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Top Stories
WashPost: "President
Obama declared that the United States is still prepared to act militarily
to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons despite the decision to
pursue a diplomatic deal and not strike Syria over its alleged use of
chemical weapons. He also acknowledged that his approach to the Syria
crisis has been uneven, but defended it as producing the right results.
Obama spoke in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's 'This Week With
George Stephanopoulos,' taped Friday before the United States and Russia
agreed on a plan to bring Syrian chemical weapons under international
control in order to avoid military strikes. But Obama said Iran should
not interpret the diplomatic response - coming after he threatened to use
strikes - as suggesting that the United States wouldn't attack Iran to
stop the development of nuclear weapons. 'I think what the Iranians
understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than
the chemical weapons issue, that the threat... against Israel that a
nuclear Iran poses is much closer to our core interests,' Obama said. 'My
suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn't draw a lesson
that we haven't struck [Syria] to think we won't strike Iran.' Obama
said, however, that what the Iranians should draw from this episode is
that it is possible to resolve this type of disagreement diplomatically.
'My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined
with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact you can... strike a
deal,' he said, confirming that he had communicated with Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani by letter." http://t.uani.com/1glu6mT
WSJ:
"At a base near Tehran, Iranian forces are training Shiite
militiamen from across the Arab world to do battle in Syria-showing the
widening role of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria's bloody
war. The busloads of Shiite militiamen from Iraq, Syria and other Arab
states have been arriving at the Iranian base in recent weeks, under
cover of darkness, for instruction in urban warfare and the teachings of
Iran's clerics, according to Iranian military figures and residents in
the area. The fighters' mission: Fortify the Syrian regime of President
Bashar al-Assad against Sunni rebels, the U.S. and Israel. Iran's
widening role in Syria has helped Mr. Assad climb back from near-defeat
in less than a year. The role of Iran's training camp for Shiite fighters
hasn't previously been disclosed. The fighters 'are told that the war in
Syria is akin to [an] epic battle for Shiite Islam, and if they die they
will be martyrs of the highest rank,' says an Iranian military officer
briefed on the training camp, which is 15 miles outside Tehran and called
Amir Al-Momenin, or Commander of the Faithful." http://t.uani.com/16xcGlM
Algemeiner:
"Iran has found a new home for its delegation during this month's UN
General Assembly in New York City. According to United Against a Nuclear
Iran (UANI), which describes itself as a non-partisan, broad-based
coalition committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,
the ONE UN New York hotel (formerly known as the Millennium UN Plaza
Hotel) plans to house Rouhani and other Iranian officials during their
visit to New York City the week of September 22. In a letter to ONE UN
General Manager Paul Wong and Wong Hong Ren, CEO of Millennium &
Copthorne Hotels, which owns the hotel, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D.
Wallace warned, 'UANI will publicly highlight [the]... irresponsible
decision if you do not take action to refuse accommodation to the Iranian
delegation.'" http://t.uani.com/1bm0s3h
Nuclear
Program
Reuters:
"Iran wants to end the stand-off with global powers over its nuclear
program swiftly but will not sacrifice its rights or interests for the
sake of a solution, President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday... Rouhani,
who was elected in June, has said Iran will be more transparent and less
confrontational in talks with the six powers - the United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France and Germany. But he made clear earlier on Friday
he is only ready to go so far, indicating Iran would not give up its
right to enrich uranium. 'I declare that only if there is political will,
if there is mutual respect and mutual interest, and only if the rights of
Iran's people are ensured, can we guarantee the peaceful character of
Iran's nuclear program,' he said." http://t.uani.com/14RwLj7
AFP:
"Barack Obama has revealed an exchange of letters with Iran's new
President Hassan Rowhani but warned his reluctance to strike Syria should
not devalue US threats of force to thwart an Iranian nuclear bomb...
Obama was asked on the ABC News 'This Week' program whether he had
reached out to Rowhani, a moderate conservative elected in June. 'I have.
