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Top Stories
WSJ:
"Sanctions on Iran by the U.S. signed into law in January, and
implemented and expanded via executive order in early June come into
effect on Monday... 'These actions demonstrate that the U.S. is
continuing to constrict the Iranian economy and will flex its
extraterritorial muscles to do so,' said a recent client alert from
Norton Rose Fulbright. 'A growing number of international actors should
be concerned about their potential exposure under the Iran sanctions.'
The law, signed in January as part of the annual national defense
authorization act, targets the Iranian energy, shipping and shipbuilding
sectors, barring the sale, supply or transfer of 'significant' goods or
services by non-U.S. companies... But the executive order goes even
further than that. It targets the Iranian rial, giving the U.S. the power
to place sanctions on foreign financial institutions conducting
'significant' transactions involving the currency. The goal, senior
administration officials said in June, was to make the rial useless outside
of Iran. Individuals or foreign financial institutions found providing
material support to anyone already under sanctions against Iran are
themselves subject to sanctions, the order says. 'This will expand
greatly the extraterritorial application of sanctions to transactions
with Iranian government-owned entities,' said Jonathan Epstein, a partner
with Holland & Knight, in a client alert earlier in June. The order
authorizes sanctions against those who sell, supply or transfer to Iran
goods or services that aid in making light and heavy vehicles such as
passenger cars, trucks, buses, minibuses, pick-up trucks and motorcycles.
The sanctions focused on the auto sector also target foreign financial
institutions." http://t.uani.com/14InmLb
Reuters:
"The top U.S. energy official said he believed the oil market could
cope with any further reduction of Iran's oil exports from the tightening
of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program... Moniz said Iranian
exports were not now a 'dominant player in the market', and was offset by
increased production in the United States and in Iraq as well as
substantial reserve capacity in some of the major OPEC producers such as
Saudi Arabia. 'So I would think that with further sanctions, the markets
could be quite resilient to that,' said Moniz, who took office last
month. From a technical point of view, 'we can certainly manage a further
reduction of Iranian exports', he added." http://t.uani.com/1b0J1mL
AFP:
"US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew expressed hope the economic sanctions
aimed at stopping Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program will work,
because 'the alternatives are worse.' Lew -- whose Treasury Department is
tasked with enforcing the sanctions -- was speaking Sunday at a
conference in Aspen, Colorado. 'It would be the best thing for Iran and
the best thing for the world if economic sanctions worked because the
alternatives are worse for Iran and for the world,' Lew said. 'I don't
think any (US) president should make the decision about whether or not to
go beyond the sanctions without having exhausted the tools available,' he
added... The US treasury secretary painted a bleak picture of Iran's
economy where, he said, 'sanctions are working.' 'We are seeing it in
Iran's GDP, we are seeing it in the value of the rial, in the employment
rate, in the inflation rate. It's not a pretty picture from an economic
perspective.' Lew called the current sanctions the 'toughest sanctions in
history,' and credited an international united front: 'We have not seen
the kind of slippage in international support for sanctions that some
people have speculated about.' 'The goal is not to hurt the Iranian
people. The goal is to change their decision,' the Obama administration
official said." http://t.uani.com/13lbv94
Sanctions
AzerNews: "The first U.S.
sanctions against Iran's vehicle industry take effect today, July 1, as
the U.S has ratcheted up its efforts to isolate Iran for its uranium
enrichment program, in other words for developing a nuclear weapon... In
his ninth executive order against Iran on June 3, U.S. President Barack
Obama approved sanctions against people who do business with Iran's auto
sector which the White House said was a major source of revenue for
Tehran. South Korean companies have officially announced that they will
not accept orders from Iran for selling car parts to them. According to
projections, the sanctions will lead to a 40 percent rise in production
costs in Iranian car-making companies as Korean suppliers used to provide
Iranian companies with 60 percent of their needs. They are planning to
replace Korean suppliers with Chinese ones." http://t.uani.com/1auNWxD
WSJ:
"New York's finance regulator is setting his sights on the world's
reinsurance firms, alleging some of them may be involved in practices
that won't comply with pending U.S. laws against doing business with
Iran. A yearlong probe by Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York's
Department of Financial Services, has uncovered evidence that at least
three non-U.S. firms insured shipments to Iran, according to people with
knowledge of the investigation. As a result of the probe, Mr. Lawsky last
week wrote to 20 non-U.S. reinsurance companies requesting detailed
information on their dealings with entities or people connected to Iran,
according to a copy of the letter reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Lawsky's office sent the letter to some of the world's largest
reinsurance companies, including Swiss Re AG, Hannover Re SE and Lloyd's
of London. However, the letter didn't name the three firms that allegedly
insured the shipments. Reinsurance firms provide backup protection to
insurance companies seeking to offset their risk." http://t.uani.com/11T9Aa8
WSJ:
"Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili's government blitzed
Capitol Hill this week with memos detailing Tbilisi's commitment to
squeezing Iran and stressing his desire to maintain his country's
pro-Western stance... A recent front-page article in The Wall Street
Journal detailed evidence that Tehran has been attempting to use Georgia,
a former Soviet republic, to evade mounting U.S. and European sanctions
that are aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Ivanishvili's
government, in memos sent to lawmakers and lobbyists by Patton Boggs this
week, pledged to aggressively choke off any Iranian government money
moving through Georgia and the Caucasus region. It also sought to shift
blame to Mr. Saakashvili for Georgia's pursuit of policies that led to
the sharp increase in Iranian investments. They singled out Tbilisi's
2011 decision to lift the visa requirements for Iranian nationals seeking
to enter Georgia." http://t.uani.com/14kfuRf
AP:
"An Oregon jury has convicted a Texas urologist and his attorney
wife of defrauding the government in a scheme prosecutors allege also
violated a U.S. trade embargo with Iran. They couple still faces federal
charges in Texas that they defrauded private health care programs of more
than $1.5 million in a trial scheduled for October. Dr. Hossein Lahiji
and his wife, Najmeh, were also convicted of conspiracy to engage in
money laundering. Prosecutors said the couple, of McAllen, Texas, gave
more than $1.8 million to the Oregon branch of an Iranian children's
charity that then sent the money on to Iran. Prosecutors say the
transactions violated the trade embargo against Iran. Their donations
were used to make investments in Iran that they retained control over,
according to the indictment." http://t.uani.com/18pE8Eg
AP:
"Legislation to divest Rhode Island state money from companies
within operations in Iran is heading to Gov. Lincoln Chafee. The state's
General Assembly gave the legislation final approval last week. If signed
by Chafee, the state's retirement board would be required to identify any
investments in companies that operate in Iran. Unless the companies agree
to cease operations in Iran, the state would pull its investment. The
state would similarly end relationships with any state contractors doing
business in Iran." http://t.uani.com/17OxUi3
Human Rights
Iran Human Rights:
"Four prisoners were hanged in two different Iranian cities today
Sunday June 30. Two of the prisoners were hanged in public. According to
the official Iranian news agency IRNA two prisoners convicted of rape
were hanged publicly in the city of Karaj (west of Tehran)... According
to the official Iranian sources 13 people have been executed since the
Iranian Presidential elections on June 14." http://t.uani.com/1b0Kkls
Domestic
Politics
NYT:
"Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, said Saturday that he would
engage with the West and fulfill his electoral promises to allow more
freedom for the Iranian people... Hinting at the revolutions that have
ousted several leaders in the Middle East, Mr. Rouhani emphasized that it
was important to listen to the 'majority of Iranians.' 'In our region,
there were some countries who miscalculated their positions, and you have
witnessed what happened to them,' he said during a live broadcast of a
conference organized by Voice and Vision, Iran's state television and
radio organization. 'The world is in a transitional mood, and a new order
has yet to be established,' he said. 'If we miscalculate our national
situation, it will be detrimental for us.' He also said Iran should not
hesitate to criticize the Syrian government for some of its actions in its
war against rebels seeking to oust it." http://t.uani.com/1auMsmS
Reuters:
"Iran's president-elect Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he would
appoint ministers from across its political spectrum as Iranian voters
had chosen a path of moderation over extremism. His victory in the June
14 vote has lifted hopes of a thaw in Iran's antagonistic relations with
the West that might create openings for defusing its nuclear dispute with
world powers. Rouhani has pledged a more conciliatory approach than
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, under whose belligerent presidency the Islamic
Republic drew ever more punishing international sanctions. Rouhani's
pledge of an inclusive cabinet could reassure conservative hardliners who
look askance at the endorsement he was granted by reformists in the
election. In turn, reformists will hope to regain some political
influence - with the aim of easing repression at home and Iran's
isolation abroad - after being sidelined under Ahmadinejad, who by law
could not run for a third consecutive term... Rouhani also urged
moderation in Iranian policies towards the rest of the world and called
for a balance between 'realism' and pursuing the ideals of the Islamic
Republic. 'Moderation in foreign policy is neither submission nor
antagonism, neither passivity nor confrontation. Moderation is effective
and constructive interaction with the world,' he said. 'The Islamic
Republic of Iran, as a major regional power or the biggest regional
power..., must play its role and for this we need moderation.'" http://t.uani.com/12gpTKy
Gallup:
"Iranian residents' election of moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani to
the presidency has been widely interpreted as evidence of their desire
for meaningful change in the country. Rouhani will preside over an
increasingly distressed population: Half of Iranians say there have been
times in the past year when they have had trouble paying for adequate
shelter and for food their families needed. In each case, the 50% figure
is the highest among 19 populations in the Middle East and North Africa
region that Gallup surveyed in 2012 and 2013." http://t.uani.com/11Ue1RW
Foreign Affairs
LAT:
"Iranian authorities confirmed Sunday the arrests of several
Slovakian nationals who were taken into custody on espionage-related
charges while on a paragliding trip to Iran. Alaeddin Boroujerdi,
chairman of Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy
Committee, said the group had been acting suspiciously. 'Some Slovakian
nationals were taking photos of our country's military sites by glider
when arrested by security forces,' he was quoted as saying in a report by
Iranian Students News Agency." http://t.uani.com/16JDttp
Opinion &
Analysis
Omid Memarian in
HuffPo: "Iran's leaders and many analysts and public
figures in the West, including both Americans and Iranian-Americans,
might argue this recent election was free. Their embrace of this election
as a return of Iranian democracy echoes former president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani, who called the vote 'one of the most democratic' elections in
the world. The truth is that calling this election 'free' disregards all
the machinations and state meddling that preceded the vote itself. All
eight candidates were approved by the Guardian Council on condition of
their commitment to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The reality of
running for executive in Iran is that opposition to or criticism of one
man, the Supreme Leader, can disqualify a candidate from running. The
eight approved men were not representatives of the best and the most
deserving citizens of the country. Rather they were all the Leader's
appointees, or from the ranks of his advisers, relatives, or long-time
friends. It would be more accurate to say that the election was held
democratically among eight candidates hand-picked by Iran's Supreme
Leader. The only credit due to the Islamic Republic is that within the
limited choices it made available to its people, there was no fraud. No
compliments and admiration are due to Islamic Republic of Iran for not
cheating, stealing people's votes, and betraying the trust of those who
accepted this faulty, selective, discriminatory, and undemocratic
election for a chance to create a modicum of change. In the months before
the vote, Iranian politicians from across the spectrum began warning of
'election engineering,' concerned over the myriad ways a vote can be
tainted. The lazy wisdom holds because unlike in 2009, there was no
explicit fraud in the counting of ballots, this election was not
engineered. But again this overlooks the tight and total control the
state exerts over the process. The process of selecting candidates, with
the Supreme Leader's approval and vetting by the Guardian Council, whose
members are again largely appointed by the Supreme Leader, renders every
election to some extent 'engineered,' if that term is meant to describe a
process that is controlled and shaped in advance." http://t.uani.com/10uoum9
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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