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Daily Telegraph: "Family cars made by Fiat, Peugeot and Renault are being used as missile platforms by the Iranian armed forces because of their difficulty obtaining proper military vehicles, leaked cables show. Mossad, the Israeli security service, was so worried about Tehran adapting cars for its missile programme that it urged the US to put pressure on manufacturers to stop their vehicles getting into the hands of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Israelis raised their concerns at a high-level intelligence briefing with US officials in October 2007, during which they produced photographs of Iranian missile systems being towed by - and mounted on - a range of civilian vehicles. towed by - and mounted on - a range of civilian vehicles. The 'runarounds' commandeered by the Iranians also included cars made by Mercedes, Toyota and Honda." http://uani.com/hVGfvr
Reuters: "Iran could make a nuclear weapon in as little as one or two years if it wished, an influential think-tank said on Thursday -- but industrial sabotage and the Stuxnet computer worm had probably slowed its progress. Evidence showed 'beyond reasonable doubt' that Iran was seeking the capability to produce nuclear weapons should its leaders decide to go down that route, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in a report... The London-based IISS said Iran's current stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) would, if further enriched, be enough for one or two nuclear weapons. But it said Tehran would need more than one form for a credible nuclear deterrent. If the 4,000 centrifuges that appeared to be working well at Iran's Natanz enrichment plant were used for weapons purposes, and they continued to perform at their maximum output to date, 'a little over a year and seven months would be required for the first bomb's worth of HEU (highly enriched uranium),' it said." http://uani.com/dP4JCX
CNN: "The head of human rights for the United Nations has expressed alarm at the number of executions carried out by Iran in the new year. 'We have urged Iran, time and again, to halt executions,' U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Wednesday. 'I am very dismayed that instead of heeding our calls, the Iranian authorities appear to have stepped up the use of the death penalty.' At least 66 people were executed during January, according to Iranian media reports. Most of the executions were reportedly carried out for drug offenses, although at least three involved political prisoners, a U.N. statement said." http://uani.com/eatPYv
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Daily Telegraph: "British companies made millions of pounds selling or leasing items to Iranian companies that were the subject of international trade sanctions, US Embassy documents show. America put enormous pressure on the British government to block deals for aircraft and ships that it feared would be used to transport nuclear materials. One of the companies causing most concern was the London-based Balli Group, of which Lord Lamont, the former chancellor, is a non-executive director. In February 2008, the US State Department contacted its London Embassy requesting 'immediate action' over three Jumbo Jets it believed were bound for Iranian-owned Mahan Air, which is banned from operating within the EC." http://uani.com/frsksq
Daily Telegraph: "Chinese-made weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan because of China's failure to enforce export controls on arms to Iran, the leaked cables show. US diplomats also feared that Chinese companies were selling materials to Iran that could be used to build nuclear missiles and other weapons of mass destruction. Chinese-made guns, as well as rocket-propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles containing Chinese-made components, have all been used against Coalition forces or civilian targets in Iraq, the US claims, while other weapons have been obtained by militants in Afghanistan. The US was so concerned about Chinese arms and components being sold to Iran that in September 2008 the State Department launched a major diplomatic offensive to put pressure on Beijing." http://uani.com/huurgf
Daily Telegraph: "America accused the Treasury of blocking attempts to close down 'terrorist financiers' operating in Britain and being more concerned with protecting the interests of the City, leaked documents show. American officials also questioned whether the Labour government was 'willing to pull out all the stops' to prevent Iran's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons, during a diplomatic row that continued behind the scenes for two years. They blamed a 'pronounced split' between Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling for what they believed were delays in closing down Iranian-owned banks, despite warnings that London had become a key financial centre for the regime." http://uani.com/dP2KjC
Daily Telegraph: "The US intervened in the £371 million sale of a Canadian-owned mine in Africa because of fears that uranium ore would be sold to Iran, the leaked cables show. Forsys Metals was said to be in the 'final stages' of selling the Valencia mine in Namibia to George Forrest International (GFI), a Belgian-based company, when Canadian ministers stepped in to block the deal in 2009. Until now, it was thought the takeover had collapsed purely because GFI could not raise enough money to finance it, but secret communiqués between Washington and Ottawa disclose grave concerns that GFI might sell uranium to Iran if it obtained the mine." http://uani.com/fJR1cU
Daily Telegraph: "A former FBI officer who disappeared in mysterious circumstances in Iran four years ago has been held by the country's Revolutionary Guard, the cables suggest. Robert Levinson vanished in 2007 while working as a private investigator on Kish Island, a popular tourist resort in the Persian Gulf. Since then the Tehran regime has rebuffed all efforts from his family to discover his fate, insisting it has no information. But testimony from a political prisoner who managed to flee the country casts doubt on the official Iranian line and indicates that Mr Levinson may have spent time in one of the Revolutionary Guard's notorious secret jails." http://uani.com/hdga4w
AP: "An Iranian supercomputer. New space rockets and satellites carrying the flag of the Islamic Republic. Biotech innovations that include artificial tendons. Iran's claims of scientific advances are coming at a rapid-fire pace these days as the country begins events to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It's become part of annual celebrations of scholarship and military might. But this year, there is an added message to the West after the latest talks over Iran's nuclear program fizzled in January: Tehran's ability to make atomic fuel remains at the heart of the country's drive for home-grown technology... Iran plans a major tech exhibition beginning Saturday in Damascus, Syria, whose underlying purpose seeks show that international sanctions have not crippled Iran's labs." http://uani.com/eNck97
AFP: "India said Wednesday it is yet to resolve a crude oil payment problem with Iran after the South Asian nation's central bank halted payments through a financial clearing house. In December, India's central bank said payments to Iran -- India's second biggest supplier of crude -- could no longer be settled through a long-standing clearing house system due to sanctions. '(Crude) supplies are continuing. A final solution has not been found yet,' to the payment issue, India's Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan told reporters in New Delhi. When asked for a timeline within which the issue might be resolved, the secretary said, 'Maybe in the next few days.'" http://uani.com/f8LrNm
Commerce
Reuters: "Italy's imports of crude oil from Iran, its second-biggest supplier, came in at 9.5 million tonnes in the first 11 months of 2010, despite political instability in Iran, Italy's industry group Unione Petrolifera (UP) said. UP did not give a year-ago comparison in its newsletter published on Wednesday. Imports of oil from Iran to Italy surged 92 percent year-on-year in the first 10 months of 2010, UP said last month." http://uani.com/hl8oOi
Human Rights
AP: "An opposition website says a prominent Iranian lawyer who has defended opposition activists has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Kaleme.com reported Wednesday that Khalil Bahramian was convicted of spreading propaganda against the ruling system and insulting the head of the country's judiciary. The conviction appears to be part of Iran's crackdown on dissidents and the lawyers defending them that began after the disputed presidential election in June 2009." http://uani.com/fiVICM
AFP: "Western sanctions have done little to stop the flow of computers and software to Iran, where the real challenge for cyber surfers is getting around local censors who block thousands of websites, including Facebook and YouTube. Last month, authorities launched the Islamic republic's first Internet police unit to counter the growing popularity of web-based social networks, expected to increase cyber roadblocks in a country with the Middle East's highest number of web surfers. Internet restrictions, enforced by rigid content-control software, aim to block access to what the Islamic regime dubs 'immoral and destructive' material, including pornography and news websites critical of Iran. On Sunday, Iranian courts sentenced two people to death for running porn sites." http://uani.com/fe1X2e
Foreign Affairs
AFP: "Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told US diplomats in 2009 that neighbouring Iran and Syria were providing weapons to insurgent groups within Iraq, a leaked document showed on Thursday. Maliki's comments to then-US ambassador to Baghdad Christopher Hill came in the midst of a year-long diplomatic row with Damascus that prompted both Iraq and Syria to withdraw their respective ambassadors, while US officials have long alleged that Iran backs militia groups operating inside Iraq. 'Iran and Syria have both been providing weapons -- including 'Strela' (SA-7B) shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles -- to insurgent groups within Iraq,' Maliki told Hill in a September 22, 2009 meeting, read the cable published on Wednesday by whistleblower website WikiLeaks." http://uani.com/fe2jLy
AP: "Israel's prime minister on Wednesday said Iran wants to take advantage of the chaos in Egypt to create 'another Gaza' there, run by Islamic fundamentalists. Speaking before the Israeli parliament, Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects any new government in Egypt to honor its three-decade-long peace agreement with Israel. But he warned that Islamic groups have already taken over by democratic means in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza." http://uani.com/ftB8tp
Opinion & Analysis
James Reynolds in BBC: "Mass demonstrations in a Muslim country and a secular, Western-backed autocrat in trouble. The regime in Iran believes it has seen this one before. Iran's rulers have decided that the Arab World in 2011 is following the example set by Iran in 1979 - when the Shah was forced into exile and Ayatollah Khomeini came back to Iran to establish an Islamic Republic. 'The Islamic world is ripe with major new developments and Khomeini's Islam is the engine of these events,' writes the conservative Kayhan newspaper. 'The time has come to overcome puppet autocratic regimes by relying on the Islamic teachings,' says Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran's parliament. The Iranian government wants to project its influence. For many years the regime has tried to export its particular form of religious government to the wider Middle East. But, with the exception of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, it has not had much success. Now the regime in Tehran sees an opportunity following the collapse of the Ben Ali government in Tunisia and the troubles facing Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. 'An Islamic Middle East is being formed,' the leading conservative cleric Ahmed Khatami told a Friday prayer gathering in Tehran. 'A new Middle East is being shaped around Islam, religion and religious democracy.' Beyond the establishment's confident rhetoric, the case for Iranian influence over the Arab World demonstrations may be much harder to argue. Iran's direct impact in the wider Middle East has always been limited by two historical factors: its people are Persian, not Arab; its branch of Islam is Shia, not Sunni. In other words, it is hard to have much impact when you speak a different language, have a different culture and profess a rival form of religion from the people you are trying to reach." http://uani.com/i7zlGP
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