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Reuters:
"China wants to have closer military ties with Iran, the Chinese
defense minister told the visiting head of the Iranian navy on Thursday,
state media reported, reaffirming diplomatic links despite controversy
over Iran's nuclear plans. Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan told
Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari that the two armed
forces have seen 'good cooperation on mutual visits, personnel training
and other fields in recent years', China's official Xinhua news agency
reported. 'Exchanges between the two navies have been fruitful and their
warships have paid successful visits to each other,' it cited Chang as
saying. 'Chang ... stressed China is willing to work with Iran to further
pragmatic cooperation and strengthen military-to-military ties.'" http://t.uani.com/1wr5Uss
Reuters:
"Boeing said on Wednesday it had sold aircraft-related goods to Iran
Air in the third quarter, marking the first acknowledged dealings between
U.S. aerospace companies and Iran since the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis.The
Chicago-based aerospace and defense company said in a filing that it sold
aircraft manuals, drawings, navigation charts and data to Iran Air to
help improve the safety of Iran's civil aviation industry. The sales did
not include spare parts for aircraft, which were thought to be likely
since Iran Air's fleet of planes includes vintage Boeing and Airbus
jetliners delivered as long ago as 1978. Boeing and General Electric
(GE.N) said in April that they had received export licenses from the U.S.
Office of Foreign Assets Control allowing them to sell parts for
commercial aircraft to Iran under a temporary sanctions relief deal that
began in January." http://t.uani.com/1wmpVl1
Bloomberg:
"A deal over Iran's nuclear program appears unlikely by a Nov. 24
deadline, meaning an extension of the interim agreement may be needed to
press Iran for more concessions, the French ambassador to Washington
said. Iran wants 'sanctions lifted immediately,' while negotiators for
six international powers want an 'incremental and reversible suspension'
of economic penalties, based on Iran's compliance with limits on its
nuclear activities, Gerard Araud, who served as France's chief nuclear
negotiator with Iran from 2006 to 2009, said yesterday at a Bloomberg
Government breakfast in Washington". 'The Iranians are really
negotiating,' he said. 'The problem is whether they are ready to pay the
price for an agreement' and "for the moment, they are not." 'We
are ready to accept a few thousands of centrifuges, more as a sort of
face-saving' solution for Iran, 'to show that Iran has not given up
enrichment,' he said. The Iranians' last proposal was 'to keep what they
have right now,' about 19,000 declared centrifuges, half of which are
currently operating, with the right to add more in the future for a
theoretical industrial-scale energy program, a position Araud said is
unacceptable to the international community. http://t.uani.com/1ypoqCU
Nuclear
Program & Negotiations
Reuters
: "Iran's dependence on oil revenue is putting the Islamic
Republic's economy at the mercy of major powers, Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday. With oil losing a quarter of its value
since June, President Hassan Rouhani's administration has been scrambling
for alternative sources of income. Iran's budget is based on oil priced
at around $100 a barrel while Brent crude is currently below $87. Hitting
prices is abundant supply as well as concern that slowing economic growth
in Europe and China will soften demand". http://t.uani.com/ZOMIdx
The Hill:
"Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the public wouldn't 'tolerate' the
administration's decision to bypass Congress on a nuclear deal with
Iran.' The American people will not tolerate a president who wheels and
deals with a radical regime behind their backs and dodges congressional
oversight every chance he gets,' Cornyn said Wednesday. Cornyn's comments
came after Secretary of State John Kerry said the administration has the
authority to suspend sanctions on Iran without congressional approval.
The United States, Iran and six other world powers have until Nov. 24 to
reach a deal to diminish Iran's nuclear weapons capability. The Obama
administration lifted some economic sanctions against Iran in order to
get the country to the negotiation table, but lawmakers said the State
Department is giving Iran too many concessions without enough in
return." http://t.uani.com/1ypqPO0
The Hill:
"Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that the administration
has the authority to suspend sanctions on Iran without Congress, but that
'in the end' Congress would weigh in. 'On sanctions, what we've merely
said to people is that - and we've said this in public testimony as well
as in private conversations - that in the first instance, we would look
to suspend sanctions, which the president can do, simply because that's
the necessary way to proceed with respect to the negotiations
themselves,' Kerry said at a press conference in Berlin." http://t.uani.com/1wf5Kb4
RFE:
"Iran's intelligence minister has announced that the country's
security services have arrested several suspected spies in the southern
province of Bushehr where Iran's nuclear plant is located. Seyed Mahmud
Alawi said on October 21 security forces 'who monitor the moves of the
foreign intelligence services' have arrested 'some agents who intended to
carry out surveillance and intelligence gathering for the foreigners in
Bushehr province.' Iran has repeatedly cited signs of alleged foreign
plots to sabotage its nuclear program. The West fears Iran's nuclear
program could be put to developing an atomic bomb capability. Tehran says
it is developing nuclear energy only for electricity and medical
treatments". http://t.uani.com/1xd7wGB
Trend:
"Iran says that during the nuclear talks with P5+1 group, a
"general and common agreement" has been reached, but there are
still some disputes on details. The director general for political and
international security affairs of Iran's Foreign Ministry Hamid Baeidinejad
who has been discussing Iran's nuclear issue with the P5+1 group since
Oct. 22 in Vienna, told IRNA that it is possible to reach a comprehensive
agreement until Nov.23. Iran and P5+1 (the five permanent members of the
UN Security Council comprising of China, France, Russia, Britain, the US
Plus Germany) sealed an interim deal in Geneva on November 24,2013 to
pave the way for the full resolution of the West's decade-old dispute
with Iran over the country's nuclear energy program. The Geneva deal took
effect on January 20 and expired on July 20. However the two sides agreed
to extend their talks for four months till Nov. 24 to reach a permanent
deal on Iran's disputed nuclear program." http://t.uani.com/1D19kEC
Human Rights
NYT:
"Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the historic city of
Isfahan on Wednesday to protest several acid attacks on women. The
attacks had coincided with the passage of a law designed to protect those
who correct people deemed to be acting in an 'un-Islamic' way. A local official
said on Wednesday that 'eight to nine' women had been attacked over the
past three weeks by men on motorcycles who splashed them with acid in
Isfahan, one of Iran's largest urban centers and the country's chief
tourist destination. Some of the women were blinded or disfigured.The
protesters - more than 2,000, according to the semiofficial news agency
Fars - gathered in front of the local judiciary office and shouted
slogans against extremists whom the protesters likened to supporters of
Islamic State militants. They also called for the city's Friday Prayer
leader and the prosecutor to step down, witnesses said. Critics have long
accused the Iranian authorities of playing down episodes that could
embarrass leaders rather than investigating the cases". http://t.uani.com/12ijUvJ
Reuters:
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani came out on Wednesday against a
parliamentary bill to empower vigilantes who enforce Islamic morals,
strongly re-asserting a moderate agenda that had taken a back seat since
his election last year. The law, proposed by conservative lawmakers who
dominate parliament, would provide legal protection to citizens who take
it on themselves to enforce the Islamic dress code and other behavior
prescribed under Iran's sharia law. It would bolster the work of
vigilantes and in particular the Basiji, volunteer paramilitaries who
often patrol streets, and stop cars to interrogate couples about their
relationships, to the resentment of many Iranians". http://t.uani.com/1nAmC9k
Financial Times:
"Women are the latest target in an increasingly bitter power
struggle between Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president, and his hardline
opponents. Acid attacks on at least four women in the central city of
Isfahan last week, allegedly because they were not following strict dress
codes, are widely thought to be a part of a campaign by hardliners to
'propagate virtue and prevent vice'. The incident has sparked panic and
anger among Iranian women. The sense of fear has been heightened by a new
law being debated in parliament that would protect citizens who 'correct'
women and men who do not abide by Islamic 'rules'". http://t.uani.com/1z0YBMw
Foreign Affairs
AFP:
"Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday told Iraq's
visiting premier that the Baghdad government is capable of defeating
Islamic State jihadists without foreign troops being deployed. The
military campaign against IS now encompasses US and other foreign air
strikes in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, but more than four months after
breaking into the country IS retains strongholds in the north and west
while trying to seize other territory". http://t.uani.com/1zlZ4u0
AFP:
"Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will visit Spain next
week before heading to China for the fourth regional conference on
Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday. The trip to Madrid is to expand
bilateral ties, ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said at her weekly
press briefing in Tehran, without confirming Zarif's day of departure.
'In his trip to China, the minister will attend the fourth regional
conference on Afghanistan' to discuss ways to restore security, she
added". http://t.uani.com/1wuKQU0
Al- Monitor:
"In the past few months, as the Islamic State (IS) gained control
over parts of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a caliphate, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has made it a
priority for the Iranian government to attempt to reduce tensions between
Shiites and Sunnis. In an Oct. 12 Eid al-Ghadeer sermon, Khamenei
emphasized the importance of unity between Shiite and Sunni Muslims and
the necessity of the two major branches of Islam to avoid conflict".
http://t.uani.com/1xd5vtK
Opinion &
Analysis
William Tobey in
Foreign Policy: Facing a complex and difficult task in
negotiating an agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue, the Obama
administration is beginning to leak what many observers have long
understood -- that it sees no point in trying to obtain Congressional
approval for any nuclear deal with Iran. First, it is by no means clear
that Iran's Supreme leader is willing to abandon any nuclear weapons
ambitions. Tehran's disclosures to the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) on the 'possible military dimensions' of its program remain
grudging, incomplete, and inaccurate -- not behavior indicative of a
strategic decision to use nuclear energy solely for peaceful purposes in
return for the easing of Iran's political and economic exile. In 2010,
Harry Reid's Senate passed additional sanctions by a vote of 99-0, and the
Republican-controlled House is even more suspicious of Iran's
intent. Seeking Congressional approval for a deal, but failing to
get it would be an even more devastating blow to the credibility of
American leadership than the Syria red line debacle". http://t.uani.com/1sTxm1B
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