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Stories
Reuters:
"Six world powers and Iran launched a decisive phase of diplomacy on
Wednesday to begin drafting a lasting accord that would curb Tehran's
contested nuclear activity in exchange for a phased end to sanctions that
have hobbled the Iranian economy. After three months of floating
expectations rather than negotiating possible compromises, the sides now
aim to devise a package meant to end years of antagonism and curtail the
risk of a wider Middle East war with global repercussions. Washington's
decades-long estrangement from Iran could ease, improving international
stability, if a deal were done but U.S. officials warned against
unwarranted optimism given persisting, critical differences between the
sides... An accord in two months is far from assured, with Western
diplomats warning that divisions could prove insurmountable. 'Quite
frankly, this is very, very difficult,' a senior U.S. official told
reporters on the eve of the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'I
would caution people that just because we will be drafting it certainly
does not mean an agreement is imminent or that we are certain to
eventually get to a resolution.'" http://t.uani.com/RQkiwc
LAT:
"A top U.S. official cautioned Tuesday that obstacles remain before
a nuclear deal can be reached between Iran and six world powers and
warned that the widespread optimism about the four-month-long
negotiations has gotten 'way out of control.' Though it appears that Iran
and the six powers whose representatives are gathered this week in Vienna
all want to draft a deal, 'having the intent doesn't necessarily mean
that it will happen,' the official, who declined to be identified under
Obama administration ground rules, told a group of reporters. 'There are
still some significant gaps.... We're working hard but it remains to be
seen if we'll get to where we're hoping to get to.'" http://t.uani.com/1jH4S8f
Algemeiner:
"Advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran has called on attendees
of Iran's 19th International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition,
held last week in Tehran, to fully disclose the nature and extent of
their business activities in the Islamic Republic, which is still the
object of international sanctions. The group, whose mission is to warn
the world about Iran's intentions and prevent the Islamic Republic from
achieving nuclear weapons capability, named European energy companies
that attended the event, and called out one global French firm, Nexans,
that also supplies the U.S. government. In a statement, UANI said, 'The
presence of European and Asian companies at the oil show directly
contravenes the efforts of the international community to maintain
economic pressure on the Iranian regime while also demonstrating
disregard for President Obama's pledge to 'come down ... like a ton of
bricks' on foreign firms expanding their Iran business.'" http://t.uani.com/1k0Nv1I
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Al-Monitor: "French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on May 13
that a nuclear agreement with Iran could only be reached if it deals
seriously with the scale of Iran's centrifuge program and answers
questions about the alleged past military dimensions of its nuclear work.
Speaking to a small group of senior American journalists in Washington as
talks resumed in Vienna on a long-term nuclear agreement with Iran,
Fabius said he could not forecast whether the negotiations would succeed
by the July 20 expiration of the current interim accord. 'If it is
possible to reach agreement, okay. If not possible, also okay,' Fabius
said. 'We have to be firm, very serious and clear cut.' If Iran and the
five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) do
manage to reach agreement, he added, 'It will be at the last moment.' Fabius,
who held up an interim deal for several weeks last fall to the apparent
annoyance of Secretary of State John Kerry, laid down three conditions
for a longer-term arrangement: It must be 'comprehensive, ... clear about
the past' and resolve the issue of 'breakout time.' On this last point,
he explained, 'We have to take such steps to be able to react if they
decide not to fulfill their commitment.' Fabius also suggested that Iran
must agree to reduce the number of centrifuges it currently has installed
(about 19,000) and is operating (around 9,000), but he did not specify by
how much." http://t.uani.com/1gDBniT
AP: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday promised U.S. allies
in the Persian Gulf that negotiations to contain Iran's nuclear program will
not weaken their security. In remarks opening a conference with his Gulf
counterparts, Hagel said Washington is hopeful of progress this week in
the Iran deal-drafting talks in Vienna. 'As negotiations progress, I want
to assure you of two things,' Hagel told the Gulf Cooperation Council.
'First, these negotiations will under no circumstances trade away
regional security for concessions on Iran's nuclear program.' The
Pentagon chief continued, 'Second, while our strong preference is for a
diplomatic solution, the United States will remain postured and prepared
to ensure that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon - and that Iran
abides by the terms of any potential agreement.'" http://t.uani.com/1hLBZDg
AFP: "Iran is sharing nuclear technology with North Korea, Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published
Wednesday, as Tehran and world powers hold talks aimed at ending a
decade-old standoff. Netanyahu, who is in Japan this week for talks with
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, said Iran
'would share whatever technology it acquired with North Korea,' the
Mainichi Shimbun reported in a front-page piece. Asked if Pyongyang is
receiving technologies linked to nuclear and missile development from
Iran, Netanyahu said: 'Yes, that's exactly the case.' North Korea's
nuclear and ballistic missile programme is one of Japan's major security
concerns... Late Tuesday, during a meeting with Kishida, Netanyahu called
both Iran and North Korea 'rogue' states. 'We see a danger and a
challenge posed by a rogue state arming itself with nuclear weapons. In
your case it's North Korea,' he said. 'We are faced with such a rogue
state in the form of Iran and its quest to develop nuclear weapons,' he
said." http://t.uani.com/1lenKt4
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "India cut its monthly Iranian crude imports by 42 percent
in April from March, in a further sign that Asian oil buyers are reining
in an early-2014 spree that took Tehran's exports well past levels
allowed under an interim deal with the West... India, Iran's top client
after China, shipped in about 225,000 bpd of the republic's oil in April,
the lowest in four months, according to tanker arrival data obtained from
trade sources and compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Analytics. India's oil
imports from Iran in April, the first month of new annual contracts with
Tehran, nearly doubled from a year ago, the data showed. The imports in
the first four months of 2014 surged 49 percent versus last year, the
data also showed, with the biggest increases coming in the first quarter.
India and other top buyers of Iranian oil - China, Japan and South Korea
- let their purchases rise sharply in the first three months of the year,
after the temporary deal easing some sanctions on Tehran went into effect
in January. In March, Iran's top four clients - China, India, Japan and
South Korea - imported 1.15 million bpd of Iranian crude and condensate,
down from February's 1.37 million bpd, the highest aggregate imports in
more than two years... Tanker loading schedules that were seen by Reuters
in April indicated that the imports by Iran's top clients should fall
again in May. Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd
were the only two Indian refiners that purchased oil from Iran in April.
State-run MRPL and Indian Oil Corp plan to keep their annual purchases
from Iran at last year's levels of about 80,000 bpd and 25,000 bpd,
officials at the companies said." http://t.uani.com/1jsRT54
Trend: "Iran's agreements with Russian and Ukrainian firms to
develop four oil fields have been halted until further notice... National
Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russia's Tatneft signed a deal, worth $700
million, in 2011 to develop the Zagheh heavy crude oilfield in southwest
Iran... Iran also signed a contract with a consortium consisting of
Iranian and Ukrainian companies in 2012 for the development of Kouhmond,
Boushkan and Kouhkaki oil fields. The contract, valued at about $800
million, was signed between the Petroleum Engineering and Development
Company, an affiliate of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), and
Inter Naft Gas Prom Pars Co., which is a consortium of Iranian and
Ukrainian entities, Press TV reported." http://t.uani.com/1lygmdw
Trend: "Iran swapped 210,000 tons of oil products in the Caspian Sea
in the 12 month period, which ended on March 20. Deputy oil minister,
Abbas Kazemi, said that liquid gas swap faced 500 percent increase in the
mentioned period, while mazut swap increased by 170 percent, Iran's Mehr
News Agency reported on May 14. 'Mazut and liquid gas swap between Iran
and Caspian Sea states reduces Iran's costs for transferring and storing
oil products,' he explained. Deputy oil minister, Ali Majedi, said on May
7 that Iran is ready to start oil swap with neighboring countries." http://t.uani.com/1oOEitO
Trend: "Russia will build the Rasht-Astara railway in northern part
of Iran. The president of Iranian Railways, Mohsen Pour Seyed Aqaei and
chairman of the Council of the Board and president of Russian Railways
JSC, Vladimir Yakunin discussed six rail projects, Iran's IRIB news
agency reported on May 10. Heads of the railways of Iran, Russia, and
Azerbaijan agreed that the Rasht-Astara railway to be built by Russia.
