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Top Stories
AFP: "Russian
President Vladimir Putin meets Iran's new president for the first time
this week, reportedly armed with an offer to supply missile systems and
build a second nuclear power reactor that is likely to gladden Tehran and
trouble the United States. President Hassan Rowhani is set to meet Putin
on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
held in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, in the newly-elected centrist cleric's
first meeting with a major world leader. The Kommersant business daily reported
Wednesday that Putin will offer to supply Iran S-300 air defence missile
systems as well as build a second reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant.
The S-300 offer would be a particularly contentious development given it
would essentially revive a contract for similar missile systems that
Russia cancelled in 2010 after heavy Israeli and US pressure. Putin's
spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Kommersant that Putin and Rowhani were
expected to discuss 'working together in the nuclear energy sphere' and
'questions of military technical cooperation' at the summit in
Bishkek." http://t.uani.com/17Wfojh
Guardian:
"Amir Hekmati, a US citizen accused of espionage and jailed in Iran,
has said his televised confession was forced and asserted that he is in
fact being held hostage for use in a prisoner exchange and mistreated. In
a letter smuggled out of jail and obtained by the Guardian, the
29-year-old former US marine, who was arrested in Tehran two years ago
for his alleged links to the CIA, said his confession aired on Iranian
state television was made under duress and was used to implicate him in
trial. 'For over two years I have been held on false charges based solely
on confessions obtained by force, threats, miserable prison conditions
and prolonged periods of solitary confinement,' he wrote earlier this
month. The letter, which has been authenticated by Hekmati's family, is
addressed to US secretary of state, John Kerry. Kerry urged Tehran
leaders to release him from prison on the second anniversary of his
arrest last month, saying Washington was 'deeply concerned' about his
detention." http://t.uani.com/18Px28q
Reuters:
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the time for
resolving Iran's nuclear dispute with the West was limited, and urged the
world to seize the opportunity of his election... 'The world must know
completely that this period of time for resolving the nuclear issue will
not be unlimited. We have a specified period of time,' Rouhani, a
centrist cleric who took office last month, said in a live interview on
state television. 'The world must also use this period of time and this
opportunity that our people created in this election. We will also use
this opportunity. God willing, I am hopeful we can, step by step, solve
this problem.' ... Rouhani said on Tuesday he would meet with the foreign
ministers from some of the six powers - Russia, China, France, Britain,
the United States and Germany - when he attends the U.N. General Assembly
in New York this month. 'I believe that if the opposite side has a
serious will, the nuclear issue can be resolved in a not very long time,'
he said. 'In the nuclear issue, the end of the game must be a win-win
game. Win-lose has no meaning,' he said. 'We can have a win-win game, we
are ready for a win-win game. I think the beginning of this work will
start in New York.'" http://t.uani.com/17pYquz
Sanctions
Times of India:
"Indian tanker Desh Shanti was held to ransom by Iranian authorities
- spearheaded by the dreaded Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) -
for 26 days, the Centre has concluded in a damning initial assessment of
the incident that has sent shockwaves across countries in Asia and Europe
importing oil from the Persian Gulf. More alarmingly, it has been
revealed that authorities at Iran's Bandar Abbas port had demanded
$500,000 from India to release the tanker which was carrying crude from
Iraq. New Delhi, however, refused to pay the money and finally the ship
was released last Friday night after Indian authorities gave an
undertaking with Tehran that they would pay for the alleged pollution
caused by Desh Shanti 'should it be held accountable by an appropriate
court of law'. Indicating possible legal action against Iran, the Centre
has now filed an appeal with the Indian Ocean Memorandum of Understanding
(IOMOU) on Port State Control - a 16-nation grouping of maritime nations
- calling for a review of Iran's action." http://t.uani.com/14LlBfE
NYT:
"The Obama administration on Tuesday eased longstanding restraints
on humanitarian and good-will activities between Iran and the United
States, including athletic exchanges. It was at least the second American
government relaxation of Iranian sanctions this year and came as Iran's
new president, Hassan Rouhani, has signaled his desire to improve
relations. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control,
which oversees the sanctions on Iran, said in a statement that it had cut
the bureaucracy for obtaining exemptions in order to expedite the
provision of health services, disaster relief, wildlife conservation and
human rights projects in the country. Also authorized are 'activities
related to sports matches and events, the sponsorship of sports players,
coaching, refereeing and training, in addition to other activities.' The
Treasury statement said the action, which eliminates requirements for
special exemption licenses on a case-by-case basis, reflected what it
called 'this administration's commitment to reinforcing ties between the
Iranian and American people.'" http://t.uani.com/13LQ0wY
Syria
Conflict
Reuters:
"Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday he
hoped that a U.S. promise to pursue diplomacy to remove the threat of
chemical weapons in Syria was "serious", the state news agency
IRNA reported. 'I am hopeful that the United States new attitude to Syria
is serious and not a game with the media. For weeks they have threatened
war against the people of this region for the benefit of the Zionists
(Israel),' he said during a public address. On Tuesday evening U.S.
President Barack Obama said he would postpone a vote in Congress on U.S.
military action against the Syrian government, which he accuses of firing
poison gas munitions into a Damascus suburb controlled by rebels. He also
pledged to explore a Russian plan to remove Syria's chemical arsenal but
voiced skepticism about it and urged Americans to support his threat to
use military force if needed." http://t.uani.com/17pXzKs
AP:
"Russia could expand arms sales to Iran and revise the terms of U.S.
military transit to Afghanistan if Washington launches a strike on Syria,
a senior Russian lawmaker said Wednesday. Alexei Pushkov, the
Kremlin-connected chief of the foreign affairs committee in the lower
house of parliament, told lawmakers that Moscow hopes that the U.S. will
back Russia's proposal for Syria to put its chemical weapons under
international control for their subsequent dismantling." http://t.uani.com/1aC8QvU
Domestic
Affairs
Reuters:
"Former defense minister Ali Shamkhani was appointed head of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, Iranian news agencies reported on
Tuesday, in a further sign of a shift towards relative moderation under
new President Hassan Rouhani. Rouhani, who replaced hardliner Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad last month, has remade the Islamic Republic's top foreign,
nuclear and domestic policy teams to broadly reflect his wish for more
pragmatism and less ideological rigidity in decision-making. Shamkhani,
who will succeed Islamist hardliner Saeed Jalili as security council
chief, served as defense minister under two-term reformist president
Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005. An ethnic Arab of Iraqi descent,
Shamkhani is seen as aligned with the more pragmatic wing of Iranian
politics suppressed for eight years under Ahmadinejad." http://t.uani.com/19Hh7KH
Opinion
& Analysis
Gregory S. Jones
in NPEC: "In various papers since 2008, this author
has outlined how Iran's growing centrifuge enrichment program could
provide it with the ability to produce Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and
thereby the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. On August 28, 2013,
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published its latest
safeguards update which shows that Iran is continuing to expand its
enrichment program." http://t.uani.com/18PxkfJ
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