Monday, February 8, 2016

Eye on Iran: Satellites Show Mystery Construction at Iran's Top-Secret Military Site






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Daily Beast: "Newly released satellite images of Iran's top-secret Parchin military complex reveal that even as Iran was working to negotiate a nuclear deal, it was apparently working to hide its atomic work of the past and hedge its bets for the future. Forecasting site Stratfor.com says the images published Monday show Iran building a tunnel into a heavily guarded mountain complex inside the Parchin facility, some 20 miles southeast of Tehran, while also working to erase signs of alleged high-explosive testing at another area on the site. 'We're not saying they're cheating on the nuclear deal,' Stratfor analyst Sim Tack told The Daily Beast. 'The images show Iran was going through the motions to hide what it's done before, and it is still...developing facilities that the IAEA may or may not have access to,' Tack said, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The progression of satellite images tracking construction at Parchin from 2012 to 2015 show how Iran's leaders apparently worked to keep regime hardliners happy by moving forward with weapons programs, even as the leadership worked to erase signs of an illegal nuclear weapons program, Tack said...  Tack said the publication of images of the near-simultaneous construction of the tunnel entrance to another part of the complex is new. 'The imagery showed they were working on a tunnel entrance within the Parchin complex...and it looks like it's complete,' Tack said. A 2014 image Stratfor did not release showed construction equipment outside tunnel entrance. 'They were still going forward with that construction during the talks,' he said... Whatever's hidden beneath that mountain, the IAEA didn't get a look at it last September, he said. 'There are places where nobody knows what's going on,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1PKdpaf

WSJ: "Iran plans to sell 300,000 barrels of crude oil a day to European customers now that Western sanctions have been lifted, the country's oil minister told state media Saturday. It is the first time Iran's top oil official, Bijan Zanganeh, has said how much of its new exports would be headed for Europe, a major market for the Islamic Republic before much of the West imposed sanctions in response to Tehran's nuclear program in 2012. Iran is trying to boost its oil exports by 500,000 barrels a day in the next few months, with much of the rest going to Asia... Mr. Zanganeh's comments, reported by state-run oil news agency Shana, came amid signs that European oil-tanker companies were finding ways to ship Iranian oil despite remaining American sanctions on Iran related to terrorism and the country's human-rights record... Glencore PLC, the Switzerland-based mining and trading giant, became the first Western company to load Iranian oil on Friday night, shipping company officials said. A tanker chartered by Glencore AG loaded 80,000 metric tons of fuel oil at the Iranian oil-products terminal of Bandar Mahshahr late Friday and left bound for the United Arab Emirates, according to shipping officials and ship-tracking website FleetMon... Many shipowners have been reluctant to carry Iran's oil because the remaining American sanctions prohibit transactions in dollars with Iranian entities. Most oil is paid for in dollars, and many European insurers use the American financial system or pool resources with American companies, making it difficult to insure vessels. One British insurer, whose clients include a tanker owner booked to carry Iranian crude, said he wouldn't oppose such shipments, but warned that accidents may not be fully covered. Glencore's shipment is the first in a wave of European purchases of Iranian oil, though the others have yet to be loaded." http://t.uani.com/1RilXpL

AP: "Iran's constitutional watchdog, the hard-line Guardian Council, reversed a ban on 1,500 candidates who had registered to run in Feb. 26 parliamentary elections, state media reported on Saturday. The report on Iranian state TV on said a list of approved candidates has been conveyed to the Interior Ministry. It said over 6,200 candidates have been approved to run for the 290-seat parliament. The council, which is responsible for vetting candidates, had disqualified a large number of moderates, but it's not clear how many of the approved candidates are considered to be reformists. Over 12,000 hopefuls had initially registered for the election. While some hard-liners and conservatives had also been barred, reformists were the most affected. Many were disqualified because they were not seen to be sufficiently loyal to the ruling system, as defined by the Guardian Council members. Nine moderate parties issued a statement last month complaining that only 30 of the 3,000 reformist candidates fielded across the country were allowed to run... Reformists had registered in large numbers, hoping that many of them would survive the screening process even if their best-known figures were disqualified. But they expressed shock at the size of the initial mass disqualifications." http://t.uani.com/1RinKLH

