IAEA Says Iranian 'Pilot' Uranium Enrichment Plant Almost Complete (+algore, Marc Rich, the DNC..)

In a Monday statement to the Board of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency, its chief, Dr Mohamed ElBaradei announced that Iran has nearly completed a uranium enrichment site near the city of Natanz, but did not respond to US allegations that the site will give the Islamic Republic the capability to produce nuclear weapons.

On the same day, Iran's government controlled newspaper, the Teheran Times, suggested in an editorial that Iran close its doors to further visits from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, until newly imposed US sanctions against the country are lifted, signalling the first official indication the country is prepared to use the status of its nuclear programme as a bargaining chip in international diplomacy. Iran's foreign minister reiterated this position in a press briefing, according to the paper.

Monday's statement by ElBaradei was anticipated to shed more light on the nature of the hexafluoride gas uranium enrichment centrifuges that Iran is building near Natanz.

But ElBaradei was more brief than expected in his presentation, and avoided altogether the question of whether or not he suspected the centrifuges would be put to use for implementing a nuclear weapons programme — something the US has long suspected but which Iran denies.

Russia, which has building a light-water reactor for Iran in the port city of Bushehr, had — until last wee — defended Iran's nuclear projects, saying the country did not have the capability to produce nuclear weapons. But after ElBaradei's late February visit to Iran — during which he saw 160 working enrichment centrifuges and materials for the completion of some 5,000 more — Moscow finally backed away from its claims, and admitted it did not know the extent of Teheran's nuclear ambitions.

Adding further to western fears about Iran's nuclear program, President Mohammed Khatami recently announced Iran is mining uranium, and is developing technology to reprocess spent nuclear fuel for plutonium. This, coupled with the enrichment sites in Natanz, gives the country an largely indigenous capability to produce nuclear fuel or weapons.

ElBaradei in his statement to the IAEA about his visit to Iran said "my colleagues and I were able to visit a number of facilities — including a gas centrifuge enrichment pilot plant at Natanz that is nearly ready for operation, and a much larger enrichment facility still under construction at the same site," Reuters reported.

This larger facility — whose existence was initially revealed by satellite photos given to the Pentagon in December by an Iranian exile group called the National Council or Resistance of Iran — is being built partially underground and is surrounded by walls some three metres thick, in an apparent effort to thwart a military assault. The satellite photos also showed another facility near the town of Arak which is meant to produce heavy water — another route to an atomic weapon based on plutonium.

ElBaradei did not mention any findings regarding the Arak site during his Monday statement, though IAEA officials say they have visited the site. Instead, ElBaradei reiterated his call to Iran to help dispel doubts about its nuclear ambitions by signing up to the IAEA's "Additional Protocol" which would allow inspectors freer access to Iran's nuclear sites with little prior warning.

US intelligence and the Iranian resistance group said last week that Iran may already be enriching uranium for weapons purposes at another facility that Teheran has reported is a watch factory, which would constitute a direct breach of the 1973 Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a signatory. ElBaradei made no mention of these claims Monday, and spokesmen at the IAEA in Vienna would not discuss them.

Last Thursday, US President George Bush — who is preparing for a massive assault on Iran's neighbour Iraq — renewed 1995 US sanctions on Iran that prohibit US oil firms from doing business in Iran.

In a news article in the Teheran Times — which accompanied the editorial suggesting IAEA access be restricted until these sanctions are repealed — Iran's Foreign Minister Hamid-Reza Assefi said that "Iran is prepared to discuss subjecting its nuclear programme to tighter safeguards in return for technical assistance from the international community."

"We are ready to discuss and negotiate, but we need to know what benefit the Islamic Republic would get from [other nations,]" he said.

The Teheran Times' editorial rejoined that if Iran is to open its doors to further inspections, it must be assured that the international community will pressure the United States to lift Bush's sanctions. The editorial said that Iran was being dealt with in an "unfair" and "unjust" fashion despite its cooperation with the IAEA.

Iran understands diplomatic weight of nuke programme While Iran has made no public movement to withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which North Korea — which along with Iraq and Iran is labelled as part of the "axis of evil" by the Bush Administration — recently did when it started reprocessing spent fuel rods for plutonium.

But the new rhetoric out of Iran suggests that Teheran understands that the mystery surrounding the nature of its nuclear ambitions — and its threats to cloak its efforts further — is a powerful diplomatic tool.

With certain war looming in Iraq, the US State Department's position on the Iranian statements was unclear Tuesday.

