|
|
Top Stories
WT:
"With its economy in free fall, Iran is turning to its porous
borders with Iraq and other countries to skirt increasingly effective
global economic sanctions, according to congressional staffers, local journalists
and advocates for tough sanctions against Tehran. Analysts say Iran's
government and citizens have become desperate, resorting to 'cash
transactions' on the black market with neighboring countries -
principally Iraq, with which it shares a 910-mile border. 'We are
starting to see the success of international sanctions,' said Mark D.
Wallace, chief executive officer of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New
York-based bipartisan advocacy group that has pushed for economic
sanctions against Iran. He said the economic squeeze on Iran has led to
'much more secret trading taking place' on its borders with Iraq and
Afghanistan. 'Iranians are taking rial by the truckload and exchanging
them for hard currency or gold,' he said. 'The governments in both Iraq and
Afghanistan are turning a blind eye to the porous borders and trade.' Mr.
Wallace, a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George
W. Bush, also said it was important to urge Iraq and Afghanistan to clamp
down on the illicit trade." http://t.uani.com/UeKP2Z
AFP:
"Syrian troops on Sunday fought rebel fighters in the country's two
main cities Damascus and Aleppo, as Iran acknowledged for the first time
it has elite forces present in Syria and Lebanon as 'counsellors.' ...
The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards told a news conference in
Tehran on Sunday that members of his elite special operations unit, the
Quds Force, are present in Syria and Lebanon but insisted they were only
there to provide 'counsel.' 'A number of Quds Force members are present
in Syria and Lebanon... we provide (these countries) with counsel and
advice, and transfer experience to them,' Guards commander Brigadier
General Mohammad Ali Jafari said. 'But it does not mean that we have a
military presence there,' he added. Several Western and Arab countries
accuse Iran of giving military aid to President Bashar al-Assad's regime
as the Syria conflict becomes increasingly bloody." http://t.uani.com/PJU6PG
NY Post:
"A still-suffering terror victim is hoping to exact some 'suite
revenge' on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - by taking over his
suite at a posh Midtown hotel. Lawyers for ex-New Yorker Stuart Hersh -
who was severely injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Israel - yesterday
served The Warwick hotel with legal papers claiming rights to the
hate-spewer's rooms booked for his upcoming visit to the United Nations.
Hersh, 64, has a $12 million judgment against Iran for complicity in his
wounds, which he claims entitles him to assume Ahmadinejad's reservation
or pocket whatever money the hotel gets paid for it." http://t.uani.com/Ud54v9
Nuclear
Program
AP: "Iran's
nuclear chief warned Monday that ''terrorists and saboteurs'' might have
infiltrated the International Atomic Energy Agency in an effort to derail
his country's atomic program, in an unprecedentedly harsh attack on the
integrity of the U.N. organization and its probe of allegations that
Tehran might be striving to make nuclear arms. Fereydoun Abbasi also
rebuked the United States in comments to the IAEA's 55-nation general
conference, reflecting Iran's determination to continue defying
international pressure aimed at curbing its nuclear program and nudging
it toward cooperation with the IAEA inspection... 'Terrorists and
saboteurs might have intruded the agency and might be making decisions
covertly,' he said. Citing what he said was an example of sabotage last
month at an underground enrichment plant, he said IAEA inspectors arrived
shortly after power lines were blown up to inspect the premises." http://t.uani.com/OxaBKo
AFP:
"Explosive blasts destroyed power lines to Iran's underground
nuclear facility at Fordo last month, the head of Iran's atomic agency
said at a meeting of UN atomic agency member states Monday. 'On ... 17th
August 2012, the electric power lines from the city of Qom to the Fordo
complex ... were cut using explosives,' Fereydoon Abbasi Davani told the
155-nation International Atomic Energy Agency gathering in a speech.
Davani did not accuse anyone of sabotage, but in the past Iran has
claimed both Israel and the United States were behind the assassinations
of nuclear scientists and computer viruses targeting its
facilities." http://t.uani.com/OzZiae
Reuters:
"EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will meet Iran's chief
nuclear negotiator on Tuesday, Ashton's office said on Monday, as German
Chancellor Angela Merkel said a political solution was still possible in
the stand-off over Tehran's atomic program. The head of the U.N. atomic
watchdog, Yukiya Amano, also said on Monday his agency would hold more
talks with the Islamic state aimed at allaying Western concerns that Iran
is attempting to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Ashton
will meet Iran negotiator Saeed Jalili in Istanbul as 'part of continuing
efforts to engage with Iran', after talks between world powers and Iran
in Moscow in June failed to secure a breakthrough in the dispute." http://t.uani.com/QjFtm7
Reuters:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that
Iran would reach the brink of being able to build a nuclear bomb in just
six or seven months, adding urgency to his demand that President Barack
Obama set a 'red line' for Tehran amid the worst U.S.-Israeli rift in
decades. Taking to the airwaves to make his case directly to the American
public, Netanyahu said that by mid-2013 Iran would have 90 percent of the
material it needed for an atomic weapon. He again pressed the United
States to spell out limits that Tehran must not cross if it is to avoid
military action - something Obama has refused to do. 'You have to place
that red line before them now, before it's too late,' Netanyahu told
NBC's 'Meet the Press' program, saying that such a move could reduce the
chances of having to attack Iran's nuclear sites." http://t.uani.com/S3kl46
Bloomberg:
"The U.S. and 29 other nations have begun the biggest mine-clearing
exercise in the Persian Gulf region, a show of force as tensions escalate
over a threatened Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. The 12-day
exercise that started yesterday involves Western nations such as the U.K.
and France, as well as participants as varied as Japan, Yemen, Jordan,
New Zealand and Estonia, according to the U.S. Navy. In an effort to
avoid a showdown with the Islamic Republic, it won't extend into the
Strait of Hormuz, the waterway between Iran and Oman through which as
much as a fifth of the world's traded oil is shipped daily. In addition
to serving as a warning to Iran, the display of power will 'signal to
Israel that the United States has a military option available' and show
'U.S. resolve to its Persian Gulf allies, especially in the face of
repeated Iranian threats to try to close the Strait of Hormuz,' according
to Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist for the nonpartisan
Congressional Research Service in Washington." http://t.uani.com/PzIeMH
Sanctions
Bloomberg:
"South Korea stopped buying crude oil from Iran in August after its
refiners lost insurance coverage on ships carrying the fuel from the
Persian Gulf nation. Purchases fell to zero last month, reducing imports
from Iran for the first eight months of this year by 34 percent from a
year earlier to 5.39 million tons, according to data posted on the
Customs Service's website today. South Korea bought 1.14 million tons of
crude oil, or 36,738 tons a day, from Iran in August 2011... Iran offered
to provide its own tankers to supply the oil, a South Korean government
official said on June 29, asking not to be identified because the matter
is confidential. SK Innovation Co., one of the two buyers of Iranian
crude in the Asian country, said on Aug. 17 it would resume imports in
September as it is near agreement on using Iran's tankers." http://t.uani.com/V3QYOW
Reuters:
"The United States has renewed waivers on Iran sanctions for Japan
and 10 European countries because they cut their purchases of the OPEC
nation's crude oil, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.
The renewal means banks in the 11 countries have been given a second 180
day reprieve from the threat of being cut off from the U.S. financial
system under the sanctions designed to choke funding to Iran's nuclear
program... The sanctions law President Barack Obama signed in 2011
requires a review every six months of the waivers, which were given to
all of Iran's major buyers throughout 2012. Japan, the world's third
largest oil consumer, had taken significant steps to reduce purchases of
Iranian crude, Clinton said." http://t.uani.com/QfKXLP
WSJ:
"In recent months, Iran's nuclear, oil and natural-gas industries
have been the subject of intensifying sanctions from the international
community. Now the country wants to develop a sector in which it has more
leeway: renewables. At a recent Tehran exhibition, local companies, some
of which are doing business with European companies, displayed
domestically made solar panels and wind turbines... But a European Union
spokesman confirmed that renewable energy, including wind, solar and
biomass, aren't part of the European sanctions. A U.S. Treasury spokesman
said such sales are banned for U.S. companies unless a specific license
is granted. Not everyone is happy about the distinction the Europeans are
making. Nathan Carleton, a spokesman for New York-based United Against a
Nuclear Iran, says the EU sanctions should include renewable-energy
technologies, 'given the international effort to isolate the regime and
stop its nuclear pursuits.'" http://t.uani.com/PrVBjw
AP:
"The Great Satan still sells in Iran. Even after decades of
diplomatic estrangement and tightening economic sanctions, American
products manage to find their way into the Iranian marketplace. The
routes are varied: back channel exporters, licensing workarounds and
straightforward trade for goods not covered by the U.S. embargoes over
Iran's nuclear program... Although the number of Made-in-America items in
Iran is dwarfed by the exports from Europe, China and neighboring Turkey,
some of the best-known U.S. brands can be tracked down in Tehran and
other large cities. It's possible to check your emails on an iPhone, sip
a Coke and hit the gym in a pair of Nikes... Both iconic American drinks
have been mainstays for years in one of the Middle East's largest
consumer markets with 75 million people. The U.S. Treasury sanctions on
Iran give some leeway for food and beverages, allowing The Coca-Cola Co.
and PepsiCo to work through non-U.S. subsidiaries to ship their syrup to
Iranian bottlers and distributors." http://t.uani.com/RTpLjj
VOA:
"In the past few months, there has been a surge in Turkey's gold
exports to Iran. Questions are increasing over whether the gold purchases
are the latest attempt by Tehran to circumvent increasingly tough
international sanctions. Throughout 2012, Turkish-Iranian trade has
experienced record monthly increases. Most is due to gold exports to
Iran. Inan Demir, Turkish Finansbank chief economist said the amounts are
unprecedented. 'In 2010 and 2011 combined Turkey's total gold and jewelry
exports amounted to $4.3 billion,' said Demir. 'Now, in the first six
months of 2012, gold exports to Iran, we are talking about a gold export
figure in excess of $6 billion. So, compared to past trends, we are
definitely talking something extraordinary here.'" http://t.uani.com/Ox90tR
Terrorism
AP:
"A semi-official religious foundation in Iran has increased a reward
it had offered for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie to $3.3
million from $2.8 million, a newspaper reported, days after protests
coursed through the Muslim world over alleged insults to the Prophet
Muhammad. Hardline Jomhoori Eslami daily and other newspapers reported on
Sunday that the move appeared to be linked to protests over an amateurish
anti-Islam film, which crowds in some 20 countries said drove them to
defend their faith - in some cases by attacking American embassies. The
report said the 15 Khordad Foundation will pay the higher reward to
whoever acts on the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Iran's late
leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which called for the death of the
author 'The Satanic Verses' because the novel was considered
blasphemous." http://t.uani.com/PJUBJm
Reuters:
"Iran's government will 'track down' those responsible for making an
amateurish film clip mocking the Prophet Mohammad, a senior official
said, Iranian media reported on Monday. The video made in California and
posted on YouTube portrayed the Prophet Mohammad as a womanizer and a
fool. It has ignited a week of violent protests across the Muslim world.
'The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns ... this
inappropriate and offensive action,' First Vice-President Mohammad Reza
Rahimi said, according to the Mehr news agency. 'Certainly it will search
for, track, and pursue this guilty person who ... has insulted 1.5
billion Muslims in the world.'" http://t.uani.com/QjF3Mv
JTA:
"Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blamed 'evil
Zionists' and the U.S. government for the anti-Islam film that has
sparked violent protests in Muslim countries. In a statement issued
Thursday, Khamenei said that the film 'showed the fury of the evil
Zionists at the daily-increasing radiance of Islam and Holy Qur'an in the
present world.' He added that the 'prime suspects in this crime are
Zionism and the US government' and demanded that American politicians
make those behind the film 'face a punishment proportionate to this great
crime.' ... As of Friday, the English-language website of Iran's Press TV
was continuing to repeat the false reports that Jews were behind the
film." http://t.uani.com/RXXlEN
Reuters:
"Iran is using Iraqi airspace to fly supplies to Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad's forces and thousands of Iraqi militia fighters have
crossed into Syria to support his troops, Iraq's fugitive vice president
said on Sunday. Tareq al-Hashemi, who fled Iraq in December and was
sentenced to death a week ago by an Iraqi court, said the government of
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was failing to stop ammunitions and armaments
reaching Assad's forces. 'My country is unfortunately becoming an Iranian
corridor to support the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad, there is no
doubt about that,' Hashemi told Reuters in an interview in
Istanbul." http://t.uani.com/OT6hGW
Human Rights
Guardian:
"In Iran, the country I was born in and where I lived until three
years ago, public hanging is a horrific but familiar scene for many, at
least for those living close to city centres and public squares. Once as
a child, on my way to school, I became an inadvertent spectator of an
execution, my eyes shocked at seeing the guards draping a rope around the
neck of a convict. The sight has haunted me ever since. Hanging is the
common method for execution in Iran. The judicial killings usually take
place in the morning as the sun rises, often at the crime scene or in a
city centre. The families of victims and convicts gather as the
authorities prepare to hang the condemned from cranes. Under Iran's
sharia law, the victim's family has the right to spare the convict from
execution for certain crimes, such as when someone is convicted of
killing another person in a car accident. This means many executions see
the condemned's relatives incessantly pleading for a pardon. A huge
crowd, which might include children, usually surrounds the scene... This
year Amnesty said the authorities have so far acknowledged the execution
of at least 182 people, 35 of them hanged in public." http://t.uani.com/O64xOR
Opinion
& Analysis
UANI Advisory
Board Member Matthias Kuntzel in WSJ: "Next month,
the world's largest book fair opens its doors in Frankfurt. One country
will take the stage with particular self-confidence: the Islamic Republic
of Iran. You read that correctly. Iran has the world's highest rate of
imprisoned journalists. Tehran bans newspapers, shuts down galleries,
arrests critics and flogs artists. Thousands of book drafts have been
censored by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. 'We cannot lift
controls on the book market and thus allow harmful books to enter the
market,' Ali Khamenei, the leader of the regime, has declared. None of
this should be new to the Frankfurt Book Fair's organizers. Since June,
the Book Fair has been funding the exile of censored Iranian author
Mohammad Baharlo, who has taken refuge in Frankfurt. 'Defense of freedom
of speech' is an obligation of the Book Fair, explained Juergen Boos, the
Fair's director, at a July 25 press conference honoring Mr. Baharlo. So
why is the Fair willing to give a platform to Mr. Baharlo's persecutors?
The forthcoming event will not only exhibit regime-compliant publishing
houses such as 'Aryan Thinker' and 'Sacred Defense.' The Iranian embassy
in Germany is also planning an 'effective [and] targeted presence' in
Frankfurt, according to the embassy's website. A regime delegation led by
Mohammad Azimi, a former vice minister in the Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance, will be in attendance... It is obvious that the Iranian
regime has more than just book selling in mind. A prestigious appearance
in Frankfurt will strengthen the impression that the Western world is
split on Iran, and that Tehran is able to thwart Western isolation. The
Book Fair has confirmed that Mr. Azimi's Cultural Fairs Institute will be
given a booth but declined to comment on its size... The Frankfurt Book
Fair has stood up for freedom of speech in the past. In 1989, Ayatollah
Khomeini called for the murder of British author Salman Rushdie. The Book
Fair responded by excluding Iran for three years. This June, the regime
issued another call for murder, this time against Shahin Najafi, a poet
and singer who lives and works in Germany. I pointed out to the Book Fair
that the regime has put a bounty of $100,000 on Mr. Najafi's head,
compelling him to go into hiding." http://t.uani.com/Pk9gJG
David Ignatius in
WashPost: "As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu continues his almost daily demands that the United States
announce its 'red line' for going to war with Iran, the question puzzling
the White House is what he wants beyond what President Obama has already
stated. Obama believes he has drawn the U.S. red line as clearly as a
superpower ever should, given that some ambiguity is useful in deterring
an adversary. For the record, Obama said in an interview with Jeffrey
Goldberg of the Atlantic in March that it was 'a profound national
security interest of the United States to prevent Iran from getting a
nuclear weapon.' U.S. intelligence would provide 'a pretty long lead time
in which we will know that they are making that attempt.' Obama was even
more explicit in a speech a few days later to the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee: 'I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a
nuclear weapon.' Beyond this rhetorical pledge, Obama has directed the
U.S. military to prepare detailed plans for attacking Iran if it should
cross the line he has set. The Israelis know what signals the United
States will look for in determining if Iran has begun weaponization, and
what weapons the United States will use in its preventive attack. So what
does Netanyahu seek from Obama that he hasn't yet gotten? Apparently,
it's some sort of ultimatum or deadline for Iran to stop its nuclear
enrichment, which could someday provide fuel for a bomb. In the latest
eruption, Netanyahu said Tuesday that leaders who won't make such
ultimatums 'don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.'
The White House might reasonably respond by asking: What are Israel's
'red lines'? If it doesn't accept the president's public commitment to
stop Iran, then where would it draw the line? It has been hard to get a
clear answer. Israel says that Iran shouldn't have nuclear enrichment
capability, but unfortunately that line was crossed long ago. Now,
apparently, Netanyahu wants to prevent the Iranians from installing
enough centrifuges in their fortified mountain base near Qom that they
would enter a 'zone of immunity,' in which they could produce enough
highly enriched fuel for a bomb. But how many centrifuges are we talking
about? And if the United States can bomb Qom and destroy the centrifuges,
why does this issue matter so much? Watching Netanyahu's public,
Hamlet-like anguishing over the past year about 'to bomb or not to bomb,'
one suspects the real issue for him isn't red lines so much as trust that
they will be enforced." http://t.uani.com/Ps5RIr
Mehdi Khalaji in
Project Syndicate: "Negotiations over Iran's nuclear
program have again hit a wall, but the country's Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, appears unconcerned. Indeed, Khamenei seems
convinced that neither the United States nor Israel will attack its
nuclear facilities - at least not before the US presidential election in
November. Ironically, while Khamenei is no fan of democracy, he relies on
the fact that his principal enemies are bound by democratic constraints.
Khamenei controls Iran's nuclear program and its foreign policy, but the
US and Israel must work to reach consensus not only within their
respective political systems, but also with each other. Iran's leaders,
who closely follow Israeli political debates, believe that Israel would
not launch an assault on their nuclear facilities without America's full
cooperation, because unilateral action would jeopardize Israel's
relations with its most important strategic ally. Given that an Israeli
offensive would need to be coordinated with the US, while an American
assault would not require Israeli military support, Iran would consider
both to be American attacks. But Iran's leaders remain skeptical of either
scenario, despite America's official position that 'all options are on
the table' to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons capability. So
far, they simply do not feel enough pressure to consider a compromise. In
fact, Iran's leaders continue to deride Israel from afar, calling the
country an 'insult to humanity,' or a 'tumor' in the region that must be
eradicated. Meanwhile, Iran's citizens - including clergy in the holy
city of Qom, near the Fordow nuclear facility - are deeply concerned about
the consequences of an attack. Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, a former attorney
general and a religious authority (marja'), has asked the government to
refrain from provoking Israel. Indeed, critics of the government believe
that its incendiary rhetoric might lead to a devastating war. But, from
the perspective of Iran's leadership, the taunting has tactical value to
the extent that it reinforces the view among the Israeli public that Iran
is a dangerous enemy, willing to retaliate fiercely. In fact, anti-Israel
rhetoric reflects Iranian leaders' confidence that Israel will not attack
- a view that is bolstered by the situation in Syria. They are convinced
that, even if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime falls, Iran will
be able to destabilize the country in such a way that would pose a major
security threat to Israel. According to this view, it is Israel that has
an interest in refraining from further antagonizing Iran, not vice versa.
Recent editorials in Kayhan - the hardline Iranian newspaper that serves
as a mouthpiece for the Supreme Leader - indicate that Khamenei is
looking forward to the US presidential election. Regardless of the
outcome, he foresees no threat of military action, at least through next
year. A victory by Obama would reinforce America's unwillingness to
attack Iran and renewed efforts to rein in Israel. And, if Republican
challenger Mitt Romney is elected, he will need months to form his
national security team and assemble his cabinet, leaving him unable to
attack Iran immediately." http://t.uani.com/QwmRge
|
|
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
Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive
media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with
discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a
commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own
interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of
nuclear weapons.
|
|
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment