Thursday, September 11, 2014

Eye on Iran: For Many Iranians, the 'Evidence' Is Clear: ISIS Is an American Invention








Join UANI  
 Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our videos on YouTube
   
Top Stories

NYT: "Iranians are as obsessed as Americans these days with the black-clad gangs roaming Iraq and Syria and killing Shiites and other 'infidels' in the name of Sunni Islam. At the supermarket, in a shared taxi or at a family gathering, conversations often turn to the mysterious group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and how it came to be. And for most Iranians, the answer is obvious: the United States... ISIS, Iranian leaders have been saying for a long time, is made-in-the-U.S.A., a tool of terror intended by the world's superpower to divide and conquer the energy-rich Middle East and to counter the growing influence of Iran in the region... Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has often said that he believes ISIS was created by the United States as a way to regain a foothold in Iraq and to fight President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, an ally of Iran. 'We have evidence, we know,' he told an audience of clerics last week, without elaborating. Ayatollah Khamenei reminded them that Al Qaeda - a creation of the Central Intelligence Agency, Iran has said - and the Taliban were, in the eyes of Iranian intelligence, devised by the West as a counterweight to Iran. 'There is no doubt that these movements are created by Western powers and their regional agents,' Mr. Khamenei has insisted." http://t.uani.com/1whaSbC

Reuters: "Iran said world powers should abandon their 'illogical demands' over its nuclear program, ahead of talks on Thursday to try to bridge wide differences in positions and end the decade-old dispute by late November. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, one of Iran's chief negotiators, was speaking before a meeting in Vienna with senior officials from the three European members of the group of six world powers involved in the negotiations with Tehran. The talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany take place less than a week after Iran and the United States held a bilateral meeting in Geneva. It was not clear when the Vienna talks would begin... 'The talks can yield results if the other party shows goodwill and abandons some of its illogical demands,' Araqchi was quoted as saying in Vienna by Iran's Fars news agency. 'We hope to reach further understanding through bilateral meetings which will help advancement of the talks in New York.'" http://t.uani.com/1uxt4xz

IHS Janes: "Iran's Khalij Fars anti-ship ballistic missile (AShBM) - a weapon that could shift the military balance in the Gulf region - is being delivered to operational units, according to the US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on the Islamic Republic's military capabilities. 'Tehran is quietly fielding increasingly lethal symmetric and asymmetric weapon systems, including more advanced naval mines, small but capable submarines, coastal defence cruise missile batteries, attack craft, and anti-ship ballistic missiles,' the report's declassified executive summary said. This is the first corroboration of Iranian claims that the AShBM is in service. US officials declined to comment further on the report, which was submitted to Congress in January." http://t.uani.com/1nNSiCU


 
Sanctions Relief

Reuters: "A substantial increase in Iranian oil storage capacity will give the sanctions-hit country more flexibility to export crude, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, preventing it from reaching production capacity. Limited storage capacity has forced it to keep crude on National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC)-controlled tankers at sea. However, a recent build-up in storage that saw four 1-million-barrel tanks being constructed at the country's primary crude export terminal on Kharg Island took the total capacity to 28 million barrels, compared with just 7 million barrels around the turn of the millennium, the IEA said. 'The expansion of land-based storage increases the flexibility of the Iranian supply chain, which could see floating storage volumes fall further over coming months,' the IEA, the West's energy watchdog, said in its monthly Oil Market Report. '(This) will free up NITC tankers for deliveries if required.'" http://t.uani.com/1srYuFD

AFP: "Russia and Iran, both targeted by international sanctions squeezing their economies, set the stage Wednesday for a strategic partnership aimed at vastly expanding trade and investment. The two countries signed a number of protocols intended to increase bilateral trade tenfold in the next two years from the current figure of $1.5 billion (1.2 billion euros). At the same time, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the two countries would also pursue investment projects worth 70 billion euros. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, who had welcomed on Tuesday a sizeable Russian delegation, said 'there is no restriction on developing trade relations' between the two sides... Not surprisingly, the most important investment projects involve energy, which would include the creation of a power network linking the two countries, for which Iran is desperate for investment. Russia would build 10 new conventional electrical power plants, as well as four more nuclear power plants to add to an existing one. Eventually, Iran aims to have 20 such installations, each producing 1,000 megawatts." http://t.uani.com/1qJkDz7

Iraq Crisis

Reuters: "Iran said on Thursday the emerging international coalition to battle Islamic State militants was 'shrouded in serious ambiguities', Iranian state television reported. Islamic State fighters have seized major Iraqi cities and towns bordering Iran and Tehran has expressed concern about their rapid advance and the upsurge in violence. 'The so-called international coalition to fight the ISIL group ... is shrouded in serious ambiguities and there are severe misgivings about its determination to sincerely fight the root causes of terrorism,' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham was quoted by state TV as saying." http://t.uani.com/1qJhnne

Human Rights

ICHRI: "A young woman's detention in solitary confinement continues after her June 30, 2014 arrest, following her earlier arrest and release outside a Tehran sports stadium when she tried to attend a volleyball game. Ghoncheh Ghavami's lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that he is unaware of his client's charges despite the fact that Ghavami has been in solitary confinement at Evin Prison for more than two months and her 'temporary detention' orders have been extended twice. Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, who holds dual citizenship from Iran and the United Kingdom, is a law graduate from SOAS, University of London." http://t.uani.com/1xO2DZ6

