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AFP: "Iran will not talk about its 'nuclear dossier' at the Istanbul talks with world powers, atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said in comments published Wednesday, reiterating Tehran's long-standing policy. 'We will absolutely not recognise the negotiation if the other side wants to negotiate on the issue of the nuclear dossier' of Iran, Salehi, who is also acting foreign minister, said in an interview with state-run Iran newspaper. 'The technical and legal aspects of any country's nuclear issues can be discussed only with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the agency, based on international rules and regulations, is the only authority to judge the member states' issues,' he added. 'If we consider this as the principle... then discussing the issue, named (Iran) nuclear issue, from our point of view is a dossier fabricated by the West and discussing it with the five-plus-one about this is meaningless,' said Salehi, who oversees Tehran's nuclear programme." http://bit.ly/hzQDPy
WashPost: "Iran has escalated its routine bluster in the run-up to next week's nuclear talks in Istanbul, suggesting the Jan. 21-22 meeting could be a 'last chance' for major powers to strike a deal. On Wednesday, it had its reply from the United States' top diplomat: Get serious. Iran should 'come to the meeting prepared for . . . serious discussions,' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said after meetings with Arab leaders in Qatar's capital, Doha. U.S. officials have spoken confidently in recent days about the heavy toll that sanctions are having on Iran's economy, and some have expressed optimism that the country's ruling clerics may soon seek a bargain that would include permanently abandoning its pursuit of nuclear weapons. But publicly, Iran has remained combative, as shown by the 'last chance' warning this week by its top nuclear negotiator, Ali Asghar Soltanieh." http://wapo.st/hAfhfd
Reuters: "A senior Iranian official said on Thursday a tour of nuclear sites in the country would go ahead as planned, after China effectively rejected Tehran's invitation and Russia said it could never replace regular IAEA inspections. Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he had not yet seen any official response from China or Russia to his invitation last week to some ambassadors accredited to the U.N. nuclear body. But he said other ambassadors would attend the January 15-16 trip in Iran, which Iranian officials have described as a goodwill gesture and sign of openness regarding the Islamic state's disputed nuclear program. Soltanieh earlier this week said envoys representing groupings of mainly developing countries and others would join the tour, including Egypt, Cuba, the Arab League as well as Syria and Venezuela." http://reut.rs/eqHBVi
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "India expects a dispute with Iran over payment for crude oil to be settled as early as next week, ending a deadlock that has threatened to stall supplies from the Middle Eastern nation. India's Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan said on Wednesday that he is 'absolutely confident' that the row will be settled. Speaking to Reuters, the most senior bureaucrat in the oil ministry said that there will be no stoppage of crude supplies from Iran. The two countries are working to sort out the dispute that could block imports of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and New Delhi is walking a fine line in balancing its energy needs and global diplomatic interests. 'National Iranian Oil Company is extremely collaborative with us on finding a solution,' Sundareshan said. 'We are hopeful that by Monday, Tuesday a solution will be found.'" http://bit.ly/fy7aqq AP: "Turkey's foreign minister has met EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton for talks ahead of next week's nuclear talks between Iran and world powers in Istanbul. Earlier Thursday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also met with Ali Bagheri, the deputy to Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Bagheri is known to have a direct line to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his involvement reflects the importance Iran attaches to the Jan. 21-22 talks." http://wapo.st/hgDUd9 Reuters: "Indian Oil Corp has so far been unaffected by an oil payments row with Iran but could turn to the spot market if there is any disruption to imports, the company's chairman said on Thursday. A sale of shares in the state-run company planned by the government could start in June or July, B.M. Bansal also said during a trip to Singapore as part of a delegation led by the country's oil minister Murli Deora. 'IOC is not buying much of its crude share from Iran. So far we are not affected,' Bansal said. IOC buys about 1 million tonnes from Iran, out of the roughly 40 million tonnes it imports each year, he added." http://bit.ly/gkOulY AP: "Iran said foreign experts can accompany the international envoys it has invited to inspect its nuclear facilities ahead of planned talks with world powers, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast spokesman said the invitation by Iran to representatives of Russia, China, EU, developing and Arab countries to visit its nuclear facilities could be extended to the experts as well. 'There are no restrictions on bringing nuclear experts as companions,' he said, in response to concerns by some country representatives that they didn't have sufficient expertise for the trip." http://wapo.st/dKfsnT
