Eye on Iran: US Navy Sailors Held by Iran Are Released with Their Boats

Join UANI               Top Stories AP: "All 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran after their two small boats allegedly drifted into Iranian territorial waters around one of Iran's Persian Gulf islands a day earlier have been freed, the United States and Iran said Wednesday. The sailors' swift release quickly diffused what could have escalated into an international crisis days before Iran is expected to meet the terms of last summer's nuclear deal with world powers. The deal gives Iran significant relief from painful economic sanctions. The nine men and one woman were held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island after they were detained nearby on Tuesday. The tiny outpost has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats as far back as the 1980s... The sailors departed the island at 0843 GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said... The Revolutionary Guard's official website published images of the detained U.S. sailors before their release, showing them sitting on the floor of a room. They look mostly bored or annoyed, though at least one of the sailors appears to be smiling. The sole woman had her hair covered by a brown cloth. The pictures also showed what appeared to be their two boats. 'After determining that their entry into Iran's territorial waters was not intentional and their apology, the detained American sailors were released in international waters,' a statement posted online by the Guard said Wednesday. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking later to 'CBS This Morning,' denied that Americans made any apology. 'There's nothing to apologize for,' Biden said. 'When you have a problem with the boat you apologize the boat had a problem? No, and there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice.' ... Gen. Ali Fadavi, the navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, was quoted earlier Wednesday by Iranian state TV as saying that an investigation had shown the Americans entered Iranian territorial waters because of 'mechanical problems in their navigation system.' ... Fadavi said the American boats had shown 'unprofessional acts' for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country's territorial waters. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as an 'innocent passage.' ... Kerry later issued a statement saying he wanted to express his 'gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter.' Fadavi said Zarif 'had a firm stance' during the telephone conversation with Kerry about the sailors' presence in Iran's territorial waters and 'said they should not have come and should apologize.' ... The quick resolution stood in contrast to Iran's March 2007 seizure of 15 British sailors and marines who were searching for a merchant ship in the Persian Gulf. Then, Iran held the British troops for 13 days in what the captives later described as cold stone cells, saying they were blindfolded, feared being executed and were coerced into falsely saying they had entered Iranian waters." http://t.uani.com/1ZkARfp Bloomberg: "A decade of sanctions imposed on Iran's nuclear program may come to an end by Monday, unlocking billions of dollars in frozen accounts and paving the way for a surge in oil exports from the Islamic Republic. The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to report on Friday that Iran has fulfilled its commitments under July's nuclear accord with world powers, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in Tehran. That would enable a joint announcement by Sunday implementing the deal and lifting sanctions, he said. Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday sent its director of political and international affairs, Hamid Baeedinejad, to Vienna, where the IAEA is based. The end to nuclear-related sanctions will mean that the Iranian economy is open for funds to flood in, with Iran set to get immediate access to as much as $50 billion of cash frozen in overseas accounts, according to U.S. Treasury estimates. Crude exports are expected to rise by half-a-million barrels a day within weeks... Friday would be the earliest date that IAEA inspectors could verify Iran has removed nuclear equipment and material from atomic sites, two diplomats with direct knowledge of the process said earlier on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1Q5jH4R AFP: "Iran will sell part of its stock of heavy water to the United States under its nuclear deal with world powers, its deputy atomic chief said Tuesday. Ali Asghar Zarean also denied reports Iran had dismantled the core of its Arak nuclear reactor, a key step in the deal that is to see sanctions lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran's nuclear programme. 'Iran will sell 40 tonnes of its excess heavy water to the United States through a third country,' Zarean, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. 'Six tonnes of the exported heavy water will be used in nuclear facilities and the rest in American research centres,' he said... Reports emerged on Monday that Iran had removed the core at Arak, but Zarean said this was not the case and that Tehran was still working on an agreement for a replacement being redesigned with the help of China and the United States. 'We must have a solid agreement with the foreign side, including China... The documents of the agreement will be officially exchanged at the end of next week or this week,' Zarean said. 'As long as the agreement is not finalised, we will not take any physical measures to remove the core of the Arak reactor.' ... The International Atomic Energy Agency must verify that Iran has fulfilled all of its obligations before sanctions can be lifted. The spokesman for Iran's atomic agency Behrouz Kamalvandi later said that 'several' IAEA inspectors were present in Iran 'and we hope to finalise things in the next few days'. 'It is a matter of days, not weeks,' he added, declining to give a specific date." http://t.uani.com/1J2RKct Nuclear Program & Agreement AFP: "The final implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is expected by Sunday, Iranian state media said, quoting deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi. A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, concluding that Iran had fulfilled its obligations under the agreement, will come out on Friday, broadcaster IRIB quoted Araghchi as saying, paving the way for sanctions to end. The IAEA findings would be followed by 'reaching the end of the line and the announcement of the implementation during Friday, Saturday and Sunday,' the official IRNA news agency quoted Araghchi as saying. There was no immediate confirmation from the IAEA of Araghchi's comments about the timing of 'Implementation Day' when the deal comes into effect, but US and European officials have recently said it could be just days away. Araghchi said an announcement about implementation would be made jointly by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini." http://t.uani.com/1PXms6c U.S.-Iran Relations Reuters: "Iran's army chief said on Wednesday the seizure of two U.S. navy boats and their 10 sailors should be a lesson to members the U.S. Congress trying to impose new sanctions on Tehran. 'This incident in the Persian Gulf, which probably will not be the American forces' last mistake in the region, should be a lesson to troublemakers in the U.S. Congress,' Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, head of Iran's armed forces, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency." http://t.uani.com/22ZnFB4 NYT: "The Iranian government has come under sharp criticism for not giving imprisoned Americans a fair and public court hearing. But on Wednesday at the Supreme Court, Iran will get just that. The question before the court is relatively narrow: Did Congress act unconstitutionally in passing a 2012 law helping families of victims of terrorist attacks - including those killed in the 1983 Beirut bombing - collect judgments against Iran? But the arguments are taking place at a critical juncture in relations between the United States and Iran, coming just months after the nuclear agreement signed by the two countries. Also, if the Supreme Court decision goes against Iran, the country will be forced to forfeit some $1.85 billion in assets, the largest single handover of funds to American plaintiffs who over the years have won dozens of terrorism-related court judgments against Iran. Along with the Beirut bombing, cases have involved the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the Sept. 11 attacks, airplane hijackings and other incidents in which Iran has been accused of financing or facilitating the acts of terrorist organizations. But while plaintiffs have won tens of billions in dollars in judgments against Iran, which has declined to defend itself in those cases, the families of victims have seen neither financial rewards nor a sense of justice. 'It has been a long, long road,' said Lynn Derbyshire, the sister of Vincent Smith, a Marine captain who died in the Beirut attack... The case before the Supreme Court on Wednesday started with a 2001 lawsuit filed against Iran by families of some of the 241 servicemen killed in the bombing of the United States Marine barracks in Beirut. In 2003, a federal judge found Iran liable for helping to finance the attack and, four years later, awarded $2.7 billion in compensatory damages against that country for its role in the bombing." http://t.uani.com/1SiiyIw Reuters: "The Republican-led Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, often at odds over Iran policy, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to let the families of Americans killed in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks collect nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian funds. The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments in an appeal by the Iranian central bank, Bank Markazi, to reverse a 2014 lower-court ruling that said the money should be handed over to plaintiffs representing hundreds of Americans killed or injured in attacks blamed on Iran. They won a $2.65 billion judgment against Iran in U.S. federal court in 2007. The money is currently held in New York in a trust account at Citibank, part of Citigroup Inc. At issue before the justices is whether Congress violated the separation of powers principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution by passing a 2012 law that specified the funds held in the trust account go toward paying off the judgment. Bank Markazi contends the legislative branch of the U.S. government improperly sought to dictate the outcome of a specific case handled by the judiciary branch." http://t.uani.com/1ZkzUn9 Press TV (Iran): "Iranian lawmakers have submitted a bill, demanding compensation from the US after recent measures taken in the United States to appropriate frozen Iranian assets, an MP says. The bill, signed by 203 lawmakers, was handed over with a single urgency status to the parliament's presiding board on Monday for examination, MP Ibrahim Karkhaneh said. 'After examination at the specialized commission, the bill will be presented to Majlis for voting,' the Fars news agency quoted him as saying. 'The bill on receiving compensation and damages from the US government was prepared after recent anti-Iranian measures taken by the American administration and congress,' he added... The Iranian draft bill, initially introduced late last month, cites 11 cases of US role in actions against the Islamic Republic for which it demands compensation." http://t.uani.com/1TUWNfp Fars (Iran): "Top Military Aide to the Iranian Supreme Leader Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi underlined that formation of an alliance by Tehran, Moscow, Beirut, Damascus and Baghdad is meant to confront the coalition of Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh. 'The policies of the Al Saud are influenced by the Zionist regime and this regime is seeking to push the region towards insecurity, unrest, turmoil and chaos,' General Rahim Safavi said on Wednesday. He reiterated that the coalition comprising the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel have created insecurity in the region and the alliance of Iran, Russia, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have been set up to confront those countries. 'A coalition comprising the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel which has been formed in the region massacred the people of Syria, Iraq and Yemen and to confront this coalition, an alliance by Iran, Russia, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq was formed,' General Rahim Safavi said. He underlined that the massacre of not only the people of Syria and Iraq, but also the oppressed people of Yemen have been done by the Al Saud under the influence of Israel and one should be watchful of such policies. Iranian leader's top military aide said that Saudi Arabia has dispatched the highest number of the ISIL terrorists to Syria and Iraq which resulted in the death and injury of thousands of people of those countries and displacement of tens of thousands. 'The Zionist regime is looking to stir tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia and this issue needs the vigilance of the country's political officials because insecurity is in the interest of the Zionists and the Americans,' Rahim Safavi added." http://t.uani.com/1OPinBX Reuters: "Vahid Hosseini struggled to make it in the United States after he left Iran 25 years ago. A trained engineer, he hauled trash, delivered pizza and worked in landscaping. Then, in 2008, Hosseini found a more lucrative activity: buying industrial equipment from dozens of American companies and shipping it to Dubai, from where it was forwarded to Iran. Hosseini told Reuters he knew he was violating U.S. economic sanctions against his home country but thought of it as a minor infraction. 'You think that is OK,' Hosseini, 64, said at his Virginia home where he is serving the remainder of a 30-month prison sentence, after being transferred from a halfway house in December. 'I was thinking that I am five miles over the speed limit.' Hosseini is one of 12 Iranians in the United States who Reuters identified as imprisoned or facing charges for attempting to sell technology to Iran that could have bolstered its military and nuclear programs, violating broad economic sanctions. In reviewing the little-known cases, Reuters examined thousands of pages of court records, and interviewed family members and attorneys, uncovering new details about the men, who range from a Houston businessman to a shipyard worker in Brooklyn to a pioneering space entrepreneur. In the wake of last year's landmark deal to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an easing of crippling sanctions, some of the men harbor hopes of an early release, their lawyers said. In public statements, Iranian officials have repeatedly floated the idea of a prisoner exchange involving four American citizens known to be held in Iran. The four, accused of spying and other charges, include Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, and three other Iranian-Americans. Iranian officials have met recently with some of the prisoners held in the United States to see if they would be willing to return to Iran if a swap was agreed, said a person familiar with the cases who asked not to be identified." http://t.uani.com/1ZkyuJf Sanctions Relief FT: "Airbus is poised to re-enter the Iranian aircraft market as the international community prepares to lift sanctions that have paralysed the country's economy. Fabrice Brégier, head of Airbus's passenger jet unit, said the company had an understanding of future aircraft needs from Iranian airlines and officials, thanks to its existing business supplying certain parts and safety services. 'We have made some contacts, yes,' he said in an interview with the Financial Times. 'This is potentially a huge market for Airbus and our competitors.' However, he stressed that commercial discussions had not yet begun as western companies were banned from such talks until a landmark nuclear agreement between big powers and Iran was implemented. This was expected in the next few weeks, paving the way to a lifting of Iranian sanctions. 'We are dependent on the resolution of the international negotiations,' said Mr Brégier. '[After that] we would have no reason not to consider Iranian airlines as a normal customer like the rest of the world. We are very strict at applying all the international rules and regulations.'" http://t.uani.com/1mVyrHy Human Rights Free Beacon: "Iran again led the globe in the number of state-sanctioned executions in 2015, killing 1,084 people, which marks the highest rate of executions in the country in 25 years, according to statistics compiled by human rights and advocacy organizations. Iran, which continues "to execute more individuals per capita than any other country in the world," according to the United Nations, carried out an average of three executions per day in 2015, according to numbers issued by a leading Iranian human rights organization. Since the election of President Hassan Rouhani, who was celebrated by many in the West as a moderate reformer, executions in Iran have soared, hitting record numbers in each of the last several years. The U.N. recorded 753 executions in 2014, though some human rights organizations have claimed that the number is higher. Iran executed an American citizen in November. Iran began 2016 with a massive round of executions, hanging 13 individuals on Jan. 6 and killing a total of 25 people in the first week of the year, according to separate statistics issued by United Against a Nuclear Iran, an advocacy organization that has been highly critical of Iran's human rights record. Critics of Iran's human rights record, which continues to be ranked among the worst in the world, have said that the rising numbers of executions highlight the Islamic Republic's disregard for the rule of law. 'By beginning the new year with an execution spree, Iran is signaling that it will continue to defy the international community and basic standards of human rights,' former Ambassador Mark Wallace, the organization's CEO, said in a statement. Wallace warned that Iran's behavior is a sign that the regime is growing more hardline despite claims by the Obama administration that the recent Iran nuclear deal would moderate the nation. 'Proponents of the nuclear agreement signed in July declared that it would lead to moderation of the Iranian regime,' Wallace said. 'Instead, just the opposite has ensued-Iran's conduct has worsened. At the pace it has begun 2016, Iran will once again execute more than 1,000 of its citizens this year.'" http://t.uani.com/1P10kuG IHR: "Iranian official sources report on the execution of a prisoner in Zanjan's central prison on a Moharebeh charge (commonly translated as 'enmity against God'). The Zanjan Prosecutor, Hassan Mozaffari, has reported on the execution of a prisoner on a Moharebeh charge at Zanjan's central prison. According to the report, a crowd of people watched as the prisoner, only identified as 'H.S.', was hanged in the prison's vicinity on Tuesday January 12." http://t.uani.com/1Oi0AlF Journalism Is Not a Crime: "Iranian reformist journalist Reyhaneh Tabatabaei begins serving a one-year prison term today at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, according to Journalism Is Not A Crime. The 35-year-old female journalist will spend the next year behind bars for allegedly 'spreading propaganda against the regime' through her journalistic activities. Her trial took place in a Revolutionary Court in 2014, where Judge Salavati - who is well-known for his harsh rulings - handed down a one-year prison sentence and a two-year ban on joining political parties and writing for any newspaper or website to the reformist journalist. Support of the Green Movement, her activities on Facebook and some of her charity work, was also used as evidence against her. Tabatabaei was informed of her sentence on November 17, 2015 and summoned to Evin Prison on Tuesday, January 12, 2016. She was originally arrested in June 2014. The journalist has been arrested three times over the past five years, and has spent more than six months in Evin Prison, including two months in solitary confinement." http://t.uani.com/1JKzF2T    Journalism Is Not a Crime: "Two Iranian poets who have been sentenced to flogging and a total of 20 years in jail have fled Iran. On October 12, 2015, an Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced Fatemeh Ekhtesari and Mehdi Mousavi to respectively 11 and 9 year in prison for allegedly insulting religion. Both poets were also sentenced to receive 99 lashes. Although Ekhtesari and Mousavi were prohibited from leaving Iran, according to Iranian media, the two poets fled to neighboring Iraq. Iran's semi-official news agency Fars published a photograph of the two poets at what appears to be the studio of a Kurdish television station in Sulaymaniyah in Iraq. According to the news agency, the poets were planning to go to Sweden... Their verdict was issued on October 12, 2015. Ekhtesari was given a seven-year prison sentence for insulting the sacred, three years for publishing unauthorized content online and one and a half years for propaganda against the state. Mousavi was sentenced to six years in prison for insulting the sacred, and a further three years for possessing tear gas and keeping it at his residence. Both were given flogging sentences for shaking hands with a na-mahram - a person of the opposite sex who is not a family member." http://t.uani.com/1PXlneM Domestic Politics CSM: "By Iranian political standards, heads have started to roll after the ransacking by hard-line forces of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran a week ago. It was not the first foreign embassy to be attacked since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Nor was the firebombing the first controversial act by hard-line vigilantes, a longstanding force in Iranian politics that often acts with impunity on behalf of shadowy 'revolutionary' elements. But this time President Hassan Rouhani has moved quickly, prompting a new debate in Iran about vigilante culture and its ability to undermine the country's strategic aims... As firebombs burst against the walls of the embassy, diplomatic police did not or could not prevent the angry demonstrators from taking it over. That shifted the storyline in global media from Saudi Arabia's beheadings of 47 people to Iran's mob-style tactics... Officials have blamed 'enemy influence' and even 'infiltrators' in the crowd bent on violence. And yet, often at such events it is the hard-line elements and not security forces who dictate the end result. The reformist news website Asr Iran, for example, noted that some attackers 'were so relaxed that they had not even covered their faces' and were setting fires a 'few steps from the police.'" http://t.uani.com/1SOHsyA Foreign Affairs Reuters: "Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday that the 'arrogant nouveau-riche' should stay out of diplomacy after the United Arab Emirates mocked his criticism of Saudi Arabia's human rights record. The barbed comments on Twitter by Mohammad Javad Zarif and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan underline the strains between the two Gulf countries, who are economic partners but political rivals. The United Arab Emirates has strongly backed Saudi Arabia in a diplomatic dispute with Tehran that erupted when Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shi'ite cleric on Jan. 2 and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Iran. Riyadh broke off relations with Tehran, and the UAE downgraded ties. On Sunday, Zarif published an editorial in the New York Times titled 'Saudi Arabia's Reckless Extremism', deploring the kingdom's human rights record and accusing Riyadh of supporting extremism and 'sectarian hatred'. Iran also faces criticism from rights groups and Western governments over its human rights record and its support for militant groups in the Middle East. Sheikh Abdullah responded to Zarif's article the next day. 'When I read the Iranian foreign minister's article in the New York Times, I thought the author was the foreign minister of a Scandinavian country,' he tweeted in Arabic to 2.5 million followers, signing off with an grinning emoji. 'Diplomacy is the domain of the mature; not arrogant nouveau-riche,' Zarif shot back on Wednesday. He did not mention the UAE directly, but commentators quickly identified his likely target. Iran is proud of its centuries-old civilization and historic power, in contrast to some of its Gulf Arab neighbors which leapt from obscurity into oil-fueled opulence in a few recent decades." http://t.uani.com/22Zli12 Opinion & Analysis Josh Rogin & Eli Lake in Bloomberg: "Iran's seizure of two U.S. naval ships and President Barack Obama's response show that the country the president hoped would secure his foreign policy legacy now has the ability to hold it hostage. Obama didn't mention the incident in the Persian Gulf during his State of the Union speech because, according to administration officials, the U.S. does not consider the boarding of the ships and the seizure of 10 U.S. sailors to be a 'hostile act.' Instead, the president praised the diplomatic agreement on Iran's nukes. 'As we speak, Iran has rolled back its nuclear program, shipped out its uranium stockpile, and the world has avoided another war,' he said. Even if Iran quickly releases the 10 U.S. military personnel it took custody of, as senior Obama administration officials assured reporters Tuesday evening, the incident is a significant escalation in the Persian Gulf. It shows that despite a nuclear agreement with the West, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is willing to board U.S. vessels, take American soldiers into custody, and, according to CNN citing U.S. officials, confiscate the crew's communications and GPS equipment. Officials pointed to Secretary of State John Kerry's call to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as evidence of an improved bilateral relationship. But there were several signs the administration and the Iranian government were not working well together. As the Iranian state press reported the sailors had been 'arrested' for 'snooping,' a senior Obama administration official gave reporters conflicting information, saying the boats had malfunctioned and the sailors would be released 'promptly.' It took several hours before the captured sailors were allowed to make contact with their superiors. The incident is just latest in a series of Iranian provocations since agreeing to the nuclear deal in July. In late December, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels fired unguided missiles near the USS Truman; the U.S. did not retaliate. Also last month, Kerry wrote to the Iranian government to assure it the U.S. government would waive new visa restrictions passed by Congress, after Tehran objected. The U.S. indefinitely delayed imposing sanctions on Iran in response to its tests of ballistic missiles in violation of United Nations sanctions. 'This administration is going to remain hostage from now until they leave office to the games the Iranians play and to Iranian behavior that falls outside the four corners of the agreement,' said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator now at the Wilson Center. The incident comes just as Western leaders were hoping to announce the implementation day for the nuclear agreement. The State of the Union speech, officials said, meant to highlight that legacy and present Obama's case that the world was more safe and secure because of his diplomatic achievements. To put it mildly, Iran undermined that message Tuesday... There's a lot of information about Tuesday's incident that remains unclear. It is not known whether the two small U.S. naval ships crossed into Iranian waters, and if so whether that was intentional. One Iranian news outlet said that the sailors were 'rescued,' an indication the Iranian government had not settled on an official justification for taking the sailors captive. But the administration's reaction, first to play down any incident and then to seek accommodation with Tehran, is becoming the norm in the U.S.-Iran relationship in the wake of the Iran deal, even as Iran escalates tensions with the U.S. and its allies.  'The problem is, all indications are that the Obama administration is changing its overall approach to Iran, not standing up for its own rights,' said former U.S. ambassador to Iraq Jim Jeffrey, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 'A lot of it is, This is our legacy,' he said, 'and We can't let anything get in the way of it.' The Iranians were clear when striking the deal that they would not change their negative views and aggressive policies against the U.S., Jeffrey said, and they have been consistent in that. To his thinking, it is the Obama administration that has wavered between hope and skepticism that the Iran deal would yield broader progress in the bilateral relationship. The Iranians know the Obama administration is committed to preserving the Iran deal above all else and they are using that knowledge to get away with mischief, Jeffrey said. Miller said the Obama administration is so committed to claiming the Iran deal as part of its legacy, officials won't reverse course and take a tougher line now. 'This administration is in a no-win situation with Iran. Once you start dancing with a bear, the only problem is, you can't let go,' he said. 'This administration has no choice but to keep on dancing.'" http://t.uani.com/1mYEH1X         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.