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Sunday Times:
"Saudi Arabia has taken the 'strategic decision' to acquire 'off the
shelf' atomic weapons from Pakistan, risking a new arms race in the
Middle East, senior US officials say. The move by the Gulf kingdom, which
has financed much of Islamabad's nuclear program over the past three
decades, comes amid growing anger among Sunni Arab states over a deal
backed by US President Barack Obama, which they fear could allow Shia
Iran to develop a nuclear bomb... There are concerns that Saudi Arabia
joining the nuclear club might provoke Turkey and Egypt to follow suit.
'For the Saudis, the moment has come,' a former US defence official said.
'There has been a longstanding agreement in place with the Pakistanis and
the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.'
While the official did not believe 'any actual weaponry has been
transferred yet', it was clear 'the Saudis mean what they say and they
will do what they say', following last month's Iranian outline nuclear
deal. His assessment was echoed by a US intelligence official who said
'hundreds of people at Langley', the CIA's headquarters, were working to
establish whether Pakistan had already supplied nuclear technology or
even weaponry to Saudi Arabia. 'We know this stuff is available to them
off the shelf,' the intelligence official said." http://t.uani.com/1ETaEJY
Reuters:
"Iran is using its sea power in the Gulf to show it will not be
cowed by Washington's newly assertive Arab allies, prompting critics to
accuse Tehran of destabilizing the region. Iranian ships fired shots at a
Singapore-flagged tanker which it said damaged an Iranian oil platform,
causing the vessel to flee, and seized a container ship in the Strait of
Hormuz, the world's most important oil route, over a debt row. The incidents
coincided with a push by Washington to reassure Gulf Arab monarchies that
their interests would not be threatened by a nuclear accord that Tehran
and world powers are trying to reach by the end of June... 'Iran's recent
measures in the Strait of Hormuz have one clear message to Saudi Arabia.
No one can ignore Iran's key role,' said an Iranian official, who asked
not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. 'Whether reformist
or hardliner, Iranian leaders have consensus on securing Iran's influence
in the region,' said the official. 'They (the United States and its Gulf
allies) don't expect a key regional power like Iran to remain silent over
its aid ship being prevented from entering Yemen.'" http://t.uani.com/1FlR7VG
BBC:
"One key sentence in President Barack Obama's press conference at
Camp David last week clearly illustrates the gulf between Washington and
its allies on the Arabian Peninsula when it comes to Iran. 'We gave [our
allies] our best analysis of the enormous needs that Iran has internally
and the commitment that Iran has made to its people in terms of shoring
up its economy and improving economic growth,' said President Obama, when
asked about concerns that Iran would use the money from sanctions relief
for nefarious aims in the region. He added that 'most of the
destabilising activity that Iran engages in is low-tech, low-cost
activity'. It was just as well that Mr Obama gave the press conference on
his own. The Gulf leaders had just departed after a full day of talks at
the Maryland retreat or they would have had a hard time resisting a
collective eye roll at what they perceive to be American naivety about
Tehran... Lebanon's former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was scathing on a
recent visit to Washington about the administration's assertion that the
money from the sanctions relief would go to 'building bridges and roads'.
It's estimated that after a deal is reached and Iran is verifiably in
compliance, Tehran would get access to at least $100bn (£64bn). 'I want
to know how much of this money is going to Hezbollah,' said Mr
Hariri." http://t.uani.com/1EV2gcM
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Al-Monitor:
"The underground enrichment facility of Fordow in the religious city
of Qom has become a point of contention in Tehran. Alaeddin Borujerdi,
the head of the parliament's influential National Security and Foreign
Policy Committee, and Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy adviser to
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have both criticized the US
position in the nuclear talks over the highly sensitive issue. In an
interview posted on the supreme leader's website May 17, when Velayati
was asked for examples of 'repeated breaches of pledges by the
Americans,' he said, 'For example, about Fordow, after our negotiation
team made many efforts, they accepted an agreement. But after, the next
time they came to the negotiating table, they said something else, which
was different from their previous comments - meaning they were not even
bound to their own comments. A more interesting point is that the
Americans did not act on what they presented themselves in their own fact
sheet about Fordow and the next time they sat down in negotiations, they
said something opposed to their own fact sheet.' ... Velayati's comments
that the United States has backtracked on its fact sheet on Fordow are
interesting because he has been one of the more vocal proponents of a
comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council plus Germany, and also because Iran has been very
critical of the fact sheet since its release." http://t.uani.com/1dhxo0B
Mehr (Iran):
"Iran's FM dismissed the possibility of inspection of Iran's
military sites as part of the deal with the 5+1. After meeting with his
Hungarian counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
showed up for a press conference and answered the questions raised by
correspondents. In response to a question asked by Mehr News Agency's
reporter about letting IAEA inspectors into military sites including
Parchin military complex as an enforcement of the IAEA's Additional
Protocol to the NPT, Zarif restated Iran's approach to international
relations was based on mutual respect and protection of national
interests and rejected speculations that a unique version of law would be
implemented for Iran as it should be treated like other countries bound
to international regulations." http://t.uani.com/1Frl7ks
Sanctions Relief
Reuters:
"A senior Israeli official took a swipe at Washington on Tuesday
over Iran's purchase of second-hand civilian aircraft, saying the
acquisition violated U.S. sanctions and went ahead despite a tip-off from
Israel. Iranian Transport Minister Abbas Akhoondi was quoted on May 11 by
the Iranian Students News Agency as saying Tehran bought 15 used
commercial planes in the last three months. He did not say who sold them
or how they had been acquired... 'Israel learned from intelligence
sources about this very significant breach of the sanctions in advance of
it occurring,' the Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
told Reuters. 'We flagged the issue to the U.S. administration,' the
official said. 'Unfortunately, the deal still went through and there was
no success in preventing it.' ... The Israeli official's comments
appeared to be an attempt to portray the United States as being lax in
enforcing current economic restrictions even as it promises to reimpose
them if Iran fails to honor terms of a nuclear deal now under negotiation
with six world powers including Washington." http://t.uani.com/1Gmd5tS
Trend:
"A top Iran oil official says that during last year, Japanese
tankers returned to Iran, but during the last few months, Turkish and
Chinese tankers have come back to Iran's ports increasingly... A top
official told Mehr News Agency anonymously on May 15 that the contracted
tankers with Iran's client refineries in Japan have returned to Iranian
ports since last year, while the contracted tankers of Chinese and
Turkish refiners also started coming back to transit Iranian oil
recently." http://t.uani.com/1R0bRrn
Terrorism
AP:
"An adviser to Iran's supreme leader is dismissing accusations that
he masterminded Argentina's worst terrorist attack and says that he and
the Islamic Republic are innocent. Ali Akbar Velayati, who was foreign
minister of Iran at the time of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish
community center in Buenos Aires, is now an adviser to Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei. Former Iranian officials have been on an Interpol capture list
for years, but Argentine prosecutors have never been able to question
them. Iran has long denied any role in the unsolved bombing that left 85
people dead. Velayati said in an interview with Argentina's C5N TV channel
broadcast late Monday that he is innocent of the accusation that he
masterminded the attack, as is his country. 'We believe that this is a
baseless accusation, false - a lie.' 'Argentina is under the influence of
Zionism and the United States,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1Jws9WJ
Iraq Crisis
NYT:
"As Shiite militiamen began streaming toward Ramadi on Monday to try
to reverse the loss of the city to the Islamic State, the defeat has
given new momentum to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's rivals within his
own Shiite political bloc... At every turn he has been thwarted by
powerful Shiite leaders with links to Iran, including Mr. Maliki. Now,
the latest setback in Ramadi has given Mr. Abadi's rivals even more
ammunition. Some Shiite politicians, including Mr. Maliki, and powerful
militia leaders linked to Iran, whose fighters are now preparing to fight
in Anbar, have become increasingly critical of Mr. Abadi... 'Iran is
using Maliki against Abadi,' said a diplomat in Baghdad with close ties
to the Iranians who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain
relationships in the capital. 'They don't want Abadi to become
pro-Western. The Iranians want Abadi weak.' ... Hanan Fatlawi, a Shiite
lawmaker who is one of Mr. Abadi's most vocal critics, said: 'Previously,
you could divide the Shia into two sides: those who hate Iran and those
who love them. But after the entrance of ISIS, and with the situation we
are in, many people are grateful to Iran. Their opinion changed.'" http://t.uani.com/1EhhfgJ
Syria Conflict
Reuters:
"A top aide to Iran's leader met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on
Tuesday, Syrian state TV said, appearing to underline firm Iranian
support for Damascus as it faces mounting pressure from insurgents in a
four-year-old civil war. Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and a former foreign minister, was
the most senior of three Iranian officials to travel to Damascus in less
than a week... On Monday Rustom Qasemi, head of an Iranian agency tasked
with developing bilateral economic relations, visited Assad and said
Tehran wanted to shore up Syria economically. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head
of Iran's parliamentary national security and foreign policy committee,
also reiterated Iranian support for Syria's government in a visit last
week." http://t.uani.com/1KhV4ix
AP:
"Syria's official news agency says Iran is extending a credit line
to make up for market needs and reports that the two countries have
signed several agreements in the fields of electricity, industry, oil and
investment. The new credit was announced Tuesday during a visit to
Damascus by Ali Akbar Velayati, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." http://t.uani.com/1JWY8xk
Yemen Crisis
Reuters:
"A Yemen-bound Iranian aid ship is not being escorted by Iranian
warships and is due to arrive in the port of Hodaida Thursday, two
foreign activists on board the vessel told Reuters on Tuesday...
Christoph Horstel, a German political activist on board the vessel, said
it was not being escorted. 'It is a purely humanitarian mission. There is
no ship accompanying us - let alone any Iranian warships,' he said. 'As I
look at the horizon, there is no ship at all and during the whole trip
there was never any warship,' said Horstel, who previously worked for
Germany's TV ARD... Iran's Tasnim news agency Monday quoted the Iran
Shahed's captain as saying two Iranian warships had begun escorting the
ship. Deputy Chief of Iran's Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud
Jazayeri said last week that any attack on the ship would spark a
regional war." http://t.uani.com/1FlQDz4
Human Rights
WashPost:
"Iran's judiciary plans to open the trial next week of the
Washington Post's bureau chief in Tehran after being detained nearly 10
months on charges that include 'espionage,' his lawyer said Tuesday.
Iran's Fars news agency, which also reported the scheduled May 26 trial
date, did not note whether the proceedings in a Revolutionary Court
against Jason Rezaian would be open to the public. The court, which hears
cases involving state security, normally conducts its hearings in closed
session. The Post's executive editor, Martin Baron, urged the court to
open the trial to public scrutiny and denounced the 'contemptible
prosecution' of Rezaian, who has been detained since July 22 and allowed
only a single meeting with his lawyer - held in the presence of official
translators. 'The serious criminal charges that Jason now faces in Iran's
Revolutionary Court are not supported by a single fact,' Baron said in a
statement." http://t.uani.com/1JWZSqm
ICHRI:
"A young civil activist who has been held at Evin Prison since
October 2014 has been sentenced to seven years in prison at her
interrogator's urging, a source close to the case told the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, for her Facebook postings and her
participation in peaceful gatherings. Atena Daemi, 27, who was held for
several months under 'temporary detention' despite her lawyer's repeated
requests for her release on bail, was prosecuted under four charges:
'assembly and collusion against national security,' 'propaganda against
the state,' 'insulting the Supreme Leader and the sacred,' and
'concealing crime evidence' by a Tehran Revolutionary Court. Daemi did
not accept any of her charges and has since appealed the court's ruling.
'All charges are based on her posts on Facebook, information stored on
her cellular phone, and her participation in gatherings against the death
penalty and gatherings in support of the children of Kobane [in Syria],'
the source told the Campaign. Daemi and her lawyer were informed of the
sentence on May 12." http://t.uani.com/1EZGLbV
Amnesty:
"Atena Farghadani is a prisoner of conscience, detained and facing
years in prison for her peaceful activism. 28-year-old Atena will be
tried on 19 May on charges including 'spreading propaganda against the
system' and 'insulting members of parliament through paintings'. We've
been calling on Iran's Supreme Leader and Head of the Judiciary to
release Atenda immediately - she has committed no crime. More than 33,000
of you signed our petition to the Iranian authorities calling for Atena's
release. We are monitoring her case and hope her trial sees Atena
released. If not, we'll continue to fight for her freedom." http://t.uani.com/1IJaBaL
Foreign Affairs
AP:
"A delegation from Afghanistan's Taliban has arrived in Iran to
discuss the situation of Afghan migrants and issues in the Islamic world,
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday. The report said
the delegation arrived in Iran on Monday and was headed by Muhammad
Tayyab Agha, who is in charge of the Taliban's political bureau in Qatar.
It says the delegation met Iranian security officials and that similar
delegations have visited Iran twice in the past." http://t.uani.com/1JwpX1u
Opinion &
Analysis
Bret Stephens in
WSJ: "Ben Rhodes, President Obama's deputy national
security adviser, has been offering a reassuring view of the Iranian
nuclear deal in the face of some Arab skepticism. 'If you can
diplomatically and peacefully resolve the nuclear issue in a way that
prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,' he told reporters last
week, 'we believe that will lead to a much more stable region.' Mr.
Rhodes also contends that with a deal 'there will be no need to see [a]
regional arms race.' So what's more frightening: That Mr. Rhodes believes
what he's saying? Or that he does not? Just for Mr. Rhodes's benefit,
here's a refresher course on stability and the arms race in the Middle
East since April 2, 2015, the day Mr. Obama announced his framework
nuclear agreement with Iran... I recount these events not just to
illustrate the distance between Ben Rhodes's concept of reality and
reality itself. It's also a question of speed. The Middle East, along
with our position in it, is unraveling at an astonishing pace. Reckless
drivers often don't notice how fast they're going until they're about to
crash. We are near the point where there will be no walking back the
mistakes we have made. No walking away from them, either. It takes a
special innocence to imagine that nothing in life is irreversible, that
everything can be put right, that fanaticism yields to reason and facts
yield to wishes, and that the arc of Mideast history bends toward
justice. Ben Rhodes, and the administration he represents and typifies,
is special." http://t.uani.com/1FlVbFx
Reps. Grace Meng
(D-NY) & Lee Zeldin (R-NY) in NYPost: "The
negotiations over Iran's nuclear program have engendered furious debate
in Washington and in capitals across the world. But there are steps
outside of the nuclear talks that President Obama can take to help ensure
that the United States and its allies are stronger and more secure the
day after a deal than they were the day before. One such step would be to
provide Israel with GBU-57 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs (known as the
Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs) and the means to carry them, in a
quantity sufficient to destroy Iran's most deeply buried nuclear sites.
At present, Israel possesses US-supplied 5,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
But experts doubt these bombs could seriously impede Iran's nuclear
development. On the other hand, there is little doubt that MOPs, which
Israel lacks, are capable of destroying Iran's nuclear sites. As Michael
Makovsky and Lt. Gen. David Deptula noted in a 2014 Wall Street Journal
op-ed, the Defense Department has MOPs to spare, aircraft in storage that
could carry the MOP payload and legal authority to transfer such arms to
the Israelis. A longstanding component of America's Iran policy has been
a credible military threat to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear
weapon. Many contend that the credibility of this threat has waned, and
that Iran is now more assured than ever that it will not be attacked.
Providing Israel with a stronger capability to destroy Iran's nuclear
facilities would help deter Iran from ever trying to break any agreement
it may sign. Transferring MOPs to Israel would also help assuage the
concerns of Congress and our Middle East allies, who are wary of the emerging
deal. President Obama will need to take measures to strengthen the
security of our allies and ensure Congress that he is negotiating from a
position of strength. Transferring MOPs to Israel would help the
president achieve these objectives. Because the MOPs are outside the
scope of the negotiations, Iran is in no position to object to
transferring them to the Israelis. Iran continues to expand Hezbollah's
arsenal, placing all of Israel's population centers within range of
Hezbollah rockets. Iran supports the Assad regime in Syria and Hamas in
the Gaza Strip. It supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have
violently overthrown a democratically elected government. It propagates
violence and terrorism throughout the Middle East... The transfer of MOPs
would not by itself resolve the Iranian nuclear question. Nor would it
lessen the need for any deal to ensure that Iran has no technical path to
a nuclear weapon. But it would enable the United States to negotiate from
a position of strength - and remain in a position of strength long after
the negotiations. It is one of several tools with which the president
could pave the path to a strong, sustainable nuclear agreement with Iran,
a more secure Israel and a more stable Middle East." http://t.uani.com/1GmiWzj
Jennifer Rubin in
WashPost: "Like President Obama, Sen. Rand Paul
(R-Ky.), appearing on 'Meet the Press,' sees two choices: We make a deal
with Iran, or we go to war unless we want a nuclear-armed Iran. ('Once
you're done with negotiations, the choices are war, or they get a weapon,
and I don't wanna have just those two binary choices.') ... Former
defense secretary Robert Gates, appearing on 'Face the Nation,'
explained, 'Well, I don't think the alternative is war. One alternative
is better deal. I think that you go back to the sanctions, I think you
reinforce the sanctions, and you basically say, here are the additional
things we need for this agreement to work and to be worthwhile, and an
agreement that reassures our allies or at least doesn't scare them half
to death. If they choose not to come back to the negotiations, but to
race to a nuclear weapon, well my guess is that will show that they
intended to do that all along. Despite all their protestations, that they
have no interest in a nuclear weapon, but I think - I think that there is
a potential for a better deal.' You can be certain as we draw close to
the June 30 deadline the White House, as it has with each deadline, will,
just like Paul, offer this same false choice. And they'll claim that as bad
as this deal is it is the best we can do. That's a far cry from 'No deal
is better than a bad deal,' and it's also unprovable. Had the president
hung tough on key positions, had he increased sanctions, had he toppled
Bashar al-Assad (and, therefore, have heightened worry in Tehran) and had
he made military force a viable option, we could well have been in a
superior bargaining position. Since Obama will, we fear, never walk away
to pursue sanctions and a better deal, Congress, argues Sen. Lindsey
Graham (R-S.C.), must nix a bad deal. He suggests a number of provisions
that must be in any deal... Indeed there is widespread bipartisan
agreement excluding the far right and left that there is a better way
than acquiescing to a bad deal. Here's a thought: Put Graham's
suggestions in a resolution and get Congress on record as advising the
president of the minimum requirement for approving a deal. Sen. Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.) said he'd be open to further actions and this seems to
be one that would stiffen the president's spine, educate the public and
prevent a bad deal. Once that is passed, the Senate can take a vote on
Menendez-Kirk, something Menendez and 11 other Senate Democrats said they
would do after the March framework deadline passed. Then Iran will have
the choice it should have faced long ago: A deal removing its nuclear
infrastructure or debilitating sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1AcFQIx
Eli Lake &
Josh Rogin in Bloomberg: "As Iraq's Shiite militias
gather on the outskirts of Ramadi in preparation for battle, a key Sunni
tribal leader and opponent of Islamic State is warning against the
militias' participation. Sheikh Abdulrazzaq al-Dulaym said of the groups:
'We warned of the popular organization entering Anbar and specifically
Ramadi. If they enter now, it will cause a civil war.' Speaking Monday at
the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, the sheikh said it was for
Sunni Arabs in Iraq to take back Ramadi and not for the militias
supported by Iran. Abdulrazzaq is important for Washington. His father
was the chief of the Dulaym tribe, the largest tribe that populates the
territory seized by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The last time
the U.S. defeated jihadists like the Islamic State, the sheikh's
assistance was valuable. He turned on the group's predecessor
organization, al-Qaeda in Iraq. This time around, he's offering to fight
again even though many other Dulaym sheikhs today are allied with the
terrorists... The sheikh said he was particularly worried because these
militias are so close to Iran. 'The Iraqi government is trying to give
legitimacy to this popular mobilization,' he said, using a term for the
Shiite militias. 'It's not a secret; everyone knows it. Iranian officials
and generals are leading this popular mobilization.' In February, we
reported from Iraq on how much power these militias exercised even
over Iraq's military and the close ties between the militias and
Iran. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters Monday that
there's no other option than to rely on the Shia militias if Islamic
State is to be defeated in Ramadi. 'The militias have a part to play in
this. As long as they are controlled by the central Iraqi government,
then they will participate,' Warren said. But on Capitol Hill, lawmakers
warned that the Iranian-backed militias' entry into Ramadi would do more
harm than good. 'Whatever operational success Shia militias may have in
Anbar would be far exceeded by the strategic damage caused by their
violent sectarianism and the fear and suspicion it breeds among Iraqi
Sunnis,' Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a statement...
Sheikhs like Abdulrazzaq worry now about how to defeat the Islamic State
in places like Baiji and Ramadi without empowering Iran's Islamic
Republic." http://t.uani.com/1PTKHA7
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