Eye on Iran: Iran's Supreme Leader: Jihad Will Last until America is Wiped Out

Join UANI           Top Stories WT: "Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the era of negotiation of Tehran's nuclear program has ended and that those who wanted to deal with America - which he said must be destroyed - are guilty of treason. 'Those [Iranians] who want to promote negotiations and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason,' he said Sunday during a public address to members of parliament, Fars News Agency reported. Mr. Khamenei also said a combative-type mindset was necessary for Iran to achieve its higher goals and win over the 'oppressors' front,' The Daily Caller reported. 'The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic,' he said. 'Logic and reason command that Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself. Today's world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor ... [who] commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.' One lawmaker asked how long the battle would wage, The Daily Caller reported. His reply: 'Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. ... This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors' front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. ... This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.'" http://t.uani.com/Sbt4Vq WSJ: "Iran has complied with its main pledges in last November's interim nuclear deal, the United Nations' atomic agency said in its quarterly report on Friday, continuing to refrain from enriching uranium to near-weapon-grade levels and converting its stockpile of nuclear material into less dangerous forms. The International Atomic Energy Agency also confirmed that Iran met its pledge to start addressing questions about past nuclear work. However, the report cited satellite evidence that Tehran was carrying out fresh work to clean up a military site in Parchin where Western governments believe Iran has carried out work that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The IAEA's latest report on Iran's nuclear program is the last one before a July 20 deadline set by Iran and six major powers to clinch a comprehensive nuclear deal. A critical report could have set back the negotiations intended to convince Tehran to curtail its future nuclear activities to ensure it doesn't build nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of tight international sanctions. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes and denies it ever sought to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran discusses its past nuclear activities with the IAEA. It negotiates on the comprehensive nuclear agreement with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. Those talks will continue in Vienna next month. The IAEA said Iran has now diluted or converted into a less dangerous form most of its stockpile of 20% enriched uranium gas, considered a fairly short technical step to weapons-grade material. Of its total 447.8 kilograms of 20% enriched uranium, only 38.4 kilograms is still in the original gas form. The agency said Iran had also begun to commission a facility that will convert some of the country's stockpile of 5% enriched uranium into less dangerous form. Iran has also not done any major work on its planned Arak heavy-water reactor plant, the IAEA said." http://t.uani.com/1inPedB Reuters: "The U.N. nuclear watchdog appears no closer to finding out what happened at a military site at the center of its investigation into suspected atom bomb research by Iran, despite signs Tehran is becoming more cooperative. A confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran for the first time in years had begun engaging with a long-stymied IAEA inquiry into allegations that it may have worked on designing a nuclear weapon. But any hope that Iran may be ready to fully address concerns about its nuclear activities will be tempered as long as it refuses to give the U.N. agency access to a location at the Parchin base southeast of Tehran, and information about it... The IAEA report issued to member states late on Friday said satellite images showed 'ongoing construction activities' at Parchin, a finding that could add to Western suspicions that Iran has been trying to hide any incriminating evidence of illicit nuclear-related experiments there. 'It seems clear that there is more sanitization going on,' one Western envoy said, noting indications of major alteration work at Parchin since early 2012, such as soil removal and asphalting of the specific place the IAEA wants to see." http://t.uani.com/1ti2Vju         Nuclear Program & Negotiations AFP: "Iran has for the first time in six years addressed concerns about the so-called 'possible military dimensions' of its nuclear programme, a new IAEA report showed Friday. Tehran handed over information related to detonators that can be used for several purposes but also for a nuclear weapon under a key November interim nuclear deal, the quarterly report, seen by AFP, showed. In technical meetings with the UN atomic watchdog in late April and earlier this week in Iran, Tehran provided 'information and explanations, including showing documents, to substantiate its stated need and application of EBW (Explosive Bridge Wire detonators),' the report by IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano for member states said. 'Iran showed information to the agency that simultaneous firing of EBW was tested for a civilian application,' it went on. 'This is the first time that Iran has engaged in a technical exchange with the agency on this or any other of the outstanding issues related to possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme since 2008.' The EBW issue was part of seven 'practical measures' that Iran agreed with world powers under a November interim deal and due to be fulfilled by May 15... A senior official close to the Iran dossier said Friday that it was 'still too early' to say if the latest information provided by Iran -- including on the detonators -- was credible, but welcomed the atmosphere during discussions between the UN agency and its member state." http://t.uani.com/1oEBRuu Reuters: "Iran said on Monday that world powers were 'demanding too much' in negotiations aimed at reaching a deal on Tehran's nuclear program by a July deadline, but hurdles could be overcome. Tehran and six world powers made little progress in the latest round of talks earlier this month in Vienna on ending their stand-off, raising doubts about the chances of a breakthrough by July 20. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking in Tehran before a visit to Turkey for talks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on ways of advancing the talks, said a compromise was still possible despite the difficulties. 'They should stop demanding too much. We have our red line, and they too want assurances that our nuclear program will always remain peaceful. We believe these two add up,' the state news agency IRNA quoted Zarif as saying on Monday. 'I feel the realism awakened from the last round of talks will bring us closer to conclusion. We may be able to remove one of two of the previous hurdles, or rather face new ones. In any case, we should make an effort to pass through this phase.'" http://t.uani.com/1kHnMf0 AFP: "EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are to meet Monday in Istanbul to review progress on negotiations toward a nuclear deal, media reports said. The previously unannounced two-day meeting comes after fruitless talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna earlier this month when no 'tangible progress' was made ahead of a July 20 deadline. The Istanbul meeting was announced on Iranian media, with the ISNA news agency citing a source close to the Islamic republic's nuclear negotiating team. Zarif left Tehran at around 10 am (0530 GMT) and will head to Algeria on Tuesday when his meetings with Ashton end." http://t.uani.com/1kke1UH Reuters: "The next round of talks between six world powers and Iran on resolving a dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme will be held in Vienna from June 16 to 20, the European Union said on Tuesday. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held 'very long and useful discussions' with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Turkey on Monday and Tuesday on ways of advancing the nuclear talks, Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann said. 'They explored different possibilities as part of an ongoing process. The next formal round of (six-power) talks with Iran will be from 16-20 June in Vienna,' Mann said in a statement." http://t.uani.com/1h8NF8A Sanctions Relief WSJ: "As the thaw in relations between the West and Iran continues, the Islamic Republic is hoping to lure major oil companies back to invest in its all-important energy sector. But any oil firms that return to Iran will find a new force to be reckoned with: Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a military force set up in 1979 by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to protect the country's Islamic political system. In particular, oil companies will find it necessary to come to some sort of accommodation with engineering contractor Khatam ol-Anbia, a company wholly owned by the Guards whose name means 'Seal of the Prophets.' ... Despite the easing of sanctions on Iran for the first six months of 2014, U.S. and European Union companies are still barred from dealing with Khatam, which the U.S. has accused of being involved in Iran's nuclear program. If that ban remains even after other sanctions are permanently lifted, that could prove an impediment to their plans to re-enter the country. 'An oil major partnering with Khatam? I can't see that happening,' said a former executive at a European oil giant that previously pulled out of Iran." http://t.uani.com/SbpxXb Syria Conflict AFP: "Iran said Sunday that Syrian opposition chief Ahmad Jarba was the "most inappropriate person" to lead the war-torn country and confirmed it would send observers to next month's presidential election. Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, has sought to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad for the past three years. Earlier this month Jarba visited Washington and shared a podium with US Secretary of State John Kerry. Jarba is not running against Assad in a June 3 presidential vote but Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian hit out regardless. 'In our opinion, when it comes to politics, Ahmad Jarba is a weak person ... he is the most inappropriate person for the future of Syria,' the official IRNA news agency quoted Amir Abdollahian as saying." http://t.uani.com/1nPQRUY Human Rights NYT: "The judicial authorities in Iran appeared to harden their clampdown on expression Friday, moving to block Instagram, imprisoning the director who made the now-famous Iranian version of the Pharrell Williams 'Happy' video and warning women to comply with a police campaign on the proper wearing of mandatory headscarves. Taken together, the developments suggested that the country's Islamic bureaucracy was alarmed over any perception of permissiveness that may have been partly inspired by the YouTube video in which six young Iranians, including bareheaded women, created a rendition of Mr. Williams' globally popular dance hit. Their version was viewed hundreds of thousands of times after it was posted last month." http://t.uani.com/1mkwdLH Reuters: "A conservative Iranian court opened a case against instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over complaints of privacy violation, state news agency ISNA reported on Tuesday. The case underscores the growing struggle between moderate Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's drive to increase Internet freedoms and demands by the conservative judiciary for tighter controls. The Iranian court in the southern province of Fars opened the cases against the social networks after citizens complained of breaches of privacy. 'According to the court's ruling, the Zionist director of the company of Facebook, or his official attorney must appear in court to defend himself and pay for possible losses,' said Ruhollah Momen-Nasab, an Iranian internet official, according to state news agency ISNA, referring to Zuckerberg's Jewish background. Zuckerberg, whose company owns WhatsApp and Instagram, is unlikely to heed the summons." http://t.uani.com/1nuHkUY WSJ: "The U.S. Treasury Department said Friday it placed sanctions on an Iranian government official for being involved in censorship. Morteza Tamaddon, now the head of the Tehran Provincial Public Security Council, used his authority while serving as the governor-general of Tehran Province to limit Iranians protesting the 2009 elections in Iran, Treasury said in a statement. He was personally responsible for the harassment of Iranian opposition leaders, and he cut off mobile communications and publicly threatened protesters in 2012, the statement said." http://t.uani.com/1kHoPLY Guardian: "A former US marine convicted of criminal charges in Iran after being accused of working for the CIA will appeal for a new trial after already seeing his sentence reduced once, an Iranian news agency reported on Sunday. Amir Hekmati, a dual US-Iranian citizen born in Arizona, was arrested in August 2011, then tried, convicted and sentenced to death for spying. However, Iran's supreme court annulled the death sentence after Hekmati appealed, ordering a retrial in 2012. The country's revolutionary court then overturned his conviction for espionage, instead charging him with 'cooperating with hostile governments' and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, Hekmati's lawyer, said he would appeal against the 10-year prison sentence as well, according to a report by the semi-official ISNA news agency. ISNA quoted the lawyer saying the rehearing request comes over a possible mistake by the judge in the case and the 'inconsistency' between Hekmati's alleged crime and its punishment. Iranian law allows for hearings after an appeals court decision for those reasons." http://t.uani.com/1kkeOVD AFP: "Iranian actress Leila Hatami Friday apologised for kissing the Cannes film festival's president on the cheek, an act which angered authorities in the Islamic republic, state news agency IRNA reported. 'I am so sorry for hurting the feelings of some people,' she wrote in a letter to Iran's cinema organisation, cited by IRNA. She underlined her respect for Islamic rules of behaviour in public, but festival president Gilles Jacob, 83, 'had forgotten the aforementioned rules, which comes with old age. My pre-emptive action of hand shaking was fruitless,' Hatami wrote, explaining the kiss. 'Although I am embarrassed to give these explanations, I had no choice but to go into details for those who could not understand the inevitable situation that i was stuck in,' she said. 'In my eyes, he is certainly like an old grandfather who was also my host.'" http://t.uani.com/1ti5qCm AFP: "An Iranian court convicted on Sunday the editor and a contributor of a banned newspaper over a series of charges, including lying about Islam and spreading anti-regime propaganda, reports said. The media watchdog banned the reformist Bahar daily in October 2013 after it published an article the authorities deemed as an insult to Shiite Islam for questioning one of its core beliefs. Its editor-in-chief, Saeed Pourazizi, who was detained and released on bail following the closure, was on Sunday convicted of 'propaganda against the establishment and spreading lies and rumours,' ISNA news agency reported. The Tehran criminal court found Ali Asghar Gharavi, the article's author, guilty of writing 'against the standards of Islam' and 'spreading lies and rumours,' the agency added. The court also ruled the newspaper was guilty of spreading 'propaganda against the establishment and insulting Islam and its sanctities.' The decision could see Bahar permanently banned, while Pourazizi and Gharavi now have to wait for the court's ruling on their sentences. President Hassan Rouhani, a self-declared moderate who has pledged to implement more freedom, has said the closure of newspapers must be taken as 'a last resort'. But three reformist dailies have so far been banned by the press watchdog since he took office in August." http://t.uani.com/1opkxMC ICHRI: "Sassan Soleimani, the director of one version of the 'Happy in Tehran' video, remains in Rajaee-Shahr Prison in Karaj where he is being deprived of sleep, days after six people who appeared in the video were released from detention, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1oEEcpo Domestic Politics Reuters: "Iran has hanged the first of four men sentenced to death for a massive financial scam that tainted the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, local media reported on Sunday. Mehafarid Amir-Khosravi, described as a self-made tycoon, was hanged in Tehran's Evin Prison on Saturday after the supreme court upheld the four death sentences, the reports said. There was no word on the fate of the other three. Exposed in 2011, the 30 trillion-rial ($2.7 billion) scandal involved embezzlement, bribery, forgery and money-laundering in 14 state-owned and private banks between 2007 and 2010 by people close to the political elite." http://t.uani.com/1tif9Zn Foreign Affairs Press TV: "A senior Iranian cleric says the Israeli regime is trying to hinder the Islamic Republic's nuclear talks with world powers, calling on the West to distance itself from Tel Aviv. 'The Western world must distance itself from the Zionists. This would be in the interest of the entire world, and in their own interest and of course in Iran's interest as well,' Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani told worshippers at the weekly Friday Prayers in Tehran. 'The United States and the West must know that the Zionists are not their friends. The Zionists want to dominate the entire world,' the Iranian cleric stated." http://t.uani.com/1jq2Apj 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.