Top Stories
AP: "Iran's opposition leaders are barred from leaving the country, a prominent conservative lawmaker said Saturday, hiking up the pressure on the reform movement. The comments by Mousa Qorbani, a member of the Judicial Committee in parliament, were the first official word of a travel ban on the top opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi - who both ran in the disputed 2009 presidential elections - as well as former reformist president Mohammad Khatami. Qorbani also suggested the pressure by hard-liners to put the top leaders on trial, a step the government has so far stopped short of taking, though many mid- and low-level figures in the opposition movement have been tried and sentenced to long prison terms in the fierce crackdown that crushed protests following the 2009 vote. Qorbani said authorities had 'recognized' that Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami are 'mohareb' - a term meaning that they are 'fighting God.'" http://bit.ly/gVyO5e
AFP: "Iran will launch a reconnaissance satellite dubbed the 'Fajr' in the next few months, Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said in a report Saturday by the official IRNA news agency. Vahidi said the Islamic republic would also put into space around the same time another satellite, the Rasad 1 (Observation), whose launch was originally scheduled for August 2010. Iran is 'building different satellites and by end of the (Iranian) year (March 2011), the Fajr and Rasad satellites will be launched into space,' the minister was quoted as saying. The news agency reported that Fajr (Dawn) was a 'reconnaissance satellite' that would operate on solar energy." http://yhoo.it/idellz
AFP: "Iran has halted the execution of Kurdish student Habibolah Latifi, who was due to be hanged on Sunday for backing a separatist rebel group, his lawyer told the ISNA news agency. 'The verdict has been halted for the moment,' lawyer Nemat Ahmadi told the agency. 'The sentence has not been carried out and he has met with his family this morning.' A court in the western city of Sanandaj, Kordestan province, had notified Latifi's other lawyer that he would be hanged Sunday morning, Ahmadi said. Latifi, a law student, has been convicted of waging war against God (moharebeh) for supporting PJAK, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, a banned Iranian-Kurdish rebel group... The announcement came as rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on Iranian authorities not to go ahead with Latifi's execution." http://bit.ly/giwFLu
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "The Treasury Department on Thursday defended its issuance of special licenses for American companies to do business with Iran and other blacklisted nations, in response to a New York Times report on deals made despite sanctions and trade embargoes. An examination by the newspaper found the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has made nearly 10,000 exceptions to U.S. sanctions rules over the past decade. A Treasury official said the majority of the cases examined by The Times were approved under a law requiring the Treasury to license exports of agricultural and medical humanitarian aid to Iran and Sudan. 'These are not discretionary exceptions to U.S. sanctions made by Treasury,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'Because the U.S. has the toughest and most comprehensive sanctions against Iran, allowing for the exportation of food, medicine and medical devices is consistent with our objective of not hurting the Iranian people.' The Times said the 10-year-old law was so broadly written that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, chewing gum, weight-loss remedies, Louisiana hot sauce and sports rehabilitation equipment sold to the institute that trains Iran's Olympic athletes." http://reut.rs/eycLgv
AFP: "Afghan Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim said on Sunday that Iran has agreed to lift a ban on fuel tankers crossing into Afghanistan that has left hundreds of trucks stranded at the border. 'We discussed the fuel tankers which have been stopped at the border and agreements were reached (to allow them) to enter Afghanistan, so that the fuel problem is resolved,' ISNA news agency quoted Qasim Fahim as saying at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran. Iran has in the past three weeks prevented around 1,600 trucks from crossing the border, believing that they are being used to supply US-led NATO troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Kabul says the tankers are bringing fuel to meet the increased demand by ordinary Afghans during the winter months." http://bit.ly/e4wPPa
AP: "Iran has imposed a death sentence on a man suspected of spying for Israel, local media reported on Sunday. The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, Tehran's chief prosecutor, as saying, 'The spy has been sentenced to death ... (His) identity will be announced after approval of the verdict' by Iran's Supreme Court. He did not say when that would be. Dowlatabadi said three more cases of espionage were under review by the Iranian judiciary. He did not elaborate. Israel had no immediate comment." http://wapo.st/fSwkWI
Human Rights
AP: "Germany has summoned Iran's ambassador to express anger that two detained German journalists in Iran weren't able to meet with relatives over Christmas despite earlier promises by authorities. The two journalists were reporting on a highly publicized stoning case for mass-circulation tabloid Bild am Sonntag when they were arrested in early October. A foreign ministry spokesman said Monday the Iranian ambassador was summoned and government officials 'very explicitly expressed their displeasure.' Stefan Bredohl said the government had been under the expectation the journalists would be able to meet their family members and the German ambassador. Two family members had traveled to Iran on Friday to meet them." http://wapo.st/gquW5y
AP: "An Iranian news agency says authorities have confirmed that remarks by an economist critical of the government's subsidy cuts were the reason for his detention. The Sunday report by the semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, Tehran's chief prosecutor, as saying Fariborz Raeis Dana was detained because he criticized the government's pricing program. Last week fuel prices surged 400 percent and price of bread doubled because of subsidy cuts. Analysts said the moves appeared to show that Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear program were having some effect. Authorities detained Raeis Dana after he called the subsidy cuts plan a 'hallucination' in an interview with BBC Persian service, saying they would bring no benefit to the Iranian people." http://wapo.st/hhBj4c
Domestic Politics
Radio Farda: "Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has publicly admitted hacking into the e-mail of opposition members. Moslehi was quoted by Iranian news agencies, including ILNA, as saying that e-mails were the most important tool of communication between opposition members during last year's postelection protests and that the Intelligence Ministry could break into them and defeat 'the enemy.' 'One of the officials, in his speech, out of carelessness, announced that we have access to the e-mails. Within 24 hours, they coded and password-protected their e-mails,' Moslehi said. 'Of course, we in the Intelligence Ministry broke those passwords within 48 hours.' Moslehi is quoted as saying that e-mails were being exchanged between 'foreigners and their elements inside Iran.'" http://bit.ly/hFrExF
Foreign Affairs
LAT: "The captured leader of an outlawed militant group that has waged a years-long campaign of bombings and killings against Iranian authorities may soon be handed over to Tehran, Pakistani and Iranian news media reported Saturday. Abdul-Rauf Rigi, described as the leader of the Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluch group Jundallah, was arrested along the Iran-Pakistan border Dec. 22 and may be handed over to authorities in Shiite Muslim-run Iran after he is interrogated in Pakistan, Pakistani media reported. A high-ranking Iranian official confirmed the arrest by Pakistani security forces of Rigi and eight alleged accomplices, Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency reported." http://lat.ms/gC3a1t
Opinion & Analysis
Jennifer Rubin in WashPost: "The international bank HSBC says it is pulling an ad that juxtaposes a plug for the bank's ability to find 'potential in unexpected places' with a factoid about Iran: 'Only 4% of American films are made by women. In Iran it's 25%.' A reader e-mailed me about the ad last week. The implication that Iranian women -- who are tortured, beaten, murdered and imprisoned for exercising rights of free speech -- are better situated than their American counterparts was simply preposterous. When I contact HSBC on Thursday, spokesman Robert Sherman denied that the ad suggested the bank was exploring investment opportunities in Iran. 'The ad makes no such statement,' he claimed via e-mail. Why bring up Iran then? ... A day after I contacted HSBC, I received a follow-up e-mail from Sherman that read: 'The ad was meant to encourage debate and discussion, and we certainly did not intend to cause offense. Subsequent to hearing some recent concerns, we are removing the ad from our global campaign.' The number of complaints was tiny, according to a source at the bank, which makes me wonder whether the prospect of this report contributed to the change of heart. As to HSBC's Iran operations, the bank contends: 'HSBC's Iran policy remains the same: no new deals, no activity not permitted under existing sanctions. We continue to follow the letter and spirit of laws, regulations and sanctions related to Iran, in all jurisdictions.' In other words, the bank continues to have existing business in Iran... So while other banks and businesses are pulling out of Iran, HSBC's policy 'remains the same.' What's more, it doesn't make 'value judgments.' But by continuing to do business with a murderous regime, the bank certainly is displaying its corporate values." http://wapo.st/fSzjdf
Amotz Asa-El in MarketWatch: "They laughed hard this week in spy agencies across the West as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dubbed 'a great victory for Iran' his latest decree: an overnight quadrupling of gasoline prices. Yet behind what outsiders heard as vintage Orwellian Newspeak lurked a measure of political boldness that the rest of the world would do well to follow closely, as at least one major part of the Islamist Revolution begins to fall apart. The outspoken Iranian leader's statement was, to be sure, fraught with cynicism: He neglected to mention his deployment of riot police in numerous gas stations where millions of drivers were about to learn just what the president's 'victory' meant for their wallets. But the removal of subsidies, as this column noted more than two years ago, was one bit of major surgery that the Iranian economy had to undergo if it was to feed, house and employ its increasingly restless population. Even more important, price reform may well unleash economic dynamics that will first humble the conservatives and then discredit the value system that, so to speak, makes Iran's leadership tick. Iran's subsidy regime has been an economic anomaly all along. Designed to keep the poor socially docile while financial restrictions kept the rich economically paralyzed, the subsidies served the clerical elite's political needs, but at an exorbitant fiscal cost... But for the Iranian Revolution, economic populism was a central goal." http://bit.ly/fF8n00
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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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