Top Stories
Bloomberg: "Iran's first nuclear power plant will start operations in February, later than planned, said Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization. Iran aims to conduct 'necessary tests' by mid-January, Salehi said yesterday, according to a report today by state-run Press TV news channel. Iran said in November that the 1,000- megawatt reactor in the country's south would begin producing power by late January... The country began transferring fuel to the plant's reactor area at an Aug. 21 ceremony that marked the opening of the Russian-built facility. It started loading fuel into the reactor in October. Under Iran's agreement with Moscow-based Rosatom, the state-owned Russian company will supply uranium for the plant and remove spent fuel." http://bit.ly/h8wvxx
AFP: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards have shot down two 'Western spy' drones in the Gulf, the Fars news agency quoted a top commander of the elite military force as saying on Sunday. 'Westerners have a series of capabilities which cannot be ignored, especially satellites, or for example they have spy planes which can take pictures in some places,' Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the air force wing of the Guards said. He said that the drones were mainly being used in Iraq and Afghanistan but 'some violations against our soil' have also occurred. 'And we have so far downed many of their advanced spy planes. In the Persian Gulf, we have downed two of their planes and this is the first time that we are saying it,' Hajizadeh said without specifying when exactly the drones were shot down. He also boasted that all 'enemy' bases in the region were within range of Iranian missiles, referring to arch-foe the United States. He said that even the aircraft carriers deployed in the region were no longer a threat to Iran." http://bit.ly/exk6vL
Reuters: "The oil trade settlement impasse between Iran and India remained unresolved on Friday, with Iran reportedly saying it had been settled but several Indian sources saying that talks would continue. Central bank officials from Iran and India met in Mumbai on Friday in an effort to keep their $12 billion in oil trade running, and forcing New Delhi to strike a delicate balance between its energy needs and its global diplomatic interests. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not comment other than to say that it had met with Iranian counterparts at a technical level to discuss ways to facilitate future transactions. But Iran's deputy oil minister, Ahmad Khaledi, was quoted as saying by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency: 'By changing the currency for oil transaction between Iran and India the problem was solved.' Several Indian sources said work towards a solution was continuing." http://reut.rs/dYXnsF
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Bloomberg: "India may pay for its oil imports from Iran in yen or the United Arab Emirates' dirham to avoid straining its relations with the U.S. and the European Union, Asharq al-Awsat said today, citing an Indian official. Iran and India are looking at options like settling their trade in other currencies than the euro or the dollar or by transferring payments to a bank account in China or Japan, said the newspaper, citing an unidentified Indian official who is taking part in talks between the two countries. The Indian central bank on Dec. 27 asked companies to stop using the Asian Clearing Union mechanism for their trade with Iran, effectively stopping settlements in dollars and euros." http://bit.ly/i8ruds
AP: "Israel believes it would have only 10-12 minutes' warning if Iran launched rockets but that threats from Hamas and Hezbollah are the most pressing, according to leaked U.S. State Department cables published in a Norwegian newspaper. The Aftenposten daily on Sunday cited a cable describing a Nov. 15, 2009, meeting between an American congressional delegation and Israel's military chief in which he reportedly said Israel was preparing to defend itself against such attacks. The paper quoted Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as telling the delegation that Iran has 300 Shihab rockets which could reach Israel. Some 1 million Israelis would be at risk from attacks from the country's enemies in the region, including Hezbollah and Hamas, he said." http://bit.ly/hCqClP
Bloomberg: "Qatar is seeking to import natural gas from the South Pars field in Iran to help meet domestic demand for the fuel, Press TV reported, citing Iran's state-run Mehr news agency. Qatar, which exports gas under long-term contracts to Europe and Asia, faces a shortage of gas at home, Iranian Press TV said, citing Mehr. South Pars is the northern portion of a natural gas reservoir in the Persian Gulf that Iran shares will Qatar. Iran's portion of the reservoir contains about 14 trillion cubic meters of gas, Press TV said." http://bit.ly/hm2CWu
Human Rights
AP: "Authorities reviewing a death by stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery could still halt the punishment, a senior judiciary official said Sunday as Iran struggles to mute an international outcry over the case. The comments, however, offered no clear evidence that Iran's judiciary would commute the sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who was taken from prison late Saturday to meet with journalists in another bid by Iran to highlight her purported confession of helping her lover kill her husband." http://wapo.st/eYAsAu
Reuters: "One hundred German political and business leaders published an appeal to Iran on Sunday to free two German reporters held in Iran since October. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was among members of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet to join opposition leaders and celebrities in the appeal, published over 15 pages in German weekly Bild am Sonntag. 'The two must be released as soon as possible and returned home to Germany,' said Westerwelle, whose appeal was echoed by Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen." http://bit.ly/i9OiHy
CNN: "Iranian authorities have buried the body of a political prisoner, who was executed last week, without the presence of his family or friends, his son told CNN. Ali Saremi's body was buried over the weekend at the Amir-Abad village in Boroujerd, nearly 400 kilometers southwest of Tehran. 'The authorities never informed my family about my father's execution and now the government has barred us from holding any kind of funeral service,' his son, Akbar Saremi, said. Ali Saremi was hanged for 'fighting against the sacred Islamic Republic of Iran system and launching antagonist propagations,' Iranian state-run media reported at the time of his execution Tuesday." http://bit.ly/ewmdWe
Daily Telegraph: "With the prospect of Iraq's Christian community being forced to flee the country after nearly 2,000 years, it seems another tragedy is nearing its climax in that unhappy land. Government troops, under the personal direction of the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, have teamed up with the thugs of Iran's Qods force to step up their assault on Camp Ashraf. This once-neat desert town near the Iranian border has been home, for the past decade, to more than 3,000 exiles belonging to the main Iranian opposition group, the PMOI (the People's Mujahideeen of Iran)." http://bit.ly/fJZMOf
AFP: "Canada's top diplomat Saturday denounced Iran for imposing draconian death sentences and unfair jail terms, urging Tehran's incoming foreign minister to improve the country's human rights record. 'I am particularly concerned by the uncertain fate of two Canadians of dual nationality who remain in prison in Iran,' Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said. Ottawa was worried about reports that Saeed Malekpour, 35, an Iranian-born Canadian resident, had been sentenced to death, he said. Malekpour, a computer programmer, was taken into custody for allegedly designing an adult website. Iranian-born Canadian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, who went to Iran in 2008 to visit his ailing mother, had also been jailed and sentenced to death for alleged crimes against the Iranian state." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&et=1104182957230&s=30860&e=001LhnShrDJ7qkSlW4K2GaG6V3qf1XpzXoeE876lKhHlVq9Fyabx_d14rzRGE0hxcYdjPyZrwTeIpj-QLDgeWHrXMNiWx_OEh3u29bN3P7MkRL3vQ8BnVlLYg==
Domestic Politics
WashPost: "Iran is overhauling its education system to rid it of Western influence, the latest attempt by the government to fortify Islamic values and counter the clout of the country's increasingly secularized middle class. Starting in September, all Iranian high school students will be introduced to new courses such as 'political training' and 'living skills' that will warn against 'perverted political movements' and encourage girls to marry at an early age, Education Ministry officials say. In universities, the curricula of law, psychology, sociology and other studies will be drastically altered, with officials from the Science Ministry, which has responsibility for higher education, working to strip out what they describe as Western theories and replace them with Islamic ones. Dozens of professors have already retired or been fired on the grounds that they did not sufficiently support the new policy." http://wapo.st/hfixG1
Bloomberg: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed 14 of his advisers in the latest shakeup of his administration, Press TV reported. Ahmadinejad notified the advisers in a letter yesterday that their 'cooperation has ended,' state-run Press TV said, citing Mehdi Kalhor, one of the dismissed aides. Kalhor, who advised the president on media and cultural affairs, said he wasn't aware of the reason behind the decision, according to the report published on Press TV's website today. The report didn't provide details." http://bit.ly/edh7O0
AP: "Cupid beware: Iran says it's cracking down on the symbols of Valentine's Day. The annual homage to romance on Feb. 14 has become popular in recent years in Iran and other places in the Middle East. But Iran's semiofficial ILNA news agency reports Sunday that a state directive now bans any cards, gifts, teddy bears or other tokens of the day - which tradition says is named after an early Christian martyr. The backlash in the Islamic Republic is part of a drive against the spread of Western culture." http://wapo.st/fdwKaU
AP: "The Iranian president's 33-year-old car has received a $1 million bid from abroad in a charity auction to raise money for a low-income housing project, reported a local newspaper on Sunday. The 1977 white Peugeot sedan was put on auction to fund a housing projects for disabled and young people in a move by the president to appeal to fulfill a campaign promise to put a roof over the head of every poor Iranian. The Iran daily newspaper said various bids from abroad have been received by the multilingual website set up Saturday for the auction, including $1 million, but it did not elaborate on the identity of the bidders. The top bidders will be invited to the auction, which will be held in mid-February in the southwestern city of Abadan. Online offers can be made until the end of January." http://wapo.st/g1H3m9
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Egypt will allow an Asian aid convoy to enter the Gaza Strip through its Rafah border but has barred Iranian activists from traveling with the convoy for security reasons, Egyptian sources said Friday. The 'Asia 1' convoy's 120 activists from 18 different Asian countries will sail Saturday from the Syrian Al Ladhiqiyah port en route to Egypt's Arish harbor in Arish city, 40 km (25 miles) from Egypt's Rafah border with Gaza." http://reut.rs/f4rmuj
Opinion & Analysis
WSJ Editorial Board: "Since Iran announced its intention to build a nuclear bomb, it has had a friend in India. The world's most populous democracy has hosted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, invested in Iran's energy industry and criticized U.S. efforts to curb the regime's money lifeline. How encouraging, then, that Delhi is changing its tune as sanctions momentum builds. Last Monday, India's central bank banned local companies from doing business with the United Nations' Asian Clearing Union-a clear slap at Tehran, which uses the opaque organization to evade U.N. and U.S. sanctions. Delhi didn't cite that as the reason for its actions; its statement noted only 'difficulties' in payments and receipts. But Iran reacted a day later by refusing to sell oil to India, which means the mullahs got the message. It may be going too far to interpret this news as an Indian about-face. India imports about 14% of its oil from Iran and isn't likely to abandon a key supplier. Reacting to last week's news, India's largest corporate lobby suggested companies might evade sanctions by settling in currencies 'other than the euro and the U.S. dollar.'" http://on.wsj.com/hw0NEQ
Mark Dubowitz in WSJ: "These and other punitive measures could significantly reduce the Islamic Republic's ability to continue exporting 2.2 million barrels of oil per day, about 2.5% of daily world demand. With oil prices around $90 a barrel and predicted to rise, Washington needs an incremental approach, implemented rapidly, that does not spook the oil markets and drive up prices, thereby inadvertently enriching the Iranian regime. The market needs a signal that increasing oil supplies from Iran's competitors will dull the effect of less Iranian crude being traded. Provided the United States and its allies can get more oil on the market-for example the Iran-loathing Saudis could increase production, or President Obama could lift the moratorium on offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico-then the world oil market would have considerably more elasticity. These sanctions need time to work. The near-miraculous attack of the Stuxnet virus on Iran's centrifuges and the untimely deaths of key Iranian nuclear scientists may have bought the administration that time, and further strengthened those who want to use economic sticks to beat back Iran's nuclear aspirations. Iranian crude oil sanctions are the next logical step-especially after the U.S., EU, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Canada have targeted energy investment in, and technology transfer to, the Iranian energy industry, and Washington has cracked down on Iran's refined petroleum imports. Companies active in the Iranian crude oil market that want to be ahead of the next sanctions curve might want to start looking for alternative suppliers." http://on.wsj.com/eEUSrj
David Cole in NYT: "Yet The Times recently reported that the Treasury Department, under a provision ostensibly intended for humanitarian aid, was secretly granting licenses to American businesses to sell billions of dollars worth of food and goods to the very countries we have blockaded for their support of terrorism. Some of the 'humanitarian aid' exempted? Cigarettes, popcorn and chewing gum. Under current law, it seems, the right to make profits is more sacrosanct than the right to petition for peace, and the need to placate American businesses more compelling than the need to provide food and shelter to earthquake victims and war refugees. Congress should reform the laws governing material support of terrorism. It should make clear that speech advocating only lawful, nonviolent activities - as Michael Mukasey and Rudolph Giuliani did in Paris - is not a crime. The First Amendment protects even speech advocating criminal activity, unless it is intended and likely to incite imminent lawless conduct. The risk that speech advocating peace and human rights would further terrorism is so remote that it cannot outweigh the indispensable value of protecting dissent. At the same time, Congress also needs to reform the humanitarian aid exemption. It should state clearly that corporate interests in making profits from cigarettes are not sufficient to warrant exemptions from sanctions on state sponsors of terrorism. But Congress should also protect the provision of legitimate humanitarian aid - food, water, medical aid and shelter - in response to wars or natural disasters. Genuine humanitarian aid and free speech can and should be preserved without undermining our interests in security." http://nyti.ms/eZvKxC |
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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