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WSJ:
"Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that the
U.S. and other arrogant powers couldn't be trusted, as the deadline
approaches for a nuclear deal that could result in the easing of
international sanctions against Iran. 'We see how it is impossible to
trust the promises of the arrogants,' he said, 'and how we can't rely on
words said in private meetings.' Mr. Khamenei, who has the final say over
most matters of state in Iran, made the comments in a speech marking the
anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the driving
force behind the country's Islamic revolution in 1979. On Thursday, he
said the guidance of Mr. Khomeini, who preceded him as Iran's supreme
leader, showed that global powers 'should not be trusted at all.'" http://t.uani.com/1Fw8aSQ
AFP:
"Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Thursday for
unity in the Muslim world in order to counter 'oppression' from the West,
on the anniversary of his predecessor's death. In a speech marking 26
years since the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the
Islamic republic, Khamenei also ruled out any warming of ties with the
United States, one of several world powers negotiating a nuclear deal
with Tehran. 'We must pay attention to conspiracies seeking to divide on
the basis of religion, between Shiites and Sunnis, or on an ethnic
basis,' he said. Khamenei praised Khomeini for having coined the term
'the Great Satan' to refer to the United States, with which diplomatic
ties have been severed since 1980. Khamenei, who has the final say on all
state matters in Iran, expressed doubt over the sincerity of the world
powers to strike a nuclear deal with Tehran. 'In recent events, we have
seen that we cannot have confidence in the promises of the oppressors and
their declarations during private meetings,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1Mp5GdZ
WSJ:
"The White House is advancing a strategy in coming weeks to manage
multiple fronts of opposition to President Barack Obama securing a
nuclear deal with Iran by the end of the month. But some of the
administration's toughest challenges are likely to come after
negotiations are complete, when a deal risks unraveling under domestic
political pressures in the U.S. and Iran. Mr. Obama has succeeded so far
in tamping down opposition in Congress and among America's Middle East
allies to allow negotiations to proceed. The key details still left to be
resolved by a June 30 deadline, particularly on inspections, sanctions
relief and future nuclear abilities, will determine whether the president
is able to maintain that dynamic in the event of a final deal. 'The
remaining details could easily be determinative in terms of giving either
potential supporters a good reason to vote to sustain the agreement or
giving the opposition a much stronger argument for opposing it,' said
Gary Samore, a nuclear expert at Harvard University's Belfer Center for
Science and International Affairs who was the top nonproliferation
official in Mr. Obama's first term, during an event Wednesday at the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars. 'These last remaining issues
are not just marginal, technical details for the nuclear geeks. I think
they have important political ramifications,' Mr. Samore said." http://t.uani.com/1KOD4g6
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Reuters:
"Iran and six world powers resumed negotiations on its nuclear
program on Thursday, the Iranian state news agency IRNA said, seeking to
overcome remaining differences with a self-imposed June 30 deadline
looming to end a 12-year standoff... 'We have a few weeks and hope to
reach a final deal by the June 30 deadline or even sooner,' IRNA quoted
Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi as saying after his arrival
in Vienna to resume the talks. 'There has been progress but still we have
a difficult way ahead of us.' ... 'Inspection and access to non-nuclear
and military sites will not be accepted by Iran. Controlled and managed
access does not mean inspection,' Araqchi said. 'We are trying to set
some rules for managed access to non-nuclear sites.'" http://t.uani.com/1Fw8WPM
AFP:
"Top US officials gathered Wednesday in Vienna to resume nuclear
talks with Iran as the Austrian capital hunkered down to host the
negotiations ahead of a June 30 deadline. Under Secretary of State Wendy
Sherman will lead America's delegation to a new round of talks Thursday
with global powers in the Austrian capital, US officials said. She was
meeting with her counterparts from the P5+1 group on Wednesday, before
Thursday's talks with the Iranian team led by senior Iranian negotiator
Abbas Araghchi. It had not yet been determined how long Sherman would
stay in Vienna, a State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said. 'We will
be sending people out to Vienna, as needed,' Harf said. 'But I expect
this will be where the action is on these talks for between now and June
30.'" http://t.uani.com/1Jt31zQ
Free Beacon:
"Iran is continuing to develop missiles capable of delivering
nuclear weapons despite an interim agreement on its nuclear programs,
according to a Pentagon report. 'Although Iran has paused progress in
some areas of its nuclear program and fulfilled its obligations under the
Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), it continues to develop technological
capabilities that also could be applicable to nuclear weapons, including
ballistic missile development,' a one-page unclassified summary of the
report says... Tehran's support for terrorism also has not stopped,
according to the Pentagon. 'Iran's covert activities appear to be
continuing unabated,' the report says. 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of lran's foreign policy
and power projection, particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and
Yemen.'" http://t.uani.com/1Il52j4
CSM:
"So why, as negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 powers near a June 30
deadline to agree on easing the sanctions in return for limits on the
nuclear program, is the Guard supporting an emerging deal? ... While some
in the Guard benefited from earlier years of sanctions, until about 2011,
the far more comprehensive measures imposed under President Barack Obama
- from curtailing Iran's oil exports to throttling its cash transactions
- have hurt even the big players. 'I think under the surface a lot of the
different businessmen who are connected to the [IRGC] are putting pressure
on Rouhani and his team to make sure these [nuclear] deals go through,
because it's hurting their pockets very deeply,' says Narges Bajoghli, a
PhD candidate at New York University who interviewed some 150 members of
the Guard and affiliated Basij militia over nine years of research."
http://t.uani.com/1eRdWbr
Sanctions
Relief
Bloomberg:
"European oil majors are for the first time openly declaring
interest in Iran in anticipation of a possible end to sanctions against
the country over its nuclear program. Leaders of Royal Dutch Shell Plc,
BP Plc and Total SA all said Wednesday they were ready to return to the
nation with the world's second-largest natural-gas reserves and
fourth-biggest oil cache, after similar comments by Italy's Eni SpA last
month... 'Iran is a wonderful country with a fantastic resource base,'
Ben van Beurden, chief executive officer of The Hague-based Shell, said
in an interview in Vienna at a conference of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries. 'As soon as there is legitimate
opportunity, we will be looking at Iran.' Everybody in the oil industry
wants to go back to Iran once the international sanctions have been
lifted, he said... After meeting [Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar]
Zanganeh for 45 minutes at the Iranian oil minister's hotel suite in
Vienna on Wednesday, Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said: 'We like Iran.' The
French executive added that until the sanctions are lifted, Total would
not discuss contracts or terms with Zanganeh. Like Pouyanne, most
executives are walking a fine line, showing their interest in Iran while
insisting that no negotiations are happening as long as the nuclear
sanctions remain in place." http://t.uani.com/1JodyOd
AFP:
"Hundreds of containers lie idle in the scorching sun that pounds
Iran's southeastern port of Chabahar, a free trade zone crippled by
decades of international sanctions. But against the backdrop of nuclear
talks between Tehran and world powers, authorities hope foreign investors
will finally wise up to the 'golden opportunity' of doing business in
Chabahar, Iran's only gateway to the Indian Ocean... For Chabahar Free
Zone (CFZ), an accord cannot come soon enough. The port is located in
Sistan-Baluchistan province and provides countries in southeast and
central Asia with a gateway to trade with Iran. A brochure lists 'the
golden investment opportunities' of doing business here, such as 20 years
of tax exemptions, reduced customs rights and a 100 percent guarantee on
invested capital and profits. About 2,000 companies already have a
presence in the free trade zone, which was first set up in 1994." http://t.uani.com/1Kc8Ja3
AFP:
"Iran's oil production could be lifted by one million barrels per
day (bpd) within half a year of Western sanctions being lifted, Oil
Minister Bijan Zanganeh forecast Wednesday. Zanganeh's forecast,
delivered before a looming June 30 deadline to finalise Iran's historic
nuclear power deal with world powers, was revealed at a two-day OPEC
seminar in Vienna ahead of the cartel's output meeting on Friday. Questioned
about the Islamic republic's oil output, he told delegates: 'We believe
that immediately, or after one month of lifting the sanctions, (we will
achieve) half a million (extra) barrels per day, and after 6-7 months we
will achieve one million barrels.' 'Iran, because of the sanctions and
limitations, has reduced production and exports.' Iran currently exports
1.3 million bpd, against 2.2 million bpd before the sanctions were
imposed about one decade ago." http://t.uani.com/1APIMLa
Terrorism
AP:
"Officials in Bahrain say they have busted a cell with ties to Iran
that is accused of carrying out bombings inside the tiny Gulf kingdom. A
statement issued late Tuesday on the official Bahrain News Agency said 10
people have been arrested and face charges including joining a terrorist
group, attempted murder and possessing and using explosives. It says two
suspects inside Iran encouraged and helped recruits in Bahrain to carry
out attacks between 2013 and 2015 as part of a group called al-Ashtar
Brigade, including by facilitating travel to Iraq for training." http://t.uani.com/1H4731r
Syria Conflict
AFP:
"Thousands of Iranian and Iraqi fighters have been deployed in Syria
in past weeks to bolster the defences of Damascus and its surroundings, a
Syrian security source told AFP on Wednesday. 'Around 7,000 Iranian and
Iraqi fighters have arrived in Syria over the past few weeks and their
first priority is the defence of the capital. The larger contingent is
Iraqi,' the source said on condition of anonymity. 'The goal is to reach
10,000 men to support the Syrian army and pro-government militias,
firstly in Damascus, and then to retake Jisr al-Shughur because it is key
to the Mediterranean coast and the Hama region' in central Syria, he
added... Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted elite Revolutionary
Guards General Qassem Soleimani as saying 'in the coming days the world
will be surprised by what we are preparing, in cooperation with Syrian
military leaders.'" http://t.uani.com/1GmxmB9
Daily Star
(Lebanon): "Iran has sent 15,000 fighters to Syria
to reverse recent battlefield setbacks for Syrian government troops and
wants to achieve results by the end of the month, a Lebanese political
source has told The Daily Star. The militia force, made up of Iranians, Iraqis
and Afghanis, the source said, have arrived in the Damascus region and in
the coastal province of Latakia. The source said the fighters are
expected to spearhead an effort to seize areas of Idlib province, where
the regime has suffered a string of defeats at the hands of a
rebel-jihadi coalition." http://t.uani.com/1Mp6ijH
Human Rights
Guardian:
"The first authoritative study into female genital mutilation in
Iran has found the practice is being carried out in at least four major
provinces while officials are silent on the matter. According to research
by social anthropologist Kameel Ahmady released on Thursday, FGM is more
prevalent in the southern province of Hormozgan and its nearby islands
(Qeshm and Hormuz) than in any other parts of the country. It is also
being practised to a lesser degree in Kurdistan, Kermanshah and West
Azerbaijan provinces, which are situated in western Iran close to the
Iraq border." http://t.uani.com/1KOGqzC
Domestic
Politics
AFP:
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday called for unity in
the face of the country's 'enemies', at a tense religious ceremony during
which he was repeatedly interrupted. 'We need unity and cohesion,'
Rouhani said, citing Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, who died on June 4, 1989, at a ceremony on the eve of the
anniversary. 'The enemies want to create discord among ethnic groups and
religions... The first step is to be united,' he said... Rouhani's speech
at the Imam Khomeini mausoleum in southern Tehran was interrupted several
times by the crowd chanting pro-Khomeini slogans and for his successor,
supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei." http://t.uani.com/1H47rgo
Opinion &
Analysis
WSJ Editorial:
"Since Iran agreed in late 2013 to negotiate limits on its nuclear
ambitions, the Obama Administration has boasted that its diplomacy has
'frozen' Iran's progress, particularly the regime's stockpile of enriched
uranium. Turns out this isn't true. That's the conclusion of a report
Tuesday by the Institute for Science and International Security (the
other ISIS), a clearinghouse for technical analysis on Iran's nuclear
programs. Under the 2013 interim nuclear agreement, Iran was not
prevented from running its centrifuges to enrich uranium. And enrich it
has, producing some four tons of low-enriched uranium since the agreement
came into effect in January 2014. The agreement did require Iran to
convert the enriched uranium into an oxide form that cannot be easily
turned into weaponizable material. And here is where Iran has failed to
comply. As the ISIS report notes, Iran has produced only 150 kilograms of
uranium oxide, 'a mere five percent of what was expected.' Since last
November Iran hasn't even bothered to convert any enriched uranium into
oxide. Iran has until the end of June to convert the remaining 3,800
kilos into oxide if it's to honor the terms of the deal. Don't hold your
breath. The Iranians claim that their efforts to oxidize the uranium have
been slowed by technical snafus and fouled by sabotage. Sabotage by whom?
It makes no sense for the West to stymie an attempt to reduce Iran's
stockpile of weapons-usable uranium. A likelier explanation is that Iran
never intended to honor the interim agreement. Now it can use its
additional uranium stockpile either to drive a harder bargain as nuclear
negotiations approach their June 30 deadline-or drive harder toward a
bomb. Meantime, the U.S. State Department continues to insist that Iran
has met its nuclear commitments under the interim agreement. That follows
an Administration pattern of trying to salvage its nuclear diplomacy-not
only with Iran but also with Russia-by ignoring or minimizing violations
of previous agreements." http://t.uani.com/1KcazYm
Potkin Azarmehr in
IranWire: "'Forward towards the monotheistic
classless society.' That was one of several deceptive slogans of the 1979
Islamic Revolution that mesmerized so many young Iranian idealists at the
time. I don't think anyone ever managed to explain to me what a
'monotheistic classless society' was. Not wanting to get bogged down with
the technical jargon of the Islamic Revolution, which wanted to mimic,
but at the same time compete with, the Marxist revolutionary rhetoric, I
nonetheless understood that the classless society was supposed to get rid
of the rich and their privileges and empower the 'dispossessed' - the
Islamic Revolution's equivalent of the Marxist proletariat. Just like
many Marxist revolutions of the past, however, the Islamic Revolution
didn't bring about a classless society. It created a new privileged class
without empowering the dispossessed. The old privileged class was simply
replaced by a new privileged class, with some exceptions, who quickly
changed colors and cleverly managed to remain privileged in both systems.
As for the dispossessed, they just got more dispossessed than even
before. As George Orwell aptly described in Animal Farm, some animals
became 'more equal' than others - and so Iran's ruling clerics became
more equal than others. One iconic archetypal manifestation of this
'monotheistic classless society' malarkey is the mausoleum that was built
for the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini. The
mausoleum, and the latest plans for extra expenditure on it, coinciding
with the anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic Republic
on June 3, has become the latest topic of debate in Iran, and further
cause for factional infighting. Even some of the establishment figures
are now voicing their concerns at the increasing grandeur and splendor of
the mausoleum by reminding people of the Ayatollah's spartan lifestyle
when he was alive. The mausoleum is in fact thought to be the most
expensive mausoleum in the world. In 1993, the Iranian daily newspaper
Ettel'eat reported that the tomb compound included 600,000 square meters
of indoor area, one kilometer long and half a kilometer wide. While Iran
regularly suffers massive casualties from frequent earthquakes,
Khomeini's mausoleum is built to withstand earthquake magnitudes of 10 on
the Richter scale. The steel structure of the dome weighs 340 tons, with
the weight of its gold veneer at between 40 to 50 tons; the entire dome
weighs close to 400 tons. There are four more domes, which are covered
with expensive tiles, as well as the main golden dome. Four gold gilded
finials surround the mausoleum, each 91 meters high. The walls and
ceilings are covered with expensive marble, each calligraphed or
engraved... All this excess and grandeur is taking place at a time when
the Iranian population have been actively encouraged to show resistance
and resilience in the face of economic hardship. In a recent sermon,
Ayatollah Jannati, one of Tehran's Friday prayer leaders, told the
faithful: "ُWhats wrong if people eat only once a day?', adding that
eating meat is not such a good thing. When referring to the P5+1
countries' demands over nuclear negotiations in return for the removal of
sanctions on Iran, Jannati said defiantly: 'We prefer to stay hungry than
lose our dignity'. I have yet to come across a ruling cleric in Iran who
only eats one meal a day or suffers from hunger... Yet the left and the
liberal Western press never mention anything about the lavish spending of
the ayatollahs. It seems they are immune to the left and liberal
backlash, and can get away with their misplaced priorities and excesses
while the Iranian people truly suffer from increasing poverty and
hardship." http://t.uani.com/1eRdnOF
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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