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Top Stories
Reuters:
"The U.N. nuclear chief told Iran on Monday it was 'essential and
urgent' for it to address concerns about suspected atomic bomb research,
signaling his hope that the new government in Tehran will stop
stonewalling his inspectors. Yukiya Amano was addressing a session of the
U.N. agency's 35-nation board, the first since relative moderate Hassan
Rouhani took office as Iranian president in early August, raising
cautious optimism of progress in the nuclear dispute. Amano, director
general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the IAEA was
committed to working constructively with Rouhani's government to 'resolve
outstanding issues by diplomatic means'. His carefully chosen words
underlined international hopes that Rouhani's administration will be less
confrontational in its dealings with the outside world than his hardline
predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... In his speech, Amano made clear that
Iran had yet to show the level of cooperation that he wants from Tehran.
'Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation to enable us to provide
credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and
activities,' he told the closed-door board session, according to a copy
of his speech. 'The Agency therefore cannot conclude that all nuclear
material in Iran is in peaceful activities.'" http://t.uani.com/1cYChWB
NYT:
"In a setback for the United States' attempts to isolate Iran, a
European Union court threw out sanctions Friday on seven Iranian
companies, including four banks, rejecting arguments that they were
acting as front companies to bypass the punitive measures. The General
Court in Brussels, the union's second-highest tribunal, ruled that the
bloc wrongly imposed sanctions against the Iranian companies as part of
its efforts to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, a decision that
immediately drew the ire of American officials. The United States
Treasury took the opposite tack on Friday, imposing restrictions on a
network of six individuals and four businesses for links to oil sales.
'We are very disappointed by the court's decision today,' a Treasury
spokesman said in a statement. 'The evidence linking these banks to
Iran's illicit nuclear activities is clear and strong, and no financial
institution anywhere should allow these Iranian banks to transact with
them.'" http://t.uani.com/18NOj0y
Reuters:
"The United States has placed sanctions on six individuals and four
businesses for helping the government of Iran conceal its involvement in
global oil deals, the U.S. Treasury said on Friday. Washington is
targeting the network of Seyed Seyyedi, an Iranian businessman who is
director of the already-sanctioned Sima General Trading. Treasury also
said it applied sanctions on individuals and companies linked to schemes
to import Iranian oil into the European Union. When sanctions are
implemented, individuals and companies may be blocked from the U.S.
financial system and any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction may be
frozen. 'Our sanctions on Iran's oil sales are a critically important
component of maintaining pressure on the Iranian government, and we will
not allow Iran to relieve that pressure through evasion and
circumvention,' Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence David Cohen said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/13y7Mni
Nuclear
Program
AFP:
"Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday Iran wants to
allay concerns over its nuclear programme, suspected of hiding efforts to
build an atomic bomb, and resolve the impasse with world powers. Perhaps
most significantly, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali
Akbar Salehi, said separately Tehran could conceivably agree to allowing
the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to conduct snap
inspections of its facilities... 'Allaying international concerns is in
our interest because atomic weapons do not form part of the Islamic
republic's policies,' Zarif said. 'Consequently, our interest is to
remove any ambiguity regarding our country's nuclear programme.' ...
While he expressed a desire to sort out the nuclear impasse, Rowhani has
said Iran will not abandon its 'undeniable rights', including
enrichment." http://t.uani.com/17K90xx
Sanctions
AP:
"The U.S. granted exemption from Iran sanctions to 10 European
countries and Japan on Friday because all of them have significantly
reduced or halted oil imports from the Islamic Republic. Japan continues
to import oil from Iran but all European Union countries halted them a
year ago... The State Department said a total of 20 countries have
continued to significantly reduce their crude oil purchases from Iran.
China remains Iran's top trading partner and its No. 1 client for oil
exports, with Japan, India and South Korea among other top purchasers.
Despite plummeting sales overseas, Iran remains one of the world's
largest oil producers. Its exports bring in tens of billions of dollars
in revenue for the country's hard-line leaders, money the U.S. is trying
to cut off." http://t.uani.com/18NPmxB
Platts:
"Japan's imports of Iranian crude in the past six months
(February-July) are well down on the same six-month period in 2012. The
latest data from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry show
that Japan imported roughly 145,288 b/d in February-July this year, which
is a 21% decline on the 183,610 b/d imported during the same period of
2012. However, the past six months' imports from Iran were a hefty 46%
higher than the average 99,510 b/d of imports in the six-month period
from August 2012 to January 2013." http://t.uani.com/14FwX4V
Reuters:
"Deutsche Boerse on Monday approved terms for a settlement to
dismiss claims from relatives of American victims of a 1983 bombing of
the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. Through its Clearstream unit,
Deutsche Boerse has been embroiled in a legal dispute with U.S.
plaintiffs seeking damages from Iran for its suspected role in helping
Hezbollah carry out the barracks attack during the civil war in Lebanon.
As part of this action, U.S. plaintiffs sought in 2008 to freeze Iranian
funds held in Luxembourg-based Clearstream's securities account. The
settlement which needs the approval of a certain amount of plaintiffs,
provides for the dismissal of direct claims against Clearstream, Deutsche
Boerse said on Monday." http://t.uani.com/1aXQp42
Syria
Conflict
NBC:
"White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday that an
impending U.S. attack on Syria would send a message to Iranian leaders
that they should not feel free to develop nuclear weapons. McDonough said
on NBC's Meet the Press that 'to communicate with them we have to be very
clear, very forthright. This is an opportunity to be both with the
Iranians....' He said, 'nobody is rebutting the intelligence; nobody
doubts the intelligence' that is the basis for President Barack Obama
pinning the blame for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria on
President Bashar Assad's regime which is fighting to suppress a rebellion
that began in 2011." http://t.uani.com/16dGYd8
WashPost:
"Iran won Iraqi support for its efforts to oppose a U.S.-led
military strike on Syria during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday by the new
Iranian foreign minister, highlighting how close the two countries have
grown since U.S. forces withdrew in 2011. Speaking during his first visit
abroad since he was appointed last month, Iranian Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javed Zarif warned that U.S. intervention in Syria risks
igniting a regionwide war. 'Those who are short-sighted and are beating
the drums of war are starting a fire that will burn everyone,' Zarif said
during a news conference. Standing alongside him, Iraqi Foreign Minister
Hoshyar Zebari said all of Syria's neighbors, including Iraq, would be
harmed by American involvement in Syria's two-year-old conflict." http://t.uani.com/1dU1DHZ
Human
Rights
IHR:
"One prisoner was hanged publicly in the Western Iranian town of
Ilam yesterday morning Wednesday September 4, reported the Iranian state
media. According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, a prisoner identified
as 'J. H.' was hanged a the Imam Hossein Square of Ilam... Another
prisoner was hanged in the prison of Sanandaj (Iranian Kurdestan)
yesterday, reported the Kurdish website 'Kurdpa' (unofficial)." http://t.uani.com/15BtLr5
ICHRI:
"In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in
Iran, Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace laureate, spoke
about the murder of dozens of residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq on
Saturday, August 31, and said that if the Iraqi Prime Minister believes
he has no responsibility in this regard, then he should resign. Ebadi
also said that the United Nations must immediately arrange the settlement
of the remaining Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MEK) members in other
countries. 'So long as even one MEK member remains in Iraq, the UN must
have observers present to watch them,' she said. On Sunday, September 1,
several armed forces attacked Camp Ashraf, the MEK compound in Iraq, and
killed dozens of the residents by firing bullets at their heads. Mere hours
after the incident, Iran's Islamic Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement
in which the mass killing was referred to as 'a historic revenge,' and
admired the attackers. The Iraqi government has yet to state a position
on the incident." http://t.uani.com/1dUc7qY
Domestic
Affairs
AP:
"Iran's state TV says that the Tehran municipal council has
re-elected the capital's popular mayor, who unsuccessfully ran for
president in June. The Sunday report says Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won the
votes of 16 of the 31 members of the Tehran municipal council. He
