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LAT:
"Familiar shouts of 'Death to America!' rang out Tuesday as
thousands of Iranians gathered to mark the 35th anniversary of the
takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by militant students... This
year's anniversary also coincided with the holiday of Ashura, one of the
holiest days on the Shiite Muslim calendar, mourning the 7th century
martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad. At the
rally, cartoon images on posters depicted President Obama as a modern-day
shemr, or killer of Hussein. At Tuesday's rally, black-clad organizers
led demonstrators in burning U.S. flags and chanting slogans against the
United States, Israel and Britain. Many in the crowd of up to 3,000 were
older, and said they still recall what they were doing when they heard
the electrifying news of the storming of the embassy... Outside the
confines of the rally, however, other Iranians spoke of the hardships
caused by international sanctions, and urged an accommodation. 'It is
ridiculous. We are impoverished and our children are jobless, and they
still shout Death to the U.S. and so on,' said a 56-year-old taxi driver
who was afraid to be identified by anything other than his first name,
Ali. 'Nothing in nuclear technology matters for me -- my family and I
need jobs and a decent life.'" http://t.uani.com/1Ab6a55
AFP:
"A British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran after trying to watch a
volleyball match is on a hunger strike, refusing food or liquids, her
brother told AFP on Monday. Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old law graduate
from London, is protesting because the judge has yet to confirm her
one-year prison sentence, making it official, her brother said. 'She's
been on hunger strike from Saturday,' Iman Ghavami said in a phone
interview. 'She's not eating any solid foods and she's not drinking any
liquids.' Ghavami said his sister's lawyer had seen the court document
sentencing her to one year in jail, but that a deadline to make the
verdict formal had now passed. 'The case is in limbo... I don't
understand why they don't want to issue the verdict when they have made
the decision.' he said. 'It's quite concerning for us. They have no legal
basis to have her detained.' Ghavami was arrested on June 20 after
attempting to attend a men's volleyball match between Iran and Italy in Tehran's
Azadi ('Freedom' in Farsi) Stadium." http://t.uani.com/1x0bINi
NYT:
"Iran has tentatively agreed to ship much of its huge stockpile of
uranium to Russia if it reaches a broader nuclear deal with the West,
according to officials and diplomats involved in the negotiations,
potentially a major breakthrough in talks that have until now been
deadlocked. Under the proposed agreement, the Russians would convert the
uranium into specialized fuel rods for the Bushehr nuclear power plant,
Iran's only commercial reactor. Once the uranium is converted into fuel
rods, it is extremely difficult to use them to make a nuclear weapon.
That could go a long way toward alleviating Western concerns about Iran's
stockpile, though the agreement would not cut off every pathway that
Tehran could take to obtain a nuclear weapon. With a Nov. 24 deadline
looming on the nuclear talks, negotiators between Iran and the United
States and five other nations are still far from agreement on a range of
other issues that could derail a final agreement, including the number of
centrifuges the country could keep spinning, the speed at which economic
sanctions would be suspended, the fate of a heavy-water reactor that
produces plutonium, and whether international inspectors would be free to
visit any suspected covert facilities. But 'if the Iran-Russia deal
works, it could be the cornerstone of something much larger,' said one
American deeply involved in the discussions." http://t.uani.com/13DtrxV
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Defense News:
"In the run-up to a Nov. 24 deadline for nuclear talks with Iran,
leaders from Israel and gulf states are separately urging Western powers
to stand firm and demand a deal that derails the regional threat from
Tehran. Reflecting shared angst over dwindling prospects for such a deal,
regional rivals have publicly warned of the dangers in rushing to
conclude a partial deal. 'Failure to conclude a solid agreement that
prevents nuclear proliferation could have serious consequences, not only
in our region, but far beyond,' said Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of state
for foreign affairs. 'We consider it crucial that any future agreement
with Iran on the nuclear file be air tight,' he said. In Israel, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed the same thought,
only in different words. 'No deal is better than a bad deal.' Privately,
Israeli officials are pushing for another six-month extension, rather
than see the talks collapse. But much like the infinitely protracted
talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the extension route
reflects lost hope of reaching an airtight deal." http://t.uani.com/1GkCfry
Bloomberg:
"Israel should ask for U.S. security guarantees if Iran and world
powers reach a nuclear deal this month that leaves the Islamic Republic
with the potential to develop weapons, an Israeli political analyst said.
