Top Stories
AFP: "The United States slapped sanctions on a North Korean bank on Tuesday, accusing it of having ties to the arms trade and Iran, the Treasury Department said. Treasury sanctions czar David Cohen said the Bank of East Land was linked to North Korea's intelligence agencies, as well as banks in Iran. 'Bank of East Land is a major conduit for facilitating North Korea's conventional arms trade,' Cohen said. The bank was accused of aiding an arms dealing organization called Green Pine, which has been linked to a top North Korean intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. The Treasury Department said that in 2007 and 2008 the bank helped Green Pine execute transactions with Iran's Bank Melli and Bank Sepah, both of which are already the subject of sanctions. The allegations will fuel suspicions that US rivals North Korea and Iran are actively cooperating to circumvent international weapons sanctions." http://t.uani.com/gszQxK
AP: "Political pressures mounted on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after more than 200 lawmakers warned Wednesday that he must obey an order from the country's supreme leader reinstating Iran's powerful intelligence minister. The showdown over Heidar Moslehi has brought fresh allegations that Ahmadinejad and his allies are trying to grab more power and challenge the all-encompassing authority of Iran's ruling clerics. It also pointed to a potential fissure in the heart of Ahmadinejad's government as its base of support shrinks among parliament members and others. Moslehi resigned Sunday following reported internal disputes with Ahmadinejad and the president publicly accepted it. But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quickly ordered that Moslehi remain on the job, which has a key role in Iran's relentless crackdown on dissident. A statement signed by 216 parliament members - more than two-thirds of the 290-seat chamber - warned Ahmadinejad that he cannot ignore Khamenei, who has the last word in all state affairs." http://t.uani.com/eczXOf
Minyanville: "United Against Nuclear Iran is calling for a protest against Fiat at the New York International Auto Show, which begins this Friday. According to the UANI website, 'United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a section 501(c)(3) organization. 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.' Their problem with Fiat? Well, it seems that the automaker has gotten tangled up in a, shall we say, 'situation' over in the land of halvah and summary beheadings." http://t.uani.com/gO6BmC
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Korea Times: "Hyundai Motors will not follow the actions of a number of other OEMS, and will continue to trade with Iran, according to reports carried by the Korea Times. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) sent a letter to Hyundai Motor last December to call on them to end business in Iran. But, reports the newspaper, Korea's biggest vehicle manufacturer has not replied and is not likely to do so any time soon. 'The letter came from a civic group, not from the U.S. government. Hence, we didn't answer as we don't think private companies are supposed to meddle in diplomatic issues,' a Hyundai Motor official told the Korea Times. 'We are well aware of the letter from UANI and are keeping a close eye on how things are going. However, basically we have no plan to leave Iran.' However, Hyundai, and its sister brand Kia are also major players in the US passenger car market. Moreover, Hyundai Motor is a major contract partner of the U.S. government. 'As the recipient of over $14 million in contracts with the U.S. government, we hope that Hyundai understands the concern that many Americans have with regard to the company's dealings in Iran,'' UANI President Mark Wallace said in a letter to Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-Koo in December of last year. 'UANI feels very strongly that Hyundai's investments and business holdings in Iran could cause lasting damage to the company's corporate image and reputation, both here and abroad.'" http://t.uani.com/hgrsBq
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Egypt said on Tuesday Iran had not appointed an ambassador to Cairo, denying a news report that the two countries had restored diplomatic relations after over 30 years. The website of Iran's Press TV earlier reported Tehran had appointed an envoy to Cairo, naming him as Ali Akbar Sibuyeh, a career diplomat who is the son of a senior cleric... There have been signs of warming relations since mass protests deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February. 'This report is absolutely incorrect,' Egypt's foreign ministry said in a statement on the state news agency MENA. 'Diplomatic relations have not yet been resumed.' Iran's foreign ministry also declined to confirm the report, saying it was 'guesswork.'" http://t.uani.com/egn3dK
AP: "A Bahraini man is on trial in the tiny Gulf kingdom for alleged ties to Iran. Bahrain's state-run news agency says the defendant, Ibrahim Ghuloom Abdulwahab, is suspected of passing classified military information and sensitive economic data to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a powerful armed wing of the Shiite theocracy. Although Iran has no history of political ties to Bahrain's majority Shiites, the island's Sunni rulers accuse it of inciting dissent among their Shiite population. Abdulwahab was due in court on Wednesday. Details of the proceedings have not been revealed, except for allegations that Abdulwahab has been the Guard's paid informant since 2002." http://t.uani.com/h0EiGy
Opinion & Analysis
