|
|
|
Join UANI
Top
Stories
NYT: "The United States and European
nations lifted oil and financial sanctions on Iran on Saturday and
released roughly $100 billion of its assets after international
inspectors concluded that the country had followed through on promises to
dismantle large sections of its nuclear program. The moves came at the
end of a day of high drama that played out in a diplomatic dance across
Europe and the Middle East, just hours after Tehran and Washington
swapped long-held prisoners. Five Americans, including a Washington Post
reporter, Jason Rezaian, were released by Iran hours before the nuclear
accord was implemented. The detention of one of the released Americans,
Matthew Trevithick, who had been engaged in language studies in Tehran
when he was arrested, according to his family, had never been publicly
announced. Early on Sunday, a senior United States official said, 'Our
detained U.S. citizens have been released and that those who wished to
depart Iran have left.' The Washington Post also released a statement
confirming that Mr. Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, had left
Iran... The release of the 'unjustly detained' Americans, as Mr. Kerry
put it, came at some cost: Seven Iranians, either convicted or charged
with breaking American embargoes, were released in the prisoner swap, and
14 others were removed from international wanted lists... The Obama
administration on Saturday also removed 400 Iranians and others from its
sanctions list and took other steps to lift selected restrictions on
interactions with Iran. Another 200 people, however, will remain on the
sanctions list under for other reasons, including terrorist activities,
human rights abuses, involvement in civil wars in Syria or Yemen or ties
to the country's ballistic missile program. Under the new rules put in
place, the United States will no longer sanction foreign individuals or
firms for buying oil and gas from Iran... It is an opening to Iran that
represents a huge roll of the dice, one that will be debated long after
Mr. Obama he has built his presidential library." http://t.uani.com/1T1xf24
AFP: "The United States is to repay
Iran a $400 million debt and $1.3 billion in interest dating to the
Islamic revolution, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. The
repayment, which settles a suit brought under an international legal
tribunal, is separate from the tens of billions of dollars in frozen
foreign accounts that Iran can now access after the end of nuclear
sanctions. But the timing of the announcement, one day after the
implementation of the Iran nuclear accord, will be seen as pointing to a
broader clearing of the decks between the old foes. US President Barack
Obama defended the settlement in a televised statement from the White
House, saying it was for 'much less than the amount Iran sought.' ...
Kerry said the claim was in the amount of a $400 million trust fund used
by Iran to purchase military equipment from the United States prior to
the break in diplomatic ties, plus $1.3 billion in interests... Kerry
described Sunday's payment of the 35-year-old trust as a 'fair
settlement.' But the debt deal immediately drew the ire of those in
Washington who think the Obama administration had already made too many
concessions to secure the nuclear deal." http://t.uani.com/1QljJWd
AP: "Iran successfully transferred
some of the billions of dollars' worth of frozen overseas assets
following the implementation of the nuclear deal with world powers, the
head of the country's central bank said Tuesday. But ordinary Iranians
are still waiting to see how their daily lives will improve and how fast
Iranian companies will gain access to financial markets worldwide. Credit
cards still don't work in the Islamic Republic and its ATM machines
remain separated from the rest of the world. That is not likely to change
soon as many of the world's major financial services companies operate in
the United States. Iranian state television quoted Valiollah Seif, the
head of Iran's central bank, as saying that Tehran transferred funds from
banks in Japan and South Korea to other banks in Germany and the United
Arab Emirates. He did not say how much money was involved in the
transfers, though he said the nuclear deal would give Tehran access to
$32 billion in overseas assets and lower international currency transactions
for the country by 15 percent." http://t.uani.com/20bSrEs
AFP: "Iran's long-sidelined
reformist movement on Monday demanded a review after only one percent of
its parliamentary election candidates were approved, prompting
allegations turnout would suffer. The vast rejection of candidates --
monitors said about 60 percent of more than 12,000 would-be MPs were
barred -- could damage the credibility and legitimacy of the February 26
ballot, analysts said. Those seeking to become lawmakers in Iran must
first be screened by the Guardian Council, a conservative-dominated
committee of clerics and jurists, before running... 'Out of more than
12,000 registered candidates, 4,700 -- or about 40 percent -- were
approved,' Siamak Rah-Peyk, a spokesman for the Central Elections
Supervising Committee was quoted as saying by state television. Hossein
Marashi, an official from the reformist camp, was quoted by the Shargh daily
as saying that 'out of over 3,000 reformist candidates across the
country, only 30 have been approved -- only one percent.'" http://t.uani.com/1T1yIp1
Nuclear
Program & Agreement
NYT: "Iran's supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cautiously welcomed on Tuesday the completion of
the nuclear deal and the lifting of economic sanctions this past weekend,
but he warned the government to guard vigilantly against American
'deceptions.' ... Ayatollah Khamenei's warnings seem to have been
prompted in part by new United States sanctions over Iran's missile
program - announced less than 24 hours after the previous sanctions were
lifted - and by remarks by conservative members of Congress. 'The
deceptions and breaches of promises by arrogant governments, in
particular America, on this issue and other issues, should not be
neglected,' Ayatollah Khamenei warned in the letter. Referring indirectly
to the new sanctions, Ayatollah Khamenei urged the president to be on his
guard. 'The comments made by some American politicians in the last two,
three days are cause for deep suspicion,' he wrote... Ayatollah Khamenei
also sought to remind the Iranian government that the country had paid a
heavy price for the lifting of sanctions, and that as a result no one
should be cheerful about the outcome. 'Writings and statements that try
to ignore this truth and pretend that we are indebted to the Western side
are not behaving in a sincere manner toward the public opinion of the
people,' he wrote. The lifting of sanctions alone is not enough to revive
Iran's economy, Ayatollah Khamenei wrote, adding that the government must
focus on economic policies that promote self-sufficiency and must create
an 'economy of resistance.'" http://t.uani.com/1U9uhXv
AP: "Iran's President Hassan
Rouhani said Sunday that the official implementation of the landmark
nuclear deal has satisfied all parties except radical extremists, while
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged that Israel would
remain vigilant to ensure that Iran was not violating its commitments.
