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Central Asia States to Use Iran Transit Route
Report: Talks May Be Extended
TEHRAN (Press TV) -- An official of the Islamic
Republic of Iran Railways said Saturday countries in
Central Asia are mulling a plan to use Iran’s railroad
network as transit route for bulk cargoes.
Hussein Ashouri, deputy head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, said the Central Asian countries
have plans to carry various kinds of bulk and container cargoes from the Inchehboroun border crossing in Iran’s northern Golestan Province to southern
Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.
VIENNA (Dispatches) -- Nuclear talks between the six
world powers and Iran may be extended past the June 30
target date for a finalized accord.
According to two Western sources including a senior
U.S. official, the negotiations were at a “delicate” stage
and may have to go beyond the self-imposed deadline, CNN
reported. The sources also downplayed a report in the Russian press indicating that the negotiations reached a critical slowdown. A report in the news agency Tass quoted a
Russian official as saying the talks were “virtually stalled.”
VOL NO: LV 9780 TEHRAN / Est.1959
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Viewpoint
By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer
Justice Tossed Aside
in Gaza
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The Fars news agency said the
Iranian Foreign Ministry had written to the Austrian and Swiss governments expressing “serious concern”.
“Tehran has also asked to be informed about the results of investigations over the issue,” it said.
“Iran wants all necessary measures ... taken to secure the talks,
including cyber security, as soon
as possible,” Fars cited the ministry’s letter to Austria as saying.
Swiss and Austrian authorities
said on Thursday they had opened
separate investigations into alleged
spying in hotels where the nuclear
talks with Iran are taking place.
Information Technology (IT) experts pointed the finger at occupying regime of Israel.
In a statement, Iran’s embassy in
Austria, “demanded Austria’s foreign ministry immediately provide
all required security measures for
the talks, including enhanced security for the venues as well as better
cyber protection”, the ISNA news
agency reported.
Iranian embassies in Vienna and
Bern, in separate notes, also asked
the Austrian and Swiss foreign
ministries to inform them of “the
results of spying investigations”
by both governments on nuclear
talks.
A Russian-based security firm
said on Wednesday that the malware dubbed Duqu, a sophisticated spy tool believed to have been
eradicated in 2012, appeared to
have been used to spy on the nuclear negotiations.
Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said that a
computer virus was used to hack
into sites including three luxury
hotels that have hosted the nuclear
negotiations in Austria and Switzerland.
Both Kaspersky and U.S. security company Symantec said the
virus shared some programming
with previously discovered espionage software called Duqu, which
security experts believe to have
been developed by the Zionists.
The investigations come as the
clock ticks down to a June 30
deadline for an accord between
Iran and world powers.
On Saturday, a top Iranian military commander advised the Iranian nuclear negotiators involved
in talks with the P5+1 countries to
be watchful of potential attempts
to spy on the talks.
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Iran Opens
First Herb
Museum
Negotiators Warned
to Watch for Spies
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran
has asked Austria’s government to
take immediate measures to protect
the cyber security of nuclear talks
after reports emerged of suspected
espionage at negotiation venues.
Sunday, June 14, 2015, Khordad 24, 1394, Sha’ban 26, 1436, Price 10000 Rials
Head of Iran’s Passive Defense
Organization Brigadier General
Gholamreza Jalali said it is against
diplomatic norms to grant access
to the venues of negotiations to enemies for spying purposes.
He advised Iranian officials involved in the negotiations at foreign venues not to use smartphones
when trying to communicate classified information because of the
high risks associated with the devices.
Such phones are not secure as
“data entered on to them is backed
up, cannot be removed and can be
accessed”, Jalali told ISNA news
agency, alluding to smartphone applications and manufacturers.
He said a new rule, which is
pending final approval, would
mean officials “should use other
phones for work that involves sensitive information”.
There is nothing to stop such
workers using smartphones in their
private lives, he said.
Negotiators from Iran and the
P5+1 countries have held talks at
Swiss hotels of Beau-Rivage Palace, Royal Plaza Montreux, Intercontinental and Hotel President
Wilson as well as Palais Coburg in
Vienna.
The two sides are working to
reach a comprehensive nuclear accord by the end of June.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Jalali
said 23 countries have currently
set up defense and offense mechanisms on cyberspace.
He then pointed to the 2010-11
Stuxnet virus cyber attacks on
Iran’s nuclear energy facilities,
saying that Iran is set to open a
cyber defense center in less than a
month to defend itself against such
attacks.
The Washington Post reported in
June 2012 that the U.S. National
Security Agency (NSA), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
the occupying regime of Israel’s
military had colluded with each
other to launch the virus attack in
an attempt to cripple Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
Iran Stands Third at
Beach Wrestling World
Championship
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“Yemenis
Need Urgent
Humanitarian Aid”
President Rouhani:
Iran Not in a Hurry in Nuclear Talks
President Rouhani talks to reporters on the anniversary of his election victory.
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- There
are still “many differences over details” of a nuclear deal Iran and
world powers are trying to conclude
by June 30, Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani said Saturday.
