Eye on Iran: San Diego Man is Detained in Iran

Join UANI               Top Stories LAT: "A San Diego man has been detained by Iranian authorities, according to friends and family members who have not heard from him in more than one week. The man, Gholamrez 'Reza' Shahini, who goes by 'Robin,' traveled to Iran to visit family this month. He had been staying at his mother's house in his native Gorgan, a city about 250 miles northeast of Tehran and near the Caspian Sea, according to Mohammad Shahini, a second cousin. Robin Shahini, a U.S. citizen and a May graduate of San Diego State, might have been detained because of his online comments criticizing Iran's human rights record, said Denera Ragoonanan, a friend of Robin Shahini. 'Robin has been known for his advocacy of human rights on social media. This advocacy, unfortunately, has not sat well with the Iranian government,' Ragoonanan wrote on her Facebook page, accompanied by a photo of Shahini and other friends... Ragoonanan said Shahini was visited by Iranian intelligence July 11 and taken from his mother's home." http://t.uani.com/2a0dIf8 AFP: "French automaker Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) said Thursday it had signed a preliminary agreement on creating a joint venture that plans to invest more than 300 million euros ($330 million) to build and sell Citroen vehicles in Iran. The move follows a deal by PSA last month on a 400-million-euro deal with its old partner Khodro to build 200,000 Peugeot vehicles a year in Iran by 2018. PSA said it and SAIPA, Citroen's historical partner in Iran before international sanctions, planned to sign a final agreement later this year. The joint venture, in which PSA and SAIPA will each have a 50 percent stake, aims to have the first cars rolling off an assembly line in 2018 from a plant in Kashan, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital Tehran. PSA said three Citroen models specifically designed for the Iranian market are planned and the joint venture aims to build 150,000 cars per year in five years time... PSA was the first Western carmaker to announce a return to Iran since many economic sanctions were lifted in January when a landmark nuclear deal with world powers took effect." http://t.uani.com/2aARGBJ Tasnim (Iran): "Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said the IRGC naval forces are in such good level of military preparedness that they can send the US warships to the bottom of the Persian Gulf. In a Thursday address to a gathering of IRGC Navy commanders in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, Major General Jafari said the IRGC naval forces have pretty good conditions... In separate comments yesterday, the top general unveiled plans for multiple war games in the current Iranian year (ends on March 20, 2017) to maintain the military preparedness of the IRGC forces and send enemies the message that the forces are ready to bury them in the Persian Gulf waters." http://t.uani.com/2agE5TV U.S.-Iran Relations AP: "The U.S. State Department said Thursday that it is looking into reports another American has been detained in Iran. State Department spokesman John Kirby would not comment further Thursday on the detention of Robin Shahini. The girlfriend of the San Diego man said Shahini's sister told her Iranian authorities took him into custody July 11 while he was visiting family in his native Iran and he has not been heard from since. The girlfriend asked not to be identified because she has family in Iran and fears for their safety. She said she worries Shahini was detained because of his online comments criticizing Iran's human rights record." http://t.uani.com/29QhBbA Tasnim (Iran): "Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani blamed the US administration for keeping the anti-Iran sanctions in place though it was supposed to terminate them under a lasting nuclear agreement, saying Americans are obstructing the implementation process of the deal. In a meeting with business people in the city of Qom on Thursday, Larijani took a swipe at the West for shirking duties to ease economic sanctions on Iran, although Tehran has completely fulfilled its part of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Despite an increase in Iran's oil exports after the JCPOA implementation, the crux of the problem is still existing, meaning that the sanctions have not been lifted, he underlined. The speaker noted that only the third and fourth-rate Western banks have been allowed to work with Iran, while the major banks are still afraid of cooperation and investment. The Western side had undertaken to create incentives for investment in Iran, however, not only did it fail to do so, but it has been even throwing a wrench, Larijani added, calling for Iran's retaliatory measures." http://t.uani.com/2agDQbP Sanctions Relief Bloomberg: "Iran is in talks with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Total SA as part of its push to attract $60 billion in foreign investment to more than double the country's capacity to produce petrochemicals over the next decade. State-run National Petrochemical Co. plans to increase output capacity to 150 million metric tons a year by 2026, Managing Director Marzieh Shahdaei said in an interview at her office in Tehran. That means completing 55 unfinished projects and 28 new production facilities, said Shahdaei, who also serves as deputy oil minister... 'A number of these projects have had problems that go back to sanctions and financing,' Shahdaei said Wednesday. Although most of the restrictions on Iran were lifted under last year's nuclear accord, some U.S. sanctions remain in place, prohibiting transactions in dollars and keeping large international banks at bay. The government presented about 60 projects to potential investors in December at an event in Tehran with companies including BASF SE, the world's largest chemical company by sales... A $10 billion credit line from Japan to Iran, announced last month, could facilitate the petrochemicals business, she said. In addition to Mitsui and Total SA, NPC is in talks with several German, Italian and Spanish companies, Shahdaei said, declining to identify them because they haven't signed memorandums of understanding with Iran." http://t.uani.com/29QfWCN Foreign Affairs ISNA (Iran): "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif is visiting western Africa next week. He is visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea and Mali from July 24-29. He is accompanied by a political and economic delegation. This is Zarif's third tour to Africa, and his first one after the JCPOA implementation." http://t.uani.com/29RTeqr Terrorism Reuters: "Bahrain said on Thursday it had dismantled an Iranian-linked cell plotting attacks on its territory, arresting five suspects after finding bomb-making materials, guns and knives in their houses. The Gulf Arab kingdom has been beset by a growing rift between its Shi'ite Muslim majority and its Sunni rulers. Police said the five men had received military training in Iran and Iraq, according to a statement by Bahrain's interior ministry. There was no immediate comment from Tehran or Baghdad. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, frequently accuses Iran, a Shi'ite theocracy, of being behind bomb attacks targeting security services and fomenting Shi'ite protests." http://t.uani.com/2a5jNM4 Regional Destabilization Al-Monitor: "During a speech to Iran's naval commanders July 21, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari spoke about the threats to Iran in the Persian Gulf region and the importance of maintaining security. Jafari said that some of Iran's neighbors are actively trying to spread unrest inside Iran, adding that some regional countries and particularly the House of Saud have become 'clear enemies and today spend a lot of money to spread instability to Iran.' Jafari did not say exactly what Saudi Arabia is doing. Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander during the Iran-Iraq War and the current secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, recently accused Saudi Arabia of establishing a training camp in Iraqi Kurdistan near Iran's borders." http://t.uani.com/2alNppq         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. 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