defeated Mohsen Hashemi, son of the influential former President Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani. Qalibaf is considered a conservative and Hashemi a
centrist." http://t.uani.com/15coB8I
AP:
"Iran's entire Cabinet has opened Facebook pages in what is seen as
a move toward greater government openness - even though the social media
site is blocked in the Islamic Republic. The Facebook pages of 15
ministers could be viewed in Tehran through a proxy server. Newspapers on
Monday hinted the move might herald the lifting of some Internet
barriers. With the exception of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,
who joined Facebook in 2009, the Cabinet members signed up this August
after the inauguration of centrist- and reformist-backed President Hasan
Rouhani. 'It seems the key' - Rouhani's electoral symbol in his
presidential campaign - 'may turn the lock of (Internet) filtering,' the
pro-reform Shargh daily said." http://t.uani.com/1evJJKo
Foreign Affairs
Reuters:
"Iran has released an Indian crude oil tanker that was detained last
month over pollution concerns, an Indian shipping official said on
Saturday, ending a dispute between the countries that have historically
had strong trade ties. The tanker, Desh Shanti, carrying 140,000 tons of
Iraqi crude, sailed on Friday night India time, said Captain Sunil
Thapar, the director of bulk carriers and tankers at state-run Shipping
Corp of India. 'She sailed last night at 2354 hrs after being finally
released from detention,' Thapar told Reuters, declining to say if any
pollution damage claims were made. The tanker is owned by the SCI and was
carrying crude oil for Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. Iraq was India's
biggest supplier of crude in June, piping Saudi Arabia for the top slot
with exports of 606,000 barrels per day. Exports from Iran, which used to
be India's second-biggest supplier, have dwindled because of Western
sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1aX4jU6
AFP:
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday dismissed
seemingly conciliatory statements from Iran as a smokescreen to divert
attention from Tehran's efforts to build nuclear arms. In a statement
from his office, Netanyahu brushed off remarks in which Iranian officials
condemned the Holocaust and even wished Jews a happy new year. He called
on the international community to increase pressure on the Islamic
republic. 'I am not impressed by greetings coming from the regime which
just last week threatened to destroy Israel,' said Netanyahu. 'The
Iranian regime will be judged solely on its deeds, not its greetings,
whose only purpose it to distract attention from the fact that even after
the elections it continues to enrich uranium and build a plutonium
reactor with the aim of acquiring a nuclear weapon which will threaten Israel
and the whole world.'" http://t.uani.com/16dGRhF
Opinion
& Analysis
Sohrab Ahmari in
WSJ: "Iran's leaders aren't known for their love of
Jews or Judaica. So it came as a surprise when on Wednesday the Islamic
Republic's newly elected President Hassan Rouhani tweeted a Jewish New
Year greeting from a Twitter account attributed to him. 'As the sun is
about to set here in #Tehran I wish all Jews, especially Iranian Jews, a
blessed Rosh Hashanah,' read the tweet. Western journalists eager for
signs of moderation in the Tehran regime were ecstatic. The liberal
Israeli daily Ha'aretz saw in the message a fulfillment of Mr. Rouhani's
promise to set aside his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 'hate
rhetoric.' Robin Wright, an Iran analyst and United States Institute of
Peace scholar, took to her own Twitter account to proclaim that this was
the 'most significant public [diplomatic] outreach since [the 1979
Islamic] revolution.' BBC Persian's Bahman Kalbasi tweeted: 'Iranian Gov.
Officials can't get enough of year 5774.' But in the Middle East most
good things are too good to be true. On Thursday, the state-run Fars News
Agency walked back what it called Mr. Rouhani's 'felicitation message to
the worldwide Jewish community.' The report quoted presidential advisor
Mohammad Reza Sadeq saying that 'President Hassan Rouhani has no tweeter
[sic] account' and that 'proponents and fans of Mr. Rouhani were active
in the cyberspace during the recent presidential election in Iran and
used many web pages with titles similar or close to [his name] to run
their activities.' Several lessons should be drawn from this minor
affair. For starters, it's worth noting how pro-engagement journalists
and analysts, in their rush to hail a new era of dialogue and mutual
respect between Washington and Tehran, neglected basic reportorial duties
like follow-up and verification. The Rouhani account in question has more
than 30,000 followers, yet it isn't verified by Twitter, meaning there's
no way of knowing if its messages are approved by Mr. Rouhani's office.
Second, even assuming that the Rosh Hashanah message was intended by its
putative author, the fact that the regime repudiated it within 24 hours
is evidence that Tehran remains hard-wired for resistance and extremism.