And he's reached out to me. We haven't spoken-- directly,' Obama said.
Asked by interviewer George Stephanopoulos whether the contact was via letters,
Obama replied: 'Yes.'" http://t.uani.com/14UriNY
Reuters:
"Iran's new atomic energy chief pledged increased cooperation with
the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Monday, delivering a conciliatory message
ahead of talks between the two sides this month over Tehran's disputed
atomic activities. Ali Akbar Salehi also said Iran was optimistic about
the outcome of broader diplomatic negotiations with major powers, should
the parties enter 'with good intention and with the resolve to solving
the ... issue based on a win-win approach'... 'There has always been a
movement from the Iranian side. This time we are coming with a more
full-fledged ... desire for this,' Salehi said, referring to the search
for a peaceful settlement of the decade-old nuclear dispute... But, like
Rouhani, Salehi stressed that Iran would never 'compromise' over what the
Islamic state sees as its inalienable right to a civilian nuclear energy
programme." http://t.uani.com/18rdMSN
Sanctions
Trend:
"UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) group calls on Japanese car
manufacturer Mazda and French Peugeot to end their business in Iran, UANI
(United Against Nuclear Iran U.S. group) Communications Director Nathan
Carleton told Trend. While a lot of car manufacturing companies have left
Iran due to sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic, according to
Carleton despite the threat of sanctions, there are still some
world-known car brands that do their business in Iran. Among them are
Mazda and Peugeot. 'Mazda's ongoing business in Iran is egregious given
that its vehicles are produced in Iran in partnership with the Bahman
Group, a manufacturing conglomerate that is 45.5 percent owned by the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),' Carleton said. He went on to
note that if Mazda does not end its Iran business, it should be
sanctioned under presidential Executive Order 13645, which authorizes
sanctions on entities 'knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for
the sale, supply, or transfer to Iran of significant goods or services
used in connection with the automotive sector of Iran.' Speaking of
Peugeot, Carleton said that despite Peugeot's claims to have stopped its
auto shipments to Iran, its vehicles are still being produced
there." http://t.uani.com/18oaMAu
WSJ:
"The U.K. government is in talks with the U.S. and the European
Union over a possible exemption to Iranian sanctions that would allow BP
PLC to restart a North Sea natural gas field partially owned by a
Tehran-controlled company. The move comes as the U.S. and its allies have
welcomed the elevation of a new Iranian president earlier this year as a
possible opportunity to re-engage Iran in talks about its nuclear
program. But the effort also comes amid increasing worry in the U.K. over
Britain's natural gas supplies. Amid declining domestic gas output in
Britain, prices have risen and the U.K. has boosted its imports. BP's
Rhum field, in the North Sea, is 50% owned by an affiliate of Iran's
state oil company. BP closed it in 2010 amid tightening U.S. and EU
sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear program. It is unclear exactly
what shape the possible exemption might take, or whether a deal will be
reached in the end. But recent efforts stem from newly adopted EU
regulations, which allow exemptions under specific conditions. 'The BP
gas field could be exempted from sanctions under an EU Council Regulation
adopted in December 2012 amending previous regulation on restrictive
measures against Iran,' an EU spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman declined
to comment on talks over the exemption." http://t.uani.com/17DscfE
Reuters:
"South Korea's Iranian crude oil imports fell in August to a third
of those a month earlier, helping Seoul to close in on its target of
cutting imports in the June-November period by 15 percent to extend a
U.S. sanctions waiver. The Asian country imported 272,090 tonnes of Iran
crude last month, or 64,336 barrels per day (bpd), declining from 190,516
bpd in July and putting the total imports for June-August at 130,135 bpd,
preliminary customs data and Reuters calculations show. The total means
it is only an inch away from 125,814 bpd that South Korea aims to achieve
in its six-month imports through November. It has vowed to slash Iranian
oil imports by 15 percent from 148,016 bpd imported in December 2012 to
May 2013, two sources told Reuters in June." http://t.uani.com/16w4mmv
Syria
Conflict
NYT: "In a whirlwind trip to allied
capitals, Secretary of State John Kerry sought to send the message that
the agreement struck Saturday to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons did
not signal a weakening of the Obama administration's stance on Iran. When
Mr. Kerry appeared before Congress earlier this month, he argued that if
the United States did not carry out a military strike to punish the
Syrian government for the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus,
it would embolden Iran to proceed with its nuclear program. 'Iran is
hoping you look the other way,' Mr. Kerry told the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee on Sept. 3. But speaking in Jerusalem on Sunday, Mr.
