Top Stories
AFP:
"Iran's president-elect Hassan Rowhani said on Friday Israel was a
foreign body that must be removed, and also cast doubt on efforts to
revive peace talks with the Palestinians. 'The Zionist regime is a wound
inflicted for years on the body of the Muslim world that must be
cleansed,' Rowhani told reporters attending annual Quds Day rallies, in
remarks reported by media. His comments come a day before Rowhani, a
moderate cleric by the standards of Iran's political system, is to assume
the country's highest elected office... In an allusion to fresh peace
talks between the Jewish state and the Palestinian Authority, Rowhani
charged that 'Israel is continuing with its aggressive nature against the
backdrop of an excuse for compromise'. The talks are providing the
Israelis with 'a good opportunity to project a peaceful appearance,' he
said. Iran staged massive rallies to mark annual Quds Day, with speeches
and sermons supporting the Palestinian cause and condemning Israel. State
television broadcast footage of hundreds of thousands of people on the
march nationwide, chanting 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to
America.'" http://t.uani.com/137xr2W
BBC:
"Each year, Iran marks al-Quds - or Jerusalem - Day, bringing
millions of people on to the streets for rallies, celebrations and
speeches. Its overarching theme is support for the Palestinians and
fierce denunciation of Israel, and is as much an expression of policy as
ritual...Jerusalem Day in Iran is nominally about Jerusalem. Yet in
content it is anything but. The slogans chanted during the rallies
organised on Jerusalem Day are primarily 'Death to Israel', a refrain
that sounds as familiar to Iranian ears as any political slogan can get.
The speeches and sermons are a repeat of the same narrative over and
over: Israel is a usurper regime - not a country - and as a state, it
lacks legitimacy. However, the repetition of this narrative, and the
rhetoric that goes with it, has had the effect of turning the plight of
the Palestinians, the victims in this narrative, into a given. Jerusalem
Day has turned into an occasion that says more about the political mood
in Iran than the Palestinians' own situation. Jerusalem Day rallies are a
must for Iranian politicians. Any politician who hopes to establish their
credentials has to be seen and hope to be heard delivering a tirade
against Israel. It confirms their loyalties and reiterates their
identification with what has become an unshakable tenet of Iran's foreign
policy." http://t.uani.com/1bS0MaO
NYT:
"Iran reacted angrily on Thursday to the overwhelming approval of
harsh legislation on sanctions by the House of Representatives, saying
the action would further complicate stalled negotiations aimed at
resolving the protracted dispute over the Iranian nuclear energy program.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said passage of the measure on Wednesday
evening, four days before the inauguration of a new Iranian president who
has expressed his intent to improve relations with the United States,
'simply indicates that neoconservative unilateralism dominates
multilateral sovereignty in the American administration.' The House
measure, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, passed by a 400-to-20 vote...
Advocates of sanctions on Iran welcomed the measure. 'If passed into law,
this legislation would impose a de facto international blockade on Iran's
oil exports and put unprecedented pressure on the Iranian regime,' Mark
D. Wallace, the chief executive of United Against Nuclear Iran, a New
York-based group that has pushed for such a strategy, said in a statement."
http://t.uani.com/1egiG2X
Quds Day
AFP: "Iran's outgoing President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned arch-foe Israel Friday in one of his last
public speeches that a regional storm was brewing that would 'uproot' the
Jewish state. 'I will inform you with God as my witness, a devastating
storm is on the way that will uproot the basis of Zionism,' Ahmadinejad
said in Quds (Jerusalem) Day remarks broadcast on state television. In a
parting shot against Israel, which he has consistently targeted in public
comments during eight years in power, Ahmadinejad said it 'has no place
in this region.'" http://t.uani.com/14M32q8
Reuters:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday Iranian
president-elect Hassan Rouhani had shown his true face after he was
quoted as saying Israel was a 'wound' that must be removed. Netanyahu
said Rouhani, due to take office on Sunday, was no less anti-Israel than
his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and said the world must not allow
Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions and threaten Israel. 'The true face
of Rouhani has been revealed sooner than expected ... this is what the
man thinks and this is the Iranian regime's plan of action,' Netanyahu
said in a statement. 'A nation that threatens to destroy the state of
Israel must not be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction,' he said.
Iran's student news agency reported that Rouhani had said in a speech:
'The Zionist regime is a wound that has sat on the body of the Muslim
world for years and needs to be removed.'" http://t.uani.com/1bS46md
Fars News (Iran):
"The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement on Thursday called on
the Iranian nation to condemn the US attempts to revive 'peace talks'
between Israel and the Palestinians in the International Quds Day rallies
on Friday. The statement issued today urged all Iranian people and other
Muslims and freedom lovers elsewhere in the world to actively take part
in the International Quds Day (August 2) rallies to voice opposition to
the occupation of the Holy Quds, the Zionist Regime's aggressions against
Palestinians and the US efforts to resume the so-called 'peace talks'
between the 'Zionist regime' and the Palestinians. 'These talks, within
their predetermined framework, can never guarantee the interests and
legitimate demands of the oppressed people of Palestine,' part of the
statement read." http://t.uani.com/13seeg3
Nuclear Program
Bloomberg:
"The inauguration of Iran's President Hassan Rohani in two days
restarts the countdown toward a confrontation over the Islamic Republic's
nuclear program as it approaches Israel's 'red line' for military
action. After a decade of fruitless negotiations and tightening
economic sanctions, the next 12 months may make or break the
international effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Such
weapons would pose an existential threat to Israel, endanger the U.S. and
Europe, and trigger a nuclear arms race in the Persian Gulf region...
'There is a 75 percent to 80 percent chance that issue will have come to
a head' by this time next year, said John McLaughlin, a former deputy director
of the Central Intelligence Agency." http://t.uani.com/18WdP9Y
Sanctions
Reuters: "China, Iran's
largest trading partner and top oil customer, repeated its opposition on
Friday to tougher U.S. sanctions on Iran after the House of
Representatives approved a bill aimed at halting Iran's oil exports. The
bill seeks to cut Iran's oil exports by a further one million barrels per
day to near zero over a year, an attempt to reduce the flow of funds to
Tehran's disputed nuclear program. The legislation provides for heavy
penalties for buyers who do not find alternative supplies. 'China has
long advocated resolution through dialogue and negotiations and opposes
unilateral sanctions from one nation based on its domestic laws,' the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a faxed statement to Reuters. 'In
particular, it opposes sanctions that will hurt the interests of a third
party,' it added, without elaborating." http://t.uani.com/14nSfcF
Domestic
Politics
Reuters:
"Vilified abroad for his blistering attacks against the West, blamed
at home for Iran's economic woes and isolated from the supreme leader who
groomed him for power, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leaves the presidency with few
friends and an uncertain future... Ahmadinejad's abrasive rhetoric made
him an easy target for Iran's opponents abroad, and the collapse of the
economy under the weight of international sanctions and domestic
mismanagement made him a magnet for blame at home. But those hoping for a
rapid improvement in the quality of life, swift rapprochement with the
West or more transparency in the way Iran is ruled may soon find that its
problems go deeper than the small man with the scruffy beard and
ill-fitting suits... His final speech as president on Friday was vintage
Ahmadinejad: 'I swear to God that a ferocious storm is coming and it will
uproot the Zionist entity,' he declared on Quds Day, an annual event
devoted to opposing Israeli rule over Jerusalem." http://t.uani.com/14LXiwH
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI Advisory
Board Member Graham Allison in The Atlantic: "That
Iran's nuclear challenge poses the most urgent threat to peace and
security today is widely agreed across the national security community,
and many argue that 2013 will be the decisive year for this issue. As
former Mossad head Ephraim Halevy notes, Israel 'has long believed that
mid-2013 would be an hour of decision in its dealings with Iran.' Henry
Kissinger has recently warned that 'we are in the last year where you can
say a negotiation can conceivably succeed.... If nothing happens, the
president will have to make some really tough decisions.' There can be no
question whatsoever that in 2013 Iran could get a bomb; there is also no
question that Iran could be bombed. But my best judgment is that in 2013
Iran will not get a bomb, and Iran will not be bombed. To be precise, I
am prepared to bet $51 of my money against $49 of those who want to bet
that by December 31, 2013, Iran will either have a nuclear weapon or have
been the target of a major bombing attack. My conclusion is not
meant as a counsel of complacency. Anyone who believes that there is a 20
percent chance that Iran could either get a bomb or be bombed within the
next year should recognize that the consequences of either outcome drive
this issue to the top of the foreign policy agenda, not only for Israel
but for the United States. Assessing Iran's nuclear challenge requires
confronting an array of complex technical issues. Advocates who find
these details too demanding elevate their arguments to higher level
abstractions. On the other hand, too many specialists take a deep dive
into the technicalities in a way that produces fog, only to emerge in the
end with recommendations that they claim follow from unfathomable
analysis. This essay seeks to walk a fine line between technical
realities, on the one hand, and policy debate, on the other. What follows
are the answers to 12 key questions about Iran's nuclear challenge."
http://t.uani.com/1ckXZ9d
Bahram Rafiei in
Rooz: "Two days after Iran's supreme leader set the
goals of the country's foreign policy, and at the same time stressed his
views and directed the country's newly elected president, Hassan Rowhani,
on domestic issues, a number of ayatollah Khamenei's
representatives and the commander of the Basij para-military force that
operates under the control of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), presented
their explanations to clarify the leader's most recent message - should
there be any doubt - and advised Rowhani to be more thinking about how to
'deceive' the world rather than be in 'moderation' with it. Speaking to
Fars news agency which belongs to the IRGC Guards general Mohammad-Reza
Naghdi said, 'The supreme leader defines the high-level policies of the
state. In his most recent speech, ayatollah Khamenei has clearly identified
the priorities of the next administration which he said was the
advancement of the economy and science in the country which the coming
administration would most certainly pursue.' He then turned to
president-elect's central campaign theme of 'moderation' and said,
'Moderation has a religious and an Islamic meaning, while also carrying a
Western interpretation. The newly-elected president most certainly does
not have the Western interpretation of moderation in mind because that
definition means heeding to problems and animosities. In contrast, the
core meaning of moderation is to remain on the rightful course without
being extreme. Moderation is not about taking a middle course between
what is right and wrong.' 'Western moderation means taking a course of action
that is mid-way between what is right and what is void. Islamic
moderation is staying on the path of the Imam's course, that of velayat
(religious leader) and the original course of the revolution,' the deputy
supreme IRGC commander continued. 'This theme was well chosen and we hope
that moderation will take place as it is defined in our culture.' On July
22, a day after ayatollah Khamenei's remarks to the 'officials of the
regime' - in which he essentially said that when an enemy blocked the
country's path, the leaders of the regime needed to find ways to continue
their path while preventing the enemy from blocking them - cleric
Mohammad-Reza Tooysarkani, ayatollah Khamenei's representative in the
Basij also commented on his message. 'We should not view moderation to be
the opposite of possessing the jihadi spirit,' he said. But he went
further and encouraged president-elect Rowhani to be deceitful in his
behavior. 'Just as the supreme leader announced, moderation does not mean
retreat vis-à-vis the desires of the enemy. Rather than being deceived by
the enemies, we must deceive them, through the use of definitive
measures.'" http://t.uani.com/15k1bz0
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