Friday, September 23, 2016

Eye on Iran: Iran's President Accuses U.S. of 'Lack of Compliance' on Nuclear Deal

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Iran's President Accuses U.S. of 'Lack of Compliance' on Nuclear Deal | The New York Times
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran accused the United States on Thursday of not complying with the landmark nuclear agreement that took effect in January, and said American credibility would suffer if the accord were not honored. In his United Nations General Assembly speech and later at an hourlong news conference, Mr. Rouhani criticized what he described as an American failure to adhere to obligations under the agreement, which relaxed many economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for verifiable pledges of peaceful nuclear work. Mr. Rouhani told reporters that despite the intense diplomacy that had achieved the agreement between Iran and big powers including the United States, there was "not a very stellar report card by the United States when it comes to fulfilling the agreement." Nonetheless, Mr. Rouhani's criticism appeared relatively muted and he seemed to carefully avoid any indication that the agreement was at risk... He complained that American restrictions on banking and dollar transactions with Iran, which were unaffected by the nuclear agreement, have discouraged many banks from engaging with the country because they worry about possible penalties from the United States. "They're frightened, the big banks," he said at the news conference, accusing the Americans of "creating a lot of doubt."

US go ahead on Iran planes lifts trade, banking 'taboo' | AFP
The US green light for Boeing and Airbus sales to Iran has broken a taboo and opens the door to a potential boom in foreign financial dealings with Tehran, experts said. As well as a long overdue modernisation for its aging fleet of passenger planes, Wednesday's announcement of US licences for Airbus and Boeing serves to reassure other foreign firms and major banks over doing business with the Islamic republic. "A taboo has been broken. This deal will ease the fears of major foreign banks and companies which want to work with Iran," an official of an Iranian private bank told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It will allow financial channels to be put into place for big foreign banks to work with Iran." An Iranian financial weekly, Donaye Eghtessad, said experts were now predicting that "major Western banks will soon renew ties with Iran's banks". The approvals from the US Treasury Department allow Airbus and Boeing to proceed with sales worth billions of dollars into a country that had been entirely off-limits prior to Iran's landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. "We have issued the first two licences for the export of certain commercial passenger aircraft to Iran under this new policy -- to Boeing and Airbus," a Treasury spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Top US general: 'Troubling' that Iran military will get US cash | The Hill
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, the nation's top military officer, said Thursday that reports that U.S. payments to Iran will go to the Iranian military are "troubling." "It certainly is troubling. The more funds that they have available, obviously the more effective they'll be in spreading malign influence," the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was responding to questioning by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), a member of the committee, who referenced recent reports that the Iranian government has approved a law that would allocate to the military a $1.7 billion payment the U.S. made to Iran this year to settle a failed arms deal from the 1970s... Dunford said he was not consulted on the payment of $1.7 billion. When asked whether it was a good idea that the U.S. exchange cash to Iran for hostages, Dunford said, "on principle, I would prefer that we not provide additional resources to Iran."

U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS

Iranian general says American U2 spy plane warned away | AP
An Iranian general in charge of the Islamic Republic's air defense says his forces warned off an American U2 spy plane trying to fly over his country. Iranian state television broadcast the comments by Gen. Farzad Esmaili on Friday, saying the incident happened "in recent days." Esmaili said the plane flew away, without elaborating on where the aircraft attempted to enter Iranian airspace.

With Boeing Deal, Americans Are Coming to Iran | The New York Times
Long before the first newly purchased Boeing airliner lands at Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran and the United States will have had to come to terms with a new reality: American citizens will once again be taking up residence in Tehran, the first to do so since the Islamic Revolution and subsequent hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980. When the United States on Wednesday gave the green light for the direct sale of Western planes to Iran, much more than nearly four decades of sanctions on such deals came to an end. Not that the deals approved by the Treasury Department are insignificant: 80 Boeing jets and an initial batch of 17 Airbus planes out of a potential total of 118. But the sale will have the important effect of ending an era of absolute isolation between the countries. Boeing will almost certainly have to open an administrative office in Tehran, and technicians will have to move here to train their Iranian counterparts in the care and maintenance of the planes. Among them, almost certainly, will be many Americans.

