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NYT: "A visit by international nuclear inspectors to Iran ended in failure Tuesday. Tehran not only blocked access to a site the inspectors believe could have been used for tests on how to produce a nuclear weapon, they reported, but it also refused to agree to a process for resolving questions about other 'possible military dimensions' to its nuclear program. The announcement came in a terse press release from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations agency, which said its inspection team had left the country. The agency is expected to release its latest report on the status of Iran's program in the next week." http://t.uani.com/AaJZD5
ABC: "An alleged Iranian hit squad used $27 portable radios to hide at least five bombs that Israeli and American authorities say they intended to use against Israeli targets in Bangkok, Thailand. Exclusive photos of one undetonated bomb, obtained by ABC News, show the inside of the radio packed with tiny ball bearings and six magnets. Bomb experts say the magnets indicate the bomb was designed to be stuck to the side of a vehicle." http://t.uani.com/wm6q13
Bloomberg: "Iran offered India extra crude supplies on revised terms as international sanctions tighten the Middle East producer's circle of oil customers, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. Indian refiners have yet to decide on whether they will take up Iran's offer of additional shipments, the people said, declining to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak with the media. The South Asian nation's government is open to increasing oil imports from the Persian Gulf state, according to two of the people. The people declined to give details on the terms offered by Iran. They need not necessarily refer to lower prices, and could instead include more flexibility in the types of grades offered and loading dates, and an increase in the number of days of credit before India is required to pay, one of the people said. Iran hasn't offered India a discount for its crude, one of the people said." http://t.uani.com/wUnsYv
Nuclear Program & Sanctions Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran's nuclear course would not change regardless of international sanctions, assassinations or other pressures. 'With God's help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran's nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously ... Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work.' Khamenei was speaking on state television shortly after the U.N. nuclear watchdog declared a collapse in talks with Iran aimed at getting it to address suspicions that it is covertly seeking nuclear weapons capability." http://t.uani.com/yE4fAI
Human Rights
NYT: "The mother of an American man sentenced to death in Iran for espionage visited her gaunt and frightened son on death row in a Tehran prison this month, as his lawyers in Iran began an appeal of his conviction, an American lawyer representing the family said on Tuesday... According to his mother, Mr. Hekmati, 28, appeared to have lost weight and remained in a state of shock about his situation.'While he is disappointed by the circumstances he finds himself in, he is hopeful that the truth will be known and he will be able to come home very soon,' Mrs. Hekmati said in a prepared statement. She described the Iranian officials she met as 'hospitable' and 'respectful.'" http://t.uani.com/zBT2rb
Domestic Politics
Radio Free Europe: "Iran's so-called 'national Internet' will be launched in either in late May or June, according to an announcement by Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taghipour. Speaking on February 20 at a cyber-defense forum in Tehran, Taghipour said the national Internet is one of the steps Iran is taking toward creating infrastructures aimed at boosting its cyber-defense capabilities." http://t.uani.com/AoMYVp
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Russia warned Israel not to attack Iran over its nuclear programme, saying on Wednesday that military action would have catastrophic consequences. 'Of course any possible military scenario against Iran will be catastrophic for the region and for the whole system of international relations,' Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said. 'Therefore I hope Israel understands all these consequences ... and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,' Gatilov said at a news conference." http://t.uani.com/vZc7lN
Bloomberg: "Oil fell from a nine-month high as signs of slowing demand in Europe and China countered concern that a conflict between Iran and Western nations may escalate and disrupt supplies from the Persian Gulf producer. Futures slipped as much as 0.6 percent in New York after an index based on a survey of euro-region purchasing managers unexpectedly declined, signaling a contraction. Manufacturing in China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, may shrink for a fourth month. Oil rose earlier after United Nations inspectors in Iran said they were denied access to a suspected nuclear- related military base." http://t.uani.com/xJXFvi
AP: "The Pentagon on Tuesday disputed reports that Iranian ships docked at a Syrian port over the weekend. Iranian state-run Press TV said Saturday that an Iranian navy destroyer and a supply ship had docked in the port of Tartus to provide training to ally Syria's naval forces, as Syria tries to crush the opposition movement. But Defense Department press secretary George Little said Tuesday the U.S. military saw no indication that the ships docked or delivered any cargo. Little said Tehran's ships went through the Suez Canal and now appear to be going back through the canal again." http://t.uani.com/yTvZXW
NYT: "China, Russia and Iran all made declarations of support for the Syrian government on Tuesday, reaffirming their alliances in the face of broad, intense international lobbying for unity against President Bashar al-Assad as his nearly yearlong crackdown on domestic opponents has sharpened against restive areas." http://t.uani.com/wePSYp