When complete, the Natanz site is expected to operate 5,000 gas enrichment centrifuges, enough to produce at least one nuclear weapon per year.

A few blasts from the past:

(1999) Senate to Probe Vice President's Secret Deals on Russian Arms to Iran

On Wednesday, October 25, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will begin hearings to probe recent press reports that Vice President Al Gore and then Russian Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin made a secret agreement five years ago in which the Vice President promised that the Clinton Administration would not enforce a U.S. law requiring sanctions for Russian weapons sales to Iran. That agreement has all the hallmarks of a secret treaty, although it was never submitted to the Senate. At the minimum, the secret deal constitutes an international agreement which should have been submitted pursuant to the Case-Zablocki Act (1 U.S.C. 112b), which requires the Secretary of State to transmit to Congress the text of all international agreements, other than treaties, within 60 days after such agreements enter into force. To date, the Clinton-Gore Administration has refused Congressional requests to submit documents related to the deal; yet portions of one important document, a 12-page agreement signed by Gore and Chernomyrdin in which the Vice President commits the United States to "avoid any penalties to Russia that might otherwise arise under domestic law," appeared in the October 17, 2000, edition of the Washington Times. The final paragraph of this document reads, "This aide memoire, as well as the attached annexes, will remain strictly confidential." New York Times Breaks Story The secret Gore-Chernomyrdin agreement, and the Clinton-Gore Administration's promise not to implement U.S. laws requiring sanctions for Russian weapons proliferation to Iran, was first reported in the New York Times on October 13, 2000: "The 1995 agreement allowed Moscow to fulfill existing sales contracts for specified weaponry, including a diesel submarine, torpedoes, anti-ship mines and hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers. But no other weapons were to be sold to Iran, and all shipments were to have been completed by last December 31.

"In exchange for the Russian promises, the United States pledged not to seek penalties against Russia under a 1992 law that requires sanctions against countries that sell advanced weaponry to countries the State Department classifies as state sponsors of terrorism. Iran is on that list."

The law referenced above is the 1992 Iran-Iraq Non-Proliferation Act (P.L. 102-484), sponsored by then Senator Al Gore, along with Senator John McCain. This law requires the President to impose sanctions on countries that sell advanced weaponry or assist in nuclear weapons programs in countries sponsoring terrorism. Russian cooperation with Iran's nuclear program was a major concern behind enactment of that legislation.

Transfer of Equipment Meets Threshold for Sanctions Pursuant to the 1995 agreement, the Clinton-Gore Administration would appear to have acquiesced in the transfer to Iran of sophisticated Russian weaponry. Specifically, Iran has taken delivery of advanced combat aircraft and T-72 main battle tanks. Further, Russia has allegedly transferred a variety of surface-to-air missiles, including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles which are akin to Stingers. Most significantly, Russia has supplied three KILO-class diesel submarines to Iran, together with advanced "wake-homing" torpedoes and anti-ship mines. The White House has tried to downplay the impact of the Vice President's deal with Victor Chernomyrdin by arguing that the weaponry transferred was "antiquated."

However, according to most naval experts, KILO-class submarines are anything but antiquated. The submarines sold to Iran are difficult to detect and track in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf because they generate very little noise when operating on battery power. In event of a crisis, Iran's KILO-class submarines would pose a threat to U.S. forces, allied vessels, and merchant traffic. Because Iran is also acquiring surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles from Russia and China, U.S. anti-submarine warfare assets would find their ability to operate against the KILO-class submarines heavily circumscribed during the initial phases of a crisis. Thus, Russia has provided Iran with a significant military capability which poses a direct threat to U.S. ships in the region. As such, these transfers meet the threshold for sanctions under the so-called Gore-McCain Act. Even Secretary of State Admits Sanctions Should Have Been Imposed Recently, a spokesman for the Vice President defended Gore's actions, claiming that "none of the weapons included in the agreement met the standard for triggering sanctions under the Gore-McCain law." But Secretary of State Madeleine Albright clearly has a different opinion. In a secret letter uncovered by the Washington Times, and sent last January to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, the Secretary of State admitted, "Without the aide memoire, Russia's conventional arms sales to Iran would have been subject to sanctions based on various provisions of our laws" [10/18/00]. Secretary Albright's comments seem to indicate a clear commitment was given by the Vice President to ignore domestic sanctions laws.