Speaking before the parliament in comments broadcast live on state
television, Rouhani said, 'In (implementing) the deal, all are happy
except Zionists, warmongers, sowers of discord among Islamic nations and
extremists in the U.S. The rest are happy.' Rouhani said the deal has
'opened new windows for engagement with the world.' A strong supporter of
the agreement, Rouhani sent out a celebratory tweet calling it a
'glorious victory' late Saturday night while the speeches in Vienna were
still taking place." http://t.uani.com/1RRdCKU
Fars
(Iran): "Head
of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi
announced that the country will start building two new nuclear power
plants in the near future. 'Construction of two 1000-MW power plants will
start soon,' Salehi told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday. 'We will build
two other small power plants too in cooperation with China,' he
added." http://t.uani.com/1lrdWSd
U.S.-Iran
Relations
ABC: "The family of former FBI agent
Robert Levinson, who disappeared while on assignment for the U.S.
government in Iran in 2007, said they feel 'devastated' and 'betrayed' by
the Obama White House - not just because Levinson was not included in the
Iranian prisoner swap that freed several other Americans, but because no
one from the White House called to warn them about the exchange. They
learned about it by watching television. 'I thought after nine years that
they would have enough respect for our family to at least tell us in
advance that this is happening,' Levinson's wife, Christine, told ABC
News. 'It could have been five minutes, but to find out on the TV for the
whole family... was wrong. It was absolutely devastating.' 'I'm very
disappointed. I feel extremely betrayed by them,' she said... Christine
and Dan Levinson, Bob's son, told ABC News they have felt 'abandoned.'
'It's bad enough that we weren't notified, but he wasn't included in the
deal and that's never going to be enough and the least they could do is
follow up with us and tell us the steps that they're taking now,' Dan
Levinson said." http://t.uani.com/1OubWDa
NYT: "The Iranian authorities held
the wife and mother of the journalist Jason Rezaian without telephones
for hours in a separate room at a Tehran airport on Sunday before finally
agreeing under American pressure to let them leave along with prisoners
released in an exchange with the United States. The last-minute conflict
came close to unraveling a prisoner swap that was negotiated during 14
months of secret talks and that had already been announced to the world.
In the end, Mr. Rezaian's wife and mother were permitted to fly with him
to Europe later on Sunday, but the episode underscored that parts of
Iran's factionalized system still strongly resist any rapprochement with
the United States. Mr. Rezaian, the Tehran bureau chief for The
Washington Post, had spent more than 500 days in Iran's notorious Evin
Prison and was one of five Americans released over the weekend. But even
as the Americans were being freed, the detention of Mr. Rezaian's wife
and mother introduced a sudden twist that caused a flurry of diplomatic
maneuvering and a drama that one American official compared to the movie
'Argo,' in which six Americans were spirited out of Iran during the
hostage crisis of 1979-81." http://t.uani.com/1NiwbQ9
NYT: "To secure the release of Mr.
Abedini and other Americans held by Iran, Mr. Obama freed seven Iranian
and Iranian-American men charged with or convicted of violating sanctions
against the Islamic republic. Mr. Obama again decided to trade for Americans
in captivity despite concerns, even inside his own administration, that
it might encourage others to target Americans... 'These deals incentivize
future hostage taking,' said Eric S. Edelman, a former under secretary of
defense, and suggest 'that Iran can continue to engage in such behavior
with impunity.'" http://t.uani.com/1Qlcuhc
Free
Beacon: "A
senior Iranian military commander in charge of the country's Revolutionary
Guard Corps claimed that the 10 U.S. sailors who were recently captured
and subsequently released by the Islamic Republic 'started crying after
[their] arrest,' according to Persian language comments made during
military celebrations this weekend. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of
the IRGC, which is responsible for boarding the U.S. ships and arresting
the sailors, claimed in recent remarks, the 'American sailors started
crying after arrest, but the kindness of our Guard made them feel calm.'
Hossein went on to brag that the incident provides definitive evidence of
the Iranian military's supremacy in the region. 'Since the end of the
Second World War, no country has been able to arrest American military
personnel,' the commander said, according to an independent translation
of his Persian-language remarks made Friday during a 'martyrs'
commemoration ceremony' in Isfahan... during Friday prayers in Iran, a
commander of the IRGC unit that detained the U.S. boats and claimed that
the American military cowered when faced down by Iranian troops. 'I saw
the weakness, cowardice, and fear of American soldiers myself. Despite
having all of the weapons and equipment, they surrendered themselves with
the first action of the guardians of Islam,' Ahmad Dolabi, an IRGC
commander, said in Persian-language remarks at a prayer service in Iran's
Bushehr providence. 'American forces receive the best training and have
the most advanced weapons in the world,' he added. 'But they did not have
the power to confront the Guard due to weakness of faith and belief.'
Dolabi emphasized that the Obama administration formally apologized over
the incident, a claim that senior White House official continue to
dispute. 'We gave all of the weapons and equipment to American forces
according to an Islamic manner. They formally apologized to the Islamic
Republic,' Dolabi said. 'Be certain that with the blood of martyrs, the
revolution advances. No one can inflict the smallest insult upon our
Islamic country.'" http://t.uani.com/1V5gVvK
Free
Beacon: "The 10
American sailors detained by the Iranian military were reportedly
instructed to 'act happy' while being videotaped in captivity, according
to a defense official with knowledge of the sailors' debriefing. CNN
reported that the official also said that the sailor who was questioned
on camera by Iranian personnel indicated that he felt compelled by the
Iranians to speak about how well he and his fellow naval personnel were
treated. It remains unclear whether he was ordered to apologize.
Following the sailors' release Wednesday, Iran state media released video
recording of the sailor saying, 'It was a mistake. That was our fault,
and we apologize for our mistake.'" http://t.uani.com/1JfAHnw
Reuters: "The 10 U.S. sailors who were
briefly detained by the Iranian military last week were held at gunpoint
and had a verbal exchange with Iranian personnel before they were
released, the U.S. military said Monday. Just two days after the United
States and other world powers lifted sanctions on Iran, the military
released its most comprehensive timeline to date of the events
surrounding the sailors' brief detainment. In a news release, the
military said the sailors also had two SIM cards pulled out of their
satellite phones, but that there was no gunfire exchange." http://t.uani.com/1V5cEIH
Reuters: "The United States will allow
foreign subsidiaries of American companies to trade with Iran as part of
sanctions relief granted under an international nuclear deal, the U.S.
Treasury Department said on Saturday... The new policy will allow
American parent companies to provide technology systems, such as email
and accounting software, to units active in Iran. Foreign subsidiaries of
U.S. companies were allowed to operate in Iran until 2012, when Congress
expanded sanctions on Tehran. But worsening tensions with the West had
already driven out most foreign subsidiaries by the late 2000s, said
Peter Harrell, a former senior sanctions official at the U.S. State
Department. Now, Harrell said, the signing of the nuclear deal, and the
U.S. blessing on providing back office tech services to units in Iran,
may encourage American multinationals to return. 'There are any number of
companies that have been thinking about business in Iran,' said Harrell,
who is now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. 'They are
going to have to weigh political and reputational risks.' And the
inability of those foreign units to trade money back into dollars in the
United States will likely dissuade many firms, said Adam M. Smith, a
former senior adviser on sanctions at the U.S. Treasury Department."
http://t.uani.com/1StTgah
Sanctions
Enforcement
WSJ: "The U.S. Treasury Department
sanctioned nearly a dozen Iranian-linked entities Sunday for their
alleged role in Tehran's ballistic-missile program, a move coming just
hours after Washington and Tehran concluded a high-stakes prisoner swap.
The Obama administration had initially notified Congress on Dec. 30 that
it was sanctioning a range of companies and individuals in Hong Kong, the
United Arab Emirates and Iran, after Iran conducted its latest ballistic
missile test in October. But the U.S. pulled back on imposing those
penalties in response to major pressure exerted by the Iranian
government, according to U.S. and congressional officials who were
briefed on the tense diplomacy. Iranian officials had specifically warned
that the prisoner swap put into effect Saturday and concluded Sunday
could be derailed if the missile-related sanctions went ahead, these
officials said. The White House, however, determined on Saturday that the
penalties could go ahead once the four U.S. prisoners involved in the
exchange were released, according to administration officials... 'Iran's
ballistic-missile program poses a significant threat to regional and
global security, and it will continue to be subject to international
sanctions,' the Treasury Department's top sanctions official, Adam
Szubin, said in a statement released Sunday. The Treasury's sanctions
target to two Iran-linked networks alleged to be involved in developing
the country's missile program and include punitive measures against many
of the individuals involved, according to a statement... Among the
reasons for the new sanctions are ties the Treasury is alleging between
Iran and North Korea on missile development. This includes Iran buying
components from Pyongyang's state-owned Korea Mining Development Trading
Corp., which is sanctioned by both the U.S. and the European Union. The
U.S. also alleges that Tehran sent technicians to North Korea over the
past two years to jointly work with its defense industries on the
development of an 80-ton rocket booster." http://t.uani.com/1U9rbmw
Reuters: "The day before the Obama
administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month,
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been
negotiating in secret for months. Kerry and other top aides to President
Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of
conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to
free Americans held by Tehran. At the last minute, the Obama
administration officials decided to delay a package of limited and
targeted sanctions intended to penalize Iran for recent test-firings of a
ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. This account
of previously unreported internal deliberations was provided by two
people with knowledge of the matter. A third official said Obama had
approved the decision to delay the sanctions... Kerry's decision not to
call Iran's bluff in December shows how months of clandestine
negotiations to free Rezaian and other Americans became deeply
intertwined with the final push to implement the nuclear deal, despite
the official U.S. line that those efforts were separate." http://t.uani.com/1nvxc2v
Reuters: "The European Union will
discuss this week whether it needs to impose new sanctions on Iran
following recent ballistic missile tests, French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius said on Monday, a day after the United States announced such
measures... 'We have to compare the American system and European system
and to see if there are new sanctions to take or not, and this exercise
will be implemented this week,' Fabius told Reuters in an interview
during a visit to Abu Dhabi." http://t.uani.com/1QbqVlU
Sanctions
Relief
Reuters: "Iran ordered a sharp increase
in oil output on Monday to take immediate advantage of the lifting of
international sanctions, and some foreign firms raced to snap up deals as
Tehran emerges from years of international isolation... Deputy Oil
Minister Rokneddin Javadi said Iran could increase output by 500,000 barrels
per day (bpd) 'and the order to increase production was issued today.'
... The lifting of sanctions opens up business opportunities across a
host of sectors, from planes to telecoms. 'Iran is a huge market and in
our focus,' Kaan Terzioglu, head of Turkey's biggest mobile operator,
Turkcell, said in an interview with Reuters. He said Iran could be a
target market as the company looks for regional acquisitions: 'We are
closely watching the Iranian market and in touch with all of its fixed
line and mobile operators.' Dennis Nally, global chairman of
PricewaterhouseCoopers, told Reuters before the start of this week's
World Economic Forum in Davos that the audit and consultancy firm was
seeing strong client interest in opportunities in Iran... A clutch of
German firms were among those to signal their appetite to ramp up
business ties with Tehran, and the Berlin government said it planned to
revive state export guarantees for companies that wanted to do so.
Daimler said its trucks division had signed letters of intent with joint
venture partners in Iran in order to re-enter the market, where it was
selling up to 10,000 vehicles a year until 2010. Its rival Audi said it
had representatives in Iran right now to discuss the 'growing potential
for luxury cars.' Herrenknecht, a family-run German tunneling company
that helped to build the Tehran metro in the 1990s, said it expected Iran
to put up new projects for tender, and it was ready to pounce on the
opportunity. Commerzbank, Germany's number two lender, also said it was
considering the possibility of returning to Iran. That announcement was
especially striking, less than a year after Commerzbank agreed to pay
$1.45 billion to U.S. authorities for sanctions violations partly linked
to Iran. Commerzbank, Germany's number two lender, also said it was
considering the possibility of returning to Iran. That announcement was
especially striking, less than a year after Commerzbank agreed to pay
$1.45 billion to U.S. authorities for sanctions violations partly linked
to Iran... In further signs of likely deals in the pipeline,
Switzerland's Zurich Insurance said it would look into insurance cover
for corporate customers doing business with Iran, and the head of British
Airways' parent company IAG said it hoped to start flying to Tehran 'in
the very near future'... India's national aluminum company NALCO said it
would soon send a team to Iran to explore setting up a smelter complex
worth about $2 billion, taking advantage of cheap and plentiful gas
there." http://t.uani.com/1ZK1lMG
Reuters: "A purchase of more than 100
aircraft from Europe's Airbus may be one of Iran's first big deals in a
trade and investment boom that could reshape the economy of the Middle
East. 'The legs of Iran's economy are now free of the chains of
sanctions, and it's time to build and grow,' President Hassan Rouhani
tweeted on Sunday, a day after world powers lifted sanctions on Tehran in
exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Hours earlier, his transport
minister Abbas Akhoondi told the Tasnim news agency that Iran intended to
buy 114 civil aircraft from Airbus (AIR.PA) - a deal that could be worth
more than $10 billion at catalog prices. Airbus said on Saturday it had
not yet held commercial talks with Iran, and businesses operating in the
Islamic republic will continue to face big obstacles for the foreseeable
future. Risks include indebted Iranian banks, a primitive legal system,
corruption and an inflexible labor market. Many foreign companies will
remain wary of investing in Iran because of concern that the sanctions
could 'snap back' if Tehran is later found not to be complying with the
nuclear agreement. But the Airbus plan underlined Iran's potential."
http://t.uani.com/1Kp4vJy
Reuters: "Daimler on Monday said its
trucks division had signed letters of intent with joint venture partners
in Iran as part of the German truck maker's re-entry into the Iranian
market following the lifting of international sanctions... Daimler said
it would cooperate with Iran Khodro Diesel (IKD) and Iran's Mammut Group,
establishing a joint venture for local production of Mercedes-Benz trucks
and powertrain components, plus the establishment of a sales company for
Mercedes-Benz trucks. Furthermore, there are plans for Daimler to return
as a shareholder in the former engine joint venture Iranian Diesel Engine
Manufacturing Co. (IDEM). Daimler Trucks intends to open a representative
office in Tehran during the first quarter of 2016, the Stuttgart,
Germany-based company said. The first Mercedes-Benz Actros and Axor
trucks could be supplied to the country in the form of CKD (completely
knocked down) kits - or fully disassembled - before the end of the year,
Daimler said. In addition to the plans for Mercedes-Benz trucks, Daimler
Trucks also sees great opportunities for its Mitsubishi FUSO brand -
especially in the light-duty truck segment. To open up this market,
Daimler and Mammut have signed a distribution agreement for the FUSO
brand. Daimler can build on a long and successful history in Iran: The
company has been present in the market with Mercedes-Benz trucks and
passenger cars since 1953, interrupted only by the sanctions phase
between 2010 and 2016. Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicles are still
present there and remain very visible on Iran's roads. Previously,
Daimler sold up to 10,000 vehicles per year in Iran, most of them commercial
vehicles. A spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz passenger cars said the luxury
auto maker was preparing to re-enter Iran's market, but said it was too
early to provide details about how this would happen." http://t.uani.com/20bKqj2
Reuters: "Hellenic Petroleum, Greece's
biggest oil refiner, will meet top Iranian oil officials on Friday to
discuss crude oil imports from Iran, a company source said on Monday, after
world powers lifted sanctions against Tehran at the weekend. Hellenic
Petroleum was a major buyer of Iranian crude, which accounted for about
20 percent of the company's total annual crude oil imports before
sanctions were imposed... 'Since the embargo has been lifted, Hellenic
Petroleum can now discuss the possibility of a deal on crude oil supplies
and on settling outstanding financial issues between the two sides,' the
official said. Hellenic Petroleum is estimated to owe $550-600 million
for oil it bought from Iran but was unable to pay when the international
embargo was imposed, a source close to discussions between Iran and
Greece told Reuters last month. Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein
Zamaninia and officials from National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) will be
in Athens on Friday to meet Hellenic Petroleum executives, an official at
Hellenic Petroleum told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The Iranian
delegation will also meet Greece's Energy Minister Panos Skourletis on
Friday, an energy ministry official said." http://t.uani.com/1StZrLN
Reuters: "Iran and Spain are discussing
the construction of an Iranian-owned oil refinery at the Gibraltar
strait, the Spanish foreign minister said on Monday, a day after
sanctions against the economically isolated Islamic republic were lifted.
Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said he hoped the planned
refinery, which would be built in the southern port city of Algeciras
with local Spanish firms, would be the first of many deals between the
two countries... Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Abbas Kazemi said in November
that buying or investing in overseas oil refineries would be Iran's
policy after the end of sanctions given its plans to significantly boost
its oil output... Kazemi said last week a possible facility would refine
around 200,000 barrels a day, almost equaling Spain's current largest
Gibraltar-San Roque refinery, owned by Spanish firm Cepsa. Neither Kazemi
or Margallo have yet said which Spanish firms would be involved in the
project." http://t.uani.com/1n7DjcN
Reuters: "The European Commission will
undertake a first 'technical assessment mission' in February to explore
energy ties with Iran following the lifting of international sanctions,
European Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said on
Sunday... The EU executive is particularly keen to develop Iranian
supplies as an alternative to Russia, whose powerful role as a source of
around a third of EU oil and gas has divided the bloc. 'A first technical
assessment mission in the field of energy to the country (Iran) will take
place at the beginning of February,' Arias Canete said in a statement. An
EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said around 15 EU
officials would go on the initial four-day technical visit and after
that, high-level Commission staff, possibly with a business delegation,
would travel to Iran." http://t.uani.com/1U9llkW
Reuters: "German industry expects a
steep rise in exports to Iran following the lifting of international
sanctions, and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Sunday he would
seek to drum up trade on visit Tehran in early May... 'That was faster
than expected,' said Reinhold Festge, head of German engineering trade
group VDMA, adding that now diplomats had delivered it was the turn of
companies and banks to seize the new opportunity. For decades before
sanctions were imposed, Germany was Iran's biggest trading partner. The
gap in Iranian imports from Germany and other Western countries has
largely been filled by Chinese, Korean and Middle Eastern competitors.
Germany's Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) said it expected
exports to Iran to double to 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in the coming
years and reach twice that figure in the long term... The VDMA
engineering trade group plans to open an office in Tehran in the first
half of this year to help companies sell machinery in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1ZyyBBb
Reuters: "Germany plans to revive state
export guarantees for companies that want to do business with Iran
following the lifting of international sanctions against the Islamic
Republic, the Economy Ministry said on Monday... A spokesman for Economy
Minister Sigmar Gabriel said export guarantees were now permitted again
though some other issues had to be settled first such as payment of
outstanding liabilities. Berlin is in constructive talks with Tehran on
that matter, the spokesman added. The so-called Hermes guarantees have
become a pillar of Germany's export industry, offering security to
companies and banks that do business in markets classified as posing a risk
of non-payment." http://t.uani.com/1PdUeax
WSJ: "The Italian government is
planning to offer up to €8 billion ($8.71 billion) in financing for
companies to invest in Iran, as they expect Italian exports to Iran to
quadruple in two years... Italy-which had strong ties with Iran before
the sanctions-is eager to benefit from potential business opportunities
arising. The government has been trying to pave the way to revamp trade
relations in the last months and is working to help Italians get closer
to investors and prospective clients in Iran. Vice Minister for the
Economic Development Carlo Calenda already visited Iran this past
November to help nearly 400 Italian firms meet Iranian prospective
counterparts. He said he would go back every few months to check on the
progress made by Italy's corporate world. 'We see all the elements lined
up to reach a target of €4 billion in exports with Iran by 2017,' Mr.
Calenda said in an interview Monday. He added that at the moment, exports
are at €1 billion. Mr. Calenda said export credit company SACE-controlled
by State-controlled lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti -- is getting ready
to make available up to €8 billion in financing for Italian firms that
want to have business in Iran. He also said the Bank of Italy is in talks
with the Bank of Iran to open the branch of an Iranian bank in Italy in a
move to make financial transactions easier. He expects an agreement to
come by March... Italy's corporate world hasn't been caught by surprise
with the sanction relief process. Several companies with strong ties to
Iran before the sanctions haven't left the country, although business
slowed down significantly. Some have kept a small presence in the
country, which they are looking to expand now. Some are refreshing their
old contacts. For instance, Fadis, a textile machinery company, tried to
keep its old clients over the sanction years by selling them spare parts
when needed... The Italian government's next mission to Iran is slated
for February, where Maire Tecnimont and other firms will meet local
businesses, government representatives and potential investors." http://t.uani.com/1JWiN9x
Reuters: "The state-run Export-Import
Bank of Korea (KEXIM) said on Tuesday it plans to sign an agreement with
the Iranian central bank on providing up to about 5 billion euros ($5.45
billion) in financing for South Korean companies doing business there.
The specialist trade financing bank said in a statement it plans to sign
the agreement during the current quarter to support contracts that South
Korean companies win from Iran in sectors including power generation,
construction and steel-making." http://t.uani.com/1T1uQ7s
Reuters: "A British asset manager and a
Tehran firm formally launched a fund on Sunday, the day after world
powers lifted sanctions against Iran, to invest foreign money in Iranian
securities, aiming to reach a size of $100 million this year. 'We see
tremendous opportunities in Iran's equities market and this is the first
European Union-regulated fund available to capture them,' Ramin Rabii,
chief executive of Iranian investment group Turquoise Partners, said by
telephone... Turquoise's Cyprus-domiciled fund is a venture with
London-based Charlemagne Capital, a frontier market-focused firm with $1.9
billion under management as of last October. The open-ended fund started
operating last month and has reached about $55 million in size by
combining newly raised money with an existing $50 million fund run by
Turquoise, Rabii said. Turquoise says it manages over 90 percent of the
foreign portfolio investment on the Tehran Stock Exchange, which is
estimated to total less than $100 million." http://t.uani.com/1WqSOsF
Reuters: "The Lloyd's of London
insurance market said on Monday that from a European Union perspective
its managing agents can now provide insurance and reinsurance for the
transportation of Iranian oil and petroleum products, following the
lifting of sanctions." http://t.uani.com/20bOTlH
Human
Rights
IHR: "Iranian authorities have
executed four prisoners in northern Iran and one prisoner in southern Iran
who may have been under the age of 18 when he allegedly committed the
murder that Iranian courts sentenced him to death for. Gilan Judiciary's
press department reports on the exeuction of four prisoners at Lakan,
Rasht's central prison, on the morning of Saturday January 16. According
to the report, three of the prisoners were sentenced to death on drug
charges... According to the human rights group, HRANA, on Wednesday
January 13, a prisoner, identified as Houshang Zare, was hanged at
Shiraz's Adelabad Prison on murder charges. A close source who asked to
be anonymous tells IHR that Zare was under the age of 18 when he
allegedly committed the murder that Iranian courts sentenced him to death
for." http://t.uani.com/1WqJftL
ICHRI: "After nearly seven months of
'temporary detention' without access to his lawyer or family visits,
Esmail Abdi, Secretary General of the Teachers Association of Iran, will
go on trial on January 30, 2016. He will be tried for 'propaganda against
the state' and 'assembly and collusion against national security' at
Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by the hardline Judge
Salavati. Labor activism in Iran is seen as a national security offense;
independent labor unions are not allowed to function, strikers are often
fired and risk arrest, and labor leaders are consistently prosecuted
under catchall national security charges and sentenced to long prison
terms. A source close to the case informed the International Campaign for
Human Rights in Iran that Abdi was arrested by agents from Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization on June 27, 2015, a week
after he was stopped from traveling to an international conference in
Canada." http://t.uani.com/1P2FE3w
AP: "Two Iranian poets who face
lashings and prison sentences have fled Iran, one of the writers said
Monday, a rare escape for local artists and activists ensnared in an
ongoing crackdown on expression in the country. Fatemeh Ekhtesari and
Mehdi Mousavi's freedom came as world powers lifted sanctions on Iran
over its contested nuclear program and as the country separately freed
four Iranian-Americans in exchange for seven Iranians held in the U.S.
The poets' escape is a reminder that despite the growing detente with the
West, hard-liners still exert control over much of life in the Islamic
Republic, which is one of the world's top jailers of journalists.
'Iranian political prisoners who are imprisoned on similarly baseless
charges and do not hold a foreign passport do not get the same
attention,' Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the International
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said in a statement this weekend.
'This is a continuing travesty of justice.' Ekhtesari, a practicing
obstetrician, told The Associated Press on Monday that both she and
Mousavi, a trained doctor who teaches literature and poetry, escaped from
Iran in recent days and made it to another country. She declined to
elaborate out of continuing concerns about their safety." http://t.uani.com/1V4UZRj
Domestic
Politics
Guardian: "Iran's Guardian Council, which
vets candidates for elections, has failed to qualify 40% of more than
12,000 candidates for parliamentary elections on 26 February, ILNA news
agency has reported. Reformists told Tehran Bureau that those blocked
included the vast majority of their hopefuls. 'I predicted that the
Guardian Council would massively disqualify the reformists,' said Sadegh
Zibakalam, professor of political science at Tehran University. 'But the
reality is even worse.' According to Hossein Marashi, a member of the
Reformists' Policy Council, which was set up in October to coordinate
efforts for the parliamentary poll, out of the total 3,000 reformist
candidates, only 30, or 1%, have been qualified... Two of Rafsanjani's
children, Mehdi and Fatemeh, are among those not qualified, as is Morteza
Eshraghi, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini." http://t.uani.com/1S21pkP
Reuters: "Iran's success in winning an
end to international sanctions will only intensify a power struggle among
the faction-ridden elite, and President Hassan Rouhani cannot count on
domestic political support from the supreme leader before two critical
elections... Rouhani, a pragmatist whose 2013 election cleared the way
for the thaw in relations with the outside world, owes his success to
Iran's top authority: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed the
nuclear agreement, overriding hardliners who oppose dealing with
Washington. 'Every move by the government was approved by the leader. The
leader protected us against hardliners' pressure,' said a senior Iranian
official, involved in the talks with the six powers which led to Tehran
curbing its nuclear program in return for an end to the sanctions
crippling its economy... 'On the nuclear issue, Rouhani and Khamenei are
in the same boat. But Khamenei will back hardliners in their political
disputes against moderates,' said a former official... 'They will
compensate for Rouhani's victory by more arrests of activists and more
journalists will be summoned by the courts,' said a pro-reform
journalist, who asked not to be named for security reasons." http://t.uani.com/1NirrtM
Reuters: "The lifting of sanctions set
off scenes of jubilation in Iran's parliament: Supporters planted kisses
on the forehead of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and jostled to
take selfies. For pragmatic politicians like him, the nuclear deal that
reconnects Iran to the world marks a victory over rival factions at home
as much as a diplomatic coup overseas. There was also optimism among
ordinary Iranians... But many others reacted cautiously, in contrast to
widespread elation six months earlier, when Iranians poured into the
streets to celebrate the signing of the nuclear deal that made possible
the lifting of most economic curbs. Many have lived under sanctions or
wartime austerity for so long that they have no concrete expectations
about what the future might hold. And they have been told by their
government not to expect quick miracles, an idea people seem to have
taken to heart... Iranians interviewed by telephone by Reuters described
themselves as exhausted by the years of hardship and hopeful rather that
better times might be ahead." http://t.uani.com/1PD854j
Foreign
Affairs
Reuters: "Saudi officials have said
little in public, but they fear the end of sanctions on Iran could boost
what they see as its subversive activities in the Middle East while also
enriching a diverse economy that the oil-dependent kingdom views as a
major competitor for regional influence... Even without public
pronouncements, Riyadh's private consternation could be discerned in the
pages of semi-official media and comments by influential clerics. The
main cartoon in al-Watan daily simply showed a pencil broken mid-way
through writing the word 'peace', while an opinion piece underneath it
asked 'Will Iran change after the nuclear deal enters implementation?'
Its answer: probably not." http://t.uani.com/1V52Xde
AFP: "Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau on Monday expressed an openness to restoring diplomatic ties with
Iran, four years after Canada shuttered its embassy in Tehran... Trudeau
said Iran had made 'significant movement towards respecting international
expectations' regarding the dismantling of parts of its nuclear program
that the West feared could have led to the manufacture of nuclear
weapons. 'That is something positive and I expect there will be
(diplomatic) links now between Canada and Iran,' he said. 'We will
certainly be discussing that further at a cabinet meeting in the coming
weeks,' he added. Canada broke diplomatic ties with Iran in September
2012. At the time, then foreign affairs minister John Baird did not cite
a specific incident for the breakdown in relations but issued a strongly
worded attack on the Islamic republic's support for Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad's regime, its 'incitement to genocide' against Israel,
and its leaders' failure to account for their nuclear program. Ties were
strained by Tehran's jailing of Iranian-born Canadians." http://t.uani.com/1PdWEpr
Opinion
& Analysis
Bret
Stephens in WSJ:
"In Syria, Bashar Assad is trying to bring his enemies to heel by
blocking humanitarian convoys to desperate civilians living in besieged
towns. The policy is called 'starve or kneel,' and it is openly supported
by Hezbollah and tacitly by Iran, which has deployed its elite Quds Force
to aid Mr. Assad's war effort. So what better time for right-thinking
liberals to ask: 'Is Iran really so evil?' That's the title of a
revealing essay in Politico by Stephen Kinzer, a former New York Times
reporter now at Brown University. 'The demonization of Iran is arguably
the most bizarre and self-defeating of all U.S. foreign policies,' Mr.
Kinzer begins. 'Americans view Iran not simply as a country with
interests that sometimes conflict with ours but as a relentless font of
evil.' Mr. Kinzer's essay was published Sunday, as sanctions were lifted
on Tehran and four of America's hostages came home after lengthy
imprisonments. The Obama administration publicly insists that the nuclear
deal does not mean the U.S. should take a benign view of Iran, but the
more enthusiastic backers of the agreement think otherwise. 'Our
perception of Iran as a threat to vital American interests is
increasingly disconnected from reality,' Mr. Kinzer writes. 'Events of
the past week may slowly begin to erode the impulse that leads Americans
to believe patriotism requires us to hate Iran.' What a weird thought. My
own patriotism has never been touched one way or another by my views of
Iran. Nor do I hate Iran-if by 'Iran' one means the millions of people
who marched alongside Neda Agha-Soltan when she was gunned down by regime
thugs in the 2009 Green Revolution, or the fellow travelers of Hashem
Shaabani, the Arab-Iranian poet executed two years ago for 'waging war on
God,' or the thousands of candidates who are routinely barred from
running for Parliament for being insufficiently loyal to the Supreme
Leader. This is the Iran that liberals like Mr. Kinzer ought to support,
not the theocratic usurpers who claim to speak in Iran's name while
stepping on Iranian necks. But we are long past the day when a liberal U.S.
foreign policy meant shaping our interests around our values-not the
other way around-much less supporting the liberal aspirations of people
everywhere, especially if they live in anti-American dictatorships.
Today's liberal foreign policy, to adapt Churchill, is appeasement
wrapped in realism inside moral equivalency. When it comes to Iran
policy, that means believing that we have sinned at least as much against
the Iranians as they have sinned against us; that our national-security
interests require us to come to terms with the Iranians; and that the
best way to allay the suspicions-and, over time, diminish the
influence-of Iranian hard-liners is by engaging the moderates ever more
closely and demonstrating ever-greater diplomatic flexibility... Iran will
become a 'normal' country only when it ceases to be an Islamic Republic.
In the meantime, the only question is how far we are prepared to abase
ourselves in our quest to normalize it." http://t.uani.com/1Qbl4gy
WSJ
Editorial: "Now
we know that Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and three other
Americans were hostages held by Iran in return for U.S. concessions, in
case there was any doubt. And on Saturday we learned the ransom price:
$100 billion as part of the completed nuclear deal and a prisoner swap of
Iranians who violated U.S. laws. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps should
call this Operation Clean Sweep. The timing of Iran's Saturday release of
the Americans is no accident. This was also implementation day for the
nuclear deal, when United Nations sanctions on Tehran were lifted, which
means that more than $100 billion in frozen assets will soon flow to Iran
and the regime will get a lift from new investment and oil sales. The
mullahs were taking no chances and held the hostages until President
Obama's diplomatic checks cleared. We're as relieved as anyone to see the
four Americans coming home, though there was no legal basis for their
arrests. Mr. Rezaian had been held since July 2014 and was convicted last
year of espionage without evidence. The other freed Iranian-Americans
include former Marine Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and
Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, a dual citizen whose detention wasn't
previously reported. But the Iranians negotiated a steep price for their
freedom. The White House agreed to pardon or drop charges against seven
Iranian nationals charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S., mostly
for violating sanctions designed to retard Iran's military or nuclear
programs. Iran gets back men who were assisting its military ambitions
while we get innocents... The U.S. didn't resolve the case of Robert
Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran in 2007. Iran claims
it doesn't know where he is. Iran also refused to release its newest
hostage, oil-industry executive Siamak Namazi, who was detained in
October and accused of espionage though no charges have been brought.
