Bush Vows No Letup in War on Terror

Saturday, November 06, 2004

WASHINGTON — Fresh off his re-election victory, President Bush vowed the United States would not retreat from trying to spread democracy through the Middle East and would continue to pursue a no-holds-barred approach to Iraq and the War on Terror (search).

"I understand, in certain capitals and certain countries, those decisions were not popular," Bush said at his first post-election news conference Thursday. But he made no apologizes about the course he had set and said he would not back down.

Before flying to the presidential retreat at Camp David (search ) to rest after the grueling campaign, Bush took congratulatory calls from world leaders and met with his Cabinet to discuss his second term.

He said he had not made any decisions about personnel changes, although some turnover is almost inevitable in his Cabinet and White House staff.

"I haven't made any decisions on the Cabinet yet," nor about his top staff, Bush said. "The word 'burnout' is oftentimes used in Washington, and it's used for a reason, because people do burn out."

The first job to change hands could be that of attorney general, since John Ashcroft might leave even before the second term begins, senior aides said Thursday.

Others expected to leave — although maybe not immediately — include Secretary of State Colin Powell (search), Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (search) and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta (search).

FOX News has learned that Thompson has indicated to associates that he would leave early in Bush's second term.

"I'm proud of every person here — they've done a great job for the country and I've reminded them that even though an election just ended, we've still got work to do," Bush told reporters after the Cabinet meeting Thursday.

"I made it clear to them [the Cabinet] I was glad the election was over and reminded them that we're here for a reason," Bush said at the meeting. "They understand that it's such an honor to serve America, it's a privilege to sit around this table ... and do the nation's business."

As U.S. forces in Iraq mobilized for an all-out offensive against Fallujah and other Sunni militant strongholds, the president refused to say how much the war would cost or whether he planned to alter troop levels.

"I have yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops," the president said.

Privately, senior Pentagon officials said it was possible that more U.S. forces could be deployed before January.

Two overnight raids in Fallujah destroyed barricades set up by guerrilla forces inside the city. But troops have not yet moved into the heart of the city.

U.S. military commanders believe the insurgents have used the past few months to booby-trap roads and set up potential ambushes using homemade bombs, which they said might slow down the assault but would not stop it.

The president on Thursday expressed determination to see the Iraq mission through.

"In order for Iraq to be a free country, those who are trying to stop the elections and stop a free society from emerging must be defeated," Bush said.

He vowed to work with the government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi (search).

The president is expected to ask Congress early next year for up to $75 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan and operations against terrorism.

The White House said that with Bush's second-term victory and the planned Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, it sees a new opportunity to advance Mideast peace.

"I think it's very important for our friends the Israelis to have a peaceful Palestinian state living on their border," Bush said. "It's very important for the Palestinian people to have a peaceful, hopeful future."

Bush did not go as far as British Prime Minister Tony Blair in declaring that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the world's most important political challenge.

"I agree with him that the Middle East peace is a very important part of a peaceful world," said Bush. One factor in Mideast peace talks is Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom a senior Palestinian official said was in a coma in a French hospital.

Bush reaffirmed his policy, enunciated in June 2002, of an independent Palestinian state existing at peace with Israel. The U.S.-backed plan for peace, known as the "road map," called for the new Palestinian state in 2005.

"My hope is that we'll make good progress," Bush said.

The president sees the war in Iraq as part of a drive to establish a stable democracy in the Middle East and create a model for the rest of the region.

"And I fully understand that that might rankle some, and be viewed by some as folly," Bush said. "I just strongly disagree with those who do not see the wisdom of trying to promote free societies around the world."

Bush said he'd reach out to countries around the globe, as well as organizations like the European Union and NATO, to help in the War on Terror and spread democracy; he stressed that these are issues that shouldn't be politicized.

"Every American has a stake in the outcome of this war — Republicans, Democrats and independents," the president said. "We have a solemn duty to protect the American people, and we will."

Bush is the first president in 68 years to have won re-election while his party gained seats in both the House and Senate. He said Americans have embraced his conservative agenda.

"I'll reach out to everyone who shares our goals," said Bush. A day earlier, he had promised to try to win over those who voted for his Democratic opponent.

"I've earned capital in this election — and I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on, which is — you've heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the War on Terror," the president said.

FOX News' Steve Centanni and The Associated Press contributed to this report.p>

Cautious Mid-East optimism greets Bush win

By Jon Leyne
BBC News correspondent in Amman

Leaders and other senior figures across the Middle East have queued up to offer their congratulations to President George W Bush on his re-election. But many people in this troubled region view "four more years" with foreboding.

Effigy of President Bush during a protest in Iran

Anti-US sentiment in Iran was in evidence during a recent protest outside the US embassy in Tehran

Messages have been sent to the White House from Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Officials with Yasser Arafat in Paris have offered their good wishes on behalf of the Palestinian leader, even though Mr Bush has been harshly critical of Mr Arafat.

Iran has been less enthusiastic, but even one senior official there, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an adviser to President Mohammad Khatami, suggested Mr Bush's victory was good news because of John Kerry's lack of experience in dealing with the region .

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was one of a number of Arab leaders to call on Mr Bush to work harder for peace between Israel and the Palestinians in his second term.

"We hope Mr Bush's new administration, together with the EU, can bring influence to bear to arrive at a peaceful development in the region," the Egyptian leader said.

Fearing the worst

It's easy to argue that the Middle East views President Bush as an ogre. The picture is not quite that simple, but many do fear the worst from a second term.

"We should expect a more tense Middle East in the coming four years under Mr Bush's leadership," said Labib Kamhawi, a political analyst based in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"And we should expect a more arrogant and less compromising president, who believes that he has been re-elected because his policies capture the support and acceptance of the American people."

We hope the US administration will be more engaged in solving the Arab-Israel conflict

Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei

In contrast, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, described President Bush as "the most friendly president towards Israel that we have ever had".

It is that unqualified support for Israel that has alienated much of Arab opinion, combined with the growing number of civilian casualties in Iraq, and Mr Bush's uncompromising language of "crusades".

Yet, ironically, many Iraqis still support President Bush for getting rid of former President Saddam Hussein.

Additionally, some Iranians quietly hope Mr Bush will also help the cause of reformers in their country.

Israel knows it will have a firm friend in Washington, whichever party is in power.

But the Israeli leader, Ariel Sharon, also suspects he may come under more pressure during a second Bush term to withdraw Jewish settlements and reach an accommodation with the Palestinians.

Israeli commentators point out that Mr Bush might be forced to apply more pressure on Israel as the price of reconciliation with Europe and in order to defuse the situation throughout the Middle East.

Syrian, Iranian nervousness

No-one can be more nervous, surely, than Syria and Iran.

Syria is being pressed by both the United States and France to withdraw its remaining troops in Lebanon. Iran is in a continued standoff with the United States over its nuclear programme.

Yet any thought either country might be the next target for invasion is wild exaggeration.

Washington still maintains diplomatic relations with Syria - a long way from the chill that existed with Saddam's Iraq.

Even the toughest hawks in Washington know war with Iran is almost inconceivable. Indeed, the occupation of Iraq is already seriously over-stretching American forces.

Despite the widespread dislike of Mr Bush in the Middle East there are voices suggesting he is the man to finish what he has started.

Analyst Mr Kamhawi argues a victory for John Kerry would have done the region no favours.

"I always believed it was better to have Bush re-elected than having Kerry elected," he said. "Because, had Bush failed, a lot of Arabs and Muslims might believe that victory has been attained against Bush, and this is quite fallacious."

So the Middle East will just have to learn to live with President Bush.

Secularist dissidents agressed by Islamists in London

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Nov 6, 2004

Several Secularist dissidents, including an Iranian female journalist, were aggressed today, in the British Capital, as they denounced the organization of the so-called "Ghods Day" sponsored by the Islamic regime and several Islamist groups.

The dissidents were distributing leaflets and shouting slogans against the Mullahs' regime and Islamist fanatism; As Islamist marchers and several mullahs were promoting their anti-Semite and hate agenda under the protection of the British police.

Not astonishingly, most of British Leftist groups had refused to participate in the secularist protest actions intending to condemn the "Ghods Day". These organizations preferred to stay mum by leaving few Iranians and lucid Middle Easterns to carry what should have been the combat of all progressist forces. It's to note that most of the European Left wing is sick of its own anti-Israeli and Pro-Palestinian complexes to the point of being unable to differentiate between Human Rights and the gradual progress of hate and terror ideologies promoted by Islamist fanatics.

Ghods is the Arabic name for Jerusalem and the Islamic regime is organizing, each year, demonstrations and actions targeting the annihilation of the Israeli State. Such policy was instated by Rooh-Ollah Khomeini, the back warded and dogmatic founder of the regime, who was targeting the use of innocent Palestinians in order to solidify his power in the Islamic World at the detriment of both Iranians and Palestinians. In that line, the Mullhacracy intends, next Friday, to bring into the Iranian streets its usual "professional demonstrators" and some forced governmental employees and schools' students while it has invited, again, the heads of several Islamist terror and fanatic groups.

The SMCCDIt's Coordinator called, this morning, for the massive boycott of what has been qualified, by the terrorist and tyrannical Islamic regime, as the 'celebration' of the "Ghods Day". The call was made by Aryo B. Pirouznia during interviews with the well respected Pari Saffari and Cyrus Sharafshahi of the popular Los Angeles based "Voice of Iran" (KRSI) and "National Iranian Television" (NITV).

