Iranian Alert -- October 13, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

But war will be definite in the Region. Don't you think so?

What could Iran do to retaliate if Israel destoys their nuclear capability? ..Not much with America between Iran & Israel in Iraq.

Let lebanon or Syria try something overt. It won't happen.

I think a revolution would ensue in Iran. Coalition special ops would help in a limited capacity, but with plausible denial.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2003/oct/13/101307995.html

Today: October 13, 2003 at 12:04:17 PDT

Iranian President Turns 67 Amid Tensions
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's embattled President Mohammad Khatami turned 61 Monday, but with little to celebrate and much to worry about.

He is preoccupied with an ever-expanding feud with the unelected hard-liners who hold ultimate control in Iran's Islamic government and who have undermined his attempts to bring democratic and social reform. At the same time, he must answer to U.S. and world concerns over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

"There is no plan even for a family celebration today," Leila Khatami, the president's elder daughter, told The Associated Press Monday.

"My dad is so preoccupied with state affairs that he cannot spend much time with the family."

An intellectual once so loved by Iran's majority youth population that many women carried his photograph in their purses, Khatami is now losing public support.

The soft-spoken president, voted to office by landslide majority in 1997 and again in 2001, is blamed for failing to stand up to hard-liners who have placed obstacles in front of his reform agenda. Protesters, who regularly condemn hard-line clerics and support Khatami, turned against him in June, denouncing his inability to fulfill reform promises.

Caught in the middle, Khatami in July offered to resign if the people wanted him to. One month later, he admitted it had become harder for him to face the nation "because I feel many of the ideas and programs I sincerely offered and the people voted for have not materialized."

Khatami repeatedly complains he is powerless to stop hard-liners who have blocked all reform legislation, shut down more than 100 liberal publications and detained dozens of pro-reform activists and writers.

Khatami's two key reform bills seeking to check the power of hard-liners are in tatters. One of the bills aims to increase presidential powers to stop constitutional violations by hard-liners. The other seeks to bar the hard-line oversight body, the Guardian Council, from disqualifying parliamentary and presidential elections candidates.

The Guardian Council, which vets all parliamentary legislation, has rejected both bills, saying they were unconstitutional and against Islam. Efforts by Khatami and his allies have so far failed to find a breakthrough.

On the international front, Khatami has strongly defended his country, even as pressures have mounted following an Oct. 31 deadline imposed on Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency to prove its nuclear program was peaceful.

"We are ready to exert all efforts to ease concerns ... (about) the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which we are sure we are not seeking," Khatami said. "But we expect our right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy to be respected."

Part of Khatami's appeal has long been how differnt he is - in looks and ideas - from most other clerics. A pleasant smile, refined looks, a trimmed graying beard, well-pressed clerical robes carefully matched with flowing cloaks all add to his aura. Khatami is known to be so obsessed with tidiness that he nags TV camera crews not to wrinkle his robe when they put a microphone on him.

Unlike other Middle East leaders, Khatami did not have his birthday trumpeted in the media. Many at the presidency on Monday did not even know it was his birthday.

Khatami was born in Ardakan in central Yazd province into a conservative family. He earned degrees in theology and philosophy. His late father, Ruhollah Khatami, rose to the highest clerical rank, ayatollah, and was a prominent supporter of Iran's revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Khatami, who has two daughters and a son, spends his leisure time improving his linguistic skills in Arabic, English and German. He once headed the Islamic Center in Hamburg, Germany.

He is described by government spokesman, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, as a man who "opened a new horizon for Iran in the world."

"Demand for change won't go even after Khatami steps down," Ramezanzadeh told the AP Monday.

As Iran's constitution permits a person to hold the presidency for only two consecutive terms, Khatami will be forced step down at the next elections in 2005. He, however, is able to stand for president again four years later.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=347503&contrassID=1

Arad's brother says new report includes `recent signs of life' from missing aviator

By Roni Singer and Yossi Melman

A Defense Ministry commissioned report summarizing
all the efforts made to recover missing aviator
Ron Arad says that in recent years there have been
signs of life from the navigator, his brother Chen
told a press conference yesterday.

Chen Arad also said the report indicates where the missing
navigator, who was taken captive when his plane crashed
in south Lebanon in 1986, is being held, and expressed
dissatisfaction with several of the report's conclusions.

But the Arad family spokesman refused to provide further details on his brother's location and status, saying he did
not want to cause any harm to the source of the information by revealing anything about the nature of the indications that his brother is alive. "I don't want to say any more because I don't want to endanger a single hair on the head of the person who provided the
information," he said.

The report has stated that the defense establishment should operate on the assumption that Ron Arad was still alive, but made no mention of explicit signs of life. Chen Arad also said that the report indicates with certainty who exactly has been holding Ron Arad from the last time he showed signs of life through today. When asked whether the "address" of Ron Arad's captors was Iran, Chen Arad
responded: "The address is the same address."

The Arad family called the press conference to present its reaction to the report. Last week the High Court of Justice ordered the government to hand over an edited version of the report to the family.

Chen Arad said he was troubled by the report, which details the airman's case over the 17 years since his capture. "The findings that appear in the report are very troubling and it contains an analysis of which we had not yet been informed," he told Haaretz. The family was
particularly disturbed by the report's indication that there is a high probability that Ron Arad is still alive and that there is a clear link between Lebanese militant Mustafa Dirani and Ron Arad's disappearance, Arad said.

Despite these conclusions, the government is negotiating a prisoner swap with Hezbollah in which Dirani is among those slated for release from Israeli imprisonment. The Arad family has been trying to prevent Dirani's release and has repeatedly insisted Ron Arad, or information on
his whereabouts, be included in any prisoner
swap.

In addition, Arad said the family was disturbed by the report's criticism of the way in which the defense establishment has handled the Arad case. Chen Arad and his brother Dudu Arad read the report at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv last week.

Yaron Kaminsky Families of kidnapped soldiers releasing balloons yesterday on Mount Hermon to mark three years since their relatives were taken captive.

EU Attacks Iran's Human Rights Record

October 13, 2003
The Financial Times
Judy Dempsey

The European Union on Monday issued a blistering attack on Iran's human rights record but stopped short from agreeing to table or co-sponsor a United Nations General Assembly resolution that would single out Iran for its human rights violations.

In a session devoted to human rights in Iran, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg criticised the country's continuing use of the death penalty, public executions, torture, amputation as an alternative punishment and arbitrary detentions.

"The situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression continues to be deeply troubling, especially on the eve of parliamentary elections," the council said.

Ministers, however, insisted the "establishment of a dialogue [with Iran] is without prejudice to the tabling or co-sponsoring of a resolution at the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly or the Commission on Human Rights." The third committee is responsible for human rights. It is expected to issue a resolution on Iran later this month.

Diplomats said the two-pronged strategy by ministers meeting in Luxembourg was aimed at sending a message to both reformers and conservatives.

The EU wants to maintain for a long as possible its human rights dialogue that started with Iran ten months ago. While Iranian reformers believe the dialogue is one way to introduce reforms and prevent Iran from being isolated, Iranian conservatives resent any discussions of human rights.

Diplomats said the strategy was also about maintaining unity among all 15 EU member states that have unusually pursued a common and strong policy towards engaging Iran on human rights. They have also consistently backed the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency in insisting Iran sign an additional protocol that would provide the IAEA with maximum transparency over its nuclear energy programme.

Ireland, Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands had wanted the EU to agree to table or co-sponsor a UN resolution. Several other countries, however, managed to win some time before committing the EU.

"We believe the human rights dialogue is a long term investment," said a senior EU diplomat involved in negotiations with Iran. "We hope we can separate our dialogue from what might happen at the UN," he added.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1059480551206

Judge Orders Intelligence Agent Freed

October 13, 2003
The Associated Press
Ali Akbar Dareini

TEHRAN -- A judge on Monday ordered an Iranian intelligence agent charged in the murder of an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist to be freed on bail.

Lawyer Ghasem Shabani said his client, Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, would be released Tuesday after posting the equivalent of about $50,000 Cdn bail.

On the first day of his open trial last Tuesday, Ahmadi pleaded not guilty to charges in the death of photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, 54, who died July 10 after suffering fatal head injuries during 77 hours of interrogation after her June 23 detention.

Ahmadi is charged with "semi-premeditated murder," meaning he did not intend to kill Kazemi but that his actions led to her death.

