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Top Stories
AP: "Iran's
new foreign minister says that Western sanctions can't force Iran to
change its policy on its nuclear program, though the administration of
the country's new president is taking a new approach in reaching out to
the West. Mohammad Javad Zarif told Iranian state television in an
interview aired Thursday night that the new government of President Hasan
Rouhani won't give up Iran's nuclear rights in negotiations with world
powers." http://t.uani.com/16Ty86k
AP: "Federal
officials in Miami say a man from Sierra Leone has been charged with
brokering a uranium deal intended for Iran. Patrick Campbell was arrested
Wednesday in Queens, N.Y. The 33-year-old made his initial court
appearance Thursday. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's
Homeland Security Investigations office conducted the investigation.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of
Florida, Campbell brokered the supply of goods he knew were destined for
supply to Iran. The complaint alleges that Campbell travelled to the U.S.
from Sierra Leone on Wednesday with a sample of uranium hidden in the
soles of his shoes in his luggage." http://t.uani.com/16BSezj
AP: "New
signs are emerging that international sanctions are taking a deepening
toll on Iran's economy - putting billions of dollars in oil money out of
the government's reach. Yet there is no indication the distress is
achieving the West's ultimate goal of forcing the Islamic Republic to
halt its nuclear program. Iran has proved adept at working around
sanctions and if oil prices don't plummet, U.S. analysts say the country
probably has enough economic stamina to reach what the West suspects is
its true intention - producing nuclear weapons. 'They can hang on for a
long time,' said Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at Johns
Hopkins University who follows Iran's economy. 'The sanctions as a
deterrent for nuclear ambitions are more or less futile because all the
experts will tell you they can (make a weapon) in a couple years.'" http://t.uani.com/16TA4vC
 Syria
Conflict
Jerusalem Post:
"Iran is using Syria as a testing ground and carefully watching how
the world responds to Damascus's use of chemical weapons against its own
people, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. This was
Netanyahu's first public comment on reports of the massacre on Wednesday
of hundreds of Syrian civilians by President Bashar Assad's forces, using
chemical weapons. 'The reported use of chemical weapons against innocent
civilians is terribly disturbing," he said. "If verified, it
will be a horrible addition to the roster of tragic crimes committed by
the Syrian regime against the people of Syria.' The prime minister, in an
allusion to Iran's nuclear program, said the events in Syria further
prove that the world's most dangerous regimes must not be allowed to gain
possession of the world's most dangerous arms." http://t.uani.com/16lYtDZ
Opinion &
Analysis
Lord Alex Carlili
in Roll Call: "Indeed, it was Rouhani who, as Iran's
nuclear negotiator, followed Khamenei's instructions and succeeded in
buying more time for the mullahs to develop a nuclear capability, whilst
the West believed he was negotiating in good faith. During the
inauguration of his new foreign minister, Rouhani was quoted as saying,
'Reconsidering foreign policy doesn't mean a change in principles because
principles remain unchanged.' As for the people whom Rouhani chose for his
cabinet, their membership is quite enlightening and is reassuring to the
Supreme Leader. Putting aside gestures of reform and moderation, let's
look at the facts: The cabinet is riddled with senior officials of the
regime since its inception who have played significant roles in upholding
the regime's principals, namely war, suppression, export of terrorism,
and fundamentalism for the past 34 years - and none among them have been
out of the circle of mullahs' regime officials in that time. Also, not
one woman has been nominated for a ministerial post. The individual who
stands out most is the appointed minister of justice, Mullah Mostafa
Pour-Mohammadi. For years, he worked as deputy to the minister of
intelligence, and in that position he was the principal member of the
three-man Death Committee that played the greatest role in the 1988
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, an overwhelming majority of them
activists of the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin
Organization of Iran. Most of the victims had finished their prison terms
but many had not been released. All of them had been subject to the
mullahs' kangaroo trials earlier and were sentenced to prison terms. But
this time there was no mercy. All were executed. Very few political prisoners
in Iran were spared, and very few eyewitnesses survived. In the final
phases of the Iran-Iraq war, Ayatollah Khomeini, who felt that defeat was
imminent, decided to wipe out the political prisoners. He issued fatwas
(religious decrees) ordering the massacre of all who had not 'repented'
and were not willing to totally collaborate with the regime. Every day,
hundreds of political prisoners were hanged summarily and their corpses
were buried hurriedly in mass graves all over major cities, in particular
Tehran. Twenty-five years later, no one still has any clues on the exact
details of the massacre." http://t.uani.com/13LgWPL
Yeganeh Torbati
& Jon Hemming of Reuters: "U.S. President
Barack Obama has twice written to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei believing that he, not the president, holds ultimate power in
the Islamic Republic and the key to unlocking the dispute over Tehran's
nuclear program. But the surprise emergence of President Hassan Rouhani,
a close associate of Khamenei who advocates moderation, has shown a more
nuanced picture of power in Iran in which the clerical leader listens to
opposing views and then reaches a consensus. Though supreme leader,
Khamenei does not rule supreme. 'Of course Mr. Khamenei has his own
personal viewpoints which in the last 10, 15 years until now have been
stable and he insists on them and repeats them,' said Aliasghar
Ramezanpoor, a former deputy culture minister, listing Khamenei's deep
distrust of the United States, Western cultural influence and his insistence
on the nuclear program as a red line. Himself president from 1981 to
1989, Khamenei 'knows that on administrative issues of the country he
must be flexible,' Ramezanpoor told Reuters. The Iranian political system
is a complex mix of Shi'ite Muslim clerical authority and an elected
president and parliament, overseen by numerous appointed regulatory
councils. Then there are the elite Revolutionary Guards who, as well as
being engaged abroad - for example helping train government forces in
Syria's civil war and supporting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon - also
control large parts of the oil-based economy. Though all roads lead to
the leader, Khamenei also has to satisfy these constituencies and balance
their interests, especially those of the Revolutionary Guards. 'Khamenei
is not a dictator in the classic sense, but there is no question that on
particular issues such as the nuclear file he probably will have the last
word,' said Gary Sick, an Iran expert and former U.S. National Security
Council official." http://t.uani.com/1885SIx
Zachary
Keck in The Diplomat: "In some ways,
placing the nuclear dossier with the Foreign Ministry doesn't change
much. After all, Iran's president already appointed the secretary of the
SNSC. In the past, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has given Iran's
presidents a large degree of latitude in selecting the secretary. For
example, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was allowed to fire Ali Larijani as the
SNSC's secretary, even though Larijani is a close confidante of Supreme
Leader. Khamenei was not willing to extend similar latitude to the former
president when it came to selecting the intelligence minister.Moreover,
although the Foreign Ministry will handle the nuclear negotiations with
the P5+1, Iran has made it clear that the SNSC will still be in charge of
making the strategic decisions involving the nuclear program and
negotiations about it. Because decisions by the SNSC have to be approved
by the Supreme Leader, this means that the ultimate authority in guiding
the negotiations will remain with Khamenei. Still, the decision to have
the Foreign Ministry handle the nuclear negotiations is not entirely
inconsequential. Rather, Iran's decision to move the file to the FM was
intended to be a signal to the West in general and the U.S. in particular.
For being irrational Mullahs bent on the destruction of the U.S., Iranian
leaders are acute followers of American politics (and in many cases
Western literature). Many of the most senior leaders in the country,
including the new foreign minister, studied in the United States before
the 1979 revolution. They also closely monitor debates about Iran and the
Middle East in the United States, and tailor their actions accordingly.