Iranian negotiators and those of
the P5+1 group are meeting in Vienna to clinch a deal that would
guarantee the strictly peaceful nature of Tehran’s nuclear program in
exchange for a lifting of U.S.-led
sanctions.
“The general framework that the
Islamic Republic of Iran wants is
accepted by the P5+1 group but
there are still many differences in
the details that must be addressed,”
Rouhani told a press conference on
the occasion of the second anniversary of his election.
“We are very serious in the negotiations. We do not seek to gain time,
but at the same time we are not captives of time. We are not in a hurry
but we try to use every opportunity
to reach a good deal,” he added.
On Friday, a senior Russian official said there had been a “very
worrying” slowdown in progress in
the talks.
“This is very worrying to us because there is very little time before
the deadline and we urgently need
to enter the final stage,” said chief
Moscow negotiator Sergei Ryabkov.
Rouhani criticized Western countries which he said “haggle” permanently on the terms of the nuclear
deal.
“In a meeting we come to a framework agreement with the other party
but the next time they start to haggle, causing delays in the negotiation,” said Rouhani.
“If the other party respects the
agreed framework and does not add
other demands, the differences can
be resolved, but if they choose the
path of haggling then it can prolong
the negotiations,” he added.
The Iranian president also said
that “several months will pass” between the signing of the agreement
until its implementation.
“We are currently discussing it,”
(Continued on Page 7)
Shana: Iran Seeks Resurrecting OPEC Quota
TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran
sought to bring back OPEC export
quotas at the group’s meeting in Vienna last week, the oil news agency
Shana reported.
Iran’s OPEC governor Hussein
Kazempour Ardabili sent a letter
to the group’s secretariat last week
proposing “a technical price formula
that can resurrect the quota system
and also prevent prices from falling”, Shana reported on Saturday.
Minister of Petroleum Bijan
Zangeneh also wrote to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ahead of its June 5
meeting, insisting on Iran’s right
to return to the market if oil sanc-
tions, imposed in 2012 because of
the country’s nuclear program, are
lifted.
OPEC decided to stick to its policy
of unconstrained output for another
six months, with oil prices having
rebounded to around $65 a barrel
after hitting a six-year low of $45 a
barrel in January.
The group’s current output levels
are much higher than the its official
output ceiling of 30 million barrels
per day.
Iran’s proposal for a revival of export quotas would allow it to return
to the market in force. But this has
faced resistance from other OPEC
members who would have to cut
their own output under a quota system to accommodate Iran’s return.
In his letter, Zangeneh said Iran
could add 1 million barrels per day
(bpd) to its production within six
to seven months of sanctions being lifted. This could occur if the
Islamic Republic reaches a deal
with world powers on its nuclear
program.
On Saturday, Zangeneh was quoted as saying that he had told Iranian
negotiators to press the Americans
on removing ban on business by
U.S. companies in Iran.
Negotiations between Iranian and
American teams are limited to Tehran’s nuclear program but at the
heart of the talks are U.S.-led sanctions which prevent international
companies from trade with Iran.
Zangeneh said it is “both good
and necessary” to include lifting the
ban on American companies in the
ongoing talks with US negotiators
in order to raise Iran’s bargaining
leverage in trade negotiations with
international companies.
“We must not allow the U.S. government’s restrictions to continue
because the more competition, the
better we can get high quality services and increase our bargaining
power. There’s no reason not to do
that,” he said.
(Continued on Page 7)
CIA Releases Declassified 9/11 Documents
WASHINGTON (Dispatches)
-- The CIA has released declassified versions of five internal documents dealing with the 9/11 terror
attacks, according to a press release sent to reporters. The documents are described as being “related to the agency’s performance
in the lead-up to the attacks”.
The release comes just before
the weekend, a time when many
organizations tend to “dump”
news in an attempt to minimize
coverage. VICE News is currently reviewing the documents
in detail. The CIA describes
them as including “a redacted
version of the 2005 CIA Office of Inspector General (OIG)
Report on Central Intelligence
Agency Accountability Regarding Findings and Conclusions of
the Report of the Joint Inquiry
into Intelligence Community
Activities Before and After the
Terrorist Attacks of September
11, 2001”.
The executive summary of
the OIG report was released in
2007, and the CIA says it released the full report in response
to Freedom of Information Act
requests. The 500-page document reportedly underwent “an
extensive review… in order to
release information that no longer needed to be protected in the
interests of national security”.
Other documents included in
the release are two internal statements by former CIA Director
George Tenet in February 2005
and June 2005 that were issued
in response to drafts of the 2005
OIG report. Two other documents that were previously made
public were also re-released with
fewer redactions “in light of the
recent declassification of information on CIA’s counterterrorism operations”.
“The events of 9/11 will be for-
ever seared into the memories of
all Americans who bore witness
to the single greatest tragedy to
befall our homeland in recent
history,” the CIA’s press release
said. “The documents released
today reflect differing views
formed roughly a decade ago
within CIA about the Agency’s
performance prior to 9/11.”
PDF versions of the documents
can be found at the CIA’s online
reading room.