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Top Stories
Reuters:
"A majority of senators have urged President Barack Obama to raise
pressure on Iran over its disputed nuclear program by toughening
sanctions and renewing the option to use military force while also
exploring diplomatic solutions. The senators' letter to Obama came as
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, who has cast himself as a moderate and
pledged to pursue less confrontational policies abroad, took office. 'We
must be prepared to act and Iran must see that we are prepared,' 76
senators in the 100-member body said in the letter, sent late on Friday
ahead of Rouhani's swearing in on Sunday. Until they see a significant
slowdown of Iran's nuclear activities, 'we believe our nation must
toughen sanctions and reinforce the credibility of our option to use
military force at the same time as we fully explore a diplomatic solution
to our dispute with Iran,' the senators said in the letter. The letter,
spearheaded by Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and
five other senators from both parties, urged Obama to demand Iran take
immediate steps, including moving toward compliance with U.N. Security
Council resolutions that say Iran must suspend enrichment of uranium.
'Iran needs to understand that the time for diplomacy is nearing its
end,' the letter said." http://t.uani.com/16rDLVb
BBC:
"Iran's new president has called for 'serious and substantive' talks
with the international community about the Islamic Republic's nuclear
programme. At the first news conference since his inauguration, Hassan Rouhani
said he was confident both sides' concerns could be resolved in a short
time. But a solution could be reached 'solely through talks, not
threats', he warned. On Sunday, the US said his presidency presented an
opportunity for Iran to resolve the world's 'deep concerns'. 'Should this
new government choose to engage substantively and seriously to meet its
international obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, it
will find a willing partner in the United States,' it added." http://t.uani.com/154B9tM
AFP:
"The European Union urged Iran's new president on Monday to make
'rapid progress' towards resolving concerns over the country's disputed
nuclear programme after he struck an apparently more conciliatory
stance... 'We take note of the new President's words,' said Michael Mann,
spokesman for EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton, who has led talks
with Tehran on the nuclear dispute. 'We hope that the new Iranian
government will be prepared to make rapid progress towards addressing
international concerns about its nuclear programme and engage
constructively on the (P5+1) proposal for confidence-building,' Mann
said." http://t.uani.com/16wYRDL
Sanctions
WSJ: "Web-hosting service provider
Web.com said a unit it acquired had provided domain-registration services
to Iranian entities, and has since shut them down. The disclosure, made
Friday in an earnings statement pursuant to sanctions law signed last
year, said Network Solutions LLC, or NetSol, a unit Web.com acquired in
October 2011, sold domain-registration services to three Iranian entities
between 1999 and 2002. Domain-name registration services consist of
accepting and processing applications for the registration, renewal and
transfer of domain names through the company's registrar, the disclosure
said. The disclosure shows how U.S. sanctions on Iran stretch beyond its
nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful, or financing surrounding
it. 'Business with Iran is fraught with peril, no matter what type of
business it is,' said Hugh Jones, president and chief executive of
BankersAccuity, a consultancy. NetSol provided the services to Valfajr
8th Shipping Line Co. SSK, which was placed under sanctions in 2008; the
Iran Marine Industrial Co., which was designated in 2012; and the Islamic
Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization, which Web.com said it
thinks is an Iranian governmental entity." http://t.uani.com/171eH7s
Business Standard:
"The US has warned Pakistan that its bilateral gas pipeline project
with Iran could attract American sanctions, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
has said. The United States had warned that it could invoke sanctions
against the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in future, Sharif said
without giving details. He made the remarks while interacting with a
delegation of the Pakistan Journalists Forum at his son's home at Jeddah
in Saudi Arabia, where he is on a private visit. Last week, Petroleum
Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said Pakistan would continue work on the
pipeline and 'discuss the project with the new Iranian cabinet for
seeking the entire financing' for the USD 1.8 billion venture. Reports
said Pakistan wants Iran to fully finance the project due to fears that
US sanctions could hit funding for the project." http://t.uani.com/11JJTIA
Domestic
Politics
Reuters:
"By choosing ministers known more for their experience than their
political views, President Hassan Rouhani has proposed a cabinet that
achieves a rare feat in Iranian politics - it satisfies both reformist
and conservative factions. Rouhani's presidency has raised hopes in
diplomatic circles that the moderate cleric with links to all of Iran's
often-feuding factions can be someone the West can talk to and at least
defuse tensions over the nuclear dispute. Perhaps wanting to take
advantage of the tide of goodwill, Rouhani handed his list of ministerial
nominations to parliament immediately after he was sworn in on Sunday.
Allies of the conservative, so-called 'Principlists' whom Rouhani
defeated in the June polls still dominate parliament, and getting them to
approve each of his ministers will be the president's first
challenge." http://t.uani.com/11JIdPl
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI CEO Amb. Mark
Wallace & UANI Advisory Board Member Mark Lagon in FP:
"This past Saturday, Iran inaugurated a new president -- former
nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani. And while there is rightly a consensus
that Rouhani's victory will do little to change Iran's foreign policy,
domestic policy is another matter. Indeed, there are strong indications
that Rouhani plans to pursue a new domestic agenda to increase the
regime's diminishing popularity among Iranians. Specifically, Rouhani,
who has portrayed himself as a populist reformer, may try to cosmetically
improve the human rights situation in Iran. At the same time, the regime
may use such action to present itself to the world as 'changed,' and buy
precious time to complete its nuclear program. The international
community must not allow this to happen. A word about the Iranian nuclear
program: Most everyone agrees that Iran is getting closer and closer to
having the nuclear weapons capability it has long sought. While there are
differing opinions on when it will reach fruition, the bottom line is
that the program is advancing, and this event is not a decade away, but
one poised to happen in the near future. Time is of the essence, and the
current trajectory has to change. This is why Americans should be highly
concerned about the disaster that could come from the international
community buying into a Rouhani-led charm offensive and easing the
current pressure on Iran. From Rouhani's perspective, Iran's human rights
situation is the perfect area to claim to be reforming. Iran's treatment
of its own citizens is absolutely appalling, as citizens are commonly
denied free speech, fair trials, and personal liberties. Iranians are
targeted and punished for their religions, ethnicities, and sexual
orientations. Hundreds are executed, some publicly by construction crane
or gallows, for minor or nonexistent offenses. Journalists and dissidents
are increasingly being monitored, imprisoned, beaten, and in some cases
killed. The Iranian regime behaves abysmally in many ways, but its human
rights abuses are unique in that they cannot be blamed on the West. The
regime commonly faults the West and sanctions for the dismal economic
situation in Iran, ignoring its own economic mismanagement and
kleptocratic structures. Likewise, it carries out international terror
attacks and threatens military strikes, claiming that it is defending
itself from Western aggression. Yet when it comes to beating, torturing,
and killing Iranians without due process, there is no external boogeyman
for the regime to blame. This is in fact a crucial reason why the
international community needs to continue to uncover and highlight the
regime's abuses -- doing so shows the Iranian people that the world sees
the cruel nature of the men that unjustly rule them. It also strengthens
the case for why the international community should ratchet up sanctions
and do what it takes to prevent this violent and aggressive regime from
having a nuclear weapon at its disposal... And therein lies the most
immediate problem. Khamenei and Rouhani will be glad to see a tamping
down of the current restiveness in the country, but they are also likely
to portray such 'improvements' to the rest of the world as evidence of
change and buy time to continue their nuclear program and try to roll
back or stall current sanctions. It is imperative that the international
community not fall for this trick. No real change will occur under this
theocracy. Cosmetic change is not a reason to give the regime economic
relief, and the time it needs to finish its nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/17ude8N
David Feith in
WSJ: "It is often easier to deny reality than to
face it, so journalists and diplomats are still talking up the
'moderation' of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani-despite his record of
cracking down on student protesters, leading Iran's National Security
Council as it exported terrorism world-wide, and providing years of
diplomatic cover for Tehran's nuclear program. Now that Mr. Rouhani has
been inaugurated and unveiled his cabinet on Sunday, we get to hear about
the 'moderates' populating his brain trust. Chief among them is Mohammad
Javad Zarif, slated to be foreign minister. At 53, Mr. Zarif has decades
of experience living in the U.S. as a student (at the University of
Denver and San Francisco State University) and diplomat, most notably as
Iran's ambassador to the United Nations from 2002-07. 'Iran Nominee Seen As
Olive Branch to United States,' blares a headline from Reuters. His
appointment, asserts Bloomberg News, 'suggests the new Iranian president
would like to break a 34-year impasse between the Islamic Republic and
the U.S.' Anything's possible, but those expecting a breakthrough from
Mr. Zarif might want to consult video of a visit he made to Columbia
University in 2006. It shows Mr. Zarif sounding a lot like now-former
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Holocaust-denying firebrand that
Tehran's apologists like to portray as an aberration in Iranian politics.
At the Columbia event, student Jordan Hirsch, a former Bartley Fellow at
The Wall Street Journal, asked Mr. Zarif, 'Do you personally believe that
six million Jews died in the Holocaust?' 'Well,' answered the ambassador,
'I believe a great atrocity was committed in the Second World War. The
question that needs to be asked is, What is the crime committed by the
Palestinians in that atrocity?' ... Straight from the Ahmadinejad
playbook, just spoken in fluent English. Fluent enough to be understood
by any American inclined to be sanguine about Iran's new president and
his team." http://t.uani.com/19KMarZ
Sohrab Ahmari in
WSJ (Video): "Assistant books editor Sohrab Ahmari
on why Western powers--and media outlets--continue to portray Tehran's
new leader as something he isn't." http://t.uani.com/1epKEsW
Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center: "Following the inauguration of
Hassan Rouhani-the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran
(IRI)-into office this past Saturday, August 3, it was announced that
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former IRI Deputy Intelligence Minister, was
nominated to be the IRI's new Minister of Justice. While some of
Rouhani's other cabinet nominations include moderate and reformist leaning
politicians Mohammad Javad Zarif (Foreign Minister), Bijan Zanganeh (Oil
Minister) and Mohammad Ali Najafi (Education Minister), as well as
leading reformist Eshaq Jahangiri as his first Vice President and top
deputy, Rouhani's selection of Pourmohammadi, a member of an association
of conservative political clergy, stands in stark contrast. Of particular
note is Pourmohammadi's record of human rights violations during his
tenure as Deputy Intelligence Minister from 1987 until 1999. During this
period, Pourmohammadi was directly involved in the mass executions of
members of leftist political groups in Iranian prisons in 1988, the
extrajudicial assassinations of political opponents abroad and the
unlawful killings of dissidents within Iran's borders. As reported in
IHRDC's September 2009 report, Deadly Fatwa: Iran's 1988 Prison Massacre,
Mostafa Pourmohammadi acted as the Ministry of Information's
representative on a three-person committee that sentenced prisoners from
political opposition groups to death in 1988. The execution of thousands
of prisoners in the summer and fall of 1988, or what has come to be known
as the '1988 prison massacre', remains one of the single most brutal
periods in the history of the IRI." http://t.uani.com/171kwSz
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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