Friday, May 27, 2011

Eye on Iran: Saudi Bid to Curb Iran Worries U.S.































































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WSJ: "Saudi Arabia is rallying Muslim nations across the Middle East and Asia to join an informal Arab alliance against Iran, in a move some U.S. officials worry could draw other troubled nations into the sectarian tensions gripping the Arab world. Saudi officials have approached Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central Asian states to lend diplomatic support-and potentially military assistance in some cases-to help stifle a majority Shiite revolt in Sunni-led Bahrain, a conflict that has become a symbol of Arab defiance against Iran. Saudi Arabia's efforts, though against a common enemy, signal increasing friction with the Obama administration. Its invitation to Pakistan in particular could complicate U.S. security goals in South Asia. The push also complicates U.S. efforts to guide popular uprisings in the Middle East toward a peaceful and democratic conclusion. The chief of the Saudi National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan al Saud, asked Pakistan's powerful generals in March to lend support for the operation in Bahrain, according to Pakistani, U.S. and Saudi officials briefed on the meetings." http://t.uani.com/k1PiRN

AP: "Israel's navy is casting its net wider and deeper in an effort to stop Gaza militants from receiving weapons by sea, a difficult mission made harder, Israel says, by political turmoil in Egypt and the Egyptian decision to fully reopen its border crossing with Gaza. In recent weeks, Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza have aimed rockets at Israeli cities, far enough away that Israel is convinced the projectiles came from abroad, probably Iran... Its most recent success was March 15, when it seized the Victoria cargo ship. That weapons shipment departed from the Syrian port of Latakia and stopped in Mercin, Turkey. It was headed for the port of Alexandria in Egypt when it was intercepted, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Israel's Mediterranean coast. From there, Israel charges, the weapons were headed for Gaza. The Israeli naval officer who commanded the raid said the main success was capturing Chinese-made C-704 missiles onboard that could have been 'game changing' by allowing land-based forces to attack ships. As evidence of Iran's involvement, Israel produced Farsi instruction manuals, a booklet that identified the system by its Farsi name, Nasr, along with serial numbers and dates of issue in the Persian calendar. Israeli defense officials believe Iran has since shifted its tactics, and now hides crates of weapons on civilian ships. In some cases, the crew isn't even aware." http://t.uani.com/mb1SAw

Bloomberg: "Siemens AG, Germany's largest engineering company, denied that it supplied compressors for the Phase III unit of Iran's Abadan refinery where a blast two days ago killed as many as four people and wounded some 25. 'Siemens has not sold any compressor to Abadan refinery Phase III,' Alexander Becker, a spokesman with the Munich-based company, said in an e-mailed statement today. The May 24 blast and subsequent fire hit one of the two main compressors of the refinery, the Tehran-based Arman newspaper said today. The system, used to liquefy gas, wasn't ready to be operated, it said, citing unidentified officials. The newspaper said the compressors for this unit were purchased from Siemens, which declined to send experts to Iran to operate the machine for the start-up, citing restrictions related to international sanctions." http://t.uani.com/joI6PG


Iran Disclosure Project



Nuclear Program & Sanctions

AP: "U.S. sanctions against Venezuela's state oil company will primarily affect American businesses, the country's foreign minister said Thursday. The U.S. State Department has targeted Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, for doing business with Iran, saying it delivered at least two cargoes of refined petroleum products worth about $50 million to the Middle Eastern nation... 'These illegal, abusive measures taken by this weak government of the United States ... those most affected are businesspeople of the United States,' Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said in an interview on state television. The Venezuelan oil company will be barred from any U.S. government contracts, U.S. import-export financing and export licenses for sensitive technology. But it won't be prevented from selling crude to the United States or through its U.S. subsidiary, Citgo. Maduro said preventing PDVSA from buying technology affects U.S. companies contracted by the Venezuelan oil company." http://t.uani.com/ktCXBx

BBC: "Jersey was aware for some time of the activities of a Jersey company facing sanctions from the US for trading with Iran, according to the Chief Minister. The Petrochemical Commercial Company International (PCCI) was registered to offices in the Parade in St Helier. It is one of seven foreign firms accused of trying to evade sanctions with Iran by the US State Department. Senator Terry le Sueur said Jersey could only act against companies facing sanctions from the European Union. The BBC has attempted to contact PCCI but has been unable to get a response. PCCI is accused of engaging in evading sanctions designed to put pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear programme." http://t.uani.com/l7LZXf

AP: "Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says sanctions against his country have not had any impact on its disputed nuclear activities. Ali Asghar Soltanieh says the same applies to the effect of the Stuxnet computer worm late last year and that 'no matter what, the Iranian people are more determined to continue.' Iran is under four sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to stop uranium enrichment - an activity that can make both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material. On Monday, the European Union expanded its sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Soltanieh also said Friday that Iran doesn't want a nuclear weapon." http://t.uani.com/jnn8hw

Human Rights


AFP:
"Iran has hanged 12 men for offences including murder, rape, armed robbery and drug trafficking, including five who were executed in public, news agency reports and a legal source said on Thursday. The official IRNA news agency said 'serial killer' Mehdi Faraji, convicted of murdering five middle-aged women who boarded his minibus, was hanged in public in the city of Qazvin, northwest of the capital Tehran, on Thursday... The latest hangings bring to 143 the number of executions reported in Iran so far in 2011, according to an AFP count based on media and official reports. Iranian media reported 179 hangings last year. But international human rights groups say the actual number was much higher, making the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people it put to death." http://t.uani.com/iqHWNI

Opinion & Analysis

Michael Singh in WSJ: "Mohsen Chizari gets around. A top commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Chizari was hit with sanctions last week by the Obama administration. Given his nationality, one might assume that he was sanctioned in relation to the Iranian regime's nuclear pursuits or its crackdown on dissidents. In fact, Chizari, the Quds Force Chief Qasem Soleimani, and the organization itself were targeted for abetting oppression somewhere else: Syria. According to the U.S. government, the Iranians are complicit in the Assad regime's 'human rights abuses and repression of the Syrian people.' If Chizari's name sounds familiar, it may be because he was arrested by U.S. troops in Baghdad in December 2006. According to media reports, Chizari was detained while inside the compound of Iraqi Shiite leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim with another Quds Force commander. The two men were reportedly in possession of detailed reports about weapons shipments into Iraq, including of so-called explosively formed projectiles, which were responsible for the deaths of scores of U.S. soldiers. Chizari was subsequently expelled into Iran by the Iraqi government. It should come as little surprise that Chizari has shown up in both hot spots. Wherever there's trouble, he'll be there to aid the troublemakers or stir things up himself. The Quds Force reports directly to Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and it serves as the linchpin in Iran's regional strategy. Iran funds and arms groups like Hezbollah to threaten Israel and thwart democracy-building in Lebanon. And it equips terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to stymie U.S. efforts to establish peace and security in those places. In all of these cases, the Quds Force is the regime's instrument of choice. Iran's leaders crowed when popular uprisings unseated their old foes Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. But the travails of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad have clearly caused concern in Tehran. Assad is a longtime ally of Iran, and under his rule Syria has served as a conduit eastward for foreign fighters to enter Iraq to fight U.S. troops, and for Iranian weaponry to flow westward to arm Hezbollah and Hamas. Damascus is essentially the bar scene from 'Star Wars' for terrorists in the Middle East, providing a locale where Iranian allies such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad can coordinate unperturbed. Were Assad to fall, a key link in Iran's strategic chain across the region would be broken. While Iran could possibly find work-arounds to supply Hezbollah, such as by sea or air, it would lose both strategic depth and an eager ally. Furthermore, if protesters in Syria were to inspire Iran's own democracy activists to redouble their efforts, the Iranian regime would find itself in serious peril. Thus it is unsurprising that it has dispatched the Quds Force to help Assad stop the Arab Spring at his doorstep. Iran's latest involvement in Syria should be a wake-up call." http://t.uani.com/jpzMyi

Ali Alfoneh in AEI: "Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad risks impeachment following his failed attempt to wrest control over the Intelligence Ministry from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei correctly considered Ahmadinejad's dismissal of Intelligence Minister Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi a direct attack against him and mobilized the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to restrict Ahmadinejad's power. Should Ahmadinejad survive parliamentary attempts at impeachment, the conflict between the supreme leader and the president is likely to continue. However, the IRGC may be the main beneficiary of the continual battles between the two civilian leaders of the Islamic Republic... On April 17, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked a new political crisis in Iran by dismissing Hojjat al-Eslam Heydar Moslehi, the influential minister of intelligence and a close ally of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Less than an hour after Ahmadinejad's decree appeared in the media, Fars News Agency reported that Khamenei had reinstated Moslehi--a move that infuriated Ahmadinejad, who refused to attend cabinet meetings for two weeks. Khamenei's unconstitutional overruling of the president in the fight over the strategically important ministry was meant to reassert his authority in the struggle for power with Ahmadinejad. On April 20, Moslehi triumphantly returned to the Intelligence Ministry, where employees greeted him with chants of 'God is great!' But Ahmadinejad did not invite Moslehi to the cabinet meeting that day. On April 25, Ahmadinejad met Khamenei and threatened to resign if Moslehi remained in the cabinet. 'Do if you so desire,' Khamenei replied, giving Ahmadinejad a week to make up his mind. Ahmadinejad likely assumed Khamenei was bluffing. Returning from his two-week leave, which he called 'distance working' from home, Ahmadinejad provided a coded explanation: 'I am convinced that a strong and powerful president would lead to dignity of the Leadership and especially the nation. A strong president can stand firm as a defensive shield, advance affairs of the state, and bring dignity upon it. All leaders and executives are in need of strong arms.' In other words, Ahmadinejad's power grab was not based on personal ambition but was for the sake of the regime. The same day, to demonstrate presidential strength, Ahmadinejad refused Moslehi access to the cabinet meeting. Moslehi was also absent from the May 4 cabinet meeting. Ahmadinejad soon realized he had overplayed his hand, as attacks against him and his supporters increased thereafter. The Intelligence Ministry began filtering pro-Ahmadinejad websites. As many as twenty-nine Ahmadinejad confidantes--including Hojjat al-Eslam Abbas Amiri-Far, Ahmadinejad's candidate for the Intelligence Ministry--were arrested. Calls of 'death to the opponent of the guardian jurist,' a slogan open to interpretation, dominated even the Tehran Friday prayers. All this activity energized Ahmadinejad's political rivals, who viewed the rift as an opportunity to get rid of their old foe. Parliamentarians, led by parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, threatened to impeach Ahmadinejad on several occasions, and Tehran mayor Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf started a relentless campaign against Ahmadinejad and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei through his news outlet Shafaf News. Mashaei, the president's confidante and former chief of staff, is also his choice for a presidential successor when his second term ends in 2013. The presence of both Ahmadinejad and Moslehi at the May 8 cabinet meeting indicated that Ahmadinejad had submitted to Khamenei's authority--for a time at least. That being said, the conflict is likely to continue through the remainder of Ahmadinejad's presidency--if Ahmadinejad survives parliamentary attempts at impeaching him--and will doubtless escalate as Ahmadinejad supporters rally for the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2011 and the following year's presidential election... Thirty-two years after the revolution of 1979, public support for rule by the clergy in Iran has waned to extraordinarily low levels. Ahmadinejad, who is well aware that clerical support is no longer an asset but a liability, has chosen confrontation with Khamenei to mobilize the masses. But there is no guarantee that Ahmadinejad's tactics will resonate with Iranian voters. The memory of the fraudulent 2009 presidential election is still fresh. Ahmadinejad cannot even count on support from the parliament, which is waiting to impeach him. Should Ahmadinejad--contrary to expectations--survive parliamentary attempts at impeaching him, the IRGC may be the greatest beneficiary of the conflict among the civilian leaders, further solidifying its position as the final arbiter of power in the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/kAHk3P






















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



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