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Reuters:
"Iranian hackers have infiltrated major airlines, energy companies,
and defense firms around the globe over the past two years in a campaign
that could eventually cause physical damage, according to U.S. cyber
security firm Cylance. The report comes as governments scramble to better
understand the extent of Iran's cyber capabilities, which researchers say
have grown rapidly as Tehran seeks to retaliate for Western cyber attacks
on its nuclear program. 'We believe that if the operation is left to
continue unabated, it is only a matter of time before the team impacts
the world's physical safety,' Cylance said in an 87-page report on the
hacking campaign released on Tuesday. The California-based company said
its researchers uncovered breaches affecting more than 50 entities in 16
countries, and had evidence they were committed by the same Tehran-based
group that was behind a previously reported 2013 cyber attack on a U.S.
Navy network." http://t.uani.com/1zdFRqj
HuffPost:
"The list of countries bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq has
thus far featured a host of classic United States partners -- Canada, the
U.K., France. Now, it looks like the U.S. has a new quasi-partner in the
air: Iran. The U.S. is aware of Iranian bombing activity in the same
national airspace where planes aligned with the U.S.-led coalition
against the Islamic State are operating, a defense official told The
Huffington Post Monday evening. The official said he believes the
Iranian bombing is unlikely to end as long as the Shiite-dominated nation
feels threatened by the Sunni extremist group, also called ISIS. The
bombing will not require a U.S. response unless Iran presents an
immediate threat to U.S. forces in the air, he said. 'We are aware of
that. I wouldn't say we're necessarily concerned with it -- we kind of
have our eyes on it,' the official said... The fact that the U.S. is not
challenging this level of Iranian involvement is the strongest evidence
yet that the Obama administration sees the Iranian government as a
tactical partner in the Middle East... The defense official's comments
offered evidence for recent claims about an Iranian jet in Iraqi skies
made by IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, a British defense analysis firm, and
Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper." http://t.uani.com/1yeJRIA
AP:
"The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is urging a dramatic escalation
in sanctions on Iran in response to a recent seven-month extension of
nuclear talks. The group, widely influential in Congress, wants the U.S.
to reinstate all economic penalties on Iran suspended during the
diplomacy. It also seeks a U.S. ban on Iranian oil exports worldwide and
more Iranian industries blacklisted... State Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki said Monday the U.S. must avoid new measures while negotiations
continue." http://t.uani.com/1tzsgWo
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Al-Monitor:
"Iran will limit research and development on its advanced
centrifuges, grant the IAEA expanded access to its centrifuge facilities
and convert half its stocks of 20% oxide into fuel for a research reactor
under the terms of a seven-month extension on an interim nuclear deal
reached with six world powers in Vienna last week. The terms of the
extension were shared with Al-Monitor by a source briefed by the
negotiating teams. In return for the steps Iran will take, the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) have
agreed to continue providing Iran $700 million in its oil sale proceeds
per month, amounting to almost $5 billion total through June 30, as well
as to continue suspending certain sanctions including on petrochemical
exports, trade in precious metals and auto parts. Iran and the P5+1
announced Nov. 24 that they would try to reach a political agreement for
the final nuclear deal within four months, with the additional three
months of the extension to be used to complete drafting of the technical
and implementation details. Among the steps Iran has agreed to take under
the seven-month extension, the source briefed by the negotiating teams
said: ..." http://t.uani.com/1wjIGrW
Bloomberg:
"Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said nuclear
negotiations are within reach of a 'successful end,' according to the
semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency. 'In the past 10 years of
talks we haven't been this close to resolving the nuclear issue,' Zarif
said today. He was addressing the nuclear talks publicly for the first
time since returning from Vienna, where world powers and Iran last week
agreed to extend negotiations over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program
by another seven months. If the talks had continued for an extra two or
three days, Iran and the six members of the P5+1 could have been within
reach of a 'general framework,' Zarif said. 'A framework doesn't mean
that we could have had all the details written down,' he said. 'We would
have needed an extension anyway in order to have those details written
down.'" http://t.uani.com/1pN4PN1
AFP:
"The world is no longer beating the 'drum of war' against Iran, its
foreign minister said on Tuesday, citing the direct benefit of the
government's nuclear talks with the West. Mohammad Javad Zarif said the
decision to restart negotiations and seek a deal over the Islamic
republic's disputed nuclear programme had reduced tension and would not
be reversed. But Zarif, who has led the Iranian side in talks with world
powers that last month saw an interim agreement extended to June 30 next
year, denied his team was bargaining 'like carpet sellers' for a better
deal. 'Because of these negotiations the Islamic republic of Iran has
become safer... and less vulnerable than before,' he told students in
Tehran in a speech carried live on state television. 'No one can any
longer beat the drum of war... the hostile atmosphere created against us
has fallen through. The world has realised mutual understanding and
common interests can lead to agreement.'" http://t.uani.com/1CBChfo
RFE/RL:
"A top adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has
called for an end to domestic criticism of Tehran's nuclear negotiations
with major world powers. Former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who
advises Khamenei on international affairs, said on November 30 that since
the supreme leader has endorsed an extension of the talks for several
months, people should stop their criticism. Velayati noted that
Khamenei's 'commands' are the final word in Iran. He added that 'after
[Khamenei] said he agrees with the talks and their extension, no comment
should be made against the negotiations.' The comments appear to be part
of efforts by the Iranian establishment to rein in hard-line critics of
the extension of the nuclear negotiations that was announced on November
24 following talks between six world powers -- the United States,
Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany -- and Iran in Vienna...
Velayati said the nuclear negotiators should be praised for their work
and for obeying Khamenei. He said 'our nuclear negotiating team has so
far respected all the red lines set by the supreme leader, they've worked
hard and their efforts should be appreciated.'" http://t.uani.com/1ybm5JV
Reuters:
"Iran said it has provided evidence to the United Nations atomic
agency showing that documents on suspected nuclear bomb research by the
country were forged and riddled with errors. In a statement to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, it dismissed accusations that it is
stonewalling an IAEA investigation into what the U.N. watchdog calls the
possible military dimensions (PMD) of Iran's nuclear program. Iran has
offered detailed explanations to the IAEA and there has never been 'any
authenticated documents for PMD claims', said the Iranian note posted on
the agency's website. It said Iranian officials had also given 'pieces of
evidence' during meetings in October and November indicating that
documents shown by the IAEA were fabricated. They 'are full of mistakes and
contain fake names with specific pronunciations, which only point toward
a certain member of the IAEA as their forger', it said." http://t.uani.com/1w0AtJO
Free Beacon:
"Iran on Monday unveiled new missiles, torpedoes, and warships just
a week after nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the West broke apart
with little headway made between the sides. The new military hardware was
widely publicized by Iranian military leaders following an order by
Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei urging the country's armed forces to step up
their combat readiness despite an extension in nuclear talks with the
West. The Iranian Navy displayed a crop of new vessels equipped with
cruise missiles and other rockets. Also unveiled were new attack
helicopters 'equipped with Iran's latest home-grown torpedoes,' according
to Iranian military leaders quoted by the country's state-controlled
press. The show of force is likely meant to send a message to the United
States and other Western nations following another failed round of talks over
Iran's contested nuclear weapons program." http://t.uani.com/1AbDGnW
Sanctions
Relief
AFP:
"France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen is in 'intense' talks about resuming
production in Iran, halted since March 2012, a top representative of the
automaker said in Tehran on Monday. The company quit the Islamic republic
after international banking sanctions were imposed on Tehran as
punishment for its disputed nuclear programme. At an auto industry
conference and exhibition in the Iranian capital, Jean Christophe Quemard,
PSA's operations director for the Middle East, told delegates the company
wanted to return. 'We are in intense discussions,' he said. 'We have a
long relationship with Iran. We have the strong will to create a joint
venture covering the entire automotive chain as soon as possible.' ...
Discussions between Peugeot and its former joint venture partner, Iran
Khodro, began at the Paris Auto Show in October." http://t.uani.com/1yCwu3Y
Shana:
"The Persian Gulf island of Kish is to host an international energy
exhibition January 12-15. The exhibition, which is the 11th, is to focus
on investment in the energy sector and provide a venue for Iranian and
foreign companies to get acquainted with the potentialities of each
other. The event will put on display the latest opportunities for
investment as well as achievements by manufacturers for the oil, gas,
petrochemical, water, electricity and renewable energies sectors.
Companies from China, Turkey, Italy, India, South Korea, Taiwan,
Azerbaijan, France, Malaysia, Germany and the United Arab Emirates are
attending the exhibition. The exhibition is sponsored by Iran's Petroleum
Ministry, National Iranian Oil Company, National Iranian Gas Company,
National Petrochemical Company, National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution
Company, Tehran Kala Naft Company, chemical engineering and designing
(SPEC), Association of Oil Industry Equipment Manufacturers, Iran
Electricity Industry Union as well as water and wastewater
companies." http://t.uani.com/1yvpANU
Human Rights
HRW:
"Iran's judiciary should vacate the death sentence of a 30-year-old
man who faces imminent execution for Facebook posts linked to his
account. On November 24, 2014, Iran's Supreme Court upheld a criminal
court ruling sentencing Soheil Arabi to hang. The court transferred his
file to the judiciary's implementation unit, opening the way for his
execution. A Tehran criminal court had convicted him in August of sabb
al-nabbi, or 'insulting the prophet,' referring to the Prophet Muhammad,
which carries the death penalty. Arabi's legal team has asked the
judiciary to suspend the death sentence and review the case. 'It is
simply shocking that anyone should face the gallows simply because of
Internet postings that are deemed to be crude, offensive, or insulting,'
said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director. 'Iran
should urgently revise its penal code to eliminate provisions that
criminalize peaceful free expression, especially when they punish its
exercise with death.'" http://t.uani.com/1ybZguH
Domestic
Politics
Al-Monitor:
"Outspoken conservative member of the Iranian Parliament Ali
Motahari has once again stirred controversy by criticizing the near
four-year house arrest of the 2009 Green Movement leaders and questioning
the function of the body meant to supervise and elect Iran's supreme
leader. During a speech at Ferdowsi University in the city of Mashhad
Nov. 26, Motahari said, 'The prime responsibility of the Assembly of
Experts is to supervise the performance of the supreme leader and his
subsidiaries. Until now, they have not done this and will not do it. They
get involved with any issue other than the job they are supposed to do.'
Motahari continued, 'Have they ever discussed a subsidiary of the
institution of the supreme leader? For instance, the Headquarters for
Executing the Order of Imam [Setad] has been turned into an economic
cartel - they build towers. Has this been investigated?'" http://t.uani.com/1w0AHRg
Opinion &
Analysis
John Bolton in The
Washington Times: "While the future of Iran's
nuclear program has rightly been the focus of the intense Vienna
negotiations, there are other significant implications extending well
beyond Tehran. Because of President Obama's many concessions, Iran has
made significant gains, particularly enhanced international legitimacy
for both its regime and its extensive nuclear activities. Now that the
negotiating 'deadline' has been extended until June 2015, we should
consider the broader global implications of Mr. Obama's Iran policy. Other
aspiring nuclear-weapons states have carefully followed the negotiations,
drawing conclusions and making plans accordingly. Very shortly, the wider
ripples of the talks will manifest themselves in two ways. First, Iran's
near neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey, will almost
certainly accelerate their nuclear activities, following a clear path to
producing weapons. Second, North Korea, left to its own devices (and
continuing progress on both weaponization and ballistic-missile
development) these past six years, clearly sees a weak negotiating
counterpart in Washington, and will try to achieve many of the same
advantages Tehran is now harvesting. The Middle Eastern conventional
wisdom has long held that if Iran produced deliverable nuclear weapons,
other states would follow inexorably. As then-Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton said in 2009, 'A nuclear-armed Iran with a deliverable weapons
system is going to spark an arms race in the Middle East and the greater
region.' Saudi Arabia will move first. Indeed, the Saudis may already
have 'options' on existing Pakistani warheads, meaning that Riyadh would
not need to build its own nuclear program, but could effectively become a
nuclear power overnight. Egypt and Turkey would start farther behind, but
they have already made initial efforts, such as Cairo's 2013 nuclear deal
with Moscow. Iran's path to weaponization appears now to be merely a
matter of its own timing, absent an Israeli military strike like those
undertaken previously against Iraq and Syria. Accordingly, none of the
potential proliferators have any incentive to wait for Iran to actually
test a nuclear device to prove its existence. These regional powers will
almost certainly conclude that Iran will weaponize, and that having their
own deterrent capability is the only appropriate response. Indeed, with
Washington accepting Iran's 'peaceful' program, these and others could
move very quickly. They will definitely not rely solely on U.S.
assurances. Given how meaningless Mr. Obama's Iran assurances were, the
other potential proliferators will not bother with subtlety as they
proceed... Finally, much of the damage done by the Obama administration
cannot be easily repaired. Once a proliferator crosses key thresholds,
the work cannot be rolled back except through a strategic decision to
abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons. While this has happened before
(such as South Africa after apartheid), it typically requires regime
change for a new government to have the courage and political space to reverse
course. Unfortunately, therefore, Mr. Obama's dangerous nuclear legacy
will inevitably be high on the agenda of repair work for his
successor." http://t.uani.com/1AbEOrK
Michael Rubin in
Dalls Morning News: "While the United States and
Europe may lament the failure to reach a final agreement with Iran on its
nuclear program, for Iranian officials, all is going according to plan.
After all, while the West may engage in diplomacy to resolve conflict,
for Tehran, the process has always been about winning concessions and
relieving pressure on Iran's moribund economy, not coming to agreement.
Immediately upon becoming Iran's president in 2013, Hassan Rouhani moved
to remake the Islamic Republic's image on the world stage. His efforts,
however, are window-dressing, meant to distract attention from Tehran's
true aims. At its heart, the Islamic Republic's ideology remains as rigid
and hostile as the day 35 years ago when revolutionary leader Ayatollah
Khomeini's followers seized the U.S. Embassy. Everything the Iranian
leadership says in Persian and preach to their public suggest their
regular call for 'Death to America' is not mere rhetoric. While Western
officials hailed Rouhani as a moderate, Iranian leaders recognize him as
a die-hard loyalist with a gift for public relations. He was the man who
first called Khomeini 'Imam,' likening him to the Shiite messiah. In
February 2005, before a gathering of luminaries in Iran's second-largest
city, Mashhad, he outlined a doctrine of surprise in which Iran would lull
the United States into complacency, before delivering a knockout blow. In
October 2011, answering criticism that he was too willing to compromise,
Rouhani bragged to Etemaad, a reformist daily, that he merely used
diplomacy to trick the West all the while furthering Iran's nuclear
program. In the year before talks began, Iran's economy shrank 5.3
percent. Not surprisingly, Rouhani's efforts have centered on lifting
economic sanctions imposed on Iran in response to its refusal to open its
nuclear program to full inspection by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA). Supreme Leader Khamenei, however, never changed his
stripes. His supposed anti-nuclear fatwa does not appear among those
published on his website or, indeed, anywhere else. His aides explained
that his call for 'heroic flexibility' endorsed a change in tactics, but
not policy. Iran also continues to threaten Israel's existence. Khamenei
calls the Jewish State a 'cancer' and has referred to it as 'the
sinister, unclean, rabid dog of the region.' The head of Iran's armed
forces, Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, left no room for doubt when he
defined Iran's cause to be 'the full annihilation of Israel.' Iran's
quest to arm itself with long-range missiles leaves America's Arab allies
jittery. The commander of Iran's revolutionary guards bragged: 'We are
able to hit all the vital interests of the enemies at any point in the
region,' including American bases housing tens of thousands of American
troops. Thirty-five years since Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy,
the Iranian message has not changed: Death to America. Death to Britain.
Death to Israel. Furthermore, we cannot ignore that Iran remains the
world's premier state sponsor of terrorism, providing financial and
operational support to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran may say it wants to negotiate with the
West, but there is a difference between entering a process and seeking
its fruition. If Iran can derive international legitimacy and financial reward
simply by showing up and talking, why make hard compromise?" http://t.uani.com/11OCR8C
Charles Hoskinson
in the Washington Examiner: "The Obama
administration has taken a hard line against any new sanctions
legislation in Congress while it keeps trying to negotiate a deal with
Tehran that would limit Iran's nuclear ambitions. But for many lawmakers,
the administration's uncompromising stance contrasts poorly with what
they see as too much willingness to compromise in the talks, which were
extended for a second time Monday after negotiators failed to agree on a
permanent replacement for a November 2013 interim deal that was supposed
to last six months. And the more President Obama is seen as willing to
give in to Iran, the more support emerges for tougher sanctions. 'I'm
going to be working as hard as I can to get a veto-proof majority in the
Senate and the House,' Sen. Mark Kirk told the Washington Examiner. 'I'm
confident that we're going to get there.' The Illinois Republican teamed
up with Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey, outgoing chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to craft a bipartisan sanctions bill
that was bottled up in the Senate by outgoing Majority Leader Harry Reid,
D-Nev., at the Obama administration's request. He said that will be the
basis for new legislation in the 114th Congress. Key Democrats in both
chambers have joined Republicans in warning Obama that they will not
accept a deal that ensures Iran will never be able to develop a nuclear
weapon, and their skepticism of the administration's conduct of the talks
is fueled by comments from officials in Tehran indicating U.S.
negotiators have already let that goal slip away. 'For the past year,
Iran has received economic relief and Congress has refrained from passing
increased sanctions in a good-faith effort by the United States and our
allies to enhance the chance of a diplomatic solution. What was clear to
many of us before should now be clear to everyone: Iran is not
negotiating in good faith. We need tougher sanctions to empower tougher
diplomacy against a regime intent on building nuclear weapons that would
threaten the United States, destabilize the region and pose an
existential threat to Israel,' said Rep. Gary Peters of Michigan, the
only new Democratic senator elected in November as Republicans captured
the majority in that chamber. In response, the White House has dug in,
reminding lawmakers that sanctions could cause the talks to collapse, an
outcome many supporters of new sanctions are willing to risk. 'We continue
to believe that adding on sanctions while negotiations are ongoing would
be counterproductive,' White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday
after the new extension was announced. Obama 'has become a prisoner of
his own arguments against critics of the interim deal. The administration
has called these critics warmongers from the start. As is becoming
apparent now that talks will be extended, the White House will have us
believe that the only alternative to the current framework is war,' wrote
Emanuele Ottolenghi and Saeed Ghasseminejad of the Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies on Wednesday. Observers and lawmakers say the
administration's approach toward its congressional critics has increased
both their skepticism of its negotiating strategy and the chance of new
sanctions legislation being enacted by a veto-proof majority. 'What the
administration has to worry about is a situation in which Democratic
senators give up on the administration, not so much giving up on Iran but
losing confidence in the administration's ability to negotiate well or to
handle them well,' said Edward Levine, national advisory board member of
the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. If the administration
wants Democrats to help kill a sanctions bill it opposes, officials need
to work with them to craft sanctions legislation it can live with, and
show that it's willing to make a deal with Congress, he said. 'I would
think there would be some pressure to talk, to explore possibilities for
useful legislation,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1wk5LuS
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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