|
|
|
Join UANI
Top
Stories
Reuters: "Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps was quick to condemn the execution of Saudi cleric Sheikh
Nimr al-Nimr, stating: 'Without a doubt, the hated Saudi regime will pay
a price for this shameful act.' For an organisation deeply involved in
wars in Syria and Iraq this looks no idle threat, at least in the eyes of
Sunni Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia who say Shi'ite rival Tehran is
bent on undermining their security... It is a reminder to Gulf Arabs that
the IRGC, with connections in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region,
has many ways to wage the long cold war between Tehran and its Arab foes...
'The Guard will not respond directly,' said Hilal Khashan, a professor of
political science at the American University of Beirut. 'They have their
operatives, their people, their connections everywhere in the region who
will answer what the Saudis did and actually escalate. Iran is in a very
strong position to respond in the Saudi Arabian eastern province. And
they can do a lot in Bahrain.' ... The IRGC has also established
intelligence networks among the Shi'ite populations in the Gulf states.
It has the potential to undermine Saudi Arabia and its allies' interests
using sympathetic Shi'ites to stir political unrest or engage in violent
attacks, experts say. Saudi Arabia has a sizable Shi'ite community in the
east of the country, while the majority of Bahrain's citizens are
Shi'ites who live under a Sunni monarchy. A failed uprising which began
in Bahrain in 2011 was largely focussed on gaining more democratic rights
for the country's Shi'ites. In the Guards' statement, they warned that
the youth and Muslims of Saudi Arabia would take 'tough revenge' which
would lead to the fall of the Saudi government. The Iranians could also
revive the resentment that drove the Bahrain uprising. 'I think the
Iranians think they can actually have a victory in Bahrain which would be
a red line for the Saudis,' said a Western diplomat in Beirut who asked
not to be identified." http://t.uani.com/1OMGfYT
WSJ: "Some of the world's largest
container shipping lines are planning to stop in Iran for the first time
in years after the lifting of sanctions, marking a key step in the
country's return to international markets. Last Thursday, Mediterranean
Shipping Co. SA, the second-largest shipping line by volume, discharged
300 containers filled with food and agricultural commodities at the port
in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas. It was the first time one
of the Swiss company's vessels had called at an Iranian port since 2012, according
to an MSC spokeswoman. CMA CGM SA, the third-largest line, also has begun
service to Iran, a spokesman said. MSC's stop, on a round trip between
China and the Middle East, was an early indication of how July's nuclear
deal is giving Iran's economy a boost... Between 2011 and 2015, container
traffic through Iran fell by nearly half, from roughly 5 million 20-foot
equivalent units, or TEUs-a common shipping measure-to about 2.8 million,
according to global shipping association Bimco... MSC plans to include
Bandar Abbas in its 16-stop New Falcon service, which runs from China,
through Singapore and Sri Lanka to Iran, visits the U.A.E. and India, and
returns to China every 21 days. 'Iran is really only opening up, and as
things progress, volumes should increase,' said Fiona Jackson, an MSC
spokeswoman. 'It's baby steps.' Other large carriers plan to visit Iran
as well. French shipping line CMA CGM resumed calling at Bandar Abbas on
Aug. 6, sending a 13,000-TEU ship to the Iranian port as part of its China
India Middle East Express service, a spokesman said. Executives with
Danish conglomerate A.P. Moeller Maersk A/S, which includes Maersk Line,
the world's largest marine carrier, visited Iran in recent days to
discuss potential projects, a spokeswoman said. She added that any
decisions regarding transportation would need to wait for the repeal of
sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1OaH08s
IranWire: "They look just like normal
school girls. Wearing black chadors over pink manteaux and headscarves,
they stand around the yard gazing at a tin can marked 'Death to America.'
A fire is burning inside the tin. One by one, the girls approach the
fire. With a show of fury and hate, they snap the heads of the dolls off
and throw them into the fire. The camera comes to rest on a school
official, who holds her chador tightly around her face. 'Barbie is a
propaganda agent for Western culture,' she says. 'So they are destroying the
dolls in this ceremony.' The schoolgirls throw the rest of the Barbie
doll bodies into the fire. As a reward for their actions, they are given
dolls with covered hair. The national TV news program 20:30 broadcasts a
short clip of the ceremony, which took place at a school near Tehran.
Barbie dolls are very popular in Iran, and it is not the first time that
they have been called a symbol of Western cultural invasion... Laleh
Eftekhari, a female member of the parliament's Cultural Committee, is
another opponent of Barbie dolls. She says has not seen the video of the
schoolgirls destroying the toys, but she tells IranWire: 'I know the West
has been targeting our culture using toys and stationery. This amounts to
a cultural invasion and we must inform our children about it.'" http://t.uani.com/1OO4kbx
Embassy
Attack
NBC: "Saudi Arabia's foreign
minister says diplomatic tensions over the execution of a prominent
cleric could be eased if Iran - the most vocal critic of the killing -
ratchets down the rhetoric. 'Very simple: Iran should back off, stop
being aggressive, stop interfering, stop supporting terrorism,' Saudi
Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said in an interview with CNBC
on Tuesday when asked how to resolve the escalating crisis. 'I hope that
they will turn around and adapt a more conciliatory policy and a more
normal policy, the way that countries and governments should behave. And
I want to emphasize here that we have no enmity towards Iran, we have no
enmity towards the Iranian people,' Al-Jubeir said, adding that Saudi
Arabia has merely been reacting to Iran's outrage... He pointed to Iran
protecting individuals linked to the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing,
harboring al Qaeda leaders after 9/11 and smuggling weapons
internationally as some of the alleged 'nefarious' activities the Islamic
republic is involved in." http://t.uani.com/1Uwo3AU
Bloomberg: "Djibouti cut diplomatic ties
with Iran, joining several Arab nations that have taken the step after
protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Sunday. 'Djibouti cut
its diplomatic ties with Iran out of solidarity with Saudi Arabia,'
Djiboutian Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said in a mobile-phone
text message Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1IQP8OI
IRNA
(Iran): "Recent
attacks against Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad is
suspicious, Police Chief Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari said on
Wednesday. Speaking in a local ceremony, the police chief said that he is
not sure but suspicious of the way Saudi missions were attacked. Police
will continue its investigation to find the realities revealed behind the
attacks, he added. Holding protest meetings against Saudi Arabia is
acceptable but no person who is loyal to the Islamic Republic invades an
embassy in this way, the commander said." http://t.uani.com/1MT371v
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "Danish companies are eyeing a
series of energy and shipping projects in Iran following a visit this
week by the country's foreign minister, local news agencies and officials
said on Tuesday. The Danish foreign ministry said its minister, Kristian
Jensen, travelled to Tehran with a delegation representing 58 companies
on Monday and that exports could increase by 500 million Danish crowns
($72 million) once sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme are lifted.
News agency Shana cited Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Zanganeh as
saying Danish companies were interested in developing oil fields in the
Caspian Sea including the South Pars gas field, which also produces
condensates. Global conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk is in the oil
industry through its Maersk Oil unit... The Mehr news agency also cited
the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) as saying that Maersk
Line, the world's largest container shipping company, would begin
services to Iranian ports. 'We can confirm that we have met with representatives
from the Iranian government to discuss possible projects. Nothing has
been agreed and we cannot share further details,' Maersk said in a
statement. Mehr also cited Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian as saying that
Denmark offered to invest in the construction of a wind turbine factory.
Denmark's Vestas, the world's largest wind turbine maker, said its
representatives were present in Tehran and the company was looking into
opportunities there but would not elaborate on any talks. One early
Danish mover on Iran was drug maker Novo Nordisk which said in September
it would build a $78 million manufacturing plant in the country,
signalling what it called a 'long-term commitment to Iran'. The Danish
foreign ministry directed questions to its delegation in Iran, which
confirmed a memorandum had been signed with Tehran on insuring Danish
exports to Iran but declined to comment on other individual business
talks." http://t.uani.com/1mFYken
Shana
(Iran): "Vice
president of Denmark's Maersk said the company is gearing up to engage in
Iran's upstream oil projects in the wake of the removal of the western
sanctions on the country's energy sector. 'We have to wait for the
complete lifting of the sanctions but our group of companies is very
interested to come to Iran,' said Lars Nydahl Jorgensen following a
meeting between Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh and Danish
Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen in Tehran. He said Maersk can offer
services not only as an oil company but as a drilling company that would
be ready to engage in Iran. 'We have supply vessels for big rigs and we
have tanker companies and we have a terminals company that can offer
infrastructures for export,' the Danish industrialist said. He also said
the Danish company is having very constructive discussions with NIOC and
its subsidiaries and will continue that dialogue but 'we don't know how
long that will take.'" http://t.uani.com/1MT4HQS
Daily
Mail: "Backing
up its aim to be one of the must-visit destinations for 2016, Iran is set
to construct 125 luxury hotels. With the government's tourism arm aiming
to increase visitors to the Middle Eastern country to 20 million by 2025,
a 20 fold increase, hopes are that it can contribute £20billion to the
economy. Masoud Soltanifar, the head of Iran's Cultural Heritage,
Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, confirmed that many of the hotels
are near to completion, and the numbers built in the last year are more
than the total produced in the last century... Accor, which is Europe's
largest hotel group, has already constructed two four-star hotels at Imam
Khomeini International Airport outside the Iranian capital. And Rotana
are set to open four hotels in the next two years, two in the city of
Mashhad set to be completed by the end of 2017, and two in Tehran
due to open in 2018. Amin Dakkak, corporate director of marketing &
communications told MailOnline Travel: 'Rotana was the first hotel
management company to announce its expansion plans in the Iranian market,
after signing the management agreement in March 2013 for four properties
currently under development, all of which will be opened under the
company's alcohol-free brand 'Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts' by
Rotana." http://t.uani.com/1S44i63
Reuters: "Saudi food producer Savola,
one of the few Saudi companies with a presence in Iran, plans to maintain
its investments there despite a diplomatic standoff between the regional
powers, a senior executive at the firm told Reuters... Saudi Foreign
Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters on Monday that Riyadh would sever
'all commercial relations' with Iran, along with flights and diplomatic
ties, after tensions boiled up over its execution of a prominent Shi'ite
cleric. Those comments sent Savola's stock price plunging 11.5 percent as
of Tuesday and led Iran's Press TV to speculate that the company may sell
its Iranian edible oils and sugar businesses, which account for some 13
percent of total revenues. According to its most recent annual report,
Savola holds a 90 percent stake in Savola Behshahr Company, which
dominates Iran's edible oil market with some 40 percent market share. It
also has full ownership of Savola Behshahr Sugar Company and distribution
firm Tolue Pakhshe Aftab in Iran... Trade links between Saudi Arabia and
Iran have long been sparse, with only a few companies - mostly in food
and consumer goods - wagering that they can profit in spite of Western
sanctions and political animosity. Saudi Arabia's family-owned Aujan
Group Holding, which makes popular Ramadan drink Vimto under licence from
British firm Nichols plc and has a $1 billion joint venture with
Coca-Cola, has had major Iran manufacturing operations since 2005. Aujan
Industries Iranian Company (AIIC), a private joint stock company based in
Tehran, is an authorised manufacturer and distributor of the company's
Rani Refreshments products. Aujan's Kaveh Aluminum Can Company,
established in 2009 in Kaveh Industrial City, supplies cans to AIIC as
well as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other brands for sale in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1UwjQ07
Terrorism
Reuters: "Bahrain said on Wednesday it
had caught an Iranian-linked cell plotting attacks on its territory, days
after it followed its close ally Saudi Arabia in cutting ties with
Iran... 'A secret terrorist plot aided by the so-called Iranian
Revolutionary Guard and the Hezbollah terrorist organization was foiled,'
the Gulf island kingdom's state news agency BNA reported. 'It targeted
the security of the kingdom of Bahrain by (plotting to) carry out a
series of dangerous bombings,' it added... BNA said a main suspect, Ali
Ahmed Fakhrawi, had traveled to Lebanon and personally met the head of
the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, who gave him $20,000 to aid the
cell. Fakhrawi and his twin brother were linked to the militant
activities of eight other suspects named by BNA, some of whom were
arrested as early as 2013 and two of whom were designated as fugitives,
one in Iran. In November, Bahrain said it had arrested 47 members of a
group believed to have links to 'terrorist elements in Iran' who it said
were planning to carry out attacks in the coming days. Bahrain recalled
its ambassador to Iran in October after it said security forces discovered
a bomb-making factory and arrested a number of suspects linked to the
Revolutionary Guard." http://t.uani.com/1Ju0RTp
Syria
Conflict
AP: "The Obama administration's
best-case scenario for political transition in Syria does not foresee
Bashar Assad stepping down as the country's leader before March 2017,
outlasting Barack Obama's presidency by at least two months, according to
a document obtained by The Associated Press. An internal timeline
prepared for U.S. officials dealing with the Syria crisis sets an
unspecified date in March 2017 for Assad to 'relinquish' his position as
president and for his 'inner circle' to depart. That would be more than five
years after Obama first called for Assad to leave." http://t.uani.com/1Z5uKv9
Human
Rights
Journalism
is Not a Crime:
"The Prosecutor's Office for Media and Culture in Iran has suspended
the reformist newspaper Bahar on January 2, 2016 for allegedly publishing
propaganda against the regime. 'The newspaper has been shut down for
publishing propaganda against the regime and articles that harms the
foundation of the Islamic Republic,' said an unnamed judicial official
according to Mizan News Agency. The reformist daily has been closed down
several times before, first in 2000 just a few months after the paper was
founded. Following a 10-year ban, it was permitted to reopen in 2010.
However, the newspaper was banned again in 2013, thus becoming the first
publication to be closed down under the moderate President Hassan
Rouhani. And now history has once again repeated itself. The newspaper
was according to Mansour Ghanavati, the managing editor of Bahar,
suspended after it had published an article entitled 'Decline of Power',
which criticized unnamed people in power in Iran. But the charges against
the paper have not been made clear yet." http://t.uani.com/1Z8FnTq
Domestic
Politics
AFP: "The grandson of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, could be
excluded from upcoming elections because he did not attend a
qualification exam Tuesday. Hassan Khomeini, 43, was not among 400
candidates for the Assembly of Experts who took the theology test in the
holy city of Qom, one hour's drive south of the capital Tehran. The exam
was organised by the Guardian Council, a powerful committee that vets
candidates for the Assembly, a clerical group that will pick the
country's next supreme leader, and for parliament. Elections to both will
take place on February 26. 'If someone does not participate in the
examination to test his level of theological knowledge, he will not have
the requirements to be a candidate,' said Siamak Rahpeyk, a Guardian
Council member. 'We informed the candidates via the media and through the
official website of the Council' of the test, he said on state
television. A source close to Khomeini, who has never previously run for
public office but is close to the reformist former president Mohammad
Khatami, told the official IRNA news agency he had not received any
'invitation or text message' to go to the exam." http://t.uani.com/1ZNIn4y
|
|
Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear
Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the
Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive
media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with
discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a
commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own
interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of
nuclear weapons.
|
|
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment