Eye on Iran: Obama Signs Bill Banning Iran U.N. Envoy From U.S.

Join UANI           Top Stories WSJ: "President Barack Obama signed legislation Friday that effectively bans Iran from sending as its ambassador to the United Nations a diplomat with ties to the 1979 hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran. The bill, which Congress passed last week, was targeted at Iran's selection of Hamid Aboutalebi as its U.N. envoy, but urges the White House more broadly to deny a visa to any representative who 'has been found to have been engaged in espionage or terrorist activity directed against the United States or its allies, and if that individual may pose a threat to United States national security interest.' The White House had already said it would deny Mr. Aboutalebi a visa. His selection by Iran has become a growing issue as the U.S. tries to reach a diplomatic deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Mr. Obama issued a statement in signing the law, saying while he agreed with Congress' concerns that 'individuals who have engaged in such activity may use the cover of diplomacy to gain access to our nation,' the legislation wouldn't trump presidential authority on accepting or rejecting ambassadors to the U.N., which is based in New York." http://t.uani.com/1r8fazU Reuters: "Iran and world powers will begin work drafting a long-term settlement of Iran's disputed nuclear program at expert-level talks in New York next month, the official state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday. During the May 5-9 meeting, the P5+1 world powers and Iran will start 'writing draft of comprehensive agreements which will be a complex and difficult work,' said senior nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi, according to IRNA. Hamid Baeedinejad, Director General for the Political and International Affairs Department of Foreign Ministry, will head Iran's team at talks on the sidelines of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review preliminary committee meeting, IRNA said." http://t.uani.com/1rf0Svo AP: "Iran will redesign its Arak heavy water reactor to greatly limit the amount of plutonium it can make, the country's vice president said Saturday, marking a major concession from the Islamic Republic in negotiations with world powers over its contested nuclear program. Iranian state television quoted Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying that Iran has proposed to redesign Arak to produce one-fifth of the plutonium initially planned for it. He said that will eliminate concerns the West has that Iran could use the plutonium produced at Arak to build a nuclear weapon. 'The issue of heavy water reactor ... has been virtually resolved,' state television quoted Salehi as saying. 'Iran has offered a proposal to ... redesign the heart of the Arak facility and these six countries have agreed to that.' ... Salehi said the U.S. and its allies 'constantly say Iran has to give up its heavy water reactor because it provides a breakout capacity.' 'We took this pretext from their hands,' he said." http://t.uani.com/QrCviZ        Nuclear Program & Negotiations Reuters: "Iran said on Saturday it had completed watering down and converting more than 200 kilograms (440 lb) of enriched uranium under a deal reached in Geneva last November with world powers over its disputed nuclear program. 'Based on the agreement with the West, we were supposed to have half of our 200 kilogram stock of uranium diluted and the other half converted to uranium oxide,' Iran's atomic chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told the Arabic-language Al Alam television channel. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday that Iran has acted to cut its most sensitive nuclear stockpile by nearly 75 percent in implementing a landmark pact with world powers, but a planned facility it will need to fulfil the six-month deal has been delayed." http://t.uani.com/1njRaub Sanctions Relief WSJ: "A U.S.-registered jet that reportedly landed in Iran, sparking a mystery over its intent in the heavily sanctioned country, is operated by a Ghanaian mining contractor, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The New York Times reported on Friday that a corporate jet with a small U.S. flag was parked in Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, saying that the Bank of Utah was its owner. It also reported the bank acted as a trustee for investors in the plane. Documents show that the tiny bank is only holding the jet in trust to 'ensure the eligibility of the aircraft for U.S. registration with the Federal Aviation Administration,' according to a contract seen by The Journal. The firm operating the plane, according to that contract, is Engineers & Planners Company Ltd.-a Ghanaian contractor whose CEO Ibrahim Mahama is the younger brother of Ghana's President John Mahama. Engineers & Planners, whose website says it services mining companies, didn't respond immediately to emails and calls to its office phone didn't connect. It wasn't clear whether Ghana would be in violation of any Western sanctions against Iran. The Bank of Utah-which lists only 13 branches on its website-said it 'has no operational control, financial exposure and is not a lender' for the jet." http://t.uani.com/1eUtY2V Reuters: "China's March crude oil imports from Iran rose more than a third from a year ago, keeping imports in the first three months of 2014 close to the levels seen before Western sanctions were applied more than two years ago. China's intake from Iran in March rose 36.1 percent to 555,182 barrels per day (bpd), customs data showed on Monday... Under the temporary deal, Iran's exports are supposed to be held at an average 1 million barrels bpd for the six months to July 20, but shipments to Asia have topped that level since November, according to customs and ship tracking data. China's imports have been higher this year largely due to new volumes of condensate, a super light crude, and also because top refiner Sinopec Corp may have boosted liftings under a long-term agreement, traders said. China's oil arrivals from Iran in the first quarter of this year were at 557,605 bpd, up 36.2 percent from a year ago... Ship loading data seen last week by Reuters shows that China's crude and condensate intake this month - based on March tanker schedules - should be around 562,000 bpd before jumping to more than 600,000 bpd in May." http://t.uani.com/1njRjOb Sanctions Impact & Enforcement Trend: "China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has left Iran's oil projects as an ultimatum over its continuous delays has expired. Iran issued an ultimatum to CNPC on Feb.18 over its continuous delays in developing the South Azadegan oilfield. At the time, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said if this trend continues, CNPC will be expelled from the project. The presence of CNPC in Iran will depend on changing its behavior within the 90-day ultimatum which has been given, Zanganeh said. Tasnim news agency earlier reported that CNPC is on the verge of quitting Iran's South Azadegan oilfield development project." http://t.uani.com/QzA5yq Terrorism Reuters: "Iran on Saturday criticized a U.S. government move to seize a Manhattan skyscraper owned largely by a foundation that promotes its language and Islamic culture, saying this violated the right to religious freedom in the United States. According to a court document filed in New York on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to distribute proceeds from the sale of the Fifth Avenue high-rise to families affected by alleged Iranian-aided attacks, including the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. The settlement marks the latest turn in a long-running battle over the 36-storey building owned chiefly by Alavi Foundation, a non-profit Persian and Islamic cultural center. Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said the decision 'lacks legal justification and negates America's commitment to protecting its citizens' religious freedom.' 'Confiscation of the properties of an independent charity organization raises doubt about the credibility of U.S. justice,' she was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency." http://t.uani.com/REIUbu Human Rights NYT: "Amir Hekmati, an American incarcerated in Iran since August 2011, recently wrote to its foreign minister seeking help in gaining his release, after Mr. Hekmati learned from his new lawyer that he had been secretly tried and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on a charge of collaborating with the United States government, family members reported Friday. The letter by Mr. Hekmati, a 30-year-old former Marine of Iranian descent who has repeatedly asserted his innocence, implored the foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to look at the facts of his case, which Mr. Hekmati called 'the result of the political misunderstandings between the U.S. and Iran,' according to an English-language summary that the family provided of the letter, which was written in Persian. News of the letter was first reported Friday by Iranwire.com, a news site established last year by Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and rights activist who was imprisoned in Iran during the political convulsions that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election." http://t.uani.com/1iCJCPP RFE/RL: "Rights groups and Afghan religious scholars have demonstrated against the executions of Afghan nationals by Iran. Afghan activists and tribal elders also participated in the April 21 rally in the eastern Khost Province calling on the Afghan government to help citizens in foreign countries. The group claimed the executions of Afghans in Iran were 'politically motivated.' The rally took place after RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported on April 20 that as many as six Afghans were executed in Iran on April 18 after being convicted of narcotics trafficking." http://t.uani.com/1i7acC6 Reuters: "Families of Iranian prisoners charged with political offences demonstrated outside parliament in Tehran on Sunday to protest at what they said was violent treatment of their relatives at the Evin prison, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported. Family members holding pictures of the prisoners said more than 20 of their relatives were hurt in clashes with security guards on April 17, according to Kaleme, a website linked to opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. It is unusual for families to gather outside parliament to complain about alleged abuses of their relatives, although such protests have been held outside Evin itself in the past. The disturbances at the prison's so-called Ward 350 - where detainees facing political charges are normally held - began after prisoners refused to leave their cells during a routine security check, Kaleme has said." http://t.uani.com/1eUuONi Domestic Politics Al-Monitor: "On the occasion of Women's Day in Iran, Iran's president and supreme leader presented contrasting roles in society for women. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously rebuked President Hassan Rouhani's cultural policies, but this appears to be the first time that the president has contradicted the supreme leader in an area that the two have consistently clashed. 'If we want our view with respect to the issue of women to be healthy, logical and precise,' Ayatollah Khamenei said yesterday, April 19, 'we have to empty our minds of this talk that Westerners say about women, [such as] about employment, about management, about gender equality. One of the biggest intellectual mistakes of the West about the issue of women is gender equality,' he continued... Today, April 20, Rouhani talked about a different vision for women's roles in society. 'Today our women are active in all of the scenes with the same dignity, integrity, character and honor as men,' he said. 'Women should have equal opportunity, equal privilege, and equal social rights,' he continued. 'Is it even possible to marginalize 50% of the members of society?'" http://t.uani.com/1jqlpZT Al-Monitor: "Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to return to Iranian politics. This is why, eight months after he left office, his supporters are embarking on a PR campaign to facilitate his return. According to the Tehran-based Shargh publication, part of this public relations campaign includes setting up a media group. The name of this group is an acronym, HOMA, which is derived from the Persian term Havadarn-e Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meaning 'supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.' This group consists of bloggers and news sites sympathetic to Iran's former president. Ahmadinejad has also set up a new Twitter account." http://t.uani.com/1i8uBRm Bloomberg: "Iranian central bank Governor Valiollah Seif said recent weakness in the country's currency, the rial, is out of step with 'positive' economic developments. The rial weakened to 32,000 rials against the U.S. dollar at 12:00 p.m. in Tehran today, from 31,750 yesterday, taking the decline since April 12 to 3.75 percent, according to figures compiled by Daily Rates for Gold Coins & Foreign Currencies, a Facebook page used by traders and companies in Iran and abroad. 'The currency's fluctuation in recent days is not in line with positive signs regarding the economy,' Seif said, according to a statement posted on the bank's website yesterday. The depreciation reflects 'opinions that aren't based on correct information' and are fueling short-term volatility, Seif said, without elaborating. The Tehran-based Donya-e-Eqtesad newspaper today said that there is speculation in the market of a shortage of foreign currency in the country." http://t.uani.com/1eWOArD Foreign Affairs Trend: "Parliamentary delegations from France and Romania will visit Iran this week. A delegation of French parliament members, headed by Chairman of the Finance Committee of the French Senate Philippe Marini will arrive in Iran on April 22, the adviser of Iran's parliament speaker on International Affairs Hossein Sheikholeslam said, the country's Mehr news agency reported on April 21. In their 6 day visit, the members are scheduled to meet Iranian parliamentary, economic and political officials, he added... Sheikholeslam went on to add that a Romanian parliamentary delegation is also scheduled to visit Iran on May 3 at the invitation of Chairman of the Iran-Romania Parliamentary Friendship Group, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi." http://t.uani.com/1gNb0Xq 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.