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Stories
AP: "Boeing Co.'s historic $25
billion deal with Iran Air potentially rides on hopes that Tehran would
stop its past practice of using the airline's planes to ferry fighters
and weapons across the Middle East. Exactly five years ago, the Obama
administration imposed sanctions on the Iranian company for a number of
infractions. Iran Air used passenger and cargo planes to transport
rockets and missiles to places such as Syria, sometimes disguised as
medicine or spare parts, the Treasury Department said at the time. In
other instances, members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps took
control of flights carrying sensitive cargo. Although U.S. officials
never have said such conduct ended, the administration used a
technicality to drop those penalties as part of last year's
seven-nation nuclear deal. The agreement also allowed the Treasury
Department to license American firms to do business in Iran's civilian
aviation sector... Yet the deal is not without risk, something the
administration acknowledges. State Department spokesman John Kirby said
that the sale and any possible follow future deals depend on Iran's
good behavior. The U.S. could revoke the license for the deal if
planes, parts or services are 'used for purposes other than exclusively
civil aviation end-use' or if aircraft are transferred to individuals
or companies on a U.S. terrorism blacklist, Kirby said. Any suggestion
'that we would or will turn a blind eye to Iran's state sponsorship of
terrorism or their terrorist-supporting activities is completely
without merit,' Kirby said. But speaking to reporters Thursday, he
refused to spell out why the U.S. removed sanctions on Iran Air... if
Iran Air continues supporting Iranian military or Revolutionary Guard
operations, it would put the Obama administration or any successor in a
bind." http://t.uani.com/28RWyjI
WSJ: "The White House is pushing
to ease the way for companies to complete deals with Iran, aiming to
cement the landmark nuclear agreement reached last year and make it
difficult for future administrations to undo it, senior U.S. officials
said. The effort, which borrows from President Barack Obama's playbook
for solidifying U.S. relations with Cuba, got a boost this week when
Boeing Co. reached a $17.6-billion deal with Iran to sell commercial
jets to the country's main airline. A Boeing spokesman declined to
comment on any specific effort by the administration. In a letter
Thursday responding to criticism of the deal from two Republican
lawmakers, the company's senior vice president for government
operations, Tim Keating, said the administration had made it clear in
consultations with Boeing that 'the ability to provide Iranian airlines
with U.S. and European replacement commercial passenger aircraft for
their aging fleets was key and essential to reaching closure on the
agreement.' ... Administration officials have said they are seeking in
Mr. Obama's final months in office to make his policies toward Cuba and
Iran, which have been controversial, difficult for his successors to
unravel. U.S. officials are also exploring what they say are other ways
of integrating Iran into the global economy, with more announcements
expected in the months before Mr. Obama leaves office in January. Among
them is a process for giving Iran limited access to the U.S. dollar,
which administration officials said has made some progress... The
administration's moves to integrate Iran into international business
and financial markets, although limited to the terms of the nuclear
deal, have drawn criticism from U.S. lawmakers and stoked concerns
among America's Middle East's allies. It is also causing friction
between the State and Treasury Departments, U.S. officials say.
Secretary of State John Kerry, the administration's point man on Iran,
has been the most forward-leaning on ways to aid Iran's economy." http://t.uani.com/28UuPmE
Reuters: "An international group that
monitors money laundering worldwide said on Friday it was suspending
counter-measures on Iran for 12 months, but left it on a list of
high-risk countries. The Financial Action Task Force said it would
monitor Iran's progress tackling anti-money laundering and terrorism
financing following a recent political commitment from Tehran to do so.
In the meantime, the Paris-based body urged its 37 members and other
countries to 'continue to advise their financial institutions to apply
enhanced due diligence to business relationships and transactions' with
Iran firms and people." http://t.uani.com/28Rlxn0
U.S.-Iran
Relations
NYT:
"The Boeing Company on Thursday offered new details on its
proposed passenger aircraft deal with Iran and rejected suggestions
that it had not done sufficient homework in identifying end users of
the planes. In a letter to congressional critics of the politically
delicate deal, Boeing said Iran Air, the national airline, intended to
buy 80 passenger planes in a variety of models worth $17.6 billion and
lease 29 of the company's 737s, with deliveries projected to begin as
early as next year. The letter, by Tim Keating, vice president of
government operations, also said 'we have a vigorous compliance
mechanism at Boeing with regard to the screening of all parties with
which we do business.' Mr. Keating wrote that Boeing had strictly
adhered to dealings with Iranian entities approved by United States
sanctions monitors. 'We could not, as a corporation, be reasonably
expected to have better intelligence resources than that of the U.S.
