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Top Stories
Reuters:
"Iran's foreign minister warned on Tuesday of unforeseeable
consequences if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled and said
only a political settlement to Syria's civil war would avoid a regional
conflagration. Shi'ite Muslim Iran is Assad's closest ally and has
provided money, weapons, intelligence and training for his forces against
a mainly Sunni Muslim uprising in which more than 70,000 people have been
killed in two years, by a U.N. estimate. 'God forbid, if there is any
vacuum in Syria, these negative consequences will affect all countries
... No one knows what will happen,' Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
told reporters during a rare visit to Jordan." http://t.uani.com/10ikd0J
WashPost:
"Not just anyone is allowed to become president of Iran. But just
about anyone can sign up to be considered, and the dozens of candidates
who lined up to do so in Tehran on Tuesday offered a window into the
uncertainty and confusion surrounding an election that is just six weeks
away. By the end of the day, 62 Iranians had registered to become
candidates, and hundreds more are expected by the time the process closes
Saturday. But in the end, no more than a handful will appear on the
ballot, with the approval power vested in an appointed council that
reflects the will of Iran's supreme leader. Some would-be long shots say
the proceedings offer an opportunity to be close to power - and to test
how willing the country's clerical establishment may be to tolerate
non-mainstream figures." http://t.uani.com/10GfYf7
Guardian:
"Iran started its six-week search for a new president on Tuesday as
candidates began to register for an election that will mark the end of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's turbulent period in office... Under Iranian law,
Ahmadinejad cannot run for a third term but he is widely suspected to be
grooming his close confidant and chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei,
as a possible successor as part of a plan for a Putin/Medvedev-style
reshuffle... Conservatives widely predict that Mashaei will be rejected
by the guardian council if he enters the race, while others say
Ahmadinejad will fight to the end should that happen. Khamenei this week
strongly warned officials against any plans to postpone the June
elections." http://t.uani.com/16YeIwu
Sanctions
FT:
"As the US and European Union tighten sanctions on Iran, a lucrative
cross-border industry of smuggling fuel and goods has emerged, bolstered
by a sharp drop in the value of the Iranian currency. Fuel, especially
diesel, is being moved illegally out of the country through cities
bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, says Alireza Zeighami, deputy
oil minister for refining and distribution. Illegal trade is blossoming
in both directions. Iran's neighbours export basic electrical appliances
and the latest fashions at a mark-up, while oil-rich Iran offers diesel
and other products that it can sell at a higher price just across the
border. Between 7m-10m litres of petrol and diesel are smuggled out every
day, according to Iranian state media. Analysts are attributing a 7 per
cent rise in fuel consumption to an increase in smuggling activity.
Diesel is priced at 3,500 rials (14 cents) a litre but smugglers can sell
it at about seven to 10 times more to Iran's neighbours." http://t.uani.com/11SrVkw
Syrian Uprising
AFP:
"Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held talks with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday and said it was time to dissuade
Israel from carrying out attacks such as its air strikes on Syria over
the past week. 'The time has come to dissuade the Israeli occupier from
carrying out such aggression against the peoples of the region,' he said,
quoted by Syrian television after his arrival in Damascus on a previously
unannounced visit. 'Iran stands at the side of Syria in the face of
Israeli aggression, whose aim is to damage the security of the region and
weaken the axis of resistance,' said Salehi, whose country is a close
ally of Damascus." http://t.uani.com/17LBNQY
Human Rights
AP:
"An ex-Marine incarcerated in Iran for nearly two years says in the
first letters written to family in Michigan that he is praying for his
ailing father and that his grieving mother should not come visit him.
Amir Hekmati's sister Sarah Hekmati told The Associated Press Tuesday
that receiving the letters has been 'very emotional' for her family,
particularly their father, who suffers from brain cancer. 'It's the first
time ... we have had any kind of written communication,' she said. 'The
letters speak volumes.' The letters don't offer details about Amir
Hekmati's condition, but the 29-year-old wrote that he is doing well and
hopes to see them soon in Michigan." http://t.uani.com/YFa1F9
Fox News:
"Religious freedom is in short supply in the Middle East, according
to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom,
which has issued a report finding Iran chief among the nations where
spiritual beliefs can bring prison sentences or worse. The commission,
which reports to President Obama, named several nations including Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, North Korea and China. But it singled out Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the theocratic state's Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for their harsh crackdown on non-Islamic
religions. 'Since becoming president, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
called for an end to the development of Christianity in Iran,' noted the
report in its section on the Iranian regime's gutting of Christian
freedoms." http://t.uani.com/13ygrok
AFP:
"Five years after seven Bahai leaders were arrested in Iran, members
of the faith are campaigning to increase attention to their plight in
hopes that authorities will release them. The seven informal leaders of
the Bahai faith, which has no clergy, were arrested in 2008 and given
20-year prison terms. The religion was founded in Iran in the 19th
century and is anathema to the Islamic clerical regime. Rainn Wilson, an
actor best known for his role in the US version of the television series
'The Office,' said that the seven Bahais were only seeking to return home
to their families." http://t.uani.com/11iKDXD
Reuters:
"A senior Iranian diplomat linked to Iran's reformists has been
detained for nearly two months and is in solitary confinement at Evin
Prison, a facility rights advocates have criticized for prisoner abuse,
sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Bagher Asadi, who was previously a
senior diplomat at Iran's U.N. mission in New York and was most recently
a director at the secretariat of the so-called D8 group of developing
nations in Istanbul, was arrested in mid-March in the Iranian capital,
sources said last week on condition of anonymity. 'He is being held in
solitary confinement in Evin Prison,' a source told Reuters, adding that
it was still unclear what the grounds were for his detention. Iran's
judiciary and Foreign Ministry have confirmed the 61-year-old Asadi's
arrest but given no details as to why he was being held. The sources who
spoke to Reuters about Asadi's detention say it may be linked to Iran's
June 14 presidential election." http://t.uani.com/16Y6ULe
Reporters Without
Borders: "Reporters Without Borders condemns the
reinforcement of Iran's system of Internet filtering and blocking. Use of
the leading VPN censorship circumvention tools such as Kerio and OpenVPN
has been blocked since 4 May, making it very difficult for Iranians to
access an unfiltered Internet. The blocking is being compounded by
arrests of netizens such as Ali Ghazali, the editor of the Baztab Emrooz
news website, who has been held for the past three days." http://t.uani.com/15GhKFW
Opinion &
Analysis
Mehdi Khalaji in
WINEP: "On May 12, Iran's Guardian Council will
begin deliberations on which candidates can participate in the June
presidential election, perhaps the most important step in selecting
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's successor. The uncertainty regarding the outcome,
coupled with the regime's repeated claims that nuclear sanctions are
intended to hurt the people, gives Washington ample room to criticize the
highly controlled electoral process and call for a more open and
democratic Iran. To be considered for this year's election, all
presidential aspirants must file by May 11. The Guardian Council -- a
powerful body with twelve members, six of whom are directly appointed by
the Supreme Leader -- then decides which candidates are permitted to run
based on its subjective judgment of their qualifications. The results of
that process will be announced on May 16. Those disqualified can ask the
council to reconsider; any such appeals would be decided by May 23. On
June 14, elections will be held for president, municipal council seats,
and two vacant seats in the Assembly of Experts, which selects a new
Supreme Leader if Ali Khamenei dies. Holding major elections
simultaneously helps the regime keep costs down while exploiting the
people's interest in local politics to raise turnout for the presidential
vote. Hundreds of thousands of candidates have already registered for the
municipal elections; here too, the Guardian Council determines who is
qualified to run. Simultaneous elections also decrease the chances of a
boycott -- reformists and technocrats have applied to run at all levels,
so they would have difficulty asking voters to stay home on election day
if the Guardian Council disqualifies their presidential candidates but
approves their local candidates. Past presidential elections have
frequently produced surprising results, and no one is sure how this one
will turn out -- at least in terms of which conservative will prevail. If
no candidate wins a majority on June 14, a runoff between the top two
vote-getters will be held on June 21... Washington should not ignore
Iran's presidential election, particularly given the regime's repeated
claim that U.S. sanctions aim to hurt the people rather than curb the
nuclear program. To rebut such rhetoric, Washington should show its
concern for the people's democratic demands. The U.S. government will
have two clear opportunities to react to the election. First, once the
final list of approved presidential candidates is announced, Washington
should criticize Khamenei for letting the Guardian Council disqualify
certain figures and intimidate others into staying out of the race.
Second, in the likely event that opposition members inside or outside the
country accuse the regime of manipulating the voting process, Washington
should express concern about the election's legitimacy. Sharp U.S.
criticism of the electoral process would pose little risk of hurting the
nuclear negotiations, and restraint has proven ineffective in the past --
Washington's relatively muted reaction to the 2009 postelection turmoil
failed to improve the regime's negotiating posture then, so there is
little sense in remaining quiet now. In contrast, taking a strong stance
against electoral manipulation would show the Iranian people that the
target of U.S. pressure is the regime, not them. Supporting their calls
for democracy and civil rights is the most effective way to neutralize
the government's anti-American propaganda. Once the election's trajectory
becomes clearer, Washington can turn to the task of assessing how the
outcome will affect the nuclear impasse and other crucial issues." http://t.uani.com/15GgO4v
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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