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WSJ: "The United Nations' nuclear chief, Yukiya Amano, is stepping up efforts to gain access to Iranian scientists, secret documents and military sites, even as Tehran unleashes new attacks against his credibility and mandate. The increasingly personal nature of the standoff between Mr. Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and Tehran's regime continued, as Iran rejected an agency invitation to a gathering last week aimed at countering proliferation and establishing a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. In Iran, Mr. Amano's agency is seeking an interview in Tehran with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian scientist believed to be overseeing Iran's nuclear-weapons research. The agency also wants access to a military site called Parchin, 18 miles south of Tehran, which is suspected of conducting high-explosives testing. 'We have listed the elements that need to be addressed,' Mr. Amano said in a recent interview. 'We would like to have access to people, documents, information and locations.'" http://t.uani.com/vpfLJ9
AFP: "Fifty percent of Americans believe military action should be taken to stop Iran's nuclear program if sanctions do not work, a national poll released on Wednesday said. The Quinnipiac University survey also found that more Americans disapprove, by 50 percent to 44 percent, of the job President Barack Obama is doing -- although more people than not approve of the way he has handled foreign policy, including his management of thorny US relations with Tehran. Some 55 percent of respondents said the United States should not take immediate military action against Iran, with 36 percent in favor. The number in favor of using force increases to 50 percent however if sanctions fail, with 38 percent against. 'Americans are very concerned about the development of an Iranian nuclear program and don't think the current policy of economic sanctions is effective,' said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute." http://t.uani.com/uuz0Ge
AP: "Iran has arrested 12 agents of the American Central Intelligence Agency, the country's official IRNA news agency reported, quoting an influential lawmaker. Parviz Sorouri, a member of the powerful parliamentary committee on foreign policy and national security, said the alleged agents were operating in coordination with Israel's Mossad and other regional agencies, targeting the country's military and its nuclear program. 'The U.S. and Zionist regime's espionage apparatuses were trying to damage Iran both from inside and outside with a heavy blow, using regional intelligence services,' Sorouri was quoted as saying Wednesday. 'Fortunately, with swift reaction by the Iranian intelligence department, the actions failed to bear fruit,' Sorouri said." http://t.uani.com/slEF7a
Nuclear Program & Sanctions Reuters: "A ban on Iranian oil imports to press Tehran to abandon its nuclear activity would not be a problem for the European Union as supplies could always been bought elsewhere, the EU's energy commissioner said. EU countries have been discussing a further extension of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme and France has been pushing for this to include a ban on imports of Iranian oil. Asked if such an embargo would hurt EU energy security, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Reuters: 'This is not a problem. It can be substituted by OPEC and others.' The United States stopped buying Iranian crude in the 1990s, but there is less appetite elsewhere in the West for the French proposal of a wider import ban, with British sources saying that London's latest sanctions were not meant to target oil." http://t.uani.com/tx3Q2h
FT: "France is pushing for a European oil embargo on Iran, breaking a diplomatic taboo that could have significant ramifications for the energy market and global economic growth. Paris has made the proposal to European Union members preparing a new round of sanctions following the release of a UN nuclear agency report this month. On Thursday, however, it spooked international oil markets by appearing to suggest that it would impose its own international ban on the third largest oil exporter before backtracking and saying it would do so only in consultation with the EU." http://t.uani.com/uevl96
Reuters: "Italy believes sanctions should be tightened against Iran, and is seeking to persuade its companies to stop buying Iranian oil, the spokesman for Italy's Foreign Ministry said on Friday. Italy relies on Iran for around 13 percent of its crude oil needs, equivalent to over 10 million tonnes per year (around 200,000 barrels per day). 'We are deeply convinced that we need to strengthen the pressure of sanctions on Iran and we are ready to discuss sanctions measures with our partners,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Maurizio Massari told Reuters." http://t.uani.com/uhyPXl
