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Top Stories
AFP: "Iran
has quit nuclear talks with the major powers, accusing Washington on
Friday of going against the spirit of a landmark agreement reached last
month by expanding its sanctions blacklist. A spokesman for EU foreign
policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the powers in the talks,
said both sides had headed home for consultations and that she expected
the talks to resume soon. But Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas
Araqchi said the US move went against the spirit of the deal struck in
Geneva under which the powers undertook to impose no further sanctions
for six months and Tehran was weighing the 'appropriate response'.
'America's move is against the spirit of the Geneva deal,' Araqchi told
the Fars news agency as his team headed back to Tehran from Vienna. 'We
are evaluating the situation and will make the appropriate response,' he
said... Under the Geneva deal, Washington agreed to refrain from imposing
new sanctions on Iran. But senior administration officials argued that
Thursday's blacklistings were carried out within the framework of the
existing sanctions regime which had forced Tehran to the negotiating
table and did not constitute new measures." http://t.uani.com/1cG2dqR
AFP:
"Washington Thursday blacklisted a dozen overseas companies and individuals
for evading sanctions on Iran in a show of strength to coax Congress to
back off new moves against Tehran and warn Iranian leaders to comply with
a nuclear deal. 'Today's actions should be a stark reminder to
businesses, banks and brokers everywhere that we will continue
relentlessly to enforce our sanctions, even as we explore the possibility
of a long-term, comprehensive resolution of our concerns with Iran's
nuclear program,' said David Cohen, Treasury under secretary for
Terrorism and Financial Intelligence... Those listed include the
Singapore-based Mid Oil Asia and Singa Tankers, both companies accused of
helping Iran transfer badly-needed funds to a foreign bank on behalf of
the National Iranian Tanker Company... 'Sanctions pressure will be
essential as we seek to negotiate a comprehensive long-term resolution,'
a senior administration official told reporters on a conference call. 'So
during the six-month tenure of the joint plan we will continue to
vigorously enforce our sanctions programs' with the aim of tightening the
pressure on Iran's already struggling economy, he said." http://t.uani.com/1h6zigE
WSJ:
"The White House on Thursday blocked Congress from passing new
sanctions against Iran, at least through the end of the year. Lawmakers in
the House and Senate will not vote on new sanctions this year, following
a White House campaign to stall legislative action for at least six
months while the U.S. and other nations negotiate a comprehensive deal
over Tehran's nuclear program. Congress could return next year and
adopt new sanctions, but the delay in a vote has bought the White House
more time to make its case amid political pressure over President Barack
Obama's gamble to pursue diplomacy with Iran. As important, more
Democrats have fallen in line behind Mr. Obama's diplomacy, making it
less likely they will help advance legislation undermining the Iran
talks." http://t.uani.com/18pN65A
Nuclear
Negotiations
UPI:
"Ali Akbar Salehi, one of Iran's top nuclear officials, said
Thursday there was no basis to claims that Iran's nuclear activities had
slowed down. Salehi, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran,
was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying Iran
would never give up its rights to a peaceful nuclear program. Any claims
to the contrary, he said, are 'baseless and wrong.'" http://t.uani.com/18ZlvJf
AFP:
"Talks on implementing last month's nuclear deal with Iran are
proving to be a hard slog, diplomats said Thursday on a fourth day of
discussions with no end in sight. Participants in Vienna said there were
differences of opinion about sequencing Iran's promised nuclear freeze
and the easing of sanctions agreed in last month's landmark deal in
Geneva. They insisted however that the discussions were not any harder
than expected and that the differences would eventually be ironed out --
although not by the end of this week." http://t.uani.com/18Zl5Ct
AP:
"Assassinations, cyber-attacks and possible military strikes: As
nuclear negotiations with Iran enter a crucial stage, Tehran is voicing
fears that tougher oversight of its activities will increase the risks of
an attack on its atomic facilities and the scientists working on them...
Public calls for alertness have recently increased and a senior Western
diplomat has told The Associated Press that Iran is now also playing up
the fears of sabotage in resisting demands that it allow live cameras to
monitor its facilities... The Iranian stance on security does not
threaten the Geneva agreement. But having offline cameras is problematic,
because of the lag between the time they capture images and when those
images are evaluated. Iran's refusal to allow live monitoring could
theoretically give it some lead time if it decides to cheat on its
obligations - a loophole the Geneva deal seeks to close by obligating
Iran to give IAEA inspectors 24-hour access to IAEA monitoring equipment.
But that, say IAEA officials, stretches resources, forcing the agency to
put more inspectors on the mission." http://t.uani.com/1gv5exZ
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Echoing Iran, Russia said on Friday that a new U.S. measure
targeting companies and individuals for supporting Tehran's nuclear
programme violated the spirit of a deal reached with major powers last
month and could hinder its implementation. 'The U.S. administration's
decision goes against the spirit of this document,' Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the Nov. 24 interim agreement under
which Tehran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for limited
relief from economic sanctions over the next six months. 'Widening
American blacklists could seriously complicate the fulfilment of the
Geneva agreement, which proposes easing the sanctions regime,' Zakharova
said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/1kG2Cuk
WashPost:
"The interim deal struck last month between Iran and world powers
over the Islamic republic's contested nuclear activities should brighten
prospects for the business community here, but so far entrepreneurs say
they've seen little sign of economic improvement, although they remain
hopeful... Retail businesses with high inventory turnover, including food
vendors, are among the few industries already reporting a better
situation since Rouhani's inauguration. They attribute their success to
reduced volatility in the value of Iran's currency, the rial, after two
years of fluctuations that destabilized the price of many imported
products. The cost of chicken, for example, doubled in a matter of days
in 2012, but such uncertainty in food prices no longer hinders sellers.
'In the past, we were not sure whether to buy a certain item or not, but
now as the prices are almost fixed and we don't expect any increases, we
order from suppliers with peace of mind,' said Ali Aghaie, a manager of a
supermarket in central Tehran. But other key sectors, including Iran's
once-booming real estate market, continue to struggle." http://t.uani.com/1bCE2J0
Reuters:
"The Australian chairman of the U.N. Security Council's Iran
sanctions committee on Thursday urged the United Nations' 193 member
states to continue enforcing U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its
nuclear program. Australia's U.N. Ambassador Gary Quinlan told the 15-nation
Security Council that a November 24 interim deal between Iran and six
world powers, which offers Iran limited sanctions relief in exchange for
curbs on its nuclear program, did not affect countries' legal obligations
to implement U.N. measures. 'The Security Council measures ... remain in
effect; and States have an obligation to implement them duly,' Quinlan
said in his latest 90-day report. 'It is only by a Security Council
decision that these measures can be modified or terminated, and, until then,
member states are obligated to enforce them.'" http://t.uani.com/JeOYCF
WSJ:
"The French car makers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroën SA have
taken initial steps toward resuming deliveries to Iran, previously one of
their biggest markets... Renault and Peugeot executives met separately
with Iran's Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh at an auto-parts
fair in Tehran in late November. The talks centered on how to renew
cooperation, launch new models and return to 2011 levels of cars
assembled in Iran from imported kits, said people with knowledge of the
discussions... That deal is only valid for six months and can be renewed
for just six more-much too short a horizon for the French companies to
consider making large investments. A spokesman for Peugeot declined to
comment on its plans for re-entering Iran. A spokeswoman for Renault said
the company had begun contacting suppliers in Iran but was waiting for
sanctions to be lifted... Aside from Renault and Peugeot, the main
foreign car maker present in Iran is Chery Automobile Co. of China.
General Motors, which had large operations in the country until 1981,
declined to comment on whether it has any plan to return." http://t.uani.com/1hQYPNS
Free Beacon:
"House lawmakers are pushing a measure to reset the terms of a
controversial nuclear accord reached between Iran and Western nations
several weeks ago in Geneva, according to a copy of the bill obtained by
the Washington Free Beacon... The new bipartisan Iran measure, which was
filed Thursday evening by Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.), asks that the
Obama administration and other Western nations recast the parameters of
the negotiations with Iran. The Western negotiating team known as the
P5+1 should 'only accept a final nuclear agreement with Iran that
definitively prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability,
ceases Iran's construction of advanced missiles and warheads, suspends
Iran's support for terrorist organizations, and reduces human rights
violations within Iran,' according to the measure... It stipulates that
'Iran should completely dismantle all enrichment facilities and cease all
centrifuge production' and 'declares that Iran should completely
dismantle its heavy-water plutonium reactor at Arak.'" http://t.uani.com/19m8DLl
Fars News:
"Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham blasted the US
officials for their new sanctions threats against Tehran, and said such
remarks are meant to cover up Washington's failure in preventing the
collapse of sanctions structure. 'We think that based on the negotiations
(held between Iran and the world powers) and the Joint Plan of Action
(agreed by them) the structure of sanctions has cracked and its collapse
has started,' Afkham told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday." http://t.uani.com/1hR3K1j
Human Rights
ABC:
"The wife of an American pastor held in an Iranian prison today
challenged President Obama, saying the Iranian government is using her
husband to test his resolve when it comes to protecting Americans. 'My
husband is suffering because he is a Christian. He's suffering because
he's an American... Yet his own government did not fight for him when his
captors were across the table,' Naghmeh Abedini, wife of pastor Saeed
Abedini, told lawmakers today, referring to recent nuclear negotiations
between Iran and the U.S. 'Iran is curious: How strong is our American
president? How serious is he about our American security? Would he act
with firm resolve to protect and defend?' Saeed Abedini, an American
citizen who has worked setting up churches in Iran for nearly a decade,
was arrested in 2012 'on charges related to his religious beliefs,'
according to the State Department." http://t.uani.com/1j2RnRe
ICHRI:
"On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the Head of Iran's Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani told high-ranking Judiciary officials
yesterday, 'The Judiciary will not take notice of irrational words and
lies and will resolutely continue its work, because we believe that the
highest human rights values are recognized in Islam.' 'As I've said
before, many of the issues raised on the pretext of human rights,
including opposing the death penalty, are in fact in opposition to Islam,
because qisas [retribution] is clearly stipulated in the Quran,' Larijani
said... Executions have been on the rise over the past few months in
Iran, leading many human rights organizations to criticize the Iranian
government and demand a moratorium on executions in Iran." http://t.uani.com/19Fkgt5
ICHRI:
"In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in
Iran, two 'starred students' said that despite promises to allow their
return to the university and their application for the return, the
authorities have not responded to their requests and they remain banned
from the classroom. The Ministry of Science has told these students that
they hope to allow them to return to the university 'soon,' but have not
made clear a date for the return... 'Starred students' are individuals
who passed the university entrance examination, or even attended classes
after admission to the university, but who were banned from the
universities due to their peaceful civil or political activities or their
religious beliefs." http://t.uani.com/JeWCwN
ICHRI:
"IRGC forces arrested three men involved in the production,
distribution, and promotion of Iranian underground music in October, and
are pressuring them to confess on television, a source with knowledge of
the arrest told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Musician Mehdi Rajabian, his brother, and Yousef Emadi, who managed
BargMusic, were arrested on October 12 in the Northern city of Sari, and
were transferred to the IRGC's Ward 2-A inside Tehran's Evin Prison,
according to a report by Kaleme website. According to the source,
following the arrests of the Rajabian brothers, Azadeh S., a woman who
was also affiliated with the website, was arrested in the city of
Hamadan. The arrests appear to be part of a larger crackdown on Internet
and IT professionals and musicians." http://t.uani.com/1bCGQpr
ICHRI:
"Just days after Iran's Police Chief threatened the country's
officials with 'legal and judicial consequences' if they continue to
cross the regime's red lines by using Facebook, a governor in the
southeastern province of Fars has opened his own Facebook page... The
Islamic Republic of Iran continues to face a precarious position
vis-à-vis Facebook and other social networks. While some Iranian
officials have discovered the importance and significance of social
networks as tools for disseminating information about their activities
and testing the waters for new policies or getting public feedback through
online dialogue, use of these social networks is still considered a crime
for ordinary Iranians. Last week Abdolsamad Khorramabadi, Secretary of
the Work Group to Determine Instances of Criminal Content on the
Internet, called Facebook 'an espionage website' which must be blocked.
'Considering the Supreme Leader's explicit reference to Facebook's
effective role in the 2009 Sedition'-referring to public protests
following the disputed 2009 elections-'as well as warnings in this
regard, issued by the esteemed Grand Ayatollahs, Ulama, and those who
care about the regime, I doubt anyone is pondering the necessity of
continuing the blocking of this website,' Khorramabdi told Fars News
website." http://t.uani.com/1b2dfSN
Foreign Affairs
WashPost:
"An American man who disappeared in Iran more than six years ago had
been working for the CIA in what U.S. intelligence officials describe as
a rogue operation that led to a major shake-up in the spy agency. Robert
Levinson, a retired FBI agent, traveled to the Iranian island of Kish in
March 2007 to investigate corruption at a time when he was discussing the
renewal of a CIA contract he had held for several years. He also inquired
about getting re-imbursed for the Iran trip by the agency before he
departed, according to former and current U.S. intelligence officials.
After he vanished, CIA officials told Congress in closed hearings as well
as the FBI that Levinson did not have a current relationship with the
agency and played down its ties with him. Agency officials said Levinson
did not go to Iran for the CIA. But months after Levinson's abduction,
e-mails and other documents surfaced that suggested he had gone to Iran
at the direction of certain CIA analysts who had no authority to run
operations overseas. That revelation prompted a major internal
investigation that had wide-ranging repercussions, the officials said,
speaking on the condition of anonymity... U.S. intelligence officials
concede that if he is alive, Levinson, who would be 65, probably would
have told his captors about his work for the CIA, as he was likely
subjected to harsh interrogation." http://t.uani.com/1eaguiQ
AP:
"A European Parliament delegation has arrived in Iran, the first
visit to Tehran by the EU's legislative institution in more than six
years. Iran's official IRNA news agency said Friday the eight-member
delegation will stay until Wednesday. The delegation will meet Iranian
lawmakers and officials, as well as dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi and
human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who jointly won the European
Parliament's prestigious Sakharov prize in 2012." http://t.uani.com/1bCF9Iv
Opinion
& Analysis
WSJ Editorial: "John Kerry returned
to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to urge lawmakers not to enact legislation
that would impose punitive sanctions on Iran if negotiations fail to stop
the mullahs' march toward a bomb. 'They [the Iranians] know that if they
[the negotiations] fail, sanctions will be increased,' the Secretary of
State explained, by way of making the case for giving the Iranians a
chance to prove their good faith. Which raises the question: If what Mr.
Kerry says is true, why would he oppose having Congress make a certainty
of it? Mr. Kerry's pitch was enough to get South Dakota Democrat Tim
Johnson to bottle up the legislation in the Senate Banking Committee, and
Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to keep it from being attached to a
defense bill. This is the same Mr. Reid who three weeks ago promised to
support a bill that would 'broaden the scope of our petroleum sanctions'
on Iran... Quizzing Mr. Kerry at Tuesday's hearing, Mr. Engel wondered
why the Administration would oppose new sanctions-which would only come
into force if Iran failed to reach a deal in six months-when the
Administration also takes credit for the existing sanctions for forcing
Iran to the table. Mr. Kerry's answer: 'You have to work through the
process, you have to build trust.' The sanctions bill, he added, 'is
actually gratuitous, in the context of the situation.' The Secretary is
channeling his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, who in an interview last
week with Time warned that if the sanctions bill passes 'the entire deal
is dead' because 'we do not like to negotiate under duress.' We'd expect
Mr. Zarif to say as much, but it's a pity Mr. Kerry has turned himself
into Mr. Zarif's advocate in Congress. Especially since the only hope for
producing a positive outcome is if the mullahs are convinced that the
alternatives would be crushing sanctions and military strikes on their
nuclear sites. The Administration has already all but declared that it
does not view military strikes as a serious option and that it is
prepared to accept Iran as a threshold nuclear state as long as it
doesn't actually test a bomb. Now the Administration is signaling that it
also isn't keen to exert more economic pressure. Instead, Mr. Kerry hopes
to rely on the mood music theory of international relations, whereby
Western concessions and indulgence are supposed to create an atmosphere
conducive to a strong agreement. In this view, the job of Western
diplomacy is to strengthen Iranian 'moderates' so they, in turn, can show
the hardliners that negotiations have benefits... Mr. Kerry now likes to
quote Reagan's 'trust but verify' mantra for dealing with Iran. But the
Gipper's real legacy was to show resolve when it counted. The Obama
Administration's opposition to new sanctions with a delayed trigger feeds
suspicions that it is eager to accept just about any agreement with Iran.
Members of Congress from both parties who want a good and credible deal
can help by passing this sanctions bill." http://t.uani.com/IJqAJt
David Albright & Serena Kelleher-Vergantini in ISIS: "Recent
commercial satellite imagery shows that during the last several months no
significant alterations have taken place at the Parchin military site.
The apparent lack of additional visible changes in the November 27, 2013
image may mean that Iran has finished making planned changes at the site.
On the other hand, it could represent an effort by Iran to freeze
operations there. Nonetheless, the IAEA faces a tough challenge in
inspecting this site." http://t.uani.com/1eaolgh
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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