Iran president hints at future prisoner swaps, cash settlements with US | The Hill
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hinted at future coordinated prisoner swaps and lawsuit settlements between the U.S. and his country as the Obama administration faces bipartisan heat over a billion-dollar cash payment to Iran earlier this year. Rouhani told NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview published Thursday that the January prisoner swap and settlement of a decades-old lawsuit ran on "parallel tracks" and that similar arrangements could happen in the future. "These two issues [were] being talked about simultaneously on parallel tracks," said Rouhani. "And perhaps these dialogues can be still conducted simultaneously on parallel tracks while we're conducting those same conversations in order to free the sums of money that are still owed to us." ... "There are still considerable sums of money in the United States that belong to our nation," said Rouhani. "And we're currently conducting conversations and various dialogues in order to return this money to Iran."

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION

House passes bill rebuking 'ransom' payments to Iran | Washington Post
The House passed a bill Thursday to outlaw cash payments to Iran, in a rebuke of the Obama administration's decision to send Tehran what Republicans charge was "ransom" on the same day American prisoners were released. The 254 to 163 vote, which fell nearly along party lines, comes as lawmakers are making a final push toward the campaign trail, where Republicans bet their wholesale rejection of President Obama's deals with Iran will play big with voters... It would prohibit the United States from paying Iran cash of any kind going forward, and states that it is U.S. policy "not to pay ransom or release prisoners" to secure the release of Americans abroad. It also requires that the administration give Congress at least 30 days' advance notice before conducting any transactions to settle other claims before the international tribunal set up to resolve disputes between Iran and the United States. As part of that notice, the bill requires that the administration provide a justification for any payments and certify that they do not constitute "ransom." The measure also instructs the administration to advise and update Congress on the list of outstanding claims before the tribunal. The administration has already threatened to veto the measure.

BUSINESS RISK

Iran oil industry fires, blasts raise suspicions of hacking | AP
A series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role, with authorities saying that "viruses had contaminated" equipment at several of the affected complexes. Iran officially insists the six known blazes over the span of three months weren't the result of a cyberattack. However, the government acknowledgment of supposedly protected facilities being infected points to the possibility of a concerted effort to target Iranian infrastructure in the years after the Stuxnet virus disrupted thousands of centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility. Among the worst of the fires was a massive, days-long inferno in July at the Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Complex in Iran's southwestern province of Khuzestan. Insurance officials later estimated the damage at some $67 million.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Abe willing to visit Iran, vows to boost economic ties | Nikkei Asian Review
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday expressed willingness to visit Iran and boost economic ties with the country following the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran after a landmark nuclear deal it struck with six major powers in July last year. In a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Abe said he would like to visit Iran at an appropriate time, and called for an improved business environment in the oil-rich country so more Japanese companies can invest there, according to a senior Japanese official. The two governments will coordinate the timing of the visit, the official told reporters... Abe meanwhile requested that Iran terminate military cooperation with North Korea, with an eye to cutting off revenue sources for Pyongyang in connection with its missile and nuclear weapons development programs.

SYRIA CONFLICT

Rouhani: Halt on flights over Syria would help radicals | AP
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday joined in opposing a call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to halt all flights over Syria in efforts to get relief shipments through, saying that would only help Islamic radicals gain ground.

SAUDI-IRAN TENSIONS


Iranian Leader Lashes Out at Saudi Arabia in U.N. Speech | Wall Street Journal
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani railed at the U.S. and Saudi Arabia for policies that he said have created division and chaos from Syria to North Africa, in a Thursday address to the U.N. General Assembly. "If the Saudi government is serious about its vision for development and regional security, it must cease and desist from divisive policies, spread of hate ideology and trampling upon the rights of neighbors," Mr. Rouhani said. In a General Assembly address Wednesday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef condemned Iran for backing "terrorist militias" across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia, Iran Disagree in Oil Output Discussions in Vienna | Wall Street Journal
Saudi Arabian and Iranian oil officials have clashed this week over production limits, people familiar with the matter said, as OPEC struggles to iron out differences ahead of a meeting next week in Algeria where output controls will be discussed. The disagreements highlight the chasm that still separates the two geopolitical rivals on economic issues as they stand on opposite sides of the civil war in Syria and the violent conflict in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and Iran couldn't agree on what statistics should be used to determine oil output levels for a potential "freeze" -- the term used to describe a joint effort by big producers to limit their petroleum output at the current pace or lower. The disagreement took place among midlevel officials from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and Algeria meeting at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' headquarters in Vienna.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Advocacy group demands release of 2 detained Iran reporters | AP
An advocacy group has called for the immediate release of two Iranian journalists detained in Tehran. The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement early Friday highlighting the cases of Sadra Mohaqeq, an editor at the pro-reform daily newspaper Shargh, and Yashar Soltani, who writes for the news website Memari News. The committee says Mohaqeq was detained Sept. 19 for allegedly working with "anti-revolutionary media outlets" outside of Iran. It says Soltani's detention came after Tehran authorities filed a criminal complaint against him over an article alleging corruption in land deals. Sherif Mansour of the committee says the reporters' detention shows, "whether journalists are advocating for national political reform or reporting on a local land deal, they are not safe from Iranian prisons."

