Friday, November 1, 2013

Eye on Iran: Video Shows Iran Aiding Syrian Regime's Fight Against Rebels







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CBS:
"Iran has long denied that it is directly involved in the Syrian civil war, but that is a lie. CBS News has photographic proof that Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard is engaged in combat alongside Syrian government forces to put down a popular revolt that began two-and-a-half years ago. Why does it matter? A human rights group reported Thursday that the death toll in the war has now reached 120,000, including nearly 43,000 civilians. And the State Department told CBS News one-third of Syrians have now lost their homes - the equivalent of 100 million Americans being displaced. We've seen rare pictures of Iranian advisers in Syria before, but we haven't seen them fighting like this: Members of the elite Revolutionary Guard on the frontlines of Syria's civil war. The video was shot by Hadi Baghbanis, a Tehran cameraman who was invited to film a guard unit under the command of 33-year-old Mohsen Ismail Haideri, who offers a guided tour on camera of his battle sector on the outskirts of Aleppo." http://t.uani.com/1cubKnp

Reuters: "Vice President Joe Biden led a high-powered delegation to Capitol Hill on Thursday to try to persuade U.S. lawmakers to hold off on any more sanctions against Iran and let delicate diplomatic talks over Tehran's nuclear program unfold. President Barack Obama is convinced that there is the potential for an international deal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon but worries that congressional pressure for additional sanctions could complicate negotiations. Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew held a closed-door session with Senate Democratic leaders and Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee to update them on major power talks with Iran. A new round of negotiations is set for next week in Geneva. An official in Biden's office said the administration's message was that there may come a point when more sanctions are needed, but now may not be the best time for Congress to act. But the appeal to wait is a tough sell in Congress, which tends to take a harder line on Iran than the administration. Several lawmakers said after the meeting they had not been convinced, and that fresh sanctions are needed to discourage Tehran's nuclear ambitions." http://t.uani.com/1aMCWZt

Bloomberg: "Two top Senate backers of added U.S. sanctions against Iran said the Obama administration failed to persuade them to put legislation on hold during efforts to negotiate curbs on the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, said they intend to push forward with new economic sanctions after emerging from a closed-door briefing today with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew. 'I'd have to hear something far more substantive from what I heard today to dissuade me' from acting on legislation, Menendez told reporters... Kirk said he saw no prospect of success from the talks in Geneva. 'It just seems a long rope-a-dope,' Kirk said." http://t.uani.com/1f86cN5
Election Repression ToolkitNuclear Program

AFP: "Iran's foreign minister expressed hope Thursday that upcoming negotiations about the country's disputed nuclear programme will lead to a quick understanding with world powers. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran would approach crunch nuclear talks in Geneva next week 'with good faith' and 'with determination to reach understanding and with hope to reach an understanding at an early stage'... He added, 'all elements are in place. I believe resolving this issue should not be difficult because Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons.' 'We believe that even a perception that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons is detrimental to our security so we will do our best in order to remove that perception.'" http://t.uani.com/16rZCyy

AP: "A senior Tehran nuclear negotiator says Iran is 'hopeful' about prospects for more progress in nuclear talks with world powers ahead of next week's meetings in Geneva. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV late Thursday that while Iran and the six powers - five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany - had agreed on a framework in October, the Iranian side is 'hopeful to make achievements on the content' in the next round of the talks. But Araghchi cautioned the road ahead is 'a long and meandrous path.'" http://t.uani.com/1aZ9RZi

Reuters: "Iran and six world powers ended an expert-level meeting over Tehran's disputed nuclear activities on Thursday, but there was no immediate word on whether they had come any closer to an elusive breakthrough deal. The two-day meeting was meant to prepare for the next round of political negotiations on November 7-8, building on a diplomatic opening created by the election of Hassan Rouhani as new Iranian president... Around 3 p.m. (1400 GMT), delegations of nuclear and sanctions experts were seen leaving the conference room where the discussions began on Wednesday afternoon. Participants declined to comment on the nature of the closed-door talks. Michael Mann, spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said only that the Vienna talks had sought to 'address various technical questions and contribute to preparations for the next round of talks in Geneva.'" http://t.uani.com/HsPUmk

Syria Conflict

Reuters: "Turkey and Iran said on Friday they had common concerns about the increasingly sectarian nature of Syria's civil war, signaling a thaw in a key Middle Eastern relationship strained by stark differences over the conflict. Iran has been a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the 32-month-old uprising against him, while Turkey has been one of his fiercest critics, supporting the opposition and giving refuge to rebel fighters. But the election in June of President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who says he wants to thaw Iran's icy relations with the West, and shared concern over the rise of al Qaeda in Syria, have spurred hopes of a rapprochement." http://t.uani.com/1aOpaav

Human Rights

FT: "Until two days before her concert at one of Tehran's leading music venues, Jivar Sheikholeslami, a 32-year-old Iranian singer in an all-female folklore band, did not know if she would get official permission for the performance. For more than 30 years, female singers in Iran have not been able to sing solo or perform to a mixed audience. It is illegal to take pictures of them singing or to record their performances. Even group performances to all-women audiences, such as that planned this week at Andisheh hall, have been closely monitored since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. 'Why should I be kept under so much stress before my performance?' she says. 'If the female voice was against religion, God would have created us mute.' But the concert did take place, amid growing hopes that female singers might have more freedom under Hassan Rouhani, president, who swept to power in June promising a weary population that hardline policies would be softened... Within the Islamic Republic, many hope that there will also be an easing of restrictions on cultural life." http://t.uani.com/17xgs1N

Domestic Politics

NYT: "Dusty and dilapidated, dwarfed by the modern high-rises of the Iranian capital, the former United States Embassy building stands in a vast compound in the center of Tehran, a forlorn symbol of what increasingly seems like a bygone era here... Foreign journalists were allowed a rare peek inside the compound on Thursday, in anticipation of the Nov. 4 anniversary of the 1979 hostage taking. The day will be celebrated with state-organized rallies where 'Death to America' will, as always, be the main slogan. 'Before that moment, it was the U.S. who dictated the history of nations,' said Mohammad Reza Soghigi, who guided the foreign reporters visiting the site. 'After the takeover, it was Iran that dictated the history of the U.S.' For Iranian hard-liners, the embassy compound is a symbol of the lasting power of the Islamic Revolution." http://t.uani.com/16rYM4A
Opinion & Analysis

Chicago Tribune Editorial: "In a typical negotiation, the more leverage you bring to the table, the better your chances for snagging a favorable deal. So you'd think that the Obama administration would welcome a push from Congress to slap more economic sanctions on Iran, in a bid to boost U.S. leverage in talks to halt Tehran's rogue nuclear program. But the administration is pressing the U.S. Senate to delay a vote on those expanded sanctions. The economic squeeze orchestrated by the U.S. and the European Union has been effective: Iran has been crippled by a weakened currency, high inflation and rising unemployment. Its oil sales have plunged. Earlier this year, the House voted overwhelmingly - 400 to 20! - for legislation that would further dry up Iran's oil exports and deal another severe blow to its teetering financial system. It would blacklist more companies that are controlled by Iran's government. It would pressure the EU to block Iran from conducting banking transactions in euros. The overarching goal: a near-total banking and trade embargo that would freeze Iran. That legislation is now in the Senate Banking Committee. The Obama administration says an aggressive move on sanctions could jeopardize the new negotiations with Iran. New sanctions, the White House says, could undercut the negotiating power of Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, and embolden hardliners to walk away from the table. The Senate has been delaying a vote on the sanctions bill, but lawmakers are likely to take it up soon. We understand why the White House wants maximum flexibility for its negotiators. The White House case would be more compelling, though, had it not resisted the ramp-up in sanctions in the first place. That pressure has helped force Iran to talk. It's possible the White House public position on this is intended for Iranian consumption. Something of a good-cop, bad-cop routine: Those folks on Capitol Hill want to pummel you; we're trying to hold them off. But we need a real deal and we need it quickly. Bottom line: There's value in keeping this sanctions legislation moving through Congress. A vote on broader economic sanctions would send a tough message to Iran, but it wouldn't constrict the negotiating leverage of the White House. The president has latitude on how and when to impose and withdraw sanctions. He can suspend sanctions for a time if he declares that to be in America's security interests. What's more, even if the Senate pursues this legislation now, it will take months to go into effect. A Senate vote would serve notice on the Iranians: Bargain in good faith and reach a deal because the alternative is even more dire economic calamity." http://t.uani.com/1iAfNMu

David Gardner in FT: "Although nothing concrete has happened to lift the sanctions siege that is suffocating the Iranian economy, Iran is on a roll. This is partly a change in atmospherics, but to an important degree also a change in geopolitical fortunes. The dithering response by the US and its allies to the dizzying dynamics of an Arab world in upheaval has, paradoxically, transformed the August 21 nerve gas attack on rebel suburbs of northeast Damascus into an opportunity for rapprochement with Iran. This is a much bigger deal for Barack Obama than Syria and sits with the US president's horror of further military entanglement in the broader Middle East after Afghanistan and Iraq. The Russian-American initiative to audit and destroy the chemical arsenal of Bashar al-Assad's regime may have been cobbled together. But as a collateral consequence the shadow of US detente with Iran now hovers expectantly over Syria and the region. In atmospheric terms, attitudes towards the Islamic Republic are starting to change, as the US and Iran start dancing their diplomatic pas de deux. Partly, this is due to the charm offensive of Hassan Rouhani, Iran's silky and urbane new president, against whom Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, his mercurial and messianic predecessor, was like a pantomime villain out of central casting. Mr Rouhani's job is to break the US-led siege crippling Iran, by negotiating a compromise on Tehran's nuclear programme that would, at the very least, allow Iran to continue enriching uranium while offering verifiable proof that it is not seeking an atomic bomb. In this he has the support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader. But if Mr Rouhani cannot show tangible gains relatively soon, the vested interests of Iran's theocracy will overwhelm him. Already, this week, the reformist Bahar newspaper was closed for an article on the Imam Ali, the seventh century founder of Shiism and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, which was interpreted as a metaphorical critique of the Supreme Leader's powers. Yet, Iran is in confident mood. Sanctions have cut oil exports to far below potential capacity. But the government is drawing up what it says will be attractive new contractual terms to lure top flight US and European oil companies, to invest a desperately needed $100bn over the next three years. The balance of power in the Middle East, moreover, has tilted back in Iran's favour. The west's hesitation on Syria, subcontracting arming the rebels to allies in the Gulf, has drained credibility from America and its friends and built a platform for the revival of Sunni jihadism from Lebanon to Iraq. The Sunni Islamist government of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt crashed and burned. Shia Iran, whose prestige among Arabs collapsed after the suppression of its own Green Movement in 2009 and its sectarian response to the Arab spring, is a net beneficiary. The Iranians have also consolidated their position in Lebanon through Hizbollah and in Iraq through the beleaguered Shia Islamist government of Nouri al-Maliki, in need of help to hold back the now cross-border Sunni jihadi threat. In Syria, as a top western diplomat puts it, 'everybody accepts now that Bashar al-Assad is completely dependent on Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/1bJbJHa

Charles Recknagel in RFE/RL: "Soft on the outside, hard on the inside.  That may be the best way to describe the often startling contrast between Iran's current foreign and domestic policies. Since taking office in August, President Hassan Rohani has won widespread praise for showing greater flexibility in nuclear talks with the international community. The praise has come even from countries usually highly skeptical of Iran's readiness to solve the nuclear crisis through negotiations. As U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said following this month's talks in Geneva between Tehran and the six world powers, 'We are at a different point in this with a new government in place, and we are having a level of conversation that is different from what we had in the past.' But if such statements, echoed by the European Union and the UN's nuclear agency, have created the sense that the Iranian government is now far more ready to consider compromises than before, flexibility is not what characterizes its behavior at home. Hadi Ghaemi, director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, says that hard-line forces which lost the June presidential election to Rohani have pushed back to make sure his softer approach begins and ends with foreign affairs. 'What we are seeing is that the political forces which lost in the presidential election are still very much in control of major branches of the state, such as the Judiciary, the armed forces, such as the Revolutionary Guards, and the intelligence and security branches, which are very powerful,' Ghaemi says. 'All of these groups are at the moment trying to use domestic repression to their advantage so that any kind of rapprochement in foreign policy does not undermine their power at home.' The result is that the first three months of Rohani's administration have been marked by events that call into question his ability to deliver on campaign promises to end the 'suppression and radicalism' of recent years. Among his campaign pledges was the release of political prisoners, with strong suggestions that this would include Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Musavi and reformist cleric Mehdi Karrubi. Some lower-level prisoners have been released, but Musavi remains under house arrest and two of his daughters were allegedly beaten by security guards after a recent visit with their father. Karrubi is reportedly confined to an Intelligence Ministry safe house. Similarly, hard-liners have shown their power by closing down a reformist newspaper this week for the first time since Rohani took office. Iran's state press watchdog shut the daily 'Bahar' over an article seen as attacking the rule of religious figures. The censors said that undermined Islamic principles. Scott Lucas, editor of EA Worldview, a specialist website on Iran and the Mideast, calls the closure of Bahar a clear message to Rohani's supporters not to expect more room for criticizing the ruling establishment... The Iranian regime provided a reminder of just how brutal it remains at home as it hanged 16 prisoners on October 26 in retaliation for a rebel attack that killed 14 border guards in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The mass execution mirrored the hanging of 11 alleged rebels following a bomb attack in the same province in 2010. The jarring discrepancy between Iran's softening image and its hard reality may mean the world will have to get used to viewing Rohani's presidency through two different lenses: one for foreign policy, one for domestic." http://t.uani.com/1aMMQub

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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