Eye on Iran: Iran Cools Nuclear Work as Vote Looms

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories WSJ: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has decided to keep Iran's nuclear program within limits demanded by Israel for now, according to senior U.S., European and Israeli officials, in a move they believe is designed to avert an international crisis during an Iranian election year. With a vote set for June, Mr. Khamenei is eager to place a leader more aligned with his positions than current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, without sparking a repeat of the nationwide unrest that followed a 2009 vote, these officials said. U.S. and European officials have worried Mr. Khamenei might challenge Israel and the U.S. over the nuclear issue to consolidate his political position. But instead of pressing an agenda that could heighten tensions between Tehran and the international community, the opposite is happening, for the time being, these officials said... International negotiations aimed at containing Iran's nuclear program resume Friday in Kazakhstan and involve the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany. It will likely be the last round of diplomacy with Tehran until after the June elections, U.S. officials believe... U.S. officials are doubtful of any major breakthrough in Kazakhstan, in part because of Mr. Khamenei's fixation on the June elections." http://t.uani.com/14JMwg7 Reuters: "A Chinese tanker loaded crude in Iran in March, according to shipping data and an industry official, the first time a China-flagged ship has transported Iranian crude since EU sanctions imposed last July stopped insurers covering the shipments... Unable to find insurance for its own vessels because of the sanctions, China has relied mainly on the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) to ship Iran's crude to Chinese refineries over the past nine months. If China has put in place a system of insurance for its own vessels allowing them to participate in the trade again, the country's refineries could boost imports. China is Iran's largest trade partner and biggest oil client, buying around 440,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2012. The Chinese-owned supertanker Yuan Yang Hu, with capacity to carry 2 million barrels of crude, called at Iran's Kharg Island on March 20-21 and is en route to China, shipping tracking data showed. The vessel is owned by Dalian Ocean, a subsidiary of state shipping giant China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO)... Norwegian marine and energy insurance group Skuld said it provided protection and indemnity (P&I) cover - insurance for ocean going ships against pollution and injury claims - for the Yuan Yang Hu." http://t.uani.com/16iMVCh NYT: "Iran's double-digit inflation rate worsened for the sixth consecutive month in March, the government said on Monday, in what appeared to be an implicit acknowledgment that international sanctions linked to the disputed Iranian nuclear program are causing some economic harm. The government's statistics office said the rate increased in March to an annualized 31.5 percent, compared with 30.2 percent in February and 26.4 percent a year earlier, the semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported. The Mehr report did not offer an explanation for the increase except to specify that much of it was in the categories of food, beverages and tobacco. Many economists say the real rate could be at least double the official rate, partly because it does not fully take into account the prices of many imported goods, which have become prohibitively expensive. The main reason is the severe depreciation of the rial, Iran's national currency, as the sanctions that have limited Central Bank activities and oil exports have taken hold." http://t.uani.com/XUckhZ   Nuclear Program AP: "President Barack Obama's reluctance to give military aid to Syrian rebels may be explained, in part, in three words: Iranian nuclear weapons. For the first time in years, the United States has seen a glimmer of hope in persuading Iran to curb its nuclear enrichment program so it cannot quickly or easily make an atomic bomb. Negotiations resume this week in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where encouraging talks in February between six world powers and the Islamic Republic ended in what Iranian diplomat Saeed Jalili called a 'turning point' after multiple thwarted steps toward a breakthrough. But Tehran is unlikely to bend to Washington's will on its nuclear program if it is fighting American-supplied rebels at the same time in Syria... The White House has at least for now put the nuclear negotiations ahead of intervening in Syria, according to diplomats, former Obama administration officials and experts." http://t.uani.com/10uyp8l Bloomberg: "Iran and world powers are unlikely to strike a deal this week that would lift international sanctions in exchange for a cut in the Persian Gulf nation's nuclear activities, said a former White House adviser. 'I don't expect there to be an agreement, certainly not before the presidential elections in Iran in June,' Gary Samore, who advised President Barack Obama on nuclear non- proliferation and arms control until January, said yesterday in Washington. 'There may be some incremental progress in terms of a slight narrowing of big differences but I don't think it will come to an agreement.' ...  'Both sides are trying to build up bargaining leverage,' said Samore, who spoke on a Brookings Institution panel. 'We haven't reached the point yet where some point of agreement to relax the sanctions and the nuclear activities is possible.'" http://t.uani.com/10uz6yI Sanctions AP: "This should be the time of year that nut shop owner Mohammad Ahmadi counts his profits, after the recent Persian new year holiday when Iranians scarf up huge amounts of their iconic snack, pistachios. Instead, he and others in the trade are staring at piles of unsold nuts. Iranians have rebelled against a nut that is as linked to their national identity as apple pie is to America's or feta cheese to Greece's. A Facebook-driven boycott of pistachios has taken off, protesting prices that more than doubled in recent months... The beloved pistachio has become another casualty of Iran's sanctions-battered economy. The embracing of the boycott reflects the public dismay over inflation now at 30 percent, ahead of the June presidential election to pick a successor for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad... Pistachio prices have soared from about 260,000 rials ($8) a kilo (2.2 pounds) last year to more than 600,000 rials ($17). In some areas, a kilo has reached 800,000 rials, or about $25, according to press reports." http://t.uani.com/ZxdQWB VOA: "The United States says Pakistan may face economic sanctions over a gas pipeline project with Iran. The $7-billion project is meant to help reduce Pakistan's crushing energy deficit. After nearly 20 years, there is considerable progress on the Iran-to-Pakistan 'peace pipeline,' with Iranian contractors starting work on Pakistani sections of the project, having finished nearly 900 kilometers of pipeline in Iran... 'We have serious concerns if this project actually goes forward that the Iran Sanctions Act would be triggered. We've been straight-up with the Pakistanis about these concerns,' said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. Other countries have gotten waivers from the Iran sanctions.  Pakistan thinks this pipeline should get a waiver too. 'I don't see why we cannot engage with the world and make sure that the world understands our point of view, and Pakistan also gets a waiver for this project,' Zardari explained. The Obama administration says there is no comparison. 'In the case of Japan, they've been making a steady decline, as have other countries that we have waived sanctions on. This pipeline project - if, as I said - if it actually goes forward - we've seen that promise many times - would take Pakistan in the wrong direction,' Nuland stated." http://t.uani.com/XV49Sx 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.