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RFE/RL:
"Iran's nuclear activities and ambitions faced rare, blunt criticism
at a roundtable at Tehran University, where one of the speakers said the
damage done by the nuclear program was greater than that by the 1980-88 war
with Iraq, which left tens of thousands dead and caused much devastation.
'The imposed war [with Iraq] did not damage us as much as the nuclear
program has,' professor Sadegh Zibakalam said at the December 17
roundtable, according to reports by Iranian semiofficial news agencies.
Zibakalam also criticized the lack of public debate about the nuclear
issue. Other speakers were also critical of the nuclear program and its
costs for Iranians, who have come under unprecedented U.S.-led sanctions
that have made life more difficult. Speaking at the event, former reformist
lawmaker Ahmad Shirzad said nothing had come out of the nuclear program,
'not even a glass of water.' 'If you ask me why we're moving on the nuclear
path, I must say I have no idea,' Shirzad was quoted as saying by the ISNA
news agency. 'This is exactly like the continuation of the war [with Iraq]
after the liberation of Khorramshahr,' he added... The former lawmaker also
seemed to suggest that Iran would be better off without a civil nuclear
program. 'Iran doesn't have the primary resources and know-how for a
nuclear program,' he was quoted as saying by ISNA. He said Iran could
assert itself in areas such as petrochemistry and natural gas, where the
country has the resources and the knowledge... Criticism of the nuclear
issue has been a red line in Iran, where media face tough censorship rules
in their news coverage. Shirzad said the nuclear issue has turned into a
matter of 'honor.' 'When something becomes a matter of honor, discussing it
is not possible anymore. And that has been our problem for the past 11
years,' he said." http://t.uani.com/16vJVK2
Al-Monitor:
"During a celebration to mark Hamas' inauguration, which was held in
the Gaza Strip on Dec. 14, Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
Brigades, expressed his thanks to Iran for supporting Hamas with money and
weapons and providing it with rockets and anti-tank missiles. Before Hamas
expressed its thanks to Iran, a high-level visit to Tehran was made by a
Hamas delegation on Dec. 8. The visit was headed by Hamas political bureau
member Mohammed Nasr, head of its international affairs, Osama Hamdan,
Maher Obeid, Jamal Issa and Hamas representative in Tehran Khalid
al-Qaddumi. The delegation met with Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani
in an attempt to restore Iran's military and financial support for the
movement. On Dec. 15, Hamdan described the visit as fruitful and that the
relationship between both sides was better than many could imagine and that
the visit was made to promote the 24-year-old ties. Nasr, the head of the
delegation, told Al-Monitor, 'Hamas is keen to promote ties with Iran, to
overcome the sensitive and critical circumstances in the region to serve
the Palestinian cause.' ... The visit of the Hamas delegation to Iran is a
prelude to the visit of Hamas head of political bureau Khaled Meshaal,
which is long overdue. Qaddumi told Al-Monitor, 'Iran does not oppose the
visit, but the preparations need to be completed. When that is ready,
Meshaal will meet with senior Iranian officials, most notably Ayatollah
[Ali] Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, and President
Hassan Rouhani.'" http://t.uani.com/1sDnZRP
Mashable:
"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fourth year in
a row, as more countries introduce aggressive online censorship measures,
according to a new report. Freedom on the Net 2014, the fifth-annual report
released by independent watchdog organization Freedom House last week,
found that of the 65 countries assessed, 36 experienced a negative
trajectory in online freedom between May 2013 and May 2014... Iran remained
the country with the lowest degree of Internet freedom, despite hopes of
reform when President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013. Although
the new administration has embraced social media, Iranian citizens still
don't have access to websites the government finds politically sensitive,
such as Twitter and Facebook. The report also pointed to Iranian
authorities sentencing people to 'lengthy prison terms for promoting Sufism
online, among other digital activities.' In May 2014, six young Iranians
were arrested for recording a viral YouTube video of them dancing to
Pharrell's song 'Happy.' They were subsequently given 'suspended sentences'
of six months in prison (the director was given one year), and 91
lashes." http://t.uani.com/1J8TQEj
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Reuters:
"Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday he had
'very useful and helpful' nuclear negotiations with major powers in Geneva.
Araqchi, speaking to reporters at the end of all-day closed-door talks,
said there was an agreement to continue nuclear talks 'next month' at a
venue to be decided. 'We had very intense negotiations. It was very useful
and helpful,' Araqchi said, without giving details. The U.S. negotiating
team led by Acting Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman left the
meeting, held at the European Union's diplomatic mission, without making
any comment. A EU spokeswoman said no statement would be issued on
Wednesday following the talks, attended by EU political director Helga
Schmid." http://t.uani.com/1uWq5vT
Guardian:
"An official site belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) has quoted a senior conservative cleric as saying that Iran has
attained the knowledge to build a nuclear bomb but doesn't want to use it.
The IRGC site of Kurdistan province today quoted Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a
leading cleric who often leads Friday prayers in Tehran, as telling a group
of IRGC commanders in Iran's Kurdistan province that Iran had the expertise
to enrich uranium not just to the 5% and 20% levels required for civilian
uses but to higher levels required for a bomb. '[We] can enrich uranium at
5% or 20%, as well as 40% to 50%, and even 90%,' he was quoted as saying.
But he said the Islamic republic believed that the building of a bomb is
religiously forbidden." http://t.uani.com/16tpdKX
Al-Monitor:
"While attention has focused on curbing Iran's ability to produce
fissile material for a nuclear weapon, sanctions, sabotage, technical
problems and political calculation have combined to set back Iran's
development of missiles that could potentially deliver such a weapon.
Michael Elleman, an expert on missiles at the International Institute for
Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor in an interview Dec. 16 that the
Iranians are 'a little bit behind where I thought they would be' in developing
missiles with a range beyond 1,500 kilometers (932 miles), and have focused
instead on trying to improve the accuracy and lethality of systems with a
range of less than 250 kilometers (155 miles). Elleman credited several
factors in slowing Iran's progress toward longer-range systems. Among them:
international efforts to intercept key ingredients - such as aluminum
powder for solid propellant fuel; the death in a 2011 explosion of the
missile program's architect, Maj. Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, and a dozen
of his colleagues; and a likely Iranian desire to avoid provoking the
international community by testing longer-range rockets... 'If there's one
[factor] that dominates, it's the inconsistent supply of ingredients
because of sanctions,' he told Al-Monitor. He said that Iran has had to
scramble to get aluminum powder for solid fuel from different
sources." http://t.uani.com/1C57NOW
Military Matters
AP:
"Iran's state TV says the military will hold a massive drill near the
strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf next week.
The report Thursday says the weeklong exercise will be carried out over 2.2
million square kilometers (0.85 million square miles) including the eastern
part of the passage, through which one fifth of the world oil supply
passes. It says the drill will begin Dec. 25 and include Iranian navy, air
force, ground units and the elite Revolutionary Guard, with the troops
test-firing new weapons." http://t.uani.com/1x2l2Bp
Terrorism
Reuters:
"Hamas and Iran have repaired a close political and military
relationship frayed by the Syrian civil war, the Palestinian Islamist
group's deputy leader said on Wednesday. Patching up ties with Tehran could
ease Hamas's financial and political isolation... Speaking in his Gaza office,
overlooking the Mediterranean, Moussa Abu Marzouk said: 'I believe that
bilateral relations between us and the Islamic Republic of Iran are back on
track.' ... Last week, a Hamas delegation visited Iran, long a major
supplier of military and financial aid to the group." http://t.uani.com/1AKOQQj
Human Rights
HuffPost:
"This Christmas marks the third year Idaho pastor Saeed Abedini has
been separated from his family. Abedini, an American citizen, is
currentlyserving an eight-year sentence after an Iranian court found him
guilty of trying to establish a network of churches in private homes. His
family claims he's being persecuted for converting to Christianity.
According to the American Center for Law & Justice, an advocacy group
campaigning for Abedini's release, Abedini has been severely beaten inside
his prison and is in need of urgent medical care. From his cell, Abedini
penned a letter describing his condition, while revealing a deep attachment
to his Christian faith." http://t.uani.com/1sJqYO1
ICHRI:
"Despite completion of interrogations for Mahdieh Golroo, a women's
rights activist who was arrested on October 23, 2014, a day after she
attended a gathering in Tehran to protest acid attacks on several women in
Isfahan, her judicial case has not moved forward and her family remains
uninformed of her charges, a source told the International Campaign for
Human Rights in Iran. Mahdieh Golroo has spent her entire detention period
inside a solitary cell in the IRGC's Ward 2-A at Evin Prison." http://t.uani.com/1r2J5NY
IHR:
"One woman and two men were hanged in the Rajaishahr Prison of Karaj
(West of Tehran) early Wednesday morning 15 December, according to reports
from reliable sources Iran Human Rights (IHR) has been in contact
with." http://t.uani.com/1xsiBaV
Domestic Politics
Bloomberg:
"Iran's rial is weakening after months of stability over declining oil
prices and uncertainty whether the country will clinch a nuclear deal
lifting international sanctions. The currency, which had hovered around
32,000 per dollar in unregulated markets since April, has lost 8 percent
since Nov. 24, when world powers and Iran extended nuclear talks by seven
months after failing to reach a breakthrough. The rial depreciated to
35,200 per dollar in unregulated trading today, compared with 32,560 on
Nov. 24, according to rates compiled by Daily Rates For Gold Coins and
Foreign Currencies, a Facebook page used by traders and companies in Iran
and abroad." http://t.uani.com/1zzMK6g
Foreign Affairs
Daily Telegraph:
"Iran's oil minister has said that a 'political conspiracy' is to
blame for the dramatic slump in the price of crude in remarks that could
signal that the Islamic Republic will try to exert pressure on the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to again consider
cutting output. Bijan Zanganeh told the country's state petroleum news
agency: 'The prolongation of the downward trend of the oil price in world
markets is a political conspiracy going to extremes.' Iran along with
Venezuela tried to convince Opec to reduce its production ceiling from 30m
barrels per day (bpd) at the cartel's last meeting in Vienna at the end of
November. However, the proposal was shot down by Saudi Arabia and a clutch
of Gulf Arab producer who appear determined to provoke a price war with
Russia and US shale oil drillers." http://t.uani.com/1zzMYf1
Trend:
"A top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei clamed
that Australian intelligence forces are behind the hostage terror attach in
Sydney, done by a person of Iranian origin on Dec.15... Now, Ali Akbar
Velayati, an advisor to Ayatollah Khamenei who serves also as the director
of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council called the
hostage case an 'ignominious plot' of Australian security forces who follow
the US. Velayati added that Australia is not 'acceptable country in the
world, because it follows the United States' policies,' Fars News Agency
reported Dec.17." http://t.uani.com/1zvW7E5
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