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Top Stories
Bloomberg:
"Iran's crude exports declined in March to the lowest this year as
international sanctions aimed at the Persian Gulf country's nuclear
program and weaker global demand cut purchases, the International Energy
Agency said. Imports from Iran slipped to 1.1 million barrels a day in
March, from a revised 1.26 million barrels daily in February, the
Paris-based adviser to 28 oil-consuming nations said in a report today.
U.S. rules took effect in February requiring importers to pay in local
currencies kept in escrow accounts and refiners in India last month faced
the prospect of losing insurance coverage if they used Iranian oil. The
U.S. and its allies are restricting Iran's oil exports, the country's
largest source of revenue, to pressure the government in Tehran to stop
enriching uranium... Iran's oil production declined 40,000 barrels a day
in March to 2.68 million barrels daily, the IEA said. Shipments last
month were also lower than the 1.13 million barrels of Iranian crude the
IEA reported other countries bought in January. The agency said it
adjusted the figures for March shipments, estimated by measuring the
amount of Iranian crude other countries are importing, by 215,000 barrels
a day more to account for tanker movements that aren't properly reported."
http://t.uani.com/ZoVsiO
Reuters:
"South Korea could become the second major buyer of Iran's crude to
face a halt in imports from the Middle Eastern nation, as insurers
broaden Western sanctions to refineries, people involved with the matter
say. Tough curbs by the United States and Europe to force Tehran to end
its nuclear program have more than halved Iran's oil exports over the
past year, as an EU ban on insurers aiding transport of its crude left
buyers unable to find coverage. Now the focus is shifting to refineries
that process the oil, as insurers worry about running afoul of the
sanctions. Refiners operating without insurance pose huge financial risks
to their owners. Indian insurers have already taken a tough stance,
warning that they would not be able to pay claims at plants processing
Iranian crude. A similar move is underway in South Korea, the
fourth-biggest buyer of Iranian crude, worth about half a billion dollars
each month. Hyundai Oil bank, one of South Korea's two refiners of
Iranian crude, struggled to find reinsurers willing to renew its coverage
late last year, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. 'It's
not a problem of a higher price. Even if the reinsurers get a higher
premium for covering Iranian crude, the policy is forbidden,' the person
said, adding that the world's two biggest reinsurers, Munich Re and Swiss
Re, did not want to cover Iranian crude for fear of breaching the
sanctions." http://t.uani.com/ZK03TS
Business Day:
"MTN expects to repatriate some R1.2bn of its funds tied up in Iran
this year, Mr Dabengwa said. The company has been in talks with the
Iranian central bank and US authorities on sending back its dividends
without violating sanctions. Mr Dabengwa, however, said MTN would exit
its Iran operation if there was any clear indication the US government
would impose sanctions on the business. MTN is facing a $4.2bn lawsuit in
a US court over a rival Turkcell's allegation that it used corrupt
practices to win the Iranian operating licence." http://t.uani.com/16PfKZa
Nuclear Program
Reuters:
"Iran's former nuclear negotiator, now a candidate in Iran's
presidential election, pledged Thursday to improve rocky relations with
the West if he is elected. Hasan Rohani is considered a leading candidate
in the June election because of his centrist views and close ties to
Iran's ruling clerics. A top supporter said he favors negotiations to
resolve the dispute over Iran's suspect nuclear program, while preserving
Iran's rights. Rohani told a campaign rally that he would seek
'constructive interaction with the world,' an apparent reference to
Western nations, which have imposed several rounds of sanctions to try to
rein in Iran's nuclear program... 'My goals will be restoring the
economy, promoting morality and relations with the world,' Rohani said.
'I will build government of prudence and hope.' 'Iran is in the middle of
sensitive days, hard days,' Rohani told his supporters. 'It is because of
regional and international situations as well as sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/ZbiHB1
AFP:
"The United States reacted with concern on Wednesday after Iran
unveiled a new Uranium production facility and two extraction mines, but
said it had not been 'blindsided' by the news... 'They have continued to
move forward, we are very concerned about what they are doing,' a senior
State Department official said, asking to remain anonymous... 'We weren't
blindsided about it, because we are rarely blindsided about the things
that they are considering. But they did not specify that they were going
to do this,' the official said." http://t.uani.com/Yf9lAZ
Sanctions
AP:
"India will get control of six ships following a decision to
dismantle a joint Iranian-Indian shipping company hit by Western
sanctions on Iran, a government official said Thursday. The Irano Hind
Shipping Company was finding it difficult to get customers or insurance
for its ships because of the sanctions. Last week, the Indian government
agreed to close down the 39-year-old joint venture. The state-owned
Shipping Corporation of India will take over six of the seven vessels
belonging to Irano Hind, the official said. In return, SCI will take on
the liability of repaying the joint company's debt, estimated at around
$88 million... The Irano Hind Shipping Company was set up before Iran's
1979 Islamic Revolution as a joint venture between the Shipping Corporation
of India and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The IRISL held
a 51 percent stake in the company, while SCI had the remaining 49
percent. The company's ships were mainly used to transport Iranian crude
to Indian refineries. The company suspended its operations last year
after the Western sanctions kicked in." http://t.uani.com/155FC4Y
Human Rights
Amnesty
International: "It was called 'Terror Club' - an
hour-long 'documentary' that aired on Iranian state TV in August 2012.
The 12 individuals - seven men and five women - featured in the show,
appeared, one by one, in front of a camera, 'confessing' to their
involvement in the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists over the past
year. Beyond their starring role on television, no clear details about
the arrest and detention of these 12 people are known. It is not known if
any of them have been charged or tried - despite the recent announcement
that 18 unnamed people will shortly go on trial for these murders. But it
is known that all 12 could face the death penalty if they are found
guilty of the alleged killings. This type of televised 'confession' is
far from uncommon in Iran. Suspects are forced to appear on national or
local television to admit to alleged crimes - often before their court
proceedings have even started. These 'confessions' are then accepted as
evidence in court, seriously undermining any prospect of a fair trial.
Many defendants have later retracted their 'TV confessions', stating that
they were coerced into making them, sometimes under torture. But these TV
'confessions' are part of an overwhelmingly unjust trial system in
Iran." http://t.uani.com/150d908
Domestic
Politics
LAT:
"The reform movement that took to the streets to protest alleged
vote-rigging in Iran's last presidential election has been crushed. The
supreme leader has made it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated
this time. But that doesn't mean the maneuvering to replace Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in an election set for June 14 has been without intrigue.
Ahmadinejad, who was reelected in the disputed 2009 balloting, is barred
by law from seeking a third term and is publicly promoting a trusted aide
to replace him. It is far from clear, however, whether the president's
preferred successor will even be allowed to run. For much of the outside
world, the incumbent remains the defiant face of the Iranian theocracy.
At home, however, the clerical establishment that backed him four years
ago has tired of what hard-liners regard as his divisiveness and lack of
deference to the religious leadership... Enter Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei,
the president's chief advisor, top strategist and theoretician. He is
also Ahmadinejad's trusted in-law - the president's son is married to
Mashaei's daughter. Mashaei is widely regarded as Ahmadinejad's
handpicked prospective successor, though the aide has yet to declare his
candidacy. Candidates must declare their intention to run by May 7. To
get on the ballot, they must be approved by the Guardian Council, a
hard-line panel close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Many
observers say the council is unlikely to approve Mashaei, who is loathed
in clerical circles as a leader of a 'deviant current' challenging
religious authority." http://t.uani.com/16PcnBi
Guardian:
"The Iranian authorities have long accused Google Earth of being a
tool for western spy agencies, but now they have taken their attacks on
the 3D mapping service one step further - by planning the launch of an
'Islamic' competitor. Iran's minister for information and communications
technology, Mohammad Hassan Nami, announced this week that his country
was developing what he described as an 'Islamic Google Earth' to be
called Basir (spectator in Farsi) which will be ready for use 'within the
next four months'. 'Preparations have been made for launching our world's
3D map project and we are currently creating an appropriate data centre
which could be capable of processing this volume of information,' the
semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Nami as saying on Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/XucH5L
Foreign Affairs
AFP:
"The White House on Wednesday expressed condolences to its long-time
foe Iran over an earthquake which killed 37 people and damaged dozens of
villages near its sole nuclear power plant. National Security Council
spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden also said in a statement that Washington stood
ready to 'help the Iranian people in this time of need.' 'The American
people extend condolences to the people of Iran for the devastation that
resulted from the recent earthquake and aftershocks in southern Iran,
particularly to those whose loved ones were injured or lost their lives,'
she said." http://t.uani.com/ZJV31u
Opinion &
Analysis
Victor Davis
Hanson in NRO: "The idea of a nuclear Iran - and of
preventing a nuclear Iran - terrifies security analysts. Those who argue
for a preemptive strike against Iran cannot explain exactly how American
planes and missiles would take out all the subterranean nuclear
facilities without missing a stashed nuke or two - or whether they might
as well expand their target lists to Iranian military assets in general.
None can predict the fallout on world oil prices, global terrorism, and
the politically fragile Persian Gulf, other than that it would be
uniformly bad. In contrast, those who favor containment of a nuclear Iran
do not quite know how the theocracy could be deterred - or how either
Israel or the regional Sunni Arab regimes will react to such a powerful
and unpredictable neighbor. The present crisis with North Korea offers us
a glimpse of what, and what not, to expect should Iran get the bomb.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would gain the attention currently being paid to Kim
Jong Un - attention not otherwise earned by his nation's economy or
cultural influence. We should assume that the Iranian theocracy, like the
seven-decade-long Kim dynasty in North Korea, would periodically sound
lunatic: threatening its neighbors and promising a firestorm in the
region - if not eventually in the United States and Europe as well. An
oil-rich, conventionally armed Iran has already used that playbook. When
it becomes nuclear, those previously stale warnings of ending Israel or
attacking U.S. facilities in the Persian Gulf will not be entirely
laughed off, just as Kim Jong Un's insane diatribes are now not so easily
dismissed. North Korea has taught the world that feigned madness in
nuclear poker earns either foreign aid or worldwide attention - given
that even a 99 percent surety of a bluff can still scare Western publics.
North Korea is the proverbial nutty failed neighbor who constantly picks
on the successful suburbanites next door, on the premise that the
neighbors will heed his wild, nonsensical threats because he has nothing
and they have everything to lose. Iran could copy Kim's model endlessly -
one week threatening to wipe Israel off the map, the next backing down
and complaining that problems in translation distorted the actual, less
bellicose communiqué. The point would not necessarily be to actually nuke
Israel (which would translate into the end of Persian culture for a
century), but to create such an atmosphere of worry and gloom over the
Jewish state as to weaken its economy, encourage emigration, and erode
its geostrategic reputation... A nuclear Iran would worry about neither a
billion-person nuclear existential enemy nearby such as India, nor a
billion-person patron such as China that would establish redlines to its
periodic madness. Instead, Tehran would be free to do and say what it
pleased. And its nuclear status would become a force multiplier to its
enormous oil wealth and self-acclaimed world leadership of Shiite
Muslims. If North Korea has been a danger, then a bigger, richer, and
undeterred nuclear Iran would be a nightmare." http://t.uani.com/YNzs5B
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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