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Iran hints at stopping uranium enrichment
-- Detail Story

hipakistan.com
10.20.2003

TEHRAN: Iran's President Mohammad Khatami indicated on Sunday Tehran may halt uranium enrichment, which some Western governments say could be used to make atomic bombs, if it is allowed to keep its civilian atomic energy programme.

Asked by reporters if Iran was prepared to stop enriching uranium as the United States and several European countries have demanded, Mr Khatami said: "We will do whatever is necessary to solve the problems and in return we're expecting our rights to be preserved which is (the right) to have nuclear technology."

It was the first indication from a top Iranian official that Iran could mothball uranium enrichment facilities which it began building in 1985.

Iranian officials had previously insisted they had every right to continue enriching uranium to use in nuclear reactors.

Iranian officials have said the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany will visit Tehran this week to discuss a proposal to resolve Iran's nuclear standoff before a looming October 31 UN deadline for Tehran to prove it has no atomic arms ambitions.

Asked if Iran was prepared to accept those conditions, including halting uranium enrichment, Mr Khatami said: "We will do what is expedient for society and the nation. We have done our best for talks and exchanging views and we hope it will produce a result."

Mr Khatami said on Friday his country had no plans to build nuclear weapons and predicted that it would reach an agreement on its nuclear programme with the UN atomic watchdog.

http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en42328&F_catID=&f_type=source

Iran Opposed to Turkish Troop Deployment

October 19, 2003
AFP
SpaceWar

Iran on Sunday for the first time voiced its reservations over the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq, saying such a move should not be made without the consent of the United Nations or Iraqi people.

"We think any action in this regard has to be done with the consent of the UN and the Iraqi people," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters.

"Any action outside of that framework will not only help the situation but will make the circumstances there more complex."

Although Turkey's parliament has approved sending troops to Iraq, Ankara appears to be less eager to rush into the restive country. Iraq's interim leadership has voiced strong opposition to any Turkish deployment.

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031019124025.8qidu402.html

France Spurns Reliance on Force

October 20, 2003
BBC News
BBCi

French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, has issued a strong warning against unilateral action and the use of force in solving international crises.

Mr de Villepin - delivering the BBC's annual Dimbleby lecture - said security could only be achieved through means that also promoted justice and stability.

He stressed that only such policies could defeat terrorism, and he questioned whether the use of force against Iraq had had the desired effects.

Mr de Villepin called on European countries to join forces with the United States and Russia to resolve the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme.

European ties

Calling on Britain to pool its sovereignty with other EU members, he said there could be "no Europe" without a common defence policy.

"Ours must be a political union. Were we to confine Europe to a mere free-trade area we would be betraying the spirit of the founding fathers and failing to seize the opportunity Europe offers to each of us."

Mr de Villepin said the new EU must have its own foreign policy and foreign minister, as well as a common defence policy.

"There can be no Europe without European defence and no European defence without Britain," he said.

Britain and France, he said, shared the same fierce sense of independence, national pride, a refusal to surrender and a faith in justice and freedom.

The two nations had a relationship of "irritation and fascination".

Mr de Villepin said countries could no longer act totally independently.

"No one state is in a position to respond on its own to the challenge of security, economic growth and social development," he said.

In the run-up to the Iraq war Mr de Villepin voiced France's opposition to the US-British stance on Iraq - but since then both sides have made efforts to heal the damaging rift.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3206112.stm

Iranian TV Office in Baghdad Raided

October 20, 2003
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
IRIB News

Tehran -- The US troops assailed the Iranian Arabic TV network, Al-Alam's office in Baghdad Sunday morning, IRIB correspondent in Baghdad reported.

The US military, backed with tanks and armoured vehicles, sealed off the Iranian TV office and disrupted the activities of the agency, the reporter said.

The move was sparked as the TV network aired footages of an American soldier who has been killed on Saturday, the US officials alledged.

The US raid on the office came minutes before a scheduled live interview with Iraq's health minister.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=190687

Iran Voices Support to Syria

October 20, 2003
Arabic News
Syria-Iran, Politics

The Spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hamid Rida Asifi on Sunday condemned the socalled Syria Accountability Act legislation passed by the U.S. Congress, saying "such measures (efforts) are not new and represent continued unilateral, illogical American policies rejected by the international society."

Asifi told reporters in a news conference in Tehran that "the Act was passed in coordination with the Zionist entity to divert world attention from the barberic practices of Israel against the Palestinians and obstruct efforts to find a solution to the Palestinian issue."

On other issues, the Iranian official said his country have a right to the use of nuclear power for peaceful ends. Iran would continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to attain required results as soon as possible if this would not harm the country's national sovereignty, he asserted.

