Eye on Iran: Should Iran Get a Pass on Explaining Its Nuclear Past?

Join UANI           Top Stories USA Today: "Iran has been slow to explain away evidence that it conducted experiments and developed plans that experts say are only good for building a nuclear bomb, and that the U.S. says must be explained if a deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program is to be reached by a July 20 deadline. And now former Obama administration officials and nuclear experts who advise the administration disagree on how much Iran needs to come clean on its past nuclear activities. A senior U.S. official complained to reporters as negotiators wrapped up three days of talks between world powers and Iran in Vienna on Friday of 'a lack of urgency on the Iranian side,' and said Iran needs to address 'past and present concerns' of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA... Iranian answers are crucial to Western understanding of how close Iran is to a nuclear test or a deliverable bomb if it chose to renege on an agreement to curtail its nuclear activities, said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, who has advised the Obama administration and testified before Congress on Iran's nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/1oNjwxK Al-Monitor: "During a speech at Islamic Azad University in Mashhad, Tehran University professor Sadegh Zibakalam criticized the rhetoric of Iranian officials on Israel. 'Iran has explicitly stated many times that it wants to destroy Israel,' Zibakalam said. 'None of the other countries that have a nuclear program have stated that they want to destroy a country.' According to the Iranian Students' News Agency, the issue of Israel was raised as Zibakalam addressed the pressure and sanctions Iran has faced over its nuclear program. 'I don't know who entrusted Iran with destroying Israel,' said Zibakalm, asking rhetorically, 'Has the United Nations given this mission to Iran?' An outspoken domestic analyst often tapped by foreign media to discuss Iran, Zibakalam was invited to the university to discuss President Hassan Rouhani's victory, the performance of conservatives and other current affairs. This is not the first time he has stated that international opposition to Iran's nuclear program is directly related to its rhetoric on Israel." http://t.uani.com/1klcvB3 IHR: "Five of the eight prisoners who were scheduled to be executed in the Rajaishahr prison of Karaj (west of Tehran) were hanged this morning. One of the prisoners was pardoned and execution of two other prisoners was postponed. At least 73 prisoners have been executed in different Iranian prisons in May 2014." http://t.uani.com/RRlcrW         Nuclear Program & Negotiations Reuters: "As Iran and international negotiators work towards a July deadline to complete an accord with Tehran on its nuclear program, a practical issue may be on their minds: the looming changeover of the European Union's foreign policy chief. Catherine Ashton, the British baroness who has held the EU's top foreign policy post for the past five years, may not be the critical decision-maker in the talks, but she has been the prime coordinator of the negotiations since 2010. The role requires her to work with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to present a clear and united position, while trying to build trust with the Iranians to keep the sensitive talks trundling along." http://t.uani.com/1gKzOVY Sanctions Enforcement & Impact Trend: "U.S. company, UOP, has not delivered a special catalyst to Iran's Isfahan Refinery under pressures as a result of sanctions imposed on Iran's oil sector. Abbas Kazemi, Managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, said that Iranian producers have been participating to produce the catalyst inside the country, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on May 20. The catalyst will be used in producing high-quality gasoline by the refinery, he noted." http://t.uani.com/1klfutf Syria Conflict TOLOnews: "A report of Afghan immigrants in Iran being recruited and paid to join pro-government forces in the Syrian civil war sparked outrage at Parliament in Kabul this week. Based on an investigations, the Iranian government, often through proxies, has paid $500 to impoverished Afghan immigrants in Iran to join their paramilitary forces in Syria fighting in favor of President Bashar al-Assad. MPs on Saturday claimed Iran was exploiting the desperation of Afghans living in Iran. 'Iran is taking advantage of their poverty and is sending them to fight in Syria,' Bamyan MP Safora Ilkhani said. 'We condemn this action of Iran and we are strongly against it.'" http://t.uani.com/1kldpgI Human Rights NYT: "Family and supporters of Amir Hekmati, a former United States Marine who is being held in an Iranian prison for 'practical collaboration with the United States government,' gathered for a vigil in front of the White House on Monday to mark the 1,000th day of his detainment. The event was led by Terry Mahoney, a former Marine sergeant who has never met Mr. Hekmati but has not stopped working on his behalf since learning about his imprisonment in 2011. Mr. Mahoney sat in what he called a 'figurative cell' in Lafayette Park, just a few steps from the White House, for 1,000 minutes: one minute for every day Mr. Hekmati has been in prison." http://t.uani.com/TpQmrW Domestic Politics AFP: "Iran's army chief of staff has asked media outlets to support the policies of President Hassan Rowhani and to refrain from 'spreading rumours' against his administration, reports said Tuesday. Ultra-conservative media in Iran have frequently criticised Rowhani's moderate views on talks with world powers over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, as well as other foreign and domestic policies. 