Eye on Iran: U.S. Assures Israel That Iran Threat Is Not Imminent
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 10:40 | by uaniadminTop
Stories
NYT:
"The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued
troubles inside Iran's nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it
would take
roughly a year - and perhaps longer - for Iran to complete what one
senior
official called a 'dash' for a nuclear weapon, according to American
officials.
Administration officials said they believe the assessment has dimmed
the
prospect that Israel would pre-emptively strike against the country's
nuclear
facilities within the next year, as Israeli officials have suggested in
thinly
veiled threats." http://nyti.ms/cjYl7l
AFP: "Iran is ready for immediate talks with world
powers over a
nuclear fuel swap deal, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an
interview
published in Japan on Friday. Iran is 'ready to resume in late August
or in
early September' talks with the five permanent members of the UN
Security
Council plus Germany over an exchange of enriched uranium, Ahmadinejad
told the
Yomiuri Shimbun. Ahmadinejad hinted Iran could stop its controversial
programme
of uranium enrichment if a deal were struck to ensure the supply of
nuclear
fuel to Tehran." http://bit.ly/9Lkwv5
AFP: "Iran's first nuclear power station will be
loaded with fuel
on Saturday, a showcase for Tehran's claim that its atomic ambitions
are purely
peaceful. Experts say firing up the $1-billion Bushehr plant will not
take Iran
any closer to building a nuclear bomb as Russia will supply the
enriched
uranium for the reactor and take away spent fuel rods which could be
used to
make weapons-grade plutonium. Iran insists it does not want nuclear
weapons
anyway." http://yhoo.it/cNaPbL
Nuclear
Program
AFP: "Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on Friday that
Iran has
test fired a surface-to-surface missile, Qiam, a day before it is due
to launch
its Russian-built first nuclear power plant. State television showed
images of
the sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert
terrain,
amid chants of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest). The words 'Ya Mahdi'
were
written on the side of the missile, referring to Imam Mahdi, one of the
12
imams of Shiite Islam, who disappeared as a boy and whom the faithful
believe
will return one day to bring redemption to mankind." http://bit.ly/a2WPXo
WashPost: "South Korea, a nation that prides itself
on its adaptive
economy and its tight alliance with the United States, has come under
pressure
from the Obama administration to sacrifice the first for the sake of
the second
by signing on to stringent new sanctions against Iran. After much
dithering,
Seoul learned this week that it is running out of time to respond." http://bit.ly/cvzThA
Bloomberg: "Russia will switch on Iran's first
nuclear power plant
tomorrow as the government seeks to bolster its global influence by
acting as a
power broker between the U.S. and its European allies and the Persian
Gulf
nation. Rosatom Corp., the state-run Russian company building the plant
at
Bushehr in southern Iran, plans to open it after repeated delays over
15 years
of construction." http://bit.ly/abL4ip
JPost: "EGL's 25-year gas contract, signed in 2008,
to import more than
5 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas each year caused friction between
Israel
and Switzerland, resulting in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem
summoning the
Swiss ambassador in 2008. The EGL contract was signed with the National
Iranian
Export Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Gas Company that
was
placed on the United Kingdom's Proliferation Concerns List in February
2009." http://bit.ly/d5xj3y
AP: "The Swiss government says it has frozen 1.5
million Swiss
francs ($1.4 million) in Iranian accounts in Switzerland. A spokesman
for the
government's office of economic affairs says the accounts were frozen
as a
result of U.N. sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic because of its
nuclear
program." http://yhoo.it/bXLSfR
Human Rights
Radio Farda: "Iranian filmmaker and journalist
Mohammad Nourizad
has been summoned to Evin prison two months after having been released,
RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. Nourizad told RFE/RL in a phone interview
before
he went back to prison on August 18 that he was called by officials and
told to
return to Evin prison as soon as possible... Nourizad said he was
returning to
prison because 'Iran is beautiful' and he loved his country. It's not
clear why
he was summoned by officials." http://bit.ly/dxJqg3
Foreign Affairs
CNN: "Sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S.
Truman rescued
eight Iranian mariners in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday, the U.S. Navy
said
Thursday. An F/A-18 attack jet spotted the Iranians' burning vessel
about 50
miles from the carrier, according to a statement from the Navy's Fifth
Fleet
headquarters in Bahrain. Two helicopters were dispatched to assist the
stranded
sailors, with a search-and-rescue swimmer dropped into the water for
the
men." http://bit.ly/dDxu5a
Opinion
Amir Taheri in Asharq Alawsat:"Does Iran have an identity of its own? In fact, could anything called Iran even be imagined outside of Islam? These are some of the questions raised in a heated debate that has pitted key figures of the Khomeinist establishment in Tehran against one another in what promises to become a massive washing of dirty laundry in public. The debate was triggered earlier this month during a gathering of some 1,300 Iranian exiles, who had come to Tehran for an 'introductory visit' at the invitation of the government. The man who raised the issue is Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, a self-styled philosopher who serves as Cabinet Director for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." http://bit.ly/dcgJzX
Johan Bergenas in The Guardian: "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said Wednesday that talks about his country's nuclear programme will not take place 'under the shadow' of threats. The United States and other countries should grasp this opportunity, rein in the rhetoric of military action and return to talks with Iran without delay. The time is ripe to take steps towards a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear conundrum. Previous diplomatic efforts with Iran failed because the United States was not at the table and because Iran seemed immune to outside pressure and did not have much to gain by talking to Europe alone. Now, the circumstances are fundamentally improved." http://bit.ly/bVEQy2
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