The police crackdown on protesters in Iran was cited as evidence of the deteriorating rights situation there.

.

RFE: The U.S. State Department says in its annual human rights report that many governments worldwide continued to perpetrate grave rights violations.

The State Department highlighted three major trends which defined violations of human rights in 2009, the first of which is “an alarming number of reports of torture, extrajudicial killings, and other violations of universal human rights.”

The second trend, the report said, was that in many countries, governments applied “new and often draconian restrictions” on NGOs. U.S. Assistant Secretary of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Michael Posner told journalists in Washington today that since 2008, 25 countries have further limited the ability of NGOs to register, operate freely, or receive foreign funding.

At a time of heavy international pressure on Iran, the State Department said on Thursday that the human rights situation there had “degenerated” since the disputed presidential election last year.

In a toughly worded analysis, the department cited killings of election protesters and acts of politically motivated torture, beatings and rape.

“An already poor human rights situation rapidly deteriorated after the June elections,” said Michael Posner, assistant secretary for democracy, human rights, and labor, as the department released its overview of human rights around the world in 2009. “At least 45 people were killed in clashes,” he said.

Reuters:  U.S. human rights report hits China, Iran

AFP:  US slams rights abuses in China, NKorea and Iran

At the same time as he prods the stubborn mule that is China, however, Mr Obama is also struggling to curb the angry stallion that is Congress. Anti-Iranian sentiment on Capitol Hill was already inflamed by the Holocaust-denying rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but has reached fever-pitch since the regime’s clampdown since June on the pro-democracy green movement.

Democrats and Republicans alike are champing to tighten America’s own sanctions on Iran. The White House has been pleading for time—first to give engagement a chance and lately to avoid complicating efforts in the Security Council. Now the Hill’s patience has run out.

Although the White House denies that it is out of sync with Congress, Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service said this week that Congress was in a “ferment” to find “every which way” to squeeze the Iranians. The pressure is bipartisan: sponsors of sanctions resolutions include John McCain, a Republican senator, and Howard Berman, a House Democrat. One pair of bills would punish all firms, including foreign ones, that sell petrol or refining equipment to Iran (Iran is short of refining capacity). Other proposals range from targeting individuals involved in human-rights abuses to making regime change official policy.

Blunt instruments like this could shatter Mr Obama’s careful efforts to corral foreign allies and show Iranians that America is worried about their regime’s nuclear delinquencies, not hostile to Iran itself. But Mr Obama faces a tricky calculation. Some State Department advisers tell him that too much pressure will provoke Iran to retaliate in Afghanistan (which Mr Ahmadinejad visited this week), with troubling consequences for the war on which the fate of his presidency may ultimately hang. But even friendly pollsters such as Stanley Greenberg and James Carville are picking up signs that the president is becoming vulnerable on national-security issues. Sarah Palin has helpfully urged him to “toughen up” and declare war on Iran.

Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has been dusting down the article George Kennan wrote from Moscow under the pseudonym X in 1947, calling for “patient but firm and vigilant containment” of the Soviet Union. One unintended consequence of Mr Obama’s extended hand was to aid the rise in Iran of a resilient democracy movement. Better now to encourage the opposition and wait for the regime to implode, says Mr Sadjadpour (he doesn’t expect to have to wait 40 years), than to concentrate only on the centrifuges spinning in Natanz. Mr Obama might think so, too—if only he could live with the idea of Iran going nuclear on his watch.

Go to Economist.

Cherie Culle/DOD, via Associated Press

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Thursday.

NYT:  Gates to Discuss Iran With Emirates Leaders

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here Thursday to consult with the United Arab Emirates about military defenses and the growing unease in the Persian Gulf over possible missile attacks by Iran.

Mr. Gates, who is a crucial part of the Obama administration’s intensifying campaign to put more pressure on Iran, was to meet with the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammad bin Zayyed al Nuhayyan, who is also the deputy commander of the country’s armed forces. The two are expected to discuss the United Arab Emirates’ agreement to accelerate the deployment here of two American-made Patriot missile batteries, which are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.

Telegraph:  Gulf states wary of Iran’s nukes and of sanctions

Gates told King Abdullah, the Crown Prince and Defence Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, and other top security officials that Iran had “largely rebuffed” US overtures for a conciliatory dialogue, and that Washington was now focused on ramping up pressure on Tehran, according to a US defence official.

Gates was only the latest of several high level US visitors, including Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, and Steven Chu, the energy secretary, who have pounded the path to Riyadh to sell Saudi leaders on more pressure on Tehran.

But Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states remain dubious about whether heightened economic sanctions would be supported by enough countries to be effective, and whether they would have the intended impact on Tehran.

“We have a shared interest in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power,” said Mustafa Alani, research director at the Gulf Research Centre, a Dubai think tank.

However, he said: “We don’t recognise economic sanctions as going to change the Iranians’ mind. If there are sanctions, it will accelerate their nuclear programme.”

The support of the Gulf states is crucial, both to put real economic pressure on Iran – through trade and financial measures – and to ensure no disruption to global energy needs by a change to Iranian oil exports.

The longer China holds out, the better treatment it gets from the West, which is hoping for sanctions that will likely do little to resolve the nuclear impasse anyway.

There are several reasons for Beijing not to impose meaningful sanctions.

Iran is China’s third-largest oil supplier and home to expanding Chinese energy and commercial enterprises. China and Iran also share a strong resentment of perceived American meddling in their domestic politics. The bond with Tehran helps counterbalance American interests in a region that some strategists in China consider part of its “grand periphery.”

Beijing has also led a charm offensive with Muslim countries since the Xinjiang riots in July 2009, partly in response to strong condemnations by top Iranian clerics of China’s administration of the restive western province.

Unlike the US and Europe, Beijing does not seem to see an urgent need to deal with the Iran nuclear issue. Trying to pressure Beijing by sharing Western intelligence on Iran is unlikely to have much effect.

Building an effective international coalition of countries – including Arab Gulf countries and those with Security Council membership – is a far better way to shape China’s Iran calculus.

Although Beijing would probably prefer to avoid an arms race in the Middle East, most Chinese analysts are unconvinced that Iran will be able to enrich uranium to weapons-grade quality anytime soon, or to weaponize it. Consider the fact that Chinese analysts questioned whether Pyongyang could make a nuclear bomb right up until North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.

Then there is the fact that Beijing does not appear to be afraid of an imminent Israeli airstrike on Iranian nuclear installations. Most Chinese analysts believe the US has both the motivation and strength to restrain its ally.

Finally, Beijing argues that sanctions on Iran are unlikely to work, and instead will backfire by inducing resistance instead of compliance. Beijing has indicated that it suspects that the West’s fixation on sanctions is part of a broader plan to promote a change of government in Tehran – regime change that China is loath to see anywhere.

