Top Stories
Boston Globe: "The world's largest oil-services company has quietly promised the US State Department that it will pull out of Iran when its current contracts are complete, a spokesman for Schlumberger Ltd. has confirmed, marking what could be a major victory in the US struggle to cut off Iran's access to funds for its nuclear program. 'If it is true, it's huge,' said Richard Modesette, a former Commerce Department special agent. But internal company documents obtained by The Boston Globe show that Schlumberger - which is under investigation for possible sanctions violations - has signed contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars that it intends to complete before it exits. Those contracts will keep the company, believed to be the last Western oil-services firm in Iran, working in the oil-rich country until least 2013, a delay that has angered some US officials." http://bit.ly/bDiLCG
NYT: "Talks on Iran's nuclear program moved a step closer Thursday as the European Union foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, agreed to one of two dates for discussions suggested by Tehran, a diplomat said, although Ms. Ashton proposed an alternative location. Ms. Ashton would lead the negotiations with Iran alongside officials from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain. On Thursday Ms. Ashton's officials were drafting a letter to Iran's senior negotiator, Saeed Jalili, agreeing to talks Dec. 5, but proposing that they take place not in Istanbul, as Iran had suggested, but in another country, probably Switzerland... Iran's most recent letter, like one that preceded it on October 29, referred to a stipulation in a previous communication from Mr. Jalili's on July 6, laying down conditions for the talks. In that letter, the Iranian negotiator said that discussions should aim to engage and cooperate, that they should be committed to the rationale of dialogue, and that Ms. Ashton should state her 'position on the nuclear weapons of the Zionist Regime.'" http://nyti.ms/dCHLrH
Reuters: "Iran's foreign minister flew to Nigeria on Thursday to discuss an arms shipment that was seized by Nigerian officials last month and that diplomats have said could put Iran in breach of United Nations sanctions. The foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has pledged his government's cooperation with an investigation into the shipment of weapons, said the Nigerian foreign minister, Odein Ajumogobia. Nigeria's secret service intercepted the shipment two weeks ago and found that it contained rockets and other explosives. The weapons were in containers that were labeled as construction materials and had been loaded in Iran by a local trader who did not appear on any sanctions list, a shipping group based in France, CMA CGM, has said." http://reut.rs/aS8Zeu
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
AFP: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said major powers are against solving the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear programme, state television reported on its website on Thursday. 'In the next few days, the dialogue will commence but our experience shows that they are not seeking to solve the issue,' Ahmadinejad said, referring to upcoming talks with six countries over Tehran's nuclear drive. 'From our side the issue has already been solved and we will continue our peaceful nuclear activities. The Western countries are arrogant and do not take others into account.' The talks are aimed at allaying Western concerns that Iran's nuclear programme is masking a weapons drive under the guise of a civilian programme, something Tehran denies." http://bit.ly/dq8lQx
WT: "Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who will wield the gavel because of their victory in last week's elections, will seek to hold the Obama administration's feet to the fire on the implementation of sanctions against Iran, undercutting the president's diplomatic efforts to stifle Tehran's nuclear ambitions... The Republican House staffer said Republicans would be 'willing to call out the administration when we don't feel the intent of the [Iran sanctions] legislation is being honored.'" http://bit.ly/axD4T1
AP: "Nigerian foreign minister is threatening action against Iran if it violated international law and U.N. sanctions in an arms smuggling case. Nigerian Foreign Minister Odein Ajumogobia told a news conference Friday that Iran's foreign minister has authorized Nigerian officials to interview one of two Iranians implicated in the arms shipment discovered in a Nigerian port last month. Ajumogobia says the other man has diplomatic immunity. Nigerian authorities believe both men are hiding in the Iranian Embassy. 'If Nigeria finds at the conclusion of the investigation that there has been a breach of international law, a breach of U.N. sanctions, Nigeria is a member of the U.N. Security Council (and) we will do what is necessary,' Ajumogobia said." http://bit.ly/9TRnG6
Reuters: "The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday it protects the confidentiality of information gathered during inspections, indirectly rejecting an Iranian accusation it would feed sensitive information to Washington. Relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have become increasingly strained over the last year, with the Vienna-based agency voicing frustration over what it says is lack of Iranian cooperation with its inspectors. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted earlier this week as saying the IAEA would pass on information about Iran's nuclear program to the United States if Tehran agreed to widen the agency's inspection powers in the country." http://reut.rs/cHSYZS
Human Rights
