Eye On Iran: Iran's New President Says Country Elected Him to Bring Change in Foreign Policy

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories AP: "Iran's new president said Saturday that his countrymen elected him to change the country's foreign policy and shift away from the bombastic style adopted under his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Hasan Rouhani said his government will adjust its tactics to reach out to world powers. But he said the Islamic Republic will retain its principles. 'We don't have the right to use foreign policy to chant slogans or clap,' Rouhani said. 'Foreign policy is not where one can speak or take a position without paying attention,' he said during the inauguration of Iran's new foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. 'People in the June 14 elections declared that they want a new foreign policy,' the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying." http://t.uani.com/19taDzA Bloomberg: "Sasol Ltd., the world's biggest coal-to-gasoline producer, sold its stake in an Iranian unit after writing down the value of the business. Sasol sold its 50 percent stake in Arya Sasol Polymer Co. to Main Street 1095  Ltd., a South African subsidiary of an Iranian investor, the Johannesburg-based company said today in a statement, without disclosing a price. 'As a result of this transaction, Sasol has no ongoing investment in Iran,' the company said in the statement." http://t.uani.com/17XNXEi FNA: "United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to participate in the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in September. In a phone conversation with the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday, the UN chief congratulated Zarif on his success to win the Iranian parliament's vote of confidence, and invited officially the Iranian president to partake in the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly which will be held in New York in September." http://t.uani.com/1dlNtNW   Nuclear Program & Sanctions Reuters: "Iran has installed 18,000 uranium-enrichment centrifuges, the country's outgoing nuclear chief was quoted as saying by Iranian media on Saturday. The U.S. and its Western allies are pressing Iran to curb its uranium enrichment program, which they suspect is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons capability, but Iran refuses and insists its nuclear activity is for purely peaceful purposes. New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a former nuclear negotiator who oversaw a previous deal to suspend Iran's uranium enrichment, has welcomed new talks with world powers over the program but has insisted on Iran's right to enrich uranium. Iran has 17,000 older 'first-generation' IR-1 centrifuges, of which 10,000 are operating and 7,000 are ready to start operations, the ISNA news agency quoted Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, outgoing head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), as saying." http://t.uani.com/1bMdyUS AP: "The European Union's foreign policy chief says she will 'soon' meet the new Iranian foreign minister amid the need for swift and substantial talks over Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Catherine Ashton's office said the 28-nation bloc's top diplomat called Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday to congratulate him on his appointment. Ashton says she and the nations negotiating with Iran on the nuclear issue - the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany - are looking forward to engage with Tehran's new negotiating team as soon as it is appointed to find a diplomatic solution." http://t.uani.com/12iss27 AP: "Iran's former defense minister says his country is ranked sixth in the world in missile production. The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi on Sunday as saying that Iran reached this level of manufacturing by 'attaining domestic technology for building solid fuel missiles, as well as designing and manufacturing surface-to-surface long-range missiles.' Vahidi also claimed that Iran is first in the Middle East in missiles production. He gave no specific figures." http://t.uani.com/17XN3Ye Commerce Wall Street Journal: "Iran's Bank Mellat is claiming GBP500 million ($782 million) from the U.K. Treasury after a London court ruled against a British decision to sanction the bank, a defense lawyer said Sunday. The claim underscores the financial risks faced by Western governments as they seek to enforce sanctions over Iran's controversial nuclear program. The U.K.'s 'Supreme Court has referred [the claim] to the High Court so it can assess the loss' to Mellat due to sanctions, said lawyer Sarosh Zaiwalla, a senior partner at Zaiwalla and Co. LLP, who represents the bank. In June, the U.K.'s highest court ruled against sanctions that had been imposed on Bank Mellat, Iran's largest private bank, as a result of its alleged links to Tehran's nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/16Cowwt BDLive: "Mobile operator MTN has suspended one of its top executives, Robert Madzonga, partly because he authorised R12.3m in shady payments to a lawyer he knew. This adds to MTN's list of scandals over the past two years. Last year, MTN was accused of paying hefty bribes in Iran to steal a cellular licence from rival Turkcell. Last month, the group's finance chief, Nazir Patel, resigned under a cloud after allegedly breaking procedures in how he diverted money out of Iran. Mr Madzonga's suspension won't help the company's efforts to restore its reputation." http://t.uani.com/1eWRyGl Human Rights Domestic Affairs Bloomberg: "Iranian President Hassan Rohani's new government set to work on overhauling the Ahmadinejad administration's 'unrealistic' budget to prevent shortfalls and ensure the availability of basic goods until spring time. At the cabinet's first meeting yesterday, ministers agreed this year's budget will be reviewed and a new version presented "within two weeks maximum," the Tehran-based newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad said in today's edition. Iran's fiscal year ends on March 20, 2014. Current projected revenue won't be met and the budget will be reviewed to avoid overspending, deputy for planning Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said Aug. 17, according to the state-run Fars news agency. First Vice-President Eshagh Jahangiri said a planning official from the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told him in a meeting recently that a third of the revenue stated in the budget is 'unrealistic,' Fars said in a separate report yesterday." http://t.uani.com/151f1oq AP: "Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards paramilitary units plan to teach drone-hunting to school students, an Iranian newspaper reported Monday. The report by pro-reform Etemad daily quoted Gen. Ali Fazli, acting commander of the Guard's Basij militia, as saying the new program will be taught as part of a 'Defensive Readiness' lesson in high schools from late September. He did not elaborate but the plan suggests students would be taught how to track and bring down drone aircraft by hacking their computer systems. Iranian hardliners have long sought a larger role for the military in the country's education system. Students at both junior and senior high schools currently take courses focusing on 'civil defense.'" http://t.uani.com/19tb90g Opinion & Analysis Jason Rezaian in the Washington Post: "'[A] wide variety of demands from these constituencies have been made upon his new government,' said Kevan Harris, a Princeton University sociologist who conducted research in Iran during the election campaign. Satisfying those constituents while navigating the challenges posed by domestic political adversaries and foreign powers is a skill Rouhani's predecessors lacked, political analysts say. Analysts familiar with Iran's political terrain say there are several things he can do to maintain the momentum that swept him to a first-round election victory. They include addressing rising inflation and unemployment and easing some domestic security measures - for instance, releasing political prisoners and allowing a freer flow of information. He could also make clear his willingness to engage with other countries, especially the United States and Western European nations, in tackling regional concerns. Rouhani is unusual among Iran's presidents, analysts say, because he appears to think that a country with so many competing interests cannot be ruled by a single faction and plans to include in the government figures from across the political spectrum. By appointing ministers and advisers based on merit and previous experience rather than ideology, Rouhani is sending a message to Iranians that there will be less government interference in their daily lives." http://t.uani.com/16WncBg 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.