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Top Stories
LA Times:
"Iranian officials expressed skepticism Saturday about possible
Obama administration support for allowing the country to continue
enriching some uranium but said it could be a good start for further
negotiations on its disputed nuclear program. Senior U.S. officials have
said they might agree to let Iran enrich uranium up to 5% purity if its
government agreed to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and
numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded. If the
deal was offered by all six nations negotiating with Iran and the U.N.'s
International Atomic Energy Agency, 'it would be a good start,' said one
official in Iran's Foreign Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
... 'One thing I can tell you for sure is that Iran will never, ever
close down the Fordow nuclear site,' the official said, referring to the
enrichment plant. 'But other issues such as 20% enrichment is open to
negotiation. I can say Obama's proposal is good provided it is
unanimously echoed.'" http://t.uani.com/JVv6Ui
Reuters:
"China is considering sovereign guarantees for its ships to enable
the world's second-biggest oil consumer to continue importing Iranian
crude after new EU sanctions come into effect in July, the head of
China's shipowners' association said. Tough new European Union sanctions
aimed at stopping Iran's oil exports to Europe also ban EU insurers and
reinsurers from covering tankers carrying Iranian crude anywhere in the
world. Around 90 percent of the world's tanker insurance is based in the
West, so the measures threaten shipments to Iran's top Asian buyers
China, India, Japan and South Korea. Global crude oil prices have risen
nearly 20 percent since October, partly on fears over supply disruptions
from Iran.'(Ship) operators are worried that if the insurance issue
cannot be resolved, they will not be able to take orders for shipping
Iranian oil any longer,' Zhang Shouguo, secretary general of China
Shipowners' Association, told Reuters in a rare interview with foreign
media.'We have put forward our concern and related government departments
are studying the issue.'" http://t.uani.com/IOztxZ
NYT:
"After a winter of alarm over the possibility that a military
conflict over the Iranian nuclear program might be imminent, American
officials and outside analysts now believe that the chances of war in the
near future have significantly decreased. They cite a series of factors
that, for now, argue against a conflict. The threat of tighter economic
sanctions has prompted the Iranians to try more flexible tactics in their
dealings with the United States and other powers, while the revival of
direct negotiations has tempered the most inflammatory talk on all sides.
A growing divide in Israel between political leaders and military and
intelligence officials over the wisdom of attacking Iran has begun to
surface. And the White House appears determined to prevent any
confrontation that could disrupt world oil markets in an election year.
'I do think the temperature has cooled,' an Obama administration official
said this week." http://t.uani.com/IA498o
Nuclear
Program
Reuters: "The United Nations
nuclear watchdog confirmed on Saturday it will resume talks with Iran in
mid-May, more than two months after the last meeting over concerns about
the Islamic state's atomic activities ended in failure. Gill Tudor,
spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the
meeting would take place on May 14-15 at the Iranian diplomatic mission
in Vienna.'The purpose is to continue the negotiations started early this
year,' Tudor said in an email." http://t.uani.com/Klw1ax
NYT:
"The recently retired chief of Israel's internal security agency
accused the government of 'misleading the public' about the likely
effectiveness of an aerial strike on Iran's nuclear facilities,
ratcheting up the criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Ehud Barak from the country's security establishment.
Yuval Diskin, who retired last year as the director of Shin Bet, the
Israeli equivalent of the F.B.I., said at a public forum on Friday night
that he had 'no faith' in the ability of the current leadership to handle
the Iranian nuclear threat. 'I don't believe in a leadership that makes
decisions based on messianic feelings,' he told a gathering in Kfar Saba,
a central Israeli city of 80,000. 'I have observed them from up close,'
he added, broadening his critique to include the handling of the
Palestinian conflict as well. 'I fear very much that these are not the
people I'd want at the wheel.'" http://t.uani.com/Klvjdr
JPost:
"Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan on Sunday gave his support to former
Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director Yuval Diskin, who said Friday
that he has no confidence in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and
Defense Minister Ehud Barak abilities to conduct a war. Speaking on the
sidelines of The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Dagan said Diskin
was speaking his 'internal truth' and called him a good friend and a
serious person." http://t.uani.com/IJ9G7f
Sanctions
Times of Israel:
"Earlier this month, New York City unveiled its 'Taxi of Tomorrow,'
a new Nissan cab specially designed for the unique challenges of
Manhattan streets. That $1 billion contract, however, is now in jeopardy
thanks in large part to New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who
has been sounding the alarm about Nissan's business in Iran. ... One of
his office's current initiatives is called the Iran Watch List - a
partnership with two local groups, Iran 180 and United Against Nuclear
Iran (UANI), who support strong sanctions against the Islamic Republc.
