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Top Stories
Bloomberg:
"The U.S. Senate approved new economic sanctions on Iran, overriding
objections from the White House that the legislation could undercut
existing efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions. The Senate
voted 94-0 yesterday to impose additional U.S. financial penalties on
foreign businesses and banks involved in Iran's energy, ports, shipping
and shipbuilding sectors, and impose sanctions on metals trade with Iran.
Senators Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mark Kirk, an Illinois
Republican, the architects of a year-old law that has curtailed Iran's
oil exports and revenues, said the new measure would go further toward
squeezing Iran's economy and increase the pressure on the Islamic
Republic to negotiate on its disputed nuclear program. White House
officials told Senate Democratic leaders in a late-night e-mail on Nov.
29 that the administration didn't think more sanctions are needed yet and
asked them to hold off until next year, according to the e-mail to the
lawmakers obtained by Bloomberg News. The new provisions were confusing
and inconsistent in applying sanctions, according to the e-mail, and the
ambiguities 'would hamper implementation' of sanctions. 'We believe
additional authorities now threaten to undercut' existing sanctions,
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said yesterday in a
statement. 'We also have concerns with some of the formulations as
currently drafted in the text and want to work through them with our
congressional partners to make the law more effective and consistent with
the current sanctions law to ensure we don't undercut our success to
date.'" http://t.uani.com/VgdgLx
FP:
"The White House announced its opposition to a new round of Iran
sanctions that the Senate unanimously approved Friday, in the latest
instance of Congress pushing for more aggressive punitive measures on
Iran than the administration deems prudent. On Thursday, Sens. Robert
Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the amendment to the
National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate passed 94-0. The new
legislative language would blacklist Iran's energy, port, shipping, and
shipbuilding sectors, while also placing new restrictions on Iran's
ability to get insurance for all these industries. The legislation would
also vastly expand U.S. support for human rights inside Iran and impose
new sanctions on Iranians who divert humanitarian assistance from its
intended purpose. 'The window is closing. The time for the waiting game
is over,' Menendez said on the Senate floor Thursday night. 'Yes, our
sanctions are having a demonstrable effect on the Iranian economy, but
Iran is still working just as hard to develop nuclear weapons.' But the
White House told several Senate offices Thursday evening that the
administration was opposed to the amendment. National Security Spokesman
Tommy Vietor sent The Cable the administration's official position,
explaining the White House's view the sanctions aren't needed and aren't
helpful at this time." http://t.uani.com/UklgfA
Bloomberg:
"Oil-importing nations are continuing to cut back their purchases
from Iran, making it likely those countries will earn a new round of
exceptions from U.S. sanctions next week. Two U.S. officials said
yesterday that publicly available oil trading figures indicate that the
seven nations whose waivers are up for renewal on Dec. 8 have continued
to significantly reduce their Iranian oil imports over the last 180 days.
