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Top Stories
WSJ:
"Standard Chartered PLC has pulled out of Iran after decades of
having a presence, the latest bank to exit the lucrative market amid
mounting international pressure. The departure of the bank comes as
sanctions have forced most western banks to sever or downgrade ties with
Iran. Though Standard Chartered had signaled in 2007 it would stop taking
any new business in the Islamic Republic after coming under U.S.
pressure, it had continued to retain offices in Tehran and on the island
of Kish... Kristen Silverberg, the newly appointed president of New
York-based pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran, welcomed Standard
Chartered's decision to end its business in Iran. 'We call on other banks
around the world to follow Standard Chartered by pulling out of Iran, and
completely cut off the regime's access to international markets,' said Ms
Silverberg, a former U.S. ambassador to the European Union." http://t.uani.com/JfzRVX
NYT:
"Britain said Thursday that it was in talks with other European
Union members about possibly easing a provision of their Iran oil
embargo, set to begin in less than two months, that could cause harmful
and unintended side effects because it bans Europe-based insurers from
covering any ships that carry Iranian oil anywhere in the world. Such an
easing would most likely be welcomed by Iran as well as non-European
buyers of Iranian oil, and it could reduce a potential cause of spiking
oil prices. But advocates of aggressive sanctions against Iran argue that
it could also subvert the underlying purpose of pressuring Iran, a major
exporter of oil. Most of Iran's estimated 2.2 million barrels of daily
oil production goes to Asia... Proponents of the sanctions, reacting to a
possible delay in the insurance ban, were angry. 'Iran's economy is feeling
the impact of international sanctions, and it is now time to not only
keep that pressure on, but increase it,' Mark D. Wallace, the chief
executive of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York-based advocacy
group, said in a statement. 'The regime will not change course due to
half measures.'" http://t.uani.com/JF7ZLz
WSJ:
"Iranian crude oil exports fell sharply again in April and could be
down by as much as one million barrels a day this quarter as many
countries reduce imports ahead of sanctions that come into effect on July
1, the International Energy Agency said Friday. Iran's oil production
remained steady at 3.3 million barrels a day in April, but 15% to 25% of
that oil wasn't sold and had to be pumped into floating tanker storage,
the IEA said, a process the country could continue for a couple of months
before filling its storage and having to shut down fields, according to
David Fyfe, head of the IEA's oil markets division. This fresh data from
the IEA, which represents the interests of major energy-consuming rich
countries, shows how the economic pressure of Western sanctions is
ratcheting up ahead of crucial talks on Iran's nuclear program in Baghdad
later this month." http://t.uani.com/J339tL
Nuclear
Program & Sanctions
Reuters: "A top U.S. Treasury
official said on Thursday that he was skeptical that Iran could find an
alternative payment system to its central bank, which is the target of
U.S. sanctions aimed at depriving Tehran of funds needed to develop its
nuclear program. 'It's fair to say that we are going to be very skeptical
about efforts to develop alternative payment methods,' David Cohen,
Treasury's Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said
at an event in Washington. 'Our presumption going in is anyone buying oil
from Iran is ultimately paying the central bank of Iran, even if there is
some intermediary step,' he told the Center for Strategic and
International Studies think-tank." http://t.uani.com/LwdOKo
Reuters:
"European shipowners could violate impending EU sanctions against
Iran without even knowing it every time they set sail, leaving them
vulnerable to being blacklisted, the managing director of leading
industry group Intertanko said on Friday. Vessels ranging from tankers to
dry bulk vessels to containers run the risk of falling foul of the
sanctions every time they refuel, because fuel from various origins -
including Iran - are blended at trading hubs, Katharina Stanzel, who
takes her role in July, told Reuters. Intertanko's members own the majority
of the world's tanker fleet. 'For us, it is a huge problem ... it's
really difficult to say is it or is it not (from Iran),' Stanzel said
ahead of an industry conference in Singapore... A Singapore-based bunker
trader said that shipowners were starting to require assurances from
bunker suppliers that the fuel did not originate from Iran." http://t.uani.com/LwmFvI
Haaretz:
"A lawsuit based on a testimony of a disgruntled employee exposed an
alleged attempt by a South African firm to win a contract in Iran, by
promising to get the South African government to provide diplomatic and
military support to the Islamic Republic. The $4.2 billion dollar lawsuit
was filed earlier this year in U.S. Federal Court by the Turkish cellular
company, Turkcell, against South African Mobile Telephone Network (MTN).
Both companies had been competing to win the license to supply Iran with
a global system for mobile communication. It's not clear yet whether the
American court will agree to hear the case, but the key witness came to
Washington this week, to verify documents for an deposition. If the
documents prove to be authentic, they will reveal an a disturbing case of
bribes used to influence the foreign policy of a large country." http://t.uani.com/Kf3HM9
Bloomberg:
"Iran is pursuing work on a nuclear warhead, Die Welt said, citing a
report by the People's Mujahadeen and a member of the opposition
group. Scientists are carrying out research in a five-floor
building in Tehran's Pars neighborhood and conducting testing at Iran's
Parchin site, the group said in a report it says is based on information
obtained from people within the Iranian government and military, the
Berlin-based newspaper said today." http://t.uani.com/JoWcjd
Human Rights
MSNBC:
"There is disturbing news to report from Iran, where cartoonist
Mahmoud Shokraiyeh has been sentenced to 25 lashings for drawing a member
of parliament wearing a football jersey. That's right - he's going to be
whipped for drawing a cartoon. While it's nothing new for repressive
governments to crack down on press freedoms and punish cartoonists, in
Iran this incident seems like an escalation not only because of the harsh
punishment, but because Shokraiyeh's cartoon didn't have anything to do
with religious issues. Even more unsettling is that under Chapter 27 of
the 'Islamic Penal Code of Iran,' anyone who 'wrongfully' libels through
print media can be subjected to '74 lashes' and imprisonment from one
month to a year." http://t.uani.com/JlOia5
Fox News:
"The Christian pastor on death row in Iran has reportedly written a
letter thanking his supporters and blasting those who he said use
'insulting words' against Islam in what he considers a misguided effort
to help his cause. Washington-based human rights group American Center for
Law and Justice released what it says is a letter written by Youcef
Nadarkhani earlier this week from a prison in the Lakan Province of Iran,
where he is currently being held for charges of practicing Christianity
and renouncing Islam. If the letter is real, it is the first time
Nadarkhani has been heard from in a year. 'First, I would like to inform
all of my beloved brothers and sisters that I am in perfect health in the
flesh and spirit,' begins the letter, which is addressed to 'All those
who are concerned and worried about my current situation.'" http://t.uani.com/K610vc
Foreign Affairs
Reuters:
"The Islamist movement Hamas will not let itself be dragged into a
war against Israel if it attacks the nuclear facilities of Hamas ally
Iran, Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Thursday. 'Hamas is a
Palestinian movement that acts within the Palestinian arena and it
carries out its political and field actions in a way that suits the
interests of the Palestinian people,' he said at his headquarters in the enclave.
'Iran did not ask anything from us and we think Iran is not in need of
us,' the prime minister of the Hamas government told Reuters in an
interview." http://t.uani.com/Kt1uLo
Opinion &
Analysis
Maseh Zarif in The
Weekly Standard: "The Obama administration's recent
focus on finding a compromise to allow the Iranian regime to maintain
some enrichment capabilities 'for peaceful purposes' distracts from the
underlying nuclear threat at hand. Any outcome short of the verifiable
dismantling and end of the Iranian nuclear program (including the removal
of all nuclear material) will leave Tehran at the threshold of a nuclear
weapons capability that will pose a threat to American interests and
global security. President Barack Obama said in March that a diplomatic
resolution with Iran could give the regime 'access to peaceful nuclear
energy.' Likewise, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said less than one
week later that the Iranian regime could demonstrate its supposed
peaceful intent simply by ending its development of 20 percent uranium
enrichment, transferring the stockpile of that material from Iran, and
agreeing to continuous inspections. Implicit in Obama's and Clinton's
positions is some sort of notion that Iran could retain certain nuclear
capabilities-an admission that the administration has essentially given
up on preventing Iran from further enriching uranium or demanding an
immediate and sustained suspension of enrichment and other activities.
These statements, apart from ceding previous red lines, are shortsighted
in their embrace of faulty assumptions about nuclear programs and dismiss
the unique circumstances of the Iranian regime's nuclear activities. It's
worth rememebering what Albert Wolhstetter and others wrote in the 1970s,
in a report for the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency: 'It would be
nice if there were a simple dichotomy between safe and dangerous nuclear
activities: on the one hand safe, economic, civilian, non-military,
peaceful activities that are to be promoted, and on the other dangerous
military activities threatening war, a net drain, even in peace-time, on
the productive life of humanity and therefore to be not merely
discouraged, but banned...But unfortunately all these good things do not
come in a cluster distinct from the bad ones...There are not two atoms,
one peaceful and one military. They are the same atom.' The general
lesson to draw here is straightforward: Any nuclear undertaking,
particularly one that includes fuel cycle activities such as uranium
enrichment and reactor development, reduces the technological barriers to
developing nuclear weapons technology and affords states an expedited
path to acquiring nuclear weapons. That proliferation risk is inherent
irrespective of past behavior or the intent of the state in
question." http://t.uani.com/JiYlAo
Anthony Cordesman
in CSIS: "We badly need to rethink our approach to
Iran's nuclear programs. We are putting far too much emphasis on Iran's
nuclear efforts without considering how these programs fit into Iran's
over military and strategic objectives. At the same time, we are placing
too much emphasis on whether Iran has revived its formal nuclear program
and the current shape of its nuclear facilities. The ironic result is to
put too much emphasis on both the wrong form of arms control negotiations
and preventive military strikes. To begin, it is essential to understand
that Iran has moved far beyond the point where it lacked the technology
base to produce nuclear weapons, or where searching through the
statements of senior Iranian officials provides any meaningful picture of
its progress and intentions. Iran has pursued every major area of nuclear
weapons development, has carried out programs that have already given it
every component of a weapon except fissile material, and there is strong
evidence that it has carried out programs to integrate a nuclear warhead
on to its missiles. The threat Iran's nuclear efforts pose are not simply
a matter of its present ability to enrich uranium to 20% U-235, and
efforts to control its enrichment activities will not halt its ability to
move forward in many areas even if its current enrichment facilities and
stocks of highly enriched uranium are fully secured. Iran's efforts are
part of a far broader range of efforts that have already brought it to
the point where it can pursue nuclear weapons development through a range
of compartmented and easily concealable programs without a formal weapons
program, and even if it suspends enrichment activity. These are also
programs that have been examined in depth in recent reports by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)." http://t.uani.com/JFfsdA
Matthew Levitt in
WINEP: "World attention on Iran centers on the
threats to international security posed by the country's nuclear program.
As Iran presses on in its efforts to become a nuclear power, the regime
in Tehran also employs an aggressive foreign policy that relies heavily
on the deployment of clandestine assets abroad to collect intelligence
and support foreign operations, all of which are aimed at furthering
Iranian foreign policy interests. From a U.S. perspective, Iran's massive
diplomatic presence in the Western Hemisphere presents a particularly
acute problem. In response to Iran's abuse of the diplomatic system, the
international community should collectively press our friends and allies
in Latin America to severely restrict the size of Iran's diplomatic
missions to the minimum needed to conduct official business." http://t.uani.com/IYeTMM
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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
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discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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