The Movement's Coordinator stated: "What can be a better sign of a massive rejection of the Islamic regime and hate policy than the majority of the Iranians who will stay home, on next Friday, and will leave to the clerics and their affiliates just some empty streets and dead cities ? ....Tehran alone has over twelve millions of inhabitants... What can do the regime will be to try to bring or force a maximum of one hundred thousands of individuals for its needed false show of legitimacy. But the World will surely witness the maturity and exasperation of Iranians.."

SMCCDI is known for having endorsed or being involved in various anti-terror campaigns in US, France, Germany and it has always denounced the hate and terror policies of the Mullhacracy. Statement entitled "Leave Palestine alone and think about us" or "Another mass murder in accordance with the worldwide celebration of Ghod day" were amply commented, in 2002-2003, by some of the main American newspapers, such as the New York Post and the Miami Herald, and various Middle East Political watch organizations, such as, MEMRI.

The Movement will be issuing, in the next few days, another official statement in condemnation of the organization of the "Ghods Day" and the Islamic regime's anti-Semite policy. It will also call on Iranians to show the power of their Civil Disobedience Movement by boycotting this symbol of terror and violence.

November 5, 2004

A New Beginning in Washington, an Old Menace from Tehran

As several thousands die-hard supporters of the Iranian theocracy were marking the 25th anniversary of taking 52 Americans hostage in Tehran on Wednesday, President George W. Bush was re-elected.

The Iranian state-run press decried Mr. Bush’s re-election as a “victory for violence and for Zionists”. "The United States is intrinsically opposed to the Islamic republic on matters such as Israel, the Middle East peace process, nuclear technology, human rights and democracy," wrote the Siassat Rouz daily. The paper, anticipating a more vigorous campaign by Washington in support of democracy movement in Iran, added that it expected "new hostile measures and new accusations from the United States".

A majority of Iranians, however, had a totally different view of the Tuesday elections, hoping that it would signal a new beginning marked by adopting a firm Iran policy in support of their movement for a secular democracy.

Ironically, it was the faithful 444-day-long occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, which introduced America to the evil of the fundamentalist inspired terrorism. This menace plagued the world ever since and culminated in the September 11 tragedy.

The 1983 suicide bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Riyadh, the 1994 explosion of the Jewish community center in Argentina and hundreds of terrorist assaults on Iranian dissidents abroad were part of Khomeini’s war on the free world.

Referring to the 1983 Beirut bombing, Iran’s former minister of the Revolutionary Guards said in the early 1990s that Tehran had provided “both the T.N.T. and the ideology” for the operation.

Years of appeasement, cloaked under the banner of constructive engagement, or the less-than adequate containment policy, contributed to the spread of Tehran-inspired terrorism as the mullahs soon realized that by continuing their rogue behavior they could gain diplomatic and strategic windfalls.

It is no wonder that even today Tehran is complaining it has not been adequately rewarded for its terrorist actions. On Wednesday, Hossein Mousavian, a top security official in Tehran said, "We showed goodwill and helped release the hostages [in Lebanon], but America reneged on its promises." Translation: we ordered our terrorist proxies, the very same ones we had directed to take American hostage, to release them but we have not been rewarded.

The absence of a coherent and firm policy toward Tehran in the past two decades explains why the mullahs embarked on running a very sophisticated clandestine nuclear weapons program in the mid-1980s. Then, warnings from nuclear proliferation experts and the Iranian opposition about Tehran’s menacing nuclear intentions went unheeded, prompting the clerical regime to continue with its secret nuclear program.

Now, as the world is faced with the specter of the most active sponsor of terror going nuclear, the European Union is again prescribing incentives and compromise to resolve the nuclear standoff. It has even offered more carrots following Tehran’s rejection of its initial appeasement package and is no longer calling for an “indefinite suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment.”

On this side of the Atlantic, the expectation is that the re-election of President Bush would herald a marked departure from the “engagement” policy – a legacy of the Clinton administration – still lurking within our foreign policy-making circles.

Last Tuesday, majority of Americans declared their support for President Bush’s vision that expansion of democracy in the Middle East, particularly in countries under totalitarian rule such as Iran, remained at the core of the war on terror and that nuclear proliferation by rogue regimes was unacceptable.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September, President Bush said, “For too long, American policy looked away while men and women were oppressed, their rights ignored and their hopes stifled. And that era is over”. Now that he is re-elected, he ought to put the diplomatic and political weight of the United States behind the democracy movement in Iran that is working to unseat the ruling tyranny.

Iranians are hopeful that America would no longer “look away” when it comes to their struggle against the religious dictatorship in Iran, opting instead to stand by the people and the anti-fundamentalist democratic opposition there.

Strategically speaking, this would be the only effective “stick” available to Washington as it tries to cope with Iran’s nuclear campaign.

For the next four years, “democracy for Iran, security for America” should be the guiding light of our policy towards the terrorists who are running Iran.