Human Rights
Reuters: "Iranian authorities have ordered a theater to suspend its production of the classic European play Hedda Gabler, which a semi-official news agency described as 'vulgar' and 'hedonistic.' The Fars news agency on Wednesday published photographs of the play in which a man and a woman appear to be on the verge of a kiss -- an outrageous scene in the Islamic Republic, where physical contact between unrelated men and women is banned. 'Considering the furor created by some media representatives and cultural officials, and in order to prevent disturbing public opinion and due to concerns of the authorities, the performance of Hedda Gabler has been stopped for now,' the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said in a statement carried on the ISNA news wire. The ban, imposed before a performance on Tuesday night at the City Theater, would be reviewed by the ministry, it said. The play has been running at the theater since January 5." http://yhoo.it/f7BcV2
Opinion & Analysis
WashPost Editorial: "Confirmation that the international campaign against Iran's nuclear program has made headway recently came from a seemingly unlikely source: Israel's intelligence chief. Last week, Meir Dagan, outgoing head of the Mossad intelligence agency, said that Iran could not now acquire a nuclear weapon before 2015, because of unspecified technical problems. That was a big change from previous Israeli estimates: In 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Iran could have a bomb by this year. For years, Israeli measures of the Iranian nuclear timeline have been ahead of those by U.S. intelligence agencies, which predicted in 2007 than Iran could acquire nuclear capability between 2010 and 2015. In Israel as in the United States, estimates of the Iranian threat may be swayed in part by debate over what to do about it; Mr. Dagan is reportedly an opponent of an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Yet there appear to be solid reasons to conclude that U.N. and other Western sanctions and covert operations have hindered the Iranian program. An ingenious computer virus called Stuxnet may have put hundreds or even thousands of centrifuges used in uranium enrichment out of action; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly acknowledged last November that a virus had infected equipment. Two Iranian nuclear scientists were killed and another wounded in the last year in assassination operations Iran has blamed on Israel. At the same time, sanctions may have impeded Iran from acquiring the specialized materials, such as maraging steel and carbon fiber, that it needs to replace broken centrifuges or build the more advanced models it has claimed to develop... The Obama administration deserves credit, at least, for orchestrating the tightening of sanctions; the authors of Stuxnet have not been identified. But as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasized this week, the changed timeline does not mean that the threat of Iran's program is over or that the urgency of confronting it is lessened... The challenge for the Obama administration, Israel and other allies will be to make use of that window to force a definitive end to the Iranian bomb program." http://wapo.st/g6HVIS
Chris Zambelis in Asia Times: "Another player in the new African 'Great Game' - albeit to a lesser but still important degree - that has received far less attention is Iran. Iran's activities in Africa made headlines in dramatic fashion when Nigerian customs authorities announced that they had impounded 13 containers of weapons on October 26, 2010, transported by a private Iranian firm to the port of Apapa in Lagos. Having refuted initial reports suggesting that the arms shipment, which was valued at around US$20 million and included mortars, grenades, shells, rockets and ammunition, was intended for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a rebel group waging a violent campaign against the Nigerian state, the recently dismissed Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki acknowledged the delivery, but emphasized that the 'defensive and conventional weapons' were destined for 'another West African country'. The incident caused a diplomatic row between Abuja and Tehran. The Iranian ambassador to Nigeria was summoned over the incident. A friendly international football match between the national clubs of Nigeria and Iran scheduled to take place on November 17, 2010 in Tehran was cancelled. Since the arms shipment may have breached United Nations sanctions on Iran, Nigeria also threatened to raise the issue at the United Nations Security Council." http://bit.ly/gnvO8Y |
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