WSJ Editorial Board: "To assess U.S. efforts to halt Iran's imperial ambitions, you can look to the city of Natanz, where the Iranian regime is firing up a new generation of centrifuges, or to Syria, where its client regime is shooting democrats in the streets. Then there's Tehran International Fairground, which this week is doing a bang-up business. From Sunday through Tuesday, the fairground hosted the 16th annual Iran Oil Show, the major trade exhibition for Iran's oil, gas, refining and petrochemical business. These industries are the regime's main financial support, which is why U.S. and international sanctions have sought to deter foreign companies from investing. Yet more than 450 foreign companies from 40 countries attended this week's show. The largest contingent came from China, which has an extensive record of dealings with Iran and indifference to sanctions. So does U.S. ally Germany, and more than 40 German companies were in Tehran this week. Austrian companies were also well-represented, and the Spanish government sent an official delegation. Also present were India's Essar Group and Norway's Statoil, two firms that previously announced they were cutting ties with Iran-and thereby earned recognition from U.S. officials as examples of successful international pressure. So much for that... It's been a year since Iran's lead nuclear negotiator announced that 'sanctions as a tool have already lost their effectiveness.' Two months later, in June 2010, the U.S. passed new sanctions-'with teeth,' as the Obama Administration put it. Yet the Administration has been consistently unserious about enforcing those sanctions. Last month the State Department completed a six-month review of investment in Iran's energy industry and opted to punish only one bit player, Belarusneft, a small government-owned firm from Belarus. So now Belarusneft can't do business in U.S. financial markets or with the U.S. government-neither of which it seeks to do anyway, as the State Department admits. No wonder the stalls were filled at Tehran's oil expo, and the centrifuges keep spinning 180 miles away in Natanz." http://t.uani.com/fUqStl
Babak Dehghanpisheh in Daily Beast: "Iran hasn't been dominating the headlines as unrest has swept across the Middle East. But the situation inside the country is hardly quiet. Since Saturday, more than a dozen people have been killed in clashes with security forces in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, according to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi. 'The government of Iran has been putting people in prison, arresting and executing them,' she said during an interview in New York. Human-rights activists, like Ebadi, have long highlighted cases of discrimination and violence against Iran's Sunni minorities, such as the Arabs who make up the bulk of the population in Iran's southwest. Ebadi sent a letter to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights on Monday describing the government crackdown in Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan province. She would also like to see the United States play a bigger role in highlighting human-rights violations. 'In the U.S., the nuclear issue is very important but it shouldn't overshadow the human-rights violations in Iran,' she said. 'There's been a string of human-rights violations.' It's been nearly two years since Ebadi visited her native Iran. She left the country only one day before its disputed elections on June, 12, 2009, to attend a conference in Spain and hasn't gone back since. She fears the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would lock her up if she sets foot in the country. The government has already tried to pressure her through other means: Both her husband and her sister were arrested, though later released when it became clear that she wouldn't be going back home. 'They wanted to put pressure on me,' she said. 'I said, I love my husband and my sister but I love justice even more.' Her husband and sister, along with members of her extended family, are now forbidden to leave the country. 'In reality, they're hostages,' she said. The government has also confiscated much of Ebadi's private property. Still, none of these actions seems to have deterred the 63-year-old lawyer. In fact, she's used her position in exile to frequently speak out and criticize the Iranian government. She claimed that the leaders of the opposition Green Movement, Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, are essentially imprisoned in Tehran and are not able to move around the country freely or even order their own food. But their supporters haven't disappeared. 'Iranians are like fire under the ashes,' she said. 'The slightest wind can blow it away and stir up the fire.'" http://t.uani.com/fsrq8i
Benny Morris in The National Interest: "Maybe it's a toss up - whether the series of popular uprisings sweeping many Arab capitals or the Iranian nuclear project will turn out to be the more significant factor in the development of the Middle East's history. Currently, against the backdrop of civil war and NATO bombing in Libya, the violent suppression of rioting in Syria, Bahrain, and Yemen, and the judicial proceedings against Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak and his families and proteges, little attention is being given to the relentless, steady progress being made in Iran's massive effort to produce nuclear weaponry. Risible international economic sanctions, spearheaded by the United States (and neutralized by the the behavior of the Russians, Chinese, Indians and various Muslim countries, including Turkey), and covert Israeli operations (ranging from the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and the infection with a computer virus of nuclear plants) have so far failed to halt the onward march of the Iranian bomb. For the moment, it looks unlikely that either Israel or the US will attempt to militarily attack and destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure: Simply put, the US has the capability but lacks the will, and Israel has the will but probably lacks the capability for a definitive campaign (unless it uses nuclear weapons, which will render it a pariah state in the international community). Long ago, there were fools or ingenues who said that Iran was not aiming for nuclear weaponry, only nuclear 'self-dependence.' Today, I don't believe there is anyone, anywhere who seriously believes this, not even those credulous American intelligence assessors who just a few years ago declared that the Iranians were no longer pursuing nuclear weaponry. Not even Iranian apologists and defenders like Roger Cohen. All today agree about where Khamenei's and Ahmedinejad's Iran is headed. There are, of course (a second line of defense?), those who believe that Iran will make do with achieving a nuclear weapons production capability but will stop short of actually producing them. I personally doubt it. It runs against the logic of Iranian policy and thinking." http://t.uani.com/h6aP2L
Karim Sadjadpour in FP: "For Iranians seeking an end to authoritarianism and the advent of democracy in their country, the lessons gleaned from this year's Arab uprisings have been mixed. On the one hand, the fall of longtime Arab dictators seems to have allayed the sense of despair felt by many Iranians after their own anti-government protests -- in the aftermath of the contested 2009 presidential election -- were brutally crushed. But on the other hand, while the light at the end of the tunnel may have been relit, there is growing debate about the nature of the tunnel itself. Namely, is nonviolent civil resistance the only route to success? For a population still feeling the heartbreaks of the 1979 revolution and subsequent eight-year war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq -- which caused 500,000 Iranian casualties -- there is little appetite for violence and no romantic notions about a call to arms. The debate hinges less on the merits of violent resistance, however, than the seeming futility -- up until now -- of nonviolent protests. Skeptics of nonviolence argue that civil disobedience works against authoritarian regimes, like those that were in Egypt and Tunisia, which are backed by Western democracies and hence inhibited from slaughtering en masse in order to retain power. The lesson from more ruthless environments, like Muammar al-Qaddafi's Libya, is that anti-government forces would never have made any strides without taking up arms. Other skeptics invoke questionable sociocultural reasons why the Gandhian ethos will never work in Iran. As opposed to 'pacifist, vegetarian Hindus,' one prominent opposition activist told me last year, 'Iranians are kebab-eating carnivores whose Shiite faith teaches us to take an eye for an eye, rather than turn the other cheek.' Few people have spent more time thinking about these issues than Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, and longtime Italian diplomat and author Roberto Toscano." http://t.uani.com/hFyWAi
Louis J. Freeh and Michael B. Mukasey in TIME: In the early hours of Friday, April 8, while Washington and the media focused on a possible government shutdown, the Iraqi army assaulted a camp of Iranian civilians, called Camp Ashraf, murdering at least 28 residents and wounding hundreds more. Though the Iraqi government has claimed that only three people were killed and describes the events as an attempt to reclaim farmland, a U.N. inspection team found 28 bodies, including those of women, and determined that most were shot to death. Iraqi officials have not allowed journalists to visit the camp. Located in northwestern Iraq, 120 km (75 miles) from the Iranian border, Camp Ashraf has for more than 20 years been the home of 3,400 members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK, also known as the PMOI), a key opposition group working against the Iranian regime. Camp Ashraf residents were promised legally protected status under the Fourth Geneva Convention in 2003 by senior U.S. commanders in Iraq. General David Petraeus, who served as deputy commander of allied coalition forces, has stated that the turnover of responsibility for Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government was conditioned on a direct Iraqi assurance that the protected status of its residents would continue. Yet the brazen assault mounted by 2,500 heavily armed Iraqi soldiers on April 8 was not the first unprovoked assault against Camp Ashraf civilians. In July 2009, during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the country, the Iraqi army invaded the camp and killed unarmed residents... American inaction endangers our own security by casting doubt on our will to make good on our commitments. A promise was given to the residents of Camp Ashraf that their Geneva Convention status would be respected, but the U.S. is now acting like a vaguely interested spectator. The MEK is the political organization most feared by the ayatullahs and dictators who rule Iran. Unfortunately, the U.S. government, under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, has been complicit in handcuffing it. In 1997, Iran inveigled the Clinton Administration into putting the MEK on the State Department's arbitrarily drawn Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list, with the expectation that this gesture would normalize relations with a supposedly moderate leader, then President Mohammed Khatami. This rapprochement did not happen. The Bush Administration failed to delist the MEK for fear that doing so would enrage Iran while our soldiers were fighting in Iraq. Even so, Iran surreptitiously provided weapons and IEDs for insurgent attacks against our troops. The U.S. State Department still clings to this one-sided bargain, keeping the MEK on the FTO list, even though the E.U., in 2009, and the U.K., in 2008, removed the MEK from their own lists of proscribed organizations. This designation is used by Iran as an excuse for the ruthless torture and summary execution of MEK members, the medieval acts that drove the MEK into exile in the first place. Even now, Iran and Iraq are pointing to the U.S. terrorist designation as a purported excuse for assaulting Camp Ashraf residents. The MEK is not a terrorist organization. It is widely acknowledged that the FTO process is badly flawed." http://t.uani.com/e21KgM
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