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Islamic Republic's Qods Day March in London Disrupted by Iranian Dissidents

November 06, 2004
Iran va Jahan
IRVAJ Network

Islamic Republic’s efforts to capitalise on the Palestine conflict was disrupted today in London by several Iranian dissidents who shouted counter slogans at the marchers and handed out leaflets describing the evils of the Islamic Republic to the onlookers and passers by.

The leaflet outlined the sufferings of the Iranian people at the hands of the clerics ruling Iran and stated that a regime which acts against her own citizens is no friend of Palestinians nor any other nation.

The leaflet also exposed the priorities of the Islamic Republic which purchased arms from Israel during the Iran-Contra affair but refused the help of Israeli NGOs to the earthquake victims in Bam.

Other notable events during the march was an Iranian female journalist who was attacked by one of the fundamentalist women while interviewing one of the Iranian dissidents and the refusal of a Left Wing English organisation to take part in the march after reading the leaflet by Iranian dissidents and talking to them.

The Iranian dissidents had gathered at the march after calls by Supporters of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Iran and the International Alliance of Iranian Students.

For further details contact : London@daneshjooyan.org

Following is the leaflet handed out by Iranian dissidents:

Freedom Loving People of Britain,

The Islamic Republic of Iran is exploiting the Palestine issue as a propaganda tool by holding an AL-Qods day rally in the streets of London.

In its 25 years of existence, the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed thousands of Iranian dissidents, jailed hundreds of political activists, closed down all the newspapers for the slightest of criticisms of its outdated ideology, and assassinated scores of its opponents outside Iran, including in Europe and Britain.

A medieval regime which claims to represent God on earth is no friend of its own people and has little regard for the lives and well beings of its own citizens, let alone the Palestinians and others in the Middle East. Islamic Republic of Iran, is an evil regime which thrives on exporting Islamic fundamentalism, meddling in other countries, and sponsoring international terrorism.

A regime which treats her own people in such brutal manner, is no friend of any other nation including the Palestinians. Her only objective by holding this Al-Qods rally is nothing but inflaming further a sensitive situation in the region.

Islamic Republic of Iran is the same regime which purchased arms from Israel in the Iran-gate affair and yet refused the humanitarian aid by Israeli NGOs during the devastating Bam earthquake. Such are the priorities of the Islamic regime in Iran.

The Iranian people in the last twenty-five years have experienced with their flesh and bones, the injustices of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian people have experienced the false promises of its founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, when he promised them free electricity, water, buses etc. upon his return from exile, but his religious dictatorship has brought nothing to Iranians except poverty, corruption, and terrorism.

We ask you to defy their Al-Qods day of propaganda by all means you can. The solution to the problems of Middle East is not Islamic fundamentalism but a secular democratic regime in Iran which can bring about peace and prosperity to the people of the Middle East and security for the world.

As the protesting workers and teachers shouted in the streets of Iran, ‘Leave Palestine be, think of your own people’

Alliance of Iranian Students in London
Supporters of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Iran

Iran Nuclear Talks End with No Agreement

Sat Nov 6, 2004 05:50 PM ET

By Leon Malherbe and Paul Carrel

PARIS (Reuters) - Talks between Iran and three European Union heavyweights ended on Saturday without an agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, a source close to the negotiations said.

Iran was seeking a compromise in the talks with France, Germany and Britain to avoid a dispute over its nuclear program being referred to the United Nations Security Council and avert the risk of sanctions.

The EU trio wants Iran to stop enriching uranium.

"At the end of difficult talks, the two parties made considerable progress toward a provisional agreement on a common approach on these issues," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

But a source close to the negotiations said: "Nothing is settled ... The discussions were difficult, very difficult. The Iranians struggled hard."

"Everyone has to touch base now," the source added after the second day of talks. "That's the end of this meeting ... There is no (further) meeting planned."

Iran denies U.S. accusations that it is developing nuclear weapons. It says uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in atomic power plants or in weapons, is a sovereign right that it will never abandon.

Its official IRNA news agency said lawmakers had drafted a bill, to go to parliament next week, outlawing the state from developing nuclear weapons in a bid to show the world that Tehran's atomic ambitions were entirely peaceful.

"Parliament intends to make it a law ... that Iran does not need atomic arms, to prove to the world that the U.S. and Israel are lying," lawmaker Hamid Reza Hajbabaei was quoted as saying.

At the talks Tehran was offering a six-month suspension of its enrichment program but Britain, France and Germany wanted it to agree to an indefinite suspension before an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting on Nov. 25, diplomats said.

If no deal is struck before the meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's board of governors, the EU is expected to support Washington's demand for a referral to the U.N. Security Council.

CHINA OPPOSES SECURITY COUNCIL REFERRAL

China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said during a visit to Iran on Saturday that it would be better if the matter were not referred to the Security Council, where Beijing holds the option of vetoing any sanctions against Tehran.

"It would only make the issue more complicated and difficult to work out," he told a news conference.

Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi added: "It is in the interests of both sides that the issue be resolved in a way that Iran retains its legitimate right to use peaceful nuclear technology and others are assured that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons."

An Iranian negotiator in Paris said a key issue was Tehran's demand for the IAEA's board of governors to stop considering it a case for special investigation. Any suspension of Iran's enrichment program would have to be "linked to the normalization of the IAEA process in Iran," he said.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said at an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Friday that Europe wanted full suspension of all uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing activities.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, said on Friday Iran had no intention of producing atomic weapons.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has encouraged Iran to reach a deal and offered to guarantee its supply of nuclear fuel if it abandons its fuel production capabilities, diplomats said.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in London and Paul Hughes and Amir Paivar in Tehran)

CHINA REFUSES HELPING IRAN AT THE UNITED NATIONS

By Safa Haeri
Posted Saturday, November 6, 2004

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TEHRAN, 6 Nov. (IPS) China said on Saturday that it will oppose the transfer to the United Nations Security Council of Iran’s nuclear file, but stopped short of saying it would use its veto power in case the United States and European Union’s three major nations presses for harsh sanctions against Tehran.

"My opinion on the issue is that referral of Iran’s file to the Security Council will make it more complicated and will not help with its settlement", Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Li Zhaoxing said during a joint press conference in Tehran, adding “the right way is to solve the problem through dialogue and negotiations”.

"Iran has had good cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and all ambiguities have been removed; thus, there is no reason to send the file to the Security Council", observed Mr. Li, who had arrived earlier in the morning for a two days official visit.

Veto cannot be used excessively since there are special limits to that.

But when asked by journalist if Peking would use its veto power against possible sanctions if Tehran was hauled to the Security Council, he said emphatically that "Veto cannot be used excessively since there are special limits to that".

"We must see if there is any ground for such a referral or who has the prerogative to do this", the Minister said, quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

But experts on the working of the world body expresses surprise, noting that both the United States and Russia have used and abused of its veto right, a power shared also by France and Britain.

“If the Iranians think that China would take their side against that of the United States at the UN, they are wrong, no matter that Tehran and Peking have signed a colossal natural gas deal worth 100 billions of US Dollars”, Professor Hermidas Bavand who teaches political sciences a Tehran University told the Persian service of Radio France International, adding that among the five nations that have the right of veto in the Security Council, China is the one that has used this power the least”.

“It is not in the Chinese policy to use veto at the Security Council unless there is something that affects directly its own interests, like the case of Taiwan and Li’s explanations about the limit, prerogatives or ground for using veto means very politely that Tehran should not count much on Peking for engaging Washington at the Security Council’, he added.

This view was confirmed by the Head of the Supreme National Security Council’s Foreign Policy Committee Hoseyn Moussavian in an interview with the hard line daily “Kayhan”, a mouthpiece of Mr. Khameneh’i.

"We would be mistaken if we thought China would ever stand up to the Americans and engage in an embroilment over Iran’s nuclear activities", Moussavian told the daily, quoting an unnamed Chinese diplomat as having told him once that the volume of our trade transactions with the Americans is “thousand times more than that with Iran”.

The United States is accusing the Iranian ruling ayatollahs of seeking nuclear weapons by diverting atomic technologies for civilian purposes and is pressing the international nuclear watchdog to sent Iran’s case to the Security Council for economic sanctions unless Tehran stops completely and indefinitely all activities related to enriching uranium, as demanded by IAEA in its latest resolution sponsored by the EU Big 3 and adopted on 18 September 2004.

If the Iranians think that China would take their side against that of the United States at the UN, they are absolutely wrong.

But Iran insists that it has no plan to produce nuclear weapons. "As we have often said, and even announced our jurisdiction decree on the issue, we are not after manufacturing, stock piling, or taking practical advantage of any type of nuclear weapons, strongly believing that a solid and strong nation and government relying on such a huge pious youth power is basically needless of nuclear weapons", Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, Iran’s leader stressed on Friday.

Asked about his phone talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw prior to his Iran tour, the visiting Chinese minister said "I told them that the Islamic Republic has had good, constructive, and positive cooperation with the IAEA”.

Receiving Li, Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator with both the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in the past year, Iran has satisfied all demands from the IAEA and now it is the turn of the Agency’s Board of Directors to help closing Iran’s file.

“We shall continue cooperating with IAEA, but would not accept the law of force”, Mr. Rohani told Li, adding that both Iran and China are for solving problems by the mean of negotiations and against a one polar world, a reference to he United States as the world’s sole master.

As Li was meeting with Iranian officials, including President Mohammad Khatami and Chairman of Expediency Council Ayatollah Ali Akbar hashemi Rafsanjani, in Paris meanwhile representatives from Iran were continuing “complicated and difficult” talks with counterparts from Britain, France and Germany.