For example, after Khamenei-acting on the advice of all Iran's factional leaders
including the Green Movement- refused to sign onto a nuclear fuel swap
agreement Ahmadinejad had worked out with the P5+1 in late 2009, many in
the West concluded that the Supreme Leader was adamantly opposed to a
deal with the U.S regardless of its contents. When Khamenei later decided
he wanted to conclude a nuclear agreement with the P5+1, he took a number
of steps to convey this change to the West, including giving the SNSC
secretary at the time, Saeed Jalili, the title of personal representative
to the Supreme Leader. The latest decision to have the Foreign Ministry
handle Iran's nuclear negotiations should first be interpreted in a
similar light. Since Rouhani's election as president, skeptics in the
West have tried to dampen down expectations about a possible deal with
Iran by pointing out that Khamenei could keep Rouhani on a tight leash in
handling the nuclear file. By empowering the Foreign Ministry with the
delicate task of negotiating, Iran is seeking to convey to the West that
Rouhani will have substantial latitude in carrying out the upcoming
negotiations. After all, unlike the SNSC, the Foreign Ministry reports
directly to Rouhani and the president's authority isn't diluted by the
presence of other powerful actors, which is the case with the SNSC."
http://t.uani.com/19BnCiz
Charles Ortel in
the Washington Times: "When it comes to Iran's role
stirring trouble, Western leaders remain under a spell, cast decades ago.
Like storm troopers in the movie Star Wars, the United States and other
global peace guardians blithely 'move along,' ignoring obvious problems
inside and outside Iran that pose grave threats to world peace.
Therefore, it is no surprise that President Obama, policy-leaders and the
media heap attention upon an Arab 'Spring' while failing to notice
diabolical effects of a freezing Persian winter. The history of America's
relations with Iran since 1953 is not a tale of glory. Republicans and
Democrats alike have fallen far below professed ideals and failed to
defend American interests in dealings with that ancient nation. Just
because we have foundered for so many years does not mean that we should
forget exactly what we have done. Instead, champions of women's rights
and American values should start by remembering what happened as recently
as June 2009. Eight days following President Obama's lofty appeal for 'A
New Beginning,' thugs running Iran stole the election held there June 12,
2009. Long-simmering tensions within Iran subsequently boiled over and
popular protests swelled. On June 20, 2009, an aspiring female musician
found herself drawn to the streets. Standing amidst stalled traffic and
taking in the spectacle, Neda Agha-Soltan, just 26 years of age, was shot
through the heart by a callous member of the Basij militia. The voices of
outrage were shamefully muted back then-to this day, they remain still,
as if a great power like America must refrain from criticizing a
challenging irritant like Iran. For all its glorious history, Iran in
2013 certainly is not America but Neda's cruel death is cautionary for
numerous reasons. In states like Iran where the general populace cannot
own weapons, tyrants and petty tyrants operate with free hands. This
explains, in part, why Iranians have not truly been free, whether under
the Shah or, since 1979, under a Shia Islamic theocracy, America's
founders, keen students of the full sweep of history, understood the
dangerous and seductive impulses that tempt citizens to give in willingly
to tyranny. In Iran, Neda's public death and the continuing suffering of
countless compatriots bear testimony to the dangers posed when America is
hobbled-when we cannot bring ourselves to discharge the full measure of
our devotion to lofty goals that inspired our country's revolutionary
birth. When forward-looking Iranians were ready for America to lead back
in June 2009, we let Neda and like-minded Iranians down. Instead, hoping
vainly that we might gain somehow from accommodating a brutal regime in
Iran, we avoided involvement in their domestic politics, deciding perhaps
that America had nothing inside Iran to protect. We cannot wash Neda's
blood off our collective hands-four years' later we now face an
emboldened, even more implacable enemy in Iran. That nation is ever
closer to joining the nuclear club. Decades of determined meddling
throughout the Middle East place Iran closer to holding influence over a
substantial portion of the region's energy supplies. Moreover, should
Iran wish to foment trouble in desperate portions of the region, she may
do so on a moment's notice and she likely will choose to defy America at
each turn." http://t.uani.com/14n0Wlj
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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