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Top Stories
NYT:
"Iran raised the possibility on Wednesday of delaying or canceling
the resumption of nuclear talks with the big powers, scheduled in less
than two weeks, because of what it called dithering by the other side in
holding preliminary meetings aimed at ensuring some success. The warning,
made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the office of Saeed Jalili,
Iran's chief negotiator in the talks, came as its ambassador to the
United Nations nuclear monitoring agency accused some of its inspectors
of espionage. Taken together, the messages suggest that Iran's leaders
have decided to reduce expectations that the negotiations, which resumed
in April after a 15-month suspension, would produce an agreement on the
country's disputed nuclear program, or at least lead to an easing of the
onerous sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and the European
Union." http://t.uani.com/Mpt9dP
Reuters:
"Indian refiners cut imports from Iran by 38 percent in May from a
year ago, tanker discharge data showed, in a second month of steep
reductions as they switch suppliers to cushion the impact of new U.S.
sanctions on Tehran. The cutbacks raise New Delhi's chances of winning a
waiver similar to that granted by the United States to Japan and some
European countries after 'substantial' reductions in their imports...
India imported about 243,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran in
May, down about 10 percent from April and about 38 percent from 394,000
bpd a year ago, the data made available to Reuters showed. In April - the
first month of new contracts - imports from Iran slid nearly 40 percent
from a year ago." http://t.uani.com/NNlpp0
Reuters:
"Major powers want Iran to come to nuclear talks ready to take steps
to curb its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, a level that
brings it closer to developing bomb grade material, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. 'We want them to come prepared to take
concrete steps, particularly in the area of 20 enrichment,' Clinton told
reporters, referring to a meeting on Iran's nuclear program to be held on
June 18-19 in Moscow." http://t.uani.com/MpCQJ9
Nuclear
Program
AP: "The most tangible accomplishment
from the last meeting between Iran and world powers was simply an
agreement to talk again about Tehran's nuclear ambitions. When
negotiations resume later this month, both sides will be groping for ways
to keep the dialogue alive. It could be a clear challenge. Iran wants
what the West appears unwilling to give: easing sanctions to push the
talks forward. Washington and allies are demanding concessions that Iran
finds far too lopsided: scaling back its ability to make nuclear fuel in
exchange for some modest givebacks such as spare airline parts. About the
only strong force pushing them toward common ground is the likelihood
that failure would bring fresh calls from Israel and elsewhere for
military action." http://t.uani.com/LbC6rJ
NYT:
"President Obama and his senior advisers have said little publicly
about Iran since the resumption of negotiations over its nuclear program
in April, preferring to let the diplomats hash out the issues in the hope
that tensions with Tehran can be managed, at least until the election in
November. In Israel, however, the United States is still saying plenty,
with a stream of current and former officials traveling there to threaten
additional sanctions on Iran and to reiterate Mr. Obama's readiness to
use military action against Iran if diplomacy fails. 'When the president
said all options are on the table, let me reassure you that those options
are real and viable,' said Michèle A. Flournoy, a former under secretary
of defense, speaking at a security conference in Tel Aviv last week.
Referring to the Pentagon's planning for a possible military strike, she
said, 'Having sat in the Pentagon and spent a lot of my time on this
issue, I can assure you of the quality of that work.'" http://t.uani.com/L5qrfF
Sanctions
RIA Novosti:
"Iran's application to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
(SCO) will be considered after international sanctions on it have been
lifted, the Russian presidential envoy to the organization said on
Wednesday. 'A country that is under UN Security Council sanctions may not
become a SCO member,' Kirill Barsky said. 'So at this stage this matter
cannot be addressed, which does not, however, mean that it is closed
forever.'" http://t.uani.com/LbC96Z
Commentary:
"Iran's Central Bank has released a chart which shows a tremendous
rise in the price of most basic foodstuffs in Iran during the past
year... Without translating the whole chart, a few items should worry the
regime. The price of chicken has skyrocketed 57.1 percent, and the price
of red meat has increased 39 percent (though beef has increased 48.5
percent). Vegetarians will not be immune: The price of vegetables has, on
average, increased 78.6 percent, and 'leafy vegetables' have more than
doubled in price... The increase in food prices has far less to do with
sanctions than it does to basic regime mismanagement of the Iranian
economy. Importantly, when the economic going gets tough in Iran,
Iranians hold their government accountable and seem impervious to regime
attempts to pin the blame on sanctions or outsiders." http://t.uani.com/LuSciT
Human Rights
Guardian:
"Human rights activists have raised serious concerns about the
health of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, an Iranian blogger on hunger strike in
protest at his 15-year jail sentence and the authorities' refusal to
grant him prison leave despite severe medical conditions. Ronaghi Maleki,
27, was arrested in December 2009 following the unrest in the aftermath
of Iran's disputed presidential elections. He was picked up from his
father's house in the city of Malekan in Iran's province of East
Azerbaijan and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison where he spent 376
days in solitary confinement." http://t.uani.com/K0wxAj
Foreign Affairs
Bloomberg:
"Russia is seeking to enlist Iran in efforts to engineer a political
transition in Syria, a move that drew a hostile U.S. reaction even as the
Obama administration seeks more pressure on Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. The Russian move comes on the heels of reports on al Jazeera
television, citing activists, of new massacres by Assad's forces. The
reports said at least 140 Syrians were killed, some of them women and
children, including 78 in Hama. Assad's father, the late President Hafez
al-Assad, ordered the city leveled in February 1982 after a Sunni Muslim
uprising claimed at least 10,000 lives. The possibility of recruiting
Iran, one of Assad's main backers, to assist in efforts to end the
violence and ease him out of power was floated as Kofi Annan, the
architect of a failed United Nations April truce, prepared to address the
UN today about ways to revive his moribund peace plan or pursue next
steps." http://t.uani.com/LeKx7E
Opinion &
Analysis
Frida Ghitis in
WPR: "One of the obvious dangers of a possible war
with Iran over its controversial nuclear program is that it could push
oil prices sharply higher and, in turn, send the global economy into a
tailspin. But a number of developments, some very deliberately set in
motion by Iran's adversaries, have recently converged to erode the
effectiveness of Iran's powerful oil weapon. The sharp edge of Iran's oil
power has been dulled through painstaking tactical moves by Washington
and its allies, but the most significant change came not by design, but
by misfortune. Ironically, the fear that a conflict with Iran would cause
a spike in petroleum prices and trip the world into a new recessionary
spiral has been blunted by evidence that major economies are already
suffering an economic slowdown. The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone
and the unexpected slowdown in growth in the U.S. have helped depress the
price of oil in the commodities markets to well below $100 a barrel, the
lowest level in eight months. Lower oil prices are bad news for Iran for
two reasons. First, they slash the Islamic Republic's principal source of
income. Second, they make the cost of conflict with Iran more bearable
for the West. Tehran and the West continue their talks over Iran's
uranium enrichment efforts, with Iran insisting the program has only
peaceful intent and the West, bolstered by analysis from International
Atomic Energy Association inspectors, claiming that the program looks
suspiciously like one aiming to produce nuclear weapons. New talks are
scheduled in Moscow for June 18, but there is scant evidence that the two
sides are coming closer to an agreement. The threat of military action
hangs in the air as Israel watches warily and Washington reiterates that
'all options' are on the table." http://t.uani.com/KRdp79
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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