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Top Stories
Free Beacon:
"A Swedish shipping company currently operates a tanker that has
been exclusively making stops at Iranian oil ports and could potentially
be carrying fuel to several Iranian military bases, according to several
months of ship tracking data provided to the Washington Free Beacon by an
Iran watchdog group. Sweden's Stockholm Chartering AB operates a ship
that appears to exclusively run routes across Iran's southern border in
the Persian Gulf. Such deliveries would constitute a violation of U.S.
and European sanction on Iran, according to the data provided by United
Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a watchdog group that pressures American and
European companies to cut economic ties with Tehran. The ship, named
Persia, was spotted over the past two months docking near several Iranian
ports that are known as hubs for petrochemical exports and its military,
according to UANI. The watchdog has petitioned the company to halt its
deliveries and has alerted the European Union to its potentially illegal
dealings... The group's MINERVA ship tracking center in based out of New
York and operates in tandem with hubs in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Analysts track Iranian-affiliated ships around the clock and make note of
any potentially illegal or suspicious activities." http://t.uani.com/14iVukw
Reuters:
"Iran has not paid back any of its loans to the World Bank for more
than six months, the bank said on Thursday, a further sign of the strains
on the sanctions-hit Iranian economy. Faced with a combination of poor
fiscal management and Western economic sanctions for its disputed nuclear
program, Iran has suffered from spiraling prices and high unemployment in
the last year. The World Bank said it was placing Iran's loans in
non-performing status, as it must do when a country has not made any
payments for more than half a year. Iran owed the bank $697 million on
June 30, of which $79 million was overdue. The designation from the World
Bank, often a lender of last resort to cash-strapped governments, means
Iran may find it even harder to get money from commercial creditors. Iran
will also be ineligible for any new World Bank funds, although the
country has not borrowed from the bank since 2005 and has no current
World Bank programs. It is still required to make payments on what it
owes the bank. The World Bank said it took a hit of $81 million in the
fiscal year that ended on June 30 due to Iran's non-performing loans, a
tiny percentage of its multibillion-dollar lending portfolio. Zimbabwe is
the only other country beside Iran that is in 'non-accrual status' - it
has not made any payments to the World Bank since 2000." http://t.uani.com/1ax2Lgt
AP:
"Argentine Jewish leaders harshly criticized their government on
Thursday, the 19th anniversary of the nation's deadliest terror attack,
for dealing with Iran in ways they fear will only guarantee more impunity
for those responsible. A joint Argentine-Iran 'truth commission' approved
by both governments promises to move the investigation forward by
enabling Argentine prosecutors to travel to Teheran and question
high-ranking Iranian officials suspected of organizing the attack. The
bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in downtown Buenos
Aires killed 85 people in 1994 and remains unsolved. But prosecutor
Alberto Nisman recently released a 500-page indictment that accuses Iran
and Hezbollah organizing the attack and continuing to establish cells
across South America to launder money and commit acts of terror. Iran
denies any involvement in the bombing, and rejected Nisman's indictment
as a Zionist conspiracy theory." http://t.uani.com/15R4pbU
Human Rights
Detroit Free
Press: "A Michigan congressman today asked U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry to make the release of a Flint man held in
captivity in Iran for nearly two years a top priority. U.S. Rep. Dan
Kildee, D-Flint Township, made the request to prioritize efforts to
secure the release of Amir Hekmati in a letter signed by more than 100
members of the U.S. House, including the 14 members from Michigan.
Hekmati, a former Marine, was arrested in 2011 by Iranian authorities
while visiting his grandmother. He was accused of espionage, charges the
U.S. government and the Hekmati family deny." http://t.uani.com/13pug9V
AP:
"The stage curtains open. Six nooses hang above the young inmates,
who are making chairs in the prison workshop to be used as the platforms
in their own hangings. The audience gasps... The play tells the true
stories of seven juvenile death row inmates and the families on all sides
of the crime. It also seeks to raise funds for defense lawyers and social
workers trying to remove death sentences on young people through Iran's
system that allows families of victims to spare the life of the prisoner,
usually by payments." http://t.uani.com/12S3B0V
RFE/RL:
"On July 15, Mohammad Nourizad, a former hard-line conservative
columnist turned dissident, kissed the feet of a 4-year-old Baha'i boy
named Artin. Nourizad posted a photo of the scene on his blog along with
an account of the meeting. 'I told Artin: My little boy, I apologize to
you on behalf of all of those who, in these Islamic years, have made you
and your [Baha'i] fellows face injustice.' Nourizad, who has previously
been accused by some of political exhibitionism, suggested that by
kissing the boy's feet, he was following the example of Pope Francis, who
earlier this year kissed the feet of a young female Muslim prisoner...
Artin, whose parents are in jail because of their faith, is being cared
for by his grandmother. Nourizad wrote that Artin's grandfather was
executed several years ago 'most likely' on spying charges. Baha'is
comprise Iran's largest non-Muslim religious minority and face
persecution and discrimination. Their faith is not officially recognized
by the regime." http://t.uani.com/13pwRke
Domestic
Politics
LAT:
"On the bustling lanes outside this capital's expansive bazaar, a
sense of hope is palpable as Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rouhani,
prepares to take office next month. Even hardened cynics speak about the
possibility of a brighter economic horizon and the prospective easing of
international sanctions that have throttled growth, spurred inflation and
fostered a general malaise... 'I think Rouhani was brought to the scene
to get the sanctions lifted,' said Sina, a slim man who was among the
people working their side deals outside the bazaar's entrance. 'Otherwise
the survival of the ruling establishment is jeopardized.' But with hopes
so high, Rouhani's allies have hastened to emphasize that a chief of
state can do only so much. Some fear a crisis of dashed expectations,
especially since Rouhani's efforts will be subject to veto from Iran's
hard-line supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word
on foreign policy and security issues, such as Iran's nuclear
program." http://t.uani.com/153YLlt
Opinion &
Analysis
Noelle
Suarez-Murias in Heritage: "The Oversight and
Management Efficiency Subcommittee recently held a hearing about Iran's
influence and presence in Latin America. Contrary to a prior report
released by the State Department, all of the experts who testified
expressed deep concern over what they called a growing influence of Iran
in the region. Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy
Council, pointed out that, since 2005, Iran has more than doubled the
number of embassies in the Western Hemisphere from five to 11. Iran has
also created a Spanish-language channel broadcasting in more than 10
countries. This is in addition to the 17 cultural centers already
operating regionally. Their goal, according to Berman, is to gradually
make the region more sympathetic to Iranian interests rather than
American ones. Additionally, Iran has reportedly created more than 500
cooperative trade agreements. Although most remain unfulfilled, Berman
said, 'Iran's economic footprint in the region is increasing.' This he
said, is evidenced by the fact that trade more than doubled, increasing
from a yearly average of $1.3 billion in the years 2000-2005 to $3.67
billion today. Joseph Humire, executive director of the Center for a
Secure Free Society, addressed Iran's observer status to the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). ALBA, a child born of the
late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, is an economic and political
partnership of left-wing, anti-American socialist regimes. Although it
contains some of the poorest states in the region, 'the Bolivarians have
been able to dominate the narrative in the region for over a decade.'
This concern isn't without merit. When the U.S. led the West in
establishing crippling sanctions on Iran, ALBA states continued to trade
with Iran. Venezuela and Ecuador, Humire testified, let Iran use internal
banking structures to move its money into the international market.
Additionally, operations with Cuba and Venezuela, Humire asserted, have
been successful in creating fake IDs for Iranian citizens to immigrate
more freely into North America. So altogether, Iran's allies and
continual push into Latin America has made the intended effect of
sanctions weaker. Looking objectively at the investments Iran has made in
Latin America, it's clear that the presence of Iran has grown
significantly." http://t.uani.com/1bvmqjS
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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