Eye on Iran: UN's Iran Nuke Probe Stalls Again

Join UANI           Top Stories AP: "A new and seemingly promising U.N probe of allegations that Iran worked on atomic arms has stalled, diplomats say, leaving investigators not much further than where they started a decade ago and dampening U.S. hopes of reaching an overarching deal with Tehran by a November deadline. Expectations were high just two weeks ago, when chief U.N. nuclear inspector Yukiya Amano emerged from talks in Tehran with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani saying Iran had given 'a firm commitment' to cooperation and suggesting that years of deadlock had been broken. Two diplomats told The Associated Press that Amano's International Atomic Energy Agency will issue a confidential report this week saying that Iran has not provided information to substantially advance the probe, a finding that could affect talks between Iran and six major powers." http://t.uani.com/YblcXI Press TV (Iran): "Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the Islamic Republic will do all in its power to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) from the Israeli regime's occupation and will spare no efforts to help the Palestinian people. 'The administration of the Islamic Republic of Iran, like in the past, will use all tools at its disposal to save al-Aqsa Mosque and liberate the first Qibla (point of direction to which Muslims turn for prayers) of Muslims and will spare no efforts to help the oppressed Palestinians,' Rouhani said at a conference on World Mosque Day in Tehran on Monday. He added that the Muslim world will not allow aggressors to continue their occupation of al-Aqsa Mosque. 'We are confident that the final victory belongs to Muslims,' the Iranian president pointed out." http://t.uani.com/1BblFqE AFP: "Iran has plenty of ideas on how to reach a nuclear deal with world powers before a November 24 deadline, Tehran's lead negotiator said Tuesday during a visit to France. 'We are serious, determined and we have ideas for each and every problem which exists on the table,' Abbas Araqchi said in an interview with France24 television. 'We have ideas and our ideas would address all concerns... We have presented our ideas in the previous round. We are going to present again those ideas,' he said. He added however that the other side has to 'avoid excessive demands' on the key issue of uranium enrichment, a process which can make nuclear fuel but also the core of a nuclear bomb... Such a deal is fiendishly complex, however, although Araqchi sought to downplay the chances that the deadline might simply be extended beyond November. 'I see very, very little possibility to extend even more. We would be in a difficult position, I suppose, but I believe that diplomacy would never end. I prefer to remain optimistic and hopeful,' he said. 'We are still at the table and we will remain at the table until the last minute.'" http://t.uani.com/1CpR368   Nuclear Program & Negotiations Reuters: "Israel is lobbying world powers anew against any Iranian nuclear deal that would let Tehran retain potential bomb-making technologies, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday as another deadline for the international diplomacy loomed... Yuval Steinitz, Israeli minister for strategic affairs, said in a radio interview he would head a government delegation to Washington next week to press the Jewish state's demand that the Islamic republic be stripped of all nuclear capacity - something Tehran rules out and many Western diplomats deem unfeasible... 'What Rouhani has done is concede on all kinds of secondary issues, partial concessions, but protected the project's core, which is what threatens us and the whole world,' Steinitz said. 'This means that in substance Iran's positions have remained as tough as before, and if there is no dramatic development in the coming month then either there will be no deal - or there will be a bad deal leaving Iran a nuclear threshold state, and this is of course something we are not willing to accept.'" http://t.uani.com/1sZERT4 AP: "Iran has disrupted plots by foreign spies to recruit its nuclear experts and stopped sabotage attempts through faulty foreign equipment supplied for its facilities, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic's nuclear department told the Associated Press. The comments by Asghar Zarean, who is in charge of security for Iran's nuclear program, came during a visit by an AP team to Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in Tehran organized by state officials. It also comes as Iran continues negotiations with world powers over its contested nuclear program and after authorities said they shot down a purported Israeli drone near one of its atomic facilities. 'We aim to raise awareness about the enemy, who is more hostile to us every day,' Zarean said in an interview Monday, without naming the countries that authorities believe are behind the sabotage and the recruitment effort." http://t.uani.com/1BbmdwD Tasnim (Iran): "Iran's president on Sunday underscored that the country will never allow any talk of its defensive fields, including the defensive missile capability, to be mooted in the nuclear negotiations with world powers. 'Our redline is obstructionism in researches and scientific progress in the nuclear field, and Iran will by no means negotiate on its defensive capability, including the defense missiles,' President Hassan Rouhani said in a meeting with Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, here in Tehran on Sunday." http://t.uani.com/1lzfety Sanctions Relief Tehran Times (Iran): "Car manufacturing in Iran grew by 73.4 percent in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-August 22) compared to the same period in the previous year. Iranian carmakers manufactured 404,010 vehicles in the 5-month period, the Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday. Car manufacturing in Iran dropped 20.2 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year. Iran manufactured 737,060 cars in the last Iranian year, while the figure was 924,051 in the preceding year." http://t.uani.com/1BblM5t Trend: "Over 300 delegations of foreign investors have visited Iran in the past year. Iran's deputy economy minister Mohammad Khazaei said that the number of foreign investment delegations has increased from 65 to 300 over the past year, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on August 31. Some of the delegations represented more than 100 companies, he added. However, a majority of the delegations has not concluded any contract with the country, he noted." http://t.uani.com/1qykjBq Trend: "Iran's non-oil exports (excluding gas condensates) surpassed $13.782 billion during the 5-month period from March 21, which indicates an increase by 9.34 percent compared to the same period of the preceding year (Iran's fiscal year starts on March 21). Iran exported some 31.86 million tonnes of non-oil goods during that period which is 1.79 percent less compared to the 5-month period of last year, according to the Iranian Customs Administration's latest report released Sept. 2. The country's total exports including gas condensates and petrochemicals stood at $19.639 billion, 20.83 percent more compared to the last fiscal year's first 5 months. Iran exported $5.857 billion worth of gas condensates during that period, which indicates an increase by 60.5 percent in comparison with the same period of preceding year. Meanwhile, the country's petrochemical exports surpassed $5.699 billion, 28.94 percent more compared to the last year's first five months. Condensates and petrochemicals shared 29.82 percent and 29 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports respectively during the period. Liquefied propane worth $908 million, methanol worth $717 million, liquefied butane worth $662 million and oil tar worth $519 million also topped the list of Iran's exported non-oil goods. The Islamic Republic also imported about $21.981 billion worth of goods during the period, which indicates a rise by 33.58 percent, compared to the 5-month period of the preceding year (21 March, 2013 to 22 August 2013)." http://t.uani.com/1rMwZbR Sanctions Enforcement & Impact Tasnim (Iran): "Iranian president on Saturday blasted as 'crime against humanity' the sanctions imposed on the country, including those targeting the country's food and medicine sector, adding that Iran will 'proudly' continue to bypass the illegal sanctions... 'Of course we bypass the sanctions, and we take pride in it, because we consider them illegal and some of them crime against humanity, including those targeting food and medicine (sectors),' he told reporters. 'We will definitely choose our own options against any sanctions, and will not stand by with folded arms,' the president added... As regards the possibility of a final, comprehensive deal on Tehran's peaceful nuclear program, Rouhani said 'If the other party has no excessive demands and shows sincerity, as the Iranian side is sincere and serious, we can reach a final agreement in the remaining time.'" http://t.uani.com/1sZGosy Fars (Iran): "President Hassan Rouhani said the United States' fresh sanctions run counter to the Geneva deal between Tehran and the six world powers, warning that Washington's continued hostile moves have made Iranians distrustful of the US. 'Our people are fully distrustful of the Americans, and the US had better have paved the ground for attracting their trust to some extent. The US moves make the Iranian people even more distrustful of the US and these actions run counter to the Geneva agreements,' President Rouhani said during a press conference here in Tehran on Saturday. He then pointed to the US justifications that it has not imposed any fresh sanctions against Iran to violate the Geneva deal, and the newly embargoed individuals and companies have been punished as an extension of the previous sanctions, and said, 'Even if we imagine that they are right, such a behavior still runs counter to the spirit of the Geneva Agreement.' 'Besides, we basically believe that sanctions are illegal and wrong in essence and their form is also incorrect and unconstructive from our viewpoint,' the Iranian president added." http://t.uani.com/Yboie9 Reuters: "Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran would continue to bypass sanctions after the United States penalised a number of companies for violating sanctions imposed on Iran, mostly in connection with its nuclear programme. On Friday, the United States imposed a fresh round of curbs on a number of Iranian and foreign companies, banks and airlines. The new measures came just over two weeks before talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran's nuclear programme resume in New York... 'The sanctions are cruel and illegal and we fulfil our duty for circumventing the sanctions,' Zanganeh was cited as saying by the oil ministry's news website Shana. 'We do not recognise the sanctions,' he said, referring to Friday's new curbs." http://t.uani.com/WbklEH Domestic Politics NYT: "Some days ago, Mahdi Taghizadeh did something he never thought he would - at least, not in Iran. He took a screen shot and shared the image with his followers on Twitter. 'They were all excited,' Mr. Taghizadeh, an Internet entrepreneur, said. 'Finally.' Mr. Taghizadeh's small triumph on the sidewalk of a Tehran street was among the first tangible results of a rare victory for Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, over the hard-liners who effectively rule this country. Last week, the government unexpectedly granted 3G and 4G licenses to the Islamic republic's two principal mobile operators, which are rushing to roll out high-speed connections to their tens of millions of subscribers. While Iranians willing to flout the law have long used illegal software to gain access to banned Internet sites like YouTube and Twitter, until now, Iran's main cellphone operators had been ordered to reduce Internet speeds to a sub-snail's pace, effectively making it impossible to use the sites, make video calls or send images... Over the past few months, the government has allowed service providers to increase bandwidth for home connections, offering data traffic up to 10 megabits per second - still slow compared with the West, where users typically choose plans offering 20 to 30 megabits per second. Nevertheless, while Iran's Internet access is still slow compared with that in many countries, it does now allow users to watch and send videos, something that previously was possible only for those with nearly infinite patience and determination." http://t.uani.com/1CpPvJs Foreign Affairs Press TV (Iran): "A senior Iranian commander says Iran has the upper hand in West Asia and the United States has to give concessions to a powerful Iran. 'The Islamic Republic of Iran has been able to emerge as the most influential player in West Asia and the Americans have to give concessions to the powerful Iran because Iran has the upper hand,' Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, a senior military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday. 'The Americans' power is in decline and, unlike the past, they cannot take the lead in the regional issues,' he pointed out." http://t.uani.com/1oCLJCh Tehran Times (Iran): "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday ruled out any association between Islam and violence, saying, 'No extremism has ever existed among Iranians and in Islamic rules.' Rouhani said his initiative World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE), which was approved by the United Nations last year, demonstrated that despite the baseless Islamophobic and Iranophobic campaigns by the Zionist regime, neither Iran nor Islam seek violence or extremism. Addressing a conference on World Mosque Day in Tehran on Monday, Rouhani said the Zionists' propaganda against Iran and Islam is baseless since 'we [Muslims] are moderate people and Islam is the religion of moderation; neither leaning towards left nor right.' Rouhani said mosque is the best place for educating people to recognize right from wrong. He stated that 'some mad, wild groups kill children and women, and destroy mosques or churches in the name of Islam. However, they are ruled by some mercenaries.'" http://t.uani.com/1lHNeV4 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.