Reuters: "South Korea might ban Iranian petrochemical product imports following pressure from the United States to beef up sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear programme, sources said, although the measure would have a limited economic impact. But the world's fifth-largest crude importer isn't planning a ban on crude imports from the OPEC member, the sources at Korea's economy ministry said. Seoul is considering the sanctions following a two-day visit by the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who discussed Iran... South Korea imported $350 million in Iranian petrochemicals last year, while exporting $450 million of its petrochemicals to Iran. That would represent a small part of South Korea's global trade in petrochemicals, which last year totalled $49 billion." http://t.uani.com/rudVJv
The Hill: "Members of the House and Senate have introduced legislation that authorizes the executive branch to sanction foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank, which they argue is the financier of Iran's illicit activities. Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) on Tuesday introduced H.R. 3508, which would require the U.S. to block foreign firms from opening accounts in the U.S. and freezing any U.S. assets they have if these firms do business with the central bank of Iran. 'With Iran being so dangerously close to acquiring nuclear weapons, anything we can do to isolate the funding sources for the regime's illicit activities could be meaningful,' Flake said. 'The targeted sanctions in this bill have the potential to tie off funding for Iran's nuclear programs and to stymie a growing threat to the Middle East.' ... Flake said his bill is identical to an amendment that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and others offered to the defense appropriations bill. The Senate will resume work on that bill next week." http://t.uani.com/rwvLWD
Human Rights
Reuters: "Iran hanged 11 convicted drug traffickers on Thursday, state television reported, the latest in a series of executions in the country that rights groups say has the world's highest per capita execution rate. The drug smugglers were executed in a prison in the central city of Shiraz, capital of Fars province, after the supreme court upheld their convictions, according to state television. Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and apostasy -- the renouncing of Islam -- are all punishable by death under the Islamic law Iran has practised since its 1979 Islamic revolution. Amnesty International says Iran, with a population of around 75 million, is second only to China for the number of executions with at least 252 people put to death last year." http://t.uani.com/s84kwX
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: Iran denied on Friday reports that the Islamic state had purchased crude from sanctions-hit ally Syria, the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted a senior oil official as saying. Sanctions aimed at crude oil exports have warded off buyers of Syrian crude, which mainly flowed to Europe, causing storage tanks to brim and forcing cuts. 'In regard to buying the Syrian sanctioned oil, he said: This is by no means true. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has not purchased any Syrian crude oil,' head of NIOC Ahmad Qalebani told Mehr. The International Oil Daily reported on Wednesday that an Iranian-owned entity this week lifted 80,000 tonnes (586,400 barrels) of Syrian crude, consisting 50,000 tonnes of heavy Souedie and 30,000 tonnes of Syrian Light, at Baniyas." http://t.uani.com/rHzopp
AP: "In a 500-page report detailing widespread abuses in Bahrain's crackdowns, it's a brief section on Iran that has brought the strongest pushback Thursday in the Gulf kingdom - authorities clinging to their claims that Tehran had a role in the Shiite-led uprising despite the report's findings. Bahrain suggested it may have classified intelligence of Iranian links to the 10-month-old unrest, though independent investigators said they found nothing to back the allegations. The report's short reference to Iran touches some of the most powerful Arab Spring narratives among the Gulf's Sunni leaders. Accusations about plotting by Shiite giant Iran have been used to justify crushing measures, such as sending Saudi-led military forces to reinforce Bahrain's embattled monarchy." http://t.uani.com/sgn4M1
Opinion & Analysis
Vali Nasr in Bloomberg: "It wasn't so long ago that the Obama administration was proudly proclaiming success in dealing with Iran, succeeding where the Bush administration had failed. For a time, a presumably weakened and isolated Iran was less of a worry. Today, America's Iran policy looks to be in disarray. The administration's claims of victory ring hollow. Far from subdued, Iran is more defiant and belligerent. And the broad international coalition that the U.S. built against the country has splintered. With the generally cautious International Atomic Energy Agency having finally accused Iran of secretly working to build nuclear weapons, the stakes are undeniably high. The clues to how to reset U.S. policy can be found in examining how things went wrong. Whereas the Bush administration threatened military action in an effort to stymie Iran's nuclear program, Obama officials leaked that they had accomplished that goal through sabotage -- deploying the Stuxnet