Top Stories
NYT:
"The White House defended President Obama's senior adviser on Monday
for taking $100,000 in speaking fees before joining the government from a
subsidiary of a company working with the Iranian government. David
Plouffe, who managed Mr. Obama's campaign in 2008 and joined the White
House staff in January 2011, accepted the money from an affiliate of MTN
Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications firm, for two speeches in
Nigeria. MTN is part of a joint venture in Iran's mobile communications
market reportedly linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps...
According to a nonpartisan advocacy group called United Against Nuclear
Iran, MTN 'carried out orders from the regime to shut off text messaging
and Skype during times of political protest, and reportedly has a floor
in its Tehran headquarters where Iranian military officials compile and
access tracking data. That data has been used to track, apprehend,
torture and kill regime opponents.' 'Simply put,' the group said in a
statement, 'MTN has blood on its hands.'" http://t.uani.com/OKuIs6
Fox News:
"Despite international sanctions and increasing isolation, there is
a relatively new class of super-rich in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mehrdad Emadi, an economic advisor to the European Union, likens Iran's
nouveau riche to the oligarch class in Russia, those tycoons who were
able by hook, crook, or corruption to acquire dizzying amounts of money
at the end of the Soviet era. 'I can only find a comparison during
President Yeltsin years in Russia, where you had sort of the old
companies privatized, but they were really just a transfer of ownership
to people who had good connections to the former Communist Party and
KGB,' Emadi told Fox News. 'And we are seeing, in my opinion, at least, a
very similar process unfolding itself in Tehran.' Iran's ultra-rich
reportedly are a mixture of the well-connected." http://t.uani.com/RY3CvF
Video:
UANI CEO, Mark Wallace on Fox Files' Episode: "Persian Bling" http://t.uani.com/OIMN77
AP:
"A British bank schemed with the Iranian government to launder $250
billion from 2001 to 2007, leaving the United States' financial system
'vulnerable to terrorists,' New York's financial regulator charged
Monday. State Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky signed an
order that requires London-based Standard Chartered Bank to answer his
questions following an investigation into 'wire stripping,' the practice
of removing crucial identifiers in financial transactions. The state
agency called the bank a rogue institution and quoted one of its
executives as saying: 'You (expletive) Americans. Who are you to tell us,
the rest of the world, that we're not going to deal with Iranians.' The
bank conspired with its Iranian clients to route nearly 60,000 different
U.S. dollar payments through Standard Chartered's New York branch 'after
first stripping information from wire transfer messages used to identify
sanctioned countries, individuals and entities,' according to agency's
order. The order said the transactions provided the bank with millions of
dollars in fees at a time when such trade was restricted." http://t.uani.com/NZO11O
NYT:
"Standard Chartered, the British bank accused of covering up
billions of dollars of sanctions-busting transactions with Iran, has come
out fighting against the allegations... There is also an active American
lobby in favor of pressing foreign companies to cut remaining ties with
Iran. Standard Chartered was itself among the targets of a 'name and shame'
campaign by United Against Nuclear Iran (U.A.N.I.), a non-profit group
headed by Mark Wallace, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
U.A.N.I., which gave Standard Chartered a clean bill of health in May
after it pulled out of Iran, returned to the attack on Monday by saying
the penalties the bank now faced in the light of the latest allegations
'should serve as notice to all entities and financial institutions that
they will be held accountable for their business with such an
unscrupulous regime.' The pro-sanctions lobby can certainly argue that
the measures against Iran are having an impact. The Iranian currency, the
rial, is in free fall as the country braces for a fresh devaluation
brought on by the economic restrictions." http://t.uani.com/Qbj3z9
Nuclear
Program
Haaretz: "New
intelligence information obtained by Israel and four Western countries
indicates that Iran has made greater progress on developing components
for its nuclear weapons program than the West had previously realized,
according to Western diplomats and Israeli officials who are closely
involved in efforts to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. A
Western diplomat who asked not to be named because he was not authorized
to discuss intelligence information said the United States, Britain,
France, Germany and Israel agree on that assessment. According to the
source, this assessment began to take shape in February, when Iran
refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency
to visit the base at Parchin, where it is believed Iran is carrying out
part of the research and development of its military nuclear program.