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/031020/2003102001.html

Iran Press Reflects Nuclear Tensions

October 20, 2003
BBC News
BBCi

Iranian papers on both sides of the political spectrum expect the Europeans to play a role in easing the pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

But one conservative daily sees the holding of last week's conference of the reformist Iran Participation Front party during a visit to Tehran by UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed ElBaradei as a ploy to raise the temperature.

The Europeans and the IAEA know very well that the bulk of the United States' pressure on Iran is because of Iran's objection to the one-sided hegemony sought by the Americans, and that Iran is not the only country to be harmed by it...

The Europeans now have an exceptional opportunity - by using Iran's positive viewpoints - to adopt rational methods to gain our country's cooperation and to present a new strategy in the face of America's unilateral and bullying ways.

Hamshahri (Conservative)

Bush's failure in his attempt to put on a display of power in Southeast Asia makes it clear that... the Republicans are not only in desperate need of help from their European allies to overcome regional and international crises, but that they will also have to accept as a fact the presence and influence of certain regional powers and to ask them for help too.

This development, especially in relation to Islamic Iran, will leave America no option but to end its enmity against our proud government and nation. Despite the inflexibility of Washington's unilateralist policy based on the idea of a unipolar world, America has no choice but to end its threats and pressures against our country and the region.

Quds (Conservative)

It would be naive if anyone failed to understand the clear fact that holding the (reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front) party congress during the visit to Tehran of (UN nuclear watchdog chief) ElBaradei and delegations of bogeymen from the IAEA was no coincidence.

These are links in a chain aimed at raising the political temperature in the county and lowering the system's threshold for being provoked.

Jomhuri-ye Eslami (Conservative)

Tehran is worried that the Europeans wish to repair their relations with Washington - which were damaged during the war on Iraq - at Iran's expense. At any rate, Europe has the respect of Iran and finds a listening ear in Iran when it voices its own independent stances, not when it behaves in a way that smacks of an effort to outdo Washington in antagonism towards the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Etemaad (Reformist)

It may well be that the impending visit to Tehran of the foreign ministers of three important European countries... is an indication of the Europeans' peace-seeking efforts, and that the signals the Iranians have sent in the past day or two about accepting the Additional Protocol are possibly a suitable response to this step by the EU, which will dramatically reduce the international pressure on Iran.

It may not be farfetched to imagine that the choice of Mrs Ebadi by the Nobel committee was also a step taken by the Europeans towards changing the rules of the game and seizing the initiative from the Americans.

Shargh (reformist)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3207486.stm

MPs Might Impeach Oil Minister Over Link of Iran Firm in Statoil Scandal

October 20, 2003
Payvand
Payvand's Iran News

Iranian MP Nouroddin Pirmoazzen has said that the Majlis (parliament) will impeach Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh if the reported bribery by the Norwegian oil company Statoil to an Iranian firm is proved, IRNA reported from Tehran on Monday quoting the local press.

The Persian-language newspaper 'Mardomsalari' quoted Pirmoazzen as saying that the Majlis had been shocked over the reports of a wave of top official resignations in Statoil in connection with an alleged bribery of 15 million dollars to an Iranian company, stressing that this has made the MPs to consider summoning Zangeneh to the chamber. "Although sending a delegation from Iran to Norway to collect more data (about Statoil's bribery case) will be fruitful, the oil minister will be called to appear at the Majlis to clarify the details of the issue," he said.

"Mr. Zangeneh will definitely break his silence before the representatives of the people," Pirmoazzen said, addint that the MPs are waiting to hear Zangeneh's explanations on the issue, and that the oil minister will be impeached if the alleged bribery to the Iranian company is proved.

"If the issue is proved, Zangeneh's impeachment will be definite, and the MPs will not hesitate in dealing with that case," he said. "Still, according to what I know about Zangeneh, I am sure that he will leave the Oil Ministry himself if the bribery case is proved,"he maintained.

http://www.payvand.com/news/03/oct/1122.html

Straw says EU Nuclear Mission to Iran Goes Ahead

October 20, 2003
MSNBC News
Reuters

LONDON -- Britain said three European Union foreign ministers were leaving for Tehran on Monday on a last ditch mission to try to resolve a standoff over Iran's nuclear programme.

''Resolving the doubts surrounding Iran's nuclear programme is of grave concern to the European Union and wider international community,'' British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a statement.

''I will be travelling to Iran today with my French and German colleagues for talks on the (nuclear) issue at the invitation of the Iranian government,'' he added.

The visit by the three foreign ministers comes before an October 31 deadline set by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog for Iran to disprove U.S.-led allegations that it may be developing a covert nuclear arms programme.

Diplomats from the three European countries had said up until the last minute that the visit was far from certain.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also called on Iran to sign up to tougher, no-notice inspections of its nuclear sites. Iran says its nuclear facilities are geared to electricity generation.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters10-20-063129.asp?reg=EUROPE

Iran's reformers undecided over election boycott

Monday, October 20, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com
TEHRAN, Oct 20, (AFP) --

Iran's main reformist party said Monday it had not yet decided whether to boycott forthcoming parliamentary elections, but warned it was ready to if it deemed the vote would not be free and fair.

"Election campaigning will continue. But we stress two conditions for our participation in the Majlis elections, that is that they be held in a free and fair manner," said a statement from the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF).

Iran's next parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 20, 2004. The statement said the party would meet one month before the polls for an extraordinary congress at which it would take a final decision on whether to take part.

The IIPF statement was a clear warning to the Guardians Council, a conservative-controlled constitutional watchdog body which reformers accuse of abusing powers to vet candidates for public office to disqualify many of their supporters.

A recent attempt by the reformist-led parliament to strip the council of its vetting powers appears to have fizzled out.

The IIPF has also been unable to stop a number of its members being targeted by the hardline judiciary.

The party, which is headed by Mohammad Reza Khatami -- brother of reformist President Mohammad Khatami -- last week held a congress to map out its election strategy amid fears that voter apathy could deal the movement a major defeat.

The reformers have controlled parliament since 2000 but, faced with the overwhelming power wielded by hardliners in the judiciary and legislative watchdogs, little of their reform agenda has made it into law.

This has led to widespread disillusion among their key constituencies, women and young people, who stayed away in droves in municipal elections in February leading to an all-time low turnout.

With just a tiny percentage of people bothering to cast their ballots, conservatives -- relying on a committed hardcore support base -- won the day. Many observers see the same happening next year.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=18812&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

EUROPE BIG THREE’S LAST EFFORT TO SAVE IRAN FROM SANCTIONS

TEHRAN 29 Oct. (IPS)

British, French and German foreign ministers are due in Tehran tomorrow 21 October in an unprecedented joint effort to persuade the Islamic Republic to open up all its nuclear sites and programs to international inspectors, just ten days before the deadline fixed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On its 12 September meeting, members of the Vienna-based IAEA Board of Directors gave Iran until the end of October to sign the Additional Protocols to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and stop “at once” all its activities for enriching uranium, a vital process in the making of nuclear bomb.

The Protocols would allow international nuclear inspectors and technicians to travel to Iran at will and visit all the country’s nuclear-related sites without any restriction and have access to all atomic projects.

So far, Iranian clerical-led government has refused to bow and on Sunday, Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami repeated again that while Iran is ready to “cooperate” with IAEA, yet it would not stop its uranium enriching programs.

Iranians insist that the nuclear powered projects they have under way, like the electricity plant at the Persian Gulf of Booshehr that is under construction with the help of Russia are strictly for civilian use.

But the United States and Israel, now joined by some major European nations are not that sure and believe that projects like Booshehr are “fronts” for concealing the build up of a nuclear arsenal.

What has reinforced their concern is the discovery of tow uranium enriching facilities that have been kept secret from the IAEA.

The Iranians say they were not under any obligation to declare these sites to United Nations nuclear inspectors when they bought second hand centrifuges for enriching uranium.

The joint ministerial by France, Britain and Germany follows the one concluded by Dr. Mohammad el-Bradeh’i, the General Director of the Agency who, before leaving Tehran last week, expressed cautious optimism about reaching a compromise with Iranian ruling ayatollahs on the issue of Iranian suspect nuclear activities.

"We found a mutual understanding", the French news agency AFP quoted Monday Dr Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, after what he described as two days of "intensive negotiations" with IAEA experts.

“Iran has now has a more positive stance towards signing the Protocols”, AFP quoted Salehi as having said, adding it was now up to the Iranian leadership to make a final decision on the issue.

But in a statement made three weeks ago, Mr. El-Bradeh’i warned the Iranians that IAEA’ main concern now was the uranium enriching programs and not the signing the Protocols.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi reiterated Sunday that Iran does not acknowledge the deadline, but added that progress had been achieved during el-Bradehh’i visit to Tehran.

Diplomats say the European Union’ s big three have for months been engaged in an effort to convince Iran to fully comply with IAEA demands, and say they were unlikely to make such an unprecedented joint visit unless they were certain of some success in ending the current crisis.

The initiative for sending their foreign affairs ministers to Iran was taken a month ago by President Jacques Chirac of France, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a letter to their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Khatami, telling him openly that if the Islamic Republic fails to satisfy IAEA, it could face harsh international sanctions.

In the letter, the three leaders offered Iran also a carrot, suggesting that in return for its compliance, it would get nuclear technical assistance and possibly supplies of nuclear fuel for its atomic reactors.

While the German foreign ministry said the three would "make clear" concern over Iran's nuclear programme, the French set the tone of high expectations by noting "the Iranian authorities now seem prepared to announce a certain number of confidence-building measures aimed at the international community".

In London, British Foreign Affairs Minister Jack Straw said in a statement: "Resolving the doubts surrounding Iran's nuclear programme is of grave concern to the European Union and wider international community.

"We will be impressing upon the Iranian authorities the urgent need for compliance with all of the requirements of the resolution passed on September 12 by the board of governors of the IAEA".

Straw has made no less than five visits to Iran in just two years, de Villepin visited earlier this year and Fischer was in Iran in 2000.

Salehi said Iran would also satisfy the IAEA's demands for answers to a number of "outstanding issues" -- in other words serious questions sparked by the discovery here of highly enriched uranium by IAEA inspectors.

Iranian officials said the foreign ministers would be meeting with President Khatami.

IAEA legal experts ended two days of talks with Iranian officials on Sunday, Tehran radio reported. The team had arrived Saturday to discuss an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty that would allow more intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. ENDS IAEA IRAN 201003

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Oct-2003/iaea_iran_201003.html

Kurds Wary of U.S. Promises

October 20, 2003
MSNBC News
Jennifer Carlile

LONDON -- In the Kurdish Community Center in north London, Diyari Kurdi sips steaming black tea and calmly recounts the relatives he has lost to Saddam Hussein’s regime: Twenty-four were gassed by the Iraqi leader’s chemical attack on the country’s minority Kurds in 1988 .Then, when a CIA-backed Kurdish uprising against Saddam failed after the Gulf War in 1991, Iraqi security forces took revenge by killing Kurdi’s grandmother and nephew.

The Fear of Saddam’s long reach even extended to Kurdi’s 4-year-old daughter, who was born in London but has never seen the family’s ancestral home in northern Iraq. One morning, 11 years ago, she awoke screaming: “Dad! Saddam killed my uncle!”

Disturbed, because his daughter had never met her uncle, Kurdi contacted relatives still in northern Iraq. They confirmed his daughter’s nightmare — Kurdi’s 13-year-old-brother had been shot dead by Saddam’s forces.

“Every single Kurd has lost relatives,” said Kurdi, 41, originally from Sulamainy in northern Iraq. Kurdi spent five years fighting in the mountainous region before arriving in London as a refugee in 1983, five years after Saddam came to power and set out to stifle the minority Kurds.

For most of their years in exile, Britain’s Iraqi Kurds have watched bitterly as Saddam has kept an iron grip on power. Meeting in community centers with some of the country’s 110,000 Kurds for cultural and social events and, occasionally, political rallies, their hopes of returning home were dashed long ago.

U.S. GIRDS FOR WAR WITH IRAQ

But as the United States girds for war with Iraq, and President Bush openly calls for Saddam’s ouster, history has taught the Kurds to be wary of American promises. Here in Britain, the Iraqi Kurds are refusing to be swayed by sentiment alone.

Washington sees Kurdish support as key to any military action in the region. Among Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the United States could count on a loyal guerrilla force of 75,000. The Iraqi Kurdish diaspora, with education and skills obtained in exile, is also seen as key to a post-Saddam Iraq.

Let down by Washington in 1975 and again after the Gulf War, this time Kurds say their leaders are demanding promises of safety and a role in an Iraq without Saddam.

“Kurds more than anybody else want to get rid of Saddam’s regime,” Kurdi said. “But America and Britain have their own plan — their own agenda. The United States and Britain let the Kurds down so many times. What are we going to get this time?”

NATION WITHOUT A STATE

The Kurds are considered the world’s largest nation without a state of their own. Denied their independence after World War One today 20-25 million Kurds live in Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, as well as in Western nations where they have fled repressive regimes.

Iraqi Kurds faced persecution under Saddam’s rule throughout the 1980s. Human Rights Watch puts the number who died in the dictator’s largest campaign of extermination against Kurds at 50,000-100,000.

In just one of dozens of poison gas attacks, 5,000 civilians were killed in the town of Halabja, the first time chemical gasses were used to exterminate women and children since the Holocaust. The local population continues to suffer from high instances of cancer and birth defects.

The Kurds complain they’ve been used as political pawns for decades.

