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Top Stories
Reuters:
"The Iranian rial has dropped sharply on the open market since
Sunday on speculation the head of the country's central bank could be
sacked in a row over his performance that has exposed the country's
political faultlines. Reuters contacted currency traders who offered the
rate of 35,400-550 to the dollar on Tuesday morning, little changed from
Monday but down some 8 percent from Sunday when it stood at around
33,000... Bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani - appointed by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in September 2008 - has faced strong criticism of his
management of the rial following a slump in the currency last September
that saw it lose 40 percent of its value in a matter of days. He also
faces claims of involvement in the 'midnight withdrawal' affair of March
2012, when the central bank withdrew hundreds of millions of dollars from
commercial banks without authorisation. On Monday, Iran's Supreme Audit
Court ruled that Bahmani should be dismissed from his post, news which
appeared to send the rial into a new dip. The court ruling - which is not
a binding decision on the government - was issued because of Bahmani's
failure to attend a hearing and explain the reasoning behind the March
2012 withdrawals, Mehr news agency reported." http://t.uani.com/YkrZvV
AFP:
"President Bashar al-Assad's regime has put together a new
paramilitary force of men and women, some trained by key ally Iran, to
fight what is now becoming a guerrilla war, a watchdog said Monday. The
force, dubbed the National Defence Army, gathers together existing
popular committees of pro-regime civilian fighters under a new,
better-trained and armed hierarchy, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said. The popular committees were originally formed to protect
pro-regime neighbourhoods from rebels. 'The (regular) army is not trained
to fight a guerrilla war, so the regime has resorted to creating the
National Defence Army,' said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. Most
of the new fighters are members or supporters of the ruling Baath party,
said Abdel Rahman. 'They include men and women, and members of all the
sects.'" http://t.uani.com/Wk9qC3
AP:
"Iran's semi-official news agency said Monday that a jailed American
pastor of Iranian origin is to be released after posting $116,000 bond,
but his wife in the U.S. claims Tehran has no intention of freeing him
and that the announcement is 'a game to silence' international media
reports. The news agency, ISNA, quoted Saeed Abedini's lawyer, Nasser
Sarbazi, as saying that his client stood trial Monday in the
Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security
by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes. The pastor,
who was jailed in September, has rejected the charges. In Tehran, ISNA
quoted Sarbazi as saying that the court would issue its verdict later,
but that Abedini would be released within the next few days after posting
the bail. ISNA said the lawyer indicated that the pastor would be allowed
to leave Iran and meet his family in the U.S. Abedini's father attended
Monday's court session. However, the pastor's wife, Naghmeh, said in a
statement that the Iranian regime had repeatedly promised to free Abedini
on bond, but that he remains in detention." http://t.uani.com/YksmGX
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran will hold talks over Tehran's
disputed nuclear program on February 13, a day later than planned, the
Vienna-based U.N. agency said on Tuesday. The International Atomic Energy
Agency and Iran failed in two days of discussions last week to agree a
framework deal to resume a long-stalled IAEA investigation into suspected
nuclear bomb research in the Islamic state. The IAEA said after the
January 16-17 negotiations that the two sides would meet again on
February 12 in Tehran. An IAEA spokeswoman said the date had now been
changed, giving no further details." http://t.uani.com/WpimqP
Sanctions
WSJ:
"South Korea continued to decrease its imports of Iranian crude oil
last year, reducing shipments by more than a third as part of efforts to
extend an exemption from U.S. sanctions targeting Tehran. South Korea has
agreed to steadily reduce Iranian oil imports in exchange for the U.S.
exemption from a blanket ban on imports as it seeks replacement barrels
for supplies from the Islamic Republic, which it previously sourced
around a 10th of its crude from. The U.S. granted the resource-poor Asian
country a 180-day exemption from sanctions in December, extending an
initial exemption for the same period that started in June. Imports from
Iran totaled 5.724 million barrels in December, taking the full-year
total to 56.146 million barrels, a 35.6% fall compared with 2011, data
from state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed Tuesday. South Korea's
reliance on Iran for its crude needs fell to 5.9% last year from 9.4% in
2011." http://t.uani.com/TfmwVD
Human Rights
AP:
"The U.N. human rights office has criticized Iran over the reported
execution of a juvenile offender. A spokeswoman for the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights says the Geneva-based agency is 'deeply
dismayed' about the execution of Ali Naderi last week. U.N. spokeswoman
Cecile Pouilly said Tuesday that the 'death penalty cannot be imposed for
crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age.' Naderi was 17 when he
was allegedly involved in the murder of a woman about four years
ago." http://t.uani.com/TfnIbt
Bloomberg:
"Iran will try three former judges who were suspended over the
deaths in detention of three men arrested in the protests that followed
the 2009 presidential election, Mehr reported. The trial's first session
will be held on Feb. 26, Prosecutor-General Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei
said yesterday, according to the state-run news agency. The judges were
suspended in 2010. The three inmates died in the Kahrizak detention
center in 2009. Iran's police subsequently confirmed 'negligence and
wrongdoing' by officials at the site, where some protesters were held
before being taken to Tehran's main Evin prison." http://t.uani.com/TfqGNf
Opinion &
Analysis
Armin Rosen in The
Atlantic: "The Iranian bullets that a Conflict
Armament Research report found throughout Africa probably weren't of the
highest quality the Islamic Republic could offer. They were all made
during the same three-year period at the beginning of the last decade --
it's likely they were military surplus or low-quality leftovers, sold at
a discount to anyone looking for cheap ammo. But low-quality bullets are
still deadly, and the CAR found Iranian munitions all over Africa, in 14
locations across nine countries, and with groups as diverse as a Tutsi
militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and terrorists aligned with
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. And there's evidence to suggest that
Iran's closest African partner played an active role in funneling the
ammunition throughout the continent. Despite some very public internal
disagreements, Sudan's nominally-Islamist National Congress Party
government has positioned itself as a key ally of Iran, and of the
collection of countries and militant groups opposed to American, Israeli
and western policies in the Middle East. Ali Karti, Sudan's foreign
minister, has publically spoken out against the country's tight military
relations with Iran, and American policymakers have long viewed the NCP
government as willing to abandon its close relationships with rogue
states and terrorist groups if the right combination of incentives and
inducements could be reached. But the moderate bloc inside the NCP
doesn't seem to be winning out: Iran helps operate the sprawling Yarmouk
weapons facility in Khartoum, a plant that stored a group of shipping
containers that were targeted and practically vaporized by an airstrike
in October, an attack that was likely Israel's doing. According to the
Conflict Armament Research report, the Yarmouk is involved in the
development of Iranian arms: 'Yarmouk Industrial Complex in Khartoum
serves as a production/onward shipment facility for Iranian/
Iranian-designed weapons,' while plant personnel 'visit Tehran for
regular technical training on weapons or ammunition production.'
