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AP:
"France's foreign minister says Iran wants 24 days before
international inspectors could visit its nuclear sites in the event of
a suspected violation of a deal with world powers over its atomic
program. Laurent Fabius unveiled details Thursday about the state of
talks between six world powers and Iran ahead of a June 30 deadline to
reach an accord aimed to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
He said Iran was seeking 24 days between the reporting of a suspected
Iranian violation of the deal's terms and the time when International
Atomic Energy Agency inspectors would be allowed to visit the relevant
nuclear site. Fabius cautioned that 'a lot of things can disappear' in
24 days. He said another outstanding question is how international
sanctions against Iran might be lifted." http://t.uani.com/1HkabBZ
NYT:
"Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday ruled out allowing
international inspectors to interview Iranian nuclear scientists as
part of any potential deal on its nuclear program, and reiterated that
the country would not allow the inspection of military sites. In a
graduation speech at the Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran,
the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, widely believed to have the
final say on whether Iran accepts a deal if one is reached next month,
denounced what he said were escalating demands by the United States and
five other world powers as they accelerate the pace of the negotiations
with Iran. 'They say new things in the negotiations,' Ayatollah
Khamenei told the military graduates. 'Regarding inspections, we have
said that we will not let foreigners inspect any military center.' Like
last summer, when he vowed that Iran would ultimately build an
industrial-scale uranium enrichment capability - with 190,000
centrifuges, or 10 times the number now installed - the ayatollah's
comments are bound to cause deep complications for Iran's negotiators,
led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Skeptics about the
preliminary deals described by Secretary of State John Kerry have focused
on the absence of 'anywhere, anytime' inspections and a lack of clarity
about whether and when Tehran would have to answer 12 outstanding
questions from the International Atomic Energy Agency about what the
inspectors call 'possible military dimensions' of the program... But it
is not clear how that would be enforced, and it seems likely that oil
and financial sanctions would be lifted early in the process, before
the explanations to inspectors could be finished." http://t.uani.com/1HwwY2N
Press TV (Iran):
"Washington has threatened 'not to sign' a final nuclear agreement
with Tehran unless the Iranian government gives access to its possible
military dimension-related sites and nuclear scientists. 'If we don't
get the assurances we need on the access to possible military
dimension-related sites or activities, that's going to be a problem for
us,' State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in Washington on
Wednesday. 'We and Iran have agreed that we will undertake a process to
address possible military dimensions (of past nuclear work), and part
of that includes access,' Harf said. 'Under the Additional Protocol ...
which Iran will implement and has said they will implement as part of
this deal, the IAEA does get access.' 'If we cannot agree in the final
instance to something that meets our bottom line for what we need in
terms of access, we're not going to sign a final deal. And that's just
something we've been very, very clear about,' she added." http://t.uani.com/1HwBYo8
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Tasnim (Iran):
"Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday referred to research
and development (R&D) as a red line for Iran in its nuclear talks
with world powers, reaffirming that the country's negotiating team will
stick to the lines set by the Supreme Leader. 'R&D is our red line
and the negotiators are well aware of the red lines,' Rouhani said in
Tabriz, northwest of Iran. The Government is committed to the
guidelines set by the Supreme Leader and will not sign any deal (with
world powers) that would give foreigners access to the country's
scientific and military secrets, he added. Referring to the Additional
Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which gives the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to the country's
nuclear facilities, Rouhani stressed that the government is responsible
for implementing the protocol, but it will not deviate from the red
lines in this regard." http://t.uani.com/1FqfQbq
Al-Monitor:
"In a rare direct message to all sides in the nuclear
negotiations, Khamenei said, 'The enemies of the Islamic Republic and
all those who are waiting for the decision of the system on this issue
should [now] understand clearly. 'The dear officials of the country are
acting with bravery in this sphere, they should know that the only
method for confronting an insolent enemy is through resolution and lack
of passivity.' He also said, 'The officials and negotiators must show
the message of the greatness of the Iranian people in the
negotiations.' While Khamenei's speeches are often dissected for clues
toward the direction of the nuclear talks, he often leaves room for
interpretation, allowing various sides to debate openly their preferred
take. However, these unequivocal comments suggest that this issue was
raised in the nuclear negotiations and Khamenei sensed the need to
address the issue in a manner that leaves little room for
interpretation." http://t.uani.com/1FEq3o4
Bloomberg:
"The U.S. has approved a $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel that
analysts say is likely intended to offset its objections to the
emerging nuclear agreement with Iran. The Pentagon's Defense Security
Cooperation Agency said Wednesday on its website that the deal had
received State Department authorization and will now be sent to
Congress for review, where it is certain to be approved. The package
includes 3,000 Hellfire missiles, 250 AIM-120C Advanced Medium Range
Air-to-Air Missiles, and 50 BLU-113 'bunker-buster' bombs. 'These items
are often sold to Israel in separate deals,' said Yiftah Shapir, who
heads the Middle East Military Balance project at Tel Aviv's Institute
for National Security Studies. 'There's no doubt that packaging them
all together in one sale, and announcing it now, is clearly linked to
the Iran agreement.' ... 'These are weapons that Israel already has in
its arsenal, and this shipment will help replenish the stock depleted
by last year's Gaza operation,' he said. 'In terms of countering Iran
though, the discussion over U.S.-provided arms has centered on bigger
items, such as the F-35 stealth fighter.'" http://t.uani.com/1FqcJjU
Sanctions Relief
DW:
"As the Iran embargo looks likely to be lifted after negotiations
between Western countries and Teheran on Iran's nuclear program seem
set to achieve a settlement, German firms, in particular, are eager to
breathe new life into their traditional business ties with the country.
Currently, German exports to Iran amount to about 2.4 billion euros
($2.6 billion) - less than half what they were ten years ago, when
sanctions were imposed. According to the German Chambers of Industry
and Commerce (DIHK), that figure could easily multiply to a sum in the
double-digit billions once sanctions will be lifted. At a conference in
Frankfurt organized by the German Near and Middle East Association
(NUMOV), about 250 German business leaders explored opportunities
likely to open up in Iran in the near future. The one-day event on
Tuesday, called 'Doing Business in Iran,' primarily dealt with the
Iranian oil and gas industry, but also cast a light on the renewable energy
and finance sectors... Martin Herrenknecht, owner of a German
tunnel-boring machine manufacturer, expects tough competition from
Asian rivals once his company re-enters the Iranian market after
sanctions are lifted... In the years before sanctions were imposed on
Iran, Herrenknecht's firm sold equipment worth between 10 million euros
($11.5 million) and 15 million euros annually to Iran. He hopes to
re-launch his Iranian business fairly quickly as he wants to benefit
from Teheran's plans to build a new subway line in the country's
capital, as well as a new high-speed train connection and improvements
to the national water and sewage systems." http://t.uani.com/1ElEqGJ
Syria
Conflict
Reuters:
"Syria hopes to receive a new credit line from Iran worth around
$1 billion which it will use to buy basic goods, an assistant to
Syria's minister of economy and foreign trade said on Wednesday. The
comments come a day after Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, met Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and reiterated Tehran's backing for the
Syrian government... Asked about whether there would be new credit
lines from Iran, Hayan Salman said: 'As an economic expectation I
believe it will be in the range of $1 billion, God willing.' He said a
previous $3.6 billion credit line from Iran was close to being used up.
He said the fresh credit would be used 'to secure the flow of essential
goods and materials,' for Syria." http://t.uani.com/1Lp37be
Human Rights
Guardian:
"An Iranian painter and women's rights campaigner is on trial in
Tehran on charges of spreading propaganda against the ruling
establishment. Atena Farghadani, who has spoken out against
parliamentary plans to restrict access to contraception, appeared in
court on Tuesday in connection with her activism as well as her art.
The 29-year-old, described by Amnesty as a prisoner of conscience, is
currently being kept in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Farghadani fell
foul of the Iranian authorities after meeting with the families of
political prisoners and drawing a cartoon depicting a group of Iranian
parliamentarians with faces of animals. She is facing charges of
'insulting members of parliament through paintings' and 'insulting the
Iranian supreme leader.'" http://t.uani.com/1PYIEdX
Opinion &
Analysis
Aaron David
Miller in WSJ: "The emerging Iran deal that the
Obama administration contends is comprehensive and definitive contains
so many uncertainties, including those regarding Iran's future nuclear
weapons aspirations, that it might well turn out to be an extended
interim accord. This underscores an issue with a few things Secretary
of State John Kerry recently said while defending the Iran deal-remarks
that I presume he'd like to take back: 'President Obama has absolutely
pledged they will not get a nuclear weapon' and 'We will have
inspectors in there every single day. That is not a 10-year deal; that
is forever.' I understand the administration's need to market the Iran
deal and why senior administration officials might get carried away
with their handiwork. They believe that they know what's best for the
nation. What's harder to explain is the way that this administration
processes time, and the durability of any agreement, particularly in
relation to a turbulent region where time is measured along a more
extended arc. In the Middle East, there is no 'forever,' certainly not
when it comes to the designs of external powers that seek to meddle in
or impose their will on the affairs of small tribes. All U.S.
administrations measure their lives in four- and, if they're lucky,
eight-year increments. They need to get things done quickly. President
Barack Obama was ready to declare the war on terrorism over in 2012;
three years later, he is more immersed in it than ever before. The same
is true of the U.S. exit from Iraq in 2011; now we're back in, albeit
in a different role. With the U.S.-backed NATO intervention in Libya,
there was commitment on the front end but little follow-up. The United
States is not really good at following up. We grow tired and
disillusioned as things get too hard, and come to feel that it's really
not our neighborhood or our fight; along with expecting results that
are not realistic." http://t.uani.com/1Hk9x7A
Naame Shaam:
"This report argues that the grossly careless and malicious
destruction and appropriation of civilian property and the forcible
displacement and transfer of civilian population taking place in Syria
since March 2011 amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity as
defined by international humanitarian law. It further argues that both
types of crime appear to be part of a systematic policy of sectarian
cleansing being carried out in certain parts of the country. The policy
appears to be driven by a combination of mafia-style war profiteering
linked to the inner circle of the Syrian regime and a Shiatisation
programme pushed and financed by the Iranian regime. The report focuses
on certain parts of Syria, such as Homs and Damascus, and argues that
the aim of destroying and reconstructing these areas is to create
loyalist zones and strategic military corridors. The task of conquering
and securing them was assigned primarily to sectarian,
Iranian-controlled militias (Hezbollah Lebanon, Iraqi and Afghan Shia
militias, etc.), which were seen as more reliable and better organised
than the regular Syrian army. The ultimate aim of this scheme, which
arguably amounts to sectarian cleansing and to a foreign occupation,
appears to be securing the Damascus-Homs-Coast corridor along the
Lebanese border in order to both provide a geographical and demographic
continuity of regime-held areas and secure arms shipments to Hezbollah
in Lebanon, while at the same time cutting off those of the rebels
coming from or through eastern Lebanon. Indeed, the main reason behind
the Iranian regime's uncompromising determination to save Bashar
al-Assad's regime and take over control at any cost is to maintain its
ability to ship arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria. This will
ensure maintaining a strong deterrent against any possible Israeli
and/or Western attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. This 'line of
defence' is meant to secure the Iranian regime's survival. If the Assad
regime falls, Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah are likely to stop and
Hezbollah would no longer be the threatening deterrence against Israel
that it is now. The Iranian regime would therefore feel more vulnerable
and would not be able to negotiate from a strong position during
nuclear talks with Western powers, as it is doing now. It may even have
to give up its nuclear dreams once and for all. That is why Iran has
been mobilising all available resources (human, economic, military) to
achieve the strategic aim of building nuclear bombs without fearing a
massive military retaliation on its soil." http://t.uani.com/1IRfFZf
Brian Welch in
The Hill: "This week the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee will mark up the Justice for Former American Hostages in Iran
Act of 2015 (S.868), a bill that establishes a fund to make payments to
the Americans held hostage in Iran. As the administration works to
strike a deal with Iran on its nuclear program and easing of economic
and trade sanctions, this legislation makes sense. What does not
make sense is why it falls short and excludes other, equally
significant victims of Iran's past acts. Several years ago, Congress
passed a law giving families like mine the explicit right to seek
damages from the Iranian regime for acts of terrorism committed against
U.S. citizens. The Congress also stipulated clearly that any judgments
were to be paid from assets and funds seized by our government.
It was one of those rare instances where Congress spoke loudly, clearly
and unequivocally. Unfortunately, no one at the other end of
Pennsylvania Avenue has been listening. My father, Kenneth Welch was
murdered on October 20, 1984 by a suicide bomber who drove a bomb-laden
truck into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon where our dad was
serving as an Army warrant officer. Another soldier was killed and
scores of service personnel were also wounded. The driver was a
Hezbollah operative acting under orders from Tehran.
Years later a court in Washington, D.C. ruled favorably in our wrongful
death suit against the Iranian government and awarded damages for
Iran's role in planning and executing the attack that killed our
father. It was a victory for our family after years of suffrering.
Little did we know that day that we were beginning the first chapter in
what has become years of neglect and obstinacy from the same government
that sent my father to Beirut to protect its embassy. It is not just
our family that has been mistreated. Hundreds of families wait in the
same line for our government to end its empty condolences and hollow
promises. Our own government is failing to honor commitments made by
U.S. courts. Is this a reflection of a great nation? Don't great
nations keep their promises, honor their commitments? In recent years,
when members of Congress have championed our cause, the feds ascend to
Capitol Hill, appealing to members to 'look at the big picture' and not
let personal stories like ours influence the outcome of the larger
issues at stake. Callous, dismissive, indifferent are all words that
best define our government's attitude towards the families who have
suffered losses as a result of Iran's terror campaign. As the debate
continues on a nuclear agreement with Iran, Congress owes families like
ours a duty to also keep our important issue within sight. Our issue is
in fact part of the big picture." http://t.uani.com/1FErToU
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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