Perhaps he'll be held for some future ransom. The Obama Administration
also agreed to drop the names of 14 Iranian nationals from an Interpol
watch list. Most notable is the CEO of Mahan Air, an Iranian carrier
sanctioned for transporting members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards that
is suspected of transferring arms to Bashar Assad's regime... All of this
shows that the nuclear accord is already playing out as critics
predicted. The West will tread gingerly in challenging Iran's nonnuclear
military and regional ambitions lest it renege on its nuclear promises.
Iran has again shown the world that taking American hostages while Barack
Obama is President can yield a diplomatic and military windfall." http://t.uani.com/1Pe0pv3
Josh
Rogin in Bloomberg:
"In exchange for the release of four American prisoners, the Barack
Obama administration agreed to free seven Iranians in U.S. custody and
stop trying to arrest 14 others, two of whom the U.S. government had accused
of funneling weapons to the Bashar al-Assad regime and Hezbollah in
Syria. For years, Iran's privately-owned Mahan Air has been using its
planes to bring soldiers and arms directly to the Syrian military and the
Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah by flying them from Tehran to
Damascus, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. In 2013, Treasury
sanctioned Mahan's managing director, Hamid Arabnejad, for overseeing the
company's efforts to evade U.S. and international sanctions and aiding
the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' elite Quds Force. 'Arabnejad has
a close working relationship with IRGC-QF personnel and coordinates Mahan
Air's support and services to the paramilitary group,' the Treasury
Department said. 'He has also been instrumental in facilitating the
shipment of illicit cargo to Syria on Mahan Air aircraft.' According to
the Iranian state media organization FARS, Arabnejad is one of the 14
Iranians who no longer will have Interpol red notices out on them, which
are meant to ensure their arrest and extradition to the U.S. on charges
that will now also be dropped. The executive order he is sanctioned under
is for support for terrorism. In 2011, the U.S. sanctioned the entire
airline for ferrying personnel and arms for the Revolutionary Guards
Corps and Hezbollah, which it officially considers a terrorist
organization. The White House declined my request for comment on whether
Arabnejad was among the de-listed Iranians, but did not dispute the 14
names on the FARS list. Mahan Air is 'yet another facet of the IRGC's
extensive infiltration of Iran's commercial sector to facilitate its
support for terrorism,' the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and
financial intelligence, David Cohen, told Bloomberg News at the time. A
2012 press release from the Treasury says, 'Iran used Iran Air and Mahan
Air flights between Tehran and Damascus to send military and crowd
control equipment to the Syrian regime.' Hezbollah and the Assad
government coordinate with Mahan Air during their attacks on Syrian civilians
and opposition groups, the Treasury Department said... 'The one big
impediment for them to run their business abroad was the red notice, not
the U.S. sanctions,' said Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that has
advocated tough sanctions on Iran. 'Clearly it was not impossible for
them to travel. The fact they are no longer on the red notice means that
as long as they don't try to come to the U.S., they will probably live
their professional lives unencumbered.' The lifting of the red notices
also has a symbolic effect, he said, by telling countries and companies
around the world that it's OK to look the other way as Mahan Air helps
the Assad regime and Hezbollah. 'These guys have been working day in and
day out flying arms to Assad regime,' said Ottolenghi. 'This is another
signal that there will be no consequences for this airline and the crimes
they are responsible for.' A U.S. official told me Saturday that the
U.S. removed any Interpol red notices and dismissed any charges
against 14 Iranians for whom it was assessed that extradition requests
were unlikely to be successful. President Obama spoke about the Iran
prisoner swap Sunday and said none of the 7 released Iranians were charged
with terrorism or any violent offenses. 'They are civilians,' he said.
But Obama didn't mention the 14 who no longer have international arrest
warrants, including the Mahan Air executives... The administration has
repeatedly said that the Iran nuclear deal and the prisoner swap were
separate events, pursued through parallel tracks of diplomacy. But
there's concern on Capitol Hill that the effort to stop the Revolutionary
Guards Corps' violent activities is suffering in the wake of the nuclear
agreement. 'This flawed deal is only entrenching Iran's military and
security forces that run the country. Now more than ever, we need a
policy of backbone, not backing down,' House Foreign Affairs Committee
chairman Ed Royce said Saturday." http://t.uani.com/1ZyukxC
Saudi
Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir in NYT: "The world is watching Iran for
signs of change, hoping it will evolve from a rogue revolutionary state
into a respectable member of the international community. But Iran,
rather than confronting the isolation it has created for itself, opts to
obscure its dangerous sectarian and expansionist policies, as well as its
support for terrorism, by leveling unsubstantiated charges against the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is important to understand why Saudi Arabia
and its Gulf allies are committed to resisting Iranian expansion and
responding forcefully to Iran's acts of aggression. Superficially, Iran
may appear to have changed. We acknowledge Iran's initial actions
regarding the agreement to suspend its program to develop a nuclear
weapon. Certainly, we know that a large segment of the Iranian population
wants greater openness internally and better relations with neighboring
countries and the world. But the government does not. The Iranian
government's behavior has been consistent since the 1979 revolution. The
constitution that Iran adopted states the objective of exporting the
revolution. As a consequence, Iran has supported violent extremist
groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and
sectarian militias in Iraq. Iran or its proxies have been blamed for
terrorist attacks around the world, including the bombings of the United
States Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the Khobar Towers in Saudi
Arabia in 1996, and the assassinations in the Mykonos restaurant in
Berlin in 1992. And by some estimates Iranian-backed forces have killed
over 1,100 American troops in Iraq since 2003. Iran uses attacks on
diplomatic sites as an instrument of its foreign policy. The 1979
takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran was only the beginning. Since
then, embassies of Britain, Denmark, Kuwait, France, Russia and Saudi
Arabia have been attacked in Iran or abroad by Iranian proxies. Foreign
diplomats and domestic political opponents have been assassinated around
the world. Hezbollah, Iran's surrogate, tries to control Lebanon and
wages war against the Syrian opposition - and in the process helps the
Islamic State flourish. It is clear why Iran wants Bashar al-Assad of
Syria to remain in power: In its 2014 report on terrorism, the State
Department wrote that Iran views Syria 'as a crucial causeway to its
weapons supply route to Hezbollah.' The report also noted, citing United
Nations data, that Iran provided arms, financing and training 'to support
the Assad regime's brutal crackdown that has resulted in the deaths of at
least 191,000 people.' The same report for 2012 noted that there was 'a
marked resurgence of Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism,' with Iranian
and Hezbollah's terrorist activity 'reaching a tempo unseen since the
1990s.' In Yemen, Iran's support for the takeover of the country by the
Houthi militia helped cause the war that has killed thousands. While Iran
claims its top foreign policy priority is friendship, its behavior shows
the opposite is true. Iran is the single-most-belligerent-actor in the
region, and its actions display both a commitment to regional hegemony
and a deeply held view that conciliatory gestures signal weakness either
on Iran's part or on the part of its adversaries... In an outlandish lie,
Iran maligns and offends all Saudis by saying that my nation, home of the
two holy mosques, brainwashes people to spread extremism. We are not the
country designated a state sponsor of terrorism; Iran is. We are not the
nation under international sanctions for supporting terrorism; Iran is.
