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Top Stories
AP:
"Iran has fielded a 'massive' number of new long-range missile
launchers, state TV reported Sunday. The new weapon components delivered
to Iranian military units would allow them to 'crush the enemy' with the
mass simultaneous fire of long-range surface-to-surface missiles, Defence
Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying. TV showed footage of him
inspecting two dozen launch trucks without missiles at an outdoor site.
The report did not specify the type of missile that would be fired, nor
more details on the number of launchers deployed. Some of Iran's
surface-to-surface missiles are estimated to have ranges of over 2,000
kilometers (1,200 miles), capable of hitting its arch-foe Israel and the
U.S. bases in the region." http://t.uani.com/12YmkLB
NYT:
"American officials and corporate security experts examining a new
wave of potentially destructive computer attacks striking American
corporations, especially energy firms, say they have tracked the attacks
back to Iran. The targets have included several American oil, gas and
electricity companies, which government officials have refused to
identify. The goal is not espionage, they say, but sabotage. Government
officials describe the attacks as probes looking for ways to seize
control of critical processing systems. Investigators began looking at
the attacks several months ago, and when the Department of Homeland
Security issued a vaguely worded warning this month, a government
official told The New York Times that 'most everything we have seen is
coming from the Middle East.' Government officials and outside experts on
Friday confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that the source of
the attacks had been narrowed to Iran. They said the evidence was not
specific enough to conclude with confidence that the attacks were
state-sponsored, but control over the Internet is so centralized in Iran
that they said it was hard to imagine the attacks being done without
government knowledge." http://t.uani.com/17g3Z1E
Deutsche Welle:
"In 2009, Iran's Green Movement discovered social networks as a
platform for social criticism. Now, supporters of the government are
using them for propaganda... Sojoodi Farimani said there was a clear
difference between the employees of Iran's cyber police, known as FATA,
and other supporters of the government. 'The cyber functionaries
persecute, bully and repress dissidents, but there are also
pro-government users who use social networks just like us to exchange
views and find out more about their rivals.' The internet is one of the
few platforms where Iranians can express themselves freely despite
sophisticated filter systems. All the most popular and famous sites such
as Facebook or Twitter have been blocked by the authorities, yet at the
same time bloggers say that the number of pro-regime users on these sites
is growing very rapidly. 'They justify their presence by saying it's a
necessary part of the jihad and the fight against enemies takes place
everywhere,' explained the Iranian Internet expert Ali Nikoee who now
lives in the Netherlands. He explained that Muslim internet experts also
used weblogs for propaganda." http://t.uani.com/113zYd9
Nuclear Program
AP:
"Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has warned against the
danger of Iran's nuclear program to the region's security and said Iran
should not threaten its neighbors since countries in the region harbor no
ill-intentions to the Islamic Republic. 'We stress the danger of the
Iranian nuclear program to the security of the whole region,' Prince Saud
said Saturday in a joint news conference with Indian External Affairs
Minister Salman Khurshid in the city of Jiddah." http://t.uani.com/1aqqX2e
JPost:
"Unless the White House soon adjusts its policy on Iran, the US may
end up adopting a policy of nuclear containment rather than prevention,
two senior Israeli defense analysts warned on Sunday. Emily Landau,
director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Tel Aviv
University's Institute for National Security Studies, and Ephraim
Asculai, a senior research associate at the institute, published a paper
titled, 'Is the US receding to a containment policy on Iran?' In the
paper, the analysts cite an IAEA report on Iran - which was released on
May 22 - as indicating that 'while there are no major surprises, Iran's
uranium enrichment and plutonium programs are creeping slowly but surely
toward a situation that will soon be unstoppable.'" http://t.uani.com/Zot8Uq
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Iran has offered insurance for Indian refiners to boost its crude
sales, industry sources said on Monday, as the Islamic nation looks to
counter a fall in revenues hit by tough western sanctions... The
sanctions have forced refiners in India, Iran's second-largest oil buyer,
to reduce imports because Indian insurers have said they can no longer
cover refineries that process Iranian crude. 'They (Iran) said they can
provide insurance for our refineries,' said one of the sources, after a
meeting between Indian Oil Minister Veerappa Moily with his Iranian
counterpart Rostam Qasemi. 'We had a fruitful meeting...Our meetings are
about the energy sector,' Qasemi told reporters, without elaborating.
Qasemi is on a three-day visit to India from Sunday to woo New Delhi for
stepping up oil imports and invest in the OPEC-member's oil and gas
sector. Two refiners - Hindustan Petroleum Corp, and Mangalore Refinery
and Petrochemicals Ltd - halted Iranian oil purchases in April due to
insurance problems." http://t.uani.com/10BmOUU
June 14
Elections
AP:
"Iran's top nuclear negotiator, a candidate in next month's
presidential elections, vowed Friday he will pursue a policy of
resistance against the West if elected. Addressing his first campaign
rally in Tehran, Saeed Jalili said his priority in foreign policy will be
to expand Islam's influence in the world and counter 'arrogance,' a
reference to the U.S. Jalili is considered one of the most hard-line of
the eight candidates approved by the Guardian Council, Iran's election
overseers, to run in the June 14 race. He is believed to draw much of his
support from the Basij, the paramilitary branch of Iran's powerful
Revolutionary Guard. The candidate lost a leg in the 1980-88 war with
Iraq, earning him the title 'janbaz,' or sacrificing combatant... 'We are
seeking to dry up the roots of the Zionist regime, the capitalist and
communist systems. Instead, we promote the Islamic system,' Jalili said,
echoing policy statements made by the Islamic Republic's late founder,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. 'This discourse rejects domination. This is
the discourse of the Islamic revolution.' Jalili said compromise brings misery
and devastation." http://t.uani.com/13cqZZb
WashPost:
"Eight competitors in the race to replace Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad began their three-week-long campaign sprint over the weekend,
holding almost daily events and dominating the country's radio and
television airwaves. Although many here think there is little that
differentiates the candidates - aside from the details of their pledges
to improve on what they say is Ahmadinejad's mismanagement - visits to
campaign rallies and candidate headquarters reveal the many facets of
Iranian politics and society. Compared with the colorful scenes ahead of
the 2009 election, this year's presidential campaign is subdued." http://t.uani.com/10vcvoF
AP:
"The spokesman for a pro-reform Iranian presidential candidate says
state television cut off his campaign broadcast unexpectedly, citing
technical problems. Mohammad Reza Aref is one of two pro-reform
candidates cleared by the Islamic Republic's constitutional watchdog, the
Guardian Council, to run in June 14 elections. Most other approved
candidates were hard-liners, while their most charismatic challengers,
including centrist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, were disqualified. Witnesses
say Aref's Monday campaign pitch on the Jam-e Jam channel was stopped 15
minutes after it started, while he was saying he would make use of
Rafsanjani's 'experience' if he became president." http://t.uani.com/Z9XV4U
Syrian Civil
War
AFP:
"Lebanon's Hezbollah has hurled itself into the war in Syria at the
behest of its mentor Iran at the risk of damaging its reputation in the
Arab world, experts say. The powerful Shiite movement has won widespread
support outside Lebanon for standing up to Israel on the battlefield. But
its involvement in Syria fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's
troops against rebels has tarnished its reputation in the region,
analysts told AFP. 'Hezbollah's participation in the war in Syria stems
from an Iranian decision to support the regime until the end through
regional actors, starting with Hezbollah,' said Ziad Majed, professor in
political sciences and the Middle East at the American University of
Paris." http://t.uani.com/16ksdr8
Reuters:
"France's foreign minister on Saturday ruled out Iran taking part in
a proposed Syria peace conference, saying Tehran was involved in the
conflict and had no desire for peace. Laurent Fabius will host Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at
a dinner on Monday to discuss how to nudge Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and the Syrian opposition into the talks in Geneva... Russia has
said Iran must be included in the peace conference, which was jointly
proposed by Moscow and Washington and could convene in the next few
weeks. But Fabius said Iran's presence in Syria through its officers who
were 'directing operations' and through its Hezbollah proxy demonstrated
that it had no place at the negotiating table. 'Yes the Russians want
Iran to take part in Geneva, but we're opposed because Iran is not after
a political solution and on the contrary has thrown itself directly into
that battle.'" http://t.uani.com/19gQnS4
JPost:
"In the last few months, electricity and telephone services have
been occasionally disrupted without warning in various areas of the Bekaa
Valley and other regions near Lebanon's border with Syria. The Lebanese
Daily Star recently provided the explanation for the unclear phenomenon.
In a report released some two weeks ago on Israel's efforts to prevent
the flow of missiles and advanced weapons from Syria to Lebanon, it was
stated that the electricity and telephone service was not being disrupted
accidentally, but rather intentionally. Hezbollah is behind the
disruptions of service in attempts to make it difficult for Israeli
intelligence services to get information on weapons caravans, which begin
in Iran, pass through Syria and end in warehouses and underground bunkers
in Lebanon... For almost two decades, the Israeli intelligence
establishment, led by Military Intelligence and the Mossad, has been
playing a game of wits, and cat and mouse with the intelligence
establishments of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Israel is trying to obtain
as much information as possible on the weapons supply 'food chain,'
beginning with Iran's decision to supply weapons, through their transfer
to Syria and until their arrival at the bunkers." http://t.uani.com/1aquXjg
Human Rights
Reuters:
"An Iranian director who was jailed for anti-government propaganda
in 2010 emerged at the Cannes film festival on Friday to premiere a new
film about state oppression that he shot in secret in his home country.
Mohammad Rasoulof was found guilty of 'actions and propaganda against the
system' after trying to make a documentary about the unrest that followed
the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. He was
jailed for six years and banned from making films and leaving Iran for 20
years. But the sentence was later cut to one year on appeal, and the
travel and film bans were lifted. His new film 'Dast-Neveshtehaa
Nemisoosand' (Manuscripts Don't Burn) received a standing ovation at a
press screening in the French Riviera resort of Cannes on Friday.
Rasoulof said it was based on the real-life story of 21 Iranian writers
and academics travelling on a bus who survived a botched attempt on their
lives, which he described as a 'dark episode' in the Iranian intellectual
community." http://t.uani.com/18u7hva
Iran Human Rights:
"According to unofficial sources in Iran, at least one woman was
hanged on Wednesday, May 22 in Gharchak Prison, located in Varamin (a
city near Tehran). According to a report by Human Rights and Democracy
Activists in Iran, the woman was identified as Giti Marami. She was 34
years old, married, and had one daughter. The report has also been
confirmed by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). According to the
reports, Mrs. Marami was flogged 100 times before she was hanged.
Although the hanging occurred four days ago, state media in Iran has not
released news of this execution." http://t.uani.com/113CCQ9
Opinion & Analysis
Michael Oren in
WashPost: "The world is, understandably, focused on
the Middle East. The map of the region - drawn a century ago by European
powers to reflect imperial interests rather than ethnic realities - is
unraveling. Syrians and Iraqis are being massacred, and Jordan is flooded
with the half-million who have fled. Turkey, a formidable power, also
struggles to meet the challenges of refugees and terrorist attacks.
Russia, meanwhile, seems bent on supplying Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad with deadly weapons such as the S-300 anti-aircraft system. This
will enable Assad to enforce a no-fly zone over all of Syria and even
parts of neighboring countries. Given such seismic activity, it is easy
to overlook the most explosive development of all. For the Iranian
regime, the situation in the Middle East is a convenient distraction. As
world leaders deliberate whether and how to intervene in Syria, how to
grapple with Iraq, how to shore up Jordan and Turkey, and how to engage
the Russians, the Iranian nuclear program advances unchecked. While the
Middle East roils, the Iranians have amassed some 182 kilograms of
uranium enriched to a level easily enhanced to weapons grade. This
stockpile stops short of the red line drawn by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, but the Iranians are quietly preparing to cross it. The media
is focusing on Middle East atrocities; meanwhile, the Iranians have
installed 16,000 centrifuges - an immense number by any standard - most
of which are spinning. Iran is introducing 3,000 advanced centrifuges
that will at least triple its enrichment rate and more than double its
total output. According to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
report published this week, the Iranians have already installed 689 of
these centrifuges, which will shorten the time they will need to reach
weapons capacity to several months and maybe even weeks. And we may not
be able to see this happening. Iran is also building additional nuclear
plants that, like the formerly covert facility at Fordow, will be heavily
fortified and possibly beyond the reach of IAEA inspectors. On April 8,
Iran celebrated its 'national nuclear technology day' by opening a new
underground uranium processing site - just two days after participating
in talks designed to end the country's military nuclear program. Those
discussions, conducted with the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council plus Germany, were also overshadowed by crises in the
Middle East. Virtually overlooked was the year-long diplomacy that
produced nothing but a hardening of Iran's position. Although sanctions
led by President Obama and Congress continue to cut into Iran's economy
and undermine its currency, the nuclear program progresses. Iranian
rulers believe that they are paying a high price but will eventually
achieve their nuclear aspirations. They are not yet convinced that the
prize will be denied them by military action... The images emerging from
the Middle East, though agonizing, must not camouflage Iran's nuclear
designs. These, we still believe, may yet be thwarted by a combination of
escalating sanctions and a credible military threat. Iranian rulers must
not only hear about the policy of all options on the table, they must
fear it. Iranian nuclear installations may make for bland photographs,
especially when compared with the region's lurid scenes, but they
foreshadow a cataclysmic picture." http://t.uani.com/Za0rZ7
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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
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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
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