Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Eye on Iran: Iran Offers "Compromises" in Nuclear Talks, West Unmoved








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Reuters
: "Iran is pushing what it portrays as a new compromise proposal in nuclear talks, but Western negotiators say it offers no viable concessions, underscoring how far apart the two sides are as they enter crunch time before a Nov. 24 deadline. In the negotiations with six major powers, the Iranians say they are no longer demanding a total end to economic sanctions in return for curbing their nuclear program and would accept initially lifting just the latest, most damaging, sanctions. Western officials dismiss the proposal as nothing new and say the Iranians have always known that the sanctions could only end gradually - with each measure being suspended and later terminated only after Iranian compliance had been proven". t.uani.com/10i2j6o

LAT: "The Obama administration has sweetened its offer to Iran in ongoing nuclear negotiations, saying it might accept Tehran operating 4,000 centrifuges, up from the previous 1,300, according to a semiofficial Iranian news agency. The Mehr news agency also said Monday that Iran and the six world powers seeking to negotiate a nuclear deal remained divided over how much uranium-enrichment capacity the Middle East nation should be allowed to maintain, and how to lift punitive sanctions from its economy. With a deadline for negotiators a month away, the two sides still differ on how to deal with two nuclear sites that have stirred international concern, the Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor and the Fordow underground enrichment facility, according to Mehr". t.uani.com/1tI8FJd

The Hill: "The White House is calling claims the administration is trying to bypass Congress on a nuclear deal with Iran 'preposterous' 'The notion that we are trying to avoid congressional consultation and input on this is preposterous,' White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Monday.' This is an issue where we talk to Congress intensively,' he added. 'We will continue to consult with Congress heavily.' A senior administration official told The New York Times in a story published Monday that the White House wouldn't seek congressional legislation on any comprehensive agreement 'for years.'" t.uani.com/1sKy29w

   
Nuclear Program & Negotiations

Algemeiner
: "A leading United States senator has warned that the Obama Administration is heading for confrontation with Congress over its refusal, as reported by the New York Times, to allow congressional approval of a final nuclear deal with Iran. In a statement to The Algemeiner, Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) declared: 'By threatening to cut out Congress from the Iran nuclear deal, the Administration is actually uniting Congress.  We will not support an Obama-Khamenei deal that condemns our children to a future where the Middle East is full of nuclear weapons.'After the signing of the Geneva Accord with Iran in November 2013, Kirk slammed the arrangement as 'the deal of the century for Iran,' and one that 'undermines sanctions and doesn't stop a future with Iranian nuclear weapons.' 'First the administration inappropriately characterized members of Congress as warmongers, now it is seeking to bypass Congress entirely,' David Ibsen of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) told The Algemeiner. 'This is wrong. Clearly Congress has a role to play in approving any agreement, given its authority in passing, lifting and potentially increasing sanctions as well as the historic consequences of a potential nuclear agreement with Iran.'" t.uani.com/1t3T6JP

AP: "The head of the U.N. nuclear agency is sounding a note of caution about Iran's claims that it is not interested in nuclear arms, saying he cannot guarantee that all the country's atomic activities are civilian in nature. Though not new, Yukiya Amano's comments Monday are significant amid a renewed deadlock in the 12-year probe by his International Atomic Agency of suspected nuclear weapons work by Iran. Iran denies such activities. Amano's comments also come as the U.S. and five other powers try to persuade Tehran to allow the IAEA greater sleuthing powers, allowing the agency to do snap inspections of sites suspected of possible unreported nuclear work. Amano told an IAEA meeting in Vienna that his agency cannot 'conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.'" t.uani.com/1nxmqHQ

Tasnim (Iran): "Chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali Akbar Salehi said the country was able to manufacture high speed centrifuges needed for its medical centers. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 18th Annual ASPA International Conference in Iran's southern city of Shiraz, Salehi said that the AEOI has provided Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute and Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI) with high speed centrifuges.' The centrifuges are needed for producing vaccines. The centrifuges with a speed of 16,000 to 80,000 rpm (revolutions per minute) have been produced in the country for the first time. S That was an accomplishment by scientists at the country's Atomic Energy Organization,' Salehi said. Salehi also emphasized that previously, Iran were not allowed to have the high speed centrifuges because of their dual use nature."t.uani.com/1r87fkk

Sanctions Relief

Bloomberg
: "Iran, eager for an end to sanctions that have restricted its oil exports, is shunning its image as OPEC's price hawk by avoiding calls for an emergency session of the group to support prices. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh consulted with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about political and economic reasons for the price collapse, the ministry's news website Shana reported yesterday. No emergency meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is necessary to discuss the slide, Shana said. Rouhani told Zanganeh to use the 'oil diplomacy tool' to try to prevent a further decrease, the state-run Mehr news agency said Oct. 19, without elaborating. 'They have their wings clipped a bit at the moment because they can't really produce any more than they do,' Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S, said in an interview in Dubai yesterday. 'It's difficult for them to call for any strict action when they know that when sanctions are lifted, they're the ones that are going to ramp up production.'" t.uani.com/1pvxDEl

Al-Monitor: "As Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) finished another round of nuclear talks in Vienna to reach a permanent deal by the Nov. 24 deadline, moderate political elites in Tehran have kept their fingers crossed that the Hassan Rouhani administration's pledge will resolve the country's nuclear dossier quickly. Officials from both sides have repeatedly declared in recent weeks that several important issues need to be addressed if a permanent deal is to be achieved. Last week, Abbas Araqchi, deputy Iranian foreign minister and a top nuclear negotiator, raised the possibility that talks could be extended, saying, 'Time passes quickly, we are not still disappointed but if we cannot get a good enough result from this round of talks, it is obvious that we will not reach an agreement by November 24.'" t.uani.com/1opU1nS

Trend: "Iranian carmaker Saipa is revising its contracts with Renault to pave the way for the French company to continue presence in the Iranian market. Saipa CEO Saeed Madani said negotiations between the two sides are underway and the existing contracts are being revised, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on October 20.Foreign carmakers are very interested in launching new ventures with Iranian partners, he added. The two French car makers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot CitroënSA have taken initial steps toward resuming deliveries to Iran, previously one of their biggest markets. Renault and Peugeot executives met with Iran's Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh at an auto-parts fair in Tehran in late November 2013.The meetings came days after the signing of an accord between Iran, the U.S., France and four other countries, under which Tehran agreed to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for some sanctions relief." t.uani.com/1wlS8r2

Trend: "Chinese state-owned automobile and commercial vehicle manufacturer JAC Motors is negotiating with Iran's Kerman Khodro car manufacturing group to produce J2 and P1 cars in Iran. JAC vice chairman said the company exported over 8,000 cars to Iran in the first six months of the current year, Iran's Fars news agency reported on October 18.He said Iran is one of the main markets for JAC products. The Iranian Auto Parts Manufacturers Union has proposed a plan to Iran's industry ministry according to which imports of car from countries which imposed sanctions against Iran's car industry will be banned". t.uani.com/1opWCOB

Fars (Iran): "Iran's non-oil transit volume rose by 1000 percent at Shaheed Rajayee Port Special Economic Zone in the first six months of the current Iranian year (March 21-September 22), the port's manager said. Managing Director of Shaheed Rajayee Port Special Economic Zone Ebrahim Ideni said the volume of exports operations at his port, the largest in Iran, boosted increasingly in the same period. Iran loaded and unloaded 36.88 million tons of oil and non-oil goods via the port during the same period; 24.6 million tons were non-oil goods and 12.272 million tons were crude and oil products". t.uani.com/1sKCk0B

Tasnim (Iran): "The value of Iranian exports to the European Union (EU) has witnessed a 77 percent increase in August compared with the same month in 2013, reaching 80 million euros, data released by the Eurostat showed. Trade turnover between Iran and the 28 member states of the EU during the first eight months of 2014 stood at 4.587 billion euros, according to the Eurostat. The value of Iran-EU trade exchanges from January to August 2014 grew by 15 percent, compared to the same period last year, which had amounted to €3.975 billion, the data indicate. The EU imports from Iran during the first eight months of 2014 reached €645 million, showing a 28 percent increase, compared to the same period last year, in which the figure stood at €504 million. According to the data, the total value of EU imports from the Islamic Republic in August 2014 amounted to €80 million, indicating a 77 percent increase compared with August 2013." t.uani.com/1pwVYK4

Islamic State

AFP
: "Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi arrived in Tehran late Monday on his first visit to Iran since taking office after the crisis triggered by the advance of Islamic State militants. Iraqi state television said Abadi, whose country remains beset by IS, arrived shortly before midnight for talks with Iranian officials including President Hassan Rouhani about the ongoing battle, which has drawn in US and other international air strikes." t.uani.com/1CNHThq

Wash. Post: "Shiite powerhouse Iran has pledged enduring support for the Shiite-led government of Iraq in its battle against an ascendant Sunni insurgency spearheaded by the Islamic State group. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi on Tuesday that Iran has supported Baghdad 'from the first day and will remain on that path until the last day,' according to a report by the official IRNA news agency. It was Abadi's first foreign visit since taking office in September.' Choosing Iran as my first destination after taking office indicates the depth of ties,' he said, according to IRNA. 'Terrorism is a threat to all regional countries and we are sure Iran will stand by us.'" t.uani.com/1nxVMi3

RFE/RL: "The commander of Iran's powerful Qods Force, Qassem Suleimani, has said that both the Islamic State (IS) group and the United States are 'doomed to failure' in Iraq and Syria. The Qods Force is the branch of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) responsible for overseas operations. In recent weeks, Iran has gone to lengths to demonstrate that Qods Force commander Suleimani (and, by extension, Tehran) are playing an important role in combating IS in Iraq and Syria. At the same time, Iran has also emphasized that it believes the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State is both ineffective and part of an attempt by the United States and its allies to gain regional power". t.uani.com/1uzyZQc

Human Rights

NYT: "The police arrested several men Monday in connection with at least four acid attacks on women that appear part of a violent campaign in support of new rules that aim to punish women deemed 'badly veiled.' The attacks spread panic around Iran's old capital, Isfahan, which is also the country's main tourist destination. The semiofficial Iranian Students' News Agency reported that men on motorcycles had splashed acid on women through open car windows. The episodes were widely discussed on social media in Iran as people in Isfahan said there had been more than a dozen attacks, a number not confirmed by the police but enough to prompt many women to stay indoors". t.uani.com/1x4lM4r

Trend: "Four men were hanged in Iran's northern Rasht city on Oct. 19, due to drug related charges, the official IRIB news agency reported. One of the hanged men was previously arrested for heroin possession, while another 46-year old man was arrested and charged for carrying and selling opium. The other two hanged men were hanged upon charges for buying methamphetamine and heroin. Drug trafficking as well as murder, rape and armed robbery are among the crimes that are punishable by death in Iran. Iran ranks second, after China, in terms of the number of executions in the world". t.uani.com/ZMvayS

Domestic Politics

WashPost
: "A leading Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Mohammadreza Mahdavi Kani, who headed the country's most influential clerical body charged with choosing or dismissing the nation's supreme leader, has died. He was 83.Kani was the chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a body of 86 senior clerics that monitors the supreme leader and picks a successor after his death. That makes it potentially one of the most powerful institutions in Iran, although it does not involve itself the daily affairs of state. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani declared two days of national mourning". t.uani.com/1pwRTWm

Foreign Affairs

Trend
: "Iran's state agency confirmed that a senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander, brigadier general Jabbar Darisawi has been killed in Syria. IRNA reported on Oct.17 that the body of general Darisawi was buried in Ahvaz Province on Thursday, but didn't mention when the top commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed. IRNA reported that the general was killed in an effort 'defending the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque'. Sayyidah Zaynab is the daughter of the first Imam of Shia Muslim people and the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque is located in the southern suburbs of Damascus, Syria". t.uani.com/1x4rCT6

Fars (Iran): "Tehran will host an international conference themed World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) on December 9-10, an official announced on Sunday.'Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as well as senior officials and experts from 30 other world countries will participate in the (upcoming) WAVE conference,' Zahrani told reporters. The official noted that the conference will follow Rouhani's recent proposal at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly and its subsequent approval at the UN. Zahrani said the conclusions of the upcoming conference will be reported to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. On September 25, 2013, President Rouhani proposed 'the World against Violence and Extremism' initiative in his address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York". t.uani.com/1whQpEb

WashPost: "Iran's defense minister said his country is ready to ship defensive materials to Lebanon to aid its army in the fight against Sunni extremists on Monday, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. The report quoted Gen. Hossein Dehghan, speaking at a joint briefing with visiting Lebanese Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, as saying the shipment would help thwart extremists who plan to commit 'inhuman crimes' in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.' We will provide an Iranian-made consignment of defensive items to the Lebanese army for their use in fighting the group and other terrorist groups,' Dehghan said. The Lebanese troops have been fighting militants from the Islamic State group since fighting spilled into the Mediterranean country from neighboring Syria." t.uani.com/1whYBo1

Opinion & Analysis

Dennis Ross in Foreign Affairs
: "It is no accident that hardly anyone involved in the Iranian nuclear negotiations has expressed optimism about meeting the November 24 deadline for a comprehensive agreement. The Iranian and U.S. governments are continuing to meet regularly -- most recently last week in Vienna -- but there are few signs of meaningful progress. Indeed, the essence of the deal that has always made most sense -- a rollback of the Iranian nuclear program in return for a rollback of sanctions -- seems increasingly beyond reach. Instead, the Iranians have been insisting on a rollback of the sanctions in return only for limited transparency on their industrial-size nuclear program. But Washington has insisted for a long time that, given Iran's past violations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), limited transparency won't be enough. Further, it has already stated that it will not accept an industrial-scale program, although it is prepared to agree to a limited-enrichment capability." t.uani.com/1t6tdst

Armin Rosen in Business Insider: "Yesterday, Reza Aslan, a creative writing professor at the University of California at Riverside and widely respected public commentator on religious affairs, tweeted that 'Iran currently has the highest number of US college alums serving in any foreign government cabinet in the world,' and included a helpful pictorial guide. It was retweeted several hundred times. Aslan's recent statements on US relations with Iran give needed context for his intended meaning. After the singing of the Joint Plan of Action between Iran and the so-called P5+1 in Geneva in late 2013, Aslan went on the Daily Show to offer his interpretation of the interim nuclear agreement's impact.' It's created a reconciliation camp and an isolationist camp and right now the reconciliation camp has all the momentum,' he said. 'Where here in the US nobody talks about this deal as possibly laying the groundwork for true normalization that's all they talk about in Iran.'" t.uani.com/1wrfayS

Shimon Stein & Emily Landau in The National Interest: "On the basis of recent reports, one cannot escape the conclusion that the negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran for a comprehensive nuclear deal are not going well as far as the prospect of achieving a nuclear deal that will effectively keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon at a time of its choosing. In fact, they are going very badly in this respect, and one does not have to be Benjamin Netanyahu in order to notice that. There is no indication that Iran is willing to make any meaningful compromise regarding its nuclear program, and on the enrichment front, Iran is actually demanding a tenfold increase in its enrichment capability. Compounding the difficulties is that the leverage of the P5+1 negotiators has been eroding in parallel. Beyond the partial easing of the pressure of sanctions, this finds expression in the fact that every time these international negotiators come forward with a new suggestion for a 'face-saving concession' to Iran, they weaken their own resolve and consequently their bargaining power. Indeed, whenever the negotiations hit a snag, it is the P5+1 group that comes up with a proposal for compromise, which invariably involves backing away from a previous legitimate demand. Iran, by contrast, has not budged from its steadfast position, and its idea of 'compromise' is: 'if only the United States would back away from its unreasonable demands, we could reach a deal in no time.' While a successful outcome will likely entail sacrifices or concessions from both sides, so far we are witnessing a stark asymmetry in terms of the concessions that have been made. The P5+1 has made significant strategic concessions, like forgoing UNSC resolutions that had been taken regarding Iran, and agreeing to allow Iran to maintain a limited enrichment program." t.uani.com/1rZWXCc

Anthony Cordesman in CSIS: "Iran's rocket and missile forces serves a wide range of Iranian strategic objectives. Iran's forces range from relatively short-range artillery rockets that support its ground forces and limit the need for close air support to long-range missiles that can reach any target in the region, as well as the development of booster systems that might give Iran the ability to strike at targets throughout Europe and even in the US.Iran's rocket and missile forces are steadily evolving. While the lethality of most current systems is limited by a reliance on conventional warheads, poor accuracy, and uncertain reliability, Iran is developing improved guidance systems, attempting to improve the lethality of its conventional warheads, and has at least studied arming its missiles with nuclear warheads." t.uani.com/1wgUY1D
    

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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