Thursday, November 20, 2014

Eye on Iran: Extension of Iran Nuclear Talks Would be a Hard Sell in Congress








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LAT: "In its efforts to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration has faced a two-part challenge: forging an agreement in international negotiations and then selling it at home. Now, with negotiators in Vienna five days from their deadline, it appears the second part of the task will be tougher than expected. Many officials of the six world powers that have been negotiating with Iran predict they will not complete all aspects of a comprehensive agreement by the Nov. 24 deadline. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday became the first top Western official to publicly acknowledge that the group may need more time for a deal. If they fail to meet the cutoff date, they may announce some kind of partial agreement. But they also are likely to seek time for further talks, officials say. That would leave the White House seeking congressional support for an extension for the second time in four months. The administration wouldn't want to disclose full details of the talks for fear it could undermine the diplomacy and provide ammunition for critics who worry that a bad deal would allow Iran to gain bomb-making know-how. 'This would be very messy politically for the administration,' said Jofi Joseph, who was a White House nuclear specialist earlier in the Obama administration... Joseph, though a supporter of the diplomacy, acknowledged that critics would be strengthened if a final deal isn't apparent. 'There is a persuasive argument that we've given [the Iranians] a year and if they can't come to a strategic decision it's hard to say when they'll ever come to that decision,' he said. 'And unless we go back to more sanctions, we're going to give the Iranians the illusion that they can string this out forever.'" http://t.uani.com/14R2mrQ

AFP: "Iran's nuclear chief on Thursday ruled out further negotiations on the design of a reactor that the West fears could be used to produce plutonium for an atomic bomb... It has already promised to make some modifications to the design of the heavy water reactor to limit plutonium output. The United States has proposed transforming Arak into a light water reactor so that it produces far less plutonium, but Tehran has refused. 'On Arak, we have said we were ready to design it so that the concerns are lifted. This matter is settled to some extent on the technical aspect and there is no more room for further negotiations,' Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by local media as saying... Salehi reaffirmed Iran's position that its uranium enrichment capacity must be 190,000 SWU (Separative Work Units) -- equivalent to 190,000 first-generation centrifuges -- close to 20 times its current processing ability. The West wants a drastic reduction in the number of centrifuges. 'We need output of at least 190,000 SWU within the next eight years' to provide fuel for a power plant in the southern Gulf port city of Bushehr, and for a research reactor in Tehran, Salehi said... Salehi, who heads the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, also dismissed the idea of moving fuel manufactured in Iran abroad. 'It makes no sense to make so much effort here to produce fuel and then send it overseas to be stored,' he said. He also said Iran would refuse a 'special' inspection system for its nuclear sites." http://t.uani.com/1xtfw8Q

Reuters: "Iran has yet to explain suspected atomic bomb research to the U.N. nuclear agency, its head said on Thursday, just four days before a deadline for a comprehensive deal between Iran and six world powers to end the 12-year-old controversy... Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, made clear it was far from satisfied, saying it was not in a position to provide 'credible assurance' Iran had no undeclared nuclear material and activities... 'Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures,' Amano told the U.N. agency's 35-nation board of governors. He was referring to information Iran was supposed to have given the IAEA by late August concerning allegations of explosives tests and other activity that could indicate preparations for developing nuclear bombs. 'I call upon Iran to increase its cooperation with the agency and to provide timely access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel,' Amano said... 'The agency is ready to accelerate resolution of all outstanding issues,' Amano said. He would present an assessment to the IAEA board 'once the agency has established an understanding of the whole picture concerning issues with possible military dimensions' in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1yX6a3F

   
Nuclear Program & Negotiations

AP: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Vienna later Thursday to join high-level nuclear negotiations with Iran as a deadline for an agreement fast approaches. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry would be going to the Austrian capital from Paris to 'check in' on the talks. It was not yet determined how long he would stay in Vienna, leaving open the possibility that he might not remain until Monday's deadline for a deal. Kerry is to meet with the U.S. negotiating team in Vienna late Thursday before scheduling meetings with other participants. 'We do want to get an agreement, but not just any agreement,' Kerry said Thursday after meeting in Paris with the Saudi and French foreign ministers. 'We hope that the gaps that exist - and they do exist - can be closed. We hope we can define the finish line." ... In Washington on Wednesday, President Barack Obama's nominee to be Kerry's deputy at the State Department said he believed it would be difficult to meet the deadline. 'It's not impossible,' said Tony Blinken, currently Obama's deputy national security adviser. 'It depends entirely on whether Iran is willing to take steps it must take to convince us, to convince our partners that its program would be for entirely peaceful purposes. As we speak, we're not there.'" http://t.uani.com/1ytEq6M

Free Beacon: "The U.S. Senate is warning the Obama administration that it is poised to veto a final nuclear deal with the Iranians and impose harsher sanctions on Tehran, according to a letter sent late Wednesday to President Obama. Nearly half of the Senate has signed onto a letter promising to reject a 'weak and dangerous deal' with Iran as final negotiations in Vienna approach their Nov. 24 deadline. Sens. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) authored the letter. The senators warn that the Obama administration is close to inking a deal that will permit Iran to continue the most controversial aspects of its nuclear program and enable Tehran to build a nuclear weapon in the near future, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon and signed by all 43 Republican senators who backed the Mendendez-Kirk sanctions legislation killed earlier this year by the White House." http://t.uani.com/1t7Wz6z

Sanctions Relief

Reuters: "Iran leased oil storage at Dalian port in China earlier this year and has made at least two deliveries of crude from there to India and one to South Korea, according to sources with knowledge of the matter... Iran's lease of oil storage in China came to light in August when Indian customs questioned state oil company National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) about a cargo of crude for delivery to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, said an Indian government official and industry source. The vessel carrying the cargo, the Varada Lalima, had appeared to come from Malaysia, but the loading port was listed as being in Iran, the two said. 'Then NIOC told customs the vessel had come from Malaysia and the parcel had been loaded in China where they have storage,' said the Indian industry source. NIOC has been leasing tanks for oil in the northeastern port of Dalian since earlier this year, confirmed a Beijing-based source with direct knowledge of the storage deal. The oil is held in bonded tanks, and can be sold into China or transhipped, the Beijing source said. The leases were primarily to serve North Asia, said the source, adding that at least one delivery had been made to South Korea." http://t.uani.com/1t7UqYq

Reuters: "Indian refiners on Thursday paid $400 million to Iran ahead of a Nov. 24 deadline of the interim deal with six world powers that allows Tehran to recover part of its overseas frozen oil revenues, two industry sources privy to the development said. Essar Oil paid about $201 million, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd about $154 million, Indian Oil Corp about $42 million and Hindustan Petroleum about $3 million, said the sources, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. With this, India has paid $1.3 billion to Iran in three installments under the interim deal, which allowed Tehran access to $2.8 billion of its funds held in foreign banks in addition to $4.2 billion paid between January and July." http://t.uani.com/11jKl3h

AP: "An Iranian company on Thursday displayed four brand new U.S.-made helicopters it purchased through third parties, offering them as proof that the country could evade international sanctions over its disputed nuclear program. The display of the R-44 helicopters came during an air exhibition in Kish Island, in the Persian Gulf. The four-person helicopters are manufactured by the California-based Robinson Helicopter Company. Mahmoud Azin, the head of Iran's Helicopters Company, told the Tasnim news website that the helicopters were purchased at a marked-up price through 'dealers' and can be used for both training and police air patrols. His company, which has some 25 helicopters, mainly serves Iranian oil sites." http://t.uani.com/11jJNdK

Reuters: "Iran will double its oil exports within two months if sanctions against it end, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told official news agency IRNA... Iran currently exports around 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil. At OPEC's June meeting Zanganeh said Iran could increase oil exports by 500,000 bpd immediately after any lifting of sanctions and could pump 4 million bpd in less than three months after. 'The countries in the south of the Persian Gulf are interested in keeping their market share and a decrease in market share will be difficult,' Zanganeh told IRNA." http://t.uani.com/1yX5wmF

Human Rights

The Hill: "The House on Wednesday gave voice vote approval to legislation to condemn Iran for its 'gross human rights violations.' Passage of the resolution, H. Res. 754, comes ahead of the Nov. 24 deadline for world powers to reach a deal with Iran on the country's nuclear weapon. 'I think it's incumbent upon all of us, as the House is doing, to stand with the people of Iran who suffer under this theocracy and speak out,' said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.)." http://t.uani.com/1Anplrk
    

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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