Eye on Iran: New Sanctions to Further Challenge Iranian Oil Sales

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories WSJ: "Iran's oil-export decline may have bottomed out for now, but the trouble isn't over for the country's crude sales. Recently enacted sanctions and further proposed restrictions are set to tighten the noose at both ends, by hindering the Islamic republic's ability to ship the commodity and to be paid for it... Yet, with no end in sight in the deadlock over Iran's nuclear program, the EU and the U.S. are preparing new measures that could dent its oil sales again. The West suspects Tehran is attempting to build an atomic bomb, which it denies. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had concluded that National Iranian Oil Co.-the state owned company tasked with marketing its oil-was linked to the country's Revolutionary Guards. That assertion could force all foreign financial institutions to sever their dealings with National Iranian Oil or risk cutting off their access to the U.S. banking system. Until now, only U.S. institutions were banned from transactions with the Iranian company, which denies any military link. The move 'will increase pressure on NIOC to rely on nontraditional payment methods,' such as bartering or using private brokers and banks not dependent on the U.S. market, says Michael Burton, a Washington-based sanctions lawyer at Arent Fox... The U.S. is still examining whether National Iranian Tanker should also be designated as an agent of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which would ban foreign banks from dealing with it." http://t.uani.com/W10mo0 WashPost: "Iran is providing crucial equipment and technical help to Syria in its effort to track opposition forces through the Internet and other forms of electronic surveillance, according to U.S. officials. The aid is the latest example of how Iran is helping Syria in its battle against rebel forces threatening the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The technical assistance is coming mainly through Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the officials said. Iran, which has long experience in tracking dissidents internally, has supplied surveillance and communications gear, as well as technical support in computer-network surveillance, said one intelligence official. Like others interviewed, he spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's sensitivity. Among the tactics in which Iran is advising the Syrians is how to gain access to Web forums and chat rooms, where they pose as opposition members to identify and track targets, the intelligence official said. Syrian agents are then dispatched to kill the rebels, the officials said." http://t.uani.com/PWP12I Washington Free Beacon: "The recent collapse of Iran's currency has led foreign policy experts to caution President Barack Obama's administration against declarations that economic sanctions are the key to ending Tehran's clandestine nuclear arms program... 'You're seeing protests, economic duress in the streets,' Mark Wallace, a former ambassador to the United Nations, told the Free Beacon. 'In Iran there's a unique opportunity' to foster regime change. 'The Iranian on the street is very pro-western and educated, very modern,' said Wallace, CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a nonpartisan policy group. 'They're very vulnerable to economic pressure.' ... To quicken the pace of a potential revolt, sanctions should be tightened and refined, said UANI's Wallace. 'There should be a full economic embargo,' he said. 'We could do more.' ... 'I feel the clock is running out,' Wallace said. 'I think that the timeframe is much shorter' than it was just last year. Iran's current economic unrest is a reassuring sign, though Wallace had hoped this would happen 'a year ago' when Iran's nuclear program was less advanced." http://t.uani.com/Tw0YCH Nuclear Program JTA: "Israel and the United States are considering a joint 'surgical strike' targeting Iranian uranium enrichment facilities, a former Clinton administration official who is close to the Obama administration said. David Rothkopf, an international relations expert writing in Foreign Policy, cited a source close to the discussions between Israel and the Obama administration, as saying the strike would take a couple of hours in the best case and a day or two overall. The source said the strike would be conducted by air, using primarily bombers and drone support. Rothkopf said in the article that there is not 'exact agreement on what constitutes a red line,' but that 'the military option being advocated by the Israelis is considerably more limited and lower risk than some of those that have been publicly debated.'" http://t.uani.com/VPcutN Currency Crisis Bloomberg: "Iran's currency crisis has emboldened critics of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who are lining up to pillory the president and lay down markers for next year when his successor will be elected... There 'would be a long queue for the opportunity to push Ahmadinejad under the bus,' said Anoush Ehteshami, professor of international relations at Durham University in the U.K. 'Iran is now facing its greatest crisis in two generations, and in those situations incompetence cannot hide under a rock.' ... Potential candidates in next June's vote such as Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani are piling blame for the economic collapse on Ahmadinejad." http://t.uani.com/TvZick Reuters: "Iran's state budget is under pressure and the government has cut spending in some areas, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying as the country struggles to cope with Western economic sanctions. 'Right now in terms of the budget we are under pressure,' Ahmadinejad said in a speech on Tuesday, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency. 'In many places the budget has become zero or has been cut by 25 percent,' he said without elaborating. Ahmadinejad did not mention reasons for the pressure but his remarks appeared an indirect acknowledgement that the sanctions, imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear program, are having a major impact on state revenues." http://t.uani.com/QhdMs3 Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranian officials on Wednesday to stop bickering over mounting economic woes as Tehran grapples with Western-imposed sanctions, voicing concern heightened by the collapse of the rial currency. His comments touched on divisions between Iranian government agencies and political factions exacerbated by the rial's fall over the past several weeks, fanning an atmosphere of crisis in the world's No. 5 oil-exporting state. 'The country's officials should know and accept their responsibilities and not blame each other,' Khamenei said in a televised speech in the northeastern city of Bojnourd. 'They should be united and sympathize with each other.'" http://t.uani.com/QV3vTa AFP: "Business resumed Wednesday on Tehran's open foreign exchange market, with dealers offering major currencies well above a cap that the central bank imposed to halt the slide of the Iranian rial. Police and security personnel cracked down on the market in the center of the Iranian capital a week ago, closing exchange bureau and rounding up unlicensed money-changers. Shopkeepers and exchange bureau have since reopened, but they were doing little trade as they considered the central bank rate of 28,500 rials to the dollar as unrealistic, witnesses said. The US dollar was being offered for 33,000 rials, they said. A few black market dealers had been offering the greenback at around 34,000 rials on Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/Qd2qGh Sanctions WSJ: "Maersk Line decided to suspend all operations to and from Iranian ports, the company said Tuesday... 'Due to a combination of European Union sanctions as well as strengthened U.S. sanctions, it is no longer possible for Maersk to conduct business in the country,' spokesman Michael Storgaard was quoted as saying by Newswires. He emphasized the company's business ties with Iran were very limited. Storgaard said the company made biweekly port calls to Iran with third-party vessels until operations were suspended at the end of September for the foreseeable future, Newswires reported... 'Maersk Line will maintain a dormant business entity in Iran and will look to resume business should the sanctions regime be eased,' an unnamed spokesperson was quoted as saying." http://t.uani.com/RepbvG WSJ: "President Barack Obama issued an executive order Tuesday that implements sanctions legislation he signed into law in August... Obama signed the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 into law in August. The executive order issued Tuesday creates a framework for implementing the sanctions, and it delegates certain powers to the Secretaries of Treasury and State to enforce the law. Vietor said in the statement the Obama administration will continue to work with Congress 'in furtherance of our shared objective to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.'" http://t.uani.com/W0ZDmE Reuters: "A reduction in natural gas exports from Iran would not have much impact on world energy markets, but could hurt Turkey and part of Azerbaijan, according to a U.S. report due to be released on Tuesday. The report is designed to be used by the U.S. administration as it considers whether to broaden sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program to include sales of natural gas. 'The potential global impacts of restricting Iranian gas exports are limited,' the U.S. Energy Information Administration report said. The report, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters ahead of its publication, was required by the latest U.S. sanctions law against Iran signed in August." http://t.uani.com/SRu21w Reuters: "Iran will manage to bring its high inflation lower and return to growth next year despite Western sanctions over its nuclear program, according to projections from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF forecasts, which also include a small trade surplus this year and next, suggest that although the sanctions are damaging Iran by cutting its oil exports, they are not likely to cause a collapse of its economy. However, much of the IMF analysis is based on statistics provided by the Iranian government, which private economists say may not be reliable, and most of the report was prepared before Iran's currency, the rial, plunged by about a third against the dollar in 10 days through October 2." http://t.uani.com/WLWIhe   Human Rights AFP: "EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday urged Iran to stay the execution of activist Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, sentenced for allegedly supporting the People's Mujahedeen of Iran. Ashton said in a statement she was 'deeply concerned' by reports his execution 'may be imminent'. He was sentenced in 2010 for 'enmity against God' in connection with claims he supported the dissident group. Ashton 'appeals for clemency and urges that the sentence be commuted,' the statement said." http://t.uani.com/QhcKw5 Foreign Affairs WSJ: "When it comes to Iran, India has pursued a 'tightrope' approach: advancing its interests in the country while trying not to upset the U.S., which has been pushing New Delhi to curb its ties with Tehran over Iran's nuclear program. Keeping both happy was always going to be difficult. And, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent trip to Iran revealed, there is plenty of room for awkwardness. On Wednesday, Geoffrey Pyatt, a senior official at the U.S. State Department, and the Islamic Republic's power minister, Majid Namjoo, attended back-to-back events hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi. Introducing Mr. Namjoo, R.V. Kanoria, the president of FICCI, spoke effusively of India's longstanding ties with Iran and called for greater cooperation in business. The event was aimed at boosting Iran's business relations with India in areas including oil and gas exploration, water managements and renewable energy." http://t.uani.com/PnwUsb Reuters: "A delegation of Indian government officials to sanctions-hit Iran could not strike a deal to export wheat to the Islamic Republic which now needs to inform New Delhi about its willingness to buy the grain, sources said on Wednesday. India and Iran have been in talks for almost a year to clinch a deal on wheat and quantities of 2-3 million tonnes are under discussion, but quality issues have hampered negotiations. A deal would help ease a trade imbalance between New Delhi and one of its biggest oil suppliers as they seek ways to pay for the crude in the face of western sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear programme." http://t.uani.com/OnYoMW Reuters: "Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday Tehran would consider downgrading ties with the United Arab Emirates over three disputed Gulf islands, but state television later denied the Islamic Republic was contemplating such a move. The three islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb sit near oil shipping channels at the mouth of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and are claimed by both Iran and the UAE. Iran has said its sovereignty over the three islands is non-negotiable and Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday Iran would consider downgrading ties with the UAE if it continued to make claims." http://t.uani.com/W145Sy 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.