Eye on Iran: Iran Exploring Return to Global Bond Markets After 14 Year Break

Join UANI               Top Stories Bloomberg: "Iran is exploring a return to international debt markets for the first time since 2002, a senior government official said, as the Islamic Republic seeks to finance an economic recovery a year after a historic nuclear deal that offered it a route out of isolation. Economy Minister Ali Tayebnia, whose ministry is at the forefront of securing Iran's access to the global financial system, said in an interview in Tehran that he expects his country to secure a credit rating in the 'near future,' a step that could help attract bond investors. Iranian officials are 'negotiating with all the rating agencies,' he said... Iran last issued international debt in July 2002, according to the International Monetary Fund. Officials from Fitch Ratings visited the country in June to make an initial assessment of the economy, Akbar Komijani, a deputy central bank governor, said in an interview on June 30. The company said in March it was in discussions with the Islamic Republic but declined to elaborate. Fitch withdrew its B+ sovereign rating, the fourth-highest junk grade, for Iran in 2008 following the maturity and full repayment of its last sovereign Eurobond that year. Moody's withdrew its B2 rating on Iran in 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg... The economy minister said about $45 billion worth of financing agreements 'with various countries' have been reached since the nuclear deal was implemented in January, though he said it could take up to several months to 'get to the implementation stage.'" http://t.uani.com/2ac8Bv9  IHR: "At least 30 people were hanged in Iran in the past week, according to official and unofficial sources. Most of the executions were reportedly carried out on Sunday July 17. Iranian official sources, including the Judiciary and state media, have been silent about most of these executions." http://t.uani.com/2a5ZOuV JPost: "The United States denied on Monday night a reported secret appendage to the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that would allow Tehran to yield an atomic bomb by the year 2027. 'There is no secret document or secret deal,' US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said... the State Department's Toner said the supposed 'secret document' referred to in the report 'appears to be Iran's long term enrichment R&D plan that was submitted by Iran to the IAEA as part of its initial Addition Protocol declaration.' He added that the JCPOA 'explicitly refers to this document,' which he said details Iran's plan for centrifuge research under the nuclear deal. While Toner stated that the plan constituted an IAEA 'safeguards confidential' document that had not been made public, its substance was made available to the US Congress 'on multiple occasions' both before and after the nuclear deal was submitted.  'The P5+1 reviewed this plan and we are confident that Iran's enrichment capacity in the years after the initial decade of the JCPOA will undergo measured, incremental growth consistent with a peaceful nuclear program,' he said in a statement Monday." http://t.uani.com/29OBPOn  US-Iran Relations AFP: "Iran's influential parliament speaker hit out at Washington Wednesday, accusing it of disrupting implementation of last year's landmark nuclear deal and failing in the fight against ISIS. Ali Larijani, a conservative who helped the nuclear deal pass in parliament last year, warned that Washington risked forcing Tehran into a path of renewed confrontation by putting obstacles in the way of its promised re-admittance to the world economy. 'With great sadness, parliament... warns the U.S. administration, House of Representatives and Senate that the efforts to undermine the nuclear agreement have reached a point that leaves no option for Iran but confrontation,' he said. Larjiani said the West had failed to give Iran sufficient recognition for its contribution to the fight against ISIS and hit out at the United Nations for continuing sanctions against its foreign operations commander. Larijani said Western governments should be 'thankful to Iran and (its elite Revolutionary Guard foreign operations unit) the Quds Force who have helped Iraq against the bestial terrorists' of ISIS." http://t.uani.com/2agvXm4  Sanctions Relief Bloomberg: "One year after the nuclear accord, Iran's economy minister sat down with Bloomberg to discuss banking, bonds, oil and terrorism." http://t.uani.com/2ab16HR  Saudi-Iran Tensions Daily Star (Lebanon): "Saudi Arabia's foreign minister blamed the Lebanese movement Hezbollah and Iran for bringing sectarianism to the region. In an interview with the Saudi network Al-Arabiya Tuesday night, Adel al-Jubeir said that Hezbollah was the first 'terrorist, sectarian organization' to come to the region. Jubeir said that while sectarian strife came from Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Saudi Arabia has not carried out any act of aggression against Iran since its 1979 revolution. He called on Iran to change its policies and take measures that go in line with international law. 