In the 1970s, amid a territorial dispute between Iraq and neighboring Iran, the Kurds aligned themselves with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran, who was backed by Washington. But when Baghdad and Tehran made peace over the disagreement, the United States cut off all support to the Kurds. The Iraqi army took revenge by killing thousands.

After the 1991 Gulf War, with Saddam still in power, the CIA orchestrated an uprising using opposition among the northern Kurdish and southern Shia populations to overthrow the Iraqi leader. But when the Kurds rose to the challenge, the first President Bush shied away.

Thousands were slaughtered by Saddam’s forces, and thousands more fled over the borders to Turkey and Iran. As news of the televised catastrophe spread, the Bush administration responded by declaring the “safe haven” in northern Iraq so that the surviving refugees could return home and live shielded from Saddam’s military.

Iraqi Kurds faced persecution under Saddam’s rule throughout the 1980s. Human Rights Watch puts the number who died in the dictator’s largest campaign of extermination against Kurds at 50,000-100,000.

In just one of dozens of poison gas attacks, 5,000 civilians were killed in the town of Halabja, the first time chemical gasses were used to exterminate women and children since the Holocaust. The local population continues to suffer from high instances of cancer and birth defects.

The Kurds complain they’ve been used as political pawns for decades.

In the 1970s, amid a territorial dispute between Iraq and neighboring Iran, the Kurds aligned themselves with Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran, who was backed by Washington. But when Baghdad and Tehran made peace over the disagreement, the United States cut off all support to the Kurds. The Iraqi army took revenge by killing thousands.

After the 1991 Gulf War, with Saddam still in power, the CIA orchestrated an uprising using opposition among the northern Kurdish and southern Shia populations to overthrow the Iraqi leader. But when the Kurds rose to the challenge, the first President Bush shied away.

Thousands were slaughtered by Saddam’s forces, and thousands more fled over the borders to Turkey and Iran. As news of the televised catastrophe spread, the Bush administration responded by declaring the “safe haven” in northern Iraq so that the surviving refugees could return home and live shielded from Saddam’s military.

Now, although enticed by the hope of overthrowing Saddam, Washington’s plans fill them with suspicion and fear. “America’s agenda is not clear to us, and we don’t believe in promises anymore,” Kurdi said. “But if tomorrow Bush’s actions win us our freedom his statue will be everywhere.”

Other Kurds in exile say they are ready to throw their support behind Washington, as long as the Bush administration lives up to promises to protect the Kurdish population in Iraq.

Taha Kala, 34, also from Sulamainy, was forced to join Iraq’s military ranks in 1990. A translator who speaks four languages, he shifted between American and British English when explaining that he spent one day on the Jordanian border working with Iraqi anti-aircraft weaponry just after the invasion of Kuwait. The next day, he deserted.

“I did not want to die for my enemy,” he said.

Kala fought in the 1991 uprising and watched his best friend die outside of Kirkuk, also in Iraq’s north, then hid in the mountains of Iran with his parents and five sisters. Despite his anger at past betrayals, Kala said, “no one in this area is better for us than America.”

Washington, too, has plenty of worries about its once and future Kurdish allies. Kurds have long sought an independent state in the region, a development that could destabilize the oil-rich area — with millions of Kurds living in neighboring Turkey, Syria and Iran.

As Washington has increased its preparations for a war against Iraq, however, fractious Kurdish political parties have given assurances that they would settle for autonomy under a new Baghdad government. But the various factions have still failed to unite. An opposition conference scheduled for Tuesday in Brussels — postponed for a fourth time — was the latest casualty of the bickering between anti-Saddam parties, including the Kurds.

If Saddam is ousted from power and the Kurds attain a protected area for themselves, however, many Kurds who have received asylum in other countries are expected to return to their birth land. But after decades building a life abroad, dissident Kurdi said the move won’t be easy.

“I have two daughters born in Britain and a British passport. I have British friends from all classes and foreign friends from many countries,” Kurdi said. “But if I could go back tomorrow I would go. I would be proud to be there.”

Jennifer Carlile is an intern at MSNBC.com.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/834492.asp

Sudanese Official Makes Repeated Trips to Iran

October 20, 2003
Radio Free Europe
Bill Samii

Sudanese Interior Minister Brig. Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein is showing a great affinity for Iranian hospitality, visiting Iran in mid-October just three months after his last trip.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref-Yazdi told the visiting Sudanese interior minister on 15 October that the expansion of relations would not only benefit the two countries, it would help the Islamic community as a whole, IRNA reported. The Sudanese guest responded that the two countries have similar views on Iraq, Palestine, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Hussein, who is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of Sudan's Defense Industries, met on 14 October with Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ali Shamkhani, IRNA reported. Shamkhani told his guest, "Unipolarism which toes the line of a Zionist minority has targeted its attacks toward [the] world of Islam." Hussein called for greater defense and security cooperation between the two countries.