Visits of IAEA inspectors in Iran, and especially revelations of
information the Iranians had been trying to hide, intensified suspicions
that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons at a faster pace than it had
previously seemed." http://t.uani.com/OITean
Daily Telegraph:
"Iran is to move key ministries and state bodies off the worldwide
internet next month in an effort to shield them behind a secure computer
wall from disruptive cyber attacks like the Stuxnet and Flame viruses.
Reza Taghipour, the country's telecommunications minister, said the step
was being taken because sensitive intelligence was vulnerable on the
worldwide web, which he said was untrustworthy because it was controlled
by 'one or two' countries hostile to Iran. 'The establishment of the
national intelligence network will create a situation where the precious
intelligence of the country won't be accessible to these powers,' Mr
Taghipour told a conference on Sunday at Tehran's Amir Kabir
University." http://t.uani.com/QAUQqb
Sanctions
Reuters: "Iran's rial
continued falling against the U.S. dollar in free market dealings on
Tuesday as traders anticipated a devaluation of the official exchange
rate, media said. The currency dropped to about 22,300 rials versus the
dollar, Iran's Mehr News Agency reported. Persian-language currency
tracking website Mesghal said the rate was about 21,850. On Monday, the
rial had tumbled to around 21,510 from its Sunday level of 20,440 after
the central bank said it would change the currency's official exchange
rate, prompting fears of another devaluation. Central bank governor
Mahmoud Bahmani said he would announce a change to the government's
'reference rate' of 12,260 rials to the dollar 'within the next 10 days'.
Iranian media speculated the new reference rate might be between 15,000
and 16,000 rials." http://t.uani.com/Qbkpty
Reuters:
"Allegations that a banking unit of Standard Chartered Plc schemed
with Iran to conceal billions of dollars in transactions have dragged
Deloitte into the spotlight in another hit to the global accounting and
consulting firm. The New York State Department of Financial Services, in
a case involving U.S. anti-money laundering laws, on Monday said Deloitte
LLP consultants hid details from regulators about Standard Chartered
Bank's transactions with Iranian clients. The bank's actions 'left the
U.S. financial system vulnerable to terrorists, weapons dealers, drug
kingpins and corrupt regimes,' Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the
department, said in an order made public on Monday." http://t.uani.com/NgQDFg
Reuters:
"UK blue chip stocks fell on Tuesday as shares of Standard Chartered
were hammered after U.S. regulators said the bank 'schemed' with the
Iranian government, offsetting gains in mining and energy stocks.
Standard Chartered shares plunged 23 percent to their lowest in three
years after New York's top bank regulator threatened to strip the lender
of its state banking license, saying it hid $250 billion in transactions
tied to Iran, in violation of U.S. law. 'Standard Chartered is the main
news today. What we thought was a bank that had got away with no scandal,
now got hit by what is possibly the worst of all,' said IG index market
analyst Chris Beauchamp." http://t.uani.com/Tcuk6g
Reuters:
"The shipping ministry has told private company Great Eastern
Shipping Co (Gesco) to supply tankers to import Iranian oil for state-run
refiner MRPL, which had to slash imports from Iran in July because the
shipper was unwilling to carry them. Mangalore Refinery and
Petrochemicals (MRPL), Iran's biggest Indian client, has an annual
contract with Gesco through Transchart, an agency of the federal shipping
ministry. But Gesco refused last month to lift cargoes for MRPL because
of the lack of insurance cover after European sanctions came into effect
barring insurance and reinsurance for Iranian shipments." http://t.uani.com/QAMU8i
Reuters:
"State-run Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) has made its first payment for
Iranian oil in rupees to partially settle its bill for a cargo imported
in May, company officials said on Friday, a move that will help New Delhi
fix its trade imbalance with Tehran. Another state refiner, Mangalore
Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, the biggest Indian buyer of Iranian oil,
will make a rupee payment on Monday, a company official said. India is
Iran's second-largest oil buyer, but has struggled to find ways to pay
for the oil as Western sanctions curb international financial payments
destined for Tehran. The two countries agreed in January to settle 45
percent of the oil trade in rupees. The balance of HPCL's payment, made
on Friday, was through Turkey's Halkbank and India's UCO Bank." http://t.uani.com/N05RSs
Daily Telegraph:
"Organised smugglers are exploiting Iran's deepening economic woes
by spiriting away vast quantities of chicken so they can then be sold at
inflated prices on the black market, officials have said. In the latest
twist to what has become known as the 'chicken crisis', Iranian police
say have discovered 60,000kg (60 tonnes) of live and slaughtered poultry hidden
in various locations throughout the country over a 15-day period. The
discovery comes amid a bitter political furore over the soaring cost of
chicken, which has risen more than threefold to up to 80,000 rial (£4.20)
per kilogram in the past year." http://t.uani.com/NaCiMp
Syrian Civil
War
Reuters:
"Syrian rebels said three Iranian captives were killed on Monday
during an air attack in Damascus province by government forces, and
threatened to kill the remaining Iranians in their custody unless the army
stopped its attack. 'They were killed when the aircraft attacked. One of
the houses they were in collapsed over their heads,' rebel spokesman
Moutassam al-Ahmad told Reuters. 'We will kill the rest if the army does
not stop its assault. They have one hour.' Ahmad said that a number of
rebels were also killed in the attack. 'Our losses are bigger than
theirs.'" http://t.uani.com/NZKQqX
AFP:
"Saeed Jalili, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, arrived in Damascus on a surprise visit on Tuesday for talks
with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iranian state television reported.
Jalili, the head of Iran's supreme national security council, flew in
from Beirut, where he held talks on Monday with Lebanese leaders. He was
to meet Assad within the hour. After the meeting, Jalili was to give a
news conference in the Syrian capital, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB
said on its website." http://t.uani.com/MhiBmm
Reuters:
"Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is to visit Turkey on
Tuesday for previously unscheduled talks expected to focus on Syria and a
group of Iranians seized by rebels there, an Iranian diplomat in Ankara
said... A Turkish Foreign Ministry official confirmed Salehi's visit,
saying it included talks on regional issues with Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu. The Iranian diplomat said Salehi was expected to arrive in the
afternoon and leave later on Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/RjI7Yy
WSJ:
"Hezbollah's absence that night exposes the dilemma facing one of
the Mideast's most powerful and polarizing Islamic movements. The group
has long enjoyed military and financial support from the governments of
Iran and Syria. But as fighting rages in Syria, and the international
community intensifies its standoff with Iran, Hezbollah may be approaching
a moment of truth: Will it fight for these backers?" http://t.uani.com/MqwaeN
Opinion &
Analysis
Michael Oren in
WSJ: "Nearly two decades ago, Israel started
alerting the world about Iran's nuclear program. But the world ignored
our warnings, wasting 10 years until the secret nuclear enrichment plant
at Natanz was exposed in 2002. Then eight more invaluable years were lost
before much of the international community imposed serious sanctions on
Iran. Throughout that time, the ayatollahs systematically lied about
their nuclear operations, installing more than 10,000 centrifuges, a
significant number of them in a once-secret underground facility at Qom.
Iran has blocked International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors
from visiting its nuclear sites, refused to answer questions about the
military aspects of its program, and rejected all confidence-building
measures. Iran has tested long-range missiles capable of reaching any
city in the Middle East and, in the future, beyond. Iran is also the world's
leading state sponsor of terror. It has supplied more than 70,000 rockets
to terrorist organizations deployed on Israel's borders and has tried to
murder civilians across five continents and 25 countries, including in
the United States. In July, Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists killed
five Israeli tourists, among them a pregnant woman, in Bulgaria. Iran's
forces have attacked American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Its agents
are operating in Yemen, Africa and South America. By providing fighters and
funds, Iran is enabling Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to massacre his
own people. Iran has done all this without nuclear weapons. With them, it
can commit incalculable atrocities anywhere in the world, beginning with
Israel. As the chief of staff of the Iranian military recently stated,
'the Iranian nation stands for the full annihilation of Israel.' Last
week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said 'the annihilation of the
Zionist regime is the key for solving the world problems.' Accordingly, Israel
believes that Iran is far from forfeiting its nuclear ambitions. Our
conviction is based on Iran's record of subterfuge and terror together
with its genocidal rhetoric. It also reflects the inability of the
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany (the 'P5+1')
to negotiate a compromise with Iran... A combination of truly crippling
sanctions and a credible military threat-a threat that the ayatollahs
still do not believe today-may yet convince Iran to relinquish its
nuclear dreams. But time is dwindling and, with each passing day, the
lives of eight million Israelis grow increasingly imperiled. The window
that opened 20 years ago is now almost shut." http://t.uani.com/Naz0J4
Michael Smith II
in Fox News: "Politics and the tragic events in
Colorado, and now Wisconsin, have overshadowed news this summer that
should be of paramount concern to our leaders in Washington. It concerns
the war being waged against the United States and Israel since the
ayatollahs seized power in Iran and the chants of 'Death to America' that
have emanated from Tehran for decades. According to Reuters, NYPD
intelligence analysts have determined that the Islamic Republic of Iran
and its terrorist proxies were behind nine plots targeting Israelis and
Jews outside of Israel just in this year alone. Of course, less than a
year ago US officials determined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps'
elite and clandestine Qods Force was behind a plot targeting foreign
officials and facilities in Washington, DC. It is the Qods Force that
manages plots of concern to the NYPD. For those unfamiliar with this
entity, the Qods (Arabic for Jerusalem) Force is a special operations
division nominally within the command of the Revolutionary Guard. It was
literally created with a mandate from the government of Iran to fund,
train, equip, even create Islamic terrorist groups capable of helping
Tehran achieve a central goal as part of the regime's agenda: to
undermine the US, Israel, and our allies - by force. On behalf of Iran's
all powerful unelected officials like Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei,
it is the Qods Force that today manages relations between the Islamic
Republic and the world's deadliest militant Islamists, including
Hezbollah, Hamas, lethal factions of the Afghan Taliban, and Al Qaeda. In
the post-9/11 era, for most Americans the unchecked existence of an
official state entity that sponsors terrorism much in the same way that
USAID promotes economic development, confounds our sense of Washington's
priorities. What is perhaps hardest for members of our society to grasp
is that for Iran terrorism became a key instrument of foreign policy the
moment the ayatollahs came into power. And according to some terrorism
experts, it is because of Washington's inaction in the face of Iran-backed
attacks like the 1983 bombing that killed 241 US servicemen in Beirut,
the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 more
American soldiers, the regime's permissiveness regarding the presence of
Al Qaeda leaders hidden within its borders, and its provision of training
and weapons to insurgent groups that have killed scores of Americans in
Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, that this regime continues to use of
terrorism to advance its agenda... Iran's increasingly aggressive posture
is something America can no longer afford to ignore. As the NYPD's recent
report on this issue indicates if Washington continues to kick this can
down the road, it may soon blow up in all of our faces." http://t.uani.com/OKztSG
Micah Zenko in
Atlantic: "The most important unanswered question
about the heightened U.S.-Israel confrontation with Iran over its nuclear
program is whether Iran's political leadership will decide to pursue a
nuclear weapon. The key judgments in the last declassified National Intelligence
Estimate (NIE) on the Iranian nuclear program found with 'high
confidence' that 'Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program' in the fall
of 2003, and this conviction remained with 'moderate confidence' through
mid-2007. U.S. officials believe that only one person holds the power to
decide whether or not to pursue a bomb--meaning to enrich enough uranium
to bomb-grade level that can be formed into sphere that could be
compressed into a critical mass--the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. Testifying before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in
late January, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated:
'Iran's technical advances, particularly in uranium enrichment,
strengthen our assessment that Iran is well-capable of producing enough
highly-enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders,
specifically the supreme leader himself, choose to do so.' Shortly
thereafter, Clapper echoed this statement before the Senate Armed
Services Committee, 'That is the intelligence community's assessment,
that that is an option that is still held out by the Iranians. And we
believe the decision would be made by the supreme leader himself, and he
would base that on a cost-benefit analysis in terms of -- I don't think
you want a nuclear weapon at any price.' One month later, James Risen
reported in the New York Times: 'American intelligence analysts still
believe that the Iranians have not gotten the go-ahead from Ayatollah
Khamenei to revive the program. That assessment, said one American
official, holds up really well.' On Monday, however, Israeli defense
minister Ehud Barak introduced a new observation that upends the previous
understanding of this particular redline: '[Israel and the U.S.] both
know that Khamenei did not yet ordered, actually, to give a weapon, but
that he is determined to deceit and defy the whole world.' ... If the
United States accepts this logic--that the Supreme Leader would never
issue the formal order to pursue a nuclear weapon for fear of foreign
detection--then what was once a distinct and identifiable redline for
U.S. intelligence no longer exists." http://t.uani.com/RwUrX8
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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