Free Iran:  Not to mention the fact that it is to China’s (& Russia’s) interest that Iran continues to be a thorn in the side of the US.  So long as the US-Iran problems persist, China can negotiate better economic and political terms from both the US and Iran.

Go to CS Monitor.

Free Iran:  This is how I feel when it comes to Iran.  Why so damn little coverage?  The future of the Islamic world is at stake!!!!

Domestic:

InsideIran:  Return of Moderate Conservatives Could Help Greens

RFE:  Who Is Waging War Against God In Iran?

GVF:  Senior reformist Tajzadeh released

GVF:  Photo: Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard meet with released prisoner Tajzadeh

GVF:  Photo: Khatami meets with released prisoner Tajzadeh

GVF:  IUST Students at IUST remember fallen comrade (Photos)

GVF:  Six students summoned by disciplinary committee of Babol University

Amnesty:  Iranian football journalist released after hunger strike

ICHR Iran:  Stop anti-Sharia and inhumane execution sentences!

US Policy:

CS Monitor:  Joe Biden gives Israel bear hug – and tough love

AP:  Gates: Gulf allies understand Iran sanctions next

FT:  US intelligence: Tribal warfare With an interesting PDF File

BBC:  US and Israel dodge settlement confrontation

CS Monitor:  War without death? How non-lethal weapons could change warfare

Other:

IranTracker:  Iran News Roundup March 11, 2010

Khabar:  Iran establishes trade center in Kabul

The wife of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi called the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “illegitimate,” the reformist Kaleme website reported Thursday.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the most powerful figure in the Islamic establishment, has criticized Iran’s opposition leaders for disputing the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad’s government and for refusing to “bow before the law.”

“I have said many times that this government is illegitimate … but because the government claims to be legitimate, it has to carry out its duties,” Zahra Rahnavard was quoted as saying on Kaleme, the website of her husband.

She also said the opposition movement would be present on March 17 when Iranians hold celebrations a few days before the country’s New Year (on March 21).

“We will be present that day… but will not take any extreme or violent action,” Rahnavard said.

Police officials have strongly warned the opposition against using the occasion to organize fresh protests and have said they will hold anyone arrested that day until the end of the Iranian new year holidays.

Rahnavard called on the authorities to release all pro-reform detainees and to respect “freedom of expression and thought.”

“Freedom, democracy and women’s rights is what we want to pursue,” she said.

Go to Reuters.

Iran, holder of the world’s second- biggest oil and gas reserves, will add to its oil stabilization fund if crude prices remain over $65 in the coming 12 months, the deputy central bank governor said.

“As long as the price of petroleum is over $65 per barrel Iran will gain extra petroleum revenue, which will find its way into the oil stabilization fund,” Hossein Ghazavi said in a phone interview from Tehran late yesterday. He declined to comment on the current balance of the fund, which is aimed at providing protection for the economy should oil prices slide.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose second term started in August, has been criticized by members of parliament for making frequent withdrawals from the fund, resulting in faster inflation in his first years in office. The inflation was 11.5 percent last month. The International Monetary Fund forecast in a report last month that it will drop to 10 percent this year.

The oil fund “is essential, as it is a rainy-day fund but it is also a very politicized one, as the president has used the money for his own political purposes,” said Mohammed Shakeel, an economist who covers Iran for the Economist Intelligence Unit in London.

Ahmadinejad was first elected in 2005 following promises to distribute the country’s oil riches among the poorest Iranians.

Oil accounts for more than 80 percent of the government’s revenue, Shakheel said. Rising prices have helped the central bank increase its foreign currency reserves. Iran’s reserves have surpassed $100 billion, Ghazavi said in an Oct. 13 interview, declining to provide a more specific figure.

‘Urgently Needed’

Iran’s plan to eliminate subsidies on energy and food over the next five years is “urgently needed” to make the economy more efficient, Ghazavi said.

Iran subsidizes gasoline sold at filling stations under a monthly quota system, as well as electricity, flour and other foods. The government plans to redirect the spending toward the lowest-income groups.

The cash subsidy plans, and Iran’s reliance on oil revenue to fund the coming year’s budget, risk pushing the country into stagflation, a combination of slow growth and high inflation rates, lawmaker Ahmad Tavakoli, who heads parliament’s research center, told legislators on March 8.

The Persian Gulf nation’s economy may grow 2.2 percent in 2010, up from 1.5 percent last year, according to the IMF report. The country’s economy has performed strongly in recent years, supported by high oil prices and expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, it said.

Go to Bloomberg.

NYT:  Gates to Discuss Iran With Emirates Leaders

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here Thursday to consult with the United Arab Emirates about military defenses and the growing unease in the Persian Gulf over possible missile attacks by Iran.

Mr. Gates, who is a crucial part of the Obama administration’s intensifying campaign to put more pressure on Iran, was to meet with the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammad bin Zayyed al Nuhayyan, who is also the deputy commander of the country’s armed forces. The two are expected to discuss the United Arab Emirates’ agreement to accelerate the deployment here of two American-made Patriot missile batteries, which are capable of shooting down short-range offensive missiles.

Like other Gulf countries, the U.A.E. is increasingly nervous about the buildup of Iran’s nuclear capacity, which Iran says is peaceful but which Western nations believe is a covert nuclear arms program.

Gen. David H. Petraeus, who oversees the United States Central Command, disclosed the accelerated deployment of “eight Patriot missile batteries, two in each of four countries,” at a conference in Washington in January. Although General Petraeus did not name the countries, military officials say that one of them is the United Arab Emirates. The officials said that the others are Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Mr. Gates’ message here is to echo what he said during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday: that the United States is committed to the defense of the region and has effectively given up, after years of trying, on persuading Iran through diplomatic talks to give up its nuclear program.

AFP

WSJ:  Gates Calls Iran Support for Taliban ‘Limited’

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday downplayed Iran’s influence on Afghanistan, but the war of words escalated, with Iran’s president promising that the region’s people would “cut your hands off of the Persian Gulf oil.”

Visiting a military base that houses an air-refueling wing serving Afghanistan, Mr. Gates said Iranian support for the Taliban in Afghanistan is “pretty limited” so far.

Mr. Gates noted his public exchange of barbs with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week over which country is doing harm in Afghanistan. He had accused Tehran of undermining U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization efforts by helping the Taliban.

“I have talked about Iran playing a double game in Afghanistan, wanting a good relationship with the Afghan government and wanting to make our lives harder,” he said.

“At this point, the level of their effort I think is not a major problem for us,” Mr. Gates said. “The level of their support for the Taliban, so far as best we can tell, has been pretty limited. I was just trying to express the hope that it wouldn’t get any worse.” The Pentagon asked press traveling with Mr. Gates not to name the military base.

AP

There’s a new move afoot to get Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani back to the pulpit during Tehran’s Friday prayers.

According to a report Wednesday in the reformist daily newspaper Bahar (in Persian), the dean of Tehran’s elite Imam Sadegh University (where many of the leaders of Iran’s intelligence and security apparatus get trained) got the ball rolling in a speech last week.

“I still listen to Mr. Rafsanjani,” Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the dean, said along the sidelines of an Islamic unity conference. “Those who want to omit Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani are not important.”

Bahar reported Wednesday that sources close to the government have given word that Rafsanjani is set to return to the Friday prayers, where he has been absent since a momentous July 17 sermon sparked a massive anti-government protest. Since the revolt, Rafsanjani was cut from the Friday prayers roster, a move which signaled the refusal of the hard-line administration to tolerate the slightest hint of political dissent.

But that seems to be over.

“The absence of Hashemi Rafsanjani is over,” the article quoted a pro-government website as saying.

The article said “the suggestion to return Rafsanjani has been met with pro and counter-arguments” but that it is seriously being considered. Go to LA Times.

Congress and the Obama administration are stepping up pressure on private companies to stop doing business with Iran, but their efforts are running into the same problems U.S. sanctions have encountered for three decades — reluctance in Europe and a host of elusive trading companies eager to sell gasoline and other goods to Iran.

To deter Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program, the House and the Senate have approved separate bills that would impose sanctions on companies that supply gasoline to the Islamic republic and on the insurance, reinsurance and shipping companies that facilitate such trade. And in the past few weeks, a variety of companies — including Ingersoll Rand, Caterpillar, Siemens and Huntsman — have indicated they will stop or have stopped doing business with Iran.

But a senior European Union official has written to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton voicing opposition to congressional efforts to impose U.S. sanctions on European companies.

In a Feb. 26 letter, Catherine Margaret Ashton, the E.U.’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, expressed “the EU’s deep concern” about the bills because they “envisage the extraterritorial application of U.S. legislation and would therefore be contrary to the EU-U.S. understanding of 1998, under which it was agreed that such sanctions would not be applied to the EU in the light of the EU’s commitment to work with the U.S. to counter the threat that Iran poses to international security.” Go to Washington Post.

Persian Gulf & Afghanistan:

AFP:  Iran Warns Neighbors Over U.S. Presence In The Gulf

Guardian:  Iran’s ‘double game’ in Afghanistan

BW:  Gates Appeals to Saudi King on Tougher Sanctions Against Iran

Stratfor:  Video Dispatch: The Iranian Interest in Afghanistan

AFP:  US calls on Iran to play ‘constructive role’ in Afghanistan

US Policy:

WP:  Biden reassures Israel on Iran, presses for talks with Palestinians

Sanctions:

Russia Today:  (Video) Sanctions Against Iran?

Reuters:  ANALYSIS – Brazil’s Lula raises concern with Iran embrace

AFP:  Brazil, Germany clash on Iran nuclear sanctions

FT:  Shell halts supplies to Iran

Domestic:

GVF:  Unhappy workers summoned to court

RFE:  Iran’s Supreme Leader Defends Powerful Candidate-Vetting Body

Political Prisoners:

AFP:  Iran frees top opposition figure for new year: reports

MSNBC:  Report: Iran sentences professor to 6 years

RFE:  Interview: UN Envoy On Torture Says Concerned About Iran

Women:

Slide Show: Women’s History, Across the Globe, in The Nation

RFE:  U.S. Recognizes Afghans, Iranian As Among ‘International Women Of Courage’

Other:

CNN:  Will there be a Mideast single currency?

CNN:  The glamorous world of Lebanese haute couture

CS Monitor:  Lebanon resumes defense talks on Hezbollah’s military wing

FP:  Fiasco in Jerusalem

Free Iran:  I received the following email from someone I know and trust in Tehran.

The executive branch of  Iran has increased its power and grip over the administration of state institutions (economic and political) since the June Presidential election. They have made new appointees from the Revolutionary Guard and it is planned that the number two position in any state institution will be a Guard’s man!  The civil servants know this and are extremely upset with that and with the way politics and economics are being managed. The Guard appointees have no knowledge ,experience, and expertise about the organization they are being assigned to. There is a tremendous amount of dissatisfaction within state institutions, but they do not dare say or do anything. The Guard is spreading its tentacles. The civil servants, like ordinary people, have to deal with low income, huge inflation (the government says it is now lowered to 11.4% -???), lack of job opportunities for their children, social restrictions, etc. Hence, this element of society is very angry.

As for the ordinary people, nothing has improved except for more unemployment!! (the private sector laying off people – from bazaar to retailers to contractors to small industries and many other entrepreneurs). New high school and college graduates will not find jobs.  Petrol rations have been slashed for all – private users, taxis, van and truck drivers. People in the transport business now have to buy about 50% of their monthly needs based on open market prices. Inflation is still increasing, govt figures not withstanding.

Moral is very, very low. There is an amazing sense of pessimism every where, even among the more affluent people who live in northern Tehran. Why? People with successful companies cannot get paid by their customers. The government has reduced its budget payment to state organizations which are its biggest clients. State organizations (ministries and others) award contracts to and buy goods and services from the private sector. So, when the government does not pay the state institutions, they, in turn, cannot pay their contractors and suppliers. The private sector is squeezed badly for liquidity. Shareholders and loans from banks can only carry them so far. After that, they have to reduce operations or close shop. Liquidity squeeze on a macro and micro scale is choking business and the economy. Customers owe so much money to their suppliers but cannot pay them.

One does not see large gathering of people any more. People do not feel like having parties in their homes. Many are scared to go to parties. Their moral is low. It is really a terrible feeling. Gatherings have been reduced to a few people. The traffic in Tehran has gotten worse since last year and the pollution was awful this winter. Therapist and psychiatrists say because of the enormous amount of stress and pollution, many people are developing severe psychological and emotional problems.

As for within the system, the split is widening. Almost all those who were part of the ‘reformist’/’liberal’ elements of the Khatami era and part of the system are now in opposition to the system. That split has spread to Qom and among the prominent ‘leaders’. The religious talk is all a facade. There are whispers that  about 2,000 Guardsmen were just arrested! The executive branch has become an absolute military dictatorship. Their ruthless responses have scared people from challenging them in the streets. One can witness sporadic challenges on certain dates but it is not widespread. In the short term, people are gripped with the vicious response from the guards.  The number and type of people who were released after their arrests is staggering. Most are educated and professional people. At the 22nd of bahman demonstrations, ( about a month ago)  at least over 100 thousand militia forces were on all corners of the streets in city Tehran center with about 5,000 motor bike militias dressed like soldiers of darth vader. As for corruption,  think Nigeria , Russia , Uganda , etc. They approach one with no shame and very openly state their outlandish demands.

All of the above is nothing really new. In summary, conditions are getting worse. No one knows what the hell is happening to the $4 billion of oil income Iran receives every month. One can only guess that the state expenditure is huge- that there is not sufficient money to even cover the current account. The trend is very very alarming and open dissatisfaction has really grown.

In the longer term, the  regime is paying a heavy price in terms of their legitimacy and people’s support.

According to IRNA, the Islamic Republic’s News Agency, the Iranian justice system has filed cases against Faezeh and Mehdi Hashemi, two children of Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani. In an interview with IRNA March 10, Alireza Avaie, the highest ranking judicial official in the province of Tehran, announced that cases have been filed in the General Court and in the Revolutionary Court to address accusations against Mehdi and Faezeh Hashemi.

Mr. Avaie said that these actions are in the interest of the regime and no one should be above the law. Earlier, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ezhei, Iran’s chief prosecutor, had said that Iran’s courts would investigate any cases against Rafsanjani’s children if there are any complaints filed against them.

Mehdi and Faezeh Hashemi are accused of fomenting riots in Tehran following the disputed June 12 election. Faezeh Hashemi participated in a few anti-government demonstrations and she was briefly detained by unknown security forces for a short period of time. Mehdi Hashemi left Iran last summer, shortly after the government accused him of supporting Mir Hossein Moussavi’s campaign. Mehdi Hashemi is also accused of having played a role in organizing what the government calls “riots” in Tehran—a reference to the ongoing protests.

Some analysts believe that pro-government forces in the judiciary with close ties to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are uneasy about Rafsanjani’s recent rapprochement with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It is believed that Ahmadinejad and hardliners in the IRGC fear that a close partnership between Khamenei and Rafsanjani would jeopardize their political power; therefore, these hardliners seek to discredit Rafsanjani and his family by charging two members of his family.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani has not taken a position on the judiciary’s recent statement regarding his children, but at an event in Mashhad two months ago, Mr. Rafsanjani asserted that his son had nothing to worry about and would return to Iran if he was summoned by the courts.

Go to Inside Iran.

Attending a closed session of Iranian parliament (Majlis) yesterday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied that the implementation of subsidy reform plan will raise the inflation.

He also requested the Parliament to approve a 400 trillion rials (40 billion dollars) revenue to be resulted from the execution of the plan.

Earlier Ahmadinejad has submitted a letter to the supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asking him to assist in fulfilling the government’s demand.

Speaking to Khabar Online, a member of Parliament’s presiding board, Hassan Sobhani-Nia stated that Ahmadinejad has described four objectives to be gained out of the realization of subsidy cut plan: controlling the consumption, boosting the productivity, to refine structures and management systems, to eliminate the roots of permanent inflation which includes adjusting production structures as well as strengthening monetary bases; and finally the implementation of justice.

According to the lawmaker, delivering a 45 minutes lecture, Ahmadinejad stressed several times that these objectives will not be fulfilled if the Majlis simply allocates 200 trillion rials to the project which makes the government unable to achieve a significant goal.

Sobhani-Nia who is a member of the Principlist faction of the parliament said that although experts and lawmakers have estimated that subsidy cuts plan will drastically move up the inflation rate. However Mr. Ahmadinejad maintained that he doesn’t believe in the inflationary consequences of the project saying that one of the objectives of executing the plan is wielding a control over the inflation, so one cannot claim that it will soar the inflation.

Responding to a question about the President’s estimation on the amount of the direct cash to be paid to people next year, the lawmaker pointed out: “Mr. Ahmadinejad underlined that if the government could gain 200 trillion rials, it can afford to pay 300,000 to 500,000 rials to each family in cash. But if the government’s revenue out of executing the plan could reach by 400 trillion rials, the government will be able to raise the amount by 600,000 to 700,000 rials paid to compensate for the increase of energy carriers.

In this manner Ahmadinejad believes that the administration will be capable of both fighting the inflation and allocating more money to low-income Iranian families. Go to original article.

Despite Obama’s 2009 Cairo pledge to support democratic freedoms, survey finds worsening human rights situation in Arab world.

Less than a year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Cairo, calling for a new beginning in America’s relations with the Muslim world while pledging to support the advance of democracy and human rights.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton renewed the president’s pledge just last month in a speech to the U.S.-Islamic world forum in Doha, Qatar.

But some rights activists say that, despite those American promises, freedom and human rights are still under assault across the Arab world. A new survey finds the status of human rights in the Arab region deteriorated last year, compared to 2008.

Deteriorating conditions

Twelve Arab countries are profiled in the report by the non-profit Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. The study finds that developments over the past year have threatened progress toward improved human rights. It suggests that governments have acted “with impunity,” particularly in Egypt, to suppress dissent by illegally jailing critics and political opponents and enacting harsh anti-terrorism laws. Go to VOA.

Ali Shams Ardakani, the head of energy commission of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICC IM) said currently $120 million revenue is wasted everyday in the country due to the high domestic consumption.

Speaking to Khabar Online correspondent, he underlined that as 1.5 million barrels of oil is allocated to local consumption, estimating that a barrel of crude oil costs $80, actually Iran is losing $120 million of oil income per day.

According to him by such revenue, each day a huge cement plant can be built in the country.

He also stressed that 10 days of such daily income suffices for constructing a big iron foundry, also if the revenue gained in 30 days is used for the same purposes, it can build a huge oil refinery or two petrochemical plants. Go to original article.

Journalists have become a prime target in an Iranian government crackdown on the opposition following last June’s disputed presidential election, with 52 of them currently held — making Iran the top jailer of journalists in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The wave of arrests, which has only accelerated recently, has sent a chill through journalists in Iran at a time when the opposition is struggling to maintain its challenge against the government in the face of a heavy crackdown on pro-reform figures.

In response, a sort of ”underground” journalism has emerged, said Reza Valizadeh, 32, who used to work for the state-run radio and television but who fled the country amid the postelection crackdown.

”We have a kind of guerrilla journalists, who wear masks, have no names, write under pseudonyms and send e-mails without mentioning their real names to news outlets outside Iran, or publish in weblogs with pseudonyms,” said Valizadeh, who now lives in Paris.

”A very, very bitter and black period awaits journalists,” he told The Associated Press.

The at least 52 journalists now in Iranian jails range from freelance reporters to writers for opposition blogs and newspapers and even several for government-owned media, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists wrote in a report released Tuesday. Seven of them were imprisoned before the June election. Go to NY Times.

GENEVA — The boyfriend of an Iranian woman, who became an opposition icon after images of her death at a Tehran protest spread across the Internet, says the event has turned him into a staunch activist.

A year ago, “I wouldn’t have thought that I would be here,” Caspian Makan told AFP on the sidelines of a human rights conference in Geneva.

“It changed my life, I’m very active right now I’m going to be more of an activist,” said the writer and documentary maker after he fled Iran and found refuge in Canada.

“I lost my love, I lost my country, I miss everybody, my family, my job,” added Makan, speaking through an interpreter.

The killing of Neda Agha-Soltan on June 20, 2009 came to symbolise the public uprising against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory earlier that month in presidential elections the opposition says were rigged.

A graphic mobile phone video of her bleeding to death on the ground was seen around the world, triggering an outcry over the sometimes brutal crackdown on demonstrators.

Makan appeared at the Geneva conference alongside dissidents from China, Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe.

“The whole world was witness to the acts of this regime. It was a painful, inhuman act that revealed the dark face of the Iranian dictatorship,” he told delegates.

His 26 year-old partner’s killing was a “murder” carried out by “mercenaries of the regime,” he claimed.

“Her conscience and her courage became symbols for freedom, symbols that gave hope to thousands of Iranians.”

After her death, Makan was interviewed by foreign media, including the BBC and Al-Jazeera. This is what he believes marked him out: six days later, he was arrested at home.

“I wanted to tell the world the truth and what happened to Neda,” the dapper 38 year-old sighed.

Freed with the help of her family from Evin prison after 65 days of questioning, Makan decided to flee.

He managed to reach another Middle Eastern country, which he preferred not to name, and early this year he was granted political asylum in Canada. Go to AFP.

Economy:

NYT:  Two Large Multinationals Pull Back From Iran

BW:  Fighting intensifies in Iran over subsidy cuts

Domestic:

InsideIran:  Taking the Temperature in Tabriz

Inside Iran:  Khoeini: Khamenei Seeks Return of Moderate Conservatives to Preserve Islamic Republic

Afghanistan:

Telegraph:  Iran and US trade insults over Taliban-led violence

US Policy:

FP:  How to Win the War of Ideas

Telegraph View: Surrounded by enemies, Israel must not exasperate its friends.

Women:

Signforchange:  8th March: Women of the Middle East Unite in the Struggle against Violence

Other:

Iran Tracker:  Iran News Roundup March 10, 2010

Iran Tracker:  Iran News Roundup March 9, 2010

Iran Tracker:  Iran News Roundup March 8, 2010

Mr. Thomas Friedman writes in today’s NY Times:

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And how about you, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran? How are you feeling today? Yes, I am sure you have your proxies in Iraq. But I am also sure you know what some of your people are quietly saying: “How come we Iranian-Persian-Shiites — who always viewed ourselves as superior to Iraqi-Arab-Shiites — can only vote for a handful of pre-chewed, pre-digested, ‘approved’ candidates from the supreme leader, while those lowly Iraqi Shiites, who have been hanging around with America for seven years, get to vote for whomever they want?” Unlike in Tehran, Iraqis actually count the votes. This will subtly fuel the discontent in Iran.

Yes, the U.S.’s toppling of Saddam Hussein helped Iran expand its influence into the Arab world. Saddam’s Iraq was a temporary iron-fisted bulwark against Iranian expansion. But if Iraq has any sort of decent outcome — and becomes a real Shiite-majority, multiethnic democracy right next door to the phony Iranian version — it will be a source of permanent pressure on the Iranian regime. It will be a constant reminder that “Islamic democracy” — the rigged system the Iranians set up — is nonsense. Real “Islamic democracy” is just like any other democracy, except with Muslims voting.

Former President George W. Bush’s gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. It should have and could have been pursued with much better planning and execution. This war has been extraordinarily painful and costly. But democracy was never going to have a virgin birth in a place like Iraq, which has never known any such thing.

Some argue that nothing that happens in Iraq will ever justify the costs. Historians will sort that out. Personally, at this stage, I only care about one thing: that the outcome in Iraq be positive enough and forward-looking enough that those who have actually paid the price — in lost loved ones or injured bodies, in broken homes or broken lives, be they Iraqis or Americans or Brits — see Iraq evolve into something that will enable them to say that whatever the cost, it has given freedom and decent government to people who had none.

Free Iran:  It is unlikely that we’ll see a stable democracy in Iraq before Iran.  For a democracy to take root, it first needs a fertile environment.  It’s difficult to impose democracy by invasion and occupation.  Iran, far more than Iraq and certainly Afghanistan, is the candidate for a genuine democracy in the Middle East.  Having gone through the trial and error of experimenting with Islamic fundamentalism, the Iranian people are now far more open to pluralism than their neighbors in the region.

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Move Follows Similar Curbs Put in Place by Other Large Firms Amid Pressure From U.S. Government.

Go to WSJ.

News of Abdollah Momeni’s release on the heavy bail of approximately $800,000 makes it appear that the Judiciary is setting ransoms and not bails. In fact most of the political prisoners released on bail over the past few months appear to be hostages of the judicial system due to the unreasonably high bail amounts they have had to post. Some of the bail amounts set are higher than the prisoner’s estimated earnings in 100 years. Presently hundreds of political, student, and civil society activists and journalists who have been released on heavy bails are either waiting for their sentences to be carried out or are facing new problems caused by their bail amount.

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Fazlollah Arab Sorkhi, a member of the Islamic Mujahedin Organization, received a bail order set of approximately $1 million. Behzad Nabavi, also a member of the Islamic Mujahedin Organization and former Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, was released on an $800,000 bail last November. Even student activist Peyman Aref faced a $100,000 bail. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran requests the Iranian Judiciary to end the trend of heavy and unreasonable bails, which is against Iranian law, and end the abuse and harassment of families of political prisoners.

Iranian Judiciary authorities, who under pressure from public opinion have no other choice but to release hundreds of individuals baselessly arrested after the elections, have either been issuing heavy sentences for political prisoners in trials which lack even the most basic elements of international standards for fair and objective courts, or they have been issuing disproportionately heavy bail amounts.

Many political prisoners whose bail has been set at amounts ten times larger than their financial capability, use help from their friends, family, and relatives to raise bail. But because bail amounts sometimes remain at the Judiciary for years without a final court ever convening, families face serious problems in this area.

Go to ICHR Iran.

Iran’s president acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that Afghan and Pakistani intelligence helped his government to hunt down the leader of the most dangerous ethnic opposition movement.

Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad paid an official visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, and disclosed the help that Iran received to arrest Abdolmalek Rigi, the commander of the Jundollah guerrilla group which seeks independence for the Baluchi minority.

Mr Rigi was captured about two weeks ago in an operation outside Iran’s borders. During a press conference in Kabul with Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, Mr Ahmadi-Nejad acknowledged the role of his neighbours in this operation, and “in particular Afghanistan”.

Go to Financial Times.

Reuters:  Gates to discuss Iran pressure during Saudi visit

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss efforts to put pressure on Iran, stabilize Yemen and to urge the Saudis to engage with Iraq ahead of the U.S. withdrawal.

Gates, fresh from a three-day visit to Afghanistan, also may discuss Kabul’s attempts to pursue reconciliation with Taliban insurgents.

U.S. defense officials, briefing reporters ahead of the trip, said Gates will meet King Abdullah and discuss U.S. efforts to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

“The Secretary will provide an update … about where we are in our Iran policy, as we’ve pivoted from the engagement track to the pressure track,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

The United States has expanded land- and sea-based missile defense systems in and around the Gulf to counter what it sees as Iran’s growing missile threat, and arms sales to Gulf allies have risen sharply in recent years.

Saudi Arabia bought $3.3 billion in U.S. arms in fiscal 2009, according to a Pentagon estimate. U.S. officials did not expect new sales to be announced during Gates’s trip.

“It’s not lost on the Iranians, all of the security cooperation that’s been going on for years now and all the systems that have been purchased over the last several years, (are) all designed to counter-weight and protect against the growing threat posed by Iran,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

NYT:  Gates in Saudi Arabia to Discuss Iran

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here on Wednesday for talks with the Saudi royal family that senior defense officials said would be focused on Iran.

His visit follows recent trips to Riyadh by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of United States Central Command, and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The talks are to include discussions about United States military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in building up its air and missile defense. Mr. Gates is to provide an update to Saudi officials, who are intensely concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, on the American-led effort to impose new sanctions on Tehran.

Mr. Gates is to meet with King Abdullah and Crown Prince bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud over dinner at the king’s farm outside Riyadh.

He arrived in Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan, where earlier on Wednesday he told an assembled phalanx of the Afghan National Army that “this is your country and ultimately your fight to win.” But confusion soon broke out over when the Afghan forces would be ready to do most of the fighting on their own.

AP:  Gates keeps up pressure on Iran with Gulf visit

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was keeping up the pressure on Iran on Wednesday, consulting with the United States’ closest and most influential ally in the Persian Gulf about how to respond to Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

U.S. officials said Gates would discuss shared concerns over Iran’s nuclear intentions and ballistic missile program during meetings with Saudi King Abdullah and senior leaders.

Gates arrived in the Saudi capital after three days in Afghanistan. He nearly crossed paths with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was in Kabul on Wednesday for meetings with many of the same leaders Gates had just seen.

Gates accused Iran of “playing a double game” in Afghanistan, and working to undermine the security U.S. forces are trying to help build.

Afghanistan is just one of the places where the United States has a proxy fight with Iran, and the confrontation appears to be getting nastier. The Obama administration has all but written off hopes for a diplomatic opening with Iran after three decades of enmity.

Last week, the top American commander in the Middle East, Gen. David Petraeus, said Iran had gone from being a “theocracy to a thugocracy” in its crackdown on a reform movement following last year’s elections.

Bloomberg

Joe Biden’s first trip to Israel as U.S. Vice-President – a visit designed to soothe irritated Israeli-American relations – began with a little sabre-rattling aimed at Tehran.

Iran’s ruling mullahs will be denied nuclear weapons, Mr. Biden declared, in a message certain to cheer his Israeli hosts. He made no mention of Israel’s own never-acknowledged nuclear arsenal.

“We’re determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons,” Mr. Biden said soon after arriving in Jerusalem yesterday. The U.S. has had the same long-standing policy toward both North Korea and Iran. However, the North Korean regime has ignored Washington’s threats and tested a nuclear weapon four years ago.

Mr. Biden’s five-day trip is aimed at mending frayed relations with Israel and trying to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“The cornerstone of the relationship is our absolute, total, unvarnished commitment to Israel’s security,” Mr. Biden said.

Many Arabs see U.S. attitudes toward Israel as emblematic of a double standard. The Jewish state is known to have nuclear weapons, yet successive U.S. presidents have never called for Israeli disarmament or compliance with international arms treaties.

Hours before Mr. Biden’s arrival – the Vice-President is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Israel since Barack Obama became president 14 months ago – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a particularly apocalyptic assessment of militant Islam going nuclear.

“The greatest threat facing mankind is the spectre of a militant Islamic regime acquiring nuclear weapons, or the spectre of nuclear weapons acquiring a militant Islamic regime. The first is dangerously close to happening in Iran, and the second may or may not happen in Pakistan,” he said.

The Obama administration is trying to round up international support for a new and tougher set of sanctions against Iran, but continued opposition from China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, makes that unlikely. “Dialogue and negotiations are still the best choice, and cannot be lightly abandoned,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday. Go to original article.

Emphasizing the supreme leader’s areas of concern, Rahim Safavi, who was speaking at a conference organized for the so-called cultural experts of the IRGC, said, “The supreme leader have identified soft war, and because the IRGC must combat both soft war as well as semi-hard was and hard war, it must have the tools for each kind of war.

The former IRGC chief noted that the “goal of soft war is to change the culture, values and beliefs of the youth,” adding, “Our weakness is in this very issue of culture, which our enemies have identified before we did.  Therefore we must battle against and overcome the attacking culture with our soft and cultural power.”

Noting that “Our population was 36 million during the revolution and72 million now, therefore 50 percent of our country’s population are youth under the age of 30,” ayatollah Khamenei’s advisor noted his concerns with the “huge cultural war against Islam and the Islamic Revolution.”

Rahim-Safavi’s statements contradict last week’s remarks by Kamran Daneshjoo, Ahmadinejad’s science minister, who said, “The majority of the country’s university community are aligned with the revolution, and whoever cannot move in that direction must leave the community without pleasantries.”

Kamran Daneshjoo also made an implicit reference to the university professors who have been fired or dismissed, noting, “We have enough caring individuals in the science ministry to afford removing misaligned individuals from the community and aren’t ashamed of doing that.

Following the June 12 presidential election, a large number of professors from various universities across the nation have been arrested, dismissed or forced into retirement.  At least 5 students from various universities have been killed by police or paramilitary forces during popular protests and many others are under arrest or have been barred from continuing their education.

