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Top Stories
WSJ:
"Iran's presidential election season has kicked off with
unprecedented open spats among politicians, an ambiguous list of
potential candidates, and little public enthusiasm in the wake of the
violence that erupted last time. Four years ago campaigning was vibrant
and in full swing already in March. But afterward, allegations of vote
fraud in favor of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave rise to the
pro-democracy Green Movement and spurred the biggest turmoil the country
had seen in three decades. Today, there are few posters or billboards
advertising candidates adorning the streets of Tehran. Unlike in past
years, campaign rallies and grass-roots centers engaging women and
student volunteers are few and far between. The memories of the last
election, combined with the confusion surrounding who is and isn't
running, has led to voter apathy among many Iranians. 'People's trust in
the regime has decreased,' said Azizollah, a 45-year-old owner of a
clothing store on Tehran's bustling Valiasr Street. 'We feel that our
votes won't really matter and the candidates aren't fighting for people
but for power and money.'" http://t.uani.com/ZBGkn7
Reuters:
"Iran exported nearly 8.7 million barrels of fuel oil in April, or
about 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), an increase of more than five-fold
from a year-ago, according to traders and data from Thomson Reuters Oil
Analytics. The April shipments earned Iran around $600 million, the
figures show, despite tough Western sanctions aimed at choking Iran's
flow of petrodollars to force it to halt its nuclear programme. The
sanctions have halved the country's crude exports but have failed to curb
its fuel oil trade. Iranian marketing officials and middlemen operating
mainly out of the United Arab Emirates have been able to bypass the sanctions
using ship-to-ship (STS) transfers and by blending fuel oil with other
oil in remote ports to mask its origin. The fuel oil exports were 5-1/2
times greater than shipments of 240,000 tonnes, or 1.56 million barrels,
in April 2012. Revenue grew from the sales despite deals done at steep
discounts to pre-sanction market levels." http://t.uani.com/12rjiw8
AP:
"Two Iranian nationals, whom officials accused of planning to attack
Western targets inside Kenya, were found guilty Thursday by a Kenyan court
of terror-related charges. Officials in Kenya say the two suspects may
have been planning attacks on Israeli, American, British or Saudi Arabian
interests in Kenya. Magistrate Kaire Waweru Kiare said the prosecution
has proved beyond reasonable doubt all counts against the two. Kiare said
he will give sentences for the two on Monday. Iranian nationals Ahmad
Abolfathi Mohammad and Sayed Mansour Mousavi were arrested in June 2012
and led officials to a 15-kilogram (33-pound) stash of the explosive RDX."
http://t.uani.com/162shuJ
 Nuclear Program & Sanctions
Bloomberg:
"Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TCELL) withdrew a lawsuit against
MTN Group Ltd. (MTN) over bribes MTN allegedly paid to get an Iranian
mobile-phone license, citing a Supreme Court decision that bars such
cases in the U.S. Turkcell, based in Istanbul, told U.S. District Judge
Reggie Walton in a court filing today in Washington that it would drop
the case because of the Supreme Court's ruling last month on the Alien
Tort Statute. The case had been on hold while the Supreme Court decision
was pending. Turkcell, Turkey's biggest mobile-phone company, sued its
Johannesburg-based rival in March 2012 for $4.2 billion in damages over
the loss of the Iranian license it was initially awarded. Turkcell
claimed MTN, Africa's largest mobile-phone operator, bribed officials,
arranged meetings between Iranian and South African leaders, and promised
Iran weapons and United Nations votes in exchange for a license to
provide wireless service in the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/104UM2A
AP:
"Israel's consul general in New England is urging Rhode Island
lawmakers to take back any state pension fund investments in companies
that do business with Iran. Consul General Shai Bazak spoke out in favor
of the proposal before a panel of lawmakers on Tuesday. Bill sponsor Rep.
Mia Ackerman says the state needs to take a stand against Iran because of
its work to develop nuclear weapons. The Cumberland Democrat says her
bill would place additional political pressure on Iran 'to make the right
choices.' The proposal would also bar the state from hiring a contractor
that does business with Iran." http://t.uani.com/10uBSSI
Human Rights
Near East
Observatory: "There are many pressing humanitarian
issues in the Middle East, but one that is often overlooked and under
reported is the issue of child labor. Throughout the Middle East, and in
fact much of the world, child labor is a critical issue involving
exploitation, human trafficking and a fundamental breakdown in
foundations of society. Human trafficking and child labor have become
increasingly prevalent in Iran, which according to reports is now one of
the worst offenders of children rights in the world. The Iranian
government has done little to resolve this issue, and has in fact been
implicated in human trafficking and the exploitation of children.
Historically low income families with multiple children within Iran have
viewed their offspring as a source of labor and income for the family.
The existing child labor laws in Iran, and the lack of societal support
and advocacy for the rights of children have created a climate where
children are commonly subject to abuse and exploitation." http://t.uani.com/13PagMj
Domestic
Politics
Bloomberg:
"Iranians go to the polls to elect a new president in June. It's the
first vote since 2009 when allegations of fraud erupted into street
protests. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is barred from seeking a third
consecutive term. Below are the key dates of the election period,
according to Iran's Interior Ministry." http://t.uani.com/18eZXED
Guardian:
"Under Iranian law, the president cannot run for a third term but
all the signs indicate that the 57-year-old Ahmadinejad, a relatively
young politician in the Iranian hierarchy, has no plans for retirement.
On the contrary, he is accused of planning a Putin/Medvedev-style
reshuffle by grooming his chief of staff and close confidant, Esfandiar
Rahim Mashaei. In the eyes of loyalists to the supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, today's Ahmadinejad bears no resemblance to the young
revolutionary and later Tehran mayor who rose to become president in
2005. Back then, he quickly became the ayatollah's protege, enjoying an
unprecedented influence over Iranian politics. Now, Ahmadinejad is at
odds with his erstwhile patrons in the Revolutionary Guards and widely
seen as a lame duck. Ahmadinejad has fallen foul of the loyalists because
of his unwavering support for Mashaei, who is accused of leading a
deviant current in the inner circle of the president, loathed for their
advocacy of greater cultural openness and nationalism." http://t.uani.com/150XAWZ
AFP:
"Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi on Thursday warned
ex-presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, without
naming them, over their alleged role in the protest movement that
followed Iran's disputed 2009 elections. The two former presidents have
not yet announced if they will contest the June 14 presidential election
to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot stand for a third consecutive
term. 'We say to he who claims to have predicted the 2009 plot that he
did not predict anything because we have very specific information on his
role in the plot,' Moslehi said, quoted by the Mehr and Fars news
agencies... Moslehi also issued a thinly-veiled warning to Khatami, who
was a reformist head of state from 1997 to 2005. 'One of the leaders of
the plot, who was not put under house arrest like the other two for
various reasons, should not fool himself and think that the revolutionary
power has forgotten the role he played in the plot,' he said in a speech
in the northern city of Qom." http://t.uani.com/18f3sLp
Opinion &
Analysis
Andre Mayer in CBC
News: "Given the ideological differences between the
Sunni militant group al-Qaeda and the theocratic Shia government in Iran,
recent allegations that the two groups had conspired in a foiled attack
in Canada struck many observers as odd. But two years after the death of
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, experts in security and Islamist
radicalism say Western intelligence agencies can't afford to discount
this possible connection. Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian
Congress and author of the book Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of
an Islamic State, says that by dwelling on the inherent differences
between fundamentalist Sunnis and Shias, Western governments and media
have overlooked an obvious similarity. Radicals on both sides believe
'that the world should be under a caliphate,' or Islamic state, he says.
'The difference is, will it be under the Islamic doctrines of the Shia or
the Sunni? That's a long-term division. But both agree on the doctrine of
jihad.' Last Monday, the RCMP arrested Chiheb Esseghaier of Montreal and
Raed Jaser of Toronto, accusing them of planning an attack on a Via
passenger train and alleging that the plotters had support from al-Qaeda
in Iran. Over the years, the Iranian government has been implicated in
attacks carried out by Shia extremist groups, including Hezbollah in
Lebanon, but many commentators expressed disbelief that Iran would ever
collaborate with a Sunni group such as al-Qaeda. 'I think it would be
extraordinarily foolish to ignore the obvious manifestations and
likelihood of further co-operation between the Iranian regime and Sunni
Islamic extremists, including al-Qaeda,' says David Harris, an
Ottawa-based lawyer and director of Insignis Strategic Research... Fatah
says that many people in Western institutions such as government,
academia and the media have fallen for the 'narrative' that because of a
history of sectarian bloodshed, radical Sunnis and Shias couldn't
possibly collaborate. He says it's true, for example, that bin Laden
viewed the Shias as non-Muslims, but bin Laden also considered the
establishment of a global Islamic state more important than dwelling on
sectarian differences, which is why he never fought the Iranians. 'Osama
might never have collaborated with Iran, but the Iranians were
co-operating with al-Qaeda,' Fatah says." http://t.uani.com/104W0Ld
Sara Akrami &
Saeed Ghasseminejad the National Post: "Iran's
continuing progress toward a nuclear bomb should have made it clear to
the West that the current sanctions regime simply isn't going to cut it.
When it comes to the nuclear program there are two important decision
makers: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader. While there has been some progress in
targeting the IRGC with sanctions, Khamenei himself has yet to received
much attention from the international community. He certainly warrants
such attention. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei controls an substantial portion of
the Iranian economy through his various holdings and foundations. The
most notable foundations directly controlled by him are Imam Khomeini
Foundation, Mostazafan Foundation, Abdolazim Shrine, and Astan Qods. The
heads of these foundations are directly appointed by the Supreme Leader
and therefore, they do not pay tax, and they cannot be audited by the
parliament or by the judiciary system. They operate as personal
properties of Khamenei, outside the normal structure of the Iranian
state. An examination of Imam Khomeini Foundation provides insight into
the vast size and wealth of the Supreme Leader's financial empire. Based
on a statement by one of its officials, in September 2008, the Foundation
owned about $45-billion in real estate assets. Imam Khomeini Foundation
owns 36 firms in the Tehran stock exchange, through only one of its many
holdings. It also owns the Iran Telecommunication Company, in partnership
with the IRGC ,which is itself worth billions of dollars. This foundation
is active in many profitable sectors of Iran's economy, such as
telecommunication, oil, gas, food and mining. It also does business
outside the country. Last summer, for example, the Tadbir Development
Company, which is owned by the Imam Khomeini Foundation, tried to buy
French refinery La Petite Couronne. The other foundations mentioned above
are also wealthy, powerful, and influential and have vast economic
interests both inside and outside Iran. Mostazafan Foundation was famous
for its dominant role in Iran's economy until a decade ago. While not
quite as powerful today, it still has enormous wealth and plays an
important role in Iran's economy. Astan Qods owns almost the entire
northeastern part of Iran. Abdolazim shrine, located near Tehran, is
controlled by Iran's former Minister of Intelligence, Mohammad ReyShahri.
It has concentrated its economic activities in the Rey Group, which is
run by a group of former high-rank intelligence officials and has
interests in several industries, such as oil, gas, construction, food,
and agriculture. As a matter of fact, the Rey Group is the official
dealership of BMW in Iran, which makes Iran's Supreme Leader, Iran's
supreme fine German automobile dealer, as well." http://t.uani.com/11EExeQ
Akbar Ganji in
Foreign Affairs: "On June 14, Iran will hold a
presidential election. If the acrimony and fraud of the 2009 election was
not enough to cast a pall over this vote, then the ongoing power struggle
between Supreme Leader Aytollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad surely is. Term limits prevent Ahmadinejad from running for
reelection, but he refuses to leave office quietly -- he has been
grooming his chief of staff and close confidant, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei,
as a successor. Khamenei does not like either Ahmadinejad or Mashaei,
seeing them as part of a 'deviant faction' that stands in the way of
clerical rule. It is a nasty squabble without any heroes, and regardless
of who wins, the real loser will be democracy in Iran. For a period of
five days next month, from May 7 to May 11, Iran's Guardian Council will
vet the candidates, choosing who can and cannot run. Mashaei has not yet
officially announced his candidacy, since this can be done only during
those days, after which the council has ten days to rule on his
candidacy. Mashaei, a young-looking 53-year-old, has a broad range of experience
in Iranian government and society. An electrical engineer by training, he
worked after the 1979 revolution in Kurdistan and the Iranian province of
Western Azerbaijan for the Revolutionary Guards' intelligence division.
He also held positions in the Ministry of Intelligence, as chief of a
special department dealing with Kurdistan; the Ministry of the Interior,
as a general manager; and on government radio. He got to know Ahmadinejad
while working for the Tehran municipality when Ahmadinejad was the city's
mayor. Mashaei filled several different posts during Ahmadinejad's first
term, from 2005-9, and was appointed vice president at the beginning of
the second term. Mashaei's promotion led to protests on the part of the
'sources of emulation,' the primary religious authorities followed by
pious Shiites, and the faqihs (Islamic jurists). In July 2009, Khamenei
requested that Mashaei be removed from office, but Ahmadinejad refused to
dismiss him. Khamenei's office insisted, writing to Ahmadinejad that the
appointment was 'contrary to your interests and those of the government
and will cause division and dismay among your admirers. You must declare
this appointment null and void.' The supreme leader ultimately got his
way, and Mashaei resigned. Ahmadinejad still wanted him around, though,
so he appointed him to be his chief of staff in September 2009. Once
again, the so-called principlists, hard-liners who support Khamenei,
raised their voices in protest, but Mashaei was able to stay on.
Ahmadinejad and Mashaei are clashing with the clerical establishment, but
that does not mean that they are fighting for democracy and secular rule.
Ahmadinejad is a dictator just like Khamenei. One by one, he has removed
the principlist forces and those close to Khamenei from his government,
surrounding himself with a loyal coterie. The principlists believe that
Mashaei is the guiding hand behind this purge, and they worry that his
readiness to buck the conservatives on political, cultural, and social
positions presents a grave threat to the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/18umISp
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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