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Top Stories
Reuters:
"Two top Chinese shipping lines severed ties with Iran as tough
new U.S. sanctions over the country's disputed nuclear programme came
into effect on Monday, leaving the country increasingly dependent on
front companies and overland routes. Many of Iran's imports, including
food and consumer goods, arrive by ship, either directly or via feeder
services from places like the United Arab Emirates, and the latest set
of sanctions are likely to worsen an already deep economic crisis...
China is among Tehran's main allies, but its shipping firms are also
bailing out. China Shipping Container Lines Co (CSCL), among the
world's top 10 lines, has become the latest group to exit Iran, a CSCL
official confirmed. In a June 27 letter seen by Reuters to U.S.
pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), whose board includes
former CIA and British intelligence chiefs, Shanghai-headquartered CSCL
said it took 'trade sanctions compliance with the utmost seriousness',
ceasing all Iran business from July 1. China's COSCO Container Lines,
the world's number 5 player, was another firm to end ties... Taiwanese
lines Evergreen and Yang Ming Marine said they had pulled out, while
Singapore's Pacific International Lines has also cut ties along with
two top South Korean shipping firms. 'The departure of international
shipping companies including those from China and Taiwan indicates that
the virtual economic blockade of Iran is increasing,' said Mark Wallace
of UANI, which has targeted companies trading in Iran to end links. 'It
is a sign that Iran has fewer and fewer friends in the international
community that are willing to do business with its regime,' said
Wallace, a former U.S. ambassador to the UN." http://t.uani.com/1b2WYR2
Reuters:
"Exploiting a loophole in Western sanctions, Iran is importing a
high grade of refined alumina ore from several European countries
including Germany and France that Tehran could be using to make armor
parts and missile components... The refined ore has been excluded from
European Union sanctions, but tightened U.S. sanctions that came into
effect on July 1 seek to close the loophole. According to a U.S.
Treasury briefing, the latest measures will cover 'raw or semi-finished
metals' that include aluminum... Alumina is a refined version of the
raw ore bauxite. It is typically used to make aluminum, but in its high
purity or 'chemical grade' form, it has non-metal applications that
have sensitive military uses. Export data from independent firm Global
Trade Information Services showed that between January 2012 and March
2013, around 4,000 metric tons of alumina had been sold to Iran mostly
from Germany and France, but also from Slovenia, Italy, Hungary and
Belgium. Experts and traders say the high price paid of $700-$1,000 a
metric ton (1.1023 tons) and relatively low amounts involved indicated
the exports were most likely high purity chemical grade alumina. Mark
Gorwitz, previously with the U.S. Department of Defense and now a
consultant specializing in nuclear and missile-related technologies,
says Iran is able to manufacture weapons grade ceramic composites using
chemical alumina... A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton said the export of all forms of crude aluminum products as well
as other aluminum products were prohibited under EU sanctions. 'Whereas
the export of aluminum ore - alumina - is not,' the spokesman said. 'It
is an area that may be looked at in the future.' As of July 1, however,
the tightened U.S. sanctions might hamper the alumina trade with Iran
as companies involved, who also have U.S. interests could be targeted
by Washington." http://t.uani.com/19SAtAf
NYT:
"The first American sanctions on Iran since a moderate cleric won
the presidential election there on June 14 went into effect on Monday,
expanding the number of penalized industries and imposing rules that
theoretically could halt all gold and currency trade by the country.