Finally, it's worth remembering that anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial
are central pillars of the Islamic Republic's founding ideology. Whether
or not Mr. Rouhani sent a Rosh Hashanah greeting, it's still the case
that Persian Jews are barred from Iran's officer corps; they are limited
to two token seats in Iran's parliament; and their ancient synagogues
come under state-sanctioned mob attacks. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Khamenei declares openly, in English on his own website, that 'the
massacre of Jews known as the holocaust' is a 'myth.' State-run media
have not denied that statement." http://t.uani.com/1eunhBl
Ray Takeyh in
WashPost: "With Iran's new president, Hassan
Rouhani, proclaiming that he seeks not just greater nuclear transparency
but also a more tolerant society, Washington is once more contemplating
an overture to Iran. The critical question is what role Congress will
play. In recent years, the U.S. legislative branch has focused largely on
sanctions, which have done much to undermine Iran's economy. Now Congress
should complement its sanctions policy with more sustained attention to
Iran's human rights transgressions and establish an Iran Human Rights
Committee. Congress would be smart to take a page out of its Cold War
playbook and model such a committee on the Helsinki Commission, which
helped empower dissident forces in the Soviet bloc. An Iran Human Rights
Committee could highlight the Islamic republic's provocations as well as
suggest benchmarks for improved behavior. The theocratic regime in Tehran
violates not just universal norms of human rights - on torture, wrongful
imprisonment and fair judicial processes - but also its own
constitutional provisions promising civic freedom and the rule of law.
Government censorship of the media and the prevention of peaceful
assembly are similarly frowned upon. And it is a disgrace that Mostafa
Pourmohammadi, a shadowy intelligence operator who was a pivotal figure
in a 1988 massacre of Iranian prisoners, has become justice minister.
U.S. diplomats should include discussions of human rights in all of their
encounters with Iranian officials. Persistent congressional pressure
could offer important leverage in diplomatic dealings with Iran. In
essence, the task is to convince Tehran that more humane treatment of its
citizens is in its national interest. U.S. officials consistently
pointing to congressional concerns could go a long way toward convincing
the Iranians that their international ostracism and economic distress
cannot be fully mitigated unless Iran improves its human rights record.
There are a number of views of the relationship between arms control and
human rights. Some suggest that, given the advances of Iran's nuclear
program, it is important to focus on that issue and not complicate the
negotiating process. Some veterans of the Reagan administration say that
it is possible to pursue both an expansive arms-control agenda and a
deliberate human rights campaign. In their telling, the Reagan experience
demonstrates that the two tracks need not contradict each other. For many
reasons, pursuing a human rights agenda would be the best means of
ensuring that Iran complies with its arms-control obligations... By
ignoring Iran's atrocious human rights record, Western diplomats are
subtly conveying the impression that it is permissible for Iran to
violate certain international norms if it adheres to its proliferation
commitments. If Iran's clerical leaders are told that a selective reading
of international law is acceptable, they will feel free to violate their
arms-control obligations when they become inconvenient. Sanctions-induced
economic duress may compel Tehran to sign a nuclear agreement, but given
the perspective of its elite, it can be counted on to violate that accord
when its financial plight eases. In a perverse manner, the Western
diplomats who avoid the issue of human rights are contributing to the
Iranian mentality that views international norms as a menu of options to
be rejected or accepted at one's discretion." http://t.uani.com/17g6Btr
Stephen Hadley in
WashPost: "The Arab Awakening has caused a crisis in
the Middle East that will take years to sort out. There is one Middle
East crisis, however, that must be resolved in months, not years. Every
American committed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
should urge Congress to grant President Obama authority to use military
force against the Assad regime in Syria. The inauguration of Hassan
Rouhani, Iran's new president, offers some hope of a diplomatic
settlement that eliminates the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran. But
Rouhani will need the approval of Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei,
who has made confrontation with the United States the centerpiece of his
rule. Only internal pressure and the threat of U.S. military action will
cause Khamenei to accept a nuclear deal. That is why Presidents Obama,
Bush and Clinton have emphasized that all options - including the use of
military force - are on the table. Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly and
flagrantly crossed a U.S. 'red line' by using chemical weapons against
his own people. If the United States does not take military action, how
credible will be the U.S. threat to use military force if the Iranian
regime continues to pursue nuclear weapons? If that threat is not
credible, then only months from now our nation could face the prospect of
accepting a ¬nuclear-armed Iran or having to resort to military force to
prevent it... In Syria, this means expanding and accelerating the
training and arming of moderate, democratic elements and the provision of
humanitarian assistance, especially to areas liberated from the regime.
In Afghanistan, this means leaving a significant U.S. military force
after 2014 to help stabilize the country and check Iranian activity. In
Iraq, this means shoring up U.S. support for the government as it battles
a resurgent al-Qaeda and seeks to resist Iranian pressure. In the region,
this means strengthening diplomatic and security support to allies
nervous about Iranian hegemony. Otherwise, lack of U.S. military action
in Syria will be read as a victory by Iran - making a nuclear-armed Iran
and Iranian hegemony more likely." http://t.uani.com/19yPuU0
Olli Heinonen and
Simon Henderson in WINEP: "The latest International
Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran, which the organization's board of
governors will discuss in Vienna next week, shows that Tehran has
continued to build its nuclear capabilities, particularly its capacity to
suddenly break out from its treaty commitments and build a nuclear weapon
if it so desired. Although Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program,
this growing potential to dash toward a bomb will likely complicate
diplomatic discussions in the next few weeks, especially after President
Hassan Rouhani's expected September 23 arrival in New York for a UN General
Assembly meeting. Iranian officials are also scheduled to meet with the
IAEA in Vienna on September 27... Iran continues to enrich uranium and
increase the number of centrifuges installed, including around 18,000 of
the IR-1 type centrifuge and 1,000 of the more efficient IR-2m type. Yet
it will not need more than a small fraction of the enriched uranium it
has already produced in the foreseeable future, let alone new uranium.
Its sole nuclear power reactor uses low-enriched fuel supplied by Russia.
Tehran persists in claiming that it needs some of the new enriched
uranium it is producing to fuel a research reactor in the capital,
despite refusing a past international offer to supply such fuel.
Worryingly, this research reactor requires 19.75 percent enriched
uranium; Iran is currently producing 20 percent enriched fuel for it. In
20 percent fuel, the ratio of ordinary uranium-238 to its fissile isotope
uranium-235 has already been processed from the 993:7 figure seen in
natural uranium to 28:7, just short of the 1:7 needed for weapons-grade
uranium. Iran continues to convert some of its 20 percent uranium into an
oxide form, but most of this oxide (apart from a small amount that has
been further processed into fuel plates) should be considered part of the
enriched stockpile because it is comparatively easy to reconvert into
centrifuge feedstock. The increase in Iran's centrifuges and enriched
uranium stockpile has opened the door for multiple breakout scenarios at
the Natanz and Fordow enrichment plants, especially if there are other
undeclared plants available. For the past three years, discussions of
Iran's breakout potential centered on its steadily growing stockpile of
20 percent uranium, but the number of centrifuges is now so great that
the arithmetic has changed: the government's huge stockpile of 3.5
percent enriched uranium is now a crucial part of the calculation. As a
result, a previous diplomatic proposal -- asking Iran to cap enrichment
at 20 percent and ship most of that material abroad -- is now much less
relevant in terms of curbing the risk of breakout." http://t.uani.com/1awrcyq
Ian Bremmer in
Reuters: "While we've been distracted by a flurry of
intelligence releases on Syria's chemical weapons strikes - and the
ongoing saga over the United States' response - many have overlooked
another intelligence report pertaining to weapons of mass destruction
with severe implications for America's red lines and credibility in the
Middle East. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the world's nuclear
watchdog, reported that 'Iran plans to test about 1,000 advanced uranium
enrichment centrifuges it has completed installing.' As Iran's enrichment
capabilities increase, its breakout time - how long Iran would need to
rapidly amass enough highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon - is
dropping considerably. In the next year or two, Iran's breakout time
could drop to about 10 days: too short of a window for the United States
to reliably respond before Iran could secure enough material for a bomb.
America's next step in Syria is inextricably linked to the situation in
Iran. The U.S. government's biggest national security concern in the
region is an Iranian regime with potential access to nuclear weapons. A
nuclear Iran would destabilize the region, shock oil prices, and threaten
U.S. allies. Longer term, it's harder to map out the implications, but
they aren't pretty. A nuclear Iran could trigger a domino effect among
Middle Eastern countries; should another Arab Spring occur, a failed
state with a nuclear weapons cache is a frightening prospect. Not
intervening in Syria - letting Bashar al-Assad cross Obama's red line of
using chemical weapons on civilians - makes any red lines regarding
Iran's nuclear progress blurrier. In fact, by punting the decision to
Congress and further complicating the causality between a broken red line
and punishment, Obama may have already done just that." http://t.uani.com/1aiWkhb
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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
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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
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