Kerry asserted that an agreement that would disarm Syria's chemical
arsenal without the use of American force sent an equally strong message.
'If we achieve that, we will have set a marker for the standard of
behavior with respect to Iran and with respect to North Korea,' Mr. Kerry
said after meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime
minister." http://t.uani.com/1eDEL0B
AP:
"The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force says
the West's hostility toward the Syrian government comes over Israel. A
state television report broadcast Saturday quoted Gen. Ghassem Soleimani
as saying his country's support of Syria secures 'Iran's real national
interests.' Iran considers Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah - as well as
Palestinian militant groups - as part of a 'resistance axis' against
Israel. Soleimani said the West knows that a 'powerful position of
resistance relies on Syria.' Last week, Soleimani promised that Iran
would support Syria 'until the end.'" http://t.uani.com/195dVHz
AFP:
"UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos urged Tehran at the end of a
visit on Sunday to use its influence with ally Syria to allow greater aid
access to the country. 'I asked the foreign minister (Mohammad Javad
Zarif) to use Iran's influence with the (Syrian) government to continue
to press for greater access for humanitarian organisations,' she told a
news conference." http://t.uani.com/17ZzwTu
Human Rights
IHR:
"An 18 year old boy was hanged publicly in the town of Ghaemshahr
(northern Iran) this morning... Depending on Erfan's exact date of birth,
there is a possibility that he was under 18 years of age at the time of
committing the alleged crime. Iran Human Rights is currently
investigating this matter." http://t.uani.com/14Upg08
Domestic
Affairs
AFP:
"The Facebook page of Iran's foreign minister was taken over briefly
by unidentified hackers who protested against the crackdown on protesters
after the disputed 2009 presidential election, media reported Saturday.
'My Facebook page was pirated by someone who changed the password, but
the problem has since been sorted,' Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as
saying by state news agency IRNA. 'If this happens again, I may have to
stop having a Facebook page,' he added." http://t.uani.com/17ZzRpg
AFP:
"Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's media savvy foreign minister, has
become the first Iranian official to have a verified account on Twitter,
although no one inside the country can legally read his tweets. In fact
technically it is illegal for Zarif to have a Twitter account at all...
However Zarif's tweets can only be read inside Iran by people who have
illegal VPN software that get past a systematic filtering mechanism set
up by the authorities. Under the system, Iran blocks access to Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube and numerous other sites, including blogs and
pornographic hubs, as it tries to stop its population from surfing
content authorities see as undermining the Islamic regime, or as being
immoral." http://t.uani.com/16bsRC5
Foreign
Affairs
Reuters:
"Britain said on Sunday it would be happy to set up a meeting
between British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani, but denied a suggestion from Tehran that such a meeting
had already been arranged... A spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office
said a meeting between Hague and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif in New York had long been scheduled, but she was not aware that a
meeting with Rouhani was going to happen." http://t.uani.com/16btUlA
Opinion
& Analysis
UANI
Advisory Board Member Avi Jorisch in Forbes:
"India has launched a bold initiative to bolster its influence
throughout Southeast and Central Asia. The Indian government is investing
significant capital in Iran's Chabahar free-trade zone and the
surrounding infrastructure to secure its economic interests throughout
the region, reduce Pakistan's sphere of influence and compete with China.
