Israel fears Rouhani’s overtures to the West

The News 21 Sept 2013 Israeli officials have said a possible rapprochement between the US and Iran could lead to a foolish softening of US-backed sanctions and bring Iran closer to building nuclear weapons. Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, told US media this week that his country had no intention to make atom bombs. His statement was part of a series of conciliatory signals coming from Tehran that recently received a guarded welcome from the White House in the form of letters exchanged between Rouhani and the US president, Barack Obama. “Don’t be fooled by the Iranian president’s fraudulent statements,” Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister and proponent of attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, said on Thursday. The head of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission warned on Wednesday that Iran’s gestures were nothing but “deception and concealment” of its alleged plans to make nuclear weapons. A day earlier, Netanyahu laid out his own demands that must be met by Tehran before a softening of international sanctions, or else such pressure “must be increased”. The Israeli leader is expected to repeat those demands during a meeting in Washington next week with Obama and at his address to the United Nations General Assembly. But by coming out too strongly against the flurry of conciliatory messages from Rouhani, a potential reformer who was elected in June, Israeli leaders may risk angering their patrons in Washington and Europe. “The danger of a sour-faced Israeli approach is that this may be seen by the Americans and the West as Israel not wanting to see any change in the situation,” said Meir Litvak, director of Tel Aviv University’s Alliance Centre for Iranian Studies. “This could be damaging in terms of a public relations point of view.” Of course, deep Israeli scepticism of Iranian leaders should be expected. Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, became notorious for anti-Israel barbs, holocaust denials as well as bizarre and long-winded diatribes. Under his leadership, Tehran’s reputation for intransigent diplomacy with the West over its nuclear activities gave Israelis serious pause for concern. So too has continued Iranian support for the Assad regime of Syria and Lebanon’s Hizbullah movement, both foes of Israel. “These guys are very, very formidable enemies, and you can’t underestimate them,” said Dan Schueftan, director of Haifa University’s National Security Studies Centre. He said most Israelis agreed with Netanyahu’s combative response to Iran’s moves under Rouhani. “If you’re not sceptical of these guys, you’re not qualified to be prime minister of Israel,” Schueftan said. Still, in some cases, the official reaction has bordered on petty. This month, a Twitter account attributed to Rouhani greeted Jews on their religious New Year of Rosh Hashanah. So too did a Twitter feed associated with his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. In response, Netanyahu said that he was “unimpressed”. “The Iranian regime will be judged only by its actions and not by its greetings,” he said.

Iran 'never' to seek nuclear weapon: Rowhani

The News September 19, 2013 - Updated 110 PKT

The News WASHINGTON: Iran will never seek nuclear weapons, newly elected President Hassan Rowhani vowed Wednesday, as he reached out to longtime enemy the United States. In a US television interview days before he travels to New York for the UN General Assembly, Rowhani praised US President Barack Obama for taking a "positive" approach toward Tehran in a letter. "Under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever," Rowhani told NBC News. "We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb, and we are not going to do so," he said, according to the US network. Rowhani repeated Iran's position that the clerical state -- suffering from US-led sanctions following sensitive uranium work -- was solely "looking for peaceful nuclear technology." Rowhani, considered more moderate than his rivals, swept to power in June on promises to help repair Iran's economy and to ease tensions with the West. His stance has been met alternately with cautious optimism and skepticism in Washington, where experts note that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ultimately controls foreign policy. Rowhani told NBC News: "In its nuclear program, this government enters with full power and has complete authority." "The problem won't be from our side," he was quoted as saying. "We have sufficient political latitude to solve this problem." Asked about Rowhani's interview, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he was "glad" to hear his remarks and that Obama had always been "willing to talk." "But I think the next step here is let's see how Iran's actions match their words," Hagel told the "PBS Newshour" on public television. (AFP)

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Iran’s nuclear chief ‘optimistic’ on world power talks

The News Tuesday, September 17, 2013 VIENNA: Iran’s new nuclear chief said on Monday that Tehran was “optimistic” about upcoming talks with world powers, offering “enhanced” but unspecified cooperation with the UN atomic agency. “I have come here with a message of my newly elected president to further enhance and expand our ongoing cooperation with the (UN atomic) agency and with the aim to put an end to the so-called Iran nuclear file,” Ali Akbar Salehi said. “We are optimistic about the outcome of the forthcoming five-plus-one meeting, should the two parties join the meeting with good intentions and with the resolve of solving the aforementioned issues based on a win-win approach.” He said in a speech to the International Atomic Energy Agency general conference of all members that the election in June of President Hassan Rowhani had created a “conducive environment” to resolving the long-running standoff. However, he added that Iran would never abandon its “right” to peaceful uses of nuclear technology and that the Islamic republic does not want the bomb. The UN Security Council has passed six resolutions since 2006 calling on Iran to suspend key parts of its nuclear programme because of suspicions that Tehran wants atomic weapons. UN and Western sanctions targeting Iran’s vital oil industry and its access to the global financial system last year began to cause major economic problems for the Persian Gulf country. The United States and Israel, widely thought to be the only Middle East country with nuclear weapons, has refused to rule out bombing Iran. Rowhani’s election has created hope that after a decade of false starts, a diplomatic solution to the crisis can be found, with a new round of talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (the P5+1 or E3+3) expected soon. New Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier this month spoke by phone with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, P5+1 chief negotiator, and the two are due to meet at the upcoming UN General Assembly. US President Barack Obama said in a weekend interview that he and Rowhani had “reached out” to each other by exchanging letters. Salehi, foreign minister under Rowhani’s predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, did not say on Monday what form the enhanced cooperation with the IAEA would take. But two weeks ago he told state media that Iran might accede to long-standing demands to implement the so-called additional protocol, an accord with the IAEA giving it greater inspection rights. He said on Monday that the large number of IAEA inspections, including around 100 unannounced ones since 2003, on Iran’s nuclear facilities made it the “second-most inspected country after Japan”.A new round of talks between Iran and the IAEA is meanwhile set for September 27 in Vienna. This meeting, following 10 other failed gatherings since early 2012, is aimed at clearing up allegations that Iran conducted nuclear weapons research before 2003 and possibly since. Salehi on Monday repeated Tehran’s assertion that these accusations, based in part on claims from spy agencies like the CIA and Mossad, are “baseless”.

