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Top Stories
WashPost:
"Ever since European seaports closed their gates to Iranian oil
tankers last summer, Iran has looked to the East to keep its economy
afloat. Countries such as China, India and South Korea - some of them
critics of Western sanctions - have offered Iran a lifeline of reliable
markets and much-needed dollars. But perhaps not for long. In just over
two weeks, the Obama administration will begin enforcing a little-noticed
statute that could dry up one of Iran's largest remaining sources of oil
income, U.S. officials say. Beginning Feb. 6, Iran still will get paid
for the oil it delivers to Asian markets, from Mumbai to Shanghai to
Pusan - only not in cash. The law, part of a package of sanctions
approved last year, requires that foreign governments keep any payments
for Iranian oil locked up inside bank accounts in their own territory.
Iran can use the money only to buy goods from the local economy, such as
wheat or medicine or consumer goods. But it can't collect hard currency
that could boost Iran's beleaguered economy back home, U.S. officials and
analysts say. Administration officials have been quietly anticipating the
impact of the new provisions, which could be the most significant since
last summer's measures targeting Iran's oil and banking industry. A side
benefit, officials say, is the potential impact on Iran's trading
partners, which soon will have a compelling new economic interest in
supporting tough sanctions against Iran. 'This is the next big shoe to
drop,' said David S. Cohen, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for
terrorism and financial intelligence. 'Most of these countries have large
trade imbalances with Iran, and now Iran will have to find ways to spend
all its oil earnings on their local economies.'" http://t.uani.com/VU9GLK
AP:
"Iran has floated specific dates for reopening talks with the U.S.
and other world powers about its nuclear program. At the same time,
Tehran has left U.N. nuclear inspectors empty-handed when it comes to
addressing Western suspicions that it's conducting tests related to
nuclear weapons. Iran's split personality over creating space for
possible nuclear concessions has complicated calculations by Washington
and allies on whether to head back into negotiations more than six months
after the last round ended in stalemate. But it also offers insight into
Tehran's strategy as Western sanctions press harder on the economy,
experts say. Iranian leaders know the only route to ease the economic
pressures - and possibly undercut threats of military action by Israel -
is through potential deal-making with six world powers - the five
permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. Making grand
gestures to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency, would likely bring praise from the West, but it is unlikely to
roll back sanctions, which have so far reduced Iran's critical oil
exports by 45 percent. 'Tehran ... sees any cooperation with the IAEA as
a potential bargaining chip that is better reserved for the talks that
really matter,' said Suzanne Maloney, an Iranian affairs expert at the
Brookings Institution in Washington. 'The Iranians want a payout and the
IAEA cannot deliver that.'" http://t.uani.com/UJoH0w
NYT:
"Although every year hundreds of convicts are hanged in Iran, a
public hanging in a central park in Tehran is a rare event. Most hangings
take place inside prisons, according to Iranian judicial officials and
international human rights organizations. Sunday's execution in Park-e
Honarmandan (Artists Park), near the crime scene, was part of a
heavy-handed offensive by Iranian authorities, who say they are trying to
prevent rising crime rates from getting out of hand by setting harsh
examples. In recent weeks, public executions have been stepped up, and in
several large cities the police have been rounding up what they call
thugs and hooligans. Police commanders and other officials blame
government mismanagement of the economy - which they say has caused a
rise in unemployment and inflation - for the increase in crime." http://t.uani.com/VifJHB
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Iran said it had made some progress in resolving its disputes with
the U.N. atomic watchdog, state media reported, even though the two
sides' latest talks failed to seal a deal on letting inspectors visit a
military site. The Islamic state and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) met this week, but did not manage to revive an
investigation into Iran's suspected nuclear arms research, the U.N.
