U.S. Congress Moves to Tighten Sanctions on Iran - Dan Robinson: One week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the Obama administration will work to impose "crippling" sanctions against Iran, Senate lawmakers Tuesday introduced legislation to target Iran's gasoline imports, including companies supporting Iran's energy sector or insuring fuel shipments to Iran. Senator Joseph Lieberman called for "a coherent plan of action for the months ahead that has goals and schedules and teeth." The Obama administration, he added, must make clear that it does not view engagement with Iran as a process without an end. (VOA News)

Clinton: U.S. Won't Make a Deal with Syria that "Sells Out" Lebanon - Matthew Lee: During a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington will never make a deal with Syria that "sells out" Lebanon's interests. There have been concerns among anti-Syrian factions in the pro-U.S. parliamentary majority that the Obama administration's talks with Syria could weaken American support for Lebanon. Ahead of the June 7 elections that could boost the Iranian-backed Hizbullah and its allies, Clinton said: "I want to assure any Lebanese citizen that the United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon and the Lebanese people."  (AP)  

U.S.: Evidence Mounts of Syrian Nuclear Cover-up - Mark Heinrich : The U.S. said on Wednesday that UN inspectors had found growing evidence of covert nuclear activity in Syria, and European allies said a lack of Syrian transparency demanded utmost scrutiny. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is looking into U.S. intelligence reports that Syria had almost built a North Korean-designed nuclear reactor meant to yield bomb-grade plutonium before Israel bombed it in 2007. Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, said it was essential that Syria allow inspectors to examine debris removed from the bombed facility as well as three other military sites which satellite pictures showed Syria "sanitized" - landscaping them and whisking away equipment - shortly after the IAEA asked to check them out. (Reuters)

Clinton Says U.S. Diplomacy Unlikely to End Iran Nuclear Program - Paul Richter : The Obama administration has already concluded that a diplomatic overture to Iran is unlikely to persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions. Secretary of State Clinton told the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Abdullah ibn Zayed al Nuhayyan, in a private meeting Monday that it is "very doubtful" a U.S. approach will persuade Iran to relent, said a senior State Department official. But Clinton said an Iranian rebuff could strengthen America's diplomatic position. She said that Iran's "worst nightmare is an international community that is united and an American government willing to engage Iran." (Los Angeles Times)

Hit Iran Where It Hurts Mark Dubowitz and Joshua D. Goodman: Despite its prominence as a major oil exporter, Iran has significant energy vulnerabilities. Due to limited refining capabilities, it depends on gasoline imports for 40% of its domestic consumption. Iran is, in fact, the second-largest importer of gasoline in the world, behind only the U.S. Iran's gasoline imports are vulnerable: Tehran relies primarily on five companies for its gasoline supplies: Vitol (Switzerland/Netherlands), Trafigura (Switzerland/Netherlands), Reliance Industries (India), Glencore (Switzerland) and Total (France). Washington and Ottawa should give these companies a choice between providing gasoline to Iran's relatively small domestic market and gaining access to North America.     Iran's gasoline suppliers have growing business interests in the U.S. and ! Canada: Reliance, for instance, receives taxpayer support from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, has opened a trading desk in Houston, and is looking to acquire fuel storage facilities along the East and Gulf coasts. Total operates in 29 states in the U.S. and, with its American business interests likely in mind, decided last year that the political risks were too great to justify continued investment in - though not trade with - Iran's energy sector. Mark Dubowitz is executive director and Joshua D. Goodman is director of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (National Post-Canada )

Iran, Syria Got Indirect U.S. Nuclear Aid - Siobhan Gorman (Wall Street Journal): Four countries designated by the U.S. as terrorism sponsors, including Iran and Syria, received $55 million from a U.S.-supported program promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy, according to a report by Congress' Government Accountability Office released Tuesday. Iran received more than $15 million from 1997 to 2007 under the International Atomic Energy Agency's Technical Cooperation program. An additional $14 million went to Syria, while Sudan and Cuba received more than $11 million each.

Obama Message to Iran Shows U.S. Strategy Shift - Gerald F. Seib: President Barack Obama's video message to Iran marking the Persian New Year last week spoke volumes about the strategy that lies behind his pledge to reach out to Tehran. When the Bush administration reached out to Iran, it sought consciously to go around its leaders and speak directly to the Iranian people, hoping to drive a wedge between the two. Obama's message began: "I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran." Because the president was talking to Iran's leaders, he was effectively saying the U.S. recognizes their legitimacy and isn't overtly seeking a regime change. The long search for Iranian "moderates" has proved so futile that the administration is prepared to deal with what it gets, not what it wishes it had. The message was designed to give the Iranians w! hat they always complain they don't get: respect. Twice Obama referred to Iran by the title its leaders use, the Islamic Republic of Iran. The deeper question is whether outreach has any real chance to make a difference. Privately, senior administration officials harbor real doubts. (Wall Street Journal)

Iran Can't Be Trusted - On Tuesday, the UN Security Council sanctions-monitoring committee rebuked Iran for trying to smuggle a vast shipload of arms to Syria in violation of at least five UN resolutions. The discovery of over 3,000 cases of high explosives, large-bore armor-piercing shells and anti-tank propellant proves Iran has no intention of ceasing its arms shipments to terror groups such as Hizbullah, using Syria as a conduit. Nor can it be trusted to honor its international agreements to forgo acquiring nuclear arms. This is not the first time Iran has been caught red-handed smuggling powerful weapons to terror groups it funds and trains. In January 2002, a Palestinian ship, the Karine A, was caught by the Israelis in the Red Sea crammed full of Iranian- and Russian-made weapons. All this establishes not only why Iran cannot be trusted (and why the U. S. a! nd other Western nations must closely monitor and constrain Iran's actions), but also why Israel is right to counteract threats to its security from places such as Gaza. (National Post-Canada)

The Iran-Syria-Qatar-Hizbullah Axis - Y. Carmon, Y. Yehoshua, A. Savyon, and H. Migron: As part of Iran's bid for regional hegemony, a political and military axis has formed, comprising not only Iran and Shi'ites in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen, but also various Sunni forces that have an interest in opposing Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It was during the 2006 Lebanon war that a distinct Iran-Syria-Qatar-Hizbullah axis first emerged to oppose the Saudi-Egyptian camp. At a later stage, this axis expanded to include Hamas, which has in recent years received increasing support from Iran, as well as from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar played a crucial role in exacerbating the rift in the Arab world by initiating the January 16, 2009 Doha summit, to the dismay of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Qatar's inviting of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to the summit against the will of several Arab countr! ies (such as the UAE, which responded by canceling its participation) clearly identified the summit as a convention of the Iranian-Syrian axis. (MEMRI)

Egypt Labels Hizbullah Leader "An Iranian Agent" (AFP/Daily Star-Lebanon): Egypt on Friday accused Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah of being an agent of Iran, after his criticism of Cairo during Israel's military assault in Gaza. "Hassan Nasrallah's criticism of Egypt confirms once more that he is nothing more than an agent of the Iranian regime and takes his orders from Tehran," a government statement charged.

Egyptian Government Daily: Hamas, Syria, Iran - The New Axis of Evil: The editor of the Egyptian government daily Al-Gumhouriyya, Muhammad 'Ali Ibrahim, who is also an Egyptian MP, wrote a series for the paper titled "Hamas, Damascus, Iran - The New Axis of Evil." Ibrahim stated that Iran and Syria had conspired to keep the Palestinian problem unresolved and to take advantage of it to promote their interests in the region. He argued that Hamas was a tyrannical religious movement which was pushing its people towards catastrophe by preferring Syria's and Iran's interests to those of the Palestinians. (MEMRI)

It's Time For Hezbollah’s Weapons to Return to the Control of the Lebanese State Y. Mansharof (MEMRI): In a speech at a Beirut rally marking the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of the Kata'ib Party and the second anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese industry minister Pierre Gemayel, Gemayel's father Amin Gemayel, who is a former president of the country and who currently is the Kata'ib party head as well as a March 14 Forces leader, harshly condemned Hezbollah for possessing weapons and called for the weapons to be returned to state control.

Can Syria's Assad Regime Make Peace with Israel? - J. Scott Carpenter: U.S. and European observers believe that Israel's new government will seek peace with Damascus in an attempt to pry the Syrian regime away from Tehran. Yet peace with Syria remains highly unlikely for a fundamental reason: without Israel as an enemy, Syria's minority regime loses its sole rationale for retaining power. The consolidation of Hafez al-Assad's power in 1970 relied heavily on loyal Alawite officers in the military and security apparatus, yet Alawites, the backbone of the Baathist regime, comprise only 12% of the population. To maintain this minority dominance, the Baathist regime imposed a state of emergency 46 years ago, providing the state a vast array of tools to monitor all social communication and to restrict individual freedoms of expression and association. Since the "threat" from Israel has been the essential and necessary myth for retaining the authoritarian grip of the Alawite minority in Damascus, losing it would eliminate the Assad regime's raison d'etre. Given the ruling clique's view that peace and regime preservation are zero-sum options, to seek a peace agreement is to chase a mirage. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

Rights Group Urges Syria to Eliminate Special Court - Alia Ibrahim (Washington Post): A Human Rights Watch report Tuesday called on Syria to abolish its Supreme State Security Court, an institution used to stifle opposition to the government. The Supreme State Security Court "consistently ignores claims by defendants that their confessions were extracted under torture and frequently convicts them on vague and overbroad offenses that essentially criminalize freedom of expression and association," the human rights group said. The report said 153 bloggers, activists and private citizens have been tried on vague charges such as weakening national sentiment or awakening sectarian tensions. "This is not a court. This is just a means to legitimize the rulings of security apparatuses," said Mohammad Abd! allah, a Syrian human rights activist now living in the U.S. who was tried by the court on charges of publishing false information.

