Israeli FM Raises Concern about Iran with Rice
July 02, 2004 The Associated Press Barry Schweid
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told the White House on Friday that Iran was trying to develop longer-range missiles that could pose a threat to European nations.
Shalom took his concerns to Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, and then told reporters: "We cannot allow the Iranians to move forward in their efforts to develop nuclear weapons."
Israel's long-held concern that it could be targeted was registered again by Shalom. "The Iranians still continue to do everything they can in order to develop nuclear weapons that might, of course, be used against Israel," he said.
In fact, the foreign minister said, Iranians have warned on several occasions that one missile fired toward Israel would destroy the country.
"I believe the concern of Israel is shared by many other countries that know how the Iranians are trying to develop new missiles with much longer range," he said, adding that they might hit many European countries, such as France, Britain, Germany and Russia.
Shalom also said Iran was involved in terror attacks, saying, "They are trying to recruit more volunteers to carry out suicide attacks against Israelis and against Western countries."
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Iran Is in Strong Position to Steer Iraq's Political Future
By EDWARD WONG NYTimes Published: July 3, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 2 — With the chaos of the occupation and now the loosening of American control here, Iran has moved into its best position in decades to influence the political shape of Iraq, Western and Iraqi officials say.
Already, the Iranian government has quietly strengthened its presence in Iraq by providing financial backing to a range of popular Shiite Muslim groups and by flooding the country with intelligence agents, the officials say.
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A senior American military official said in an e-mail message that the United States Army has observed "a large amount of U.S. currency being passed by Iran" to Sciri, which was founded in 1982 by an Iraqi ayatollah exiled in Iran. The money was exchanged for "the supposed purpose of paying salaries and maintenance of vehicles and facilities," the official said.
Humam Bakr Hamody, a senior Sciri official, played down the link. "Sciri is not related to the Iranian government and has different positions and opinions," he said.
The party had received money from sources in many Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, he added, and the funds had come from individual donors rather than governments. Money is delivered to the party over the Iranian border because there is no reliable way to wire money to Iraq, he said.
A senior Iraqi Shiite official familiar with the security situation here confirmed that financial transactions were taking place between Iran and various Shiite parties. Those include the militia led by Mr. Sadr, the 31-year-old Shiite cleric who is more popular than ever in Iraq after leading his spring rebellion against the occupation forces.
The American military, seeking to avoid street-to-street fighting in Najaf, a city held sacred by Shiites for its shrines, has backed down from its promise to kill or capture Mr. Sadr.
American soldiers seized large stashes of Iranian currency during arrests of Mr. Sadr's aides, an American military official said. But it was unclear whether that indicated direct involvement by the Iranian government in the insurgency.
In May, when anti-American fighting peaked in the city of Kufa, the main mosque there, a Sadr stronghold, broadcast pleas for blood donations in both Arabic and Persian, the language of Iran. At the time, Iranian pilgrimages to the city had dried up, and the calls for aid in Persian fueled suspicions that Iranian fighters had joined Mr. Sadr's militia.
A resident of Kufa said in an interview at the time of the uprisings that he opened his door one day to find two Persian-speaking militiamen setting up a mortar outside.
Mr. Sadr has been open about his allegiance to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Last month, a Sadr aide said in a sermon at the Kufa mosque that Mr. Sadr "promises God and Muslim countries" that he will "keep following Khomeini" as long as he lives. One of the most zealous units of Mr. Sadr's militia is named after Ayatollah Khomeini.
Mr. Sadr's fealty to the late ayatollah stems from long family ties across the border and a history of adversity under Mr. Hussein's rule.
Movement across the 900-mile border is much freer than under the rule of Saddam Hussein, as evidenced by the droves of Iranian pilgrims flocking to the Shiite holy cities of southern Iraq and the daily smuggling of goods and people.
Most worrisome to American officials are Iran's close ties to powerful Shiite clerics like Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who was born in Iran, and Moktada al-Sadr, who led a fierce rebellion against American forces for nearly three months this spring. American officials believe that Iran might have partly financed Mr. Sadr's movement.
Though Shiites are a majority in both nations, Iraqis are torn between religious and national loyalties. Just how much sway Iran will exert over a new Iraq is far from clear. But some warn that Iran, the world's dominant seat of Shiite Islam, could be the silent power broker as Iraq heads toward elections in January.
Iran's aim, Iraqi and Western officials say, is to shape an Iraq run by religious Shiite politicians who could serve as proxies of the clerics in both countries.
"They want a failure of America in Iraq, but they hope the country will be stable enough not to destabilize Iran," said a Western diplomat in Baghdad with extensive experience in the region. "The best thing for them would be a stabilized Iraq with a friendly Shia power in Baghdad created in opposition to the occupation forces."
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Cuban leader meets Iranian foreign minister
HAVANA, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro met Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi on Friday, discussing economic cooperation and regional political issues, local press said.
The top Iranian diplomat concluded a 24-hour visit in the Caribbean country Friday, during which he also met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez and Interior Minister Ricardo Cabrisas.
Kharazi said he and Castro had a "very interesting" meeting in which they talked about economic cooperation, and political and regional affairs.
He said the two sides are willing to extend bilateral cooperation.
During a meeting with his Cuban counterpart Thursday, Kharazi criticized the United States' Cuba policy and emphasized multilateralism in international affairs.
Describing the relations between Iran and Cuba as excellent, hesaid his visit provides a good chance to hold bilateral talks, study ways and forms of developing the ties and exchange views on regional and international situation.
Cuba and Iran normalized diplomatic relations in 1979 after thevictory of the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Enditem
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Tehran, July 2 - Chairman of the Expediency Council (EC) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani here on Friday called US President George Bush the "real criminal" in the court case against the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein, stressing that Bush must also be put on trial.
"Today, the world's monsters are standing face to face, and the real criminal is US President Bush who must be indicted," Rafsanjani said at a sermon to Tehran Friday Prayers.
He criticized the us for holding the trial of the Iraqi dictator in-camera, and said Saddam must be tried for the crimes that he has perpetrated in the eight-year war against Iran, 1980-88, as well.
"The US always asks others to be transparent. But why have they held the first hearing of the court in-camera?" he asked. "That they show footages of the hearing with no voice indicates that this is not a trial."
Rafsanjani said the weakest point with Saddam's trial is that his crimes against Iran have not been included in his indictment.
Straight through the uprights.
The Iranian's would turn it into a political forum for their own agenda. Good eyes.
