Top Stories
NYT: "The United States orchestrated the defeat of Iran's push to gain a seat Wednesday on the board of the new United Nations organization dedicated to gender equality around the world, in keeping with the broader American strategy to isolate Iran. The United States organized a global diplomatic effort to block Iran from the board, with its ambassadors approaching dozens of foreign ministries to argue that the Islamic republic's human rights record would send the wrong message about the new body. The American ambassador, Susan E. Rice, not known for glad-handing around the United Nations, was working the room before the vote, shaking hands. 'We've made no secret of our concern that Iran joining the board of UN Women would have been an inauspicious start to that board,' Ms. Rice told reporters afterward, using the common name for the new organization. 'They lost, and they lost handily,' she added." http://nyti.ms/aaSoOj
AP: "Iran's president has accused the U.N. nuclear watchdog of leaking information to the U.S. and says that's the reason Tehran refuses to allow international inspectors unannounced access to the country's nuclear facilities. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made similar allegations against the International Atomic Energy Agency in the past. But his comments Thursday come ahead of expected talks with world powers in the coming weeks over Iran's disputed nuclear program. The Iranian leader was quoted by state TV as saying that Tehran will not accept the so-called additional protocol because it would place its nuclear activities under IAEA supervision." http://wapo.st/aM1fsg
AFP: "US President Barack Obama extended for another year a freeze on Iranian assets in the United States first imposed 31 years ago by president Jimmy Carter. In a notice published by the White House Wednesday, Obama noted that ties between the two countries had yet to be normalized, giving grounds for a continuation of a 'national emergency' with respect to Iran. Carter had ordered a freeze on Iranian government assets under US jurisdiction on November 14, 1979, 10 days after militants and students sympathetic with the Islamic revolution overan the US embassy in Tehran. Iranian militants held 52 US diplomats hostage for 444 days, and Washington and Tehran broke ties in April 1980." http://bit.ly/9wgGlW
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "A Republican-controlled House of Representatives can help stiffen President Barack Obama's policies toward hostile states like Iran, the congresswoman in line to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Wednesday... 'I think it strengthens the president's hand,' added the Florida representative, who is a fierce critic of countries like Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela that she terms 'rogue regimes.' She spoke while Obama was on a tour of Asia, attending a G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea. Ros-Lehtinen said Obama could even use a 'tough Congress' to 'play good cop, bad cop' with anti-U.S. states like Iran, which Washington and other world powers are pressuring over its nuclear program. She said she believed the United States needed to convey the message it meant business about implementing sanctions against Iran, which denies Western accusations its nuclear program is aimed at developing atomic weapons." http://reut.rs/968Quc
AFP: "A number of leading Al-Qaeda members, including former spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith of Kuwait, have moved from Iran to Yemen, a Kuwaiti daily said Thursday citing an intelligence report. The revelation was made in a classified Western intelligence report sent to security officials in the Gulf and a number of Arab countries, Al-Qabas said, citing unnamed informed sources. Several top Al-Qaeda leaders fled to Iran when the US launched an invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Some have been imprisoned in Tehran. 'Some of these leaders however have moved to Yemen and have taken the charges of command and coordination of Al-Qaeda operations,' the report said." http://bit.ly/cV6Dvr
AFP: "Two Belgian firms are under investigation over allegations of illegally exporting nuclear material to Iran that can be used to make weapons, Belgium's energy ministry said Wednesday. The companies sold zirconium powder and depleted uranium to the Islamic republic, so-called dual-use materials that can be used for military or civilian ends, said ministry spokeswoman Marie-Isabelle Gomez. The energy ministry filed a complaint in 2008 against the two companies, which officials refused to identify, Gomez told AFP." http://bit.ly/cpC6Rf
Human Rights
AFP: "The Iranian judiciary is focusing on the murder conviction of a mother of two rather than adultery charges for which she has been sentenced to death by stoning, the prosecutor general has said. 'I emphasise... that without doubt the accusation and sentencing for murder is taking precedence over the other accusation (of adultery) and the judiciary has put this on its agenda first,' Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told state news agency IRNA late on Wednesday. His statement indicated a possible shift in the handling of the case against Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, which has triggered an outcry in the West after she was sentenced to death by stoning on adultery charges. Mohammadi-Ashtiani was initially given death sentences by two different courts in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz in separate trials in 2006." http://bit.ly/at51pc
Kansas City Star: "Pity the poor book censors in Iran. Unloved by writers, publishers and readers, they confront a backlog of books they must read and approve before they can be distributed to the general public. The piles of books awaiting their review are so great that books have reportedly spilled out from their offices at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance into the building's corridors. According to government figures, there are about 7,000 publishing firms in Iran today. Even if only 1,000 of those publishers delivers five books a year for approval, that's 5,000 books a year the censors must wade through." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1103904537837&s=30860&e=001-3BP2fB1ikSGphgCAGzCyxAcRnW978z1sFYiCPFUJ5oVMwA7vMnBLd0t1n89YvGvDog8l98rQjo-QBeppzO28GkicvHdOHwjTQDmDz57UEw=
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "An aide to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has criticized the work of a powerful advisory body as being inconsistent with the country's constitution, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's adviser for press affairs, said on November 9 that the members of the Expediency Council 'should definitely change' the way they do their job. Founded in 1988, the Expediency Council is chaired by former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The council was initially set up to resolve disputes between the parliament and the powerful Guardians Council, which can veto legislation passed by lawmakers. According to U.S.-based political analyst Majid Mohammadi, the Expediency Council and parliament are the two obstacles to the growing power of the Iranian government. 'The members of the Expediency Council, specifically Hashemi Rafsanjani, have visibly been in disagreement with Ahmadinejad's government,' Mohammadi says." http://bit.ly/9QJ40l
Foreign Affairs
SMH: "An official in the Sunni-backed Iraqiya coalition confirmed a deal had been reached, with the President, Jalal Talabani, keeping his largely ceremonial role and Iraqiya choosing the parliamentary speaker. It was stunning victory for Mr Maliki, a Shiite, who was plucked from obscurity four years ago to become prime minister during the worst of Iraq's sectarian violence. It was also a success for Iran... 'If things actually happen as just announced, it would indeed appear to be a victory for Maliki and for Iran, which pushed this scenario forward,' said an Iraq expert, Joost Hiltermann, from the International Crisis Group think tank... Mr Maliki's supporters described the deal as a victory for Tehran, but warned that Mr Maliki did not take orders from anyone. 'The Americans lost that battle to the Iranians,' said Ezzat Shabandar, a Maliki supporter and adviser, 'But the Iranians didn't win with Maliki.'" http://bit.ly/98lNSa
Opinion & Analysis
Jeremy Hsu in SPACE.com: "Iran has its sights set on putting an astronaut on the moon by 2025, after becoming the first Islamic nation to put its own payload into space last year. But the grand goal of getting to the moon may be among the least of the benefits Iran expects to reap from its expanding space program. Iran's motivations for a space program are most likely practical: developing possible ballistic missile technology and building international prestige as a message to friends and enemies alike, analysts say. 'They will clearly use dual-use technology for a military buildup, and as long as they at least dabble in human spaceflight, they get advantageous press coverage on that as well,' said Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of National Security Studies at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Iran launched its first domestically built satellite in February 2009 and promises more satellite launches in 2011... Johnson-Freese suggested Iran sees a space program as a 'win-win from both the technical and techno-nationalistic political perspectives,' considering how missile and rocket development go hand-in-hand. Whether or not that gets them to the moon may be beside the point. 'The bottom line is, I think Iran's human spaceflight plans are mostly talk, but any part that isn't will be a bonus to them,' Johnson-Freese said. " http://bit.ly/am60sA
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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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