| For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.
Top Stories
FP: "A new set of sanctions against Iran is pending in the Senate, but the Obama administration refuses to say whether or not it supports the legislation as negotiations with Tehran resume. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said today that he still intends to move as soon as possible to pass the Johnson-Shelby Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Human Rights Act of 2012, named for Finance Committee heads Sens. Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), that was approved by the committee in February. The bill would pile on more punitive measures against Iran's energy, shipping, and mining sectors, while punishing a broader range of Iranian government officials for their involvement in human rights violations. Before the latest Senate recess, Reid attempted to pass the bill by unanimous consent, but Republicans objected because several senators want to offer amendments to strengthen the bill. Lawmakers from both chambers and both sides of the aisle want the bill to go through the regular legislative process so that changes can be made before passage, but Reid says the bill should be passed as is. Reid told reporters today that his staff would be meeting today 'to see if something could be worked out,' regarding a way forward for the legislation. (After the meeting, a Reid spokesman told The Cable that 'nothing' was worked out at today's meeting and there is no definitive schedule for moving ahead with the bill.)" http://t.uani.com/IQ1g1A
Reuters: "Iran's oil buyers in Europe are progressively cutting volumes in advance of a European Union ban on Iran crude from July 1 and have reduced their April purchases by 75,000 barrels per day (bpd), industry sources said on Wednesday. Tehran in 2011 supplied more than 500,000 bpd to the EU plus 200,000 bpd to Turkey. Its supply to the EU fell to about 425,000 bpd in March and is down a further 75,000 bpd in April, according to industry sources and Reuters calculations... Hellenic Petroleum of Greece has halted purchases, a company source said on April 3. Royal Dutch Shell has scaled back its buying of Iranian crude into Europe from around 100,000 bpd in 2011, industry sources said... Top Spanish oil refiner Repsol has stopped importing crude from Iran and has replaced most of that supply with Saudi Arabian oil, a company spokesman said on April 10." http://t.uani.com/HXZOaC
NYT: "The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, a top nuclear scientist who narrowly avoided an assassination attempt less than two years ago, has been given a new post as the commander for nuclear and radioactive emergencies, the Iranian military announced Tuesday. The appointment of the scientist, Fereydoon Abbasi, was the second time in less than a week that he had made news in relation to Iran's disputed nuclear energy program, the subject of renewed negotiations between Iran and six world powers. A few days before those negotiations in Istanbul last weekend, he was widely quoted in Iran's state-run press as suggesting a compromise was possible on the question of Iran's production of enriched uranium, a central issue in the nuclear dispute." http://t.uani.com/HQkcsK
Nuclear Program & Sanctions The Hill: "Senate Republicans said they were unimpressed by the Iranian nuclear negotiations over the weekend, saying the talks with six world powers were merely buying more time for Iran to continue enriching uranium. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) mocked the negotiations, which European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, the lead negotiator for six world powers, had called 'constructive.' 'I think it's a wonderful turn of events. Now they're talking and then they're going to talk some more,' McCain told reporters sarcastically Tuesday. 'I am exuberant actually that they are going to talk some more.' McCain said it was tough to see how the talks would accomplish anything beyond 'a stalling tactic on the part of the Iranians.'" http://t.uani.com/HQlofX
Bloomberg: "Turkey's exports to Iran have fallen 20 percent this year and the cost of imported oil has soared after sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Turkey's Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said. The economic cost 'is borne by Turkey,' not just by Iran, Caglayan told reporters today in Washington, when asked whether sanctions on Iran's trade are the best way to rein in the nuclear ambitions of Turkey's eastern neighbor. 'Other countries pay the price of sanctions, too.' ... Turkey was the sixth-largest importer of Iranian crude during the first half of 2011, buying 182,000 barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. In that period, Turkey accounted for 7 percent of Iran's oil exports, according to the U.S. data." http://t.uani.com/IxWORT
Reuters: "Engen has turned to top oil exporter Saudi Aramco for additional crude after South Africa's biggest buyer of Iranian crude halted imports from the Islamic Republic, trade sources said on Wednesday. Engen, majority owned by Malaysian national oil company Petronas, will replace about half of the Iranian volumes with Saudi supplies and the remaining will be filled up from the spot market, mainly from West Africa, the sources said. The refiner suspended an annual contract for 50,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude in March, joining a growing list of buyers bowing to Western pressure to cut business dealings with Tehran to isolate the country." http://t.uani.com/HRVWfj
AP: "The Swiss government has extended its financial sanctions against Iran by freezing the assets of 11 more companies and people but decided not to take any action against Tehran's central bank, officials said Wednesday. The action against an additional eight companies and three individuals was carried out Tuesday and 'brings Switzerland largely in line with the restrictive measures' the European Union adopted in January, the Swiss Cabinet said. The move aims to pressure Iran to comply with U.N. demands over its controversial nuclear program. But an exception to the EU's measures 'was made for the Iranian Central Bank, upon which sanctions have not be imposed, due to its importance for the Iranian economy,' the Swiss government said." http://t.uani.com/HSJ86B
Reuters: "Japan will slash its crude purchases from Iran by almost 80 percent in April compared to the first two months of the year as buyers comply with Western sanctions, trade sources said. The cuts, amounting to 250,000 barrels per day, are the steepest yet by the four Asian nations who buy most of Iran's 2.2 million bpd of exports, as tightening sanctions make it tough to pay, ship and insure the oil... Sources said top importer Showa Shell had reduced the volume of oil it will import from Iran under an annual deal the company renewed in April. One source said the cuts may range between 15 percent to 20 percent from last year's 100,000 bpd contract, but exact details were not available. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, Japan's biggest oil refiner, has not renewed a contract to buy 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude, which expired in March. JX has another contract for 80,000 bpd of crude from Iran, which was renewed in January." http://t.uani.com/IYZQTR
Bloomberg: "Following is a table of the status of Iran's oil-tanker fleet according to the most recent signals from the vessels captured by IHS Inc. Very large crude carriers can carry about 2 million barrels, Suezmaxes hold half as much, and Aframaxes haul about 600,000 barrels. NITC, Iran's biggest tanker company, has a fleet able to haul about 70 million barrels." http://t.uani.com/IQa7Aw
Human Rights
Toronto Star: "The Canadian government, and Hamid Ghassemi-Shall's family, are in a race against time to save the Toronto shoe salesman from execution in Iran. 'I am very glad the Prime Minister has spoken out on this dreadful situation,' said his wife, Antonella Mega. 'It is an indication that Canada will not (just) stand by.' Mega learned of her husband's imminent execution Sunday during a phone call with Ghassemi-Shall, who has been in Evin Prison since he was arrested on espionage charges in May 2008 during a visit to his elderly mother. Now, an official had told him that he was awaiting an 'order' from the Tehran prosecutor." http://t.uani.com/IlDd8k
Domestic Politics
Times of Israel: "In an extraordinary act of civil dissent, captured in a clip uploaded on YouTube, Iranian citizens in the southern city of Bandar-Abbas rushed into the path of a car carrying Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a visit to the city and confronted him to complain about their economic plight. In the footage, an elderly man is shown at the side of the car, shouting 'I'm hungry, I'm hungry,' as Ahmadinejad's panicked bodyguards try to drown him out. The president had been waving to the crowds, standing in the car's sunroof. Then, a young black-clad woman clambers aboard the president's vehicle, and sits down on the roof - inches from him. She complains to him about economic hardships; he listens, then apparently tells her to move on, and she disappears behind him." http://t.uani.com/JFMUfH
Foreign Affairs
AFP: "The United States on Tuesday urged Iran to enter talks with the United Arab Emirates over Gulf territorial disputes as it criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for visiting a contested island. The firebrand Iranian president visited Abu Musa island and declared that historical documents proved 'the Persian Gulf is Persian,' triggering a protest by the United Arab Emirates and condemnation by other Gulf Arab monarchies. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States supported 'a peaceful resolution' over the three islands and backed the UAE call for the issue to be resolved through talks or at the International Court of Justice." http://t.uani.com/I5QqTC
Opinion & Analysis
