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AFP:
"A fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers
ended Friday with both sides complaining that major gaps remained ahead
of a July 20 deadline for a vaunted accord. Iran's chief nuclear
negotiator Abbas Araqchi quoted on state television, reported 'no
tangible progress' at the talks in Vienna as he described the gaps as
'too huge'. However, he said Tehran remained 'determined' to continue the
talks in coming months. Separately, a Western diplomat said 'huge gaps'
remain in the negotiations aimed at finding a lasting deal on limiting
Tehran's nuclear programme, and called on Iran to show more flexibility.
'Huge gaps remain, there is really more realism needed on the other
side,' the diplomat said. 'We had expected a little more flexibility on
their side.' Unusually, no press conference was held and no statement
issued after the three-day meetings between Iran and the so-called P5+1
powers -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus
Germany -- bolstering the impression that little had been achieved. A US
official had earlier said Washington was worried by a lack of progress in
the talks, calling the discussions 'slow and difficult'. 'Significant
gaps remain between the two sides' positions,' the senior US official in
Vienna said on condition of anonymity. 'Iran still has to make some hard
choices. We are concerned that progress is not being made, and that time
is short,' the official said. ... 'We had expected the Western side to
become more realistic but this doesn't appear to be the case yet,' the
source added. On Friday evening, a US official said 'there needs to be
some additional realism,' admitting 'moments of great difficulty' in the
talks." http://t.uani.com/TlFv20
Reuters:
"Iran appeared to take a harder line in its nuclear dispute with
world powers on Sunday by dismissing as 'ridiculous' one idea that could
allay Western concerns about a planned atomic research reactor. The fate
of the heavy-water reactor at Arak, which has not yet been completed, is
one of several thorny issues in talks between Iran and six powers aimed
at reaching a long-term deal on Tehran's nuclear program by an agreed
July 20 deadline. 'It is ridiculous that the power of the (Arak) reactor
would be cut from 40 megawatts to 10 megawatts', nuclear negotiator Abbas
Araghchi said, the official IRNA news agency reported... If operating
optimally, Arak could produce about nine kg (20 pounds) of plutonium
annually, enough for about two atom bombs, the U.S. Institute for Science
and International Security says... Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif said on his Twitter account that a deal was 'possible'. 'Back
from Vienna after tough discussions. Agreement is possible. But illusions
need to go. Opportunity shouldn't be missed again like in 2005,' Zarif
tweeted. Zarif was referring to a 2005 proposal for Iran to convert all
of its enriched uranium to fuel rods, making it impossible to use it for
nuclear weapons. The proposal was rejected as the United States was not
prepared to accept any level of Iranian nuclear enrichment." http://t.uani.com/1gGCXGj
Fars (Iran):
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani stressed that the talks between
Tehran and the world powers will finally yield results without Iran's
withdrawal from its rights and stances. 'The Islamic Republic of Iran has
never wanted to lie to the world and it doesn't have any such intention
today either,' Rouhani said, addressing high-ranking road ministry
officials and managers in Tehran on Monday. 'The Islamic Republic of
Iran's goal is (accessing and using) the civilian nuclear technology and
(the country) will pursue this goal and the people's right; yet in the
meantime, it wants to reach a common understanding in the process of the
talks which serves the interests of all sides,' continued the president.
'Of course, this doesn't mean that the Iranian nation is fearful of the
sanctions; this nation will resist in any condition; what matters for the
government is the interests of the people, the Revolution and the
national security of the country,' he underlined. Referring to the talks
underway between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain
and France plus Germany), the latest round of which ended in Vienna on
Friday without any results, Rouhani said, 'God willing, the negotiations
between Iran and the G5+1 will finally lead to an agreement since
agreement and a win-win game will serve the interests of all.' ... A few
hours later and after three days of talks, Iran's deputy chief negotiator
Seyed Abbas Araqchi said on Friday evening that the Vienna nuclear talks
with the world powers would continue until achievement of results, but
meantime reiterated that Iran would not accept a discussion of its
defense program and will only agree to a deal which respects its rights.
The deputy chief negotiator said Iran will not retreat. 'We stand firm on
our rights. We will have 6 more months if we fail to work out a deal by
July 20.' He said Iran will not allow a discussion of its missile or
defense program in the nuclear talks. 'Our defense equipment can no way
go under discussion in the negotiations.' Araqchi stressed that Iran is
not in a rush to push the talks into a final phase of concluding an
agreement at any price. 'There is no push to obtain an agreement by July
20 at any price.' 'We (only) concede to an agreement which will be in
line with our interests, meet our demands and establish the Iranian
nation's rights,' he continued." http://t.uani.com/1jg98uS
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Reuters: "The next round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world
powers will take place in Vienna on June 16-20, senior Iranian nuclear
negotiator Abbas Araghchi was reported as saying by the IRNA official
state news agency." http://t.uani.com/1t9PF2b
Daily Beast: "Next week, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) will try one last
time to pass legislation giving Congress the right to vote on a deal that
the Obama administration is currently negotiating with the Iranian
government. On Thursday Corker introduced an amendment that would give
Congress the right to hold a 'vote of disapproval' on a U.S.-Iran deal
over Iran's nuclear program within days of the Obama administration
striking such a deal. The amendment would also provide for Congress to
hold hearings on a deal. It would not carry the force of law, but would
express the opinion of Congress on the matter. Corker intends to offer
the amendment during next Tuesday's Senate Foreign Relations Committee
hearing on a bill addressing the security relationship between the U.S.
and Israel. Corker spoke about his effort in an exclusive interview with
The Daily Beast. 'Let's face it, Congress has been totally iced out on
this issue since its inception. I cannot imagine an issue that's more
important to Israel than these negotiations with Iran over nuclear
weapons,' Corker said. 'Hopefully many Democrats would agree that we
should at least have an opportunity to weigh in on the final agreement...
after its negotiated.'" http://t.uani.com/1nYBY6c
Reuters: "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected to make a new
attempt early next week to advance a long-stymied investigation into
suspicions that Tehran may have carried out atomic bomb research,
diplomatic sources said on Friday. They said the International Atomic
Energy Agency and Iran were likely to meet again in the coming days to
discuss IAEA requests for information about detonators that can, among
other things, be used to set off a nuclear explosive device. It could
provide an opportunity for progress on a key issue ahead of a quarterly
IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program, also due next week, which will be
debated by the U.N. agency's 35-nation governing board at a meeting in
early June." http://t.uani.com/1nYC6Te
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "A Turkish court has lifted a travel ban on an Iranian
businessman who was held for two months without charge as part of a
corruption investigation touching Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's inner
circle, Hurriyet Daily News website reported. The decision to lift the
ban on Reza Zarrab is the latest sign that the corruption probe, which
emerged in December and grew into one of the biggest challenges of
Erdogan's 11-year rule, is running out of steam. A police report leaked
earlier this year presented Zarrab as the ringleader of a group which
allegedly helped Iran to exploit a loophole in the West's sanctions
regime that for a time allowed the Islamic Republic to purchase gold with
oil and gas revenues. The report alleged bribes were paid to Turkey's then
economy minister, interior minister and European Union Affairs minister
as well as the chief executive of state-controlled lender Halkbank. All
three ministers, who have since either resigned or been dropped from the
cabinet, have denied wrongdoing and none have been charged. Halkbank has
denied violating any domestic or international laws." http://t.uani.com/1qOX7lC
Trend: "Sri Lanka and South Africa have resumed buying Iranian oil
after Iran and six world powers reached an interim nuclear deal in November.
Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at the National
Iranian Oil Company, said crude oil is being exported to the two
countries in single consignments, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May
19. 'Sri Lanka and South Africa are the two traditional oil customers of
Iran,' he noted. South Africa used to import 100,000 barrels of oil per
day from Iran before the international sanctions hit the Iranian oil
sector... In January, Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad
Bathiyutheen said his country would proceed with oil cooperation with
Iran." http://t.uani.com/1vsq86c
Trend: "Polish companies are ready to expand economic ties with
Iran. Polish Ambassador to Tehran Juliusz Jacek Gojlo said on Saturday
that leading trading companies of his country have voiced readiness to
broaden economic cooperation with Iran, Iran's IRNA news agency reported
on May 18. He made the remarks in a meeting with Tehran's Governor
General Hossein Hashemi. The companies account for generating 10 percent
of Poland's total income, the Polish envoy said. On April 11, Iranian
deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri met with his Polish counterpart
on the sidelines of the three-day joint annual meeting of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) which opened in
Washington." http://t.uani.com/RORhk4
Terrorism
NYT: "To those who lost loved ones in the suicide bombing of the
American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, in April 1983, it is often called
'the forgotten bombing' - overshadowed by an even deadlier attack on a
Marine barracks at the Beirut airport six months later. Now, a new book
shines a spotlight on the embassy bombing, which killed 63 people, 17 of
them American, including eight Central Intelligence Agency officers. One
of those was Robert C. Ames, a C.I.A. operative who is the hero of the
book, 'The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames,' by Kai Bird...
But in sifting through the long-dead embers from the embassy bombing, Mr.
Bird makes a startling assertion: that an Iranian intelligence officer
who defected to the United States in 2007 and is still living here under
C.I.A. protection, oversaw the 1983 bombing, as well as other terrorist
attacks against Americans in Lebanon. 'When it comes out that at least
one of the intelligence officers associated with planning these truck
bombings is living in the U.S., the relatives of these victims are going
to go ballistic,' Mr. Bird said in an interview last week." http://t.uani.com/1hXhV0C
Syria Conflict
Commentary: "According to BBC Monitoring, the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps's (IRGC) provincial website for the western province of
Hamadan bragged about how involved the Revolutionary Guard has become in
Syria. Mohammad Eskandari, the IRGC commander in Malayer, said the IRGC
had trained and prepared 42 brigades and 138 battalions to fight in
Syria. 'Militarily speaking, they are absolutely ready to fight the
enemy,' he declared, adding, 'Today's war in Syria is, in fact, our war
with the United States that takes place in Syrian territory.'" http://t.uani.com/1jMxtEc
Human Rights
IHR: "10 prisoners were hanged in a mass-execution in the prison of
Kerman while four prisoners were hanged in the prison of Qazvin according
to the Iranian state media." http://t.uani.com/1juWxVY
ICHRI: "Two labor activists who were arrested at their homes on
April 30, 2014, one day before a planned Labor Day gathering in Tehran,
remain in detention without charges or outside contact except for one
brief family visit. Jafaar Azimzadeh, President of the Free Workers Union
of Iran, and Jamil Mohammadi, a board member of the Union, were put in
solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry's Ward 209 at Evin
Prison after their arrest, where they remain. The brother of Jamil
Mohammadi, Kaveh Mohammadi, told the International Campaign for Human
Rights in Iran, 'We wrote a letter to the President and the Minister of
Intelligence and explained that Jamil is a simple worker. He was only
trying to improve the livelihood and work conditions for himself and other
workers. His activities were within the country's laws and he has never
done anything illegal. We asked the President and the Minister of
Intelligence to quickly free him. A worker does not deserve to be
detained. He made his living selling books.'" http://t.uani.com/TlsIgd
AFP: "Iranian actress Leila Hatami on Sunday angered authorities in
Tehran by kissing the Cannes film festival's president on the cheek, an
act seen as affront to the "chastity" of the Islamic republic's
women. A photograph carried by Iranian media shows Hatami kissing Gilles
Jacob at the opening of this year's festival. 'Those who attend
intentional events should take heed of the credibility and chastity of
Iranians, so that a bad image of Iranian women will not be demonstrated
to the world,' Deputy Culture Minister Hossein Noushabadi said, quoted by
the website of state broadcaster IRIB. 'Iranian woman is the symbol of
chastity and innocence,' he said. Hatami's 'inappropriate presence' at
the festival was 'not in line with our religious beliefs'. Born into a
family with a background in cinema, Hatami gained worldwide fame for her
role in Asghar Farhadi's 'A Separation,' which won the 2012 Academy Award
for Best Foreign Language Film." http://t.uani.com/1gZxxkh
Al-Monitor: "Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
released the results of a domestic poll of how citizens of Tehran view
television and print media. While polls in Iran can be difficult to
conduct for a variety of reasons, the findings reflected some negative
views toward Iran's domestic media. The poll was ordered by the
ministry's Press and Information Department, which is headed by Deputy
for Press Affairs Hossein Entezami. According the Culture Ministry's
website, 923 Tehran citizens were interviewed in March 2014. Of these,
56% were men and 44% were women. Of the 861 people who responded with
their thoughts on newspapers' level freedom to cover news, 14.5% said it
was very high, 30.5% said to some degree, 43.5% said little or very
little and 11.5% said not at all. The Culture Ministry's website
concluded that '60% of those surveyed believe the media does not have
freedom of expression or has very little freedom of expression.' When
asked if they derive benefits or enjoyment from domestic media, 6.8% said
always, 15% often, 26% sometimes, 18.7% rarely and 33.5% never." http://t.uani.com/1n93HBI
Domestic
Politics
Bloomberg: "Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said websites banned in
his country including Facebook Inc. and Google Inc.'s YouTube are part of
a 'great change' that his nation should be included in as every citizen
has the right to access the Internet. In a speech at a conference on
information and communication technologies in Tehran today, Rouhani said
that the online world ought to be seen as an opportunity by Iran, and not
something to be feared, according to Iran's state-run Islamic Republic
News Agency. 'The right of citizens to have access to international
networks of information is something we formally recognize,' Rouhani was
quoted as saying. 'Why are we so nervous? Why don't we trust our youth?'
Some of the world's most visited social networking sites, including
Twitter Inc., Facebook, YouTube and Yahoo! Inc.'s Tumblr are blocked in
Iran. The policy was enforced in 2009 in a response to the unrest that
followed the disputed re-election of Rouhani's predecessor Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. 'Every minute we witness 1.3 million likes on Facebook,
every minute 70 hours of film are uploaded on to YouTube -- that means a
great change is taking place in today's world,' Rouhani said. 'The impact
of this virtual world on the society, country and even on people's
lifestyles is absolutely real.' ... Proponents of Internet restrictions
shoudn't try to fight advances in digital technology using 'wooden
sticks,' he said, urging them to instead develop 'modern tools' and
become actively involved in the Web." http://t.uani.com/1sKDerj
Foreign Affairs
Guardian: "Iran is prepared to discuss financial compensation for
the 2011 attack on the British embassy in Tehran as part of an overall
agreement to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries - but
it will not offer a formal apology. Majid Takht-Ravanchi, deputy foreign
minister for European and American affairs, said the restoration of
bilateral ties, broken off after the attack, was under active discussion.
An agreement was possible by the end of the year although there was no
timetable, he said. 'An apology is not under consideration. There are
many things that happened in the past for which we have not received an
apology. But we are definitely working with the British government on
what happened,' Ravanchi said. Compensation might be part of the
discussions, he added. Ravanchi said a visit to Tehran late last month by
Sir Simon Gass, director-general (political) at the Foreign Office, had
gone well. 'There was agreement on some things, and not on others,' he
said. 'It is good to be talking. We are moving in the right
direction.'" http://t.uani.com/1jv4ryL
AFP: "Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani has called on
his Iraqi counterpart to extradite exiled Iranian opposition members so
that they could stand a 'fair trial' in Tehran, media reported Sunday.
Iraq hosts an estimated 3,000 members of the People's Mujahedeen
Organisation of Iran (PMOI) who are living in exile in Iraq and based in
a former military camp near Baghdad airport. 'Considering that PMOI
members are criminals who have assassinated more than 17,000 Iranians,
one of our requests to Iraq's justice chief is to extradite them to Iran,
so that they could be held accountable for their crimes,' Larijani said,
according to Fars news agency. 'Most of these people have confessed to
their crimes and we expect our friend and brother country to extradite
them within the legal framework, so that they would be tried fairly,'
Larijani added. He was speaking at the end of a meeting with the visiting
Iraqi chief justice, Medhat al-Mahmud, media said." http://t.uani.com/1gg6LZC
Trend: "The Kuwaiti emir will pay an official visit to Iran on June
1 at the invitation of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. Heading a
high-ranking delegation, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah will
meet with Iranian senior officials to discus mutual ties during the
visit, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on May 19. The trip will be the
first visit of Sheikh Sabah to Tehran since he took office in January
2006." http://t.uani.com/1lB3X5T
Opinion &
Analysis
WashPost Editorial: "Before negotiations on Iran's nuclear program
resumed last week, Iranian officials projected an unlikely tone of
optimism about the chances that a comprehensive accord could be struck by
a July 20 deadline. U.S. officials, who were much were cautious, were