Hussein also visited Iran for three days in early July. During that trip he met with Interior Minister Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari on 3 July, and called for Iranian assistance to be provided to the Sudanese police forces, ISNA reported. The next day, Musavi-Lari and Hussein signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in fighting organized crime and police training, IRNA reported.

Hussein was part of a larger delegation during the July trip, which was headed by First Vice President Ali Othman Mohammad Taha. While in Tehran, Taha met with President Khatami, Republic of Sudan Radio reported. On 4 July, the two sides signed two MOUs -- the one mentioned above on law enforcement, and one addressing cooperation in science, research, and higher education.

Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining Awad al-Jaz and Minister of Investment al-Cherif Ahmad Omar Badr came to Iran at the end of July. Al-Jaz met with Khatami on 29 July, IRNA reported, and they discussed cooperation in commerce, customs, and aviation. Al-Jaz met parliament speaker Hojatoleslam Mehdi Karrubi on 30 July, and Karrubi said that the legislature is ready to expand Iran's commercial and political ties with Sudan, especially in the inter-parliamentary union, IRNA reported. The Iranian and Sudanese sides signed six MOUs on 30 July, Khartoum's "Al-Ray al-Amm" reported the next day. These addressed agriculture, banking, customs, education, and trade.

http://www.rferl.org/iran-report/

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Iran Cleric Calls Khamenei 'Dictator'

October 20, 2003
Dow Jones Newswires
The Associated Press

TEHRAN -- Reformist cleric Mohsen Kadivar called Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a dictator late Monday at a fast-breaking meeting following a daylong fast in protest of the hard-line government.

"Your rule was expected to promote justice. What we see now is the rule of a dictator," Kadivar said, drawing wild applause from the audience.

Hundreds of reformist lawmakers, students and political activists held a daylong fast Monday to protest the hard-line establishment's crackdown on freedoms.

"We are refusing to eat and drink today to protest lack of legitimate freedoms and violation of the basic human rights of political prisoners," leading reformist lawmaker Ali Shakourirad told The Associated Press at the beginning of the fast.

Shakourirad was among more than 110 fasting reformist lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat parliament.

After sunset Monday, protesters met at the headquarters of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Iran's largest reformist political party, to break their fast. Others attended fast-breaking meetings in provincial capitals.

Iran has been embroiled in a power struggle between elected reformers supporting President Mohammad Khatami's program of peaceful democratic reforms and hard-liners resisting them through powerful, but unelected, bodies they control.

Shakourirad urged hard-liners to "stop jailing Iran's best writers, teachers and intellectuals and abandon violating their rights."

Criticizing Khamenei is considered a taboo in Iran and critics are subject to punishment.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2003102019010000&Take=1

EU ministers put pressure on Iran

Straw in joint mission with French and German counterparts to secure nuclear agreement with Tehran

Ewen MacAskill and Dan de Luce in Tehran
Tuesday October 21, 2003
The Guardian

The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and two other European foreign ministers flew to Tehran last night expecting to secure a significant concession from the Iranian government in the diplomatic standoff over its alleged secret plan to build a nuclear bomb.

In a rare show of European unity, Mr Straw, Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, and Dominique de Villepin, his French counterpart, are scheduled to meet Iranian leaders today in a single mission.

Their main meeting is with Dr Hassan Rouhani, secretary of Iran's supreme national security council.

European officials have gone to Tehran over the past fortnight to prepare the ground and there is optimism that Iranian leaders are prepared to give ground before an October 31 deadline.

Iranian officials indicated yesterday that an announcement would be made today clearing the way for an end to months of stalemate.

The compromise deal would require Iran to open its doors to intrusive inspections in return for access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations watchdog on nuclear proliferation, is suspicious that Iran has embarked on a covert nuclear weapons programme and set the deadline for Iran to cooperate with IAEA inspectors. Iran denies it is attempting to build a nuclear bomb.

The three foreign ministers were invited to Iran two weeks ago by the Iranian foreign ministry. The three, in discussions among themselves over the past fortnight, decided they would only undertake such a high-profile visit if there was the chance of a positive outcome.

Mr Straw has invested an unusual amount of time in Iran since becoming foreign secretary two years ago. This is his fifth visit. He has persisted in spite of a cooling in the relationship over the past few months that has seen several attacks in which shots have been fired at the British embassy in Tehran.

Before leaving yesterday evening, Mr Straw said: "Resolving the doubts surrounding the Iranian nuclear programme is of grave concern to the European Union and to the wider international community." He added that the three ministers "will be pressing on the Iranian authorities the urgent need for compliance with all the [IAEA] requirements".

The three are looking for a concession in at least one of three areas: Iran agreeing to full cooperation with the IAEA; Iran signing an additional protocol to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to make surprise visits to Iranian sites; and the suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which the US and Europe claims is being undertaken in order to build a bomb.

In return, the three European foreign ministers will pledge to help Iran with an "assured fuel supply" with technical assistance in modernising its civil nuclear programme.

Agreeing to the deal will require Iran's theocratic leadership to forsake the possibility of developing a nuclear deterrent, something favoured by the more hardline elements in the clerical establishment.

"This will certainly infuriate the hardliners," said one Iranian analyst. "But Iran will benefit and so will Europe."

The powerful former president of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, was quoted in Iranian newspapers as saying: "We are involved in one of the most crucial moments for our country and a final decision should be made."

Iran's supreme national security council met yesterday and consulted the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to confirm Iran's stance on the compromise arrangement.

A European diplomat told the Guardian that a compromise agreement had been reached but that important details would be discussed in today's meetings. "It's safe to say they would not be travelling here if there was not already substantial agreement."

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1067535,00.html

Setbacks dog U.S. Iran policy

Around the world, Tehran has friends
Iraq lacked

ANALYSIS
By Michael Moran
MSNBC

June 20 — The United States began to show its teeth to Iran this week after a series of diplomatic setbacks dashed optimistic predictions of administration officials that an international consensus had formed about taking concrete steps to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The souring of the administration’s outlook was on display Friday as John Bolton, the hawkish undersecretary of state for arms control issues, said that military action against Iran is an option the U.S. is studying should diplomatic efforts to prevent Iran from building a nuclear arsenal fail.

“THE PRESIDENT HAS repeatedly said that all options are on the table, but that is not only not our preference, it is far, far from our minds,” Bolton told the British Broadcasting Corp. On Thursday, President Bush also toughened his public stance, saying that the U.S. would “not tolerate” a nuclear weapons program in Iran.

The speedy decline of the U.S. effort to win broader support illustrates an important fact: Iran is viewed quite differently from Iraq or even North Korea by most of the world’s nations. In spite of its record as a supporter of terrorist groups and its repressive Islamic leadership, it is more democratic than many states that the United States regards as allies, and its strong oil and energy industries make it an attractive investment opportunity.

DOWNHILL FAST

As recently as a week ago, administration officials were citing support from Russia, the Group of Eight industrialized nations and the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as proof of the progress being made by the U.S.-led effort to curb nuclear proliferation, which Bush has described as “topping the agenda” now that Saddam Hussein has been toppled.

But since then, across the board, actions the U.S. had hoped would lead to a strong condemnation of Iran for refusing to allow open inspections of all suspect nuclear facilities have fallen short.

A U.S. diplomat in New York, who asked to remain anonymous, said the U.S. had hoped the IAEA would declare Iran in “non-compliance” with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to which Tehran is a signatory. Such a move automatically places the issue on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council, which is empowered to impose economic sanctions and take other steps. The U.S. used similar pressure to win an IAEA condemnation of North Korea’s nuclear activities. But North Korea’s case is more clear: It formally withdrew from the nuclear treaty last year and has since publicly acknowledged its nuclear weapons research.

Toward Iran, however, “there just isn’t any support for this, for whatever reason,” the U.S. diplomat says. IAEA Director Mohammed ElBaradei, whose agency issued a report critical of Iran for refusing IAEA requests for open inspections at some sites, “still hopes he can convince the Iranians to let his guys in,” the diplomat says.

A VARIETY OF OBSTACLES

The U.S. campaign to isolate Iran is running up against multiple troubles, analysts say. The most important, according to a U.N. diplomat, is the continued anger directed at the U.S. for its decision to deal with Iraq unilaterally.

“A lot of member states were willing to sanction some kind of action, but only after nuclear inspections ran their course,” the diplomat says. “The fact that no banned weapons have turned up isn’t helping. … Some are saying, ‘Why believe them this time?’”

That attitude, for instance, appears to have persuaded more moderate members of the IAEA board to side with its director, ElBaradei, in seeking to win full cooperation from Iran before doing anything that might be seized upon by the U.S. as an opening for military action.

Another problem is Russia’s unwillingness to climb fully on board with the U.S. effort. Russia is earning $800 million for constructing a nuclear power reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr. Bush, using his good personal ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently asked Moscow to link further work on the reactor with Iran’s complete compliance with IAEA demands. But Putin refused, saying he had faith that Iran’s nuclear program was about energy production and not weaponry. The U.S. has dismissed this assessment, pointing out that Iran’s huge gas and oil reserves produce energy more cheaply and noting recent evidence that Iran is producing heavy water, a component of nuclear weapons but not something that is needed for the light water reactor the Russians are finishing.

On Friday, Putin reiterated his decision after a phone call from Iran’s President Mohammed Khatami. “The Iranian leadership is ready to fully meet all the IAEA demands regarding control over its nuclear program, Putin told reporters. He did not elaborate, and Iran continued to refuse IAEA demands to open several suspect facilities to inspection.

Iran's Tortured Path

The U.S. also lacks its own economic leverage since it never re-established ties or lifted economic sanctions that were the result of the 1979 seizure by Islamic revolutionaries of the U.S. Embassy and American hostages in Tehran.

TRADING AND UNREST

While U.S. diplomacy continued to be unconvincing to most of the world, there are bright spots from the administration’s point of view. In the past two weeks, students demanding democracy and an end to “absolutism” by the Islamic clerics who rule Iran again have taken to the streets. The demonstrations have been sporadic and largely free of violence, but some analysts see significance in the fact that the Iranian government has permitted them to continue even though Tehran has blamed the U.S. for fomenting them.

A more concrete sign that the Bush administration may be making some progress is in the European Union. This week, senior European Union officials, as well as Britain’s Foreign Minister Jack Straw, insisted that they would demand full Iranian compliance before signing a trade deal with Tehran that the Iranian government has been urgently seeking.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/929088.asp

E.U.'s Iran nuke mission under way

Monday, October 20, 2003 Posted: 8:56 PM EDT (0056 GMT)
CNN.com

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- British, French and German foreign ministers have converged on Tehran with a carrot and stick proposal aimed at persuading Iran to dispel all doubts its nuclear programme could be used to make atomic bombs.

Diplomats said the key issue in Tuesday's talks would be whether Iran insisted on continuing its plans to master the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including enriching uranium. Recent signals from Tehran suggest possible moves to compromise.

The EU ministers are visiting Iran less than two weeks before an October 31 deadline set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for Tehran to disprove U.S.-led allegations it is conducting a covert nuclear arms program.

"The IAEA resolution ... imposed very serious obligations on Iran and it's for Iran to show to (IAEA chief Mohamed) ElBaradei and the IAEA board in early November that it is complying," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters en route to Tehran.

"Our trip is intended to encourage them to do so."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived in Tehran a few hours before Straw while France's Dominique de Villepin was due to land shortly before the talks begin on Tuesday morning.

Underscoring a notably softer tone from Iran in recent days over the nuclear issue, President Mohammad Khatami hinted for the first time on Sunday that Tehran could mothball uranium enrichment facilities it began building in 1985. Some Western powers fear they could be used to produce weapons-grade uranium.

Asked if Iran may stop enriching uranium, he told reporters: "We will do whatever is necessary to solve the problems."

But a British official played down the prospect of a breakthrough at the Tehran talks.

Tangible result
"What we hope is that the net contribution of all these efforts is we end up with Iran abandoning whatever aspirations it has in the nuclear weapons stakes," he said.

"We're not going to judge it by whether there is a tangible result tomorrow. It may be that the tangible result is reflected in the ElBaradei report," to the IAEA board on November 20.

Iran insists its sophisticated network of nuclear facilities is aimed at generating electricity, not making bombs.

ElBaradei has warned Iran's case may go to the U.N. Security Council if he is unable to verify in his November report that Iran has no intention of building nuclear arms.

Contamination
U.N. inspectors have found arms-grade enriched uranium at two Iranian facilities this year, but Iran blames this on contamination from machinery it bought on the black market.

Low grade enriched uranium is used as fuel in atomic reactors but highly enriched uranium can be used to make atomic weapons.

Diplomats said the E.U. ministers would demand Iran cooperate fully with the IAEA, accept tougher U.N. inspections and halt uranium enrichment.

In return, the ministers would offer to recognize Iran's right to a civilian nuclear energy program, give some technical assistance and guarantee Iran's access to imported fuel for nuclear power plants.

The EU foreign ministers will meet President Khatami, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani on Tuesday, diplomats said.

ElBaradei, who has described the European initiative as a "win-win" scenario, was assured during a visit to Tehran last week that Iran would answer all the IAEA's outstanding questions about its nuclear program and was willing to accept tighter inspections.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/10/20/iran.nuclear.arrive.reut/