Claudia Rosett in Forbes: "With sanctions bearing down on Iran, the Iranian shipping industry has been putting on a carnival of flim-flam to hide its doings. In the latest twist on this sanctions-dodging performance, Iran's oil tankers have begun vanishing from the public radar, making it harder to track what they are doing with the oil that helps sustain Iran's proliferation prone regime. The ships themselves are still out there somewhere. But, as Reuters reported last week, they have been turning off their onboard vessel tracking systems, which, as required by the International Maritime Organization, are meant to report where they are. Presto! - in recent weeks, Iranian oil tankers have been disappearing from the publicly visible global grid. That's quite an act of prestidigitation, given that Iran fields one of the world's biggest tanker fleets, owned by an Iranian company called NITC - formerly the National Iranian Tanker Company. Of 39 vessels in the fleet listed on NITC's web site, data from the IHS Fairplay shipping information service shows that as of April 14, well over half had stopped reporting their locations. That makes this a terrific moment to focus on the magician behind this stealth tanker fleet, NITC itself. Unlike Iran's fleet of bulk and container carriers linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), NITC is not under any sanctions, at least not yet. The U.S. Congress has been working on a new round of Iran sanctions legislation, that would target NITC, along with Iran's state-owned National Iranian Oil Company. NITC officials have been protesting that their company is a thoroughly professional private enterprise, simply going about its business, with no connection to Iran's regime. In a 'Chairman's Message' on the NITC web site, NITC's chairman and chief executive officer, Hamid Behbahani, states that NITC is '100% privately owned, respects all international conventions' and 'By no means have we had any link, direct or indirect, with any political or military organizations.' With dazzling indifference to the realities of NITC's own disappearing tankers, Behbahani also states that NITC 'emphasizes its commitment to transparency as far as operations are concerned.' The stealth fleet is not the first vanishing act related to NITC. For the first two decades of Iran's 33-year-old Islamic regime, NITC operated as a state-owned enterprise, a subsidiary of the state oil company, NIOC. Then, in 2000, NITC was officially 'privatized.' Presto! The official links to Iran's regime disappeared. It became a private Iranian company that simply happens to ship huge quantities of Iranian oil to fill the coffers of Iran's regime. As sanctions have pushed Iran out of the global financial system, forcing it toward barter deals of oil for goods and services, some of these tankers have been spotted doubling as oil storage facilities. That's a practice not unknown in the oil industry, but in the case of Iran's efforts to dodge sanctions it should be of special interest. In effect, tankers can double as mobile bank accounts." http://t.uani.com/I4iKlI
David Ignatius in WashPost: "The nuclear talks with Iran have just begun, but already the smart money in Tehran is betting on a deal. That piece of intelligence comes from the Tehran stock index; the day after the talks opened, it posted its largest daily rise in months and closed at a record high. Tehran investors may be guilty of wishful thinking in their eagerness for an agreement that would ease the economic sanctions squeezing their country. My guess is that they probably have it right. So far, Iran is following the script for a gradual, face-saving exit from a nuclear program that even Russia and China have signaled is too dangerous. The Iranians will bargain up to the edge of the cliff, but they don't seem eager to jump. The mechanics of an eventual settlement are clear enough after Saturday's first session in Istanbul: Iran would agree to stop enriching uranium to the 20 percent level and to halt work at an underground facility near Qom built for higher enrichment. Iran would export its stockpile of highly enriched uranium for final processing to 20 percent, for use in medical isotopes. In the language of these talks, the Iranians could describe their actions not as concessions to the West but as 'confidence-building' measures, aimed at demonstrating the seriousness of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's public pledge in February not to commit the 'grave sin' of building a nuclear weapon. And the West would describe its easing of sanctions not as a climb down but as 'reciprocity.' The basic framework was set weeks ago, in an exchange of letters between the chief negotiators. Catherine Ashton, who represents the 'P5+1' group of permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany, proposed a 'confidence-building exercise aimed at facilitating a constructive dialogue on the basis of reciprocity and a step-by-step approach.' The Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, responded that because the West was willing to recognize Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy, 'our talks for cooperation based on step-by-step principles and reciprocity on Iran's nuclear issue could be commenced.' Jalili's status as personal representative of the supreme leader was important, too. 'Step-by-step' and 'reciprocity' are the two guideposts for this exercise. They mark a dignified process for making concessions, much like the formula that President Obama used in his January 2009 inaugural address when he first signaled his outreach to Iran: 'We seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.'" http://t.uani.com/HPGgZg
Ray Takeyh in IHT: "As Iran and the West resume their diplomatic dance, questions about Iran's internal stability loom large. To many, it appears that Iran has achieved an autocratic stability, with the mullahs having vanquished the once-popular Green Movement. The recent parliamentary elections are acclaimed by the theocracy and curiously welcomed by many in the international community who hope that a resurrected Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, will now focus on mending ties with his global detractors. Such a reading of Iran's politics belies an understanding of its turbulent history. The postwar history of Iran reveals a perennial struggle between successive social movements seeking emancipation and accountability, and despotic governments uneasily resting their power on repression. The dream of dictatorial stability has always eluded Iran's rulers, whether monarchs or Islamists, as they have confronted a populace with an undaunted spirit of dissent. That spirit is bound to resurface, bedeviling Iran's politics and complicating its diplomatic path... Like the dynasty it displaced, the Islamic Republic has been bedeviled by dissent. By the early 1990s, an eclectic group of politicians, seminary leaders, religious scholars and intellectuals undertook an imaginative reexamination of the role of public participation in an Islamic government. The challenge of the reformers was to reconcile two competing demands: On the one side was Islam with its holistic pretensions; on the other side was political modernity with its democratic claims. In essence, the reformers claimed that these two realms were not incompatible in principle or practice. This was a remarkable rebuke to totalitarian Islam, which was increasingly serving as the regime's ideology. The odyssey of the reform movement is as familiar as it is tragic, as President Mohammad Khatami and his allies ultimately failed to adjust the parameters of Iran's Islamist rule. However, the guardians of theocracy could not rest easily, as the reformers quickly gave way to an even more robust Green Movement. In many ways, the Green Movement is a descendent and successor of all the previous political coalitions that have sought to liberalize Iran. The regime, to be sure, has managed to regain control of the streets through brute force, show trials and repression. However, what is important is that the Green Movement severed the essential link between state and society. For long, the Islamic Republic sought to present itself as different from typical Middle East autocracies, because its electoral procedures provided it with a veneer of legitimacy. That legitimacy, along with the republican pillar of the state, has evaporated. For now, the Islamic Republic endures. The mixture of strident nationalism and Islamism that has guided its foreign policy for the past three decades remains intact. But beneath the facade of order and stability the clerical state continues to face a deep crisis of legitimacy. It is impossible to predict whether the Green Movement will revive. But whatever its fate, history suggests that another social movement is lurking around the corner, ready to challenge the clerics." http://t.uani.com/HT8O3K
Golnaz Esfandiari in Radio Farda: "Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last say in all state matters, has spoken out publicly against nuclear weapons. In a March meeting with nuclear scientists, Khamenei said that Iran considers the possession of nuclear weapons to be a sin and that the country would not pursue them. Iranian media have also reported that Khamenei issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, against such weapons. But amid escalating tensions with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, which the country's leaders insist is for peaceful purposes, the reported fatwa is being scrutinized anew. Will the alleged ban hold up in practice and under all circumstances? Can the fatwa be reversed? Those questions are being debated by analysts in the West, but also among regime supporters inside Iran. Teribon.ir, a hard-line Iranian website, recently asked, 'Aren't nuclear weapons needed to preserve the Islamic establishment?' The website was referring to comments made by the founder of the Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruollah Khomeini, who said that preserving the Islamic establishment is an obligation that supersedes all others. 'If regional and international conditions become such that Iran will find it necessary to build nonconventional weapons for its own survival,' Teribon.ru asked, 'would it be permissible to build nuclear weapons?' An Iranian cleric and researcher, Hojatoleslam Hossein Ali Salmanian, who was interviewed by the website, suggested that nuclear weapons cannot function as a tool for the preservation of the Iranian establishment. 'Nuclear weapons will also threaten us. It is likely that they will lead to the death of people in the Islamic republic and elsewhere in the world. They won't help at all to preserve our establishment,' said the cleric. He noted that a nuclear weapons capability did not prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. 'What if [Iran] is attacked in a way that it has no choice but to use nuclear weapons?' Teribon.ru asked in a follow-up question. Some observers have warned that an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities could lead the country to pursue nuclear weapons, prompting a reversal of Khamenei's ruling. Salmanian responded by saying he didn't believe the United States or Israel would use nuclear weapons against Iran in the event of a military conflict. As far as the West is concerned, Khamenei's alleged fatwa clearly has not erased fears that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/IQfoYO |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment