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Top Stories
Fox News:
"Westerners hoping Iran's new president will help lead Tehran in a
more moderate direction won't find much support in the cabinet Hasan
Rowhani has assembled. Rowhani's 18-member, all-male, all-Shiite Muslim
panel of close advisers includes hard-line holdovers, infamous former
intelligence officers and one former justice minister known for ordering
mass executions of political prisoners. The picks, which are likely to
win the approval of the nation's conservative parliament this week, belie
Rowhani's claims during the election that he would be more moderate than
his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 'His cabinet reflects who he is,'
said Mark Wallace, chief executive officer of United Against Nuclear
Iran. 'He is a savvy political operator who uses the balancing of a
variety of different forces to maintain the status quo.' ... One
intriguing pick is foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, an
American-educated career diplomat and former ambassador to the United
Nations who could emerge as a key in negotiations with the West over
Iran's rogue nuclear program. Zarif studied at the University of Denver
and his children were born in the United States. 'Zarif was seen as the
back channel for so many years here in the U.S. as ambassador and
provided hope for so many American diplomats, but obviously that didn't
work,' Wallace said. 'The question becomes, will Zarif be any more
empowered to make those changes now?'" http://t.uani.com/1cxlRro
WSJ:
"India's finance minister said Monday that the country wants to
boost imports of Iranian crude as it wrestles with economic woes-a step
that comes weeks after the U.S. State Department exempted New Delhi from
sanctions and one that could complicate U.S. efforts to pressure Tehran
into ending its nuclear program. The minister, P. Chidambaram, didn't
disclose details of the Indian government's plan, one of a series of
steps aimed at dealing with the country's persistent current-account
deficit and its plunging currency. As a result of U.S. and European
sanctions targeting Iranian oil exports, Iranian crude shipments to India
were down 26.5% in the year ended March 31 from a year earlier, a result
welcomed by Washington. In June, the State Department exempted several
countries, including China and India, from financial sanctions targeting
Iranian oil sales because those countries continued to reduce their
purchases. But on Monday, Mr. Chidambaram indicated a change in course.
'Within the U.N. sanctions and fully complying with the sanctions, there
may be more space for imports from Iran,' he said. Under the plan,
Iranian oil would be purchased with Indian rupees, which Iran would then
use to buy Indian goods-potentially including food, drugs, consumer
products and auto parts-for shipment to Iran." http://t.uani.com/17mdbNB
Reuters:
"Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah's disdain for Iran leaps from U.S.
embassy cables. 'May God prevent us from falling victim to their evil,'
he told U.S. officials, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks.
According to another, he told his own diplomats he wanted Washington to
'cut off the head of the snake'. On the other side of the Gulf, Iran's
contempt for Saudi Arabia crackles through a report on its hardline
Mashregh website. The kingdom's ruling family, it said, was 'drowning in
corruption and prostitutes'. Into this toxic environment steps Iran's
newly inaugurated President Hassan Rouhani, promising to improve what may
well be the single most venomous and destructive relationship in the
entire Middle East... Still, few believe he can draw the poison out of
the Cold War-style rivalry at the heart of the Middle East." http://t.uani.com/1d36bdb
Nuclear Program
RIA Novosti: "Iran intends to sign
an agreement with Russia soon on the construction of a new nuclear power
plant in the Islamic Republic, Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency
reported on Sunday, citing Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.
