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Top Stories
WSJ:
"Several thousand Iranians protested rising prices of food-and
chicken in particular-in the northeastern city of Neishabour, in what
appeared to be the first incident in which the country's beleaguered
economy sparked street unrest. Demonstrators gathered Monday on the
city's main Imam Square and its surrounding streets chanting 'Death to
inflation' and 'Shame on you government, you must resign,' according to a
video posted on YouTube and on opposition blogs and websites. Large
crowds of men and women, young and old, packed the sidewalks holding up
their mobile phones as another crowd marched on the main street,
according to the video. Iran's official news student news agency, ISNA,
and the official website for Neishabour's Friday Imam, which carries
local news, also posted reports as well as pictures of the demonstration.
The reports said the soaring price of chicken and a shortage of poultry
available at a government flat rate brought people to the streets." http://t.uani.com/NI0Zyu
AP:
"Iranian commanders and political leaders - facing an increasing
squeeze from international sanctions - have sharply stepped up threats
and defiant statements in recent weeks over the Strait of Hormuz, a
chokepoint at the mouth of the Gulf that is the route for one fifth of
the world's oil. While it appears unlikely that Iran is ready to risk an
almost certain military backlash by trying to close Hormuz - which is
jointly controlled with Oman - the latest flurry from Tehran shows that
Iranian authorities see the strait as perhaps their most valuable asset
in brinksmanship over tightening sanctions and efforts to resume nuclear
talks with world powers. In Iran's view, the strait offers a rare
combination of strategic and economic leverage. Warnings from Tehran in
the past about possible closure have been enough to boost oil prices to
offset the blow of sanctions." http://t.uani.com/QwLnRJ
CNN:
"Iran is in an 'open war' with Israel, President Shimon Peres said
Monday, as he pointed the finger at Iran and Hezbollah for last week's
bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis. In an exclusive interview
with CNN, Peres said Israel will act to prevent further attacks. Peres
said Israel has 'enough' hard intelligence to link the Bulgaria attack to
Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, and believes more attacks are being planned
as part of what he called an 'open war against Israel.' Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah
movement were responsible for a number of attacks and attempted attacks against
Israeli targets in Thailand, Georgia, India, Greece, Cyprus and other
countries." http://t.uani.com/OUx3fJ
Nuclear
Program
Bloomberg: "Iranian
and European Union officials meet in Istanbul today in an attempt to
establish common ground for another round of international talks on the
Islamic republic's nuclear program. The meeting will be between Helga
Schmid, deputy head of the EU's foreign relations arm, and Ali Bagheri,
Iran's deputy negotiator on the nuclear issue, according to a statement
by the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton yesterday.
After that, Ashton and Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief negotiator, will be in
contact 'about the prospects for a future meeting at the political
level,' it said." http://t.uani.com/SRTvL8
RIA Novosti:
"Iran will start enriching uranium to 56-percent level if Israel and
Western world keep on pressurizing the Islamic Republic with sanctions,
Kabir News reported on Monday citing Iranian religious leader Seyed Reza
Taghavi. 'Currently Tehran produces 20-percent-enriched uranium but we
will transform it to 56-percent-enriched uranium if Western countries
continue their hostile viewpoint against Iran. All the restrictions and
sanctions are because of the great power of the Islamic Republic.' Seyed
Reza Taghavi added... Taghavi also warned that 'if Israel makes any
mistake,' Iran 'will target the heart of Tel Aviv directly from Tehran,'
adding that 'Iran will not bow in front of the massive sanctions from
Western countries,' Kabir News said." http://t.uani.com/QwSrxw
Sanctions
Reuters: "Iran launched its
first domestically-produced aframax oil tanker, Iranian media reported on
Tuesday, sidestepping growing Western sanctions which have targeted oil
exports and battered its maritime trade. The oil tanker was ordered by
Venezuela, Iran's Fars news agency reported. 'The production of the
aframax ship is the first export shipbuilding activity of Iran, and we
must continue by attracting more customers,' said Mehdi Etesam, managing
director of Iran Maritime Industrial Company SADRA, according to Fars. It
was not clear if further Iranian-made aframaxes were under order.
