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Top Stories
WSJ:
"International shipping companies are abandoning their Iranian
voyage routes before new U.S. sanctions are implemented in July, denting
further the Islamic Republic's ability to acquire food items and consumer
goods. Calls to Iranian ports by shipping operators have gradually
declined over the past year, with major container lines such as AP
Møller-Maersk A/S of Denmark, Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company
SA and CMA CGM SA of France all announcing they would no longer visit the
country. The trend has picked up in recent weeks, with Kuwait-based
United Arab Shipping Co. and Dubai-based Simatech Shipping LLC becoming
the latest names to say they would stop accepting cargo to and from
Iran... 'We now find ourselves in the peculiar situation where even if we
are carrying nonsanctioned cargo to nonsanctioned entities, the cargo
will eventually have to be handled by a party which the U.S. Government
considers as providing financial support to a sanctioned party,' United
Arab Shipping Co. said last month... To be sure, some companies are still
happy to ship containers to and from Iran. Chinese freight-forwarding
company CJI China Group Co. said it didn't expect any issues with
shipping from China to Iran, despite the sanctions." http://t.uani.com/10EqpBr
CNS:
"Six months after a U.S. foreign policy advocacy group urged a
United Nations agency to stop cooperating with the Iranian regime, the
agency's members have appointed Tehran to head a body overseeing its
budget and work program for the year ahead. Meeting in Vienna, the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) last week named Iran
to succeed Austria as chairman of its Program and Budget Committee. The
step was taken 'by acclamation,' meaning no member-state objected or
called for a vote... Last November the advocacy group United Against
Nuclear Iran (UANI) launched a campaign calling on UNIDO to stop funding
projects in support of the Iranian regime, and urging donor states to
withhold their contributions until the agency did so. UANI pointed out
that Iranian entities benefiting from UNIDO projects include the
Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO), which
the Treasury Department has determined is controlled by the regime, and
is subject to U.S., Canadian and European Union sanctions." http://t.uani.com/10xvWxa
AFP:
"Iran has opened two lines of credit totalling $4 billion to
Damascus and expects to open up a third to counter the effects of an
international embargo, Syria's central bank said on Monday. 'Iran
continues to support Syria, by opening one line of credit worth a billion
dollars to finance the import of different items and another line of
credit worth three billion dollars to finance the purchase of petrol and
associated products,' central bank governor Adib Mayale said, quoted in
the government daily Tishreen. He said Iran was considering an additional
loan totalling another $3 billion to bolster the struggling Syrian
economy, which is dealing with the economic impact of a war and
international sanctions. In January, Syrian state news agency SANA said
Iran and Syria had signed a deal that would see Tehran extend a
billion-dollar line of credit to Damascus. There have also been multiple
unconfirmed reports Tehran is offering Syria loans, as it haemorrhages
foreign reserves amid its relentless civil war." http://t.uani.com/117O6VW
Nuclear Program
Bloomberg:
"Iranian presidential candidate and former chief nuclear negotiator
Hassan Rohani slammed a state television anchor for perpetuating 'lies'
after he was accused during a live interview of halting the progress of
the country's nuclear program. 'In essence everything was suspended,'
said the TV interviewer facing Rohani in a program aired late yesterday
as part of the candidate's allotted campaigning slot. 'How much is your
government ready to accept criticism?' 'What you said is a lie and you
know it's a lie,' responded Rohani, who oversaw negotiations on Iran's
nuclear program with world powers until 2005. 'You are saying that we
suspended the nuclear program? We were the ones who came to master the
nuclear technology.'" http://t.uani.com/12f5oUx
Free Beacon:
"More than 70 members of Congress have called on the United Nations
Secretary General to ban Iran from chairing an upcoming conference on
disarmament in light of Tehran's illicit pursuit of nuclear arms. The
bipartisan letter calls on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to remove
Iran immediately from its role as host of the U.N. Conference on
Disarmament, which aims to prevent global nuclear arms races such as the
one Iran is currently engaged in. The conference is scheduled to take
place from May 27 to June 23. Many of the lawmakers opposing the forum
include high-ranking Republicans and Democrats on the House Foreign
Affairs and Middle East committees." http://t.uani.com/11uH6UT
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Iran has offered insurance to Indian refiners in a bid to boost its
crude sales, industry sources said, though some oil executives warned the
plan would not remove the threat of western sanctions. The offer was made
during a visit to India led by Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi in a
bid to revive crude sales from its second-largest customer. U.S. and
European Union sanctions, aimed at choking off oil money and forcing
Tehran to curb its nuclear program, halved Iran's crude exports in 2012,
costing it as much as $5 billion a month... Taking up the Iranian offer
would not be a solution to the insurance problem, said two oil company
executives, declining to be identified as they are not authorized to talk
to the media. 'Iranian insurance companies are under sanctions, how can I
take cover from them?' asked one of the executives. Also, refiners have
to cover plants and equipment worth billions of dollars, and typically
have a composite policy covering ongoing projects, supply installations,
plants and cargoes. As such, it would not be possible to break down coverage
for just refineries, the second source said." http://t.uani.com/10EnaKz
Azer News:
"The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran has announced the list of
cars which are allowed to be imported in the current Iranian year, but
renowned brands such as Porsche, Benz, BMW, Maserati, and Nissan are not
in the list, ISNA news agency reported. In January, Iran's Ministry of
Industry, Mine, and Trade banned importing cars with engines up to a
2500CC capacity. According to the report, 17 car brands have been permitted
to be imported in the current year. The cars include Hyundai (2 models),
ABT, Alfa Romeo (2 models), MG, SsangYong, Toyota, Renault (6 models),
and Kia (2 models). Previously, 25 car brands were included in the list,
such as South Korean brands (Kia and Hyundai), Chinese brands (SAIC
motors), Italian brands (Fiat, Alpha Romeo), Japanese brands (Honda,
Mitsubishi), German brands (ABT), and Swedish brands (Volvo). Iran
imported 44,341 cars worth over 1.084 billion dollars in the previous
Iranian calendar year which ended March 20." http://t.uani.com/142kDub
June 14
Elections
AP:
"From a computer keyboard in London, an Iranian emigre plays the
role of counselor, social media guru and all-around adviser for Internet
users back home seeking ways around the cyber-blocks set up by
authorities in Tehran. These have been busy days. His Twitter account -
which goes under the handle of Nariman Gharib - registers a steady stream
of calls for help from Iran and responses about new proxy servers,
dial-up modems and other possible workarounds. The goal is to defeat
Iran's Internet clampdowns, which have intensified in the approach to
presidential elections on June 14... Now, with the election to pick
Ahmadinejad's successor looming, the constraints are drawing even tighter.
Iranian authorities appear to be stepping up their efforts to block the
pathways to servers outside Iran that open access to outlawed sites such
as Facebook, the BBC's Persian service and websites from what's left of
Iran's opposition Green Movement... At an Internet cafe in Tehran, a
former activist during the 2009 unrest, Mohammad Feizi, spoke in dark
tones about an election in which he feels no stake and Internet
crackdowns that cut off his main window to the wider world. His old
tricks of bypassing the Web controls, he said, are increasingly foiled.
'I am really frustrated,' the 27-year-old said. 'The government put
lethal restrictions on the Internet, yet expects people - particularly
the youth - to get involved in society. It is meaningless.'" http://t.uani.com/11mIm6o
Guardian:
"Some in Tehran now regard Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief security
official and lead negotiator in nuclear negotiations with world powers,
as the frontrunner in the country's presidential election. The
47-year-old is one of eight candidates approved for the ballot on 14
June, of whom five are 'principle-ists' proclaiming diehard loyalty to
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader. But neither Jalili nor any
other candidate has so far offered much in the election other than
banalities - despite Iran's mounting problems, which now centre on the
reduction of oil exports from 2.2m barrels a day to 1.1m in the past year
due to tightening western sanctions. And when it comes to backing the
beleaguered Syrian regime in an increasingly sectarian civil war
threatening to spread regionally, many candidates are just promising more
of the same." http://t.uani.com/130slr3
Syrian Civil
War
AFP:
"Iran will host on Wednesday an international forum to help find a
'political solution' for the conflict in ally Syria, the foreign ministry
said, as France, the United States and Russia push for their own peace
conference. 'More than 40 countries and a representative of former UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan are expected to attend,' deputy foreign
minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, on Monday told Al-Alam
Arabic-language television. Anan is a former UN-Arab League envoy to
Syria, where activists say more than 94,000 people have been killed since
the uprising to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad erupted in
March 2011. Amir Abdollahian did not identify the countries expected to
attend the Iran conference which is billed as a meeting to focus on
'political solution and regional stability.'" http://t.uani.com/10EobC6
Opinion &
Analysis
Dennis Ross &
David Makovsky in WashPost: "As the conflict in
Syria rivets international attention, Iran's nuclear program continues
apace. Unfortunately, while the Iranians install the next generation of
centrifuges - machines that can produce enriched uranium three to four
times faster than before - the 'P5+1' negotiations on Iran's nuclear
program have ground once again to a halt. While economic pressures impose
a cost on Iran, so far they have failed to alter its nuclear program.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may acknowledge that sanctions are 'brutal,' but
he also seems to feel that Iran has endured worse. In light of President
Obama's objective of preventing the Iranians from acquiring nuclear
weapons, something has to give. At a minimum, the supreme leader must be
made to feel that when the United States says the time for diplomacy is
running out, we mean it - and that the consequence is likely to be the
use of force. Perhaps because of U.S. hesitancy on Syria, or our
withdrawal from Iraq, or our transition out of Afghanistan, or talk of
the U.S. 'pivot' to Asia, Iranian leaders seem not to believe that we
will use force if diplomatic efforts fail. Obama insists that he means
what he says on preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons and that he
will do whatever is necessary. The Iranian misreading of this
determination could put us on a fast track to conflict. If diplomacy is
to be given a final chance, the United States needs to shift its
negotiating strategy away from the confidence-building 'step-by-step'
approach - which only deepens Iranian perceptions that they can string us
along until we acquiesce. Instead, the United States needs to establish
greater clarity about what we can and cannot live with regarding Iran's
nuclear program and give further credence to the administration's
statements that the time for diplomacy is running out... Iran continues
to stall negotiations under the cover of not ostensibly crossing a 'red
line.' The United States and its allies must change gears. It may be best
to do so before Iran's June 14 elections - not because a deal is likely
to be reached before the vote but because the Iranians will need time to
contemplate the meaning of an approach geared more toward a nuclear
endgame. This new approach would involve defining an acceptable civil
nuclear capability for Iran - something that the confidence-building
approach has largely avoided. It could mean accepting limited enrichment
but with strict and verifiable restrictions. This would prevent Iran from
being able to break out and present the world with a nuclear weapons fait
accompli. Practically, there would need to be limits on the number and
type of centrifuges, maximum level of enrichment and amount of enriched
uranium that could remain in Iran. Each of these amounts would have to be
small. Clearly, if Iran is prepared to alter its nuclear program in this
fashion, we should be prepared to lift the harsh economic sanctions. But
the Iranians cannot get the latter unless they do the former. Apart from
taking away Iranian excuses, an endgame approach to the nuclear issue
also has the benefit of creating far greater clarity in Iranian minds. It
would signal that we mean what we say - that time is indeed running out.
By offering Iran what its leaders have claimed to want, civil nuclear
power, the United States could expose Iran's true intentions to the
world, including its own people. Were Iranian leaders to turn down the
opportunity to have civil nuclear capability, their real aims of
acquiring nuclear weapons would be revealed. In such circumstances, the
United States would be far better positioned to make the case to the
international community that military action is warranted. Coercive
diplomacy succeeds when threats are believed and the game-playing and
manipulation stop. Offering a credible endgame proposal could convince
the Iranians that time is truly running out - and that we are setting the
stage for the use of force if diplomacy fails. We should give Iran a
clear diplomatic way out - and Iranians should understand the consequences
if they don't take it." http://t.uani.com/10ZXxCR
UANI Advisory
Board Member Irwin Cotler & James Bezan in the National Post:
"This week, parliamentarians in Canada and the United States will be
focusing attention on the dangers posed by the Iranian government,
sounding the alarm on massive Iranian domestic repression and the Iranian
threat to international peace and security. In Ottawa, the events of Iran
Accountability Week will include Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on
International Human Rights hearings, and public events featuring Iranian
human rights experts and international experts on the Iranian threat. The
week coincides with the fifth anniversary of the imprisonment of the
Baha'i leadership in Iran; the 25th anniversary of the 1988 massacre of
thousands of Iranian political dissidents; and a recent report on 2,600
political prisoners in Iran, including women, ethnic and religious
leaders, journalists, bloggers, students, artists, and trade union
leaders - simply put, the leadership of Iranian civil society. Indeed,
the regime has been ramping up its crackdown on dissent in advance of
presidential elections next month, and many of those detained are under
threat of execution. Central to this week's events is the launch of the
Iranian Political Prisoners Global Advocacy Project, through which
Canadian parliamentarians of all political stripes will 'adopt' Iranian
prisoners of conscience and advocate on their behalf. While the Iranian
government seeks to silence dissenters, we are determined to make their
voices heard. Each victim of repression in Iran must be recognized as an
individual who is enduring physical and mental anguish. To that end, each
parliamentarian participating in this project will seek to publicize the
story of his or her adopted prisoner as part of the struggle to set them
free. Irwin Cotler, for instance, will be advocating on behalf of Nasrin
Sotoudeh, as well the seven imprisoned leaders of the Iranian Baha'i
community. As a lawyer, Ms. Sotoudeh represented political prisoners
including women, lawyers, and children sentenced to death, before her
arrest in 2010 while visiting one of her clients in prison. She ended her
second lengthy hunger strike earlier this year, and has been denied
medical attention for her deteriorating eyesight. Nasrin embodies the
struggle for human rights in Iran and symbolizes the Iranian regime's
massive domestic repression... Iranian political prisoners must become
household names, and their cause must become our cause. The government of
Iran sponsors terrorism, seeks nuclear weapons, spews hateful rhetoric,
and tramples the human rights of its own people. For the remarkable and
courageous individuals who dare to challenge the regime, telling their
stories is the very least we can do." http://t.uani.com/10EqBka
Ali Ansari in CNN:
"Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's abrupt fall from
grace has taken many in political circles in Iran by surprise, further
widening the gap between an increasingly insular and narrow hard-line
elite and the rest of the country. It reinforces a trend towards the
consolidation of power around Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and
his acolytes, which has been taking place for the better part of a
decade, and perhaps the real surprise is the fact is that there remain
members of the elite who did not think this remorseless process would
ultimately apply to them. Ever since the political catastrophe of 2009,
when millions pored onto the streets to protest what was widely
considered to be a highly fraudulent election process, the regime has
been keen to encourage the public to put the past behind them and to look
forward to these elections as a cathartic exercise during which political
blemishes could be washed away. Rafsanjani's dramatic last-minute
entrance into the race, was seen by many as proof that some lessons had
indeed been learnt... Public apathy combined with the conceit of the new
ruling class, to deliver a particularly brutal humiliation to Rafsanjani,
barred apparently not for his political views, but for the rather less
dignified reason that the members of the Guardian Council thought
Rafsanjani too old to be able to bear the burden of office. Rafsanjani's
dramatic entrance and precipitous fall has shone a light on the growing
fractures within elite politics in Iran. To date Khamenei has been able
to blame divisions on Ahmadinejad and his 'deviant current' on the one
hand, and the foreign inspired sedition of Mir-Hussein Musavi and Mehdi
Karrubi (still under house arrest) on the other... What we are left with
is a tightly controlled 'election' with a dry and uninteresting field. Of
the eight ratified candidates, one is a nonentity, (Mohammad Gharazi);
two are ostensible 'moderates' lacking in charisma and therefore
non-threatening, (Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Reza Aref); one is an
independent Principle-ist (Mohsen Rezaei) who likes to speak his mind but
on past performance is unlikely to garner votes (real or imagined); while
the remaining four are self proclaimed acolytes of the Leader. Of these
four, two have been highlighted as the probable annointees: Saeed Jalili,
the current head of the National Security Council, and Mohammad Ghalibaf,
the mayor of Tehran... In 2009, the regime lost the people; it now
appears to be in the process of divesting itself of its traditional
elite. How the newly disenfranchised react will be interesting to watch.
This may be the real legacy of the 'election' of 2013." http://t.uani.com/172860q
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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