Saturday, January 17, 2015

UNITED AGAINST NUCLEAR IRAN 01/17/2015

Submitted by: Susan Short

   
Top Stories

AP: "In the eyes of most Iraqis, their country's best ally in the war against the Islamic State group is not the United States and the coalition air campaign against the militants. It's Iran, which is credited with stopping the extremists' march on Baghdad. Shiite, non-Arab Iran has effectively taken charge of Iraq's defense against the Sunni radical group, meeting the Iraqi government's need for immediate help on the ground. Two to three Iranian military aircraft a day land at Baghdad airport, bringing in weapons and ammunition. Iran's most potent military force and best known general - the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force and its commander Gen. Ghasem Soleimani - are organizing Iraqi forces and have become the de facto leaders of Iraqi Shiite militias that are the backbone of the fight. Iran carried out airstrikes to help push militants from an Iraqi province on its border. The result is that Tehran's influence in Iraq, already high since U.S. forces left at the end of 2011, has grown to an unprecedented level." http://t.uani.com/1sq1bde

AFP: "Iran's atomic agency chief insisted Sunday on Tehran's demands for increased uranium enrichment, days before the resumption of thorny talks with world powers in Geneva. Ali Akbar Salehi, a former foreign minister and ex-nuclear negotiator for the Islamic republic, said that within eight years the country would need 12 times more enriched uranium than at present... 'We currently produce 2.5 tons but will need 30 tons eventually,' Salehi, head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA. 'They refuse... and ask that we reduce the number of centrifuges (the machines that enrich uranium),' Salehi said. 'We must have that right in eight years... we are ready to do this in stages. They can set the first step but we want to set the last step.' ... Salehi also reiterated Iran's demand for an eventual enrichment capacity of 190,000 SWU (separative work units), which was first set out by the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last July.... Salehi also pointed to a third difficulty -- the time period the West considers necessary for confidence-building measures to ensure Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful. 'We want this period to be less than 10 years,' he said, noting that the P5+1 powers want it to last 'between 10 and 20 years.'" http://t.uani.com/14LpzMk

Reuters: "The U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers will meet in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss the Iranian nuclear program ahead of a fresh round of talks among Tehran and major powers on the issue, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. The meeting will take place ahead of lower-level bilateral nuclear talks between Iran and members of six major powers expected to start on Jan. 15 in Geneva as well as a collective discussion among the entire group scheduled to resume on Jan. 18. Speaking to reporters, the senior U.S. State Department official said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif planned to meet so as 'to provide guidance to their negotiating teams before their next round of discussions.'" http://t.uani.com/1BYSJ4t
   
Nuclear Program & Negotiations

AFP: "Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday that a more active role for Russia could speed up talks aimed at sealing a comprehensive deal on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme. With meetings between Iran and world powers to resume in Geneva on Wednesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was visiting Tehran, with both sides seeking a breakthrough. 'A more active Russian role is an important element in accelerating the final settlement of questions for a global nuclear agreement,' Zarif was quoted as saying on state media... Ryabkov, who heads up the Russian negotiating team under the P5+1 talks, said good ties between Tehran and Moscow can still help 'a rapid settlement of nuclear relations relating to Iran.'" http://t.uani.com/1A7RE8g

LAT: "High-level meetings in Geneva in coming days will offer an early test of whether Iran is willing to show new flexibility in the stalled international negotiations on its nuclear program. With only six weeks before the next deadline in the negotiations, Secretary of State John F. Kerry will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday in the Swiss capital. The U.S. and Iranian negotiating teams will meet Thursday through Saturday, and on Sunday diplomats from all seven countries involved in the negotiations will hold a final session... Western officials hope to see whether Rouhani will return with new instructions from Iran's supreme leader that will allow completion of the several major issues that remain unresolved. 'There is hope that, having come so close, there will now be a decision to take the final steps,' said a person close to the negotiations, who declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue. Iranian officials insist that it is not they, but Western officials, who are intransigent." http://t.uani.com/14Pig5C

