More cheating by Tehran
February 01, 2004
Washington Times Op-Ed
Tehran doesn't seem to have learned the central lesson from the demise of Saddam Hussein: The rules have changed, and it has become dangerous to lie and play games with the international community when it comes to weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Just a few weeks ago, Tehran acknowledged that it is continuing to build uranium-enrichment centrifuges, which are needed to make nuclear weapons. This contradicts the announcement made last fall by Britain, France and Germany that Iran had agreed to halt such activity. In short, the European trio appears to have been hoodwinked.
In September, the U.N.-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called on Iran to suspend its uranium-processing and enrichment activities and sign a protocol permitting more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities. Iran agreed to sign the protocol and suspend the activities. In return, Iran gained a promise that it could have more access to high technology from Europe. Then, in December, Iran signed the protocol, much to the relief of politicians and diplomats in Europe and Washington.
Unfortunately, they were jolted back to reality when Iran announced several weeks ago that it is building the centrifuges. Tehran now brazenly claims that the deal does not require it to halt all "enrichment-related" activities and that it has the right to continue to amass centrifuges. France, Britain and Germany disagree with Tehran's very narrow interpretation of the agreement. But Germany wants to use gentle persuasion to get Iran to change its behavior, while Britain, France and IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei may be inclined to ratchet up the pressure if Iran's defiance continues.
"Iran is just the opposite of Libya," one frustrated diplomat told Reuters last month, referring to Moammar Gadhafi's renunciation of WMD and opening facilities up to international inspectors.
Of course, Tehran's cheating is nothing new. It merely continues behavior that has gone on for several decades. In November, the IAEA issued a 30-page report documenting Iranian deception about its nuclear weapons programs dating back to the mid-1980s. At the time, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton warned that if Iran "is continuing to conceal its nuclear program and has again lied to the IAEA, the international community must be prepared to declare Iran in noncompliance with its IAEA safeguards agreements."
Iran's continued cheating could have dire consequences. Henry Sokolski of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (who has been notably prescient in warning about the Iranian threat) writes in National Review Online that, if Iran fed those centrifuges with the enriched uranium that Russia plans to send it for the light-water Bushehr reactor, Tehran could produce enough material for a bomb "in a matter of weeks."
This week, a who's who of international terrorists — including Hezbollah and al Qaeda offshoots — are meeting in Tehran to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini's seizure of power. This event, known as the "Ten Days of Dawn," serves to remind us all why it would be intolerable to permit the Iranian regime to obtain nuclear weapons and why preventing this should be a top priority for American policy-makers.
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040131-104829-5803r.htmIran Election Row Edges Toward Compromise Solution
Wed February 4, 2004
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's pro-reform government said Wednesday it was close to resolving a bitter row with hard-liners over parliamentary elections that has plunged the Islamic Republic into its worst political crisis for years.
The compromise deal over the exclusion of hundreds of reformist candidates from the Feb. 20 vote appeared to have been hammered out thanks to the intervention of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali-Khamenei, who has final say on all state affairs.
"We hope that by tomorrow afternoon we can reach acceptable results which could prepare the ground for the government to be able to hold the election," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
He said Khamenei had called on officials to ensure a high voter turnout. Reformists have said the mass disqualification of candidates by the hard-line Guardian Council would dissuade an already politically-disillusioned public from voting.
"We hope the leader's views will be implemented," he said.
The Guardian Council -- an unelected oversight body dominated by religious hard-liners -- is expected to announce many of those barred from the election race can now run.
Reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami, who had previously said they would boycott the election even if all of the more than 2,000 barred candidates were reinstated, hinted they may be prepared to soften their stance.
"If there are positive developments we will review our decisions for the future," Ali Shakourirad, a member of Iran's largest reform party, told Reuters. "I believe there is a lot of hope but we should wait and see what practical steps are taken."
KHAMENEI: NO DEAD-END
The vast majority of those barred were reformists and included more than 80 current members of the 290-seat parliament.
Khamenei, who analysts had long expected to step in to sort out the standoff, said such disputes were not unusual.
"There have always been disputes. (But) there is no knot which cannot be untied... There is no dead-end facing the Islamic system and the Iranian nation," Khamenei said in a speech, excerpts of which were broadcast by state television.
Reformists had called for the election to be postponed, but Khamenei made it clear a delay was unacceptable, officials said.
"The elections must be held on the appointed date of February 20 without a single day of delay," he said.
Khamenei, who has tended to side with hard-liners in disputes since Khatami's 1997 election win, strongly criticized reformist officials for threatening to resign over the election dispute.
"Evading responsibility by resigning or any other method is illegal and religiously forbidden," he said.
More than 120 reformist lawmakers resigned from parliament Sunday and dozens of other officials, including vice-presidents, ministers and state governors, had also threatened to quit.
Khatami was due to meet later Wednesday with reformist lawmakers to discuss the latest developments.
Reformists say the mass disqualifications were a crude attempt by hard-liners to regain control of parliament which they lost to reformists in 2000 elections.
Unelected hard-liners control powerful institutions such as the military, judiciary and Guardian Council, which they have used to block reformist legislation, jail dozens of reformist activists and close down scores of liberal newspapers.
Public interest in the election row has been muted with most Iranians disillusioned with the reformist-conservative power struggle and the lack of progress on economic and social reforms.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4280545