Iran updates - June 28th

http://news.antiwar.com/2012/06/27/us-rejected-chance-for-incremental-progress-in-iran-talks/

US Rejected Chance for Incremental Progress in Iran Talks

Washington's postures have been getting more stubborn, as Iran readies for even worse sanctions

by John Glaser, June 27, 2012

Print This | Share This

As enthusiasm about the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 begins to peter out, sources close to the talks have revealed that Washington hardened its position during the last round in Moscow, foregoing concrete progress in favor of an all-or-nothing posture.

In Moscow, the Iranians made a proposal that included agreeing to halt uranium enrichment to 20 percent U-23, the isotope that gives uranium its explosive power, and to a plan to “operationalize” the Supreme Leader’s fatwa against nuclear weapons. This would be in exchange for easing economic sanctions, Iranian inclusion in talks on key regional issues like Syria and Bahrain, and international recognition for Iran’s right to have a peaceful nuclear program.

According to officials speaking with Al Monitor, Washington was initially considering incremental steps toward settlement. Any individual concession the Iranians agreed to would be met with reciprocal concessions and benefits.

In the third round of talks in Moscow, however, that changed. Now the West was demanding that Iran meet all three conditions in their proposal: stop 20% enrichment, ship out a stockpile of more than 100 kilograms of 20%-enriched uranium and close the Fordo site, a fortified enrichment facility built into a mountain.

The US refusal to make incremental progress in these talks with Iran indicates a lack of interest in true settlement.

In principle, the talks and the Western aggression against Iran are illegitimate. There is a consensus in the US intelligence community that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons and has demonstrated no intention to do so.

Still, the sanctions and then negotiations were imposed on Iran. But the so-called diplomacy with Iran has been “predicated on intimidation, illegal threats of military action, unilateral ‘crippling’ sanctions, sabotage, and extrajudicial killings of Iran’s brightest minds,” writes Reza Nasri at PBS Frontline’s Tehran Bureau. These postures have spoiled the chance to resolve this issue promptly and respectfully.

After the failed talks in 2009 and 2010, wherein Obama ended up rejecting the very deal he demanded the Iranians accept, as Harvard professor Stephen Walt has written, the Iranian leadership “has good grounds for viewing Obama as inherently untrustworthy.” Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar has concurred, arguing that Iran has “ample reason” to believe, “ultimately the main Western interest is in regime change.”

Since the peaceful nature of Iran’s current nuclear program is so widely accepted, the only real gripe people have is that Tehran is slightly too opaque on the issue (this, despite all declared enrichment sites being subject to international inspections and having 24-hour video surveillance). Any opaqueness Iran has demonstrated, along with its emphasis on being “nuclear capable,” is merely a defensive posture from a regime that fears US or Israeli aggression.

But there is a simple solution to this which would vastly decrease the geopolitical tensions in the region, yet is seen as out of the question by the US. If Israel, Iran’s main adversary and not a NPT signatory, agreed to dismantling its vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons and to a deal enforcing a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East – a deal Iran has repeatedly proposed – Iran’s defensive posture would probably expire, along with the whole dispute about its nuclear program.

and......

http://www.tehrantimes.com/economy-and-business/99149-iran-threatens-to-stop-imports-from-south-korea-over-oil-halt

Iran threatens to stop imports from South Korea over oil halt

Economic Desk On Line: 27 June 2012 16:04 In Print: Thursday 28 June 2012

Font Size  

Iran threatened Wednesday to halt all imports of goods from South Korea in response to Seoul's announcement a day earlier that it would stop accepting Iranian oil.   South Korea said Tuesday that it would suspend all Iranian oil imports from the start of July in response to a European Union insurance ban on tankers carrying crude from Iran.   The Iranian ambassador to South Korea, Ahmad Masumifar, responded by saying in an interview with the South Korean news agency Yonhap on Wednesday that Tehran "may decide to fully stop importing Korean goods."   The Iranian envoy said some Asian countries are taking measures to continue oil imports from the Middle Eastern nation.   Last week, Japan's parliament approved a bill providing $7.6 billion of state guarantees for shipments of oil from Iran to cover insurance to be axed by the European insurers. Iran is South Korea's third-largest market in the Middle East, worth $6.1 billion in 2011, up from $4.6 billion in 2010.  Iran's other big oil customers in the region are Japan, China and India -- none of which have announced plans to stop receiving shipments.   The Knowledge Economy Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that it relies heavily on European companies for insurance of its oil imports and has sent representatives to the EU to make the case for continuing insurance coverage.    The suspension of crude imports effectively reduces Seoul's exports to Iran due to the risk of default on payments. South Korean exporters have been indirectly paid through the Iranian central bank's won-denominated accounts in Seoul, into which South Korean refiners pay for Iranian crude to avoid U.S. financial sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.   Iran oil ban to damage 2900 Korean companies   2,900 Korean companies which engage in trade with Iran, would be hit harshly over Korean oil ban against Iran.    Most worrisome are small- and medium-sized companies that would take a direct hit. According to the Knowledge Economy Ministry, about 2,900 Korean companies engage in trade with Iran and 2,700 of them are SMEs. They usually receive payments for merchandise exports from the money Tehran earns from selling oil to Korean refiners under a unique settlement system. Now the money barely amounts to 1.8 trillion won and SMES can’t get paid if oil imports from Iran are halted.    The situation becomes all the more serious should the Iranian envoy’s threat translate into action. The government says it will help SMES diversify to export to other countries but it won’t be easy to look for new markets in such a short span of time. Instead, they urge the government to expand soft loans.   Fundamentally, the government will have to consider continuing oil imports, following in the footsteps of Japan that passed a bill last week offering $7.6 billion in state guarantees for oil shipments from Iran to cover the insurance to be withdrawn by European insurers. This means that the government will offer payment guarantees that could reach as much as $7 billion to transport the oil.    This measure, however, could force the government to run a high risk in the event of a naval disaster and can be controversial because of the need to get approval at the National Assembly and possible privileges. The biggest question is that it’s hard to foresee when the latest Iran crisis can be resolved. It is for this reason that the government should brace for the worst-case scenario on the assumption that the situation will be prolonged. and...... http://www.tehrantimes.com/politics/99110-putin-to-peres-israel-will-regret-attacking-iran Putin to Peres: Israel will regret attacking Iran Political Desk On Line: 27 June 2012 12:40 In Print: Thursday 28 June 2012 Font Size   TEHRAN - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Israel will regret it if it launches a military strike on Iran.    Putin made the remarks during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Beit-ul-Moqaddas (Jerusalem) on Monday.    During the meeting, Putin urged Israel to learn from negative U.S. experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, Ynetnews reported.     “Look at what happened to the Americans in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I told (U.S. President Barack) Obama the same thing,” Putin stated.    He added, “There is no need to do things too quickly; one should not act without thinking first.”    “Iraq has a pro-Iranian regime after everything that has happened there. These things should be thought out ahead of time before doing something one will regret later,” the Russian president stated. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier on Monday following his meeting with Putin, “I believe that we should be doing two things now: Boosting the sanctions (on Iran) and also boosting the demands.”    The Russian president said that the two leaders “spoke in detail about the Syria issue and about the Iranian nuclear program.”    In a brief statement after meeting with Netanyahu, Putin said that their talks covered the situation in Iran and the uprising in Syria, but added that he saw negotiations as the only solution for such matters, ABC News reported.     According to AP, Israel urged the Russian president to step up pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program, but there was no sign of any concessions from Putin.    The Christian Broadcasting Network wrote on Tuesday, “Russia will not step up pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program despite Israel’s urgings.”