Indonesians hold ‘Islam’s answer to Miss World’

Sunday, September 15, 2013 From Print Edition JAKARTA: The Miss World beauty contest, which has attracted fierce opposition by hardline Islamic groups in host country Indonesia, is now facing another challenge — a rival pageant exclusively for Muslims. The Muslimah World contest to be held on Wednesday in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, is “Islam’s answer to Miss World”, the pageant’s founder Eka Shanti said Saturday. “Muslimah World is a beauty pageant, but the requirements are very different from Miss World — you have to be pious, be a positive role model and show how you balance a life of spirituality in today’s modernised world,” Shanti told AFP. The pageant is the latest backlash against Miss World, which has already dropped the bikini from its beach fashion round and has attracted more than a month of protests by Muslim hardliners demanding the show be scrapped. Radicals have set effigies of the organisers alight and deemed the contest “smut” and “pornographic”. The 20 Muslimah World finalists were chosen from more than 500, who took part in online rounds, reciting Koranic verses and telling stories of how they came to wear the Islamic headscarf, a requirement for the pageant. The finalists, from Iran, Malaysia, Brunei, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Indonesia, will parade Islamic fashions in what Shanti says is an opportunity to show young Muslim women they do not need to show their “immodest” parts — including their hair and bare shoulders — to be beautiful. But Shanti said she did not support hardliners’ calls to cancel the Miss World contest, acknowledging that Indonesia was a diverse country with many faiths. “We don’t just want to shout ‘no’ to Miss World. We’d rather show our children they have choices. Do you want to be like the women in Miss World? Or like those in Muslimah World?” Shanti said. The Muslimah World finalists will be welcomed with open arms, with hundreds of women wearing headscarves planning to take part in what they call an “elegance rally” Sunday to greet the contestants and offer a moderate voice to the debate, Shanti said. In contrast, Miss World contestants were again ridiculed Saturday, with around 300 members of the radical Islamic Defenders Front gathering in the capital, holding signs that read “Miss World is a whore contest”. Government officials gave in to hardliners last week and announced the Miss World final would be moved from the outskirts of Jakarta to the resort island of Bali, where the contest began last week with no opposition from the Hindu majority there. Despite the decision to keep all Miss World activities off the Muslim-majority island of Java, protestors from the Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia also demonstrated Saturday in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, where contestants had planned to visit but were forced to cancel their trip. “Miss World is not welcome in Indonesia at all,” a spokeswoman for the organisation in Yogyakarta said. MNC Group, the organisers and broadcaster of Miss World, said this week that they were not party to the government’s decision and have said it The decision to confine Miss World activities to Bali was the latest victory for Islamic fringe groups, who are wielding increasing power and have succeeded in getting several events they deem un-Islamic changed or cancelled in recent years.

Iran FM’s Facebook page hacked

The News Sunday, September 15, 2013 From Print Edition TEHRAN: A semiofficial news agency in Iran says hackers gained access to the Facebook page of the country’s foreign minister and made comments about the country’s 2009 election. The report on Saturday by Fars quotes Marzieh Afkham, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, saying Mohammad Javad Zarif’s Facebook page had been hacked. Fars said hackers wrote comments about the controversial 2009 re-election of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that led to a massive crackdown on the country’s opposition. Fars did not elaborate and the posts could not be accessed on Saturday. A later post attributed to Zarif on the Facebook page said the account was “illegally accessed.” The post said he may close the Facebook page if it happens again. Zarif has had his Facebook page since 2009, though authorities have blocked the service in Iran. The US-educated diplomat regularly updates his Facebook page (facebook.com/jzarif) where he posts in Farsi, and sometimes interacts with some of his more-than 184,000 fans. Zarif also has a Twitter account in which he posts in English — despite no one inside the country being allowed legally to read his tweets. Using the newly activated account @JZarif, the foreign minister caused a diplomatic shockwave on September 5 when he wished Jews a happy Rosh Hashanah (new year) and also stated that Iran did not deny the Holocaust.