The Obama administration certified six months ago that India, Turkey,
South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Africa had 'significantly
reduced' their purchases of Iranian oil, in keeping with a December 2011
law that imposes U.S. sanctions on foreign financial institutions that
facilitate oil transactions with Iran. On Dec. 8, those 180-day
exceptions from sanctions will expire, and the administration must
certify whether the countries have continued to reduce their purchases
and qualify for a renewal. Malaysia and South Africa have stopped
importing oil from Iran, and the other five nations appear to have
continued to reduce their purchases, putting them on track to earn a
second round of exceptions from sanctions if all the figures are
certified, the officials said." http://t.uani.com/SAyCFU
Nuclear
Program
Reuters: "The United States is
open to bilateral talks about Iran's nuclear program if Tehran is 'ever
ready,' U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday. Responding
to a question, Clinton called Iran the hardest issue she has dealt with
as secretary of state 'because of the dangers that its behavior already
poses and the geometrically greater danger that a nuclear-armed Iran
would pose.' ... 'We are working on the P5+1 and making our willingness
known that we are ready to have a bilateral discussion if they are every
ready to engage,' said Clinton, who has said she plans to step down as
secretary of state next year. While giving no details, Clinton said the P5+1
was trying to craft a proposal to Iran 'that does make it clear we are
running out of time. We have got to get serious; here are issues we are
willing to discuss with you but we expect reciprocity.'" http://t.uani.com/VfshwX
AFP:
"Iran fiercely denied Friday seeking nuclear weapons and threatened
to withdraw from a key treaty aimed at stopping their spread, in another
note of defiance just as fresh diplomatic efforts gather pace. Speaking
at a tense UN atomic agency meeting, Iran's envoy said that no 'smoking
gu' indicating a covert weapons drive had ever been found and that the
West wanted to hijack the agency for their own ends. Presenting a list of
'50 questions and answers,' Ali Asghar Soltanieh said that 'no doubt is
left that the (International Atomic Energy Agency) file has to be closed
immediately.' He told the closed-door IAEA meeting in Vienna that the six
resolutions on Iran passed by the UN Security Council were 'illegal' and
that Tehran would 'never suspend' its programme, according to the text of
his remarks... One Western diplomat called the comments 'absolutely
ridiculous' and said that it made him 'very pessimistic' about renewed
diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running crisis." http://t.uani.com/TAWMRz
WSJ:
"The U.S. has significantly stepped up spying operations on Iran's
Bushehr nuclear reactor over the past two months, American officials
said, driven by heightened concerns about the security of weapons-grade
plutonium after Tehran unexpectedly discharged fuel rods from the facility
in October. The increased U.S. surveillance of Bushehr, on Iran's
southwestern coast, has been conducted in part with the Pentagon's fleet
of drones operating over the Persian Gulf. The effort resulted in the
interception of visual images and audio communications coming from the
reactor complex, these officials said. Tehran suggested an American drone
was spying on Bushehr on Nov. 1 when it sent Iranian fighter jets to
pursue the unmanned craft, firing at it but missing. The drone in
question was conducting surveillance that day, but not on Bushehr, U.S.
officials said." http://t.uani.com/TCpmBh
Reuters:
"A Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran was shut down last month to
limit any damage after stray bolts were found beneath the fuel cells, a
Russian nuclear industry source said on Friday. The explanation for the
shutdown of the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant contradicted assurances by
Iran that nothing unexpected had happened and removing nuclear fuel from
the plant was part of a normal procedure. 'Indicators showed that some
small external parts were ... in the reactor vessel,' said the source,
identifying them as bolts beneath the fuel cells." http://t.uani.com/TwD4Dd
AP:
"Iran's nuclear chief says fuel was removed from the country's sole
nuclear reactor in October because debris had been left behind during its
construction. The Sunday report by several Iranian newspapers quotes
Fereidoun Abbasi as saying that bolts and welding material left inside
the Russian-built Bushehr reactor had led to abnormal readings during
operation. Abbasi added that fuel removal and temporary plant shutdown is
part of normal operating procedures. On Wednesday, Iran said the power
plant is ready to resume operations after refueling." http://t.uani.com/YozPFi
AP:
"A leaked diagram suggesting that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon
is scientifically flawed, diplomats working with the U.N. nuclear agency
conceded Friday. However they insisted that it still supports suspicions
that Tehran is trying to build a bomb, especially when combined with
other documents that remain secret. The Associated Press reported
Tuesday, citing the document leaked by officials from a country critical
of Iran's atomic program, that it indicated that Iranian scientists had
run computer simulations for a nuclear weapon that would produce more
than triple the explosive force of the World War II bomb that destroyed
Hiroshima. The diagram showed a yield of 50 kilotons. But subsequent
criticism of the AP's report showed that result was widely inaccurate.