'Iran has held consultations with the Russian side and soon an agreement
of mutual understanding will be signed on the construction of a new
nuclear power plant,' Mehr quoted Salehi as saying... Rouhani said Iran
needed to produce 20,000 MW of nuclear power and planned to build new
nuclear power plants and continue cooperation in this sphere, in
particular, with Russia." http://t.uani.com/1cKkwwv
Sanctions
Reuters: "Hindustan Petroleum
will resume buying Iranian oil if the government unveils an adequate
back-up plan for local insurers to provide cover for its refineries, its
head of refineries B. K. Namdeo said on Monday. HPCL along with MRPL had
stopped purchases due to difficulties getting insurance for refineries
processing Iranian oil, forcing New Delhi to look at providing its own
reinsurance after European firms backed out over sanctions. India is
thinking of providing a 20 billion rupee state guarantee to back local
insurance for plants using Iranian oil, an industry source said last
week. 'We are waiting for a clarification from the finance ministry how
they are going about it... If insurance clause comes in our favour then
we will process Iranian oil,' Namdeo told a news conference. He said the
company in its annual strategy for this fiscal year had kept a provision
to buy 20,000 bpd Iranian oil. But a company official said on condition
of anonymity that the planned 40 billion rupees reinsurance cover was not
sufficient as HPCL's 'one time maximum permissible claim under the
current policy is about 54 billion rupees.'" http://t.uani.com/17L8A6A
LAT:
"Gov. Jerry Brown's desk is getting more cluttered as lawmakers this
week resumed sending him legislation, including a measure aimed at making
sure state-chartered banks are not funneling money to the government of
Iran. The Iran bill was introduced by Robert Blumenfield, a Democrat from
Woodland Hills, before he left the state Assembly in July to take a seat
on the Los Angeles City Council. The measure directs the California
Commissioner of Financial Institutions to look for transactions with Iran
when doing audits of state-chartered financial institutions every two
years... Blumenfield said AB 978 was inspired by New York officials'
discovery in 2012 that Standard Chartered Bank had tens of thousands of
transactions with Iran for nearly a decade." http://t.uani.com/16IkLBW
Bloomberg:
"Leoni [German maker of cables and wires] needed to scale down
capacity at a plant in Stolberg, Germany, after cable projects for the
petrochemical industry in Iran were canceled because of international
trade sanctions, the wiremaker said." http://t.uani.com/147abT5
Domestic
Politics
WashPost:
"Hassan Rouhani's new presidency in Iran is facing its first hurdle,
with members of the country's conservative-dominated parliament
questioning whether some top cabinet nominees have supported Iran's foes.
Public hearings that began Monday have turned bitterly contentious, with
hard-line lawmakers singling out for particular criticism Rouhani's picks
for oil minister and foreign minister. Some observers have dismissed the
challenge as little more than political theatrics from hard-liners who
feel marginalized since Rouhani, a moderate cleric and former nuclear
negotiator, won Iran's June 14 presidential election resoundingly. Most
of Rouhani's nominees are still expected to be confirmed. But the
opposition has nevertheless turned hostile, with some lawmakers
suggesting that Rouhani's choices reflect a greater sympathy for
opponents of the previous Iranian government than he showed during his
election campaign." http://t.uani.com/18rVfSI
Bloomberg:
"Iran's President Hassan Rohani, who has promised to back women's
increased participation in Iranian society, appointed Elham Aminzadeh as
his vice-president for legal affairs. Rohani cited her 'scientific
competence and judicial qualifications as well as legislative experience
and moral merits' in his appointment letter, which was published on the
president's website. Rohani appointed former industry minister Eshagh
Jahangiri as his first vice-president a day after he took the oath of
office... Her appointment comes after some female activists criticized
Rohani for nominating only men for his 18-member cabinet. The candidates'
background and qualifications are being reviewed by the parliament this
week for approval." http://t.uani.com/122bdSx
Opinion &
Analysis
Senator Mark Kirk
& Rep. Eliot Engel in WSJ: "Should Congress push
ahead with new sanctions that could bring the Iranian economy to
near-ruin in order to stop the country's nuclear program? Right now in
Washington, many of our colleagues are answering no to that question.
