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Politico:
"The push to impose new economic sanctions on Iran is facing an
increasingly uphill battle toward a veto-proof majority. Sen. Mark Kirk
picked up a prominent supporter Monday - No. 3 Senate Democrat Chuck
Schumer - for a bill that would ratchet up sanctions if diplomatic talks
on curbing Iran's nuclear program fall through. But rounding up other
Democrats may be harder and Schumer's support is contingent, sources
said, on other Democrats coming on board with him, like Sen. Robert
Menendez (D-N.J.). Schumer said his party is still discussing the best
timing for a vote on an Iran bill, after President Barack Obama
forcefully warned last week that he will veto any sanctions legislation
that lands on his desk during the nuclear talks. 'I intend to co-sponsor
it,' the New York Democrat said Monday night. 'But we're having a meeting
among the Democrats and figuring out the best strategy.' Kirk (R-Ill.)
said last week that he intended to release a bipartisan list of
co-sponsors for his legislation as early as Monday night. But on Monday
evening, Democrats were still being cagey about whether they will
publicly defy the president. 'We're at the beginning of the process,'
said Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), a co-sponsor of sanctions legislation last
year. 'I've looked at it. We'll keep looking at it.'" http://t.uani.com/1y3yrEo
Times of Israel:
"A crisis in the current nuclear negotiations between six world
powers and Iran, generated by new sanctions, could lead to their
breakdown and ultimately to a renewed round of negotiations with better
results, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said Monday. He added that
the talks would likely not yield an agreement by their March 31 deadline,
and that without new sanctions they would likely not yield a deal at all.
New sanctions and an ensuing 'crisis in talks can certainly sharpen
dilemmas for Iran and can lead to the achievement of an agreement on
better terms,' the senior official told diplomatic correspondents during
a briefing in Jerusalem. 'The combination of political pressure and
economic levers increases the chances of better results in the
negotiations.'" http://t.uani.com/1ENuJDu
Press TV (Iran):
"Iranian president Hassan Rouhani says the country is 'very close'
to clinching a deal with global powers on its nuclear program. At a
Sunday meeting with visiting Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic,
Rouhani said that Iran has been involved in satisfactory negotiations
with P5+1. 'For the talks to yield results more quickly, political will
is needed in the other side of negotiations with Iran,' Rouhani said...
The Iranian president said that current disputes between Iran and some
western countries could be settled easily through logic and negotiation.
'The atmosphere currently dominating the world is not one of swordplay
and the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to interact with others through
logic and negotiation,' he said." http://t.uani.com/18kubuj
Nuclear Program & Negotiations
Trend:
"Russian specialists began an engineering survey in January 2015 at
the site of the future second and third power blocks of the Iranian
Bushehr-2 nuclear power plant, work is to be completed by the autumn of
2015, Russian Ambassador to Iran Levan Jagaryan said in an interview with
RIA Novosti news agency. 'In pursuance of the contract for an engineering
survey and the collection of baseline data on the site of Bushehr-2
nuclear power plant in January 2015, our specialists began work on a
platform to construct the new power blocks,' said Jagaryan. 'In August,
we plan to finish the stage of engineering survey, which will provide the
initial data needed to begin the design work.' He said that the Russian
side is interested in the deployment of large-scale works on the site as
part of the main contract implementation for the Bushehr-2 project in the
autumn of 2015." http://t.uani.com/1Csx3QW
NYT:
"When the House of Representatives opens hearings on Tuesday about
imposing new sanctions against Iran - a step that President Obama said
would undermine nuclear talks with Tehran - the Republicans seeking to
hem in negotiators will have some unintended allies 6,000 miles away.
Conservatives in the Iranian Parliament say they are working on a
resolution of their own to counter the economic pressure aimed at forcing
Tehran's hand and prevent Iran's negotiating team from agreeing to
production limits on nuclear fuel. Like many in Congress, they would be
happy to see the current negotiations collapse. The resolutions in the
United States Congress would choke off more of Iran's oil revenue if the
talks in Vienna do not end in an agreement by the end of June. The
proposals in the Iranian Parliament would require Tehran to deploy
centrifuges that can enrich uranium more efficiently than ever. One
measure, described with glee by a senior parliamentary official over the
weekend, would increase the production of a form of the nuclear fuel that
is just shy of bomb-grade material. One measure, described with glee by a
senior parliamentary official over the weekend, would increase the
production of a form of the nuclear fuel that is just shy of bomb-grade
material." http://t.uani.com/1yYGmXK
Congressional
Sanctions
Reuters:
"Democratic U.S. senators introduced a resolution on Monday opposing
more sanctions on Iran unless nuclear talks fail or Tehran breaks an
agreement, countering a push for tougher sanctions backed by Republicans
that President Barack Obama has pledged to veto. 'For those who agree
that the sanctions bill in the Banking Committee is detrimental, this
resolution provides an option in support of diplomacy,' Democratic
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a leading co-sponsor of the resolution with
Senator Chris Murphy, said in a statement. Backing the Obama
administration, she said enacting new sanctions during the negotiations
would 'gravely undermine' efforts to reach a nuclear agreement with
Tehran. The Senate Banking Committee is due to vote later this week on
legislation being developed by Republican Senator Mark Kirk and Democrat
Robert Menendez that would toughen sanctions on Iran if there is no
nuclear agreement before the end of June." http://t.uani.com/18p4msY
Sanctions
Relief
Trend:
"Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation
Organization (IMIDRO) signed a contract for construction of a coal
refining and coke producing unit with ANC multinational corporation. The
unit will be constructed in Tabas city, in South Khorasan province,
Iran's IRNA News Agency reported on Jan. 26. The unit has the capacity to
produce 600,000 metric tons of coke. A steel refining unit will also be
constructed at the complex. IMIDRO plans to construct 29 projects worth
$9 billion." http://t.uani.com/1Bfmmx2
Trend:
"Iranian giant car manufacturer Iran Khodro (IKCO) has produced
500,000 cars during the first ten months of the current Iranian fiscal
year (March 21, 2014- Jan. 21, 2015). The company's car output indicates
an increase of 78.4 percent compared to the same period of last year,
IKCO's official website reported Jan. 25. The IKCO company produced over
59,000 cars including sedans and pickups during the last Iranian calendar
month (Dec. 22- Jan. 21), up 43.9 percent from 41,000 in the one-month
period last year." http://t.uani.com/1CIHHmO
Trend:
"In its latest press release the World Steel Association said that
Iran produced 16.331 million metric tons of crude steel in 2014. The
figure shows 5.9 percent increase compared to its preceding year, Iran's
IRNA News Agency reported on Jan. 24. Iran was the world's 14th biggest
producer of steel in 2014. The country also stood at the first place
among the Middle East countries... Iran's crude steel production reached
15.421 million metric tons in 2013, which was 6.6 percent more than its
preceding year. Iran was the world's 15th biggest producer of steel in
2013." http://t.uani.com/1Bs93Mk
Trend:
"The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced that the inflation rate
for the 12-month period to tenth Iranian calendar month of Day (ended on
Jan 21) hit 16.3 percent. The figure is 0.9 percent less compared to the
preceding month, official website of the CBI reported Jan. 24. However,
Iranian Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said that the
inflation rate for the 12-month period to Day fell to 15.8 percent citing
the Statistical Center of Iran. The country's point-to-point inflation in
the mentioned month was 14.4 percent, 0.5 percent less than in the
previous month, according to the Statistical Center of Iran." http://t.uani.com/1Dbsg4P
Iraq Crisis
Rudaw:
"Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told world leaders at the
Davos Economic Forum that his country's collaboration with the Iranian
military in fighting Islamic State (ISIS) was no secret. 'We do not deny
our collaboration with General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the
Iranian Qods Force,' Abadi said at a panel discussion on the sidelines of
the Davos forum. Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
quoted Abadi as saying: 'We do respect this Iranian commander and our
collaboration with him is not a secret.' Abadi said that Iran was quick
in sending arms to Iraq and helping Baghdad when ISIS captured the
country's Sunni provinces last summer. Soleimani has been under a UN
travel ban and asset freeze since 2007. Last year, the UN said that his
presence in Iraq was in violation of the Security Council ban." http://t.uani.com/1Ley6Ia
