Eye on Iran: Obama Wrote Secret Letter to Iran's Khamenei About Fighting Islamic State

Join UANI           Top Stories WSJ: "President Barack Obama secretly wrote to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the middle of last month and described a shared interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, according to people briefed on the correspondence. The letter appeared aimed both at buttressing the campaign against Islamic State and nudging Iran's religious leader closer to a nuclear deal. Mr. Obama stressed to Mr. Khamenei that any cooperation on Islamic State was largely contingent on Iran reaching a comprehensive agreement with global powers on the future of Tehran's nuclear program by a Nov. 24 diplomatic deadline, the same people say. The October letter marked at least the fourth time Mr. Obama has written Iran's most powerful political and religious leader since taking office in 2009 and pledging to engage with Tehran's Islamist government. The correspondence underscores that Mr. Obama views Iran as important-whether in a potentially constructive or negative role-to his emerging military and diplomatic campaign to push Islamic State from the territories it has gained over the past six months. Mr. Obama's letter also sought to assuage Iran's concerns about the future of its close ally, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, according to another person briefed on the letter. It states that the U.S.'s military operations inside Syria aren't targeted at Mr. Assad or his security forces... House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) expressed concern when asked about the letter sent by Mr. Obama. 'I don't trust the Iranians, I don't think we need to bring them into this,' Mr. Boehner said. Referring to the continuing nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, Mr. Boehner said he 'would hope that the negotiations that are under way are serious negotiations, but I have my doubts.' In a sign of the sensitivity of the Iran diplomacy, the White House didn't tell its Middle East allies-including Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates-about Mr. Obama's October letter to Mr. Khamenei, according to people briefed on the correspondence and representatives of allied countries." http://t.uani.com/1zAcSAi Fox News: "President Obama reportedly penned a secret letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month discussing their shared interest in fighting the Islamic State -- a development one congressional source told Fox News 'f***s up everything.' ... A senior congressional source told Fox News that there is not anything definitive as to whether the letter even exists. But the source indicated they don't doubt that it's true because 'we've seen [the president] do it before, so there is [a] precedent.' ... The congressional source told Fox News that the letter would upset the inroads they've tried to make with 'the Sunni league,' noting that the president should have informed Congress of this back-channel if it was in fact going on. 'This f***s up everything,' the source said." http://t.uani.com/10xV8Gk Reuters: "Iran is failing to address suspicions it may have researched how to build an atomic bomb, a U.N. watchdog agency's report showed on Friday, potentially complicating efforts by six powers to reach a deal with Tehran on its nuclear program. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran had still not provided information about two specific areas of the IAEA's investigation that it was supposed to do more than two months ago. The confidential document was issued to IAEA member states less than three weeks before a self-imposed Nov. 24 deadline for Iran and the six global powers to end a decade-old standoff over the Islamic Republic's atomic activities. 'Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures,' the IAEA report said." http://t.uani.com/1AyrCRs     Nuclear Program & Negotiations Daily Beast: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday the Obama administration is not carrying out more airstrikes against Islamic militants inside Syria because it is instead 'playing footsie' with Iran. 'There are reports that one of the reasons why we are not attacking [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad is because we are trying to look at some kind of arrangements with the Iranians,' the top Republican the on Senate Armed Services Committee said in an interview with MSNBC, without citing examples. 'It's, as I say, it's immoral and shameful and somehow we are playing footsie with the Iranians and hope that they will somehow have an effect on ISIS,' said McCain, who is poised to serve as chairman of the committee next year. The administration is on its heels after a report that the president sent a secret letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei arguing that Washington and Tehran had a shared interest in fighting ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria... McCain said that, 'on the nuclear issue, we have already given away the store by allowing them to the right to enrich and not putting in check both the development of warheads and the means to deliver them.' He called the talks a 'misguided effort to somehow accommodate and get better relations with a country that is spreading disorder and unrest throughout the region.'" http://t.uani.com/1tI5RbF AFP: "Senior negotiators from six world powers were to gather in Vienna Friday to kick off a flurry of final meetings before a November 24 deadline to strike a landmark nuclear deal with Iran. On Sunday and Monday US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet in Oman together with former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Ashton, who will continue chairing the negotiations until the deadline, will then on Tuesday chair another meeting of political directors from the P5+1 powers, also in Muscat. The grand finale then starts in the Austrian capital on November 18 when the six powers and Iran begin a final round, likely including Kerry and other foreign ministers at the end." http://t.uani.com/1x9c98j Human Rights WashPost: "Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been detained in Iran since July without trial, could be released in less than a month, according to a senior Iranian official. Mohammed Javad Larijani, who heads Iran's human rights council and is a top adviser to the country's supreme leader, said in an interview Monday with the Euronews television channel that security officials have now filed charges against Rezaian alleging 'that he was involved in activities beyond journalism.' Larijani said that meant activity 'which breaches the security of the state,' but he offered no specifics. Larijani said in English that the fate of Rezaian, 38, who has dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, is up to Iranian judicial authorities, but he expressed hope that the case against him could soon be dropped... Citing unidentified sources, the Voice of America reported Wednesday that Rezaian's physical and mental health have deteriorated since the release of his wife. The U.S. government-owned broadcaster said Rezaian has 'several untreated health issues, including a serious eye infection that doctors were concerned could lead to blindness.'" http://t.uani.com/1xoPDF3 AFP: "Dog lovers in Iran could face up to 74 lashes under plans by hardline lawmakers that would ban keeping the pets at home or walking them in public. A draft bill, signed by 32 members of the country's conservative-dominated parliament, would also authorise heavy fines for offenders, the reformist Shargh newspaper reported. Dogs are regarded as unclean under Islamic custom and they are not common in Iran, although some families do keep them behind closed doors and, especially in more affluent areas, walk them outside. Iran's morality police, who deploy in public places, have previously stopped dog walkers and either cautioned them or confiscated the animals. But if the new bill is passed by parliament then those guilty of dog-related offences could face lashes or fines ranging from 10 million rials to 100 million rials ($370 to $3,700 at official rates)." http://t.uani.com/1vUbC4h Domestic Politics Al-Monitor: "Tabnak, a news website owned by Expediency Council Secretary and former presidential candidate Mohsen Rezai, has criticized the government for refusing to release the latest poverty data in the country. On Oct. 30, the conservative website questioned the government's policy on the controversial Subsidy Reform Plan, a legacy from the previous administration, arguing that the cash handouts amounting to 45,000 rials ($14), payable to almost every citizen monthly, cover only a minor portion of their costs. The Statistical Center of Iran released a report last month showing the average expenditure for an urban household is about 10,925,000 rials ($336), much lower than 25 million rials ($780) estimated by independent economists. Neither the organization nor the Central Bank of Iran has yet released official figures on the poverty level in urban or rural areas, the website noted. Thirty-six years after the 'anti-capitalist' revolution, Islamic leaders have failed to ensure the fair distribution of wealth and equality of opportunity. In Iran, 7 million people now live in absolute poverty and their food security is at risk. At the other end, 5 million are superrich, with wealth comparable to that of the richest Americans, as Labor Minister Ali Rabiee has put it." http://t.uani.com/1xoOpJW Opinion & Analysis Sen. Mark Kirk in The Daily Beast: "On October 25, 2014, days after President Obama reportedly sent a secret letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei offering regional security cooperation in return for Tehran's acceptance of an elusive nuclear deal, Iran hanged Reyhaneh Jabbari, a 26-year-old woman convicted of stabbing to death a former Iranian intelligence ministry official who was trying to rape her. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declined calls for clemency from the United Nations and international human rights groups, ignoring evidence that Iranian authorities had tortured her to obtain a confession and pressured her to use an inexperienced lawyer. 'Tragically, this case is far from uncommon,' Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui lamented. The world is rightly focused on Iran's growing nuclear threat and the regime's destabilizing support for international terrorism. Yet Iran's state of injustice-the regime's systematic human rights abuses and suppression of the Iranian people's aspirations to be free-deserves equal attention. A new report by the United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, helps cast light on the regime's dark record. The Shaheed report blasts Iran's growing use of executions, with 687 in 2013 and already 411 in the first half of 2014. Under Iranian law, citizens can face executions for a shockingly broad range of non-violent crimes, including 'adultery, recidivist alcohol use, drug possession and trafficking' and corruption, in addition to moharebeh (sometimes translated as 'enmity against God').  Indeed, the report observes that the regime in Tehran, in practical terms, is disproportionately executing individuals from religious and ethnic minority groups 'for exercising their protected rights, including freedom of expression and association.' Iranian authorities are also continuing the 'widespread and systematic use' of psychological and physical torture to obtain confessions, the Shaheed report warns. Tactics include 'prolonged solitary confinement, mock executions and the threat of rape, along with physical abuse, including severe beatings, use of suspension and pressure positions, electroshock and burnings,' in addition to flogging and amputations. Moreover, the regime in Tehran continues to suppress freedom of expression by actively targeting, harassing, and detaining reporters and bloggers-indeed, at least 35 journalists are being detained today. It also blocks around five million websites dedicated to arts, social issues, and news, and takes severe steps to filter the content of blogs and social media. The Shaheed report should be required reading for those in Washington who dream of an American-Iranian alliance against the Islamic State and argue that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is a moderate reformer. These egregious violations of human rights continue more than a year after Rouhani ascended to Iran's presidency. Indeed, Dr. Shaheed has noted that Rouhani has only 'limited authority' to change the system of which he is a creature. The Obama administration should take note of the fundamental continuity in the regime's destabilizing behavior. Just as the Iranian people continue to suffer under Rouhani, so too have Iran's nuclear evasions and lethal support to terrorist proxies like Hezbollah and murderous like Syria's Assad regime continued apace. As the United States and its partners attempt to finalize a nuclear deal with Iran, we believe that the United States and other democracies must do more to back up growing attention to Iran's human rights violations with concrete actions to stop and reverse these abuses. That's why earlier this year we introduced the Iran Human Rights Accountability Act of 2014, not only to crack down on Iranian human rights abusers, including Khamenei and President Rouhani, but also to support the Iranian people's democratic aspirations." http://t.uani.com/1ses7Gh      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. 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