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AFP: "A hoped-for export bonanza has failed to materialise
a year after a deal to lift international sanctions against Iran over its
nuclear programme, a German industry association [stated]...
'Despite increased foreign trade, there is a certain disillusionment,'
Volker Treier, chief economist at the German Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (DIHK), said. German exports to Iran had increased 11
percent in the first four months of 2016 to 890 million euros ($985
million), and likely stood at over one billion euros in the first six
months, Treier said. That leaves a lot of ground to make up if firms
are to match DIHK forecasts of 5.0 billion euros of exports annually
within three years of the deal, mounting to 10 billion euros within five
years... German carmakers and machine-tool builders were among the
firms most avid to leap into the new market, where their products had
been sought-after rarities until the deal came into force in January. 'Of
course the expectations were high that trade with Iran would return to
where it was in the old days,' Treier said, but 'we're far removed from
that.' With many Western banks still reluctant to issue loans for
deals involving Iran -- fearing to fall foul of continuing US sanctions
against Tehran's financial sector -- cash to fuel the business is hard to
find, the DIHK said. But some German household names are already
making inroads into Iran's economy, with Daimler planning a factory to
build Mercedes-Benz cars with two local partners, while Siemens has
licensed gas turbines and power station generators to Iran's Mapna." http://t.uani.com/2aCBoqT
AP: "The lawyer of prominent Iranian journalist says a
court has sentenced his client to three years in prison on charges of
insulting authorities and spreading propaganda against the ruling
system. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei [said]... that his client, Isa
Saharkhiz, who was detained in November, can appeal the verdict within
the next 20 days. The lawyer says the verdict was announced on
Monday and that Saharkhiz got two years for insulting authorities and one
year for spreading propaganda. Saharkhiz was recently hospitalized
because of a heart problem. His detention came amid a campaign that saw
the arrests of other cultural figures critical of Iran's clerical
system. Saharkhiz had been released in 2013 after serving nearly
five years in prison on similar charges." http://t.uani.com/2aWHB3s
Bloomberg: "Russia and Iran agreed to strengthen transport
connections, including a potential railway link through Azerbaijan that
would aim to grab a share of the cargo now being shipped through the Suez
Canal. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart,
Hassan Rouhani, discussed the plan during a rare joint visit to
Azerbaijan on Monday. The fight against terrorism and maritime boundaries
in the Caspian Sea were also among the topics of discussion... Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev has offered to help finance the so-called
North-South transportation corridor, which he touted as a project of
'great importance' in connecting Europe and Asia. Rouhani earlier said
Azerbaijan had agreed to provide half of the funding needed to extend the
Iranian rail network to the Azeri border... Russia would be able to use
the new route to export goods to Asian markets and the Gulf region, Elxan
Shahinoglu, head of the Atlas research center in Baku, said by e-mail. It
would also provide a shorter passage for Iranian goods to northern and
eastern Europe, he said... The state-owned International Bank of
Azerbaijan will lend Iran $500 million to extend the Iranian network to
the border, Trend news service reported in June, citing Ali Noorzad, head
of the Iranian Co. for Construction and Development of Transportation
Infrastructure. Talks continue on the loan agreement, Noorzad said,
adding that the estimated cost of the project is $1.1 billion." http://t.uani.com/2axim9C
U.S.-Iran Relations
Reuters: "Iran said on Monday that $1.7 billion that the
United States sent it in January was cash owned since before the 1979
revolution, confirming the White House's assertion that it was not
related to nuclear talks or a prisoner release." http://t.uani.com/2aCBgro
Tasnim: "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned
US against its lack of commitment to nuclear deal between Tehran and
world powers, stressing that the Islamic Republic is pursuing the
implementation of the deal with 'seriousness'... He further raised
the alarm about any violation of the deal by the US and noted that
American officials are 'making a mistake' because the Iranian nation's
distrust of US is growing day by day as a result of Washington's lack of
commitment to the deal." http://t.uani.com/2aWGIbk
Sanctions Relief
Bloomberg: "Indonesia will study a proposal from Iran to
build an oil refinery, along with bids from other countries, as it seeks
to boost refining capacity to catch up with rising consumption. Iran
proposed a plant with processing capacity of more than 100,000 barrels a
day and pledged to provide the crude... The project's value is estimated
at $8.4 billion and would be built over four or five years in
Java... Indonesia has also received proposals from China, Kuwait and
Russia." http://t.uani.com/2bgqKYl
Bloomberg: "Iran's biggest oil buyer in India is ready to
throttle back imports from the Persian Gulf nation once a new supply deal
kicks in. Essar Oil Ltd. expects to lower purchases from Iran after
shipments from OAO Rosneft begin once the Russian state producer
completes a deal to buy a stake in the Indian company, according to Lalit
Kumar Gupta, Essar Oil's chief executive officer. The refiner doesn't
plan to import any crude under the agreement this year and it's undecided
which country or project Rosneft will source the crude from, he said...
India is Iran's biggest oil buyer after China, according to the shipping
data... Rising supply under the Rosneft deal complicates Iran's efforts
to hold on to its expanded market share in Asia, particularly in India,
where the International Energy Agency expects demand growth in the
decades ahead to outstrip all other nations. Iranian shipments to India
surged 63 percent in the first half of the year after international
sanctions that restricted its supplies were eased in January." http://t.uani.com/2aIYHlM
Human Rights
AP: "Sajedeh Norouzi jumped to her feet [at the
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil], both arms reached high into the air,
beaming as she waved a small Iranian flag from side to side. Again and
again... The 27-year-old Norouzi, wearing a beautiful navy blue headscarf
decorated with flowers of pink, yellow, orange and turquoise, insists she
represented all of the other Iranian women Sunday night who are fighting
to one day cheer their teams from the stands and not the TV. She had a
purpose, and a passion, that she could release at long last sitting
beside men who have been able to attend the games all along. 'We want to
go to the stadium because the government doesn't allow us to. I want to
cheer my team!' Norouzi said, sitting alongside husband Saeed Javdaniyan
in a lower section of seats across the court from the team benches of
Iran and Argentina... [A] group called Open Stadiums [is working] to push
for access [for women to attend sporting events in Iran]. The group's
Twitter handle has become an underground voice of advocacy for women
pushing to end discrimination... In 2012, the longtime ban on women
from soccer matches in Iran was extended to volleyball. Former U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last year called the ban 'ridiculous'
and said that nations that are part of international bodies should
respect women's rights." http://t.uani.com/2aZ8n9R
Washington Post: "When Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and human
rights activist living in exile in Brooklyn, started her online campaign
two years ago encouraging women in her home country to post photos of
themselves in public without their headscarves, it was a powerful
statement for gender equality. At great personal risk, thousands of
Iranian women have defied the law and removed their hijabs in
defiance. A movement that celebrates women's freedoms would seem
like an obvious one for public support. But lately in the United States,
it's been a challenge for Alinejad to get active support. Sure, some
celebrities have tweeted about her effort. And it's received a lot of
international media coverage. But people are afraid to be too vocal, she
said, because they don't want to appear anti-Islamic in the era of Donald
Trump... But to Alinejad, her effort has never been about being
anti-hijab or anti-Islam. Her parents are religious. Her mother proudly
covers her head. It's about giving women the freedom to choose either
way. 'It's two extremes - and women in the middle are stuck because if we
talk loud against Islamic restrictive laws, then people think we're
supporting Islamaphobia,' she said. 'But if we keep silent then we have
to forget about our own identity and obey all the discriminatory
laws'... last month, Alinejad photoshopped a hijab on the head of
the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif and posted it on Instagram. He
had been asked by a female politician during a trip to France why people
who visit Iran must wear the hijab. He said tourists do not mind because
they respect the culture. Alinejad was furious. 'Compulsion cannot be a
part of our culture,' she said. In the caption with the picture of
the covered Zarif, she asked him: 'Do you feel insulted? Like this is not
your true self? You feel this is strange or weird? This is the same
way we have been feeling for our whole lives,' she said. 'Those women who
do not believe in hijab. For years and years, since the age of 7, hijab
has been like someone taking my identity away from me. And every morning
when I go out I have to be someone else.'" http://t.uani.com/2aZgG5u
Opinion & Analysis
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon in Huffington Post: "One year has
now passed since the P5+1 powers signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) with Iran and the United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution 2231 adopting the deal. It is no secret that Israel strongly
opposed this deal with one of the world's most dangerous regimes.
Regardless of one's opinion about the nuclear deal, however, it is now
clearer than ever that there were many justifications for our concerns.
Now, it is up to the international community to act appropriately to
mitigate the dangers emanating from Iran... From our point of view,
even if Iran fulfills every element of the agreement, it is merely
delaying the day they obtain nuclear weapons, not denying them this
dangerous capability.mMoreover, lost in the rush to celebrate the agreement
two key elements of Security Council Resolution 2231, which adopted the
JCPOA, that are equally, if not more, concerning have not received the
attention they deserve. First and foremost is Iran's continued
development and testing of mid and long range ballistic
missiles... We now know that Iran has defied this resolution at
least four times by testing such missiles... Iran's defiance is not
just an Israeli assertion, it is the view agreed upon by the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Even Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, who is usually in search of balance and objectivity, ruled
in a recent report that the Iranian missile tests are not in the 'spirit'
of the JCPOA. Another key area of concern is Iran's continued arming
and funding of terrorists throughout the Middle East and worldwide. Annex
B of the resolution 2231 bans the 'transfer of arms or related material
from Iran.' During a recent meeting of the Security Council, I shared
with my colleagues that our intelligence assessment that there are now
over 120,000 Hezbollah rockets and missiles in Lebanon aimed at Israeli
population centers... Similarly, Iran's export of arms and funding
of terrorists is not limited to Israel's enemies. A few months ago,
American forces intercepted a significant Iranian arms shipment that was
intended for the Houthis in Yemen... we [also[ have every indication
that Iran's proxy [Hezbollah] continues to make inroads throughout South
America. Faced with these transgressions, the full Security Council
must unequivocally declare Iran in defiance of resolution 2231's
missile-testing ban and in violation of the prohibition to export arms.
Attempts to soften language in order to avoid confrontation with Iran
only lessens the effectiveness of the Security Council." http://t.uani.com/2aIOb0x
Josh Rogin in Washington Post: "Despite what
you might read on Donald Trump's twitter feed, the Iranian execution of a
nuclear scientist who defected to the United States and then changed his
mind was not caused by Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.
The scientist outed himself; it wasn't Clinton's fault. The Iranian
government announced Sunday it had executed Shahram Amiri, a nuclear
scientist who spent about 14 months in the United States in 2009 and
2010. Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) noted on Sunday's Face the Nation that
Amiri's case had been discussed by top Clinton State Department officials
on emails that passed through her private server... In 2010, I
covered Amiri's strange case for Foreign Policy magazine and watched in
real time as the Clinton State Department struggled to deal with Amiri's
story. When Amiri arrived at the Pakistani embassy, he was asking to be
sent back to Iran. He had an elaborate story for how he had gotten
there... U.S. officials at the time told me and many other
journalists that Amiri had defected to the United States of his own free
will and had helped the U.S. for many years while he was in Iran by
providing essential intelligence information about Iran's nuclear
program. The Washington Post reported at the time the U.S. government had
paid Amiri $5 million... There are several possible explanations as
to why Amiri decided to go home and face the judgment of the Iranian
justice system, which concluded he was a traitor. The Iranian government
may have threatened his wife and 7-year old son. He may have hated life
on the run. He may have had a change of heart. But there's no
reasonable connection between the discussion of Amiri's case on email by
Clinton's staff to Amiri's eventual execution. There's no evidence her
server was hacked. The Iranians knew all about Amiri well before the
emails were released publicly. His kidnapping story never held water and
his fate was sealed long before his sentence was carried out." http://t.uani.com/2aWDKmY
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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
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discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please
email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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