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Reuters:
"Iran is pushing what it portrays as a new compromise proposal in
nuclear talks, but Western negotiators say it offers no viable
concessions, underscoring how far apart the two sides are as they enter
crunch time before a Nov. 24 deadline. In the negotiations with six major
powers, the Iranians say they are no longer demanding a total end to
economic sanctions in return for curbing their nuclear program and would
accept initially lifting just the latest, most damaging, sanctions.
Western officials dismiss the proposal as nothing new and say the
Iranians have always known that the sanctions could only end gradually -
with each measure being suspended and later terminated only after Iranian
compliance had been proven". t.uani.com/10i2j6o
LAT:
"The Obama administration has sweetened its offer to Iran in ongoing
nuclear negotiations, saying it might accept Tehran operating 4,000
centrifuges, up from the previous 1,300, according to a semiofficial
Iranian news agency. The Mehr news agency also said Monday that Iran and
the six world powers seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal remained divided
over how much uranium-enrichment capacity the Middle East nation should
be allowed to maintain, and how to lift punitive sanctions from its
economy. With a deadline for negotiators a month away, the two sides
still differ on how to deal with two nuclear sites that have stirred
international concern, the Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor and the
Fordow underground enrichment facility, according to Mehr".
t.uani.com/1tI8FJd
The Hill:
"The White House is calling claims the administration is trying to
bypass Congress on a nuclear deal with Iran 'preposterous' 'The notion
that we are trying to avoid congressional consultation and input on this
is preposterous,' White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Monday.' This
is an issue where we talk to Congress intensively,' he added. 'We will
continue to consult with Congress heavily.' A senior administration
official told The New York Times in a story published Monday that the
White House wouldn't seek congressional legislation on any comprehensive
agreement 'for years.'" t.uani.com/1sKy29w
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Algemeiner:
"A leading United States senator has warned that the Obama
Administration is heading for confrontation with Congress over its
refusal, as reported by the New York Times, to allow congressional
approval of a final nuclear deal with Iran. In a statement to The
Algemeiner, Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) declared: 'By threatening to cut out
Congress from the Iran nuclear deal, the Administration is actually
uniting Congress. We will not support an Obama-Khamenei deal that
condemns our children to a future where the Middle East is full of
nuclear weapons.'After the signing of the Geneva Accord with Iran in
November 2013, Kirk slammed the arrangement as 'the deal of the century
for Iran,' and one that 'undermines sanctions and doesn't stop a future
with Iranian nuclear weapons.' 'First the administration inappropriately
characterized members of Congress as warmongers, now it is seeking to
bypass Congress entirely,' David Ibsen of United Against Nuclear Iran
(UANI) told The Algemeiner. 'This is wrong. Clearly Congress has a role
to play in approving any agreement, given its authority in passing,
lifting and potentially increasing sanctions as well as the historic
consequences of a potential nuclear agreement with Iran.'" t.uani.com/1t3T6JP
AP:
"The head of the U.N. nuclear agency is sounding a note of caution
about Iran's claims that it is not interested in nuclear arms, saying he
cannot guarantee that all the country's atomic activities are civilian in
nature. Though not new, Yukiya Amano's comments Monday are significant
amid a renewed deadlock in the 12-year probe by his International Atomic
Agency of suspected nuclear weapons work by Iran. Iran denies such
activities. Amano's comments also come as the U.S. and five other powers
try to persuade Tehran to allow the IAEA greater sleuthing powers,
allowing the agency to do snap inspections of sites suspected of possible
unreported nuclear work. Amano told an IAEA meeting in Vienna that his
agency cannot 'conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful
activities.'" t.uani.com/1nxmqHQ
Tasnim (Iran):
"Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar
Salehi said the country was able to manufacture high speed centrifuges
needed for its medical centers. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of
the 18th Annual ASPA International Conference in Iran's southern city of
Shiraz, Salehi said that the AEOI has provided Razi Vaccine and Serum
Research Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI) with high speed
centrifuges.' The centrifuges are needed for producing vaccines. The
centrifuges with a speed of 16,000 to 80,000 rpm (revolutions per minute)
have been produced in the country for the first time. S That was an
accomplishment by scientists at the country's Atomic Energy
Organization,' Salehi said. Salehi also emphasized that previously, Iran
were not allowed to have the high speed centrifuges because of their dual
use nature."t.uani.com/1r87fkk
Sanctions
Relief
Bloomberg:
"Iran, eager for an end to sanctions that have restricted its oil
exports, is shunning its image as OPEC's price hawk by avoiding calls for
an emergency session of the group to support prices. Oil Minister Bijan
Namdar Zanganeh consulted with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about
political and economic reasons for the price collapse, the ministry's
news website Shana reported yesterday. No emergency meeting of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is necessary to discuss the
slide, Shana said. Rouhani told Zanganeh to use the 'oil diplomacy tool'
to try to prevent a further decrease, the state-run Mehr news agency said
Oct. 19, without elaborating. 'They have their wings clipped a bit at the
moment because they can't really produce any more than they do,' Ole
Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in an interview
in Dubai yesterday. 'It's difficult for them to call for any strict
action when they know that when sanctions are lifted, they're the ones
that are going to ramp up production.'" t.uani.com/1pvxDEl
Al-Monitor:
"As Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
plus Germany (P5+1) finished another round of nuclear talks in Vienna to
reach a permanent deal by the Nov. 24 deadline, moderate political elites
in Tehran have kept their fingers crossed that the Hassan Rouhani
administration's pledge will resolve the country's nuclear dossier
quickly. Officials from both sides have repeatedly declared in recent
weeks that several important issues need to be addressed if a permanent
deal is to be achieved. Last week, Abbas Araqchi, deputy Iranian foreign
minister and a top nuclear negotiator, raised the possibility that talks
could be extended, saying, 'Time passes quickly, we are not still
disappointed but if we cannot get a good enough result from this round of
talks, it is obvious that we will not reach an agreement by November
24.'" t.uani.com/1opU1nS
Trend:
"Iranian carmaker Saipa is revising its contracts with Renault to
pave the way for the French company to continue presence in the Iranian
market. Saipa CEO Saeed Madani said negotiations between the two sides
are underway and the existing contracts are being revised, Iran's Mehr
news agency reported on October 20.Foreign carmakers are very interested in
launching new ventures with Iranian partners, he added. The two French
car makers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot CitroënSA have taken initial steps
toward resuming deliveries to Iran, previously one of their biggest
markets. Renault and Peugeot executives met with Iran's Industry Minister
Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh at an auto-parts fair in Tehran in late November
2013.The meetings came days after the signing of an accord between Iran,
the U.S., France and four other countries, under which Tehran agreed to
scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for some sanctions
relief." t.uani.com/1wlS8r2
Trend:
"Chinese state-owned automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer
JAC Motors is negotiating with Iran's Kerman Khodro car manufacturing
group to produce J2 and P1 cars in Iran. JAC vice chairman said the
company exported over 8,000 cars to Iran in the first six months of the
current year, Iran's Fars news agency reported on October 18.He said Iran
is one of the main markets for JAC products. The Iranian Auto Parts
Manufacturers Union has proposed a plan to Iran's industry ministry
according to which imports of car from countries which imposed sanctions
against Iran's car industry will be banned". t.uani.com/1opWCOB
Fars (Iran):
"Iran's non-oil transit volume rose by 1000 percent at Shaheed
Rajayee Port Special Economic Zone in the first six months of the current
Iranian year (March 21-September 22), the port's manager said. Managing
Director of Shaheed Rajayee Port Special Economic Zone Ebrahim Ideni said
the volume of exports operations at his port, the largest in Iran,
boosted increasingly in the same period. Iran loaded and unloaded 36.88
million tons of oil and non-oil goods via the port during the same
period; 24.6 million tons were non-oil goods and 12.272 million tons were
crude and oil products". t.uani.com/1sKCk0B
Tasnim (Iran):
"The value of Iranian exports to the European Union (EU) has
witnessed a 77 percent increase in August compared with the same month in
2013, reaching 80 million euros, data released by the Eurostat showed.
Trade turnover between Iran and the 28 member states of the EU during the
first eight months of 2014 stood at 4.587 billion euros, according to the
Eurostat. The value of Iran-EU trade exchanges from January to August
2014 grew by 15 percent, compared to the same period last year, which had
amounted to €3.975 billion, the data indicate. The EU imports from Iran
during the first eight months of 2014 reached €645 million, showing a 28
percent increase, compared to the same period last year, in which the
figure stood at €504 million. According to the data, the total value of
EU imports from the Islamic Republic in August 2014 amounted to €80
million, indicating a 77 percent increase compared with August
2013." t.uani.com/1pwVYK4
Islamic State
AFP:
"Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi arrived in Tehran late Monday
on his first visit to Iran since taking office after the crisis triggered
by the advance of Islamic State militants. Iraqi state television said
Abadi, whose country remains beset by IS, arrived shortly before midnight
for talks with Iranian officials including President Hassan Rouhani about
the ongoing battle, which has drawn in US and other international air
strikes." t.uani.com/1CNHThq
Wash. Post:
"Shiite powerhouse Iran has pledged enduring support for the
Shiite-led government of Iraq in its battle against an ascendant Sunni
insurgency spearheaded by the Islamic State group. Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on
Tuesday that Iran has supported Baghdad 'from the first day and will
remain on that path until the last day,' according to a report by the
official IRNA news agency. It was Abadi's first foreign visit since
taking office in September.' Choosing Iran as my first destination after
taking office indicates the depth of ties,' he said, according to IRNA.
'Terrorism is a threat to all regional countries and we are sure Iran
will stand by us.'" t.uani.com/1nxVMi3
RFE/RL:
"The commander of Iran's powerful Qods Force, Qassem Suleimani, has
said that both the Islamic State (IS) group and the United States are
'doomed to failure' in Iraq and Syria. The Qods Force is the branch of
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) responsible for overseas
operations. In recent weeks, Iran has gone to lengths to demonstrate that
Qods Force commander Suleimani (and, by extension, Tehran) are playing an
important role in combating IS in Iraq and Syria. At the same time, Iran
has also emphasized that it believes the U.S.-led coalition against
Islamic State is both ineffective and part of an attempt by the United
States and its allies to gain regional power". t.uani.com/1uzyZQc
Human Rights
NYT:
"The police arrested several men Monday in connection with at least
four acid attacks on women that appear part of a violent campaign in
support of new rules that aim to punish women deemed 'badly veiled.' The
attacks spread panic around Iran's old capital, Isfahan, which is also
the country's main tourist destination. The semiofficial Iranian
Students' News Agency reported that men on motorcycles had splashed acid
on women through open car windows. The episodes were widely discussed on
social media in Iran as people in Isfahan said there had been more than a
dozen attacks, a number not confirmed by the police but enough to prompt
many women to stay indoors". t.uani.com/1x4lM4r
Trend:
"Four men were hanged in Iran's northern Rasht city on Oct. 19, due
to drug related charges, the official IRIB news agency reported. One of
the hanged men was previously arrested for heroin possession, while
another 46-year old man was arrested and charged for carrying and selling
opium. The other two hanged men were hanged upon charges for buying
methamphetamine and heroin. Drug trafficking as well as murder, rape and
armed robbery are among the crimes that are punishable by death in Iran.
Iran ranks second, after China, in terms of the number of executions in
the world". t.uani.com/ZMvayS
Domestic
Politics
WashPost:
"A leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Mohammadreza Mahdavi Kani, who
headed the country's most influential clerical body charged with choosing
or dismissing the nation's supreme leader, has died. He was 83.Kani was
the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a body of 86 senior clerics that
monitors the supreme leader and picks a successor after his death. That
makes it potentially one of the most powerful institutions in Iran,
although it does not involve itself the daily affairs of state. Iran's
President Hassan Rouhani declared two days of national mourning".
t.uani.com/1pwRTWm
Foreign Affairs
Trend:
"Iran's state agency confirmed that a senior Iranian Revolutionary
Guard commander, brigadier general Jabbar Darisawi has been killed in
Syria. IRNA reported on Oct.17 that the body of general Darisawi was
buried in Ahvaz Province on Thursday, but didn't mention when the top
commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed.
IRNA reported that the general was killed in an effort 'defending the
Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque'. Sayyidah Zaynab is the daughter of the first
Imam of Shia Muslim people and the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque is located in
the southern suburbs of Damascus, Syria". t.uani.com/1x4rCT6
Fars (Iran):
"Tehran will host an international conference themed World Against
Violence and Extremism (WAVE) on December 9-10, an official announced on
Sunday.'Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as well as senior officials and
experts from 30 other world countries will participate in the (upcoming)
WAVE conference,' Zahrani told reporters. The official noted that the
conference will follow Rouhani's recent proposal at the annual meeting of
the UN General Assembly and its subsequent approval at the UN. Zahrani
said the conclusions of the upcoming conference will be reported to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. On September 25, 2013, President Rouhani
proposed 'the World against Violence and Extremism' initiative in his
address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York".