organization's officials said on Friday. Iran's ambassador to the body,
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, later said some progress had been made in the
talks, Press TV reported. 'We had two days of intensive talks and we were
able to in fact bridge the gap to some extent,' Soltanieh was quoted as
saying late on Friday... Soltanieh, however, stuck to Iran's stance that
it would not stop uranium enrichment 'for a second.'" http://t.uani.com/Udcpi1
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Iran's parliament voted 171 to 36 to investigate the country's
central bank over its response to last year's currency crisis,
parliamentary news agency Icana reported. Iranian media also reported on
Sunday that Mahmoud Bahmani, Iran's central bank governor, had asked to
leave his post, but there was no confirmation or denial from the central
bank. The value of the Iranian rial against the U.S. dollar has plummeted
in the last year following sanctions on the central bank and a European
Union embargo on Iranian oil, believed to have curtailed Tehran's hard
currency earnings. Critical legislators have accused the central bank of
economic mismanagement for its handling of the currency's decline,
including accusations that it did not provide the market with enough
dollars to meet demand, helping to drive down the rial." http://t.uani.com/10eG8Xf
AP:
"Iran's Intelligence Ministry says the West has launched a 'currency
war' against Tehran to destabilize the Islamic Republic.The director of
the ministry's economy department, who was unnamed in the Monday report
from the semiofficial Fars agency, says that expanding domestic
production can help counter Western sanctions imposed on Iran over its
nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/VJWurz
Bloomberg:
"China's imports of crude from Iran rebounded to the highest level
in six months in December after the U.S. renewed an exemption from
penalties on banks that process payments for the Persian Gulf nation's
oil. China, the world's second-biggest crude consumer, bought 2.52
million metric tons of oil from Iran last month, according to figures
from the General Administration of Customs today. That's up 43 percent
from November, when purchases slipped 9.3 percent. Shipments averaged
596,000 barrels a day, the most since June, and advanced 3.6 percent from
December 2011, the data showed." http://t.uani.com/WlE92C
WSJ:
"A fleeing ship went back on the U.S. blacklist on Friday, proving
the difficulty in enforcing some U.S. sanctions. The MV Amina, an
Iranian-flagged cargo ship, was detained by Sri Lanka in December after
Germany's DVB Bank SE obtained a court order to hold the vessel after the
owners defaulted on a payment, according to a Reuters report. Following
its detention, the U.S. Treasury Department, which blacklisted the ship
in 2008, issued a general license in early January that authorized
certain transactions 'related to the arrest, detention, and judicial
sale' of the MV Amina... But the Reuters report said the ship fled, even
after the Sri Lankan navy fired warning shots, and that it wasn't
possible to immediately confirm the vessel's exact location. The report
said it was unclear what cargo the vessel carried. On Friday, the U.S.
Treasury Department revoked the license to conduct the transactions. 'We
revoked the license because we learned that the Amina had escaped arrest
in Sri Lanka,' said John Sullivan, a Treasury spokesman, in an
email." http://t.uani.com/10ghxRW
Syrian Uprising
Reuters:
"A senior aide to Iran's supreme leader warned against the overthrow
of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, saying his fate was a 'red line',
in one of the Islamic state's strongest messages of support for the
Damascus government. Iran has steadfastly backed Assad's rule since an
uprising against his rule began almost two years ago and regards him as
an important part of the axis of opposition against arch-foe Israel. 'If
the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is toppled, the line of resistance
in the face of Israel will be broken,' Ali Akbar Velayati, who is seen as
a potential contender in Iran's June presidential election, said in an
interview broadcast on Sunday." http://t.uani.com/VU9a01
Human Rights
Fox News:
"As her husband's trial and possible death sentence looms, the wife
of an American Christian pastor imprisoned in Iran for evangelizing
clings to hope and prays for a miracle. Naghmeh Abedini has been told by
attorneys for her husband, Saeed, to expect the worst at Monday's trial,
where the 32-year-old husband and father faces the capital charge of
compromising national security. Supporters believe the charges are
directly related to Abedini's work nearly a decade ago starting a house
church movement in Iran, and the judge he'll face, Abbas Pir-Abassi, is
infamous for sending defendants to the gallows. 'There is a lot going