Nuclear Program & Agreement

AP: "Iran awarded medals of honor on Monday to its nuclear negotiators, who helped clinch a landmark deal with world powers last year. President Hassan Rouhani presented the 'Medal of Merit' to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the 'Medal of Courage' to Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan and Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who is also the country's nuclear chief... 'We passed behind us difficult days, difficult hours and nights,' Rouhani said at the ceremony. 'But we did not lose the right path and God did not leave us alone.' ... Rouhani expressed gratitude for the support he received from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all major policies. 'Without the supreme leader, there was no national unity. Without the supreme leader, our (nuclear) accomplishment would have not been as great as it is today and maybe we would not have had such an achievement,' he said." http://t.uani.com/1nY4bwV

U.S.-Iran Relations

Politico: "As champagne corks popped for several Americans freed in a dramatic prisoner exchange with Iran last month, another U.S. citizen didn't get to enjoy the bubbly. He stayed behind in the same notorious Tehran prison from which the others were released. Nearly a month after a prisoner deal between Washington and Tehran, the friends and family of business consultant Siamak Namazi - who holds degrees from Tufts and Rutgers universities and has ties to many Washington foreign policy insiders - fear he has been forgotten in the warm afterglow of last month's swap and are pressing the Obama administration to step up efforts to free him. 'Siamak was left behind,' said Bijan Khajepour, Namazi's former business partner and a cousin by marriage. 'He was as much innocent as all the other U.S. citizens who were in Iranian prisons. And we should not forget him.' Iranian intelligence agents arrested Namazi, 44, in mid-October. He had traveled to Iran in July to attend a funeral but was blocked from leaving the country. He is being held in Tehran's Evin prison, where he is subjected to constant interrogations and almost never allowed visitors. Sources familiar with the case said that Secretary of State John Kerry has been pressing his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, for Namazi's release. On Friday, five Iranian-American groups sent a letter to Kerry, obtained by POLITICO, urging him to 'redouble your efforts' to win Namazi's freedom... Namazi's arrest accomplishes several goals for Iran's hardliners, including members of the IRGC opposed to President Hassan Rouhani's efforts to liberalize the country, said Karim Sadjadpour, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 'It deters diaspora businessmen from visiting Iran, which is less competition for the IRGC. It signals to the U.S. that the nuclear deal was only about getting sanctions lifted and should not be misinterpreted as a desire to normalize relations... 'Many of his friends and former employees in the Iranian business community are doing non-stop media about how Iran is such a terrific place for foreign investment and don't even mention his name,' he added. 'It's shameful.'" http://t.uani.com/1Q59R4g

Sanctions Relief

Reuters: "Canada said it was lifting some sanctions against Iran, including a ban on financial services, imports and exports, thereby allowing companies such as plane maker Bombardier Inc to compete against rivals. In a statement on Friday, the new Liberal government said all applications for export permits would be considered on a case-by-case basis... Foreign Minister Stephane Dion said Bombardier, as well as oil, gas, chemical and agricultural companies, should benefit. 'For them, of course, it's great news,' he told reporters, citing the importance of gaining access to a market of 80 million people. Dion said last week that if Airbus can to sell to Iran, then Bombardier should be allowed to export there as well... 'Canada continues to have serious concerns regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions and will continue to maintain tight restrictions on exports to Iran of goods, services and technologies considered sensitive from a security perspective,' the government said in a statement... Dion said Ottawa would work to restore diplomatic relations with Iran gradually despite concerns over its 'very questionable' human rights record and the threat it poses to regional allies such as Israel. The former Conservative government cut all diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012." http://t.uani.com/1QmWy9G

Reuters: "French car-maker PSA Peugeot Citroen will pay Iran over 400 million euros ($446 million) in compensation for losses after it quit the country due to sanctions, the managing director of the country's largest carmaker said on Sunday. Peugeot, the biggest-selling European carmaker in pre-sanctions Iran, suspended sales in 2012 when an international boycott against Iran due to its nuclear program was extended to the automobile sector. Most sanctions were lifted in January. 'Based on the deductions ... 427.6 million euros of compensation will be paid by Peugeot to Iran Khodro because of the losses,' Hashem Yekke-Zare, managing director of Iran-Khodro Company, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying. Yekke-Zare said the compensation would be mostly in services and discounts, including auto parts for current models being produced in Iran and devices for Peugeot 207 models. Peugeot had also written off 11 million euros of Iran Khodro debts plus 65 million euros in royalties owed between 2012 and 2016, he said, adding 317 million euros would be in the form of future co-operation, including training. Peugeot declined to comment on details of the deal on Saturday but its spokesman told Reuters that 'the deal signed with Iran is a good and balanced one'. Last month, Peugeot and IKCO signed a joint-venture deal to produce latest-generation vehicles in Iran." http://t.uani.com/1SZX6Hh

Bloomberg: "Iran will start sending 300,000 barrels a day of crude to Europe, 54 percent of the total it shipped before authorities on the continent put an embargo in place. Paris-based Total SA has agreed to buy about 160,000 barrels a day starting on Feb. 16, the ministry of oil's Shana website reported, citing Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. The company also expressed interest in developing the South Azadegan oil field in western Iran near the border with Iraq and in a liquid natural gas project, Shana reported. Total asked for the necessary information to submit a proposal for the LNG plant. The move shows Iran's determination to fulfill promises to re-establish its relationship with European clients who halted purchases in 2012 after the European Union imposed an embargo on imports... No agreement has been signed yet with Italian oil company Eni SpA, Zanganeh said. Italian officials are expected in Tehran soon to sign an oil purchase agreement for about 100,000 barrels a day, he said. Italy's Saras SpA refinery is also interested in buying 60,000 to 70,000 barrels a day." http://t.uani.com/20jPG2g

Bloomberg: "Refiners have chartered tankers this month that will deliver about 136,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude to Europe, equivalent to almost a quarter of the Middle Eastern nation's shipments to the region before sanctions were imposed. Spanish refiner Compania Espanola de Petroleos, France's Total SA and Russia's Lukoil PJSC have all provisionally booked cargoes of Iranian crude to sail from Kharg Island to European ports in the next two weeks, according to shipping reports compiled by Bloomberg. While some of those bookings may not be completed, more cargoes could also be chartered before the end of the month. The cargoes show that Iran is following through on its pledge to quickly re-establish its relationship with European customers, who halted purchases in 2012 after the European Union imposed an embargo on imports." http://t.uani.com/1nY58VV

Bloomberg: "The world's largest independent oil trader said it's 'business as normal' with Iran as Vitol Group BV confirmed it has already bought cargoes from the country after the end of economic sanctions. 'We've bought some, yes we have,' Vitol Chief Executive Officer Ian Taylor told Bloomberg in a television interview. 'We've bought a bit of everything really. Bit of products, bit of condensate. It's very much business as normal.' The comments ahead of the annual IP Week oil-industry gathering in London are the first confirmation by a trading company that it has resumed buying from Iran. Several European oil companies have chartered tankers this month to load Iranian crude, but none has yet acknowledged it's buying... Taylor said the nation's return to international markets hasn't been particularly complicated, though he acknowledged 'some inevitable teething problems as we get Iran back going again with things like banks and insurance' for the tankers. 'We, like everybody else, did some preparatory work,' he said. 'It was clear that it was coming. We obviously talked to them about what would happen once it did come. So people were relatively ready.' ... Vitol executives planned to meet with Iranian officials in London during the IP Week gathering, Taylor said. 'They're very sharp, very good. They haven't changed a lot,' he said. 'So we'll carry on the discussions that we dropped off a few years ago.'" http://t.uani.com/23SMHCn

FT: "Iran plans to keep most of the $100bn in assets it holds in foreign banks out of the country now the funds have been unfrozen, in a bid to fend off inflationary pressure from a sudden injection of cash into its economy, according to the country's vice-president.  'The money will not come to Iran,' says Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht as he outlined plans for how the government would deal with the assets released following Iran's nuclear agreement with world powers last year. Instead, he said, 'we will use it the same way as oil revenues', with the central bank opening letters of credit for domestic companies, taking their payment in rials and paying overseas creditors in hard currency. Despite high levels of public debt, analysts say, Tehran plans to direct the funds at infrastructure projects and the purchase of capital goods in a bid to end a recession that has seen negative growth in most years since 2011 and sent youth unemployment to 25 per cent... Only about $7bn of the unfrozen assets belong to the central administration and will be transferred to Iran, converted to rials and used for development projects, Mr Nobakht says. The rest includes about $38bn in central bank foreign exchange reserves held in a basket of currencies; up to $50bn belonging to the National Development Fund of Iran, the sovereign wealth fund that collects oil price windfalls for infrastructure investment; and about $6bn that belongs to state-owned companies and banks." http://t.uani.com/20FblHJ

Reuters: "Iran holds a stake in a refinery project in Malaysia and is considering taking stakes in projects in five other countries, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Engineering and Construction Company (NIOEC) was quoted as saying on Monday. Hamid Sharif Razi said the NIOEC holds a 30 percent stake in a 250,000 barrel a day refinery project in Malaysia, and was planning to take a 40 percent stake in a 300,000 barrel a day refinery in Indonesia, according to the Shana news agency. The NIOEC is also in talks with South Africa, Sierra Leone, Brazil and India, he said, adding the purpose of the projects was to guarantee Iranian crude exports and, if necessary, a source of product imports." http://t.uani.com/1SE9Ox4

Syria Conflict

Reuters: "The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said on Saturday Saudi Arabia lacked the courage to go through with a plan to send ground troops to Syria, and warned they would be wiped out if they went in. Mohammad Ali Jafari's blunt words on the Fars news agency were Iran's first official reaction to a statement from its regional rival Saudi Arabia this week that it was ready to join ground operations in Syria if a U.S.-led military alliance decided to start them. '(The Saudis) have made such a claim but I don't think they are brave enough to do so ... Even if they send troops, they would be definitely defeated ... it would be suicide,' Jafari was quoted as saying. Iran has already sent forces to Syria to back its ally President Bashar al-Assad in his country's five-year-old civil war." http://t.uani.com/1K7Pmll

Human Rights

Reuters: "There are several detained dual citizens in Iran, most of whom face espionage charges, the judiciary spokesman was quoted as saying on Sunday, although he did not give details of any individual cases. The comments come after an Iranian-British former BBC journalist, Bahman Daroshafaei, was detained last week in Tehran. His family said on Saturday they had not been informed of any charges against him... Tehran released four Iranian-Americans on Jan. 16 in a prisoner swap deal with Washington, including Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post's Tehran bureau chief who was arrested in July 2014 and accused of espionage. 'We have several dual citizens in jail. Their charges are mostly the same (as Rezaian's),' the judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. Ejei said that no verdict had been reached on Rezaian's espionage charges. 'It is still important to know what he and those related to him were doing in Iran. So their case is still open.'" http://t.uani.com/20F2jKE

Reuters: "The family of an Iranian-British former BBC journalist who was detained last week in Tehran were told on Saturday that he was in the capital's Evin prison, a friend told Reuters. Bahman Daroshafaei, 34, a translator and former BBC Persian service reporter, was detained on Wednesday at his home, according to the opposition website Kaleme.com. 'His family went to Evin prison today. They managed to talk to someone on the phone who said Bahman was in Evin but he would not be able to contact his family for another week or so,' said the friend, who was in direct touch with the family but declined to be named... After living in London for several years, Daroshafaei returned to Iran in 2014 to be near his family." http://t.uani.com/20jKZpd

IranWire: "Press TV bosses, including news director Hamid Reza Emadi sexually harassed former news anchor Sheena Shirani for years, the young female reporter revealed on Thursday, February 4. Two days later, Emadi and Payam Afshar, a studio manager at Press TV, were suspended. Emadi has since removed his Facebook account. Shirani made the information public after she published a series of messages that she had received from Emadi on her Facebook page and the voice recording of a phone conversation between her and Emadi on the Facebook page for news site Rooz Online. Shirani, 32, who is divorced with a son, first became an employee at Press TV in 2007, where she worked as an editor, producer and news presenter up to mid-January 2016. Shirani has now reportedly left Iran with her son. According to her friends, she has chosen not to disclose her whereabouts." http://t.uani.com/1KB1qLG

Domestic Politics

AFP: "Iran has approved an extra 1,500 candidates to contest this month's parliamentary election, raising the total number of hopefuls by around a third, an electoral official said Saturday. The increase came after previously rejected candidates presented new evidence of their credentials, allowing a partial reversal of the mass disqualification of thousands last month... On January 18, officials said 4,700 prospective candidates had been approved from more than 12,000 original applications. But 6,180 are now eligible, said interior ministry spokesman Hossein Ali Amiri on Saturday, according to official IRNA news agency... Reformists have yet to announce how many of their candidates were re-approved. One official said last month that only one percent of its applicants -- 30 from 3,000 -- were deemed eligible but others have said many more would be allowed to stand. The 6,180 number could rise again, as a number of initially approved candidates were subsequently rejected by the Guardian Council. They have three days to appeal... A final list of candidates is to be published on February 16." http://t.uani.com/1Ph3zer

Foreign Affairs

Guardian: "A trip to London this week by the Iranian foreign minister, the first such visit in 12 years, has been hailed as a 'symbol of warming relations' in spite of decades of mistrust and ongoing differences on regional issues and human rights. Mohammad Javad Zarif, the chief of Iran's diplomatic apparatus, has gained international recognition for his role in securing last year's landmark nuclear deal. He had to walk on a tightrope in London not to upset hardliners back home, who were scrutinising his every action and word. Six decades after MI6 engineered a coup against Iran's democratically elected prime minister to safeguard the UK's oil interests in Iran, still unacknowledged by the British establishment, Britain, or 'England' as it is mostly referred to in Iran, has a special place in the psyche of Iranian hardliners, who still think of it as 'little Satan' or 'the old fox' - cunning and sly. The foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, met Zarif for breakfast on Friday, the day after Iran took part in a summit on Syria in London. He later tweeted that the visit was a symbol of warming relations. It emerged after the meeting that the British embassy in Tehran and the Iranian mission in London will begin providing visa services from next month. Britain and Iran reopened embassies in their respective capitals last August. Relations reached a nadir in November 2011, when a mob attacked the UK mission in Tehran, ransacking offices and diplomatic residences." http://t.uani.com/1K7SuNU

Opinion & Analysis

Greta Van Susteren in Fox News: "What disappoints me most about the media - and I will throw myself into this - is how we forget people, forget stories and move on.  The truth is that we in the media can multi task - do more than one story at one time.  Yes, I know, everyone is currently consumed with politics (and that is an important story) but why not likewise talk about Bob Levinson?  Even a tweet to the White House helps put pressure on the White House to help. Former FBI agent Bob Levinson has been missing in Iran since March 9, 2007.  A proof of life photo showed he was alive in 2010.  His family has been in agony - they have no information. Recently a deal was negotiated between US and Iran to return several Americans held in an Iranian prison (and I am thrilled they are home!) ... but not Bob Levinson.  Why didn't the Obama Administration demand information about Levinson in connection with this deal? I don't know if Levinson is dead or alive, but I do believe Iranian government knows whether he is.  I also think  the White House knows something it is not telling the family (see below.)  That is mean. In January, the AP reported:  'U.S. officials believe Robert Levinson may no longer be in Iran..'  If US believe he is no longer in Iran, upon what do they believe this?  That means US knows something.  Tell the family!  It is cruel to keep them in the dark all these years. And the media?  how about just a tweet about Bob Levinson to the White House? @WhiteHouse @HelpBobLevinson. And if you are not in the media, you can still help big time. You can likewise tweet @WhiteHouse @HelpBobLevinson. We should not leave Americans behind.  We need to 'bang the drums' on this one And even if the government won't help at least the Levinson people know we care." http://t.uani.com/1UYk0ht

Minky Worden in HRW: "Beach volleyball is testing women's rights in Iran. Yes, beach volleyball in Iran. You may think that women's rights there are a secondary issue, compared with recent headlines focusing on a nuclear agreement, the freeing of the Washington Post's correspondent in Tehran and other prisoners, and an almost-international incident when American sailors veered into Iranian waters. But in fact, this issue goes to the heart of whether Iran upholds its international agreements. Later this month, Iran will host a prestigious international beach volleyball tournament on Kish Island, south of the mainland in the Persian Gulf. This is a first for Iran, which was selected as the host country by the Lausanne-based International Volleyball Federation, or FIVB. The problem is that Iran bans women from attending volleyball matches (indeed, women have been also banned since 1979 from watching soccer in stadiums). This is in clear violation of the 4th Fundamental Principle of the Volleyball Federation's own constitution and the Olympic Charter, both of which promise nondiscrimination. It also represents a missed opportunity: Iran's national volleyball team has become one of the world's best, and the sport has spiked in popularity in the country. The upcoming men's beach volleyball tournament could be a celebratory occasion not just on the volleyball courts but also for equality in Iran - if authorities reverse the discriminatory ban keeping women out of matches. The irony is that volleyball was once an established public space for women, who could attend men's matches in Iran until 2012, when the decision was made to ban them, without any clear explanation. Since then, gathering online and outside stadiums during the volleyball matches, Iranian women have tried to reverse this ban. Their efforts led to harassment and even arrest. In 2014, Iranian authorities arrested Ghoncheh Ghavami and some 20 others when they sought to attend a Volleyball World League match at Tehran's Azadi ('Freedom') Stadium complex. They were released soon afterward, but Ghavami was rearrested and charged with 'propaganda against the state.' She was held in the city's notorious Evin Prison, including a stretch in solitary confinement, for nearly five months. Across Iran, women face significant discrimination in law and in practice, as well as restrictions on exercising their rights. Given the repressive environment activists face every day there, women behind campaigns like @OpenStadiums have taken enormous risks to demand their right to watch sports in public. Last June, Iran hosted the Volleyball Federation's World League matches. In a demoralizing bait-and-switch, women were first promised they could attend the international tournament, then yet again threatened and excluded. However, the FIVB did not raise a public stink, even when only men were allowed to buy tickets and police were stationed around Azadi Stadium to stop any women who might try to get in. One would think such blatant rule-breaking by the Iranians would cause the FIVB to rescind or cancel Iran's hosting privileges; even FIFA, soccer's international governing organization, says Iran can't host its tournaments until women can attend. Instead, the Volleyball Federation awarded Iran another two volleyball tournaments: the Kish Island FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, from February 15-19, and Tehran's World League matches in June 2016. So that sets the volleyball gender equality calendar for the year, and gives the international federation two more chances to use its enormous leverage to insist that Iran must play by the rules." http://t.uani.com/1SE4hGU
       

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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