They argue that the tough sanctions enacted by Congress over the past
several years have already helped bring about a change of leadership in
Iran-replacing a hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with Hasan
Rouhani in June's election. They argue that Mr. Rouhani is a moderate who
is eager to enter genuine negotiations with the West about the country's
nuclear program. Given this shift, they say, now is the time for the
United States to offer Iran an olive branch. The way to show our good
faith is to avoid imposing tougher economic sanctions. We disagree. While
we respect policy makers who hold such views and know they share our goal
of a nuclear-free Iran, we don't believe that easing up on the pressure
is the way to get there. On the contrary, we are convinced that taking
immediate steps to increase the pain of sanctions is the only way to
persuade the Iranian leadership to change course. The Islamic Republic,
one of the most brutal regimes in the world, stands at the threshold of a
nuclear-weapons capability. The thought of dictators who disregard the
value of human life at home and pledge genocide abroad having a nuclear
weapon should frighten every American. To be clear: Iran did not hold a
free and fair election earlier this summer. The Iranian people were
forced to choose between a select group of regime insiders who had been
carefully vetted and hand-picked by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. More
than 600 would-be candidates were disqualified. Reformists were kept
under house arrest. The Internet was tightly controlled in the weeks
leading up to the vote. In the end, Mr. Rouhani won. Though the word
'moderate' often precedes his name in news stories, Iran's new president
is no reformer. For more than two decades, he served as the supreme
leader's personal representative to Iran's national security council. The
council oversees a range of illicit activities-from cracking down on
student protestors at home to supporting terrorist groups, like
Hezbollah, abroad. During a 2004 speech Mr. Rouhani boasted about how his
rope-a-dope negotiating strategy with the West enabled Iran to stall
while advancing its nuclear program. As President Rouhani calls for
'serious' talks with the West, Iran's centrifuges spin, its test missiles
launch, its terrorist proxies plot, and its human-rights abuses escalate.
The Pentagon reports that Iran could flight test an intercontinental
ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. by 2015. Just last month,
the nonpartisan Institute for Science and International Security, using
data provided by United Nations inspectors, estimated that Iran would
achieve nuclear critical capability-the technical know-how to produce
sufficient weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear explosive without being
detected-by the middle of 2014. We believe the U.S. must exhaust all
nonmilitary options to prevent Iran from achieving critical capability.
Our most effective tool for avoiding a military strike is enacting
harsher sanctions... The House voted 400 to 20 last month to approve such
measures. It's time for the Senate to act. By strengthening sanctions, we
are not calling for an end to diplomacy. But after many years of
fruitless negotiations, it is clear that talks will only succeed if the regime
feels pressure to change course-and not as a result of misplaced optimism
over a new face for the same regime that has not wavered in its pursuit
of nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/1225g8n
Robert Joseph in
NRO: "The United States and its European partners
have a long record of anticipating diplomatic breakthroughs when a new
leader comes to power in a hostile state. Remember Yuri Andropov, the
former KGB boss who rose to power at the height of the Cold War? Never
mind the central role he had in crushing democratic uprisings in Hungary
and Czechoslovakia, or his brutal repression of domestic dissidents
through such innovative techniques as widescale incarcerations in
'psychiatric hospitals.' Upon his assuming the position of general
secretary, Western leaders were quick to note that he was known to listen
to Glenn Miller and drink Scotch. Presumably on that basis, he was
described as 'a man we can do business with.' It was only the downing of
a South Korean airliner by Soviet fighters, killing 269 passengers and
crew, that brought an end to the illusion that Andropov would usher in an
era of cooperation. This greeting of new leaders in authoritarian states
as harbingers of positive outcomes continues today. When Kim Jong Un
assumed power in North Korea, there was optimism all around that the
West's desire for engagement would be reciprocated. After all, he had
studied in Switzerland as a young boy. But within a few months, reality
once again reared its ugly head. Pyongyang launched a long-range missile,
tested a nuclear device, and threatened a preemptive attack on the United
States. Today, we see the same dynamic at work with Iran, and it could
undermine any remaining prospects for a diplomatic solution. Hassan
Rowhani, the new president, has been widely described as a 'moderate' or
'relative moderate' whose election represents an 'opportunity' to bring
an end to Iran's nuclear-weapons program. He is the 'diplomat sheikh' - a
'pragmatist' who will negotiate meaningful constraints on Iran's nuclear
activities and permit greater transparency about them. But this
