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Top Stories
National Journal:
"A bipartisan group of senators will soon introduce legislation that
would level new sanctions against Iran, defying pleas from President
Obama for Congress to wait while the administration works toward a
comprehensive deal. Lawmakers are circulating legislation to impose
additional sanctions that would kick in after the six-month negotiating
window to reach a comprehensive deal on Iran's nuclear program runs out,
or if Iran fails to hold up its end of the bargain in the interim. The
exact timing of the legislation's introduction will be largely up to
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who
is leading the bipartisan sanctions effort with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
Lawmakers and staff involved in the negotiations, however, say the bill
could be ready as soon as Thursday. "I am working with a series of
members, and I expect we'll have some type of an announcement
tomorrow," Menendez said Wednesday. 'The dynamics are what I've
always said they would be, which is to give the president the space and
time so that he can test the Iranians' seriousness of purpose in terms of
whether they are willing to strike an agreement, but to be ready should
they ultimately fail.' Introducing the bill before the break-and thus
teeing it up for action when the Senate reconvenes in January-would
signal a bold act of defiance against the administration, which was still
begging lawmakers this week to sit back and wait to see whether a
comprehensive agreement can be reached." http://t.uani.com/1cCBbgK
AFP:
"Delicate talks between Iran and world powers on how to implement a
landmark nuclear deal were to resume in Geneva Thursday... The technical
talks were set to begin at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) in the Swiss city, Iran's
deputy foreign minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi, who is not
personally taking part in the expert-level negotiations, told Iranian
state television. Experts held four days of talks in Vienna last week,
but the Iranians walked out after Washington expanded its sanctions blacklist
against Tehran. Tehran was prepared to continue the talks after EU
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton 'made the assurance that the world
powers, particularly the United States, will continue the talks in
goodwill... and that they are serious about implementing the deal,'
Araqchi told Iran's state broadcaster on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1hnXQlA
Fars News:
"Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that Tehran
can end suspension of its 20-percent nuclear enrichment in one day if the
opposite party to the Geneva deal defies its undertakings. 'The structure
of our nuclear program has been maintained and the 20% enrichment can be
resumed in less than 24 hours,' Zarif said, addressing the Iranian
students in Tehran on Wednesday... He also repeated his earlier remarks
that 'the structure of the sanctions and the antagonistic atmosphere
created by the West against Iran is falling apart'. In relevant remarks
after the Geneva deal late November, Head of the Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi underlined that Iran has
accepted to stop its 20-percent grade enrichment for a period of six
months in a voluntary move to build the opposite parties' confidence.
Salehi pointed to the Geneva agreement, and said, 'We will not stop any
of our nuclear activities, but we will only voluntarily limit the level
of our enrichment for a six-month period until comprehensive negotiations
are held and a relevant decision is made for enrichment above the
5-percent grade.' The AEOI chief stressed that Iran will continue its
nuclear activities at Natanz and Fordo enrichment facilities and in Arak
heavy water reactor and will also continue all its exploration, research
and development projects according to the deal, reiterating that none of
Iran's nuclear activities would be brought to a halt." http://t.uani.com/1i44v7p
Nuclear Negotiations
WSJ:
"France's foreign minister voiced doubts that Western powers will
reach a final nuclear deal with Iran, questioning Tehran's willingness to
abandon its ability to build an atomic bomb... 'We have to implement
honestly the first phase,' Mr. Fabius said in an interview with The Wall
Street Journal. 'Then my main concern is the second phase. It is unclear
if the Iranians will accept to definitively abandon any capacity of
getting a weapon or only agree to interrupt the nuclear program.' ... Mr.
Fabius said Western powers need to focus their efforts on how to deprive
Iran of 'breakout capacity,' the ability to restart a bomb-making program
from dormant nuclear sites and make a quick dash to a weapon before world
powers can react. 'What is at stake is to ensure that there is no
breakout capacity,' Mr. Fabius said." http://t.uani.com/1c3Ouu2
Sanctions
AFP:
"The Senate's Democratic leadership is shielding US President Barack
Obama from potentially embarrassing fallout by refusing to vote on new
sanctions against Iran, the chamber's top Republican warned Wednesday.
Lawmakers from both parties are keen to expand economic penalties on
Iran, which is in the midst of negotiations with world powers over its
nuclear program. One bipartisan proposal that Obama opposes would trigger
new sanctions if last month's interim deal rolling back parts of Iran's
nuclear program does not lead to a full-fledged agreement in six months.
Top Republican Senator Mitch McConnell lambasted Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid for ramming through a defense spending bill with no
opportunity to add amendments, a move that avoids debate on Iran
sanctions while the sensitive nuclear negotiations are ongoing. Reid
'won't allow a robust amendment process because he can't stomach a vote
on Iran sanctions,' McConnell said on the Senate floor. 'He knows the
administration would lose that vote decisively, and he knows that many
members of his own caucus would vote alongside Republicans to strengthen
those sanctions,' McConnell added. 'So rather than allow a democratic
vote that might embarrass the administration, the majority leader simply
won't permit that vote to happen.'" http://t.uani.com/1cdzmvZ
Reuters:
"Japan's biggest oil refiner JX Holdings has renewed its annual
contract for importing crude oil from Iran for 2014, with volumes steady
to slightly lower compared to this year... JX will import quantities of
Iranian crude that are permitted under the Western sanctions, chairman
Yasushi Kimura told reporters on Thursday, but declined to comment on the
volumes. An official at JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp, the downstream
oil unit of JX Holdings, said import volumes for 2014 from Iran have not
been set formally but have been mostly decided, with steady or slightly
lower quantities to be imported compared to 2013 levels. 'Volumes are not
rising,' in 2014, the official said. JX Nippon is likely to cut its Iran
import volumes to around 60,000 bpd in 2014 from an estimated 73,000 bpd
this year, an industry source familiar with the matter said in
September." http://t.uani.com/18TIqzQ
Tehran Times:
"The U.S. administration should rein in officials who are out of
touch because they may undermine the process of negotiations between Iran
and the world powers over the country's nuclear program, Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said late on Tuesday. 'There are still
people in the U.S. administration, such as (those in) the U.S. Treasury,
who are not realistic, and the U.S. administration should do something
about it. Otherwise, the negotiations will hit a snag as a result of the
actions of such people,' Zarif said in an interview broadcast live on
state television. 'Those who want to interact with us should learn to
talk to the Iranian people with the language of respect and equality. We
speak only on an equal footing,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1cdAYpt
Human Rights
AP:
"The U.N. General Assembly has approved a resolution criticizing
Iran for serious rights violations including torture and its 'alarming'
and frequent use of the death penalty. The vote Wednesday was 86 to 36,
with 61 countries abstaining. The resolution also welcomes pledges by
Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, on some important human rights issues
such as eliminating discrimination against women and members of ethnic
minorities. But it criticizes Iran's use of 'inhuman' punishments,
including flogging and amputations, and its use of the death penalty
against young people under age 18." http://t.uani.com/18ZmxCA
ICHRI:
"Tragic news about the deaths of wife and mother of an exiled
political prisoner on their way back from visiting him in Masjed-e
Soleyman Prison has shocked Iranians worldwide. Nahid Rahmani, mother,
and Ziba Sadeghzadeh, wife, of Amir Reza (Payman) Arefi, were on their
way back from their monthly trip to Masjed-e-Soleyman (500 miles
southwest of Tehran), where Payman Arefi is serving his 15 year prison
sentence in exile, when they died in a car crash. Payman Arefi, now 25,
was first arrested in March 2009 on charges of supporting The Kingdom
Assembly of Iran. Though he was in prison at the time of the protests
following the disputed June 2009 presidential election, Arefi was put on
trial at Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of
interfering in the 2009 elections after he made confessions under torture
about his involvement in the protests. In his 'confessions' at a
post-election show trial, Payman Arefi 'confessed' to having been present
in the June 2009 protests, even though he had been in prison for several
months when the protests began. Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court
first sentenced Arefi to death, and his sentence was later reduced to 15
years in exile at appeals level." http://t.uani.com/1cCznV7
ICHRI:
"The IRGC Intelligence Unit has arrested two individuals active on
Facebook, in a continuing wave of arrests against Internet and social
media users and professionals. Mohammad Amin Akrami and Mehdi Rayshahri
Tangestani are the latest detainees of IRGC, according to Kaleme Website.
Over the past two weeks there have been numerous arrests of IT
professionals, and in a recent video bearing the IRGC logo, several of
these arrested men were shown on national TV handcuffed and in prison
garb and accused of being spies in Kerman Province... In a previous
report, Kaleme wrote that IRGC interrogators have been able to access
popular Facebook pages not through hacking capabilities, but by
extracting their access passwords from detainees under torture. The
report added that many of the arrests in other cases are also happening
after the IRGC commandeers the Facebook pages." http://t.uani.com/1cdzXh4
Opinion &
Analysis
UANI Outreach
Coordinator Bob Feferman in JPost: "As I thought of
all I could not tell my grandson, my anger grew over the fact that so
many major-multinational companies like Mazda and Nissan continue to do
business-as-usual with Iran, and are thereby helping the Iranian regime
continue its destructive actions. If the CEOs of Nissan or Mazda had grandchildren
living in Israel or Syria, would they still be doing business in Iran,
including selling automobiles that are used to transport IRGC officials,
and ferry around rockets? Of course, Nissan and Mazda are not the only
multinational companies doing business in Iran. Actually there are
hundreds, including Ericsson, LG, MTN and Lufthansa. According to US law,
American companies are only allowed to do business in Iran for
humanitarian reasons, mainly the sale of food and medicine. The same is
true for Canada. Yet for a lot of companies in Europe, Asia and
elsewhere, it's still business as usual Just one week before visiting my
grandson, on November 20 Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
said that Israelis 'cannot be called human beings.' Khamenei threatened
that 'the Israeli regime is doomed to failure and annihilation.' The
international community's response to Khamenei's threatening comments?
Silence and apathy. Certainly not as much talk as there regularly is
about Iran's 'moderate' and 'charming' new president and foreign
minister. I am also frustrated with an international media so wrapped up
in the possibility of a 'diplomatic breakthrough,' yet so uninterested in
shining a light on the business being done by multinational companies in
Iran. If people knew this information, would they continue to buy the
products of these companies? The presence of multinational companies in
Iran gives legitimacy to the Iranian regime as a government, and
indirectly helps fund terrorist and the murderous regime of Assad. It
also helps perpetuate the horrible human rights situation in Iran, and
takes focus away from repeated genocidal threats against Israel by
Iranian leaders. Moreover, the business-as-usual status quo in Iran gives
the regime a free pass to continue to violate six United Nations Security
Council resolutions that demand it suspend its enrichment activities. Let
us be clear in our understanding that the interim deal reached in Geneva
did not put an end to all of these concerns. Only continued economic
pressure on Iran will do that, and that will require each of us to do our
part. As for the CEO's of companies doing business in Iran, I would like
to see them to sit down with an Israeli or Syrian five-year-old and try
to explain why they continue to support Iran. I can guarantee that if
enough of us boycott their products, they would care a whole lot
more." http://t.uani.com/1jlDe1C
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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