Eye on Iran: IMF Pressured to Suspend Iran, Close Account

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Bloomberg: "A New York-based advocacy group that has pressured companies and organizations to halt business with Iran because of its disputed nuclear program is urging the International Monetary Fund to close its account at Iran's central bank and suspend Iran as a member. Mark Wallace, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, a group whose founders include current and former administration officials, has sent a letter to IMF managing director Christine Lagarde criticizing the IMF's relationship with Iran, according to a copy provided to Bloomberg. Iran's central bank, also known as Bank Markazi, has been sanctioned by the U.S. and the European Union. Wallace's group is attempting to open a new front in efforts to isolate Iran and pressure it to give up its uranium enrichment activities and to cooperate more fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IMF's chief spokesman, William Murray, said the Fund isn't violating any laws and is following its normal rules toward member nations. 'We call on the IMF to suspend Iran from its membership in the IMF, and, if it refuses to comply with its international treaty obligations, then it should expel Iran from membership,' Wallace, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, said in an interview." http://t.uani.com/IEbJMo JPost: "Foreign automakers are supporting the regime in Iran by offering state-owned companies access to advanced technologies that are often used for the Islamic Republic's military and security apparatus, a US-based pressure group has warned. United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI), which this month ramped up its campaign to get foreign automakers out of Iran, says that Fiat, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Renault, Suzuki, Toyota and Volvo either export to the Islamic Republic or have manufacturing agreements with car companies controlled by the regime. Iran's domestic auto industry is the regime's second most lucrative after oil and gas, and has boomed over the past decade-and-a-half, as the Islamic Republic deemed it a priority industry... European and Asian automakers, including Renault and Fiat, have a large presence in the country, mostly through joint ventures with state-owned Iranian companies, who manufacture vehicles under license, usually by assembling imported ready made car parts. However, UANI has accused foreign car manufacturers of aiding the regime by partnering with the Islamic Republic's auto sector, by providing an enormous source of revenue, including directly to companies controlled by both the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO), both of which are sanctioned by the US and EU." http://t.uani.com/KCDjM4 AFP: "Egyptian security services foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Cairo, the legal advisor of the kingdom's embassy said in local dailies on Tuesday. Egypt 'arrested three Iranians planning to assassinate the ambassador, Ahmed Qattan,' Al-Hayat quoted Sami Jamal as saying. 'Egyptian authorities informed concerned parties at the Saudi foreign ministry of the details of the plot, but the Saudi side opted to keep silent on the matter,' Jamal said. The arrests were made three months ago." http://t.uani.com/ImnRn3      Nuclear Program  & Sanctions  NYT: "The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, said Monday night that the international talks on the Iranian nuclear program do 'not fill me with confidence,' reiterating his hard-line position about all options - including an independent Israeli attack - remaining on the table, despite mounting criticism from the security establishment here and a growing sense abroad that a diplomatic solution may be possible. 'They say in the Middle East a pessimist is simply an optimist with experience,' Mr. Barak said in a speech to about 100 members of the Foreign Press Association at the King David Hotel. Acknowledging that a military strike was 'not simple' and would be 'complicated by certain risks,' he said that a 'radical Islamic Republic of Iran with nuclear weapons would be far more dangerous both for the region and, indeed, the whole world.' 'Israel cannot afford to be duped,' he added. 'The No. 1 responsibility is to ensure that our fate will remain firmly in our own hands.'" http://t.uani.com/IOxs1G Reuters: "Indian state-run insurers have agreed to give limited cover to local ships for carrying Iranian oil, helping the energy-hungry country import reduced volumes from sanctions-hit Tehran from July, a Shipping Corp of India director said on Tuesday. 'We have in writing from General Insurance Corp that it and four other insurers will provide a cover of $50 million to Indian flag carriers per Iranian voyage,' Sunil Thapar of Shipping Corp of India, the country's largest shipping firm with a fleet of 29 crude carriers, told Reuters. Tough new European Union sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's oil trade also ban EU insurers and re-insurers from indemnifying ships carrying Iranian crude from July." http://t.uani.com/K01z9b WSJ: "The Obama administration is intensifying its scrutiny of Lebanon's financial system out of suspicion it is being used by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah to evade sanctions and fund their activity, the Wall Street Journal reported late last week. Beirut and Washington have been working over the past 14 months to impose sanctions and close banks, but the U.S. Treasury Department and Drug Enforcement Administration are continuing a probe into an alleged Hezbollah-linked money laundering operation, the Journal reported, citing U.S. officials." http://t.uani.com/JzmdNI Reuters: "Idemitsu Kosan Co, Japan's third-largest refiner, has not yet decided what to do with its annual term oil purchase deal with Iran from April as its contractual volumes are only around 1 percent of its total purchases, a company executive said on Tuesday. The company has not lifted Iran crude since it last bought in January 2011, Shunichi Kito, the company's Executive Officer told Reuters. Idemitsu is estimated to have a term Iranian crude contract worth about 7,000 barrels per day in the financial year that ended in March, but company officials have declined to comment... Japan's top buyer of Iranian crude, Showa Shell Sekiyu KK , and Cosmo Oil have already renewed their term deals to lift Iranian crude from April, industry sources have said." http://t.uani.com/IST6oF Commerce Bloomberg: "Iran and Venezuela signed an agreement valued at $130 million to build an oil-platform facility in the South American country, Tehran Times reported, citing an Iranian Offshore Engineering and Construction Co. official.  Transferring equipment from Iran to Venezuela is one of the project's main challenges, said Amir Saeed Najafi Haghi, the managing director's deputy for projects affairs. He gave no further details about the plan, according to the newspaper." http://t.uani.com/KomNu8 Domestic Politics Bloomberg: "The Iranian government asked for $2 billion in basic commodities to be stocked up ahead of subsidy reforms in the Persian Gulf nation, Mehr reported, citing officials. Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said $2 billion was allocated for the stocking up of 'essential' goods, the state-run news agency said in a report on its website today. Iran's Industries, Mines and Commerce Ministry received an order to start stocking up essential and sensitive items, an unidentified ministry official had earlier told Mehr, according to the report. Rice, cooking oil, sugar, red meat, chicken meat and corn are among the commodities listed, the person said." http://t.uani.com/JzljRs  Foreign Affairs NYT: "For Iranians, whose country's borders have shrunk in the past 200 years after wars and unfavorable deals by corrupt shahs, territorial issues are a delicate matter. So a renewed claim by the United Arab Emirates to the tiny island of Abu Musa in the Persian Gulf has touched a raw nerve. But many here say that may just be the point. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his reactionary agenda tend to be unpopular among the urban middle classes, but he is enjoying a rare surge of support even in those inhospitable quarters in the growing dispute with Iran's Persian Gulf neighbors - one that he touched off by making a surprise visit to the island last month, a first by an Iranian president.  Other Iranian politicians have rushed to embrace the controversy, aware of how it is playing at home." http://t.uani.com/KooY0L AP: "Iran's defense minister said Monday that the deployment of American military stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates will damage regional security, the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi's comments were the first official reaction to media reports of the recent deployment by the U.S. military of F-22 Raptors to the UAE's Al Dafra Air Base. The base has long hosted U.S. warplanes. 'Basing American F-22 in an Emirate's base is a harmful action and damages regional security,' Gen. Vahidi was quoted as saying." http://t.uani.com/IkGmok 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 media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with 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 nuclear weapons.