'There is the possibility that there will be enough holes in the
agreement that will allow Iran to become a nuclear threshold state,'
Azriel Bermant, a research fellow at The Institute for National Security
Studies in Tel Aviv, said by phone. If Israel fails to head off a deal it
doesn't like, then 'the U.S. president could try to placate it by giving
it a side letter of security guarantees in the event of a violation of
the agreement by Iran,' he added. 'Israel needs to start thinking about
what it would want in that letter.' His conclusions are based on a
simulation exercise the research institute held Sept. 29 on the aftermath
of a 'bad deal' with Iran." http://t.uani.com/1rYxGIJ
Bloomberg:
"Iran's reluctance to address allegations that it pursued nuclear
weapons in the past won't impede officials seeking a far-reaching accord
regulating its atomic future, said diplomats briefed on the matter. A
resolution to the possible military aspect of Iran's nuclear work is one
of the key gaps that must be bridged for a deal. United Nations Security
Council resolutions demand that Iran clarify whether any of its
activities were intended to build a bomb before sanctions can be
lifted... International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya
Amano told diplomats last month that Iran's goal to reach an accord
before addressing questions about its past is reasonable, according to
two people who attended the meetings, and a third with knowledge of the
briefing. The diplomats asked not to be named because of the sensitivity
of the talks which resume later this month in the Austrian capital. The
agency's press department declined to comment in an e-mail. 'Now is not
the best time to make rapid progress,' Amano said at the Brookings
Institution in Washington Oct. 31. 'But it doesn't mean there will not be
progress in the future.'" http://t.uani.com/1scNCIw
IRNA (Iran):
"A member of Iran's negotiating team on Saturday rejected news
reports about an agreement between Iran and the US on the number of the
centrifuges. Speaking to IRNA on condition of anonymity, the Iranian
diplomat said the negotiating team would not retreat from the legitimate
rights of the Iranian nation to peaceful nuclear technology. Certain
Western media have claimed that Iran and the US have reached an agreement
under which Iran have agreed to modify its demand for 22,000 centrifuges
and rather keep the roughly 9,400 it's now operating and the US accepted
a cap of 4,000 centrifuges, for three to five years." http://t.uani.com/1Abcnh6
Fars (Iran):
"Senior Iranian parliamentary officials warned that if the talks
between Tehran and the world powers fail to yield results, the country
will launch a large number of centrifuge machines to reach the 190,000
SWUs (Separative Work Units) that it needs for enriching uranium to fuel
its power and research reactors. 'If the negotiations (between Tehran and
the Group 5+1 - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany)
don't produce results, Iran will rapidly take action to launch (the
necessary number of centrifuge machines for producing) 190,000 SUVs,'
member of the Presiding Board of the Iranian parliament's National
Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari told FNA
on Sunday." http://t.uani.com/1vEaJgc
Sanctions Relief
Free
Beacon: "A delegation of Iranian officials paid a
quiet visit to the United States this week to meet with corporate leaders
and a senior State Department representative at a business forum in
Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The rare trip occurred just days after a
controversial Iran-focused trade forum was held in London, to much public
outcry. Iran remains under strict international economic sanctions, and
some foreign policy experts say such events undermine sanctions and
weaken U.S. leverage in nuclear negotiations. Greg Sullivan, the State
Department's senior adviser for strategic communications on Iran, joined
the Iranian delegation at the OASIS 7th Annual Business Conference at the
Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Sullivan gave a brief speech on
cultural diplomacy at the conference before turning the stage over to Ali
Moradkhani, Iran's deputy minister of culture and Islamic guidance... Ali
Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,
said the Pittsburgh visit appeared to be an attempt by Mousavian 'to
mobilize the U.S. business community as a pressure group calling for
removal of the sanctions regime.'" http://t.uani.com/1rYzz8m
RFE/RL:
"Iran's Culture Ministry has defended the 'successful presence' of
an Iranian delegation in an October 28 conference in Pittsburgh that was
reportedly also attended by State Department official Greg Sullivan. The
conference, 'Growing Business between the U.S. and the Middle East,' was
organized by the American Middle East Institute. The Iranian delegation
included Deputy Culture Minister Ali Moradkhani and the director of the
Fajr Music Festival Ali Torabi. In a statement published on Iranian
websites on November 3, the Culture Ministry said the Iranian delegation
did not have any 'official or unofficial' meeting or discussion with U.S.
officials. 'The presence of the Iranian delegation led to criticism by
pro-Israel and anti-Iran hardliners, and one week ahead of the visit, two
senators and members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives drafted
an anti-Iran motion to prevent Iran from attending the seminar,' the
statement said." http://t.uani.com/1uq8h27
Reuters:
"German exports to Iran jumped by about 33 percent in the first
eight months of the year, lifted by an easing of Western sanctions
against the Islamic Republic after an interim deal on its disputed
nuclear work, data seen by Reuters showed. Germany, Europe's biggest
economy, is traditionally Iran's most important trading partner in the
28-nation European Union. Data from the Statistics Office seen by Reuters
show that exports to Iran rose by 32.7 percent to 1.6 billion euros in
the first eight months of the year compared to the same period last year.
In 2013, they slumped by 26 percent and in the two previous years they
fell by more than 18 percent... Several major companies such as Siemens
had been forced to reduce their activities in Iran due to the sanctions.
Other companies with business interests there include Bayer and utilities
RWE and E.ON." http://t.uani.com/1x0bxlc
Human Rights
Fox News:
"The mother of Saeed Abedini, the American citizen imprisoned in
Iran for his faith, has fled the Islamic republic and is making her way
to the U.S. to await his return with his wife and two sons. Friends of
Abedini on Friday helped spirit the anguished mom and two of her other
children out of the repressive nation, where she faced daily threats and
intimidation for championing her son's case, according to Naghmeh Abedini,
wife of Saeed, who has spent more than two years in an Iranian prison
after being accused of proselytizing in his homeland. She is now safe in
another country and awaiting passage to the U.S., said family members,
who did not want to release her name until she was on U.S. soil. 'Facing
threats in Iran, Saeed's mom is now safely out of the country,' Naghmeh
Abedini told FoxNews.com. 'We look forward to seeing her soon here in the
United States. It has been a difficult time for all of us -- including Saeed's
mom.'" http://t.uani.com/1x0gE4T
Foreign Affairs
WashPost:
"Saudi Arabia and Iran have offered apparently competing aid
packages to Lebanon's small and modestly armed military as it confronts
rising attacks at home by militants with ties to extremists fighting in
Syria's civil war. The pledges total billions of dollars' worth of mostly
light arms and underscore mounting concern among the Persian Gulf foes
about the stability of a country where both have invested significant
resources. The aid is on top of the more than $1 billion spent by the
United States since 2006 to train and equip the 16,000-member army, which
has limited authority and yields to Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon's
powerful Shiite militia. Hezbollah supports Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad in his fight against Saudi-backed rebels. Many suspect the
offers of assistance from Riyadh and Tehran are simply another instance
of one-upmanship between the Sunni and Shiite powerhouses." http://t.uani.com/1GkyKRZ
Opinion &
Analysis
Elliot Abrams in
CFR: "It's natural that in the United States we see
the Middle East from our own perspective, but very useful to step away
from that perspective for a moment to try and see the region as our
closest allies there do. By closest allies I refer to Israel and to Arab
states such as the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. In some recent travel
to the region and conversations in Washington and New York with Arab and
Israeli officials, I've heard a view that is remarkable, first, for its
uniformity: Arab and Israeli leaders stating the same views, almost
interchangeably at times. The flippant remark that 'the Obama
administration has achieved just one thing in the Middle East: to draw
Israel and the Arabs closer together' turns out to carry a great deal of
truth. As the officials with whom I spoke described the regional
situation, they face two enormous challenges: Islamist extremism of the
Al Qaeda and Islamic State variety, and the rise of Iran. As to the
latter, they all perceive the U.S. government as not only conceding
Iranian hegemony in the region but even promoting it as a positive good.
A recent Wall Street Journal story started this way: 'The Obama administration
and Iran, engaged in direct nuclear negotiations and facing a common
threat from Islamic State militants, have moved into an effective state
of détente over the past year, according to senior U.S. and Arab
officials. The shift could drastically alter the balance of power in the
region, and risks alienating key U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia and
United Arab Emirates who are central to the coalition fighting Islamic
State.' The story has one inaccuracy: it says this shift 'risks'
alienating key allies, when in fact it has already done so, and done so
badly. For Israelis facing the Iranian nuclear weapons program, the
United States appears not only resigned but anxious to do a deal that
allows Iran to enrich uranium and won't require it to destroy one single
centrifuge. Whatever diplomats say about the package they assemble,
everyone in the Middle East will see it as a huge Iranian victory that
allows Iran to get even closer to the bomb. Washington is moving to
containment while Obama administration officials tell themselves and all
who will listen that they are not doing that. For the Arabs, what the
King of Jordan once called a 'Shia crescent' is forming before their
eyes: Iranian hegemony from Yemen through Iran to Iraq and Syria and
Lebanon. And their former protector, the United States, seems happy with
this development because it sees Iran as a potential partner. If a
nuclear deal means that sanctions on Iran begin to crumble, Iran will
have more resources with which to project force through war and
subversion. For our allies in the region, the sharp drop in oil prices
means this is an excellent moment to step up the pressure on Iran,
increasing sanctions until they agree to real compromises on their
nuclear weapons program. Instead, the Obama administration and not Iran
seems desperate for a deal. In my conversations, I also heard the idea
that once the President loses the Senate (if that does happen) he will be
left only with foreign policy as a playing field. And he will want to do
something fast after November 4th that asserts that he is a not a lame
duck and is still in charge. What better than an Iran deal? Our allies
also wonder about our Iraq/Syria policy, for many reasons. For one thing,
no one has explained to them how the policy can work, or why American
officials think it is working: Jihadis continue to flow into the
extremist groups; ISIS is not notably weaker; and above all the United
States has no coherent Syria policy. There isn't even much of a theory as
to who, on the ground, will seriously fight ISIS, nor is there an
explanation of how we will get rid of Assad. Or is he another potential
partner, like Iran? More détente? ... So the view of U.S. policy has a
double-barreled quality: they argue that we are weak, and that we seek deals
with enemies rather than victory and security for allies and friends.
Détente with Iran, not stopping Iran. Attacks on ISIS, but hands off
Assad while he butchers more Sunnis. This is obviously not how people in
the White House see the world and their own policies, but they have
failed to persuade our allies in the region that they have a coherent,
cogent policy. From Arabs and Israelis the refrain I heard over and over
again was 'how will we get through the next two years?'" http://t.uani.com/10RBVAp
Tony Badran in NOW
Lebanon: "Last Thursday marked the 31st anniversary
of Hezbollah's twin attack on the US Marine barracks and the French
paratroopers base in Beirut in 1983. The date passed quietly; ancient
history as far as the Obama White House is concerned. After all, this is
the era of US rapprochement with Iran. Under the banner of combating
Sunni terrorist groups, which are now defined as the principal threat,
Washington has effectively aligned with Iran and its assets. Today, the
US is not only providing air cover for Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)
and communicating with its command in Iraq, it has even indirectly shared
intelligence with the Guards' Hezbollah arm in Lebanon. As such, when
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif placed a wreath earlier this year on
the grave of former Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh - the man who
oversaw the attacks - the White House issued an awkwardly worded
condemnation. The statement placed the onus for the terrorist bombings on
Mughniyeh alone, drawing a subtle distinction between him and Iran. The
White House, in its quest to appease Tehran, deliberately obfuscated both
the nature of Iran's relationship with Mughniyeh as well as Tehran's role
in the 1983 bombings." http://t.uani.com/1E1kcCT
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