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WashPost: "In a striking sign of Iran's
growing regional influence, a major assault on Syria's most populous city
is being coordinated by an Iranian military commander using Shiite forces
from three countries to back President Bashar al-Assad's beleaguered
troops, militia officials said. Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of
Iran's elite Quds Force, has ordered thousands of Iraqi Shiite militia
allies into Syria for the operation to recapture Aleppo, according to
officials from three of the militias. The militiamen are to join Iranian
troops and forces from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia,
the officials said. Soleimani has been a frequent sight on the
battlefields in neighboring Iraq, where he has been advising Iraqi forces
fighting Islamic State militants. But the war there has stagnated, and
the shift of the commander along with Iraqi militiamen and Quds Force
members to Syria appears to signal a change in Iranian priorities...
Phillip Smyth, a researcher on Shiite groups at the University of
Maryland, said Iran is clearly increasing its participation on the front
lines of the Syrian conflict. 'It's not only one of the largest open
deployments [by Iran and its proxies during the war] but it has also
involved one of the largest Iraq-focused Shia militia recruitment efforts
for Syria in years,' Smyth said." http://t.uani.com/1OGcAj0
WSJ: "European oil companies are in
fierce competition for the best oil and gas fields in Iran when Western
sanctions are lifted, while U.S. energy firms watch from the sidelines.
The contest has been evident this week at the first major oil-and-gas
conference in Iran since world powers agreed in July to lift sanctions in
exchange for curbs on the Persian Gulf nation's nuclear program. The
European Union and the U.S. on Sunday formally adopted the nuclear
agreement... At the conference in Iran, European executives pitched their
company's prowess. Total SA of France cited its long history of working
with Iran before it left the country in 2010 because of sanctions.
Italy's Eni SpA played an animated video showing off the company's
deep-water drilling technologies used in Angola. Rainer Seele, chief
executive of partially state-owned Austrian energy firm OMV, made a plea
for getting his company back involved in a lucrative Western gas field
known as Cheshmeh Khosh, which it had helped develop until 2007. 'The
competition will be very, very intense, if you see how many companies are
queuing up over here in Iran,' Mr. Seele told reporters after his
presentation. In an interview on the sidelines of the Iranian Petroleum
and Energy Club Congress, Rokneddin Javadi, managing director of the
National Iranian Oil Co., said 'almost all our traditional
buyers...Europeans, Africans, Asians' have made a formal commitment to
purchase 'around 500,000 barrels a day' of crude oil when they return to
markets... On Monday, some executives emphasized their willingness to
share technology. Stephane Michel, Total's exploration and production
chief for the Middle East and North Africa, told the conference that his
company was willing to share its experience in developing liquefied
natural gas, something the Iranians are interested in to help them export.
Antonio Vella, chief of exploration and production at Eni, said his
company had already applied its innovative technologies of injecting gas
to boost oil production in Iran, in the giant offshore South Pars field
and the onshore Darkhovin reservoir. The executives also mingled with
hundreds of Iranian government and industry officials... Some U.S.
companies are talking to contractors active in Iran or reviewing whether
they can send non-American staff there, according to company officials
familiar with the matter." http://t.uani.com/1GQL6zf
NYT: "An influential Iranian
lawmaker delivered inflammatory new accusations on Monday against Jason
Rezaian, The Washington Post's Tehran reporter convicted of espionage
this month, asserting that he had plotted with seditionists. In an
interview with Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency, the lawmaker, Javad
Karimi-Qoddusi, also sought to depict Mr. Rezaian as a nefarious spy who
had used his credentials as a journalist as a ruse to gain insights that
would be valuable to the Iranian government's enemies. The thrust of the
accusations made by Mr. Karimi-Qoddusi, a member of Parliament's National
Security and Foreign Policy Committee, was that Mr. Rezaian had
frequently shared information with the State Department and other
official arms of the United States, and believed that under an American
rapprochement with Iran, the Iranian government would be 'toppled within
48 months.' The lawmaker asserted that Mr. Rezaian had also cultivated
contacts with Iran's enemies, including representatives of Israel and
members of the National Front - apparently a reference to a liberal,
secular party that was suppressed in 1981 and that Mr. Karimi-Qoddusi
described as an apostate group. Mr. Rezaian grew so close with officials
of President Hassan Rouhani's inner circle, the lawmaker said, that he
even knew the type of chewing gum Mr. Rouhani preferred. 'He was
completely familiar with modern espionage methods and sought to gather
very important information in social, cultural and political aspects,'
Mr. Karimi-Qoddusi said in the interview, published in Persian on the
Fars website." http://t.uani.com/1RlSLv5
Nuclear
Program & Agreement
IRNA
(Iran): "The
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is not regarded as a binding, the two
parties will implement it voluntarily, says the Guardian Council speaker.
'Based on this perception Iran's Parliament did not discuss the details
of JCPOA and the Guardian Council also followed suit,' said Nejatollah
Ebrahimian on Saturday in a news conference, saying that the Guardian
Council solely judged the Parliament's ratification of the JCPOA. As the
JCPOA is a political deal between governments and it is not binding and
the two parties will implement it voluntarily, said Ebrahimian... 'The
approval by the parliament also urges the voluntary nature of the
actions,' he said, adding that, as announced by one of the officials of
P5+1, whenever they deem it necessary they would stop fulfilling their
obligations. Iran's government will also have the right to halt its
voluntary actions. According to the regulations, the executive body will
implement the deal under supervision of the Supreme National Security
Council." http://t.uani.com/1GQaXY9
Tasnim
(Iran): "Iranian
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned the Western parties to the recent
nuclear agreement between Tehran and six world powers that in case of any
delay in implementing the deal, the Islamic Republic will develop its
enrichment facilities... 'You would either lift the sanctions, according
to the deal, and avoid threatening behavior against the Iranian nation or
fail to fulfill your promises, and if the latter is the case, the
(Iranian) nation's response will be harsh,' he stated. 'If the Westerners
fail to meet their pledges or delay the implementation of the provisions
of the JCPOA, we will build enrichment plants,' he went on to say." http://t.uani.com/1M3PLzf
TASS
(Russia):
"Russia may begin exports of enriched uranium from Iran as early as
next January or February, head of the Russian delegation at the meeting
of the joint commission comprising the P5+1 group (the five permanent
members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) and Iran and Russia's
envoy to international organizations in Vienna Vladimir Voronkov told
reporters on Monday. According to him, all technical aspects have been
studied in depth. 'The main documents on Fordow and uranium have been
worked out, the implementation of these measures will begin in late
January or early February next year, if there are no surprises,' he said.
'As for the documents, I think this is a matter of several weeks,'
Voronkov said answering a question on finalizing the agreements asked by
a TASS correspondent. 'We are fulfilling our part of obligations at a
good pace,' the Russian diplomat said. 'We managed to reach a very good
level of cooperation with Iranians.'" http://t.uani.com/1kmwKC2
PRI: "It was 'Adoption Day' - the
day when Iran was scheduled to dramatically scale back its nuclear
program. Iran now has to dismantle around 15,000 centrifuges, surrender
or dilute much of its enriched nuclear fuel stocks and turn one of its
nuclear plants into a research center... Gary Samore, executive director
for research at Harvard University's Belfer Center, says the length of
the process depends on what Iran wants to do in the future. Samore says
the deal allows Iran to retain all of its existing centrifuges but they
have to be removed, dismantled and stored under inspections of the
International Atomic Energy Agency's supervision. 'If Iran wants to
preserve the ability to reinstall the centrifuges if the agreement breaks
down at some point in the future, they'll need to be very careful about
how they remove them and disassemble them,' he says. If it wants to race
towards easing of sanctions, 'they can do a quick and dirty job and that
will save them a lot of time.' ... Besides the centrifuges, Iran has to
deal with its enriched uranium. 'One option is to dilute it so that it's
returned to natural uranium, or they can ship the bulk of it out, most
likely to Russia,' says Samore. It's not yet clear which path Iran will
take." http://t.uani.com/1Gg14s0
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Fars
(Iran): "Deputy
Head of Iran's Strategic-Defense Research Center Brigadier General
Ya'qoub Zohdi underlined that the US reaction to Iran's test-firing of
its new precision-guided long-range ballistic missile, Emad, showed
Washington's weak position vis a vis Tehran. Speaking to FNA on Monday,
General Zohdi said the US reaction to Iran's recent missile test was
'double-edged' and 'weak'. He said Americans objected that Iran's missile
test violated UN Security Council resolutions, but did not run counter to
the nuclear deal because they intended to shrug off blame and criticism.
He further stressed that Iran's missile industry isn't related to its
nuclear issue, and said, 'The western states are sure enough that we are
not after nuclear weapons; therefore, our missile capability is not
something to be affected by the nuclear negotiations and it is paving its
own way and not even a little change has been made in our missile
program.' 'The negotiations don't restrict the Islamic Republic's
defensive power at all,' General Zohdi emphasized." http://t.uani.com/1hOOOD4
Fars
(Iran): "Iranian
Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan warned
enemies that any threat to the country will be reciprocated with a harsh
and crushing response. 'The rapid reaction units of the Ground Force are
capable of countering any threat powerfully,' Pourdastan told reporters
in Western Iran on Sunday. He described the Iranian Armed Forces'
response to any aggression as harsh and violent. Elsewhere, Pourdastan
referred to the threats posed by the terrorist groups to the region, and
said, 'The terrorist and Takfiri grouplets are committing crimes as
proxies of the US and the Zionist regime with the money of certain
regional states and we bear the responsibility to enhance our
capabilities proportionate to these threats.'" http://t.uani.com/1LAbpMe
Press TV
(Iran):
"Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali
Shamkhani says the United States seeks to create division among the
countries in the Middle East. The United States pursues as its most
important objective a policy of creating and developing grounds for
destructive rivalry based on balance of power among regional countries,
Shamkhani said in an address to the Core Group Meeting of the Munich
Security Conference (MSC) in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Saturday. He
added that the West Asia region is widely affected by the Israeli
regime's suppression of the Palestinians, the spread of terrorism in
Syria and Iraq, and Saudi Arabia's military campaign against Yemen."
http://t.uani.com/1RTd3go
Tehran
Times: "A
senior MP has expressed worry that some figures from inside the Islamic
Republic might open way for the U.S. to find a foothold in Iran, ISNA
reported on Friday. 'We can say based on the words of the Supreme Leader
that today the infiltration of America should be on agenda for all,'
Qolamali Haddad-Adel said. There is the worry lest some people from
inside the system may open the way for the U.S. either knowingly or out
of ignorance, he cautioned. Haddad-Adel said the Supreme Leader sees what
comes after the JCPOA, noting that the Leader believes that Americans
have more plans for Iran in the future." http://t.uani.com/1PvHX03
Extremism
Mehr
(Iran):
"President Rouhani asserted countries at the forefront of the fight
against the Zionists are supported by Iran. At a meeting with Lebanon's
Foreing Minister Gebran Bassil, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani deemed
Lebanon as a cause of regional stability being at the forefront of the
resistance against Zionist invasion; 'Lebanese people, with different
ethnicities and religions have managed to maintain their alliance despite
many conspiracies,' he noted... The Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran
Bassil, for his part, praised Iran's permanent support of Lebanon in
fighting the Israeli regime and terrorism; 'we believe Iran's nuclear
deal will bring advantages to the region because it will allow isolation
to be replaced by the logic of dialogue,' he stated... Bassil stressed
that the Zionists and terrorists share common interests, noting that 'Iran
has set the ground to combat terrorism; we need to work together in this
path.' 'The Islamic Republic of Iran can be the messenger of democracy in
the region due to its positions,' concluded the Lebanese foreign
minister." http://t.uani.com/1MRZfTk
Congressional
Action
The Hill: "Sen. Robert Menendez wants the
Obama administration to bolster sanctions against Iran after it launched
a ballistic missile test earlier this month. The New Jersey Democrat sent
a letter Monday to Secretary of State John Kerry pressing the
administration to tighten sanctions against Iran and wanting to know what
'meaningful steps' it will take over the missile test. 'The Iranian regime
is drawing a line in the sand that demonstrates with malice that it will
only selectively meet its obligations with respect to internationally
sanctioned weapons programs,' he said in the letter to Kerry. 'I write to
recommend to you that you use the Administration's discretionary
authority to tighten the full range of sanctions available to you to
penalize Iran.' Menendez added that Iran's violation of a United Nations
resolution on missile activities is 'common' and 'must be met with a
decisive response in the language that Iran understands.'" http://t.uani.com/1LlQv5F
Sanctions
Relief
Shana
(Iran): "Only
one day after formal end to sanctions, the Iranian Petroleum and Energy
Club 2015 Congress and Exhibition (IPEC 2015) opened here on Monday to
discuss the theme Post-Sanctions Iran: An Open Door to Oil and Gas
Investment Opportunities. The Petroleum and Energy Club which is hosting
the three-day event aims to promote efficiency and sustainable growth in
Iranian energy sector by providing demand-led policy advise based on
professional experience and frontier research. In addition to chief
executives and policy makers in the field of energy, delegations from
OPEC, GECF, and IEA are taking part in the conference... Invited speakers
include representatives from OPEC, GECF, IEF, Total, Eni, Ansaldo, World
Petroleum Council, OMV, Mistsui, Siemens, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power
System, Linde and Mitsui." http://t.uani.com/1M213Ea
Mehr
(Iran): "CEOs
of 10 large oil, gas, power and petrochemical companies have arrived in
Tehran to investigate investment opportunities in Iran's oil and energy
industries. The visiting companies include France's Total, Italy's Eni,
OMV of Austria, Japan's Mitsui, Chiyoda Corporation, JGC and Mitubishi
Hitachi Power Systems, Germany's Linde and Ziemens, multinational company
of FJE, Italy's Ansaldo STS as well as UK's Air Liquid. Accordingly, at a
meeting which will be held tomorrow with the presence of Iranian oil and
energy ministers, the executives and senior representatives of the oil
companies will get informed about the details of the changes and
developments in Iran's oil, electricity and energy industries for the
post-sanction era while some company managers will present lectures on
the latest status of the world's energy industry. Apparently, Total's
Managing Director of Commercial Excellence and Business Development in
Southeast Asia, North Asia and Pacific, Steve Mitchell as well as Rainer
Seele, Chief Executive Officer of OMV, will describe the latest
developments in the upstream sector of the world's oil industry. Other
speakers at tomorrows' session include CEO of Linde, a top manager at
Japan's Mitsubishi Company, the president of FJE international company,
Ansaldo's CEO, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation Norio Sasaki, a
top manager of Air Liquid, director of Chiyoda company and vice-president
of JGC company." http://t.uani.com/1PvDKJN
Shana
(Iran): "A
senior official with Austrian oil giant OMV said the company is
interested in technical cooperation with Iran for developing the
country's oil and gas fields. 'Stronger technical cooperation in
potential field developments in Iran by using new or existing technology'
are on the company's future agenda in cooperating with its Iranian
counterparts, Stephan Hannke, head of Petroleum Engineering for the
Middle East and Caspian Area in OMV, told the Research Institute of
Petroleum Industry's (RIPI) Public Relations Office. Hannke delivered a
keynote speech at the 2nd International Conference on Technical
Opportunities (ICTO) here in Tehran which was held on September 30 by
RIPI with the theme technology application for Brown- and Greenfields in
the world of OMV. Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung (OMV) opened an
office in Teheran back in 2001, after signing an Exploration Service
Contract for the Mehr block, a successful exploration and appraisal
program was conducted between 2002 and 2007. The company engaged in talks
for redevelopment of Cheshmeh-Khosh between National Iranian Oil Company
(NIOC) and OMV/CEPSA in 2004-05, said Hannke." http://t.uani.com/1hONSyC
Reuters: "ONGC and its Indian partners
have submitted a $5-billion revised plan to Iran seeking development
rights of Farzad B gas field, Verma said. The revised contract offered
more flexibility and included a mix of production sharing and service
contracts, he said, adding investment could double if infrastructure is
built to supply gas to New Delhi." http://t.uani.com/1NlHoTb
Tehran
Times: "The
ground is ready for Iran and Germany to boost economic cooperation,
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says, adding that to this
end the German government will support any kind of investment in Iran.
Steinmeier made the remarks in a meeting in Tehran with Iranian Industry,
Mining, and Trade Minister Mohammad Reza Ne'matzadeh. 'Lifting of the
sanctions against Iran will encourage German companies to increase
investment in Iran. Over the past couple of years, the sanctions were a
major hindrance to the expansion of bilateral ties,' he added. 'I am very
optimistic about the future of relations between Tehran and Berlin,'
Steinmeier said. The Iranian minister said for his part that Iran
welcomes long-term investment by German companies in different fields of
industrial, mineral, and commercial industries. Germany is one of the
main trading partners of Iran in the European Union, Ne'matzadeh said,
adding that more than 50 percent of industrial needs of Iran were met by Germany
before the imposition of sanctions. 'We are currently negotiating with
many companies in order to attract foreign investment as soon as the
sanctions are lifted,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1PE47w9
Press TV
(Iran): "French
auto giant Renault has announced a major increase of 111 percent in sales
of cars to Iran in September. Renault says that it sold 5,500 cars at the
Iranian market over the period. It said the figure marked a significant
increase compared to the same period last year when sales stood at 2,600
cars. The company's sales to Iran from January to August were 23,730
cars. The figure was lower by a meager 6 percent from the sales of 25,400
cars over the same period last year. Renault's overall sales to Iran in
2014 were 36,300 cars which were lower than 2013 by 9 percent. The
company has announced that its Logan brand - which is called L-90 in the
Iranian market - is currently its most popular product in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1ZSfeGa
Press TV
(Iran):
"Swedish mechanical components and sub-systems manufacturer Leax
Group says it is eyeing Iran for potential major new business. Leax Group
says the decision to approach the Iranian market was adopted after a
recent visit to the country by its top directors that was organized by
Scandinavian automotive supplier association, FKG. 'Iran used to be a
very good market for Volvo and Scania and we are a major supplier to the
truck industry,' Leax Group President and CEO Roger Berggren told Just
Auto news website... Leax chief said he had several business meetings
with local players such as Iran Khodro Industrial Group (IKCO) and SAIPA
during his stay in Tehran. 'We [also] met some tractor manufacturers and
we can see the technology level is at least ten years behind - they want
new technology,' said Berggren." http://t.uani.com/1OPi8GE
Fars
(Iran): "Senior
managers of Japan's power plant construction companies are now in Iran to
negotiate investment in Iran's power sector, a senior energy official
announced on Tuesday. 'The managers of Japanese companies Marubeni Power
System, Hitachi and Mitsubishi have arrived in Iran to hold talks with
senior Iranian officials about their presence in Iran's electricity
market,' Deputy Energy Minister Hooshang Fallahatian said on Tuesday. He
said Iran would welcome a 100 percent financing of its power plant
projects by Japanese firms, and added, 'The Japanese companies have
voiced their willingness for construction of thermo power plants." http://t.uani.com/1RlYKjn
IRNA
(Iran):
"Officials from Japan Tokio Marine Insurance Company discussed
issues of mutual interests with Deputy Head of Iran's Central Insurance
Company for Reinsurance Mina Sediq Nouhi. In the meeting here on
Saturday, Governor of Tokio Marine Insurance Company Eva Koma expressed
pleasure for being in Tehran and explained history of company activities
in Japan and the Middle East and said that the main activity of the
company is in the field of marine insurance. He said that Tokio Marine
accompany with two other insurance companies in Japan have 90 percent of
Japan insurance market share." http://t.uani.com/1W1Qo21
Press TV
(Iran): "An
Iranian company has signed a cooperation agreement with Germany's Fuchs
Petrolub, the world's largest independent manufacture of lubricants, to
produce grease. Sepahan Oil Company (SOC)'s technical cooperation
agreement envisages establishing a plant for manufacturing and supplying
grease under the Fuchs license in the central Iranian city, the SOC said
in a statement. The German company will work with the SOC as a consultant
on transfer of technology for production of high-quality
lubricants." http://t.uani.com/1kmvA9F
BBC: "From the roadside billboards
advertising Rolex and Louis Vuitton, to the glitzy shopping centres that
have sprung up across Tehran, it's clear that big brands are becoming big
business in Iran... Big Western fashion brands are not banned from doing
business in Iran. But international banking sanctions in place against
Iran over its nuclear programme make it very difficult for them to get
their profits out. To date Spanish clothing retailer Mango, Italian
fashion boutique Benetton, and luxury women's designer Escada, are among
the very few Western companies to open shops in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1XgmVUl
Washington
Examiner: "Rep.
Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., is vice chairman of the House Financial
Services Committee's Task Force on Terrorism Financing, which has been
investigating ways of improving U.S. efforts to choke off the flow of
money to international terrorist groups. It's a huge problem, part of
what's estimated to be a global flow of $600 billion to $1.5 trillion in
laundering of illicit funds worldwide, and one that many experts expect
will get worse once Iranian banks sanctioned for engaging in the practice
are brought back into the international financial system as a result of
the July 14 nuclear deal." http://t.uani.com/1GnmsLQ
Tehran
Times: "The
11th international exhibition on construction, mining, and related
machinery (Iran ConMin 2015) is hosting 192 companies. The exhibit kicked
off yesterday at the Tehran Permanent International Fairgrounds and will
wrap up on October 20, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting (IRIB). The event is attended by 90 Iranian companies and
also 102 firms from 11 countries. Companies from Germany, Spain, Austria,
the United Arab Emirates, Italy, China, Taiwan, Turkey, South Korea,
Egypt and India are showcasing their latest products and achievements in
the exhibit." http://t.uani.com/1GQ5wZc
ISNA
(Iran): "Ten
senior managers of the largest Polish mineral holding are in Tehran to
talks with Iranian mineral and industrial officials. The holding dubbed
KGHM is one of the largest producers of copper and silver in the world.
The mining & metallurgy company is based in Poland in Lubin. KGHM
Polska Miedz S.A. owns shares in 33 entities, operating in various production
and service-related areas... The holding senior managers have been
invited by Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad-Reza
Nemat-Zadeh and will stay in Tehran until Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/1klvv61
ISNA
(Iran):
"Superpipe International has introduced Wilo pumps to Iranian
experts and contractors in a technical seminar 'Pump in Building
Facilities' here in Tehran. CEO of the Wilo & Dimitry Corporations
for Middle East Hammer explained about advantages of using the Wilo pumps
in Iranian houses... Superpipe is the 5th largest five-layered pipe
producer in the world, the first one in the Middle East and Wilo's
representative in Iran. Wilo, is one of the world's leading manufacturers
of pumps and pump systems for heating, cooling and air-conditioning
technology as well as for water supply and sewage disposal." http://t.uani.com/1W2UWud
Sanctions
Enforcement
Reuters:
"'France's Credit Agricole SA has agreed to pay the U.S. authorities
$787 million to settle allegations that it illegally moved money through
the U.S. financial system in violation of sanctions against Iran, Sudan,
and other countries, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Credit Agricole has already made provisions totalling 1.6 billion euros
($1.82 billion) against litigation costs after taking a further 350
million euro charge related to the U.S. investigation in its
second-quarter results. The deal is likely to be announced on Tuesday,
the person said. The payment is to be made under a so-called deferred
prosecution agreement with the bank, another source said. Under such
agreements the accused party is subjected to closer supervision for a
certain period of time, typically three years, and if they do not abide
by the terms of the deal, criminal charges could be filed... Credit
Agricole is the latest foreign bank to settle charges of violating U.S.
sanctions, with altogether about a dozen international banks, mostly
European, having been hit by U.S. penalties totalling $14 billion since
2009... Specifically Credit Agricole was accused of violating U.S.
sanctions against Iran, Sudan, Myanmar and Cuba between 2003 and 2008,
the first source said... Meawnhile Italy's UniCredit SpA, France's
Societe Generale, and Germany's Deutsche Bank AG remain under
investigation by the U.S. authorities, sources told Reuters." http://t.uani.com/1M4Z8F1
Syria
Conflict
Reuters: "Saudi Foreign Minister Adel
al-Jubeir said on Monday that Iran's military role in Syria stopped it
from being able to play a role in peacemaking efforts in the conflict
there. Speaking at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jubeir repeated Riyadh's view that Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Iran, had to leave power
if peace was to be achieved. 'The question is: what must Iran do to be
part of the solution in Syria? The answer is very simple: 'It has to
withdraw from Syria and it has to stop supplying weapons to Bashar
al-Assad's regime and it has to withdraw the Shi'ite militias that it
sent ... and then it can have a role,' Jubeir said, adding that Iran was
now an 'occupier of Arab lands in Syria'. Saudi Arabia believed Assad
must step down as soon as a transitional body was set up in line with the
Geneva peace talks of 2012, he said. 'After the formation of this
governmental body, President Assad must step down. If it is a matter of
months, two or three months or less, that is not important. But Assad has
no future in Syria,' Jubeir said according to an Arabic translation of
his comments made in English at the news conference." http://t.uani.com/1W3rtAn
Tehran
Times: "Head of
Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations Kamal Kharrazi has said
that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is Iran's 'red line', reiterating
on Iran's position that Assad should be part of the future Syria. 'We
have said that Assad should stay and the future of Syria should be based
on the people's will,' Kharrazi said on the sidelines of the Munich
Security Conference in Tehran on Saturday." http://t.uani.com/1M3hV3B
Human
Rights
Reuters: "United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday condemned Iran's execution of two
minors last week, while voicing his concern about the rise in executions
in the Islamic republic. '(Ban) is deeply saddened by the news of the
execution of two juvenile offenders last week in Iran,' Ban's press
office said in a statement. It added that Iran has ratified both the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the death penalty for anyone
under the age of eighteen. The statement said Ban was concerned last
week's executions 'reflect a worrying trend in Iran.' 'Over 700 executions
are reported to have taken place so far this year, including at least 40
public, marking the highest total recorded in the past 12 years,' it
said. The U.N. said the majority of Iranian death sentences were imposed
for drug-related offences - crimes that fall below the threshold of the
'most serious crimes' as required by international law. It added that Ban
urged Iran to call a moratorium on the death penalty and then to abolish
it." http://t.uani.com/1Km609M
ICHRI: "Azita Rafizadeh, a Baha'i
citizen and instructor at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education
(BIHE) online university, must report to prison on October 24, 2015, to
begin serving her four-year sentence, she told the International Campaign
for Human Rights in Iran. Her sentence was a result of her work at BIHE,
and her refusal to disavow it. The Baha'i are one of the most severely
persecuted religious minorities in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1PDXD0a
Opinion
& Analysis
Dana
Milbank in WashPost:
"The consequences of President Obama's passive foreign policy came
close to home this week. My Post colleague Jason Rezaian, the paper's
Tehran bureau chief, has been languishing in an Iranian jail for 15
months on bogus charges of espionage. He was put on secret trial by a
kangaroo court. On Sunday, Iranian state TV reported that he had been
convicted. And Obama said ... nothing. He didn't go to the briefing room
and make a statement. He didn't even release a written statement. On
Tuesday, his press secretary, in response to a reporter's question at the
briefing, responded with what might have been described as minor
annoyance with the Iranian regime. 'We've got a number of concerns,' the
spokesman said, mentioning the 'unjust' detention and 'opaque' process.
Where was the demand that Iran immediately release Rezaian and the two or
three other Americans it is effectively holding hostage? Where was the
threat of consequences if Tehran refused? How about some righteous
outrage condemning Iran for locking up an American journalist for doing
his job? Even if Obama's outrage came to nothing, it would be salutary to
hear the president defend the core American value of free speech.
Officials who defend Obama's detached approach say this is an example of
his patient diplomacy, his belief in playing the long game. If the
president were to speak out passionately about Rezaian, they argue, Obama
would only make Rezaian more valuable to the Iranians as a bargaining
chit. That's why a demand for his (and the others') release wasn't a
condition of the nuclear deal. But at some point patience becomes
passivity; Obama's game is so long that it often appears he isn't playing
at all. In my colleague's case, it's baffling that the administration
won't use the considerable leverage it has. With sanctions easing because
of the nuclear deal, Iran is hungry for U.S. investment. Would it really
hurt the president to warn - accurately - that U.S. businesses will be
reluctant to set up shop in a country that kidnaps and locks up Americans
for no reason? Perhaps the Europeans, eager to invest in Iran, could use
a reminder of this, too; British and Canadian nationals have been treated
similarly. That's the view of Ali Rezaian, Jason's brother, who is
frustrated with the public quiescence. 'The administration needs to make
it clear that businesses aren't going to be able to engage in a state
that treats foreigners like this and treats innocents like this,' he told
me. If a journalist is called a spy for doing his job, imagine how the
Iranians will treat Americans working for, say, defense contractors such
as Boeing or General Electric... This summer, Obama was furious when
Major Garrett of CBS News asked him why he was 'content, with all of the
fanfare around this [nuclear] deal, to leave the conscience of this
nation, the strength of this nation, unaccounted for, in relation to
[the] Americans' detained by Iran. Obama lectured Garrett: 'That's
nonsense, and you should know better.' If only Obama were willing to
speak so forcefully and passionately to the Iranian regime, Jason Rezaian
might be a free man." http://t.uani.com/1OQ4jaT
Azadeh
Moaveni in NYT:
"For most of the years that I was based in Iran as a correspondent
for Time magazine, my working life approximated a clumsy script for a
television spy drama. I was regularly obliged to meet with intelligence
agents who monitored my writing and hectored me to disclose the
identities of sources. These interrogation sessions usually took place in
empty apartments across Tehran, places where no one could have heard me
scream, and always with stern warnings that nobody could know they were
taking place. I got used to seeing an unidentified number flashing on my
cellphone, picking up a call from a voice that would not identify itself.
I got used to my assigned agent's macabre jokes, to being followed and
sometimes threatened. As he revealed things about my life only those
close to me would know, I grew to distrust many of my friends, and felt
tainted by his role in my life. But for me, working in Iran involved such
an association... Factions within the judiciary and the Revolutionary
Guards who often work at cross-purposes with the government have
developed their own intelligence bodies that operate with impunity, a
deep state that is determined to sabotage détente with the United States
and to undermine the pragmatic forces that signed July's nuclear deal to
end Iran's isolation. Journalists have always been in their cross hairs,
especially Iranian-American journalists, who are viewed as spies and, in
recent years, as useful pawns projecting the image that Iran is still
very much in the business of hostage taking. Jason Rezaian, the
Washington Post reporter who has been held in jail for nearly 15 months,
is the latest victim of this continuing and complex pattern. He was
recently convicted of espionage in a secret trial and only heard of this
development, according to his brother, watching the evening news in
prison... The scrupulous objectivity and transparency that marked Jason's
work from Tehran have never been enough to persuade Iran's intelligence
forces that Iranian-Americans are not a security threat. Their fears are
not really about security. During my time in Iran, my agents came to know
me with bruising intimacy. They were the ones who approved the renewal of
my press card, and of course they monitored my phone calls and emails.
Often they complained that we Americans were too prone to conflating
elite Iranians with the rest of the country. I told them once,
exasperated: 'Most Americans view Iranians as a nation of hostage-taking
anti-Semites living under Shariah law. Knowing that some like to go
skiing makes us seem human.' I remember that day, because my agent put
down his pen and seemed to acknowledge the point. But the part of the
deep state that has imprisoned Jason does not bother itself with such
subtleties. This is not the old-school intelligence apparatus that was
trying to familiarize itself with how Iranian-Americans journalists
functioned. Those who are detaining Jason have an ideological vision of Iran's
future that requires continued isolation. They worry, correctly, that
President Hassan Rouhani and his allies are working to open Iran up to
the world. And that this opening will gradually erode support internally,
among the government itself, for Iran's aggressive posture in the region
and its severe restrictions at home. They see how media coverage of Iran
has shifted in recent months, how once routine images of
black-chador-clad women and Shiite militias have given way to fashion
spreads and profiles of tech start-ups. For them, this is a nightmare in
the making, and they know that imprisoning Iranian-Americans is a quick
way to stop it. The pragmatists around Mr. Rouhani privately appreciate
the work of Iranian-American journalists. They recognize that we are the
ones best positioned to report on our homeland, because we have built-in
sympathies, greater historical context and the language skills to
document, with more granular nuance, how Iran is changing... We bore
witness to the story of Iran changing around us, but the cost for many of
us, in the end, was high. This newspaper's Tehran reporter, Nazila Fathi,
had to leave Iran in the aftermath of the 2009 election unrest, told that
snipers had been given her photograph and orders to shoot. Others have
endured smear campaigns in the hard-line press, and like Jason,
imprisonment." http://t.uani.com/1GQPUop
Michael
Cavna in WashPost:
"A historic nuclear deal was struck with Iran, and so I hoped I
wouldn't still be drawing this. The one-year mark of his detention
passed, and so I wished I wouldn't still be drawing this. A week ago, he
had been in custody longer than the Carter-era Iranian hostage crisis lasted,
and I longed to not be drawing this still. Then, early this week, word
came that Iran had announced a guilty verdict in the trial our Washington
Post colleague, friend and Baghdad bureau chief, Jason Rezaian. The
travesty continues, 451 days after his arrest, and so I draw on as one
tiny act against this miscarriage of justice and rights, and out of a
sense that Jason is one smaller pawn amid larger obscene politics. 'The
contemptible end to this 'judicial process' leaves Iran's senior leaders
with an obligation to right this grievous wrong,' Post Executive Editor
Martin Baron said Monday in a statement. Iranian senior leadership. That
is where matters have become so troubling on a broader scale, as well.
Consider that Iranian political artist/cartoonist Atena Farghadani was
recently sentenced to more than 12 years behind bars (she has been held
in the same infamous Evin Prison as Rezaian has) for, in part, drawing
Parliament as animals to satirize their voting to curb birth
control. Contemptible, too, is how Farghadani, 29, was made to take
a 'virginity and pregnancy test,' Amnesty International reported last
week, after she was charged with 'illegimate sexual relations.' Her
'crime' that prompted the virginity test? Shaking her male attorney's
hand. Or consider the recent punishment meted out to Iranian filmmaker
Keywan Karimi, whose award-winning movies about life in the Islamic
Republic (including 'Writing on the City' and 'The Adventure of the
Married Couple') resulted in a conviction for 'insulting sanctities' in
Iran. Karami was sentenced Saturday, the Associated Press reported, to
six years in prison and 223 lashes. 'I don't know what happened that I
should go to jail for six years,' Karimi, who remains free for now, told
the AP. 'I speak about the government, I speak about society, I speak
about (graffiti), I speak about a laborer.' And so artists and
journalists and other writers in Iran are feeling the chill effect.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is characterized as a moderate, but
ultimately, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is said to oversee the
government." http://t.uani.com/1XhytGT
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