Top Stories
NYT: "An Iranian government-owned shipping line that the United States believes is integral to Iran's efforts to obtain banned technology for its nuclear and missile programs has illegally funneled tens of millions of dollars in financial transactions through the American banking system over the past three years, evading sanctions by cloaking itself in corporate alter egos and falsifying records, according to an indictment that the Manhattan district attorney plans to unseal on Monday. The 317-count indictment charges the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and 15 other defendants with a conspiracy to set up shell companies in Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom to trick major clearing banks in New York, like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank, into sending and receiving more than $60 million worth of payments. The subterfuge was necessary, prosecutors said, because the Iranian company, also known as Irisl, needed access to United States banks to compete in a shipping industry that primarily does business in dollar denominations. American sanctions imposed in 2008 require United States banks to block and seize the proceeds from any transactions made in the names of Irisl or its known affiliates. For years, the United States has warned that the state-owned shipping line engages in deceptive practices to aid the Iranian regime in its proliferation activities. Its ships, which operate throughout the world, have been caught smuggling a virtual bazaar of weapons in violation of a United Nations arms embargo. But the grand jury indictment, the result of a 14-month investigation, represents the first time Irisl has faced criminal charges." http://t.uani.com/khg8NM
AP: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Shiite extremists, not al-Qaida terrorists, are to blame for most of the recent U.S. military deaths in Iraq, and they're 'clearly getting some fairly sophisticated and powerful weapons' from Iran. Gates tells CNN's 'State of the Union' that he's worried about the Iranian influence in Iraq and he thinks Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is beginning to take these Shiite groups seriously. Gates says that the U.S. and Iraq are taking steps to try to limit the threat. A Shiite militia group has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed five American troops on June 6. It was the single largest loss of life for American troops in two years." http://t.uani.com/kTjVYg
AFP: "Iran's first nuclear power plant, built by Russia, is to be connected to the national grid in early August, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, Reza Sajjadi, said in media reports on Sunday. 'Russian officials announced that they are ready to inaugurate the (Bushehr) plant and connect its electricity to the national grid in the first 10 days of August,' Sajjadi said, quoted by the English-language paper Iran Daily. Sajjadi made the remarks after a meeting with officials of Russia's nuclear export agency Rosatom, which has built and overseen the construction of the Bushehr plant in southern Iran, the paper said. The ambassador said Russia's energy minister, Sergei Shmatko, would attend the inauguration ceremony in Bushehr." http://t.uani.com/ktX57Y
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "ABB Ltd's legacy business in Iran, which it expects to wind down in full later this year, put a slight cramp in its plans to price its debut US dollar bond last week. The Swiss energy technology concern is on a list of 50 companies that do business with the Iranian oil, natural gas, nuclear and defence sectors published by the California insurance regulator. The watchdog said that, as of March 31 2010, no investments that an insurer holds in any of the listed names would be recognized on its financial statements in the state. Insurance company investment funds are major participants in the investment grade bond space in the US sector. Having its name on the list limits a company's ability to tap into the wide breadth of investment funds that make the US dollar market the go-to destination for highly rated borrowers. As a result, ABB paid a slightly higher premium to price its $1.25 billion trade than it would have without its history of Iranian business... ABB, for its part, was no doubt helped by its plans to shed ties with Iran. In November 2007, the company decided not to seek new business opportunities in Iran, but said it would honour existing contracts. '[I]in May 2011, ABB decided to complete its exit from all business in the oil and gas sector in Iran by the end of September 2011,' said Antonio Ligi, an ABB spokesman. 'ABB is not involved in Iran's nuclear sector or in Iran's defence sector.'" http://t.uani.com/kck9TO
Reuters: "China should fulfil its duties in developing a phase of Iran's South Pars gas field or the contract would be cancelled, the semi-official Mehr news agency on Friday quoted the country's top oil company as saying. Tehran signed a $4.7 billion contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in 2009 to help develop phase 11 of South Pars, replacing France's Total SA which it had accused of repeated delays. Mehr said the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) had warned that it would 'replace CNPC with domestic companies' if the Chinese corporation continued to delay the project... Mehr said CNPC officials were reportedly facing 'financial problems' to provide the required capital for investment in the project." http://t.uani.com/k0Gbon
Bloomberg: "Iran is importing about 200,000 metric tons a month of gasoline, mostly from the Asia-Pacific region, amid U.S. sanctions, the International Oil Daily reported, citing unidentified shipping sources in the Persian Gulf area. The U.S. in May charged seven companies including Petroleos de Venezuela SA for violating the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestment Act, the industry newsletter said. Some traders are questioning the lack of sanctions against Chinese state companies, the Oil Daily said." http://t.uani.com/mo1k1s
