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Top Stories
AFP:
"Iran is tightening control of the Internet ahead of next month's
presidential election, mindful of violent street protests that social
networkers inspired last time around over claims of fraud, users and
experts say. The authorities deny such claims, but have not explained
exactly why service has become slower. Businesses, banks and even state
organisations are not spared by the widespread disruption in the
Internet, local media say. 'The Internet is in a coma,' said the Ghanoon
daily in a report in early this month. 'It only happens in Iran: the
election comes, the Internet goes,' it said, quoting a tweet in Farsi.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous other sites, including thousands
of Western ones, have been censored in Iran since massive street demonstrations
that followed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
2009." http://t.uani.com/13zVzul
AFP:
"The United States and European nations should take 'decisive
sanctions' against Iran over its controversial nuclear program, French
Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday. 'Given the inflexibility
of Iran's position, this dual, sanctions-dialogue approach should allow
us to increase pressure on Iran in the coming months as the Iranian
uranium enrichment program continues to expand in quantity and quality,'
Le Drian said. 'More than ever we have a responsibility to defeat this
strategy of procrastination and concealment to ensure nuclear
non-proliferation,' he added during a talk at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace think tank. 'This responsibility justifies the strong
commitment of ours, alongside our American allies and European partners,
for the implementation of decisive sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/13EDJtR
CNN:
"Two men who the Iranian government said worked as spies for Israel
and the United States were hanged Sunday morning, according to Iranian
state news outlet Press TV. The men were identified as Mohammad Heidari
and Kourosh Ahmadi. Press TV said Heidari provided classified information
to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and Ahmadi had been convicted
of providing the CIA with intelligence. There were no details on when the
men were arrested or when they were tried. The hangings occurred at dawn,
the report said... The advocacy group Human Rights Activists News Agency,
based in Iran, estimated in 2012 that there were 488 hangings in the
prior 12 months. About 12% of those were public executions, the group
said, according to a State Department report." http://t.uani.com/13FBg2a
Sanctions
WSJ:
"India is looking to broaden its range of exports to Iran to help
balance bilateral trade under an agreement that allows the countries to
bypass Western sanctions, Indian industry and government officials said
Friday. India is one of the largest buyers of Iran's crude oil and
so far, 85%-90% of India's exports to Iran has been agricultural products
such as basmati rice and soymeal. But now, India plans to also export
products such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical-diagnostic equipment,
auto components and consumer goods... However, India could face
difficulties in transporting goods to Iran. 'Definitely, shipping has
become a challenge,' said Bhaskar Sarkar, executive director of
government-backed engineering goods exports lobby EEPC India. Recently,
Hong Kong-based shipping lines said they would join global shippers in
excluding Iran from their list of destinations. Shippers from the Chinese
territory told Indian exporters they would stop operating Iranian routes
from June 1, he added." http://t.uani.com/10b466b
Reuters:
"Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday Turkey had
already significantly reduced its oil imports from Iran, which is under
the choke of Western sanctions, and further cutbacks would depend on his
country's energy needs. 'On crude oil, there has been a significant
decrease in the amount of oil we import from Iran ... As to whether we
would cut back any further, it will depend on our need. Time will tell,'
Erdogan said at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Last year,
Ankara effectively halved imports of Iranian oil after a European Union
oil embargo against Iran came into full force on July 1, which also
targeted the marine insurance sector, cutting off the usual avenues for
tanker insurance." http://t.uani.com/14GtPqh
Reuters:
"The United States said on Friday it had allowed an Iraqi bank to
again conduct business with the U.S. financial system after the bank
showed it was no longer helping Iran evade financial sanctions. Iraq's
Elaf Islamic Bank was first blacklisted by the United States last year
for knowingly doing business with the Export Development Bank of Iran
(EDBI), an Iranian state bank the United States accuses of being a
'proliferator"'of weapons of mass destruction. Getting sanctioned by
the United States forces foreign banks to make a choice: cut ties to
blacklisted Iranian institutions or be cut off from the United
States." http://t.uani.com/115zEt5
Syrian Uprising
Reuters:
"France spelled out on Friday that it would oppose a peace
conference for Syria if Bashar al-Assad's regional ally Iran is invited,
clouding the prospect for a U.S.-Russian initiative to end the
two-year-old war. No date has yet been agreed for the international
meeting, which appears to face growing obstacles. U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and said the
conference should take place as soon as possible. U.N. officials
announced that the number of refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria had
exceeded 1.5 million. The war has claimed the lives of at least 80,000
people, the U.N. says. Western leaders have been cautious about the
prospects of the talks achieving any breakthrough, and Russia's desire
that Iran should attend could complicate matters." http://t.uani.com/12N8zOm
Human Rights
Amnesty International:
"Iran's ban on female presidential candidates contradicts several
articles of the country's Constitution as well as international law and
should be removed, Amnesty International said. Mohammad Yazdi, a clerical
member of Iran's Council of Guardians, a constitutional body responsible
for ensuring that legislation adheres to Iran's Constitution, as
interpreted by Iran's religious scholars and Islamic law, and for vetting
presidential candidates has announced that Iranian laws 'do not allow
women to become presidents'. Thirty women have registered to stand as
candidates for the forthcoming presidential election on 14 June 2013.
Women were previously prevented from standing in presidential elections,
but there was a chance that the Council could have overturned that
situation this time. The ban on women to run for presidency contradicts a
number of articles of Iran's Constitution, which say there should be
equality for all citizens before the law and require respect for the
rights of women. It is also in clear breach of Iran's international human
rights obligations." http://t.uani.com/114cVxB
June 14
Elections
AP:
"A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard has warned that
his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after next month's presidential
election, calling the outcome 'unpredictable' and sending the strongest
message yet against any attempts to revive street protests, media
reported Sunday. The comments by Col. Rasool Sanaeirad point to a
wide-ranging effort by Iranian authorities to intimidate opposition
groups that could use the June 14 voting for possible political
demonstrations. Pro-reform groups have been under relentless pressure and
crackdowns since major protests following the disputed re-election of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009." http://t.uani.com/14GtqnQ
NYT:
"There was a time when Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani seemed to have
it all. A founder of the Islamic Revolution, he headed a family empire
that owned the second biggest Iranian airline, Mahan, had a near monopoly
on the lucrative pistachio trade and controlled the country's largest
private university, Azad. But then things started to go wrong. Iranians,
angered by his wealth, back-room dealings and supposed involvement in the
killing of dissidents, nicknamed him 'Akbar Shah,' after the old Persian
rulers who sat on velvet cushions in lush courtyards. Political rivals,
jealous of his grip on the economy, seized on his support for reformists
and labeled him an 'aristocrat,' a 'capitalist' and a supporter of 'American
Islam.' His political stock fell so low that in 2002 he could not even
muster the votes to win a seat in Parliament. He suffered a humiliating
defeat at the hands of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential
election, and two of his children ended up in jail. His speech in favor
of greater freedom during the 2009 protests alienated him from Iran's
conservative clerics and military commanders. Now, from the fringes of
Iran's closed circle of power, Mr. Rafsanjani, 79, is attempting a
comeback, entering his name last Saturday for the June 14 presidential
elections. Though once widely reviled, his reputation as an economic
pragmatist and modernizer - by Iranian standards, anyway - seems to be
hitting a responsive chord with the public." http://t.uani.com/10FtIHt
RFE/RL:
The luxury automobile of Iranian ex-President and current presidential
hopeful Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is once again the focus of hard-line
attention in connection with next month's vote. As we reported last week,
such websites recently posted compare-and-contrast-style images of
Rafsanjani's bright blue Mercedes next to the Kia subcompact of another
presidential hopeful, top nuclear negotiator Said Jalili, after the two
registered almost simultaneously for the vote. Jalili's model, a Pride,
is among the most common of cars in Iran and has a decidedly
working-class image attached to it. On May 17, hard-line cleric Ahmad
Jannati, the chairman of the powerful Guardians Council that vets all
election candidates, said without naming Rafsanjani that the country's
next president should lead a simple life. He added that such a man (for
female candidates appear to be excluded) shouldn't ride around in a
Mercedes." http://t.uani.com/188T1Ih
Reuters:
"Iran's electoral watchdog said on Monday it would bar physically
feeble candidates from running for president, in an apparent hint that it
could disqualify 78-year-old former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
from the race... 'If an individual who wants to take up a high post can
only perform a few hours of work each day, naturally that person cannot
be confirmed,' Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said on
Monday, according to the ISNA news agency." http://t.uani.com/161Fjtb
Foreign Affairs
LAT:
"On the eve of an international wrestling meet at the Sports Arena,
American officials remain at a loss to explain why the Iranian team -
making its first visit to the U.S. since 2003 - has unexpectedly
withdrawn and flown home. Los Angeles was supposed to be the second stop
in a two-city tour. The Iranians competed in New York earlier this week.
Iranian media reported Friday that team officials had security concerns
and that U.S. officials refused to guarantee their safety on the West
Coast. 'That's a total fabrication,' said Craig Sesker, a spokesman for
USA Wrestling. 'The only thing I know is that they made a schedule change
and decided to return to Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/14igAwv
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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
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
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