Following criticisms by ayatollah Khamenei in recent months that the “non-Islamic character of universities” and his insistence on “undertaking fundamental reform of the country’s educational system,” the supreme leader’s deputy in educational affairs has set up “supreme leader’s demands” post in universities, launching the overhaul of the country’s educational system towards a more Islamic approach.

Go to Rooz Online.

This picture is an ad by the Khuzestan Province judiciary for two executions due to take place in Ahwaz this week.  The banner says that a drug trafficker will be executed at 4 p.m. on March 10 in a square in Ahvaz. The public execution of an “armed thief” accused of “moharebeh” (waging war against God) is advertised for March 13 at another location in Ahvaz.  Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world, despite numerous calls by human rights activists to stop carrying out death sentences.

Go to Radio Free Europe.

Afghanistan:

Telegraph:  US troops could withdraw from Afghanistan ahead of 2011 deadline

RFE:  Ahmadinejad Uses Afghan Visit To Lambast Kabul’s Western Allies

BBC:  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacks US for Afghan ‘double game’

AP:  Iran leader: US playing `game’ in Afghanistan

Israel:

MSNBC:  Israel apologizes for embarrassing Biden

MSNBC:  Biden: Palestinians deserve ‘viable’ independent state

BBC:  Biden meets Abbas amid row over East Jerusalem building

Sanctions:

WSJ:  Shell Stops Gas Sales to Iran

HuffingtonPost:  AIPAC Goes On Iran War Path Bigtime

Domestic & Human Rights:

Rooz:  Iranian Women’s Rights Activists: We Will Stand by the People

Telegraph:  Iranians get lessons in love and marriage from the government

P2E:  Complete Video Coverage of Geneva Summit March 9, 2010

RAHANA:  Seven Labor Activists Arrested

RFE:  One-Third Of World’s Jailed Journalists Are In Iran, Watchdog Finds

GVF:  Tehran turning into military camp

According to various reports received by GVF, a security atmosphere has become dominant in Tehran in the days leading up to the Chaharshanbe Souri celebrations on 16 March. Eyewitness reports and GVF correspondents have observed special police patrols and security forces stationed in various squares across the city. This is a sure sign that as expected, authorities have been preparing to prevent peaceful expressions of protest by the Green Movement from taking place.

Other:

CNN:  U.S. hikers held in Iran allowed to call home, families say

CNN:  Bahrain finance minister: Islamic rules saved us from recession

Times:  Jihad Jane: American blonde accused of terror plot

LA Times:  ‘JihadJane’ indictment alleges threat from within U.S.

AP:  Swedish papers publish Prophet Muhammad drawing

JPost: Brazilian leader seeks peace in Mideast

NYT:  Pilgrim Non Grata in Mecca

Free Iran:   It’s most reassuring to read about someone like Mr. Lubrani advising the Israeli defense department.  He understands the negative consequences of an Israeli attack.  What’s surprising is that given his good track record at predicting events, how come the Israeli defense department shut down his office and that he is not listened to more often?  This is a must read.

Israel’s oldest civil servant, 83-year-old Ministry of Defense adviser Uri Lubrani, has spent his career defying conventional wisdom on Iran.

Today, Israel’s political and military establishment appears to be tilting toward one of his long-ignored views: Israeli support for Iran’s opposition movement—and not a miltary strike—is the best way to combat the regime in Tehran.

Israeli officials have regularly suggested the country is ready to attack Iran to curb its nuclear program, which some Israelis view as a threat to the country’s existence.

After the rise of the Iranian protest movement following disputed elections in June, Israeli leaders toned down the rhetoric. In February, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting Moscow, said Israel wasn’t “planning any wars” against Tehran.

Instead, U.S. and Israeli officials are pushing for tough economic sanctions they hope will drive a bigger wedge between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the opposition.

“A military strike will at best delay Iran’s nuclear program, but what’s worse, it will rally the Iranian people to the defense of the regime,” says Mr. Lubrani, who was ambassador to Iran from 1973 to 1978 and is now a special adviser to Israel’s minister of defense. “We must do everything possible to help (the protest movement) do the job.”

Rafi Eitan, an adviser to Mr. Netanyahu, says the protests “changed people’s attitudes here. They started to understand that this should be done the way Lubrani has been saying it should be done.”

The Israeli defense establishment includes those who favor a more aggressive posture toward Iran, including a military strike if necessary, and those who oppose the military option. But even hawkish officials interviewed in recent months stressed they were aware of the risks of military action. Officials expressed support for sanctions, and said they weren’t eager to attack.

Mr. Lubrani has for four decades been on the front lines of Israel’s evolving relationship with Iran—from close ally to bitter foe. For much of that time, he warned that Iran’s theocratic regime posed the Mideast’s biggest threat, a view overlooked for years. Go to WSJ.

With the apparent failure of Obama’s initiative to open negotiations, the administration turns toward support of the opposition and a focus on sanctions targeting the powerful Revolutionary Guard.

After keeping a careful distance for the last year, the Obama administration has concluded that the Iranian opposition movement has staying power and has embraced it as a central element in the U.S.-led campaign to pressure the country’s clerical government.

Administration officials and some allied governments believe that a combination of domestic unrest and international sanctions targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard offers the best hope for forcing Tehran to yield on its nuclear program, and could even lead to a change in the government.

The administration has made the shift at a time when it is facing sharp domestic criticism over President Obama’s failed initiative to launch negotiations with Iran and its perceived unwillingness to strongly back the opposition movement. Meanwhile, the protests sparked by June’s disputed presidential election in Iran grew despite a tough crackdown.

This new approach is not a sure thing: It is far from clear that squeezing the Revolutionary Guard, a sprawling military organization that has vast business interests and is close to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would seriously damage it or strengthen the opposition, as the administration hopes. And despite high-profile encouragement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other U.S. officials, many opposition activists fear that Washington’s embrace will bring more harm than good.

“Sanctions are increasingly being looked at by the administration in the context of how these measures could be potentially helpful to the cause of political reform in Iran,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Depriving the Revolutionary Guard of the ability to sign billion-dollar contracts and turning them into an international pariah would be welcomed by many democratic activists in Iran.”

Though U.S. officials have emphasized that they are not trying to overthrow the Iranian government, Vice President Joe Biden and national security advisor James L. Jones have cheered those pressing for a tougher approach by speaking publicly about the prospects for political change.

The new approach does not include formal ties to Iranian dissidents; however, there have been intermittent contacts with some Iranians connected to the opposition.

Administration officials have urged private telecommunications firms to do what they can to enable opposition access to the Internet and other forms of communication. Go to LA Times.

“Personal Internet-based communications like e-mail, instant messaging and social networking are powerful tools,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. “This software will foster and support the free flow of information — a basic human right — for all Iranians.”

