Eye on Iran: Incoming Top Iran Diplomat Backs 'Nuclear Rights'

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories AP: "Iran's incoming foreign minister says he will not back down from fighting for Iran's right to maintain its disputed nuclear program. Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks during a Tuesday confirmation hearing before parliament, expected to approve his appointment later this week. Zarif said Iran's diplomatic apparatus under him 'will not withdraw one iota' of support for the nation's 'nuclear rights,' but simultaneously boost relations with countries in the region and world. State TV broadcast his speech live." http://t.uani.com/13jXRUw Iran Human Rights: "Six prisoners were hanged in the Karoun Prison of Ahwaz (southwestern Iran) early this morning, reported the Iranian state media... Today's executions are the first after a relative break in the executions during the month of Ramadan." http://t.uani.com/15DR3eF RFE/RL: "Then Iran's new president nominated Mohammad Javad Zarif, a U.S.-educated former United Nations diplomat, to be foreign minister, some observers described the move as a possible 'olive branch' to the West. But within Iran, it appears that's not necessarily a good thing. At an August 13 parliamentary hearing convened to consider President Hassan Rohani's proposed cabinet, lawmaker Nasrollah Pejmanfar used the description against Zarif. 'Our enemies have set their greedy eyes on Zarif and Americans have called him an olive branch,' he said with the foreign minister-designate present. 'Therefore, Zarif has to clearly announce that we don't want to have relations with the U.S.'" http://t.uani.com/16jZd2h   Human Rights Index on Censorship: "Iran's government has been increasing pressure on writers and artists over the past few years, but its heavy hand does not strike evenly. Iranian poet Payam Feili, who is a gay man, is the victim of a brutal system. He was fired from his job, his translator's house was ransacked, and the censors have shunned him. Isolated in Iran, Feili has dedicated himself to writing. He says he lives among his ideas, a citizen of his mind: 'I'm writing on the edge of crisis but I think I am doing fine. I've gotten used to life being full of tension, horror, disruption and crisis.'" http://t.uani.com/14xOg6F Domestic Politics Al Arabiya: "Despite promises made by Iran's new President, Hassan Rowhani, that women's civil rights will improve under his government, a city councilor has been barred from office for being 'too sexy,' British daily The Times reported on Wednesday. Nina Siakhali Moradi was prevented from taking up a post on the city council in Qazvin, the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, 100 miles north west of Tehran, after her election was overturned by religious conservatives. Even with more than 10,000 votes in the June election, putting her 14th out of 163 candidates and winning her a council seat, the 27-year-old engineer and website designer had her political career cut short because she was deemed too attractive to take up the post. 'We don't want a catwalk model on the council,' a senior official in Qazvin told local press." http://t.uani.com/14LtKqc Foreign Affairs JPost: "Dr. Ulrich Bleyer, the director of the Berlin-based Urania cultural and educational center, on Monday pulled the plug on a pro-Palestinian symposium with Iran's embassy because the event legitimizes terrorism and seeks to dismantle Israel's right to exist. In a letter defending the decision to cancel the event slated for Friday, Bleyer wrote that he assumes the event will violate 'Urania's goals of international good will,' because 'Israel's right to exist will be contested or terror against Israel will be legitimized as resistance against an occupying power.' ... As an example of the group's aim to delegitimize Israel, Gelbart observed that the invitation for the event stated that for 'nearly seven decades' Israel has engaged in an 'occupation violating international law.' The reference to almost seven decades signifies the founding period of the State of Israel." http://t.uani.com/1cNn5Ot Opinion & Analysis Daniel Wagner & Giorgio Cafiero in HuffPo: "Recent geopolitical developments across the Middle East and Africa have added momentum to Iran and Sudan's strategic partnership, an alliance driven primarily by an interest in weakening the power of Israel, and by extension the U.S., throughout East Africa. Other objectives include Sudan's fight against other forces that constitute existential threats to the Khartoum regime and Iran's interest in establishing an alternative weapons corridor to Gaza and Lebanon, particularly given that Syria will likely remain destabilized for the near-to-medium term. However, some of Sudan's traditional Sunni Arab allies staunchly oppose further development of the Iran/Sudan partnership. It remains to be seen how far Khartoum can further entrench its ties with Tehran while maintaining its alliance with Saudi Arabia and other states in the region... Over the years, Iran and Sudan have maintained varying degrees of support for non-state actors, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine. In 2008 the two states officially signed a military cooperation agreement and in May of this year the pace and scope of the construction of Iranian naval and logistical bases in Port Sudan was enhanced remarkably. In short, over the past two decades, the two countries have significantly deepened their political ties, and in the process, Sudan has become a magnet for a variety of militant extremist and jihadist individuals and groups. Sudan has at the same time become an extension of Iran's proxy war against Israel. Historically, Sudan and Israel's relationship has been hostile. In 2012 Israel bombed Sudan for the fourth time since 2009, striking the Yarmouk factory near Khartoum. Israel's motivation for targeting Sudan was likely to punish Sudan for allowing Iran to use Sudanese territory as a staging ground for arms shipments to Gaza and Lebanon via the Red Sea and Egyptian Sinai, in addition to Khartoum's alleged support for Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups. Israel knows that Sudan is a failed state with a military that is preoccupied with South Sudan and Darfur, among other concerns, and that Khartoum is not capable of responding directly to Israel. Simply put, Bashir's bluff has been called as a consequence of his inaction to Israel's air raids. Part of Israel's message to Sudan's government appears to be to refrain from forging deeper ties with Iran and Hamas; the more important message relates to Iran: If Tehran uses East Africa as a launching pad for its Palestinian/Lebanese proxies, Israel will apparently strike against Iran's interests in the region." http://t.uani.com/16PwSza 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.