, joined by the United States, urged the organization's new director-general, Irina Bokova, to cancel the event. A Paris-based event for philosophy day is expected to go ahead as scheduled on Nov. 18, which Ms. Bokova intends now to be the main celebration." http://nyti.ms/9spH7y
WSJ: "Four prominent Iranian student activists were arrested over the weekend in a fresh crackdown targeting students. Iranian authorities have been tightening security ahead of a controversial government plan to phase out basic food and fuel subsidies. The government is bracing for social unrest, and has increased the police presence in Tehran and other cities. On Monday, several underground rap musicians were arrested in Tehran, and last week hundreds of young men and women were arrested in what the police termed a 'security cleansing.' The four students, from cities across Iran, are recently elected members of the central committee of a politically active student group, the Office for Fostering Student Unity, which has local chapters at campuses nationwide. The group has been at the forefront of the struggle to reform the regime." http://on.wsj.com/boDtm2
AFP: "Iranian police have made a string of arrests in raids targeting the capital's underground rap scene, the Tehran-Emrouz newspaper reported on Monday. An unspecified number of 'boys and girls were arrested, and Western musical instruments and alcohol seized' in Friday's raids, the paper quoted Tehran police chief Hossein Sajedi-nia as saying. 'These bands recorded underground clips and released unauthorised songs on satellite and cyber networks,' Sajedi-nia said." http://bit.ly/csqF25
Opinion & Analysis
Hossein Askari in The National Interest: "What good is talking and signing an agreement with a fox to guard the chicken coop? None, as long as the farmer wants to keep his chickens and the fox wants to eat them. So it is with the mullahs. The mullahs have no interest in abandoning their atomic goal. From day one, they have seen America as their existential threat and have believed that the key to their survival was nuclear capabilities; once acquired, Iran would be 'theirs' for the foreseeable future. For now they can sign a piece of paper to get the relief that they desperately need, the lifting of some sanctions, while secretly continuing with their program and meddling in the region to pressure the United States... The United States should do all it can to support a popular movement for change in Iran, a movement that allows Iranians to: (1) revisit their constitution, which they voted for in the heat of the revolution, a time when citizens historically have had to go along with the revolutionary regime to stay alive; it is a constitution that today cannot even be debated without risking arrest, imprisonment and even death; (2) hold free elections; and (3) exercise their basic human rights. With these changes, Iran would have a regime that respects its citizens and poses little danger to its neighbors. An Iranian constitution that is freely adopted and a government that represents the will and aspirations of the people best serve America's long-term strategic interests. Is this the time to talk to Iran and get an agreement? No." http://bit.ly/aLSXGg
Bernard-Henri Levy in HuffPo: "We're not done with Iran. First of all, of course, because of Sakineh, who has been granted a new stay of execution but remains imprisoned, in solitary confinement, like her own son. And the sentence may be executed at any moment. The summum of ignominiousness, the local presiding justice of Tabriz had the gall to declare that Sakineh is in good health. But because of two other affairs (I don't dare say two new affairs, for they are known and have been going on, the one and the other, for several months now) that have been little discussed, far too little, when they are just as indicative of the blindness, the cowardice, and the absence of democratic reflexes of the West when confronted with Iran... The first concerns World Philosophy Day, organized every November by UNESCO and which, it has been decided, will be held this year in -- Tehran!... The second affair concerns the creation of UN Women, this new United Nations agency charged with promoting the cause of women in the world and where the Asian region chose a representative of the Iranian government as one of the 41 members of the board of directors destined to pilot the thing." http://huff.to/aJ1XHT
Gissou Nia in CNN: "The Iranian government still plans to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a widow and mother of two whose stoning sentence on adultery charges provoked a significant international outcry this summer, according to the International Committee Against Execution and Stoning. This development reaffirms concerns about Iran joining the governing body of the new U.N. women's agency, U.N. Women, whose mission is to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. Iran is expected to be elected to the body without contest on Wednesday. The United States and human rights groups fear the membership of Iran will damage the credibility of the agency. Some counter these fears with the proposition that bringing countries like Iran 'into the fold' can act as a catalyst for positive change, while benefiting the new agency with added diversity of perspective. As a general matter, this accommodationist rationale in matters of human rights has a dubious record. Iran's membership in the U.N. agency would be an especially serious mistake." http://bit.ly/ar7Wp1
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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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