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Top Stories
CSM:
"Iran marked the 34th anniversary of its Islamic revolution today
with mass rallies, nuclear defiance, and anti-Western proclamations that
it is defeating all 'treacherous enemies.' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
rejected Western pressure to negotiate over Iran's nuclear program 'at
the point of a gun.' His words echoed a rejection of bilateral US-Iran
talks made last week by Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. 'You should remove this gun pointed at the Iranian nation,
[then] I myself will negotiate with you,' Mr. Ahmadinejad told
flag-waving crowds at Azadi (Freedom) Square in Tehran, amid occasional
chants of 'Death to America! Death to Israel!' 'Negotiations must be
based on justice and respect, not [on] pressure and imposition,' he said,
according to a simultaneous translation on state-run PressTV. The West
had 'failed' to prevent Iran from 'going nuclear, but we are nuclear,' he
added. 'Now it's not time for confrontation. The best thing ... is
cooperation.'" http://t.uani.com/12lVme8
WashPost:
"Iran and Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy, are building a network of
militias inside Syria to preserve and protect their interests in the
event that President Bashar al-Assad's government falls or is forced to
retreat from Damascus, according to U.S. and Middle Eastern officials.
The militias are fighting alongside Syrian government forces to keep
Assad in power. But officials think Iran's long-term goal is to have
reliable operatives in Syria in case the country fractures into ethnic
and sectarian enclaves. A senior Obama administration official cited
Iranian claims that Tehran was backing as many as 50,000 militiamen in
Syria. 'It's a big operation,' the official said. 'The immediate intention
seems to be to support the Syrian regime. But it's important for Iran to
have a force in Syria that is reliable and can be counted on.' Iran's
strategy, a senior Arab official agreed, has two tracks. 'One is to
support Assad to the hilt, the other is to set the stage for major
mischief if he collapses.' ... Iran has a history of profiting from
chaos, even without control of the government ostensibly in power.
Hezbollah arose out of the Lebanese civil war of the 1970s, when Iran was
able to exploit the grievances of that country's Shiite population, a
pattern it also followed in Iraq during the chaos that followed the U.S.
invasion." http://t.uani.com/155Wk26
Fox Baltimore:
"Several groups came together in Downtown Baltimore to protest the
International Auto Show at the Convention Center today. Among the groups
protesting was 'United Against Nuclear Iran', the 'Baltimore Zionist
District', and Shalom USA Radio. The groups gathered to protest against
Volkswagen, Nissan, and other car makers for doing business in Iran. Jay
Bernstein, Host of Shalom USA Radio said, 'Stop selling cars in Iran.
Stop having offices in Iran. Stop manufacturing cars in Iran. All of
those activities are supporting a regime that oppresses its own people,
that is pursuing an illegal nuclear weapons program and that is
threatening world peace.' 'United Against Nuclear Iran' says it has
pressured several auto-makers to stop doing business in Iran, including
Hyundai and General Motors." http://t.uani.com/12lRs4V
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Iran appears to have resumed converting small amounts of its
higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, diplomats say, a process
which if expanded could buy time for negotiations between Washington and
Tehran on its disputed nuclear program. The possibility of Iran
converting enriched uranium into fuel - slowing a growth in stockpiles of
material that could be used to make weapons - is one of the few ways in
which the nuclear dispute could avoid hitting a crisis by the summer.
Tehran could otherwise have amassed sufficient stock by June to hit a
'red line' set by Israel after which it has indicated it could attack to
prevent Iran acquiring enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. Yet
few expect progress in talks until after the Iranian presidential
election in June - a formula for a potentially explosive clash of
timetables... While scientists differ about how much uranium is needed to
have the ability quickly to make a bomb, analysts say the Israeli figure
is believed to be 240 kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent; at that
concentration, the material is nine tenths of the way to the
weapons-grade of about 90 percent, since most of the unwanted isotopes
have been separated out by then." http://t.uani.com/Y6503m
AP:
"Secretary of State John Kerry warned Iran on Friday to come to
upcoming nuclear talks prepared to talk seriously with world powers about
addressing concerns over its nuclear program. Speaking to reporters at
the State Department, Kerry said in his first public comments on the
matter since taking office last week that Iran knows full well what it
needs to do to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful as it claims. If
it does, Kerry said the international community is prepared to respond
positively. If not, he said Iran will only face increased international
isolation. He reminded the Iranian leadership that President Barack Obama
has taken no options off the table, including military force, to prevent
Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." http://t.uani.com/WZHarN
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Iran's English-language Press TV channel has been dropped from the
satellite platform that allowed it to broadcast in the United States and
Canada, the channel said. The state-owned, 24-hour network broadcasts
world news and pro-government views beyond Iran's borders. Press TV had
broadcast in North America on the Galaxy 19 satellite platform. The
channel did not say when it was dropped. New sanctions announced by the
U.S. Treasury Department this week blacklisted the Islamic Republic of
Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and its director, Ezatollah Zarghami, which
oversees Iran's broadcast channels. Press TV said in a statement on
Friday evening that its being dropped from Galaxy 19 was a 'flagrant
violation of freedom of speech.' In October, the Paris-based Eutelsat,
one of Europe's leading satellite providers, cut Iranian state television
and radio broadcasts to comply with tougher European Union sanctions on
the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/UXUVsM
Reuters:
"Exports of U.S. pharmaceuticals to Iran were cut in half last year,
according to data released on Friday, while overall U.S. exports to the
Islamic republic rose about 9 percent because of grain sales. The
official U.S. government statistics appear to support the claims of
sanctions lawyers and some independent experts that financial sanctions
are making it harder for Iranians to obtain medicine despite loopholes
designed to permit such trade... U.S. officials have said they have tried
to sanction Iran without unduly harming ordinary Iranians, for example
granting licenses to U.S. companies who wish to export pharmaceuticals,
medical devices, food and other humanitarian goods to Iran." http://t.uani.com/Z5gau7
Corporate
Malfeasance
Business Tech
(South Africa): "The Sunday Times reported that MTN
has showered Iranian politicians with gifts, luxury accommodation and
mobile phones as part of its plan to win the lucrative Iranian cellular
license in 2005. According to the newspaper MTN gave Iranian politicians
designer cuff-links, free cellphones and up to R12,000 accommodation when
they visited South Africa. These details, the Sunday Times reported, are
contained in a KPMG forensic report which showed how Iranian officials
were wined and dined by MTN." http://t.uani.com/WdXC6o
City Press (South
Africa): "Lord Leonard Hoffmann insisted in his
report to MTN that the communications giant did not pay any bribes to
former South African ambassador Yusuf Saloojee. But he ignored emails
from ex-MTN director Irene Charnley acknowledging the need to repay
whistle-blower Chris Kilowan for money he paid to ambassador Saloojee.
Bizarrely, she was willing to pay it out of her own pocket. Hoffmann
produced a report following an investigation into alleged bribery by MTN
to obtain an operating licence in Iran. One of the key issues in the
investigation is whether MTN agreed to pay a bribe to ambassador Yusuf
'Jojo' Saloojee, who was the South African envoy in Iran at the time of
MTN's pursuit of the licence back in 2004. Hoffmann said he found
Saloojee had received money from Kilowan in April 2007 to buy a house,
but it was a private transaction between the two men. 'Ambassador
Saloojee agrees that he borrowed the money, but says that it was a
private arrangement and that he repaid half in cash almost immediately
and the rest on demand a year later.' According to Hoffmann, Saloojee
paid back $100,000 in April 2007 and the remaining $100,000 in January
2008. But Hoffmann did not ask for documentary evidence." http://t.uani.com/11Bef1J
Terrorism
Reuters:
"As the United States pushes for an end to the U.N. arms embargo on
Somalia, U.N. monitors are reporting that Islamist militants in the Horn
of Africa nation are receiving arms from distribution networks linked to
Yemen and Iran, diplomats told Reuters. The U.N. Security Council's
sanctions monitoring team's concerns about Iranian and Yemeni links to
arms supplies for al Shabaab militants come as Yemen is asking Tehran to
stop backing armed groups on Yemeni soil. Last month Yemeni coast guards
and the U.S. Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets the Sanaa
government says were sent by Iran... The monitors found Iranian and North
Korean-manufactured weapons that came to Somalia via Libya at a base of
the U.N.-backed African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. Diplomats who
follow the issue said the arms were apparently recovered by the
peacekeepers and raised important questions. 'Why are Iranian and North
Korean small arms finding their way into Somalia from Libya? Do they date
from before the arms embargoes (against both North Korea and Iran)? How
did they get there from Libya?' a council diplomat asked." http://t.uani.com/UXV5k7
AP:
"Yemen's interior minister said Saturday that his country was
disappointed to find that a large and diverse cache of weapons seized on
a ship last month had been exported from Iran, a finding Washington said
underscores Tehran's ongoing evasion of U.N. resolutions. Speaking in a
press conference in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, Interior Minister
Abdel-Qader Kahtan said a Yemeni investigation found that the weapons
were destined for armed insurgents. He did not elaborate, saying only
that an investigation is ongoing. He said he had hoped Iran would not
'export weapons to Yemen'. It was the first acknowledgement by a Yemeni
official on the record to hold Iran responsible for the shipment. The
U.S. State Department said in a statement that the initial findings of
the Yemeni investigation show that 'Iran continues to defy the
international community through its proliferation activities and support
for destabilizing action in the region.'" http://t.uani.com/XxhMWz
Reuters:
"The U.N. secretary-general and the U.S. government condemned a
deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp in the Iraqi capital early on
Saturday and urged Iraqi authorities to carry out a full investigation.
'(Ban Ki-moon) strongly condemns the mortar attack today on Camp Liberty,
the temporary transit facility near Baghdad for former residents of Camp
Ashraf,' the secretary-general's press office said in a statement. At
least five people were killed and more than 25 wounded in the rocket
attack, police sources said. 'The Secretary-General calls on the
Government of Iraq, which is responsible for the safety and security of
residents of both Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf, to promptly and fully
investigate the incident and bring perpetrators to justice,' it said. The
U.S. State Department condemned 'in the strongest terms the vicious and
senseless terrorist attack.'" http://t.uani.com/14NuhUh
JTA:
"The president of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish center said the truth
commission agreed to by Argentina and Iran 'will allow a third bombing in
Argentina.' 'This pact is viewed by some people as a step forward. This
may be a step to the precipice,' Guillermo Borger said. 'It will allow a very
unfortunate third attack.' The confrontation between Borger and
Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez came to a head on Saturday as
Fernandez took to the national television airwaves and Twitter to defend
the deal." http://t.uani.com/14NAYWk
Domestic
Politics
Reuters:
"Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani had to cut short a public
speech on Sunday after people threw shoes and prayer tablets at him,
semi-official media reported, disclosing an unusual act of aggression
against a senior official. Larijani, who is embroiled in a public
political feud with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was speaking at a
religious site in Qom, the city he represents in parliament, on the
occasion of the 34th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Shortly
after starting his speech, a group of people began chanting slogans
against him, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA). It said
Larijani spoke for two to three minutes more, but then a crowd of about
100 Ahmadinejad supporters began throwing shoes and matchbox-sized clay
tablets, used in prayer by some Shi'ites, towards him." http://t.uani.com/We5Dbv
AP:
"There was nothing essentially new in the message to Washington from
Iran's president on Sunday: Repeating last week's statement by the
Iranian supreme leader that direct talks cannot happen as long as
sanctions remain. What drew attention was how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
injected himself into it. Ahmadinejad told crowds marking the anniversary
of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that he personally was ready to take part
in one-on-one dialogue with the U.S. if Western economic pressures were
eased. Even in the twilight of his presidency, Ahmadinejad's political
ego remains as intact as ever - suggesting both a feisty prelude to June
elections and efforts by Ahmadinejad to seek the spotlight after his
second and final term." http://t.uani.com/Y69yqr
Reuters:
"Iranian authorities on Monday detained two daughters of leading
opposition figure Mirhossein Mousavi, a former presidential candidate
held under house arrest for nearly two years, an opposition-linked
website reported. Mousavi stood in presidential elections in 2009 and was
a figurehead of the big street protests over allegations of vote rigging
that followed. He is held under house arrest with his wife Zahra
Rahnavard. The Islamic Republic is gearing up for another presidential
vote in June and hardline figures have accused opposition forces of
plotting a second 'sedition' - referring to the last protests that were
crushed by security forces. Security forces went to the home of the
couple's daughters Narges and Zahra on Monday morning and detained them,
according to Kaleme, an opposition website close to Mousavi. It did not
say where they were taken." http://t.uani.com/12lKLzD
Opinion &
Analysis
WSJ Editorial
Board: "The Farsi word for 'no' is na h, which is
easy enough to remember. Maybe even Joe Biden won't forget it the next
time the U.S. tries to reach out diplomatically to Iran. We're speaking
of the Administration's latest effort to come to terms with Tehran over
its nuclear programs, which Mr. Biden made last weekend at the Munich
Security Conference. The U.S. offer of direct bilateral talks, he said,
'stands, but it must be real and tangible.' Iranian foreign minister Ali
Akbar Salehi, who was also at the conference though he refused to meet
with U.S. officials, called Mr. Biden's comments 'a step forward.' Mr.
Salehi's remark set the usual hearts aflutter that Iran is finally
serious about a deal. But the optimism was brief. On Thursday, Iran's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei flatly rejected direct talks with
the U.S. 'The U.S. is pointing a gun at Iran and wants us to talk to
them,' he said. 'Direct talks will not solve any problems.' This isn't
the first time Mr. Khamenei has played chaste Daphne to President Obama's
infatuated Apollo. Just after becoming President in 2009, Mr. Obama sent
the Ayatollah two private letters and delivered a conciliatory speech for
the Persian new year of Nowruz. Mr. Khamenei's answer: 'They chant the
slogan of change but no change is seen in practice.' He told a crowd
chanting 'death to America' that 'if a hand is stretched covered with a
velvet glove but it is cast iron inside, that makes no sense.' That was
in March 2009. In October of that year the U.S. and its allies
tentatively worked out a deal with Iranian negotiators to move some of
their enriched uranium outside Iran. Western analysts were confident that
Mr. Khamenei would give his blessing, given the international pressure he
was said to be under following the fraudulent elections and the bloody
crackdown that followed. The Ayatollah quashed that deal too: 'Whenever
they [Americans] smile at the officials of the Islamic revolution, when
we carefully look at the situation, we notice that they are hiding a dagger
behind their back.' It was the same in January 2011, when diplomacy also
collapsed. Ditto in 2012, when negotiations in February, May and June
each ended in failure. Washington went into those talks thinking they
were going to succeed on the theory that Tehran desperately wants relief
from the supposedly crippling pressure of economic sanctions. Why does
the Ayatollah keep saying no? The conventional wisdom is that previous
U.S. offers weren't generous enough, or that the wrong President was in
the White House, or that Iran wants only to deal directly with the U.S.
and not in multilateral forums. Each of these theories has been tested
and shown to be false. A more persuasive explanation-get ready for this
shocker-is that Iran really wants a bomb. The regime believes, not
unreasonably, that Moammar Gadhafi would still be in power had he not
given up his nuclear program in 2003. Mr. Khamenei also fears a 'velvet
revolution' scenario, in which more normal ties with the West threaten
the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic. Confrontation with
America is in this regime's DNA." http://t.uani.com/XC3xll
James Traub in FP:
"There is no better example of an Obama administration initiative
that has succeeded on its own terms, and yet failed as policy, than Iran.
By engaging the regime in Tehran, and being rebuffed, the White House has
been able to enlist China, Russia, and the European Union in imposing
tough sanctions on Iran. By steadily ratcheting up those sanctions, the
administration has been able to gradually squeeze the Iranian economy. By
insisting that 'containment' is not an option, Obama has persuaded
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he need not launch an
attack on Iran's nuclear facilities -- at least not any time soon. Obama has
done everything right, and yet his Iran policy is failing. There is no
evidence that the sanctions will bring Iran to its knees and force the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to accept the humiliation of
abandoning his nuclear program. But neither is there any sign of new
thinking in the White House. 'I don't see how what didn't work last year
is going to work this year,' says Vali Nasr, who served in the Obama
State Department before becoming dean of the Johns Hopkins School of
Advanced International Studies. He might not get much of an argument from
White House officials, who, the New York Times recently noted, 'seem
content with stalemate.' The United States is not negotiating directly
with Iran but rather doing so through the P5+1, which consists of the
five permanent Security Council members and Germany. The P5+1's current
position is that Iran must stop enriching nuclear fuel to 20 percent
purity -- a point from which Iran could quickly move to weapons-grade
material -- transfer its existing stock of such fuel to a third country,
and shut down one of its two enrichment facilities, known as Fordow. In
exchange, the parties will help Iran produce such fuel for medical
purposes, which the regime claims is its actual goal. Iran has refused,
saying it will not shut down Fordow. But the current state of play masks
the larger issue, which is that the ayatollah and those around him
believe the United States wants to make Iran cry uncle -- which happens
to be true. The next round of P5+1 negotiations, now scheduled for Feb.
25 in Kazakhstan, are almost certainly not going to go anywhere unless
the United States signals that it is prepared to make what the Iranians
view as meaningful and equivalent moves in exchange for Iranian
concessions. Arms-control experts say that both British Prime Minister
David Cameron and Catherine Ashton, head of foreign affairs for the
European Union, favor offering Iran a reduction in sanctions; but there's
a limit to what they can do without the United States. Of course, such flexibility
would be pointless if Iran is simply hell-bent on gaining the capacity to
produce a nuclear weapon. The signals, as always with Iran, are
cryptic." http://t.uani.com/YlQJym
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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