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AP:
"The Senate on Monday unanimously passed a resolution calling on
Iranian officials to immediately release three Americans held in Iran and
help locate a fourth. The measure, which passed 90-0, calls for Iran to
free Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati and Jason Rezaian and cooperate with the
U.S. government to locate and return former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who
is believed to be missing in Iran. Abedini, a Christian pastor from Idaho,
has been in Iranian custody since September 2012 and is serving an eight-year
sentence for undermining state security. During a trial in January, he was
convicted of trying to establish a network of Christian churches in private
homes. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, who introduced the measure, argued that
the four should have been released before the U.S. started negotiating a
nuclear agreement with Iran. 'Iran thinks it elevates its position in the
world because it does these kind of things. It does not,' Risch said.
'Certainly it shows toughness, but a barbarian type of toughness that the
world is not impressed with at all.'" http://t.uani.com/1H0VQdB
AP:
"Many Americans like the idea of the preliminary deal that would limit
Iran's nuclear program but very few people really believe Tehran will
follow through with the agreement. An Associated Press-GfK poll finds that
just 3 percent said they were very confident that Iran would allow
inspections of its nuclear facilities, remove plutonium from the country
and shut down close to half of its uranium-enriching centrifuges as the
preliminary deal says would be required. Nearly seven in 10 people said
they were not confident, while 25 percent said they were only moderately
confident... Although more than half of Americans polled say they approve
of making the deal, few people - 16 percent - are actually paying close
attention to the complex Iran negotiations that have angered Israel and
unnerved Gulf nations who are concerned about Tehran's rising influence and
aggressive behavior in the region." http://t.uani.com/1Exfn4P
FT:
"Iran has defied international sanctions and acquired nine large
commercial aircraft worth more than $300m. Mahan Air, which is blacklisted
by the US and Europe because of alleged links to Iran's revolutionary guard
- denied by the airline - is suspected of spending more than a year
brokering a complex series of arrangements with apparently unwitting
companies across Europe using the small Iraqi Al-Naser Airlines as a front,
according to western security officials... Western diplomats fear the
aircraft could be used to ferry weapons to conflicts in Yemen and Syria, a
concern that Mahan - which is owned by the Kerman Molal-Movahedin
Non-Profit Institute - rejects." http://t.uani.com/1KF37Ts
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
AFP:
"Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman will lead a US delegation to
Vienna May 13 to join the next round of negotiations on finalizing an Iran
nuclear accord, the State Department said Monday. The American team, which
includes a representative of President Barack Obama's National Security
Council and experts on arms control, non-proliferation, economic sanctions
and energy, departs Wednesday. The European Union and Tehran said in a
statement last week that the crunch talks aimed at hammering out a final deal
by a self-imposed deadline of June 30 were to resume Tuesday in the
Austrian capital. The EU negotiator Helga Schmid and her Iranian
counterparts would kick off the talks, with political leaders of the other
world powers involved in the negotiations joining in on May 15, the
statement said." http://t.uani.com/1Exu0VP
AP:
"Experts from Iran and six world powers are gathering in Vienna for
the next round of negotiations meant to result in a nuclear deal curbing
Tehran's atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The technical
experts meeting Tuesday are to be joined by senior political officials from
Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany later
in the week." http://t.uani.com/1JEVD2x
Mehr (Iran):
"Iranian Deputy FM and senior negotiator has said constant and
permanent inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities would be done in the wake
of a prospective nuclear deal. Spokesman for the National Security and
Foreign Policy Committee of Iran's Parliament Seyed Hossein Naghavi quoted
Iranian Deputy FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi as saying that constant and
permanent inspection of Iran's nuclear facilities would be done in the wake
of a prospective nuclear deal, however he rejected any inspection of
Iranian military bases and sites... 'Reaching a nuclear deal is accessible
in the context of the negotiation, however, out of the context, the Zionist
lobby, the Saudis and US Congress create obstacles on the way of nuclear
negotiations with 5+1,' Araghchi highlighted, adding that any opposition
from American Congressmen could face President Obama's veto which requires
two-thirds vote to be ineffective, something which seems impossible. The
only consequence Iran would face under Congress interference is delaying
the implementation of the agreement for two months, Araghchi stressed...