through my mind. I can never clear my head. I only sleep two hours a
night,' Naghmeh Abedini told Foxnews.com by phone from her family's home
near Boise. 'Unfortunately, he has been set up for failure and a harsh
sentence because of his beliefs. His attorney says that the court has
gathered a large amount of evidence against him.'" http://t.uani.com/WQqlLN
Amnesty
International: "The execution in Iran this week of a
21-year-old man for a crime he allegedly committed while apparently still
a juvenile shows a deplorable disregard for international law, Amnesty
International said. According to state-run media agency Mehr, Ali
(Kianoush) Naderi was executed in Raja'i Shahr Prison in Karaj,
north-west of Tehran on Wednesday. He had been sentenced to death for his
alleged role in the murder more than four years ago - when he was
apparently still only 17 years old - of an elderly woman during the
course of a burglary. Those under the age of 18 at the time of their
alleged offence are considered to be children under international law and
their execution is strictly prohibited." http://t.uani.com/WgWU6j
Foreign Affairs
AP:
"A spokesman for Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard has criticized
the 2011 storming of the British Embassy in Tehran, saying students and
activists should 'avoid actions driven by emotion.' Gen. Ramezan Sharif
says the Islamic Republic's enemies are plotting against the country, and
that Iranians in turn must deal with their enemies 'more intelligently'
and 'avoid shallow and emotional actions' that damage Iran's image
abroad... Hard-line Iranian protesters stormed the British diplomatic
compounds in November 2011." http://t.uani.com/UJo3jC
Guardian:
"Depictions of foreign politicians are almost unknown, but last week
an Iranian website showcased photographs of a dramatic new anti-Obama
mural near the city's busy Valiasr Square. The image is of Barack Obama
standing next to Shemr, a villain in Shia Islam, with a BBC-style caption
at the bottom attributing to both men, in the years 2013 and 680
respectively, the loaded phrase: 'Be with us, be safe.' ... In the mural,
Shemr extends a similar letter to the viewer, as he and Obama utter the
words Ba ma bash - 'be with us' - playing on the president's name, and
insinuating that anyone who still likes Obama in the wake of tightening
sanctions - or who advocates meeting American, EU, or International
Atomic Energy Agency demands over Iran's nuclear programme to avoid
conflict - is a traitor to the faith. Obama, the state insists, is a
'Hussein' unworthy of loyalty." http://t.uani.com/SqkmRr
Opinion &
Analysis
Ahmed Hashemi in
The Times of Israel: "Iran's top nuclear negotiator
Saeed Jalili recently said his country has agreed to resume talks on its
nuclear program later this month. At the same time, the IAEA and the
international community, particularly the European countries, have
stepped up efforts to revitalize the futile negotiating process. During
my four and a half years as an employee of the Iranian foreign ministry,
I learned beyond doubt, that my country's participation in talks is
purely a stalling tactic. Having fled to Turkey to seek political asylum,
I know that I'm far from the first Iranian to try and warn the world of
Tehran's determination to obtain weapons of mass destruction. It was
almost a decade ago that the People's Mujahedin, Iran's leftist
opposition in exile, first revealed the clandestine nuclear activities
carried out by the regime, providing the exact addresses of some of the
facilities, and letting the world know about the Islamic theocracy's true
ambitions for acquiring nuclear bombs. Since then, Iran has attended
dozens of negotiating rounds merely to convince naïve politicians and
dewy-eyed peaceniks that it is telling the truth. Within this context,
Tehran maintains that it is trying to use diplomatic means to prove that
Iran is merely working to harness nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in
order to meet increasing domestic energy demand as it runs out of fuel.
Iran likewise exploits the matter at home, whipping up populist
nationalism with leftist-style demagoguery that depicts its nuclear
program as a cardinal matter of national pride. But a lie remains a lie,
whether it is repeated ceaselessly in international forums or broadcast
all day to the Iranian masses. While at the Iranian foreign ministry, I
served as interpreter for visiting dignitaries, diplomats and officials.
I paid close attention to public proclamations and official statements.
And I was present at inner-circle conversations in which a number of
high-profile Iranian officials made no secret of their intention to go
atomic. I personally witnessed the following examples." http://t.uani.com/VfPCoC
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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