Al-Monitor: "But a former US nuclear negotiator warns that continued internal disagreements in Iran seem to be stalling progress on a deal. 'In my view, the talks have become hostage to internal divisions in Tehran,' Robert Einhorn, former top arms control adviser on the US Iran nuclear negotiating team, told Al-Monitor in an interview Jan. 9. 'Progress in the negotiations will require a decision in Tehran to make adjustments in Iran's negotiating position,' Einhorn, now with the Brookings Institution, said. 'It means the supreme leader has got to ... authorize [his negotiating team] to make the adjustments that are necessary to conclude a deal. And he has not done that yet.'" http://t.uani.com/17AdCdq

YnetNews: "Following reports Syrian President Bashar Assad was building an underground nuclear facility, a senior Syrian rebel official told Saudi paper Okaz on Sunday that the Free Syrian Army has noted suspicious Syrian and Iranian movements in the town of Qusayr on the outskirts of Homs, where the facility is said to be. According to the official, Abu Muhammad al-Bitar, the Free Syrian Army noted the presence of Iranian officers and 'unprecedented' Hezbollah security in the area. Al-Bitar said the Friday report on Der Spiegel has been discussed at length in command meetings of rebel factions in the Kalamoon area. He went on to say that 'what can be confirmed is that what's going on there is happening under direct Iranian supervision and the Syrian regime is only a cover-up for this.' ... Citing information made available by unidentified intelligence sources, Der Spiegel said the plant was in an inaccessible mountain region in the west of the war-ravaged country, two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Lebanese border... Western experts suspect, based on the documents, that a reactor or an enrichment plant could be the aim of the project, whose codename is 'Zamzam,' Der Spiegel said. The report said North Korean and Iranian experts are thought to be part of the 'Zamzam' project." http://t.uani.com/1DPBqo3

Sanctions Enforcement & Impact

AFP: "Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has his voiced anger and frustration at how international sanctions are damaging his plans to build for the team's future. The three-times Asian Cup champions began their bid for a first title in 39 years with an impressive 2-0 victory over Bahrain in Melbourne on Sunday, but Queiroz told AFP it was wrong that Iran's young footballers were being 'victimised' by politics. 'It's been very difficult,' the former Portugal and Real Madrid manager said. 'We suffer a lot to prepare friendly games and to move internationally to prepare the team and players. After the World Cup the situation is getting worse and worse. The players are victimised by the limitations of the sanctions.'" http://t.uani.com/1AI3x7J

Iraq Crisis

Al-Monitor: "After Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003, in an act of rivalry with the United States, Iran quickly started to form paramilitary groups in Iraq and also started to support those Iraqi politicians who had ties to Iran. Several groups including Mahdi Army (Jaysh al-Mahdī) which is connected to Muqtadā al-Ṣadr, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, Liwa'a Zulfiqar, Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Kata'ib Hezbollah, Liwa'a 'Ammar Ibn Yasir, Munadhamat Badr (Al Janah Al Askeri) were formed in Iraq with the support of Tehran especially after the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq. The most recently created group, however, is Saraya al-Khorasani. Saraya al-Khorasani means 'Khorasani Brigades' or in other words: forces obedient to the Seyyed of Khorasan. For the Shi'ites who have ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, 'Seyyed Khorasani' is a reference to Ayatollah Khamenei the supreme leader of Iran. What distinguishes Saraya al-Khorasani from other Shi'ites groups is the logo that this group has chosen for itself. In a rather unprecedented move, Saraya al-Khorasani has chosen an official logo which is identical to the official logo of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard." http://t.uani.com/1IEgFg7

Human Rights

AP: "Five weeks after being charged in a Tehran court, Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post journalist imprisoned in Iran, still does not know the exact nature of the allegations against him and remains unable to speak to a lawyer, the reporter's family said after visiting him twice last month. In what appears to be the longest imprisonment for a Western journalist in Iran, Rezaian, who has been the newspaper's Iran bureau chief since 2012, has been held at Tehran's Evin prison for more than 170 days. Weeks after an initial court date, he is aware only that the five separate charges against him relate to alleged 'activities outside the bounds of journalism,' said his mother, Mary Breme Rezaian, and his brother, Ali Rezaian." http://t.uani.com/1Ik4Kpk

