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Bloomberg:
"Iran requested on Monday a special meeting of a U.N. committee on
the United States' refusal to grant a visa to Tehran's new U.N.
ambassador appointee, describing the decision as a dangerous precedent
that could harm international diplomacy. The United States said on Friday
it would not grant a visa to Hamid Abutalebi because of his links to the
1979-1981 Tehran hostage crisis when radical Iranian students seized the
U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Abutalebi has
said that he acted only as a translator. 'This decision of the U.S.
government has indeed negative implications for multilateral diplomacy
and will create a dangerous precedence and affect adversely the work of
intergovernmental organizations and activities of their Member-States,'
Iran's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Hossein Dehghani wrote to the U.N.
Committee on Relations with the Host Country. 'It requires to be well
addressed in the Committee on Relations with the Host Country. The
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran requests that the
committee addresses this issue in an extraordinary and urgent manner,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/1l1B4ks
WSJ:
"Iran has enlisted celebrities, from actors to politicians to
athletes, in a campaign to help the government save the ailing economy.
The campaign called 'No to Subsidies' is a brainchild of a key adviser to
President Hasan Rouhani and encourages Iranians to turn down government
cash handouts that replaced energy and food subsidies a few years ago.
This month, the country is implementing the second phase of an ambitious
economic reform plan aimed at significantly reducing recipients of the
cash payments and further cutting subsidies on energy, utilities and
food. The economy has been stretched thin by tough international sanctions
and years of mismanagement. Officials and economists say that the
government would face a budget deficit of approximately $27.5 billion if
it kept up this level of payments... Newspapers and even satirical
magazines dedicate their front pages to the topic every day, predicting
the failure of the campaign to persuade the public to voluntarily
cooperate... 'The people don't trust the government. Why should we say no
to payments and have our money sent to Syria and Hamas?' said Hojat, a
37-year-old who asked that his last name not be used." http://t.uani.com/1gZiC8k
AFP:
"A UN human rights monitor on Monday urged Tehran to halt the
planned execution of an Iranian woman for the alleged murder of a former
intelligence official, saying her trial had been deeply flawed. The case
of Reyhaneh Jabbari, who claims she acted in self-defence after a
sexual assault, raises concerns because of her alleged forced confession
and a court failure to consider all the evidence, said Ahmed
Shaheed. 'The Iranian authorities should review her case and refer it
back to court for a re-trial, ensuring the defendant due process
rights guaranteed under both Iranian law and international law,'
said Shaheed, a human rights expert and former foreign minister of
the Maldives... Iran's prosecutor general, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie,
on Monday called reports that Jabbari would be executed within a couple
of days 'pure speculation.'" http://t.uani.com/1iTrcI8
Sanctions Relief
Bloomberg:
"Iran anticipates maintaining crude exports at about 1 million
barrels a day until at least July when a deal with global powers over its
nuclear program will be renewed or expire, the nation's deputy oil
minister said. Iran is producing about 2.7 million barrels of crude a
day, Ali Majedi said today in Dubai. Output may rise to as much as 3.7
million barrels daily within six months of sanctions being lifted, he
said, adding the move would also open the nation's energy industry to
investment. The nation plans to outline a new oil development contract at
a conference in London by November, offering overseas partners
incentives. 'We will introduce the new contract, plus some of the oil and
gas fields for development,' Majedi said at the Middle East Petroleum and
Gas Conference." http://t.uani.com/1etwzAO
Reuters:
"Iran and Russia will find it hard to agree any oil or gas trade
deal because they are rivals in both markets, Iran's deputy oil minister
for international trade said on Monday. Iran and Russia have been
discussing various ways of increasing bilateral trade, including Moscow
possibly taking up to 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange
for Russian goods that Iran needs. Washington says such a deal would go
against the terms of the interim nuclear deal between world powers and
Iran. But Ali Majedi, Iran's deputy oil minister for international
affairs and trade, said Moscow and Tehran would struggle to agree such a
deal. 'Many people think oil and gas is the main issue but this is very
difficult because both countries are producers and exporters of oil and
gas,' Ali Majedi told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in
Dubai." http://t.uani.com/1qYdRBr
Sanctions
Enforcement & Impact
Reuters:
"A Canadian company will appear in court on Monday charged with
violating international sanctions by trying to export components to Iran
that could have nuclear applications. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) said they launched an investigation into manufacturing company Lee
Specialties Ltd after customs officers at Calgary International Airport
intercepted Viton O-rings in May 2011 that were in a cargo shipment bound
for Iran. Viton is a brand of synthetic rubber and fluoropolymer
elastomer with high temperature and chemical resistance, while O-rings
are mechanical gaskets. They can be used both in oilfields and nuclear
programs and are specifically listed as a prohibited item that cannot be
shipped or sold to any person in Iran under Canada's Special Economic
Measures Act." http://t.uani.com/1eKdDIF
National Post:
"In an unprecedented use of legislation intended to prevent material
that could be used to make nuclear weapons from entering Iran, a Red
Deer, Alta., company was fined $90,000 Monday for trying to export
$15-worth of prohibited rubber rings. Lee Specialities Ltd. pleaded
guilty in a Calgary court to contravening the Special Economic Measures
Act in efforts to ship rubber parts that could have had nuclear
applications. It's the first time investigators have laid charges under
the act. In 2011, Lee Specialties received a purchase order from Kan Dana
Middle East LLC, which had affiliates in Dubai and Iran. The order, which
was initially worth $6,054.50, was for oilfield equipment, including 50
Viton O-rings, valued at 30¢ each. Export of the rings from Canada to
Iran has been banned since 2010." http://t.uani.com/1gAMI6h
Human Rights
Fox News:
"The Tehran government has postponed Tuesday's scheduled execution
of a 26-year-old Iranian woman charged with killing a man accused of
attempting to rape her. Following last minute pleas, the regime pushed
back the hanging of Rayhaneh Jabbari, who was headed to the gallows on
charges that in 2007 she stabbed and killed Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a
former employee of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry. The government
announced that the execution will be postponed but did not give any
indication the sentence had been overturned. It also did not disclose if
any future execution date had been set. Jabbari, who has already served
seven years in prison, claims Sarbandi drugged her and attempted to have
physical contact with her." http://t.uani.com/1gZjH00
Domestic
Politics
RFE/RL:
"Even if satellite jamming is a useful tool in protecting Islamic
values, it is not permissible under Islamic law if it poses a health
threat. That's according to an Iranian grand ayatollah who recently made
a ruling on the issue following an inquiry by a Shi'ite news agency.
Shafaqna, whose Persian-language material is produced in Tehran, recently
posed the question: 'Given the enemy's exploitation of satellite channels
in order to [push forward] its goals against Islam, [and considering] the
interests of the Islamic world and Islamic culture one the one hand, and
on the other the jamming of these channels, which increases the risk of
neurological disorders, heart arrhythmias and cardiac arrest, death of
children and newborns, leukemia, multiple sclerosis, and incurable
diseases and the silent death of Muslims and other citizens of Muslim
countries -- are the transmissions of these permissible under Islamic
laws or not and what is the verdict?' Grand Ayatollah Musavi
Ardebili, in a written response to Shafaqna, wrote, 'If it is proven that
jamming signals cause significant problems such as those mentioned in the
question, then their transmission is not permissible.'" http://t.uani.com/1iSRb1l
Trend:
"Oil income accounted for 41 percent of the Iranian administration's
budget in the past fiscal year, which ended on March 20. Chief of Iran's
Supreme Audit Court, Amin Hossein Rahimi, said that 35 percent of the
budget was secured by tax incomes, and the rest by other sources of
income, Iran's Shana news agency reported on April 15. 'Some 80 percent
of the national budget is spent for paying salaries of civil servants and
current affairs. The problem is rooted in the lack of operational
management planning.' On March 2, Press TV reported that President Hassan
Rouhani has sent a new budget less dependent on oil revenue to his
administration for implementation. The report said the budget was finalized
after more than two months of parliamentary debate. Iran's fiscal year
begins on March 21. The budget will depend on oil revenue by up to 35
percent, compared to the current level of 42 percent." http://t.uani.com/1qDFFwK
Foreign Affairs
Trend:
"Turkey's exports to Iran have increased by ten times since 2000.
Turkish Consulate General in East Azerbaijan province, Guven Begec, said
that Ankara's exports to Tehran were around $2 billion in 2000, Iran's
ISNA News Agency reported on April 13. 'But the figure has reached $20
billion now,' he said. He added that the two countries intend to increase
the trade volume to $35 billion by 2015. 'Turkish government seeks to
boost bilateral ties with Iran,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1m51hTe
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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