Eye on Iran: MTN of South Africa's Ventures in Iran and Syria Have Dented Its Reputation and Rattled Shareholders

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories FT: "It is a saga that illustrates the extraordinary risks MTN has taken to profit from doing business with pariah states and poor countries with limited infrastructure... MTN has also been a target of campaigns by United Against Nuclear Iran, an anti-Iran lobby group in the US, which comprises several high-profile figures including James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and Mark Wallace, former US ambassador to the UN, as well as AccessNow, an advocacy group. 'Even more troubling are reports that Iranian security officials are given open access to subscriber details at MTN Irancell's Tehran headquarters which have been used to acquire information on democracy activists,' the lobby group wrote in a June 6 letter to Sifiso Dabengwa, MTN's chief executive. MTN denies the allegations. But with 50 per cent of its shares held by foreign investors - 18 per cent of them American - it is alert to the need to protect its international reputation... There have been other financial ramifications. The telecoms group has been unable to repatriate dividends from Syria because the legislation to transfer the funds does not exist in that country. MTN still needs to repatriate a €300m loan from Irancell. Western sanctions have prevented MTN from repatriating funds from Iran and have eaten into delivery supplies, slowing some projects. Even though MTN has numerous hedging instruments in place, the collapse in the currencies of the two countries has had a serious impact on the group's 2012 results. Earnings per share for the full year rose just 1.9 per cent to 1,089 cents, partly weighed down by currency depreciations in Iran and Syria." http://t.uani.com/15eauyK WSJ: "Growing North American oil supplies promise to bolster U.S. energy security, but they already are helping deliver a more global benefit: stable oil prices... Exhibit A: Washington's success last year in pushing through tough new economic sanctions against Iran to blunt its nuclear ambitions. U.S. and European Union sanctions reduced Iran's oil exports by about a million barrels a day last year, according to the EIA. The drop had little lasting impact on prices-an outcome that would have been practically unthinkable a few years ago, said John Hannah, national-security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney in the second George W. Bush term." http://t.uani.com/13loKYF JPost: "Iran's presidential election has done 'nothing to suggest a reversal of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons capacity,' members of the US House of Representatives wrote in a letter to the White House last week, calling on President Barack Obama to continue implementing a strict sanctions regimen on the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear program. The letter was sent three days before a new round of sanctions went into effect on July 1, targeting Iran's international trade partners in shipping, automotives and precious metals, as well as the handling of Iran's currency, the rial. The bipartisan group of 43 congressmen, including the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Democratic ranking member, called the election of Hassan Rouhani unfair and unfree by international standards- and likely a ruse by Iran to buy time for progress on its nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/1b7palT   Sanctions AFP: "Georgia on Tuesday said it had revoked visa-free entry for Iranians amid concerns that Tehran might be using its booming business ties with the small ex-Soviet state to skirt international sanctions. 'Georgia has unilaterally revoked visa-free travel regime with Iran,' Irakli Vekua, Georgia's foreign ministry spokesman, told AFP. 'As of July 1, Iranian citizens have to obtain a visa to enter the Georgian territory,' he said, declining to provide further information on the decision. Georgia and Iran agreed visa-free travel for short visits in 2010, in a move that saw the number of Iranians flocking to Georgia grow fourfold and trade flourish." http://t.uani.com/12lDRuP The National: "New economic sanctions imposed on Iran by the US will have a major impact on UAE businesses, experts say. The rules, which came into effect on Monday, are wide-reaching and mainly target non-US companies. Anyone who breaks the sanctions risks severe penalties. The measures most likely to affect the UAE are restrictions on banking transactions in Iranian rials and sales of gold to Iran. It is understood there is concern among UAE authorities about the possible repercussions for exchange houses and gold dealers." http://t.uani.com/1b7rSrx Domestic Politics Reuters: "President-elect Hassan Rouhani called on Wednesday for the government and powerful clergy to end interference in the private lives of the Iranian people, free up Internet access and allow state media to be more open about Iran's problems... During his election campaign, Rouhani demanded a loosening of the 'security atmosphere' and on Wednesday signaled what steps he wanted to see taken. Filtering of the Internet in Iran, stepped up after social media was used to encourage and coordinate large protests following the disputed 2009 presidential election, had proved ineffective, Rouhani said, fittingly, on Twitter. 'Which important piece of news has filtering been able to black out in recent years?' he asked. At the same time, he criticized state broadcaster IRIB for ignoring issues inside Iran. The state has a monopoly over terrestrial television in Iran and though satellite receivers are banned and foreign news broadcasts are often blocked, many Iranians tune in to U.S. and Europe-based channels beaming news and entertainment into the Islamic Republic. 