Eye on Iran: Iran Sidesteps Sanctions to Export Its Fuel Oil

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Reuters: "Iran is becoming increasingly creative in dodging Western sanctions, managing to sell a rising volume of fuel oil to generate revenue equal to up to a third of its crude exports, which have been badly hit by restrictions. Compared with the first half of the year, Iran has on average exported more fuel oil per month since July, when European Union oil and shipping insurance sanctions came into effect and more than halved its crude exports... Even for companies with no link to the EU, sanctions on financing and shipping insurance discourage would-be customers. Iran uses fuel oil for electricity generation and to power ships, but unlike other more valuable refined products such as diesel or gasoline, it has a surplus to export from the 70,000 tonnes a day it produces. The July sanctions slashed the OPEC member's fuel oil sales initially, traders and analysts say, as term customers cancelled contracts, but sales have since rebounded thanks to the innovative methods of Gulf-based middlemen and Iran's market-savvy oil officials." http://t.uani.com/UTkWom Reuters: "The United Nations nuclear watchdog and Iran may have made headway in talks on Tehran's disputed atomic activities but important points remain to be settled before a deal can be clinched, diplomats said on Wednesday. Both the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran said progress was achieved at a meeting last Thursday towards an agreement the IAEA says would allow it to resume a long-stalled inquiry into suspected atom bomb research in the Islamic state... Diplomats accredited to the Vienna-based U.N. agency said they believed some issues of substance were still outstanding and suggested a successful outcome was not guaranteed. A stubborn stumbling block, a Western envoy said, was Iran's request that areas of the inquiry be declared closed once IAEA questions had been addressed. The U.N. agency wants to be able to return to issues if, for example, new evidence arises. Another lingering issue, a second diplomat said, was Iran's demand for access to the largely Western intelligence documents at the basis of the IAEA's concerns about possible illicit military dimensions to its nuclear activity." http://t.uani.com/UQu5gt The Hill: "The House voted Tuesday to require the State Department to come up with a plan for thwarting Iran's activities in the Western Hemisphere, which many say pose an increasing threaten to U.S. interests. Members passed H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act, by an overwhelming 386-6 vote. The bill makes it U.S. policy to counter Iran's presence in Central and South America, and requires State to assess this threat and devise a strategy for countering it. Several supporters of the bill took to the House floor Tuesday to argue that the bill is needed to limit Iran's options for fostering relationships among the United States's southern neighbors." http://t.uani.com/R6UglT   Nuclear Program & Sanctions AP: "An Iranian technology company and several of its managers and business partners have been indicted in Virginia for violating the U.S. trade embargo against Iran. The indictment in federal court in Alexandria was unsealed Wednesday after two of the alleged conspirators were arrested in Los Angeles. Prosecutors say that Tehran-based Business Machinery World Wide engaged in a four-year conspiracy to export more than $30 million in laptop computers, digital media equipment and other technology from the U.S. into Iran. Often the goods were routed through a subsidiary in Dubai. The indictment alleges that BMWW employees took steps to hide the fact that the goods they were buying were ultimately destined for Iran." http://t.uani.com/ZluiQ5 Human Rights Fox News: "A 32-year-old Iranian who is a U.S. citizen and a Christian convert has been imprisoned without notice of any formal charges while visiting his family in Iran, according to his wife and attorneys in the U.S., who are now hoping that a media campaign will help set him free. The Rev. Saeed Abedini, who lives in the U.S. with his wife and two young children, was making one of his frequent visits to see his parents and the rest of his family in Iran, his country of origin and where he spent many years as a Christian leader and community organizer developing Iran's underground home church communities for Christian converts. On this last trip, the Iranian government pulled him off a bus and said he must face a penalty for his previous work as a Christian leader in Iran. He is currently awaiting trial at Iran's notoriously brutal Evin Prison, where he has been incarcerated since late September." http://t.uani.com/V8FF9Y AFP: "Iran has hanged seven men, six of them for drug trafficking and another for rape, in prison in the central province of Isfahan, Kayhan newspaper reported on Thursday. The seven, aged 25 to 45, were executed on Wednesday, the province's public prosecutor, Mohammad Reza Habibi, said in the report. 'One of the smugglers was charged with armed trafficking of more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of opium,' Habibi said. 'The others were in possession of crack and heroin (weighing) between one and 65 kilograms.'" http://t.uani.com/T9LNy6 Opinion & Analysis UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman in JPost: "While some have wondered what the world might look like if Iran gets nuclear weapons, the reality is that the hundreds of rockets Hamas terrorists fired at Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense have already given us a preview. Although the ideology of Hamas has its origins in Egypt, the rockets fired at Israeli cities were made in Iran. Given the tremendous suffering caused by Iran, it is time to connect the dots between the regime, terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. And it is time to take action. Now. For too long the international community has turned a blind eye to Iran's efforts to supply rockets to terrorists in Gaza. Although the short-range Kassam rockets are made in Gaza, the Grad rockets, with a range of 48 kilometers, are supplied by Iran through a highly complex smuggling route: Iran to Sudan, through the Sinai peninsula and then through tunnels to Gaza. For the past six years, Grad rockets have plagued major Israeli cities like Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba. Recently, Iran has supplied the longer range Fajr- 5 rockets to terrorists in Gaza. For the first time, these rockets have been fired at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Why does Iran invest so much into supplying thousands of rockets to terrorists dedicated to the destruction of Israel? Regardless of the answer, the question itself should concern the entire world. It is time to recognize that a nuclear-armed Iran would not just be an Israeli problem, but a problem for most everyone. In the 1990s, Iran and its proxy Hezbollah provided assistance to al-Qaida in preparing the powerful truck bombs that destroyed two American embassies in Africa in 1998. Can anyone guarantee that a nuclear-armed Iran would not collaborate with al-Qaida again? This time, instead of a destroyed embassy in Africa, we could be talking about a nuclear device placed into a shipping container and sent to a port in order to destroy an entire city. That city could be Ashdod or Haifa in Israel, or it could be New York, London or Los Angeles. Over the past four years, the non-partisan advocacy group I am a part of, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), has been warning of the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, and working to prevent these nightmare scenarios. To that end, UANI has identified hundreds of major multi-national companies that conduct and profit from business with Iran, and enable the current regime to stay in power despite international sanctions. UANI shines a light onto the dark business being done by these companies by asking a straightforward question: given Iranian support for terrorists, incitement to genocide against Israel, abuse of human rights, and pursuit of nuclear weapons, why are you still doing business there? UANI has succeeded in convincing many major international Companies to leave Iran, however there is still much work to be done. UANI CEO and former US ambassador to the United Nations Mark Wallace has called for a 'full economic embargo' on Iran with the exception of the sale of food and medicine. To support this effort, UANI is calling on citizen-activists from around the world to log onto its website (www.uani.com) and send messages to urge multi-national Companies to end their Iran business. Companies that have pulled out of Iran have openly cited UANI's campaigns and public pressure as the reason for their decisions. As the nuclear clock ticks in Tehran, we want to pressure more and more companies to leave Iran, and force the regime to choose between having a nuclear weapon, or having a functioning economy." http://t.uani.com/VTH40y 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.