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Top Stories
AP:
"In a disheartening signal to world powers at upcoming Iran talks,
Tehran has started installing high-tech machines at its main uranium
enrichment site that are capable of accelerating production of reactor
fuel and - with further upgrading - the core of nuclear warheads,
diplomats said Wednesday. ... Diplomats told The Associated Press on
Wednesday, however, that installation was now well on its way, with
inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency seeing close to
100 or more machines mounted when they toured the site a few days ago.
Depending on experts' estimates, the new-generation centrifuges can
enrich uranium three to five times faster than Iran's present working
model." http://t.uani.com/VMBfZy
WSJ:
"Companies are scrambling to understand new provisions of sanctions
law requiring disclosure of contracts, transactions and dealings with
entities in Iran, lawyers say. Those provisions took effect Feb. 6 under
Section 219 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act and
cover U.S. and foreign companies that do business in the U.S. or are
listed on U.S. stock exchanges. Companies must detail activities and
contacts by any of their affiliates, which include not just units and
subsidiaries but individuals such as board members and senior executives.
The task can be daunting for multinational companies that must track
dealings of not only subsidiaries in which they hold majority ownership,
but ones in which they hold a minority stake. 'There are requirements in
the laws for SEC disclosures, but the unfortunate thing is Congress
doesn't appear to have consulted with [the Office of Foreign Assets
Control] or the SEC before passing this legislation,' said Judith Lee,
chairwoman of law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher's international trade
and regulation compliance practice group." http://t.uani.com/VNQRMn
Reuters:
"Hossein Ahmad, an Iranian who runs a jewelry shop in wealthy Dubai,
marvels at the spending power he sees on show during his monthly trips to
Tehran, a year after U.S. sanctions largely froze Iran out of the global
banking system. Shops in the Iranian capital are crowded. Finding a seat
at good restaurants can be difficult. And the ski resorts in the
mountains north of Tehran continue to attract Tehran's glamorous and
well-heeled. 'The economy has problems with the sanctions, yes. But it's
still working,' he says. 'It isn't as bad as people outside the country
think.' Sanctions are clearly having an impact; the country's oil revenue
has been slashed and other trade disrupted; a weak currency has sent the
prices of some imports soaring, destroying jobs as some factories using
imported parts have folded. But they are not close to having the
'crippling' effect envisaged by Washington. The Iranian government has
found ways to soften the impact, and Iran's economy is large and diverse
enough to absorb a lot of punishment. So at talks next week with the
world's major powers in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Iran seems unlikely to feel
under overwhelming pressure to back down on its disputed nuclear program,
which the West suspects is a cover to make weapons. 'The government had a
long time to prepare for economic war,' said Mohammad Ali Shabani, an
Iranian political analyst based in London. 'If you're talking about
collapse, that is not happening.'" http://t.uani.com/XlYaca
 Sanctions
Reuters:
"The European Central Bank on Thursday defended its payments system
after a newspaper reported that the U.S. Congress is preparing new Iran
sanctions to target the ECB's system for settling cross-border payments.
The proposed bill is aimed at pressing the ECB to do more to prevent
Iranian companies and banks from using the Target2 payments system to
conduct transactions involving euros, the Financial Times reported. The
ECB said it complied with European Union sanctions against Iran. 'The ECB
ensures that no illegitimate transactions are cleared in Target2,' a
spokesman for the euro zone's central bank said. 'But any sanctions are
EU sanctions and not an ECB competence.'" http://t.uani.com/ZtIMNG
FT:
"The US Congress is preparing new Iran sanctions legislation that
would target the European Central Bank's system for settling cross-border
bank payments. The proposed bill is part of a package of measures
designed to pressure the ECB to do more to prevent Iranian companies and
banks from using the Target2 payments system to conduct transactions
involving euros. The legislation, which could be introduced next week, is
aimed at closing loopholes to earlier financial sanctions which the US
Congress has imposed on Iran over the past 18 months to slow its nuclear programme.
Previous sanctions have made it extremely hard for Iran to conduct
cross-border oil business in US dollars, but have been less successful at
closing off business in other currencies... The ECB said it already
complied with EU sanctions against Iran. 'The ECB ensures that no
illegitimate transactions are cleared in Target2,' the bank said. 'But
any sanctions are EU sanctions and not an ECB competence.' Banks
participating in Target2 must have at least one branch in the European
Economic Area and are thus subject to EU laws, including EU regulations
forbidding transactions with a range of Iranian companies, institutions
and people." http://t.uani.com/YBQq3E
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Major powers are ready to make 'a substantial and serious offer' to
Iran during talks next week in return for concessions on its nuclear
program, a Western diplomat said on Wednesday. He declined to give
details of the offer - aimed at reviving efforts to reach a diplomatic
solution to long-stalled talks over Iran's disputed nuclear work. 'We
will take an offer with us which we believe to be a substantial and
serious offer,' the diplomat said of talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan. 'This
is an offer which we think has significant new elements in it.'" http://t.uani.com/VxudoQ
Reuters:
"A U.N. nuclear watchdog report due this week is expected to show
that growth of Iran's stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium has
slowed as it is using some of the material to make reactor fuel,
diplomats said on Wednesday. If confirmed in the quarterly report, the
development could help buy time for big power diplomacy to try and find a
negotiated settlement to a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a
new Middle East war. Six world powers and Iran are due to meet for the
first time in eight months next week to try again to break the stalemate
but analysts expect no major progress toward defusing suspicions of an
Iranian quest for nuclear weapons capability. Israel, which has warned it
might bomb Iran's nuclear sites as a last resort, last year gave a rough
deadline of mid-2013 as the date by which Tehran could have enough
higher-grade uranium to produce a single atomic bomb. But if Iran is
converting some of that uranium to yield reactor fuel, thereby at least
temporarily removing it from the stockpile that could be used for weapons
if processed further, that may postpone the Israeli 'red line' for
action." http://t.uani.com/VLXHBR
Terrorism
AFP:
"Nigerian secret police on Wednesday paraded a 50-year-old Islamic
cleric and two accomplices who they alleged were spying on prominent
individuals and targets in the west African nation for Iran. Abdullahi
Mustapha Berende, presented as a leader of the Shiite sect in the central
city of Ilorin, was arrested last December 'for his active involvement in
espionage and terrorist activities,' state security service spokeswoman
Marilyn Ogar said. Investigations revealed that Berende, accused of
establishing a 'terrorist cell' in Nigeria's southwest, with a particular
emphasis on Lagos, recruited the two other suspects for the task, Ogar
said. Berende underwent his training in Iran and his Iranian sponsors
requested him 'to identify and gather intelligence on public places and
prominent hotels frequented by Americans and Israelis to facilitate attacks,'
she said." http://t.uani.com/VMA1xa
Commerce
AP: "An
Iranian newspaper says at least 500 Porsche cars have been imported by
way of a Persian Gulf island that is also claimed by the United Arab
Emirates. Thursday's report by the Javan daily quotes lawmaker Amir
Khojasteh as saying it's unclear who the importer was or why the island
of Abu Musa was used as the route to bring the vehicles into Iran.
Khojasteh is demanding that Industry Minister Mahdi Ghazanfari elaborate
on the case." http://t.uani.com/YDSg48
Reuters: "Iran
has agreed to help build an oil refinery for Pakistan and supply its
energy-hungry neighbour with natural gas in a barter deal for food,
Iranian media reported on Thursday. Officials from the two countries
agreed on Wednesday that Iran would help Pakistan State Oil (PSO) build a
refinery and accept wheat, meat and rice as payment for fuel produced,
Fars news agency reported a Pakistani energy official as saying. Iran,
which has huge reserves of gas but exports little due to sanctions, has
also agreed to complete Pakistan's part of a long-planned gas pipeline
and accept payment in food for gas supplied through it." http://t.uani.com/YdowLx
Human Rights
Reporters
Without Borders: "Reporters Without Borders condemns
the renewed crackdown on Iranian journalists, in which a wave of arrests
in Tehran on and around the 'Black Sunday' of 27 January has been
followed by interrogations and arrests of journalists in several
provincial cities. At least 15 journalists and netizens - members of the
Hana literary association and contributors to the monthlies Koshk and
Varia and the bimonthly Najva - were summoned and interrogated for
several hours by intelligence ministry officials in the southwestern city
of Ilam on 17 February. According to the information obtained by
Reporters Without Borders, around 10 journalists, netizens, political
activists and civil society members have been summoned for questioning or
arrested in other parts of the country. During interrogation, they were
warned that undertaking any activities in connection with next June's
presidential election would be met with reprisals. A total of 58
journalists and netizens are currently detained in Iran." http://t.uani.com/VLUodW
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI Outreach
Coordinator Bob Feferman in the Algemeiner: "As
Americans, we can be proud that over the past several years, the U.S.
government has instituted increasingly tougher sanctions on Iran.
Today, American companies, including their foreign subsidiaries, are
prohibited from doing business in Iran with the exception of the sale of
food and medicine. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our foreign
friends and allies. The truth is that with the exception of the European
Union's boycott on Iranian oil, for much of the world it remains business
as usual with Iran. China, Russia, South Korea, and India might say
the right things, but they simply aren't taking substantial action to
curtail their commerce with Iran. And for many of the world's corporate
actors, business with Iran has never been better. What can concerned
Americans do? It is time to ask ourselves some tough questions, and take
action. Are we aware that our taxpayer dollars fund government contracts
with foreign companies doing business in Iran? Are we aware that manufacturers
of the foreign cars we buy - like Nissan and Mazda - are actually
producing cars in Iran? Why are our pensions invested in foreign
companies doing business in Iran that help to enrich the regime? These
questions are very troubling given the facts about Iran. Iran is
illegitimately ruled by a regime responsible for the murder of American
soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and civilians in Israel. It is a regime
responsible for assisting its close ally, Syria, in its brutal repression
that has cost the lives of over 60,000 civilians. It is a regime guilty
of the most egregious abuses of human rights including the rape, torture,
and murder of political and religious dissidents. And it is a regime that
continues to openly threaten genocide against Israel. If that is Iran
without a nuclear weapon, imagine it with one. Where is the outrage? What
happened to "Never Again"? As Americans, we cannot go to
foreign countries and tell them who they can do business with. Yet we can
tell them something else: If you, as a company, do business in Iran, you
should not count on earning our hard-earned taxpayer dollars through
government contracts. If you produce or sell cars in Iran, we will
not buy your cars. And if your company helps to enrich a regime that kills
Americans and threatens the destruction of Israel, we will not invest in
your company. The CEO of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran
(UANI), Ambassador Mark Wallace, said it most succinctly: 'We need to
bring Iran to the point where it will have to choose between having the
bomb or having a functioning economy.' Those of us at UANI regularly
pressure companies to leave Iran, and advocate tougher sanctions against
the regime. By visiting our website, Americans can take action, and
inform the world's bad actors that their irresponsible corporate behavior
must stop." http://t.uani.com/XA9Kz6
Patrick Clawson in
FP: "But today, when it comes to Iran's endless
nuclear impasse with the West, one might turn the phrase back on the
Iranians: The problem, in a nutshell, is that Iran can't agree to a damn
thing. Indeed, the slow pace of nuclear negotiations with Iran are only
the beginning of the reasons to be discouraged about resolution of the
standoff. More worrying is that political infighting in Tehran is so bad
that Iran might not be able to bring itself to accept unilateral U.S.
unconditional surrender were it to be offered. To be sure, eight months
between negotiating sessions -- June 18-19, 2012 in Moscow, followed by
the upcoming session slated for Feb. 26 in Almaty, Kazakhstan -- is bad
news enough. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hit the nail on the head
when he warned last week, 'We should not give much more time to the
Iranians, and we should not waste time. We have seen what happened with
[North Korea]. It ended up that they [were] secretly, quietly, without
any obligations, without any pressure, making progress' on nuclear
weapons. But the pace of talks is only the beginning of the problem. More
important is the political meltdown among the Islamic Republic's leaders.
Their problems should help put ours in perspective. Many Americans think
Washington faces gridlock from hyperpartisan politics, though in fact
Iran is an exception to that rule. Bills about Iran's nuclear program
typically enjoy stunning levels of support -- 100 to 0 in the Senate in
the December 2011 round of sanctions. In the November 2012 vote on
another sanctions round, several senators were absent, so the vote was a
cliffhanger 94 to 0. By contrast, Iranian leaders fight about everything,
even where vital national security interests are at stake. In many
respects, a divided Iran is nothing new. The Islamic Republic has from
its beginning been characterized by sharp internal divisions. And that
has long influenced debate about policy toward the United States. For at
least 20 years, the rule in Iran has been: Whoever is out of power wants
talks with the United States, which they know would be popular, while
whoever is in power moves haltingly if at all toward talks. Several
times, those on the outs became the ins and then quickly shifted position
on relations with Washington. When Mohammad Khatami was running for
president in 1997, he was all in favor of talks with the Great Satan, but
then once in power, he did little if anything and refused to speak
clearly on the issue. And so too with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: When
he was riding high, he only had disdain for the United States, but as he
got into trouble at home, he called for talks with Washington. But now,
the situation is much worse than before. It used to be that once
Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spoke, that ended the debate,
but no longer. Khamenei no longer enjoys the respect nor commands the
power to stop the infighting. No matter how often or bluntly he rejects
the idea of negotiations with the United States, other important
officials -- most loudly and frequently, Ahmadinejad -- call for such
talks... By their actions, Iranian leaders are giving the strong
impression that they are so preoccupied by their internal differences
that they cannot agree on, well, a damn thing. Disunity helps the enemy,
Khamenei frequently says. But the world powers negotiating with Iran
would be glad to see more unity in Tehran, because a more unified Iranian
government would be better able to reach a deal and then implement it.
That seems less and less likely. The time is rapidly approaching when the
big powers, or at least the United States, need to set out a stark choice
for Iran's leaders: Either accept a generous offer to resolve the nuclear
impasse or be prepared for the consequences." http://t.uani.com/WSiXmo
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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.
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