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Stories
Reuters:
"Commodities giant Glencore supplied thousands of tons of alumina to
an Iranian firm that has provided aluminum to Iran's nuclear program,
intelligence and diplomatic sources told Reuters. The previously
undisclosed barter arrangement between Glencore, the world's biggest
commodities trader, and the Iranian Aluminum Company (Iralco) illustrates
how difficult it is for Western powers to curb Iran's ability to trade
with the rest of the world. Even as the West imposes stringent
restrictions on banks that do business with Iran, United Nations
diplomats say that Tehran keeps finding new ways to do business with
willing partners. Reuters first learned about Glencore's barter deal with
Iralco, and an aluminum supply contract that Iralco had with Iran
Centrifuge Technology Co (TESA), from a Western diplomatic source in
early November. That was about six weeks before the European Union's
December 2012 decision to levy sanctions on Iralco for supplying aluminum
metal to TESA, which is a subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization of
Iran (AEOI)." http://t.uani.com/Z2iA76
Reuters:
"Iran has stepped up executions of prisoners including juveniles as
well as arrests of dissidents who are often tortured in jail, sometimes
to death, the United Nations reported on Thursday. In twin reports issued
in Geneva, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. special
investigator on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, voiced concern at
what they called an apparent rise in the frequency and gravity of abuses
in Iran. 'The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by reports of
increasing numbers of executions, including of juvenile offenders and in
public; continuing amputations and flogging; arbitrary arrest and
detention; unfair trials, torture and ill-treatment; and severe restrictions
targeting media professionals, human rights defenders, lawyers and
opposition activities, as well as religious minorities,' Ban reported.
The Islamic Republic, which is under economic sanctions for its disputed
nuclear program, has failed to investigate 'widespread, systemic and
systematic violations of human rights', Shaheed's report said. He called
for the 'immediate and unconditional release' of detained human rights
advocates, journalists and lawyers." http://t.uani.com/13tBL0A
Reuters:
"A Chinese businessman indicted in the United States over sales of
missile parts to Iran is still making millions of dollars from the trade,
say security officials who monitor compliance with Western and U.N.
sanctions. These officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
businessman, Li Fangwei, has earned at least $10 million from illegal
sales to Iran since his indictment by the New York County District
Attorney in 2009. Trade sanctions are at the heart of international
efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program for fear it is for military ends -
a suspicion Iran rejects. Li's alleged activities may point to Iran's
resourcefulness in circumventing those sanctions and turn a spotlight on
China's ability to police its own export restrictions... Contacted by
Reuters on Feb 4, Li said he continued to get commercial inquiries from
Iran but only for legitimate merchandise, such as steel products. Li said
his company, LIMMT, had stopped selling to Iran once the United States
began sanctioning it several years ago." http://t.uani.com/YGgVoX
 Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers this week were more
constructive and positive than in the past, but Iran's willingness to
negotiate seriously will not become clear until an April meeting, a
senior Western diplomat said on Thursday. The diplomat was more upbeat
about the talks in Kazakhstan than other Western officials have been,
suggesting there could be a chance of diplomatic progress in the long
standoff over Iran's nuclear activities. 'This was more constructive and
more positive than previous meetings because they were really focusing on
the proposal on the table,' said the diplomat, speaking on condition of
anonymity." http://t.uani.com/XrEVgj
Sanctions
AFP:
"A consortium will start work next week on a much delayed $7.5
billion gas pipeline from Pakistan to Iran despite American warnings of
possible sanctions, Pakistani officials said on Friday. The date was
announced after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari held talks in Tehran
with Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who urged Islamabad to press ahead with the project. 'The
groundbreaking is going to be performed on March 11 on the Pakistani side
of border and we hope that the presidents of the two countries will be
present on the occasion,' a senior Pakistani official told AFP,
requesting anonymity. He said the ceremony would mark the start of work
by an Iranian-Pakistani consortium on the 780-kilometre (485-mile)
pipeline earmarked for the Pakistani side of the border, which is said to
cost some $1.5 billion." http://t.uani.com/13t853q
Human Rights
Iran Human Rights:
"Six prisoners were hanged in three different Iranian cities
reported the Iranian state media. Four of the prisoners were hanged in
public." http://t.uani.com/15W1QEZ
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI-ISD Advisory
Board Member Pauline Neville-Jones: "2013 looks like
being a crunch year in Iran's relationship with the outside world -
between a military and a negotiated outcome to her long running pursuit
of nuclear capability. On the one hand, Tehran gets ever closer to being
able to make enough weapons grade enriched uranium to build a nuclear
warhead and on the other the regime confronts an economic crisis of
increasing intensity and from which there is no easy exit without relief
from UN, US and EU international economic sanctions. Another round of talks
with Tehran led by the EU's Foreign Affairs Representative Catherine
Ashton began in Kazakhstan this week. As on previous occasions, an issue
will be the good faith of the Iranian side: are they coming to the table
to seek agreement on the substance of nuclear issues or is this simply
one more play in a long line of feints designed to get relief from
economic pressure? While the genuineness of Iran's willingness to
negotiate on core nuclear issues remains in doubt, it is important that
no slackening is signalled in the greatly strengthened sanctions regime
which has played its part in getting Tehran to the table once again.
Indeed, the reverse of soft pedalling is needed: remaining gaps need
closing, especially those which bear directly on Iran's ability to
continue her enrichment programme. One such is Iran's shipping industry-
the life line of the economy- and certain key commodities it still
carries. Most Iranian trade travels by sea. Sanctions targeting Iran's
shipping industry have made it increasingly difficult for the regime to
export oil and petrochemical products, import raw materials, and ship
weapons to its proxies in the region. But loopholes remain. Working with
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a non-partisan, US non-profit group,
seeking to prevent a nuclear armed Iran, the UK based think tank,
Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has for the last year argued for a
strengthening of the European sanctions regime against Iranian tankers.
In a move advocated by UANI-ISD, the European Union in October banned the
licensing and provision of technical services and spare parts for the
Iranian maritime industry. As almost all vessels of the Iranian tanker
fleet are fitted with European engines, this has impeded the safety
certification of these engines. And without a safety certificate, access
to international harbours has become next to impossible for Iranian
tankers. Furthermore, as a result of Iranian oil being delivered on
uninsured, uncertified tankers sailing flagless with unsafe engines, customers
of Iranian oil are now demanding significant discounts. In the much
tightened sanctions regime, there still remain important loopholes, some
of them directly enabling Iran to continue her nuclear programme. The
ability to obtain or produce steel is an example. As the sanctions regime
has made payment for imports into Iran increasingly difficult, shipments
of steel have fallen drastically. As a result, Iran has turned to
domestic production. To fuel this, Iranian imports of coal and coke rose
dramatically in 2012. The majority of the vessels transporting these
goods are either insured or reinsured in Europe. European sanctions
legislation should be amended urgently to ban insurance and reinsurance
for ships that carry coal, coke, and other raw materials necessary for
steel production, to Iran." http://t.uani.com/ZHH085
WashPost
Editorial: "The most interesting public result of
the latest talks with Iran on its nuclear program was the claim by
Tehran's chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, that the new negotiating
proposal from the United States and five partners was a possible 'turning
point' in what has been nearly a decade of fruitless diplomacy. Those
cheery words, and the Iranian's quick agreement to two follow-up meetings
in the next five weeks, raised the question of whether the regime is
positioning itself to strike a deal that would freeze the most dangerous
elements of its nuclear work in exchange for an easing of the sanctions
that are choking its economy. We hope that is the case. Unfortunately, an
equally plausible explanation for Mr. Jalili's comment was that he was
celebrating the fact that, in the eight months since Iran last agreed to
meet with the international coalition, the offer to Tehran had grown
more, rather than less, generous. 'It was they who tried to get closer to
our point of view,' he crowed, while adding that there remained 'a long
distance to the desirable point.' U.S. officials denied that the terms
offered Iran had grown softer as the regime has refused talks,
stonewalled international inspectors and continued to defy U.N. Security
Council resolutions by adding to its stockpile of enriched uranium. But
it certainly looks that way. While the previous proposal of the five
Security Council members and Germany, in Baghdad last May, called for
Iran to shut down an underground nuclear plant known as Fordow and to
ship its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium out of the country, the bid
made in Almaty, Kazakhstan, scales back the Fordow shutdown to a
suspension of operations and allows Iran to retain some of that 20
percent-enriched uranium. In part, this shift can be seen as a response
to a changing situation: Iran has been converting some of the
medium-enriched stock into fuel for a research reactor, giving it a
pretext to refuse a previous scheme under which uranium shipped out of
the country would have been returned as fuel rods. But the coalition also
appears to have offered a greater easing of sanctions - though officials
said measures directed at Iran's oil industry and financial system would
remain intact. If Iran altered its own, unacceptable proposals from
previous rounds, there was no indication of it in the accounts of either
side. That raises the possibility that the regime will simply pocket the
easier terms and return to its stonewalling, with the expectation that
another crumbling of the coalition position will ensue. In recent months,
Tehran has avoided crossing Israel's red line for military action by
keeping its stockpile of ¬medium-enriched uranium below the quantity needed
for a bomb, but it has also begun installing a new generation of
centrifuges, which could move it much closer to a breakout capacity.
Maybe these zigs and zags, like Mr. Jalili's declarations, are the
prelude to a compromise. But history suggests they are the tactics of a
regime convinced that it can outlast and outmaneuver the United States
and its partners." http://t.uani.com/15VWEkt
WSJ Editorial:
"'Iran has a government that was elected and that sits in the United
Nations.' So said John Kerry in Paris on Wednesday, on his first tour of
Europe since becoming Secretary of State. The former Senator was
answering a reporter who asked why he had publicly applauded the French
for refusing to negotiate with terrorists in Africa-on the same day the
U.S. and its allies were trying to negotiate a nuclear deal with a
'terrorist' regime in Tehran. Good question. Regarding the Secretary's
answer, well, he's right about Iran having a seat at the U.N. As for the
part about an elected government, Mr. Kerry surely knows that ultimate
authority in Iran rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Grand
Ayatollah has held office for nearly 24 years and was elected in roughly
the way Leonid Brezhnev became the Soviet General Secretary. Mr. Kerry
also knows that the last time Iran had an election for the secondary post
of president, the results were almost universally regarded as fraudulent.
He knows that the re-installed government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
responded to protests by murdering demonstrators in the streets, putting
defeated candidates under house arrest, and jailing hundreds if not
thousands of Iranians suspected of opposition sympathies. Mr. Kerry also
knows that in the latest round of parliamentary elections, the unelected
Guardian Council arbitrarily disqualified nearly 3,000 candidates. He
knows that neither women nor non-Shiites are allowed to run for the
presidency in Iran, and that parliamentary representation for minorities
is limited to a few token seats. We realize the Administration is eager
to cut a deal with the mullahs before they cross the point of nuclear no
return, and sometimes talking with nasty regimes is necessary in
diplomacy. But a U.S. Secretary of State owes the Iranian people better
than to pretend their government can claim any sort of popular consent
other than what it exacts through brute force." http://t.uani.com/YGjM1a
Emanuele
Ottolenghi & Saeed Ghasseminejad in JPost: "When
the European Court of Justice decided on January 29 to remove Iran's Bank
Mellat from the European Union's sanctions list, its judges no doubt
thought their judgment was a triumph of the rule of law over arbitrary
state power. The EU had slapped sanctions on Bank Mellat because it
claimed the government of Iran owned the financial institution and used
it to facilitate proliferation activities. But the bank, opined the
court, has now been privatized, and can no longer be considered an arm of
the Iranian regime. A week later, the court ruled again against the EU in
a similar case brought by Bank Saderat - the bank's ownership had shifted
from public to private since the EU designated it, the court noted, and
therefore the reasons for its designation were no longer valid. The EU is
adamant that these entities continue to aid and abet their government's
brazen and illicit efforts to procure nuclear and ballistic missile
technology. So is the US government. The judges beg to differ. So, who's
right? The court overruled the EU because, claims the court, the EU
failed to meet the desired burden of proof when it comes to Iran's
control over the banks. Ironically, the court did so on the flimsiest of
evidence - because Iran's privatizations are phony. Evidence shows that
the Islamic Republic of Iran maintains significant control over the
shareholding structure of these two banks - either through shareholders
it controls, or through individuals who, while formally independent, are
in fact close to the regime. The government's divestment of its assets
then is in effect a controlled distribution of public-owned companies to
government loyalists and government subsidiary companies. According to
Bank Mellat's latest official report, published in July 2012, government
ownership is down to 20 percent. Though technically speaking, this is not
a controlling stake, it makes Iran's government the largest shareholder -
an influence reflected in the fact that the government's representative
on the board, Mr. Ali Khorsandian, is the bank's vice-chairman. Yet,
beyond its direct 20% share, the Islamic Republic controls Bank Mellat
indirectly through other shareholders... Bank Saderat's privatization is
no different... In short, these privatizations were a scam - the
government sold or transferred shares to government entities and public
enterprises it owns or controls, and to government loyalists it can trust
to serve its interests. Iran's regime has used its privatization laws to
obfuscate its ongoing connection to designated Iranian entities in order
to circumvent sanctions - with the result of bamboozling European judges
and, in the process, undermining the EU sanctions regime aimed at
peacefully preventing Iran from going nuclear." http://t.uani.com/12giRdW
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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
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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
issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own
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