Shabani told The Associated Press that Judge Rasoul Ghanimi accepted his argument that Ahmadi should be in custody only if charged with deliberate murder, and not the semi-premeditated murder count he faces.

The lawyer said he could not provide bail Monday, but would do so Tuesday.

Shabani also said the judge agreed to give him a month to prepare his defence case.

Last Tuesday, Tehran's deputy prosecutor general, Jafar Reshadati, told he court that Ahmadi was the only interrogator who had spent long periods of time alone with Kazemi.

Ahmadi had also refused to answer some questions about Kazemi's treatment and gave contradictory statements, he said.

Reshadati said a prison doctor had confirmed on the afternoon of June 26 that Kazemi was in good health and responded to questions in writing - only hours before she was rushed to hospital with lethal injuries.

"Now, the accused should explain how a healthy person in his control who responded to questions in 18 pages by her own handwriting is then transferred to hospital and finally dies," Reshadati said.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry is backing its agent and has blamed officials in the hardline judiciary for Kazemi's death.

On Monday, Shabani insisted the indictment against Ahmadi was flawed and showed "serious and deep contradictions" with documents provided by the Intelligence Ministry proving his client was innocent.

Kazemi, 54, was detained while taking photos outside north Tehran's Evin prison during student-led protests. After her interrogation, she was taken to a hospital's intensive care unit.

The killing has damaged ties between Iran and Canada and ignited a round of finger-pointing between Iran's cleric-backed hardliners and the moderates in the government of President Mohammad Khatami, who control the Intelligence Ministry.

Last week, Khatami reiterated that members of the hardline judiciary should be questioned, including the judiciary official who initially said Kazemi died of a stroke.

"Why all those who were in contact with Kazemi are not questioned, including those who ordered a Culture Ministry official to say she died of stroke," Khatami said, in reference to Saeed Mortazavi, the hardline Tehran prosecutor general.

Authorities initially denied that Kazemi, who held both Canadian and Iranian citizenship, had been killed. However, the head of the foreign press department at Iran's Culture Ministry said in July that Mortazavi kept him hostage in his office and forced him to announce that Kazemi had died of a stroke.

A presidential-appointed committee later ruled that Kazemi died of a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage due to a blow to the head.

A statement released last week by the Intelligence Ministry said Kazemi complained in writing on June 24 that she had been beaten on the day of her arrest by a prison official, part of the hardline judiciary.

Canada threatened sanctions and withdrew its ambassador after the photojournalist's body was buried in her birthplace, the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, against the wishes of Canadian authorities and her son, who lives in Montreal.

Canadian Ambassador Philip Mackinnon returned to Iran earlier this month and has been attending the trial.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=10&d=13&a=17

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_414686,0012.htm

Iran’s freedom fighter
October 13

Shirin Ebadi was never keen to enter the whirlpool of politics. But then, in a society that sees stifled liberalism pitted against stifling orthodoxy, there was never much scope to stay away from the vortex. Last week, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her untiring work in the field of women’s and children’s rights in Iran. Coming as it does in these times of investigations into Islamic societies, the award confirms that there is no contradiction between true Islam and human rights. Ms Ebadi was a respected judge in pre-revolution Iran. After 1979, like many other Iranians welcoming the overthrow of the corrupt rule of the Shah, she joined the ministry of justice hoping to be a part of a team that would open the doors to true democracy. Ayatollah Khomeini and his ‘revolutionaries’ had other ideas.

In her capacity as a lawyer and university lecturer, Ms Ebadi has fought against the oppressive pall that Iran is covered with — and has been punished many times for her endeavours. Her receiving the Nobel Prize comes at a time when the two opposing forces of moderates and fundamentalists in Iran are at a critical juncture. The award is likely to give President Mohammad Khatami, the champion of the moderates, a moral fillip. It is no coincidence that Mr Khatami is most vociferously supported by women and the youth, both sections of Iranian society most indebted to Ms Ebadi’s work.

To underline the fact that Iranians calling for ‘freedom’ are nobody’s cat’s paw, the Nobel laureate has not only demanded Teheran to release all political prisoners, but also warned the United States to not poke its long nose in Iran’s affairs. To keep this precarious balance is a difficult task for which Ms Ebadi deserves much applause. “If a country abuses human rights in the name of Islam, then it is not the fault of Islam,” she has said. In a way, she is also telling the world to stop viewing her country through the comfortable yet misleading lens of stereotypes.