AP: "Pope Benedict XVI has told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the discrimination and violence Catholics suffer in the Middle East and said he hopes relations between the local Catholic Church and authorities can improve. The Vatican released the text of a letter Benedict wrote to Ahmadinejad after receiving a letter from the Iranian leader last month. Ahmadinejad had thanked the pontiff for opposing a Florida pastor's threat to burn the Quran on the Sept. 11 anniversary. In his letter, dated Nov. 3 but released only Thursday, Benedict noted that a recent meeting of Mideast bishops had decried the discrimination many Catholics face in the region. He said he hoped a bilateral commission would help address the legal status of the Catholic Church in Iran." http://wapo.st/93tZ7X
Opinion & Analysis
Ray Takeyh in WashPost: "In an all-too familiar ritual, the United States and Iran are once more contemplating their diplomatic dance. The question that has perennially bedeviled Washington and its allies is how to compel the theocratic regime in Tehran to alter its objectionable practices. As a rational and pragmatic democracy, the United States perceives that economic pressure will compel Iran's leaders to yield on strategic priorities in order to relieve financial distress. The Islamic Republic has its vulnerabilities; however, too narrow a focus on its economic deficiencies has obscured its manifest political weaknesses. An insistence on human rights and the empowerment of the Green Movement can pave the way for Iran's transition to a more tolerant society and provide the West an indispensable lever for tempering the mullahs' nuclear ambitions. In one of Iran's great paradoxes, a nation in clutches of clerical despotism has given birth to the most intellectually vibrant democratic movement in the contemporary Middle East... As part of any negotiations with the West, the Islamic Republic should be asked to amend not just its nuclear infractions but also its human rights abuses... In the meantime, an isolated, weakened regime faced with economic decline, political ferment and international ostracism maybe tempted to offer important concessions to escape its predicament. The path to disarmament and democracy lies in making common cause with the Green Movement and making Iran's behavior toward its citizens a precondition to its reintegration in the community of nations." http://wapo.st/axvH80
Admiral James A. Lyons in WT: "For 30 years, when it has come to addressing Iran's acts of war against the United States, we have reacted like a 'ship of fools.' Iran has been treated as a 'sanctuary' from which it openly continues to conduct acts of state-sponsored terrorism against the United States and also train, equip and lead through proxies and the Quds Force the adversaries we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each administration since President Carter's has chosen to ignore or pretend that the Iranian theocracy is not behind the repeated acts of terrorism or combat killings of hundreds if not thousands of our military and civilian personnel. Never has there been such a stain on our honor. It started with the takeover of our embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and the holding of our diplomatic personnel as hostages for 444 days. That was followed by the truck bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983, with the loss of 241 of our finest military personnel. We have proof positive that the orders came from the Iranian Foreign Ministry to the Iranian ambassador in Damascus... When we are sending our finest military men to fight in two wars with no intention of addressing the basic problem - Iran - it is more than dereliction of duty; it borders on criminal. Why has Iran been off-limits for more than 30 years?" http://bit.ly/9g8WNC
Ilan Berman in WT: "Every season, it seems, brings another round of nuclear diplomacy with Iran. This fall promises to be no different; in the near future, if current projections hold, Washington and Tehran will sit down for new talks over the Islamic republic's persistent quest for an atomic capability. But what is there to talk about, really? Iranian officials already have made it clear that the very thing the international community wants desperately to address - Iran's nuclear program - won't truly be on the table in the coming parlay. 'We will not be talking with the Western party about the nuclear energy issue in this round of the negotiations,' said Ali Akbar Javanfekr, an adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to reporters several weeks ago. More recently, Mr. Ahmadinejad himself has ruled out the possibility that Iran's nuclear file will be in play during initial talks with the 5+1 group (the United States, Russia, China, France, Great Britain and Germany). In other words, Tehran is angling for talks to discuss the possibility of eventually having more talks that might at some point touch upon its nuclear program. All of which fits neatly into Iran's time-tested strategy of buying time until it crosses the nuclear Rubicon." http://bit.ly/cISQfK
Meir Javedanfar in The Diplomat: "With the US midterm elections behind us, and with the Democrats having lost control of the House of Representatives, the question on many lips is: What's going to happen to Obama's Iran strategy? The Republican Party is understandably happy with its November 2 gains, but if it's truly concerned about the dangers of a nuclear Iran, it needs to help, not hinder, Barack Obama's approach toward the country. The fact is that whatever gripes Republicans may have about Obama's domestic policies, his diplomatic drive and consensus building in the international community has done considerable damage to the Iranian regime's global standing, as well as its business interests. Indeed, after only two years in office, Obama has done more to undermine the regime of Ali Khamenei over the course of two years than George W. Bush did in eight." http://bit.ly/dsap35
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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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