Instead, the yield of the hypothetical weapon was much higher and hugely
greater than any bomb ever produced - meaning it was next to impossible
that Iran was contemplating such a weapon." http://t.uani.com/UaHazC
Reuters:
"Iran has stationed defense staff in North Korea since late October
apparently to strengthen cooperation in missile and nuclear development,
Japan's Kyodo News agency reported on Sunday, citing a Western diplomatic
source. The report came as North Korea said on Saturday it would carry
out its second rocket launch of 2012 between December 10 and December 22,
near the first anniversary of the death of young leader Kim Jong-un's
father. The Iranian mission, Kyodo said, is made up of four experts from
Iran's Ministry of Defense and firms close to it. Citing the source, it
said they were staying at a military facility 85 km (53 miles) from the
North Korean border with China." http://t.uani.com/XgEF5L
Sanctions
WashPost:
"U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice and her husband
own modest stakes in companies that have until recently done business
with Iran, prompting new questions from those opposed to her possible
nomination as secretary of state. The companies are global conglomerates.
At least some of them have stopped doing business with Iran in order to
comply with international sanctions... One of the biggest of the
holdings, between $50,000 and $100,000, according to Rice's disclosure
statement for 2011, is Royal Dutch Shell. The international oil giant
stopped buying crude oil from Iran early this year as sanctions were
tightened to block oil exports by Iran and to stop financial transactions
with its central bank... Rice and her husband also own between $15,000
and $50,000 of stock in ENI, the Italian international oil company. ENI
has said that it is no longer doing business with Iran, but it has a
waiver from sanctions to enable it to collect oil as payment for about $1
billion Iran owes the company from earlier business deals. The company
had been purchasing crude oil and developing natural gas fields...
Several of the companies in which Rice has invested have been cited by an
organization called United Against Nuclear Iran, chaired by Mark Wallace,
a deputy ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush.
The organization, which claims bipartisan support in pushing to isolate
the Iranian regime, publishes a list of companies doing business in
Iran." http://t.uani.com/11ow6Gn
AP:
"Iran's oil minister has said the country plans to increase its oil
production capacity to up to 5.2 million barrels per day by early 2016. A
Sunday report by state TV quotes Rostam Ghasemi as saying this requires
some $300 billion investment in the oil industry. He says current
capacity is about four million barrels per day. The remarks come as the
country is struggling to sell crude oil due to Western sanctions over its
disputed nuclear program, which the West suspects has a military
dimension. Iran denies the charge. According to the International Energy
Agency, Iran's oil exports plunged to 1 million barrels a day in July,
after standing at the 1.74-million-barrel mark a month earlier. Crude oil
exports account for about 80 percent of the country's foreign
revenue." http://t.uani.com/TwDuJK
AFP:
"Sri Lanka will purchase oil from Iraq after the United States
imposed new sanctions on Iran, the island's main supplier of crude oil, a
report said on Sunday citing a senior official... Sanctions have made it
difficult to procure oil from Iran, prompting Colombo to turn to Baghdad
for oil purchases, the local Sunday Times reported... Sri Lanka has
relied on Iran for 92 percent of its crude oil requirements. Last week,
Sri Lanka announced that it will set aside two billion rupees ($15.38
million) owed to Iran for oil imports and will use the money to finance
an irrigation scheme on the island which is funded by Tehran." http://t.uani.com/RvpRyL
Syrian Uprising
NYT:
"The American effort to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Syria has
faltered because of Iraq's reluctance to inspect aircraft carrying the
weapons through its airspace, American officials say. The shipments have
persisted at a critical time for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who
has come under increasing military pressure from rebel fighters. The air
corridor over Iraq has emerged as a main supply route for weapons,
including rockets, antitank missiles, rocket-propelled grenade and
mortars. Iran has an enormous stake in Syria, which is its staunchest
Arab ally and has also provided a channel for Iran's support to the Lebanese
Islamist movement Hezbollah... Regarding the arms shipments, Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton secured a commitment from Iraq's foreign
minister in September that Iraq would inspect flights from Iran to Syria.
