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NYT: "Iran said on Monday that it
would seek to sue the United States at the International Court of
Justice at The Hague to prevent the distribution of nearly $2 billion
in impounded assets from Iran's central bank to compensate American
victims of overseas attacks. Distribution of the impounded assets,
which the United States Supreme Court validated in a decision last
week, has enraged the Iranians and threatened to damage the improvement
in relations created by the deal reached last July on Iran's nuclear
activities. The Supreme Court decision affected more than 1,000
Americans - survivors of, and relatives of people killed in, attacks
that the American authorities have attributed to Iranian operatives.
The attacks include the 1983 truck bombing of a Marine base in Beirut
and a truck bombing in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, in 1996. The Iranians have
denied responsibility for these attacks and have accused the United
States of using them as an excuse to steal their money through the
Supreme Court decision. 'We hold the U.S. administration responsible
for preservation of Iranian funds, and if they are plundered, we will
lodge a complaint with the I.C.J. for reparation,' Iran's foreign
minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told reporters on Monday in Tehran. He
was referring to the International Court of Justice." http://t.uani.com/1NOXZxo
AP: "An Iranian court has
sentenced four pro-reform journalists to prison terms ranging from five
to 10 years after convicting them on charges of acting against national
security. State TV's website said on Tuesday that the verdicts can be
appealed. The four were arrested in November as part of ongoing
crackdown by hard-liners, a move that was criticized by moderate
President Hassan Rouhani. Several Iranian activists and cultural
figures were also arrested in the run-up to February elections for
parliament and the all-cleric Assembly of Experts. The four sentenced
have worked for various newspapers, including pro-reform Farhikhtegan
daily. They include Davood Asadi, who was sentenced to 10 years in
prison. Ehsun Mazandarani was given a seven-year term while Afarin
Chitsaz and Ehsan Safarzaiee each have to spend five years behind
bars." http://t.uani.com/1VzJw06
NYT: "Iraqi forces, backed by
American airstrikes and advised by American officers, have been making
strides in Anbar Province, slowly taking back territory from the
Islamic State. But in Falluja, a city in Sunni-dominated Anbar that has
been in the hands of the Islamic State longer than any other in Iraq or
Syria, civilians are starving as the Iraqi Army and militias lay siege
to the city. And elsewhere in the province, Shiite militias supported
by Iran are carrying out kidnappings and murders and restricting the
movement of Sunni Arab civilians, according to American and Iraqi
officials... A growing number of critics are warning that
American-backed military victories need to be backed up with political
reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite Arabs, something Iran is
working against, and with determined efforts to rebuild cities so that
civilians can return. In Anbar, they note, the situation is bleak:
Shiite militias have worsened sectarian animosities, and hundreds of
thousands of civilians have been unable to return home. More broadly,
analysts and officials say, it has become clear that though the United
States and Iran both want to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq, they
have been unable to work together to promote unity in the country -
even after a deal was reached last year over Iran's nuclear program, which
many hoped would allow them to cooperate more closely... Iran's proxies
are undercutting efforts to unite the civilian population, a necessity
if Iraq is to eventually extinguish extremism." http://t.uani.com/1YRIxGs
Nuclear
& Ballistic Missile Program
Reuters: "Iran is holding talks with
Russia to sell it about 40 tonnes of heavy water from its nuclear
program, Iran's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying by the
Fars news agency. Under last year's landmark nuclear deal between Iran
and world powers, Tehran is responsible for reducing its stock of heavy
water which is a component of making nuclear weapons and producing
nuclear energy. It is not radioactive and the nuclear deal gives Iran
the right to sell, dilute or dispose of it under certain conditions.
Abbas Araqchi, who is also a top nuclear negotiator, was quoted by the
Fars agency as saying late on Sunday that the United States had been
the first buyer of Iranian heavy water and some other world powers,
including Russia, were now showing an interest. 'We are negotiating
with Russia to sell 40 tonnes of heavy water,' he said. The Russian
Foreign Ministry later confirmed Moscow was considering the purchase."
http://t.uani.com/1WR8mIp
IranWire: "There is not much of a
'missile gap' between Iran's oft-described reformists and hardliners.
