Eye on Iran: Western report - Iran Ships Arms, Personnel to Syria via Iraq

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Reuters: "Iran has been using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to Syria to aid President Bashar al-Assad in his attempt to crush an 18-month uprising against his government, according to a Western intelligence report seen by Reuters. Earlier this month, U.S. officials said they were questioning Iraq about Iranian flights in Iraqi airspace suspected of ferrying arms to Assad, a staunch Iranian ally. On Wednesday, U.S. Senator John Kerry threatened to review U.S. aid to Baghdad if it does not halt such overflights. Iraq says it does not allow the passage of any weapons through its airspace. But the intelligence report obtained by Reuters says Iranian weapons have been flowing into Syria via Iraq in large quantities. Such transfers, the report says, are organized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps." http://t.uani.com/P2LfWl AP: "The Obama administration has identified 117 Iranian aircraft it says are ferrying weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. The Treasury Department says the planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air are delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of 'humanitarian' shipments. The airlines are already subject to U.S. sanctions: Americans cannot do business with them and any assets they have in the U.S. are frozen. But it is now listing planes individually, partly to pressure Iraq to crack down on Iranian weapons shipments to Syria via Iraqi airspace." http://t.uani.com/S9lMhq  Reuters: "A wealthy Iranian businessman sits in the lobby of one of Dubai's most luxurious hotels, shaking his head as he laments the state of Iran's economy. 'Business is drying up, industry is collapsing. There's zero investment,' he said. 'I know. I see it with my own eyes.' ... 'We're close to seeing mass unemployment in cities and queues for social handouts. There are few alternatives for those people and many will end up on the bread line,' said Mehrdad Emadi, an Iranian-born economic adviser to the European Union, who is based in the UK." http://t.uani.com/RyLbTa Video: UANI's World Wide Web Campaign on Israel's Channel 10: http://t.uani.com/QoeJ43   Nuclear Program & Sanctions  AP: "Iran's chief nuclear negotiator on Wednesday reported progress in talks aimed at restarting negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, calling a meeting with European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton a day earlier 'positive and fruitful.' Saeed Jalili offered few concrete details about Tuesday's meeting with Ashton in Istanbul, but said the two had assessed some 'common points' reached by technical teams looking into the issue and had discussed 'what can be done for a new cooperation.'" http://t.uani.com/S9kHWY Reuters: "Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on Wednesday he and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton had agreed to defer more nuclear talks until she has consulted the six world powers she represents next week." http://t.uani.com/Sadt6d Bloomberg: "Computer terminals glow in the darkened Combat Direction Center of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower as they process feeds from sensors tracking any air, surface or underwater vessel within striking range. The center is dominated by a Ship Shelf Defense System made by Raytheon Co. that would display the first signs of an Iranian threat, such as a Silkworm anti-ship missile, a submarine or a swarm of fast patrol boats speeding toward the 1,092-foot-long aircraft carrier and its crew of more than 6,200 men and women. 'No problems at all' have been detected so far as the carrier and the cruiser in its strike group, the USS Hue City, made three transits through the Strait of Hormuz since arriving in July from its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, Navy Commander Steve Wyss told visitors to the carrier in the Persian Gulf." http://t.uani.com/VguKJF NY Post: "A posh Midtown hotel says it has every right to roll out the red carpet for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he arrives to spew hate at the United Nations next week. The Warwick New York filed court papers yesterday to block a restraining notice served by a terror victim who says his $12 million judgment against the Iranian government gives him the right to the rooms reserved for its delegation. The Manhattan federal-court filing asks that former New Yorker Stuart Hersh's claim be tossed before Ahmadinejad arrives Saturday. 'The arrangement between Warwick and the Iranian diplomats is simply that of a hotelier,' its lawyer, Andrew Hamelsky, wrote." http://t.uani.com/S74Qnj  Domestic Politics WashPost: "The Iranian government, determined to limit Western influence and defend itself against cyberattacks, appears to have laid the technical foundations for a national online network that would be detached from the Internet and permit tighter control over the flow of information. The concept of a self-contained network has been reverberating within Iran for almost a decade and has often been treated with skepticism, given the significant investment in infrastructure and security that would be required. But Iranian officials and outside experts say that development of the network has accelerated following cyberattacks aimed at the country's nuclear program... Last month, Iran's communications and information technology minister unveiled a plan to take key government agencies and military outfits offline and onto the new network by the end of September." http://t.uani.com/PXaGvE AP: "The political obituary of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been written a number of times: when he lost a comeback presidential bid, when he was dumped from leading Friday prayers at Tehran University, when he was pushed out as head of a panel that will pick Iran's next supreme leader. Yet there he was last month walking alongside Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and greeting dignitaries at a global gathering of so-called nonaligned nations in Tehran. Rafsanjani was then seated next to the main VIP guest, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was another renaissance moment for Iran's great political survivor." http://t.uani.com/P2NdWT Foreign Affairs National Post: "Canadian public opinion is solidly behind the government's foreign policy on Iran, according to an Angus Reid survey released Wednesday that found 72% support for the recent decision to suspend diplomatic relations with the Islamic regime. Although analysts and former ambassadors have criticized Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird for cutting ties with Tehran, the poll found broad approval for the move across the political spectrum of respondents. The poll highlighted the grim view that Canadians now hold of Iran: 81% said they had an 'unfavorable opinion' of the country and 72% believed Tehran was attempting to develop nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/OGOFlN   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.