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Top Stories
Reuters:
"An exiled opposition group said on Thursday it had obtained
information about a secret underground nuclear site under construction in
Iran, without specifying what kind of atomic activity it believed would
be carried out there. The dissident National Council of Resistance of
Iran (NCRI) exposed Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a
heavy water facility at Arak in 2002. But analysts say it has a mixed
track record and a clear political agenda... The NCRI said the site was
inside a complex of tunnels beneath mountains 10 km (6 miles) east of the
town of Damavand, itself about 50 km northeast of Tehran. Construction of
the first phase began in 2006 and was recently completed, it said. The
group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But
the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the
assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility. A spokesman for the
dissidents said he could not say what sort of nuclear work would be
conducted there, but that the companies and people involved showed it was
a nuclear site. The group named officials it said were in charge of the
project." http://t.uani.com/12tqR5c
FT:
"Middle East businesses face new US and EU sanctions targeting
Iran's energy and shipping industries as western states ramp up efforts
to isolate its economy... 'Asian and Middle Eastern businesses are now
liable to be penalised by the US for engaging in conduct that they were
previously carrying out legitimately,' says Patrick Murphy, legal
director at law firm Clyde & Co in Dubai. The Iran Freedom and
Counter-proliferation Act (IFCA) targets anyone who deals with Iran's
state-owned oil company, its tanker company, two shipping liners, and a
big ports operator. Companies or people who 'knowingly provide significant
support or provide goods and services for the benefit of' these five
companies face asset or property freezes in the US... Further penalties
have been put in place on the provision of services or repairs for
Iranian shipping, as well as the importation of metals, graphite and
industrial software into the Islamic republic. 'Barring metals imports is
huge, as Iran is a semi-industrial country, causing it major harm,' says
Iran sanctions specialist Farhad Alavi, a Washington-based partner at
Akrivis Law Group. 'All these impediments increase prices.'" http://t.uani.com/14L55hz
Bloomberg:
"Iran exported 36 percent less crude last month than it did in May
because of blockages at ports in China, the Islamic republic's biggest
customer, the International Energy Agency said. Imports of Iranian crude
reported by consumers fell to 800,000 barrels a day in June from 1.25
million in May, the IEA said in its monthly oil report today. China
received 390,000 barrels a day last month, from 550,000 in May, as port
congestion there delayed June deliveries of Iran's oil, the Paris-based
agency said. That reversed an increase in May that the IEA last month
said was due to smoother shipping operations that allowed China to take
in supplies delayed from April. Japan cut Iranian crude imports by more
the half to less than 100,000 barrels a day, the IEA said. The decline
from 240,000 barrels in May was 'reportedly due to a delay in
negotiations over contract volumes,' the IEA said." http://t.uani.com/18bccET
Sanctions
The National:
"UAE companies with ties to Iran are reassessing their links to the
country as the latest sanctions from the United States threaten them with
penalties... US sanctions that came into force on July 1 close the door
on Iran trade even further by specifically targeting non-US businesses
and individuals dealing with Iran's energy, shipping and metals
industries. 'I'm aware that companies are recalibrating their activities
in Iran,' said Patrick Murphy, the financial director at the law firm
Clyde & Co in Dubai. 'These are not the sort of companies that would
have been hit by the more specific earlier sanctions, but the broadening
of these sanctions is making them reassess things.'" http://t.uani.com/1890S8M
Terrorism
Bloomberg:
"A U.S. judge agreed to unblock more than $1.9 billion held in a
Citibank NA omnibus account to establish a fund for victims of terrorist
attacks, including the 1983 bombing of a Marine barrack in Lebanon. U.S.
District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan yesterday issued an order
allowing the fund to use assets being held in a Citibank account for
Clearstream Banking SA, in which Forrest said Iran is alleged to have an
interest. The case stems from a suit brought by Deborah Peterson, the
sister of a James Knipple, a captain killed when terrorists bombed the
U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983. U.S. District Judge Royce
Lamberth in Washington ordered Iran in 2007 to pay $2.6 billion to
relatives of 241 servicemen killed in the attack. When Lamberth issued
his ruling, he said that the award, one of the largest against any
country, was intended to deter terrorists and help families and survivors
cope." http://t.uani.com/15yqBHz
Syrian Civil War
AFP:
"In the same interview Assad renewed his criticism of the Muslim
Brotherhood, while saluting Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah and Iran... The
Brotherhood 'takes advantage of religion and uses it as a mask... and it
thinks that if you don't agree with it politically, that means you don't
stand by God', said Assad. But 'this is not the case with Iran and
Hezbollah,' he added. Hezbollah 'does not judge people based on religion
or sect, but rather on patriotism and politics,' said Assad." http://t.uani.com/1adLqJq
Human Rights
Reuters:
"Syria and Iran are planning to run for a spot on the U.N. Human
Rights Council later this year, U.N. diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday,
despite criticism from watchdog groups about widespread rights abuses in
both countries. The General Assembly's annual elections for the United
Nations' 47-nation Geneva-based human rights body will be held later this
year in New York. There will be 14 seats available for three-year terms
beginning in January 2014. From the so-called Asia group, which includes
the Middle East and Asia, seven countries - China, Iran, Jordan, Maldives,
Saudi Arabia, Syria and Vietnam - are vying for four seats, U.N.
diplomats said on condition of anonymity. One diplomat predicted that
Syria and Iran would fail in their bids to join the U.N. rights watchdog
when the 193-nation General Assembly votes in the fall, while another
said the upcoming election would be a 'comedy.'" http://t.uani.com/12oGPlQ
Iran Human Rights:
"After a short break in the executions due to the presidential
elections of June 14, a new wave of executions started on June 20 in Iran.
According to the official Iranian sources 38 people have been executed in
the last three weeks. In addition at least 44 executions have been
reported by human rights groups in the same period. Altogether according
to official and unofficial reports at least 82 prisoners have been
executed in different Iranian cities during the three weeks after the
presidential elections... Iran Human Rights (IHR) and other human rights
groups have previously claimed that Iranian authorities use the death
penalty as an instrument to spread fear in the society in order to
prevent protests and to remain in power... The analysis (indicated in the
above diagram) shows that the number of executions drop significantly in
the weeks of the Presidential or Parliamentary elections (black vertical
lines). The months before and after the elections the executions reach a
peek." http://t.uani.com/18PAP9I
NYT:
"Prison life has markedly improved in recent weeks for Amir Hekmati,
the former Marine incarcerated for nearly two years in Iran on spying
accusations. His sister said he was now allowed weekly visits from three
Iranian relatives, books, daily exercise and a regular correspondence of
letters with family in the United States... The improved circumstances,
she said, strengthened the family's hope that Iran's judiciary, which
threw out his original conviction for espionage but has not yet announced
a retrial, would favorably review a legal appeal for his release prepared
by Mr. Hekmati's Iranian counsel... Mr. Hekmati has remained in Evin
Prison throughout, however, with little access to outside counsel. He
spent many months in solitary confinement and went on a hunger
strike." http://t.uani.com/18bbFmt
Opinion &
Analysis
Robert Einhorn in
FP: "We don't yet know whether Hasan Rouhani's
election as president of Iran will improve the prospects for a nuclear
deal -- prospects that had dimmed significantly as a result of continued
stalemate in the negotiations in the first half of 2013. But if the
United States and its partners are to take advantage of whatever
opportunity may exist post-election, they need to move quickly to review
and adjust their own approach. There are reasons for thinking the
situation may have changed for the better. The election's most
encouraging development -- aside from Rouhani's win itself, which was
surprisingly decisive -- was that it revealed a deep discontent about the
country's hard-line diplomatic strategy. Although several candidates
criticized the 'no compromises' approach to talks, which was defended by
candidate and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, the sharpest rebuke
came from Ali Akbar Velayati, former foreign minister and the supreme
leader's foreign policy adviser. In the June 7 debate, he said, 'When you
take three steps and want the other to take one hundred steps, it's clear
that you don't want to advance matters.' And he concluded that 'our
current nuclear negotiations definitely have problems; otherwise we would
not be in our current situation.' That critique is remarkable for two
reasons. First, Velayati and the other critics are drawing a direct
connection between Iran's rigid negotiating posture and the deprivations
suffered by the Iranian people as a result of sanctions; they are arguing
that Iran must adopt a more conciliatory approach if it wants to reverse
Iran's downward economic spiral and rebuild its international standing.