Elsewhere in his remarks, Naghavi quoted Araghchi as saying that all the
economic and financial sanctions against Iran should be removed the very
day a final agreement on Iran's nuclear program is implemented." http://t.uani.com/1cJEgUb
Military Matters
Fars (Iran):
"The US and French warships and military aircraft changed their
direction in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday night after being warned by an
Iranian flotilla to keep distant. The US and French reconnaissance planes,
helicopters and warships approached the Iranian warships in a provocative
move, ignoring the internationally set 5-mile standard distance from Iran's
34th fleet of warships deployed in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday night. The
vessels and aircraft then received a warning from Iranian Destroyer
'Alborz', apologized and rapidly changed direction." http://t.uani.com/1cqD1IM
Sanctions Relief
Tasnim (Iran):
"Iranian car manufacturing company Saipa is in talks with France's PSA
Peugeot Citroen and Renault, Germany's Mercedes-Benz, and Sweden's Volvo to
finalize deals on joint production of cars in Iran, Saipa officials
announced on Tuesday. Saipa CEO Saeid Madani announced that the
company is in negotiations with PSA Peugeot Citroen to sign a deal, but at
the same time noted that any deal would depend on the ongoing talks between
Tehran and world powers over the country's peaceful nuclear energy program.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony held here in Tehran to
unveil the production line of a new Volvo truck in Saipa Diesel factory.
Madani also told the Tasnim News Agency that Saipa and Renault are in talks
to modify previous contracts, but the details of negotiations have yet to
be finalized. Japanese company Nissan has also declared its willingness to
cooperate with Saipa and expand collabortions with the Iranian firm, he
added. Elsewhere in his remarks, Madani announced that the Swedish company
Volvo is already providing Saipa with technical support and spare part and
that the cooperation will develop in the future. New Volvo trucks named
H500, which will begin to be manufactured on Tuesday, are 15% domestically
produced, he added. CEO of Saipa Diesel Za'far Tanhapour, who was also
attending the ceremony, announced that the company has started talks with
Germany's Mercedes-Benz, and expressed the hope that the talks would be
finalized by the end of the current Iranian calendar year
(mid-March)." http://t.uani.com/1E3HVkK
Press TV (Iran):
"Iran's media say French giant automaker Peugeot will form a joint
venture with the country's leading car manufacturer Iran Khodro. The
Persian-language Iran newspaper said on Tuesday that final talks over the
JV have been held in Paris and the two sides are expected to sign a deal to
the same effect 'within the next few weeks'. Each side will have a share of
50 percent in the venture, Iran added. The report said Peugeot will be
committed under the deal with Iran Khodro to provide investment, technical
know-how, new products and the related assembly lines. Iran Khodro in
return will be committed to provide after sales services, the sales
networks as well as its own share of the assembly lines. 'This is for the
first time that a foreign company is investing in Iran's auto sector with
such a huge share of investments,' said the report. It further added
Citroen, another French automaker which is part of Peugeot, is in talks
over a similar partnership with their old Iranian partner - Saipa." http://t.uani.com/1KZFw0y
Trend:
"The Polish oil and natural gas company PGNiG (Polskie Górnictwo
Naftowe i Gazownictwo) has signed an MoU with the Iran National Oil Company
(NIOC) on joint work on an oil field in Lavan Island in Iran's territorial
water in the Gulf. The company signed an agreement this week with the Iranian
Offshore Oil Company (IOOC) on the future cooperation, PGNiG Manager for
Middle East Boguslaw Sozanski told Trend at the Iran Oil Show 2015 which
was held May 6-9. He further said that the company has considered an
investment of $1 billion for the project, adding that the possibility to
invest more is still being explored... He said that his company, 75 percent
of whose shares are held by the Polish government, started cooperation with
Iran in 2007, but stopped the cooperation due to economic sanctions on
Iran. He further said that he had been in Iran one week earlier as member
of a large Polish trade delegation to explore the Iranian market." http://t.uani.com/1IxohUK
Press TV (Iran):
"Poland's state-controlled gas monopoly PGNiG has expressed its willingness
to operate projects in Iran as hopes soar for the lifting of sanctions on
Iran. The company's Middle East manager, Yugoslav Suzanski, was quoted by
Mehr news agency as saying that PGNiG is interested in opening an office in
Tehran in order to pursue its activities in Iran. 'Years ago, this Polish
company was present in Lavan gas project [in Iran] and is willing to return
to Iran's burgeoning market,' he said. Meanwhile, Iran's deputy petroleum
minister Abbas Sha'ri-Moqaddam said talks have been started with a Polish
company for cooperation in petrochemical projects. 'The main subject of
talks with this European company is the purchase of equipment and
state-of-the-art technology for petrochemical industries,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1E2t4Ht
Press TV (Iran):
"Iran says a major Chinese infrastructure company is studying the
prospects of investing in its water and electricity development
projects. Media reports say a top-level executive team from
PowerChina is currently in Tehran to meet the related officials to discuss
potential areas of investments. The Chinese team on Monday visited Iran's
Energy Ministry and voiced interest to take up projects in the country,
Tasnim news agency reported. Officials at the Ministry also emphasized that
Tehran is interested in cooperating with PowerChina, the report added.
Alireza Daemi, the deputy energy minister for planning affairs, told Tasnim
that Iran is specifically interested in cooperating with the Chinese
company in constructions of dams, using renewable energies, building
combined-cycle power plants, and the development of hydropower
projects. All these projects, Daemi added, will be carried out with
PowerChina through a scheme known as engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC)." http://t.uani.com/1F4HoTE
Reuters:
"Iran may be about to restore banking links with the rest of the world
after years of separation, but the process won't be easy as its Islamic
financial system has evolved in ways that will complicate ties with foreign
banks. Smothered in bad debt and shut out of the global system by
sanctions, Iranian banks badly need to resume business with foreign
lenders, for whom this would be a huge opportunity. Iran's Islamic banking
assets totalled 17,344 trillion riyals as of March 2014, or $523 billion at
the free market exchange rate, according to the latest central bank data,
over a third of the estimated total of Islamic banking assets globally. But
the Iranian banks' shaky finances and close ties with their government will
increase the risks of dealing with them. And during their years of
isolation, they have developed a version of Islamic finance that is in some
ways markedly different from that practiced in other Muslim-majority
states." http://t.uani.com/1FifwPb
Anti-Americanism
Press TV (Iran):
"Saudi Arabia has launched a proxy war against Yemen on behalf of the
United States and Israel, a senior Iranian military official says. 'The war
the Saudis have launched against Yemen is a proxy war on behalf of the
United States, the Zionist regime [of Israel], and their western allies,'
said Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a top military adviser to Leader of
the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Elaborating on the
way the US and its allies instigate violence in other countries, the
Iranian official added that they do not involve themselves in the fights
directly and entrust the task to 'some countries or some terrorist groups.'
He also said, 'In the past 15 years, attacking the Islamic nations and
countries and introducing Islam and Muslims as a new threat have been among
the objectives and plans of the Zionists, Americans and Europeans.'
'Targeting Muslim nations and countries as well as their strategic
resources and their thoughts have been among the goals of the wars in the
past 15 years in the region,' Safavi added." http://t.uani.com/1F9aimV
Fars (Iran):
"Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali
Shamkhani lashed out at the US and its allies for helping the Al-Qaeda
against the revolutionary forces in Yemen. 'Becoming an ally of al-Qaeda in
Yemen to fight the will of the people is recorded as a historical shame for
the US and its allies,' Shamkhani said, addressing a ceremony in the
Southern province of Khuzestan on Friday. He reiterated that the Muslim
world will not tolerate unwise decisions of the Al Saud family that is
backed by the US, and that Muslims will force them to account for the
crimes they have committed in Yemen." http://t.uani.com/1bKQTwO
Regional
Destabilization
Reuters:
"Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said a summit between Gulf Arab
leaders and U.S. President Barack Obama later this week will focus on
Iran's 'aggressive' moves in the Middle East, Saudi state news agency SPA
reported on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and a key
U.S. ally for decades, has expressed concern at the rise of Iran's armed
allies in sectarian conflicts throughout the region and Washington's
perceived unwillingness to intervene. 'We see Iranian support for terrorist
organizations and facilitating the work of terrorist organizations, so the
challenge will be in how to coordinate U.S.-Gulf efforts in order to
collectively face these aggressive moves on the part of Iran,' al-Jubeir
said, according to SPA." http://t.uani.com/1QFlbRp
FP:
"A senior U.S. official said Monday the White House has rejected a
proposal from Gulf nations to forge a common defense treaty with the United
States. The revelation follows decisions by the leaders of Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Bahrain to skip a summit organized by
the White House this week - a move perceived by some as a snub to President
Barack Obama... 'We need something in writing. We need something
institutionalized,' UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba told a Washington conference
last week. In a Monday conference call, Robert Malley, the White House
coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf Region, told
reporters that the U.S. informed Gulf allies 'weeks ago' that a defense
treaty 'was not possible.' Despite that disagreement, Malley insisted Gulf
allies came away largely satisfied following a meeting in Paris last Friday
that was attended by foreign ministers of the six GCC nations and the
U.S. 'Again, one of them reminded us that they would've liked a treaty,
but beyond that there was no hint of dissatisfaction,' Malley said. Hours
later, the White House said that Saudi King Salman called Obama to 'express
his regret at not being able to travel to Washington this week.'" http://t.uani.com/1HeI0d1
FT:
"America's allies in the region fear that the influx of funds Iran
will receive under a nuclear deal will embolden its push for greater
regional influence. 'The agreement creates the impression that Iran is a
regional hegemon, its role needed in Syria, to resolve Yemen, to elect a
president in Lebanon,' says the Gulf official. 'The impression created as a
result of the agreement is that you have to engage Iran to resolve Arab
issues.' US officials have been at pains to downplay this view, stressing
that the nuclear talks are a discrete initiative aimed at limiting Iran's
ability to produce a bomb and that the US is focused on curtailing Iran in
other spheres." http://t.uani.com/1Fbqxjr
Human Rights
IHR:
"The execution wave continues in Iran. More than 140 prisoners have
been executed since the beginning of April 2015. Most of these
prisoners have been sentenced to death for drug related charges...
According to the sources Iran Human Rights (IHR) has been in contact with,
11 prisoners were executed in the prison of Ghezelhesar (Karaj, west of
Tehran) on Wednesday morning May 7. All the prisoners were convicted of
drug related charges." http://t.uani.com/1cpGjfn
Opinion &
Analysis
WSJ Editorial:
"The promise of a successful nuclear deal with Iran is that it will
stop nuclear proliferation, moderate Tehran's behavior, make the Middle
East a safer place, and perhaps allow the U.S. to play a less active role
in a troublesome region. Try telling that to the Arab leaders who were
supposed to visit the White House and Camp David this week, but are now
finding a reason not to show up. President Obama announced the visit when
he unveiled the Iran 'framework' last month. The goal is to reassure the
king of Saudi Arabia-along with the emirs and princes of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain,
Oman and the United Arab Emirates-that the U.S. will continue to support
them despite the nuclear deal with Iran. The President has also suggested
he'll have a 'tough conversation' about their internal politics, though how
another Obama lecture on good governance will ease concerns about U.S.
reliability is anyone's guess. But at the last minute the senior Arab
leaders are finding excuses not to make the trip. New Saudi King Salman
pulled out on the weekend only days after confirming his attendance, and he
will send lower-level officials instead. Bahrain's king has also bowed out.
These rejections can only be described as political snubs rooted in
distrust of President Obama and his diplomacy... Arab leaders have already
shown how little trust they put in Mr. Obama's assurances. Saudi Arabia's
war against Yemen's Houthis came after the Administration had made
overtures to the Iranian-backed militia earlier in January. Last month King
Salman cashiered his half-brother as Saudi crown prince and replaced him
with his tough-minded nephew Muhammad bin Nayef, who believes in more
vigorous Sunni Arab self-defense. Then there's the Saudis' view of the Iran
nuclear deal-and of the Administration's disregard for their objections.
('A lot of hysteria,' according to Secretary of State John Kerry.) 'Our
allies aren't listening to us, and this is what is making us extremely
nervous,' Prince Faisal bin Saud bin Abdulmohsen recently told the Journal.
Prince Turki al Faisal, Riyadh's former intelligence minister, was even
more blunt, saying in March that the Kingdom 'will want the same' nuclear
technology Iran is granted in a deal. That would include a plutonium
reactor and thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium. The Kingdom already
has plans to build 16 nuclear reactors by 2030, claiming it needs them to
power desalination plants. Some kind of Saudi nuclear bomb seems inevitable
if the Iran deal follows the 'framework' outline. The deal would leave Iran
with its nuclear facilities intact if under inspections, and thus as a
nuclear threshold state. Even the threat of such a capacity will enhance
Iran's ability to leverage power in the region. The Sunni Arabs will want
their own deterrent as a counterweight." http://t.uani.com/1K497ID
David Gardner in FT:
"When President Barack Obama set out to strike a deal with Iran to
constrain its nuclear ambitions, he anticipated that success would lead to
a new equilibrium in a Middle East in turmoil from which the US sought to
pull back: a self-regulating balance of power between the rival hegemons of
the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Iran. One reason this is going to be difficult
for him to sell to Gulf Arab leaders at this week's meeting at Camp David
is that Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies feel this balance has already
tilted alarmingly towards Shia Iran. Some of their officials can be heard
fulminating about Tehran's ambition to recreate a Persian empire in Arab
lands. They fear that if the framework nuclear deal agreed in Lausanne in
April is formally concluded next month, an Iran freed of international
sanctions on its economy could lock in its Arab gains and become
unstoppable. The Saudi-led Sunni coalition bombing the Houthis in Yemen - a
heterodox Zaydi Shia movement Riyadh insists is powered by Iran - has
dramatised this concern, which is centred on the Islamic Republic's
influence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. Iran was the big winner from the
US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which toppled the Sunni minority tyranny
of Saddam Hussein and installed Shia majority rule. The virulent return of
Sunni jihadism to Iraq through the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
forced the US Air Force back into action, but on the ground the Baghdad
government is dependent on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and
its powerful network of Iraqi Shia militia trained by Iran. In civil
war-riven Syria, the minority regime of Bashar al-Assad, which has already
morphed into a national militia network under IRGC guidance, is a ward of
the Iranian state and its proxies such as Hizbollah, the Lebanese
paramilitary movement. The regime's manpower crisis - it can no longer
replace battlefield losses which are mounting again this year - has forced
Hizbollah to roughly double its deployment in Syria to between 6,000-7,000
fighters, and IRGC to field a similar number of troops, according to Arab
and European sources. Hizbollah's entry into the Syrian maelstrom,
meanwhile, has forced it to tighten its grip on the levers of power at home
in Lebanon. In this context, European and Arab officials emphasise, Gulf leaders
are not worried about Tehran eventually getting a nuclear bomb so much as a
post-sanctions Iran getting its hands on real money. They have seen how
much Iran can do with hardly any money, and how little they themselves can
do, with vast cash piles accumulated before last year's oil price crash.
Syria highlights how important money now is." http://t.uani.com/1dZcnYx
Eli Lake in
Bloomberg: "With a deadline to end nuclear
negotiations less than two months away, the crippling sanctions against
Iran are already beginning to collapse. The latest evidence came over the
weekend when nine used commercial airliners arrived in Iran to bolster the
fleet of Mahan Air. The U.S. has threatened to sanction western companies
that sell planes to Iran, although a prohibition against Iran acquiring
airplane spare parts was lifted in an interim agreement signed with Iran at
the end of 2013. U.S. officials have also said that sanctions to punish
Iran's support of terrorism and human rights violations will remain in place
if the nuclear sanctions are lifted. Mahan Air has been singled out before
-- not for its support for Iran's nuclear program, but for its role in
providing weapons and crowd control equipment to the Syrian regime in its
brutal suppression of popular unrest. The delivery of the used airplanes
comes at a moment when Iran is seeking to rejoin the international economy,
even before it signs a final deal. Last month Russia's president Vladimir
Putin announced he would resume the sale of a sophisticated air defense
system, known as the S300, to Iran. Western oil companies are already
meeting with Iranian officials to discuss how to get back into the
country's lucrative oil and gas markets. Abbas Akhoundi, Iran's
transportation minister, said Sunday that 15 planes had been acquired by
Iran since February, with nine arriving over the weekend. Other Iranian
media reported that the planes -- which used to be part of the Virgin
Atlantic fleet -- were headed to Mahan Air. On Monday, the Financial Times
reported that Western governments suspect Iraq's Al-Naser Airlines to have
been a front for Mahan to acquire the planes. The airline, a private
company based in Tehran, has come under scrutiny from the U.S. government
before. In 2011, it was sanctioned by Treasury for supporting Iran's
Revolutionary Guard Corps and its ballistic missile program. A 2012 press
release from Treasury says, 'Iran used Iran Air and Mahan Air flights
between Tehran and Damascus to send military and crowd control equipment to
the Syrian regime.' Those flights were then coordinated with Hezbollah,
according to the press release, to re-supply Bashar al-Assad's government
during his attacks against civilians and his opposition that summer. In
2008, according to a diplomatic cable declassified by Wikileaks, the State
Department attempted to ground three Mahan Air planes that were receiving
maintenance in South Korea. Eventually, the U.S. was able to recall those
planes to the U.S. bases where they were manufactured The U.S.
also collected $15 million in fines from the British company that sold the
aircraft to Mahan Air. A Treasury Department spokeswoman declined to
comment on the news Monday about the delivery of airplanes to Iran. Some
analysts, however, said the transaction showed how the sanctions against
Iran were collapsing ahead of the June 30 deadline for a nuclear deal.
'Mahan Air's case shows that U.S. sanctions no longer deter Western
companies from doing big business with Iran - even with a company like
Mahan Air, which Treasury targeted for its support of the Iran's
Revolutionary Guards' Corps,' said Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at
the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that has
advocated for tough sanctions on Iran. 'To preserve the credibility of its
sanctions' regime, the administration must move quickly to punish those
companies involved in this blatant breach of U.S. sanctions,' Ottolenghi
said. 'Otherwise,' he added, 'the argument that sanctions are still largely
intact and can always be snapped back in the future loses all
credibility.'" http://t.uani.com/1ExroHp
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