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Top Stories
AP:
"Vast differences between Iran and the six-nation coalition seeking
to dismantle the Islamic republic's nuclear program may lead to another
short-term deal - and that could renew criticism that Iran is stalling
and energize the push in Congress for tougher sanctions even if they
endanger negotiations. Such a dilemma awaits the resumption of
face-to-face talks set for next month... The agreement included a
provision to renew the short-term accord for a period of time that would
have to be agreed to by all parties... 'I think it's extremely unlikely
that it will be possible to reach a comprehensive agreement in the next
six months,' said Gary Samore, who until last year was Obama's top arms
control adviser. 'We're in for a rolling series of extensions.' It's not
clear what the U.S. and its coalition partners would do if a
comprehensive agreement isn't reached in six months. U.S. officials are
meeting with their counterparts in the so-called P5+1 to plot strategy
for the February meetings. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal
told The Associated Press on Thursday that the coalition's priority is to
reach a big deal and do so quickly. 'We are not going to go through a
succession of interim deals,' Nadal said. He added that the push in
Congress for tougher sanctions against Iran 'increases the
pressure.'" http://t.uani.com/1eXKlXF
CNN:
"Sanctions against Iran are illegal and are undermining
international law, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in an exclusive,
wide-ranging interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria... Rouhani insisted that
Iran still had a right to peaceful nuclear technology, including
enrichment, which he described as 'part and parcel of the inalienable
rights of states.' 'It is part a part of our national pride, and nuclear
technology has become indigenous,' he said. 'And recently, we have
managed to secure very considerable prowess with regards to the
fabrication of centrifuges,' he added, explaining that 'not under any
circumstances' would Iran destroy any of its existing centrifuges... 'In
the context of R&D and peaceful nuclear technology, we will not
accept any limitations,' Rouhani told Zakaria, arguing that Iran's need
for medical isotopes necessitated a heavy water reactor." http://t.uani.com/KQ2Pjb
Free Beacon:
"If Iran fully complies with the requirements of a recently signed
nuclear deal, its ability to build a nuclear weapon will be delayed by
just one month, according to a recent analysis published by a nuclear
watchdog group. Before Iran signed a temporary agreement to halt portions
of its nuclear program, experts pegged its breakout time-the length of
time it would take Tehran to enrich the fuel needed for a nuclear bomb-at
around one to one-and-a-half months, according to a recent analysis by
the group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). If Iran goes along with the
nuclear accord and ramps down some of its nuclear work, its breakout time
will be pushed back from one month to just over two, according to UANI's
analysis, which cites figures from the Institute for Science and
International Security (ISIS)... Iran's nuclear progress will not end
there, according to UANI, which is tracking every facet of the deal on
its newly launched Geneva Interim Agreement Tracker website. Iran will
continue work on the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, which could
provide the country with an alternate path to a nuclear weapon. Tehran
also can continue to perform advanced research and development on
centrifuges and other nuclear technologies under the deal. Additionally,
it will not be barred from performing tests on long-range ballistic
missiles, a weapon that could carry a nuclear payload over great
distances." http://t.uani.com/1cauLcI
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Reuters:
"The U.N. atomic agency asked member countries on Friday for more
money to fund its work checking Iran complies with a deal aimed at easing
a decade-long stand-off over its nuclear activities. The International
Atomic Energy Agency will nearly double the number of people it has
working on Iran as a result of the six-month accord, IAEA chief Yukiya
Amano told an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. body's 35-nation
governing board. Amano said the interim agreement - which took effect on
Monday and under which Iran will get relief from some economic sanctions
- was an 'important step forward towards achieving a comprehensive
solution' to the nuclear dispute. But, he added: 'there is still a long
way to go.'" http://t.uani.com/1g8n1vr
The Hill:
"The White House on Thursday brushed off comments by Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who, in an interview, accused the Obama
administration of overstating the concessions they had gained from Tehran
in a six-month nuclear deal. 'How Iranian officials characterize this for
a domestic audience matters far less to us than what they're actually
doing,' White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday." http://t.uani.com/KU5HMF
Sanctions
Relief
NYT:
"The Obama administration intensified efforts on Thursday to counter
what officials called a misimpression that the six-month nuclear
agreement with Iran had opened the door to new economic opportunities
with the country, emphasizing that nearly all sanctions remained in force
and warning businesses not to engage in any deals still pending after the
accord's July 20 expiration. As if to punctuate the administration's
assertion that little had changed, the Treasury Department announced what
it described as a landmark $152 million settlement with Clearstream
Banking, a Luxembourg-based banking subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche
Börse securities exchange, for having allowed Iran to bypass sanctions
through the use of the company's access to the American banking system.
The administration has been facing increased criticism from supporters of
strong sanctions against Iran who contend that the six-month deal - which
went into force on Monday and was devised to allow time to negotiate a
permanent accord - had given the Iranians far more in economic benefits
than what its provisions had specified or intended." http://t.uani.com/19S3KM0
Reuters:
"French carmaker Renault aims to get back into Iran as soon as
sanctions are lifted, chief executive Carlos Ghosn said on Thursday,
describing it as 'a potentially great market'... 'We consider that this
is a potentially great market for the car industry and we want to be able
to launch again the operation immediately when the sanctions are lifted,'
Ghosn told Reuters TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in
Davos. 'Ourselves and a lot of car manufacturers would love to contribute
to the development of the Iranian market, which is already the largest
market in the Middle East despite the sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/1fbAuzN
Bloomberg:
"Iran plans to offer oil companies improved terms to develop oil and
natural gas fields once a trade embargo against the country is lifted,
Total SA (FP) Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie said.
Contracts will be 'more sexy than before,' De Margerie said today in an
interview at Davos with Bloomberg TV. 'They are definitely expecting the
embargo to be lifted.' Europe's third-biggest oil company, which stopped
work on Iran's South Pars gas field in 2009 as the U.S. tightened
sanctions, has 'no specific right to restart' work on previous projects,
he said. 'Our project when we left was ended.'" http://t.uani.com/1dAVYBj
AFP:
"The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that it will resume
annual evaluations of Iran's economy, suspended by Tehran since the
organization's last mission nearly three years ago. 'There's an agreement
to undertake an article IV review in Iran... There was a bit of a break
in recent years,' IMF spokesman William Murray said. A mission will visit
the country on January 25 for the first talks under the Article IV
reviews, in which IMF officials take a critical eye to a country's
economic situation and management after discussions with officials as
well as businessmen, politicians and civil society groups. The IMF team
then issues a report reviewing progress, shortcomings and challenges
facing the economy." http://t.uani.com/1jJdpW7
Sanctions
Enforcement
Reuters:
"A Deutsche Boerse unit agreed to pay $152 million to settle
allegations that it held some $2.8 billion in securities in the United
States for the central bank of Iran, the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday.
The unit, Clearstream Banking of Luxembourg, had an account with a U.S.
financial institution in New York from December 2007 to June 2008 through
which Iran's central bank held interest in 26 corporate and sovereign
bonds, the Treasury Department said. It did not name the U.S. financial
institution involved. 'Clearstream provided the government of Iran with
substantial and unauthorized access to the U.S. financial system,' Adam
Szubin, who leads the Treasury office that enforces U.S. sanctions, the
Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement. Deutsche Boerse,
which had already disclosed the settlement amount in November, said on
Thursday the settlement closed the probe without a formal finding that
Clearstream had violated U.S. sanctions laws... Clearstream met with U.S.
officials about the account in 2007 and 2008, and decided to end its
business with Iranian clients, Treasury said." http://t.uani.com/1hrhgFN
Bloomberg:
"Iran is exaggerating its crude oil export figures and won't be
allowed to sell more than 1 million barrels a day over the next six
months, U.S. officials involved in managing sanctions against the country
said. Iran says it shipped 1.51 million barrels a day in November,
according to figures the nation submitted to the Riyadh-based Joint
Organisations Data Initiative... The Paris-based International Energy
Agency, an adviser to 28 nations, estimated Jan. 21 that buyers imported
about 1.07 million barrels a day from Iran in 2013. In contrast, Iran's
own data show shipments fell below 1.5 million barrels a day only once in
the past 17 months." http://t.uani.com/1mQjH8Y
Syria Conflict
NYT:
"Secretary of State John Kerry and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran
offered clashing accounts on Thursday of the civil war in Syria, and the
role that Tehran is playing in the conflict. The contrasting assessments
illustrated the chasm that still separates the United States and Iran on
Middle East issues even as they have agreed on a temporary accord to
freeze much of Iran's nuclear program... 'Iran has I.R.G.C. personnel on
the ground in Syria conducting military affairs,' Mr. Kerry said, using
the abbreviation for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Mr. Kerry
also said that Iran was the main supporter of Hezbollah, the Lebanese
militia, which he asserted was 'the principal difference in the fighting
that has taken place on the ground in Syria.' But the Iranian president
offered an assessment that differed so radically it was difficult to imagine
that he was talking about the same country. Echoing arguments used by Mr.
Assad, Mr. Rouhani suggested that terrorism, not power-sharing with the
opposition, was the main issue." http://t.uani.com/1mQey0E
Domestic
Politics
WSJ:
"Iranians on both sides of the country's political divide lauded
President Hasan Rouhani's address to the Davos economic forum, welcoming
his promises to shore up the economy by opening it up to international
trade and investment. Reformists, conservatives and businessmen praised
the speech on Thursday to the World Economic Forum. Mr. Rouhani touted
the policies his government has ushered in: prudence and moderation,
expanding global trade and regional ties and inviting foreign investment.
The speech, carried live on Iranian television, attracted intense
attention and excitement because no Iranian president has appeared at the
forum of world business elites for a decade. Desperate for some economic
relief from international sanctions, many Iranians saw momentum and hope
for change in the very fact of his appearance there." http://t.uani.com/1bmlni0
LAT:
"A technical blunder? Or the latest episode in the culture wars
between Iran's hard-liners and moderates? Confusion is rife in the
Iranian capital about a recent showing of musical instruments on Iranian
state television that broke a three-decade taboo. Last weekend, Iran's
Channel One aired a live concert by a group of musicians playing
traditional instruments on a show called 'Good Morning Iran.' Some Shia Muslim
clerics say that broadcasting music clashes with religious tenets. So in
Iran, a country with a long history of both religious and secular music,
the state broadcaster has come up with a somewhat convoluted solution.
When it airs performances of traditional Iranian music for a domestic
audience, singers are allowed in front of the cameras, but musical
instruments are absent from the screen. When musicians play, Islamic
Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shows shots of the studio or
pastoral scenes, such as waterfalls, birds and mountains. So the episode
in which instruments were shown caused a minor sensation in the Islamic
Republic." http://t.uani.com/1mQmnU1
Opinion &
Analysis
Jeffrey Goldberg
in Bloomberg: "Perhaps it's the
altitude. Maybe it's the rich food -- or the rich people. Or maybe the
word for chutzpah in Farsi is 'Davos.' For whatever reason, Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif,
have been putting on a brass-neck display this week in Switzerland -- and
Rouhani's speech today at the World Economic Forum was no exception.
Rouhani and Zarif are busy trying, with intermittent success, to beguile
the West into submission. (They've left the executions of Kurdish
activists, the suppression of the Baha'i and the imprisonment of
Christian pastors for the to-do lists of other senior Iranian officials.)
In the course of the latest iteration of their charm offensive, they've
made some inadvertently hilarious statements. My favorite might be this
tweet yesterday that came from Rouhani's account (which is apparently
managed by aides): 'Terrorism will come back to haunt those who sponsor
it.If a govt thinks it can topple another govt by supporting terrorists,
it's 100% wrong.' This is from the president of a country that sits on
the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, and that
supplies skilled terrorists, financing and arms to Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad, who has turned Syria into hell itself. Iran also funds
and supplies a Lebanese militia, Hezbollah, that murders its political
rivals and is responsible for terrorist acts around the globe. A comment
nearly as audacious came from Zarif, who made this statement to CNN's Jim
Sciutto yesterday: 'Why don't we allow the Syrians to talk about how they
can conduct a free and fair election? Why do people need to set an agenda
and impose their agenda on the Syrian people?' Zarif is the foreign
minister of a country ruled by an unelected 'supreme leader,' talking
about an Iranian client, Assad, who uses Iranian-supplied arms to kill
political dissidents. Another candidate for most galling statement made
by an Iranian leader comes from Rouhani's Twitter account last week: 'Our
relationship w/ the world is based on Iranian nation's interests. In
#Geneva agreement world powers surrendered to Iranian nation's will.'
This tweet was deleted by unknown hands -- it was probably seen as a bit
too pushy (or a bit too close to the truth) by the Iranian foreign
ministry... Rouhani, in his speech, made another assertion that could be
characterized fairly as both bold and misleading: 'I strongly and clearly
state that nuclear weapons have no place in our security strategy, and
Iran has no motivation to move in that direction.' Iran has spent
billions of dollars in its pursuit of nuclear weapons technology, and in
pursuit of the kind of highly enriched uranium that has only one purpose.
It has suffered the loss of billions more because of sanctions designed
to prevent it from reaching the nuclear weapons threshold. But facts be
damned: There's a charm offensive to be waged. And Davos is quite
apparently ready to be charmed." http://t.uani.com/1dUvzED
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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
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