Also, the Azerbaijani side will extend the railway from Iran-Azerbaijan
border into Azerbaijan's territory." http://t.uani.com/1hLFh9D
Sanctions
Enforcement & Impact
Reuters: "BNP Paribas is in talks with U.S. authorities to pay more
than $3 billion to resolve probes into whether the French bank violated
U.S. sanctions on Iran, Sudan and other countries, people familiar with
the matter said. The bank warned last month it faced fines in excess of
$1.1 billion over the matter, but declined to provide a specific number.
The probes are being conducted by the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S.
Attorney's office in Manhattan, the U.S. Treasury Department, the
Manhattan District Attorney's office, and the New York Department of
Financial Services." http://t.uani.com/1hLAMvD
Terrorism
Long War Journal: "In a response to al Qaeda emir Ayman al
Zawahiri's latest attempt at reconciliation with the Islamic State of
Iraq and the Sham, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani made a startling
admission: Al Qaeda has ordered its fighters and branches to refrain from
attacking the Iranian state in order to preserve the terror group's
network in the country... While analysts often cite the tired cliche that
Sunni al Qaeda couldn't possibly cooperate with Shia Iran, we've
documented al Qaeda's relationship with Iran for years. And although
Adnani didn't explicitly state that al Qaeda had a deal with Iran 'to
safeguard its interests and supply lines,' the US government has said it
has evidence of such an agreement... While analysts often cite the tired
cliche that Sunni al Qaeda couldn't possibly cooperate with Shia Iran,
we've documented al Qaeda's relationship with Iran for years. And
although Adnani didn't explicitly state that al Qaeda had a deal with
Iran 'to safeguard its interests and supply lines,' the US government has
said it has evidence of such an agreement." http://t.uani.com/1oqWigD
Al-Monitor: "A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation
on Tuesday requiring President Obama to report on countries that harbor
Hezbollah and determine whether they're doing all they can to snuff out the
Shiite militia. The Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of
2014, introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Marco Rubio,
R-Fla., closely tracks House legislation first revealed by Al-Monitor in
March, but puts more pressure on foreign countries to take action against
Hezbollah, which the State Department deems a terrorist group. The Senate
bill, like the House version, calls for sanctions against financial
institutions - including central banks - that knowingly facilitate
Hezbollah's illicit activities, including money laundering, and targets
providers that knowingly transmit the militia's propaganda channel,
Al-Manar TV. It also requests the president consider adding Hezbollah to
the list of significant narcotics traffickers or significant
transnational criminal organizations, both designations that would give
the government more authorities to target the group. The Senate bill goes
a step further, however, by requiring that the president provide Congress
within 90 days of enactment with a list of 'countries in which Hezbollah
maintains important portions of its global logistics networks' as well as
a list of 'countries in which Hezbollah, or any of its agents or
affiliates, conducts significant fundraising, financing, or money
laundering activities.'" http://t.uani.com/T2bsMG
Syria Conflict
WSJ: "France's foreign minister said his government has evidence the
Syrian government used chemical agents, largely chlorine, in at least 14
separate attacks against rebels and civilians in recent months... The
charges leveled by Mr. Fabius, however, were more specific and
far-reaching. Coming during a high-profile visit to Washington, the
disclosure also could increase pressure on the Obama administration to
take a more aggressive approach to the conflict and specifically in
aiding rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime." http://t.uani.com/1mUMCLQ
Fars News (Iran): "In a statement on Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign
Ministry described the news as 'a lie', and said the fact that the news comes
from media affiliated to the Zionist regime makes it all the more evident
that the report is a 'fabrication'. 'This is not the first time that this
Zionist news outlet spreads lies to deviate the world's public opinion
from realities,' the statement said." http://t.uani.com/1v4jeEa
Human Rights
RFE/RL: "A photo of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi has
emerged online and been widely shared on social media. The photo seems to
have been released to mark Father's Day, celebrated in Iran this week.
The snapshot is the first to be made public since Musavi was put under
house arrest in February 2011 for challenging Iranian leaders. The origin
of the photo is not clear. It was published on the opposition website
Kalame, which is close to Musavi, and which praised the opposition figure
for his resistance in the face of the state pressure he's been facing.