Asked about the results of Saturday’s negotiations between representatives of Iran and the EU big trio, Britain, France, and Germany, in Paris, he said, "Although the two sides are holding tough talks, they are eager to keep negotiating.

"This is to the advantage of both parties to reach an agreement on authorizing Iran to enjoy its inalienable right to use nuclear knowledge for peaceful purposes. It will assure the other countries that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons", Kharrazi said, stressing that his country is ready to negotiate or carry out any confidence-building measure but not suspending enriching uranium for ever.

The second round of Paris talks ended after seven hours, with informed sources telling briefly Iran Press service that “all is not hat bad”. ENDS CHINA IRAN 61104

Europeans reject Iran nuclear offer

TEHRAN: European countries have rejected an Iranian offer to suspend its nuclear activities for six months, state-run television reported last night as China's visiting foreign minister sought to resolve the dispute without formal UN Security Council involvement.

China does not want to see Iran hauled before the council for possible sanctions over its nuclear programme, as Washington has threatened, but Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing would not say if China would use its veto to protect Iran.

Li's remarks came as Iranian and European officials met in Paris to continue negotiations aimed at a compromise.

State-run television did not provide any details about the Iranian offer, which likely would have fallen far short of what the US would be willing to accept.

Britain, Germany and France have offered Iran a trade deal and peaceful nuclear technology - including a light-water research reactor - in return for assurances the country will indefinitely suspend uranium enrichment and related activities such as reprocessing uranium and building centrifuges used to enrich it.

Iran has rejected any indefinite suspension, but is under pressure to make a substantial goodwill gesture of its peaceful intentions. If Tehran doesn't give up all uranium enrichment activities before a November 25 meeting of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors, most European states were expected to back Washington's call to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, was quoted on state television from Paris as saying both sides were showing flexibility, but that agreement had not been reached.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, speaking at a joint press conference with Li, described the Paris talks as "complicated and difficult".

He reiterated Iran's insistence that any solution must recognise Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Li said he had spoken by phone before arriving in Tehran with US Secretary Colin Powell as well as top British and Japanese officials about how to "properly resolve" the dispute.

"I told my colleagues that China supports a solution within IAEA," he said.

Tehran says it has already obtained technology to master the whole cycle of the nuclear fuel from mining uranium ore to enriching uranium.

Uranium enriched to a low level can be used to produce nuclear fuel, but if enriched further it can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran is not prohibited from enriching uranium under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, but faces growing international pressure to suspend such activities.

Iran wants China its top oil importer
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-07 10:29

Iran wants China to replace Japan as its biggest importer of oil and gas, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was reported as saying here.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing talks to the media while his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi (R) looks on in Tehran, November 6, 2004. China said on Saturday it would be better to resolve Iran's nuclear case without sending it to the U.N. Security Council, where Beijing holds the option of vetoing any sanctions against Tehran. [AP]

"Japan is our number one energy importer due to historical reasons ... but we would like to give preference to exports to China," Zanganeh was quoted as saying the China Business Weekly magazine.

"From the supply side, we have no difficulties (in making China the top energy oil importer from Iran)," the minister added.

Iran and China last week signed a preliminary accord under which China will buy 10 million tonnes a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 25 years in a deal worth 100 billion dollars.

The memorandum of understanding also grants to Chinese oil giant Sinopec the right to exploit the Yadavaran oil field on a buy-back basis in cooperation with a major international oil company.

On Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said in Tehran that Beijing opposed US efforts to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear programme.

"It would only make the issue more complicated and difficult to work out," Li said during a news conference.

The United States accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of its civilian atomic energy program and wants the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take Iran before the UN Security Council when the IAEA meets in Vienna on November 25.

News on Iran-EU Big 3 Talks Contradictory

Islamic Republic News Agency-News Story
Nov 7, 2004

Vienna -- Western diplomats and news sources have made contradictory reports on the outcome of the two-day meeting held between Iran and representatives of the European trio in Paris. Iran and the EU`s Big 3 (Britain, France, Germany), in continuation of their previous talks in Vienna, started a new round of talks in Paris, France on Friday and Saturday in order to reach a consensus on Iran`s nuclear program.

A diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said here on Sunday that the Paris negotiations ended with the two sides not able to reach a final agreement on Iran`s nuclear activities although they have considered the process of negotiations as "positive" and "progressing." He did did not elaborate on the issue, but expressed the hope that the two sides will gain access to a final settlement to the "complicated crisis."

The diplomat predicted that another meeting would be held between representatives of the two sides before the November 25th meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors to be held in Vienna.

Meanwhile, Iran`s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday that negotiations between Iran and the European trio in Paris were "complicated and difficult but constructive and progressing."

Talking to IRNA, he said the talks, which lasted over 20 hours, had made "considerable progress" towards reaching a preliminary agreement on a common approach to the Iran nuclear issue.

