Eye on Iran: Protests Surround Ahmadinejad's NYC Visit

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories AP: "Whenever Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad comes to New York, protesters pay attention. They know where he's staying. They stand outside the building when he makes a speech, holding signs calling him a dictator and comparing him to Adolf Hitler. 'We want him to see he's not welcome here,' said Nathan Carleton, spokesman for United Against Nuclear Iran, which is gearing up for Ahmadinejad's arrival this weekend for the United Nations General Assembly. Ahmadinejad, who is scheduled to make a speech at the UN on Wednesday, is expected to stay for the second straight year at the posh Warwick New York Hotel. A spokesman for the hotel did not confirm whether the leader would be staying there. The hotel didn't confirm his stay there last year, either. As they did last year, members of United Against Nuclear Iran will be protesting outside and inside, reserving a room in hopes of taking their outrage as close to Ahmadinejad and his entourage as possible. 'We had people walking around the hotel wearing shirts with his face crossed out on them,' Carleton said. The group is working to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. The anger extends to the hotel itself. United Against Nuclear Iran and several prominent Jewish groups had urged the Warwick not to provide luxury accommodations for a man who denies the Holocaust and says the U.S. orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks, and who has also come under criticism for Iran's repressive treatment of its people and its support of groups like Hamas." http://t.uani.com/QoPApP AFP: "Iran warned Israel and the United States against any aggression, as it proudly paraded its troops and military hardware on Friday under the gaze of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and top brass. The Tehran parade, involving thousands of military personnel, dozens of tanks and missiles borne on trucks, marked the anniversary of the start of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Ahmadinejad, in a speech broadcast on state television, said that Iran was using 'the same spirit and belief in itself' shown in that war to 'stand and defend its rights' today against pressure from world powers... In his speech, Ahmadinejad also touched on an anti-Islam film made in America by an extremist Christian group that has fuelled violent protests in parts of the Muslim world. He said US government claims it could do nothing to censor the film was a 'deception' exploiting the pretext of freedom of expression. He called the film an Israeli-hatched plot 'to divide (Muslims) and spark sectarian conflict.' Ahmadinejad implicitly referred to his often expressed opinion that the Holocaust never happened to lambast the West for perceived selective censorship. 'They stand against a question about a historical incident... they threaten and put pressure on nations for posing the question while at the same time in regards to the obscenest insults to the human sanctities and prophets... they shout adherence to freedom (of expression),' he said." http://t.uani.com/Tdd9Fn Reuters: "Western members of the U.N. Security Council blasted Iran on Thursday for providing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with weapons to help him crush an 18-month-long uprising by rebels determined to topple his government. 'Iran's arms exports to the murderous Assad regime in Syria are of particular concern,' U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the 15-nation council during a meeting on the world body's Iran sanctions regime. She cited a May 2012 report by the U.N. panel of experts that monitors compliance with four rounds of Security Council sanctions against Tehran. That report concluded Syria was now the 'central party to illicit Iranian arms transfers.' Tehran is forbidden from selling weapons under a U.N. arms embargo, which is part of broader sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/SIlR84   Nuclear Program NYT: "Iran's top atomic energy official said in an article published Thursday that because of foreign espionage, his government had sometimes provided false information to protect its nuclear program, which Western powers and Israel have called a cloak to develop a nuclear weapons capacity. The official, Fereydoon Abbasi, a nuclear scientist who is the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, did not specify the nature of the false information. Nor did he specify when it had been presented or to whom. Mr. Abbasi's remarks were quoted in an article on the Web site of Al Hayat, a pan-Arab newspaper in Britain that is considered the leading daily of the Arab diaspora." http://t.uani.com/QpUIdl AFP: "The United States, Britain and France warned Iran on Thursday that time is running out for a negotiated settlement to the showdown on its nuclear program. 'Time is wasting,' US ambassador Susan Rice told a UN Security Council meeting on nuclear sanctions against Iran... 'We will not engage in an endless process of negotiations that fail to produce any results. We must therefore remain clear and united in seeking resolution of the international community's concerns regarding Iran's nuclear program. Time is wasting,' the US envoy said... Rice said 'Iran's approach remains to deny, to deceive and distract.'" http://t.uani.com/OM48eM NBC: "National security officials told NBC News that the continuing cyber attacks this week that slowed the websites of JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are being carried out by the government of Iran. One of those sources said the claim by hackers that the attacks were prompted by the online video mocking the Prophet Muhammad is just a cover story. A group of purported hackers in the Middle East has claimed credit for problems at the websites of both banks, citing the online video mocking the founder of Islam. One security source called that statement 'a cover' for the Iranian government's operations. The attack is described by one source, a former U.S. official familiar with the attacks, as being 'significant and ongoing' and looking to cause 'functional and significant damage.' Also, one source suggested the attacks were in response to U.S. sanctions on Iranian banks."  http://t.uani.com/QHEAkV CSM: "North Korea and Iran appear to be increasing their dealings in nuclear technology and missiles with each other under a breakthrough agreement reached between the two nations in Tehran three weeks ago. 'It's likely the tempo of shipments of technology to Iran has increased,' says Bruce Bechtol, a former US intelligence official and author of two books and other studies on North Korea's military buildup. 'We have seen a large number of North Korean scientists visiting Iran.' Concerns about the nature of North Korea's exchanges with Iran have risen since Iran's science and technology minister, Farhad Daneshjoo, and North Korea's foreign minister, Pak Ui-chun, signed the deal to cooperate on science and technology after a summit of 'nonaligned nations' held in Tehran in late August." http://t.uani.com/R585zg Sanctions Reuters: "The State Department said on Thursday it did not support a suggestion from a prominent senator that future U.S. assistance to Iraq be made conditional on Baghdad's cooperation in stopping Iranian aircraft suspected of ferrying weapons to Syria. 'We've been very clear about our ongoing conversation with the government of Iraq, and our view that they either need to deny overflight requests for Iranian aircraft going to Syria or to require that such flights land in Iraqi territory for inspection,' State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing. 'We do not support linking U.S. assistance to Iraq to the issue of Iranian overflights precisely because our assistance is in part directed towards robust security assistance including helping the Iraqis build their capability to defend their airspace.'" http://t.uani.com/P5R2dR Fox News: "Iran's foreign minister is hoping to address a number of prestigious policy groups during a trip to New York next month, over the objections of critics who say it's not the time to roll out the red carpet and provide a podium for the Iranian regime's vitriol. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) confirmed that Ali Akbar Salehi is slated to appear Oct. 1 at the group's office in Manhattan, according to CFR spokesman Kendra Davidson. The event will likely consist of Salehi delivering prepared remarks, followed by a question-and-answer session with CFR members that may or may not be open to the media. Salehi is also in talks to appear at events hosted by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and the Asia Society, though neither appearance has been confirmed, according to officials with each group. Salehi is set to appear at the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly, ostensibly the reason for his New York trip." http://t.uani.com/QpVFlV Free Beacon: "An Iranian-American advocacy group long suspected of concealing its illicit ties to the Iranian regime recently lost a four-year court battle aimed at silencing one of its principal critics. The left-leaning National Iranian American Council (NIAC)-which describes itself as a nonprofit educational organization that advocates in favor of increased U.S. engagement with Iran-sued Seid Hassan Daioleslam in 2008. The group alleged Daioleslam defamed the organization by claiming that it clandestinely lobbied American government officials on behalf of the Iranian regime... 'I believe they intentionally withheld documents,' Daioleslam told the Free Beacon. 'The documents [NIAC has] not turned over not only hampered the legal proceedings, they deprived the American people from knowing what's going on behind the scenes.' Court documents show that NIAC officials inappropriately altered internal documents, withheld certain pieces of correspondence, and produced mysteriously incomplete records." http://t.uani.com/OJ6Ze7 Human Rights Reuters: "More than 300 Christians have been arrested since mid-2010 in Iran where churches operate in a climate of fear and Muslims who convert to Christianity face persecution, United Nations human rights investigators said on Thursday. They welcomed the release earlier this month of Yousof Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor who spent three years in prison before his death sentence for apostasy and evangelism was commuted, but voiced deep concerns for those still detained. In a joint statement, the independent investigators called on authorities in the Islamic Republic to 'ease the current climate of fear in which many churches operate, especially Protestant evangelical houses of worship.'" http://t.uani.com/OJ5T1Z Opinion & Analysis WashPost Editorial Board: "It's been more than a year since the Obama administration began describing the downfall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as a matter of time. He's defied White House predictions in part because of his ruthlessness - more than 20,000 Syrians, most of them civilians, have died during the uprising - and in part because of political and military weakness of his opposition. But the Assad regime also has been bolstered by the imbalance of foreign intervention. While the United States and other Western powers hang back, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar offer weak and poorly coordinated aid, Iran has mounted a concerted and escalating campaign to prop up the government. Iran has sent men as well as arms, cash and technical support... Even as the Obama administration was rejecting appeals from Turkey, France and other allies for more robust action against the Assad regime, Tehran was escalating. In July it resumed direct cargo flights to Damascus across Iraqi airspace. U.S. officials, who believe that the planes carry military equipment, appealed to the Iraqi government to stop them or at least inspect them. But the flights have continued. U.S. officials told the New York Times that Iran has even provided the regime with a cargo plane for transporting fighters and supplies around the country. Meanwhile, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, an Iranian client, has been sending its own trainers into Syria. Some administration officials dismiss the Iranian effort as futile support for a lost cause. But Iranian backing for the regime, matched against Western passivity, could keep Mr. Assad in power indefinitely. Even if the government in Damascus collapses, Iranian commanders and the militias they've trained will likely stay on to compete in what could be a chaotic struggle for power that could spread from Syria to Lebanon and Iraq. Al-Qaeda and other Sunni extremist groups will be part of that fight; so will the rebel groups backed by the fundamentalist Saudis and Qataris. If it continues its present policy, the United States will go on watching from the sidelines as the future of the Levant is decided." http://t.uani.com/PuH4UC JPost Editorial: "Iranian officials are not known for their verbal self-restraint, but this was blunt even by their standards. Fereydoun Abbasi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, admitted this week that his country regularly lied and deceived the world community regarding its nuclear program. 'Sometimes we show weaknesses we don't have,' Abbasi said in an interview with the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. 'Sometimes we show strengths we don't have.' It is no surprise to anyone that Tehran has been using lies and deception to cover up its march toward a nuclear bomb. What is surprising is Abbasi's willingness to be quite so candid. No one else as high-ranking among the Shi'ite fanatics running the show in the Islamic Republic has come out and admitted so unambiguously to be intentionally misleading inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Adding to the chutzpah was the timing: Abbasi let loose his revelation while heading a delegation to the IAEA's 56th General Conference taking place in Vienna. It was as if Abbasi waited for an opportunity to maximize the embarrassment he could cause the IAEA officials for being duped. This week, Iranian leaders seem to have a proclivity for frank revelations. On Sunday, Maj.-Gen. Muhammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Revolutionary Guards, declared that Iranian forces were propping up Syrian President Basher Assad's murderous regime. Members of the Qods Force, the Revolutionary Guards' international branch, are helping Assad fight the rebels. 'We are proud to defend Syria, which constitutes a resistance to the Zionist entity,' Jafari told reporters in Tehran. On the same day a semi-official Iranian religious institution - the Khordat Foundation - declared it was increasing the reward to $3.3 million from $2.8m. for anyone who would act on a fatwa first issued in 1989 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and murder British author Salman Rushdie. The spate of candid declarations made by Iranian officials seems to be tied to the frenzied protests sweeping across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Tehran apparently is emboldened by the most recent outbreak of fanaticism. With millions of Muslims giving free rein to their fanaticism, why should the Islamic Republic be reticent? Whatever the reason for Iranian leaders' recent outspokenness, it has become increasingly clear that Iran continues to snub the international community." http://t.uani.com/PuIA9b David Ignatius in WashPost: "Perhaps it was the 'fog of simulation.' But the scariest aspect of a U.S.-Iran war game staged this week was the way each side miscalculated the other's responses - and moved toward war even as the players thought they were choosing restrained options. The Iran exercise was organized by Kenneth Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. It included former top U.S. officials as Washington policymakers, and prominent Iranian American experts playing Tehran's hand. I was allowed to observe, on the condition that I wouldn't name the participants. The bottom line: The game showed how easy it was for each side to misread the other's signals. And these players were separated by a mere corridor in a Washington think tank, rather than half a world away. Misjudgment was the essence of this game: Each side thought it was choosing limited options, but their moves were interpreted as crossing red lines. Attacks proved more deadly than expected; signals were not understood; attempts to open channels of communication were ignored; the desire to look tough compelled actions that produced results neither side wanted. Let's walk through the simulation to see how the teams stumbled up the ladder of escalation. The game was set in July 2013, with some broad assumptions: It was assumed that President Obama had been reelected, the P5+1 negotiations remained deadlocked and Israel hadn't launched a unilateral attack." http://t.uani.com/SIlsmb   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.