Ever since Iran carried out a series of controversial missile tests
last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has been defending
Iran's missile program to his English-speaking audiences. Addressing
the New Zealand Institute of Foreign Affairs in Wellington on March 14,
Zarif responded with apparent emotion to a Japanese journalist who
asked why Iran was pursuing missile tests just as investors were
beginning to explore possible opportunities in Iran. Zarif stood up
with a sarcastic smile and, wagging his finger, invoked the era of fear
and isolation Iranians lived through during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq
War... For all Zarif's popularity with Iranian reformers and western
Iran-watchers, he is the defender of an Iranian military doctrine
controlled by more conservative forces." http://t.uani.com/1Qyp4Vi
U.S.-Iran
Relations
Reuters: "Iran on Tuesday summoned the
Swiss ambassador, who handles U.S. interests in Tehran, to condemn a Supreme
Court ruling that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be
turned over to U.S. families of those killed in attacks blamed on
Tehran. Denouncing the ruling as theft, Iran warned on Monday that it
would seek to take the United States to the International Court of
Justice at The Hague to prevent the distribution of the money. 'Iran's
strong objection over the ruling was conveyed during the meeting
between Iranian official and the Swiss envoy. Iranian official
underlined that the ruling was against international laws and bilateral
agreements,' the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Foreign Ministry
as saying. The Swiss embassy represents U.S. interests in Iran, because
Washington has not had a mission there since hardline Iranian students seized
American embassy shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and took
52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The U.S. Supreme Court found that
Congress had not usurped the authority of the courts by passing a law
in 2012 stating that the frozen funds should go toward satisfying a
$2.65 billion judgment against Iran won by the families in a U.S.
federal court in 2007. The ruling would affect, among others, the
families of 241 U.S. soldiers killed in truck bomb attacks on a U.S.
Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in October 1983." http://t.uani.com/26r66f0
Business
Risk
ICHRI: "Saeed Razavi Faghih, a
reformist journalist who was released from Evin Prison on April 6, 2016
after serving two years for his political beliefs, has issued an open
letter urging the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica
Mogherini, to not 'sacrifice human rights for commercial greed' during
her April 16, 2016 trip to Tehran. Mogherini's one-day trip was seen as
yet another sign of warming relations between Iran and the EU following
the signing of the nuclear deal by Iran and world powers in July 2015.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has provided the
first English translation (links added for context) of the letter,
which was also addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. The
letter was first published in Persian on April 17, 2016 by Saham News,
which is affiliated with Mehdi Karroubi, an opposition leader who has
been held under house arrest since 2011 for his role in the Green
Movement protests against the disputed victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
in the 2009 Iranian presidential election. 'In the past two decades, at
the very least, the state of Iran has been the biggest danger to no
nation other than Iran itself,' wrote Razavi Faghih. 'The great number
of inmates in Iran's prisons, representing [individuals belonging to
different trades] and [those who belong to different] schools of
thought and various political and social groups, is an indication of
the daily, deepening divide between the state and the people,' he
added." http://t.uani.com/1YRJu1x
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "The United Arab Emirates'
Dana Gas has not been able to reach an acceptable deal with Iran on
natural gas imports into the UAE, and an arbitration process will
continue, chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward said on Tuesday. However,
Dana is still open to further discussions with Iran, which also wants
to see the dispute resolved, Allman-Ward told reporters. National
Iranian Oil Co and Dana's affiliate Crescent Petroleum signed a 25-year
contract in 2001 for Iran to deliver gas to the UAE, with the price
linked to oil." http://t.uani.com/233hqcR
Mehr
(Iran): "Iranian
Ministry of Industry has approved of importing cars produced at
Germany's Opel Automobile manufacturer company. Following the
announcement of the list of authorized imported vehicles by the Trade
Promotion Organization (TPO) of Iran, Ministry of Industry, Mine and
Trade, in a letter to TPO, announced its agreement with licensing
German Opel cars in two models of Adam and Corsa with engine capacities
of less than 2500 cc. In the letter to Iran's TPO, the Ministry of
Industry has announced that the importer company, Tavan Khodro Jey Co.,
possesses credible certifications as well as licenses from the Iranian
Department of Environment as well as the Institute of Standards and
Industrial Research and intends to import Opel Adam and Corsa hatchback
automobiles with an engine capacity of 1400 cc... Founded in 1862, Adam
Opel AG is a German automobile manufacturer headquartered in
Rüsselsheim, Hesse, Germany, and a subsidiary of General Motors
Company." http://t.uani.com/233lQQJ
ISNA
(Iran):
"British Trade Minister Lord Livingston plans to visit Iran in
May, said Head of Investment Commission of Iranian Chamber of Commerce
Feriyal Mostofi, adding he is going to be accompanied by a delegation.
Mostofi who has recently visited Britain for London conference, said
the event was attended by different trade companies where the two sides
discussed bilateral economic cooperation. She said that she had
outlined potentials, rules and investment in Iran and they expressed
their readiness for deepening bilateral economic ties with Iran after
lifting sanctions." http://t.uani.com/1YRLbMs
SHANA
(Iran): "UK's
trade envoy to Iran, Lord Lamont, has voiced the United Kingdom Export
Finance (UKEF)'s readiness to cooperate with Iran and offer insurance
coverage to the OPEC member Asian country. Following a meeting with the
British envoy in Tehran, Amir Hossein Zamaninia, deputy petroleum
minister in international affairs and trading, said he discussed Iran's
future cooperation with UKEF and lowering investment risks in the
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with Lamont.
'The British side voiced UKEF's readiness to cooperate with Iran and to
allocate a budget for insurance coverage,' he said. Zamaninia added
that oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP) have also
indicated readiness to invest in Iran's projects and are seeking to
join them. Before meeting with Zamaninia, Lamont, who currently chairs
the British-Iranian Chamber of Commerce, met with officials of the
Central Bank of Iran to confer banking issues between the two
countries. 'We also discussed development of Rhum gas field and they
promised to cooperate with Iran for solving the field's development
problems,' Zamaninia said." http://t.uani.com/1UeF1a0
Tasnim
(Iran):
"A high-ranking parliamentary delegation from Belgium is scheduled
to visit Tehran this week for talks on bilateral ties. The delegation,
headed by President of the Senate of Belgium Christine Defraigne, will
arrive in Tehran on April 27. Defraigne is planned to sit down with
Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani. The two will also hold a joint
press conference after the meeting. The president of the Senate of
Belgium is also scheduled to hold talks with Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani, Chairman of Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, a top adviser to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli
Larijani on international affairs, Vice-President for Women and Family
Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, and a number of other officials during
the 5-day visit." http://t.uani.com/1MVQ0Ug
Mehr
(Iran): "Iran
and Vestas energy company of Denmark have begun a fresh round of
cooperation in wind energy industry.Iranian power industry and Denmak's
Vestas company have started collaboration by helping generate
electricity from wind, transferring the knowhow of wind power plants
and turbines, and integrating wind networks." http://t.uani.com/1SMhfmu
Terrorism
IranWire: "Ten victims of a terrorist
attack who won a financial judgment against Iran are entitled to seize
their claims from $9.4 million in funds owed to Iran's defense
ministry, according to a recent ruling by the US Federal Court of
Appeal. The February 26 ruling upholds a decision reached two years ago
in a lower district court based in San Diego, California. The debt
relates to dealings between a US private company, Cubic, and Iran prior
to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Cubic, a San Diego-based defense
contractor, had arranged to sell Iran air combat systems. Because of
deep political tensions between Iran and the US after the revolution,
Cubic sold the system to Canada and ignored Iran's call for
reimbursement. Iran asked for the International Chamber of Commerce to
arbitrate the dispute in 1991. In 1997, the international body found
that Cubic indeed owed Iran $2.8 million. With interest and legal costs,
the figure has since risen to around $9.4 million. The money has been a
blocked or frozen asset under US law. Of the 10 victims named in the
court's judgment, nine of them - Renay Frym, Stuart E. Hersh, Abraham
Mendelson, Daniel J. Miller, Elena Rozenman, Noam Rozenman, Tzvi
Rozenman, Deborah Rubin and Jenny Rubin - are survivors of a suicide
bombing that took place in a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem on September
4, 1997. A lower court judge determined that Iran provided training and
other material assistance to the three bombers of the Hamas Group that
carried out the attack. The tenth victim is France Rafii, the daughter
of Shapour Bakhtiar, who was Iran's last prime minister before the 1979
Revolution. Bakhtiar was murdered in 1991, along with his secretary
Souroush Katibeh, at his residence in the Paris suburb of
Suresnes." http://t.uani.com/1rwPaUD
Human
Rights
Al-Monitor: "Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein
Mohseni-Ejei rejected calls for the release of political prisoner Omid
Kokabee from prison after he had his right kidney removed. Kokabee, a
graduate student in physics at the University of Texas at Austin who
was arrested in Iran, convicted of collaboration with an enemy
government and illegal earnings and sentenced to 10 years in prison,
was diagnosed with renal cancer after reportedly being denied treatment
for a kidney illness for years. Referring to Kokabee, Mohseni-Ejei said
April 24, 'This offender has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
If someone commits treason against their country they should be
punished.' On Kokabee's illness, he said, 'People in prison can become
sick like other people, and if they can be treated in prison it will be
done. Otherwise they will be transferred to a hospital for treatment.'
Mohseni-Ejei said that if a medical doctor says prison will worsen the
condition of the prisoner, then it is up to the prison officials to
provide another facility." http://t.uani.com/1T1Pctc
Journalism
Is Not a Crime:
"Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Iran 169th of 180
countries in its 2016 edition of the World Press Freedom Index. Iran
climbed four places since last year's report but remains one of the
most repressive countries in the world when it comes to press freedom.
According the RSF report, which was published on Wednesday, 20 April,
this year's index saw a 'deep and disturbing decline in respect for
media freedom at both the global and regional levels.' Since 2013, the
overall level of media freedom in the world has declined by 13.6
percent... Iran is rated the world's third biggest prison for
journalists by RSF, and ranks among the top three most censored
countries in Freedom House Freedom House's annual study of internet
freedom." http://t.uani.com/1T1O5tr
Journalism
Is Not a Crime:
"Jailed Iranian journalist and blogger Saeed Pourheydar has sewed
his lips together and started a hunger strike to protest delays in his
trial. Pourheydar is currently being held in Iran's brutal Rajai Shahr
prison. In August 2015, he was given a five-year prison sentence, but
his case has not yet been heard by the appeals court. In protest,
Pourheydar sewed his mouth shut and went on a hunger strike on
Saturday, April 16, according to reports. Pourheydar, who had lived in
the United States for several years, was arrested in Tehran on January
4, 2015, about a month after he had returned to Iran. On August 3,
2015, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Pourheydar to five years in
prison on charges of 'propaganda against the regime,' 'insulting the supreme
leader,' and 'publishing falsehood in cyberspace.' Pourheydar appealed
the conviction, but the appeals court has not issued a ruling." http://t.uani.com/1VUzwhN
AP: "The lawyer for a prominent
jailed Iranian artist and activist say authorities will soon free his
client. Mohammad Moghimi told The Associated Press Monday that an
appeals court reduced Atena Farghadani's 12-year prison sentence to 18
months and 'she will be freed soon.' Moghimi said the exact date for
her release has not been set yet. In June 2014, a court sentenced
Farghadani, a cartoonist, over a cartoon that criticized a law limiting
women's access to birth control." http://t.uani.com/1SHhA6X
Foreign
Affairs
Reuters: "When Iran took delivery of
the first parts of an advanced Russian air defense system this month,
it paraded the anti-aircraft missile launchers sent by Moscow to mark
Army Day. Tehran had cause to celebrate: the Kremlin's decision a year
ago to press ahead with the stalled sale of the S-300 system was the
first clear evidence of a growing partnership between Russia and Iran
that has since turned the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing U.S.
influence in the Middle East. But the delay in implementation of the
deal also points to the limitations of a relationship that is forged
from a convergence of interests rather than a shared worldview, with
Iran's leadership divided over ideology and Russia showing signs of
reluctance to let the alliance develop much more, according to
diplomats, officials and analysts interviewed by Reuters. Some Iranian
officials want a strategic alliance, a much deeper relationship than
now. But the Kremlin refers only to ongoing cooperation with a new
dimension because of the conflict in Syria, in which both back
Damascus. 'We are continuously developing friendly relations with Iran,
but we cannot really talk about a new paradigm in our relations,'
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month." http://t.uani.com/1QyqSOe
Opinion
& Analysis
Economist: "It was billed as a
once-in-a-generation opportunity. Iran is the 'biggest new market to
re-enter the global economy in decades', British trade officials said
in January, predicting more than $1 trillion of investment over ten
years. 'Iran is a new region to conquer,' said an imperial-minded boss
of a French luxury-goods firm this month. Sanctions had kept outsiders
from an oil-rich economy worth an estimated $400 billion. Although an
American trade embargo remains in place, firms from other parts of the world
were expected to scramble to enter after the lifting of nuclear-related
sanctions in January. At first glance the influx has begun. Soon after
the IAEA, the international nuclear watchdog, said Iran had fulfilled
the terms of an agreement with big powers, European firms trumpeted
deals potentially worth billions. Airbus said it would sell Iran 118
jets, with bigger orders possibly to follow. PSA Peugeot Citroën and
Renault-Nissan said they would assemble and sell cars to Iran's 80m
people. Analysts foresaw record car sales this year. So many
delegations of would-be investors flocked to Tehran that visitors
reported struggling to find rooms in the smog-choked city. Earlier this
month Italy's prime minister, Matteo Renzi, became the latest to lead a
gaggle of businessmen there, predicting a golden era for industrial
ties. Italian fashion firms, such as Versace and Roberto Cavalli, and a
French cosmetics firm, Sephora, have opened shops in Tehran or plan to
do so. In cafés in north Tehran, where peroxide hairdos poke from
veils, rumours circulate about a European arm of an American
turbine-maker that has agreed a big joint venture. Local 'business
enablers'-such as Ilia, run by well-connected Iranians and Germans-are
popping up like mushrooms. They offer to help outsiders navigate
markets, set up joint ventures, rent offices, find pre-paid credit
cards and more. Yet getting started is proving harder than many
expected. The biggest problem is a lack of finance. On April 13th a
Treasury official denied that America is continuing to freeze Iranian
overseas assets. Yet such funds, worth perhaps $100 billion, which had
been expected to help pay for an investment boom, do not seem to be
flowing. More importantly, America continues to deny firms that operate
in Iran access to its financial system. That spooks foreign banks,
which are wary of the long arm of American law. Since 2009 the
Treasury's sanctions enforcer, the Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC), has imposed $14 billion in fines on those dealing with Iran.
Without the banks, those headline-grabbing deals will struggle to go
far. Uncertainty lingers. The US Treasury seems unable to define the
benchmarks Iran has to meet to regain access to the American financial
system. 'It was better when sanctions were still in place,' grumbles a
wheat merchant, who traded with American suppliers (OFAC approved)
throughout the sanctions era. 'At least the banks then knew what they
could and couldn't do. Now the lawyers, not the bankers, are taking
decisions, and nothing is moving.' 'We can't sell to Iran because our
bank won't accept payment,' says a British producer of drilling parts
for oil platforms, who has stayed out of Iran's market for the past six
years. European export credit agencies are issuing some credit notes,
such as a recent Italian one for $5 billion. A few European banks,
including Belgium's KBC and Germany's DZ Bank, have started handling
transactions, probably because neither has a big presence in America.
Even so, they cannot trade in dollars (unless, America says, those
dollars were already abroad) and appear only to be testing the water...
A labyrinthine bureaucracy frustrates everyone. Since last October many
Western visitors (though not Britons or Americans) have been able to
get visas on arrival. Getting a work visa, however, still involves
tiresome wrestling with red tape. Worse, a few foreigners have been
arrested, among them Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman
held since October, and his father, an ex-official at the UN.
Statements from some public figures are discouraging. 'We're not going
to go in their countries and we don't want them to come and live in
ours,' says Hadi Khamenei, the brother of the Supreme Leader. Other
sources of uncertainty include pervasive corruption and the activities
of shadowy groups, such as the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which have
big, hidden economic interests. It is hard to navigate Iranian
politics, or even to find trusty accounting and legal firms, although
several foreign outfits are returning to Tehran... America says Iran's
government is violating the spirit of the international deal, by
launching missiles and more. This month Barack Obama told Iran to stop
'engaging in a range of provocative actions that might scare business
off'. America might not ease its position until after its presidential
election in November. Were a Republican to win, that 'poses a huge risk
for investors', says a Tehran-based consultant. Iran still holds huge
promise, but the scramble will be more stately than expected." http://t.uani.com/1SxjmoS
Robin
Wright in The New Yorker: "Three months after Iran dismantled large parts of
its nuclear program, in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action-the international nuclear deal-the country's Foreign Minister,
Mohammad Javad Zarif, declared last week in New York that the United
States is falling seriously short of its commitments. Iran's Central
Bank chief, Valiollah Seif, delivered a similar message during his
first meeting with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, on April 14th, and he
told the Council on Foreign Relations, 'Nothing has happened.'
Secretary of State John Kerry addressed some of these concerns on
Friday. Standing next to Zarif, during their second meeting in four
days, Kerry said that the nuclear deal opened 'opportunities for
foreign banks to do business with Iran,' and that Washington would not
stand in their way. The Obama Administration also announced that it was
buying thirty-two metric tons of heavy water from Iran, for almost nine
million dollars. Iran had already exported the matériel as part of the
nuclear agreement, but it had been stuck on ships off Oman. It will be
stored at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and later resold for
industrial and research use, the State Department said. In an interview
last week, Zarif discussed various sticking points in relations between
Washington and Tehran. The interview has been condensed and edited for
clarity." http://t.uani.com/1QyqSOe
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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