Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Eye on Iran: Nuclear Talks With Iran Start Slowly








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NYT: "The effort to negotiate a comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue began in earnest on Tuesday, with Iranian negotiators meeting one on one with officials of the United States and other major world powers. Senior Iranian officials said on Tuesday that they were ready for long and complicated negotiations, but that Iran would not accept the dismantling of its nuclear facilities. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister and deputy nuclear negotiator, told reporters here that the talks had started well, but that 'to us, what has been announced as dismantling Iran's program and facilities is not on the agenda.' But American officials have said that they foresee Iran having to dismantle a significant amount of its nuclear infrastructure related to uranium enrichment as part of any final deal... That negotiating effort is likely to focus on some equation between the amount and quality of Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and the number and sophistication of the centrifuges it possesses. Iran is thought to have 19,000 centrifuges of varying quality, of which only 10,000 are working." http://t.uani.com/1cq1oD8

WSJ: "Talks on a permanent Iran nuclear accord opened Tuesday with the U.S. pressing Tehran to agree the deal should encompass caps on its expanding ballistic missile capabilities. The dispute is the latest in a growing number of issues that divide Washington and Tehran as the Obama administration seeks to use diplomacy to end the military threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. and its allies view Iran's missiles as part of the country's potential nuclear threat, thus a subject for the talks on a permanent nuclear agreement. 'They have to deal with matters related to their ballistic missile program,' said White House spokesman Jay Carney.  But Iran says the missiles are part of its defense establishment and beyond the limits of nuclear talks. In any case, the issue of whether Iran's ballistic missile capabilities will be on the agenda already has exposed a rift between the Americans and Iranians." http://t.uani.com/1dMgKCV

Free Beacon: "The chairman of a German company whose cranes are reportedly being used for public hangings in Iran lashed out at critics and dismissed calls for his company to end its relationship with Tehran on humanitarian grounds. German construction company Atlas has come under fire from advocacy groups for purportedly supplying cranes to Iran, which then uses them to publicly hang opposition leaders and others... The name Atlas can be seen on the cranes in several photographs of Iran's public hanging ceremonies, in which a masked executioner strings up a man as locals gather to watch, often with their children. The photographs prompted the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) to write Atlas Chairman Fil Filipov to demand that his company 'immediately terminate all business activities in Iran.' Atlas, which appears to be represented in Iran by an affiliate named Hydro Atlas, says it is not doing business with Iran and does not know how its equipment made its way to the country. 'We do not ship any cranes to this country!' Filipov told the Washington Free Beacon via email when asked about the pictures showing its cranes being used in hangings. Filipov dismissed humanitarian concerns in a series of emails to the Free Beacon and said he has 'no idea' how his company's equipment ended up in Iran. Asked if he was concerned that Atlas cranes were being used in executions, Filipov responded, 'We are not the police ... we make over 2,000 cranes per year and do not know who imports cranes where ... Atlas does not sell cranes to this country!' ... UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said Filipov should to be more accountable given Iran's record of human rights abuses. 'It is regrettable that Mr. Filipov is not more concerned with this situation-it is a very serious matter,' Carleton told the Free Beacon. 'Instead of making such flippant responses, Mr. Filipov should explain how his cranes got to Iran and why there is an Iranian firm calling itself his business partner and using his logo.'" http://t.uani.com/1jQAAAw
   
Nuclear Program & Negotiations

Reuters: "Iran says it will not cede its 'right' to install advanced machinery to refine uranium, signalling defiance on what looks likely to be a serious sticking point in its nuclear talks with world powers that began on Tuesday. Iran's development of new-generation centrifuges is under scrutiny in the West as they would enable a much more swift accumulation of fissile material that could be used for nuclear weapons if enriched to a high degree. Faced with technical hurdles and difficulty in obtaining parts abroad, Iran has been trying for years to replace the erratic, 1970s vintage IR-1 centrifuge it now operates at its underground Natanz and Fordow uranium enrichment facilities... A senior U.S. official said last month research and development (R&D) was among issues that 'will have to be dealt with in the comprehensive resolution', without making clear how." http://t.uani.com/1c2Do5I

AFP: "Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday warned against crossing 'red lines' in negotiations with world powers aimed at reaching a lasting agreement over Tehran's nuclear programme... 'The red lines of the establishment must be preserved in the negotiations so that the national pride is not damaged,' said hardline Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari, ISNA news agency reported... Iranian officials have previously laid down 'red lines' on the talks, saying they would not negotiate several issues, including the dismantling of nuclear facilities and reductions in the number of centrifuges at enrichment sites... Jafari said with Khamenei's guidelines Iran 'will be victorious either way' in the talks. 'The objectives of the talks is to lift the pressure of sanctions ... or that government officials will lose hope in the negotiations and will instead turn their focus on domestic capacities to confront the sanctions,' ISNA quoted him as saying." http://t.uani.com/1oRKB0Y

Breaking Defense: The UN atomic watchdog will still have a hard time answering crucial questions about whether Iran seeks nuclear weapons despite winning better access for inspectors, the UN's top inspector Yukiya Amano told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview Monday at the agency's headquarters here. Amano said the main problem going forward is that Iran refuses to implement an Additional Protocol that would allow inspections of sites beyond those where the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency knows nuclear material is used or stored. This protocol is the key to making more rapid progress in verifying the peaceful or military nature of Iran's nuclear work. 'The implementation of the Additional Protocol is very important to provide assurance that all nuclear activity in Iran is for a peaceful purpose but we are not yet at that point. . . . We are at an early stage of clarifying and resolving the issues,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1e7hmyw

ICHRI: "In a new interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA), Kayvan Khosravi, the Spokesperson for the Supreme National Security Council Secretariat, cautioned the media not to publish news quoting any authorities other than the Supreme Security Council's Secretariat office. 'Announcing news and information related to the Supreme National Security Council and its Secretariat by any official is not allowed, and [any] resolutions, decisions, and news appropriate for publication in the media will solely be announced by the Council's Secretariat,' Khosravi said. 'Any action that would lead to the publication of such resolutions will be prosecutable as a criminal act.' ... In what became the Rouhani administration's first official restriction on the free flow of information, last December, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance conveyed the SNSC's gag order to the media, prohibiting them from reporting 'unofficial' news about the nuclear issue... The SNSC has repeatedly prohibited the media from covering news it deems 'sensitive.'" http://t.uani.com/1fyMF6t

Sanctions Enforcement & Impact

WSJ: "The U.S. has made no secret of its determination to strictly enforce the remaining energy and banking sanctions on Iran, actively discouraging European companies from rushing to do business with Tehran following November's nuclear deal. Yet there was a fresh acknowledgement Monday by a senior U.S. official that the Obama administration still had real concerns about the issue... The U.S. outreach on sanctions has had mixed results. European business missions have continued to visit Tehran... On Monday evening, a senior U.S. official expressed some of the administration's frustrations on these business overtures to Tehran, slamming companies who are trying to position themselves for future Iranian business. Asked if the U.S. still had concerns about European companies' business overtures to Tehran, the official said. 'I think as the President has implied, we would, of course, prefer countries to wait to see where we get with a comprehensive agreement before rushing off to Iran... But what we don't think is good for business and not good for Iran - it's not fair, in our view, for the Iranian people for countries to go to Iran and say We want to get in line, so if a comprehensive agreement is reached we can be first in line. It raises people's expectations, and the relief will only come if there is a comprehensive agreement." http://t.uani.com/1oROIKH

AP: "Kansas would lift restrictions on investments by its largest public pension fund in companies that do business in Sudan but impose new limits on investments in companies that do business with Iran under proposals reviewed by a legislative committee Monday. The House Pensions and Benefits Committee has two separate bills dealing with investments by the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, the pension system for teachers, state workers and many local government employees. KPERS has about $4.5 billion in international investments. The panel took no action on either measure." http://t.uani.com/1mt9uSa

Reuters: "German prosecutors said on Wednesday they had arrested a German-Iranian man suspected of exporting to the Islamic Republic goods that could be used in a weapons program. The products include vacuum pumps, valves and other industrial products that can be used for civil or military purposes, Federal Prosecutors said in a statement. The 62-year old man, arrested in the Bonn area of western Germany on Tuesday, is suspected of acquiring almost 230,000 euros worth of goods made in Germany or in other states for Iran between 2011 and 2013." http://t.uani.com/1e78poQ

Syria Conflict

Reuters: "Two suicide bombers targeted the Iranian cultural centre in Beirut on Wednesday, killing four people and themselves in an attack claimed by Sunni militants who said it was a response to the intervention of Iran and Hezbollah in the Syrian war. The army said two cars packed with explosives had been used in the rush hour attack in the predominantly Shi'ite southern suburbs of Beirut. Similar tactics were used in a twin suicide attack on the nearby Iranian embassy in November. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an al Qaeda-linked group, claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded more than 100 people and was condemned by Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister Tammam Salam as an act of terrorism. In a post on Twitter, the Brigades described the 'twin martyrdom operation' on the Iranian centre as retaliation for Hezbollah's role in Syria and pledged more attacks. The blast went off about 20 metres (yards) from the targeted building." http://t.uani.com/1nNAruZ

Human Rights

IHR: "Seven prisoners were hanged in the prisons of Kerman (southeastern Iran) and Qazvin (west of Tehran) early this morning. Based on the reports by the official Iranian sources at least 15 people have been executed in the last six days." http://t.uani.com/1fgBW45

NYT: "Amir Hekmati, the former Marine incarcerated in Iran on spying charges, has retained a prominent Iranian lawyer to represent him in a new effort to gain his release after nearly two and a half years in Tehran's Evin Prison, Mr. Hekmati's family reported on Tuesday. The lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, is well known in Iran as one of the legal representatives for the family of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and ideological pragmatist who remains an influential force in Iranian politics... Mr. Hekmati is one of two, and possibly three, Americans in Iranian custody. The others are Saeed Abedini, a pastor sentenced in January 2013 to an eight-year prison term, accused of unlawfully creating a network of Christian churches in private Iranian homes, and Robert A. Levinson, an intelligence operative and retired F.B.I. agent who has been missing for seven years." http://t.uani.com/1jQBz3P

Domestic Politics

AP: "Iran's top leader ordered the government Wednesday to create an 'economy of resistance' to counter sanctions imposed over Tehran's nuclear program. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Western sanctions 'a full-fledged economic war' and said Iran is determined to force the West to retreat... The program requires the government to diversify Iran's exports, reduce dependence on sales of raw materials and promote knowledge-based high-tech industries. 'If (Iran) pursues ... an economy of resistance, we will overcome economic problems and will defeat the enemy ... that has imposed a full-fledged economic war against this great nation,' he said in his order which was posted on his website leader.ir." http://t.uani.com/O9uiiH

AP: "The first cabinet decision made under Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, wasn't about how to resolve his country's nuclear dispute with world powers. It was about how to keep the nation's largest lake from disappearing. Lake Oroumieh, one of the biggest saltwater lakes on Earth, has shrunk more than 80 percent to 1,000 square kilometers (nearly 400 square miles) in the past decade, mainly because of climate change, expanded irrigation for surrounding farms and the damming of rivers that feed the body of water, experts say. Salt-covered rocks that were once deep underwater now sit in the middle of desert." http://t.uani.com/1e79xJ6

Opinion & Analysis

Jeffrey Goldberg Interview of UANI President Gary Samore in Bloomberg: "Until recently, Gary Samore was the Barack Obama administration's top expert on weapons of mass destruction and the go-to White House official on the complexities and challenges of the Iranian nuclear program. So I pay attention when he says that the Iran nuclear talks -- restarting today -- have an almost zero chance of success. One of the many reasons for this, he believes, is that the West has given the Iranian regime insufficient cause to feel as if it must give up its nuclear dreams. The negotiations might drag on for two or three years. And then? 'And then the Iranians could decide they're strong enough to walk away,' he says... I sat down with Samore at his office at Harvard University -- where he is the executive director for research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government -- to discuss this next round of negotiations. Below is a lightly edited transcript.
Question: What would Iran have to agree to in order for these negotiations to work?
Answer: Iran would have to drastically limit the number of centrifuges they will have at Natanz, for starters. They could be dismantled, or disinstalled, or put in storage someplace, but a monitored storage. Basically, they would have to operate far fewer centrifuges than they currently have. We're also talking about taking down their supply of low-enriched uranium, way below the seven or eight tons they have currently have that they have no need for. We're talking about losing Qom, the famous Fordow facility inside a mountain. We're talking about closing or converting the Arak heavy water research reactor, either shutting it or converting it to a low power light water reactor. And we're talking about enhanced monitoring and verification.
Q: You think it could happen?
A: As I read the Iranian position, they reject all of that. [President Hassan] Rouhani says they won't dismantle a thing. He says he has to have an enrichment facility big enough to provide fuel for the Bushehr nuclear plant, and that would be tens of thousands of centrifuge machines, fifty or sixty thousand of the current machines, to provide fuel for a single year's fuel load. And they say they need their heavy water research reactor to produce isotopes. So I think we're miles apart. And I think both sides are really locked in by their domestic politics. If Rouhani were free to act, he might very well accept restrictions for the sake of getting the sanctions lifted and for changing Iran's international position. But he's very constrained by the hard-liners. ...
Q: What do you think Obama would be happy with?
A: We all know that Iran's nuclear program is nothing but a disguise for their effort to acquire a nuclear weapons capability, and as part of the deal we should allow them to have some fig leaf, a cosmetic program. The truth is they don't need any centrifuges; they don't need a heavy water research reactor. These are all part of an effort to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. But what we'd settle for, I think, is a year -- that they would need a year from the moment they decided to go for a bomb to produce weapons-grade material for a bomb. This means they could be left with a couple of thousand centrifuge machines and a vastly reduced stockpile of low-enriched uranium. If we were confident that we would have a year's advance notice that they were starting to break out -- to produce weapons-grade uranium -- that would give us more than enough time to destroy the facility. If the Iranians accepted this, I think the White House would go along.
Q: But you're saying this won't work.
A: I don't think the Iranians feel compelled to make these kinds of concessions. This would mean giving up everything they've achieved over the past decade, and this is a very important project for them. This won't work in terms of finding a comprehensive solution...
Q: You don't feel that the Iranians are negotiating in good faith anyway, in the sense that they're ready to give up substantial parts of their nuclear program?
A: No. ...
Q: So the process ends in a year or two with no breakthrough. Where does that leave us?
A: After a year, if the Iranians have rejected all the proposals we put forward for compromise and then walk away from the deal, we might be in an even better position to go back hard on sanctions. France would be with us, the British and the Germans -- we will have certainly demonstrated that we were serious in reaching a deal, and President Obama has been very strong on coalition building. And our allies would know that the only reason the Iranians even came to the table was the sanctions. In a year or two, I should point out, unless there's a dramatic change in the world oil market, our position is going to be even stronger, with shale oil and gas coming on line. The world's dependence on Iranian oil is going to be even less than it is now. I think time is on our side in this." http://t.uani.com/1jGSXET

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

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.

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