'When IRIB airs the birth of a panda in China but nothing about unpaid workers protesting, it is obvious that the people and youth will ignore it,' Rouhani tweeted." http://t.uani.com/19TpLpM Guardian: "Two weeks after his sensational victory Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, has expressed relatively progressive views about civil liberties, freedom of expression and the internet. Social networking sites such as Facebook were, he said, a welcome phenomenon. In his most outspoken interview in the Iranian media, Rouhani told Chelcheragh - a popular youth magazine - that he is opposed to segregation of sexes in society, would work to minimise censorship and believes internet filtering is futile. 'In the age of digital revolution, one cannot live or govern in a quarantine,' he said as he made clear he is opposed to the authorities' harsh crackdown on Iranians owning satellite dishes, which millions have installed on rooftops for access to foreign-based TV channels illegal in the country." http://t.uani.com/18vudNo AP: "An opposition website says Iran's main opposition leader who has been under house arrest since 2011 was briefly taken to hospital for medical tests. It's reportedly the third time that Mir Hossein Mousavi was taken to a heart hospital in the past two years. The report by Kaleme.com says doctors recommended Mousavi remain in the Tehran hospital where he was brought late on Tuesday but his guards refused to let him stay." http://t.uani.com/17TjWve Opinion & Analysis Shadi Sadr in HuffPo: "More than 27 percent of Iran's eligible voters did not participate in the Islamic Republic's 2013 Presidential election, even after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had announced that those who oppose the regime should still vote for the sake of their country. From the outside looking in, one may conclude that non-voters in Iran lacked political motivation, but just like how many people who voted for current President Hassan Rouhani desire change in Iran, many non-voters also desire change. The difference is that non-voters are not hopeful that change is possible in Iran through the people's cooperation in an electoral process that just allows candidates approved by the Guardian Council to run (women, political opposition, religious minorities, and atheists are disqualified). Iranians may have also not voted in order to demonstrate their objection to the violent crackdown that followed the 2009 election. Breaking it down, 18 million eligible voters elected Hassan Rouhani, 13 million did not vote, and only six million voted for Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (presidential candidate who placed second in the election). This means that non-voters made up the second largest group in the election. Non-voters in Iran who desire for change are often labeled 'radicals' -- not only by the Islamic Republic, but also by a great number of voters. They are often ostracized and stereotyped as war mongers and/or Iranians belonging to the Diaspora. In the Iran context the term 'radical' has a stigma attached to it, yet it should still be the duty of people who yearn for real change in Iran to help strengthen the voices of and defend the non-voters. History has taught us that real change is achieved through the work of radicals... It is time that Iranians make efforts to remove the negative connotations associated with the term 'radical' so we may collectively help strengthen human rights advocacy in Iran. Radicals are often the ones who think outside the box and offer a fresh perspective on how to achieve political and social change. Iranians should listen to the words of those who resisted the temptation to vote in Iran instead of opting to vote in an election that requires one to accept a political structure defined by the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/11edFHp Michael Rubin in AEI: "Alfoneh's narrative is thick with detail which he derives disproportionately from Persian-language sources including the IRGC's own newspapers, internal publications, and websites never before systematically tapped in the West. He supports his thesis that the IRGC has led a slow creeping military coup d'état with extensive biographical research into Iran's officialdom, tracking over time just how many parliamentarians, governors, ministers and their deputies maintain direct or familial links to IRGC. Alfoneh's focus on Khatam al-Anbia, the economic wing of the IRGC, will be especially important for both academics and policymakers as the IRGC's ability to generate its own revenue in amounts far greater than its official budget effectively makes the IRGC independent of political control. Having taken predominant control over the oil industry, construction, and the manufacture of automobiles and electronics, the IRGC might control upwards of 40 percent of the Iranian economy; sources smuggling income which Alfoneh also traces are just icing on the cake. Whereas Westerners might think of the IRGC primarily a formidable military foe, Alfoneh shows how Iranian technocrats and regime pragmatists understand the IRGC to be the chief impediment to economic reform. Iranian politicians may promote privatization as a key to jumpstart the Islamic Republic's moribund economy, but the IRGC has used its banks and shell companies to accumulate properties and state-owned industries at bargain basement prices. And if the conservative Tehran bazaaris initially supported the Islamic Revolution, they now find themselves on the defensive as the IRGC uses its military muscle and political influence to undercut Tehran's traditional traders. The IRGC's imprint on foreign policy and diplomacy leads Alfoneh to be pessimistic about the future of Iran's relations with the West. 'The Guards' domestic need for foreign enemies has also led foreign policy behavior increasingly characterized by risk taking,' Alfoneh writes, citing recent terror plots against Saudi interests, Israeli diplomats in third countries, and Iranian support for insurgencies in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Alfoneh also suggests that the IRGC's strength makes nuclear diplomacy difficult, as the IRGC is the institution that would likely have custody over any Iranian nuclear bomb and therefore has the greatest interest in a nuclear weapons capability." http://t.uani.com/162mGPW 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.