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Politico:
"Senate Republicans are demanding a vote on new Iran sanctions as
part of an unrelated bill. Still miffed that they didn't get an Iran vote
as part of a 2013 defense bill, the GOP has rolled sanctions language
authored by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) into its
alternative to the Democratic veterans benefits' bill written by Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). By calling for the Senate to vote on a substitute
written by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Republicans are hoping to force
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) into holding a vote that he
has repeatedly spurned in recent months. 'We've been trying for months to
get a debate and a vote on the Kirk-Menendez Iran sanctions bill,' Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday. 'We'll be
discussing it at length on the floor on why we should go forward with
that legislation and why we ought to get a vote on it, because it's a
very time sensitive matter.'" http://t.uani.com/1jA2w9l
Reuters:
"Iraqi officials gave contradictory accounts on Tuesday about
whether or not Baghdad had agreed to buy $195 million worth of arms and
ammunition from Iran as reported by Reuters, a deal that if confirmed
could damage Iraqi-U.S. relations. The Defence Ministry denied any such
deal had been done, while a senior Iraqi government lawmaker who heads
parliament's security and defence committee said Baghdad had bought 'some
light weapons and ammunition' from Tehran... Two contracts seen by
Reuters were agreed with the state-owned Iran Electronic Industries for
night vision goggles, communications equipment and mortar-guiding
devices." http://t.uani.com/1cmJqOR
Free Beacon:
"Multiple companies currently exploring new business ventures in
Iran are also cashing in on highly lucrative contracts with the U.S.
Defense Department, raising questions about whether their dealings with
Iran could run afoul of U.S. law. At least 13 major international
companies have said in recent weeks that they aim to reenter the Iranian
marketplace over the next several months. The companies have received
Pentagon contracts totaling well over $107 billion, according to a
Washington Free Beacon analysis that tracked DoD contracts awarded since
fiscal year 2009... These companies include Boeing and General
Electric-which have DoD contracts worth $87 and $12 billion
respectively-as well as the Italian oil company Eni, Merck, Safran,
Vitol, Bosch Rexroth, Sanofi Pastuer, and AVL... 'The fact that major
federal contractors are even considering business with Iran during this
interim period demonstrates that we need to be incredibly vigilant in
enforcing the existing sanctions,' said Rep Brad Sherman (D., Calif.), a
member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 'And even if their
activity is technically not captured by our existing sanctions laws,
these companies should know that Congress is watching,' Sherman said. 'We
will focus on defense and other federal contractors. And we will make sure
that if there are deals that do violate the law, they will be debarred
from federal contracting or worse.' Sherman said that Congress' next Iran
sanctions bill should 'include a near total ban' on business dealings
with Iran. 'If you sell anything to Iran but food or medicine, you are
ineligible for a federal contract, grant or other assistance,' he said.
'At some point, you may have to say to these firms, you either do
business with us or with them.'" http://t.uani.com/1fTwwZm
Sanctions Relief
Reuters:
"India is ready to pay $1.5 billion to Iran to clear part of a
backlog of payments for shipments of oil following the partial easing of
western sanctions on Tehran, Oil Secretary Vivek Rae said on Tuesday. In
a Nov. 24 deal with six major powers, Iran won access to $4.2 billion in
oil revenue from a number of countries that has been frozen abroad. The
funds will be paid in eight transfers on a schedule that started with a
$550 million payment by Japan on Feb. 1. South Korea is set to make two
payments in March totalling $1 billion, banking sources said on
Wednesday, and the next scheduled tranche of oil funds would come on
April 10. 'We are ready to make a payment as soon as banking modalities
are worked out,' Rae told Reuters. He confirmed a Reuters' report that
Iran had sought $1.5 billion from India in back oil payments. The federal
finance ministry is working out the banking channel that will be used for
the payments, he said." http://t.uani.com/1jA0O7T
Trend:
"A major U.S. pharmaceutical company, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD)
has signed a contract for the licensed production of medicines in Iran,
head of Iran's Drug Importing Union, Nasser Riahi said, ISNA news agency
reported on Feb. 25... He also went on to say that a German company has
expressed interest to purchase share of Shiraz Serum Company and to
participation in the production without unveiling the German company's
name. 'The U.S. MSD which is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies
in the world wants to manufacture its products under license in Iran,' he
said, adding that in order to gain the trust of the Iranian partner, the
U.S. company has reduced its product prices by 30 to 40 percent. Riahi
remarked that major Swiss-based multinational drug maker Novartis has
started production in Iran and signed a contract. A Japanese company also
has signed an agreement for the production of medicines in Iran, he
added. He remarked that the MSD is the first U.S. drug company which has
signed a cooperation contract with Iran since the 1979 Islamic
revolution." http://t.uani.com/1fGSnHh
Bloomberg:
"Group of 110 Chinese investors, traders to arrive in Iran on March
2, official Islamic Republic News Agency reports, citing General
Administration of Customs of China." http://t.uani.com/1bLLMM7
Sanctions
Enforcement & Impact
AFP:
"Pakistan on Tuesday said that work on a pipeline to import gas from
Iran cannot proceed because of sanctions imposed by the United Sates and
the European Union on Tehran. The Iranian side of the $7.5-billion
project is almost complete, but Pakistan has run into repeated problems paying
for the 780 kilometre (485 mile) section to be built on its side of the
border... Pakistani petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told AFP on
Tuesday that work on the pipeline could not go ahead because it falls
under sanctions imposed by the US and EU. 'The work on the Pakistan-Iran
gas pipeline project is not possible because of the sanctions imposed by
the US and EU,' Abbasi said. 'This project is affected by the sanctions
imposed.'" http://t.uani.com/1mB4YOb
Human Rights
IHR:
"Yesterday Iran Human Rights (IHR) had warned about scheduled
execution of seven prisoners from Rajaishahr prison of Karaj. This
morning six people were hanged, three of them publicly at three different
spots of Karaj. Iran Human Rights strongly condemns the wave of executions
in Iran and calls for the international community to react." http://t.uani.com/1llpYu7
IHR:
"Two prisoners were hanged in the prison of Semnan yesterday morning
February 24, reported the official website of the Iranian Judiciary in
this province. The prisoners were identified as H. N. and A. N. and were
both sentenced to death (Qesas; retribution) for murder, said the
report." http://t.uani.com/1hfHZ9J
Foreign Affairs
Global Security
Newswire: "Senior North Korean and Iranian officials
on Monday discussed reviving and expanding bilateral relations, according
to an Iranian news report. Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif,
hosted North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Gil Song for talks in
Tehran, where he emphasized his government's commitment to cementing
enduring ties with Pyongyang, the state-run Fars News Agency
reported." http://t.uani.com/1ekt51B
Opinion &
Analysis
David Albright
& Serena Kelleher-Vergantini in ISIS: "In
December 2013, ISIS published an Imagery Brief showing, with high
resolution commercial satellite imagery, that no significant alterations
had taken place at the Parchin military site. However, as the February
2014 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran
highlighted, recent commercial satellite imagery shows that new activity
is taking place at the site... The IAEA asked to visit this military site
because it has evidence that at least one building is alleged to have
been the location of high explosive tests related to the development of
nuclear weapons undertaken prior to 2004. However, after receiving this
request, Iran undertook substantial reconstruction and site
modifications. Satellite imagery shows that between early 2012 and the
summer of 2013 Iran sanitized, demolished portions of, and reconstructed
the site in an apparent effort to hide past activities and undermine the
IAEA's ability to conduct verification activities. ISIS has monitored
developments at the Parchin complex since February 2012 and has
catalogued changes at the site. These results are in reports available on
the ISIS website. So far, despite repeated requests, Iran has refused to
grant access to the site... Some analysts have argued incorrectly that
issues like Parchin and alleged military dimensions do not matter.
According to their reasoning, these issues are in the past and should be
overlooked. These concerns do not appear motivated by disbelief that Iran
was pursuing nuclear weapons. Only a few non-credible critics argue that
position. Instead, these analysts appear motivated by a worry that Iran
will never address the IAEA's concerns and that intransigence on the part
of Iran will scuttle any long term deal. 'Focus on the present and
future, not the past' is their mantra. But what kind of comprehensive
solution can be achieved by ignoring the central concern of the crisis--
namely that Iran has misused its nuclear programs to seek nuclear weapons
and may do so again? What is the value of a deal if Iran is not willing
to admit to its past work on nuclear weapons and allow the IAEA to verify
the correctness and completeness of its statements, along with gaining
assurance that any such work has stopped? What confidence can be placed
in the ability of the IAEA to verify any final deal, if Iran can
successfully defy a legitimate IAEA verification request? The answer is
simple: that agreement would not provide assurance that Iran is not
building nuclear weapons. It would have an impaired verification regime.
Iran would feel emboldened to resist future IAEA efforts aimed at
ensuring the absence of undeclared nuclear activities and facilities,
efforts that will inevitably require visits to military sites. Those who
want to forget the past also ignore another key fact. One of the most
important lessons of the IAEA's experience in South Africa, North Korea,
and Iraq in the early 1990s is that understanding past nuclear activities
matters to establishing certainty about the present and future. This
realization helped propel a weak, ineffective inspection agency of the
1980s into the powerful verification force it is today. Failure to
remember this lesson will condemn us to a comprehensive solution which
retains an Iranian nuclear weapons breakout capability and a weak and
ineffective inspection regime unable to detect Iranian cheating." http://t.uani.com/1cPK1vI
The National
Editorial Board: "In the world of arms deals, $200
million (Dh7.34bn) doesn't buy you much. A few tanks, some mortars and
perhaps some ammunition. Yet the deal that Iraq has signed with Iran has
political repercussions far beyond the monetary value. Under the terms of
a UN embargo, which proscribes Iran's ability to sell weapons to any
third party, the deal is probably illegal. But the fact that Iraq doesn't
care highlights three aspects of the complicated relationship between the
US and the region: the lack of influence of the United States with
Baghdad (it is, after all, only two years since its troops left Iraq);
the warming ties between Iran and its neighbour; and the repercussions of
the sudden warming of relations between the US and Iran. Iran's expanding
influence in the region has long been a source of contention in the Arab
world and especially among the Gulf states. Despite - indeed, because of
- America's toppling of Saddam Hussein and its privileging of the Iraqi
Shia community, Iran has been able to wield considerable influence in
Baghdad. Few big decisions get made inside the Green Zone these days
without Tehran's approval. But selling arms to Iraq takes this
relationship to another level. True, America is still Baghdad's top arms
supplier. But America is far away. Iran is next door. The warming of ties
between the US and Iran, after decades of enmity, as evidenced in the
deal over Iran's nuclear programme, has created a culture of
normalisation of ties between Iran and the international community. Many
feel this normalisation is premature, and indeed the US is concerned by
it, but it is clear that the genie has firmly exited the bottle." http://t.uani.com/1ew52bl
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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