Excerpts: Obama: No new sanctions against Iran. UAE to give $3.9 billion to
Egypt October 26, 2013

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 26 Oct.’13:”Obama administration seeks pause in new
Iran sanctions push”, Associated Press
SUBJECT:Obama: No new sanctions re Iran

QUOTE:” Obama administreation is asking Congress to hold off on enacting new
sanctions against Iran

FULL TEXT:WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is asking Congress to hold
off on enacting new sanctions against Iran.

It says a pause in the push to impose new penalties would give negotiators
flexibility in talks now under way to get Iran to comply with demands it
prove its nuclear programme is peaceful.

Even as US officials argue that tough sanctions are what brought Iran to the
negotiating table in the first place, the White House and US State
Department said Friday the administration wants lawmakers to wait on new
sanctions legislation to give the negotiations time to get traction.

Some lawmakers have argued that now is not the time to ease pressure and
that pursuing new sanctions will give the US additional leverage in the
talks.

But State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said it was the consensus of the
administration’s national security teams that a pause “would be helpful in
terms of providing some flexibility while we see if these negotiations will
move forward”.

She said the position was delivered to lawmakers and congressional aides at
a White House meeting on Thursday.

“We have conveyed that any congressional action should be aligned with our
negotiating strategy as we move forward. So while we understand that
Congress may consider new sanctions, we think this is a time for a pause, as
we asked for in the past, to see if negotiations can gain traction,” Psaki
told reporters.

She noted that additional sanctions can always be imposed later if the
Iranians fail to meet their obligations, and she stressed that no existing
sanctions are being lifted.

At the White House, national security council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden
said the negotiations would not last indefinitely without progress and
movement from Iran, which has long defied international demands to come
clean about its nuclear intentions.

“The window for negotiation is not open-ended, and if progress isn’t made,
there may be a time when more sanctions are, in fact, necessary,” Hayden
said. “We have always said that there would be no agreement overnight, and
we’ve been clear that this process is going to take some time.”

Bipartisan pressure in Congress to ramp up sanctions on Iran has been rising
for some time and hit a new high last week after negotiators from the United
States, the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council and
Germany met with Iranian officials in Geneva.

The chief US negotiator, Wendy Sherman, told Congress before those talks
that the administration would support tougher sanctions on Iran if it didn’t
come to the Geneva talks with “concrete, substantive actions” and a
verifiable plan to scale back its nuclear programme.

The United States and other world powers fear Iran is trying to develop
nuclear weapons.

The Islamic republic says its programme is for peaceful energy production,
and the latest meetings in part focused on how to scale back its enrichment
of material that can be used to generate power or nuclear warhead material.

The Senate Banking Committee is expected to draft new sanctions shortly
after the government reopens, largely mirroring a House bill that passed
overwhelmingly by a 400-20 vote in July and blacklisted Iran’s mining and
construction sectors. It also called for all Iranian oil sales to end by
2015.

The Senate’s bill may narrow that time frame, block international investment
in more economic sectors, try to close off Iran’s foreign accounts and
tighten Obama’s ability to waive requirements for allies and key trading
partners who continue to do business with Iran

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 26 Oct.’13:”UAE to Give $3.9 Billion to Egypt’s
Military-Installed Govt., Agence France Presse
SUBJECT :UAE to give $3.9 billion to Egypt
QUOTE: “Egypt’s economy has been in a tailspin . . . contributing to the
political unrest that has gripped the country”

FULL TEXT:The United Arab Emirates agreed Saturday[26 Oct.] to give Egypt's
military-installed government another $3.9 billion in aid after transferring
$1 billion in July, the official WAM news agency said.

The UAE and other Gulf monarchies were staunch supporters of the July 3
overthrow of Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, and have
vowed to help the interim government address the economic devastation
wrought by two years of political turmoil.

The two countries signed the latest agreement during a visit by Egyptian
prime minister Hazem Beblawi to the oil-rich Emirates, WAM reported.

It said $1 billion of the new funds would go to support Egypt's fuel needs
while the remainder would be "aimed at improving the living conditions,
lives and human development of the Egyptian people through a number of
projects."

The projects include the construction of 50,000 homes and 100 schools, as
well as health clinics, renewable energy initiatives and 25 wheat silos, WAM
said.

Beblawi thanked the Emirates and hailed the "excellent relations" between
the two countries.

The UAE had previously deposited an additional $2 billion in Egypt's central
bank to be held without interest, in order to prop up Cairo's currency.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait pledged $9 billion in aid to Cairo within days of
the army's overthrow of Morsi, which came amid massive protests against the
year-long rule of Egypt's first freely elected president.

Egypt's economy has been in a tailspin since the overthrow of longtime ruler
Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, contributing to the political unrest that
has gripped the country.

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA