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NYT:
"With exactly a week left before the deadline for a final agreement
to limit Iran's nuclear program, the country's supreme leader appeared to
undercut several of the central agreements his negotiators have already
reached with the West. In a speech broadcast live on Iran state
television, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, demanded that
most sanctions be lifted before Tehran has dismantled part of its nuclear
infrastructure and before international inspectors verify that the
country is beginning to meet its commitments. He also ruled out any
freeze on Iran's sensitive nuclear enrichment for as long as a decade, as
a preliminary understanding announced in April stipulates, and he
repeated his refusal to allow inspections of Iranian military sites... 'All
economic, financial and banking sanctions, implemented either by the
United Nations Security Council, the United States Congress or the
administration, must be lifted immediately when the deal is signed,' the
ayatollah said, according to his personal website, Khamenei.ir. Only
after that has happened will Iran start abiding by its commitments, he
said. 'The rest of the sanctions must be lifted in rational intervals,'
he said... The ayatollah also vowed to maintain an active nuclear
program, which he says is for peaceful purposes. 'Freezing Iran's
research and development for a long time, like 10 years or 12 years, is
not acceptable,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1LnjWFq
AP:
"The United States and other nations negotiating a nuclear deal with
Iran are ready to offer high-tech reactors and other state-of-the-art
equipment to Tehran if it agrees to crimp programs that can make atomic
arms, according to a confidential document obtained Tuesday by The
Associated Press. The draft document - one of several technical
appendices meant to accompany the main text of any deal - has dozens of
bracketed text where disagreements remain. Technical cooperation is the
least controversial issue at the talks, and the number of brackets
suggest the sides have a ways to go not only on that topic but also more
contentious disputes with little more than a week until the June 30
deadline for a deal... The West has always held out the prospect of
providing Iran peaceful nuclear technology in the nearly decade-long
international diplomatic effort designed to reduce Tehran's potential
ability to make nuclear weapons. But the scope of the help now being
offered in the draft may displease U.S. congressional critics who already
argue that Washington has offered too many concessions at the
negotiations." http://t.uani.com/1IdXdKQ
AP:
"Iran's constitutional watchdog has ratified legislation banning
access to military sites and scientists as Tehran and world powers
approach a deadline for reaching a comprehensive nuclear deal. State TV
says the Guardian Council ratified the bill Wednesday. All bills have to
be approved by the council to become a law. The bill would allow for
international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites within the framework
of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty." http://t.uani.com/1Ni8l9H
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Bloomberg:
"President Barack Obama has growing political leeway to extend the
Iran nuclear negotiations if there's no deal by the June 30 deadline set
seven months ago. An extension of the talks by days -- or longer -- seems
increasingly likely as Iran and most of the other world powers involved
in the negotiations have signaled doubt about being able to resolve all
the issues in the next week. A former Obama administration adviser, an
architect of American sanctions against Iran and an influential U.S.
lawmaker all have said the deadline matters less than the outcome, and
the State Department's spokesman said as much on Tuesday. 'Getting the
right deal is better than the deadline itself,' John Kirby told
reporters, even though Kirby and other U.S. officials continue to stress
the objective of wrapping up an accord by June 30 or a few days
thereafter... One scenario is that the talks run a few days beyond the
deadline, as happened at the end of March. Another is that the
negotiators take a break for the July 4 holiday in the U.S. and then
resume the talks for an agreed period of time... In the U.S., a group
called Secure America Now is pressing a digital campaign against a deal
-- including the website stopthebadirandeal.com -- directed at key
lawmakers, such as New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer... Other
anti-deal groups, such as the Israel Project, the Foreign Policy
Initiative and United Against Nuclear Iran, also have been increasing
their activities heading toward the June 30 deadline." http://t.uani.com/1SJZGQi
Politico:
"Millions of dollars worth of ads will hit the airwaves this week in
an effort to pressure senators to take a hard line against President
Barack Obama's nascent nuclear deal with Iran - with a June 30 deadline
to wrap up the agreement just a week away. The latest salvo lands
Wednesday, when the American Security Initiative, a bipartisan group
chaired by former senators, unleashes an ad blitz, urging eight senators
from both parties to oppose any nuclear deal that doesn't allow
'unconditional inspections' of Iran's nuclear facilities. The target list
includes Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader in waiting, and
John Thune of South Dakota, the GOP's chief message man, according to
sources familiar with the matter. The group will spend about $1.4 million
on the ad buys, beginning Wednesday, and run a full-page ad in The New
York Times on June 29. Its board of directors includes former colleagues
of many of the targeted senators: Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Evan Bayh
(D-Ind.), Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)... ASI's ad
buy follows Secure America Now's $1 million ad campaign targeting
Schumer, Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Michael
Bennet of Colorado and independent Angus King of Maine. A multimillion
dollar campaign from United Against Nuclear Iran also has been launched
in the hopes of pressuring senators to take a skeptical view of the
nuclear negotiations." http://t.uani.com/1Ni5uxB
New Yorker:
"The Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, now the lead
Iranian negotiator, described the often tortuous talks as an 'unholy
exercise.' If the diplomacy fails, he told me, 'It won't be the end of
the world. The U.S. will have lost a major opportunity, probably unique.
But, for us, our population is accustomed to making necessary sacrifices
to preserve its dignity and its rights.' He went on, 'It's not about
nationalism or chauvinism. It's simply about having historical depth.
Several years are a brief period in the history of a country with millennia
as its depth.'" http://t.uani.com/1GyE94s
FT:
"When Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein launched scud missile attacks on
Iranian cities in 1984, the Islamic republic was ill prepared. It
possessed nothing to fire back in self-defence and hundreds of civilians
died as the government scrambled to get other countries to sell it
missiles. Only Muammar al-Ghaddafi's Libya responded, grudgingly
providing 10 missiles. Tehran was eventually able to buy missiles from
eastern Europe but the humiliation of having to beg for defensive weapons
while under attack has not been forgotten by Iran's leaders. The incident
was recalled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, during a
recent private meeting with senior politicians - one of whom recounted it
to the Financial Times - and cited it as the reason why Iran cannot grant
international inspectors access to its military sites under a nuclear
accord... 'Iran has gone a long way from begging for a few missiles to
today, when we have mass production of various missiles with different
ranges,' said the senior politician who was at the meeting with the
Ayatollah. 'There is no way the leader and the [Revolutionary] Guards
will accept any inspections of the missiles or any major military sites,
even if that means failure of the negotiations.'" http://t.uani.com/1LBAMOG
Reuters:
"Gulf Arab states have long feared a sanctions-free Iran and as a
nuclear agreement edges closer they have become more aggressive in
preparing for a resurgence of their main regional foe. The biggest
concern is what they see as Shi'ite Iran's regional expansionism,
manifest in its backing for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Lebanon's
Hezbollah, Iraq's Shi'ite militias and Yemen's Houthi group. From the
airstrikes in Yemen to backing for Syrian rebels, crackdowns on dissent
and more forceful diplomacy, the actions of the mostly Sunni Muslim Gulf
states in recent months has been driven by a sense that Iran is on the
cusp of a comeback. They are also concerned that U.S. President Barack
Obama's push for a nuclear deal in return for sanctions relief shows
their strongest ally may no longer help restrain Iran. 'The deal is
inevitable is their calculation. It could be delayed a week or two, or a
month. But everybody in the region has prepared themselves for the
reality that the deal is a done thing,' said Mustafa Alani, a security
analyst close to the Saudi Interior Ministry. The six Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) members, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United
Arab Emirates and Oman, often disagree on regional strategy, but except
for Muscat, they all share misgivings about Iran." http://t.uani.com/1QPWwNv
Reuters:
"Saudi diplomats in Khartoum believed Iran shipped advanced nuclear
equipment including centrifuges to Sudan in 2012, according to a document
leaked last week that WikiLeaks says is a cable from the embassy. 'The
embassy's sources advised that Iranian containers arrived this week at
Khartoum airport containing sensitive technical equipment in the form of
fast centrifuges for enriching uranium, and a second shipment is expected
to arrive this week,' the document, dated February 2012 and marked 'very
secret', read. WikiLeaks last week released more than 60,000 cables and
documents which it says are official Saudi communications, and plans to
release half a million in total." http://t.uani.com/1LByxuO
Reuters:
"If U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pulls off a nuclear deal with
Iran, it will be a singular achievement in a long career in which the
grand prize has eluded him. His 2004 presidential election loss, lack of
legislative monuments despite 28 years in the Senate, and failure, like
many before, to bring peace to Israelis and Palestinians have contributed
to a view that he struggles to seal major successes. The 71-year-old has
expended remarkable energy in pursuit of what would be an historic
agreement with Iran, flying tens of thousands of miles and holding dozens
of meetings with his Iranian counterpart. He plans to attend the possible
last stage of the nuclear talks in Vienna ahead of a June 30 deadline,
despite breaking his leg late last month. Kerry's negotiating style with
Iran is a cocktail of boundless energy, tactical flexibility and
occasional hardball, according to officials involved in the talks. Still,
critics say he has broken some classic rules of negotiation,
overshadowing the principal U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman; meeting
Iranians regularly rather than holding himself in reserve; and exuding an
air of eagerness for a deal." http://t.uani.com/1SK2soN
Human Rights
IranWire:
"Iranian authorities have launched a renewed attack on Iran's
Baha'i community, targeting Baha'i-run shops and small businesses.
In a bid to prevent the religious minority from observing holidays,
authorities ordered the closure of dozens of shops owned by Baha'is in
Rafsanjan, Kerman, Sari and Hamedan. The small businesses, which were
closed down in April, May and June, included repair shops, automobile
parts outlets and clothing stores. Authorities ordered the closures after
shop owners failed to open their premises to the public on Baha'i
religious holidays, and warned some shopkeepers that if they did not sign
a document stating that they would observe official national holidays
only, their trading permits would not be renewed and shops would face
permanent closure. The Baha'i International Community representative at
the UN in Geneva, Diane Ala'i, said the recent measures were illegal.
'Stopping Baha'i shopkeepers from observing their religious holidays is
against Iranian law, as well as against human rights.'" http://t.uani.com/1JiL9JY
Opinion &
Analysis
James Robbins in
U.S. News & World Report: "As the June 30
deadline for a deal to limit Iran's nuclear program draws ever nearer,
the question of sanctions relief remains an important sticking point. The
White House has promised to lift only nuclear-related sanctions against
the Islamic Republic in exchange for an agreement, while keeping others
(relating to terrorism and human rights) in place. But it's not at all
clear that it can do so. And it's even less certain that Iran will accept
such a minimalist approach, or whether it will refuse to sign a deal
unless all sanctions are eliminated at once. The core of the problem is
that it is exceedingly difficult to parse which sanctions apply only to
Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, and which apply to other aspects of
its rogue behavior. A recent Congressional Research Service study noted
that the 'U.S. sanctions to be suspended are mostly those imposed since
2010,' such as the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act of 2010. But that act was imposed because of the threat
posed by 'the illicit nuclear activities of the Government of Iran,
combined with its development of unconventional weapons and ballistic
missiles and its support for international terrorism.' In all, terrorism
is mentioned in the act no fewer than 32 times. Section 102 of the act,
for example, deals with mandatory sanctions levied on financial
institutions that engage in activity that supports terrorism - a sanction
that there is no plausible reason to lift under a strictly nuclear deal.
The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 is another
sanctions bill slated for partial suspension under the impending nuclear
deal with Tehran. But isolating the purely nuclear-related aspects of
this law is difficult. Take, for example, Section 211 of the act, which
imposes sanctions on shipping or transportation of goods 'related to
proliferation or terrorism activities to Iran.' Presumably, terrorism-related
shipments would still be banned after June 30 (or whenever a deal with
Tehran is signed). Similarly, the act's Section 215 bans transactions
'relating to terrorism or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,'
something that should also remain in force where terrorist support is
concerned. And what to make of its Section 217, which only allows lifting
sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran if it can be certified that it is
not engaged in financial activity that helps Iran develop nuclear weapons,
chemical or biological weapons, ballistic or cruise missiles,
destabilizing conventional weapons, weapons of mass destruction delivery
systems and supporting Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and international
terrorism? Clearly Iran's state bank has a long way to go before it can
receive a clean bill of health... Given the complex and interconnected
nature of the various sanctions the United States has levied on Iran to
date, it is critical for the White House to make clear exactly which
sanctions are eligible for relief under the proposed nuclear deal - and
provide a rationale for why this is the case. After all, Iran has made no
effort to curtain its support for terrorism, slow the pace of its
ballistic missile development or improve its horrific human rights
record. It only stands to reason that it should not be rewarded for
things it has not done." http://t.uani.com/1GHYoA3
Eli Lake in
Bloomberg: "As U.S. and Iranian negotiators approach
the June 30 deadline to reach a nuclear deal, America's largest
pro-Israel lobby is campaigning to kill such an accord in Congress. Since
last month, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has mobilized
its members to press legislators to endorse five principles for a nuclear
deal -- principles that are almost certain not to be reflected in a final
agreement. Parallel to this campaign, major donors to AIPAC and other
pro-Israel causes are forming a new and independent 501(c)(4) advocacy
organization, according to fundraisers and other lobbyists involved in
the effort. The new organization will buy TV, radio and Internet ads
targeting lawmakers from both parties who are on the fence about the
nuclear deal, these sources say. Officially, AIPAC is still reserving
judgment on the nuclear deal being ironed out now in Vienna by the U.S.,
Iran and five other world powers. But it's clear that the agreement now
being negotiated would be unsatisfactory to AIPAC. For example, AIPAC's
principles say a deal should last 'decades,' while the framework for the
nuclear agreement released in April would begin easing restrictions on
Iran's program after a decade. Another principle says inspectors must be
given 'anytime, anywhere' access to suspected sites, 'including all
military facilities.' Iran's leaders have consistently said there will be
no inspections on military sites... The new 501(c)(4) group funded by
AIPAC donors, according to one pro-Israel lobbyist familiar with the
campaign, will focus on about a dozen media markets with large Jewish
populations to make the case against the Iran deal, targeting Republicans
and Democrats. Other similar 501(c)(4) groups have already started these
kinds of ad buys. One such group, Secure America Now, has produced video
ads featuring Maria, a woman whose father was killed in Iraq by an improvised
explosive device supplied by Iran. In the ad, Maria tells the camera,
'And now President Obama would do a deal that lets Iran get a nuclear
weapon.' The Emergency Committee for Israel, another 501(c)(4), is also
considering running ads against the Iran deal in several targeted media
markets, according to its executive director, Noah Pollak. Other advocacy
groups are also planning to run ads in sensitive political districts.
Chris Maloney, a spokesman for the American Security Initiative, whose
board includes four former senators -- Norm Coleman, Saxby Chambliss, Joe
Lieberman and Evan Bayh -- told me his group is about to launch an ad buy
tallying just under $1.4 million, to target eight Republican and
Democratic senators. The ad buy will include television and digital
media. Maloney told me that one target of that campaign will be Senator
Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who is in line to be the leader of his
party in the Senate after Harry Reid retires. Schumer has not yet said
whether he will support the Iran nuclear deal. But he has in recent
speeches to Jewish groups outlined his own criteria for evaluating
it." http://t.uani.com/1NaVK7q
Jared Genser &
Sara Birkenthal in WSJ: "The world recently has
played down criticism of Iran on human rights in hopes of securing an
elusive nuclear deal, which may or may not actually affect its nuclear
ambitions. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime has doubled down its repression
of domestic dissent. More than 1,500 executions have been carried out in
Iran since Hasan Rouhani became president in August 2013. With 721
individuals executed in 2014 alone, Iran boasts the world's highest per
capita execution rate and is on pace to break its own record for
executions in one year. According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation
Center, the Iranian regime could top 1,000 executions by the end of 2015.
All this under Mr. Rouhani, Iran's 'moderate' president. While the
international community wanted to believe that Mr. Rouhani's election
would herald a sea change inside Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
remains the real power. And it is persecution as usual in the Islamic
Republic... Mr. Soltani and Ms. Shafipour are among at least 900
political prisoners in Iran's jails, according to the Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center. Many have been denied due process and sentenced
after closed trials, or no trials at all. Then there is the regime's
relentless persecution of religious minorities, women and a broad range
of other real and imagined enemies. Ahmed Shaheed, U.N. special rapporteur
on human rights in Iran, recently cited the prosecution of a broad range
of dissenters on the basis of 'vague references to threats to national
security, propaganda against the system and insult to authorities.' These
actions, he said, violate 'international norms relating to freedoms of
expression and association and the principle of legality.' Regardless of
the outcome of the nuclear negotiations, the U.S. should reaffirm its
commitment to advancing human rights in Iran. That means making the removal
of sanctions contingent on tangible improvements in Iran's human-rights
situation. This would include releasing political prisoners and halting
executions for political crimes or for which there was no due process of
law... There have been serious concerns expressed about the specific
parameters of the nuclear deal as the June 30 deadline approaches. These
questions are critical and worthy of debate, but they should not let us
forget the broader aspirations of the Iranian people to be free.
Regardless of any nuclear deal, the U.S. needs to serve notice that it
will not provide Tehran with a license to act against its own people with
impunity." http://t.uani.com/1LnlZcr
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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