Syria Set Up Missile Facility at Suspected Nuclear Site - Katy Byron: Syria's nuclear chief Ibrahim Othman told members of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency Tuesday that his country has built a military missile facility at a site where traces of uranium have been detected in the past. The Dair Alzour site was bombed by Israeli aircraft in September 2007. (CNN)

Syria Building Chemical Weapons Plant - Yaakov Katz: Syria is building a chemical weapons production facility in the country's northwest, satellite images obtained by the defense analyst group Jane's reveal. The Al-Safir facility is located at a missile base that holds a significant part of Syria's long-range Scud D ballistic missiles. (Jerusalem Post)

Syria Getting Away with Murder? - Joshua Hammer (Atlantic Monthly): The investigation into the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri is nearing its end and a trial in international court looms. Insiders say the trail of evidence leads, ultimately, to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But the investigators now fear that Western concerns about regional stability will prevent the naming of the biggest names. The bomb that killed Hariri killed 21 people and injured 220 more. It set dozens of cars on fire and knocked down several buildings. A report to the UN about the assassination revealed that three months before Hariri's death, his security detail had been mysteriously reduced from 40 to eight; that six anonymously purchased mobile phones were used on the day of! the attack to keep the bomber informed of Hariri's movements and to provide intelligence on the three possible routes that Hariri could take from the parliament building to his home; that the suicide truck moved into position one minute and 49 seconds before Hariri's convoy passed by; and that the truck itself had been stolen in 2004 in Sagamihara City, Japan. The killers appeared to be sophisticated, politically connected, and well-funded: clearly this was not the work of a lone extremist or a fringe group. It bore the hallmarks of a government-sponsored assassination.

Frustrated Hizbullah More Dangerous in Wake of Election Defeat - Ron Ben-Yishai: The statements made by Hizbullah leaders, who said they will accept the voters' decision, do not delude anyone. It is reasonable to assume that Hizbullah will try to prove to Lebanon's citizens that they made a mistake when they prevented it from sinking its teeth into a bigger share of the government pie. (Ynet News)

U.S. Weighs Lebanon Aid if Hizbullah Wins Vote - Arshad Mohammed (Reuters): A victory by Hizbullah, viewed as a "terrorist organization" by Washington, in Sunday's election in Lebanon could lead to a reduction in what has been burgeoning U.S. assistance to the Lebanese armed forces in recent years. The U.S. has given the Lebanese armed forces more than $500 million since 2005. Pollsters expect the "March 8" alliance that includes Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbullah to gain a slight edge in the election and to erase the governing Western-backed, anti-Syrian "March 14" coalition's slender majority. The outcome could be a national unity government, albeit one in which Hizbullah has a stronger hand. Given Washington's ban on! funding groups that it deems "terrorist," a victory by Hizbullah would present the Obama administration with a judgment call on whether any government Hizbullah helped to form could keep getting U.S. funds.

New Evidence Points to Hizbullah in Hariri Murder - Erich Follath: The UN special tribunal investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri now believes Hizbullah was behind the murder. At the time of the 2005 attack, it was known that Hariri had had a falling out with Syrian President Bashar Assad after demanding the withdrawal of Syrian occupation forces from Lebanon. As a result, the prime suspects in the murder were Syria and its Lebanese henchmen. However, intensive investigations in Lebanon are all pointing to a new conclusion: that it was not the Syrians but Hizbullah that planned and executed the attack. A special unit of the Lebanese security forces, headed by intelligence expert Captain Wissam Eid, has identified a network of mobile phones used by the hit team that carried out the attack, togethe! r with a second network of phones that were in proximity to the first network noticeably often. All of the numbers involved in the second network belong to the "operational arm" of Hizbullah. Hizbullah member Abd al-Majid Ghamlush, who had completed a training course in Iran, was identified as the buyer of the mobile phones. He committed the indiscretion of calling his girlfriend from one of the "hot" phones, enabling investigators to identify him. This led investigators to the man they now suspect was the mastermind of the terrorist attack: Hajj Salim, 45, considered to be the commander of the "military" wing of Hizbullah. (Der Spiegel-Germany)

UN: Hizbullah Threatens Lebanon and Beyond: UN official Terje Roed-Larsen told a meeting of the Security Council Thursday: "The most significant remaining Lebanese militia is the armed component of Hizbullah....[Its] arsenal is a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and a threat to regional stability." In addition, he reported that over the last few weeks there has been a growing concern that Hizbullah has engaged in clandestine and illegal militant activities beyond Lebanese territory. (UN News Center)