Aframaxes can carry up to 700,000 barrels of oil." http://t.uani.com/OWjxYO
Reuters:
"South Korea imported just over 176,000 barrels per day of Iranian
crude oil in June, down about a quarter from a year ago, as shipments
wound down ahead of a complete halt in July due to an EU ban on insuring
tankers carrying Iranian oil. The world's No.4 buyer of Iranian crude
imported 34.51 million barrels from Iran during the first six months of
this year, down 17.1 percent from the same period a year ago, data from
state-run Korea National Oil Corp showed on Monday. South Korea became
the first major Asian consumer of Iranian crude to announce a halt to
imports after the government said last month that shipments would be
suspended from July 1 due to the European Union insurance ban." http://t.uani.com/MZ66Hb
Reuters:
"Iran will allocate up to $30bn at a low official exchange rate for
the import of basic goods, such as meat and medicine, the semi-official
Fars news agency quoted a trade official as saying on Monday. Iranian
media reported on Saturday that the government planned to introduce a
three-tiered exchange rate for the purchase of different classes of
imports... Mr Kermanshahi named dozens of goods that could be imported
using the cheaper dollars, including red meat, chicken meat, live sheep
and cows, barley, corn, raw oil, raw sugar, industrial powdered milk,
pharmaceutical drugs, medical equipment not produced inside Iran, truck
tyres, cotton and tractors. Goods such as olive oil, cameras, tobacco,
washing machines, tyres, sauces, cigarette papers, suitcases, mobile
phones, vehicles and clothing cannot be imported using the cheaper
dollars, Mr Kermanshahi said. The cost of these goods is therefore likely
to rise." http://t.uani.com/Nt5KOU
WSJ:
"The oil market fell sharply, turning away from worries about Iran
and news of pipeline outages, on renewed concerns about the euro zone.
Front-month oil futures settled fell 4.2% to settle at $88.14, while
Brent crude futures traded down $3.54 at $103.29 a barrel... In
ruminating about the euro-zone crisis, the market turned its eyes away
from the Iran story, which dominated news last week, sending prices
higher for seven days in a row. After the recent trading, Iranian
geopolitical concerns 'have been priced in and some stability in the
Iranian risk factor is expected,' said James Ritterbusch, president of
the oil-trading advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, in a
note." http://t.uani.com/NI1jx9
Terrorism
AFP:
"The trial of two Iranians charged with possession of explosives
allegedly destined to be used in bomb attacks in Kenya began Monday in a
Nairobi court. Ahmed Mohammed and Sayed Mansour, who were arrested in
June and charged with suspected links to a terror network planning
bombings in Mombasa and Nairobi, are accused of possessing 15 kilos (33
pounds) of the powerful explosive RDX. Both men have denied the
charges." http://t.uani.com/SRThn6
Foreign Affairs
WashPost:
"The Olympics are supposed to be a time when nations put aside their
differences, no matter how large, and square off on the playing field for
some intense yet friendly competition. But when it comes to Iran and
Israel, two countries that have each been on edge with anxiety about the
other this summer, it appears that's not going to happen. Despite an
Iranian assertion on Monday that its athletes would compete against
Israeli ones at the 2012 Games, just hours earlier the Iranian team
departed for London, leaving behind the lone athlete who had the
possibility of facing an Israeli opponent." http://t.uani.com/Qh529a
AFP:
"The energy-rich Gulf Cooperation Council on Monday expressed
support for Yemen's security days after Sanaa said it uncovered what it
called an Iranian spy cell. GCC secretary general Abdelatif Zayani
praised Sanaa for dismantling the alleged spy ring and said the
six-nation council 'fully backs Yemen in all the measures it undertakes
to reinforce stability and security,' a statement said. Yemen's defence
ministry said last week that authorities dismantled an 'Iranian spy
network that had been operating in Yemen for seven years under the
leadership of a former leader in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.'"
http://t.uani.com/OWlXqk
Reuters:
"A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said on Tuesday any
foreign powers intervening in Syria would suffer 'decisive blows',
specifically referring to 'hated Arabs' - a veiled reference to regional
rivals Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 'Not yet one of Syria's friends and the
large resistance front has entered this arena, and if this were to
happen, decisive blows would be struck against the enemy's front and
specifically the hated Arabs,' Masoud Jazayeri was quoted as saying by
Fars news agency." http://t.uani.com/NI3BfJ
Opinion &
Analysis
Emanuele
Ottolenghi in WSJ: "Ordinary Iranians are having to
tighten their belts since the European Union's oil embargo came into
force on July 1. The decades of economic mismanagement by Iran's
authoritarian leaders have culminated in five years of increasingly stern
sanctions, which are crippling Iran's economy. And notwithstanding the regime's
defiant dismissal of their impact, sanctions have left many Iranian
families with empty bank accounts and hollow stomachs. While government
fat cats are unaffected, ordinary Iranians must contend every day with a
currency devalued by hyperinflation and an official unemployment rate of
29.1 percent for the under 25, which some analysts believe to be twice as
high. And things are about to get worse. The threat of further sanctions
in the wake of the oil embargo and a new U.S. ban on doing business with
Iran's central bank won't only affect Iran's energy sector. It's not just
in their quality of life that ordinary Iranians are suffering. The state
has long lost any legitimacy through its censorship and human-rights
abuses. In recent weeks, not only have special forces begun to enforce
the ban against satellite dishes with new intensity, but new raids on
coffeehouses and stricter clothing regulations have exasperated an
already frustrated population. A brain drain now threatens Iran's ability
to compete in the modern world. Meanwhile, the regime's paranoia for dark
international conspiracies is running amok. Government officials blame
'Zionist bankers' for the global economic downturn and impute a fierce
drought in the country's southern districts to a "soft war"
waged by the West. In a functioning democracy, an ill economy and an
increasingly disaffected population would trigger a change of government,
a drastic reassessment of national priorities or both. In Iran, the state
can only try to pin the blame elsewhere, inventing enemies at home and
conspiracies abroad while the house burns down around it. Given the
nuclear threat, however, Western powers dealing with Iran seem content to
reach an agreement with this ruthless regime. Their strategic priorities are
understandable but shortsighted. For the West, the best way out of the
current impasse is not an agreement that might give the state a lifeline,
but a popular uprising in the pattern of the Arab Spring." http://t.uani.com/NH0XXp
Bennett Ramberg in
Politico: "By late Tuesday, we could see the restart
of the ticking clock that can lead to military action against Tehran's
atomic program. These are the stakes should the second round of the
European Union-Iran technical nuclear talks in Istanbul fail to make
progress. Breakdown could make impossible any resumption of these stalled
plenary negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran. Though sanctions have yet
to play out, deadlock makes force increasingly plausible. However, many
analysts and government officials in the United States and elsewhere have
taken a glum view about the practicality of such a step. Airstrikes, they
argue, may set Tehran back only a few months, and instead energize the
government's efforts to get the bomb. Policymakers sound stumped. But they
shouldn't be. If the decision to apply force were made, the international
community can prevent an Iranian nuclear rebirth through inspectors who
have the authority to destroy remaining nuclear contraband. Farfetched?
Not at all. The global community actually did it before - in Iraq
1991-1994. This could repeat in Iran. History provides perspective. The
belief, or, better put, hope that airstrikes can dramatically set back
nuclear weapons programs goes back to World War II and the Allied
airstrike on the Norsk Hydro heavy water plant in Nazi-occupied Norway.
This installation produced a vital ingredient for the German war effort.
The bombing did stop one plant - but not the program. Fortunately, Adolf
Hitler's scientists did not figure out the riddles of atomic weapons by
V-E Day. Only Germany's defeat and program dismantlement during
occupation ended this program. In 1981, Israel sought to one-up the World
War II template by striking the critical linchpin to Saddam Hussein's
suspect program, the Osirak reactor. The Israelis believed that would end
the nuclear threat. The attack came after a slew of other efforts -
diplomatic demarches, public relations assassination and sabotage -
collectively failed to halt construction of the French-engineered plant.
The flawless airstrike destroyed the reactor - and with it Baghdad's
source for nuclear weapons plutonium. But it did not end Iraq's weapons
ambitions. In the decade that followed, Iraq dramatically increased
nuclear funding and personnel. Baghdad turned away from the plutonium to
a concealed uranium path to the bomb. It explored multiple enrichment
technologies - but the lack of scientific expertise, advanced technology
and sophisticated management led to labored progress. All the while,
however, Iraqi officials feigned fidelity to the nuclear nonproliferation
treaty. Then the 1991 Persian Gulf War blew away this facade. U.S.
aircraft hit numerous industrial and suspect targets in Iraq, including
locations that harbored much of the secret atomic venture. It was only
after the war, however, that the international community realized the
program's scope - uncovering some 40 nuclear facilities that housed three
enrichment programs, as well as a plutonium separation facility." http://t.uani.com/OsRZKT
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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