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Top Stories
Daily Star:
"Byblos Bank chairman François Bassil expects the combined net
profits of the Lebanese banking sector to plunge by 5-10 percent at the
end of 2012 due to political bickering and the volatile situation in
neighboring Syria... 'What makes matters worse is the indifference of the
government, which has failed to take any steps to contain the
consequences of the deteriorating situation in Syria,' Bassil said. The
recent campaign by the U.S. group United Against Nuclear Iran to
discredit the reputation of the Lebanese banking sector was at the heart
of comments made by Bassil, who vehemently dismissed all accusations of
money laundering and terrorist funding. 'All of the U.S. officials who we
met have praised the measures taken by Lebanese banks to curb any attempt
to deal with Iranian and Syrian banks. We are complying strictly with all
U.N. Security Council resolutions,' Bassil said. He stressed that
Lebanese banks never received Iranian funds." http://t.uani.com/O8uUAp
Daily Telegraph:
"Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, warned Iran on Monday
that it would use 'all elements of its power' to prevent Tehran
developing a nuclear weapon as US aircraft carriers were deployed in the
Gulf amid escalating tensions. Mrs Clinton, who was speaking in Jerusalem
at the end of a one-day visit, sought to reassure Israel about US support
stressing that both countries would work 'in close consultation' to halt
Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme. 'We will use all elements of
American power to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon,' Mrs Clinton
told reporters in a late-night press conference." http://t.uani.com/LvshJH
Reuters:
"Iran is set to arrest a slide in oil shipments in July as China
increases imports to a record high to amount to more than half Iran's crude
exports, an industry report said. Iran's oil exports are expected to
average 1.084 million barrels a day in July, little changed from 1.094
million bpd in June, in what Geneva-based consultancy Petrologistics said
was a preliminary report. Tehran's oil exports halved in the four months
from February to June because of U.S. and European Union sanctions aimed
at discouraging what the West fears is an Iranian programme to develop
nuclear weapons." http://t.uani.com/O7kdMI
Nuclear
Program
WSJ: "The Pentagon is building a
missile-defense radar station at a secret site in Qatar and organizing
its biggest-ever minesweeping exercises in the Persian Gulf, as
preparations accelerate for a possible flare-up with Iran, according to
U.S. officials. The radar site will complete the backbone of a system
designed to defend U.S. interests and allies such as Israel and European
nations against Iranian rockets, officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The minesweeping exercises, in September, will be the first such
multilateral drills in the region, and are expected to be announced by
U.S. officials Tuesday. The Pentagon's moves reflect concern that
tensions with Iran could intensify as the full weight of sanctions
targeting the country's oil exports takes hold this summer. Though U.S.
officials described both the radar site and the naval exercises as
defensive in nature, the deployments likely will be seen by Iran as provocations."
http://t.uani.com/NBKvtI
WSJ:
"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought on Monday to reassure
Israel that U.S. efforts to block Iran's nuclear ambitions are working,
but said the Obama administration's strategy of diplomacy and economic
sanctions needs more time to play out. After a day of meetings with Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, Mrs. Clinton told
reporters that recently imposed economic sanctions are putting
unprecedented pressure on Tehran. She acknowledged that Iran has
responded with 'nonstarters' to several rounds of negotiations with
international powers and that Iranian leaders hadn't made a 'strategic
decision' to engage in talks. She said Israel and the U.S. are in close
coordination on Iran. 'Our two-track policy of diplomacy and pressure is
in full move here,' she said following a dinner meeting at Mr.
Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem." http://t.uani.com/ME3qib
AP:
"Iran says it hopes upcoming talks with an EU official could pave
the way for the resumption of high-level negotiations with world powers
over Tehran's controversial nuclear program. Foreign Ministry spokesman
Ramin Mehmanparast says the July 24 meeting between Iran's No. 2
negotiator Ali Bagheri and Helga Schmid, deputy of the EU foreign policy
chief, will be key to a possible resumption of the stalled
negotiations." http://t.uani.com/O8rMob
Reuters:
"Security experts have uncovered an ongoing cyber espionage campaign
targeting Iran and other Middle Eastern countries that they say stands
out because it is the first such operation using communications tools
written in Persian. Israeli security company Seculert and Russia's
Kaspersky Lab, said on Tuesday that they identified more than 800 victims
of the operation. The targets include critical infrastructure companies,
engineering students, financial services firms and government embassies
located in five Middle Eastern countries, with the majority of the
infections in Iran." http://t.uani.com/OOebj8
Sanctions
WSJ:
"Iran's leaders have repeatedly claimed that sanctions against its
oil exports, aimed at pressuring it over its nuclear program, will harm
the West more than they harm the Islamic Republic. Data published by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries late Monday show how hollow
that claim may be. Last year, before any direct oil sanctions were
imposed on Iran, the country generated 88% of its export earnings from
oil. Yet its significant contribution to national income belied the
apparent weakness of Iran's oil industry. Iran's crude oil exports fell
12.5% in 2011, faster than any other country apart from Libya, which was
in a state of civil war for much of the year, according to OPEC's annual
statistical bulletin." http://t.uani.com/PcRwRi
Fox News:
"A scathing U.S. Senate report charges that Europe's largest bank
exposed the U.S. financial system to money laundering by Mexican drug
cartels as well as potentially illicit transactions involving Iran and
other countries. The extensive report on London-based HSBC Holdings PLC
by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations was released ahead
of a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning. The probe focused on the
bank's key U.S. affiliate, HBUS, and also said U.S. regulators knew the
bank had a poor system to detect problems but failed to take action. The
sweeping allegations include accounts that two affiliates for years sent
thousands of transactions through HBUS 'without disclosing links to Iran'
even though they were supposed to." http://t.uani.com/MglhzU
Reuters:
"China's government can follow Japan's example and provide insurance
guarantees for Chinese tankers carrying Iranian oil amid Western
sanctions on Iran, top shipping conglomerate COSCO Group said on
Tuesday... 'We need to wait until the insurance issue is solved. We are
pushing for a solution right now. Without insurance cover, we wouldn't
dare to ship oil from Iran,' Wei Jiafu, state-owned COSCO Group's
chairman, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference. 'Japan has set a
precedent, we can just follow their lead.'" http://t.uani.com/M6fAlp
Human Rights
Chicago Tribune:
"Highland Park resident Nasrin Nakhaei learned in May that her
85-year-old father, Muhammad-Husayn Nakha'i, had been arrested and jailed
in his home country of Iran. The government has not said why it arrested
him, Nakhaei said, but the family suspects it's because of his Baha'i
faith. Nakhaei, 48, who has lived in the United States for 11 years,
learned what happened from relatives." http://t.uani.com/Q4cLr8
Foreign Affairs
Guardian:
"On the international stage, leaders of the Islamic republic have
shown unwavering support for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. But at
home, they have not been able to portray a country united over the
crisis. Since the uprising began in Syria, two contradictory pictures
have emerged inside Iran of the way it is unfolding. Media outlets
affiliated to the regime, like the state-run Keyhan newsapaper or Fars
news agency, have mainly reported the official line, introducing Assad as
the victim of western and terrorist-led efforts. On the other hand,
independent media who work under intense official censorship, like
Etemaad and Shargh newspapers, have managed to report the uprising with
relative objectivity, publishing articles on the scale of the Assad
regime's brutal crackdown against protesters." http://t.uani.com/LW9Dfm
Fox News:
"A United Nations agency under fire for shipments of computers and
other sophisticated equipment to North Korea and Iran has apparently
rejected a request by the U.S. State Department to conduct an independent
probe into the controversy, drawing a pointed bipartisan rebuke from top
lawmakers on Capitol Hill. In a letter being released Tuesday, the
leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee complained to World Intellectual
Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry about his agency's
refusal to cooperate. They accused the agency of locking down key
documents while trying to root out the whistle-blowers who alerted others
to the scandal -- and then rebuffing the State Department's request for
an outside investigation." http://t.uani.com/Mrxi3G
Ottawa Citizen:
"The Iranian-Canadian activists who blew the whistle on Iran's
alleged recruitment program in Canada say they privately warned numerous
politicians and officials of the Islamic republic's activities in the
weeks before government ministers spoke out in reaction to the Citizen's
report on the scheme. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Public
Safety Minister Vic Toews publicly admonished Iran after the Citizen's
July 10 front-page article told how a senior Iranian Embassy official in
Canada was calling on Iranian-Canadians to 'be of service' to Tehran.
Activists Shabnam Assadollahi and Shadi Paveh of the Ottawa region say
they dispatched emails last month flagging what some terror experts
described as an Iranian 'call to arms.'" http://t.uani.com/NG3Lkv
Opinion &
Analysis
Under Secretary
for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen in NYT:
"'Iran's Aging Airliner Fleet Seen as Faltering Under U.S.
Sanctions' (news article, July 14) does not mention two critical facts.
First, Iran Air is not simply a passenger airline. Rather, Iran Air
provides material support to two organizations deeply involved in Iran's
weapons proliferation - the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces
Logistics, which oversees Iran's ballistic missile program, and the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which orchestrates arms shipments to and
from Iran. That is why, in June 2011, we imposed sanctions specifically
on Iran Air. Second, because we care about civilian flight safety, we
have issued licenses to allow for the inspection, and in previous years
also the repair, of Iran's civilian aircraft, so long as those services
were performed outside Iran so the parts and services could not be
misdirected to Iran's military aircraft. To our knowledge, the Iranian
government, which controls Iran Air, never took advantage of these
licenses." http://t.uani.com/Mrxj7K
Business Monitor
International Iran Autos Report: "A particular test
for Iran is the withdrawal of PSA Peugeot Citroen. The Peugeot arm has
been a key supplier of components for leading domestic firm Iran Khodro
(IKCO), but has suspended supplies and may have to rethink its position
completely, following its tie-up with General Motors Company (GM). As GM
is now a 7% stakeholder in PSA Peugeot Citroen, the implications of US
sanctions against Iran will extend to the French carmaker's operations.
The US lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has called for an
end to Peugeot's involvement in Iran, where IKCO builds the Peugeot 206
and 405 models. GM claims that its partner had already suspended its
supplies before the agreement was signed. UANI launched its 'Auto
Campaign' in March 2012, citing a BMI report looking at how the
enforcement of economic sanctions on Iran has resulted in the country's
government prioritising the development of a strong domestic auto
industry. UANI says in recent months, both Hyundai and Porsche have ended
their business in Iran in response to its campaigns. UANI has since
ramped up its campaign to get foreign automakers out of Iran. It says
that Fiat, Isuzu, Kia Motors, Mazda Motor, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan
Motor, Peugeot, Renault, Suzuki Motor, Toyota Motor and Volvo either
export to the Islamic Republic or have manufacturing agreements with car
companies controlled by the regime. Following the release of industry
data in May indicating that new car production in Iran in April dropped
27% year-on-year (y-o-y), UANI CEO and ambassador Mark D. Wallace issued
a statement saying: 'The message is clear: responsible international auto
companies will not continue to work in Iran. We call on all auto
manufacturers - including Fiat, Mazda, Nissan, Renault, and Peugeot - to
fully end their irresponsible business in Iran. We call on Congress to
pass UANI's DRIVE Act, which would require automakers to certify they are
not engaged in any business in Iran to be eligible for US government
contracts.' According to a Bloomberg report, in late May Ambassador Wallace
testified about Iran's automotive industry before the US House Foreign
Affairs Committee. Ambassador Wallace called out Peugeot and its US
partner GM, saying 'Peugeot right now is a major actor in Iran, a major
manufacturer inside Iran in direct partnership with the IRGC.' He said
that, while Peugeot says it suspended its business with Iran until July,
Iran produced more than 15,000 Peugeot vehicles in April. At the moment,
we believe the suspension is revisited on a monthly basis... It has taken
a little longer for Kia's affiliate Hyundai Motor to end its Iranian
operations, but it has now done so, according to the New York Times.
Although UANI has been pressing the carmaker to cut its ties since 2010,
the group has only recently reclassified Hyundai as 'withdrawn' on its
list of foreign businesses dealing with Iran. The report suggests that,
in line with the US sanctions, foreign companies maintaining ties with
Iran could face penalties in the US market. This would be a major
incentive for Hyundai, which reported growth of 20% in US sales in
2011 and increased its market share from 4.6% to 5%." http://t.uani.com/MuVeXF
Michael Singh in
FP: "As the crisis in Syria heats up, so too has
talk of a possible Iranian role in resolving it. Visiting Tehran last week,
U.N. envoy Kofi Annan asserted that 'Iran could play a positive role' in
Syria. Two weeks earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov lobbied
for Iran to be invited to Annan's 'Syria Action Group' meeting in Geneva,
citing the need to invite 'everybody who has influence on all Syrian
sides.' The Iranians themselves have also joined the chorus, pushing to
include Syria on the agenda of recent P5+1 talks and, on Sunday, offering
to host talks between the Syrian regime and opposition. The notion that
Iran will help to usher in a political transition in Syria has been met
with skepticism in the West. According to a recent Defense Department
(DOD) report on Iranian military power and strategy, Tehran has provided
the Assad regime with 'military equipment and communications assistance'
during the uprising, and has 'probably provided military trainers to
advise Syrian security forces.' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it
more succinctly, asserting that Iran was 'helping to stage-manage the
repression' in Syria. Iran's actions have not only provoked new U.S.
sanctions, they run afoul of preexisting U.N. sanctions prohibiting arms
sales by Tehran. For Western policymakers to understand which view is
correct -- that is, whether Iran is a potentially constructive player
whose influence could sway Assad to change course, or a spoiler which
could be counted upon to stymie efforts to foster an orderly political
transition -- they must examine Iranian interests in Syria as well as how
Iran's inclusion would affect the dynamics of international diplomacy.
Such an examination yields a clear conclusion: Iran should be excluded.
The first question that must be addressed is in regard to Iranian
interests in Syria -- that is, what does Tehran want to achieve in Syria?
According to the DOD report, Iran as a matter of strategy 'seeks to
increase its stature by countering U.S. influence and expanding ties with
regional actors,' and uses tools including 'active sponsorship of
terrorist and insurgent groups...to increase its regional power.' For
these reasons, Syria under Assad has been an invaluable asset for Iran: a
rare ally in the effort to challenge American interests in the region, a
territorial base for coordinating Iranian support to groups such as
Hezbollah and Hamas, and a forward operating hub to exert influence in
Lebanon and keep Israel at bay." http://t.uani.com/O7qAzz
Dr. Al Khalafalla
in Fox News: "Casual observers of the 2011 popular
uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia have compared them with the protests
over the last year in Bahrain. They lump these movements into one
category, and call them the 'Arab Spring,' suggesting they represent hope
and progress. The so-called experts say acceding to the demands of
the street is inevitable, and that the demonstrations show a longing for
democracy in the Middle East. They're wrong. It is an analytical error to
confuse public demonstrations with democratic rule. What we
generally call democracy involves far more than simply voting and
allowing the majority to determine the policy and structure of the
government. Voting against the current order without first
establishing the rule of law leads to anarchy. We are seeing this play
out already in Libya and Egypt: the people rebelled against the old
governments, and they now are faced with the task of deciding what kind
of government they will have. It is very dangerous to make those
decisions in a power vacuum. Similarly, the Government of Bahrain faces
continued protests by Shi'a protestors demanding increased political
power from Sunni rulers and elites. But take a step back and it's
easy to see that Bahrain has become a new front in Iran's proxy war on
its neighbors." http://t.uani.com/O7qWGp
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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
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.
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