quickly proved right: When the round of talks ended Friday in Vienna a
senior American official spoke of 'great difficulty' while Iran's
representative said 'we failed.' The differing initial rhetoric reflected
a more substantive imbalance that may be to the advantage of the United
States and its allies. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani feels more urgency
to strike a deal than does President Obama. The Iranian economy is still
suffering from international sanctions; predictions by Israeli leaders
that controls on trade and investment would crumble after an interim
agreement offered Tehran partial relief have not been borne out. Elected
on the promise that he could end Iran's isolation and revive the economy,
Mr. Rouhani is under pressure to deliver. With Iran's nuclear work mostly
frozen, Mr. Obama can afford to wait. A six-month extension of the talks
provided for in the interim deal might even be in his interest. Whether
that discrepancy can be used to leverage the major concessions Iran must
make for a workable agreement is anyone's guess - though this week's
talks were a bad omen. A senior U.S. official said 'we do not know if
Iran will be able to make the tough decisions they must.' Chief among
those is steps that would make it impossible to produce the material for
a bomb in less than 'six months to a year,' a time frame mentioned by
Secretary of State John F. Kerry in recent testimony to Congress. That
period may sound too short to Israel and to many members of Congress. But
it would require Iran to dismantle the majority of the 19,000 centrifuges
it has installed in two different enrichment plants, one of them buried
deep underground. At least in public, Iranian officials have so far been
saying that they not only won't destroy existing nuclear infrastructure,
but that they also intend to add thousands more centrifuges and to
introduce a new generation of faster machines... If these yawning gaps
can somehow be bridged, a final hurdle will be determining how long any
limits on Iran's nuclear work will last. In the interim agreement, Tehran
obtained language saying the controls would eventually expire, and its
negotiators reportedly suggested a time frame of just 3 to 5 years. U.S.
negotiators will want a decade or more." http://t.uani.com/1qOZhBJ
Simon Tisdall in The Guardian: "At the car repair shop on Soreana
Avenue in central Tehran, Homayoon is happy to talk; after all, there is
not much else to do. Business is bad, he says, as he wipes his hands with
an oily cloth. It's the same for everybody. 'It's not good at all. Petrol
is expensive, so people drive less, so they break down less,' Homayoon
says. Wearing a grubby red T-shirt advertising Axol Lubes, he laughs and
shrugs when asked whether American sanctions are to blame for high prices
and lack of customers. 'Of course it's sanctions!' interrupts Ali,
another mechanic. 'The economy is sick. My friends have small businesses
like this one. Electricity is up 25%, water up 30%, petrol up 75%,
business tax up, VAT up. Interest rates are 25%, so they can't borrow.
They can't handle it,' he says. 'I don't know about those things,' says
Homayoon, still smiling. 'That's for the government to decide. I like the
Americans. They're great. I don't care what they say at Friday prayers.'
What they say at Friday prayers is less forgiving. A day earlier,
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, one of the Islamic Republic's most venerable
imams, treated the weekly televised gathering at Tehran University
stadium to a stern anti-American diatribe. With white beard, flowing
robe, turban and walking stick, Jannati is every inch the mullah - a Shia
fundamentalist cleric of the old school. He preaches under the slogan
'Any diversion from the true path will be the path of accursed Satan'.