The website said the photo was not taken 'in recent days.' Kalame said
Musavi has become a 'compassionate father' for all Iranians." http://t.uani.com/1oODyoO
ICHRI: "Nine prisoners found guilty of drug trafficking charges were
hanged in the Karoun Prison courtyard in Ahvaz on May 12, 2014, after
their sentences were confirmed by the Revolutionary Court, the Prosecutor
General, and the Head of the Judiciary, the Khuzestan Province
prosecutor's office has announced... Four days earlier, two prisoners
were executed inside the Qom Central Prison. They had been arrested in
2011 on drug trafficking charges... UN experts and government officials
have repeatedly voiced concern over Iran's use of the death penalty in
drug-related convictions. Under international law, the use of the death
penalty is restricted to only the 'most serious' crimes, and the UN
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has
explicitly held that drug-related crimes do not meet this criterion.
Nevertheless, drug offenders are routinely sentenced to death and
executed in Iran." http://t.uani.com/RQatyo
ICHRI: "A Kurdish human rights lawyer has been tried on charges of
membership in an illegal political group and propaganda against the state
for providing information on prison conditions to the UN Special
Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, a source told the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Masoud Shamsinejad appeared at Branch
2 of Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court under Judge Sheikhlou on May 7, 2014.
He was defended by three lawyers, Mohammad Saleh Nikhbakht, Abbas Jamal,
and Osman Mozayan. In addition to giving information about conditions in
Orumiyeh Prison in West Azerbaijan Province to Special Rapporteur Ahmed
Shaheed, Shamsinejad is accused of giving interviews to Kurdish media
abroad. 'The Intelligence Ministry wants to accuse him of supporting
Kurdish [armed] groups because he was a lawyer for Kurdish political
activists,' the source told the Campaign." http://t.uani.com/1nNy4KZ
Foreign Affairs
Reuters: "Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran urged
Pakistan on Monday to avoid 'wicked' U.S. influence and build stronger
ties with Tehran, blaming Washington for rising sectarian violence in the
Iranian-Pakistani border region that has strained relations. Speaking to
visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Khamenei accused the
United States and 'some other governments' of plotting a rift between the
Muslim neighbors. 'We do have information on certain movements along our
long borders, with some trying to create insecurity, and we cannot
believe these are unprovoked and accidental,' Khamenei said in comments
carried by Iranian media. 'America, whose wickedness is known to all, is
among the governments trying to make distance between Iran and Pakistan.
Besides America, there are other governments at work too.'" http://t.uani.com/1sIKINx
Opinion &
Analysis
Payam Akhavan in the Toronto Star: "Imagine a muscular bearded
revolutionary with a machine gun. Now imagine him putting the hangman's
noose around the neck of a blindfolded 17-year-old girl. Her heinous
crime? Teaching Sunday school for children. And then imagine the same
militant forces returning to excavate her gravesite 30 years later to
remove all traces of this shameful act. This shocking scenario
unfortunately is not from a poignant Hollywood film. It is the reality
playing out in Iran today, as the powerful Revolutionary Guards excavate
the historic cemetery in the city of Shiraz where Mona Mahmudnizhad and
nine other women executed in 1983 are buried, together with 950 other
members of the persecuted Baha'i religious minority. This latest act is
profoundly repugnant and perplexing. What, it may be asked, are the
mighty Revolutionary Guards so afraid of? Since the earliest days of the
1979 Islamic revolution, the Baha'i minority of Iran has been subject to
violent persecution. Almost the entire leadership of this peaceful community
was systematically exterminated in what UN expert Benjamin Whitaker had
described by 1985 as a 'genocide.' It was in this context that on June
18, 1983, 17-year-old Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other women were
executed. Thousands of others were imprisoned, tortured, dismissed from
employment and schools, or had their properties confiscated. The
desecration of religious sites and cemeteries was a particularly blatant
expression of a hateful ideology of 'cultural cleansing,' aimed at
eliminating all traces of Iran's Baha'i citizens. I was a contemporary of
Mona, and her extraordinary courage left a deep and lasting impression on
my generation. Reports emerged from sympathetic prison guards that, after
severe torture, when she was being insulted and spat upon by those that
were about to hang her, she put the noose around her own neck and smiled
in a final act of defiance. Her torturers had not managed to break her.