Proponents of the latest round of sanctions said they could deprive the
Iranians of billions of dollars of income that had evaded earlier
rounds - particularly with the new prohibition on gold trade. Bullion
dealers in other countries who flout the prohibition risk severe
American penalties, including expulsion from the United States precious
metals market. Iran has increasingly traded its oil and gas for gold
with countries like Turkey because of earlier financial sanctions that
have prevented the Iranians from using conventional bank payment
methods. The Iranian authorities are then able to use the gold to buy
dollars and euros needed to purchase other needed imports, or to
support the faltering value of Iran's own currency, the rial." http://t.uani.com/1cMcoal
Sanctions
Reuters: "Iran has played
down the impact of U.S. sanctions that came into effect this week, but
said the measures would complicate a resolution to the dispute over its
nuclear program. The new sanctions, which came into effect on Monday,
target trade with Iran's shipping and automobile sectors, gold sales to
Iran and handling of the Iranian currency, the rial - a further attempt
to force Tehran to curb its nuclear activities... 'We have no doubt
that sanctions are a broken policy and we are surprised about why the American
government and other governments who take part in these sanctions
continually repeat a mistaken and failed policy,' the state television
website quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi as saying late
on Monday. 'Removing sanctions would count as a confidence-building
measure and can assist in a resolution of the issue but increasing
sanctions would have no result, apart from making the issue more
complex and harder to resolve,' he said." http://t.uani.com/16LHq0G
Reuters:
"MRPL is preparing to resume oil imports from Iran, after stopping
in April, having secured local reinsurance for claims of up to 5
billion rupees, its managing director said in a letter seen by Reuters.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals(MRPL.NS), which was Iran's top Indian
client, halted imports because local insurers said they could no longer
cover plants that process Iranian crude. '...MRPL would take all
necessary steps for recommencement of import/processing of Iranian
crude oil in its refinery,' MRPL P.P. Upadhya wrote in a June 29 letter
to Oil Secretary Vivek Rae. Upadhya referred in the letter to meetings
with officials from the oil ministry and local reinsurer General
Insurance Corp. (GIC) in the letter, copy of which was made available
to Reuters, for the plan to resume imports from Iran." http://t.uani.com/120Is5z
Reuters:
"An Iranian ship laden with arms seized by Yemeni authorities in
January may also have been bound for Somalia, according to a
confidential U.N. report seen by Reuters on Monday. Yemeni forces
intercepted the ship, the Jihan 1, off Yemen's coast on January 23.
U.S. and Yemeni officials said it was carrying a large cache of
weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, being smuggled from Iran to
insurgents in Yemen. The confidential U.N. report, by the U.N.
Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea, cited Yemeni officials as
saying that it was possible diesel carried aboard the ship could have
been intended for shipment to Somalia. The group, which tracks
compliance with Security Council sanctions, raised concerns in the
report about the flow of weapons to Islamist al-Shabaab militants since
the U.N. Security Council eased an arms embargo on Somalia's fragile
Western-backed government earlier this year." http://t.uani.com/14nWod3
Bloomberg:
"Swiss Reinsurance Co. and Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest
insurance market, are among companies being probed by a New York
regulator about their compliance with an expanded Iran sanctions law.
The state Department of Financial Services is asking the insurers about
their procedures to avoid violations of the Iran Freedom and
Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012, according to a letter from the
department obtained by Bloomberg News... 'We believe a robust due
diligence regime is required to ensure than an insurance company is
fully advised of the risks it is taking,' the department said. 'Because
an insurer may violate the IFCPA by engaging in conduct it should have
known was improper, incautious due diligence could expose an insurer to
the imposition of sanctions.' The regulator asked the companies for a
copy of every policy issued to Glencore Xstrata Plc or Trafigura that
will remain in force after today, according to the letter. The
department cited news reports of 'a pattern of trades' made by Glencore
and Trafigura with Iranian entities. At least one trade involved
Glencore's shipment of alumina to the Iranian Aluminum Co. in exchange
for processed aluminum." http://t.uani.com/16LHYUa
Syrian Civil War
AP:
"A senior U.S. official denounced Hezbollah's involvement in the
Syrian civil war Monday and accused the Shiite militant group of
putting the interests of Iran and Syria above those of the Lebanese
people... 'That intervention may be in Hezbollah's interests, it may be
in the interest of Iran, it may be in the interest of Bashar Assad, but
it is not in the interest of Lebanon or the Lebanese people,' Burns
said." http://t.uani.com/17QVE51
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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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