Eye on Iran: Iran, 6 Powers Move Closer to Nuclear Talks Deal

Join UANI           Top Stories AP: "Iran and the U.S. have tentatively agreed on a formula that Washington hopes will reduce Tehran's ability to make nuclear arms by committing it to ship to Russia much of the material needed for such weapons, diplomats say. In another sign of progress, the two diplomats told The Associated Press that negotiators at the December round of nuclear talks drew up for the first time a catalog outlining areas of potential accord and differing approaches to remaining disputes. The diplomats said differences still dominate ahead of the next round of Iran-six power talks on Jan. 15 in Geneva. But they suggested that even agreement to create a to-do list would have been difficult previously because of wide gaps between the sides. The diplomats, who are familiar with the talks, spoke to the AP recently and demanded anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment on the closed negotiations. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham denied any tentative formula had been reached." http://t.uani.com/1KdpGjQ Reuters: "Iran denied on Saturday that it had reached an agreement with the United States to ship its surplus enriched uranium to Russia under new concessions aimed at clinching a comprehensive nuclear deal with six world powers. The Associated Press, citing diplomats, said on Friday Tehran and Washington had tentatively agreed on a formula to ship to Russia much of the material that could potentially lead to manufacture of atomic arms by the Islamic republic... Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said 'no agreement on any nuclear topic' had been reached. 'Such news is spread out of political motives and its goal is to tarnish the climate of the talks and make it more complicated to reach a settlement,' the state IRNA news agency quoted her as saying... The head of Iran's atomic energy agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, told worshippers at Friday prayers that the long nuclear conflict was drawing to an end. 'Have no doubt that the nuclear issue will be resolved in Iran's favour and we will soon celebrate Iran's victory,' he was quoted as saying by Mehr News." http://t.uani.com/13RWIVj Reuters: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for curbs on the state's involvement in business and an end to Tehran's international isolation on Sunday to help rescue an economy hurt by sanctions, corruption and mismanagement. His appeal in a speech to 1,500 economists appeared to be critical of hardliners who oppose his efforts to deliver Iran from years of erratic economic management by the previous administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 'Our economy will not prosper as long as it is monopolized (by the government). The economy must be rid of monopoly and see competition,' he said. 'It must be freed of insider speculation, be transparent, all people must be aware of the statistics. If we can bring transparency to our economy, we can fight corruption.' He added: 'Our political life has shown we can't have sustainable growth while we are isolated.'" http://t.uani.com/1IepSeN     Nuclear Program & Negotiations FT: "President Hassan Rouhani has threatened to hold an unprecedented referendum in Iran as he warned hardline opponents of a nuclear deal with the west that the country must end its international isolation. The Iranian leader said he was looking at the possibility of using his constitutional rights to give power to the people in comments that some analysts took as a warning that he may try to put any nuclear agreement to a public vote... While Mr Rouhani called for unity at home, he said he could resort to holding a referendum over 'important matters which are important for all people and have impacts on their lives' if his policies were blocked. 'Even if Rouhani has no plan to use this right, he basically threatened that he may ask public opinion about a nuclear deal,' said a reform-minded political analyst. 'This can scare his rivals not to insist on impossible things like immediate lifting of sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/13RWzB1 AP: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that ongoing nuclear negotiations with world powers are a matter of 'heart,' not just centrifuges ahead of talks next week in Geneva. Speaking to an economic conference in Tehran, Rouhani both countered hard-line critics worried Iran will give up too much while also attempting to signal his administration remains open to negotiation with the six-nation group leading the talks. If 'we are ready to stop some types of enrichment which we do not need at this time, does it mean we have compromised our principles and cause?' Rouhani asked. He responded: 'Our cause is not linked to a centrifuge. It is connected to our heart and to our willpower.'" http://t.uani.com/1xvKddT Sanctions Relief Trend: "Iran's non-oil exports (excluding condensates) surpassed $31.212 billion during the first eleven months of 2014, indicating an increase by 9.78 percent compared to the same period of the preceding year... Liquefied propane worth $1.801 billion (5.77 percent of overall exports), liquefied butane worth $1.25 billion (4 percent of total export value) and grid polyethylene film worth $1.232 billion (3.95 percent of overall export) topped the list of Iran's exported non-oil goods. Liquefied propane exports registered a 108.16-percent increase compared to the first eleven months of 2013 in terms of value, meanwhile exports of liquefied butane and grid polyethylene film witnessed increase by 63.76 percent and 50.1 percent respectively." http://t.uani.com/1Bz23fF Trend: "Iran imported $50.665 billion worth of goods during the first eleven months of 2014, which indicates a rise by 21.85 percent, compared to the same period of the preceding year... The Islamic Republic's overall non-oil trade turn over stood at $81.877 billion during the first eleven months of 2014. The figure indicates a 16.95 percent rise in comparison with the $70.01 billion trade turn over during the first eleven months of 2013." http://t.uani.com/1yqkHsk Tasnim (Iran): "The value of bilateral trade between Iran and China from January to November 2014, has witnessed a 36 percent increase, compared to the same period last year, customs data showed. The bilateral trade exchanges between the Islamic Republic and China over the 11-month period reached $47.5 billion, showing a 36 percent rise, compared with the figure in 2013, according to the General Administration of Customs. The data indicated that Iran-China bilateral trade from January to November 2013 stood at about $35 billion. According to the report, the Chinese exports to Iran from January to November 2014, reached $22 billion, showing an 87 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The Chinese imports from Iran over the first 11 months in 2014 increased by 10 percent, hitting $25.5 billion. Oil is the main item imported to China from Iran." http://t.uani.com/1xvVJpC Tasnim (Iran): "Several major European and Asian companies are in talks with the Iranian National Gas Company for cooperation in the gas industry, an Iranian gas official announced. 'Some European companies from France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Russia as well as companies from Japan, South Korea, and China, have entered into negotiations with National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) in the areas of the construction of (gas) refineries and transmission lines,' the head of Investment Committee at the NIGC, Asghar Soheilipour, said. 'Up to now' he added 'we have started talks with 35 to 40 companies, all of which are among the world's major and well-known companies.'" http://t.uani.com/1xIUGot IRNA (Iran): "Head of the investment committee of the Iran National Gas Company (INGC) Asghar Soheilipour said that his company was offering information about Iran's top priority gas projects to potential foreign and domestic investors... The official referred to Mitsubishi, LG and Samsung as corporations having announced readiness for making investments in Iran gas projects." http://t.uani.com/1xJnE4h Trend: "Some 825,389 cars have been produced in Iran in the first nine months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-Dec. 22, 2014). The figure indicates 64.3 percent increase compared to the same period of preceding year, Iran's industry, mines and trade ministry's official SHATA news portal reported Jan. 5... About 104,729 cars have been produced in Iran in the 9th calendar month of the current Iranian year (Nov. 22-Dec. 22, 2014). The figure is 35.9 percent more compared the same month of preceding year." http://t.uani.com/1wPSsfQ Terrorism CSM: "Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, is facing a new enemy: financial austerity. A slump in global oil prices and nuclear-tied sanctions are squeezing the group's patron Iran, which is already funneling billions of dollars to the Syrian regime. As Iran tightens its belt, Hezbollah has had to impose salary cuts on personnel, defer payments to suppliers and reduce monthly stipends to its political allies in Lebanon, according to a wide range of political and diplomatic sources in Beirut, including friends and foes of the powerful Shiite party. The financial difficulties do not pose an immediate threat to Hezbollah's political and popular standing in Lebanon. Moreover, the flow of Iranian largesse is controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khameini, Iran's supreme leader, and isn't part of the government's oil-dependent budget. But the belt-tightening underlines just how reliant Hezbollah is on Iranian largesse to pay its ever increasing army of fighters, as well as to bankroll its massive social welfare network of schools and hospitals upon which much of its Shiite support base depends." http://t.uani.com/14olI7M Human Rights IHR: "According to the official and unofficial reports 17 people have been executed in the first 4 days of 2015. Three men were hanged publicly in the town of Torqabeh near Mashhad (Northeastern Iran) today. The state run Iranian news agency Fars reported that three men identified as 'Mehdi V', 'Ehsan K' and 'Mahmood K' were convicted of raping a young woman in one of the villages near Torqabeh... Mehdi and Ehsan were sentenced to death by public execution convicted of rape, while Mahmood was sentenced to 100 lashes and public execution for threatening and raping the woman, said the report. On January 1, one man was hanged  in Qazvin, while according to unofficial sources 13 prisoners were hanged in three different prisons on January 1. These include four women in Bam, 7 prisoners in Kerman and two prisoners in Bandar Abbas." http://t.uani.com/17c6zHQ Domestic Politics AFP: "A draft law that would give greater powers to Iran's police and volunteer militias to enforce women's compulsory wearing of the veil has been ruled unconstitutional, state media reported Saturday... The draft law, called the 'Plan on Protection of Promoters of Virtue and Vice' was rejected by the country's influential Guardian Council, a 12-member group that scrutinises legislation. The official IRNA news agency, quoting a council spokesman, said the 24-point plan contained 14 flaws and it 'contradicted the constitution and was not approved'. The report did not give specifics. However, the council's decision is not the end of the law, under which lawmakers want to give members of the Basij, a religious volunteer force established by the country's revolutionary leaders, power and protection to verbally caution women they deem improperly dressed. The council has sent the law back to parliament for amendment, IRNA said." http://t.uani.com/1AoDd2x FT: "As a young, smart and ambitious university graduate, Mahsa could have been a model of the modern Iranian woman. Instead, the 30-year-old symbolises a new generation of female drug users: well off, well educated and tech savvy but addicted to multiple synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine, methadone and sedatives as well as heroin... Addiction is increasingly spreading across all social classes and affecting a rising number of women - a trend triggering alarm in the government... Young women in particular find themselves caught between increasing freedoms and educational opportunities on the one hand and the conservative values of their elders on the other. 'Girls and boys under 25 years old largely enjoy equal freedom in terms of social and educational activities, but girls have a more gloomy perspective, [seeing] more responsibilities ahead,' says Amir-Hossein Yazdani, a professor of psychology. Highly educated girls 'do not enjoy equal job opportunities, or they feel under pressure to behave like a traditional woman', he says. 'This is fanning fresh tendencies to addiction.'" http://t.uani.com/1tCdT3T Opinion & Analysis Emanuele Ottolenghi in TNI: "St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) is a miniscule Caribbean nation whose biggest employer is the state sugar corporation and whose currency features wading sea turtles and the visage of Queen Elizabeth II. It is also one of the most attractive destinations for Iranian businessmen seeking to exploit citizenship-for-investment programs to skirt international sanctions over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Thirty years ago, in a bid to spur foreign investment, SKN became the world's first country to allow foreign investors to obtain citizenship... SKN terms for citizenship remain among the most lax in the world: no residency is required and a passport is provided within three months in exchange for $250,000 or a qualifying investment in real estate. Since sanctions against Iran began to bite, Iranian requests for citizenship have poured in, and in 2011 SKN barred Iranians living in the Islamic Republic from applying. Iranian expatriates, however, may still obtain SKN citizenship, and all evidence suggests that Iranians who live abroad continue doing so in droves. After all, for Iranians hoping to establish companies and bank accounts in foreign jurisdictions, the biggest obstacle of all is an Islamic Republic passport. A change of residence and nationality is often all that is required for them to prevent banks' scrutiny. Facilitating Iranian business abroad through citizenship-by-investment programs is now a profitable endeavor. Capital Immigration, a Dubai-based company run by Iranian expatriates, is typical: its homepage, both in English and Farsi, offers a variety of citizenship, permanent residency and overseas company-formation options, and prominently advertises the prospect of a SKN passport. Perhaps the most visible case in point involves Houshang Farsoudeh, Houshang Hosseinpour, and Pourya Nayebi, three Iranian nationals whom the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned in February 2014 for facilitating banking, money laundering activities and illicit procurement through a network of companies and a banking institution they briefly controlled in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, in the South Caucasus. Georgia's commercial registry documents show that all three - and at least one family member - traveled and conducted their business in the region as SKN nationals. Within the last year, at least five SKN citizens - all of them Iranians - have established companies in Turkey, trading in petroleum products, medical equipment, and wholesale import-export. Moreover, internal documents of Georgia's Poti Industrial Free Zone show that SKN nationals have the second-highest incorporation rate, after Iranians themselves. According to Georgia's commercial registry, all of the SKN nationals who registered companies there were born in Iran (Treasury eventually sanctioned two of them). Though once hidden from view, Iranian exploitation of citizenship-for-investment schemes is becoming something of an open secret." http://t.uani.com/1rXp77K      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.