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Mehr (Iran): "The AEOI head Ali Akbar Salehi said Tue. the
construction of two nuclear power plants with $10bn worth of investment
will soon begin on President Rouhani's orders. Ali Akbar Salehi, Head of
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), referred to the efforts made
by the Western countries in exerting pressures and imposing various kinds
of threats on the Iranian negotiating team in the course of nuclear
talks, adding 'their problem is not with our armaments, economy,
technology, trade, or even science. Their problem is with the Iranian
nation; they are worried about the message of the Islamic Revolution
reaching across the world.' 'The US has settled its scores with its
potential rivals but Iran has stood up against it,' Salehi said. 'This is
a serious political challenge that does not form in vacuum and requires
producing content and ideologies.' Salehi went on to add that major
European banks are not working with Iran due to pressure from the United
States. 'We need to speak up louder to the world and this needs to happen
faster,' Salehi said. 'The US is worried that the content of the Islamic
Republic's productions would reach the world.' ... Salehi further noted
that with the implementation of the JCPOA, the right to enrichment and
heavy water production has been preserved in the country, adding 'Iran's
heavy water production surplus is currently on a sale agenda and our
nuclear industry is functioning well.'" http://t.uani.com/2aMhjxV
Press TV (Iran): "Iran says its oil exports have increased to as high
as 2.5 million barrels per day - a landmark development that could mean
the country has already regained a crucial global oil market share that
it had lost as a result of multiple years of sanctions. 'Oil exports have
increased to 2.5 million barrels per day,' said Iran's First Vice
President Es'haq Jahangiri. 'The sons of the Iranian nation have been
able to move again the wheels of the country's oil production that had
stopped [as a result of the sanctions] and thus regain the old [share] of
the markets,' Jahangiri told a meeting of education officials. He
emphasized that several oil producers - specifically the Persian Gulf
states - have come across 'massive' problems as a result of the plunging
prices of crude oil over the past few years. However, Iran's economic
stability prevailed due to an efficient management, Jahangiri
added." http://t.uani.com/2aVezSs
Tehran Times: "The Iranian foreign minister will start a five-nation
tour of Latin America on August 21. Mohammad Javad Zarif will begin
another round of his international tours by first visiting Cuba, and then
Ecuador, Nicaragua, Chile and Bolivia, a source in the Iranian Foreign
Ministry told Sputnik on Saturday. The chief diplomat will lead 'a large
economic delegation' and is expected to sign contracts in the fields of
oil, energy, maritime, and transport, the source added. The Iranian
minister will wrap up his visit to Latin America on August 27." http://t.uani.com/2b1fT5F
Nuclear & Ballistic Missile Program
Tasnim (Iran): "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised diplomatic
efforts made by the country's negotiators involved in the nuclear talks
with world powers as a result of which the Iranian nation's rights have
been recognized by the international community. 'The (Iranian)
administration's foreign-policy efforts over the past three years have
been based on restoration and recognition of the people's rights,'
President Rouhani said at a joint meeting between cabinet members and the
country's governors-general in Tehran on Wednesday. He pointed to the
July 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China,
the US, Britain, France and Germany), saying that prior to the deal,
major powers and international organizations denied Iran's right to
enrichment and claimed that Iran's nuclear activities pose a threat to
the international security and stability. He added that today, however,
they not only do not raise such claims but cooperate with Iran at the
highest levels of nuclear activities. In other words, the president said,
Iran was able to make the world recognize the country's definite rights
and its constructive role in the region through the nuclear
negotiations." http://t.uani.com/2aJfeTE
Trend: "Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia and Pacific
Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour has said that Iran's trade ties with Russia and
Azerbaijan witnessed a significant boost immediately after the removal of
sanctions followed by the implementation of the joint comprehensive plan
of action (JCPOA). He also touched upon an agreement between Iran and
Russia for constructing nuclear power plants in the Islamic Republic
adding that Russia will build eight power plants in Iran. Russia has
constructed Iran's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr, with 1,000
megawatts capacity and it is preparing for building new plants in Iran.
Iran has planned to increase its nuclear power generation capacity to
2,000 megawatts by 2035." http://t.uani.com/2b1f5hl
U.S.-Iran Relations
Free Beacon: "State Department Press Director Elizabeth Trudeau
told a reporter at Tuesday's department press briefing that it was a
waste of time to keep asking about the Obama administration possibly
making a ransom payment to Iran. Associated Press reporter Matt Lee has
been repeatedly asking the State Department if the plane carrying
American prisoners out of Iran took off before a plane carrying $400
million in cash landed in the country. The Obama administration has
denied that the $400 million it airlifted to the Iranian regime was any
form of a ransom payment, saying it was part of a settlement of a
decades-old dispute and just coincided with the freeing of American
hostages. Some observers have said the Iranians could view the payment as
ransom if the money landed first before they allowed the hostages to
go." http://t.uani.com/2bjpnft
Congressional Action
Free Beacon: "Members of Congress expressed 'disgust' with the
White House this week and are demanding Obama administration officials
come clean about the circumstances surrounding a $400 million cash
payment to Iran that is widely perceived as a ransom for the recent
release of U.S. hostages, according to conversations with multiple
lawmakers and senior congressional sources. Growing tensions between the
White House and Congress came to a head following comments by White House
spokesman Josh Earnest in which he compared Republican critics in
Congress to Iranian regime hardliners. Earnest's comments came in
response to multiple unanswered questions about the circumstances
surrounding the delivery of $400 million in cash to Iran ahead of the
release of several U.S. hostages earlier this year. When faced with
questions about this cash exchange, White House officials such as Earnest
have lashed out at Republican lawmakers for their continued efforts to
unearth details about the so-called ransom payment. 'It sounds to me like
they are once again in a position where they're making the same argument
as hardliners in Iran in an effort to undermine the Iran nuclear
agreement,' Earnest said responding to questions from reporters about
administration efforts to suppress key details about the cash payment.
'The president made clear a year ago that right-wingers in the United
States were making common cause with right-wingers in the Iranian
government,' Earnest added. 'And, again, if they're doing it again to try
to justify their opposition to an agreement that has benefited the American
people, they can do that, but I think that's going to be pretty hard for
them to explain.'" http://t.uani.com/2bjoLVZ
Sanctions Relief
Tehran Times: "President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the
primary purpose behind the conclusion of nuclear deal, officially called
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with great powers was to
create a proper atmosphere for economic activities. Speaking at a joint
meeting of cabinet members and governors-general, the president
said, 'The main objective of the JCPOA was to open the way for economic
activities, not by resorting to means that date back to the 18 and 19th
centuries, but by using the banking system.'" http://t.uani.com/2bi0y0s
Press TV (Iran): "German chemical company BASF is weighing an
investment of $4 billion in Iran, the daily Handelsblatt has reported,
citing industry sources. Together with an Iranian company, BASF wants to
build new petrochemical plants near Iran's hub of petrochemical activities
and gas industry in Assaluyeh, the paper said. BASF signed a memorandum
of understanding with the National Iranian Oil Company about future
cooperation in April... However, BASF is not the only group that was
negotiating with the Iranians, the paper said. Industry sources said
Munich gas manufacturer Linde was interested in investment worth billions
of dollars in the Iranian petrochemical industry jointly with the
Japanese Mitsui Group. According to Handelsblatt, Linde CEO Wolfgang
Büchele has been in 'pre-business talks' with the Iranians for some
time." http://t.uani.com/2b7RDx7
Tehran Times: "A team of Iranian businessmen to be led by Pedram
Soltani, the deputy chief of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines
and Agriculture (ICCIMA), plan to pay a visit to Switzerland, the
chamber's website announced. The visit will take place on September
20-23, 2016 and representatives of various business areas including
tourism, heavy industries, machine manufacturing, banking,
pharmaceuticals, chemicals and aeronautics are among the delegates. The
Iranian team is scheduled to attend two economic forums in Geneva and
Zurich and will hold business talks with Swiss firms." http://t.uani.com/2aMg7KX
Reuters: "Oman and Iran have agreed to change the route and
design of a planned undersea natural gas pipeline to avoid waters
controlled by the United Arab Emirates, Oman's Minister of Oil and Gas
Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy said on Wednesday. The planned pipeline would
connect Iran's vast gas reserves to Omani consumers as well as liquefied
natural gas (LNG) plants in Oman that would re-export the gas. After
international sanctions on Tehran were lifted in January, the two
countries renewed efforts to implement the project, but it has also been
delayed by disagreements over price and U.S. pressure on Muscat to find
other suppliers. In an interview, Rumhy said Oman and Iran were at an
advanced stage of designing the pipeline and had agreed on a deeper
option than originally envisaged to avoid crossing any third country's
borders... Oman still expects to invite companies before the end of 2016
to bid for the engineering, procurement and construction part of the
project, Rumhy said without giving an estimate for the cost. The pipeline
would be financed on a 50-50 basis by Oman and Iran. 'Oman has started
talking to Japanese, Korean and Chinese parties to raise finance. And
this option has been received very well. We are looking to receive
finance for LNG as per the initial understanding.'" http://t.uani.com/2aNHebU
Human Rights
Al-Monitor: "An audio file recently released by the website of the
late Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri - the onetime deputy supreme leader
of Iran who was a leading Shiite cleric - has shed light on the cleric's objections
to a string of executions in the late 1980s and his eventual falling out
with the ruling establishment. In the final months of the Iran-Iraq War
in 1988, the Iranian group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) launched an attack
from inside Iraq against western Iran. While the attack was quickly
countered, it led to perhaps the last fateful decision of the Islamic
Republic under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shortly
before his death in which thousands of mostly MEK members who had been
imprisoned in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution were executed.
Montazeri, who had been groomed to replace Khomeini and was one of the
most well-known figures of the revolution, objected so adamantly to the
order that he quickly lost his place within the government. His objection
to the executions has been previously published in his autobiography. But
the release of the audio file has brought this news to the surface once
again and has revealed the harshness in which he dealt with the
individuals involved." http://t.uani.com/2bjoaVv
Opinion & Analysis
Soufan Group: "Over the past several years, Iran's security
apparatus has developed advanced cyber capabilities that can be adapted
to different missions. The extensive use of social media by participants
in the 2009 'Green Movement' uprising in Iran convinced the regime it
needed additional capabilities to control and monitor the public's use of
the Internet. International sanctions escalated dramatically in 2010,
largely shutting off Iran from receiving Western information technology
and skills. As a result, Iran was forced to develop its information
technology capacity domestically. Adding to the Iranian government's
sense of urgency for developing its cyber capabilities was a 2010 joint
U.S.-Israeli cyberattack known as 'Operation Olympic Games.' The attack,
which targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure, used the famous 'Stuxnet'
virus to destroy approximately 20% of Iran's operational uranium
enrichment centrifuges by causing them to spin too fast.Iran's cyber
operations began in earnest as part of the government effort to suppress
the Green Movement by monitoring the Internet usage of opposition
activists and then arresting them. When the uprising was defeated in
2012, the regime directed its growing capabilities outward to its
regional and international adversaries. Iran first formalized the
structure of its cyber-related initiatives as the 'Iranian Cyber Army'-led
by the IRGC-to operate under a 'Supreme Council of Cyberspace,' created
by Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Khamenei in early 2012. Later, Iran's
cyber strategy was put under the command of IRGC Brigadier General
Behrouz Esbati, reporting to the Armed Forces General Staff. That staff,
which nominally commands both the regular army and the IRGC, is led by an
IRGC officer, Mohammad Bagheri, appointed by Khamenei in June." http://t.uani.com/2b1bOP4
Heritage 2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength: "Iran represents
by far the most significant security challenge to the United States, its
allies, and its interests in the greater Middle East. Its open hostility
to the United States and Israel, sponsorship of terrorist groups like
Hezbollah, and history of threatening the commons underscore the problem
it could pose. Today, Iran's provocations are mostly a concern for the
region and America's allies, friends, and assets there. Iran relies
heavily on irregular (to include political) warfare against others in the
region and fields more ballistic missiles than any of its neighbors. The
development of its ballistic missiles and potential nuclear capability
also mean that it poses a long-term threat to the security of the U.S.
homeland. According to the IISS Military Balance, among the key weapons
in Iran's inventory are 12-plus MRBMs, 18-plus SRBMs, 1,663 main battle
tanks, 21 tactical submarines, six corvettes, 13 amphibious landing
ships, and 334 combat-capable aircraft in its air force. There are
523,000 personnel in the armed forces, including 125,000 the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps and 130,000 in the Iranian Army. With regard to
these capabilities, the IISS assesses that 'The Iranian regular forces
are large, but equipped with outdated equipment. The country's apparent
strategic priority is the complementary independent Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps.' The IRGC 'is a capable organization well-versed in a
variety of different operations,' and 'Iran is able to present a
challenge to most potential adversaries, especially its weaker
neighbors.'" http://t.uani.com/2aOxi0k
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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
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
United Against Nuclear
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regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an
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