Eye on Iran: Iran Adds to Atom Capacity, Holds Down Stockpile Growth

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Reuters: "A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to show that Iran is pressing ahead with its nuclear program by further increasing its capacity to enrich uranium, diplomats said on Monday. They said Iran also appears to have started making fuel for a heavy-water reactor that could produce plutonium, a development that concerns the West because of its potential to be used in a nuclear weapon. On the other hand, the diplomats said this week's report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is also likely to include data showing that Iran is limiting growth of its most sensitive nuclear stockpile, a step that could buy time for negotiations with major powers." http://t.uani.com/1djJjaY AFP: "Iran said on Tuesday that it had rejected fresh requests by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN's monitor for human rights in the Islamic republic, to assess the situation on the ground. 'We unfortunately do not consider Ahmed Shaheed to be an impartial rapporteur,' foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said during his weekly briefing with reporters in Tehran, Iranian media reported. Araqchi said Tehran had received two official letters from Shaheed requesting access to assess the human rights situation in the country. But such a visit, he said, would not happen as long as Shaheed 'continues his trend of writing unfair reports about Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/15ehezM NY Times: "Until this summer, Mohammad Javad Zarif, one of Iran's most accomplished diplomats, was an outcast, exiled from the government by ultraconservatives for working too closely with the West. Rather than presenting the Iranian case to the world, as he had done so effectively throughout a 35-year diplomatic career, he was spending his days teaching at the Foreign Ministry's training center on a quiet, leafy campus in North Tehran. That changed with the election of the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, in June. Now, Mr. Zarif is the country's new foreign minister and seems virtually certain to lead Iran's delegation in nuclear negotiations with the West - further indications, analysts say, that Mr. Rouhani is serious about reducing tensions with the United States and other Western countries. 'Mr. Zarif is the new face of a new policy,' said Davoud Hermidas-Bavand, a professor of international relations at Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran, who knows Mr. Zarif personally. 'Our former foreign policy obviously did not yield any results and was clearly doomed. We need to revise our former methods and soften our stances in order to find a solution to the nuclear problem and reduce the sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/18XPiNF   Nuclear Program & Sanctions Reuters: "Iran has hiked purchases of alumina from China and India in the past two months as the country scrambles to shore up supply after the U.S. tightened sanctions on raw and semi-processed materials at the start of July. ... China and India have won waivers from any U.S. sanctions on their financial system related to trade with Iran because they have cut imports of Iranian oil. China's alumina exports to Iran jumped to record levels in June and July, customs data shows, while India's national aluminium producer has awarded an alumina tender to Iran's national smelter in the past two months, company sources say." http://t.uani.com/1djNJi1  IDG News: "Google has told Android developers that they can start offering free apps in Iran, while Apple has removed Iran from among the countries to which sales of its products are prohibited. 'Developers, starting today you can make your free apps available in Iran,' Google said in a Google+ post on Monday. The move appears to be linked to the U.S decision in May to lift sanctions on the export of a variety of consumer communications devices and software and services including mobile phones to Iran." http://t.uani.com/15t0CBI Syria Conflict Reuters: "Iran warned on Tuesday against foreign military intervention in Syria, saying the resulting conflict would engulf the region. Iran, which is supporting Assad against rebels seeking to overthrow him, has said rebels were behind the suspected attack and said on Tuesday the West was using it as a pretext to intervene in Syria. 'We want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will definitely be perilous consequences for the region,' Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi told a news conference. 'These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region.'" http://t.uani.com/15fNBHv National Review: "Representative Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security committee's subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, thinks the United States must take military action in Syria. ... Noting that President Obama had called use of chemical weapons a 'red line' in Syria last year, King stresses it is vital for the United States to take action, or risk Iran believing that warnings from the U.S. on having nuclear weapons were not serious. 'If Iran is going to take us seriously, we have to show that we're willing to take action against Syria,' King says." http://t.uani.com/1djO5oS Fox News: "Iran's support for the Syrian regime is a mixed bag for U.S. policymakers that may cause long term damage to Tehran among its Middle Eastern neighbors, according to an advance copy of a journal from West Point's Combating Terrorism Center reviewed by Fox News. The article called 'Iran's Unwavering Support to Assad's Syria,' authored by Karim Kadjadpour, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will be published Tuesday as part of a Special Edition of the CTC Sentinel. The issue includes eight special reports on Syria, which cover the growing alliance between Syria and Hezbollah as well as new, on-the-ground reporting of the Syrian conflict." http://t.uani.com/14Z1tGU Human Rights Washington Times: "An appeals court in Iran has reaffirmed the conviction and eight-year sentence of an American Christian pastor, his wife and supporters said Monday. The decision to reject the Rev. Saeed Abedini's appeal came Sunday from a two-judge panel of the Tehran Court of Appeals, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which defends human rights and religious freedom. The center represents Mr. Abedini's wife, Naghmeh. The judges - including one who has been sanctioned by the European Union for the long prison terms and death sentences he has handed down on dissidents - refused to provide Mr. Abedini's lawyers with a copy of the ruling, the center said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/19JZQ47 Domestic Politics Foreign Affairs AP: "Iran and its southern Arab neighbor have signed a draft agreement to build a pipeline for the export of Iranian natural gas. Iran's official IRNA news agency says the memorandum of understanding was signed between Iran's Oil Minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and his Omani counterpart in Tehran Monday. The report did not provide further details but said the two sides agreed to begin construction of the pipeline 'in a short period of time.'" http://t.uani.com/13W49tL AP: "Iran's parliament has approved fast tracking debate on a bill that seeks to sue the U.S. for its involvement in the 1953 coup that overthrew the country's democratically elected prime minister. Lawmakers will begin deliberations Wednesday over how to launch a formal complaint accusing the U.S. government of intervening in Iran's internal affairs and inflicting damages on the Persian state. The 290-seat house approved the urgent debate of the bill Tuesday in a session broadcast on state radio. New declassified documents revealed recently offer more details of how the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh 60 years ago." http://t.uani.com/16JvSso AFP: "Iran's foreign ministry has said it would take time to resume ties with Britain severed in the aftermath of an attack on the British embassy in Tehran in 2011. 'We received the letter from British Prime Minister' David Cameron who expressed the 'desire for a resumption of ties,' ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said. But 'these issues need time and negotiations on an expert level,' he told a news conference, adding that 'it must be decided whether their approach and behaviour have changed.' Britain ordered Iran's embassy in London to shut after closing its own in Tehran following the storming of the compound by hundreds of Islamist students in November 2011." http://t.uani.com/15ehte2   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.