Monday, October 13, 2014

Eye on Iran: Iran: Nuclear Talks Might be Extended if November Deadline Missed








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Reuters: "Talks over Iran's nuclear program might be extended if disagreement over remaining issues cannot be resolved by a November deadline, Iran's top negotiator was quoted as saying on Friday, in the first hint an extension was being contemplated. 'Iran and the P5+1 (major world powers) are very serious on resolving the remaining disputes by November ... but everything including an extension is possible if we cannot reach an agreement,' Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency... Top diplomats of the United States, Iran and the European Union will meet in Vienna next week to work on a comprehensive deal ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline, aimed at curbing Tehran's sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for gradually lifting sanctions against Iran. 'Iran and Western powers are very determined and serious to reach a result. Issues like enrichment and lifting of sanctions will be discussed in Vienna,' Araqchi said. 'We are still optimistic about meeting the deadline.'" http://t.uani.com/1rqtIIm

WSJ: "The sanctions relief, the Obama administration assured Congress, would be limited and reversible in case talks fail. In the words of Secretary of State John Kerry : 'Iran is not open for business.' Many businesses seem to think otherwise. Consider the Europe-Iran Forum, scheduled to be held in London on Oct. 15 and 16. The forum brings together global law firms (Dentons Europe), business consultancies (FTI), marketing firms (WPP), auctioneers (Sotheby's) and telecom providers (MTN), among many others, to 'prepare and evaluate the post-sanctions trade framework and investment opportunities' in Iran, according to its brochure. Former U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine are attending, and the brochure carries a blessing from Iranian President Hasan Rouhani 's chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian... The brochure also carries multiple disclaimers that the event complies with U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) regulations... Yet at least one of the businesses represented on the Iranian side-the Middle East Bank-is on OFAC's list of Specially Designated Nationals, which according to the U.S. Treasury 'includes individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries.' Others, meanwhile, are closely associated with designated entities, even though they aren't designated themselves." http://t.uani.com/1s9voK3

NYT: "In a country that has virtually no tolerance for activism, Ghoncheh Ghavami, 25, an Iranian-British national, provided a nearly textbook example of how to get arrested in Tehran, activists say. Yet if Ms. Ghavami, who began a hunger strike last week to protest her indefinite detention, was guilty of anything, activists say, it was a naïve enthusiasm that Iran was changing. Now, as Ms. Ghavami languishes in Tehran's notorious Evin prison without charge, her case has raised anew the question of how far the limits of personal expression and rights can be stretched in the Iran of President Hassan Rouhani. The answer, many here say, is not that far... Iran can also be deceptive, activists here say, especially for people like Ms. Ghavami who spend most of their lives abroad. The return to the motherland can feel warm and surprisingly safe, but dangers lurk, especially for those who return with the idea of promoting change." http://t.uani.com/1qjbjxQ

   
Sanctions Relief

Bloomberg: "Iran's economy should continue to grow even if economic sanctions remain in place, the country's central bank governor said. The economy is projected to grow by 3 percent this year, Valiollah Seif, governor of the Central Bank of Islamic Republic of Iran, said in an interview Oct. 10 in Washington. 'The economic situation in Iran is on the mend,' he said, speaking through an interpreter... 'The economic program we have right now is based on the fact the sanctions will continue, so this is a given assumption,' Seif said. 'Naturally, if sanctions are removed, we would experience much better results.' Seif's forecasts are more optimistic than projections released this week by the International Monetary Fund in its World Economic Outlook. The IMF projects Iran will grow 1.5 percent this year, followed by 2.3 percent in 2015." http://t.uani.com/1swWcp6

Fars (Iran): "Three leading companies from South Korea and Taiwan preferred to offer their quality polymeric products in Iran Mercantile Exchange (IME) to open the gate to the country's lucrative market. Taita Chemical Company and Formosa Plastics Corporation from Taiwan as well as Korea Petrochemical Company were accepted by the IME to offer their products in this market. Heavy Polyethylene grade 8001 Natural produced by the Formosa Plastics Corporation, Normal Polystyrene grade N861 made by the Taita Chemical Company, and Heavy Polyethylene grade P600BL from Korea Petrochemical Company were the items which were presented in petrochemical hall of the IME." http://t.uani.com/1qjhjH2

Trend: "European shipping lines are still unable to resume operation in Iran due to some problems, such as opening LCs. The international sanctions imposed on Iran have made problems for foreign shipping lines to operate in the country. Although different shipping lines from China, South Korea, and India have announced readiness to resume operation in Iran after easing of sanctions, but European liners are still unable to resume operation in Iran, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on October 13. Ali Jahandideh, the deputy director of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran said before the easing of sanctions, ships had to unload cargoes at ports in Turkey, the UAE, Georgia, and Oman, and then the cargoes were transported to Iran. 'Shipping services at Iranian ports are of lower quality than services in regional ports. This issue has also disinclined large shipping lines to operate at Iranian ports,' he said." http://t.uani.com/ZnORfP

Syria Conflict

Guardian: "Iran's deputy foreign minister reportedly said on Saturday that his country has exchanged messages with the US about the fight against Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria and Iraq. Hossein Amir Abdollahian was quoted by Iranian media, in what would be a rare confirmation of Iran-US discussions over Isis, as saying Iran had warned Washington that Israel would be at risk should the US and its allies seek to topple the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, while fighting the extremist group." http://t.uani.com/ZB1lBi

Times of London: "Iran is stepping up its arms shipments and training for Shia militias in Syria, bolstering the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as the proxy war consuming the country deepens despite the fight against Islamic State... The US congress has approved $US500 million ($574m) in aid, weapons and training for Syrian rebel groups. Saudi Arabia and Jordan are to open their military bases to train 10,000 troops, who will be filtered back into the conflict to strengthen the Free Syrian Army. Worried about the impact this will have on its client state, Iran will airlift missiles and mortar bombs to its proxy militias fighting the FSA and Islamic State on separate fronts, as well as drones to monitor enemy movement. The move was agreed at a meeting in Damascus last week between Assad and Qassem Suleimani, Iran's spy chief, Iranian sources said. Iran and Syria are convinced coalition airstrikes against Islamic State will be followed by an attempt to oust Assad... Some 2000 troops from Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been deployed in Syria, along with a host of commanders and support staff who oversee bands of Shia fighters from Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan." http://t.uani.com/1w1y6C0

Islamic State

Press TV (Iran): "Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei says efforts by the US and its allies against the ISIL Takfiri terrorists are not genuine. 'If anyone fuels the fire in this regard, he or she will definitely be helping sinister America and Britain which are the creators of the ISIL and al-Qaeda,' the Leader further said in a meeting with people from different walks of life on Monday. Ayatollah Khamenei urged Muslims not to get involved in any move that would play into enemies' hands." http://t.uani.com/1v3d4EY

Human Rights

Guardian: "Despite its social stigma, prostitution is a burgeoning problem in major Iranian cities, where a public reluctance to recognize and discuss the issue means that the trade operates in deep illegality. The lack of regulation raises sex workers' risk of exposure to violence, human trafficking and sexually transmitted diseases. Public health and non-governmental organizations run a handful of rehabilitative programs for prostitutes, but a majority of sex work transpires under the radar of authorities... The average age range of sex workers in Iran has fallen to 12-18, down from 20-30 just one decade before, according to a 2011 report by the Iranian sociological association. More recent studies from Shahid Beheshti University confirm this pattern: Over a period of seven years, the average age fell to below 20, says staff researcher Majid Abhari. According to his estimates, some 300-600 thousand female prostitutes work in major urban centers like Tehran and Mashhad." http://t.uani.com/1vXqBND

Domestic Politics

Trend: "Giant Iranian engineering company Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base Headquarters is co-operating with over 5,000 private contractors, the base commander Brigadier General Ebadollah Abdollahi said. He added that the company employs over 135,000 people, Iran's Fars news agency reported Oct. 12. Khatam al-Anbia Construction Base Headquarters is controlled by the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps (IRGC)." http://t.uani.com/1tVGpN9

Foreign Affairs

Fars (Iran): "A Lebanese daily released a report on the details of Iran's promised military gift to Lebanon, although no independent source in Tehran or Beirut has yet confirmed the report. 'The Islamic Republic of Iran has specified the types of equipment it can present to the Lebanese army in a letter to the foreign ministry and the foreign ministry has submitted the letter to (Defense Minister Samir) Moqbel,' a report by al-Akhbar said on Saturday. 'Iran is ready to deliver a number of TOW (anti-tank) missiles and its special rockets, night goggles, 120-mm mortar rounds, and munitions, 60-mm artillery and its shells, munitions of T55 and T62 tanks, munitions of 155-mm cannon and DShK (Dushka) and its munitions,' the letter said... Last week, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani announced that Iran plans to gift a military tool or weapon to the Lebanese army in the near future. 'The gift will be sent in the near future and it will be delivered to the Lebanese defense minister during his upcoming visit to Iran,' Shamkhani said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam in Beirut late in September. A few days later, senior officials in Beirut said Iran had presented a list of military tools and weapons to be gifted to the Lebanese army to help the Arab country in its fight against terrorism." http://t.uani.com/1sx3I3g

RFE/RL: "A fleet of Russian warships berthed in the Caspian port of Enzali in Iran on October 13. Russian Navy ships 'Daghestan' and 'Grad Sviazhsk' were welcomed by local Iranian officials and Russia's Ambassador to Tehran, Levan Dzhagarian. The vessels from Russia's Caspian Fleet came to Iran after holding joint exercises with two Kazakh warships last week." http://t.uani.com/1sx8rC5

Opinion & Analysis

UANI President Gary Samore interviewed in CFR:

There have been several U.S.-Iranian bilateral talks about the Iranian nuclear program, but we have no agreement in sight and the negotiations are supposed to end on November 24. How would you describe the overall U.S.-Iranian relationship?

It's become very clear that [President Hassan] Rouhani is on a tight leash. People had hoped that he would be able to deliver a nuclear agreement and that that would open the door to much broader and better relations with Washington. But he's under very strict constraints in terms of what he's prepared to agree to and it's clear that that's very short of what the United States needs for a nuclear deal. So right now people are anticipating that there won't be a comprehensive agreement at the end of November...

Do you sense that there is any major compromise in the U.S. nuclear position to get Iran aboard to strengthen the alliance against ISIS?

I don't think so. It's a standard Iranian gambit to ask for flexibility on the nuclear issue so they will cooperate on some other issue, whether it's Afghanistan or now fighting ISIS in Iraq, but the U.S. position is that Iran has as much of an interest as the United States does in defeating ISIS, so I don't think Washington is prepared to pay Iran to do something that it should do in its own interest.

Let's talk about the nuclear talks themselves. What's holding up an agreement?

The central issue in these talks has always been Iran's capacity to produce weapons-grade material, and that's determined by the scope and scale of their enrichment program, which is translated into technical details, like the numbers and types of centrifuges, stockpile of low-enriched uranium, limits on research and development, and so forth. And as the negotiators have gotten into those details, it's really become clear that the two sides are extremely far apart. The United States is demanding that Iran significantly reduce its current stockpile of centrifuges.

Which is about ten thousand?

It's about ten thousand that are operating. They have an additional ten thousand or so that are actually installed but not operating, and the United States, at least in its opening position, is seeking to reduce those ten thousand to about 1,500, which would be more consistent with Iran's needs to produce fuel for its research reactors. Secondly, the United States wants to keep those limits in place for as long as twenty years. The Iranians, on the other hand, are under very strict instructions from the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] not to agree to any reduction in their current enrichment capacity, and to insist on being able to build up to a much larger industrial scale capacity by 2021. Given that huge difference and little evidence of flexibility on either side, it's hard to see how a comprehensive agreement can be reached at the end of November...

Iran constantly claims publicly they have no interest whatsoever in nuclear weapons, yet why do they need so many centrifuges?

They argue that they need to have a large number of centrifuges to produce low-enriched uranium fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Right now, the power plant is fueled by the Russians who have a contract through 2021 and the Russians are clearly willing and happy to sell fuel for the lifetime of the reactor. The Iranians argue that they can't trust the Russians to deliver on the fuel, and therefore they need to have an indigenous ability to produce low-enriched uranium. That argument-the need for nuclear energy independence-unfortunately has become a very popularly accepted narrative inside Iran, but frankly outside of Iran, nobody believes that that's the primary purpose of having a large-scale enrichment program. Instead, it would give Iran the ability to quickly produce large amounts of weapons grade uranium if they decided in the future to build nuclear weapons, or it would provide a very effective cover for them to try to build secret enrichment facilities, which of course they have done in the past to build nuclear weapons. So there's this deeply competing narrative between the Iranians, who say that they need large-scale enrichment for their peaceful nuclear energy program, and the view of the United States and everybody else that that's just a pretext, a ruse to develop a nuclear weapons option.

Do you think the Iranians really want to keep a nuclear weapons option in their pocket?

Absolutely. The Supreme Leader, given his world view, thinks that Iran needs to have a nuclear weapons option, if not nuclear weapons themselves, both to defend Iran against the Great Satan [the United States], and all the little Satans, and also to assert Iran's dominance in the region. As long as the Supreme Leader Khamenei has been in power, he's seen the acquisition of nuclear weapons capability as a key element of Iran's foreign policy, and that's very unlikely to change as long as he's in charge. http://t.uani.com/1tVJhd6
   

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

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