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Top Stories
NYT:
"From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered
increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run
Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding
America's first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants
in the program. Mr. Obama decided to accelerate the attacks - begun in
the Bush administration and code-named Olympic Games - even after an
element of the program accidentally became public in the summer of 2010
because of a programming error that allowed it to escape Iran's Natanz
plant and sent it around the world on the Internet. Computer security
experts who began studying the worm, which had been developed by the
United States and Israel, gave it a name: Stuxnet." http://t.uani.com/K21nD2
Reuters:
"The White House on Thursday accused Iran of 'malignant behavior'
for propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and warned anew that the
country's conflict could explode into a wider proxy war unless Assad
steps down. In sharp comments toward Tehran, White House press secretary
Jay Carney said that Iran was exploiting the violence in Syria to
entrench its regional sway. 'That fact further highlights Iran's
continued effort to expand its nefarious influence in the region, and
underscores Iran's fear of a Syria without the Assad regime,' he told
reporters at the White House. European and U.S. security officials say
Iran has offered Assad extensive support, including weapons and
ammunition, to shore up a vital ally." http://t.uani.com/L2GI1N
Reuters:
"Italy's Eni, which has been receiving payments in oil from Iran for
debts, is reworking the deal and is unlikely to import crude in July
after European Union sanctions on Tehran take effect, market sources said
on Thursday. The unexpected decision by the Italian oil major, which is
exempted from the embargo on imports, will lead to a complete halt in
Iranian crude supply to Europe in July. 'Even though Eni is able to
continue importing cargoes, because of the sanctions there are other
details it needs to organise,' a person with knowledge of the deal said.
He declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. The market
sources said it was not clear when Iran's crude deliveries to Eni would
resume... Other oil companies in the Mediterranean including Spain's
Cepsa and three other Italian oil firms, ERG, Iplom and Saras have
planned to take their last cargoes from Iran in June, other market
sources said." http://t.uani.com/L2Idgp
Nuclear
Program
Bloomberg:
"Iran's clean-up of a site allegedly used for nuclear-weapons
experiments won't obstruct United Nations atomic inspectors' ability to
carry out a probe, according to current and former officials. Satellite
photos published last month by a Washington-based research institute showed
razed structures and streams of water running out of a building at the
Parchin military complex thought to house a test-blast chamber. The UN
International Atomic Energy Agency reported in November that the Persian
Gulf nation used the facility for atomic-bomb tests. 'There very likely
were experiments there related to nuclear weapons' and the IAEA 'may be
able to disprove Iran's cover story,' Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S.
diplomat who now runs the International Institute for Strategic Studies'
nuclear disarmament program, said by phone yesterday. 'Even if the IAEA
goes there and doesn't find anything incriminating, they want to pull on
the threads of Iran's story and see what unravels.'" http://t.uani.com/Jyg01t
Sanctions
Reuters:
"South Africa's crude oil imports from Iran fell 43 percent to
286,072 tonnes in April from the previous month, customs data showed on
Thursday, indicating Pretoria could be cutting shipments to avoid looming
U.S. sanctions... Until late last year, Iran was typically South Africa's
biggest crude supplier, accounting for a quarter of its oil imports.
Iranian shipments declined between October and January, when they reached
zero, but began rising again in February." http://t.uani.com/L8bAnh
Terrorism
IANS: "Iran
has strongly refuted Israel's allegations about its involvement in the
bombing of an Israeli diplomat's car in New Delhi in February, but agreed
to consider India's proposal to send a team of investigators to that
country. 'We have been accused of so many things so many times. We
totally refute allegations of this sort,' Iranian Foreign Minister Ali
Akbar Salehi told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday after talks with
India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna... On Feb 13, four people
were injured when an Israeli diplomat's car was struck by a bomb near the
Israeli embassy in New Delhi." http://t.uani.com/LdAe2g
Commerce
Bloomberg:
"Ecuador is seeking U.S. renewal of trade benefits even as it
increases its ties with Iran, the Latin American country's ambassador to
the U.S. said. 'We are in a new phase of our relationship' with the U.S.,
Ambassador Nathalie Cely said in an interview yesterday at Ecuador's
Embassy in Washington... Ecuador wants the U.S. Congress to renew the
Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, which expires next year.
The country's relations with Iran have made this task difficult with
'some areas of the Congress,' Cely said." http://t.uani.com/Kx9hIZ
Foreign Affairs
The Hill:
"Iran's continued efforts to prop up Syrian president Bashar Assad's
regime is generating concern inside the Pentagon and raising tensions
among U.S. allies in the region. 'We have reason to believe Iran
continues to assist [the] Assad regime,' Defense Department spokesman
Capt. John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, during a briefing at the
Pentagon. 'That needs to stop.' Iranian forces have been a source of
'tangible and intangible' support to Assad during his nearly year-long
effort to quash opposition forces by any means necessary, Kirby
said." http://t.uani.com/Ll6uAe
Reuters:
"Iran is poised to offer the Syrian authorities a short-term food
lifeline with vital grains purchases as Western sanctions and mounting
violence deter trade houses from doing deals with Damascus, international
traders say. Both are targets of Western sanctions that, while not
intended to disrupt food imports, have hurt shipments of all kinds by
complicating financial transactions. Richer and more practiced in the
ways of sidestepping such embargoes, Iran seems set to help its
struggling ally, though its own means are limited. 'Iran will try to help
Syria,' said a senior trader at a major international grain house in
France who likened Tehran's interest in helping Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad stave off food shortages to Algerian state aid last year for
Tunisian and Libyan autocrats who were trying to stifle popular
unrest." http://t.uani.com/Ll701c
Reuters:
"A visit by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander to three tiny
islands near the Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane revives a bitter
territorial dispute between Gulf antagonists - and trade partners - Iran
and the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi has yet to comment on Thursday's
trip by Mohammad Ali Jafari, but like other Gulf Arab capitals it reacted
angrily when Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad toured one of the
islands in April, and recalled its envoy from Tehran in protest. Tension
between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims in a Middle East shaken by 18 months of
political revolt has envenomed the 41-year-old row, complicating an
ambivalent relationship in which national pride has long vied uneasily
with economic pragmatism." http://t.uani.com/LQ9kfh
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI Advisory
Board Member Olli Heinonen in FP: "The latest chess
match between Iran and six major powers in Baghdad ended last week
without any declared breakthrough. This is not entirely surprising. Talks
were unlikely to make significant headway with Iran offering to sacrifice
a pawn -- 20 percent enriched uranium -- in exchange for the queen -- the
lifting of oil sanctions. Negotiations are scheduled to continue, with a
new round set for Moscow in mid-June. But pressures are also building up,
which risks a confrontation instead of a settlement. In the meantime, the
International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) report on Iran, released May
25, reveals new information, most notably the presence of uranium
particles enriched to 27 percent, well above the declared 20 percent
enrichment level at the Fordow underground enrichment plant. Right now,
the key question that the IAEA is trying to answer is how much uranium
was enriched to 27 percent and over what period of time the enrichment took
place. During the enrichment process, rows of centrifuges, known as
cascades, produce increasingly higher concentrations of the uranium-235
isotope. It is unclear at this stage whether the higher levels reported
represent a technical glitch during the start-up of a cascade (when
spikes of higher enrichment can take place), or a sign of something more
sinister. The spike could have been caused by an operator who changed the
cascade's operating parameters -- in particular the rate at which uranium
hexafluoride (UF6) gas is fed into the centrifuges -- during the start-up
phase or at some other time. Another potential cause is
cross-contamination, meaning that the particles originated from
elsewhere, such as contaminated equipment. This could indicate unknown
enrichment activities in Iran. It could also be a problem in the sample
analysis. But the IAEA's method of duplicating samples taken and testing
in multiple laboratories makes this an unlikely explanation. The 'spike'
scenario demonstrates the current IAEA inspection system's limited
ability to detect real-time enrichment levels. From when the samples are
taken, tested and answers sought, there can be a time lapse of up to six
months. The reason for the delay is the time needed for the analysis of
uranium particles, which is done in dedicated laboratories in Vienna and
elsewhere, as well as the follow-up clarification process. As an
additional measure, the IAEA could install continuous online monitors to
the feed and withdrawal lines of the enrichment route, giving better and
timelier information about the operation of Iran's plants. Once
installed, this equipment could also be monitored remotely from Vienna.
Timelier information is particularly important when a facility operates
at an enrichment level as high as 20 percent, which is unusual for
commercial enrichment plants. The international community's concerns
surrounding the production and stockpile of enriched uranium in Iran,
including at the 3.5 percent level, can best be understood by looking at
the full context. Iran's uranium enrichment capacities, in both the
Fordow and the Natanz plants, are increasing. To date, the two facilities
have produced 6 tons of UF6 enriched to 3.5 percent -- five times the
amount foreseen for the first fuel swap deal for the Tehran Research
Reactor in fall 2009, and an amount sufficient for five nuclear weapons,
if further enriched." http://t.uani.com/M6NXdo
Daniel Kadishon in
LAT: "The bell has rung on the first round of Iran
negotiations with one positive outcome: We're not going to war, yet. In
his May 23 Times Op-Ed article, Chuck Freilich correctly wrote that the
least bad outcome of these negotiations between Iran and world powers
would have been allowing the country a minimal level of uranium
enrichment in return for better inspections and the removal of
higher-enriched uranium. Freilich was overly ambitious to think that such
a deal could get done in the first round of negotiations, and wrong to
assert that it represents only a stopgap solution and that Iran must eventually
stop its uranium enrichment altogether. But he is closer to the mark than
most in Congress. In an ideal world, Iran would consent to a full,
permanent suspension of uranium enrichment (zero centrifuges) as well as
unrestricted inspections of all nuclear facilities. But the last nine
years of Iranian declarations, the factional power struggles within the
Iranian government and the political self-interest of Iran's leaders make
it highly unlikely that they will agree to fully suspend enrichment. But
uranium enrichment need not lead inexorably to nuclear weapons. To ensure
Iran does not pursue weaponization, U.S. negotiators should have a free
hand to reach an agreement that allows Iran a token number of centrifuges
in exchange for closure of the most dangerous facilities and unrestricted
inspections in all remaining facilities. To prevent Iran from building a
nuclear weapon, verification is more important than zero centrifuges.
Members of Congress who demand only that Iran agree to a complete, permanent
suspension of all uranium enrichment and allow unfettered inspections in
all facilities, and are trying to legislate that the U.S. can accept
nothing less, are ignoring reality in a way that will likely lead to
either an Iranian nuclear weapon or a new war. Enrichment has become a
central symbol of national pride for Iran. All levels of the government,
from the supreme leader to the Iranian cabinet, have insisted they will
not completely suspend uranium enrichment. Even with sanctions stifling
their economy, there is no indication the Iranians are willing to turn
180 degrees." http://t.uani.com/LQebNz
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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