Eye on Iran: President Rouhani: Iran Speeds Up Nuclear Progress

Join UANI           Top Stories Fars (Iran): "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that the country doesn't take permission from anyone to make progress in different scientific and technological fields, and said Tehran has accelerated its peaceful nuclear activities. 'We have made highly important progress in the nuclear field, but the negotiations receive so much attraction and hue and cry that they overshadow these activities, otherwise, we are running at a higher speed,' Rouhani said, addressing a ceremony to commemorate the space technology day in Iran on Tuesday. He underscored the country's progress in different aerospace, genetics, medical and other scientific fields, and said, 'We don't and will not take permission from anyone to make progress in science and knowledge.' He referred to the enemies' attempts to seek excuses to pressure Iran and block the country's scientific development, and said his government is and will continue efforts to defuse the enemies' plots and show that their excuses and allegations are baseless." http://t.uani.com/1zntTJF Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Wednesday that his country would resist global sanctions imposed over its disputed nuclear program, saying that Iran might respond to international pressure by cutting back gas exports. 'The enemy is using the lever of sanctions to the hilt and their goal is to stop our people's progress,' Khamenei said in a public speech in Tehran carried by the official IRNA news agency. 'I believe that if we allow them to dictate to us on the nuclear issue, they will still keep the sanctions in place because what they are against is the very foundation of our revolution.' ... 'Serious work must take place. We can withstand the sanctions and neutralize and foil the enemy's goals. If we don't, the enemy would proceed and place conditions on our nuclear program and impose sanctions,' Khamenei said. 'If sanctions are to be the way, the Iranian nation can also do it. A big collection of the world's oil and gas is in Iran so Iran if necessary can hold back on the gas that Europe and the world is so dependent on.' ... Khamenei said the United States, which has waged air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, had written to Tehran about tackling the radical Sunni Islamist group. But he accused Washington of secretly supporting Islamic State fighters. 'They wrote a letter to the Iranian foreign ministry promising not to support Daesh (Islamic State), not knowing that the evidence in photographs of their military assistance to Daesh was already in the hands of the revolutionary forces (Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and militia),' Khamenei said." http://t.uani.com/1yWQN9R NYT: "With the Obama administration racing to negotiate the outlines of a nuclear deal with Iran by the end of March, aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel have charged in recent days that they are being deliberately left in the dark about the details of the talks. The Americans have said that is untrue, but even one of Washington's closest negotiating partners reports being warned about being too open with the Israelis, 'because whatever we say may be used in a selective way.' ... But European officials say that the Israeli reports, while overblown, are not entirely based on fiction. One recalled a recent call from Wendy Sherman, the No. 3 State Department official and lead American negotiator with Iran, saying she had cautioned against telling the Israelis too much because the details could be twisted to undermine a deal. Ms. Sherman did not respond to an email inquiry, but a State Department official speaking on her behalf said that she had encouraged the Europeans to talk with Israel - as long as they were cognizant 'that the negotiation should take place in the negotiating room.' ... According to one American official, the concern is that Israeli officials, mindful that they are talking to audiences at home, in the United States and particularly in Congress, know how to pick out one or two details that seem particularly incriminating. 'They tell part of the story, like how many centrifuges we might consider letting the Iranians hold,' one American official said, refusing to speak on the record because the White House and the State Department insist on secrecy, for fear that leaks of any kind could kill a deal here or in Tehran. 'What they don't tell you is that we only let them have that many centrifuges if they ship most of their fuel out of the country.'" http://t.uani.com/1ARXShj     Nuclear Program & Negotiations AP: "The main dispute is over the size and potency of Iran's uranium enrichment program, which can make both reactor fuel and the fissile core of a weapon. The U.S., along with Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, came to the table demanding that Tehran dismantle 80 to 90 percent of the nearly 10,000 centrifuges now turning out enriched uranium along with all of the 8,000 or so other machines set up but not working. But faced with Iranian resistance, diplomats now say the U.S. is prepared to accept 4,500 operating centrifuges - perhaps more - if Tehran agrees to constraints on their efficiency. Washington has also compromised on initial demands that constraints on Iran's nuclear program last 20 years or more. Diplomats say it is now ready to accept 10 to 12 years... Olli Heinonen, a former head of the Iran file at the U.N. nuclear agency, says the mix could work, but only if Iran agrees to run no more than 2,000 to 4,000 centrifuges - something Tehran says it will not accept. 'The killer is the number of centrifuges,' says Heinonen. David Albright of the Institute for Science and Security in Washington notes that - even if such a deal is sealed - it becomes difficult to monitor because of all the moving parts. 'The more elements you add, the more Iran can break individually,' he says." http://t.uani.com/1Al20Vq Trend: "Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham has said that the country and six world powers have decided to reach a 'political understanding' by the end of March before they settle for details on Iran's nuclear program, ISNA news agency reported Feb. 18. 'No agreement will come without the details,' she asserted, adding that Iran has in mind only a single-stage agreement. 'But what the methodology of the talks are and in what framework the details also matter,' she said, reiterating that a political understanding is different than a political deal and will pose no problem to a single-stage agreement." http://t.uani.com/1zNXsDh Sanctions Clarion-Ledger: "Mississippi lawmakers killed the Senate version of a bill cutting financial ties with Iran after learning it could negatively impact one of the state's biggest employers. But the Iran Divestment Act survives in a House bill that likely will be amended to alleviate concerns of its 'unintended consequences' to Toyota Motor Corporation, which has a $1.3 billion auto manufacturing plant near Tupelo. The act prohibits Mississippi from doing business with entities having certain financial investments in Iran. Among such companies cited by other states with similar laws is Toyota Tsusho, because it purchases Iranian crude oil under a special exclusion from the US National Defense Authorization Act. Toyota Tsusho has several U.S. operations, including one in north Mississippi serving the Toyota manufacturing plant. It's also an affiliate of Toyota Motor Corporation, which received nearly $300 million in state incentives to build its auto manufacturing plant... Lawmakers didn't know about the bill's potential impact to Toyota until after the original vote, said its sponsor, state Sen. Nancy Collins, R-Tupelo. Since then, she said, she has worked with state and business leaders on alternative language for the bill to protect employers like Toyota from any potential consequences. Collins said she will propose that language in an amendment to the House version of the bill, which survived and now heads to the Senate." http://t.uani.com/1Mx9qeD Terrorism Reuters: "Argentina wants the United States to help it get to the bottom of a deadly 1994 bombing at the heart of a current political scandal by including the crime in the U.S. nuclear talks with Iran, its foreign minister said on Tuesday. Argentine courts have accused a group of Iranians of planning the attack on the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people. The unresolved crime was the backdrop for the Jan. 18 death of the prosecutor who headed the AMIA investigation, a mystery that has damaged confidence in Argentina's justice system and thrown the government into turmoil. Foreign Minister Hector Timerman released a letter to his U.S. counterpart John Kerry in which he said Argentina had made the request before. 'I am asking you again that the AMIA issue be included in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran,' it said." http://t.uani.com/1znthDP Iraq Crisis AP: "An Iranian news agency is reporting the death of an Iranian fighter during a battle with the Islamic State group in Iraq. Tuesday's report by the semi-official Fars agency identifies the fighter as Mohammad Hadi Zolfaghari. It says he died fighting 'terrorists' in Samarra, a city located 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad. It describes him as a 'defender of Shiite holy sites,' of which there are many in Iraq. Samarra is also home to a major Shiite shrine." http://t.uani.com/1Eo1ve6 Human Rights AP: "A lawyer chosen to represent a Washington Post correspondent detained in Iran has been unable to complete formalities to defend him, the reporter's brother said Wednesday as he appealed to the judiciary and the country's top leader to examine the case... His brother, Ali Rezaian, told The Associated Press by phone from California that the family has asked defense attorney Masoud Shafiei to represent the journalist, but that he has been prevented from dropping off paperwork Rezaian must sign to formally enlist his services on three consecutive days this week. Until Rezaian provides his signature, the lawyer cannot officially represent Rezaian or request access to his case file and any alleged evidence against him... 'It's beyond comprehension they would hold someone for seven months without making any direct claims about what they had done or showing any evidence to give a reasonable person a belief that he should even be held, let alone convicted,' the brother added." http://t.uani.com/1AkYvyg         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.