Human Rights
NYT: "The Iranian lawyer representing two American hikers who have been detained in prison for nearly two years describes the two as hostages who had become 'playthings' for Iran. The lawyer, Masoud Shafii, said he had not been allowed to meet with the men - Joshua F. Fattal, 29, and Shane M. Bauer, 28 - since he was hired to represent them in late 2009... It was not clear exactly where the two men's cases stand in the Iranian judicial process. This week, IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, quoted Tehran's chief prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, as saying that a verdict could be handed down between June 22 and July 22. But other announced court dates have come and gone with no explanation. Responding to questions by e-mail, Mr. Shafii said on Thursday that the spying charges were groundless." http://t.uani.com/iPEbgJ
LAT: "Two American hikers taken into custody in 2009 on charges of espionage for crossing into Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan are to stand trial July 31, the second anniversary of their arrest, their lawyer said Monday. 'I've just received an official notification that says the next trial will be on July 31 in the morning, which is exactly the anniversary of their arrest in the Iran-Iraq border two years ago,' Massoud Shafii, the lawyer, told Babylon & Beyond. Berkeley grads Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were arrested by Iranian forces after allegedy crossing into Iran during a hiking trip. Shourd was later released on $500,000 bail in September 2010, and continues to fight for Fattal and Bauer's freedom." http://t.uani.com/iEk4x4
Reuters: "Iranian lawmakers urged the government on Sunday to prevent a U.N. investigator from coming to the country to look into allegations of human rights abuses. Ahmed Shaheed, a former Maldives foreign minister, was last week named special rapporteur on Iran by the U.N. Human Rights Council, which had voiced concern at Tehran's crackdowns on opposition figures and increased use of the death penalty. 'There should be no permission issued for the U.N. rights envoy's entry into Iran,' official news agency IRNA quoted Mohammad Karim Abedi, spokesman for the Majlis Human Rights Committee, as saying. 'Instead of focusing on Iran, the U.N. Human Rights Council should consider the breaches of human rights in America, the Zionist regime (Israel) and Britain,' he said. 'They are the world's biggest violators of human rights.'" http://t.uani.com/m2Eegr
AP: "The wife of a retired FBI agent who disappeared four years ago in Iran marked the couple's 37th wedding anniversary with a plaintive message Friday on the family's website, saying she won't abandon her search, but she's at a loss as to how to bring him home. Robert Levinson disappeared in 2007 from the Iranian island of Kish. After years without any word about whether the South Florida man was alive or dead, authorities announced in March that his family had received proof in late 2010 that Levinson was alive... In a letter to her husband, posted on the family's website, Christine Levinson wrote that the couple's anniversary a few weeks ago was marked by anxiety and frustration." http://t.uani.com/mthhBj
Domestic Politics
AFP: "A number of Iranian MPs threatened on Sunday to impeach Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi for appointing an aide to the president's underfire chief of staff as one of his deputies. Salehi on Saturday appointed Mohammad Sahrif Malekzadeh as a deputy foreign minister in charge of administrative and financial affairs. Malekzadeh was a top official in the high council of Iranian affairs abroad, run by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, whom ultra-conservatives accuse of aiming to undermine the Islamic regime. A number of influential deputies in the conservative-dominated parliament reacted the next day by calling for the impeachment of Salehi. 'We hope that Salehi will sack Malekzadeh as soon as possible ... and rebuff the current of deviation's pressure,' said one of the MPs, Mohammad Dehqan, quoted by Mehr news agency. 'If he does not, the majlis (parliament) will go for impeachment.'" http://t.uani.com/j0YZQN
AP: "A newly appointed governor in northern Iran has been dismissed after officials asked for guidance from God through divination, according to a media report Saturday. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said the interior minister had appointed Ali Babaei Karnami governor of Sari late last month but that he was dismissed Tuesday as a formal ceremony was being organized for him to take up the position. 'Since divination showed a bad result, we preferred to look for another choice,' the news agency quoted Provincial Governor Ali Akbar Tahaei as saying. He did not specify who carried out the divination process or how it was conducted and there is no legal recourse for such terminations. There was no immediate comment from Karnami." http://t.uani.com/lsIGXw
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Iran's defense minister made a landmark visit to Afghanistan on Saturday to bolster ties as Kabul prepares to assume security control from NATO-led forces and Washington seeks to wind down its almost decade-old tenure. Majority Shi'ite Iran and majority Sunni Afghanistan share a long border and history, and Western powers have alleged that Tehran's involvement included supporting the Taliban insurgency to compete with U.S. influence. Iran denies that charge. 'The Islamic Republic of Iran considers Afghanistan's security as its own security, has put a lot of effort toward stability in Afghanistan and will continue to help in this regard,' Iranian state broadcaster IRIB quoted Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying. Vahidi's visit, during which he met Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak, was the first by an Iranian defense minister in 92 years, according to IRIB... U.S. military officers have long alleged Iranian support for the Taliban. Britain said this year that NATO had identified a cache of weapons seized in Afghanistan as coming from Iran and destined for Taliban insurgents. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has acknowledged that his office receives 'bags of money' from Iran, which he says is a form of aid that helps cover presidential palace expenses." http://t.uani.com/kAVHOJ
