|
Top Stories
Reuters:
"Iran's supreme leader criticized Western powers on Thursday for
not offering concessions in talks last week, saying the West was using
the nuclear issue as a pretext to impose sanctions and harm the Islamic
Republic. It was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's first reaction to what
Iranian officials described as 'positive' nuclear talks in Almaty,
Kazakhstan, during which the P5+1 group of nations offered modest
sanctions relief in return for Iran curbing higher grade uranium
enrichment. 'Western nations did not accomplish anything that can be
construed as a concession, and instead they admitted Iran's rights only
to a degree,' Khamenei said in an address reported on his official
website. 'To assess their integrity, we must wait until the next round
of talks,' he added. Khamenei said the West was using Iran's nuclear
program as a 'pretext' to impose sanctions and pressure Iranians to
'confront the system.'" http://t.uani.com/ZtBrJF
Reuters:
"At an international food industry fair in Dubai last week,
prospective buyers, many from Africa and south Asia, flocked around 45
Iranian stands selling products such as dried fruit, pistachio nuts and
saffron. The Iranian exporters running the stands face challenges
unknown to their competitors from other countries. For the past year,
Iran has been mostly shut out of the international banking system by
Western sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear program. That
has made it difficult for Iranian food merchants to receive payments
for their goods, forcing them in many cases to use expensive middlemen
or inefficient barter arrangements. By weakening the Iranian rial, the
sanctions have made it more expensive and difficult for the firms to
import the machinery and raw materials they need to keep producing.
Although U.S. and European sanctions do not specifically target sales
of most non-oil goods, Iranian exporters have found it hard to arrange
shipping and insurance for their cargoes, and have faced tighter
customs checks in some countries." http://t.uani.com/ZsmA21
Reuters:
"The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations nuclear watchdog walked
out of an agency meeting on Wednesday in protest when Iran's
representative accused Washington's ally Israel of 'genocide',
diplomats said. Officials from Canada and Australia also left the
closed-door meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA)
35-nation governing board when Iran's Ali Asghar Soltanieh made his
statement during a debate on Syria, they said... U.S. envoy Joseph
Macmanus's walkout highlighted tensions with Tehran a few hours after
he accused the Islamic Republic of a 'commitment to deception,
defiance, and delay' in addressing IAEA concerns about possible nuclear
weapons-related research." http://t.uani.com/YP0RiL
 Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Yukiya Amano, who led the U.N. nuclear watchdog to take a tougher
approach to Iran, secured a second four-year term as head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday... Western diplomats
are generally happy with Amano - who only narrowly won the job in 2009
when he succeeded Egyptian Mohamed ElBaradei whom they criticized for
taking a softer line on Tehran. There were no rival candidates this
time... 'There have been some ups and downs,' said Ali Asghar Soltanieh,
Iran's envoy to the IAEA, when asked about Amano's performance. 'We
really expect and hope that he will change the course of action.'"
http://t.uani.com/12wFevV
Sanctions
AFP:
"Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Iran on Monday
for the groundbreaking ceremony of a much delayed $7.5 billion gas
pipeline from Iran to Pakistan, Islamabad announced on Thursday. It
will be Zardari's second visit to Iran since February 27 and comes
after officials said a consortium would start work on the pipeline on
Pakistani territory on March 11 despite American warnings of possible
sanctions. 'President Zardari will visit Iran for the groundbreaking
ceremony and it will take place on March 11,' foreign ministry
spokesman Moazzam Ahmad Khan told reporters in Islamabad." http://t.uani.com/10bOssq
Bloomberg:
"Societe Generale SA, France's second-largest bank by market
value, is cooperating with U.S. authorities looking into dollar
transfers for clients in countries targeted by American economic
sanctions. 'Societe Generale has started discussions with the Office of
Foreign Assets Control,' the Paris-based bank said in its annual report
today, without naming the clients or countries involved. The bank said
it has begun an internal audit." http://t.uani.com/ZgLqnG
Human Rights
HRW:
"Iran's judiciary should conclude a speedy, independent, and
transparent criminal investigation followed by prosecution of those
believed responsible for the death of the blogger Sattar Behesht.
Beheshti died in the custody of Tehran's cyber police in November 2012.
Iranian officials should stop harassing his family and hampering their
efforts to seek justice and ensure that those responsible for the
blogger's death are held to account. Although Beheshti died almost four
months ago, there is no indication that the judiciary has concluded the
criminal investigation into the officers accused of responsibility for
his death, despite promises by officials that the case would be sent to
the courts for prosecution before mid-February. Security officials have
put his mother and other family members under close surveillance and
have told them not to speak to the media or international rights
organizations about the case, Human Rights Watch has learned." http://t.uani.com/VKtfqL
Reuters:
"Iran arrested the managing director and political editor of a
pro-reform daily on Wednesday, with the semi-official Fars news agency
saying their detentions were linked to the publication of a letter from
a former president about media freedom. With a presidential election
three months away, Iran's clerical leadership appears to be tightening
its grip on the media to avoid a repeat of the protests that erupted
after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
2009. Fars agency quoted the daily Maghreb's editor, Amir Mousa Kazemi,
as saying that the arrests 'can be related to the publication of
Mohammad Khatami's letter' on Tuesday. In the letter, the moderate
former president, succeeded by Ahmadinejad, said he hoped Maghreb would
continue to work alongside the 'few remaining independent' publications
in the country." http://t.uani.com/WMGT8M
Foreign
Affairs
AP:
"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has left for Caracas to
attend the funeral of his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez. Ahmadinejad is
the head of an Iranian delegation that flew out of Tehran on Thursday.
The Iranian leader has praised Chavez, comparing him to a saint and
saying he will return on resurrection day. In his condolences on
Wednesday, Ahmadinejad also said he has 'no doubt Chavez will return to
Earth together with Jesus and the perfect' Imam Mahdi, the most revered
figure of Shiite Muslims, and that he'll help the two 'establish peace,
justice and kindness' in the world. Ahmadinejad also says he believes
something 'suspicious' had caused Chavez's cancer." http://t.uani.com/W80JxY
Opinion &
Analysis
Babak
Dehghanpisheh in Reuters: "The presidential
campaign season in Iran this year started with a warning. During a
visit to the holy city of Qom in mid-January, the Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a packed crowd that both internal and
external enemies may try to undermine the vote. 'Those who may offer
general advice about the elections - and it could be out of compassion
- that the elections should be like this or that, should take care not
to further the goal of the enemy,' Khamenei said. 'They should take
care not to make the people lose faith in the elections. They should
not constantly say that there should be free elections. It is obvious
that there should be free elections.' That warning was followed by a
series of rare public lashings and executions in cities across Iran.
And in late January, a dozen journalists were arrested for allegedly
being part of a network aiming to destabilize the country. 'The
arrests, the beatings and the harsh sentences that have been handed
down recently are all related to the election,' said Roozbeh Mirebrahimi,
an Iran analyst based in New York. 'The regime expects another crisis
and they have cracked down in advance to reduce the impact.' The last
time Iranians voted for president in 2009, the disputed re-election of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led to massive street protests, put down by force
in the most tumultuous period of internal unrest the 34-year-old
Islamic Republic has seen. Supporters of Ahmadinejad's reformist
opponents Mirhossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi took to the streets in
what they called the 'Green Movement'. Dozens of people were killed and
thousands were arrested. This time, the authorities are expected to
take no chances. Moussavi and Karroubi have been under house arrest for
two years, and no candidate is expected to take up their reformist
banner. Voters will most likely be offered a slate of figures loyal to
Khamenei, without independent power bases that could exacerbate
divisions in society. 'Khamenei wants the next president to be someone
he can control,' said Mehdi Khalaji, senior fellow at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy. 'He wants people who have no personal
backing.'" http://t.uani.com/13I463o
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment