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Bloomberg: "The Iranian officers who knocked out Saeid Pourheydar's four front teeth also enlightened the opposition journalist. Held in Evin Prison for weeks following his arrest early last year for protesting, he says, he learned that he was not only fighting the regime, but also companies that armed Tehran with technology to monitor dissidents like him. Pourheydar, 30, says the power of this enemy became clear as intelligence officers brandished transcripts of his mobile phone calls, e-mails and text messages during his detention. About half the political prisoners he met in jail told him police had tracked their communications and movements through their cell phones, he says. 'This is a commerce of death for the companies that place this technology in the hands of dictatorships,' Pourheydar says. Even as the pariah state pursued a brutal political crackdown, including arrests and executions surrounding its contested 2009 elections, European companies supplied Iran with location tracking and text-message monitoring equipment that can turn mobile phones into tools for surveillance. Stockholm-based Ericsson AB, Creativity Software Ltd. of the U.K. and Dublin-based AdaptiveMobile Security Ltd. marketed or provided gear over the past two years that Iran's law enforcement or state security agencies would have access to, according to more than 100 documents and interviews with more than two dozen technicians and managers who worked on the systems." http://t.uani.com/taGZPu
AP: "Iran's parliament is set to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over an economic scandal and his polices after the required number of lawmakers signed a petition Sunday, the latest salvo in a long battle between the president and his rivals. Ahmadinejad would be the first president to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in the conflict involving the president, lawmakers and Iran's powerful clerics. At least 73 lawmakers signed the petition to question Ahmadinejad, just above one-quarter of the 290 members required by Iran's constitution to call in a president. Earlier the parliament found Ahmadinejad's economics minister guilty in relation to a $2.6 billion fraud case, considered the largest in Iran's history." http://t.uani.com/uWCVag
LAT: "The war of words between Tehran and Washington continues, with Iran's supreme leader saying the Iraqi people's 'unified resistance' was forcing the U.S. military out of Iraq. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the pending U.S. withdrawal would constitute 'golden pages' in Iraq's history, Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency. 'Despite the U.S. military and political presence in Iraq, and Washington's pressures on the country, all Iraq people ... said, No to U.S.,' Khamanei declared in a meeting with Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq's Kurdish region. President Obama has announced that all 39,000 remaining combat troops in Iraq will be withdrawn by Dec. 31. Washington sought to leave some troops behind, but Baghdad refused to bow to U.S. demands for legal immunity for remaining U.S. combat forces." http://t.uani.com/vCvgqf
Nuclear Program & Sanctions
AFP: "Iran on Saturday dismissed a renewed US offer of dialogue by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying the 'contradictions' of pursuing talks at the same time as threats undermined the proposal. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi made the comment at a joint media conference in Tehran with the visiting leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in neighbouring Iraq, Massud Barzani. Salehi was responding to remarks Clinton made on Wednesday to Farsi-language programmes on BBC Farsi and Voice of America (VOA) in which she said Washington was 'prepared to engage' with Iran, even as it maintains sanctions." http://t.uani.com/ryyF0Z
Reuters: "An Iranian Oil Ministry source played down on Saturday a report that Indian oil buyers had started paying for their crude through a bank in Russia as a new way to get around sanctions-related difficulties in making international bank transfers. The semi-official Iranian Mehr news agency said on Friday that importers in India -- Iran's second biggest oil customer after China -- were paying off oil debts through Gazprombank. 'There has been no word of this at all ... No name has been mentioned, not Gazprom nor any other particular bank. These news reports are not valid,' said the ministry source. Indian customers accumulated debts of some $5 billion in the first half of this year when the Reserve Bank of India scrapped a long-standing payment system, under pressure from Washington which is trying to isolate the Iranian economy." http://t.uani.com/sWJzso
The Hill: "The House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to mark up two bills that would tighten sanctions against Iran and other countries. On Wednesday, the committee marks up H.R. 1905, the Iran Threat Reduction Act. This bill builds on last year's legislation that sanctions entities that contribute to Iran's ability to develop its petroleum resources. This bill has 338 co-sponsors. On Thursday, the committee marks up the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Reform and Modernization Act, H.R. 2105. That bill would update sanctions against entities that transfer goods to these countries that help their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs." http://t.uani.com/ueMWVd
Foreign Affairs
WashPost: "An Iranian police unit that was formed this year to counter alleged Internet crimes is playing a key role in an escalating online conflict between the United States and the Islamic Republic. The 'cyber police' force is part of a broad and largely successful government effort to block foreign Web sites and social networks deemed a threat to national security. Iranian officials say they must control which sites Iranians are able to visit, to prevent spying and protect the public from 'immoral' material. The United States, they charge, is waging a 'soft war' against Iran by reaching out to Iranians online and inciting them to overthrow their leaders." http://t.uani.com/tKAKPI