IranWire: "Some will still remember the days following the Islamic Revolution, when, in a bid to maintain power and silence dissent, Iran's new leaders targeted the guilty and innocent alike. Among them were political activists, but also celebrities: artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, and athletes. Stars were summoned to court one by one or in groups. They were forced either into exile or to the confines of their homes. The popular actress and singer Marjan was sent to prison for supporting the People's Mojahedin Organization. Football legend Parviz Ghelichkhani escaped to Europe, where he continued his political activities. Habib Khabiri, a member of the National Football Team, was executed at Evin Prison. The story continues. Over the last three decades, there have been numerous accounts of star athletes being put behind bars for their political or religious beliefs." http://t.uani.com/1tZunZV

Domestic Politics

AP: "An Iranian parliament session has descended into chaos as several hard-line lawmakers disrupted a speech by a moderate colleague criticizing the long-term house arrest of two opposition leaders. Parliamentarian Ali Motahari was speaking out Sunday in open session against the detention orders, calling them 'unconstitutional.' His remarks were disrupted by several lawmakers shouting 'death to seditionists.' Parliament vice-speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard adjourned the session, which resumed about a half hour later." http://t.uani.com/1C7TFEb

Foreign Affairs

Reuters: "Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Venezuela's president on Saturday he backed coordinated action between Tehran and Caracas to reverse a rapid fall in global oil prices which he described as a 'political ploy hatched by common enemies'. President Nicholas Maduro is on a tour of fellow OPEC countries to lobby for higher oil prices, which hit new lows last week below $50 per barrel, nearly half of what they were back in June 2014. The plunge in crude prices has pummeled the public finances of Iran and Venezuela, whose economies rely heavily on oil exports. 'The strange drop in oil prices in such a short time is a political ploy and unrelated to the market. Our common enemies are using oil as a political ploy and they definitely have a role in this severe fall in prices,' Khamenei said in talks with Maduro. '(Khamenei) endorsed an agreement between the presidents of Iran and Venezuela for a coordinated campaign against the slide in oil prices', the official IRNA news agency said... Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said OPEC hawks Iran and Venezuela 'can undoubtedly cooperate to thwart world powers' strategies ... and to stabilize prices at a reasonable level in 2015.'" http://t.uani.com/1spYp85  

Opinion & Analysis

UANI Outreach Coordinator Bob Feferman & UANI Florida Director Tara Laxer in The Palm Beach Post: "As the international community represented by the P5+1 proceeds with negotiations with Iran, President Barack Obama should make it clear that the United States will not renew diplomatic relations with Iran, or end the U.S. sanctions, until Iran ends its support for terrorists. We must hold the Iranian regime accountable for the murder of innocent human beings and its threats to peace. The recently published book, 'The Bus on Jaffa Road,' by journalist Mike Kelly, is a powerful reminder that since the 1990s the No. 1 obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians has been the government of Iran. Kelly's account of a Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus on Feb. 25, 1996, that killed 26 people shows how Iran has made every effort to blow up the hope for peace. The attack took place just three years after the signing of the Oslo Accords. In the book, Kelly provides a moving tribute to the victims of the bombing, especially two young Americans: Sara Duker and Matthew Eisenfeld. He tells of the courageous efforts made by the families of the victims to identify those responsible for the bus bombing and hold them accountable through a lawsuit in U.S. federal court. All the facts pointed to the pivotal role of the government of Iran. In the trial, we learn that the Hamas bomb-maker, Hassan Salameh, received training in Iran, and the Iranian regime also provided extensive financial support for Palestinian terror groups - especially Hamas and Islamic Jihad - amounting to some $75 million per year. The bus bombing on Jaffa Road was only one of many suicide bombing attacks. Between 1993 and 2007, no less than 167 Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up on Israeli buses, in restaurants and shopping malls. These suicide bombings, and other terror attacks, killed 1,000 civilians and wounded many thousands more. Although Palestinian terror groups provided the hateful ideology and the suicide bombers, it was Iran that provided the financial means and technical support to commit mass murder. Iran's victims also include several residents of Florida. Daniel Miller, of Boca Raton, was severely wounded in an attack on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem on Sept. 4, 1997, that killed five civilians... Daniel Cantor Wultz, of Weston, was severely wounded in a suicide bombing attack on a Tel Aviv restaurant on April 17, 2006, that killed 10 people. Less than one month after the attack, he died of his wounds. Daniel was 16 years old. Iranian support for Palestinian terrorism is not limited to suicide bombings. For more than a decade, Iran has provided tens of thousands of rockets for Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon that have been fired at Israeli civilians. More recently, Iran provided the technological know-how for Hamas to manufacture rockets in Gaza... Iran must be held accountable for its continued support for terrorism. To ignore this would be an affront to the memory of the victims and allow Iran to continue to sabotage the hope for peace. Sarah Duker's mother said, 'There is this child of mine who isn't here and never will be.'" http://t.uani.com/1wPr0QI

William Tobey & Robert Joseph in NRO: "he U.S. negotiating strategy in nuclear talks with Iran is failing. To date, these negotiations have focused almost solely on topics that Iran wants to talk about - how many thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges Tehran will continue to operate, and how soon sanctions will be lifted. This all but guarantees an outcome that will fail to block the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons at a time of its choosing. American negotiators, seemingly willing to make concession after concession simply to keep the talks from breaking down, have abandoned the fundamental objective of obtaining a verifiable agreement that would deny Iran the capacity to build a nuclear weapon (in exchange for relief from what were crippling economic sanctions). Instead, the U.S. and its partners have settled for increasing the time it would take Iran to build its first nuclear weapon from a few months to perhaps a year. Secretary of State John Kerry haltingly explained the dramatic shift in the Obama administration's aims in testimony last April: 'I think it's public knowledge today that we're operating with a time period for a so-called breakout of about two months. Six months to twelve months is - I'm not saying that's what we'd settle for, but even that is significantly more.' With this change, the United States recognized Iran as a nuclear-weapons threshold state - a status seldom discussed in the Western media but well understood by Iran's neighbors, with dire consequences for future proliferation. Incredibly, U.S. negotiators have actually facilitated Iran's ability to cheat. They do this by focusing almost exclusively on blocking the use of declared Iranian facilities to break out of the nonproliferation treaty, while ignoring the more likely risk that Tehran will operate covert facilities to achieve its nuclear ambition. This approach is incomprehensible because Iran has been repeatedly caught red-handed pursuing multiple clandestine nuclear projects in violation of its international obligations. Now the evidence of clandestine nuclear-weapons work is mounting. In August the State and Treasury Departments sanctioned an Iranian entity created in 2011 for ongoing 'research in the field of nuclear weapons development.' This fall the State Department briefed a U.N. panel of experts charged with monitoring sanctions enforcement on Iran's current illicit procurement efforts. In November an Iranian dissident group reported that the organization sanctioned in August has split in two and opened new offices in an effort to evade International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) scrutiny and international sanctions. Meanwhile, the Iranian government and military continue to stonewall years-long IAEA efforts to investigate what the agency calls the 'possible military dimensions' of Iran's nuclear program. When asked how the Obama administration can continue negotiating with Iran even as it charges its counterparts with violating U.N. sanctions and conducting clandestine nuclear-weapons work, the spokesmen respond that Iran is continuing to adhere to the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) interim agreement. But that says more about the flaws of the JPA than it does about Tehran's willingness to comply with nuclear agreements. In addition to strict and verifiable limits on Iran's overt nuclear activities, a successful deal must address Iran's covert path to nuclear weapons. This can best be done by two means." http://t.uani.com/1IkerUK

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