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Politico:
"Democrats and Republicans in Congress are both claiming victory by
cornering President Barack Obama to sign an Iran bill he didn't want. But
the White House says that misses the point: The final legislation was
narrowed enough that it's not going to stand in their way or do anything
to upset the ongoing negotiations in Switzerland. And interviews with
Democratic lawmakers suggest there's slim chance that they'd be willing
to go any further to scuttle a nuclear deal. While Capitol Hill now has
an avenue to block Obama from lifting legislative sanctions on Iran - a
precondition of any agreement to curb its ability to build a bomb - now
that they feel they've asserted constitutional prerogatives, Democratic
senators are moving away from a confrontation... White House officials
believe they got the best outcome possible, and they need to hold just 34
Democrats in the Senate or 144 in the House to keep Republicans from
getting in its way. 'Given the noise of this debate, it quickly became in
our interest to channel that noise in a direction where it can be
contained,' a White House official said Wednesday. 'We concluded that
we're just better off locking them into a position so they can have their
say - that's the compromise - but the benefit is there's no longer any
ambiguity about what Congress can do to interfere. This is the only
vehicle, the vote will only be on sanctions, there's a limit on the
timing.'" http://t.uani.com/1aAj54T
NYT:
"In his assertions of executive power to advance his agenda in an
era of gridlock, President Obama has been largely on offense. But his
latest battle with Congress not only left him on defense, it actually
broke the gridlock. Against him. Mr. Obama's abrupt decision to sign a
compromise version of legislation on Iran that he had previously vowed to
veto was a bruising retreat in his larger campaign to act without
Congress's getting in his way. In this case, partisanship gave way to
rare consensus on Capitol Hill: Both sides agreed that he was wrong to
cut them out. The White House tried to make the best of the setback,
arguing that the bipartisan bill was less objectionable than the initial
draft. But the president's concession in the face of potentially
veto-proof majorities underscored that even his fellow Democrats believed
he had overreached in trying to operate on his own. And it suggested that
he may be approaching the outer boundaries of his authority with 21
months left in office." http://t.uani.com/1zkoS4X
AP:
"President Vladimir Putin sternly urged the West to respect Russia's
interests in global affairs and defended his move to sanction the
delivery of a long-range air defense missile system to Iran during a
marathon TV call-in show with the nation... Turning to foreign policy
issues, Putin said his decision to lift a 2010 Russian ban on the
delivery of the powerful S-300 air defense missile system to Iran
followed a tentative deal on ending the Iranian nuclear standoff reached
by Tehran and six world powers earlier this month. He said Iran should be
rewarded for showing 'a great degree of flexibility and a desire to reach
compromise' in the talks. He said the S-300 is a defensive weapon that
shouldn't pose any threat to Israel, and may in fact serve as 'a
deterrent factor in connection with the situation in Yemen.'" http://t.uani.com/1DnqaQC
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
AFP:
"Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that US President Barack
Obama was 'responsible' for making sure that Washington respects a final
agreement over Iran's nuclear programme even though Congress has been
given a say on the accord's fate. 'It is the obligation of the government
of the United States to implement its international agreements. And we
will hold the US government, the US president accountable' for the
application of the treaties that they sign, Mohammad Javad Zarif told
journalists in Lisbon. He was reacting to a move by the US Senate foreign
relations committee on Tuesday giving the green light to a bill that
would give Congress the right to review a possible final agreement on the
Iranian nuclear issue. Zarif, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said Iran
would study the bill 'to see if it infringes upon or hinders the
capability of the president to carry out the obligations that he is going
to assume with Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/1COWppi
AFP:
"Major world powers and Iran will hold fresh talks in Vienna on
April 22-23 to build on the framework accord reached on Tehran's
contested nuclear programme, the EU announced Thursday. The two sides
'will continue work towards a comprehensive solution to the Iranian
nuclear issue based on the key understandings reached in Switzerland on
April 2,' a statement said. The talks will take place at political
director level, involving first Helga Schmid of the EU's external affairs
arm and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. They will then be
joined by officials from the five UN Security Council members -- Britain,
China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany. 'In parallel,
experts will continue the work on the technical details necessary to
finalise the political work,' the statement said." http://t.uani.com/1yy0Skd
AFP:
"The UN atomic agency failed during talks in Tehran Wednesday to
resolve long-standing questions over Iran's alleged past efforts to
develop nuclear weapons, an Iranian official said. 'We discussed certain
solutions to resolve the two outstanding questions, and it was decided to
wind up the discussions at the next meeting,' said Reza Najafi, Iran's
ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, quoted by ISNA news
agency. 'We hope to reach this stage at the next session,' he said
without giving a date, at the end of a one-day visit by chief IAEA
inspector Tero Varjoranta and a team of experts. Iran had agreed to
answer agency enquiries about alleged explosive testing and research into
nuclear bomb making by last August." http://t.uani.com/1DLtTZJ
RFE/RL:
"Tired of waiting for the Foreign Ministry to shed light on a
historic framework nuclear agreement it reached with world powers, a
group of Iranian lawmakers has gone rogue and issued a list of
recommended changes to the deal... After dragging its feet, Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced on April 14 that its own fact
sheet was being prepared, with the supreme leader's blessing. But the
renegade lawmakers jumped the gun and released their own 'Recommended
Fact Sheet' that sees the deal much differently to Washington. The
12-point document, published by Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency on
April 15, covers some of the stickiest points in the deal. The document
says a final deal should be governed by the 'red lines' issued by Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that protect Tehran's 'nuclear
achievements.'" http://t.uani.com/1FO7rfk
WSJ:
"An Iranian legislator warned on Wednesday that Iran's parliament
could respond to the actions of the U.S. Congress by insisting on a role
of its own in the talks, potentially complicating them further. The
discussions are set to resume on April 21 following a three-week hiatus,
Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif said in Madrid on Tuesday. The
Iranian parliament was discussing a bill that would make Iran's approval
contingent on the immediate withdrawal of sanctions after the signing of
the pact, Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, the spokesman for the parliament's
national security and foreign policy committee, said in an interview with
state TV. 'The bill says removal of the sanctions is the condition for
the deal,' Mr. Hosseini said. 'If the U.S. Congress wants to meddle and
cause limitations for the deal, we will put it on vote in the
parliament.'" http://t.uani.com/1FXmTZn
The Hill:
"The State Department on Wednesday would not say whether sanctions
on Iran would be lifted immediately after a final nuclear deal is
reached, calling that a 'technical detail' that has yet to be resolved.
'I think we're in now an area of technical detail that is still to be
further negotiated,' said State Department acting deputy spokesman Jeff
Rathke. Facing repeated questions from reporters, Rathke would only say
that sanctions relief 'will come after Iran meets the key nuclear
requirements.'" http://t.uani.com/1zkEtRW
Cyber Warfare
NYT:
"In February, a year after the Las Vegas Sands was hit by a
devastating cyberattack that ruined many of the computers running its
casino and hotel operations, the director of national intelligence, James
R. Clapper Jr., publicly told Congress what seemed obvious: Iranian
hackers were behind the attack... Now a new study of Iran's
cyberactivities, to be released by Norse, a cybersecurity firm, and the
American Enterprise Institute, concludes that beyond the Sands attack,
Iran has greatly increased the frequency and skill of its cyberattacks,
even while negotiating with world powers over limits on its nuclear
capabilities. 'Cyber gives them a usable weapon, in ways nuclear
technology does not,' said Frederick W. Kagan, who directs the
institute's Critical Threats Project and is beginning a larger effort to
track Iranian cyberactivity. 'And it has a degree of plausible
deniability that is attractive to many countries.' Mr. Kagan argues that
if sanctions against Iran are suspended under the proposed nuclear
accord, Iran will be able to devote the revenue from improved oil exports
to cyberweapons." http://t.uani.com/1yvveU5
Congressional
Action
AP:
"For at least a few days, Washington may have actually worked. Republicans
and Democrats talked to each other. President Barack Obama and several
members of his administration conversed with lawmakers, too. As a result,
a Senate committee unanimously backed legislation to give Congress a say
in the Iran nuclear talks. In the biggest surprise of all, the White
House said Obama would sign the measure if it passed the full Congress.
For a capital city long stalled in gridlock, with the priorities of
Republicans and Democrats rarely overlapping, it was a rare burst of bipartisanship
- even if neither side wanted to admit it. It took Obama spokesman Josh
Earnest 45 minutes of questions from reporters before he acknowledged on
Tuesday that the president would sign the new Iran legislation. Even then
he said the White House wasn't 'particularly thrilled' with the outcome.
Republicans said the White House got boxed in when administration
officials realized they would lose if it came down to a vote on a tougher
Iran measure." http://t.uani.com/1NQ8LYV
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters:
"Austrian President Heinz Fischer will probably visit Iran this year
and may take a business delegation along should Tehran clinch a
definitive deal with world powers over its nuclear policy, he told a
newspaper. Fischer, who has a largely ceremonial role, accepted in
principle a year ago an invitation to visit Iran in what would be the
first trip for years by a Western head of state. Business leaders see the
thaw with Iran as a potentially big opportunity to improve commercial
ties once crippling economic sanctions over Iran's contested nuclear
program ease... 'Now that a framework agreement with Iran exists, a trip
in the second half of 2015 has become likely,' Fischer told the Wiener
Zeitung in an interview published on Thursday." http://t.uani.com/1FNZcjm
Reuters:
"An Indian delegation will visit Iran this week to scout for
investment opportunities ahead of an anticipated nuclear deal between the
OPEC-member and world powers that would soften sanctions against the
country, sources privy to the plan said. Officials from India's finance
and oil ministries and executives from ONGC Videsh and Mangalore Refinery
and Petrochemicals Ltd are part of the delegation that will hold meeting
with their Iranian counterparts on Saturday, the sources said. India is
Iran's biggest oil client after China although its imports from Tehran
have declined under pressure from western sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1b6wrqS
Bloomberg:
"When Mohammad Kolahi wanted to replace his French Peugeot sedan
this year, the Tehran business consultant looked east instead of west. A
friend was already driving a JAC J5, an Italian-designed four-door
assembled in Iran for Chinese carmaker Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co.
Kolahi paid 570 million rials ($20,300) for an automatic-transmission
version about a month ago -- or about 30 percent less than other
comparable new cars he considered... As Western automakers prepare to
re-enter the Middle East's highest-volume car market, they'll find a
landscape changed by new competitors from China. Led by Chery Automobiles
Co., Lifan Industry Group Co. and Jianghuai, the Chinese have benefited
from the vacuum left by the likes of PSA Peugeot Citroen, which once
counted Iran as its biggest market outside France. The Chinese will
probably boost their share of the Iranian market from about 1 percent in
2011 to about 9 percent of 1.17 million units in 2016, according to
researcher IHS Automotive... Chery, Lifan and Jianghuai all have local
partners that build cars in Iran from kits shipped from China. Chinese
companies' share of this segment also more than quadrupled to 8 percent
between 2011 and last year, IHS estimates." http://t.uani.com/1FY4JcA
Sanctions
Enforcement
News &
Observer: "An N.C. Senate committee voted
unanimously Tuesday for legislation that bans state government from
contracting with companies tied to Iran's energy sector. Senate Bill 455
would exercise an option given to states in federal law to cut business
connections to Iran over its nuclear program. It's sponsored by
Republican Sen. Rick Gunn of Burlington and backed by Lt. Gov. Dan
Forest, who spoke at Tuesday's committee meeting. 'We all know Iran has
supported terrorist groups,' Forest said. 'Iran's development of nuclear
weapons would be catastrophic to both Israel and the United States.' The
bill would direct the Secretary of State to develop a list of companies
with Iran ties. Representatives from State Treasurer Janet Cowell's
office said Iran divestment is already a formal policy, and it applies to
the state's retirement fund portfolio." http://t.uani.com/1czbo0k
Human Rights
IHR:
"At least 43 prisoners have been executed during the last three days
in Iran. A juvenile offender with serious mental illness was among the
five who were executed in Karaj on Wednesday. Reports indicate that more
mass-executions might take place in Karaj the coming weeks. Iran Human
Rights (IHR) strongly calls on the international community to immediately
react... In addition to Wednesday's executions, 37 prisoners have been
executed in the Rajaishahr and Ghezelhesar prisons of Karaj on Monday and
Tuesday 13 and 14 April. All these prisoners were convicted of
drug-related charges." http://t.uani.com/1GOLCC2
Opinion &
Analysis
WSJ Editorial:
"Vladimir Putin wasted no time turning President Obama's nuclear diplomacy
with Iran into a commercial opportunity, agreeing Monday to sell the
mullahs sophisticated air-defense missile systems. Now China plans to
join Russia in building new nuclear reactors for the Islamic Republic.
Oil-rich Iran has little need for the one nuclear power plant it already
has, in the coastal city of Bushehr, but it wants five more. The reactors
will open more paths to nuclear-weapons capability, with minimal
interruption from U.S.-led diplomacy. 'We have inked an agreement with
the Russians to construct two new nuclear power plants for the generation
of electricity, while the Chinese will also enter this arena soon,' said
Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, in
remarks published Tuesday in state media. China's role as Iran's nuclear
enabler dates to the 1980s, when Chinese specialists began helping Tehran
mine uranium and produce uranium hexafluoride, former Los Alamos official
Susan Voss has said. After Tehran came under United Nations sanctions in
2006, Chinese firms kept exporting proscribed metals and chemicals to
Iran anyway. In recent years China has been the main buyer of Iranian
oil, some purchased legally with sanctions exemptions and some smuggled
illicitly by sea, according to the group United Against Nuclear Iran.
Civilian nuclear power isn't illegal. Yet such reactors "can be
copious producers of plutonium suitable for nuclear weapons," notes
Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. He adds
that building a small clandestine reprocessing plant to extract the
plutonium 'is actually easier than putting up a centrifuge plant' such as
those Iran has at Natanz and Fordo. The power-plant proliferation risk
was proven in October 2012, when Iran unexpectedly removed fuel rods from
Bushehr containing up to 220 pounds of weapons-grade plutonium, or enough
for 24 Nagasaki-type nuclear bombs. U.S. intelligence officials scrambled
in response to increase their spying capabilities around Bushehr, but
drones and other tools can only see so much." http://t.uani.com/1DndGbL
Bruce Klingner in
TNI: The interim Iranian nuclear framework is a vague
accord with significant shortcomings. Moreover, the ink had barely dried
before Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei disputed the Obama
administration's depiction of what had been agreed to. Khamenei declared
that all sanctions against Iran must be removed immediately upon
signature of a final accord in three months. He also insisted that Iran
would not permit inspections of its military sites. Khamenei's comments
run counter to Obama administration claims that 'international inspectors
will have unprecedented access' to all Iranian nuclear facilities. The
administration had also asserted that Tehran agreed that United States,
EU, and UN sanctions would be 'retained for much of the duration of the
deal' and only incrementally reduced. We've been down this path before...
with North Korea. In September 2005, the Six Party Talks joint statement
was followed by dueling U.S. and North Korean press statements.
Portrayals of how quickly Washington would lift sanctions and remove
Pyongyang from the state sponsors of terrorism list diverged widely.
Given the similarities between the two sets of nuclear negotiations, the
Korean experience should provide hard-earned guidance for American
negotiators on how the Iranian agreement should be completed. http://t.uani.com/1D85nxk
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