We are not the nation whose officials are on terrorism lists; Iran is. We
don't have an agent sentenced to jail for 25 years by a New York federal
court for plotting to assassinate an ambassador in Washington in 2011;
Iran does. Saudi Arabia has been a victim of terrorism, often at the
hands of Iran's allies... The real question is whether Iran wants to live
by the rules of the international system, or remain a revolutionary state
committed to expansion and to defiance of international law. In the end,
we want an Iran that works to solve problems in a way that allows people
to live in peace. But that will require major changes in Iran's policy
and behavior. We have yet to see that." http://t.uani.com/1nvDXBu
Aaron
David Miller in WSJ:
"The Iran nuclear deal brings to mind, of all things, the Rolling
Stones. The Stones were wrong when they sang that you can't always get
what you want. In the agreement announced this week, the Obama
administration got what it needed. Iran, however, got what it wanted-and
secured the better deal. Consider: President Barack Obama's objectives in
negotiating with the mullahs were specific and focused. Despite the
constraints of a global economic sanctions regime and strategic
cyberattacks by the U.S. and Israel, Iran's nuclear program was
accelerating. The Israelis were increasingly alarmed and in 2012 were
close to taking military action. A mechanism was needed to slow Iran's
progress not just for the remainder of the Obama administration but
beyond. The deal that emerged will reduce and slow Iran's nuclear program
while also making it more transparent. The accord has its flaws-but it
looks likely to satisfy President Obama's needs: preempt an Israeli
military strike; make the use of U.S. military force unnecessary; defuse
a potential global crisis over the nuclear issue; and set a precedent in
nuclear arms control that, should the deal be sustained, will hand the
Obama administration at least one signal achievement in a chaotic and
disorderly Middle East. But if the U.S. president got what he needed, the
mullahs got what they wanted. This is not to suggest that Tehran is led
by a bunch of strategic geniuses who conceded nothing. Had sanctions not
been so devastatingly effective, the mullahs would have continued to run
their 'resistance economy' and not accepted constraints on their nuclear
program. Unlike U.S. administrations that measure their political life in
four- to eight-year increments, Iran's supreme leader was thinking along
much broader lines: how to secure the regime and the 1979 Islamic
revolution. Doing that required managing public opinion by getting out
from under a sanctions regime, getting Iran's economy once again open for
business, retaining enough of a nuclear infrastructure to preserve
weaponization options for the future, and finding sufficient revenue to
secure Iranian influence in the region. In short, in exchange for a
nuclear weapon it doesn't possess-and, according to U.S. intelligence
estimates, has yet to make a final decision to develop-Iran will get billions
of dollars' worth of sanctions relief, which leads to new legitimacy
without giving up future options in the nuclear area... Given its
objectives, the Obama administration didn't negotiate a bad agreement.
Iran just got a much better one." http://t.uani.com/1n7uqzZ
Simon
Chin & Valerie Lincy in Iran Watch: "In the first round of sanctions relief, the
European Union, United States, and United Nations lifted the bulk of its
nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, including most of the
restrictions that had been imposed against Iran's financial, transport,
and energy sectors. (U.S. parties will still be prohibited from
doing business with Iranian entities because of the embargo.) In
addition, some 600 individuals and firms were removed from the E.U.,
U.S., and U.N. blacklists. Nearly half of these removals represent
entities associated with Iran's transport sector, in particular the
national container shipping company, Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping
Lines (IRISL), the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), and their many
branch offices and front companies. Twenty percent of the entities
receiving sanctions relief are from Iran's energy sector; 20 percent from
its finance and insurance sector; and 9 percent from the nuclear
sector. The remainder includes engineering, construction, or
manufacturing firms, or import-export firms that facilitate trade. Many
of these entities may seem far removed from Iran's missile program or
past nuclear weapon effort, which first triggered sanctions; they are
not. For example, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and
several AEOI departments and divisions have been removed from U.N., E.U.
and U.S. blacklists. One such department, Jabber Ibn Hayan, was the
location of undeclared uranium metal production and irradiated reactor
fuel experiments, and the storage location for separated plutonium.
Other AEOI subordinates, like Mesbah Energy and Kavoshyar, have been
involved in illicit nuclear procurement. Banks and other financial
institutions that helped Iran evade sanctions, or actively financed
proliferation-related transactions, have also received sanctions
relief. One example is the German-based Europaisch-Iranische Handelsbank
(EIH Bank), which has been removed from both U.S. and E.U.
blacklists. This bank has facilitated billions of dollars in
transactions on behalf of sanctioned Iranian banks and Iranian
proliferators, reportedly including the Iran Electronics Industries, the
Defense Industries Organization, Aerospace Industries Organization, and
the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps - none of which are being removed
from sanctions lists. EIH Bank is poised to resume 'its full range
of services at the disposal of old and new customers,' according to its
website. Iran has a history of using entities in its energy sector as
fronts for illicit dual-use procurement. Some of the energy
companies implicated in this trade have been removed from
blacklists. Kala Naft and Jam Petrochemical are two examples.
The former, which has been struck from U.S. and E.U. blacklists, calls
itself the procurement arm for the National Iranian Oil Company.
Its attempt to procure bellows seals was denied by a member state of the
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Jam Petrochemical has made similar
procurement attempts, also denied by NSG member states. Iranian vessels
will once again be welcome in ports around the world, and dozens of
domestic and overseas branches of Iran's national shipping firms will be
able to resume operation. Many of these firms were originally added
to blacklists because of their status as affiliates or front companies
used by IRISL or NITC. Treasury designated a number of IRISL
affiliates 'for providing logistical services to Iran's Ministry of
Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL)' - an entity that remains
blacklisted. IRISL branches located in destinations of concern for
transshipment, and that helped Iran evade sanctions have also been
removed from blacklists. For instance Good Luck Shipping in the
United Arab Emirates 'issued false transport documents for IRISL and
entities owned or controlled by IRISL,' according to the European
Union." http://t.uani.com/1lqU29O
|
|
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.
|
|
|
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment