Eye on Iran: In Reciprocal Move, Iran Stops Refueling of European Aircraft

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group. Top Stories AP: "Iran's state media say the country has stopped providing fuel to European planes in retaliation for their refusal to supply fuel to Iranian aircraft. The official English-language Iran Daily newspaper on Wednesday quoted First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying that Iran has issued an order banning the supply of jet fuel to European airlines. The newspaper says the order is effective immediately." http://t.uani.com/eDfU9e Washington Post: "Iran's parliament has warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that resentment is building over sharp increases in the price of natural gas, which has risen at least 10-fold on average in recent weeks, and that public protests could follow. Official media have reported on crowds complaining in the offices of the National Iranian Gas Co. since a two-week national holiday ended April 4. In Tehran, many people are refusing to pay their bills. ... The price increases follow the implementation in December of a plan by the Ahmadinejad government to cut off state subsidies, forcing the prices of many staples, including gas, electricity and bread, to rise to market level." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&t=sfn7jifab.0.y84bkifab.hfdiftcab.30860&ts=S0605&p=http%3A%2F%2Ft.uani.com%2FhZxsss Bloomberg: "Iran Liquefied Natural Gas Co., the country's maiden LNG project, says it's poised to begin exporting by the end of next year after tapping domestic funds to beat international sanctions. The company, 49 percent owned by the government, aims to process LNG and ship it from a terminal to be built between the southern port towns of Assaluyeh and Kangan using foreign technology and cash from Iranian banks and investors." http://t.uani.com/e1k5MK Commerce Bloomberg: "Iranian official bodies are withholding publication of economic indicators, preventing analysis of the country's performance, Shargh reported, citing economists. The central bank hasn't announced gross domestic product or economic growth in about two years and the last time Iran's statistics center published the unemployment rate was 12 months ago, when it stood at 14.6 percent, the newspaper said. The veracity of a recent Economy Ministry announcement that unemployment now stands at 10 percent is questionable, as there is no explanation for a 'sudden' drop at a time of recession, Shargh said. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that 2.5 million jobs will be created this year will require economic growth of about 20 percent, it said." http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hfdiftcab&t=sfn7jifab.0.z84bkifab.hfdiftcab.30860&ts=S0605&p=http%3A%2F%2Ft.uani.com%2FfadPqe Human Rights Politico: "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has granted a temporary reprieve to a program aimed at making it easier for religious minorities in Iran to be granted asylum in the United States. As I reported earlier this year, the Lautenberg Amendment, pushed by Senators Frank Lautenberg and Mark Kirk, has long been part of appropriations legislation, but the new House Republican majority has, for procedural reasons, sought to purge policy legislation out of the appropriations process, and Smith's staff told me that the bill would have to pass through 'regular order.' The change triggered an intense lobbying campaign by religious groups including both Jewish and Evangelical Christian leaders in Smith's native Texas." http://t.uani.com/gDnnVI Opinion & Analysis Washington Post Editorial: "The progress on centrifuges is significant because Iran until now has relied on slow and inefficient centrifuges, many of which appear to have been damaged by software sabotage. The more advanced machines, The Post's Joby Warrick reported, could work at least six times faster. Iran has already enriched more than 3,600 kilograms of uranium to a low level, enough for two nuclear bombs with further processing. The faster centrifuges mean that were Iran to embark on a 'break-out' strategy - a race to complete a bomb - it could do so far more quickly, if it manages to install a significant number of the new machines. Several months ago, administration officials were speaking confidently of an Iran that, pinched by sanctions and hamstrung by problems in its nuclear work, seemed ready to begin talks. Now the talks are off, the economic pressure is easing and the nuclear work once again could be gaining momentum. Yet the administration seems to have no clear alternative to its long-standing strategy of waiting for the regime to negotiate. The better course, which we among others have urged since the opposition Green Movement was born nearly two years ago, is to bet on a renewed popular uprising in Iran. President Obama recently made a gesture in that direction with a video address to Iranians that denounced government repression and said young Iranians had the 'power to forge a country that is responsive to your aspirations.' But there is much more the administration could do, such as finding ways to support Iranian unions and student movements, stepping up broadcasting and accelerating funding for technology that can undermine Internet censorship. Passivity is a dangerous option; while the world watches the Middle East, Iran's drive for a bomb relentlessly continues." http://t.uani.com/i5l6yL Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post: "I spoke this morning with a key Senate aide on the topic of Iran sanctions. He told me, 'This is an infuriating problem.' He observed that the sanctions law passed last year 'makes clear that anyone who does business with designated entities like EIH Bank runs the risk of themselves being sanctioned. If domestic political and economic considerations prevent the German government from shutting down EIH - as other European governments, the U.S. and Israel have been urging for months - the Treasury Department should use [the law] to impose sanctions on any entities that are doing business with EIH, including any German banks that have correspondent relationships with EIH.' Well, this doesn't seem to be in the cards. For one thing, as the aide points out, 'It is not in our interest to have this become a circular firing squad in which we are in a financial war with the largest economy in Europe and an ally, and whose cooperation against Iran is absolutely critical.' It seems we are down to a combination of public and private pressure. The aide said that the administrations needs "to ratchet up the pressure on the Germans to do the right thing." Perhaps there are discussions behind the scenes. But frankly, unless the U.S. is prepared to start sanctioning German banks and other transgressors, or at least to threaten to do so, the sanctions will be revealed to be entirely ineffective." http://t.uani.com/eEuEew 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.

United Against Nuclear Iran PO Box 1028 New York NY 10185