AP: "Iran's top diplomat says reports of U.S. plans to build up the American military presence in other Mideast countries after withdrawing from Iraq show a 'deficit, unfortunately, in rationality and prudence.' Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi's comments came Monday in a Baghdad meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari. The U.S. has long worried about Iranian meddling in Iraq's government after its military leaves at the end of the year. Washington is considering putting more forces in Kuwait to bolster its presence in the region, and has warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq's affairs. But Salehi said Iraq does not need help in running its country from any foreign nation." http://t.uani.com/sk2f0c
NBC: "Iran is pushing back against U.S. efforts to strengthen sanctions against Tehran in response to an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, demanding a public apology and unspecified monetary damages, an Iranian diplomat tells NBC News. The Iranian demands were contained in a recent letter to the U.S., according to the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. It calls on the U.S. to apologize publicly to both the Islamic republic and officials of the Al Quds Force for 'material and moral damages' caused by 'this baseless accusation,' which it argues violated 'international rules and regulations.' The letter states that such deception has become 'a permanent part of statecraft in the U.S.,' according to the source, citing as an example the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which it says was 'based on such false information.'" http://t.uani.com/saDZMB
Opinion & Analysis
Mark Wallace & Frances Townsend in HuffPo: "The revelation that Iran was planning to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States by blowing up a restaurant he frequented in Washington, D.C. should finally put to rest any hopes that the regime in Tehran is a credible partner for peace. This brazen attempt to carry out a terrorist act on American soil, potentially killing Americans in the process, represents a significant and dangerous escalation that demands a firm and determined response from the U.S. and its allies. The plot fits squarely into an overall pattern of warlike escalation on the part of Tehran: for some time now, the regime has been increasing its direct assistance and material support to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Shia extremists in Iraq -- two groups directly responsible for killing U.S. and NATO forces. Even worse, this past summer the U.S. unveiled evidence that Iran is directly aiding al-Qaeda, an alliance once thought unlikely. That Shia-controlled Iran is now aiding the Sunni perpetrators of 9/11 signals just how radical and intransigent the current leadership in Tehran has become. How should the U.S. respond? First and foremost, we must reject the outdated notion that we are in a 'cold' or proxy war with Iran that should be dealt with in a diplomatic vacuum. Iran is directly responsible for killing U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now plotting to kill Americans and foreign diplomats inside U.S. borders. That is the definition of a 'hot' war, and U.S. policymakers must accept that, particularly since Iran is aggressively pursuing a nuclear weapons capability. If Iran is a threat now, imagine it with the capability to launch a nuclear terror attack against the U.S. or its allies. Second, the U.S. must aggressively pursue a strategy to isolate Iran further -- much further. Outrageously, a number of international companies like Nokia-Siemens, Fiat, Honeywell, and Daelim still do business in Iran, many of them in Iran's energy sector, which is dominated by known terrorist entities like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The hard currency these business activities provide Iran directly funds its ability to acquire and develop weapons of mass destruction, and pursue terrorist activities around the globe." http://t.uani.com/uaRljd
Benjamin Weinthal in JPost: "David S. Cohen, the US Treasury department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, took a whirlwind tour last week of Paris, London, Berlin and Rome in an effort to convince Europe to ratchet up the pressure on Iran. The Iranian government's plot to murder the Saudi ambassador in a high-end Washington restaurant, which could have caused the deaths of many Americans, has added fresh urgency to the next round of Iran sanctions. The Obama administration might target the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Cohen told Reuters. 'Iran needs to be held accountable for this plot,' he said. 'We are going to continue to look at those financial institutions that are involved with proliferation activity for Iran, and continue to try to isolate them from the international financial sector.' The US government will undoubtedly face an uphill mission to persuade the European Union's 27 member states to turn the financial screws on the Central Bank. Take the example of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which may control as much as 75 percent of Iran's economy and oversees Tehran's illicit nuclear program. While the Bush administration sanctioned the IRGC in 2007 as a 'global terrorist' entity, the EU, particularly Germany, has vehemently resisted penalizing the IRGC. Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, an expert on Iran's terror operations and a senior fellow at the Brusselsbased European Foundation for Democracy, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that 'all state banks are involved with the nuclear business' in Iran. There 'are no independent banks in Iran,' he said. Sanctioned Iranian banks 'fall under the Central Bank,' Wahdat- Hagh added. 'The CBI cannot be clean when its children are not,' he said. Europe and the United States have sanctioned a number of Iran's banks - Melli, EIH and Saderat - because of their immersion in its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Given Europe's addiction to Iranian trade, and the crucial financial role of the Central Bank of Iran in conducting energy and non-oil transactions for the EU, the Obama administration will have to strongly twist Europe's economic arms. The EU's members' trade with Iran exceeded 25 billion euros in 2010, making the EU as a whole Iran's most important trade partner. Roughly 90 percent of Europe's imports from Iran are energyrelated, and payments for Iranian crude oil take place through the CBI." http://t.uani.com/sRWYQK
