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AFP:
"The United States added nine individuals and entities to its Iran
sanctions blacklist in a move condemned Wednesday by Tehran as a
'blatant violation' of goodwill amid long-running nuclear talks. The US
Treasury named five men from Iran and elsewhere as well as Dubai-based
Belfast General Trading for sanctions violations linked to efforts to
support the Islamic republic's acquisition of US currency. It said
Belfast General had converted more than $250 million of Iranian
government-held currencies into dollar notes which were then delivered
to Tehran. Also named were an official of already blacklisted
Iran-controlled Asia Bank, involved in a separate operation to ship US
banknotes to Tehran from Moscow. Douran Software Technologies, which
the Treasury said helps the Iranian government's online monitoring and
censorship operations, was also blacklisted. And Abyssec, an Iranian
company which helps Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard in hacking and
other online operations, was also named. 'Although we do not support
the imposition of any new nuclear-related sanctions while negotiations
are ongoing... we have made clear, by word and deed, that we will
continue to enforce our existing sanctions,' said Treasury Under
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen... The
Treasury announcement was met with criticism in Tehran. 'We strongly
disapprove of this action, which is a blatant violation of goodwill,'
foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham told reporters. 'It will
have no effect whatsoever on the Iranian government meeting its needs.
We do not feel duty-bound by illegitimate sanctions,' she said." http://t.uani.com/1B47swY
Reuters:
"Iran and six world powers are set to resume low-level talks on
Iran's nuclear program in Geneva on Jan 15, with wide gaps remaining in
their positions, the Iranian foreign minister said. Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the lead negotiator for Iran with the
six powers known as 'P5+1,' made the remarks in a closed-door session
with members of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee,
according to state news agency IRNA. 'We have stood firm and demand
lifting of all sanctions at once,' Zarif said. 'If there are any
rational proposals we will comply, otherwise we are ready for any
outcome.' Last week, Zarif urged Western powers to drop
"unrealistic" demands so the dispute can be resolved. 'I am
confident that a comprehensive agreement is within reach,' he wrote to
his counterparts across the West. 'But we will firmly resist any humiliating
illegitimate demands.'" http://t.uani.com/1xfOrWX
Politico:
"Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is predicting that the upcoming
Republican-controlled Senate will pass laws imposing sanctions on Iran
and approving the Keystone XL pipeline next year. 'I think we'll have a
supermajority, a veto-proof majority, to impose additional sanctions on
Iran and to require the administration to come before Congress for
approval of any deal that [President Barack Obama] has with Iran,'
Rubio said in an interview Wednesday with NPR host Steve Inskeep. 'I
think the same is true of the Keystone pipeline, potentially.' Rubio
said he would be prepared to vote for imposing sanctions as soon as
today. He aims for a bill that would require congressional approval for
sanctions and impose them 'upon a failure of the [nuclear] deal' within
the next six months." http://t.uani.com/1BlXKUp
Sanctions
Relief
Press TV (Iran):
"Iran has received another segment of its frozen oil revenues
under an interim nuclear deal with the P5+1 group, which allows the
partial release of the blocked Iranian funds. The Central Bank of Iran
announced on Wednesday that a total of USD 490 million was transferred
to an Iranian account in Oman from South Korea, IRNA reported. The move
came after the latest agreement between Iran and the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council- the US, France, Britain, Russia,
China - plus Germany to release another USD 4.9 billion of Iranian
funds held in foreign banks by July 2015." http://t.uani.com/1y5YC1U
Iraq Crisis
Guardian:
"Thousands of Revolutionary Guards gathered in Tehran on Sunday
for the funeral of Iranian Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi, who was
reportedly killed by a sniper while organising the defence of the Iraqi
city of Samarra against Islamic State (Isis) militants... Taqavi, 55,
was the most senior Iranian military commander killed in Iraq, where
Tehran calls its role 'advisory' in assisting the Iraqi army, Kurdish
forces and Shia militias against Isis. While Taqavi's funeral
illustrated the clear official Iranian commitment to its armed forces,
the murkier dimensions of Tehran's growing role in the brutal sectarian
conflict engulfing Iraq and Syria were highlighted by the death of
Wathiq al-Battat, an Iraqi militant with long links to Iran and leader
of one of Iraq's several Shia militias. The Mukhtar Army, the Iraqi
militia, recently announced its leader Wathiq al-Battat had been killed
in Diyala province. Battat had been a player in the shady war between
Iraqi Shia militias and the Sunni militants of Isis. As general
secretary of Hezbollah in Iraq, al-Battat's militant anti-Sunni
sentiments often unnerved Iraq's mainstream Shia leaders. But he had
often boasted of his links to Iran's IRGC and proclaimed his loyalty to
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader." http://t.uani.com/1HZZJAm
AFP:
"Iran is to help Iraq rebuild its army under an agreement that
could formalise Tehran's military support for its neighbour, which
remains under assault by the Islamic State (IS) group. No details of
the pact were released but state television said the two sides had
'agreed to continue cooperation in the defence arena with the creation
of a national army to protect the territorial integrity and security of
Iraq.' The memorandum of understanding was signed late Tuesday in
Tehran where Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obaidi is holding talks
with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dahqan. 'The two sides stressed
the need for consultations to ensure security, because terrorism
affects not only security in Iraq but security throughout the region,'
the statement added." http://t.uani.com/1B44ngg
Human Rights
Reuters:
"The United States called on Tuesday for the release of U.S.
citizens held in Iran, but denied a report that Washington had proposed
a prisoner exchange for a former U.S. Marine. A lawyer for Amir
Hekmati, an Iranian-American former Marine jailed in Tehran, was quoted
in a report on Tuesday on Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency as
saying that the United States had sought his release through a prisoner
swap. 'Those reports are not accurate,' U.S. State Department spokesman
Jeff Rathke told a news briefing. 'The U.S. government has not proposed
a prisoner exchange for Mr Hekmati ... We do however call on the
Iranian government to release Amir Hekmati immediately, as well as
detained U.S. citizens Saeed Abedini and Jason Rezaian, and to assist
us in locating Robert Levinson.'" http://t.uani.com/1vFSSpJ
IranWire:
"A civil rights and environmental activist has been given a
three-year suspended prison sentence. Security forces arrested Mohammad
Sadiq Manguri in November after he took part in a protest in support of
a popular Kurdish singer, Hassan Zirak. The Kordpa site reported that
the Revolutionary Court tried Manguri, who is secretary of the
environmental preservation and conservation society in Mahabad and a
prominent Kurdish civil rights activist, without his lawyer being
present. Judicial authorities have not issued Manguri with a formal
verdict. Manguri, 33, and a number of other activists took to the
streets after a local television station conducted a public survey
about Kurdish pop singer Hassan Zirak, who died over 40 years ago.
Activists say the poll, which was broadcast on the channel, defamed and
deliberately insulted the singer, who is considered a hero by many
Kurds." http://t.uani.com/1x3MEV9
Domestic
Politics
Al-Monitor:
"On Dec. 27, 2009, demonstrators took to the streets to protest
the results of the June 2009 presidential elections, which they claimed
were rigged in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was
one of the bloodiest days of the so-called Green Movement protests that
shook the Islamic Republic of Iran. Inflaming tensions further, the
date fell on Ashoura, a Shiite holy day and a sensitive one for the
government. Three days later on Dec. 30, 9 Dey in the Iranian calendar,
pro-government protesters took the streets in a show of force to
condemn Green Movement protesters, who they claimed were being
supported by foreigners, particularly the United States, Britain and
Israel. The Green Movement protests that day became known as the
Ashoura protests and the pro-government protests three days later
became known simply as 9 Dey. The anniversary of 9 Dey is now a
significant date for the Iranian media. Many officials give interviews
about its significance, state television runs specials surrounding the
events and social media becomes particularly active. Many
conservative-linked social media pages shared political cartoons
showing the Green Movement protesters as agents of foreign
governments." http://t.uani.com/1vstRxh
Mehr (Iran):
"The secretary of Iran's Judiciary Human Rights Council has
praised the country's police as being world's cleanest police forces.
Mohammad Javad Ardeshir Larijani, who was addressing a high-level
coordination meeting of the Council on Tuesday, said that inglorious
conduct of the US police in handling the colored people recently stood
in clear distinction when compared with the Iranian police, which he
described as being 'free of racial discrimination and ethnic
impartiality.'" http://t.uani.com/1EIzC4y
RFE/RL:
"Severe air pollution in Iran's capital, Tehran, has put nearly
400 people in hospitals with heart and respiratory problems. Hassan
Abbas, a Tehran emergency services official, said on December 30 that
the city's dirty air had caused another 1,434 people to be treated in
their homes for similar problems." http://t.uani.com/1B44Yia
Opinion &
Analysis
Jeffrey Goldberg
in The Atlantic: "In an interview in late 2006, I
asked then-Senator Barack Obama to talk about the challenges to
rational deterrence theory posed by the behavior of rogue states.
'Whatever you want to say about the Soviets,' Obama answered, 'they
were essentially conservative. The North Korean regime and the Iranians
are driven more by ideology and fantasy.' Earlier this year, I asked
Obama the following question: 'What is more dangerous: Sunni extremism
or Shia extremism?' His answer was revealing, suggestive of an
important change in the way he has come to view the Iranian regime. He
started by saying, as would be expected, 'I'm not big on extremism
generally.' And then he argued-in part by omission-that he finds the
principal proponent of Shiite extremism, the regime in Tehran, more
rational, and more malleable, than the main promoters of Sunni
radicalism. 'I don't think you'll get me to choose on those two
issues,' he said. 'What I'll say is that if you look at Iranian
behavior, they are strategic, and they're not impulsive. They have a
worldview, and they see their interests, and they respond to costs and
benefits. And that isn't to say that they aren't a theocracy that
embraces all kinds of ideas that I find abhorrent, but they're not
North Korea. They are a large, powerful country that sees itself as an
important player on the world stage, and I do not think has a suicide
wish, and can respond to incentives. And that's the reason why they
came to the table on sanctions.' Since becoming president, Obama has
made the argument that Iran could be induced, cajoled, and pressured
into compromise, a view that has been proven provisionally, partially,
correct: Sanctions, plus Obama's repeated (and, to my mind, at least,
credible) threat of military action, convinced Iran to temporarily halt
many aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions
relief. But Obama and his international partners have been less
successful at bringing Iran to permanent denuclearization... As Iran
and its interlocutors move into what stands to be the fateful year for
these negotiations, a credible deal does not look to be achievable; so
far, at least, the Iranians seem unwilling to make the truly creative
concessions necessary to meet the West's minimum requirements.
Especially if a deal is ultimately proven to be unachievable, another
question will arise: Is the price the U.S. has paid to reach this
elusive deal too high? An admirable aspect of Obama's foreign-policy
making is his ability to coolly focus on core issues to the exclusion
of what he considers to be extraneous matters. This is also, however, a
non-admirable aspect of his policymaking, in particular when the
subject at hand is Iran's role in supporting the killer Assad regime in
Syria. Obama seems to believe that a nuclear deal is, in a way, like
Casaubon's key to all mythologies: Many good things, he believes, could
flow from a nuclear compromise. In an interview last week with NPR's
Steve Inskeep, the president suggested that a nuclear agreement would
help Iran become 'a very successful regional power that was also
abiding by international norms and international rules.' This, he said,
'would be good for everybody. That would be good for the United States,
that would be good for the region, and most of all, it would be good
for the Iranian people.' This is a wonderful notion, the idea that the
end of Iran's isolation could lead it to moderate its more extreme
impulses. But there isn't much in the way of proof to suggest that
Iran's rulers are looking to join an international order whose norms
are defined by the United States and its allies. In fact, there is
proof of something quite opposite: Iran seems as interested as ever in
becoming a regional hegemon, on its own terms. And its supreme leader,
and his closest confidants, have made it clear, over and over again,
that he is not interested in normalizing relations with the United
States. Across the greater Middle East, Iran's efforts to extend its
influence have been blunt and brutal: It supports Shiite insurrections
in Yemen and Bahrain; it attempts to manipulate Lebanese politics
through its Beirut-based proxy, Hezbollah; it intervenes in Gaza and
against the already-fading hope for a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Arab crisis; and certainly its unceasing threats to eradicate a
fellow member-state of the United Nations, Israel, suggest that Iran's
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has a vision for Iran that
differs from Obama's. But nothing underscores the Iranian regime's
imperialistic, hegemonic nature more than its support for the Assad
regime in Damascus. Without Iran's assistance, Assad would have fallen
a long time ago. The death toll in Syria is more than 200,000; half of
Syria's population has been displaced. These dark achievements of the
Assad regime would not have been possible without Iran. Thousands of
Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops and advisers,
plus Iranian weaponry, have made all the difference for Assad... Gary
Samore, a former Obama administration official who was in charge of the
National Security Council's Iran nuclear file, told me this month that
he would use Iran's deep exposure in Syria to U.S. advantage.
'Confronting Iran forcefully in Syria and Iraq increases chances for a
nuclear deal because Iran will only meet our nuclear demands if it
feels weak and vulnerable,' Samore wrote in an email. 'Conversely,
Iran's sense that it is winning in Syria and that it is indispensable
in Iraq decreases chances for a nuclear because the Supreme Leader
won't make nuclear concessions if he feels strong and ascendant.' Is it
likely that Obama will move toward a policy of containing Iran in
Syria, and away from his more accommodationist stance? Arab states that
count Iran as an enemy and the U.S. as a friend have asked him
repeatedly over the past two years to treat Iran as a root cause of the
Syrian catastrophe. But Obama appears focused solely on achieving a
nuclear deal with Iran, in part because he seems to believe that Iran
is ready to play the part of rational and constructive actor, rather
than extremist would-be hegemon. I hope he's right, and I hope he
achieves a strong nuclear deal, but I worry that he is empowering an
Iranian government that isn't about to change in any constructive way.
In the meantime, the Iranian regime continues to get away, quite
literally, with murder." http://t.uani.com/1EIBDgY
Bill Spindle in
WSJ: "For Iran, 2015 is shaping up to be a
make-or-break year for two of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's
biggest foreign-policy projects: achieving recognition for the
country's nuclear program and spreading his country's sway across the
Middle East. As the former goal has received most of the international
attention, the latter has progressed steadily. 'Iran's biggest asset is
staying power and strategic patience,' said Emile Hokayem, an analyst
with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. 'They're
deploying in the region the expertise and experience they've built up over
decades.' Yet Iran's successes have come with major costs that likely
will become even more apparent in the coming year. Iranian support and
guidance, as well as legions of allied Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon,
have been decisive in bolstering the regime of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad. But while Tehran has been girding Mr. Assad against what once
looked like long odds of survival, the regime has lost control of more
than one-third of its territory and perhaps an even greater share of
its population. It has little prospect of regaining either. Likewise in
Iraq, which like Iran has a Shiite majority, Tehran's consolidated
influence since the U.S. troop withdrawal in 2011 has contributed to
sectarian polarization and left the government dependent on Iranian-backed
militias to fight the Sunni extremist group Islamic State. With Iran's
economy crippled by the double whammy of international sanctions and
falling oil prices, Syria and Iraq will become even more of a burden in
2015. In the end, Mr. Khamenei's two big projects could merge into one
during 2015 or diverge. A nuclear deal with world powers could open the
door to further cooperation with the U.S. in Iraq and Syria. But
failure to strike such a deal could spark new tensions on all fronts
between Iran and the international community." http://t.uani.com/1xvCwq6
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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