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CNN: "A nuclear scientist was killed in a blast in a Tehran neighborhood Wednesday morning, an Iranian news agency reported, the latest in a string of attacks against such scientists that Iran has blamed on Israel. A motorcyclist placed a magnetic bomb under Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's Peugeot 405, the state-run IRNA news agency said. The blast wounded two others who were passengers in the car, IRNA said. State television channel Press TV reported later Wednesday that two people had been killed in the car bombing but did not give more details. Roshan, 32, was a deputy director for commercial affairs at Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan province and a graduate of Iran's Oil Industry University, according to the semi-official news agency Fars." http://t.uani.com/ztlAWJ
LAT: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has condemned Iran's decision to begin uranium enrichment at a covertly built underground bunker near Qom, Iran, saying it brought Tehran 'a significant step closer' to gaining the ability to produce bomb-grade fuel. Amid rising tensions over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, Clinton said in a statement Tuesday that the move violated Iran's United Nations obligations and demonstrated 'that the country's growing isolation is self-inflicted.' Iran, which insists its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, said this week that centrifuges in the Fordo bunker will be used to enrich the uranium to 20% purity to create isotopes for medical research. About 90% purity is normally required for bomb-making. Clinton said the circumstances surrounding construction of the facility were 'especially troubling' because Iran confirmed the bunker's existence to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, only after it had been disclosed by Western powers. The IAEA confirmed Tuesday that they were aware of Iran's activities at the Fordo site. Clinton called on Iran to halt the enrichment and to return to international talks aimed at negotiating an end to the program." http://t.uani.com/yFjmZ9
ABC: "For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. military has rescued distressed Iranian sailors, despite the extremely high tensions between the two nations. According to the Navy's account, at about 3 a.m. local time an American Coast Guard patrol boat in the north Persian Gulf was hailed by flares and flashlights from an Iranian cargo ship whose engine room was flooding. Six Iranians were rescued from the ship, fed halal meals in accordance with Islamic law, and later taken to shore. 'Saving lives is the last thing you expect to do at [3 a.m.] while patrolling in the Northern Arabian Gulf, but being in the Coast Guard, that's what we are trained to do,' Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Emily Poole said in a statement by the Navy, using an alternate designation for the Persian Gulf." http://t.uani.com/wnmQXx
Nuclear Program & Sanctions WashPost: "The Obama administration sees economic sanctions against Iran as building public discontent that will help compel the government to abandon an alleged nuclear weapons program, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official. In addition to influencing Iranian leaders directly, the official said, 'another option here is that [sanctions] will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways.' The intelligence official's remarks pointed to what has long been an unstated reality of sanctions: Although designed to pressure a government to change its policies, they often impose broad hardships on a population. The official spoke this week on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration assessments." http://t.uani.com/yOyJm2
Fox News: "War games. Threats to close a key oil passageway and block a U.S. aircraft carrier from returning to the Persian Gulf. An American sentenced to death in Tehran, accused of spying. And now a breakthrough in Iran's nuclear program. The developments portend what officials see as a momentous year ahead in the standoff between Iran and the West, as Iranian leaders appear to grow bolder despite a new round of international sanctions which, by most accounts, is taking a toll... In a letter to the European Union released Tuesday, a group of bipartisan senators described 2012 as a 'turning point in the confrontation between Iran and the international community.; They urged the organization to impose an oil embargo on Iran and follow the U.S. lead by sanctioning Iran's Central Bank." http://t.uani.com/AsYlqw
Reuters: "India's government has told refiners to reduce Iranian oil imports and find alternatives as New Delhi may not seek a waiver that would protect buyers of Tehran's oil from a fresh round of U.S. sanctions, two industry sources said on Wednesday. India, Iran's second largest oil buyer after China, is already struggling to pay for the crude due to existing sanctions, and fresh U.S. measures aimed at isolating Iran over its nuclear programme will make payment even harder. The South Asian country buys from Iran about 12 percent of its oil needs, or 350,000-400,000 barrels per day (bpd) and worth $12 billion annually." http://t.uani.com/wZKOoN
WSJ: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urged top Chinese officials to greatly reduce China's imports of Iranian crude oil, and explained to them a new U.S. sanctions policy against countries that don't curtail their purchases. 'We are in the early stages of a broad global diplomatic effort to take advantage of this new legislation to significantly intensify the pressure on Iran,' a senior U.S. official said. 'We are telling them [the Chinese] what's important to us and they are listening.' The senior U.S. official added that 'We have a reasonable shot at getting a number of countries to wean themselves off Iranian oil.' It is far from clear whether the Chinese will go along with the sanctions regime." http://t.uani.com/yr5FaS
Miami Herald: "With a decision to fast-track the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Iran, Pakistan is underscoring not only the energy needs of its flailing economy but also its growing estrangement from Washington... The U.S. has repeatedly urged Pakistan to reconsider its plans to import up to 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year beginning in 2017 from Iran's South Pars field - part of a geological structure under the Persian Gulf that forms the world's largest deposit of natural gas. Last week, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, 'We've made absolutely clear over many months now our concern about this deal and we will continue to talk to Pakistan about it.' Iran has completed construction of the $7.5 billion pipeline up to the border with Pakistan, which has begun preparing to assemble its section. The countries are targeting mid-2014 for gas supplies to begin flowing." http://t.uani.com/zTV3qN
Reuters: "The volume of Iranian crude oil stored at sea has risen to as much as 8 million barrels and is likely to increase further as the Islamic Republic struggles with sanctions and a seasonal refinery slowdown, shipping sources say. Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia with output of about 3.5 million barrels per day, faces tougher trade hurdles over its nuclear programme. European Union countries have agreed in principle to an Iranian oil import embargo in the latest Western efforts to step up heat on Tehran. 'A large part of its exports will be dislocated from Europe, and they will have to find new buyers or be replaced by other buyers,' said Samuel Ciszuk, a consultant at KBC Energy Economics." http://t.uani.com/A956Dx
Foreign Affairs
WSJ: "The family of a former U.S. Marine sentenced to death by Iran's Revolutionary Court as a spy enlisted the aid of a high-profile international lawyer as the verdict fanned tensions between Washington and Tehran. The State Department said it received confirmation Tuesday, via Swiss officials who handle U.S. diplomacy inside Iran, that Amir Hekmati had received a death sentence. Mr. Hekmati, an Iranian-American U.S. citizen born in Arizona and raised in Michigan, was arrested in mid-September while on a visit to Iran and charged with spying for the Central Intelligence Agency. 'We strongly condemn the death sentence verdict given to Mr. Hekmati,' said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. 'We've conveyed our condemnation to the Iranian government through the Swiss protecting power. We maintain, as we have from the beginning, that these charges against him are a fabrication.'" http://t.uani.com/wZYbem
Reuters: "Turkish customs officials intercepted four trucks on Tuesday suspected of carrying military equipment from Iran to Syria, a Turkish provincial governor. The governor of Kilis province said the trucks were confiscated at the Oncupinar border crossing into Syria after police received information about their cargo, according to Dogan news agency. 'The four trucks were confiscated by customs. They are alleged to be carrying military equipment,' Governor Yusuf Odabas said. He said experts were being sent from Ankara to examine the cargo. Turkey imposed economic sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad's government in November, having earlier implemented an arms embargo in protest at Assad's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets in March." http://t.uani.com/wdMIC2
Opinion & Analysis
WashPost Editorial Board: "The flurry of initiatives and threats launched by Iran in the last couple of weeks may betray panic by the regime as it faces a crumbling economy and mounting pressure from the West. The measures are insubstantial; the threats implausible. For example, a tour by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Latin America, limited to Venezuela and its allies, serves mainly to underline Iran's isolation, since regional powers such as Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are not on his itinerary. A threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is hollow; the U.S. Navy could unquestionably reopen it. A death sentence imposed Monday on a U.S. citizen and former Marine is despicable, but most likely it won't be carried out. Then again, all this futile activity could also be coldly calculated. It could be a smoke screen for the one serious step Iran has taken, which is the launching of uranium enrichment at a new plant buried under a mountain. The Fordow facility, near the city of Qom, was discovered by the West in 2009 as construction neared completion. For a time afterward it was dormant. Now, however, Iran has begun using it for a particularly provocative form of uranium processing. Using material already enriched to the level needed for nuclear power, it is employing centrifuges to raise the enrichment level to nearly 20 percent. Iran claims it needs this more enriched uranium for a research reactor. But it has already produced enough of the material to fuel the reactor for five years. Moreover, it cannot legitimately use the enriched uranium, because it lacks the capacity to convert it into fuel rods. The opening of Fordow represents the launch of an Iranian plan to triple this form of uranium enrichment - and to do so in a facility that may be nearly invulnerable to attack from the air. When uranium is enriched to 20 percent, 80 percent of the processing needed to produce bomb-grade material is complete. So if it goes through with its plan, Iran could have enough of the 20 percent material by the end of this year to produce a bomb core very rapidly - perhaps even between visits of U.N. inspectors. In short, the new Fordow operation crosses another important line in Iran's advance toward a nuclear weapons capability. Was it a red line for Israel or the United States? Apparently not, for the Obama administration at least. In a television interview Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: 'Our red line to Iran is: do not develop a nuclear weapon.' He asserted that Tehran was not trying to develop a weapon now, only 'a nuclear capability.' The Revolutionary Guard, which controls the nuclear program, might well take that as a green light for the new enrichment operation." http://t.uani.com/zuvOC5
WT Editorial Board: "Is the Islamic regime in Tehran building a nuclear weapon or not? A recent statement from the Secretary of Defense suggests that it definitely is not, yet at the same time probably might be. This is the latest indication of Obama administration Iran policy in disarray. On 'Face the Nation' last Sunday Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta asked and answered his own question regarding Iran. 'Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.' This was an oddly definitive statement regarding Iranian intentions. Several analyses from the intelligence community have been strictly equivocal, looking only at what Tehran is doing and not conjecturing on why they are doing it. If Mr. Panetta is correct that Iran is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon, then there is no problem. The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that 'Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.' Though this seems to contradict Mr. Panetta's blanket assertion, the secretary qualified his remark by saying, 'we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability, and that's what concerns us.' The distinction between 'building a nuclear weapon' and 'developing a nuclear capability' has been floating around the liberal policy establishment for several years. Its proponents believe that what Iran seeks to do is have all the parts necessary to make a nuclear weapon without crossing the threshold of actually assembling and testing one. This allows those who previously denied that Tehran had a nuclear weapons program to cling to the hope that an Iranian bomb is not inevitable, despite evidence to the contrary. Mr. Panetta said that 'our red line to Iran is, do not develop a nuclear weapon.' Having the parts to build the bomb, however, is apparently OK... Mr. Panetta's statement is both an excuse to not take action and a plea to Tehran not to force America's hand by testing a nuclear weapon. They must be closer to the bomb than most people think." http://t.uani.com/yAhKJ4
Ilan Berman in WSJ: "Is China finally coming around on Iran? For years, Beijing's steady backing has helped the Iranian regime frustrate international efforts to isolate and penalize it for its nuclear ambitions. This month, however, there are heartening signs that China is reassessing its longstanding strategic partnership with the Islamic Republic. China has begun to curtail its energy trade with Tehran, responding to new economic sanctions levied against Iran's central bank by the Obama administration and the increasingly likely prospect of an embargo on Iranian oil by European countries. This month, China's crude imports from Iran have fallen by some 285,000 barrels daily, more than half the total volume China regularly imports from Iran on a day-to-day basis. Chinese officials, moreover, have signaled that this reduction will continue into February and possibly beyond. This one-two punch to Tehran's economy and nuclear ambitions doubtless has the ayatollahs worried. Iran's economic fortunes are intimately tied to China's rise. Over the past decade, fueled by massive and sustained economic growth, China has become a ravenous consumer of global energy. By the end of the next decade, according to industry estimates, China's oil consumption could grow by as much as eight million barrels per day, making the Middle Kingdom the world's largest petroleum consumer. As an engine of Beijing's stunning growth, energy-rich Iran is a natural strategic partner. Three years ago, Iran provided roughly 15% of China's overall oil imports, making it China's second largest oil supplier. Last year, similarly, the Islamic Republic supplied an estimated 12% of China's foreign oil demand. In exchange for oil, China has been a key enabler of Iran's nuclear ambitions. Beijing turns a blind eye to national firms involved in nuclear commerce with Iran and works diplomatically to dilute international pressure levied by the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. The effects have been dramatic. Knowledgeable nonproliferation experts estimate that a crackdown on those national firms by the Chinese government would effectively cripple Tehran's atomic endeavor, at least in the near term. So far Beijing hasn't undertaken anything resembling a crackdown on nuclear commerce. And Washington, worried about the state of the global economy and the health of U.S.-Chinese relations, hasn't pressed the issue by systematically sanctioning offenders. China's recent energy moves, however, suggest that its traditional calculus in cooperating with Iran may be changing, and for good reason." http://t.uani.com/xRsyeM |
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