Opinion & Analysis
Abbas Milani in TNR: "With the second anniversary of Iran's Green Movement earlier this week, it's worth keeping track of the cruel litany of bloodshed and oppression that the regime continues to carry out against its own people. Just in the last few days, when democracy advocates in Tehran tried to commemorate the remarkable street protests that followed the fraudulent elections of 2009, the regime once again responded with a massive show of force. Beginning the night before, regime thugs and police took over the streets where the demonstrations were planned to be held. A couple hundred demonstrators have been reported to be arrested. And in the last two weeks, two heroes in the fight for dignity and democracy in Iran died at the hands of the regime. The first was Haleh Sahabi, a woman of vast erudition, who diligently explored the texts of the koran and its exegesis for arguments making Islam compatible with democracy and women's rights. She died, after being beaten up by regime thugs, for insisting on proper burial rights for her father-a heroic death in the manner of the Greeks' Antigone. Her father was one of the most esteemed members of Khomeini's first cabinet, put in place in 1979, when the wily ayatollah was still putting on the pretense of democracy. The second casualty was an artist, democratic activist, and humanist by the name of Hoda Saber. Those who knew him describe him as a self-effacing but assertive, humble yet resolute, defender of human and artistic dignity. He was arrested a few months ago on no apparent charge. As he languished in jail, he heard of the brutal death of Haleh Sahabi two weeks before and went on a hunger strike. He had no demands for himself; he simply wanted to protest an injustice. After a few days, Saber's situation worsened, and his cellmates asked the authorities to take him to a doctor. When he returned from the hospital infirmary, Saber protested that, rather than attending to his heart condition, the regime's goons took the opportunity to assault him. This is attested to by the signed statement of sixty-four of his cellmates, each a member of Iran's democratic movement. Not long after the onset of his health problems, Saber died of heart complications. Finally, for almost a year and a half, the nominal leaders of the Green Movement-the allegedly defeated candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his wife, Zahra Rahnavar, along with Mehdi Karubi and his wife Fateme-have been harassed on the street and subjected to harangues in the state-run media and calls for their death in the parliament. And yet, at first, they were not arrested-the political cost of such an act was deemed too high at that time. But 124 days ago, after an initial attempt at obfuscation and denial, the regime admitted to putting the four leaders under arrest." http://t.uani.com/mRp3VI
Irwin Stelzer in The Weekly Standard: "If you are an oil trader, the daily jiggles in the price of oil are of interest: if you guess right, it's champagne and caviar; if you bet wrong, it's beer and potato chips. But if you are a policy maker trying to make sense of oil markets so that you can plan your nation's energy security, or an airline executive trying to compute just how large a premium you should pay for a more fuel efficient engine, you need some basis for a longer-run view. That is now less easy to come by than it was a few months ago... The problem for consuming countries is that Saudi Arabia no longer calls the tune to which other OPEC members dance. At the regular OPEC meeting earlier in the month, Ali Nami, the Saudi oil minister, called for stepped-up output to roll back crude prices lest the sputtering U.S. and European economies be tipped into recession. This was partially in response to an International Energy Agency estimate that there will be 'a clear need' for more oil to meet demands later in the year. What has always been a routine vote in support of Nami turned into a humiliating defeat. The current OPEC president, Iran's Mohammad Aliabadi, put together a bloc of seven countries to turn down the Saudi proposal and vote to have the cartel hold production at current levels. With Libya's 1.7 million barrels per day no longer on the market, and rising domestic demand in producing countries reducing volumes available for export, an output freeze would mean tight supplies, and further price rises. Unless, of course, Saudi Arabia prefers not to toe the cartel line while sulking in its tents, and instead ignores its fellow-producers' decision. Which is what it plans to do. Nothing new in that: most members routinely produce more than their quotas. What is new is a shift in power from the Saudis to Iran. Iran's Big Satan is Saudi Arabia's ally and protector, Iran's Persians have contempt for Saudi's Arabs, Iran's Shias and the Kingdom's Sunnis detest each other, and the Saudis and Iranians are rivals for influence in the region. In effect, power in OPEC has passed from a country that needs the U.S. and has substantial investments in Western countries, to a nation that has no reason to want to cut prices to shore up Western economies, and good reason to want to cause another recession." http://t.uani.com/lH9n12
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment