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Top Stories
AP:
"Iran's election overseers removed potential wild-card candidates
from the presidential race Tuesday, blocking a top aide of outgoing
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a former president who revived hopes of
reformers. Their exclusion from the June 14 presidential ballot gives
establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to succeed Ahmadinejad,
who has lost favor with the ruling clerics after years of power
struggles. It also pushes moderate and opposition voices further to the
margins as Iran's leadership faces critical challenges such as
international sanctions and talks with world powers over Tehran's nuclear
program. The official ballot list, announced on state TV, followed a
nearly six-hour delay in which the names were kept under wraps. That
raised speculation that authorities allowed some time for appeals by the
blackballed candidates and their backers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, who has final say in all matters. But the official slate left
off two prominent but divisive figures: former President Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad protege Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The decision
also appeared to remove many potential surprise elements in the race,
including whether Rafsanjani could revitalize the reform movement or if
Ahmadinejad could play a godfather role in the election with his
hand-picked political heir. Instead, the eight men cleared by the
candidate-vetting Guardian Council included high-profile figures
considered firm and predictable loyalists to the ruling Islamic
establishment, such as former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, Tehran
Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed
Jalili." http://t.uani.com/13EFcNf
Die Welt
(Germany): "United Against Nuclear Iran is calling
on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to block the account of Iranian Supreme
Leader Khamenei. The particular irony: His citizens he forbids the
network. If a dictator is afraid of a medium, then you realize the fact
that he forbids it. But if he has great fear then you realize the fact that
he is also trying to collect it. So it makes one of the longest-serving
dictators of the planet Ali Khamenei, since almost 24 years, Supreme
Leader of Iran, operates an exceptionally professionally maintained
Facebook page. There you can find messages like those in the U.S.
government: 'You are the symbol of evil it is you that wars across the
world is!', Or, more generally, 'The West is held together by violence,
war and lies.' There are every time a photo of the Ayatollah and
emblazoned all over the invitation: 'Follow us for regular updates.' To
its own people that request can hardly be addressed. For Iran, access to
the social network is locked, and who says the wrong thing there, risking
imprisonment, torture, death. Well stirs protest against this absurdity,
and it is aimed directly at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 'As you
probably know, the Iranian regime has used this account to spread his
propaganda, while it excludes its own citizens from access to Facebook,'
reads an open letter to the lobby group United Against a Nuclear Iran
(UANI) and require the sender, Facebook must 'act immediately and turn
off the Facebook account of Ayatollah Khamenei before the Iranian
presidential election on June 14, 2013.'" http://t.uani.com/14QZntS
CSM:
"Iran's smiling but immovable top nuclear negotiator, a
revolutionary and wounded war veteran with a decades-old suspicion of the
United States, has become a frontrunner in Iran's presidential race.
Saeed Jalili's shock of white hair, rimless eyeglasses and crisp white
shirt buttoned up to his trim salt-and-pepper beard make him one of
Iran's most recognizable figures in the West, but he has proven an
enigmatic figure for those who have sat opposite him at the negotiating
table during years of fruitless nuclear talks.Mr. Jalili can interact
with smiles, laughter, and even well-placed charm. But his calm and
low-key demeanor - he wears sensible shoes of soft black leather that
don't require polish, and he could not be more different than the
flamboyant, divisive, and fiery outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -
does not diminish his uncompromising message of Iranian resistance, and
preserving Iran's 'right' to nuclear energy. Jalili told The Christian
Science Monitor that the Islamic Republic of Iran is winning its strategic
struggle with America, despite crippling sanctions and Western attempts
to isolate it from the world. And Jalili says that he is the man to carry
Iran's revolutionary torch into the future." http://t.uani.com/11aX4NQ
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"A U.N. nuclear agency report due this week is expected to show Iran
further increasing its capacity to produce material that its adversaries
fear could eventually be put to developing atomic bombs, Western
diplomats said on Tuesday. But they said it is also likely to indicate
that growth in Iran's most sensitive nuclear stockpile has been held back
because some of it has been used for reactor fuel, potentially providing
more time for diplomacy between Iran and major powers. Tehran's holding
of medium-enriched uranium gas is closely watched in the West as Israel -
which has threatened air strikes if diplomacy and sanctions do not stop
Iran's atomic drive - says it must not amass enough for one bomb if
further processed... The next quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program
by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), expected on
Wednesday, is likely to show continued installation of the centrifuges used
for enriching uranium, diplomats said. That would include an advanced
model known as IR-2m which, once operational, would enable Iran to speed
up sharply its accumulation of refined uranium, which can have both
civilian and military purposes. The number of IR-2m centrifuges and empty
centrifuge casings that have been put in place at Iran's main enrichment
site near the town of Natanz is expected to have risen significantly
since February, when it stood at 180, they said." http://t.uani.com/16O8a3V
Sanctions
Reuters:
"India's oil imports from Iran fell 34.2 percent in April from
March, data from trade sources showed on Wednesday, bolstering the
country's case for the renewal of a waiver from U.S. sanctions on Tehran
due to expire next month. The U.S. has already granted fresh waivers to
Japan and 10 European countries but has so far left out China and India,
Iran's biggest clients. U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed at
choking the flow of oil money into Iran and forcing Tehran to negotiate
curbing its controversial nuclear programme slashed its crude exports in
half in 2012, costing it as much as $5 billion a month. Indian imports
dropped 56.5 percent to 117,300 barrels per day (bpd) in April from the
year before, the first month of the new contract year, with Mangalore
Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd
declining to make fresh purchases as problems emerged in getting
insurance for handling cargoes from Iran." http://t.uani.com/13I1IEM
Reuters:
"South Korea's imports of Iranian crude in April fell nearly 45
percent from a year ago to 4.18 million barrels, official data showed on
Wednesday, below expectations just ahead of talks with Washington to
extend a waiver for U.S. sanctions on Tehran. The world's No.5 crude
buyer and one of Iran's top four customers bought 139,400 barrels per day
(bpd) from Iran in April, up 7.5 percent from a month ago on a daily
basis, according to Reuters calculations based on the latest official
data. South Korea had been expected to import about 190,000 bpd - or 5.7
million barrels - of Iranian oil in April, according to preliminary
loading data obtained by Reuters... South Korea's crude imports from Iran
in the first four months of the year decreased 28.4 percent from the same
period a year ago to 18.07 million barrels, the data from the state-run
Korea National Oil Corp showed." http://t.uani.com/16815LV
June 14
Elections
Reuters:
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday he would ask Iran's
supreme leader to reverse a ban preventing his aide from running in next
month's presidential poll, a test of stability after the violent trauma
of the 2009 vote... Eshaq Jahangiri, head of Rafsanjani's campaign, was
quoted in ISNA news agency on Wednesday as saying the veteran politician
would not object to the Guardian Council's decision. 'Mr. Hashemi
Rafsanjani and his campaign as a whole entered the field on the basis of
following the rule of law and morals, and will continue in this way as
well,' Jahangiri said. But Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third consecutive
term himself, said he would challenge the ban on Mashaie, calling him a
'righteous person and beneficial for the country', ISNA said. 'In my
opinion there will be no problem with the Leader and I will take up this
issue until the last moment with him,' Ahmadinejad said. 'I am hopeful
the problem will be solved.' Ahmadinejad has in the past threatened to
reveal evidence of corruption by his rivals, though analysts said any
such challenge to the ruling establishment would carry grave risks."
http://t.uani.com/12VDsR0
NYT:
"The decision on Tuesday to bar the presidential candidacy of Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a founding father of the revolution and a
former president, shocked Iranians, particularly among the 70 percent of
the population that is under 35 and grew up when he served in many
leading positions. 'They say a revolution eats its children,' said Mehdi,
27, a teacher. 'But in the case of Rafsanjani the revolution has eaten
its father.' ... For many, though, the elections are shaping up as a shoo-in
for someone close to Ayatollah Khamenei. 'Why are they even bothering to
organize these elections?' asked a retired army officer, who like others
interviewed for this article spoke anonymously out of fear of reprisals.
'It seems everything has already been decided.' It remains possible that
one or both of the disqualified candidates will be reinstated. While they
are not allowed to appeal, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the secretary of the
Guardian Council, a panel loyal to Ayatollah Khamenei that made the decision,
told state news media on Tuesday that Ayatollah Khamenei could reinstate
them by decree. He did that in the 2005 elections with a reformist
candidate, Mostafa Moin, who came in fifth." http://t.uani.com/1a5WQNn
AFP:
"The United States accused the clerical leadership of seeking to
tighten its grip on power. 'It appears that Iran's unelected Guardian
Council, which is unaccountable to the Iranian people, has disqualified
hundreds of potential candidates based on vague criteria,' State
Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. 'The Council narrowed the
list of almost 700 potential candidates down to eight officials based
solely on who the regime believes will represent its interests, rather
than those of the Iranian people,' he told AFP in an email." http://t.uani.com/10kRpJv
Syrian Civil
War
WashPost:
"Iran has sent soldiers to Syria to fight alongside forces loyal to
President Bashar al-Assad and those of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah
militia, a senior State Department official said Tuesday. An unknown
number of Iranians are fighting in Syria, the official said, citing
accounts from members of the opposition Free Syrian Army, which is backed
by the United States. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to
preview a strategy session that Secretary of State John F. Kerry is to
hold Wednesday with key supporters of the Syrian opposition. Rebel forces
have alleged for weeks that Iran is sending trained fighters to Syria,
and the Iran-backed Hezbollah has said baldly that it will not let Assad
fall. But with the British, French and American governments considering
providing arms to the Syrian opposition on a scale not yet seen in the
civil war, the U.S. official's allegation was a tacit acknowledgment that
the two-year-old Syrian conflict has become a regional war and a de facto
U.S. proxy fight with Iran." http://t.uani.com/11aXeoq
NYT:
"As evidence grows of increased Iranian support for the Syrian
government, the Obama administration's strategy to bring the bitter
fighting there to a close faces more challenges than ever. With White
House support, Secretary of State John Kerry has pushed for an
international conference in Geneva in June that would bring
representatives of the Syria government together with the opposition. The
aim would be to negotiate a transitional government that would take over
if President Bashar al-Assad vacates his post and to put an end to the
civil war that has killed more than 80,000. But the stepped-up support
Mr. Assad has received from Iran and Hezbollah in recent months appears
to have fortified his belief that he can hang on to power and prevail
militarily - or at least control a strategically significant swath of the
country." http://t.uani.com/11bwI4a
Reuters:
"British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday Iran and
its militant Shi'ite Lebanese ally Hezbollah were 'propping up' Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and giving him increasing support. 'It is very
clear that Syrian regime is receiving a great deal of support, increasing
support in recent months from outside Syria from Hezbollah and Iran. This
is a regime that is increasingly dependent on external support,' Hague
said in a news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
'The regime is being propped up by others outside, further undermining
its legitimacy. It also shows that is a crisis that is increasing the
threat to regional stability.'" http://t.uani.com/10lTBgo
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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
Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive
media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with
discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
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
issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own
interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of
nuclear weapons.
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