According to a 2006 Wikileaks cable, Yarmouk was also involved in the
production of chemical and biological weapons material for Iran and
Syria. There are more recent developments as well. Hamas interior
minister Fathi Hammad visited Khartoum this week, where he announced that
fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group would soon be training in
Sudan. The country is still a hub for activity detrimental to the broader
international community's interests, and the CAR report provides
additional evidence that Sudan is engaging in destabilizing and probably
even illegal activities. A trans-African Sudanese weapons pipeline is
only hinted at in the report -- no one knows how Iranian and Sudanese
bullets traveled across the Sahel to Niger and Cote D'Ivoire, or ended up
with Tutsi militants in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. There's no proof that either the Sudanese or Iranian
governments were facilitating this transfer of munitions to such
far-flung corners of Africa. But James Bevan, director of CAR, says that
Sudanese and Iranian ammunition could often be found in the same clip in
Niger, northern Cote D'Ivoire and the DRC." http://t.uani.com/YkvgeM
Abeer Ayyoub in
Al-Monitor: "Out of all the Arab Spring's impacts,
the war in Syria is by far the most dramatic. The conflict has reshuffled
regional ties, and Palestinian-Syrian relations are among the most
affected. Palestinian-Iranian relations have also come under pressure.
Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran has been the main supporter of
the Palestinian cause, and in particular of its two largest Islamic
factions: Hamas and Islamic Jihad. As part of the alliance, Syria was
also a major supporter of the two groups and, until recently, played host
to the leadership of both groups. Iran was a strong supporter of the
Hamas government in Gaza and its military wing, until Hamas moved its
leadership from Syria, split with Bashar al-Assad's regime and became a
vocal critic of the Syrian crackdown. Hamas had waited more than a year
until it made the difficult decision to leave Syria and sacrifice Iranian
support. As an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood - which has been
riding high since the Arab Spring - Hamas now has alternatives to Iran,
and is moving out of isolation and towards international acceptance.
However, by contrast, Islamic Jihad - constrained by a lack of allies -
has opted to stay officially neutral on the Syrian crisis. Despite
Ramadan Shallah, the leader of Islamic Jihad, leaving Syria last year,
the movement still insists that its ties with Syria have not been
negatively affected and that Shallah's departure was purely for security
reasons. Senior Islamic Jihad official Khader Habeeb told Al-Monitor that
his faction's relations with foreign powers are based on the support
those powers can provide to the Palestinian resistance, and not on
external matters. 'Iran has adopted the Palestinian resistance since its
Islamic revolution. It has been a loyal backer. Consequently, Iranian
assistance for the Syrian regime has nothing to do with our relations
with Iran, even when our views are different,' Habeeb said. Habeeb
considers the crisis in Syria a purely internal issue that has nothing to
do with the Palestinians. 'Definitely we are sorry for both Palestinians
and Syrians being killed every day in Syria, but we are already aware of
the fact we are mere guests in Syria and have no right to interfere,' he
explained. With Hamas-Iran relations destabilized over Syria, a door has
opened for Islamic Jihad to boost its ties with Iran, although its
officials won't openly admit this. Adnan Abu Amer, political analyst and
lecturer at Al-Ummah University is Gaza, said that Iran's ties to Islamic
Jihad have strengthened since Hamas took a step back from Tehran.
'Islamic Jihad is the top backed Palestinian faction by Iran. That
doesn't necessarily mean that Islamic Jihad will stand out from the rest,
as there are many other factors that count, such as popularity and
national support,' Abu Amer clarified. Growing Iranian support for
Islamic Jihad was made evident in the November mini-war with Israel, with
the movement demonstrating its long-range rocket and cyber-warfare
capabilities. Habeeb, however, stressed that Iranian support for Islamic
Jihad is only limited to the armed wing, and has nothing to do with
strains between Hamas and Iran. 'Hamas-Iran relations are still okay and
our good relations with Iran do not come at the expense of their ties,'
Habeeb said. 'Iran was pleased with the victory the Palestinian
resistance achieved. This is why it's likely to increase its support for
us, for what we have lost during the war and because we need to rebuild
our infrastructure.'" http://t.uani.com/Wd3iif
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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