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AP reported that "President Barack Obama says he is 'not reconciled' to the idea of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon within a year. The president told The Associated Press in an interview that U.S. government planning is running in precisely the opposite direction. He said a nuclear-armed Iran would likely trigger an arms race in the already volatile Mideast and said that would be 'a recipe for potential disaster.' Obama also said Thursday that opposing a nuclear weapons capacity for the Persian Gulf nation isn't simply 'a U.S. position.' He said 'the biggest concern is not simply that Iran can threaten us or our allies, like Israel or its neighbors.' The president said that Iran must not be a nuclear power, although he conceded that the challenge ahead is formidable." (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D996DQF01&show_article=1)


AP reported that "Iran on Thursday announced more arrests in the post-election turmoil, detaining seven alleged provocateurs of violence it says were linked to Iranian exiles. The move underlines authorities' drive to portray protests as the work of outsiders rather than a reflection of widespread popular dismay. The arrests continue a heavy crackdown that has squashed the mass protests that erupted over the disputed June 12 presidential vote. Iran's top police chief has said 20 people were killed in violence during the protests, and that 1,032 people were detained. In another move to push the government's depiction of the protests, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday that families of the 'innocent victims' of bloodshed during demonstrations would receive government compensation. Fars said 'terrorists infiltrated among protesters to foment unrest,' causing the violence. There was no word on who would receive compensation and how much - but it appeared to refer to eight members of the Basij who were reportedly killed." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jGSJEAPs_r2T2wxsL5G3t4z-jajQD996E7FG0)


The New York Times reported that "Brushing aside British and European efforts to seek the release of local British Embassy staff members held in Tehran, the Iranian authorities indicated Friday that they planned to put some of them on trial - a move that could deepen a crisis in diplomatic relations with the European Union and provoke the withdrawal of ambassadors. In London, the Foreign Office said it was urgently checking reports that the Iranian authorities planned to put two of its local employees on trial. Nine staff members were seized after the unrest sparked by Iran's disputed presidential elections on June 12 and as many as eight of them were subsequently reported to have been released. But the precise number still detained was not clear." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/04/world/middleeast/04iran.html?_r=1&hp)


AFP reported that "The United States imposed financial sanctions Thursday on an adviser to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Iraq-based Shiite group Kata'ib Hezbollah, branded a foreign terrorist outfit. The US Treasury Department said it froze the assets of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to the commander of Iran's Qods Force, an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Shiite "extremist" group Kata'ib Hezbollah for being a security threat in Iraq. Al-Muhandis was identified also with 19 aliases." (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gRFukb_mQxUe-bbNC-bnTWNIj1QQ)


The Wall Street Journal reported that "The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to choose Japan's Yukiya Amano to head the sensitive United Nations watchdog, in another step toward the end of a months-long selection process. Mr. Amano's selection by a one-vote margin in a secret ballot is a significant success for the group of U.S.-led Western governments that back his candidacy for director general. The IAEA is pivotal to their efforts to counter nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea. The process isn't over yet. On Friday, the IAEA's 35-member board is expected to confirm the nomination. Then, in September, the Vienna-based IAEA's most important governing body, the 146-nation IAEA General Conference, must give its final approval. That is usually a rubber-stamp process, but this time, the selection has been particularly contentious...Mr. Amano's opponent has been Abdul Minty of South Africa. Mr. Minty has been popular with board members from developing nations, which tend to be more sympathetic to demands from non-nuclear-weapons states -- including Iran -- that they should be able to enjoy their legal right to make nuclear fuel." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124654805549486339.html)


Reuters reported that "Iranian Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shirin Ebadi called on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday to appoint a personal envoy to investigate human rights abuses in Iran. In a letter also signed by the rights groups International Federation for Human Rights and the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Ebadi asked Ban to appoint the envoy to look into abuses in Iran following June's disputed presidential election." (http://www.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUSTRE5616C220090702)


The Los Angeles Times reported that "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can in one instant appear the diplomatic equivalent of damaged goods and in the next a confident leader whose bellicose speeches leave the West wondering how to deal with him and his perplexing nation now that he's won a much-disputed reelection. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev publicly greeted Ahmadinejad at a recent meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, but did not grant him a private meeting as he had the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Belarus, the Iranian leader was met not by President Alexander Lukashenko, but by the speaker of the upper house of parliament. A similar pattern has emerged in the Middle East, where Arab regimes have long been wary of Iran's ambitions. Authorities in Jordan withdrew licenses for two Iranian news organizations this week and the sultan of Oman reportedly canceled a trip to Tehran following the unrest after Iran's June 12 election. Snubs and slights in the diplomatic world are common, sometimes almost imperceptible. But as long as Ahmadinejad remains in power, with the support of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, there are concerns about how the messy fallout over his reelection will influence diplomacy regarding Iran's nuclear program, regional stature and relations with the U.S. and Europe." (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-ostracize3-2009jul03,0,3454095.story)


The Times reported that "British calls for a mass walkout of European Union ambassadors from Tehran were shot down by more cautious nations led by Germany and Italy yesterday as the carefully constructed European consensus on responding to Iran came under intense strain. Britain, backed by the outgoing Czech presidency of the EU, had pushed for the dramatic step of a temporary withdrawal of ambassadors to pile pressure on Tehran to free local British Embassy staff from custody." (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6626649.ece)


Reuters reported that "EU countries were studying steps to protest at Iran's crackdown on dissent on Friday, including a coordinated summoning of Tehran's ambassadors in Europe and visa bans on Iranian officials, diplomats said. 'There is no decision yet on either of those two options,' an EU diplomat said after political directors from the 27-nation bloc met in Stockholm on Thursday." (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L3530320.htm)


The Wall Street Journal reported that "Supporters of Iran's regime are taking a cue from the opposition's strategy: They're mounting an online offensive...But Internet experts see clues in certain patterns of use. In the case of Vagheeiat, the user biography on Twitter says the person who sent the message is a member of a unit of the Revolutionary Guard, which oversees the Basij. The user's profile links to the Web site of the Revolutionary Guard unit. Vagheeiat used Twitter on only one day, last Thursday. On Twitter, users can receive the messages of others by choosing to 'follow' them, or joining in conversations on a certain topic. Many of the Iranian users sending pro-government missives opened accounts only a few days ago, and have few, if any, followers -- nor are they following anyone else, Mr. Silverstone said. Also pointing to an orchestrated effort, some pro-regime messages are simultaneously blasted from different online accounts at regular intervals. Among them: 'Mousavi the Instigator is in custody,' referring to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi." (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124658422588090107.html)


The New York Times Editorial Board wrote today that "Tragically, Iran's government appears to have driven back the most significant challenge to its repressive rule since the 1979 revolution...The difficult challenge now for the United States and other major powers is to come up with policies that give hope to the opposition and reinforce the doubts of Iran's political elites - without provoking a backlash. The European Union is debating whether to withdraw all of its 27 ambassadors from Tehran to protest the detention of two Iranian employees of the British Embassy. We don't believe in permanent isolation, but that kind of unified action would send an important message." (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/03fri1.html?ref=opinion)


Meir Javedanfar wrote in today's Real Clear World that "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad´s absence at the African Union summit was a bit conspicuous...This is a major setback for the Iranian President, as his government's relations with Africa are an important part of his 'South - South' strategy...What should worry the President even more is the warning sent by Europeans that during Ahmadinejad´s speech in Libya they would either stay quiet, or walk out. According to the Tehran-based news web site Iranian Diplomacy, they did not say which one of these options they would follow. Either of these would be interpreted as clear sign of deterioration between EU and Iran. These events will not bode well for Iran's foreign policy. Already battered by Ahmadinejad´s denial of the Holocaust, and calls for the elimination of Israel, any more damage could erode Iran's standing in important places such as the Middle East and Europe. Such damage could reduce Iran's leverage, especially when it comes to negotiating with the United States. This could mean a weaker hand, thus leading to Tehran coming off worst." (http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2009/07/03/irans_tarnished_foreign_policy_96871.html)







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@UnitedAgainstNuclearIran.com

The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace.

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.


The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran
Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad;Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world;Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran;Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies;Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and;Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures.
UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

WEB SITE:http://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com


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