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Bloomberg: "Pakistan plans to borrow $300 million from local banks to build a pipeline that will carry natural gas from neighboring Iran, easing its worst energy crisis that is curbing economic growth. Local state-owned companies will provide about $210 million in equity for the $1.3 billion pipeline, said Mobin Saulat, acting managing director of Inter State Gas Systems Ltd., the agency responsible for the project. ... Domestic funding is crucial because U.S. and international sanctions against Iran, imposed over concerns that the country is trying to build nuclear weapons, are likely to block Western and multilateral funding. Pakistan is pursuing the Iranian gas deal as its ties with the U.S. have come under strain this year following a seven-week standoff over Pakistan's detention of an American CIA contractor who had killed two Pakistanis, and the May assault by American forces that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad." http://t.uani.com/oyr7uS
CSM: "On the heels one of the deadliest weeks of the year in Iraq, a senior US military official says Iranian-backed militias, not Al Qaeda in Iraq, pose the gravest threat to the country's future. Though the car bomb attacks that hit 13 cities in Iraq Monday bear the markings of Al Qaeda in Iraq, militias are the greater concern because of the support they 'are getting on a daily basis from Iran,' said Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for US forces in Iraq. The military has found caches of rockets supplied by Iran and 'manufactured as recently as 2010,' he added. By contrast, Al Qaeda has a weaker support structure, and there is no indication of any ties between the two. 'We have not seen those connections,' Buchanan said in a luncheon with Pentagon reporters Tuesday afternoon. 'Ideologically they're so different.' Buchanan estimates that there are currently between 800 and 1,000 members of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and most are local fighters. Foreign fighters 'are really a trickle,' he said. By comparison, one Iranian-backed militia group, the Promise Day Brigade, has 'several thousand' members." http://t.uani.com/raHZlp
AP: "Iran is ready to resume negotiations on its nuclear program and a Russian proposal will aid the process, Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday. Ali Akbar Salehi spoke at a news conference in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, but neither side gave new details about the Russian proposal. Six nations - the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany - have been pushing Iran to meet U.N. Security Council demands to stop enriching uranium amid fears Iran aims to develop nuclear weapons. The last round of the 'sextet' talks was in January. The Russian proposal is for a 'step-by-step' approach under which the international community would make limited concessions to Iran for each step it makes in disclosing its nuclear intentions. The United States has worked with Russia on the plan, which Russian Security Council head Nuikolai Patrushev discussed in Iran this week with Tehran's top nuclear negotiator. 'I agree that talks should be begun on the Iranian nuclear question,' Salehi said, adding '(But) we will not accept any kind of pressure.; On the Russian proposal, 'we consider that there are good elements in this proposal. It puts obligations on all sides,' Salehi said." http://t.uani.com/nHBsnv 
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday his country's Russian-built nuclear power plant at Bushehr would be switched on soon after years of delays, but gave no date. Ali Akbar Salehi spoke at the start of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov which were expected to focus on the latest Russian proposal to resolve global tension over Tehran's nuclear programme. 'The launch of the Bushehr atomic power plant will take place soon,' Salehi said through an interpreter. Russia agreed to construct the plant, Iran's first, in the southwest of the country in the 1990s. Repeated delays have irritated Iran and fuelled speculation that Moscow is using the project as a lever in diplomacy over Iran's nuclear programme. A senior Russian diplomat said this year the plant was likely to become fully operational by early August." http://t.uani.com/qvoFwd
Domestic Politics
AP: "Iran's internal power struggles are shifting into election mode with hard-line political forces banding together to groom candidates for next year's parliamentary elections and punish allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The newly formed bloc of 15 ultraconservatives factions - united by absolute loyalty to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - marks a powerful bid to expand control over the political system before the voting for Ahmadinejad's successor in mid-2013. It's also a chance for more payback against Ahmadinejad for challenging the authority of Khamenei earlier this year, including boycotting Cabinet meetings in a dispute over the appointment of Iran's intelligence minister. Ahmadinejad is now viewed as a political outcast by many for overstepping the line - virtually assuring that the theocracy will block his backers from seeking the presidency when his second and final term expires. 'The upcoming elections in Iran are all about sending a message that even modest dissident is dead and loyalty to the system is what matters,' said Sami Alfaraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. 'Iran's rulers want to project one strong face to the world.'" http://t.uani.com/qOfUQG
Foreign Affairs
Dow Jones: "Venezuela will host a summit for bilateral talks with Iran next month as the two member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries look to strengthen their alliance. In a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said President Hugo Chavez spoke to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to organize the summit and 'agreed on the need to boost the levels of coordination within OPEC' in a bid to combat 'the adverse effects of the economic crisis faced by the world's dominant powers.' Chavez and Ahmedinejad also spoke on the implications of 'imperial aggressions' against countries such as Libya and Syria, the ministry's statement said." http://t.uani.com/nz1zi3
Reuters: "Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they had killed dozens of Kurdish rebels in a military campaign that critics say has endangered civilians across the border in Iraq. Colonel Hamid Ahmadi denied Iran had shelled villages in Iraq during its pursuit of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Tehran blames for sabotage attacks on gas pipelines and ambushing its troops. Aid agencies say Iranian shelling has killed some civilians and forced hundreds to flee their homes in the mountainous areas of northern Iraq, a charge Ahmadi denied." http://t.uani.com/o3tgbR
LA Times: "A sharp discrepancy between Syria's nose-diving economy and its relatively stable currency is fueling speculation among observers that either another country, presumably strategic oil-rich ally Iran, has injected huge amounts of cash into its economy, or Damascus is quickly draining its foreign currency reserves. Syria's overall economy, stock market, vital tourism industry and foreign investment have collapsed, according to economists and analysts. It appears to have hemorrhaged cash, with the bulk flowing to Lebanon, which has long served as a conduit for Syrian finances. But its currency, the Syrian pound, has held strong, staying about the same as before an uprising against President Bashar Assad began five months ago." http://t.uani.com/pEMfPc
Opinion & Analysis
Mark Fitzpatrick Interview with Realite-EU: "Russia's Security Council chief, Nikolai Patrushev, arrived in Tehran on Monday to discuss Moscow's plan to revive talks between Iran and six world powers on the Islamic Republic's controversial nuclear program. At the same time, Iranian officials stated that the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant would be connected to the national grid -- after repeated delays -- by the end of August. Mark Fitzpatrick, Director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, spoke with Realite-EU about these latest developments." http://t.uani.com/paJMsw |
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