Police: Imminent terror attack on British Jews

Jerusalem Post ^ | Oct. 13, 2003 | DOUGLAS DAVIS
Posted on 10/13/2003 8:53 AM PDT by yonif

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1000285/posts

"A NOBLE WOMAN CARRIES TORCH FOR DEMOCRACY IN IRAN" BY AMIR TAHERI, WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE

by Amir Taheri
WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
October 13, 2003
Khaleh Shirin bord! (Auntie Shirin has won!).

Iranian university students were spreading this message by telephone, the Internet and in slogans on the walls of Tehran after Persian-language broadcasts from London and Washington on Friday announced that Shirin Ebadi got the Nobel Peace Prize.

Iran's pro-democracy movement, now going through a rough patch, couldn't have hoped for better news. Mrs. Ebadi, a 56-year old lawyer and human-rights campaigner, is one of their own. She immediately used the platform given her by the award to call for all prisoners of conscience to be released in Iran.

"I see this prize as a message to the democracy movement in Iran," Mrs. Ebadi told me in a phone conversation from Paris, where she was attending a conference on human rights. "The message is clear: the democratic world is on your side. Keep fighting!"

She said the prize must be seen as acknowledgment that it is possible for Muslims to be democrats. "There need be no contradiction between being a Muslim and a democrat," she said. "I am proud to be a Muslim while believing that democracy is the best system."

Mrs. Ebadi's win has shocked the hard-line Khomeinists. The state-controlled media tried to ignore the news and ended up by announcing it in a 12-word item. That was followed by a barrage of personal attacks on Mrs. Ebadi. One leading Khomeinist, Assadallah Badamchian, who leads the hard-line Islamic Coalition Council, called Mrs. Ebadi "an agent of American and Zionist conspiracies."

Mrs. Ebadi's Nobel comes at a time that the Khomeinists, grouped around the "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi, are trying to contain the democracy movement with a mixture of threats and promises.

Since July, some 5,000 pro-democracy activists have been arrested and held for varying periods. At least 2,000 students have been "purged" from universities while armed guards backed by professional street-fighters are posted in and around most campuses. All this took a toll on the pro-democracy movement.

Now, however, the democracy campaigners are planning a series of demonstrations, starting with a big reception for Mrs. Ebadi after she collects her prize in Stockholm in December. The laureate is also expected to head a list of pro-reform candidates in the next general election, scheduled for March 2004.

Mrs. Ebadi was a symbol of the modernization of Iran that was halted when the mullahs seized power in 1979. She was among the first women to study law and took her degree from the Tehran Law Faculty in 1967 at a time that Iranian women were asserting their presence throughout society.

In 1962 women had received the right to vote and get elected to the parliament. Three years later, another law abolished polygamy, banned the repudiation of women by husbands, and gave women the right to divorce. In 1968, amendments to the Penal Code established the full equality of men and women as witnesses and opened the way for the appointment of woman judges.

Mrs. Ebadi was among the first women to be appointed as a judge in 1974. By 1978, when the first rumblings of the revolution started, there were 46 women judges in Iran, including one, Mehrangiz Manuchehrian, in the nine-member Supreme Court. There were also 21 women in the Parliament, and two in the Cabinet. Women also served as ambassadors, provincial governors, and in positions of command in the armed forces and the police.

The mullahs ended all that.

The new regime canceled many of the laws passed in favor of women and announced that women were no longer allowed to sit as judges or practice law. Women were also thrown out of the military, the police, the diplomatic service and other professions that required contacts with men. In 1982 the new regime passed the Islamic Dress Act that made the hijab mandatory for all female humans above the age of six.

Having lost her job as a judge, Mrs. Ebadi was not allowed to work even as a lawyer until the ban on female barristers was lifted in 1990. Since the teaching profession was still open to women, partly because men had been sent to the war against Iraq in the 1980s, Mrs. Ebadi was able to obtain a post as university lecturer.

That was the start of her comeback. She took on the defense of the defenseless, including beaten women, Afghan and Iraqi refugees exploited by their employers, minorities, especially Bahais and Jews, terrorized because of their faith, and children raped in prisons by mullahs.

In 1999 she spent nine weeks in the notorious Evin Prison, where an estimated 100,000 men, women and children have perished since 1979.

Using a teaspoon she carved this message on the wall of her cell: "Time and place are imposed on us. Let's be patient!"

Mr. Taheri is former executive editor of Kayhan, Iran's largest daily newspaper.

Updated October 13, 2003

http://www.benadorassociates.com/article/613

"A NOBLE WOMAN CARRIES TORCH FOR DEMOCRACY IN IRAN" BY AMIR TAHERI, WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE

by Amir Taheri
WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
October 13, 2003
Khaleh Shirin bord! (Auntie Shirin has won!).

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1000126/posts?page=48#48

As Iran's constitution permits a person to hold the presidency for only two consecutive terms, Khatami will be forced step down at the next elections in 2005. He, however, is able to stand for president again four years later.

In 2005 the candidates will be Rafsanjani (again) vs Shirin Ebadi

Rafsanjani again?
Not good.
Can you send a link to a report on this?

That's a pretty bold prediction.

Rafsanjani? I don't think so.

Besides, I'm hoping there's a need for a
special election before 2005.

Ebadi, sure.

Pahlavi?/Ebadi?

Funny, we don't hear a word of praise from Hitlery about this heroine.

Oh, that's right, Hitlery embraces terrorists, not liberators.

Can we send donations to her campaign? :)

washingtonpost.com
Bin Laden Son Plays Key Role in Al Qaeda

By Douglas Farah and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A01

Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's oldest sons, has emerged in recent months as part of the upper echelon of the al Qaeda network, a small group of leaders that is managing the terrorist organization from Iran, according to U.S., European and Arab officials.

Saad bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda operatives were in contact with an al Qaeda cell in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the days immediately prior to the May 12 suicide bombing there that left 35 people dead, including eight Americans, European and U.S. intelligence sources say. The sources would not divulge the nature or contents of the communications, but the contacts have led them to conclude that the Riyadh attacks were planned in Iran and ordered from there.

Although Saad bin Laden is not the top leader of the terrorist group, his presence in the decision-making process demonstrates his father's trust in him and an apparent desire to pass the mantle of leadership to a family member, according to numerous terrorism analysts inside and outside of government.

*excerpt
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21484-2003Oct13?language=printer

Looks like serious concern, alright.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/smccdinews/article/publish/article_4029.shtml

Regime Bans All Public Welcomings of the "first" Iranian Nobelist

Iranian Force Has Long Ties to Al Qaeda
Terrorism Support Group Operates Independently of Iran's Elected Leaders
By Dana Priest and Douglas Farah
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 14, 2003; Page A17

The elite Iranian force believed to be protecting Saad bin Laden and two dozen al Qaeda leaders is one of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' five branches, and has been given the mission of "exporting the Islamic revolution" by training, arming and collaborating with foreign terrorist groups -- even those who do not share Iran's fundamentalist Shiite brand of Islam.

The Jerusalem Force, also known as the Qods Force, is highly trained and well-funded. It has provided instruction to more than three dozen Shiite and Sunni "foreign Islamic militant groups in paramilitary, guerrilla and terrorism" tactics, according to a recent U.S. intelligence analysis.

Groups including Hezbollah, or Party of God; the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas); and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have received arms and training at one of several specialized sites in Iran, according to that document.

The Jerusalem Force's former commander, Ahmad Vahidi, allegedly helped plan the 1994 bombing of the Amia Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 civilians were killed and 230 injured, according to Argentine intelligence officials and others.

The group has also maintained ties with the al Qaeda terrorist network for more than a decade, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials. Senior al Qaeda leaders first met and formed a tactical alliance with the nascent Jerusalem Force in Sudan in the early 1990s, according to intelligence officials. The group was creating terrorist training camps there at the same time that Osama bin Laden had begun to create his own financial and training infrastructure.

Bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri, used his decade-old relationship with Vahidi, then commander of the Jerusalem Force, to negotiate a safe harbor for some of al Qaeda's leaders who were trapped in the mountains of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in 2001, according to a European intelligence official.