But the Iraqis have inspected only two, most recently on Oct. 27. No
weapons were found, but one of the two planes that landed in Iraq for
inspection was on its way back to Iran after delivering its cargo in
Syria. Adding to the United States' frustrations, Iran appears to have
been tipped off by Iraqi officials as to when inspections would be
conducted, American officials say, citing classified reports by American
intelligence analysts." http://t.uani.com/TDQTjA
Human Rights
Reuters:
"The United States on Friday demanded that Iran free jailed human
rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who it said has been on hunger strike
for more than six weeks, and sharply criticized Iranian authorities for
their treatment of the 49-year-old prize-winning lawyer. State Department
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said reports of Sotoudeh's rapidly declining
health were deeply troubling, and that she had been denied medical care
and kept in solitary confinement. 'We demand the Iranian government cease
its intolerable mistreatment of Sotoudeh and immediately release her and
the more than 30 other female political prisoners detained in Evin
Prison,' Nuland said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/TFBEpG
Reuters:
"Iranian legislators are to visit Tehran's Evin prison and look into
the case of an imprisoned lawyer on hunger strike there amid concerns
over her deteriorating condition, Iranian media reported on Sunday.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, is serving a
six-year jail sentence after being arrested in September 2010 on
suspicion of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state
security... The parliamentary committee has decided to visit Evin, where
Sotoudeh is being held, to determine if conditions there conform to the
law, legislator Mohammad Hassan Asfari told the Iranian Labour News Agency
(ILNA) on Sunday. 'If the stories regarding Ms. Sotoudeh are true, we
will request an explanation from (the justice minister),' Asfari was
quoted as saying by ILNA." http://t.uani.com/VpR7fx
Reuters:
"The head of Tehran's cyber police unit has been dismissed over the
death in custody of an Iranian blogger, police said on Saturday, in a
case that has sparked international condemnation and led to Iranian calls
for an official investigation. Sattar Beheshti, a little-known
35-year-old blogger who was critical of the government, was arrested on
October 30 after receiving death threats, and died some days later, after
complaining he was tortured. According to a statement posted on the
website of Iran's police force on Saturday, the chief of Tehran's cyber police
unit was fired for 'failures and weaknesses in adequately supervising
personnel under his supervision.'" http://t.uani.com/TCqm8u
Reuters:
"Iran has suspended the death sentence for a computer programmer
convicted on charges of running a pornographic website after he 'repented
for his actions,' his lawyer was quoted as saying on Sunday. Saeed
Malekpour, an Iranian citizen and Canadian resident, was arrested in 2008
while visiting relatives in Iran, according to Amnesty International.
Although Iranian authorities accused him of running a pornography site,
Amnesty has said the charges appear to stem from a software program
created by Malekpour that was used without his knowledge to post
pornographic images. Such images are illegal in the Islamic republic.
Malekpour's lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei told Mehr news agency that
his client had repented for his actions after his death sentence, issued
by the Revolutionary Court, was confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court." http://t.uani.com/TFC4MD
Domestic Politics
Reuters:
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has moved his chief of staff,
seen as a potential successor and a target of criticism from hardline
conservatives, to another job, according to the president's official
website on Saturday. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie has provoked the ire of
Ahmadinejad's conservative rivals, who accuse him of trying to undermine
Iran's theocratic system. Ahmadinejad has defended his closest aide
throughout the attacks. In a statement on Saturday, Ahmadinejad thanked
Mashaie for his service, appointing him to a position in the Non-Aligned
Movement, the 120-member bloc of countries whose rotating chair is held
by Iran. 'I consider knowing and working with you to be a divine gift and
great honor,' Ahmadinejad wrote in the statement addressed to Mashaie.
Ahmadinejad, who has faced criticism from conservative rivals in
parliament over his economic performance, is finishing his last year in
office and by law cannot run again in presidential elections due in June
2013. Some analysts, and Ahmadinejad's rivals, believe he has been
grooming Mashaie to succeed him." http://t.uani.com/TwD1Hj
AP:
"A news agency reports Iran's president is urging parliament to
abandon possible revisions in laws governing presidential elections. The
call appears part of widening political battles before June's election to
pick Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's successor. Ahmadinejad has faced attacks from
powerful rivals since defying Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last
year over a key Cabinet post. Iran's ruling clerics vet all candidates
for the presidency, but parliament may impose new guidelines of age and
experience that could undercut Ahmadinejad's allies. The semiofficial
ISNA news agency says lawmakers Sunday began discussing possible
changes." http://t.uani.com/UB5dwf
Foreign Affairs
Reuters:
"Ghaus worked in Iran for five years but has nothing to show for it.
All he has are memories of being jailed, beaten and sent home to
Afghanistan. Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbor has for years been a
destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran
share a language, and cultural and historical links. But hostility to the
U.S. role in Afghanistan, regional ambitions and an economy choked by
Western sanctions have persuaded Iran to cast out Afghan migrants, to the
dismay of those forced home and their government. In May, Iran threatened
to expel Afghan refugees and migrant workers, in all about 2.4 million
people, if Afghanistan signed a strategic security pact with the United
States. The deal was struck. 'Afghan refugees and migrants are becoming
the victims of big political games played between the Iranian and U.S.
powers,' said Abdul Samad Hami, Afghanistan's deputy minister for
refugees." http://t.uani.com/Sr2iE5
Opinion &
Analysis
Mary Anastasia
O'Grady in WSJ: "Until more than 2,700
innocents were slaughtered at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001,
the worst terrorist attack in the Americas was the July 18, 1994, bombing
of the Israel-Argentina Mutual Association (known by its Spanish initials
as AMIA) in Buenos Aires. The blast from a van packed with explosives
ripped through the five-story brick building that housed the Jewish
community center and triggered its collapse. Eighty-five people were
killed and more than 150 injured. In the years that followed, the
Argentine government showed little interest in bringing the perpetrators
to justice, and the trail seemed to go cold. Then, in 2005,
then-President Néstor Kirchner named Alberto Nisman as special prosecutor
in the case and backed a new investigation. In October 2006, Mr.
Nisman indicted seven Iranians and one Lebanese-born member of Hezbollah
for the mass murder. Interpol issued 'red notices' for their arrest. But
six years later none of the accused has been captured. (The Lebanese suspect
was killed in Syria in 2008, allegedly by Israel's Mossad secret
service.) The AMIA bombing is back in the news because the
Argentine government has disclosed that it is engaged in bilateral talks
with Iran about the case at the United Nations in New York and Geneva.
The talks themselves are secret, and Mr. Nisman has been denied access to
them. Foreign Minister Hector Timerman represents Argentina. The victims'
families must hope that Argentina's goal is to win extradition of the
suspects. Anything less would be a grave injustice. But the secrecy,
Argentina's closeness with Iranian-allied Venezuela, and recent efforts
by Argentina to bolster trade relations with Tehran have raised
suspicions about the integrity of the effort. Given that Iran and its Hezbollah
terrorist affiliate seem determined to set up shop in the Americas, this
case should give pause to all Americans, North and South. Mr. Nisman's
investigation concluded that the 1994 attack was a joint Hezbollah-Iran
operation, with Iran playing the key organizational role and Hezbollah
operatives carrying it out. The list of eight indictments includes former
Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian minister of
information and security, and a former foreign relations minister. Also
indicted is Ahmad Vahidi, a former commander of the Quds force of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Corps and the country's current defense minister.
Another suspect, Mohsen Rabbani, is the former Iranian cultural attaché
in Buenos Aires. Mr. Rabbani's name shows up in a Jan. 13 news release
from the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York
summarizing the sentencing of Kareen Ibrahim for his role in 'conspiring
to commit [a] terrorist attack at JFK Airport.' According to the news
release, 'the plotters . . . sent [alleged conspirator] Abdul Kadir to
meet with his contacts in the Iranian revolutionary leadership, including
Mohsen Rabbani, the former cultural attache indicted for his leading role
in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.'" http://t.uani.com/YGerdp
Clyde Russell in
Reuters: "Asia's buyers of Iranian crude believe they've cut their
purchases from Tehran enough to justify an extension of their U.S
waivers, and strictly speaking, they probably have. The United States
this week will likely announce whether China, India and South Korea will
join Japan in receiving exemptions allowing them to continue buying
Iranian crude. But even if the waivers are renewed, the question for
lawmakers in the United States and Europe is whether they should be
asking Asia to do more in their battle against Iran's nuclear programme,
which they fear is aimed at developing weapons despite Tehran's
insistence it is only for electricity. Looking at the numbers, only India
would have cause for concern as its purchases from Iran are actually up
7.1 percent in the first 10 months of the year from the same period in
2011. India bought 366,400 barrels per day (bpd) from Iran in October, up
14 percent from September and 17 percent from a year earlier. This was
even up from the 328,400 bpd for the first 10 months of the year,
ensuring that India remains the top buyer of Iranian oil behind China.
Indian officials will point to the fact that in the first seven months of
the contract year that started in April, imports from Tehran are down 12
percent from the same period a year earlier. While this does show India's
refiners have made some effort to cut purchases, the big jump in October
imports doesn't look good if they are trying to convince the Americans
they really are an ally against Tehran. Even the Chinese, who have made
it quite clear they don't support the concept of sanctions targeting
Iran's oil trade, have made deeper cuts than the Indians. In the first 10
months of 2012, China imported 424,000 bpd from Iran, a drop of 22.2
percent from the same period last year. However, how much of this was due
to a genuine willingness of the Chinese to at least cooperate with the
United States is open to debate. It's quite possible that China's drop in
purchases is more down to the dispute over contract terms at the start of
the year and the later insistence that Tehran uses its own tankers to
deliver cargoes after European insurers withdrew coverage for vessels
carrying Iranian crude. South Korea has the strongest case for the
renewal of its waiver for Iranian crude, having cut purchases by 40
percent in the first 10 months of the year over the same period in 2011.
South Korea imported an average 145,546 bpd from Iran in the year to end
October, but after stopping purchases altogether in the middle of the
year, refiners in the North Asian nation have once again stepped up
buying. In October, South Korea bought 186,451 bpd of Iranian oil, and
the recent increase in purchases may slightly undermine Seoul's case
among Washington lawmakers. Japan, the other significant buyer of Iranian
crude, had its waiver renewed in September and its purchases of Iranian
crude were 38.4 percent lower in the first nine months of 2012 over the
same period last year. Although Japan's imports from Iran fell in October
from September, they have risen since the middle of the year when
purchases stopped amid concern over the measures to prevent European
re-insurers, who dominate the global shipping industry, from offering
coverage. What is clear from looking at the big four Asian buyers of
Iranian crude is that they made some effort to cut purchases, but seem in
recent months to be happy to resume taking cargoes, albeit at lower
volumes than in past years. This tallies with the International Energy
Agency's November 13 report, which said Iranian exports rose to 1.3
million bpd in October from 1 million bpd the prior two months. Asia's
big four took 1.165 million bpd of Iran's October total, meaning that if
the Western powers are looking to further squeeze Tehran, they will have
to look at Asia to both inflict the pain and take the pain of finding
alternate crude sources. Given the seeming lack of progress on resolving
the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions and the ongoing defiant tone of
Tehran's leaders, it seems that making the crude waivers tougher to
obtain may only be a matter of time." http://t.uani.com/11qOXAw
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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