speculation has no factual basis. Rowhani, despite his comforting words
(designed for foreign consumption), is the consummate regime insider. His
loyalty to the Supreme Leader is unquestionable - not least because he
was one of only eight candidates whom the regime selected to participate
in the election. He is known for his hardline positions on both the
domestic- and foreign-policy fronts. Rowhani served for 16 years as
secretary of the country's National Security Council and headed the
initial nuclear negotiations with the Europeans. He later publicly
boasted that he fooled his negotiating partners, feigning restraint and
moderation while the program expanded. And we are hearing the same words
of moderation from him today. Nonetheless, the Obama administration is
eagerly preparing for bilateral talks and has signaled its desire to at
least delay additional congressional sanctions. A variant of this same
approach was adopted by the Bush administration with North Korea in 2007
and 2008, when the U.S. eliminated a series of financial and political
sanctions on the regime and received nothing but duplicity in return. The
same outcome is inevitable if this path is followed with Iran. It's
certainly preferable to end Iran's nuclear program diplomatically. But
pursuing diplomacy by relieving, instead of increasing, pressure will
undercut any chance of diplomacy succeeding... While Obama-administration
officials often talk about applying the 'right balance of carrots and
sticks,' once negotiations seem near with Iran, the emphasis is always on
carrots. This betrays precisely the wrong instincts." http://t.uani.com/19qclF3
Majid Rafizadeh in
HuffPo: "After taking the oath of office on Sunday,
the Islamic Republic of Iran's new centrist president, Hassan Rouhani
(who achieved a landslide victory in the June 2013 presidential
elections) held his first news conference since his inauguration. During
the conference, President Rouhani addressed Iran's controversial and a
decades-long nuclear program which has been a substantial concern for the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the international community,
the United States, and its allies. These concerns are primarily aimed at
some of the Tehran's recently revealed clandestine nuclear programs, as
well as at Iran's defiance and violation of the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) resolutions requesting a halt to Iran's enrichment of
uranium. The new president's remarks at the news conference sparked various
reactions from regional and international state actors. He pointed out,
'We are ready -- seriously and without wasting time -- to engage in
serious and substantive talks with the other sides. I am certain the
concerns of the two sides would be removed through talks in a short
period of time.' ... On the surface, it appears that the new president is
deviating from the language used by his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
who favored combative, non-conciliatory, uncompromising language and
rejected most of the talks and negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
Nevertheless, the major question is whether the new president of Iran
will be capable of charting a way that will lead to a resolution over its
controversial nuclear program and satisfy the P5+1 and the international
community at large. Although President Rouhani is using conciliatory
language to address Iran's nuclear enrichment, and although he is not
ideologically opposed to talks on Tehran's nuclear program, Iran's stance
on its nuclear program doesn't appear to deviate from that of former
Iranian President Ahmadinejad's position. Although Rouhani has called for
'serious and substantive talks,' he did not offer any indication that
Iran would suspend its nuclear enrichment even during 'serious and substantive
talks' with the P5+1. At the conference, Rouhani pointed out, 'As the
president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I state that the Islamic
Republic's system is very seriously determined to solve the nuclear
issue. It will defend its people's rights and at the same time will
remove the concerns of the other party.' The other key question is, what
is Hassan Rouhani's real political position on Iran's nuclear program? It
is clear from his first news conference and previous talks that he
believes that he can strike an agreement with the P5+1 by using
conciliatory language; meanwhile, he continues the nuclear program and
Iran's centrifuges continue to spin. The reason that Hassan Rouhani is
using this two-track nuclear policy or the reason that he is using a
double-edged sword is that the past four rounds of international
sanctions have severely weakened Tehran's economy in the region,
devaluated its currency, increased the unemployment rate, isolated Iran,
and augmented inflation. In order to improve the state of Iran's economy
Rouhani does not seem to have any other option rather than using a softer
tone with the international community, P5+1, and IAEA. If Rouhani insists
on continuing Iran's nuclear program while using softer language as he
suggested at the news conference, he may be able to buy a short period of
time. But the ideological and political gap between the international
community and Iran is too deep to bridge or to allow for the
establishment of a permanent agreement." http://t.uani.com/17mcCTL
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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