Iran Newsclips, February 5, 2015
david.cutler
Quick Links:
Kerry, Zarif to Hold Talks on Saturday, Uskowi on Iran
Netanyahu rejects criticism of Congress speech: My duty is to warn about Iran, Haaretz
Menendez’s Hard Line on Cuba and Iran Shows Deep Rifts With Obama, New York Times
Cordesman: Iran is using Israel to distract from its real aims in the Persian Gulf, Reuters
Iranian nuclear negotiators face further criticism, Al-Monitor
Iran Says US is 'Begging' for a Nuclear Deal, Arutz Sheva
Iran Is Trying to Shield Assad From Chemical Weapons Condemnation, Foreign Policy
U.S.-Iran Nuke Deal Could Isolate Israel, WND
Labor Protests Sweep Iran, ICHRI
Kerry, Zarif to Hold Talks on Saturday, Uskowi on Iran, February 5, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minster Javad Zarid will hold talks on Saturday in Munich, the State Department announced. The meeting will be the latest attempt to secure a deal over the future of Iranian nuclear program. The two sides have imposed a 1 July deadline to reach a "framework" agreement on the substance of the final deal.
Netanyahu rejects criticism of Congress speech: My duty is to warn about Iran, Haaretz, February 5, 2015
As reported on Thursday, Israeli consuls across the U.S. told the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem that these pro-Israel elements in the U.S. were concerned that the speech – an invitation extended by House Speaker John Boehner – would harm Israel's ties with the U.S. "It’s my duty as the prime minister of Israel to warn about the danger of a nuclear agreement with Iran and to do everything I can to prevent it from coming to fruition before it’s too late,” Netanyahu said in response to the Haaretz report, over the course of a visit to the site of a highway construction project in the Sharon region.
Menendez’s Hard Line on Cuba and Iran Shows Deep Rifts With Obama, New York Times, February 5, 2015
When Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey said last week that he would give President Obama two months before defying a veto threat and voting for new sanctions on Iran, he made it clear that the delay was not out of loyalty to his fellow Democrat in the Oval Office. “I don’t get calls from the White House,” Mr. Menendez said. It was a frank acknowledgment of the rifts that exist between Mr. Obama and Mr. Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Cordesman: Iran is using Israel to distract from its real aims in the Persian Gulf, Reuters, February 5, 2015
The Arab Gulf states see a major Iranian build-up in air, missile, anti-ship missile patrol boats and forces, smart mines, submarines, and other threats like Iran’s Marines and Special Forces to shipping in the Gulf, and their offshore and coastal facilities. Iran’s forces can now reach out into the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. This Iranian threat is as real and serious to the Arab Gulf states — and to the flow of petroleum exports to the global economy — as its nuclear threat. It is the reason why Saudi Arabia and the other Arab Gulf states — as well as the United States, Britain, and France — have built up their naval, air, mine warfare, and missile forces in the Gulf.
Iranian nuclear negotiators face further criticism, Al-Monitor, February 4, 2015
There are murmurs in Tehran that the pressure on the moderate nuclear negotiation team is rising. A hard-line figure has admitted in an interview with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that his like-minded friends have made a string of targeted attacks against foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Javad Zarif and his team.
Iran Says US is 'Begging' for a Nuclear Deal, Arutz Sheva, February 5, 2015
A senior Iranian military officer claims that U.S. officials have been “begging us” to sign a nuclear deal during negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, according to recent comments made to the Iranian state-controlled media.
Iran Is Trying to Shield Assad From Chemical Weapons Condemnation, Foreign Policy, February 4, 2015
The latest sign of Tehran’s willingness to shield an ally came Tuesday, when Iran tried to block a move by the United States and Russia to present a mildly worded statement to the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCM) that would have merely expressed “serious concern” about the likely use of chlorine as a weapon in Syria. The measure would also have provided the chemical watchdog’s chief with a green light to report to the U.N. Security Council on his agency’s investigation into the use of chlorine on the Syrian battlefield — something he has so far refused to do.
U.S.-Iran Nuke Deal Could Isolate Israel, WND, February 5, 2015
Amid an election campaign, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces further isolation with the prospect of a U.S. agreement with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program. Middle East sources told WND the prospect may be a reason why Netanyahu’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, quietly did an end-run around the Obama White House to work with House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, to appear before a joint session of Congress March 3 to discuss the Iranian nuclear crisis.
Labor Protests Sweep Iran, ICHRI, February 4, 2015
A wave of labor protests has been sweeping through Iran over the past ten days. The protests are focused on workers’ demands for wage increases to keep up with the growing rate of inflation, payment of back wages, and other issues such as layoffs and non-renewal of labor contracts. Between January 20 and January 29, 2015, at least eight labor protests have taken place in different cities, as reported by Iran’s Labor News Agency, ILNA. The protests have taken the form of work stoppages, gatherings in front of offices they hold accountable, and group letters to the Speaker of the Parliament or the President.