The group is "a state within a state, and that is why they are able to offer protection to al Qaeda," one European intelligence analyst said. "The Force's senior leaders have long-standing ties to al Qaeda, and, since the fall of Afghanistan, have provided some al Qaeda leaders with travel documents and safe haven."

The organization's autonomy from Iran's elected leaders underscores the deep split between the moderate government of President Mohammad Khatami and the unelected hard-line clerics who control much of the nation's security apparatus.

Khatami, who has repeatedly denied that senior al Qaeda figures are in Iran, has no control over security organs such as the Revolutionary Guard, which answer to the office of the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Although Iran is a Shiite Muslim nation, the Jerusalem Force's willingness to work with rival Sunni Muslim organizations has made it particularly dangerous as a liaison between Iran and other Islamic groups that share its goal of destroying secular Muslim states.

The Jerusalem Force has agents in "most countries with substantial Muslim populations," according to the U.S. analysis. "Their mission is to form relationships with Islamic militant and radical groups and offer financial support either to the groups at large or to Islamic figures within them who are sympathetic to the principles and foreign policy goals of the Iranian government."

The Force's training regime includes psychological and guerrilla warfare operations, with emphasis on the use of hand grenades, mines, booby-trap techniques, camouflage and ambushes. Its terrorist-related training includes assassinations, kidnapping, torture and explosives, according to the U.S. intelligence analysis.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21493-2003Oct13.html

Iran's Nuclear Energy:A Cheney Casus Belli?
uploaded 13 Oct 2003
Iran's Nuclear Energy:
A Cheney Casus Belli?

October 10, 2003 issue
by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach
"First Iraq; then come Syria and Iran." So runs the agenda of numerous neo-conservative think-tanks in the United States, planning the radical redrawing of the map in the entire region of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Whether it be Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, or a wild-eyed ideologue at the Hudson Institute, among the many "rogue nations" in the world that make up so many "axes of evil," the Islamic Republic of Iran is high on the list.

Now that Iraq has been attacked, invaded and occupied, the neo-con juntas in Washington, London, and Tel Aviv have been gearing up for a strike on Iran. Mirroring the debate that preceded the Iraq war, the Iran debate is illustrated by several military scenarios, ranging from a military operation, to an internal subversion, each aimed to effect regime change. Another option foresees a single Israeli air assault on Iran's soon-to-be-operational nuclear power plant at Bushehr.

Also echoing the earlier drumbeat for war against Baghdad, the ongoing propaganda barrage is focussing on the issue of Iran's presumed programs for the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), particularly nuclear arms. Here, too, Washington's strategists have welcomed "intelligence" about Iran's supposed WMD from utterly discredited sources in the Iranian opposition. Just as Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National Council fed cooked intelligence to the State Department and Pentagon—about Saddam Hussein's deadly weapons, missile delivery systems, and mobile laboratories—so the Mujaheddin al Khalq (MKO/MEK), a terrorist outfit which has been operating against Iran for years from Iraqi soil, has been feeding Washington's institutions and press, with "detailed reports" on Iran's nuclear weapons production facilities.

The material presented, though not more convincing than Colin Powell's Feb. 5 Iraq slide show at the United Nations, has helped fuel the campaign depicting Iran as the next Islamic nuclear threat to Israel and the world.

Iran's Nuclear Program
Unlike Iraq, Iran does have an advanced nuclear energy program, which it is pursuing in cooperation with Russia. This is the real issue. The first plant, at Bushehr, is scheduled to become operational next year.

Iran's nuclear program was started under Shah Pahlavi, who announced in 1974 that he intended to pursue an ambitious nuclear plan, installing 23,000 Megawatts (MWe) by the year 1994. Financial limitations as well as internal opposition prevented the original plan from being realized, and, by 1978, it had been whittled down, such that only the four reactors then under construction were to be completed on schedule. There had been plans to buy 4 from Germany and 6-8 units from the United States, but they were abandoned. Shahpur Baktiar, prime minister briefly in January 1979, cancelled plans for two reactors that the French had begun work on. Iran, as a result, had only two German reactors at that time, of 1,190 MWe each. One was half built and the other, 80% completed. They were located at Halikeh, near Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, and were slated to become operational in 1980. However, massive strikes stalled the work in 1978, and numerous foreign technicians, fearing political upheavals, left the country. The Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, effectively eliminated the last traces of Iran's nuclear energy dreams.

Only in 1995, was Iran able to revive its nuclear program. On Jan. 8 of that year, the country signed a $1 billion contract with Russia, to complete the 1,000 MWe plant at Bushehr within four years. Progress was hindered by the refusal by the Germans, who had initiated the construction, to deliver parts and equipment. Germany later revealed that it had been under massive pressure of "other Western states" not to fulfill the terms of its original contract with Iran.

The Russian contract was different from the one signed with Germany, regarding technology transfer and training. According to Iranian press reports at the time, "the Russians have undertaken to train Iranians to make up the personnel required and [by March 1995] 500 or so Iranian engineers and technicians [were] in Russia, receiving instructions and being trained in various Russian nuclear power plants. At the same time, they [were] supervising the manufacture of the parts that [would] ultimately make up the plant at Bushehr."

No sooner had the ink dried on the contract, than an international campaign against both Russia and Iran was launched, aimed at sabotaging the program. The Bush Administration has deployed "arms control" negotiator and prominent neo-conservative John Bolton to Moscow more and more frequently over the past two years, to attempt to persuade the Russian government to cut its nuclear cooperation with Tehran. This was also the subject of U.S.-Russia foreign ministerial talks, and during Bush's most recent summit with President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian side has not only not caved in to U.S. pressures, but has reiterated its commitment to continue and broaden technological assistance to Iran. In July 2002, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Trubnikov announced, in Tehran, that Russia was ready to discuss plans for building more nuclear plants in Iran. On July 26, 2002, Russia published the annexes to its nuclear agreement, which showed plans for five more nuclear plants after completion of Bushehr. The program was part of a ten-year cooperaiton agreement between the two countries, approved by Russian Prime Minister Kasyanov. The new plants were to be built near Bushehr (three) and at Ahzvaz. Concrete talks on the broader program began in March 2003.

In February 2003, the head of Iran's Nuclear Energy Organization, Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh, announced that Iran would develop the full nuclear fuel cycle. It would mine, process, and enrich uranium for use in reactors. He stated that a plant in Isfahan, for preparing uranium, was almost completely constructed.

Iran and the Bomb
This announcement set off fireworks in Washington, where CIA Director George Tenet gave testimony to Congress on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction among "rogue states": "The domino theory of the 21st Century may well be nuclear." Since then, the campaign has continued to gain momentum, and explicit accusations have been launched against Tehran, that it is building a nuclear bomb. The Los Angeles Times on Aug. 4 ran an alarmist story, "Iran Closes In on Ability to Build a Nuclear Bomb," replete with maps and diagrams purportedly documenting the charges.

In such a climate of hysteria, pressure by the US was exerted on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during its Sept. 12 meeting in Vienna, to issue an ultimatum to Iran. A declaration was indeed voted up, demanding that the Iranian government "prove" it has no intentions of building a bomb, "provide accelerated cooperation" with the agency, "suspend all further uranium enrichment activities, including the further introduction of nuclear material," and sign an additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). As befits an ultimatum, a date was set: Oct. 31, 2003.

The protocol in question, called the 93+2 Protocol, would require Iran to allow unfettered inspections by the IAEA, on short notice. The government has been in discussion with the IAEA on the matter and has signalled its willingness to cooperate. However, as literally every member of the Iranian leadership has stressed, it will sign only on condition that it receive the technology required for nuclear energy development, as specified in the Non-Proliferation Treaty itself.

Once the IAEA formulated its demands for signing, in an ultimatum, what had been a debate was transformed into a confrontation. All of Iran mobilized. On Sept. 13, Iranian wires and press published statement after statement, by political leaders, condemning the ultimatum as a provocation motivated by America. The Iranian delegate to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, was quoted by western wires, saying, "We will have no choice but to have a deep review of our existing level and extent of engagement with the agency." He went on: "At present, nothing pervades [America's] appetite for vengeance, short of confrontation and war.... They aim to re-engineer and reshape the entire Middle East region." Salehi walked out of the Vienna meeting in protest.

Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president and current head of the Expediency Council, called the Vienna talks "unjust, unilateral and bullying," He said the ongoing dispute symbolized the "law of the jungle" that would discredit international institutions. "This is a great insult, and a shame on big powers, as well as the IAEA, since the acceptance of the additional protocol is not obligatory for any [other] country in the world," Rafsanjani said. "Furthermore, the United States, that has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, has still not signed the protocol itself."

Rafsanjani also made clear that, were Iran to sign, it would then go to the government cabinet for discussion, then to the parliament as a bill. There, it could be stopped by the Guardians Council, which vets legislation. In that case, the Expediency Council (which Rafsanjani heads up), would be called in to have the last word.

Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi denounced the ultimatum, and Iran's permanent representative to the UN, Mohammed Javad Zarif, told the New York Times on Sept. 12 that the entire operation showed the "intention to deprive Iran" of nuclear energy. "There are people in Washington," he said, "who do not want to clarify matters—who, in fact, would encourage, invite and welcome negative news from Iran. And if that is the intention, if that is the desire, then they may in fact get what they want."

Later, at the IAEA conference, Iranian Vice President and President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Reza Aghazadeh, shocked his listeners when he delivered a critical appraisal of the new security doctrine of the United States, premised on pre-emptive war. He posed a provocative scenario: if Iran, perceiving the threat of hostile acts by the United States or Israel, were to adopt the pre-emptive war doctrine, what would the international response be in that case?

The issue of Iran's tug-of-war with the IAEA was a featured topic at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, particularly in discussions on the sidelines of the conference. Russian President Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to reiterate to the press, that his government was confident that Iran would not seek to develop nuclear weapons, and that Russia saw no need to interrupt its cooperation on peaceful energy technology.

Foreign Minister Kharrazi repeatedly stressed, in remarks to the press in New York, that "Iran has no plans to produce nuclear weapons and the country's nuclear activities are for peaceful use." In his address to the UNGA, Kharrazi protested that his country has been put under deplorable pressure to abandon its right to developing peaceful nuclear technology, while other countries have developed and tested such weapons. He pointed to the Israeli government, and its defiance of calls to sign the NPT. Speaking on ABC's "This Week" program, while in New York, Kharrazi referred to the very real threat that Israel could bomb the Bushehr plant. Kharrazi said, "Israel knows if it commits such an action, there would be a reaction." He added that Iran would not abandon its nuclear program.

Technological Apartheid
There are numerous agenda items on the "Iran dossier" of people like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton and the like. Clearly, the nuclear issue, for them, is a handy pretext to drum up support for a military strike against Iran, in accordance with long-term policy strategies drawn up by this neo-con grouping for the Persian Gulf and Middle East.

But the reasons behind the thrust to stop Iran's nuclear program are deeper. It is not the bomb they fear, but the process of industrialization in Iran and, by extension, in the entire developing sector. The doctrine of technological apartheid—whereby developing sector nations should be deprived of the wherewithal to achieve technological progress by mastering advanced technologies—dates back to the 1974 NSSM-200 policy document drafted by Henry Kissinger. In it, then-National Security Council head Kissinger laid out the doctrine that Third World nations, particularly those with raw materials resources, must be held back in their demographic and economic development; otherwise, their increasing independence and control over their resources would prevent looting of the same, and thus constitute a "strategic threat" to the security of the United States.

It is that thinking which is behind the anti-nuclear tirade. And the Iranians are fully aware of it. When Shah Pahlavi pursued his nuclear energy program, he was supported by the West, which wanted to sell him the power plants, but without sharing the technology and know-how. Now, Iran desires to produce not only the energy, but the technological capability to upgrade its economy and work force.

Iranian President Khatami in mid-September, again stressing Iran's rejection of nuclear weapons, added, "However, we are determined to be powerful. Power has to do with science and technology, while nuclear technology is the most advanced. We are making attempts towards reaching such a goal," he said, "by depending on the capabilities and talents of the Iranian youth." Khatami added: "God Almighty and the Iranian nation will not forgive us if we fail to provide for access to science and technology."

It is to be expected that Iran will decide to sign the designated NPT protocol. No one in the leadership is foolhardy enough to underestimate the determination of the war party in Washington. No one wants the Oct. 31 deadline to be the prelude to an "Iran affair" at the UN Security Council. But they will not give up the right, embodied in the NPT treaty, to master modern technologies.

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