Top Stories
FOX: "Iran's nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders' adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the United States and Europe say. The American and European experts say their security websites, which deal with the computer worm known as Stuxnet, continue to be swamped with traffic from Tehran and other places in the Islamic Republic, an indication that the worm continues to infect the computers at Iran's two nuclear sites. The Stuxnet worm, named after initials found in its code, is the most sophisticated cyberweapon ever created. Examination of the worm shows it was a cybermissile designed to penetrate advanced security systems. It was equipped with a warhead that targeted and took over the controls of the centrifuge systems at Iran's uranium processing center in Natanz, and it had a second warhead that targeted the massive turbine at the nuclear reactor in Bashehr." http://fxn.ws/dHif6f
NYT: "Iran denied reports on Friday that it has freed a woman sentenced to death by stoning after human rights campaigners stoked confusion by releasing unconfirmed reports to the press. A report Friday on the Web site of Iran's state-run English language news channel Press TV said reports of the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, were false and were part of a 'vast publicity campaign by Western media.' On Thursday night, foreign news reports citing a group supporting her based in Germany said that Iran's authorities had released Ms. Ashtiani, along with her son and her lawyer . 'We have got news from Iran that they are free,' Mina Ahadi, spokeswoman for the International Campaign Against Stoning, was quoted as saying... The news report also ran images showing Ashtiani standing in the doorway of her home in a village in Iran's northwestern Azarbaijan region and speaking with her son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, in an informal setting, prompting further speculation that she had been released. The photographs have subsequently been revealed to be stills from a new documentary program, due to be aired on Press TV, which will show Ms. Ashtiani guiding a camera crew around the home where she and an accomplice allegedly plotted to murder her husband in 2006." http://nyti.ms/gmpCWb
Reuters: "Iran's neighbors are clearly concerned about Tehran's 'aggressive behavior' and support international sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday after a week of travel that included stops in two Gulf states. 'You can see the general support in the region for applying the sanctions and for doing what we can to make the sanctions effective and try to influence the Iranian government to walk away from their nuclear weapons program,' Gates told reporters on his plane home after visiting Oman, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. 'There clearly is concern, not just in this region but elsewhere, about Iran's overall aggressive behavior with respect to Hezbollah and Lebanon and other places around the world,' he said. 'And I think that's a broadly shared concern.'" http://bit.ly/h1bEtO
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
AFP: "A top US lawmaker vowed Thursday to toughen US sanctions against Iran over its suspect nuclear program and place renewed scrutiny on Russia and China's economic ties with Tehran. 'We can still -- if we get tough, and we put all of the sanctions that we can to bear -- we can still stop Iran from becoming a nuclear superpower,' Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chair come January, told AFP in an interview. Ros-Lehtinen said she would look to toughen existing US sanctions on Iran, reining in the White House's ability to waive the application of punitive measures on firms violating US law, and ensure the measure is fully applied. 'I hope to be working with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to toughen the legislation we've already passed, to get rid of some presidential waivers and to do a lot of oversight,' she said." http://bit.ly/eEGfP5
Bloomberg: "Three Iranian ships were seized several days ago in Singapore waters in a move linked to financial sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear program, Arman reported, citing the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines Managing Director. Mohammad-Hossein Dajmar, the company's head, rejected reports that the seizure is due to Iran's failure to pay back a loan received from a French bank, the newspaper said. He did not name the bank or elaborate on the reasons for the ships' seizure, which he said took place 'over' three days ago, Arman said. The three ships, named Sabalan, Sahand and Tochal do not have any cargo, Dajmar said. Negotiations are ongoing with the French bank to settle the matter, he told the newspaper." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1104055115081&s=30860&e=001vzzHDIKVHgZVBGKuHJeFMH0lg2Fr4-8IsCzD9unU9GA0ozNzGydbnn_xX4Tjjp4z7kvWjlV2CCWt_0Cd3aH3-zUbwvERWacuCukxdxch03c=
Human Rights
Reuters: "A prominent Iranian reformist was arrested on Thursday and five students were reported detained following anti-government protests, in the latest moves against opponents of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ali Shakourirad, a leading member of Iran's biggest pro-reform party, the Participation Front, was arrested and accused of propaganda against the system, the student news agency ISNA reported. The arrests of students, activists and reporters in recent days shows the state is still ready to clamp down on dissent a year and a half after Ahmadinejad's re-election sparked the biggest street unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution." http://bit.ly/gz55El
CNN: "A Christan pastor in Iran has been sentenced to death for allegedly renouncing his Muslim religion and another faces a possible indictment on the same charge of apostasy, according to a prominent activist group working for human rights in Iran. Youcef Nadarkhani, a 32-year-old member of the Church of Iran ministry and pastor of an approximately 400-person congregation in the northern city of Rasht, faces death, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In the southern city of Shiraz, another Christian pastor, Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, 35, is facing a possible indictment for apostasy. 'This is part of a greater trend of persecution against Christians,' said Firouz Sadegh-Khanjani, brother of Behrouz and member of the Church of Iran's Executive Council." http://bit.ly/hZvX4H
