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Tasnim (Iran):
"Iran's Army commander on Tuesday voiced the country's eagerness to
face down Israel militarily and destroy the regime even sooner than the
next 25 years, a period that Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei has recently cited. 'We will annihilate
Israel for sure,' Major General Ataollah Salehi told reporters on the
sidelines of military parades in Tehran, held to commemorate the start of
the Sacred Defense Week. 'We are also eager that Israel take (military)
action against us sooner, so that we would mark the destruction (of
Israel) earlier than the 25 years that has been pledged,' the top
commander added. Major General Salehi noted that annihilation of the Tel
Aviv regime by Iran will even rid the 'US nation' of the Israeli influence.
Earlier this month, Ayatollah Khamenei slammed Israel as a fake regime,
saying some Zionists have described the conclusion of talks on Iran's
nuclear program as something that has eased Tel Aviv's concerns about the
Islamic Republic for 25 years. 'But we tell them (the Zionists) that you
will basically not witness the 25 years from now, and by God's grace,
nothing called the Zionist regime will exist in the region (by then),'
the Leader said on September 9." http://t.uani.com/1NJQ2Mg
WSJ:
"Russia and Iran have stepped up coordination inside Syria as they
move to safeguard President Bashar al-Assad's control over his coastal
stronghold, according to officials in the U.S. and Middle East, creating
a new complication for Washington's diplomatic goals. Senior Russian and
Iranian diplomats, generals and strategists have held a string of
high-level talks in Moscow in recent months to discuss Mr. Assad's
defense and the Kremlin's military buildup in Syria, according to these
officials. The buildup is continuing: On Monday, U.S. defense officials
said Russian surveillance drones have started flying missions over Syria,
and Moscow has sent two dozen more fighter jets to Syria... Coordinating
efforts cited by the U.S. and Middle East officials included a secret
visit in late July by the commander of Iran's elite overseas military
unit, the Qods Force. Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani directs Tehran's military
and intelligence support for the Assad regime and is one of the most
powerful leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also visited Moscow last month to
discuss Syria and other issues with his Russian counterpart, Sergei
Lavrov." http://t.uani.com/1gJxG0U
Al Arabiya:
"Documents belonging to Osama bin Laden, the former leader of
Al-Qaeda, obtained by Alsharq Alawsat newspaper, reveal a 'close
relationship' between Iran and Al-Qaeda's commanders and high ranking
members, which began in the era of the nineties the paper has reported.
The documents, confiscated by U.S. forces after killing Bin Laden in 2011
in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, show Al-Qaeda was moving
comfortably inside Iran, and indicate that the organization, at some
point, planned to establish an office in Tehran in 2006. But it receded
and rejected the idea because of the excessively high costs. According to
the documents, the Iran dealing with the organization dates back to the
period of the nineties, during the presence of the leaders of Al-Qaida in
Sudan, due to the consolidation of the then Iran-Sudan ties. The U.S.
counter-terrorism expert Paul Krishnak told Alsharq Alawsat that U.S
Treasury freeze of six leaders of the organization present in Iran
'confirms that Tehran was an important link in financing the network's
branchs in Pakistan and Afghanistan.'" http://t.uani.com/1QWJABA
Nuclear Program
& Agreement
AP:
"The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency acknowledged Monday that
samples used to determine whether Iran tried to develop a nuclear weapon
were collected by the Iranians instead of agency experts, but insisted
the probe stands up to strict agency standards. Such sampling of soil,
air or dust from equipment is usually done by the International Atomic
Energy Agency's own experts. But IAEA chief Yukiya Amano confirmed that
Iranians carried out that part of the probe at Parchin, where the agency
suspects that explosive triggers for nuclear weapons might have been
tested in the past. Diplomats say Iran insisted on the compromise as a
condition for any probe of Parchin. Deputy IAEA Director General Tero
Varjoranta said that there have been more than 40 instances of letting a
country being inspected use their own nationals to do the sampling and
that the process is only a small part of a rigid regimen established by
the agency to make sure there is no cheating. He said the criteria at
Parchin included: invasive monitoring by video and still cameras while
the sampling took place; GPS tracking of the sampling process; IAEA
agreement on where the samples were to be taken; review by unspecified
peers of the inspection process; risk assessment and strict observance to
make sure that procedures were followed step by step. 'We feel fully
confident that the process and the result so far are fully in line with
our safeguards practices,' he said, standing next to Amano at a Vienna
news conference. Former IAEA deputy director general Olli Heinonen has
described Iran as a particularly sensitive case however, saying he knows
of no other case where a country under investigation for possibly trying
to make nuclear weapons was permitted to use its own personnel to collect
environmental samples as part of the investigation." http://t.uani.com/1NR3dwD
Tehran Times:
"Spokesman of Majlis Special Committee on JCPOA has rejected the
possibility of a meeting between IAEA chief and Iran's nuclear scientists
dubbing it as strictly forbidden. Seyyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini said
that the JCPOA does not require any such meeting between a foreign
official and an Iranian nuclear scientist, the Qatreh news website reported
Monday. The MP said, 'As the Leader has explicitly warned, foreigners
will not be allowed to interrogate Iranian scientists; this issue will
remain a red line that cannot be crossed.' 'Based on the Leader's
remarks, we have announced our position to the Majlis and we would never
change our minds on this matter,' he added. Naghavi Hosseini reiterated,
'No limit has been established for this ban and it has been emphasized
that no authority has the right to speak with or question our
scientists.'" http://t.uani.com/1V8bzin
Military Matters
AP:
"The Iranian president lauded his country's military as the most
reliable force to take on 'terrorists in the region,' a reference to the
extremist Islamic State group, in a speech during an annual military
parade Tuesday. Hassan Rouhani offered military assistance to Mideast
countries, saying that so far, Iranian troops 'have helped both Iraq and
Syria' in the struggle against IS but insisted that Tehran has no
military intentions toward other nations. The parade marked the 35th
anniversary of the start of the ruinous, eight-year Iraq-Iran war. In his
speech, carried live by state TV, Rouhani said that if 'terrorists begin
to expand in the region, the only hope will be Iran's army and the
Revolutionary Guards.' ... Rouhani said Middle East nations should not
put too much faith in 'Western powers as their defenders. Today, our
armed forces are the biggest regional power against terrorism.' ... In
Tuesday's parade, Iran showcased its surface-to-surface missiles including
the solid-fuel Sejjil and the liquid-fuel Ghadr, both with a range of
2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles)." http://t.uani.com/1OOcMvs
Tasnim (Iran):
"Iranian Armed Forces staged military parades across the country on
Tuesday morning to commemorate the Sacred Defense Week, which marks the
onset of the Iraqi imposed war on Iran 35 years ago... The most
recent achievements of the Iranian armed forces in missile industry,
equipment for the ground, naval and air defense forces as well as
communication gear were put on display in the event. In Iran, the
1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war is known as the Sacred Defense, and the Sacred
Defense Week is held on the anniversary of the beginning of the
war." http://t.uani.com/1QWFtWo
Sanctions Relief
NYT:
"France opened a trade office in Tehran on Monday, leading the
charge of European countries angling for a share of the Iranian market
after the July nuclear agreement. The opening occurred at the end of a
two-day visit that brought more than 130 representatives of French
companies, including Airbus, the carmakers Renault and Peugeot and the
oil giant Total... 'Now that the nuclear agreement is made, we enter a
new period with Iran,' said Matthias Fekl, France's secretary of state
for international business and tourism. 'We are seeking long and deep
economical partnerships with Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/1LKXhPM
Free Beacon:
"The New York Times is defending its decision to host a senior
Iranian oil ministry official for a major conference being held this year
in London, according to a statement from the paper's spokesperson. The
Times came under fire over the weekend when it was revealed that Seyed
Mehdi Hosseini, chair of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum Oil Contract
Restructuring Committee, would be a featured guest at the Times' Oil and
Money Conference, an annual event held for business VIPs in London. The
Times circulated an invitation to the event, which costs $4,000 to
attend, touting Hosseini's appearance, according to Smarter Times, which
first published the invite. 'Oil & Money 2015 is delighted to
announced the H.E. Seyed Mehdi Hosseini ... will [be] attending in person
on Day 1 of the conference to address' questions about Iran's reentry
into the global oil economy, the invite states. Hosseini is also slated
to address potential risks associated with investing in Iran's oil sector
and how open the Iranian markets will be to 'foreign investors.' Selling
access to a top Iranian oil official could appear controversial,
according to Smarter Times, given the Islamic Republic's support for
terrorism and its continued imprisonment of several Americans." http://t.uani.com/1KKIJTL
Reuters: "Two
months after Iran reached a nuclear deal that will open its markets to
the world, officials are warning of economic stagnation as consumers hold
off on purchases of domestic goods while they wait for international
brands to arrive. From cars to fridges and televisions, shoppers are
excited at the prospect of more choice and competition that should force
Iranian manufacturers to lower prices and improve quality. The deal with
world powers in July will likely see banking and other sanctions lifted
in 2016, making it easier for foreigners to partner with Iranian firms or
export to Iran. Since the deal, Iranian manufacturers have seen growth in
sales prices fall far behind inflation, central bank data show, while
officials and analysts describe a slowdown in consumer spending and
warehouses filling with unsold goods. 'The subsequent rush of Western
businesses to enter the Iranian market informed Iranian consumers that
soon there will be alternative supplies of consumer goods priced more
competitively and with a substantially higher quality and post-sale
services,' said Mehrdad Emadi, an economist at the Betamatrix consultancy
in London. That competition is likely to lift Iran's economy in the long
term, but consumer anticipation of lower prices and foreign goods is a
challenge to manufacturers used to a captive market. 'Unfortunately some
people thought prices would fall suddenly after the nuclear deal, and
because of this the market is facing a recession,' Vice President Eshaq
Jahangiri was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA this month.
Mehdi Pourghazi, head of the industrial committee of the Tehran Chamber
of Commerce, predicted growth could fall to zero, compared to 3 percent
last year, according to the ISNA agency." http://t.uani.com/1Po0YOH
Mehr (Iran):
"After meeting with Iranian oil officials here on Monday, French oil
giant Total, which operated in Iran until 2010, said it is ready to participate
in Iran's new oil projects. Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi said on
Monday that National Iranian Oil Company welcomes the development of
economic cooperation with the French oil company Total. 'The new
agreements will create good opportunities in exploration, development,
maintenance, production and enhanced oil recovery projects in which
foreign companies are welcome to participate,' he said Javadi
met with the President of Exploration & Production at Total, Arnaud
Breuillac, on Sunday and discussed various fields of cooperation with the
French side. Also on Sunday, Arnaud Breuillac held talks in separate
meetings with Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and Head of Iran Oil
Contract Workgroup Seyed Mehdi Hosseini, during which he expressed his
readiness to cooperate with Iran's oil industry in various fields
including exploration, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), oil purchase,
production of LNG and petrochemical marketing... 'Total has been present
in Iran's oil projects for more than 20 years and in view of the intent
expressed by the French, a new door is supposed to open for the expansion
of the company's activities in developing Iranian oilfields,' Zangeneh
had said after meeting Fabius on July 30." http://t.uani.com/1KKJTPg
FT:
"French companies are warning that their government's tough stance
in the Iranian nuclear negotiations could be hurting their chances of
winning business when sanctions are lifted. France's main business lobby
group, Medef, is in Iran on Monday with a delegation of ministers and
about 150 companies, including Total and PSA Peugeot Citroën, to improve
relations. '[The] very tough stance has created some aggressive thinking
vis-à-vis France and everything that represents France, like our
company,' said Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of PSA, which is
planning an assertive re-entry into the country... 'We have fallen
behind, so now we have to make up lost ground,' said Thibault de Silguy,
the vice-president of Medef leading the delegation, citing Germany,
Austria, China and the US as countries that are in front." http://t.uani.com/1Oqj7hl
Reuters:
"Iran stepped up primary aluminium shipments to top consumer China
after global premiums for the metal collapsed and demand wilted from its
usual buyers in Turkey and the Middle East, traders said on Tuesday. Iran
leapfrogged Russia and other sellers to become China's top foreign
supplier of primary aluminium last month, shipping in 13,925 tonnes for
August, China trade data on Monday showed. The shipments made Iran the
largest seller of imported aluminium to China over the first eight months
of 2015. The jump in shipments is unusual because China is struggling
under the weight of a huge domestic surplus of the metal that has flooded
into global markets in the form of semi-manufactured aluminium products
over the past year. Traders said Chinese companies had been supplying
domestic Iranian producers with the raw materials for aluminium
production - alumina and bauxite - because production was cheaper and
they could then onsell the metal into the region." http://t.uani.com/1j69EPu
Reuters:
"Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it would invest
millions in Iran, joining a still very small group of European companies
to have announced concrete deals in Tehran after it struck a deal on its
nuclear programme. Novo Nordisk, the world's largest diabetes drugs
maker, said it would build a 70 million euro ($78 million) manufacturing
plant in Iran. It already has a subsidiary in the country selling insulin
and employing 130 people there since 2005... The investment compares to
the 80 million euros' worth of deals that Austrian companies struck in
Iran earlier this month, the first Western firms to put down concrete
stakes in the Islamic Republic since July. But the plant 'signals our
long-term commitment to Iran', the Danish company said in a
statement." http://t.uani.com/1NRaNY6
Trend:
"Austrian company OMV says it is monitoring situation in Iran, but
it is too early to draw any final conclusions regarding possible business
in the Islamic Republic. Though the European top officials have started
visiting Iran since the sealed nuclear deal on July 14, however, Austrian
President Heinz Fischer was the first head of a Western state that
traveled to Iran on Sep.8. Meanwhile, big Australian delegation composed
of 240 company representatives, including OMV's Chief Executive Officer
Rainer Seele arrived in Tehran before him. According to Shana News
Agency, Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Rainer Seele met in
Tehran on Sep.7 to explore ways for expansion of bilateral ties.
Corporate spokesperson for OMV Robert Lechner told Trend on Sep.19 that
Media Relations OMV is closely monitoring the situation and the
developments in Iran. 'As our CEO, Rainer Seele, said: the country could
provide interesting opportunities for OMV. And he has underlined this by
attending an Austrian business delegation (of 240 managers) to Iran,'
said Lechner. 'However, it is too early to draw final conclusions
concerning specific investments,' he added. He also said that 'OMV is
operating an office in Tehran which has never been shut-down, even during
political difficult periods.'" http://t.uani.com/1G0pKiH
Syria Conflict
Guardian:
"The embassy is the most visible sign of the Islamic Republic's
presence in Syria. Its economic, political and military backing for
President Bashar al-Assad has been crucial for the last four-and-a-half
years. And it looks like becoming more so - both in shaping events on the
ground and, perhaps, in international efforts to end the conflict. 'The
Syrian regime is increasingly dependent on Iran,' says a senior western
diplomat. 'Its footprint is growing.' ... 'The Iranians are there - and
they are not there,' quips a Sunni businessman from Homs. 'They are a
ghostly presence.' Speculation about their activities is rife. But the
consensus among many Syrians and foreign experts is that their role is
extremely important - though very shadowy... The Damascus rumour mill
suggests some senior Syrian officials are unhappy with the Iranian role -
but that their dependence on Tehran means they have to grin and bear
it." http://t.uani.com/1KxBs5d
RFE/RL:
"Scores of Iranian political activists and intellectuals have launched
an online campaign calling on Iran to end its support for Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and take in Syrian refugees fleeing violence
there. The more than 70 activists, who include several former political
prisoners, blame Assad and his foreign supporters, including Tehran, for
the exodus of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to Europe. They have
launched a Facebook page called Sorry, Syria, where so far about two
dozen users have expressed 'shame' over Iran's assistance for Assad's
'crimes' and warned that silence could be interpreted as consent. 'We
believe it is our main responsibility to denounce the destructive
intervention of the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly, the Qods
force, in the Syrian crisis,' the activists said in a statement sent to
RFE/RL, referring to the Quds Force, an elite wing of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). They also said that Iran should host
some of the Syrian refugees 'to alleviate a small part of the great pain
that it has inflicted on the Syrian people.'" http://t.uani.com/1V87TgG
Human Rights
AP:
"A woman in a head scarf gazes piercingly from the side of a
Brooklyn brownstone. A flock of spray-painted birds breaks free from
shackles on a Manhattan building. A Harlem mural shows a giant teal gazelle
against a black background, barren trees and a peacock feather. They are
among about a half-dozen murals painted around New York City and Jersey
City, New Jersey, to draw attention to journalist Maziar Bahari's
campaign for press freedom and educational access in Iran, where he spent
118 days in a jail after an appearance on 'The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart.' Bahari, whose story was told in Stewart's film 'Rosewater,'
hopes the art will attract the attention of diplomats attending the U.N.
General Assembly and spark a conversation about human rights. He has
founded a nonprofit group, Not A Crime, to focus on journalism and
education for Iran's largest religious minority, the Baha'i, a group that
believes in one God and emphasizes that humans are equal and diversity
should be cherished. 'We want to create a discourse in the city so when
world leaders, different delegates come to New York in September, at
least some of them will talk about the situation of the Baha'is in Iran,
some of them will talk about the journalists in Iran,' Bahari said."
http://t.uani.com/1j69kQI
Foreign Affairs
Press TV (Iran):
"Iran's President Hassan Rouhani will set off for New York this week
to address the 70th annual session of the UN General Assembly. President
Rouhani will leave Tehran on September 24 to attend the world's largest
diplomatic gathering, where he is scheduled to deliver a speech. The 70th
United Nations General Assembly opened on September 15. The Iranian
president is also set to deliver a speech at the United Nations
Sustainable Development Summit, which will be held in New York on
September 25-27, said Iranian Presidential Office's Deputy for
Communications and Publicity Affairs Parviz Esmaeili on Sunday. He added
that the Iranian president will also hold talks with UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, heads of state as well as senior officials participating in
the UN event. He said separate meetings with Iranians residing in the US,
intellectuals and economic activists are also on the president's agenda.
Esmaeili noted that the Iranian president will also attend a press
conference to answer questions of media. President Rouhani will wrap up
his visit and return to Iran on September 29." http://t.uani.com/1NOSzX7
Tasnim (Iran):
"Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif left Tehran for New
York early on Tuesday to attend the 70th session of the UN General
Assembly. During his stay in New York, the Iranian foreign minister
is scheduled to pursue the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and world powers on July 14. Zarif
is also planned to meet with the European Union Foreign Policy Chief
Federica Mogherini to discuss start of a fresh round of talks between
Tehran and the EU. The top Iranian diplomat will be accompanied by his
deputy Abbas Araqchi as well as Hamid Baeedinejad, the director general
for political and international affairs at Iran's foreign ministry.
Having just lost his mother, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi
is planned to join the Iranian delegation later. The first joint
commission meeting between deputy foreign ministers of Iran and Group 5+1
(the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) will be
held in New York on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General
Assembly, however the exact date for the meeting has not been yet
set... Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he is set to
meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York on the
sidelines of the UN session. 'I will also be meeting with Foreign
Minister Lavrov in New York, a meeting with Foreign Minister Zarif
regarding Iran and other things,' Kerry said Sunday." http://t.uani.com/1QvRPUn
Opinion &
Analysis
Bruno Tertrais in
IISS: "The luxury of being a policy analyst is that
one can afford to say what politicians cannot: 'it's complicated'. If I
had been voting on the 14 July nuclear deal with Iran, I would have had
to abstain... Simply put, this is the most detailed non-proliferation
agreement ever devised. But it nevertheless includes several problematic
aspects, which deserve careful scrutiny. The original goal of the E3/EU+3
was for Tehran to make a strategic choice - to turn 180 degrees and agree
to forfeit any capability to rapidly build nuclear weapons. Since 2006,
however, the goalposts have been moved. A renowned expert supporting the
deal recently incited readers to follow Nietzsche's dictum: 'the most
common form of human stupidity is forgetting what one is trying to do'.
The argument can be turned against his thesis, for we did forget what our
specific objective was. Around 2012, under US pressure, the E3/EU+3
abandoned roll-back in favour of containment. And in 2014, the envisioned
duration of the key provisions of the deal moved from a generation to a
decade. Iran has become a nuclear-threshold state, and it will remain
one, with our blessing. This is bad news: persuading countries in the
region and elsewhere to forsake fuel-cycle activities has suddenly become
much more problematic. After investing billions of dollars and the effort
of hundreds of scientists and engineers, not to take the final step
requires stopping a powerful momentum. When is the last time that after
such a long, dedicated military-oriented effort, a country reached the
nuclear threshold and just stopped there, without ever building a device?
It has never happened. Countries do not give up when they have invested
so much, unless they are forced to do so after a major war (as Iraq was),
or when regime change comes (as it did in Brazil and South Africa). Sweden
had invested a lot in a military nuclear option in the 1950s and 1960s
before terminating its nuclear programme, but not as much as the Islamic
Republic. Unless there is a sea change in the nature of the regime, a
complete cessation is unlikely to happen. It is regrettable, by the way,
that Iran was not requested to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban
Treaty (CTBT) - its abstention makes the scenario of a hypothetical
'peaceful nuclear explosion' (such as the one India carried out in 1974)
not far-fetched. Legitimate questions also arise about the deal's
verification procedures. It is not known whether the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) will have access to scientists - a key necessity,
according to the inspectors themselves. The delay in resolving questions
about suspicious activities, which could reach up to 24 days, may be too
long to allow for the timely detection of some forbidden activities,
particularly if they involve non-nuclear activities or very small
quantities of nuclear materials. The IAEA-Iran road map that aims to
clarify the so-called 'possible military dimensions' (PMDs) of Iran's
nuclear programme is another area of concern. After several years of
stonewalling and procrastinating, we can hardly expect Iran suddenly to either
give credible explanations for all its suspect activities, or to admit
that it has conducted weaponisation experiments. It is thus logical to
believe that there will be a tacit understanding among all parties to
hide them under the rug. This would be a bad precedent for the
non-proliferation regime and the credibility of the IAEA. So would the
lifting of the remaining US sanctions before the IAEA has reached its
'broader conclusion' that all nuclear material in Iran remains in
exclusively peaceful use." http://t.uani.com/1LtCOTD
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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