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Reuters: "The United States, Britain and France turned up the pressure on Tehran on Thursday ahead of next week's release of a keenly awaited U.N. report that may offer new details about the military side of Iran's nuclear program. Washington and its European allies suspect that Iran is developing the capability to produce atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. Iran denies wanting atom bombs and insists its program is for generating electricity. The report by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to unveil detailed intelligence pointing to military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program, while stopping short of saying explicitly that Tehran is trying to build such weapons. 'One (issue) in particular that I want to mention is the continuing threat posed by Iran's nuclear program,' U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters ahead of a G20 heads of state summit in the French resort of Cannes. 'The IAEA is scheduled to release a report on Iran's nuclear program next week and (French) President (Nicolas) Sarkozy and I agree on the need to maintain the unprecedented pressure on Iran to meet its obligations,' Obama said." http://t.uani.com/unxU6y
LAT: "Despite weeks of tough warnings, the Obama administration has backed away from its calls to impose new and potentially crippling economic sanctions against Iran in retaliation for an alleged plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador on U.S. soil, according to diplomats and American officials. Though U.S. officials had declared that they would 'hold Iran accountable' for a purported plot, they now have decided that a proposed move against Iran's central bank could disrupt international oil markets and further damage the reeling American and world economies. The softening position illustrates how concern over the weak economy has hobbled the administration when it comes to combating what officials describe as Iran's efforts to attack U.S. interests in the Middle East and elsewhere. U.S. officials and foreign diplomats added that the likelihood that other governments would strongly resist such a step also helped push the central bank measure from consideration and diplomatic discussion." http://t.uani.com/uDxJoE
WSJ: "The Obama administration plans to use an upcoming United Nations report to rally international support for significantly ratcheting up economic and diplomatic pressure against Iran, senior administration officials said Thursday. The International Atomic Energy Agency's quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program, scheduled to be released next week, is expected to make the most specific charges to date that Tehran has sought to develop technologies used in producing nuclear weapons, according to diplomats briefed on the report. Iran has denied the charges, and China and Russia are seeking to tone down the language of the report. 'If they continue to be outside their obligations and the report demonstrates that, we'll look for ways to increase the pressure on them. That could include sanctions. That could include diplomatic efforts,' a senior administration official said on Thursday. 'There's a range of additional steps that could be taken against Iranian companies, against Iranian entities. We'll look at all the options that we have to increase their economic and political isolation.'" http://t.uani.com/tULIqc
Nuclear Program & Sanctions NYT: "Israel's top leadership has spent the week answering and evading questions about widespread reports that it is once again considering a strike on Iran's nuclear complexes, while President Obama said Thursday that he and his allies would maintain 'unprecedented international pressure' on Tehran to keep it from producing a nuclear weapon. Israeli officials would not confirm or deny multiple reports in the Israeli news media that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were pressing for a decision on whether and when to strike a uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, the centerpiece of Iran's known nuclear-fuel production, and related sites across the country. Several Israeli ministers have publicly placed blame for the leaks on Meir Dagan, the former chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, who after leaving office this year said that Mr. Netanyahu was intent on launching such an attack, and had to be restrained by opposition from top intelligence and military officials, almost all of whom have since left office." http://t.uani.com/vN8OKW
AP: "NATO has 'no intention whatsoever' of intervening in Iran, the alliance's top official said in response to reports that some governments may be planning a military strike against Tehran's nuclear program... Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO supports political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear issue and urged Iran to comply with U.N. resolutions and stop its uranium enrichment programs. 'Let me stress that NATO has no intention whatsoever to intervene in Iran, and NATO is not engaged as an alliance in the Iran question,' he said. However, Fogh Rasmussen declined to comment on reports that Israeli air force jets conducted drills last week at a NATO air base in Italy. They were said to be practicing long-range sorties from the Decimomannu base on the Sardinia island and included combat aircraft, aerial refueling tankers and electronic warfare and control planes. Later Thursday, Italian Defense Ministry spokesman Capt. Emiliano Biasco confirmed that an exercise involving Israel and other countries was held at Decimomannu in late October. He declined to give more details." http://t.uani.com/ufx4Pg
Reuters: "Iran warned the United States on Thursday that it should think twice before it enters a 'collision course' with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme. 'The U.S. has unfortunately lost its wisdom and prudence in dealing with international issues. It only depends on power,' Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a visit to the Libyan city of Benghazi. 'Of course we are prepared for the worst, but we hope that they think twice before they put themselves on a collision course with Iran,' he said." http://t.uani.com/stA95l