'We haven't seen moderate Iranian policy from [Iranian President] Hassan Rouhani, but we are seeing a series of acts of aggression against us,' he said. Saudi Arabia has in the past condemned Iran's interference in the affairs of regional states and Hezbollah's 'terrorist acts' in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and Kuwait." http://t.uani.com/29NoW82  Opinion & Analysis WSJ Editorial: "President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran has a sunset clause, with almost every restriction on the mullahs' nuclear program expiring in 15 years. So it's worth paying attention to what the next generation of Iranians are being taught about their country's mission in the world. Our best look so far comes thanks to a new report from Impact-se, a Jerusalem-based institute that monitors the content of textbooks across the Middle East. A ninth-grade social-education textbook reads: 'All are submissive and obedient to the Guardian-Jurist,' that is, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Regime leaders are presented as infallible, divinely inspired and beyond criticism. A third-grade religion textbook's section on cleanliness includes an illustration of Iranian children chasing away a filthy, mucuslike blob with a Star of David on its back. A fifth-grade text for the 2016-17 academic year shows Palestinian children attacking Israeli soldiers with rocks and slingshots. It's accompanied by regime founder Ayatollah Khomeini's portrait and his injunction that 'Israel must be wiped out.' America is portrayed as an aggressive hegemon. As for the types of weapons Iran may use, a 12th-grade religion textbook instructs that 'Islamic learning is such that religious experts can extract from it new laws concerning . . . procurement and use of new weapons, in accordance with the new needs of society.' Part of Mr. Obama's bet in signing the nuclear deal is that Iranian youth will be more moderate than the religious fundamentalists who now rule the country. This curriculum suggests that's not a bet he's likely to win." http://t.uani.com/29NoXZw  NYDN Editorial: "As the world marked the one-year anniversary of President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, the world learned that the pact came with a hidden side deal favorable to the radical Islamist regime's atomic ambitions. Discovery of the secret rider by the Associated Press confirmed again that the White House used subterfuge to persuade Congress to let the President's handiwork take effect. Obama's chief selling point was that, under continuing international inspections, Iran would surrender nuclear materials and repurpose nuclear facilities so that the radical Islamist regime would need at least a year to produce an atomic bomb during the deal's 15-year term. The newly disclosed arrangement will enable the mullahs to move faster than originally believed. In year 11, Iran has permission to replace centrifuges that purify uranium to weapons-grade with machines that are five times more efficient than those Iran has used. The regime will have fewer centrifuges but, according to the Associated Press, they 'will allow Iran to enrich at more than twice the rate it is doing now,' potentially reducing the regime's so-called breakout time from a year to just six months. Should that happen, the U.S. and allies would have only half a year to stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons - at a time in the future when the easing of economic sanctions will likely have bolstered the country's strength. Plainly, having rigged the terms to its benefit, Iran is playing a waiting game, while continuing to test ballistic missiles that could nuke Israel, thus fulfilling the mullahs' promise to wipe the Jewish state off the map. Obama used the deal to delay a confrontation with Iran on the fantasy that resumed trade with the world would bring the radical rogues around. He won time. They won power." http://t.uani.com/29UF9Hu  National Post Editorial: "Iran's indictment of one foreigner and three Iranian dual-nationals, including Iranian-Canadian professor Homa Hoodfar, vindicates the Harper government's 2012 decision to sever ties with that country. Iranian prosecutors have not specified why Hoodfar and the others are being charged. Even Hoodfar's lawyer doesn't know what crimes have been alleged, having been denied access to the Canadian woman since June. Hoodfar, a professor at Concordia University, had been in Iran researching feminist activism when she was put in prison for interrogation last month. In some ways, the official charges hardly matter since everyone concerned knows the judicial case is little more than a grim charade - the sort we've seen before with Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who was tortured to death in Tehran's Evin prison after being arrested for allegedly taking photos of sensitive parts of the facility." http://t.uani.com/2ac9jIB          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.