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WSJ:
"Iran insisted it won't be rushed into addressing Western suspicions
about past military work on its nuclear program. In an interview, Deputy
Foreign Minister Majid Ravanchi said Iran stands by its pledge to address
all Western concerns about its nuclear program eventually, insisting the
country has 'nothing to hide.' However he said his government doesn't
want to bring issues up front that should be dealt with at a later stage.
Iran is currently engaged in two separate nuclear negotiations. One track
is talks with six world powers aimed at a deal that would prevent Tehran
from developing nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of
international sanctions. A second track, led by the International Atomic
Energy Agency, deals with concerns about past and present nuclear
activities. It includes evidence provided by the United Nations nuclear
watchdog indicating Tehran's program may have had a 'possible military
dimension.' Iran pledged in November to start addressing those issues.
'We are prepared to implement the agreement reached with IAEA, but it
takes some time,' Mr. Ravanchi said. 'We understand that there are
sensitive issues...of concern to the other side, but you have to take one
step at a time. You should not rush.'" http://t.uani.com/Ohn8bo
Daily Telegraph:
"The Lockerbie bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a
Syrian-based terrorist group, a former Iranian intelligence officer has
admitted. Abolghassem Mesbahi, a defector to Germany, said Pan Am flight
103 was downed in 1988 in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian
commercial jet six months earlier, in which 290 people died. He claims
the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was Iran's Supreme Leader, ordered the
bombing 'to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus'. Previously
unseen evidence gathered for the aborted appeal hearing of Abdelbaset
al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the
bombing, supports Mr Mesbahi's claim and suggests that the bombers
belonged to the extremist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC). Documents obtained by Al Jazeera
television for a documentary called Lockerbie: What Really Happened? name
key individuals said to be involved in the bombing, including the alleged
bomb-maker, the alleged mastermind and the man who may have put the bomb
on the doomed Boeing 747." http://t.uani.com/1fooE6i
WashPost:
"Israel put on display here Monday a cache of long-range rockets and
other artillery it seized last week from a shipment making its way up the
Red Sea, allegedly destined for militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
Glistening in the sunshine at Israel's largest naval base on the Red Sea
were 40 M-302 surface-to-surface rockets with ranges of 50 to 100 miles,
more than 181 mortar shells and about 400,000 rounds of ammunition,
according to the Israeli military's count. The weapons, it said, had been
concealed in large shipping containers with Iranian seals and hidden
beneath bags of cement stamped 'Made in the Islamic Republic of Iran' -
proof, officials said, that the Iranians had sent the illicit cargo. In
an address to local and international news media gathered at the port,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the rockets and other
weapons on display were evidence that Iran could not be trusted. 'There
are those who would prefer that we do not hold this news conference here
today,' Netanyahu said. 'They feel uncomfortable that we show what is
really happening inside Iran. They prefer that we continue to nurture the
illusion that Iran has changed direction.' 'We now have hard facts, and
it's important that the world gets this information,' he told reporters
after the news conference." http://t.uani.com/1iwQUHa
Nuclear
Program & Negotiations
AFP:
"An official of Russia's state atomic energy agency is to visit Iran
on Tuesday for talks on building a second nuclear power plant, Iranian
media reported. Russia built Iran's sole existing nuclear power plant in
the Gulf port of Bushehr and handed it over to Iranian engineers last
September. Iran's ambassador in Moscow said last month that Russia could
build a second nuclear power plant in Bushehr as part of a swap deal for
oil that has sparked strong opposition in Washington because of its
implications for Western sanctions on Iran's vital oil sector. 'Nikolai
Spassky, Rosatom's deputy director general for international affairs,
will arrive in Tehran on Tuesday to hold talks with Iranian officials
about the construction of a new nuclear power plant,' Iranian Atomic Energy
Organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said. 'Our plan is to build up
to four power plants in Bushehr. Of course, we will have to see how the
talks progress,' Kamalvandi told the official IRNA news agency on
Monday." http://t.uani.com/1i8DVbR
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters:
"India has to cut its Iranian oil imports by nearly two-thirds from
the first quarter after the United States asked it to hold the shipments
at end-2013 levels, in keeping with the nuclear deal easing sanctions on
Tehran, Indian government sources said. India, with the increases already
made in the January-March loading plans from Iran, has to cut its
purchases of the crude to about 110,000 barrels per day (bpd) to drop its
intake average to 195,000 bpd for the six months to July 20. Under the
November 24 agreement between Iran and six world powers, the OPEC member
was to hold oil exports at 'current volumes' of about 1 million bpd, and
a message delivered by a top U.S. energy policy official to Indian
ministries in February was the first clear sign of low tolerance for any
increases. Since the interim deal was signed, purchases of Iranian oil by
its top four buyers - China, India, Japan and South Korea - have been
creeping up and together they have taken 1.25 million barrels per day (bpd)
in January against a daily average of about 935,900 bpd for all of
2013... Tanker arrival data, meanwhile, compiled by Reuters put India's
January intake of crude from Iran at 412,000 bpd, double the daily
arrival average for December. The sources said the loading increases mean
Indian refiners have to cut their buys of Iranian oil to about 110,000
bpd over the April 1-July 20 period to meet the ceiling of 195,000 bpd...
Private refiner Essar Oil will be the biggest Indian buyer of Iran's oil
this financial year, replacing state-owned Mangalore Refinery and
Petrochemical. Essar will have lifted about 30 percent higher than its
contract volume of 80,000 bpd, said another government source. A jump in
Essar's Iran oil imports comes as Iran is giving India a discount on
crude and offering free delivery. Essar has offered to take about 5.36
million barrels in March from Iran, taking its annual purchases to
105,000 bpd. MRPL's oil imports from Iran will average about 84,000 bpd
this fiscal year versus contract levels of 80,000 bpd, the third
government source said." http://t.uani.com/1iwOB6J
Terrorism
AFP:
"Iran dismissed as farcical Tuesday Israel's highly publicised
display of weapons it said it had seized from a vessel in the Red Sea
bound for Gaza from Iran. The foreign ministry said a news conference
given by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday beside the
alleged cargo was pure propaganda aimed at torpedoing Iran's growing
rapprochement with the West. 'The claim is a farce,' foreign ministry spokeswoman
Marzieh Afkham told reporters. 'This coincides with the (American Israel
Public Affairs Committee) AIPAC meeting in the United States, and when
Iran's place in the region and its interaction with different countries
are improving.' She said the improved relations between Tehran and
Washington had 'worried' Israel and prompted it to 'resort to its usual
tactics.'" http://t.uani.com/1fROkJT
Press TV (Iran):
"A high-ranking Iranian military commander has roundly dismissed the
recent Israeli allegation that Tehran sought to send missiles to the
blockaded Gaza Strip as a dirty psychological operation against the
Islamic Republic. 'The Americans' and Zionists' move, which both the
White House and Tel Aviv have acknowledged to be a coordinated and joint
action, is a step intended for Iranophobia and was staged through filthy
media campaign. It shows the unremitting falsehood, which is rampant in
the culture of liberal democracy and Western-Hebrew propaganda,' Deputy
Chairman of Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Brigadier General Seyyed
Masoud Jazayeri stated in Tehran on Sunday... 'Westerners should
seriously reconsider their warmongering policies against freedom-seeking
nations and the oppressed people of Palestine, and should renounce their
terrorist and inhumane acts,' Jazayeri pointed out." http://t.uani.com/1h9BFi1
Syria Conflict
NYT:
"Hezbollah's distracting and costly engagement in the Syrian civil
war has offered some practical benefit to Israelis. It has also been a
source of foreboding. On the one hand, Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese
Shiite organization that fought a monthlong war against Israel in 2006,
is preoccupied with shoring up the government of President Bashar
al-Assad of Syria in its struggle against rebel forces, and is suffering losses.
But Hezbollah is also acquiring battlefield experience, and the only way
for Mr. Assad, a longtime Hezbollah ally, to repay the group is by
supplying it with sophisticated weapons, according to Israeli military
officials and experts - strengths that could eventually be used against
Israel... Israel's leaders have said they will act to prevent transfers
of sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah from Syria, such as accurate,
long-range rockets and shore-to-ship or ground-to-air missiles. Israel is
also concerned about Hezbollah's acquisition of unmanned aerial vehicles,
more commonly known as drones or U.A.V.'s." http://t.uani.com/OhnRcN
Human Rights
Bloomberg:
"Iran criticized European Union foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton for meeting women's rights activists during her trip to Tehran,
calling the move 'undiplomatic' and unhelpful for relations with the
West. The Islamic Republic's foreign ministry, which was hosting Ashton's
first visit to the nation, said it wasn't consulted about the meetings and
has formally complained to the Austrian Embassy in Tehran, where the
encounter took place. Ashton met activist Narges Mohammadi and the mother
of blogger Sattar Beheshti, who died in 2012 while in police custody, the
state-run Fars news agency reported. 'This type of behavior does nothing
to help the relationship between Iran and the West,' ministry spokeswoman
Marzieh Afkham said in comments broadcast on Iranian state television.
'The Austrian ambassador has been called upon and has been notified about
this undiplomatic' step." http://t.uani.com/1luByAl
Domestic
Politics
ICHRI:
"A new report by the World Justice Project indicates Iran's ranking
at 82 among 99 countries measured for what citizens think of their
justice system. The WJP Rule of Law Index measures how the rule of law is
experienced in everyday life around the globe. The ranking reflects both
household surveys and expert surveys held for Iran in the cities of
Tehran, Mashhad, and Isfahan. With an overall score of .44, Iran ranked
82 among 99 countries, last among countries in the region. According to
the WJP, 'The rule of law is a system of rules and rights that enables
fair and functioning societies.'" http://t.uani.com/1g4MejX
Al-Monitor:
"401 Iranian journalists signed an open letter protesting a
controversial plan to require journalists to be licensed through the
Culture Ministry. The letter, addressed to Culture Minister Ali Jannati,
acknowledges some positive steps in favor of the media taken by the
ministry. However, it said that other decisions by Deputy Minister for
Press Affairs Hossein Entezami 'are not only not in this framework, but
an obstacle for these plans.' The letter explained that Entezami's
'insistence on implementing the journalist licensing, which in various
eras - from before the revolution until today - has been pursued by those
against freedom of speech,' creates an obstacle for the stated policies
of President Hassan Rouhani. The 'journalist licensing' procedure would
require journalists to periodically present their work to the Culture
Ministry for evaluation of quality. Upon approval, the journalist can
resume working. This gives the ministry control over which journalists
can work and which cannot. Most journalists believe that licensing for
their profession should be conducted through the journalists guild,
which, incidentally, was dissolved under former President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. The journalists wrote that this licensing requirement
conflicts with the two plans that the Rouhani administration said it
would focus on: creating a two-way relationship between the
administration and journalists and the importance of non-government
organizations and guilds as the real representatives of the people."
http://t.uani.com/1kJySS1
Opinion &
Analysis
David Albright
& Andrea Stricker in The Iran Primer: "In any
nuclear deal, Iran will have to limit the number of centrifuges it uses
to enrich uranium, a process that produces fuel for both peaceful nuclear
energy and the world's deadliest weapon. But the exact number is likely
to be one of the most contentious issues during the six-month
negotiations that finally get into real substance when talks resume in
mid-March. Past positions reflect the controversies in brokering a future
accord that ensures Tehran does not produce a bomb. Iran currently has
about 19,000 centrifuges installed at the two pivotal enrichments
sites-Natanz, which is near Kashan, and Fordo, which is deep in the
mountains near the religious center of Qom. The new cap in a deal with
the world's six major powers will almost surely have to be a small
fraction of Iran's current capability-probably somewhere between 2,000
and 4,000 IR-1 centrifuges. IR-1 is the first generation of centrifuges.
The most telling negotiations about centrifuges took place in 2005, as
the international community tried to convert a temporary suspension of
Iran's enrichment program, which had begun in 2003, into a long-term
deal. Iran proposed to the three European powers-Britain, France and
Germany-an initial cap of 3,000 IR-1 centrifuges. But Tehran also
insisted that it be allowed to continue increasing the number of its
centrifuges after a relatively short time. Iran's proposal called for
stages:
* Stage 2 -3,000 centrifuges in operation,
a cap that would only be in place temporarily.
* Stage 3 -installation of 50,000
centrifuges, the number envisioned for Natanz, then the only enrichment
site.
*
Stage 4 -operation of all 50,000, alongside the parliament's
approval of the Additional Protocol, which allows complementary
inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and makes hiding
nuclear activities and facilities more difficult.
The Europeans rejected Iran's proposal. The European Union
had instead offered to supply a power reactor and all the enriched
uranium fuel, which would nullify the need for any centrifuges at Natanz.
In July 2005, Tehran indicated it might modify its offer, but it would
not budge on the key issue of synchronizing the number of centrifuges at
Natanz to the domestic production of enough enriched uranium for a large
nuclear power reactor-another way of increasing the number of centrifuges
to 50,000. The deadlock over numbers ultimately contributed to a
breakdown in talks. When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in
August 2005, Iran ended the suspension of its program. It then resumed
centrifuge installation and operation. Tensions soon mounted with the
international community, producing four U.N. resolutions and a host of
other unilateral sanctions by the United States, the European Union and
other Western governments. The danger today is déjà vu. The new talks
center on the same issues explored nine years ago. Although Tehran has
engaged in the most serious diplomacy to date, its rhetoric today mirrors
its position in 2005. The chief negotiator in 2005 is today Iran's new
president, Hassan Rouhani. The talks today involve more players,
including the United States, Russia and China, and tougher terms in light
of Iran's advances in the intervening decade. Washington, with European
backing, not only wants a cap on the number of centrifuges. It also wants
the cap to last far longer-more like 20 years. Their argument is that
Iran has no need to produce any fuel. It already has produced enough for
the small Tehran Research Reactor, which makes isotopes for cancer
treatment and other medical uses. In other words, the world's six major
powers believe Iran's ambitions far exceed its current needs. Iran only
has one nuclear reactor for energy at Bushehr, which was built by Russia.
The enriched uranium that fuels the Bushehr reactor also is provided by
Russia. In general, any nuclear deal would also allow Iran to more
economically and reliable obtain the fuel it might need from abroad for
additional reactors. Any meaningful deal will almost certainly require
that Iran accepts limits on its centrifuges-in terms of number and the
quality of uranium they enrich-that will in turn increase the so-called
break-out time. Break-out time is the timespan required to produce enough
weapon-grade uranium to produce a weapon. Currently, the estimated
breakout times are dangerously short." http://t.uani.com/1oIMYk1
Sen. John Barrasso
(Wyoming) in Roll Call: "Russia's invasion of
Ukraine proved once again that the world is a very dangerous place. While
the Obama administration continues to respond to this crisis, America
cannot afford for the president to take his eye off the ball on a
pressing issue of national security: Iran's illicit nuclear program. The
president and some of his Democratic allies continue to weaken America's
hand in ongoing negotiations with Iran. The most recent example occurred
last month. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the Senate, blocked
a bipartisan attempt to hold Iran accountable. Last November, President
Barack Obama announced an interim agreement with Iran regarding its
nuclear program. He said, 'if Iran does not fully meet its commitments
during this six-month phase, we will... ratchet up the pressure.' In the
State of the Union address this year, he repeated his threat. The
president said that if Iran did not 'seize this opportunity' during the
interim period to negotiate a final agreement on its nuclear program,
'then [he would] be the first to call for more sanctions.' Republicans
introduced an amendment to give the president more authority to ratchet
up the pressure on Iran. It would give the president increased sanctions
power against Iran if negotiations stall. An earlier attempt to provide
the same authority garnered 59 Senate co-sponsors, including 16
Democrats. Now Reid refuses to allow the Senate to consider this
amendment or the original bill. The amendment simply carries out Obama's
stated policy on Iran. It provides new sanctions authority to the
president, and holds that authority until the expiration of the six-month
interim deal. As Obama has said, it gives Iran a chance to seize this
diplomatic opportunity while providing consequences if it does not. Reid,
of course, is doing the bidding of the White House. Obama has threatened
to veto any legislation that gives him the sanctions authority he claims
to want. Now the president argues that the amendment violates the interim
agreement. The president is wrong. The agreement says, 'the U.S.
Administration, acting consistent with the respective roles of the
President and the Congress, will refrain from imposing new
nuclear-related sanctions' during the interim period. The legislation is
consistent with that language. It specifically authorizes the president
to suspend the implementation of additional sanctions while the interim
deal is in effect and a final agreement is being negotiated. No new
sanctions would be imposed on Iran during the interim agreement... The
Obama administration appears to have conceded that Iran can maintain a
uranium enrichment capability under a final agreement. The bipartisan
amendment corrects this error by stating that Iran must dismantle its
enrichment capabilities. These are the sorts of policy debates we need to
have in public, not behind closed doors. The No. 2 Democrat in the
Senate, Richard J. Durbin, has said on many occasions that if you don't
want to fight fires, don't become a firefighter; and if you don't want to
vote on tough issues, don't run for Congress. As a medical doctor, I
would add, 'physician, heal thyself.' Let the American people, through
the senators they elect, express their position on whether to hold Iran
to its nuclear promises." http://t.uani.com/OhqUl3
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