Daniel Byman in FP: "Incredulity has been the most common response to reports that Iran plotted with Mexican drug traffickers to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, at a Washington, D.C. restaurant. Given past U.S. intelligence failures, the opacity of the Iranian regime, and the seemingly clumsy nature of the operation, it is easy to dismiss the Obama administration's allegations that Iran planned such a risky attack. But there are plenty of reasons to think that the Islamic Republic's senior leadership was responsible for the plot. The incredulity takes three forms: the Iranians would never conduct such an operation because it goes against their interests; the Iranians are too competent for such a cartoonish plot; and if Iran did do such a thing, it must have been a rogue operation by junior intelligence officers. All these arguments are plausible -- and all are probably wrong. The suspected Iranian agent, Mansour Arbabsiar, allegedly met with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) source whom he tried to hire for murder. 'They want that guy done,' he reportedly told the agent, referring to the Saudi ambassador. 'If the hundred [of collateral victims] go with him, [expletive] them,' according to the U.S. government complaint. Arbabsiar also 'met several times in Iran' with Ali Gholam Shakuri, a senior member of Iran's paramilitary Quds Force, a special unit of the country's Revolutionary Guards that has carried out many terrorist attacks. Shakuri in turn informed the head of the Quds Force, who reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader. There are also intercepted phone calls between Arbabsiar and Shakuri, which is hard evidence to dismiss. And then there is the money -- $100,000 -- transferred for the plot. Together this is pretty damning evidence. But why would Iran do such a thing? Even FBI Director Robert Muller noted that the allegations seemed like 'a Hollywood script.' The blowback from the operation could be considerable, particularly if, as Arbabsiar anticipated, a hundred bystanders were killed along with the Saudi ambassador. Tehran may have felt it still needed to act despite these risks. Iran has suffered serious recent setbacks in the Middle East. Its Syrian ally is under siege. Closer to home, Saudi troops led a crackdown in March in Bahrain, Iran's Gulf neighbor; the Sunni government there brutally repressed fellow Iran's Shiites, and the United States seemed to give tacit approval. Indeed, Saudi officials claim that Shakuri helped to plan Quds Force operations in Bahrain giving him a personal motive to lash out against the Saudis and the United States." http://t.uani.com/sU4wzO
Soner Cagaptay in CNN: "The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) will dominate the news in the coming days. The PKK, a group known for its violent attacks against Turkey, is fast becoming part of the new trilateral power game between Turkey, Iran and Syria as Bashar al Assad crackdowns on demonstrators in his country. In the 1990s, Iran, whose authoritarian regime disliked secular Turkey next door, asked Syria to harbor the PKK so it could attack Ankara to hurt Turkey's standing as the political antidote of Iran. Then, Turkey, Iran and Syria all became friends with the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) party in Turkey. The PKK issue disappeared, or so it appeared. Turkey and Syria started a dialogue after Ankara forced the Assad regime to stop harboring the PKK. Turkey massed troops on its border with Syria in 1998. Turkey did not fire a single bullet, but the very credible threat of use of force convinced Assad to change his behavior. Then with the start of the Iraq War in 2003, Turkey and Iran became, in a sense, friends. Alarmed by the U.S. military presence to its east in Afghanistan and to its west in Iraq, Tehran concluded that it needed to win its neighbor Turkey to break the grip of the U.S.-led ring of isolation forming around it. Iranian support for the PKK ended, as if cut with a knife, the day U.S. troops started landing in Iraq. Eight years later, Tehran is re-evaluating its strategic environment. With U.S. troops leaving Iraq and Iran gaining influence there, Tehran feels that it can act differently towards Turkey. Meanwhile, Turkey emerged as the key opponent of the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown. It has threatened action against Assad if the killing does not stop. In response, Damascus has decided to make things difficult for Turkey. U.S. and Turkish officials suggest that the Syrian regime once again allows PKK activity on its territory. Since Damascus knows that it would almost certainly face a Turkish invasion if it were to allow PKK attacks from its territory into Turkey, it has turned to its ally Tehran for assistance. Tehran, already annoyed that Turkey is trying to push it out of Iraq, has been glad to help. Iran desperately needs to end Turkey's policy of confronting Assad. If not countered, this policy will usher in the end of the Assad regime in Syria, costing Iran its precious Levantine client state. Hence, Iran's age-old strategy against Turkey has been resuscitated: using the PKK to attack Ankara from another country in order to pressure Turkey." http://t.uani.com/u0BdJ8
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