The campaign aims to create a grassroots social media campaign that
pressures 13 major carmakers to stop doing business in Iran. Already,
Porsche and Hyundai have pulled out of the Iranian market. Others still
selling vehicles to Tehran include Toyota, Volvo, Mitsubishi, Fiat,
Mazda, and Nissan. With the billion dollar Nissan-New York City contract
pending, de Blasio has the Japanese carmaker in his crosshairs. The Times
of Israel asked the New York City Public Advocate to explain more about
this campaign." http://t.uani.com/JLpFGl
WSJ:
"Prospects have dimmed that major oil consumers in Europe, the U.S.
and Asia will drive down prices this summer by collectively making a
large injection into the market from emergency oil stockpiles. Such
action, coordinated by the International Energy Agency, looked to be
gathering momentum just a month ago following comments from the U.S.,
U.K. and French government officials. But it has lost some of its
political traction and much of its justification, given that supply is up
and prices are down without any moves by western governments. Analysts at
the IEA are more confident of adequate oil supply later this year after
months of high crude production from Saudi Arabia that will offset any
cut in Iranian exports because of the sanctions." http://t.uani.com/IMZ0rs
Commerce
Bloomberg:
"Iran's National Petrochemical Co. plans to borrow from local banks
some of the $50 billion it needs to develop 60 projects by the end of
2015, the Oil Ministry's news website Shana reported. The state-run
company seeks to broaden its output to 85 products from the current 25
and wants to build production hubs in the northeastern city of Sarakhs,
the port of Chabahar, and the Persian Gulf islands of Lavan, Qeshm and
Kish, Managing Director Abdolhossein Bayat said in the report today. Iran
is trying to expand petrochemicals-making capacity to 51 million metric
tons a year in 2015. State media last year said output was about 4
million tons. Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries, faces economic sanctions over its
nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/IOsovO
Bloomberg:
"South Africa imported 3.37 billion rand ($435 million) of crude oil
from Iran in March, nearly doubling its purchases from the Middle Eastern
nation in the same period last year, according to the country's tax
authority. South African crude imports totaled 11 billion rand in March,
with 30% of shipments coming from Iran, the Pretoria- based South African
Revenue Service said in an e-mailed statement today. Nigeria was the
biggest supplier in the month with 40 percent. Saudi Arabia accounted for
22 percent and the rest came from Angola. South Africa imported no crude
from Iran in January, and imports totaled 2.8 billion rand in February.
Imports amounted to 1.73 billion rand in March last year. U.S. President
Barack Obama signed a law on Dec. 31 that denies foreign banks that do
business with the Central Bank of Iran access to that country's financial
system. The U.S. may impose penalties should a country not make
'significant' reductions in Iranian crude oil purchases in the first half
of this year." http://t.uani.com/IgPQQj
Bloomberg:
"Iran discovered 'one of the biggest natural gas fields in the
Middle East,' with reserves comparable to those of the South Pars field,
Mehr reported, citing an industry official. The gas was found in
southwestern Khuzestan province at a deposit already known to contain
crude oil, said National Iranian Oil Co. Director for Exploration Mahmoud
Mohaddes, according to the state-run news agency. A 5000-meter (16,400-
foot) well will be drilled 'soon' to collect further information, he
said." http://t.uani.com/Iz54pK
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Wary
of Iran and regional protest movements, Gulf Arab states are pushing
ahead with plans for a political union that would involve joint foreign
and defense policies, the Saudi foreign minister said in a speech at the
weekend. ... Shi'ite-led unrest is resurging in Bahrain a year after the
ruling Al Khalifa family brought in Saudi and United Arab Emirates troops
to help suppress an uprising seen by Gulf rulers as sectarian in nature
and driven by Shi'ite giant Iran. A visit this month by Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the island of Abu Musa, also claimed by the United
Arab Emirates as its own, has stoked the concern of conservative Gulf
Arabs about Iranian influence in the oil-exporting region." http://t.uani.com/JVyQVR
Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty: "Iran has denounced the April
28 burning of copies of the Koran by U.S. pastor Terry Jones in the state
of Florida. A statement issued by Iran's Foreign Ministry on April 29
called the act 'insulting and provocative' and urged the United States to
apologize to the Muslim World. Jones burned the Korans and a depiction of
the Prophet Mohammed to protest the imprisonment in Iran of Christian
pastor Youcef Nadarkhani." http://t.uani.com/Ih8lFf
AP:
"A prominent Iranian lawmaker says the reported basing of America's
most sophisticated stealth jet fighters in the United Arab Emirates is a
U.S.-Israel plot to create regional instability. Kazem Jalali was
reacting to media reports of the recent deployment of F-22 Raptors at the
UAE's Al Dafra Air Base, which has long hosted U.S. warplanes. The
deployment was first reported in the journal Aviation Week, but U.S. and
UAE officials have not publicly commented." http://t.uani.com/Iy7W4T
Opinion &
Analysis
John Bolton in
WSJ: "Mr. Obama's real failure is not reliance
on the cumbersome, ineffective U.N., but his unwillingness to confront
Iran, which is determined to maintain Assad in office. Tehran has long
treated Syria as a satellite, part of its regional arc of influence that
includes terrorist Hezbollah, now politically and militarily dominant in
Lebanon. It is prepared to shed considerable Syrian blood to save Assad.
The Islamic Republic has supplied arms and financial assistance to the
Assad regime, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers are on the ground
in Syria aiding government forces. Mr. Obama knows that if he confronts
Iran directly in Syria, any chance will disappear for a negotiated
settlement to Iran's quest for nuclear weapons. While he should have long
ago understood that diplomacy will never persuade Iran to renounce its
objective of becoming a nuclear power, he has not. So despite Iran's
obvious role (backed by Russia and China) in defending Assad's brutality,
the president cannot bring himself to admit his Iran policy's futility.
And Mr. Obama is entirely unwilling to risk foreign adventures that might
imperil his re-election." http://t.uani.com/JLj1Qu
James Fallows in
The Atlantic: "A month ago my Atlantic colleague
Jeffrey Goldberg joined me for two rounds of Q-and-A about the heated
military rhetoric between Israel and Iran. My main question was whether
Prime Minister Netanyahu could really be serious in his threats to bomb
Iranian facilities if he thought that Iranian progress toward
nuclear-weapon capability has passed a 'point of no return' -- and that
the United States wasn't going to attack on its own. I phrased it that
way -- could he really be serious? -- because the judgments I had heard
from US and international military figures for nearly a decade had so
consistently indicated that this was not a plausible plan. A spasm, yes;
something that made either tactical or strategic sense, no. (I am aware
of the main counterargument: the claim from strike advocates that, even
if bombing Iran is a bad idea, Israel would have no choice about averting
an 'existential' threat.) Therefore I thought that at some level this had
to be bluff -- to force the U.S. toward a harder-line policy, to ramp up
international pressure, generally to move the options and terms of
argument in the direction Netanyahu preferred. You can read the previous
rounds, and Jeff Goldberg's explanation of why he thinks Netanyahu has
been in complete earnest, here: first, second, and third. A lot has
happened in this past month, and Jeff Goldberg has agreed that it's time
to continue the discussion. So here goes." http://t.uani.com/IDVDip
Stanley Weiss in
The Huffington Post: "This is a country that has a
middle class larger than the entire population of the United States --
and yet, despite ongoing controversy over India's poverty numbers, at
least 350 million Indians live on about 50 cents a day. Its population
includes roughly 160 million Muslims -- and yet, it is the world's
largest importer of Israeli weapons. And while U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said last year that the relationship between the U.S. and
India will shape the 21st century -- this 'true friend' of the U.S.
imports more oil from America's sworn enemy, Iran, than any other nation.
It is the issue of oil that has put India's unique friendship with the
U.S., Iran and Israel under an intense spotlight. Under a new U.S. law
designed to use oil to pressure Iran into ending a nuclear program that
Israel and the West believe is dangerous, countries that do not
significantly reduce their imports of Iranian oil by June 28 can be
denied access to the U.S. financial system. India, which imports roughly
10 percent of its oil from Iran, denounced the strong-armed tactics and
announced that it would not abide by the sanctions. Since then, Delhi has
devised creative new financing vehicles independent of Western banks to
help Indian refineries continue to engage Tehran. 'The mood in the U.S.
is turning into: you are either for us or against us,' the Indian Foreign
Secretary, H.E. Ranjan Mathai, told me in his office. 'The problem is
that the U.S. has made rules which complicate normal life. Some people
have to do their own calculations and we have to do ours.'" http://t.uani.com/IOz66D
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear
Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive
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discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a
commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own
interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of
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