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Stories
Reuters:
"Vice President Joe Biden told America's biggest pro-Israel lobbying
organization on Monday that President Barack Obama is 'not bluffing'
about the United States' determination to stop Iran from getting a
nuclear weapon. 'The president of the United States cannot and does not
bluff. President Barack Obama is not bluffing,' he told the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a speech to its annual policy
conference. 'We're not looking for war. We're ready to negotiate
peacefully. But all options including military force are on the table,'
said Biden. 'While that window is closing, we believe there is still time
and space (for diplomacy),' he added... Biden said that a nuclear bomb in
Iranian hands would be an 'existential threat' to Israel, poses danger to
other U.S. allies in the Middle East and would destabilize the world. 'We
have a shared strategic commitment. Let me make clear what that
commitment is: It is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,
period,' he said to loud applause from AIPAC, which has gathered some
13,000 activists in Washington this week." http://t.uani.com/W2kAP4
Reuters:
"Switzerland-based Trafigura on Monday became the second major
trading house to confirm that it had traded with an Iranian firm that the
European Union says has links to Iran's nuclear program. The two
contracts demonstrate the difficulties that western powers face in
curbing Iran's ability to do business with the rest of the world.
Commodities giant Glencore had supplied thousands of tons of alumina to
an Iranian firm that provided aluminum to Iran's nuclear program, Reuters
reported last week, citing intelligence and diplomatic sources.
Trafigura, the world's third-biggest trader in raw materials, confirmed
it had supplied the Iranian Aluminum Company (Iralco) with alumina in
exchange for aluminum, after an industry source said Glencore was not the
only major firm sending such shipments. 'We can confirm that Trafigura
has traded with Iralco in the past. In October 2011, a physical swap
agreement was reached whereby Trafigura provided alumina to Iralco in
return for aluminum for Trafigura to export worldwide,' the trader said
in an emailed statement. 'No deliveries have been made or exports
received since new EU sanctions were published in December 2012. The
Trafigura Group companies are compliant with national and international
law where applicable,' it added." http://t.uani.com/WsGT2R
Reuters:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Monday that
Iran was getting closer to being able to build a nuclear bomb despite
sanctions and diplomacy and said a 'clear and credible military threat'
was needed to halt Tehran's program. Speaking via satellite link from
Jerusalem, Netanyahu used an address to an influential U.S. pro-Israel
lobbying group to underscore Israeli impatience with Washington's
strategy on Iran, a message that could foreshadow his talks with
President Barack Obama on a Middle East visit later this month. 'Words
alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions
must be coupled with a clear and credible military threat if diplomacy
and sanctions fail,' Netanyahu said to loud cheers at the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington." http://t.uani.com/12raRXN
 Nuclear Program
Reuters: "Six
world powers will call for quick tangible results in nuclear negotiations
with Iran that have resumed after an eight-month break, according to a
draft joint statement obtained by Reuters on Tuesday. The draft being
considered by the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and
Britain described last week's talks with Iran in Almaty, Kazakhstan, as
'useful'. The two sides are due to meet again in early April at the same
venue. 'We seek tangible results in this diplomatic process at an early
stage,' said the statement, expected to be delivered at a board meeting
of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Wednesday. 'We reaffirm our continuing
support for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue,' it said.
It was unclear whether the statement, dated March 4, was the final
version to be read out at this week's meeting of the 35-nation governing
board of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the
Vienna-based U.N. nuclear watchdog. It said the powers were 'deeply
concerned that Iran continues to undertake certain nuclear activities'
contrary to U.N. Security Council resolutions, including recent steps to
install more advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges." http://t.uani.com/109wCK9
Bloomberg:
"U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has vowed to Congress that he'll
'focus intently on countering Iran's malign influence.' 'Serious
contingency planning' by the Pentagon will complement the Obama
administration's strategy of using economic sanctions 'with the objective
of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,' Hagel said in
previously unreleased written answers to the Senate Armed Services
Committee after his January confirmation hearing... 'Iran's activities
are malevolent and intended to be destabilizing,' Hagel wrote. The
Pentagon has a role in supporting diplomatic and intelligence efforts to
'inhibit' Iranian proxies and terrorist groups and to 'leverage its
presence in the region to deter and, when directed by the president,
disrupt malign activities,' Hagel wrote." http://t.uani.com/101etdE
Sanctions
AFP:
"Trade between Iran and China dropped by 18 percent in 2012 to $37
billion after a raft of banking sanctions imposed on the Islamic
republic, Iranian newspaper Donya-e Eqtesad reported on Monday.
'Iran-China trade fell to $37 billion in 2012 from $45 billion in 2011,'
the newspaper quoted Assadollah Asgaroladi, director of the Sino-Iranian
Chamber of Commerce, as saying. 'Iranian exporters and importers who are
seeking increase in trade volume are facing banking problems.' Asgaroladi
has been previously cited in the Iranian media as saying that the
Iran-China trade could reach $50 billion in both 2014 and 2015." http://t.uani.com/YLsKYX
Reuters:
"Archer Daniels Midland Co said it unwittingly used a vessel
controlled by a sanctioned Iranian shipping firm last year to transport
grain in what was an effort by Tehran to hide the ship's ownership. The
Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has faced Western and
U.N. sanctions for years, based on accusations of transporting weapons, a
charge it denies. Illinois-based ADM, one of the world's largest grain
traders, said in a U.S. regulatory filing that a majority-owned and
controlled affiliate of the company hired a vessel to transport a cargo
of grain in July last year." http://t.uani.com/ZdkcuB
AP:
"An Iranian national has been sentenced to 23 months in federal
prison and an American who worked as an airline pilot received a 46-month
sentence for their roles in a plot to ship helicopters and aircraft parts
to Iran's state-run civilian airline in violation of the U.S. trade
embargo. U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley concluded Monday that Hamid
Asefi, 68, an Iranian citizen, and Behzad 'Tony' Karimian, 53, a U.S.
citizen living in Louisville who holds an Iranian passport, violated the
national security provisions of a U.S. embargo against Iran during the
scheme. 'They were trying to skirt the embargo,' McKinley said." http://t.uani.com/15vgulE
Domestic
Politics
FT:
"As Iranians look forward to their Persian new year festivities,
they stock up on the pistachios that they traditionally serve over the
holiday period. But this year they are boycotting their favourite nuts to
protest soaring prices that they blame on Iran's plummeting currency and
high inflation, which are partly a result of international sanctions on
Iran's nuclear programme. In text messages and Facebook posts they accuse
merchants of hoarding pistachios to sell them at higher rates before the
new year, or Norouz, holidays that begin March 21 and urge consumers not to
buy them in protest. 'I received a text message not to buy pistachios,
but did not need it because I cannot afford them anyway,' said Khadijeh,
a 35-year-old housewife whose husband is a truck driver. Pistachio
farmers, along with other non-oil exporters are taking advantage of the
plummeting value of the Iranian rial, which has fallen by about 50 per
cent since last year, to boost their overseas business in the region at
the expense of domestic markets." http://t.uani.com/VzRtE1
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI Advisory
Board Member Irwin Cotler in Huffington Post:
"Nasrin Sotoudeh's arrest and conviction -- on vague and trumped up
charges of 'propaganda against the regime' and 'acting against national
security' -- are reflective of the criminalization of innocence in Iran
in proceedings devoid of any due process or semblance of legality. This
is yet another case-study of the assault on the rule of law in Iran. And
so, the question becomes what can be done on her behalf and on behalf of
other prisoners of conscience, let alone the victims of the massive
Iranian assault on human rights. First, it is the duty of
parliamentarians and others to expose, unmask, and condemn Iran's massive
domestic repression -- what the great Soviet dissident Andre Sakharov
called 'the mobilization of shame against the human rights violator.' The
international preoccupation with the Iranian nuclear threat -- while
understandable -- has had the effect of marginalizing, ignoring, or
otherwise sanitizing the horrific human rights situation. Second, we must
call for the unconditional and immediate release of all political
prisoners, support the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights,
and continue to hold Iran accountable for its breach of international
resolutions and Iran's own laws. Accordingly, I have organized with U.S.
Senator Mark Kirk the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran
to support the courageous men and women on the front lines of the
struggle for human rights in Iran. In that regard, we have initiated the
Global Iranian Political Prisoner Advocacy Program, whereby
parliamentarians 'adopt' individual prisoners and internationalize
advocacy on their behalf. Third, we must call upon Iran to cease and
desist from its persecution and prosecution of women and religious
minorities -- such as the Baha'i -- and to end its barbaric practice of
executing minors. Fourth, we must call for enhanced and enforced
sanctions against the major Iranian human rights violators and to hold
Iran accountable for its breach of international human rights treaties as
well as its own laws in the persecution and prosecution of its citizens.
When confronted with a regime as violent and despotic as the one
currently in place in Iran, simply speaking out about abuses may seem
like too feeble a response. However, there is clear evidence that
denunciation and international pressure can have a positive effect.
Nasrin Sotoudeh's sentence, for example, was commuted from eleven to six
years as a result of international protest. We must therefore continue to
advocate on her behalf until she is safe and free. It is our
responsibility to stand with the people of Iran, to champion their case
and cause, to let them know that the world is watching -- that they are
not alone -- and that their just struggle for human rights and human
dignity will prevail." http://t.uani.com/14oOnSs
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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