Women in Iran defy fatwa by riding bikes in public | BBC
Women in Iran have been posting photos on social media of themselves riding bicycles, defying a fatwa forbidding them from cycling in public. It had been understood women that could cycle as long as religious concerns were respected. But when asked recently, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, said women were not allowed to cycle in public or in the presence of strangers... A video a mother and daughter filmed of themselves cycling in Iran has had 98,000 views since it was posted on My Stealthy Freedom's Facebook page on Monday. Campaign founder Masih Alinejad, who is based in New York, said: "They told me that they are not going to give up because they think biking is their absolute right. "It is absolutely shameful to hear such a backward fatwa against women in the 21st Century.

Iran: Prisoner Hanged in Public at Football Stadium | Iran Human Rights
A prisoner sentenced to public execution for rape and murder was hanged in public at a sports stadium in the city of Neyriz (Fars province, southern Iran) on the morning of Thursday September 22. According to Iranian state run news agency Mehr, quoting the press department of the Judiciary in Fars, a prisoner identified as "Saeed T." was hanged in public on the morning of Thursday September 22 at a sports stadium in the city of Neyriz. Photos of this public hanging shows that at least one child was present and watching the execution. This is not the first time that Iranian authorities have used a sports stadium to carry out an execution. In 2013, after learning about a public execution carried out in a sports stadium in northeastern Iran, FIFA issued a warning to Iranian officials and called on them to ensure that the act is not repeated.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

The Dangerous Myth of Rouhani's Bogus Moderation | UANI Advisory Board Member Giulio Terzi in Newsweek
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Thursday. It once again put the Iranian president and his American counterpart in fairly close quarters, this time more than a year after the nuclear deal. The expected visit of Rouhani and his colleagues raises an essential question: will the Obama administration and its political allies finally challenge the Iranian government on the human rights abuses that had gone virtually ignored while the outcome of nuclear negotiations was still uncertain? The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was implemented only in January, and at the time it was still being promoted among its Western supporters as a possible gateway to a more moderate future for Iran... The growing catalog of Iranian provocations suggests that the time has come for the international community to seriously challenge the so-called moderates who are not standing in the way of those dangerous activities. But it also highlights the fact that the international community is long overdue for challenging the Rouhani administration on other matters too. That administration's human rights record has always undermined the moderation narrative, and it is perhaps for that reason that the White House and its allies buried human rights underneath the supposed successes of the nuclear agreement and the January prisoner exchange. Today it should be clear that such moderation is not taking hold. There is no longer any serious argument to be made for holding back the shocking truths about the Rouhani administration's human rights record both before and after Rouhani took office in 2013.

Obama Kept Military Out of the Loop on Cash Payments to Iran | Eli Lake in Bloomberg
One might think President Barack Obama would have asked his top military officials to weigh in on his administration's  decision in January to send $400 million in cash to Iran. After all, Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, and terrorists prefer cash to wire payments because it's so difficult to track. And its armed forces have both directly and indirectly threatened the U.S. military in the Middle East. But Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry did not consult Secretary of Defense Ash Carter or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford. This news came out of a hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In response to a question from Republican Senator Ted Cruz about the cash payment to Iran, Carter made it clear that he had been out of the loop. "We weren't involved in this," Carter said, adding that it was part of the settlement of a decades-long legal dispute  between Iran and the U.S. over arms sales. "I don't know all the details of it, and the chairman and I were not involved in that. It is a decision that was taken by the law enforcement and diplomatic and I would refer you there." When Dunford was asked about the cash payments, he responded: "I am not trying to be evasive but I don't know the details of that arrangement and it really was a political decision that was made to provide that money and I don't think it's appropriate that I comment on that." Christopher Sherwood, a press officer at the Pentagon, later told me pretty much the same thing. "It was worked out through the administration. The Department of Defense had nothing to do with that." All of this is important for a few reasons.







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@uani.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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