Today, Jannati is treading the path of self-sufficiency and what the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calls the resistance economy -
Iran's supposed answer to the crushing American-led oil, banking and
trade embargoes. Iran must make what it cannot buy abroad and learn the
skills it needs, he says. 'Workers and teachers are the backbone of our
society. We should be self-sufficient in all areas of the economy and in
all fields.' In Egypt and now in Ukraine, the US has toppled elected
presidents and installed its 'favourites', Jannati says. Fortunately,
Russia has foiled America's Kiev plot. But his dire implication is plain:
Iran may be next. At his bidding, up to 10,000 prostrate male
worshippers, including Revolutionary Guards, uniformed soldiers, airmen
and sailors, and rows and rows of black and white-turbaned clerics rise
as one with clenched fists and chant: 'Death to America! Death to
Israel!' Their massed voices roll like thunder across the open-sided,
scaffold-roofed stadium. Officially speaking, the government of President
Hassan Rouhani, which took office last August, maintains that the
punitive UN, US and EU sanctions imposed in the row over Iran's nuclear
programme, which have steadily intensified since 2006, have had little or
no impact. In particular, it says, sanctions have played no role in
forcing Tehran back to the nuclear negotiating table. The talks, which
resumed last week without making progress, are expected to continue in
June in Vienna. But on the streets of Tehran, and in the capital's shops,
garages, markets, businesses and private homes, the story is very
different. Isolated and ostracised to an unusual degree, Iran is a nation
under appalling stress. The strains are telling. The ties that bind are
fraying. The leadership is feeling the heat. And if relief, in the form
of a comprehensive nuclear deal with the west and a consequent lifting of
sanctions, does not come soon, the political and social consequences may
be far-reaching. The unique system of Islamic governance created by the
late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Islamic Republic's éminence grise,
may be tested to breaking point. Which is why the current guardians of
the system, including Khamenei, appear only too happy to let Rouhani play
the role of frontman, scapegoat and potential fall-guy." http://t.uani.com/1lB0dBk
Ramin Ahmadi in The Guardian: "I am fourteen years old. It is
southern Iran in the summer of 1977. Most people have not yet heard of
Ayatollah Khomeini or an Islamic revolution. The high school building
sits on an acre of dry land. We play soccer every day behind the school.
The heat is oppressive, and, after an hour on the field, we rush to the
water fountains and line up to let cold water wash the dust and sweat off
our young sunburnt faces. I take the shortest line, where only one
classmate is in front of me. But I am immediately warned by other
classmates: Hey, you can't drink from that water fountain, not after he
has. And why not?, I ask. He is a Baha'i, they say. Despite their
warning, I drink from the fountain. I am thirsty and this is, after all,
the shortest line. They tell me I am dirty now. Najes!, they say. That
means impure; it is the degrading word used to describe some of Iran's
religious minorities, particularly Baha'is. My classmates insist that, as
pure and clean Muslims, they would never drink from the same fountain as
a Baha'i. My Baha'i friend is quiet, smiles at me softly, and politely walks
away. I had not grown up in a religious family and was unfamiliar with
the proper ways of keeping myself 'pure.' Later that day, I asked my
mother, a girls' high school principal, why my friends could not drink
from the same fountain that a Baha'i drank from. She started laughing.
She said these were uneducated and superstitious beliefs. Don't worry.
They don't matter. They are on the margins of our society. Three years
later, my mother, like many other professional women her age, was forced
out of her job. The Islamic Revolution was in full swing and what she
called 'the margins' looked more like the main text. We, the impure, were
the ones sitting on the margins. Ayatollah Khomeini had managed to tap
into some of our deepest and ugliest cultural tendencies and mobilize
them to achieve political power. The new regime was discriminating
against women, persecuting religious minorities - most notably the
Baha'is - cracking down on journalists, suppressing lawyers and other
human rights defenders, and hunting political dissidents. Imprisonment,
torture, and execution were rampant, and the scale and scope of human
rights violations were hard to comprehend. In the years since, I have
come to understand that this reign of terror has rested on three
problematic trends that are rooted in traditional culture and have been
expertly exploited by the governing police state. The first is xenophobia
and a rhetorical commitment to anti-imperialism - a magnet for the
academic left in the west - which the government has used to deflect any
legitimate critique of its gross abuses against its citizens. The second
is misogyny, which the government has used to justify a system of gender
apartheid. The third is deep-seated religious prejudice, which the
government has drawn upon to lay siege to Iran's religious minorities -
again, most notably, the Baha'is. Since the Revolution, I have lived on
the margins and followed the news of those who live marginalized lives. I
am not interested in the nuclear issue, the relationship between the
various elements of the revolutionary government, or the presidential
administrations that rotate through Iran's political scene. Instead, I am
interested in the daily and systematic violations of human rights. The
latest news from the margins takes me back to that day on the soccer
field: 14 May marked six years since seven Baha'i leaders in Iran have
been imprisoned for no other reason than their faith. These leaders are
the most visible victims of a Baha'i population that continues to be
brutally repressed. The Baha'i community is a peaceful, apolitical
minority that is simply not allowed to live in peace. After three decades
of human rights activism, I have come to understand that the fate of our
Baha'i minority is not just their fate, but the fate of all Iranians who
do not conform in one way or another." http://t.uani.com/1o6FWay
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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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