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NYT:
"Tensions between the West and Russia over events in Ukraine have
cast a shadow over the second round of talks set to begin on Tuesday in
Vienna on a permanent nuclear agreement with Iran. Although the talks
have no direct connection to Ukraine, their success hinges on solidarity
among the so-called P5-plus-one countries - the five permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council, which include Russia, plus Germany -
in favor of a tough agreement with Iran to drastically scale back its
nuclear program. If Russia signals that its cooperation with the West has
weakened, that will reduce pressure on Iran to make concessions, said
experts knowledgeable about the talks, which began last month with three
days of meetings involving senior diplomats from each of the governments
involved... 'If President Putin goes ahead with his apparent intention to
annex Crimea, we're going to have to sanction Russia, and they are going
to have to retaliate, and it's really going to screw up the P5-plus-one
negotiations with Iran,' said Gary Samore, a former senior aide on
nonproliferation on the National Security Council in President Obama's
first term. He is now executive director for research at Harvard's Belfer
Center for Science and International Affairs, as well as the president of
United Against Nuclear Iran, a group that advocates strong sanctions
against Iran until the nuclear dispute is resolved. 'The problem will be
that Iran will feel much less pressured to make any concessions if they
think the P5-plus-one are squabbling,' Mr. Samore said. 'The Iranians
will be watching and waiting; they are not inclined to make any
concessions anyway, but they are going to be less inclined until there is
a resolution' of the situation in Ukraine." http://t.uani.com/1dkNvU0
Reuters:
"Iran and six world powers sought on Tuesday to make headway toward
resolving their decade-old nuclear dispute, with Western officials
expressing hope talks would not be further complicated by the Ukraine
crisis... The March 18-19 meeting between Iran and the powers - the
United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - began a day
after Washington and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russian
officials over events in Crimea... As in previous meetings, Deputy
Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov represented Russia at the talks - which
started around 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT) and are likely to end late on
Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1l09jwn
JPost:
"A significant majority of US Senate members have signed a letter to
US President Barack Obama outlining terms of a final agreement on Iran's
nuclear program they would find acceptable. Eighty-two senators - 41
Republicans and 41 Democrats - say they hope diplomatic efforts with Iran
succeed in Vienna over the next four months - but also call for the 'rapid
and dramatic' expansion of sanctions if negotiations fail. The letter
began circulating less than two weeks ago, and has attracted 76
signatories since its release. Senate aides told The Jerusalem Post the
letter will be sent to the White House early this week. A source with a
pro-Israel organization characterized the letter's message as 'a very
significant statement of Senate policy in that it specifies the core
principles in final agreement.' ... 'We believe that Iran has no inherent
right to enrichment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,' the
letter reads. 'We believe any agreement must dismantle Iran's nuclear
weapons program and prevent it from ever having a uranium or plutonium
path to a nuclear bomb.' The letter also calls for the closure of Fordow,
Arak and Parchin - key facilities in Iran's nuclear program - in its list
of demands." http://t.uani.com/1d9XO2X
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
AFP:
"A senior US administration official involved in the talks said last
week that diplomats 'hoped that the incredibly difficult situation in
Ukraine will not create issues for this negotiation'. But Mark
Fitzpatrick, a former US State Department official now at the London-based
International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the unfolding crisis
made him 'even more pessimistic' about prospects for a deal with Iran.
'The Russians will... be less likely to make sacrifices for the sake of
unity over the Iran issues,' Fitzpatrick told AFP. The Iranians, he said,
'now have more reason to wait out the six powers'. Even before the
Ukraine crisis erupted, Russian President Vladimir Putin was reported to
be discussing a major deal with Tehran whereby Moscow would get Iranian
oil in exchange for money, goods and help in building new nuclear
reactors. This would undermine Washington's efforts to cut off Iran's
main source of revenue -- a strategy which the US credits with forcing
Tehran to the negotiating table in the first place. Mark Hibbs from the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said this 'huge barter deal'
is a 'carrot Moscow can dangle constructively to wrestle more concessions
from Iran.' 'Or it can move forward unilaterally and damage the
negotiation,' Hibbs told AFP. 'Up to Putin to choose.'" http://t.uani.com/1lKTvux
Reuters:
"Iran has pursued a longstanding effort to buy banned components for
its nuclear and missile programmes in recent months, a U.S. official
said, a period when it struck an interim deal with major powers to limit
its disputed atomic activity. Vann Van Diepen, principal deputy assistant
secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation,
added that a Chinese businessman indicted in the United States in 2009
over sales of missile parts to Iran continued to supply such items
despite U.S. pressure on China to tighten export controls. Reuters was
unable to reach the Chinese businessman, identified as Li Fangwei and
also known as Karl Lee, for comment, as the mobile phone he previously
used appeared to be out of service despite numerous calls made to it.
Contacted by Reuters on Feb 4, 2013, for an earlier story about his
business, Li said he continued to get commercial inquiries from Iran but
only for legitimate merchandise. Li said his metals company, LIMMT, had
stopped selling to Iran once the United States began sanctioning the firm
several years ago... In 2009, the New York County District Attorney
unsealed a fraud indictment against Li and LIMMT on suspicion they had
used false names to process payments for sales to Iran through several
U.S. banks. In February 2013, Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Li
for further alleged supplies to Iran." http://t.uani.com/1d9Vyc7
Reuters:
"Israel's defense minister has accused the United States of
projecting weakness internationally and said Israel could not rely on its
main ally to take the lead in confronting Iran over its nuclear
program... 'We had thought it would be the United States that would lead
the campaign against Iran,' said Yaalon, who pointed to the Ukraine
crisis as an example of Washington 'showing weakness'... Yaalon said that
although 'people know Iran cheats', the United States and other nations
chose to negotiate with Tehran on restricting activities they fear are
aimed at developing atomic arms. 'Therefore, on this matter, we have to
behave as though we have nobody to look out for us but ourselves,' Yaalon
said, echoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's veiled threats of
unilateral military action against Iran if diplomacy fails...
'Comfortable Westerners prefer to put off confrontation, if possible to
next year or the next leadership term. But in the end, it will blow up,'
Yaalon said." http://t.uani.com/1cV1CES
Cyber Warfare
CSM:
"As high-level international talks in Vienna over Iran's nuclear
program edged closer to a deal last fall, something curious happened -
massive cyber-attacks that had hammered Wall Street bank websites
repeatedly for about a year slowed to a near stop. While banking industry
officials were relieved, others wondered why those Iran-linked
'distributed denial of service' attacks that had so regularly flooded
bank websites with bogus Internet traffic were shut off like a faucet.
One likely reason, say US experts on cyber-conflict: to reduce friction,
at least temporarily, at the Vienna nuclear talks. Yet, even as the
'distributed denial of service' attacks abated for apparently diplomatic
reasons, overall Iranian cyber-spying on US military and energy
corporation networks has surged, these experts say. Iran was fingered
last fall, for instance, for infiltrating the US Navy Marine Corps
Intranet. It then took the Navy nearly four months to root out the
Iranian hackers infesting its largest unclassified computer network, the
Wall Street Journal reported in February. This litany of Iranian activity
is evidence, say experts, that after years as a cyber also-ran, Iran is
morphing swiftly into a major threat in the rapidly evolving era of
cyber-conflict. That shift is causing a growing recognition - from the halls
of the US intelligence community to the cyber-security firms protecting
corporate America - that Iran has vaulted into the ranks of the world's
top-10 offensive cyber-powers." http://t.uani.com/OyaGUL
Sanctions
Relief
WSJ:
"Iran's oil exports surged in February, a top oil official in Tehran
said, as a thaw in the country's relations with the West have helped to
improve its economy. However, that level of exports-if sustained-could
breach the terms of the interim deal on Iran's nuclear program reached
with global powers late last year. Mansour Moazami, Iran's deputy oil
minister for planning and supervision of hydrocarbon resources, said in
an interview with The Wall Street Journal that 'we exported 1.6 million
barrels a day' of oil on average in February, including 1.3 million
barrels a day of crude oil and the rest natural-gas liquids. The deputy
minister's numbers suggest Iran's total oil exports are now one third
higher than the 1.2 million barrels a day of oil it said it was exporting
in early December, not long after it signed the nuclear deal with six
leading nations, including the U.S. The figure is also significantly
higher than an estimate made last week by the International Energy
Agency, which pegged Iran's exports at 1.41 million barrels a day in
February. The energy watchdog, which relies on non-Iranian sources such
as disclosures from importing countries and news reports, frequently
revises its estimate for Iran's exports. Asked if shipments would rise
further in March, Mr. Moazami said 'I think so.' Foreign traders and
shipping trackers say Asian buyers have boosted imports of Iranian oil as
the political risk of doing so has decreased." http://t.uani.com/1d9TTDb
Reuters:
"Iran exported more crude than allowed under Western sanctions for at
least a fourth straight month in February, as ship loading data obtained
by Reuters showed top clients again bought more than 1 million barrels
per day (bpd) of Tehran's oil... In total, February crude loadings by
Iran's top four buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - rose to
1.16 million bpd versus 994,669 bpd lifted in January, according to a
loading plan seen by Reuters. Adding in oil lifted by Turkey - which came
in at 105,824 bpd in January and 117,857 bpd in February - Tehran's
exports have busted the sanctions limits at least since November. The
loading volumes exclude condensate, a light oil, that Iran exports to
China and other consumers." http://t.uani.com/1cUXqVJ
Trend:
"Chinese CITIC Company has signed a memorandum of understanding with
the municipality of Iran's Eastern Azerbaijan province's capital city
Tabriz for implementation of a tram project, Iranian Donya-e-Eqtesad
newspaper reported on March 18. The deputy governor of East Azerbaijan
province, Mohammad Sadeq Pour Mahdi, Tabriz mayor, Sadeq Najafi and some
members of Tabriz city council as well as top managers of the Chinese
party attended the memorandum signing ceremony in Tabriz. Pointing to the
achievements of his official trip to China and his meetings with some
important Chinese companies, Najafi underlined the establishment of the
first tram of the country and city as the most important part of the
signed agreement and also highlighted the importance of cooperation with
Chinese CITIC company in metro and electric bus projects to reduce the
traffic and pollution problems of Tabriz in the near future." http://t.uani.com/1l08nrK
Trend:
"Iranian telecommunications minister Mahmoud Vaezi has criticized
Samsung for cutting the access to Samsung's mobile app store for Iranian
users, ISNA reported on March 16. Mahmoud Vaezi said Samsung should
resolve the problem as soon as possible. Representative of Samsung in
Iran has pledged to resume the service as of April 6, 2014, Vaezi added.
Iranian device users lost access to Samsung's mobile app store as of May
22, 2013. The Korean electronics giant said that it couldn't provide
access to the store because of 'legal barriers'. Many sanctions have been
imposed on Iran over its nuclear program, and Samsung's step is viewed as
the latest such measure." http://t.uani.com/1d9WUDF
Syria Conflict
AP:
"Iran's foreign minister said Monday that Tehran is 'ready to help
any logical attempts' to end the Syrian conflict, during a visit by
UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. Brahimi was in Tehran for
the second day of talks with Iranian officials about ending the conflict
in Syria, a key regional ally of Iran... 'Iran is ready to help any
logical attempts which are based on the realities of Syria, particularly
those efforts made by the United Nations (which) are being pursued by
Lakhdar Brahimi,' Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as
saying by official news agency IRNA. 'Without being affected by the
pressures of some countries, the UN should play its independent role and
continue its attempts to resolve the crisis,' he added." http://t.uani.com/1cUZVHv
Human Rights
Gatestone:
"According to a report by Karim Dahimi that was widely reported in
Farsi, on March 6, 2014, an Ahwazi Arab-Iranian poet and human rights
activist living in the Netherlands, Mr. Saeed Mousa Mosavi, was kidnapped
and beaten by agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran after he returned to
his home in the evening. Mosavi stated that during his ordeal, he was
stripped naked, videotaped and tortured with electric shocks. The agents
apparently knew about Mosavi's daily activities, and interrogated him
about Ahwazi activists who had visited him at his home. He was also
questioned about several specific Iranian-Arab activists... The assault
on Mosavi is not the first time an Ahwazi activist has been targeted by
the Iranian regime outside Iran. Previously in the Netherlands, the house
of another Iranian Ahwazi was set on fire after he was directly
threatened by agents of the Iranian government." http://t.uani.com/OsCmLa
AP:
"Iran's judiciary said Tuesday it is taking unspecified legal action
against two opposition leaders held under house arrest without charge
since 2011 - a move that possibly comes in response to demands by their
supporters that they be given a fair trial to resolve their status. The
semi-official Fars news agency quoted senior judiciary official Mohammad
Javad Larijani as saying he was hopeful that Mir Hossein Mousavi and
Mahdi Karroubi could be freed after the conclusion of the case. 'We hope
to see the lifting of house arrest after a final conclusion by judiciary
and security officials,' Larijani said... In Tuesday's statement, the
hard-line Larijani called the two detained men 'friends.' 'I wish the
sedition had never happened. We had cooperation with these two beloved
men' before 2009, he said. Mousavi was a prime minister in 1980s and
Karroubi was a parliamentary speaker in 1990s." http://t.uani.com/1eOcgsd
AP:
"Iran's foreign minister cancelled a planned dinner meeting with the
European Union's foreign policy chief on Monday over meetings she had
with opposition activists during a visit to Iran earlier this month,
Semiofficial Fars news agency reported. It said Mohammad Javad Zarif's
cancellation of Monday's scheduled dinner with Catherine Ashton in Vienna
was intended to protest 'uncoordinated meetings in Tehran,' a reference
to her meeting with female opposition activists convicted of rioting
after the disputed 2009 election, including human rights lawyer Nasrin
Sotoudeh." http://t.uani.com/1ohEdim
Domestic
Politics
Reuters:
"Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top aide has been
indicted, apparently in connection with allegations of corruption in the
previous administration, Iranian media reported on Monday. Former Vice
President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has been the target of a lengthy judicial
investigation into his possible role in several high-profile bribery and
embezzlement cases that also spill into Turkey, as well as Central and
East Asia. Rahimi has denied all the accusations and last year, while
still in office, he said he would 'volunteer to have my hands severed if
even one of these charges is proved against me'. Mohsen Eftekhari, a
Tehran judge, told Shargh newspaper that Rahimi had been indicted and
that his case would be referred to a special court. He did not specify
the charges against him." http://t.uani.com/1fVZmww
Foreign Affairs
WT:
"The death of 22-year-old Venezuelan student Genesis Carmona at the
hands of armed pro-government civilian militias, called 'colectivos,'
bears a striking resemblance to the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, the
Iranian student who was shot and killed in a similar fashion on the
streets of Tehran during the Green Revolution of 2009. This has led many
analysts to begin comparing the colectivos' tactics to those used by
Iran's Basij paramilitary force. The similarity, however, is more than
speculation. In April 2009, the current Iranian commander of the Basij
paramilitary force, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, accompanied
then-Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar on a
high-level visit to Caracas at the invitation by then-Venezuelan President
Hugo Chvez and his foreign minister (now President) Nicolas Maduro.
Several defense agreements followed, but one in particular is relevant to
what is transpiring on the streets of Venezuela today. According to
sources within the Venezuelan military, Gen. Naqdi's role in these
high-level meetings was to serve as an adviser to Venezuela's Ministries
of Defense and Interior to aid in training their civilian militias, the
now-infamous colectivos." http://t.uani.com/1j0m2KY
Opinion &
Analysis
Alan Levine in
JPost: "There appears to be a disconnect between
Jerusalem and Washington on the approach to sanctions on the Iranian
regime. This time, it may be Israel that is guilty of an oversight. Last
weekend, 14,000 pro-Israel activists and members of the US Congress came
together at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy
Conference in Washington for three straight days of calls for new
sanctions on Iran. At the same time, Tel Aviv was recovering from a
marathon sponsored by one of the companies that should be targeted. The
Tel Aviv Samsung Marathon, the largest sporting event in Israel, took the
city by storm. Millions of shekels were invested in the advertising
campaign, streets were shut down for the runners (including myself), and
a massive 'Samsung Expo' was set up in Rabin Square all week. While
40,000 runners wore the neon yellow marathon T-shirt with Samsung's logo
on it, nobody seemed to have reservations that this company is still
doing business with the mullahs in Iran. Unlike Apple and Microsoft, for
example, Samsung provides localized services to Iranians in their native
Persian language. According to a 2012 report by the major Korean
newspaper, Dong-A Ilbo, Korean companies LG Electronics and Samsung
account for 30 percent of Iran's mobile phone market. In 2009, Samsung
equipment may have been used to monitor political dissidents during the
brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters. As the world watched in
horror via social media, Green Movement activists such as Neda Soltan -
who was killed and became the symbol of regime repression - were
brutalized and many others killed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
According to the group United Against Nuclear Iran, cofounded by US
diplomat Dennis Ross - who served as special adviser to Hillary Clinton
as secretary of state on matters including Iran - Samsung surveillance
systems are sold in the Islamic Republic and may even have contributed to
Neda's death... This is an opportunity for Israel to help by applying
economic pressure. Samsung, like most major tech companies, has a
research-and-development center in Israel. As a world leader in
technological R&D, Israel could use its leverage over the company...
Yet, the ability of Samsung to put its name up in the lights of Tel Aviv
for a week suggests there is no Israeli strategy at all for economic
pressure. One wonders if so much as an angry letter was ever sent...
Israel's efforts to stop Iran are clearly robust and dynamic... But as a
growing economic power, Israel should lead by example in the financial
track as well. The Western strategy to stop Iran is essentially triple
pronged: it includes diplomacy, economic sanctions and a credible
military threat. At the moment, the P5 + 1 is engaged in negotiations
with Iran. But it is clear that military threat and sanctions are the
reasons that Iran is at the table. They have been forced - not wooed - to
the negotiating table. And the stronger the sanctions, the more likely
the Iranians will be to make concessions. Some sort of pressure - even
symbolic - on a company like Samsung could at the minimum achieve a few
things: It would signal resolve to Iran and to Israel's friends. It could
give momentum to members of the US Congress who are fighting uphill for
further sanctions. Perhaps, most importantly, it would allow Israel, if
and when there is a military strike, to tell the world that non-violent
options were fully exercised. And maybe it would even move Samsung just
enough to push its position off the fence and into the camp that is no
longer doing business in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1hqAbQp
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