Eye on Iran: Iran Leader Calls Israel 'Rabid Dog', Urges Arms for Palestinians

Join UANI           Top Stories Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called Israel a 'rabid dog' for its attacks on Gaza, and urged Muslims to arm Palestinians to enable them to counter what he termed genocide... In a speech marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Khamenei criticized the United States and European countries for what he said were their efforts to limit the military capacity of Palestinian fighters in the enclave. Of Israel, he said: 'This rabid dog, this rapacious wolf, has attacked innocent people and humanity must show a reaction. This is genocide, a catastrophe of historical scale.' ... 'Everyone, whoever has the means, especially in the Islamic world, they should do what they can to arm the Palestinian nation ... the Zionist regime deeply regrets starting this (war) but has no way out.'" http://t.uani.com/1nDeT8q Al-Monitor: "A year after Hassan Rouhani's inauguration as Iran's president, the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated for many human rights defenders and especially for Baha'is and Christian converts as a result of what some experts describe as a hard-line counteroffensive against the pro-Rouhani pragmatist/Reformist camp. Rouhani has devoted most of his efforts during his first year in office to trying to resolve the nuclear crisis in hopes of gaining sanctions relief and boosting Iran's anemic economy. But the cleric also promised to increase civil liberties in Iran - a promise that he has had difficulty fulfilling. While the overall atmosphere has improved somewhat for ordinary Iranians, 'human rights violations are widespread and very serious,' Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, told a July 28 briefing on Capitol Hill." http://t.uani.com/WLrD2P WSJ: "Amid a diplomatic thaw earlier this year between Tehran and the West, U.S. officials had a message for European companies eager to get back into Iran: Take it slow. Today, Washington is pushing some of them to speed things up. In recent weeks, U.S. officials have been reaching out to a handful of European companies and asking them to expedite the sale of medical goods to Iran, a market they were struggling to gain access to just a few months ago. European drug makers Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, as well as Siemens AG -which has a large medical-equipment business-have all been approached by Washington officials eager to expedite the sale of humanitarian goods into Iran, according to executives and one of the U.S. officials. After Iran identified specific pharmaceutical companies it wanted to trade with, 'we have notified those companies that this [payment channel] is available to them,' one of the U.S. officials said." http://t.uani.com/1tWdESk     Nuclear Program & Negotiations Global Security Newswire: "Iran's legislature may take a more active role in nuclear diplomacy, potentially reducing Tehran's flexibility in talks on a global standoff, Asharq al-Awsat reports. A measure submitted by Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani would expand the body's supervisory role in Tehran's negotiations with the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, state news agencies reported on Sunday. The sides are trying to formulate terms that would restrict weapon-usable elements of Iran's nuclear program while lifting economic sanctions on the Persian Gulf regional power." http://t.uani.com/1tWgreu Human Rights WashPost: "The State Department on Monday called for the release of The Washington Post's Iran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, who was detained last week in Tehran along with his wife and two others for undetermined reasons. Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said Washington had asked the Swiss government, which helps with U.S. consular cases in Iran, for assistance in Rezaian's case. The United States and Iran do not have formal diplomatic relations. 'We call on the Iranian government to immediately release Mr. Rezaian and the other three individuals,' Psaki said Monday afternoon during a State Department news briefing." http://t.uani.com/1zqkIdb HRW: "Iranian authorities should immediately ensure the release of three journalists and a fourth person arrested in recent days, including the Tehran correspondent for The Washington Post, unless they plan to bring recognizable criminal charges against them and guarantee them fair trials. The arrests are the latest in a series of actions that Iran's security and intelligence forces, supported by elements within the judiciary, have taken against at least 10 journalists in recent months. The Washington Post correspondent, Jason Rezaian, has dual Iranian and American nationality. The Washington Post reported his arrest together with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, also a journalist, and two unnamed people, a photojournalist and her spouse, in a statement on July 24, 2014." http://t.uani.com/UImSoP Opinion & Analysis WashPost Editorial: "Iran's relations with international media have improved considerably since the election of Hassan Rouhani as president and the beginning of serious negotiations over its nuclear program. More Western journalists have been allowed to visit the country, Mr. Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif have given numerous interviews to Western journalists and U.S. newspapers, including The Post, have featured their op-eds. So much has the climate improved that U.S. conservatives routinely charge that U.S. media have been seduced by the new leadership. The enhanced interchange is one reason the detention of The Post's correspondent in Tehran, Jason Rezaian, is so unwarranted. Mr. Rezaian, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who is also a journalist, were arrested at their home last Tuesday. Since then, their families and The Post have not heard from them, though an Iranian judicial official confirmed Friday that they were in government custody. Two U.S. citizens working as freelance photographers are also being held. No charges have been brought, and the detainees apparently have had no access to legal counsel. Their whereabouts are unknown... So why have Mr. Rezaian, Ms. Salehi and the photographers suddenly become the first American journalists detained in Iran since 2009? Post editors say they have no answers. What is known is that Mr. Rezaian, 38, suffers from high blood pressure and probably does not have access to his regular medication. In addition to endangering his health, his arrest silences a reporter who was dedicated to fairly explaining Iran to Washington readers. It also raises questions about whether Mr. Rouhani's professed policy of 'constructive engagement' is still in effect. Tehran could quickly and easily silence these doubts by unconditionally releasing Mr. Rezaian, Ms. Salehi and the other Americans." http://t.uani.com/1l9JdD6 Ephraim Asculai & Emily Landau in TNI: "The decision to extend nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 beyond the July 20 deadline was based on an assessment that despite remaining lack of agreement on key issues, enough progress had been made to justify a four-month extension of the talks. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry announced on July 18 that the term was extended in order to give the parties 'time to continue working to conclude a comprehensive agreement...warranted by the progress we've made and the path forward we can envision.' For its consent to continue the talks, Iran gained access to an additional $2.8 billion of its restricted assets, the four-month prorated amount of the original Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) commitment. This financial relief will not only ease some of the economic and political pressure on Iran, which is the only leverage the P5+1 has in this difficult negotiation, but also sends a problematic message that not only are there no negative consequences for not reaching a deal by the July 20 deadline, the benefits continue. Significantly, in a June 30 op-ed in The Washington Post, Kerry stated that the United States would not agree to an extension 'merely to drag out negotiations.' He complained in the article that Iran's public optimism about the potential outcome of the negotiations had not been matched by the positions Iran had articulated behind closed doors, and that 'Iran must show a genuine willingness to respond to the international community's legitimate concerns in the time that remains.' If that was the case at the end of June, what had changed by mid-July? With absolutely no indication of any softening of Iran's steadfast intransigence on the nuclear front-if anything, positions have hardened-what could have convinced the Secretary of State that there was suddenly reason to believe that the next four months might see the significant Iranian concessions that had proven elusive in the previous six? This question will no doubt remain a cloud over the coming months of negotiations... Secretary Kerry's July 18 statements seem designed to create the impression that the four-month extension could produce a good deal. But there is ample reason to believe that such an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 will be no more achievable in four months than it was now, especially if Iran is able to withstand the sanctions. The worst possible outcome is a bad deal with Iran that reflects multiple concessions by the P5+1 on different aspects of Iran's nuclear program. This would leave Iran with a legitimized nuclear program, including the potential to break out at will and produce a nuclear explosive device in short order. But the prospect of no agreement in four months must also be rejected. For Iran, this might seem like a workable plan, as it would leave the Islamic regime in a much better position than before the JPOA, in both technical and economic terms. It might not even spark a crisis if Iran declares its intent to continue to adhere to the technical terms of the JPOA, and to negotiate with the P5+1. The international community cannot enable Iran to continue the interim situation indefinitely in this manner, with a very short breakout time. It must clarify to Iran that this is not an option. Finally, while the current talks with Iran are rightly focused exclusively on the emerging nuclear threat from Iran, the broader context should not be completely ignored either: not the situation inside Iran-where gross human-rights abuses continue-nor Iran's blatant support for terror. The rocket barrages fired by Hamas over the past weeks at Israel's population centers, with the express aim of killing Israeli civilians are supplied by Iran. And just as a reminder of where the so-called Supreme Leader of Iran stands on this issue, he demands continued armed resistance until Israel is eliminated. 'Israel's annihilation is the only real cure', said Khamenei. These words should be uppermost in the minds of the P5+1 negotiators as they move toward the late November deadline." http://t.uani.com/1rXzsOa 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.