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LAT: "Iranian authorities imposed a harsh, eight-year sentence on two Americans arrested along the border with Iraq in 2009, state television cited an unnamed judicial source as saying Saturday, in a stunning verdict that could further strain relations between Washington and Tehran. Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have already been held in Tehran's infamous Evin Prison for two years, have 20 days to appeal their convictions on charges of illegal entry into Iranian territory and espionage. Their lawyer, Masoud Shafii, said he had not been officially informed of the sentence and vowed to take the case to the appeals court, arguing that the prosecutors had failed to show any proof of espionage and that the hikers strayed into Iran inadvertently. 'In the past two years I have not seen any evidence to prove my clients are spies,' he said. 'It is as if anyone carrying a toothbrush in his satchel is a spy.' Shafii and the men's supporters had hoped they would be freed as a gesture of goodwill during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. President Obama and other U.S. officials have repeatedly called for their release. 'Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/pR3cQb
Reuters: "Iran has started moving the machines that enrich uranium for nuclear fuel from its main atomic complex in the central city of Natanz to an underground bunker near the holy city of Qom, its top nuclear official was quoted as saying on Monday. 'Transferring Natanz centrifuges to Fordow (near Qom) is under way with full observance of standards,' Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani told state broadcaster IRIB. 'Fordow's facilities are being prepared and some centrifuges have been transferred.' Iran announced in June that it would shift its production of higher-grade uranium to the underground site at Fordow, in defiance of international calls on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment which some countries say is aimed at developing nuclear bombs, a charge Iran denies. Iran only disclosed the existence of Fordow to the U.N. nuclear watchdog in September 2009 after learning that Western intelligence agencies had detected the mountain site." http://t.uani.com/ohM3Tg
JPost: "Congressman Peter King (R-New York) called on CMA CGM, the world's third largest shipping company, to end its business relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, citing the US Treasury's decision on Tuesday to sanction the French shipping giant for violating Iran sanctions, in an exclusive statement to The Jerusalem Post. King, an influential congressional representative and head of the Homeland Security Committee in Congress, told the Post: 'I have already called on CMA CGM twice to immediately comply with US, EU, and UN sanctions and to renounce its business relationship with Iran. I applaud the Treasury Department for enforcing penalties against CMA CGM, whose alleged violations of sanctions on Cuba, Sudan, and Iran go back several years. This news confirms that CMA CGM has a troubling pattern of skirting regulations and I strongly urge them to immediately comply and abide by international sanctions.' The US Treasury sanctions dealt another blow to CMA CGM's shipping reputation because of the company's strong economic ties with Iran's maritime industry. In December, King wrote to Philippe Soulié, CEO of the shipping company, noting that he is 'deeply concerned' about CMA CGM trade relations with Iran." http://t.uani.com/q1oYYL
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
AFP: "Russia has put forward 'proposals' to build new nuclear power plants in Iran after the completion of the Bushehr project, local media reported Sunday quoting the Islamic republic's atomic chief. 'We have held negotiations with the Russians regarding the construction of new nuclear power plants. They have put forward some proposals,' Fereydoon Abbasi Davani was quoted as saying by Resalat newspaper. 'The exchange of ideas and proposals will continue until a clear result is reached,' Abbasi Davani added. Russia has built Iran's only nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr against the backdrop of a series of delays, with Tehran hoping to link the facility to the national grid in late August. Abbasi Davani meanwhile insisted that any future deals with Moscow would be clinched 'in a manner that would safeguard the interests of both parties.'" http://t.uani.com/qh79tU
WSJ: "Crude oil supplies from Iran to Indian refiners have been restored and a long-standing payment issue between the two countries is being resolved, the chief executive of London-listed Indian energy company Essar Energy PLC said Monday. 'Some payments are being made to Iran. Crude supplies from Iran have been restored,' said Chief Executive Naresh Nayyar. International sanctions over its nuclear program have prevented Iran from receiving payments for its oil from customers in India. Refiners have said international banks are unwilling to transfer payments for oil bought from Iran. However, the country's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently told parliament that India has resolved the payment issue with the Persian Gulf State, without providing details." http://t.uani.com/qkuqXN
Commerce
Bloomberg: "Iran is in talks with an Indonesian company to export 1.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually to the Southeast Asian country, Press TV reported, citing an Iranian energy official. Iran would start supplying Indonesia after 2013 and completion of the arrangements, Ali Kheir-Andish, managing director of Iran Liquefied Natural Gas Co., said in a report published by the state-run satellite news channel today. Kheir- Andish didn't identify the Indonesian company. Iran intended to start exporting LNG at least five years ago. Kheir-Andish said on April 10 that Iran LNG, the country's maiden LNG project, is poised to begin exporting by the end of next year after tapping domestic funds to beat international sanctions over the country's nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/pwiag3
Human Rights
AP: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. is 'deeply disappointed' that Iran has sentenced two American to eight years in prison after their conviction on charges of espionage and illegal entry. Clinton says Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal should be released immediately. She says 'it is time for them to return home and be reunited with their families' more than two years after their arrest. Clinton says President Barack Obama and Americans are expressing 'our unflagging support' for the hikers and their families during 'this difficult time.' The men were arrested in July 2009 near the Iraq-Iran border along with a third American who has since been released on bail and returned to the U.S." http://t.uani.com/qWRLcs
AFP: "Washington said Saturday that two US hikers 'have been imprisoned too long' in Iran and that it was looking into reports that they had been sentenced to eight years in jail for spying. 'We are working to confirm these reports and are in contact with the Swiss Protecting Power to obtain more information,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. 'We have repeatedly called for the release of Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, who have now been held in Iran's Evin prison for two years,' she added. 'Shane and Josh have been imprisoned too long, and it is time to reunite them with their families.' A spokesman for the families of the two men declined to comment on the reported sentencing. Iran's state television, quoting a judiciary source, had earlier reported that the two hikers were sentenced to eight years in prison for entering the country illegally and spying for a US intelligence agency." http://t.uani.com/rfflbN
CNN: "The grim stories of two women who endured long-stretches of solitary confinement in Iran's most notorious prison are chilling omens for the two jailed U.S. hikers who each reportedly received an eight-year prison sentence on Saturday. Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer have been abused and assaulted in Evin Prison, their friend Sarah Shourd said in a BBC interview in June. Evin is noted for its harsh conditions and its wing for political prisoners. 'My worst fear is that they're not safe,' said Shourd, who was arrested with Fattal and Bauer in July 2009 but was freed for medical reasons in September after 410 days of solitary confinement. The two men were sentenced on charges of spying and illegal entry. Shourd said a guard at Evin was furious that Fattal took extra food and pushed him down the stairs. The guard repeatedly threw Bauer -- Shourd's fiance -- against a wall of his cell until his head began bleeding. She said the three had feared that they would be executed soon after they were arrested, when a guard began cocking his gun." http://t.uani.com/oEFJzo
Foreign Affairs
Al Arabiya: "Iran has appointed a new ambassador to Syria to replace Ahmad Mousavi, who decided to quit his post amid growing popular protests against President Bashar Al Assad and his rule. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday named Mohammadreza Raouf Sheybani to replace Mr. Mousavi. Mr. Sheybani was the former deputy at the Foreign Ministry's Islamic Republic Middle East department. Mr. Moussavi was Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's vice president for legal affairs and a member of the Iranian parliament from the Arab-majority Ahwaz province. The Kaleme opposition website last week reported that Mr. Mousavi was planning to leave Damascus, amid growing opposition protests against President Assad and his Baathist regime. Syrian authorities were very critical of the ambassador's decision, Kaleme reported. 'Ahmad Mousavi has made excuses, such as raising the possibility that he may run in Iran's parliamentary election, to explain his sudden departure from Damascus,' the opposition website reported, adding that Mr. Mousavi's departure was a sign the political situation in Syria was critical. Keleme quoted an unnamed Syrian diplomat saying that Iranian embassy staff have vacated their homes in Damascus and sent their families back to Iran in fear of the regime's imminent collapse." http://t.uani.com/rolObr
Reuters: "Iran has cut back or even stopped its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said Sunday... One diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said intelligence reports showed that Iran had reduced funding for Hamas. Other diplomatic sources, also relying on intelligence assessments, said the payments had stopped over the past two months. The diplomats cited Iran's displeasure over Hamas' refusal to hold rallies in support of Tehran's ally, Assad, in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria after an uprising against his rule. Hamas' leadership outside the Gaza Strip is headquartered in Damascus." http://t.uani.com/pDMNqp
Opinion & Analysis
Hossein Aryan in Radio Farda: "It has been seven months since nuclear negotiations with Iran stalled over the issue of Tehran's right to produce fuel. Now, after initial skepticism, Iran is showing signs it might return to the table under a new Russian step-by-step plan. But with no backing by the rest of the P5+1, would the new approach be a nonstarter? The last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in Istanbul in January collapsed owing to Iran's insistence of having its 'right to produce nuclear fuel' recognized. In an effort to restart negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov forwarded a step-by-step plan during a press conference with Hillary Clinton in Washington on July 13 that calls on Iran to answer questions about its nuclear activities in stages, starting with the easier ones before moving to the hard ones. And, if the answers were considered convincing by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, Iran would be rewarded with the gradual easing of some existing sanctions or their suspension. Tehran's initial reaction to the plan was not encouraging. Alaeddin Borujerdi, the chairman of the Majlis Committee for National Security, described it as 'back to square one.' President Mahmud Ahmadinejad reacted to it by saying that 'Iran has already taken a step to help resolve the dispute over its nuclear program through cooperating with the IAEA, and now it is the major powers' turn.' But after two rounds of talks this week between senior Iranian officials and Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Tehran, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, was more welcoming. 'Our Russian friends' proposals could pave the ground for resuming talks on regional and international cooperation, particularly in the field of peaceful nuclear activities,' he said on August 16... Dimitry Suslov, deputy research director of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, is not optimistic about the prospects of talks with Iran about the Russian proposal. 'Iran will pursue its usual policy whereby it will superficially accept the [step-by-step] proposal, but in the end it will refuse to abide by it. For years Iran has been following this policy and so far this policy suited Iran,' he told RFE/RL's Radio Farda." http://t.uani.com/pyduKM
Joost Lagendijk in Today's Zaman: "A few days ago the US and the EU finally did what they had been expected to do for some time: In a coordinated action they called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. According to Washington and Brussels the Syrian leader has lost all legitimacy after his government's recent brutal attacks against his own people. Before the US and EU issued their call, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made clear that the American and European demands would only be effective if they were joined by countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, regional powers that, according to Clinton, have more influence on Syria. White House officials told the press that President Obama had held back from issuing his ultimatum to give Turkey's diplomatic attempts of the last two weeks more time to work. Unfortunately, Ankara's pressure on Assad was not effective, so now we are moving to the next phase. The question is whether Turkey will join the US and Europe in their call for Assad to go. I think Turkey should and probably will do so, preferably together with Saudi Arabia. This last connection is a significant indicator of the fact that the Syrian crisis is having a profound impact on the region's political balance. Saudi King Abdullah has decided to come out against the Syrian regime because, with good reason, he has made the analysis that getting rid of Assad would seriously weaken Iran, which currently uses its closeness with Damascus to play a role in Lebanon (Hezbollah) and the Palestinian territories (Hamas). For years now, Riyadh has considered Tehran its arch enemy and main rival for control of the Gulf. The Saudi interest in undermining Iran's influence in the region is clear, but what about Turkey and Iran? We know how closely Ankara aligned itself with Tehran on the issue of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, voting against sanctions on Iran in the UN Security Council. Turkey's support for the Syrian opposition has caused some cracks in its relations with Iran, but still the Turkish government claims that because of its past alignment it has the potential to influence Iran's policy. The problem for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is that a growing number of international observers wonder whether this will really prove true when push comes to shove. Assad did not listen to Turkey's repeated requests to implement reforms, despite similar claims from Ankara to strong ties with Syria. Why would Iranian President Ahmadinejad pay any attention to Turkey's concerns about Syria when Iran's future role in the region is at stake? In my opinion there are three good reasons why Turkey should join the growing crowd of those who are convinced that there is no future for Assad as president of Syria, thereby knowingly confronting Iran. One is, as Suat Kınıklıoğlu put it in his column in this paper this week, 'If Turkey is going to become a leading player and an inspiration for the people of the Middle East, it needs to come out of the Syrian crisis on the right side.' It is now clear that this means joining the US and Europe, not Iran. A second good reason is the new round of Turkish attacks on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq. It is true that Iran has the potential to make life difficult on Turkey if it wants to, as Tehran skillfully demonstrated with the well-orchestrated rumors of the arrest of PKK leader Murat Karayılan. But in the end, in fighting the PKK, Turkey has more to gain from good intelligence cooperation, non-transparent though it might be, with the US, because both have a clear interest in diminishing the presence and influence of terrorists in Iraq. Finally, my guess is that Turkey and the rest of the world will be confronted with a new wave of protests in Iran in the foreseeable future. In 2009, Turkey sided with the Iranian regime in its violent suppression of the demands for more democracy during and after the rigged presidential elections. After Turkey's support for the Arab Spring, Ankara should realize that it cannot remain silent when the Persian Spring arrives. Better to be on the right side then as well. For all these reasons, I believe Turkey has a unique chance to use the Syrian revolt to recalibrate its regional alliances and put some more distance between Ankara and Tehran." http://t.uani.com/pdDsGf |
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