government,' Mr. Keating wrote. 'Therefore, we do rely upon the U.S.
government to provide the information needed for us to remain
compliant.' ... Mr. Keating was responding to a June 16 letter from two
Republican congressmen, Peter Roskam of Illinois and Jeb Hensarling of
Texas, who have been highly critical of any steps toward more
normalized dealings with Iran after more than four decades of mutual
hostility and mistrust." http://t.uani.com/291UTut
Congressional
Action
Free
Beacon: "U.S.
lawmakers and foreign policy insiders are calling on the international
community to re-open its 'flawed' investigation into Iran's past
nuclear weapons research, according to conversations with multiple
sources who say the extent of Iran's past nuclear work is likely much
larger than previously believed. The calls to reinvestigate Iran's
nuclear work come on the heels of revelations by anonymous U.S.
officials who said the Obama administration held onto evidence showing
the Islamic Republic performed extensive nuclear weapons research-a
finding that contradicts findings by international monitors and
longstanding claims by Iranian officials. Administration officials made
no mention of the finding when International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) inspectors first discovered it in December, but now say the
evidence is proof Iran worked to build nuclear weapons as recently as
2003. The discovery has prompted lawmakers to demand that the IAEA
re-open its currently closed investigation into Iran's past nuclear
weapons work. 'The Obama administration's contradiction of both Iran
and the IAEA on this uranium issue calls for a re-examination of the
flawed potential military dimensions report,' Rep. Mike Pompeo (R.,
Kansas), a member of the House's intelligence committee, told the
Washington Free Beacon. 'The IAEA cannot claim to have an accurate
accounting of the situation while nuclear particles are unaccounted
for.'" http://t.uani.com/28SlatG
Business
Risk
Gulf
News:
"Business between the UAE and Iran is yet to pick up despite
lifting of sanctions on the Islamic republic earlier this year, experts
and Iranian Business Council in Dubai said. 'Things have not changed much
as primary sanctions still remain and banks in the UAE are reluctant to
deal with the Iranians or companies which have Iranian partners for
fear of being penalised for violating sanctions related regulations,'
said Hussain Asrar Haghighi, executive vice president of the Iranian
Business Council in Dubai, told Gulf News... Meanwhile, companies in
the UAE are waiting for banking procedures to be more clearer before
investing in Iran. Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC) in
Dubai said there is a lot of interest among business community to
invest in Iran. 'It may take some time before investment moves into
Iran. People are very positive about developments in the country,' said
Kulwant Singh, President of IBPC." http://t.uani.com/28Uu5xU
Sanctions
Relief
FT: "Iran has confirmed the names
of five Iranian companies that it has identified as partners for
international energy majors seeking to invest in the Islamic republic,
taking it a step closer to opening up its oil and gasfields to western
investment. Gholamreza Manouchehri, the deputy head of the National
Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), told the Financial Times that the companies
already selected included government-backed Petroiran, Petropars and
Mapna Group. But he said that a complete list was still being
finalised. The names of the companies has been eagerly awaited by
western energy companies such as BP, Total and Eni, as they hope to
gain access to the Opec member's oil and gas reserves after years of
sanctions... Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Iran's oil minister, said on Sunday
that Iran, once the second largest Opec producer, expected to sign a
first post-sanctions oil contract with a foreign company within three
months." http://t.uani.com/28XGeld
Foreign
Affairs
Reuters: "The Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO), a China-led security bloc, refused to initiate
Iran's accession on Thursday despite a request from Russia which backs
Tehran's bid, indicating possible divisions between Beijing and Moscow.
The bloc has served a platform for Moscow and Beijing to project
influence in the region. But unlike Russia, China may be reluctant to
give it a strong anti-Western flavor. Iran has long knocked at SCO's
door and Russia has argued that with Western sanctions against Tehran
lifted, it could finally become a member of the bloc which also
includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics." http://t.uani.com/28TH5W3
Domestic
Politics
FT: "When Iran sealed its
historic nuclear agreement with world powers, it was hoped that a
dividend of the deal would be Tehran damping tensions with Arab states
and using its influence to help solve regional crises. But six months
after the deal came into effect, the Islamic republic is sending out
conflicting signals that highlight differences between moderate and
hardline forces over whether to retain the status quo or soothe
relations with Sunni Arab rivals and the US. This week a decision by
Mohammad Javad Zarif, the pro-reform foreign minister, to appoint a new
deputy minister for Arab affairs triggered speculation that moderates
had gained a small victory. Mr Zarif, who has pledged to prioritise
finding diplomatic solutions to Middle East crises, on Sunday replaced
Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who is reputed to be affiliated to the elite Revolutionary
Guards, with Hossein Jaberi Ansari, a more moderate figure. Yet a day
later, a rare and belligerent statement by Major General Ghassem
Soleimani, the shadowy commander of the guards' arm for overseas
operations, dashed those hopes. Following Bahrain's decision to revoke
the nationality of the kingdom's most senior Shia cleric, Maj Gen
Soleimani warned the move 'could trigger flames of fire in Bahrain and
the whole region.'" http://t.uani.com/28XFYCP
Opinion
& Analysis
The
Economist:
"The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is not happy. 'Anyone
who has ever trusted the Americans was eventually slapped by them,' he
declared earlier this month. 'The experience of nuclear talks proved
that even if we compromise, the United States will not stop its
destructive role.' This was the latest in a stream of attacks by
Iranian hardliners on the deal reached a year ago. Some of this is
politics: they never wanted the deal and have tried to sabotage it in
order to damage their rival, Iran's reformist president, Hassan Rohani.
But the charge that the West has failed to honour its side of the
bargain-lifting most sanctions in return for strong curbs on Iran's nuclear
programme-is growing. It is also wrong. Even the most hawkish critics
of Iran agree that it has done its bit. Within months of the deal being
signed last July, Iran began to dismantle almost all of its
centrifuges, which could be used to enrich uranium to weapons-grade
purity, and to move its stockpile of low-enriched uranium out of the
country. That work has been speedily completed. Iran's apparent
compliance with the intrusive inspection regime under the deal has also
been a milestone for non-proliferation. The West, too, has kept to the
letter of the deal. The sanctions imposed on Iran as its nuclear
programme intensified in the 2000s have been lifted. Iran is increasing
its production of oil and foreign investment is rising. The problem
lies outside the accord. Iran has tested nuclear-capable ballistic
missiles and is waging wars, directly and by proxy, around the Middle
East. America maintains its unilateral sanctions, which were imposed
long before the nuclear crisis. They concern Iran's dire human-rights
record; its support for terrorist organisations, including Hamas in
Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon and Syria; and its development of
long-range missiles. These sanctions were excluded from the nuclear
negotiations. For Iran to suggest otherwise is untrue... the burden
falls mostly on Iran. It must clean up its opaque corporate culture. It
should bring its accounting and banking rules up to date, so that
investors know whom they are dealing with. If that pushes the Guards
out of business, so much the better. For Iran to find jobs for millions
of educated, underemployed young Iranians, it will have to give up the
hardliners' cherished idea of a 'resistance economy'. Ironically,
sanctions could yet prove a route to prosperity." http://t.uani.com/28RTpRp
Eli
Lake in Bloomberg:
"Almost a year after the Iran nuclear deal, we're getting a
clearer picture of the coalition of activists who fought for the
agreement, sparring with the 'warmongers' in Congress. It is a broad
coalition. There are, of course, the peace activists and arms-control
experts, who were vocal in support of the deal. There were also quieter
members of this campaign, like the corporation that makes the B-52
bomber and the V-22 Osprey. The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff reports
that a former Boeing vice president and senior State Department
official, Thomas Pickering, lobbied hard for the Iran deal while
cashing checks as a consultant for the aerospace giant. Yet when
Pickering wrote op-eds and signed public letters urging approval of the
Iran agreement, he often neglected to mention his previous and ongoing
connections to Boeing. Now it's obvious why Boeing would have wanted
the Iran deal. This week the corporation announced that it had reached
a $25 billion deal to sell airliners to Iran, a move that was welcomed
Tuesday by the State Department spokesman. Close watchers of the Iran
debate understood that the lifting of sanctions on Iran would potentially
allow major U.S. companies like Boeing back into the Iran market. But
this is not how the White House and its allies sold the Iran deal last
summer. One of their sharpest arguments was that the Iran agreement was
a way to avoid a war that opponents of the agreement wanted. As I
reported last month, this was not an accident. The nonprofit known as
the Ploughshares Fund gave money to a network of advocates and experts
and urged them to paint opponents of Iran diplomacy as 'pro-war,' as
early as 2011." http://t.uani.com/28RnI9Z
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a
regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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