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Washington Post: "Iran is proclaiming significant gains in its nuclear program, progress that Western officials and experts say could effectively erase setbacks from recent cyber attacks and shorten the timeline for acquiring nuclear weapons. Scientists from Iran's atomic energy program, in announcements over the past three days, said they have successfully tested advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium and are less than a month away from starting the country's first commercial nuclear reactor. The announcements, linked to the observance of 'nuclear technology day' in Tehran, underscore recent assessments by intelligence officials and Western nuclear experts suggesting that Iran is preparing to speed up its production of enriched uranium. Although many of the advances have not been fully implemented, the apparent progress has prompted some experts to redraw their forecasts for how quickly the country could build an atomic arsenal if it chose to do so." http://t.uani.com/gCKCH9
Bloomberg: "Iran has plans to build 'four to five' new nuclear reactors for medical research, Press TV reported, citing the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Fereydoun Abbasi. The research reactors will be built in different provinces of the country and will each have a capacity of up to 20 megawatts, Abbasi said without giving details, according to the state-run news channel. Iran will continue enriching uranium to a 20 percent level of purity to be able to fuel these reactors, Abbasi said. Iran also plans to build a new enrichment site and to increase its stockpile of 20-percent enriched uranium, he added." http://t.uani.com/hvMSMA
AP: "The European Union has agreed to impose sanctions on 32 Iranian officials for human rights abuses. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday that during uprisings across Northern African and the Middle East the brutal regime in Tehran has worsened. He says this has forced the 27-nation bloc to impose visa bans and asset freezes on the 32 individuals. Hague particularly underlined Iran's imprisonment of opposition leaders, the detention of journalists and the use of the death penalty." http://t.uani.com/gReKIU
Nuclear Program & Sanctions Wall Street Journal: "Germany is resisting international pressure to freeze the activities of an Iranian-owned bank based in Hamburg that U.S. officials say provides the financial lifeblood for some of Iran's blacklisted companies. U.S. and European Union officials in recent months have stepped up pressure on Germany to close down the European-Iranian Trade Bank AG-including a Feb. 2 letter from 11 U.S. senators to German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle that urged immediate action. The U.S. says the German-licensed bank, known as EIH Bank for its German initials, has become a major financial conduit for Iranian companies involved in weapons proliferation. Last September, it added EIH to its own blacklist of entities banned from the U.S. financial system. Germany has rebuffed such appeals, arguing that it has no proof of illegal activity. In February, it also blocked a French proposal presented in Brussels to designate EIH for EU sanctions, two diplomats familiar with the meetings say." http://t.uani.com/gD9iPG Commerce AFP: "Iran has greatly expanded its trade during the year up to March, turning to Asia to circumvent Western economic sanctions, according to data. Iran imported 64.3 billion dollars worth of products, up 15 percent year-on-year, and exported 32.6 billion dollars worth of domestically-manufactured agricultural oil (excluding crude oil) products, customs director Abbas Memarnejad was quoted by the daily as saying. Tehran has increased its non-oil exports to Asia by almost 20 percent, which now represents 83 percent of its sales, while Europe, whose purchases have fallen by almost a quarter, only accounted for 13 percent, according to Customs figures. The upward trend also stands true for imports, according to Memarnejad." http://t.uani.com/fnChoE
Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Anti-government demonstrations in Syria are part of a plot by the West to undermine a government that supports 'resistance' in the Middle East, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Unlike uprisings in other parts of the Arab world which Tehran has applauded as an 'Islamic awakening' of peoples against Western-backed oppressors, the protests in Syria have received little media attention or official comment in Iran. But at his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Iran's spokesman said the protests in Syria over the last three weeks, in which 200 people died, according to a rights group, were not a spontaneous event but the result of foreign interference. Syria is Iran's closest Arab ally.'What is happening in Syria is a mischievous act of Westerners, particularly Americans and Zionists,' Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters.'With the help of their media they are trying to create an artificial protest somewhere or exaggerate a demand of a small group and present it, instead, as the demand and will of the majority.''No one should be fooled by this trick that Americans are playing.'" http://t.uani.com/fo3yCB AFP: "Iraq said on Monday that the exiled Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedeen of Iran must leave the country by the end of this year, after a deadly weekend assault on the PMOI's base. 'The council of ministers has committed to implement an earlier decision about disbanding the terrorist group People's Mujahedeen of Iran, by the end of this year at the latest, and the necessity of getting it out of Iraq,' government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said." http://t.uani.com/gzRq2E
Culture AP: "Scores of Iranian students have attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy with firebombs to protest the Gulf country's role in cracking down on anti-government protesters in Bahrain. The official IRNA news agency says protesters tried to attach a flag of the Lebanese group Hezbollah to the embassy's gate Monday, but were prevented by police. Protesters chanted slogans against Saudi and Bahraini leaders, both followers of Sunni Islam." http://t.uani.com/fcgKf2 Washington Times: "Two anonymous young men in Iran, one Iranian and one Afghan, have burned a Koran in protest. This seven-and-a-half minute long video shows the two men, their faces obscured, holding the Muslim holy book and reading prepared statements. They say that Arabs have foisted this book and their homelands and because of it they have gone backwards for 1400 years. They say they dislike the Koran and want it to disappear, adding 'Viva freedom!' Afterwards they stand the Koran on a flat rock, douse it alcohol and light it. One of them hoots and laughs. The book burns fiercely, and after a few moments one of them sprays more alcohol into the flames. The video ends with them warming their hands over the blazing book." http://t.uani.com/fSoLVh Opinion & Analysis
Dan Rodricks in the Baltimore Sun: "Should children in Iran not have sprinkles on their birthday cakes because the leaders of their country are considered sponsors of terrorism? Should McCormick & Co., the spice giant, stop selling seasonings and salad toppings in Iran because the country's leaders are suspected of pursuing an illegal nuclear weapons program? Last month, the Hunt Valley-based company decided the answer to both those questions was yes. McCormick no longer sells its products in the land of Ahmadinejad. ... I can see more good than harm coming from Iranian children, and their mothers, having American-made sprinkles on their birthday cakes. For that, there ought to be an exemption." http://t.uani.com/gEx8WE Adm. James A. Lyons in the Washington Times: "The fact that Iran has declared war on the United States several times over the last 31 years and has caused the loss of thousands of American lives - military and civilian personnel - and tens of thousands injured, is not addressed by Mr. Lewis. His alternative to military action is to 'hope' the Green movement is effective. Mr. Lewis goes on to state that he doesn't think Iran can be contained if it goes nuclear. He correctly points out that the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) strategy we shared with the Soviets will not work with Iran because 'the mullahs are religious fanatics with an apocalyptic mindset.' 'In Islam there is an end-of-time scenario - and they think its beginning or has already begun.' Certainly the rogue president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad thinks so. He is a member of a small, extremist sect known as the 'Twelves' who believe men can play a key role in causing world chaos, which then would trigger the return of the 'Hidden Twelfth Inman.' Mr. Ahmadinejad believes he has been chosen to be that man. We have stated many times a nuclear-weapon-equipped Iran is unacceptable. The Green revolution opposition forces in Iran are going to require considerable outside support to be successful. The formula that we are using in Libya will not work in Iran. However, we should be under no allusion that the opposition led by Hossein Mousavi will bring Western-style freedom and democracy. Quite to the contrary, Mr. Mousavi has made his views very clear: a return to the 'pure theocracy' of Ayatollah Khomeini. New leadership must be found." http://t.uani.com/fQfg1q
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