LATEST: Several Hundred Protest in Tehran for Hijab and Chastity
As Foreign Ministers fly to Vienna to join Iran’s nuclear talks with the 5+1 Powers, Tehran has repeated its “red line” on its ability to enrich uranium.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chair of Parliament’s National Security Commission, repeated the Supreme Leader’s declaration this week that Iran must have a capacity of “190,000 Separative Work Units”.
A “work unit” is the output of a centrifuge which enriches uranium. A newer-model centrifuge produces many more work units than an older model.
Iran’s enrichment plants currently use the basic IR-1m centrifuge. An IR-2 model was introduced into the plants in January 2013 but has not been put into operation. Tehran is envisaging — and may be pursuing in the talks — research and development of an IR-4 model.
Boroujerdi said on Friday, “If the 5+1 Powers do not accept our needs such as providing 190,000 SWUs, we would immediately resume our previous activities, the most important of which would be starting 20% uranium enrichment.”
Iran suspended production of 20% uranium under November’s interim nuclear agreement with the 5+1 (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia), which expires on July 20. It is seeking the permanent right to enrich uranium to 5%.
The US and European powers are ready to recognize that right for the first time, but insist Iran must reduce its stock of 19,000 centrifuges. Tehran says it must expand the stock or be allowed to introduce far more efficient models.
Most Foreign Ministers of the 5+1 Powers — including US Secretary of State John Kerry, but not Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov — will join Iranian colleague Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday in Vienna.
Several Hundred Protest in Tehran for Hijab and Chastity
Several hundred people demonstrated in Tehran on Saturday to demand that State TV boost “the culture of the veil and chastity” in its programming.
Protesters denounced the presence of “badly veiled” women in soap operas and said women wearing the traditional full-body chador were often depicted as poor and uncultivated.
The demonstration complements hard-line pressure on the Rouhani Government not to ease restrictions on fashion and behavior.
In June, 195 of Iran’s 290 MPs wrote to President Rouhani asking him to enforce the dress code law, pushing back a Western “cultural invasion”.
State media said similar protests took place in other Iranian cities.
Oil Minister: Assets of Detained Tycoon Zanjani Only Cover 40% of His Debts
Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has said that the assets of tycoon Babak Zanjani, detained on charges of embezzlement, forgery, bribery, and fraud, only cover 40% of his debts to the ministry.
Zanganeh said, “Zanjani’s debt exceeds 8 trillion Toman (about $3 billion) and the value of his assets is only 3 trillion Toman (about $1.1 billion).”
The Rouhani Administration is meeting next week over the handling of Zanjani’s assets to pay his debts.
Zanjani was reportedly instrumental during the years of the Ahmadinejad Government in helping move oil revenues to evade sanctions.
Head of Armed Forces: US & Britain Behind An Islamic State “Just Like 13th-Century Mongols”
The head of Iran’s military, General Hassan Firouzabadi, has said the US and Britain are behind an Islamic State which is just like the Mongol threat of the 13th century.
Firouzabadi said of the Islamic State’s attacks in Iraq and Syria, “Today, it is not just the matter of deterrence, rather (it is) the issue of countering Mongol-type invasions which one should be prepared for them.”
He continued:
This was a plot which was carried out. Reactionary rulers in the region which felt threatened by “revolutionary Islam” made an agreement and deceived these forces (terrorists) from across the world and brought them to Syria and then to Iraq and after that to Africa.
This is a serious threat; this is a threat greater than Israel’s threats. This is a real threat by the US and Britain.