Eye on Iran: McGladrey, RSM Urged to Cut Ties with Iranian Accounting Firm

For continuing coverage follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook group.    Top Stories Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal: "Accounting firm McGladrey and global network RSM International are under pressure from a group that has successfully urged major companies to cut ties with Iranian partners. Washington, D.C.-based United Against Nuclear Iran asked RSM International CEO Jean Stephens and McGladrey CEO Joe Adams to sever their business relationship with Dayarayan Auditing & Financial Services Firm in Tehran. RSM is an international network of accounting firms. McGladrey is RSM's sole United States member firm, and Dayarayan is RSM's the sole Iranian correspondent firm... UANI said Dayarayan's clients include some under sanction by the United States and the United Nations... UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said his group has been in contact with the accounting firms. 'We look forward to discussing this matter with RSM and McGladrey, and we are hopeful they will take the responsible action of ending their Iran exposure,' he said. UANI is also targeting Chicago-based Grant Thornton, which has a Minneapolis office." http://t.uani.com/Z2PLHh WashPost: "The United States was already concerned about an agreement between North Korea and Iran pledging technical and scientific cooperation. The pact was signed in Tehran in September at a ceremony attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of Iran's nuclear energy program. Representing the North Koreans at the signing was Kim Yong Nam, the country's second-highest-ranking official. A decade earlier, Kim had signed a similar pact with the government of Syria, an agreement that U.S. officials think led to the construction of a secret plutonium-production reactor near the Syrian city of Deir al-Zour. The nearly finished reactor was destroyed by Israeli warplanes in 2007. Although Iran and North Korea have signed technical pacts before, the September accord was seen as particularly worrisome because it appeared to imply nuclear cooperation. In the past, North Korea and Iran assisted each other in missile development, sharing parts and data and perhaps even conducting surrogate tests for each other at times when either nation was under international pressure, said Leonard Spector, a former Energy Department official who has studied technical ties between the two countries. Further, both countries bought black-market enrichment technology from A.Q. Khan, the rogue Pakistani scientist accused of selling nuclear secrets to foreign governments. The two countries would almost certainly benefit from exchanging data on nuclear subjects such as centrifuge design and uranium metallurgy, said Spector, deputy director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies." http://t.uani.com/16qMZBS NYT: "Security experts who studied the attacks said that it was part of the same campaign that took down the Web sites of JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others over the last six months. A group that calls itself the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters has claimed responsibility for those attacks. The group says it is retaliating for an anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube last fall. But American intelligence officials and industry investigators say they believe the group is a convenient cover for Iran. Just how tight the connection is - or whether the group is acting on direct orders from the Iranian government - is unclear. Government officials and bank executives have failed to produce a smoking gun... Neither Iran nor North Korea has shown anywhere near the subtlety and technique in online offensive skills that the United States and Israel demonstrated with Olympic Games, the ostensible effort to disable Iran's nuclear enrichment plants with an online weapon that destabilized hundreds of centrifuges, destroying many of them. But after descriptions of that operation became public in the summer of 2010, Iran announced the creation of its own Cyber Corps. North Korea has had hackers for years, some of whom are believed to be operating from, or through, China. Neither North Korea nor Iran is as focused on stealing data as they are determined to destroy it, experts contend. When hackers believed by American intelligence officials to be Iranians hit the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, last year, they did not just erase data on 30,000 Aramco computers; they replaced the data with an image of a burning American flag." http://t.uani.com/124t8cZ   Nuclear Program AP: "In his last debate with Republican candidate Mitt Romney, two weeks before the election, Obama more explicitly outlined his red line for Iranian nuclear advancement. He drew it at 'breakout capacity,' or when Iran has acquired the necessary know-how and enough enriched uranium to build a bomb. 