AP: "Piece by piece, the tools for an alleged Iranian-directed murder team were smuggled into Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. A sniper rifle with silencer. Pistols. Sixteen pieces of plastic explosives and detonators. Finally came a dossier with photos, names and exacting details - down to workplace drawings - for Israeli targets in the capital of Azerbaijan. Each step, according to authorities in Baku, was overseen by Iran's intelligence services for what could have been a stunning attack weeks before the suspected shadow war between Jerusalem and Tehran flared in Azerbaijan's neighbor Georgia and the megacities New Delhi and Bangkok." http://t.uani.com/zsuGhR
Opinion & Analysis
WSJ: "Is the Obama Administration more concerned that Iran may get a nuclear weapon, or that Israel may use military force to prevent Iran from doing so? The answer is the latter, judging from comments on Sunday by Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey. Appearing on CNN, General Dempsey sent precisely the wrong message if the main U.S. strategic goal is convincing Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. He said the U.S. is urging Israel not to attack Iran-because Iran hasn't decided to build a bomb, because an Israeli attack probably wouldn't set back Iran by more than a couple of years, and because it would invite retaliation and be "destabilizing" throughout the Middle East. 'That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran,' the General said, referring to a possible Iranian response to an attack. 'That's been our counsel to our allies, the Israelis. And we also know or believe we know that the Iranian regime has not decided that they will embark on the capability-or the effort to weaponize their nuclear capability.' In a single sound bite, General Dempsey managed to tell the Iranians they can breathe easier because Israel's main ally is opposed to an attack on Iran, such attack isn't likely to work in any case, and the U.S. fears Iran's retaliation. It's as if General Dempsey wanted to ratify Iran's rhetoric that the regime is a fearsome global military threat." http://t.uani.com/yEvsho
LAT: "The Obama administration is bluntly warning Israel about the danger of bombing Iran's nuclear facilities, but it is far from clear whether the allies are truly at odds over a core policy question or orchestrating an elaborate campaign to wring concessions from the Islamic Republic. ... Whether Israel really is considering an airstrike is far from clear. For one thing, Netanyahu does not appear to have convinced his security Cabinet or the military that bombing Iran is the proper course. ... To some, the mixed messages appear to be part of a grander strategy. 'It's a shell game in which the Europeans play the 'good cop,' the U.S. is the "bad cop" and Israel is the "crazy cop,"' said Cameron Brown, international affairs columnist for the Jerusalem Post. 'The idea is to appear so irrational that you scare the other side into making concessions. It's a strategy Israel has used for a long time.'" http://t.uani.com/wEPgJB
NYT: "The United States has now endured what by some measures is the longest period of war in its history, with more than 6,300 American troops killed and 46,000 wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ultimate costs estimated at $3 trillion. Both wars lasted far longer than predicted. The outcomes seem disappointing and uncertain. So why is there already a new whiff of gunpowder in the air? Talk of war over Iran's nuclear program has reached a strident pitch in recent weeks, as Israel has escalated threats of a possible strike, the oratory of American politicians has become more bellicose and Iran has responded for the most part defiantly. With Israel and Iran exchanging accusations of assassination plots, some analysts see a danger of blundering into a war that would inevitably involve the United States. Echoes of the period leading up to the Iraq war in 2003 are unmistakable, igniting a familiar debate over whether journalists are overstating Iran's progress toward a bomb. Yet there is one significant difference: by contrast with 2003, when the Bush administration portrayed Iraq as an imminent threat, Obama administration officials and intelligence professionals seem eager to calm the feverish language. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a CNN interview on Sunday that the United States had advised Israel that a strike now would be "destabilizing," adding that Iran had not yet decided whether to build a weapon. And American officials are weighing an Iranian offer to renew nuclear talks as a stream of threats from Tehran continued on Tuesday and international nuclear inspectors reported their mission to Iran had failed. Still, unforeseen events can create their own momentum." http://t.uani.com/yHA9f7
Atlantic: "This academic discussion has direct relevance to the ongoing policy debate over Iran, and whether Israel, the United States, or some combination of states should use preemptive military force against the regime's suspected nuclear weapons program. We cannot ask the Iranian government directly what they would do with a bomb, because it continues to maintain that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful for the purposes of producing nuclear power and medical diagnostic isotopes. Nevertheless, as President Obama stated recently, it is U.S. policy 'to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race, a nuclear arms race, in a volatile region.' To explore this issue further, I asked several international relations and security studies scholars who have extensively researched and written on the topic of nuclear proliferation to contribute their thoughts on the impact of a potential Iranian nuclear weapon. Specifically, I asked: 'If the international community believed--through testing or intelligence estimates--that Iran possessed a nuclear weapon, what impact would the bomb have on Iranian foreign policy?'" http://t.uani.com/xjFGcc |
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