Secret Agreement May Also Involve Nuclear Cooperation with Iran Vice President Gore's meetings with Chernomyrdin also may have involved Russia's nuclear transactions with Iran. Classified documents obtained recently by the Washington Times contained a December 9, 1995, letter written by Mr. Chernomydrin to Vice President Gore with details on Russia's deal with Iran to build a nuclear reactor. The Russian prime minister downplays the likelihood that Russian assistance to Iran's nuclear program would assist Tehran's radical anti-American regime -- a sponsor of terrorism designated by the U.S. State Department -- to achieve a nuclear weapons capability, and insists such information be kept from Congress:
" 'The information that we are passing on to you is not to be conveyed to third parties, including the U.S. Congress,' Mr. Chernomyrdin said. 'Open information concerning our cooperation with Iran is obviously a different matter, and we do not object to the constructive use of such information. I am counting on your understanding.' " [Washington Times, 10/17/00]

The secret arrangements between Mr. Gore and Mr. Chernomyrdin mostly took place in the context of a channel of communication known as the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, which began in 1993 and was conducted in twice-yearly meetings until Mr. Chernomyrdin was removed by former Russian president Boris Yeltsin in 1998. This channel appears to have served as a conduit for information and pledges regarding Russia's proliferation behavior that were never disclosed to Congress despite a variety of U.S. laws.

Agreements Contradict Gore's Stand on Proliferation The secret agreements between Gore and Chernomyrdin contradict Clinton's and Gore's concerns that, "We need an administration that will produce action, not just promises, to stop the spread of dangerous missiles in the Middle East. We need a strong international effort and tough sanctions to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of tyrants like those in Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria" [Putting People First: How We Can All Change America, 1992, p. 125].

Rich linked to money laundering

.....Mr. Giovagnoli said he first wants to question Grigori Loutchansky, whose Nordex company has been linked with Mr. Rich.

Mr. Loutchansky, who has Israeli citizenship, is considered by law-enforcement authorities to be a major figure in the Russian organized-crime network, Mr. Giovagnoli said. "I have an Interpol report that states that Marc Rich was one of the founding partners of Nordex," he said. According to prosecutors, Nordex, a company based in Vienna, Austria, with offices in Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine, is accused of having had a central role in the money-laundering operation uncovered by the "Spiderweb" operation.

In court documents in Britain, authorities maintain that Mr. Rich was a founding partner of Nordex. They say Nordex was "created by the old guard of the communist regime to allow the exodus of U.S.S.R. Communist Party funds before the Soviet Union's collapse.".....

An investigative report by Time magazine links Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to Nordex, a company that Western intelligence services allege is a major money laundering operation and may be involved in trafficking narcotics and nuclear materials. According to Time, Chernomyrdin was "a frequent visitor to Nordex in Vienna" before he was prime minister and helped arrange a "lucrative commodities deal" with the firm. As prime minister, Chernomyrdin "ordered Russian customs authorities to waive export fees and licensing requirements" on 30,000 metric tons of electronics-grade copper in an operation that "seems to have been a cover for a scheme to expatriate natural resources without paying taxes." German intelligence says Nordex was set up "to earn hard currency for the KGB." In 1993, Nordex chief Grigori Loutchansky, Time reports, "was invited to a Democratic Party dinner in Washington and had his picture taken with President Clinton."

In late 1993 and early 1994, according to Time, "U.S. intelligence intercepted various Nordex communications suggesting that the company was exporting nuclear bombmaking components to the budding nuclear states of North Korea and Iran."

Suspected N-dealer Attended Clinton Fund-raiser

WASHINGTON - Why did President Bill Clinton meet with Grigori Loutchansky, a man whose company the current CIA director has told Congress is "an organization associated with Russian criminal activity"?

That question has a number of national security experts who are concerned about Loutchansky and NORDEX - an international company which has been linked to the smuggling of nuclear materials - wondering. In October of 1993, Loutchansky was invited to the U.S. to attend a private fund-raising dinner for the Democratic National Committee where Loutchansky met with the President. The meeting was memorialized in the Latvian newspaper SM Today on Nov. 12, 1993.

In 1995, though Loutchansky was still a priority concern for U.S. intelligence, he was again invited by the DNC to attend another fund-raising dinner with the president. Disclosures about Loutchansky come on the heels of questions about dealings the president and the DNC have had with businessmen from Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan. Earlier this month, Republicans sharply criticized the president for meeting with a Miami drug dealer after he had made a $20,000 donation to Democratic coffers.