The negotiations, which began Friday, were earlier said to have been deadlocked over the duration of suspension of uranium enrichment, a condition imposed by the European side, and the timing or scope of incentives in the European Union`s proposal to Iran.

Tehran remains unbending to Europe`s demand for an indefinite suspension, arguing that it would infringe its right to pursue nuclear power for civilian purposes.

Uranium enrichment is permitted under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which Iran is a signatory and which is being enforced by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The secretary of Iran`s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Hassan Rowhani, told state television Saturday before the French Foreign Ministry statement that the talks in Paris were "very complicated and difficult," and reiterated Iran`s refusal to give up what Tehran sees as its right to master the sensitive nuclear fuel cycle including enrichment.

"We will not accept any constraint. It is us who will decide on the duration (of a suspension of enrichment) and we will keep it in place for as long as we want," said Rowhani, adding that both sides were sticking to their respective positions on the key questions.

"Negotiations were very hard and complicated but we reached a preliminary agreement on an expertise level," said Hossein Mousavian, head of the Iranian delegation in Paris.

"It is a framework that contains the viewpoints of all sides. "All four delegations are supposed to go to their capitals and if the capitals agree with the agreement, it will be officially announced in the next few days," he told state television.

Iran says its atomic plants are intended solely to produce electricity and denies US accusations they are a front for a bomb-making program.

November 07, 2004

Britain offers Iran nuclear plant aid

Nicholas Rufford and Robert Winnett

BRITAIN may help Iran build a nuclear reactor and supply it with other nuclear material under a controversial deal to persuade the Islamic state to abandon its alleged weapons programme.

The deal — discussed at talks that ended in Paris yesterday — would require Iran to abandon its own efforts to enrich uranium for six months and to stop other controversial work at its nuclear facilities.

In return, provided the regime in Tehran meets the terms of the probationary period, British and other western European technicians will help to construct a light-water research reactor there.

Work would start next summer after Iran has started to dismantle some of its own nuclear installations. It would also be supplied with reactor fuel for the plant.

The plan, understood to have been discussed at the Paris talks between Iran on the one hand and officials from Britain, France and Germany on the other, is intended as a way of breaking an impasse over Iran’s increasingly naked ambitions to develop an “Islamic bomb”.

As the talks in Paris concluded last night, the French hosts reported “considerable progress”. But a source close to the negotiations said: “Nothing is settled. The discussions were difficult, very difficult. The Iranians struggled hard.”

The offer is also claimed to have been discussed at separate talks in London this weekend between British diplomats and senior aides of Mohammed Khatami, the Iranian president.

There are concerns, however, that the deal will be opposed by hardliners in America, who have been pressing for Tehran to be taken to the United Nations Security Council for its repeated failure to come clean over its ambitions.

One critic of the plan said the solution being offered by Britain and its European partners was as bad as the problem: “It’s like taking a firework from a delinquent teenager and giving him a hand grenade.”

In efforts to reach agreement, a British expert in dismantling nuclear facilities — known to the Iranians as “Edwards” — is said to have been shuttling between Tehran and London for more than a year.

Any such agreement could put an end to a long-running row over Iran’s nuclear ambitions which has opened up divisions between London and Washington.

In what has become an increasingly dangerous game of international poker, Iran has repeatedly called the Europeans’ bluff, refusing a demand by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to halt uranium enrichment during negotiations.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog is scheduled to complete a report this week that will claim Iran has questions to answer over its nuclear programme.

The IAEA wants an explanation from Iran for the discovery by international inspectors of traces of weapons-grade uranium at one of its installations, and for its failure to disclose work on a new type of centrifuge for enriching uranium.

The report is being prepared before a meeting in Vienna on November 25 when the IAEA will decide whether to bow to American demands to submit the matter to the UN Security Council.

Iran is anxious to get a clean bill of health at the meeting so it can begin importing nuclear fuel from Russia for a nuclear reactor already completed at Bushehr.

Israel has warned privately that it may bomb the reactor if it goes into operation next year, as planned. It is not clear how any agreement with Britain, France and Germany would affect the Bushehr plant.

In a further sign of co-operation, Iranian lawmakers have drafted a bill preventing the state from developing nuclear weapons in an attempt to show the world that Tehran’s atomic ambitions are entirely peaceful. “In fact parliament intends to make it a law . . . that Iran does not need atomic arms to prove to the world that the US and Israel are lying,” said Hamid Reza Hajbabaei, a member of the parliament, known as the Majlis.

American experts, however, insist there is strong evidence Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. One of their main concerns is a planned 40MW (megawatt) nuclear reactor and a heavy water plant near Arak, 150 miles south of Tehran. When completed, the installations could produce enough plutonium for two bombs a year.

Britain believes a light water research reactor would be less open to abuse by the Iranians because it is not so suitable for making plutonium. The nuclear fuel for such a reactor could be made in Springfield, near Preston, or in France.

Experts nevertheless admit the equipment and material could still be subverted by Iran to make weapons. “Israel made 30 or 40 nuclear weapons from just a 26MW reactor so Iran could do the same with a research reactor,” said one.

Britain and its European partners have been accused by some in Washington of being too soft with Iran and even of giving in to nuclear blackmail.

At one stage in the latest series of negotiations the Foreign Office warned Iran that unless a deal was reached, it would back the Americans in calling in the UN Security Council, which could impose punishing sanctions.

Britain later appeared to back down when a Foreign Office official said Iran’s continuing uranium enrichment was “no longer the main issue”.

The plan to offer a light water nuclear reactor was first raised in document presented by Britain, France and Germany to a meeting of the G8 group of industrialised nations in Washington last month.

“We would support the acquisition by Iran of a light water research reactor,” the seven-page document said.

Sunday, November 7, 2004

The next surprise

U.S. policy should look ahead to challenges from Iran, North Korea
[Excerpt]

By Lee Hamilton
Guest Columnist

The presidential debates provided a clearer look at where the candidates stood on several foreign policy issues, but in a world teetering on the brink of chaos, a major challenge was not debated: the next foreign policy surprise.

On the 9/11 commission, we became interested in how often terrorism was brought up in the 2000 election. A careful review determined that terrorism came up once in the entire campaign, and was not mentioned in the debates - despite the USS Cole bombing on Oct. 12, 2000, and the east African embassy bombings in 1998.

Yet after 9/11, terrorism vaulted to the top of President Bush's agenda, and foreign policy issues debated in 2000 - Slobodan Milosevic, missile defense, humanitarian intervention - shifted to the background.

Unforeseen crises often consume a president's foreign policy. Upon taking office, the former President George H.W. Bush did not expect an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait; former President Clinton did not anticipate the amount of time he would spend on the Balkans.

This does not mean that candidates, and voters, could not have seen trouble on the horizon. Like terrorism in 2000, the 1988 situation in the Persian Gulf and the 1992 situation in the Balkans pointed to gathering peril.

In 1988, the Iran-Iraq war was drawing to a close and the region was unstable; in 1992, Yugoslavia had begun its disintegration. But in each case, key decisions lay far in the future, and candidates focused on more pressing concerns.

It seems necessary, then, to step back and consider what issues, floating under the radar screen, might pose problems for President Bush after his inauguration for a second term in January.

At the top of the list are North Korea and Iran. These hostile countries were addressed in the first debate, but the severity of the threat has not been fully acknowledged. North Korea likely has nuclear weapons; Iran is making progress with its nuclear program. We must decide soon what to do about this.

In the next four years, the president will face one of these situations: a military confrontation with one or both countries, the acceptance of one or two new nuclear-armed nations, or a peaceful resolution of differences with one or both nations that leads to their nuclear disarmament.

It may be difficult to conceive, but an armed confrontation with North Korea or Iran could push terrorism off the front burner of American foreign policy. Averting the possibility of such confrontations and halting nuclear proliferation will not be easy.

Pakistan also could pose enormous problems. Right now, we maintain a firm alliance with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. But there have been many attempts to assassinate Musharraf, and Pakistan is home to several strong radical Islamist movements.

It is not inconceivable that Pakistan - and its nuclear arsenal - could fall into the hands of an Islamic fundamentalist government harboring Osama bin Laden. This would immediately raise dire concerns - about nuclear proliferation, terrorism and the possibility of a war between Pakistan and India.

A crisis could also develop over Taiwan. China has stated its concern that the island is moving toward independence. If the Taiwanese do declare independence, or the Chinese act to pre-empt such a move, the United States might have to make a choice: defend Taiwan militarily, or see the island fall to Chinese invasion. Given our current deployment in Iraq, and China's role in the global economy, a confrontation with the Chinese would be immensely challenging.

The American people are right to demand a focus on Iraq and terrorism. But even these issues are laced with unpredictability. Consider a few scenarios:

• What if Iraq becomes a full-blown civil war?

• What if Israel strikes Iran's nuclear facilities or goes to war with Syria?

• What if a terrorist detonates a nuclear device in Moscow?

There is, of course, no end to these "what ifs." That is why, when we ask politicians for plans, we should recognize that the best-laid plans must adjust to circumstances. In a world of swelling turmoil, a jolt on any number of issues could cause the global scene to explode.

President Bush will not get through the next four years without huge and unforeseen choices - on war and peace, or terrorism, genocides, spiking energy costs, epidemics, financial crises or environmental catastrophes. Americans always must keep a difficult truth in mind: A president must prepare for the challenges clearly ahead, but also for those that lie around the corner. ...

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Lee Hamilton, who served Southeast Indiana in the U.S. House for many years, is the vice chairman of the 9/11 commission, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Readers may write him at WWIC, Ronald Reagan Building, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004.

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