t.uani.com/1whQpEb
WashPost:
"Iran's defense minister said his country is ready to ship defensive
materials to Lebanon to aid its army in the fight against Sunni
extremists on Monday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The
report quoted Gen. Hossein Dehghan, speaking at a joint briefing with
visiting Lebanese Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, as saying the shipment
would help thwart extremists who plan to commit 'inhuman crimes' in
Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.' We will provide an Iranian-made consignment of
defensive items to the Lebanese army for their use in fighting the group
and other terrorist groups,' Dehghan said. The Lebanese troops have been
fighting militants from the Islamic State group since fighting spilled
into the Mediterranean country from neighboring Syria."
t.uani.com/1whYBo1
Opinion &
Analysis
Dennis Ross in Foreign
Affairs: "It is no accident that hardly anyone
involved in the Iranian nuclear negotiations has expressed optimism about
meeting the November 24 deadline for a comprehensive agreement. The
Iranian and U.S. governments are continuing to meet regularly -- most
recently last week in Vienna -- but there are few signs of meaningful
progress. Indeed, the essence of the deal that has always made most sense
-- a rollback of the Iranian nuclear program in return for a rollback of
sanctions -- seems increasingly beyond reach. Instead, the Iranians have
been insisting on a rollback of the sanctions in return only for limited
transparency on their industrial-size nuclear program. But Washington has
insisted for a long time that, given Iran's past violations of the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), limited transparency won't be
enough. Further, it has already stated that it will not accept an
industrial-scale program, although it is prepared to agree to a
limited-enrichment capability." t.uani.com/1t6tdst
Armin Rosen in
Business Insider: "Yesterday, Reza Aslan, a creative
writing professor at the University of California at Riverside and widely
respected public commentator on religious affairs, tweeted that 'Iran
currently has the highest number of US college alums serving in any
foreign government cabinet in the world,' and included a helpful
pictorial guide. It was retweeted several hundred times. Aslan's recent
statements on US relations with Iran give needed context for his intended
meaning. After the singing of the Joint Plan of Action between Iran and
the so-called P5+1 in Geneva in late 2013, Aslan went on the Daily Show
to offer his interpretation of the interim nuclear agreement's impact.'
It's created a reconciliation camp and an isolationist camp and right now
the reconciliation camp has all the momentum,' he said. 'Where here in
the US nobody talks about this deal as possibly laying the groundwork for
true normalization that's all they talk about in Iran.'"
t.uani.com/1wrfayS
Shimon Stein &
Emily Landau in The National Interest: "On the basis
of recent reports, one cannot escape the conclusion that the negotiations
between the P5+1 and Iran for a comprehensive nuclear deal are not going
well as far as the prospect of achieving a nuclear deal that will
effectively keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon at a time of its
choosing. In fact, they are going very badly in this respect, and one
does not have to be Benjamin Netanyahu in order to notice that. There is
no indication that Iran is willing to make any meaningful compromise
regarding its nuclear program, and on the enrichment front, Iran is
actually demanding a tenfold increase in its enrichment capability.
Compounding the difficulties is that the leverage of the P5+1 negotiators
has been eroding in parallel. Beyond the partial easing of the pressure
of sanctions, this finds expression in the fact that every time these
international negotiators come forward with a new suggestion for a
'face-saving concession' to Iran, they weaken their own resolve and
consequently their bargaining power. Indeed, whenever the negotiations
hit a snag, it is the P5+1 group that comes up with a proposal for
compromise, which invariably involves backing away from a previous
legitimate demand. Iran, by contrast, has not budged from its steadfast
position, and its idea of 'compromise' is: 'if only the United States
would back away from its unreasonable demands, we could reach a deal in
no time.' While a successful outcome will likely entail sacrifices or
concessions from both sides, so far we are witnessing a stark asymmetry
in terms of the concessions that have been made. The P5+1 has made
significant strategic concessions, like forgoing UNSC resolutions that
had been taken regarding Iran, and agreeing to allow Iran to maintain a
limited enrichment program." t.uani.com/1rZWXCc
Anthony Cordesman
in CSIS: "Iran's rocket and missile forces serves a
wide range of Iranian strategic objectives. Iran's forces range from
relatively short-range artillery rockets that support its ground forces
and limit the need for close air support to long-range missiles that can
reach any target in the region, as well as the development of booster
systems that might give Iran the ability to strike at targets throughout
Europe and even in the US.Iran's rocket and missile forces are steadily
evolving. While the lethality of most current systems is limited by a
reliance on conventional warheads, poor accuracy, and uncertain
reliability, Iran is developing improved guidance systems, attempting to
improve the lethality of its conventional warheads, and has at least
studied arming its missiles with nuclear warheads."
t.uani.com/1wgUY1D
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