NORDEX CONNECTIONS

The SM Today article bears the headline in Russian: "About a Billionaire Who Likes Soviet Youth." It details Loutchansky's meeting with Clinton, his rise to prominence, and his reminiscences of his younger days as a member of the Communist youth organization. TIME magazine, in an expose on Loutchansky only three months ago, reported that NORDEX, based in Vienna and Moscow, has been "one of the top intelligence targets in the West". Since NORDEX was formed in 1989 to trade Russian commodities and natural resources with the West, allegations have surfaced that the firm has been involved in money laundering, narcotics trafficking, arms deals, and other Russian Mafia criminal activities. Loutchansky, a former professor and Latvian university official who once served a two-year term in prison for embezzlement, has not been charged with any crimes in Russia or elsewhere since he founded NORDEX. According to a secret German intelligence report, NORDEX was created by the old Soviet regime "with the aim of bringing foreign currency accumulated by the KGB and top Communist Party officials into the West," as well as a means to continue earning hard currency for Russian intelligence organizations. Domestic intelligence sources believe numerous such companies were created for that purpose, but NORDEX, with its $3 billion in annual business, appears to be the largest such concern operating in the West.

NORDEX also may be the most dangerous. In the spring of 1995, Ukrainian officials in Kiev inspected a NORDEX-owned cargo plane that had emanated in North Korea and was destined for Iraq. The aircraft was carrying SCUD missile warheads.

Suspicions, too, have been raised about nuclear smuggling to rogue states like Iran, Iraq and North Korea. According to TIME, in the past three years the National Security Agency has "found indications" that NORDEX has been "engaged" on the black market with nuclear materials.

Christopher Story, editor of the London-based Soviet Analyst - the one-time British Foreign office newsletter on Russian matters - told the Tribune-Review that sources in British intelligence believe NORDEX is "a rapidly proliferating amoeba or cancer, constantly replicating and mutating into a network of business fronts engaged in enterprises ultimately controlled by Russian intelligence." NORDEX controls more than 100 Russian firms and has more than three dozen businesses in the West.

SECOND INVITATION

In an unpublished, extensive interview with TIME magazine, excerpts of which the Tribune-Review has obtained, Loutchansky explained how he ended up meeting with Clinton: "I was invited by a friend of mine - Sam Domb - he was a trustee (sic) of the Democratic National Committee - to take part in a dinner which was given by Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore and 20 Senators ... in October 1993. It was in Washington in some museum. ... I was invited as an outstanding Jewish businessman."

Loutchansky went on to say he spoke privately with the president for about two minutes, discussing the "problems of nuclear missiles in the Ukraine." Loutchansky also told the Jerusalem Report he "agreed to a request from the president to deliver a private message to the leader of the Ukraine." New York businessman Sam Domb told the Tribune-Review he has no idea who Loutchansky was, and had never met him before the dinner. Domb, apparently agitated by the call, had no explanation as to why he was photographed with Loutchansky and Clinton, or why he was previously quoted extensively in a Russian emigre newspaper praising Loutchansky.

According to Federal Election Commission records, in the months immediately following the October, 1993, Washington dinner, Domb donated $90,000 to the DNC. In the past three years he has forked over $155,000 to the committee. Loutchansky has stated he never donated any money to the Democratic Party or the Clinton-Gore campaign. Federal law prohibits donations by foreign individuals or companies to political candidates or parties. Sometimes foreigners try to skirt the law by having American citizens make donations on their behalf. There is no evidence that has occurred here. But Loutchansky has a track record in Russia and elsewhere of showering officials with money and gifts for favors and access. For instance TIME located a dummy Swiss company owned by NORDEX called Dorotel AG which, according to a NORDEX official, was nothing more than a bank account "used to make discreet payments for friends of NORDEX. ..."

Calls to the Democratic National Committee for comment as to why Loutchansky was invited to a fund-raising dinner for the president, and why Loutchansky, according to a source familiar with the case, received a letter from the president thanking him for his support, went unreturned. Also unexplained is the invitation Loutchansky received just last year from the Democratic National Committee for a VIP dinner with Clinton. "Dear Mr. Loutchansky," wrote DNC finance director Richard Sullivan, "I cordially invite you to have dinner with President Clinton on Tuesday, July 11, 1995, at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington, D.C." Loutchansky told the Jerusalem Report he did not go to that event because he feared U.S. officials would not allow him to enter the country. Already Loutchansky has been barred from Britain and Canada. Soviet Analyst editor Story suggested Loutchansky's meeting and invitations to see Clinton were "nothing short of scandal." "It's preposterous to believe Loutchansky came once to meet the president, and was invited again without giving some benefit, or receiving some in kind," Story said.

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