Radio Farda: "Prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and women's rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh is on hunger strike for the third time, her husband has told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. Reza Khandan told Radio Farda on December 7 that Sotoudeh resumed her hunger strike because her demands have not been met. He said that in violation of assurances given by the judge when she first appeared in court, her temporary arrest has been extended and her request for release on bail rejected. Sotoudeh was taken into custody on September 4 on charges of 'acting against national security,' 'assembly and collusion to disrupt security,' and 'cooperation with the Defenders for Human Rights Center.'" http://bit.ly/fxu4Ql
Opinion & Analysis
Anna Mahjar-Barducci in Hudson: "Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources, according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles. At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defence capability to protect NATO's populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran's counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United States's soft underbelly. According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an 'emergency.' In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for 'national needs' - radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers." http://bit.ly/eHlXfJ
Azar Nafisi in HuffPo: "In the past 30 years, officials of the Iranian regime and its apologists have labeled criticism, especially with regard to women's rights, as anti-Islamic and pro-Western, justifying its brutalities by ascribing them to Islam and Iran's culture. It is ironic that Mr. Larijani makes such remarks about Ms. Ashtiani, a 42-year-old mother of two, who is hardly Westernized or in any sense political. Like most victims of the stoning law, she comes from a poor traditional and religious background, one that the regime claims to defend. This is a good time to ask apologists for the Islamic regime, who degrades Islam? Who imposes stoning, forced marriage of underage girls and flogging for not wearing the veil? Do such practices represent Iran's ancient history and culture, its ethnic and religious diversity? Its centuries of sensual and subversive poetry? What makes the guardians of the Islamic Republic more Muslim or more Iranian than others? And is not the claim that everything related to freedom of expression and religion, or the rights of women and minorities, belongs to Western culture an insult to Islam?" http://huff.to/gpIsdw
Reza Khalili in FOX: "During a speech last July at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, I revealed that Iran was currently in possession of missiles not previously known to the West. In addition, Iran's collaboration with North Korea and its long term plans -- to reach major European capitals with their missiles -- was also discussed. Since the early 80s, Iran's focus has been on missile technology. Their strategy was first drawn up by the Guards' command and announced by Mohsen Rezaei (the Chief Commander).These facts were reported to the CIA. At the same time, the Guards made the decision to organize thousands of smaller units along with a massive missile capability for an unconventional war against America and Israel. Why? Because they knew that in any conventional military confrontation, their forces would not stand a chance against America. So the idea was born that a successful missile program would deliver in its goal to bring about the destruction of Israel and the demise of America and the West. Recent WikiLeaks releases about Iran reveal that American intelligence operatives have concluded that the Iranians have obtained a cache of advanced missiles from North Korea. These missiles can carry nuclear warheads. They now give Iran the capacity to strike the capitals of Western Europe. They can also easily reach Moscow. The information revealed by WikiLeaks also confirms that there is much deeper military and nuclear cooperation between North Korea and Iran than was previously known." http://fxn.ws/fzFHWM
Meir Javedanfar in HuffPo: "Since taking office Obama has tried several diplomatic initiatives in order to reach out to the government of Ali Khamenei. These included two personal letters to the Iranian supreme leader. His overtures were dismissed. The regime does not seem interested in a diplomatic rapprochement with the U.S. Meanwhile evidence is mounting against Iranian claims that the nuclear program is for civilian purposes only. These include: discovery of a secret enrichment facility in Natanz in 2002, another secret facility at Fordo near Qom in September 2009, and the discovery by the UN nuclear agency that Iran had tested advanced nuclear warhead design. Such discoveries, as well as Iran's refusal to accept Obama's diplomatic overtures are convincing increasing number of countries that Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, and the man responsible for Iran's nuclear program, has military plans for his nuclear program. They are also an indication that he is not interested in reaching a compromise with the West, until he has fulfilled this goal. Inaction will not stop the Iranian government. At the same time, war without giving diplomacy and other non-militaristic methods a chance would also boost the regime's standing at home. This was witnessed after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran in 1980. His unprovoked attack boosted the regime's credibility. For now, targeted sanctions offer the most suitable solution. The engine of the Islamic Republic does not run on chants of 'Death to America.' It runs on income from its economy. Punishment of the Revolutionary Guard's business interests, and the private wealth of the regime have sent a powerful message to Tehran's rulers that defiance carries a price." http://huff.to/fCEXYF |
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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