'Some news is worthless and creates discord, some is rumours and baseless accusations,' General Hassan Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by Sharq newspaper on Tuesday. 'Even media outlets that are somehow affiliated to the armed forces are making mistakes,' he added, without naming any of them. Firouzabadi went on to warn of consequences for the media for undermining the government. 'They must correct their ways, otherwise we will confront them,' he said, without specifying how." http://t.uani.com/1giuYP0 RFE/RL: "Several bodies of water, including the Zayandehrood River and Orumieh Lake, have either shrunk or dried up as the result of drought and water diverted for agricultural purposes. On May 4, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian was quoted by the state media as saying that water resources were in a condition that was worse than critical. Addressing parliament, Chitchian said Iran's renewable water resources had decreased over the past 10 years from 130 billion cubic meters to 120 billion." http://t.uani.com/1nbFj2x Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Kuwait's ruling emir will visit Iran at the end of the month to help turn a 'new page' in bilateral ties, Iran's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, in the latest sign that Tehran seeks to improve relations with its Arab neighbors. Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah will visit Iran on May 31-June 1 at the invitation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. The trip will be his first to Iran since becoming emir in 2006. Kuwait, home to a sizeable Shi'ite Muslim minority, is seen by some as a potential bridge between Shi'ite power Iran and more wary and sometimes hostile Sunni Muslim Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia. The visit 'will usher in a new page of Kuwait-Iran relations,' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told a televised news conference in Tehran. The office of Kuwait's emir has not confirmed the trip." http://t.uani.com/1j5brwg Opinion & Analysis UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman in Times of Israel: "With negotiations under way between Iran and the P5+1 over the future of Iran's nuclear program, many multinational companies are eager to renew business in Iran while hundreds continue with business as usual. Indeed, since an interim agreement between Iran and the P5+1 was signed last November, and with the disarming smile of the new President Hassan Rouhani, it appears that the threat is over and Iran should be open for business. Right? Well, appearances are deceptive. The true nature of this dangerous regime has not changed at all and Iran's close relationships with North Korea and Syria are just two examples of the much larger threat that Iran continues to pose to peace and human rights. Today, over 150,000 Syrians are dead, and more than two million are refugees, for two reasons: Iran and its proxy Hezbollah, which have kept the brutal Assad regime in power through brute force. In the meantime, an indifferent world remains silent over Iran's ongoing role in this humanitarian tragedy. According to a report by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), Iranian support for the Syrian regime includes regular shipments of ammunition and weapons, thousands of fighters including members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah guerrillas, as well as billions of dollars in economic support all coordinated by senior IRGC commanders. In a recent speech, America's U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power described the situation in Syria saying, 'President Assad is deliberately targeting his own people - using indiscriminate air attacks, introducing the world to barrel bombs, denying civilians food in starvation campaigns and practicing systematic, industrial torture - all of this to force the Syrian people to submit to his will'. As if that wasn't bad enough, there is the close connection between Iran and North Korea. In the report, Partners in Proliferation, UANI details how over two decades, Iran has been paying North Korea for support in the development of ballistic missiles, which serve as the only viable delivery method for a nuclear arsenal. Since 2006, this has been done in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions thereby posing a major threat to world peace. The collaboration between Iran and North Korea is also a threat to American national security. In January, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 'North Korea is committed to developing long-range missile technology that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.' There is no doubt that Iran will also benefit from this long-range missile technology. Iran's close relationships with Syria and North Korea, when combined with its continued support for terrorist organizations and continued abuse of the human rights of its own citizens, are all proof that Iran remains a clear threat to peace and human rights. The international business community must recognize that if it prematurely provides Iran with undue sanctions relief, Iran will be emboldened to continue its drive for nuclear weapons and do even worse in the region, and abroad. It is only strong economic pressure that will force the regime to end its nuclear ambitions and rein in its rogue behavior. Unfortunately, too many major multinational companies prefer to ignore the brutal nature of the Iranian regime and the potential threat we would all face from a nuclear-armed Iran." http://t.uani.com/1k278Hn UANI Advisory Board Member Irwin Cotler in Algemeiner: "The Canadian Parliament has just concluded its third Iran Accountability Week, which sounded the alarm on the fourfold threat posed by the Iranian regime - nuclear, terrorist, incitement, and - in particular - the widespread and systematic violations of the human rights of the Iranian people. Parliamentarians heard expert witness testimony on the Iranian threat - particularly the massive domestic repression. In addition, a centrepiece of Iran Accountability Week was the Global Iranian Political Prisoner Advocacy Project, wherein parliamentarians 'adopted' an Iranian political prisoner not unlike the experience with taking up the case and cause of Soviet political prisoners. This year's Iran Accountability Week occurred at a most propitious time, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been touting his commitment to 'constructive engagement' with the international community, particularly in the negotiation of a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Yet, as nuclear talks resume this week, the systematic and widespread violations of human rights in Iran are being overshadowed - if not sanitized - by the preemptive international focus on the nuclear issue. It should be recalled that when the U.S. negotiated an arms control agreement with the Soviet Union in 1975, it did not turn a blind eye to the USSR's human rights abuses. Instead, the Helsinki Final Act linked the security, economic, and human rights 'baskets,' with human rights emerging as the most transformative of the three. Negotiations with Iran should replicate this approach. Accordingly, the ongoing nuclear negotiations should neither distract nor deflect from addressing and redressing the Iranian regime's massive domestic repression. The following constitutes an overview of just a few of the serious human rights abuses in Iran that continue unabated - or have even intensified - under Rouhani's 'moderate' presidency." http://t.uani.com/1o1SvX6 Robert P. George & Katrina Lantos Swett in WSJ: "As Iran approaches the anniversary of Hasan Rouhani's presidential victory, the Islamic Republic's human-rights record, particularly its treatment of religious minorities, remains abysmal. This is especially true for the Baha'is, Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority. As with the cases of jailed Christian pastors, such as Saeed Abedini and Farshid Fathi, the Tehran regime shows no signs of wanting to free the so-called Baha'i seven-Baha'i leaders jailed on spurious charges, from espionage to 'spreading corruption on the earth'-nor of stopping the persecution of its Baha'i population, which numbers more than 300,000. Both houses of the U.S. Congress have spoken out for the Baha'is and other religious minorities in Iran. The Senate last December passed a resolution condemning Baha'i persecution. We urge the House to pass the companion measure speedily. Without continued attention from the U.S. and other members of the international community, the future of the Baha'is in the birthplace of their faith will be bleak, as will the fate of Iran's other minorities. May 23 marks the 170th anniversary of the birth of the Baha'i faith in Iran. The faith emphasizes the unity of humankind. May 14 marked six years that the Baha'i seven-Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saeid Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm, Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet -have been incarcerated for their faith. And as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, noted in its just-released annual report, the number of Baha'i religious prisoners has increased under Mr. Rouhani. As of February 2014, at least 135 Baha'is remained jailed for their beliefs. Hundreds more, though no longer detained, have cases pending. It is well-known that Baha'is seek peace, not political power, and pose no conceivable security threat. Yet Iran's theocracy persecutes them, revealing a deep aversion to those whose only 'crime' is embracing beliefs other than the regime's. While all religious communities in Iran have suffered persecution since the 1979 Khomeinist revolution, none have fared worse than the Baha'is. The government has since killed more than 200 Baha'i leaders and removed more than 10,000 from government and university positions. Baha'is are mistreated in nearly every stage and station in life. Last year, USCIRF received reports of Baha'i babies incarcerated with their mothers. Baha'is are barred from attending colleges and universities, from starting their own schools, and from establishing houses of worship to raise their children in their faith. Baha'is can't serve in the military and face job bias elsewhere. Authorities won't recognize their marriages, and Iran's media demonize Baha'is, reinforcing their pariah status." http://t.uani.com/1h44EmQ 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.