Second, this assessment comes from regime stalwarts but stands in sharp
contrast to what Supreme Leader Khamenei and other hardliners have been
saying: that the sanctions, while harsh, can be weathered, that the
economic difficulties were caused by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mismanagement
and can be remedied by a new president, and even that the sanctions are a
blessing in disguise because they encourage Iranian self-reliance and
reduce dependence on oil revenues. Khamenei's key negotiating goal -- at
least so far -- has been to weaken international support for sanctions
and buy time for advancing Iran's nuclear program. His hope seems to have
been that the international community would lose interest in sanctions
before the sanctions broke the back of Iran's economy, freeing Tehran
from having to make concessions that would compromise its nuclear
ambitions. The deep divisions exposed during the election suggest that there
is strong skepticism within Iran that such a hope can be realized -- and
a growing belief that the only way out of Iran's current predicament is
to reach an accommodation on the nuclear issue. Sanctions seem to have
altered Iranian calculations... The United States has been justified in
rejecting an unfettered 'right to enrich.' The Nonproliferation Treaty
protects the right of compliant parties to pursue nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes, but it is silent on whether that right includes
enrichment, which is a dual-use technology that can also produce fissile
material for nuclear weapons. Lawyers can debate whether a right to
enrich is included in the treaty, but what is not debatable is that Iran
has forfeited -- at least temporarily -- any right to enrichment (and
reprocessing) until it can demonstrate convincingly that it is in
compliance with its NPT obligations. For the time being, whatever rights
it has to these technologies have been suspended by a series of U.N.
Security Council resolutions, which are legally binding on all U.N.
members, including Iran." http://t.uani.com/18benbC
Emanuele
Ottolenghi & Saeed Ghasseminejad in the National Post:
"Say what you wish about Iran's newly elected president's supposedly
moderate credentials. There is little doubt that Hassan Rouhani won the
vote of Iran's reformist-minded middle class. But that says next to
nothing about the current state of Iran's reform movement. Look no
further than the man himself, his statements on the reform movement, and
his past record both inside and outside government. The election of
Hassan Rouhani to Iran's presidency, far from being the revenge of the
reformist 'Green Movement,' is its death sentence. The Reformists have
been finally, decisively and definitively co-opted by the regime. There
are three reasons to reject both Rouhani's support by reformist voters,
and endorsements from figures in the reform movement, as a sign that the
Reform movement is back on the saddle. Start with the man: Rouhani,
Khamenei's appointee on the Supreme National Security Council and the
Expediency Discernment Council is not a reformist. He does not like to be
called a reformist and tries to keep his distance from Reformists.
Rouhani is not a dissident; he is not part of the opposition movement; he
is not an outsider; he is not an opponent to the Supreme leader or the
Revolutionary Guards; he is neither a liberal, nor a democrat; he is not
even a moderate. The blood of dissidents is on his hands - not from the
early days of the Revolution - but from the supposedly Reformist decade.
Rouhani is and will be part of the establishment; a centrist
conservative whose entire political career has been inside the security
and intelligence establishment of the Islamic Republic. Next, one should
look at his support. Even traditional regime supporters among the working
class and rural areas are hurting so much economically that they voted
for him in order to express discontent at government policies. As long as
he can fix the economy, the regime is safe. If one shifts focus from
voters to political sources of support for Rouhani, then it becomes even
more apparent that there is little hope for the Reformist agenda.
Rouhani, after all, is drawing his backing from the same regime
constituency who supported imprisoned former presidential candidate,
Mirhossein Mousavi. Four years ago, Mousavi's campaign and political
backing was coming from the camp of former president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani - hardly a reformist. Why would Rafsanjani throw his weight
behind Mousavi then and Rouhani now, if they held a promise of subversion
for the Islamic Republic they all helped establish? ... The Islamic
Republic has successfully co-opted the Reformist movement back into the
fold, forever neutralizing its tendencies. But while reformist
politicians in Iran may have lost interest in change, the people haven't.
Therein rests the hope for Iran's future - not in some improbable push
for reform from above, but in the continually mounting pressure from
below." http://t.uani.com/10ONiWg
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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