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Top Stories
Reuters:
"Riot police clashed with demonstrators and foreign exchange dealers
in Tehran on Wednesday over the collapse of the Iranian currency, which
has lost 40 percent of its value against the dollar in a week, witnesses
said. Police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, angered by the
plunge in the value of the rial. Protesters shouted slogans against
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying his economic policies had fuelled
the economic crisis... 'Everyone wants to buy dollars and it's clear
there's a bit of a bank run,' said a Western diplomat based in Tehran.
'Ahmadinejad's announcement of using police against exchangers and
speculators didn't help at all. Now people are even more worried.' ... Protesters
shouted slogans like 'Mahmoud the traitor - you've ruined the country'
and 'Don't fear, don't fear - we are all together,' the website
said." http://t.uani.com/QFi4Zr
AFP:
"A protest and scuffles with police occurred in central Tehran on
Wednesday in the first sign of public unrest over Iran's plunging
currency, which has lost more than half of its value since last week.
Hundreds of police in anti-riot gear stormed the capital's currency
exchange district of Ferdowsi, arresting illegal money changers and
ordering licensed exchange bureaux and other shops closed, witnesses told
AFP. Several arrests were seen, carried out by uniformed police or
plain-clothes security officers. Smoke was seen in two places in the
area. Some appeared to come from at least two dumpsters set on fire, one
of which was near the British embassy -- evacuated last year after
pro-government demonstrators stormed it. The source of the other smoke
could not be determined, with police directing pedestrians and vehicles
away. Individuals threw stones at police officers and a police car before
running away, witnesses said. A protest in Tehran's historic Grand Bazaar
-- a maze-like complex of shops vital to the city -- also took place but
was quickly put down by police." http://t.uani.com/T0XVgp
Reuters:
"A Chinese shipyard has delivered the first of 12 supertankers to
Iran, giving Tehran extra capacity to transport its oil to Asia as it
struggles against Western sanctions, but it is unclear if the ship has
the permits necessary to call at global ports. Asian countries including
China, India and South Korea are among Iran's biggest oil customers, but,
to get around a European Union ban on shipping insurance imposed since
July 1, they must use the fleet of the National Iranian Tanker Co. (NITC)
to bring the crude home. Shipments, however, have become unpredictable as
NITC's limited shipping capacity is overstretched, and industry sources
said the arrival of the 318,000 deadweight tonne 'Panda' in the Gulf in
early October may help ease the strain. The very large crude carrier
(VLCC) left Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding on Sept. 18... Under a $1.2 billion
contract, Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co Ltd, a unit of China CSSC Holdings
Ltd, and Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd plan to deliver 12 supertankers
by the end of 2013 to NITC, which would boost the capacity of its fleet
by nearly 40 percent to around 86 million barrels... In addition to
banning insurance, the EU sanctions are likely to complicate efforts to
certify the new NITC tankers at any shipping classification society.
Without certification vessels have difficulty securing insurance cover
and cannot call at most international ports." http://t.uani.com/SwLooG
Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Iran
would enrich uranium up to 60 percent purity if negotiations with major
powers over its nuclear program fail, an Iranian lawmaker said on
Tuesday, in comments that may add to Western alarm about Iranian
intentions. Mansour Haqiqatpour, deputy head of parliament's Foreign
Policy and National Security Committee, said 60 percent enrichment would
be to yield fuel for nuclear submarines, which often require uranium
refined to high levels. But it would also take Iran another significant
step closer to the 90 percent enrichment level needed to make atomic
bombs, which the West suspects is the Islamic state's ultimate aim. Iran
says its nuclear program is for peaceful energy only." http://t.uani.com/SCzepY
NYT:
"The Iranian military was so apprehensive about the threat of an
Israeli airstrike on its nuclear installations in 2007 and 2008 that it
mistakenly fired on civilian airliners and, in one instance, on one of
its own military aircraft, according to classified American intelligence
reports. The civilian planes were fired on by surface-to-air missiles and
antiaircraft batteries and intercepted by Iranian fighter jets. 'Iranian
air defense units have taken inappropriate actions dozens of times,
including firing antiaircraft artillery and scrambling aircraft against
unidentified or misidentified targets,' noted a heavily classified
Pentagon intelligence report, which added that the Iranian military's
communications were so inadequate and its training deficiencies so
significant that 'misidentification of aircraft will
continue.'" http://t.uani.com/PP0YIW
Reuters:
"Cyber attackers have targeted Iranian infrastructure and
communications companies, disrupting the Internet across the country, a
state official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Iran, the world's No. 5
oil exporter, has tightened cyber security since its uranium enrichment
centrifuges were hit in 2010 by the Stuxnet computer worm, which Tehran
believes was planted by arch-adversaries Israel or the United States.
'Yesterday we had a heavy attack against the country's infrastructure and
communications companies which has forced us to limit the Internet,'
Mehdi Akhavan Behabadi, secretary of the High Council of Cyberspace, told
the Iranian Labour News Agency." http://t.uani.com/QFfAKA
Sanctions
NYT:
"Iran's president admitted Tuesday that the American-led economic
sanctions on the country were partly to blame for a breathtaking 40
percent fall in value of the Iranian currency, the rial, over the past
week. He pleaded with Iranians not to exchange their money for dollars
and other foreign currencies. Speaking during a news conference broadcast
live by several domestic and international Iranian news channels, the
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said Iran was facing a 'psychological
war' waged by the United States and aided by what he described as
internal enemies. He said the currency's fall was caused in part by the
sanctions imposed by the West over Iran's disputed nuclear program, which
have prevented it from selling oil and transferring money. He also blamed
a domestic band of '22 people in three separate circles' who with 'one
phone call' could manipulate foreign exchange trades in Iran. One Web
site, Mashregh News, reported Tuesday that Mr. Ahmadinejad had ordered
the arrests of those 'disturbing the currency market.'" http://t.uani.com/UFmaSw
WSJ:
"Iranian officials lashed out Tuesday over the free fall of the
rial, which lost nearly 25% against the dollar in just a week, by blaming
illegal trading rings and fiscal mismanagement, and conceding that
international sanctions have hurt its economy. The rial fluctuated
between 35,500 to 40,000 to the dollar on Tuesday, according to money
exchangers in Tehran. It was down from 34,200 to a dollar just a day
earlier on Monday and 23,000 on Sept. 24. The currency crisis highlights
Iran's economic challenges as international sanctions are starting to
have a visible impact. Inflation-estimated at about 55% compared with
last year for basic food, rent and transportation-would likely rise
further as prices come in line with new currency rates... Because
sanctions have slashed the government's oil income by nearly half-to
about $42 billion annually from $85 billion-it has lower reserves with
which to conduct its traditional operations to support the rial. For years,
Iran's Central Bank has stabilized the currency by injecting cash into
the market and keeping the black-market price closer to the official
12,260 rial to a dollar." http://t.uani.com/SxQOQa
AFP:
"The White House said Tuesday that Iranians blame their leaders for
rising deprivation caused by US and international sanctions stemming from
Tehran's nuclear program. Recent days have seen an accelerated slide in
Iran's currency, the rial, which has now lost more than 80 percent of its
value compared with a year ago -- with 17 percent of its value shed on
Monday alone. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the fast
deteriorating economic situation in Iran, which has sparked price hikes
in basic foods, was a sign that the government in Tehran was under 'enormous
pressure.' 'The Iranian people are aware of who is responsible for the
circumstances that have befallen the Iranian economy as a result of the
regime's intransigence in its refusal to abide by its obligations.'
Earlier, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that Iran would not
back down on its nuclear program, despite the pain being caused by the
sanctions. 'We are not a people to retreat on the nuclear issue,' he told
a news conference in Tehran. 'If somebody thinks they can pressure Iran,
they are certainly wrong and they must correct their behavior,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/QHL9GS
NYT:
"Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, plans to travel
to Europe before the end of the year, among other things to press for a
toughening of sanctions against Tehran, Israeli officials said Tuesday.
The plans appeared to be another indication of a shifting Israeli
emphasis, at least for now, toward efforts to stop the Iranian nuclear
program by means other than military action... The growing Israeli focus
on a new round of sanctions comes amid reports of the deep impact that
current sanctions are having on the Iranian economy. A recent
internal report prepared by the Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that the
sanctions might, according to some assessments, also be affecting the
stability of the Iranian government, which insists that its nuclear
program is for purely peaceful purposes. But because the sanctions have
not yet persuaded the government in Tehran to suspend its nuclear drive,
the Israeli report concluded, another round of sanctions is needed."
http://t.uani.com/UFmkt6
Reuters:
"Iran is working to shrink and eventually eliminate the free market
in its tumbling rial currency, the economy minister was quoted as saying
amid signs that foreign exchange trade outside a government-sanctioned
centre was drying up. 'The unofficial currency market will be gathered
up,' Shamseddin Hosseini was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency on
Wednesday. 'The foreign exchange centre is being completed step by step,
and its development will eventually lead to the elimination of the
tricksters' market.'" http://t.uani.com/PvB2AJ
BBC:
"Iran's currency has plummeted to record lows against the dollar,
sparking protests by traders in Tehran. The BBC's James Reynolds briefly
crossed over the Turkish side of the border into Iran, where he was
invited into a free trade zone... The currency collapse in Iran means
that Iranian business can't afford to place their normal orders from
Turkey. One Turkish customs official says that Turkish trucks stopped
coming to the border several days ago." http://t.uani.com/QP2Vby
Reuters:
"Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller Maersk says it will talk
to Vitol to determine whether one of its tankers was used by the trading
house to ship Iranian fuel oil. The Maersk Producer, a tanker chartered
by Vitol from Maersk, received a fuel oil cargo of Iranian origin on
Sept. 8, according to a document seen by Reuters. The cargo was
transferred aboard the Danish tanker from Vitol's floating storage off
Malaysia, the document shows, and shipped to storage in Singapore. Vitol
admitted last week its Bahrain office had bought the Iranian fuel oil but
said it had now ordered a stop to all trade with Iran, which is under
European and U.S. oil and financial sanctions. Based in Switzerland and
trading the oil from Bahrain, Vitol did not contravene sanctions. Maersk
said it was surprised to hear that its ship had been hired to transport
Iranian oil." http://t.uani.com/T17XmM
Terrorism
NYT:
"A soft-spoken, gray-haired operative who carries himself with the
confidence that comes from having the backing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
Iran's supreme leader, General Suleimani is the antithesis of the
bombastic Iranian president. Now a major general - the highest rank in
the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps - after a promotion last year, he
has been the mastermind behind two central Iranian foreign policy
initiatives, exerting and expanding Tehran's influence in the internal
politics of Iraq and providing military support for the rule of President
Bashar al-Assad of Syria. That role has put him in direct conflict with
American policy makers hoping to ensure Iraq's future as an ally of the
United States, to bring about the fall of Mr. Assad and to curb Iran's attempt
to gain influence in the region. Last year, the United States Treasury
Department put General Suleimani on its sanctions list because American
officials said he had been involved in a plot to kill the Saudi
ambassador to Washington... Gen. David H. Petraeus, who came to know the
Quds Force commander's influence when he served in Iraq, once described
General Suleimani as 'a truly evil figure' in a letter to Robert M.
Gates, then the defense secretary." http://t.uani.com/OD5Kxe
Syrian Uprising
Reuters:
"Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday warned that
hostilities in Syria could engulf the region and accused some Syrians of
trying to use their country's conflict to settle scores with Tehran. In
comments to Al Jazeera television, Ahmadinejad said that a national
dialogue and new elections - rather than war - were the only way to solve
the Syrian crisis, saying the Syrian people should choose their own path.
'There is another way to find a solution, it is national, mutual
understanding in order for there to be elections in the future,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/QFeezp
Foreign Affairs
AFP:
"A small group of protesters, most of them women, on Tuesday
destroyed a Iranian police post protecting the French embassy in Tehran
and threw stones at visitors to the mission before being arrested, a
diplomat inside told AFP. The unannounced, violent demonstration lasted
90 minutes and involved around 15 people, the French diplomat said...
Just before the French embassy attack, a bigger demonstration was held at
the nearby Tehran University in which the crowd shouted 'Death to
America,' 'Death to Israel' and 'Those who insult the prophet should be
executed,' according to the Fars news agency. Demonstrations have taken
place in several Muslim countries in the past two weeks over a film made
in the United States and cartoons in a French magazine, both of which
made fun of Islam's Prophet Mohammed." http://t.uani.com/WjjIEf
Opinion &
Analysis
David Makovsky
in FP: "Speaking at the United Nations on Sept.
27, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a red marker to
graphically sharpen the focus on the need for a "red line" in
halting the Iranian nuclear program. The issue of red lines is being conflated
by some with the idea of delivering a public ultimatum to Iran. But
that's not quite right: Setting red lines is not about what is said
publicly, but rather about what Tehran views as credible -- however it is
conveyed. There are signs that Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama,
since their recent hour-long phone call, are renewing their efforts to
reach a quiet understanding on this critical issue. In their speeches at
the United Nations this past week, both leaders kept the focus on Iran --
even while stepping back from a U.S.-Israeli confrontation. This was
particularly evident in Netanyahu's speech, where the Israeli premier no
longer made it sound like an Israeli strike was imminent before the U.S.
presidential election in November, and subtly shifted the parameters of
the debate from Israel's closing window of action (what Israeli officials
describe as the 'zone of immunity') to the point where can Iran make an
easy dash to weapons-grade nuclear fuel. Netanyahu also said the United
States and Israel are currently 'in talks' on the Iran issue, suggesting
the two countries are focused on how to best ensure and measure the
shared objective of preventing the Islamic Republic from going nuclear.
However, there is no denying that tensions still exist between the two
allies. Their war of words reached a high pitch recently when Netanyahu,
responding to what he interpreted as a personal rebuke by the chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared that if the United States does
not put down red lines in halting the Iranian nuclear program, it has no
moral right to put a red light in front of an Israeli strike. In a 60
Minutes interview, Obama appeared to dismiss such public statements as
'noise.' It's time to dial down the rhetoric. In truth, both sides could use
a dose of humility before sounding off in public." http://t.uani.com/QrocWI
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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