Hers was a triumph of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable
cruelty. The Baha'is continue to be an all-purpose scapegoat for the
Islamic Republic. A relentless stream of hate propaganda has accused them
of every conceivable evil in the fertile imagination of the authorities:
American imperialism, espionage for Israel, Wahhabism, religious
'waywardness,' sexual promiscuity, satanic rituals, and myriad other
misdeeds. The Baha'is have also been blamed for the massive 2009
post-election protests - the so-called Green Movement. In short, the
Baha'is are an expedient distraction for all the woes of a regime that
continues to subject its citizens to human rights abuses, including the
highest per-capita rate of executions in the world, as well as corruption
and poverty. So what are the Revolutionary Guards so afraid of? The
escalating demonization of Baha'is in recent times speaks volumes about
the regime's fear of losing its grip on absolute power. The Iranian
people have awakened to the reality of the hate propaganda as an
instrument of repression. In unprecedented acts of solidarity, senior Islamic
clerics such as Ayatollah Masoumi Tehrani have spoken in defence of
Baha'is." http://t.uani.com/1qCJPs8
Maha Mehrgan in Asharq Al-Awsat: "The history of journalism in Iran
is a story of more than 150 years of struggle between journalists and
those in power. Depending on the political circumstances of the day, this
struggle has sometimes put journalists on top, sometimes sent them to
their deaths on charges of treason, and everything in between. It has
been more than 35 years since the Islamic revolution culminated with the
slogan 'freedom and republicanism' and 17 years since Iran's newspapers
were recognized for the first time as the fourth pillar of civil society
and as the columns of democracy under then-president Mohammad Khatami.
Today, the Islamic Republic's newspapers are experiencing conditions as
bad as those during after the 1907-1907 Constitutional Revolution and the
1953 coup against then-prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq. In the Khatami
era, the emergence of the reformist newspaper Jame'eh laid the groundwork
for the publication of a large number of other papers, setting the stage
for 'golden age' of Iranian journalism. In 1999, newspaper readership in
Tehran reached 86.2 percent of the population, and the average newspaper
reading time exceeded 38 minutes a day. A short time later, a political
crackdown and systematic action by conservatives was accompanied by the
assassination of more than 80 authors, translators, poets and political
activists by Intelligence Ministry agents. The golden age came to an end
with the botched attempt on the life of Saeed Hajjarian-a key Khatami
aide and a newspaper editor known as the foremost theorist of the
reformist movement-the mass closure of newspapers in the spring of 2000
by government order, the arrest of journalists investigating the
assassination bid, and the emigration of prominent journalists such as
Mohsen Sazegara and Ebrahim Nabavi . In the intervening years, the
Iranian government has weakened the reformist press. Today, a reformist
press survives in name only-their content nothing more than what is
relayed by conservative news agencies. Journalist and economic analyst
Hadi Anvari recently concluded that the reformist press sources as much
as 60 percent of its content from news agencies affiliated with the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other conservative factions.
Anvari reached his conclusion after reviewing the economics pages of a
leading reformist newspaper in the second half of the first month of the
Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, and recording the
contribution of news agencies affiliated with different factions to this
newspaper. He published the results on his Facebook page. During those
two weeks, when newspapers were dominated by news of the government's subsidy
reform plan, 58 percent of the news articles published by this reformist
newspaper were taken from conservative-run news agencies: Fars and
Tasnim, which are affiliated with IRGC, and Mehr, which is affiliated
with Organization for the Promotion of Islam. Government-run news
agencies contributed only 31 percent, and other media (like the state
broadcaster) had an 11-percent share. In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat for
this story, Anvari said the main reason behind the influence of
conservative news agencies stems from the fact that they are better
funded, operate under fewer constraints, and enjoy superior access to
news sources. Currently, no specific reformist news agency is active in
Iran, and news agencies can be put in two categories: those operated under
government aegis, and those run by conservatives opposed to the
reformists' agenda. The Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), which once
enjoyed a reputation for independence, has seen its status decline in
recent years due to financial problems. Anvari says conservative news
agencies rarely face financial shortfalls, while reformist newspapers are
plagued by financial and management problems are are sometimes unable to
pay their employees." http://t.uani.com/1nJ73Lh
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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