Medium:
"In recent years Iran's drones have buzzed into action over Israel,
Syria and Lebanon. And now Iranian drones are returning to the scene of
their birth-the skies of Iraq, where Tehran's flying robots saw their
combat debut during the 198os Iran-Iraq war. Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Corps is deploying the Mohajer-4 surveillance drone and its
cousins-descendants of the country's first Mohajer-1-in its bid to halt
Islamic State jihadists in Iraq. But Iran is also using its drone fleet
for more than just military purposes. In addition to conducting
surveillance, Iran's drones are also a political tool, helping Tehran to
expand its influence in Iraq. The surge in drone operations reportedly
began almost as soon as Islamic State captured the city of Mosul in
northern Iraq in June 2014." http://t.uani.com/1wz3mXx
Human Rights
IHR:
"Three prisoners were hanged in Hamadan (western Iran) reported the
official website of Iranian Judiciary in Hamadan. The prisoners who were
not identified by name, were convicted of rape, said the report. The
executions were carried out yesterday morning 26. January. According to
reports by Iran Human Rights (IHR) at least 70 people have been executed
so far in January 2015 in Iran. 25 of the executions have been reported
by official Iranian sources." http://t.uani.com/1zTIBx0
ICHRI:
"A few days after the Iranian Judiciary ordered the reformist
Mardom-e Emrooz newspaper banned, ultra conservative members of the
Iranian Parliament are working on legislation to permanently ban
journalists who have worked for reformist publications that were shut
down by the authorities. The measure is meant to ensure that such
journalists will not resurface and continue their work in another
publication. Hardliner cleric MP Hamid Rasaei told the conservative
Tasnim News agency this week that an urgent initiative has been presented
to Parliament in which certain members of the press will be banned from
working as journalists. The stated reason for the initiative was to
'prevent insults on the sacred.'" http://t.uani.com/1uY7vKI
IranWire:
"Iran's large numbers of mobile phone users face a further
infringement on their right to privacy under new government measures.
According to a report published by the Government Information Center on
January 26, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has set up a
Contents Working Group to monitor and inspect SMS messages. In a session
held in the Higher Council of Cyberspace on Wednesday January 14, the
formation of the 'Monitoring and Inspection of SMS Working Group' was
approved... Its brief is to monitor and inspect the contents of SMS
messages to make sure they 'comply with the rules and regulations of the
country and Islamic Iranian values.'" http://t.uani.com/1EoxL3C
Domestic
Politics
FT:
"Until six years ago, Mohsen Pahlevan Moghadam ran a small tourism
business and a shish-kebab restaurant. But now the Iranian is accused by
Gholam-Ali Sadeghi, prosecutor in Mashhad, of fraud that Iranian media
says is worth as much as 940tn rials ($34.3bn), although judiciary
officials say the value is still under investigation. Mr Pahlevan, who
has not been formally charged, denies the allegations. Mr Pahlevan is one
of a generation of young, unknown businessmen who were rapidly promoted
with the support of senior authorities under the previous government of
Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad (2005-2013). The story of the 43-year-old, who rose
from a modest background, has caused an uproar among Iranians - and comes
after the country has been rocked by revelations of large scale
corruption by others under the previous government." http://t.uani.com/1H5VvvY
Trend:
"The sugar mill staff held a protest in the town of Kohistan, South
Khorasan province, Iran. Around 280 workers were demanding eight months
back pay, ILNA agency reported. The mill has been closed since October
2014 because of the lack of raw materials resulting from drought and
non-provision of liquidity, the statement says. The mill staff had not
received eight months pay for the current year (the year in Iran begins
on March 21) until the mill closure. At present, the staff demands the
back pay." http://t.uani.com/1JP1voT
Foreign Affairs
Al Arabiya:
"The Shiite Houthi group, currently dominating Yemen, is 'similar'
to the Shiite movement in Lebanon, Hezbollah, a representative of Iran's
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Qods Force of the Revolutionary Guards
has said. 'The Houthi group is a similar copy to Lebanon's Hezbollah, and
this group will come into action against enemies of Islam,' Ali Shirazi
was quoted as saying in an interview published on Sunday by the Defa
Press news agency, which is close to Iran's armed forces. 'The Islamic
republic directly supports the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon,
the popular forces in Syria and Iraq,' he said, adding that 'officials in
the country have reiterated this many times.'" http://t.uani.com/1Cc7EfI
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Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against
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email Press@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com
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