Reuters: "China urged Iran on Friday to show flexibility over its controversial nuclear program and warned that the use of force to resolve the issue was the last thing the Middle East needed at the moment... Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing that China did not condone any Middle Eastern country developing nuclear weapons. 'The International Atomic Energy Agency should adopt an impartial and objective stance and seek positive cooperation with Iran to clarify certain questions,' Hong said. 'Iran should also show flexibility and sincerity and have earnest cooperation with the IAEA.'" http://t.uani.com/uWaQJN Human Rights UN News Centre: "The United Nations committee tasked with reviewing compliance with international human rights treaties today voiced concern over Iran's record on upholding the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, and the increasing number of executions in the country. The UN Human Rights Committee said it was disturbed by the continuing discrimination and arrest of religious and ethnic minorities and homosexuals, as well as by the frequency of capital punishment imposed on juveniles, expressing alarm at the vague definition and the wide range of offences for which it is used. The committee is made up of a group of independent experts who monitor implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Iran ratified the covenant in 1976, but it was only last month when the country appeared before the committee. Christine Chanet, a member of the committee, told reporters in Geneva that the Iranian delegation failed to fully engage in the process and avoided the committee's questioning. 'For some questions they were embarrassed and they didn't answer especially when I raised the question of the death penalty and they didn't answer. I asked the question of stoning and there was no answer at all about this question,' she said." http://t.uani.com/rCxoVe Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy on Friday with burning flags and chants of 'Death to America,' escalating its anti-U.S. rhetoric ahead of the release of a pivotal U.N. report on its nuclear program. Thousands of students burned the Stars and Stripes, an effigy of Uncle Sam and pictures of President Barack Obama outside the leafy downtown Tehran compound that once housed the U.S. mission. The embassy was stormed by hardline students on November 4 1979, shortly after Iran's Islamic revolution toppled the U.S.-backed shah, and 52 Americans were held hostage there for 444 days. The two countries have been enemies ever since. Tehran has raised the volume of its anti-American rhetoric since October when the United States accused Iran of plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. Iran calls the accusations false." http://t.uani.com/uAXEoT
Opinion & Analysis
WSJ Editorial Board: "Vogue magazine embarrassed itself in March-when the Arab Spring was well underway-by publishing a fawning profile of Asma al-Assad, the fashion-conscious wife of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. As the Assad regime began killing protesters by the hundreds, Vogue quietly removed its article from the Internet. Now comes an opportunity for editor Anna Wintour's magazine to make amends: Syria's patron, Iran, has arrested 70 fashion designers whose plights can use some journalistic attention. According to Iranian state media, the designers' crime was training young women for fashion shows. Such activity, an unnamed 'cultural expert' told a news outlet of the regime's Basij militia, is part of the West's 'soft war' against Iran. 'In this war,' he said, 'the goals are changes in cultural customs, beliefs, ideas and the beliefs of authorities, politicians, political parties and youths.' Thus is Iran's vast and unpredictable system for repressing private, public and artistic life justified as defense against the forces of Western cultural infiltration. If the latest roundup snared fashion designers, the next might again target university professors, athletes or musicians. The actress Marzieh Vafamehr, arrested this summer for appearing in the 2009 movie 'My Tehran for Sale,' was released last week by an appeals court and spared nine months in prison and 90 lashes to which she had been sentenced. Filmmaker Jafar Panahi wasn't as lucky, as his six-year prison sentence was upheld on appeal last month. Mojtaba Mir Tahmasb, who made a documentary about Mr. Panahi, was arrested in September and remains in prison. Perhaps Americans have trouble keeping track of all the political prisoners in Iran's dungeons. But Hollywood can continue to advocate for figures like Mr. Panahi, and the fashion world can do the same for its peers. Over to you, Anna." http://t.uani.com/sZraYR
Meir Javedanfar in The Diplomat: "If you want to know whether Israel is about to strike Iran's nuclear facilities then you'd be better served looking at Iran-related policy and statements emanating from Washington DC than speculative reports from the Israeli press.The possibility of an Israeli strike has been thrust into the spotlight again following reports in the Israeli media speculating that an agreement has been reached between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Netanyahu to take the military option against Iran's facilities. Although these reports were later denied by Barak, new reports quickly emerged that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had also been convinced to back a military strike. Meanwhile, other members of the security cabinet, including Interior Minister Eli Yishai, are reported to be undecided and 'losing sleep' over this matter. The fact that Israel tested a new missile in the midst of all this added credibility to speculation that something could be afoot, especially with reports emerging that the Israeli Air Force recently took part in a joint NATO exercise focused on practicing long-range attacks. Still, regardless of whether Netanyahu and Barak really do intend to attack Iran, it's exceedingly unlikely Israel's leaders, as hawkish as they may be, would attack Iran without U.S. permission. The Israeli government may feel comfortable challenging the United States over the issue of settlements, but striking Iran is a very different matter. It wouldn't matter who is in charge at the White House and how pro-Israel they may or may not be - a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran, without U.S. consent, would likely have severe consequences for Israel-U.S. relations. After all, the building of settlements doesn't directly risk American lives and the U.S. economy. Attacking Iran without U.S. permission could and would. For a start, the United States still has troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and any unilateral attack by the government of Israel against Iran could put the lives of U.S. soldiers there in jeopardy of Iranian retaliation. It could also create a massive spike in oil prices, something which could have severe consequences for an already struggling U.S. economy. To take such action without securing U.S. approval would risk undermining American interests in an unprecedented way, a reality that successive Israeli governments have been fully aware of." http://t.uani.com/sPRRKa |
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