'We have a sense of when they would get breakout capacity, which means that we would not be able to intervene in time to stop their nuclear program,' Obama said. Since winning re-election, Obama has pressed on with his two-track Iran strategy of sanctions and diplomacy... Still, Obama doesn't have much time if he hopes to avert a military confrontation. Sanctions are destroying Iran's economy but not its will to enrich more uranium. U.N. reports have outlined worrisome research into possible warhead delivery systems. And as Iran gets closer and closer to nuclear weapons capacity, the concern becomes ever graver in Israel - which the Islamic republic has threatened to wipe off the map - and Iran's Arab rivals in the Persian Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia. The clarity of U.S. intelligence assessments may prove decisive. Iran's nuclear activity remains notoriously opaque despite years of international efforts to pry open sites for inspection. How Obama reacts in the coming months, and possibly years, could largely depend on the degree of certainty the U.S. has on whether any red line has been breached." http://t.uani.com/XSCB0i Sanctions Reuters: "Turkey exported almost $120 million worth of gold to Iran in February, data showed, suggesting the two countries' trade of gold for natural gas has resumed despite tighter U.S. sanctions, though at levels below last year's peaks. U.S. officials have sought to prevent Turkish gold exports from providing a financial lifeline to Tehran, which has been largely frozen out of the global banking system by Western sanctions over its nuclear programme. Turkey sold no gold to Iran in January, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK), as banks and dealers eyed the Feb. 6 implementation of U.S. sanctions that tightened control over precious metal sales... Turkey sold $117.9 million worth of gold to Iran last month, while exports to the United Arab Emirates, which has served in the past as a transit route to Tehran, rose to $402.3 million from $371 million in January, TUIK data showed... Turkey's monthly gold sales to Iran peaked last July at $1.8 billion, more than 10 times the amount exported to Tehran last month. Turkey, Iran's biggest natural gas customer, has been paying Iran for energy imports with Turkish lira, because sanctions prevent it from paying in dollars or euros. Iranians then use those lira, held in Halkbank accounts, to buy gold in Turkey, and couriers carry bullion worth millions of dollars in hand luggage to Dubai, where it can be sold for foreign currency or shipped to Iran." http://t.uani.com/14zRnA5 Reuters: "So lucrative are the returns that even seasoned opium traffickers are abandoning their traditional cargo to grab a share of Pakistan's closest thing to an oil boom: a roaring trade in illicit Iranian diesel. As Western powers tighten sanctions on Iran, an unexpected set of beneficiaries has emerged in the hard-scrabble Pakistani province of Baluchistan - smugglers lured by surging profits for black market fuel... For years, diesel smuggled from Iran has supplemented the 2.7 million to 3 million tons (20 million to 22 million barrels) of diesel that Pakistan's state oil company buys from the Kuwait Petroleum Corp each year. The illegal trade cooled in late 2010 when Iran cut fuel subsidies, narrowing profit margins for importers. But smugglers have gone into overdrive since late September, when growing pressure from Western sanctions caused the Iranian rial to lose forty per cent of its value against the dollar in a week, making diesel even cheaper for Pakistani buyers. Iran sets its diesel price at 4,500 Iranian rials a liter, (about 15 U.S. cents at the open market rate) - less than the price of mineral water. In Pakistan, a liter of smuggled diesel can sell for 104 rupees a liter ($1.06) -- cheaper than the official price of 112 rupees a liter." http://t.uani.com/ZvLU5j Reuters: "Iran's inflation rate has climbed above 30 percent under the impact of international economic sanctions, according to figures released by the government's statistics centre. The rate reached 31.5 percent in the 12 months to March 20, which was the end of Iran's calendar year, the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted the centre as saying on Monday. Inflation was 27.4 percent at the end of last December, according to previously released official data. The rate was 26.4 percent in March 2012. Iran has suffered double-digit inflation for most of the past decade. Inflation began rising sharply at the end of 2010 when the government slashed food and fuel subsidies; since then the sanctions, imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear programme, have pushed down its currency, adding to pressure on prices." http://t.uani.com/127w84D Syrian Uprising AP: "Iraq says it will stop more aircraft moving through its airspace and vehicles traveling overland to search for weapons being sent to the Syrian civil war, a senior Iraqi official said Friday. Government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said Iraq would conduct more random searches to check for weapons heading for the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad or rebels seeking to topple his regime. In a telephone call to The Associated Press, al-Moussawi said Iraq refuses to be a 'conduit for weapons for either side of the conflict.' 'The government has no interest in arming any side of the Syrian conflict,' he said. The announcement came after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during an unannounced visit last Sunday that shipments of Iranian weapons and fighters through Iraqi territory must stop. Iranian planes flying to Syria over Iraq have long been a source of contention between the U.S. and Iraq. American officials fear the near-daily flights are weapon runs." http://t.uani.com/16rqLzF Foreign Affairs Reuters: "The first commercial flight between Egypt and Iran in 34 years took off on Saturday, the latest step towards normalizing ties broken following the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Egypt and Iran agreed to resume direct flights in October 2010 before President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, but no flights were made. 'A flight by Air Memphis, owned by Egyptian businessman Rami Lakah, took off from Cairo to Tehran earlier on Saturday carrying eight Iranians including diplomats,' one airport official said adding that the airline could later carry out more tourist and business trips between Egypt and Iran." http://t.uani.com/YWYuBz AP: "Bahrain's news agency says an appeals court has confirmed a 10-year prison sentence against a man convicted of spying for Iran. The Gulf kingdom has long accused Tehran of aiding an anti-government uprising in the Arab country. No clear evidence has been made public about alleged Iranian roles in the more than two-year unrest but Tehran officials have often denounced crackdowns on Shiite-led protesters by Bahrain's Sunni leaders. The official Bahrain News Agency said Monday that prosecutors alleged the suspect passed tips to Iranian diplomats in Kuwait on Bahrain's military capabilities and 'sensitive' sites." http://t.uani.com/10oHhNi Opinion & Analysis Ray Takeyh in WashPost: "Should the Natanz plant reach its optimal production capacity, the Islamic Republic would be well on its way to manufacturing a nuclear arsenal. The lax nature of the NPT's basic inspection regime makes it an unreliable guide to detecting persistent diversion of small quantities of fuel from an industrial-size installation. Meanwhile, Iran's mastery of advanced centrifuges will give it the ability to build secret installations that can quickly enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality. The speed and efficiency of these machines means that only a limited number would be required, so the facilities housing them are likely to be small enough to escape exposure. Iran's nuclear weapons strategy does not necessarily require either the Fordow facility or continued production of uranium enriched to a medium level, or 20 percent. Iran's problem all along has been that its illicit nuclear activities were detected before it could assemble such a surge capacity. Tehran knows that as it incrementally builds its nuclear apparatus, it risks the possibility of a military strike. To mitigate this danger, Iranian diplomats insist that the 'P5 + 1' - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States), plus Germany - recognize its right to enrich. The purpose of such an acknowledgment is to give Iran's nuclear apparatus legal cover. Today, Iran's nuclear program exists outside the parameters of international law, as numerous U.N. resolutions have insisted that Tehran suspend its program and come to terms with the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding weaponization activities. Should the great powers formally acquiesce to Iran's right to enrich, the bar for a military strike would be set at a much higher level. It is more justifiable for the United States or Israel to bomb illegal Iranian installations than those legitimized by all the permanent members of the Security Council. Iran's insistence on recognition of its enrichment rights is a ploy designed to provide its nuclear weapons ambitions with a veneer of legality. To entice such concessions from the West, Iranian officials cleverly dangle the possibility of addressing an issue that is not essential to Tehran's nuclear weapons objectives: the production of uranium enriched to 20 percent. Iran's medium-grade enrichment is a dangerous escalation of the crisis, as it brings the material much closer to weapons-grade quality. Western powers would be judicious to focus on stopping it. But prolonged negotiations over this narrow issue and any concessions on Iran's 'right to enrich' in order to obtain that suspension would fall into Tehran's trap of hampering a U.S. or Israeli military option. Over the past decade of diplomatic efforts, the Islamic Republic has adhered with discipline and determination to its claim that it is entitled to an elaborate nuclear apparatus. The great powers, on the other hand, have periodically revisited their prohibitions, adjusted their objectives and limited their scope. While Iran has often seemed comfortable with an impasse in talks, the Western states have treated such lulls as unacceptable and have pressed for a resumption of the diplomatic track, usually by reconsidering some aspect of their 'red lines.' To successfully negotiate with Tehran, the P5+1 must demonstrate the same type of steadfastness that guardians of the Islamic Republic have shown. The best means of disarming Iran is to insist on a simple and basic red line: Iran must adhere to all the Security Council resolutions pertaining to its nuclear infractions. This implies establishing serious curbs on its activities in Natanz and not just being preoccupied with Fordow. To suggest or behave otherwise will only whet the appetite of strong-willed clerics sensitive to subtle shifts in their adversaries' posture and power." http://t.uani.com/178bMM9 Claudia Rosett in WSJ: "President Obama likes to describes Iran as 'isolated.' But there is nothing lonely about Iran's berth at the United Nations, where in the corridors and on the boards of powerful agencies, the Islamic Republic has been cultivating its own mini-empire. How can that be? Iran is in mocking violation of four U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions demanding an end to its illicit nuclear activities. The General Assembly has passed a series of resolutions condemning Iran's atrocious human-rights record (albeit with almost as many abstentions as 'yes' votes). The U.N.'s main host country, the United States, lists Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Yet Iran is no pariah at the U.N., where there are no in-house penalties for being under sanctions or for violating them. Among the 193 member states, terror-sponsoring, uranium-enriching rogue regimes enjoy the same access, privileges and immunities as Canada or Japan-and at far less expense in U.N. dues. Monstrous human-rights records don't interfere with acquiring plum seats, either. The U.N. has always made room for murderous governments-from the U.N.'s charter seat on the Security Council for Stalin's Soviet Union to Syria's current post on the human-rights committee of the U.N. Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization. Few have exploited this setup as adroitly as Iran. While the U.S. pays for roughly one-quarter of the U.N.'s $30 billion-plus systemwide annual budget, Iran chips in about $9 million in core dues. Whatever additional resources Iran's regime might allocate for its U.N.-related labors, they appear to be spent mainly on fielding big missions to U.N. offices in places such as New York and Vienna, horse-trading behind the scenes, and buttering up the U.N. bureaucracy. Iran currently heads the second-largest voting bloc in the U.N. General Assembly, the 120-member Non-Aligned Movement (which isn't an official U.N. body but a caucus with a rotating secretariat hosted by whichever country holds the three-year chairmanship). The movement's members wield considerable voting power at the U.N., but most are reluctant to pony up the resources to take the lead. After oil-rich Iran snapped up the job, it was rewarded last year with a movement summit in Tehran attended by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. These days, when Iran's diplomats speak at U.N. meetings, they often double as the voice of a nonaligned bloc that includes more than half the U.N.'s member countries. Since coming under U.N. sanctions in 2006, Iran has also won seats on the governing boards of many major U.N. agencies. Some of these agencies handle billions every year in funds donated chiefly by Western nations, especially the U.S. This year, Iran won a three-year seat on the 36-member executive board of the U.N.'s flagship agency, the U.N. Development Program, which operates billion-dollar budgets across more than 170 countries. Along with its seat on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (naturally), Iran also sits on the 36-member executive board of the U.N.'s children's agency, Unicef-a neat trick for a country that leads the world in executions of juveniles. Iran also sits on the boards of the U.N. Population Fund and the U.N. Office for Project Services (which deals with procurement and U.N. contracts). Then there is Tehran's presence on the governing councils of the Nairobi-based U.N. Environment Program and UN-Habitat, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, the Geneva-based U.N. Refugee Agency, the Spain-based U.N. World Tourism Organization, and the Program and Budget Committee of the Vienna-based U.N. Industrial Development Organization. For 2011, Iran was also elected to be one of the 21 vice-presidents of the U.N. General Assembly." http://t.uani.com/YpGIoc 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.