Eye on Iran: Congress Concerned Iran's Oil Exports May Be Up

Join UANI           Top Stories AP: "Obama administration officials faced the prospect of contentious questioning Thursday from lawmakers about reports that China and India are significantly expanding imports of Iranian petroleum... Chinese imports of Iranian crude have jumped nearly 30 percent since November compared with the previous six months, according to government data. Some reports suggest Indian imports doubled in January; U.S. officials believe the growth was far more modest. Some lawmakers are concerned. Aides to two members of Congress said their bosses planned to raise the issue at a classified briefing Thursday by the State Department's nuclear negotiator, Wendy Sherman, and the Treasury Department's sanctions chief, David Cohen. 'We obviously are watching this closely in keeping with the expectation that we have that all nations will abide by their commitments under the sanctions regime,' White House press secretary Jay Carney said. He said import levels can fluctuate month to month, and the critical test is whether they grow 'over a longer period of time.' ... Despite suggestions to the contrary, Iran's exports have remained constant since the agreement, insisted a U.S. official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. The official said some month-to-month fluctuations have occurred, but the long-term trajectory shows China reducing its imports of Iranian oil even amid an overall growth in its demand for fuel. Indian imports are down 40 percent since 2011, the official added. That assessment is disputed by Nat Kern of the Washington-based energy consultancy Foreign Reports. He said reported data appears to back up the claim China and India imported 1 million barrels per day by themselves last month. Add in other Asian countries and Turkey, and Iran's total oil exports already could be as much as 1.4 million barrels per day, he said, providing Tehran with a windfall of some $1.3 billion per month." http://t.uani.com/1hIeH21 Reuters: "Asian buyers increased purchases of Iranian crude by 22 percent in January from a year ago as the grip of sanctions imposed since 2012 loosened following a landmark agreement in November to curtail Tehran's nuclear programme. The OPEC member's oil sales in January to its four biggest buyers topped the 1 million barrels per day (bpd) where Western powers wanted to hold shipments to maintain pressure on Iran to end the disputed programme. China, India, Japan and South Korea together bought an average of 1.25 million bpd last month, government and industry data showed. They bought 1.03 million bpd in January a year ago... Japan, the world's fourth-biggest oil importer, purchased 210,517 bpd from Iran last month, compared with 239,085 bpd in January a year ago, trade ministry data showed on Friday. China, Iran's largest oil client, took 564,536 bpd of the crude last month, up 82 percent from January 2013. That jump - partly linked to data distortions as companies tend to book cargoes in advance of a week-long holiday that began on Jan. 31 this year - brought China's imports back to levels before Western sanctions were applied in early 2012... India's imports from Iran more than doubled last month from December, reaching the highest since February 2012, as one state refiner returned from a three-month break as a buyer. India's oil purchase from Iran in January surged to 412,000 bpd, up from 189,100 bpd in December and 44 percent higher than a year ago, data compiled by Reuters showed." http://t.uani.com/1kv4bNj Reuters: "Iran is willing to address international concerns about its atomic activities but will keep its nuclear program 'intact', not close it down, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday. His remarks signaled that Tehran will not agree to dismantle any of its atomic facilities in talks with six world powers on a final settlement of the decade-old dispute over its nuclear activity... Zarif, speaking to reporters during a visit to New Delhi, said he hoped a deal would be reached by the July deadline, although talks could be extended by another half year if both sides agreed. 'I am hoping by the first deadline we will reach a final deal and to start implementing it,' he said... However, he also said there was a 'problem in terms of both substance and approach', apparently referring to the other side in the talks... Zarif said Iran was 'prepared to make sure that the program is exclusively peaceful and create the necessary understanding for the West. I believe there are multiple ways of doing that and we are willing to entertain those ways.' But, he added: 'I can tell you that Iran's nuclear program will remain intact. We will not close any program.'" http://t.uani.com/1eFzujg       Sanctions Relief Reuters: "Iran's oil tanker fleet is gearing up for more business, with some vessels taking to the high seas after over more than a year at home ports, another sign that an easing in Western sanctions is enabling exports to begin to pick up... Ship tracking sources say in recent weeks at least three Iranian supertankers had made their first trips to Asia after months at Iranian anchorages where they were storing unsold oil. The tankers, known as Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), can hold up to 2 million barrels of oil each. 'While all eyes will be on whether we see an extension in sanctions relief after July, Iran's fleet is more visible and active now,' one shipping industry source said... Many of Iran's oil tankers belong to the country's top operator NITC. One ship tracking source said NITC's Dal Lake tanker was making its first journey outside the Gulf to Asia in 10 months. The Halistic was also heading to China on its first voyage since December 2012, while the Nanital was on its way to Asia making its first journey since last June. Another NITC tanker, Alert, is currently in a dry dock in Oman for repairs. 'The enlarged NITC VLCC fleet will be able to go about its business without all of the subterfuge which has been apparent over the past few years. Initially, we are likely to see more VLCC cargoes heading East, freeing up the units which have formed the nucleus of the long-term Iranian floating storage fleet,' tanker broker EA Gibson said in a recent report. 'It is also likely that NITC will take the opportunity to undertake dry docking and repairs to many of the older tankers during the sanction suspension window.'" http://t.uani.com/1lp70Tf Trend: "Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski will visit Tehran on March 1, Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote on his Facebook page on Feb. 28. This is the first Polish foreign minister's visit to Iran in 10 years. On Feb. 24, ISNA news agency quoted Polish Ambassador to Iran Juliusz Jacek Gojl as saying 'Our Foreign Minister is visiting Iran to see what is happening in Iran in the new era'. During the three-day visit, the 20- strong delegation of Polish business people and traders headed by Sikorski will explore new investment opportunities in Iran and boost Tehran-Warsaw ties, he added. Sikorski will also meet with officials of the Iranian Ministry Industry, Mine and Trade. Spanish Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo also is scheduled to pay a visit to Tehran on March 1, Zarif added." http://t.uani.com/MBebZv Congressional Sanctions Debate National Journal: "Dozens of major Democratic donors are urging congressional leaders to oppose any new sanctions or legislation that could jeopardize ongoing negotiations between world powers and Iran. The letter, signed by 82 donors, the majority of them Jewish, could be a boon for President Obama's diplomatic efforts, which resulted in a controversial deal that curbed major aspects of Iran's nuclear program temporarily as negotiations to reach a permanent deal continue... The new push from Democratic donors-including Ben Cohen, formerly of Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's ice cream; Victor Kovner, a fixture in the Democratic fundraising world since the Clinton administration; and former Sierra Club Foundation President Guy Saperstein-could go a long way toward convincing Democrats that supporting their president's interim agreement with Iran is a politically tenable option. 'This is the political center of gravity of the Democratic Party telling Congress there is no political need to do what the organizations pushing hawkish actions on Iran want you to do,' a lobbyist arguing against new Iran sanctions said under condition of anonymity." http://t.uani.com/1mMBixp The Hill: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back hard Thursday against those urging further sanctions on Iran, saying the lawmakers are throwing 'sand in the face' of the international negotiators working on a nuclear deal. 'It is really important for us to give diplomacy a chance, especially since it was such a long road to get to this place. And it has to be very clear to the Iranians that, if this doesn't work, we have other options which we are ready to use,' Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. 'But I don't know whose purpose it serves to throw sand in the face of the negotiators.' The comments came just hours before the Senate shot down legislation expanding veterans benefits, largely because Democratic leaders would not allow GOP amendments that included tougher sanctions on Iran." http://t.uani.com/1cfoGy8 WSJ: "Ahead of its conference, AIPAC distributed a position paper to congressional offices that demands a dismantling of virtually all of Iran's nuclear sites in order for an agreement to be reached and sanctions lifted. Mr. Netanyahu has promoted a similar line. The administration 'must hold out for an agreement under which Iran dismantles its nuclear infrastructure, including enrichment and reprocessing capabilities and the heavy water reactor and production plant,' the paper said. The Obama administration has been telling Jewish-American and Israeli leaders in recent weeks that such an absolutist position is no longer realistic. 'I would like there to be zero enrichment. I would like there to be no facilities... But that does not mean I will always get them,' Wendy Sherman, the Obama administration's chief nuclear negotiator, told Israeli journalists last week in Jerusalem. 'That is not necessarily the only path to ensuring Iran does not get a nuclear weapon.' Ms. Sherman also urged AIPAC's members not to continue lobbying for new sanctions on Iran while the diplomacy with Tehran takes place. 'We need to give this diplomacy a chance,' she said. 'I would urge AIPAC to create this space.'" http://t.uani.com/1crP81N Human Rights McClatchy: "Even as they make gestures toward rapprochement with the West, Iran's leaders remain among the world's worst human rights offenders, according to a State Department report Thursday that shows an increase in reported violations since the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani took office last year. The State Department didn't appear to pull punches in highlighting Iran's alleged abuses even though doing so risks upsetting sensitive diplomacy surrounding nuclear negotiations and the Syrian conflict, just two areas where Washington would like Tehran's cooperation. The report documented Iran's record of floggings and court-ordered amputations, discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities, crackdown on press freedoms and 624 executions - many after flimsy trials. 'We've seen little meaningful improvement in human rights in Iran under the new government, including torture, political imprisonment, harassment of religious and ethnic minorities,' said Uzra Zeya, the acting assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. 'Overall the situation remains poor.'" http://t.uani.com/1ob3hpx IHR: "One prisoner was hanged in the prison of Salmas (Northwestern Iran) today.  According to the Iranian State Broadcasting the prisoner who was not identified by name was convicted of trafficking 5 kilograms of opium and 600 gram of heroin, said the report." http://t.uani.com/1hIdrvE ICHRI: "A Kurdish death row prisoner was transferred to hospital with internal bleeding after being severely beaten by agents at Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj. Loghman Moradi was due to appear at Branch 74 of Tehran Province Criminal Court on February 23. That morning agents told him to put on prison clothes in order to be transferred to court. 'Loqhman refused to wear prison clothes and said I am a political prisoner and I have the right to appear in court in regular clothes,' Eghbal Moradi told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. 'Four agents were then ordered by Mr. Mardani, Head of Rajaee Shahr Prison, to beat Loqhman with batons, sticks and their boots and took him to the court judge with a bloodied face,' Eghbal Moradi told the Campaign." http://t.uani.com/1hIdDuU 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.