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Top Stories
AP: "Iran
says it has significantly reduced its stocks of 20 percent-enriched
uranium by converting it to reactor fuel. The announcement appeared aimed
at easing Western concerns over Iran's continuing production of 20
percent uranium, which is enriched to a higher level that that used to
fuel most energy reactors, closer to the 90 percent needed for a warhead.
The U.S. and its allies demand Iran halt all enrichment, which Tehran
rejects. Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told state TV late
Thursday that stocks have fallen from 240 kilograms to around 140
kilograms as it is converted into fuel for a medical research reactor. He
said the remainder is also being converted. An August report by the U.N.
nuclear watchdog put Iran's stockpile 20 percent enriched uranium at
185.5 kilograms." http://t.uani.com/1g9XLzt
AP:
"For 15 years, Iranian presidents have been drawn to the U.N.'s
global stage to mold their image and press their message. Reformist
Mohammad Khatami made his debut before the world body's annual General
Assembly in 1998, declaring himself a 'man from the East' seeking
dialogue with the West. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad went in the other direction,
jabbing at Washington and its allies, and leaving a trail of jaw-dropping
comments such as telling a Columbia University forum in 2007 that Iran
has no gays. Now it's Hasan Rouhani's turn. The U.N. has slotted Iran's
new moderate-leaning president to address the global gathering Sept. 24 -
just hours after U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to wrap up his
speech... Rouhani has given no clear signs on whether Iran could
significantly shift its negotiation positions. In speeches, however, he
has not veered from Iran's demands to keep its uranium enrichment labs
and its denunciations of sanctions as deal-killing pressures. Instead, he
has offered only vague hints of seeking a new way forward." http://t.uani.com/18aybFo
IHR:
"Three prisoners were hanged publicly in the town of Dehdasht
(western Iran) this morning. Two other prisoners were hanged in Shahroud
(northern Iran) on Tuesday September 10. Based on the official and
confirmed unofficial reports at least 24 people have been executed in the
last 12 days in Iran. 17 of these executions have been announced by the
official Iranian sources... The prisoners were hanged in front of
hundreds of people at the Shiroodi Square of Dehdasht, by being pulled up
by a crane." http://t.uani.com/1errjNi
Nuclear
Program
Reuters:
"A date could be set soon for new talks with global powers over
Tehran's nuclear program but Iran will not sacrifice its rights or
interests for the sake of a solution to the dispute, Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani said on Friday... Speaking at a summit of a regional
security group led by Russia and China, Rouhani said a date for new talks
could be set this month during the U.N. General Assembly in New York,
where meetings between Iran and some of the powers are expected." http://t.uani.com/14RwLj7
Reuters:
"Iran will cooperate with the U.N. nuclear agency to find ways to
"overcome existing issues once and for all", Tehran's new envoy
said on Thursday, hinting at a more flexible approach under relatively
moderate President Hassan Rouhani. But Ambassador Reza Najafi, at his
first board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
also repeated Iran's stance that it would not cede what it calls its
legitimate right to a peaceful nuclear energy program. 'Based on its
rights and obligations recognized under the NPT (Non-Proliferation
Treaty), Iran is ready to faithfully engage and remove any ambiguity on
its nuclear activities,' Najafi told the 35-nation governing board of the
IAEA." http://t.uani.com/15WzNmy
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Dubai's non-oil trade with Iran shrank 12 percent in the first half
of 2013, a sign that Western sanctions continue to inflict fresh damage
on the Iranian economy, data showed on Thursday. Dubai, across the Gulf
from Iran and home to tens of thousands of ethnic Iranians, has long been
a major commercial hub for the Iranian economy, re-exporting consumer
goods from other countries to the Islamic republic. This role suffered
after U.S. financial sanctions, imposed in late 2011 over Iran's disputed
nuclear programme, caused banks in Dubai and around the world to cut back
sharply on Iran-related business. Two-way trade between Dubai and Iran,
excluding oil, fell to 10.8 billion dirhams ($2.9 billion) in
January-June from 12.3 billion dirhams in the same period of 2012, the Dubai
customs authority said in a written answer to Reuters questions... Iran
now accounts for a mere 1.6 percent of Dubai's total non-oil trade."
http://t.uani.com/15pG6ST
Bloomberg:
"New York state's financial regulator has expanded its investigation
of conflicts of interest in the banking industry with subpoenas of
consulting firms, a person familiar with the matter said. Promontory
Financial Group LLC and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP were sent subpoenas by
the Department of Financial Services during the past several months, said
the person who asked not to be identified because the matter wasn't
public. Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York's Department of
Financial services, asked Promontory to provide information related to
its work with Standard Chartered Plc, which agreed to pay $667 million
last year to his department and other regulators to settle charges of
violating U.S. laws concerning money transfers to Iran. The subpoena also
asks Promontory to provide information about its work with another bank
suspected of transferring dollars to Iran, the person said. The
PricewaterhouseCoopers subpoena is related to the consulting firm's work
with Mitsubishi UFJ-Bank of Tokyo, the person said. In June, the Tokyo
bank agreed to pay $250 million to Lawsky's department to settle claims
that it had engaged in improper dollar transfers to Iran, Sudan and
Myanmar." http://t.uani.com/1daE8Yq
Syria
Conflict
BBC:
"Video footage has emerged that appears to show Iranian nationals
dressed in military clothing operating inside Syria and apparently
working with government forces. It comes as Russian and US foreign
ministers prepare to hold talks in Geneva to discuss to dismantling
Syria's chemical arsenal. Mohamed Madi from the BBC's Middle East
monitoring service has studied the latest footage." http://t.uani.com/14MdzIW
AFP:
"Iran has been emboldened by Washington's decision to hold fire on
launching military strikes against its key ally Syria, which has also
boosted Tehran's position on its controversial nuclear drive, experts
say. Iran's conservative press trumpeted as a 'humiliating blow' the
decision by its arch-foe the United States to put on hold plans for a
military intervention in Syria following a surprise Russian initiative
aimed at defusing the stand-off." http://t.uani.com/1daFbYl
WashPost:
"Gholam Delshad, 42, is a living reminder of the horrors caused by
chemical weapons. The Iran-Iraq war veteran is among tens of thousands of
Iranians who survived the repeated chemical attacks launched by Iraqi
forces during the eight years of fighting in the 1980s. Now that painful
legacy is complicating Iran's stance in dealing with Syria, perhaps
Tehran's closest ally... 'Anyone and any country that uses weapons of
mass destruction or nuclear or chemical weapons must be punished,'
Delshad said. Interviewed by telephone from his home in Shiraz, he is
among about 100,000 Iranians who receive government-funded compensation
or medical attention for wounds and illnesses resulting from the Iraqi
chemical attacks. In his southwestern Iranian city, there are nearly
5,000 people receiving treatment for chemical-related medical
conditions." http://t.uani.com/1eLbgaV
Domestic
Affairs
AFP:
"Hardline former top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was on Thursday
appointed to Iran's top political arbitration body, the Expediency
Council, state television reported. The appointment was made by Iran's
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to whom the council provides
advice on different national issues. It comprises high-ranking religious
and political figures and former government officials, and is also tasked
with resolving legislative issues between the parliament and the
Guardians Council, which interprets the constitution. Under former
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who now sits on the council, Jalili was
secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)." http://t.uani.com/18ir5Vz
RFE/RL:
"The mass opening of Facebook pages by Iranian cabinet
members is being seen both inside and outside Iran -- among the world's
most restrictive online censors -- as an attempt by the new government to
be more open and interactive with the country's Internet-savvy youth. It
has also renewed a debate in the Islamic republic about the role of
social media, the double standards of officials who use such sites, and
the public's wish for Facebook, the most popular social-networking site
in the country, to be unblocked... On September 9, Mohammad Reza
Aghamiri, a member of Iran's task force on filtering, suggested that
Facebook could be unblocked 'conditionally,' but censorship would remain.
He was quoted by Iranian media as saying that eventually, 'criminal
content" on Facebook could be filtered out from 'useful' content...
For others, however, social-networking sites -- especially Facebook --
are still the tools of the enemy. The head of the cyberpolice in the
southern province of Semnan, Ali Mirahmadi, described Facebook recently
as 'the Trojan horse of the Zionist mafia' that serves Western espionage
agencies." http://t.uani.com/181pe3i
Foreign
Affairs
FT:
"Hassan Rouhani, Iran's centrist president, will meet his Russian
counterpart at Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,
on Friday in what he has described as a meeting of "utmost importance"
for Tehran. The crisis in Syria has highlighted Russia's importance to
Tehran as it seeks to protect Bashar al-Assad, its ally in Damascus whom
it believes is an important bulwark against Sunni expansionism in the
region. Moscow is also seen as crucial to Tehran's attempt to win support
for its nuclear programme. 'We have common views on many regional and
global issues and [have had] co-operation in numerous fields,' Mr Rohani
said this week, adding that he would try to 'expand relations with our
northern neighbour, Russia, and the first step will be taken [in the
meeting with Vladimir Putin]'. The comments this week that Moscow could
increase arms sales to Tehran if the US went ahead with military strikes
on Syria seemed to reinforce Mr Rohani's view. But there are also fears
in Tehran that Moscow may be using Iran as a convenient diplomatic tool
against the west." http://t.uani.com/162dwCH
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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