Eye on Iran: Report: Iran Warns US Over Military Move Against Syria

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories AP: "An Iranian commander is warning the United States over a possible military move against the Tehran-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The semi-official Fars news agency, which has close ties to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, quotes Gen. Masoud Jazayeri as warning that 'trespassing over the red line in Syria will have severe consequences for the White House.' Gen. Jazayeri did not provide details but said Washington is well aware of such red lines. He said the war in Syria is a product of a U.S. plot and 'regional reactionary' countries, a common reference to Saudi Arabia and Qatar." http://t.uani.com/19UlQNb AP: "Iranian state television says that the country's president has appointed a private banker as the head of the country's central bank. The report Sunday said President Hasan Rouhani picked Valiollah Seif to run the country's financial regulator. It said Seif will replace outgoing central bank head Mahmoud Bahmani. Seif ran the private Karafarin bank in Iran. He also supports independence for the central bank and a floating rate for Iran's currency, the rial, against foreign currencies. Seif takes over the central bank as sanctions over Iran's disputed nuclear program have been putting heavy pressure on the country's economy for the past two years. Oil exports have been slashed in half and the rial has lost two-thirds of its value since late 2011. Inflation also has shot up in the country." http://t.uani.com/18Vqy8U BDLive: "Telecoms operator MTN has a big legal dispute on its hands stemming from its decision to suspend senior executive Robert Madzonga Mr Madzonga's suspension follows the resignation of group chief financial officer Nazir Patel last month, understood to be linked to governance lapses related to MTN's Iran business. It is a setback in the group's effort to restore its reputation after claims last year that it bribed officials in Iran to score a licence. Mr Madzonga, chief operations officer at the group's South African subsidiary, filed summons on Friday last week against the company, accusing it of suspending him to block an internal grievance claim he had made against senior manager Lily Zondo." http://t.uani.com/17Y8JF2   Syria Conflict AP: "Iran's new president has condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria's civil war without blaming a side for it. In his speech at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Rouhani spoke about how Iran previously was the victim of chemical warfare during its 1980s war with Iraq. The president said the death of innocent people through the use of chemical weapons was 'very distressing.' Rouhani did not elaborate on what his government knew about the chemical weapons use in Syria." http://t.uani.com/19HAsfc Commerce Bloomberg: "Iran will stop paying monthly cash handouts to citizens who don't need the aid, Shargh reported today, citing a member of parliament. The change will be implemented in the new Iranian year staring March 21 and will appear in the budget draft that President Hassan Rohani's government plans to submit by Dec. 21, said Ali Mohammad Ahmadi, a member of the assembly's planning and budgetary committee, according to the Tehran-based newspaper. The decision to cut monthly handouts to several million Iranians will still fulfill the initial goal of the subsidy reform plan and better safeguard the nation's resources, Shargh said. Rohani, who started his term earlier this month, has pledged to revive an economy battered by international sanctions and marked by a weakened national currency and an inflation nearing 38 percent." http://t.uani.com/1fdVNgT Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed countries outside the Middle East on Monday for the region's turmoil and the Shi'ite cleric said regional states backing radical Sunni Islamists would be damaged by conflict. Khamenei, the most powerful man in Iran, made the comments in a meeting with Oman's Sultan Qaboos who was in Tehran on a visit Iranian media said may be an effort to mediate between the United States and the Islamic Republic. If so, Khamenei's comments appeared to be a rebuff of those efforts. 'The main reason behind the status quo in the region is interference from outside the region,' the state news agency Fars quoted Khamenei as saying in a meeting with Qaboos." http://t.uani.com/15bJ67A AP: "Iran welcomed the leader of neighboring Oman Sunday in a visit that has raised hopes that Omani mediation could help ease tensions between Iran and Western powers over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Omani Sultan Qaboos was scheduled to focus on bilateral and international affairs during his three-day visit. In the past, Oman has played a mediating role in helping to help release Iranian and American nationals from both countries' prisons. In the run-up to the current visit, Iranian newspapers raised speculation that Oman could repeat such mediation in the ongoing dispute over Iran's nuclear program. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, however, denied any knowledge of such an agenda for the visit while speaking to reporters after the sultan's arrival. 'We are not aware if the sultan of Oman is conveying a message,' Zarif said. 'We are ready to discuss various issues he might be interested in raising.'" http://t.uani.com/1dhgVWV AP: "Former top U.S. diplomat Jeffrey Feltman has arrived in Iran for talks on Syria and Egypt, his second visit to Tehran in a year as top U.N. envoy. Feltman is now the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs. He previously served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs until May of last year. Iran's state TV showed Feltman meeting Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, saying the two discussed regional issues including Syria." http://t.uani.com/16KUFzG   Opinion & Analysis UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman in The Algemeiner: "It is important to remember that the people of Iran are not the problem: in fact, they are the primary victims of this brutal regime. According to the February report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, '...there continue to be widespread systemic and systematic violations of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.' The report expressed concern about 'the widespread use of torture' by Iranian authorities. The regime is also notorious for the horrific practice of public hangings from building cranes: 58 of them in 2012. Short of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities that everyone hopes to avoid, what non-military actions can we support to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons? Over the past five years, the non-partisan advocacy group that I am a part of, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), has been warning of the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran, and working to prevent this nightmare. Through its campaigns, UANI has pressured dozens of major multinational companies to end their business in Iran, thereby providing more leverage for the diplomatic efforts to reach a negotiated solution. As the nuclear clock ticks, we want to pressure more companies to leave Iran, and force the regime to choose between having a nuclear weapon and having a functioning economy. It is time to understand that there is an inextricable link between the human rights situation in Iran and the threat Iran already poses to world peace. A regime that murders its own children will not hesitate to murder the children of other countries. We see this in Iran's support for terrorist organizations, and in the massive support provided by Iran and Hezbollah to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. A nuclear-armed Iran would feel emboldened to do even worse. Supporting peace is a supreme act of Tikkun Olam. But as Eleanor Roosevelt reminded us, 'It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it.' That is why working to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran is indeed an act of Tikkun Olam." http://t.uani.com/17gDcxZ New York Times Editorial: "It would be naïve to assume that the path to ending Iran's isolation is now clear. Hostilities between America and Iran have hardened since the 1979 Islamic revolution. For some time after the covert nuclear program was discovered in 2002, Iranian officials shrewdly played a weak hand to divide the international community and avoid sanctions. It seems likely that Mr. Rouhani, with his benign demeanor, seductive tone and more 'moderate' message, will be more focused, serious and skillful in negotiations than Mr. Ahmadinejad, but still unyielding in Iran's core demand to retain significant nuclear capability. Even so, there are strong forces propelling both sides toward a deal. Harsh sanctions imposed by the United States, Europe and the United Nations since 2009 have devastated Iran's economy, which Mr. Rouhani is desperate to revive. Although there is no evidence that Iran has produced a nuclear weapon, its program has steadily advanced, prompting both President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to warn of possible military action. At a time when the Middle East and South Asia are in turmoil, there are also many regional issues that could benefit from American-Iranian cooperation, including Afghanistan and Syria. President Rouhani is sending strong signals that he will dispatch a pragmatic, experienced team to the table when negotiations resume, possibly next month. That's when we should begin to see answers to key questions: How much time and creative thinking are he and President Obama willing to invest in a negotiated solution, the only rational outcome? How much political risk are they willing to take, which for Mr. Obama must include managing the enmity that Israel and many members of Congress feel toward Iran?" http://t.uani.com/15pAoQz   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.