computer worm in a joint operation with the Israelis to set back the Iranians' progress by several years. The Obama team also succeeded in enlisting the habitually recalcitrant Russia and China to support harsher sanctions against Iran at the United Nations... Part of the answer is that Obama's Iran policies were never all that effective. While there's little reason to doubt the value of the Stuxnet worm, it was capable only of delaying, not crippling, Iran's nuclear ambitions. As for sanctions, the international restrictions approved at the UN haven't been fully imposed, and the unilateral measures taken so far by the U.S. and European countries haven't been as successful as the administration has made them out to be. The restrictions have constrained Iran's economy, but that has not translated into a perceptible change in Iran's stance on the nuclear issue. Sanctions have caused shortages and fueled inflation, but oil revenue continues to fill the government's coffers and keep the economy afloat. There is still plenty of liquidity in Iran's economy; consumption remains robust; salaries are paid; and there is no sign of bread riots. In truth, it would have been too much to expect the Iranians to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions so soon... To get Russia and China to sign on to meaningful penalties, the U.S. must be more persuasive about Iran's iniquities. The Obama administration must put an end to doubts about the veracity of the Washington plot. And it must shore up the IAEA report with convincing intelligence of its own proving the Iranians are working on nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/uz7FKk
Ilan Berman in The Moscow Times: "The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report on Iran's nuclear program has refocused world attention on the Iranian regime's relentless pursuit of the bomb and on the global failure thus far to derail it. But a multilateral solution to the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions appears to be as elusive as ever, due in no small measure to the stances of its enablers - Russia among them. In recent days, Moscow has publicly rejected the new IAEA findings and argued for renewed diplomacy in response to Iran's nuclear transgressions. This obstructionism is unfortunate, but understandable. The strategic relationship that has emerged between Moscow and Tehran since the late 1980s is deep and enduring. It includes vibrant defense and industrial trade, including nuclear technology and assistance from Russia; a quiet understanding that Iran will steer clear of spreading its brand of radical Islam in Russia's turbulent southern regions; and a shared opposition to a range of U.S. foreign policy efforts... Notably, however, support for the Russian-Iranian entente is far from universal at home. The past decade has seen the emergence of a significant minority view, articulated by a number of prominent Russian officials and experts, that their government's partnership with Iran could turn out to be a double-edged sword. Nevertheless, the dominant approach adopted by the Kremlin remains one that views Iran as a key partner and favors the expansion of strategic cooperation with the regime in Tehran. So it is perhaps not surprising that Russia remains resistant to real, substantive alterations to the strategic status quo. Indeed, its cool response to the latest IAEA revelations suggests that - despite nearly incontrovertible evidence of Iran's quest for the bomb - Moscow still sees partnership with Tehran as a net benefit. But this may not continue for much longer. Iran's nuclear advances have been mirrored by an increasingly aggressive, revisionist foreign policy line on the part of the Islamic republic. For the moment, these provocations appear localized to the Arab Spring countries of Bahrain, Yemen and Syria, where Tehran has meddled in the popular uprisings. Iran was also involved in ill-conceived terrorist plots on U.S. soil, such as the foiled scheme last month to assassinate Saudi Arabia's envoy at a posh Washington eatery. Armed with nuclear weapons, however, Iran could prove considerably bolder. The Islamic republic, after all, possesses vital strategic and economic interests in Central Asia and both the North and South Caucasus. Historically, those interests have taken a backseat to Iran's flourishing partnership with Russia. But armed with nuclear weapons, an emboldened Iran will certainly become a more assertive player in the region, perhaps even going so far as to revise regional arrangements in its favor at the expense of Moscow's geopolitical position... The Kremlin's Iran policy, in other words, is ripe for a rethink. For Russian leaders, such a reconception should make sound strategic sense, too, because cooperation on pressuring Iran is one of the few areas of strategic importance where Russia and the United States can collaborate constructively. If that happens, it would represent a true 'reset' in U.S.-Russian relations, as well as a much-needed shot in the arm for the international effort to derail Iran's nuclear drive." http://t.uani.com/sGh2QF |
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