Friday, February 6, 2015

Eye on Iran: Iran to Expand Nuclear Program if US Pursues Ban








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Press TV (Iran): "A senior Iranian official has warned that Tehran will increase the number of its uranium enrichment centrifuges should the United States introduce further sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its civilian nuclear activities. 'Naturally, it is a source of concern for everyone. It is a return to a situation from which no one is going to benefit. Iran will certainly go ahead with its nuclear program [in case of new US sanctions]. We are going to install more centrifuges,' Hamid Baeidinejad, the director general for political and international security affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, told a news conference at the Iranian embassy in the Russian capital, Moscow, on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/1zUzYDd

Press TV (Iran): "A senior Iranian commander has dismissed as 'meddlesome' the recent US claims that Tehran's defense might would be part of the nuclear talks with six world powers, saying Iran's missile capability is non-negotiable. 'Iran's missile programs and defense capability, irrespective of their purpose, are not negotiable in any foreign circle,' Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud Jazayeri said on Wednesday. 'We don't allow the US and others to interfere in the country's defense affairs,' he added... 'Gone are the days when the US was a superpower, but some still haven't realized it,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1ujlnhW

ICHRI: "An IRGC cyberspace specialist, Mostafa Alizadeh, announced in a statement on Iranian state television on February 1, that 12 Iranian Facebook users have been arrested on charges of 'spreading corruption, and [carrying out a] mission to change family lifestyles.' He added that 24 other citizens were summoned to answer questions about their Facebook activities. Alizadeh said that since September 2014, the IRGC has intensified its review of Facebook pages, and that 350 Facebook pages managed by 36 individuals had been identified and 130 of them deleted from Facebook. The IRGC cyberspace specialist threatened citizens who are members of Facebook by saying that the IRGC was monitoring all social networks, 'and those who think this space is safe for them, must cease their activities.'" http://t.uani.com/18UbsWM

   
Nuclear Program & Negotiations

WSJ: "In the chamber of Iran's parliament recently, consternation mounted quickly over what hard-liners saw as a grave development: The foreign minister had taken a private stroll through a Geneva garden with his American counterpart, John Kerry, during a break in nuclear negotiations. Critics of the urbane Javad Zarif, a fluent English speaker, demanded last week that he appear before the legislature to recount what he had discussed with the U.S. secretary of state in mid-January. 'Our nation can never tolerate this!' thundered lawmaker Ali Taheri from the main rostrum to what appeared to be a largely unfazed crowd of legislators going about other business. In a hall outside the chamber, another turbaned hard-liner Hamid Rasaee who belongs to what is known as the 'steadfast' or 'resistance' front, unleashed a tirade about the tête-à-tête before television cameras from the national broadcasting channel. 'It's a big mistake to have any relationship with the U.S.,' he railed. As sanctions hawks in the U.S. Congress butt heads with President Barack Obama over negotiations with Iran, a similar battle on the Iranian side has been playing out between President Hasan Rouhani, who has staked his political future on cutting a deal with the West, and his ultra-hard-line opponents." http://t.uani.com/1zftV52

Sanctions Relief

Press TV (Iran): "A Moscow-based subsidiary of Iran's state-run Bank Melli is facilitating money transfer between Iran and Russia, which are both slapped with US sanctions, Iran's ambassador to Russia says. 'Following measures undertaken by Bank Melli of the Islamic Republic of Iran, transfer of money between Iran and Russia through Mir Business Bank in Moscow and the foreign exchange section of Bank Melli in Tehran is possible at any level,' Mehdi Sanaei said in a meeting with a group of Iranian manufacturers based in the Russian capital. He said the previous obstacles like high tariffs on exports, money transfer restrictions and visa problems have been largely overcome." http://t.uani.com/1LRCnS9

Terrorism

AFP: "Uruguay has expelled a senior Iranian diplomat over last month's planting of a dummy bomb near Israel's embassy in Montevideo, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday. Citing an unidentified 'senior official in Jerusalem', it said the diplomat was expelled two weeks ago and although Uruguayan officials briefed Israel on the move they made no public announcement. 'Investigations carried out by Uruguay's intelligence services after the discovery of the device yielded information pointing to a possible involvement of someone at the Iranian embassy,' Haaretz's diplomatic correspondent wrote. 'The Uruguayan government turned to Iran's government for information and after consultations between the two, it was decided to expel one of the senior diplomats at Iran's embassy.' ... On January 8, Montevideo bomb squad officers detonated what turned out to be a fake bomb near the Israeli embassy, located in the World Trade Centre office complex in the city. The convincing-looking fake -- complete with fuse, detonator and other elements found in a real bomb -- was detected some 70 metres (230 feet) from the building by bomb-sniffing dogs. After destroying the device, bomb brigade Lieutenant Colonel Alfredo Larramendi told reporters that it 'never posed any danger' but might have been part of a dress rehearsal for the real thing." http://t.uani.com/1LUjSws

Domestic Politics

IranWire: "The judiciary's cultural deputy, Hadi Sadeqi, defended male polygamy in the name of sharia law at a news conference in early February. 'No law can veto the recommendations of sharia law and no law can prevent polygamy because it would go against the Koran,' said Sadeqi. Under Iranian law, Muslim men can practice polygyny - having between two and four wives - but women are forbidden from engaging in polyandry, when a woman has multiple husbands... Iranian marriage law traditionally favors the husband. In cases where women want a divorce but the men do not, a wife must legally prove that her husband is either abusive, suffers from psychological problems or is somehow unable to uphold his marriage responsibilities. 'Nobody should renounce polygamy for men,' added Hadi Sadeqi. 'The Koran says men should be fair in this regard. This is where the law comes into question - to ensure that husbands treat their wives honorably.'" http://t.uani.com/1CAXXHZ

Foreign Affairs

NBC: "A global cartoon competition based on the theme of Holocaust denial was launched in Iran Thursday in response to the Charlie Hebdo magazine cover that featured a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, the official news agency Fars reported.  Organized by Tehran-based House of Cartoons and the Sarcheshmeh Cultural Complex, the contest sets out questions for entrants to address in their artwork, including: 'If the West says that freedom of speech has no borders then why don't they let historians and experts properly research the Holocaust?' and 'Why should the Palestinian people pay for the Holocaust?' All cartoons must be submitted by April Fools' Day because 'April 1 is the day of big lies, and the Holocaust is a big lie that the Zionists invented to suppress the Palestinians,' said Masoud Shojaei-Tabatabaii, head of House of Cartoons and one of the competition's organizers. .. It is the second such competition of its kind. In 2006, there were violent protests outside the Danish embassy in Tehran in response to a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Muhammad. In response, Iran launched its first holocaust denial cartoon contest and a holocaust denial conference that was attended by American ex-Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and many neo-Nazis. Fars said the winner will receive a cash prize of $12,000, the runner-up $8,000 and third place $5,000." http://t.uani.com/1LUsjaY

Opinion & Analysis

WashPost Editorial: "As the Obama administration pushes to complete a nuclear accord with Iran, numerous members of Congress, former secretaries of state and officials of allied governments are expressing concern about the contours of the emerging deal. Though we have long supported negotiations with Iran as well as the interim agreement the United States and its allies struck with Tehran, we share several of those concerns and believe they deserve more debate now - before negotiators present the world with a fait accompli. The problems raised by authorities ranging from Henry Kissinger, the country's most senior former secretary of state, to Sen. Timothy M. Kaine, Virginia's junior Democratic senator, can be summed up in three points:
  • First, a process that began with the goal of eliminating Iran's potential to produce nuclear weapons has evolved into a plan to tolerate and restrict that capability.
  • Second, in the course of the negotiations, the Obama administration has declined to counter increasingly aggressive efforts by Iran to extend its influence across the Middle East and seems ready to concede Tehran a place as a regional power at the expense of Israel and other U.S. allies.
  • Finally, the Obama administration is signaling that it will seek to implement any deal it strikes with Iran - including the suspension of sanctions that were originally imposed by Congress - without seeking a vote by either chamber. Instead, an accord that would have far-reaching implications for nuclear proliferation and U.S. national security would be imposed unilaterally by a president with less than two years left in his term.
The first and broadest of these problems was outlined by Mr. Kissinger in recent testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. The talks, he pointed out, began as a multilateral effort headed by the European Union and backed by six U.N. Security Council resolutions intended 'to deny Iran the capability to develop a military nuclear option.' Though formally the multilateral talks continue, 'these negotiations have now become an essentially bilateral negotiation' between the United States and Iran 'over the scope of that [nuclear] capability, not its existence,' Mr. Kissinger said. Where it once aimed to eliminate Iran's ability to enrich uranium, the administration now appears ready to accept an infrastructure of thousands of Iranian centrifuges. It says its goal is to limit and monitor that industrial base so that Iran could not produce the material for a warhead in less than a year. As several senators pointed out during the hearing, the prospective deal would leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state, while theoretically giving the world time to respond if Tehran chose to build a weapon. Even these limited restrictions would remain in force for only a specified number of years, after which Iran would be free to expand its production of potential bomb materials. Mr. Kissinger said such an arrangement would very likely prompt other countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey, to match Iran's threshold capability. 'The impact... will be to transform the negotiations from preventing proliferation to managing it,' he said. 'We will live in a proliferated world in which everybody - even if that agreement is maintained - will be very close to the trigger point.' A related problem is whether Iran could be prevented from cheating on any arrangement and acquiring a bomb by stealth. Mr. Kaine pointed out that an attempt by the United States to negotiate the end of North Korea's nuclear program failed after the regime covertly expanded its facilities. With Iran, said Mr. Kaine, 'a nation that has proven to be very untrustworthy... the end result is more likely to be a North Korean situation' if existing infrastructure is not dismantled." http://t.uani.com/1C0LtUw

David Ignatius in WashPost: "Niccolo Machiavelli, perhaps the shrewdest political philosopher in history, believed that great events were shaped by luck - or 'fortuna,' as he called this unpredictable force of life. The same actions might produce success or failure, depending on the whims of the goddess Fortuna. You wouldn't know it by listening to gloomy commentators, but the United States has been extremely lucky of late. Its inherent economic strength has become more obvious. Meanwhile, its adversaries have suffered reversals - some of their own making, others because of bad luck. With this advantageous position, the United States can afford to think like a superpower. It shouldn't rush to make concessions to weaker nations or to gain agreements that aren't fully ripe, as may be the case with nuclear talks with Iran. It shouldn't be shy about helping its friends or making its adversaries pay for their reckless behavior, as in dealing with Russia's aggression in Ukraine... Powerful countries such as the United States have the wind at their back. They don't need to rush things in the clamor of partisan politics and 24-hour news cycles. That's why I hope the Obama administration won't make too many concessions to Iran in its eagerness to reach a nuclear deal. If the Iranians are truly ready to turn away from confrontation and verifiably unplug their nuclear program, fine. If not, let's wait. In a world of low oil prices and an Iranian population desperate to end its isolation, time doesn't favor the Iranian hard-liners... Fortune blesses strong nations, but only when they act with resolve. Squandering America's real advantage to gain short-term diplomatic success would be a big mistake." http://t.uani.com/1yQnVAO

UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman in Algemeiner: "These days, the news is full of rumors about a dangerous development in the negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran. There is deep concern that instead of being forced to significantly dismantle its nuclear program, Iran will be left as a threshold nuclear state and gain relief from sanctions. These fears are reminiscent of the days following the signing of the Munich Agreement between Adolf Hitler and the leaders of France and Great Britain. In a speech to the House of Commons on October 5, 1938, Sir Winston Churchill warned, 'All these calamites fell upon us because of evil counsel... when they had done the most evil, then was peace made with them.' That Churchillian warning certainly applies to modern-day Iran. It is time to realize that if the international community continues to allow Iran to support terrorism and seek regional dominance while remaining a nuclear threshold state, we will have made a historic mistake that will have grave consequences. Since 2008, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has made the case that Iran is already a major threat to world peace, and that a nuclear-armed Iran would feel emboldened to do even worse.  In fact, Iran's support for terrorism and its quest for hegemony raises the question why any responsible government would do business with this brutal and dangerous regime. The recent takeover of Yemen by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels is just one more example of the rapid expansion of Tehran's power. With the exception of tough sanctions from the United States and Canada, and the more recent European oil embargo, an indifferent world has remained silent on Iran's sponsorship of terrorism. Hundreds of major multinational companies continue to do business as usual with Iran, thereby sending the message that Iran can literally get away with murder. Iran has received that message loud and clear. Through its partnership with its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, and the support provided to terrorist groups like Hamas, the Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in terrorist attacks in Beirut, Buenos Aires,  Iraq, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere. Since the outbreak of the popular uprising against the brutal dictatorship of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, more than 200,000 Syrians have died, and two million have become refugees. This has happened for two primary reasons: Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. For three years, Iran has provided massive financial support, weapons, and thousands of fighters to keep Assad's brutal dictator in power. As a result, the Assad regime has committed crimes against humanity with impunity. All this has happened while an indifferent world remains silent." http://t.uani.com/1C4WCWY
       

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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