While this policy seems attractive in the short term, this course of
action is fraught with unanticipated dangers. Investing in Chabahar not
only allows Iran's rogue regime to fill its coffers with the hard
currency it needs to repress its people and facilitate terrorism, but may
also harm India's strategic relationship with one of its most important
allies, the United States. Traditionally, the relationship between India
and Iran has revolved around trade. In 2010, the two countries conducted
$14 billion worth of business, mostly in oil and gas. India's decision to
invest $100 million in Chabahar, a port in the Sistan-o-Balochistan
province on the southeastern tip of Iran, is part of this relationship...
Iran is looking to use Chabahar to develop its infrastructure and levy
sizable duties, and India's investment serves as a critical lifeline for
Iran in the face of international sanctions. For India, however, despite
Chabahar's financial advantages, there is more to lose than gain by doing
business with the world's most notorious state sponsor of terrorism.
India's relationship with the United States is very important to it.
Bilateral trade currently stands at around $106 billion annually - over
10 times India's trade with Iran - and there are current negotiations to
enter into a free-trade agreement.Whether increased investment in Iran, a
country targeted by American sanctions, will hurt the U.S.-India alliance
remains to be determined, but it certainly cannot help... India should
consider whether potential loss of access to the U.S. market, instability
in Afghanistan and Chabahar and support for a state sponsor of terrorism
is worth the bang for the buck. It should cease investing in Iran's
infrastructure so long as the Islamic Republic continues it march towards
nuclearization, oppresses its people and proliferates terrorism." http://t.uani.com/15xtWaJ
David Albright
& Christina Walrond in ISIS: "On Thursday, September
12, 2013, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar
Salehi announced that Iran had reduced its stockpile of 20 percent low
enriched uranium (LEU) 'from around 240 kilograms to around 140
kilograms' by converting it into fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor
(TRR). Salehi noted that Iran had 'converted a remarkable part to fuel
rod' (sic) and indicated that Iran would eventually convert the rest.
Unfortunately, this announcement is misleading based on how little LEU
Iran has actually converted to fuel. Based on the International Atomic
Energy Agency's (IAEA) August 2013 safeguards report on Iran, Iran had
converted no more than 30 kilograms of near 20 percent LEU, or 45
kilograms of near 20 percent LEU hexafluoride, into fuel assemblies for
the TRR. This represents approximately 12 percent of Iran's total stock
of 19.75 percent enriched uranium, or only about 25 percent of the amount
of LEU Iran has sent to Esfahan for conversion. Salehi's statement refers
to the entire amount of uranium sent to its conversion facility, not the
amount of uranium converted to TRR fuel. Unless the near 20 percent LEU
oxide is converted to fuel assemblies and irradiated, it can easily be
reconverted to uranium hexafluoride suitable for further enrichment. Even
if Iran began rapidly producing fuel assemblies for the TRR, due to the
small size of the research reactor, Iran cannot realistically irradiate
this fuel. As such, this action cannot be seen as a significant
confidence building measure. Even so, Iran should be commended for taking
measures to convert its uranium to uranium oxide at the Esfahan facility.
Iran has been careful to convert sufficient 19.75 percent uranium
hexafluoride to keep its total stockpile of this material under one
weapon's worth of material. As Iran's stockpile of this material
increases, even in uranium oxide form, it decreases the amount of time
required for Iran to further enrich it to weapons-grade uranium (WGU).
Although conversion of uranium hexafluoride into uranium oxide and
fabrication into fuel elements does limit Iran's ability to quickly use
this material in a breakout scenario, the only iron-clad way to prevent
further enrichment is for an outside country to hold this material in
escrow prior to irradiation. Capping the number and type of Iran's
centrifuges remains an even more important variable when considering its
capability to produce WGU. As Iran continues to install both IR-1 and
IR-2m centrifuges, the international community should not be placated by
an Iranian effort to only decrease its 19.75 percent enriched uranium
stockpile. Capping Iran's total enrichment capacity must remain a high
priority in any negotiations or confidence building measures." http://t.uani.com/18XC039
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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
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.
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