Top Stories
AFP: "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday accused Iran of backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's 'vicious assaults' on pro-democracy protesters after crushing its own 2009 uprising. 'Iran is supporting the Assad regime's vicious assaults on peaceful protesters and military actions against its own cities,' Clinton said, comparing its response to Iran's crackdown on pro-reform demonstrations. 'Two years ago this week, Iranian citizens went to the polls in the hopes of expressing their democratic rights,' she said. 'When the people reached for their aspirations, the government responded with brutal repression. Two years later, that repression continues.' ... The revolt gained new strength last month with the release of gruesome pictures of the body of 13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib, whom activists say was severely tortured, a charge denied by authorities. Clinton compared Khatib to Neda Agha-Soltan, a young Iranian woman who became an emblem of the 2009 protests after she was shot during a demonstration and shown bleeding out on a widely circulated online video." http://t.uani.com/ip7ZTq
Reuters: "China's President Hu Jintao told his Iranian counterpart on Tuesday that six-nation talks were the best way to guarantee Iran's right of peaceful use of nuclear energy on the eve of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Kazakhstan. Hu told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both in the central Asian country's capital Astana ahead of the summit, that Iran should 'take substantial steps' to establish trust and 'promote the process of dialogue,' state news agency Xinhua said. 'This is not only in the interest of the Iranian side, but also conducive to the general situation of peace and stability in the Middle East region,' Hu said. Last week China joined Western powers in telling Iran its 'consistent failure' to comply with United Nations resolutions 'deepened concerns' about possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme." http://t.uani.com/mxDfQx
AP: "Iran expects to make a final decision in the case of three Americans charged with espionage by late August, Iran's official news agency said Tuesday. Two of the three have been in Iranian custody since 2009. IRNA quoted Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi as saying the Americans' next court appearance is tentatively set for the summer session of the court, between June 22 and August 22. He said officials 'are hopeful that the final decision about the three Americans' case will be taken at that session.' He did not elaborate... Masoud Shafiei, lawyer for the three, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he expects them to be cleared. He said, 'There is no room for the charge if spying in their case. On illegal entry, it was not fault of my clients, if it happened.'" http://t.uani.com/kT0oMd
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Zawya: "According to BP's latest report, titled the Statistical Review of World Energy, Iran's daily oil production climbed 45,000 barrels compared to the 2009 figure, Shana reported on Saturday. Average Iran's crude production stood at 4.245 million barrels per day, and the country's natural gas production posted a 5.6 percent increase to settle at 138.5 billion cubic meters in 2010, the report said. According to the report, the Islamic Republic produced 5.2 percent of the global oil output, and 4.3 percent of the total natural gas production of the world. Iran ranked fourth in the world in terms of crude production after Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The Islamic Republic is also fourth in gas production after the US, Russia, and Canada. The Islamic Republic has the world's second-largest crude reserves after Saudi Arabia and the second largest gas reserves after Russia. Moreover, BP also stated that Iran has oil reserves that would last for the next 88 years is the second longest-lasting oil source in the world." http://t.uani.com/miVPke
Reuters: "Russia urged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to be 'more constructive' in his cooperation with global powers on nuclear issues, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Ahmadinejad met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev after a meeting of a regional security bloc in the Kazakh capital Astana. 'We raised the question with Ahmadinejad about the necessity of more constructive cooperation with 5+1 and, more importantly, about increasing the transparency of contacts between Iran and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),' Lavrov told reporters ater the meeting." http://t.uani.com/ltxHQs
Reuters: "Iran will issue 2.7 billion euros ($3.9 billion) of bonds to help finance the development of its South Pars gas field in the Gulf, Oil Ministry news website Shana reported on Tuesday. 'These bonds will be offered from next week with the participation of three domestic banks and will be completely sold by next month,' Ahmad Qalebani, head of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company, was quoted as saying. 'In selling this series of foreign exchange bonds, the possibility of offering them to foreign markets exists and some marketing has also been done for that,' he added. International sanctions aimed at persuading Iran to curb its nuclear programme has forced western oil companies to pull out of the giant South Pars field that the Islamic Republic shares with Qatar and pushed Tehran to seek other sources of finance." http://t.uani.com/kW4OHL
Human Rights
Guardian: "Iranian men have been banned from wearing necklaces in the latest crackdown by the Islamic regime on 'un-Islamic' clothing and haircuts. Thousands of special forces have been deployed in Tehran's streets, participating in the regime's 'moral security plan' in which loose-fitting headscarves, tight overcoats and shortened trousers that expose skin will not be tolerated for women, while men are warned against glamorous hairstyles and wearing a necklace. The new plan comes shortly after the Iranian parliament proposed a bill to criminalise dog ownership, on the grounds that it 'poses a cultural problem, a blind imitation of the vulgar culture of the west'. The Irna state news agency said the trend was aimed at combating 'the western cultural invasion' with help from more than 70,000 trained forces, known as 'moral police', who are sent out to the streets in the capital and other cities." http://t.uani.com/mJcGXz
Domestic Politics
Reuters: "Iran has arrested six oil industry managers in a case that 'could have international aspects', Tehran's prosecutor-general was quoted as saying on Wednesday. 'Six oil industry staff, including some retired and former officials, have been arrested two weeks ago,' the Sharq newspaper quoted Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying. 'They were released on bail after 48 hours, and the cases of some others are under investigation.' He did not specify the type of managers involved. Iran's oil industry is controlled by the state sector, so most managers are state officials. In May Ahmadinejad dismissed Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi and two other ministers as part of a plan to slim down the government by merging ministries and reducing their number to 17 from 21." http://t.uani.com/kkhlBi
Foreign Affairs
AP: "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations and China to form a united front against the West. Ahmadinejad's address to fellow heads of state at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to the United States across the region. In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the organization also attacked missile defense programs in another apparent dig at the United States. 'The one-sided and unlimited development of missile defense systems by one government or a narrow group of governments could cause damage to strategic stability and international security,' the document said. Much of Ahmadinejad's fiery speech was devoted to leveling an exhaustive series of thinly veiled accusations against unnamed Western countries, which he described as 'enslavers, colonialists, (and) invaders.'" http://t.uani.com/lqIG2g
AFP: "Ten Kuwaiti opposition lawmakers on Tuesday filed a motion of 'non-cooperation' with the prime minister in a bid to oust him over ties with Iran, speaker Jassem al-Khorafi said. The motion was submitted at the end of a seven-hour grilling in a secret parliamentary session over allegations the premier boosted ties with Shiite Iran at the expense of relations with Arab states in the Gulf. The motion against Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will be voted in a secret session on June 23. If passed, the issue will be referred to the emir of the oil-rich Gulf state who will either dissolve parliament and call for fresh election or dismiss the prime minister and appoint a new one." http://t.uani.com/jBFB7s
Opinion & Analysis
Jamsheed Choksy in Forbes: "Media outlets and blogs in Israel, England, and the U.S. have responded with considerable incredulity to claims by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of sanguine reactions if Iran tests an atom bomb. The IRGC's scenario underscores an unfortunate reality, however. After years of hollow threats, politicians and generals in the U.S., E.U., and Israel likely will adapt to the mullahs obtaining a nuclear weapon. World stock markets would follow their lead and recover from initial tumbles. Crude oil and natural gas prices may surge for a while but will fall back down. Arab countries relying on petroleum revenues to stay afloat and Western ones needing a steady flow of energy to power their societies are likely to back away from challenging Iran. In February 2011 a new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate maintained an earlier conclusion that Iran's leadership had not yet made the decision to assemble nuclear weapons. Indeed, until now, Iran has gone back and forth with the West at the negotiating table. The Revolutionary Guards' statement seeks to break the deadlock by suggesting Iran's policymakers should not fear domestic and foreign consequences of crossing the nuclear breakout threshold. There is history in Iran for such media-based nuclear maneuvers. The Islamic Republic recommenced its atomic program, originally begun by the last shah, after suffering Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons attacks during the 1980s. But even then only concerted pressure persuaded its first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A major turning point occurred in October 1988 when a speech by Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then speaker of Iran's parliament, recommending atom bombs was published by the IRGC... The public prediction by Iran's military of a mild aftermath to 'a much anticipated' atomic test is reminiscent of the 1980s campaign to restart nuclear activities. It suggests to an Iran specialist like me that Tehran's leaders are concluding 'the day after a first nuclear test will be like any other' except their country could be less vulnerable and Iranians would be proud... Ahmadinejad, the ayatollahs, and the parliament are locked in political combat over the boundaries of executive authority. Military commanders may regard producing atom bombs as a means of rallying the factions together. The same applies to Supreme Leader Khamenei who has been urging unity and so may relent on the production of nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad too stands to regain national stature as a nuclear president... So the IRGC's candidness should come as no surprise, for a nuclear Iran is inevitable. Tehran, it seems, is attempting to reassure the world that it can behave no differently than the nine other nations with atom bombs. It would be prudent therefore to assume that Iran will no longer stop at 'the threshold of a nuclear weapons capability' as the U.S. Department of State believes. Perhaps, as their recent words suggest, some members of Iran's government understand mutually assured destruction and seek to mitigate irreversible political and economic tensions." http://t.uani.com/kLX9Xq
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