The U.S. action comes at a time when Iranian authorities have created cyber-intelligence units that are developing new methods to seek out and snare the opposition, including fake Facebook accounts. Authorities also are contemplating the creation of a national Internet that would approve which sites could be available in the Islamic republic. The government has also adopted a new law that threatens bloggers with jail time if they “defame sanctities” — a broad accusation in Iran — in their postings.

The new efforts mean that every time opposition bloggers in Iran fire up a laptop, they risk a knock at their door by the cyber-police.

“They have filtered my blog. After I changed the address, they filtered it again,” an opposition activist named Banafsheh said via e-mail. Like other opposition activists interviewed, she declined to allow her family name and her blog name to be used because of fear of prosecution. “The next step will be an attack on my site by their hacking squads or, in the worst case, my arrest. Many web administrators have been taken in,” she said. Go to Washington Post.

WP:  Israel tries to jump-start calls for Iran nuclear sanctions

Israeli officials are beginning to signal impatience with the slow pace of diplomacy aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

In Jerusalem on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed the need for the international community to join a U.S. sanctions push aimed at limiting Iran’s nuclear program. He suggested the Iranian leadership’s days could be numbered if it continues to seek nuclear capability.

“The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to choose between advancing its nuclear program and advancing the future of its own permanence,” Netanyahu said. He added: “I think that the international community and the leading countries in the international community have to join the American effort. And Israel has been helping out with key countries and continues to do so.”

Netanyahu’s message is being reinforced by his deputy foreign minister, Daniel Ayalon, who arrived in Washington on Tuesday for urgent meetings on Iran with senior State Department and White House officials, including Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg, Undersecretary of State William J. Burns and White House nuclear expert Gary Samore.

Ayalon traveled to Washington to emphasize Israel’s growing displeasure and nervousness with the sanctions debate at the U.N. Security Council, according to a senior Israeli official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive diplomacy.

AFP:  ‘Grim’ prospects for crippling UN Iran sanctions: Israel

Israel’s UN ambassador on Tuesday said prospects for crippling UN sanctions against Iran were “grim” because Russia and China want to use diplomacy to convince Iran to scale back its nuclear ambitions.

“The chances now seem grim regarding sanctions that will be crippling,” Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told reporters here.

She said Russia and China, two veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, “are still looking to the diplomatic track” and appear reluctant to back a new round of tough sanctions proposed by Washington and its Western allies.

“The Chinese and the Russians still hope that diplomacy will work. They do not want to inflict any harm on the Iranian people,” she added.

Shalev said that if the 15-member council was unable to agree on crippling sanctions, then Israel “will look to the countries themselves” to slap additional bilateral sanctions.

US Policy:

Reuters:  U.S. raises concern about Iranian “dictatorship”

Sanctions:

Gazette:  Nobel laureate urges political, not economic, sanctions on Iran

WP:  Israel seeks a stronger stance on Iran from U.N. Security Council and U.S.

BW:  Ingersoll-Rand Bars Subsidiaries From Sales to Iran

BW:  Reliance Sold Gasoline to Iran in 2009, India’s Government Says

Domestic:

NYT:  Iranian Filmmaker Speaks Out on Prisoners

Guradian:  Iranian suitors offered online marriage course

HuffingtonPost:  Iran Torture Trials Begin

Other:

CS Monitor:  Former FBI Agent Robert Levinson still missing in Iran

Reuters:  Israeli general says “all options” needed on Iran

Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday scuppered President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s plans to cut energy subsidies by approving only half the savings wanted by his government, news agencies reported.

Lawmakers had on Monday passed a broad outline of the budget for the year to March 2011, but on Tuesday blocked a specific proposal that would have saved the government 40 billion dollars.

Despite Ahmadinejad’s pleas in parliament, 111 MPs voted against the subsidy cuts, while 105 were in favour and 15 abstained, ISNA news agency said.

Instead, “lawmakers agreed to allocate 20 billion dollars of income from a subsidiary plan in next year’s budget,” Mehr news agency reported.

Prior to the vote, Ahmadinejad had said the expected 40-billion-dollar budget boost would not stoke inflation.

“If this sum is allocated, inflation will not rise but will fall because there will be no increase in money supply,” a lawmaker quoted Ahmadinejad as telling parliament, according to state media.

The budget for the year to March 2011 marks the start of a major plan to scrap costly subsidies on energy and goods, in turn reducing government expenditure. Go to AFP.

Free Iran:  Iran has about 1% of the world’s population but thanks to this regime it has 33% of the world’s jailed journalists.

A third of the world’s jailed journalists are imprisoned in Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday after the number of reporters held in the Islamic Republic rose to at least 52 in February.

China was next after Iran with 24 jailed journalists and then Cuba with 22. The number of journalists held in Iran was the highest recorded by the New York-based CPJ in a single country since 78 cases were documented in Turkey in 1996.

Several publications in Iran have been banned and many journalists detained since street protests broke out in the aftermath of presidential elections last year.

The CPJ said the number of journalists jailed in Iran rose by five in February from January after 12 members of the media were imprisoned and then seven of them were released.

Of the 52 journalists in jail, five had been held since before the crackdown began last year, the CPJ said. Another 50 journalists have been imprisoned and released on bail during the past several months.

“Iran is entering a state of permanent media repression, a situation that is not only appalling but also untenable,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said.

“The Iranian government will eventually lose the war against information, but we are saddened every day that our colleagues are paying such a terrible price.” Go to Reuters.

More than 100 dissidents and journalists faced vague antistate accusations during a mass judicial proceeding in August. (AP)

More than 100 dissidents and journalists faced vague antistate accusations during a mass judicial proceeding in August. (AP)The number of journalists in jail rose in February as a relentless media crackdown continues in Iran. Authorities are now holding at least 52 journalists in prison, a third of all those in jail around the world, according to the latest monthly survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Iran is entering a state of permanent media repression, a situation that is not only appalling but also untenable,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The Iranian government will eventually lose the war against information, but we are saddened every day that our colleagues are paying such a terrible price.”

Twelve journalists were imprisoned in February alone, although seven were released. The January census recorded 47 in jail. CPJ has joined forces with leading press freedom organizations from around the world in a campaign to win the release of journalists jailed in Iran. An online petition that will be sent to Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei later this month is available on the site.

In light of the Iranian government’s ongoing crackdown, CPJ has been conducting a monthly survey of journalists imprisoned in Iran. (CPJ normally conducts a worldwide survey of jailed journalists each December.) The survey, conducted on the first of each month, is a snapshot of those incarcerated on that date. It does not include more than 50 other journalists in Iran who have been imprisoned and released on bail over the last several months. Five of those now in jail were detained prior to the 2009 crackdown. Go to original article.