Eye on Iran: 'Substantial Work' Said to Remain in Iran Nuclear Talks

Join UANI           Top Stories NYT: "The United States is still striving to complete a comprehensive agreement to curtail Iran's nuclear program by the Nov. 24 deadline, though 'substantial work' remains to be done, a senior State Department official said Wednesday after high-level talks. Secretary of State John Kerry and Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, met here for more than six hours with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, in an effort to advance the lagging negotiations on an accord that would trade significant constraints on Iran's nuclear activities for a lifting of onerous economic sanctions. 'We are only focused on one thing right now, and that is having a full agreement done by the 24th of November,' said the State Department official, who could not be identified under the agency's procedures for briefing reporters. 'The discussions remain very intense, very focused, very concrete.' ... 'It is not realistic to complete a comprehensive agreement by Nov. 24,' said Robert Einhorn, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former senior State Department official. He added, 'The best outcome at this point would be to get agreement on key elements, especially on the enrichment capacity issue, that could be cited to make the case for another extension, particularly to domestic constituencies.' Gary Samore, a former senior National Security Council official, and president of an advocacy group called United Against Nuclear Iran, said there had been signs that the Iranians were open to such an extension... 'I think the Iranians are indicating pretty clearly they would like an extension,' Mr. Samore said. 'They do not want to go back to the status quo ante where we are pursuing a new round of sanctions against them, especially at a time when the oil market is weak. And of course, we would favor an extension because it keeps the nuclear program frozen.' Still, Mr. Samore added, 'I think the negotiation over the terms of an extension could be very, very difficult.'" http://t.uani.com/1wb88we WSJ: "Iran is creeping back onto the radars of Western businesses and investors, but not without controversy. London's plush Marriott Hotel is this week playing host to the first Europe-Iran Forum. The gathering, which ends on Thursday, has been organized by Brussels-based business newspaper and events company the European Voice. Its aim is to capitalize on growing interest in the Iranian market following last year's interim agreement with leading world powers over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Staff from several high-profile companies have attended, including representatives from U.S. firms such as telecoms equipment giant Cisco Systems and Citigroup, according to a list distributed at the conference. France's oil giant Total and cosmetics maker L'Oréal, along with European aerospace company Airbus Group and Swedish automaker Scania Group were at the event. Mohammad Nahavandian, the chief of staff of Iran's president Hassan Rouhani sent a message of support for the forum in an official letter." http://t.uani.com/1wMo0Fi Newsweek: "In yet another demonstration that the wheels of justice grind so slowly that it's sometimes hard to see that they are moving, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. has slapped Iran with another whopping financial penalty for the 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut. Calling it 'an evil and cruel attack, intended to cause death, destruction, and emotional devastation,' Judge Royce Lamberth awarded the 62 relatives of six Marines and two Navy corpsmen $454 million, the latest setback for Iran in a flurry of cases dating back to 2001. Since 2007, D.C. courts have awarded more than $10 billion to victims and their families of the 1983 suicide bombing, which killed 241 Marines and Navy medics, known as corpsmen,  and wounded many others. 'The Court applauds plaintiffs' persistent efforts to hold Iran accountable for its cowardly support of terrorism,' Lamberth wrote in the Oct. 14 judgment, saying 'Iran must be punished to the fullest extent legally possible for the bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983.'" http://t.uani.com/11tGBfZ     Nuclear Program & Negotiations WSJ: "U.S. officials said they weren't seeking to extend nuclear negotiations with Iran beyond a Nov. 24 deadline, as Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Iranian counterpart on Wednesday. The negotiations here were part of what is expected to be an intense final push for a comprehensive agreement between global powers and Tehran that seeks to curtail Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions. U.S. officials in Vienna said they were 'chipping away' on a draft of a final agreement but that significant gaps remained. Pressure to complete a deal has increased in recent weeks due to the territorial gains made by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Both Washington and Tehran are aiding Iraq's government in fighting the Sunni extremist group and have suggested they could coordinate the fight if a formal nuclear deal could be reached. Some Iranian, Russian and European diplomats involved in the negotiations have said in recent weeks that there was a strong chance the negotiations could be extended beyond late November, due to the sizable differences that remain. But U.S. officials taking part in the Vienna talks said the Obama administration remained committed to the Nov. 24 deadline. 'We are still focused...on Nov. 24th, and getting an agreement by the 24th,' said a senior U.S. official. 'We are all keeping the pressure on ourselves-this includes Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/1wMrIPd Reuters: "Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday that progress was made in 'very difficult' nuclear talks with top U.S. and EU diplomats this week when possible solutions were discussed, sources who attended his briefing for Iranian media said. Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke after a meeting on Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that lasted some six hours in Vienna. A senior U.S. official late on Wednesday also said some progress was made but that much work remained. 'It was very difficult, serious and intensive ... but instead of focusing on problems, we discussed solutions as well,' Zarif said, the sources told Reuters. 'There was progress in all the fields.'" http://t.uani.com/1wMnG9H Sanctions Relief Reuters: "Iran has sought payment of $400 million from India under an interim deal with six world powers that allows the OPEC nation to recover part of its overseas frozen oil revenues, industry sources said in Wednesday... In return for continuing action to curb its nuclear program, Iran during the four-month extension has been granted access to $2.8 billion of its funds held in foreign banks, in addition to $4.2 billion paid between January and July. Tehran has already received $1 billion from Japan under the interim deal, state news agency IRNA reported last month. 'I think payment to Iran would be cleared by Friday or by Monday as the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) will have to notify the exchange rate and it also has to buy dollars for further payments,' said one of the sources... According to the plan, India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd would pay about $183 million, Essar Oil Corp $172 million, Indian Oil Corp $41 million and Hindustan Petroleum $4 million, the sources said." http://t.uani.com/1wc9uIW Domestic Politics AP: "Iran drew back the veil - if slightly - over its intelligence services on Wednesday, with its top nuclear security official crediting them for helping protect the Islamic Republic's atomic program from attempts at sabotage. In a first, Iran provided public information about the structure of its secret services in an Intelligence Ministry magazine published for the 30th anniversary of the creation of the ministry. According to the magazine, entitled '30 years of Silent Devotion,' Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi heads a coordination council overseeing 16 different agencies. The Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, separately operates two other intelligence agencies." http://t.uani.com/1stRpUg Opinion & Analysis UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman in Algemeiner: "Over the past few months, the world has witnessed a new wave of terrorist acts by extremists in the Middle East. We were horrified when ISIS sent out videos of the beheadings of Westerners, and watched as terrorists in Gaza fired 4,500 rockets at Israeli civilians. It is no longer possible for the international community to sit on its hands while rogue terrorist groups and extremists endanger our collective security. Any entity promoting extremism and terrorism must be held accountable. Concerned citizens must take action. That's why we launched The WAVE Challenge, a petition that will openly challenge the government of Iran to end its support for international terrorism, extremism, and the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad. During his 2013 speech before the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cynically proposed WAVE (World Against Violence and Extremism), ostensibly to promote 'tolerance over violence, progress over bloodletting, justice over discrimination, prosperity over poverty, and freedom over despotism.' Unfortunately, the ideals espoused in WAVE in no way comport with the record of Rouhani's government. Rather, WAVE is a rhetorical ploy to mask the Iranian regime's 35-year record of violence and extremism at home and abroad. Over the past three years, Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah have provided massive support to the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Iran's role in the repression of the popular Syrian uprising has helped cause the deaths of 200,000 Syrians, and turned millions into refugees. In her 2014 speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial, America's UN Ambassador Samantha Power said, 'President Assad is deliberately targeting his own people - using indiscriminate air attacks, introducing the world to barrel bombs, denying civilians food in starvation campaigns and practicing systematic, industrial torture - all of this to force the Syrian people to submit to his will.' This activity, as well as Iran's support for terrorist organizations is just one reason why we must prevent a nuclear-armed Iran... Every day in Iran, brave citizens with moral courage are imprisoned for speaking out against the evils of the current regime. It is time for the international community to display the same courage as ordinary Iranians. The WAVE Challenge provides us with the opportunity to make it clear to the government of Iran that the world will no longer tolerate its support for terrorists who murder civilians and the regime of Bashar al-Assad, which murders its own citizens. As Margaret Mead once observed, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.' This is the great moral foreign policy challenge of our time, and it is a challenge that must be met." http://t.uani.com/1rfeQwP     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.