ICHRI: "Three imprisoned Baha'is have been refused early release and furlough to visit their small children unless they recant their faith and pledge not to teach at the Baha'i university, a relative told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Afagh Khosravi-Zand, whose two sons and a daughter-in-law have been jailed for teaching at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education, said, 'I have written to authorities many times but I have received no reply. Kamran [Rahimian] and Faran [Hessami] have a five-year-old son and Kayvan [Rahimian] has a 14-year-old daughter and, unfortunately, he also lost his wife to cancer before he was arrested. These kids are living with me now. But I cannot do enough for a girl who's going through puberty and a small child.'" http://t.uani.com/1pSKqzi

IHR: "Two men were hanged in public in the city of Hamedan (Western Iran) early Wednesday morning September 10, reported the Iranian state media. According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, the two men were convcted of 'Moharebeh' (war against God) and Corruption on earth. Disruption of order, creating fear among the people and attempt to rape are among the charges the men were convicted of, said the report." http://t.uani.com/1uJV5RF

Domestic Politics

Al-Monitor: "The water crisis in Iran, where several important rivers and lakes have dried up, has become so serious that in certain areas of the country, citizens have been demonstrating and protesting to express their concern. From the early hours of the morning on Sept. 8, thousands of residents of Esfahan and the smaller cities and villages nearby demonstrated near Zayanderood River, holding placards, protesting the drying up of Zayanderood and officials not paying proper attention to this issue." http://t.uani.com/1lXTuZ3

Al-Monitor: "Iran's Culture Ministry, which had announced that it planned to shut down news websites operating without a license, is now accused of targeting only conservative sites critical of the Hassan Rouhani administration while allowing Reformist news sites and those supportive of the administration to continue to operate without a license." http://t.uani.com/1uopPJF

Opinion & Analysis

Robert Caruso in HuffPost: "A viable policy in Iraq must achieve clear and achievable goals and allow America to stand down as the Iraqi people stand up. Because of the lack of a Status of Forces Agreement between Iraq and the United States, the U.S. Armed Forces have been treading a legal tightrope as they balance what's needed to bomb ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant with the political situation. All of this is being done in line with international law. So why is the US working with Iran's Qods Force, a designated terrorist organization? Besides being completely illegal, working with Iran's paramilitary arm is not strategically sound. Qods commits unspeakable atrocities, kills women and children, and has been implicated in backing sectarian death squads in Syria, Lebanon, and even Afghanistan. IRGC-QF, as it's known in military and intelligence circles, is also singularly responsible for using the deadliest explosives and even assassinations against the U.S. military and American diplomats. The military gains of both Iran's proxies and ISIL should be blunted to curb the sectarian bloodshed outside Irbil sure to follow. The international coalition Secretary Kerry and President Obama cobbled together, acting in concert with the United States, should take more aggressive actions to prevent advances by Shi'a militia. The primary objective in Iraq should be to secure Irbil, pull back all American diplomatic and military presence to behind Iraqi Kurdistan's borders, and pit ISIL and Iran against each other. Iran's Shi'a militia proxies effectively control Baghdad and exercise significant control on Iraqi military operations. They should be allowed to fight ISIL to the last man. Some proponents of working with Iran invoke the plight of the Kurdish and Yazidi people in Northern Iraq. Ironically enough, Iran has also already begun subversive efforts to destabilize Kurdistan. University of Maryland researcher Phillip Smyth, who follows Shi'a Islamist movements, has tracked Iranian activities in Iraq for years and recently stated Iran views the current crisis as 'their moment' in Iraq. It was curious, then, when commentators floated the idea the US had 'only one potential strategic partner left: Iran.' Iran is not a viable partner, and has repeatedly expressed its desire to carve a so-called 'Shia crescent' out of the existing Middle East. The world can no longer allow the Iraqi military and police to function as an extension of Iran's military, especially while the outcome of nuclear negotiations with Tehran remain tenuous. Failure to arrest Iran's momentum in Iraq could lead to Iran having not one but three large standing armies and nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/1tBDpXj

Hanin Ghaddar in NOW Lebanon: "Hezbollah hasn't been well for a long time, due mostly to the draining effect the organization's operation in Syria has had. But recently, things seem to have gotten better, and the Party of God is enjoying some small victories thanks to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and its threat to Lebanon. A few months into the Syrian revolution, Bashar Assad and Iran decided that the best way to survive would be to adopt a narrative where they become the good guys, so to speak. Both Hezbollah and Assad suddenly changed their rhetoric from 'death to America' to 'death to terrorists,' and as the US and other Western powers ignored Assad's atrocities and the eventual rise of ISIS, Iran and Assad became the only local actors fighting terrorism in the region. Of course, the real fighters against ISIS were the Free Syrian Army, but Iran and Assad made it seem as if they themselves were the victims of all the infighting in Syria. Now, they think, is the time to reap the rewards of this narrative. US President Obama finally decided to take action against the imminent ISIS threat, and now over 40 nations are ready to join a US-led coalition against the group in Iraq, and eventually in Syria. But two things need to be addressed before any action is taken: First, why is it so vital that Iran join the anti-ISIS camp, even indirectly? Because it's their only ticket to salvation, and the only way out of the shithole they've dug for themselves. Iran needs to preserve its interests in Syria or the Shiite Islamic State won't be able to export the revolution - and the weapons it needs - which would be its undoing. The stretch of land from Latakia, through Homs, Damascus and Qalamoun, all the way through Lebanon's Bekaa and Naqoura, has to stay under the control of the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah - there is no other option for them in this. If the US is going to strike ISIS in Syria, this is a crucial point. Refusing to ally with Iran or accept them as part of the coalition is not enough. Turning a blind eye on Iran's hegemony in the region will not only complicate matters for the Syrian opposition and their regional allies, it will also prolong the war and expand it into Lebanon and back to Iraq." http://t.uani.com/1uor7Ep
  

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.

No comments:

Post a Comment