Iranian Alert -- September 27, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movment in Iran from being reported.

From jamming satellite broadcasts, to prohibiting news reporters from covering any demonstrations to shutting down all cell phones and even hiring foreign security to control the population, the regime is doing everything in its power to keep the popular movement from expressing its demand for an end of the regime.

These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary.

Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.

EU FMs to postpone decision on ties with Iran

Brussels, Sept 27, IRNA -- The European Union council of foreign ministers on Monday is to discuss EU-Iran relations, but a decision to review a future trade and cooperation agreement between the two sides has been postponed until October, said EU sources.

EU foreign ministers in July issued a statement saying they will assess relations with Iran in September following a second report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran`s nuclear programme.

But a recent IAEA deadline to Tehran till end of October has delayed the council`s original timescale. Ministers are due to discuss ties with Iran over lunch, against the background of negotiations on trade and co-operation together with other issues such as human rights, non-proliferation, the fight against terrorism and the Middle East peace process.

The council is expected to welcome Iran`s cooperation with the IAEA, but will repeat calls on Tehran to sign the additional protocol to the NPT without any delay.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=18283&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

New academic year begin in Iran

Tehran, Sept 27 - President Mohammad Khatami stressed on Saturday that universities were not venues for riots, imitation and violence because such behaviors run counter to the true essence of scholarship.

The president made the remark in a ceremony held in Tehran University Saturday morning to mark the first day of the new academic year in Iranian higher education center.

He noted that exercising violence against universities by outside circles will harm both universities and Iranian society besides poisoning the community.

Stressing that universities and students must safeguard their independence and stay clear of any kind of circles, institutions and movements imposed on them from outside the universities, the president warned "the government and its members including me, to respect the independence, freedom of thought and spirit of seeking scientific and social dynamism in the universities."

Pointing out that "no fair people are happy with what has happened to our universities in the past years," Khatami termed it catastrophe to brand student movements and their demands, even if they are expressed in the forms of protests and criticism, as crimes."

He further remarked that Iran was at the present juncture experiencing a new phenomenon which had no precedence in the world and said this makes it necessary for people to tolerate one another and try to go through this stage safely by institutionalizing the rule of law and democracy.

The president went on to point out that the Iranian society has been witnessing a conflict between tradition and modernism in the past century.

He said insisting on the obsolete thoughts of the past people and thinkers without taking into consideration the demands of the time and imitating the life of others are among the problems facing the society over the past century.

He further referred to democracy as the historic demand of the Iranian nation and said the Iranians have been seeking "independence, freedom and progress" for the past one hundred years.

During the ceremony, President Khatami also awarded 22 top students who ranked first to third in the recent university entrance exams held in five different scientific categories early in July this year.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=189036

Persian Countdown Begins

September 27, 2003
The Ottawa Citizen
David Warren

U.S., West left with no stomach for brinkmanship

This was Sacred Defence Week in Iran. There was a big parade Monday in Tehran, to show off such hardware as the country's Shihab-3 intermediate range missile. It is a variant of North Korea's wonderfully named "No-Dong," and we got to see half a dozen of them. Among things we didn't see were the new, solid-fuel Fateh-110, first tested last year. The Iranians are now working on extending its range.

Among even less visible things, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency continues to find traces of enriched -- which is to say, "weapons grade" -- uranium, most recently at the Kalay-e Electric Co., just south of Tehran. Earlier this year, they found traces at the more remote site of Nantanz. It would be hard not to conclude from this that Iran now has an capacity to produce nuclear weapons.

The Iranian explanation of this is as rich as the uranium traces. They say their centrifuges were bought on the black market in the 1980s (apparently from Pakistan); that they've never actually tested the things themselves with nuclear material -- and so maybe somebody else did before them.

It is at this point that Canadians need reminding of the various official Iranian explanations of the death of Zahra Kazemi. The most recent line fed to our cherubic foreign minister (when he collared Iran's foreign minister at the UN) is that there will be some sort of trial of one of her Iranian interrogators, who now stands officially accused of what the laws of that land call "semi-intentional murder." Having previously heard everything from a candid admission that Ms. Kazemi was fully-intentionally murdered, to claims that she "unintentionally died," along with much bluster about how it was none of our business, I'm surprised we even ask for Iranian government explanations.

It is the same on nuclear weapons. One ayatollah (Khamenei) says Iran wouldn't dream of developing nuclear weapons; another (Rafsanjani) says the moment it has them it will nuke Israel. Moreover, the combination of aggressive bluster with the pose of baffled ingénue is endemic to the region. Only a country that allows full access to anything by international inspectors can be beyond suspicion.

This is the problem David Kay and his team of 1,400 weapons inspectors in Iraq is still dealing with. There is no possible doubt Iraq had illegal weapons at least until 1999, and plenty of documentary evidence has been discovered within the country's security archives referring to specific continuing programs. But other documentary evidence suggests Saddam was also trying to conceal, not the weapons but the fact he didn't really have anything especially lethal. The links between Saddam and international terror are becoming clearer, but even there we are still trying to penetrate the fog.

We know, however, what can come out of the fog. Examples were the attacks on New York City and Washington two years ago.

In the delightfully understated words of the chief of the Israeli defence staff, Moshe Ya'alon, referring back to Iran, "the combination of a non-conventional regime with non-conventional weapons is a concern."

According to several sources, Israel has a plan to make an Osirak-style first strike against Iran's nuclear weapons capacity. (I should think that would require a multiple strike.) We cannot doubt the Pentagon has its own scheme, if needed. The IAEA has given Iran until Oct. 31st to make the kind of complete and honest accounting of its illegal weapons program that Saddam Hussein was once asked to provide, and so we also have a countdown.

What we probably do not have any more is the political will to act.

Saddam Hussein's behaviour -- his track record with weapons of mass destruction in combination with his known ways of conducting business -- made dealing definitively with Iraq the strategic equivalent of a "no-brainer." But not even that could be done, except over the objections of a substantial part of even the democratically-elected world community. The ayatollahs of Iran are in the happier position of being openly courted by France, Germany, even Britain.

The Bush administration intends to pursue the matter through the Security Council, where it has even less prospect of inspiring decisive international action than it had over Iraq. And whereas Israel might suddenly act on her own, out of her own desire for physical survival, the Israelis have established a track record for empty threats. (The recent, quite serious one against Yasser Arafat seems to have been all but retracted.)

It is not strictly necessary to prevent Iran, or North Korea for that matter, from acquiring and deploying nuclear weapons, or stop them from continuing their trade in equipment and know-how with the world's terrorists, and other thug regimes. We could just wait and see what the consequences will be. The worst that could happen is the sudden loss of a few Western cities, followed, I'd assume, by an unrestricted conflagration along the lines of Armageddon.

But what's that against the danger of ruffling more feathers at the UN?

My sense is that neither the Bush administration nor any other has, after the international response before, during and after the invasion of Iraq, any stomach left for serious brinkmanship; and that U.S. domestic politics have also enquagmired President Bush. I am fairly certain that, at least, this is the Iranian (and the North Korean) view.

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/story.asp?id=65BDBE50-6F2F-499E-BD6C-517BFDC271DA

27/03

Foreign investment in Iran up by 70 percent over past 5 months

The total amount of foreign investment made in Iran`s economy over a period of five months starting March 21 reached as much as 836 million dollars, showing a growth of 70 percent compared to the past 12 months, IRNA reported from Tehran.

The Persian-language newspaper `Kar-o Karegar` on Saturday reported that 23 foreign investment projects had been launched in the Islamic Republic over the period, and that 78 percent of the investments had been made in such fields as chemicals, oil products, rubber and plastics and basic metal industries.

Kar-o Karegar quoted a report by Iran`s Center for Analyzing News on Privatization as stressing that foreign investors had invested over 650 million dollars in the said fields.

The center reported that Italy`s MCC S.P.A. has had the highest share of investment in Iran`s industries over the period by investing about 300 million dollars in the development of Phase 2 of the Almahdi Aluminum Complex as buy-back deals.

It also stressed that India has launched the highest number of investment projects in the Islamic Republic with a total investment of 5.5 million dollars. Germany and Turkey follow India in the second and third places.

The center further stressed that the British American Tobacco (BAT) has invested 34 million dollars for producing cigarettes in Tehran over the same period.

It also added that Turkey is constructing a plant in Iran`s East Azerbaijan Province for producing jeans, stressing that the project is worth 2.2 million dollars.

Furthermore, the center reported, Liberia has made an investment of six million dollars in a project to construct oil storage facilities in Iran to become the first African state to make a major investment in Iranian economy.

http://www.payvand.com/news/03/sep/1170.html

Bush, Putin Urge Iran to Abandon Nukes

Bush, Russian Leader Vladimir Putin Urge Iran, North Korea to Abandon Nuclear Weapons Programs

The Associated Press
ABC News
9.27.2003

CAMP DAVID, Md. Sept. 27 — President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Iran and North Korea on Saturday to stop their suspected nuclear weapons programs.
The leaders, standing by each other at a news conference after two days of talks, also said they looked forward to building a free, democratic Iraq despite differences over the U.S.-led war.

Bush, speaking about Iran, said, "We share a goal and that is to make sure that Iran doesn't have any nuclear weapon or a nuclear weapons program."

The United States and Russia, he said, "also understand that we need to work together to persuade Iran to abandon any ambitions she may have.

"What's important is we understand that its in our national interests to insure that Iran doesn't develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said.

Putin said the United States and Russia wanted to send "a clear but respectful signal to Iran" to increase its cooperation with the world agency that oversees nuclear nonproliferation.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20030927_495.html

Iran, Renault-Nissan to Sign Deal

September 27, 2003
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
IRIB News

Iran has finalized a deal with the auto giant Renault-Nissan to launch a joint platform for producing `L-90' cars and will sign a deal to that effect in late October, the press reported here on Saturday.

The Persian-language newspaper `Iran' quoted the President of Iran's Industrial Development and Renovation Organization (IDRO) Reza Veisseh as saying that IDRO would sign the deal after it has completed examination of the legal aspects involved.

Veisseh said that IDRO would sign another deal with the Renault-Nissan for implementing the joint venture which is expected to come on stream next summer.

He also said that the venture would eventually lead to the establishment of a French-Iranian company with a share basis of 51 percent for the IDRO and 49 percent for the Renault-Nissan.

Veisseh said IDRO and Renault-Nissan will work out a contract to grant the production license of `L-90' cars to the French-Iranian company, adding that the company accordingly in an agreement would transfer the license to two Iranian giant auto producers of Iran Khodro and Saipa.

He added that Iran Khodro and Saipa will be authorized to provide the after-sale services for the `L-90' cars.

The French-Iranian company will be commissioned to establish a site to launch the platform for producing the L-90s.

It will also be commissioned to provide all parts of the platform for Iran Khodro and Saipa.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=189023

Pirelli to Supply High-tech Fiber Optic Cable to Link Kuwait and Iran

September 26, 2003
Engineering UK
engineering-uk.co.uk

Milan -- Emirates Telecommunications & Marine Services FZE (e-marine) in the United Arab Emirates has awarded Pirelli the contract for supplying submarine and land fiber optic cables, terminal transmission equipment and accessories for a prestigious project which will link Kuwait City with Ganeveh in Iran.

The new cable system will enable the transmission of voice, data and multimedia broadband services.

The project is for Pirelli the first fiber-optic link in the region and is expected to strongly support economic development of the region through the diffusion of connectivity and telecommunication services.

The contract foresees the manufacturing and laying of a 350 kilometers long fiber-optic submarine system – plus a 50 kilometers long terrestrial system - capable with an ultimate transmission capacity of 10 Gigabit/second on 4 channels, equivalent to more than 160 thousand simultaneous phone calls.

“This link shall prove to be an important milestone and pave the way for tremendous growth of telecommunication in the region”, Mauro Sacchetto, Managing Director of Pirelli Submarine Telecom Systems commented. “Pirelli won a tough contest prevailing over many major technology suppliers worldwide”.

Ministry of Communications of Kuwait and Telecommunication Company of Iran are the work owners. Pirelli will incorporate the most advanced DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) submarine optical transmission technology. The initially equipped capacity of the unrepeatered link – which will use Pirelli cables with G654 fibers – will be 2.5 Gigabit/second, upgradable in accordance with future traffic requirements.

The link will be completed by second quarter 2004 and foresees also three branches to Failakah (Kuwait) and Kharg (Iran) islands and to an Iranian offshore oil platform. Pirelli will supply three branching units, sophisticated optical equipment that allow for data transmission on this kind of systems.

Optical cable will be manufactured by Pirelli at its Italian facility in Arco Felice (Neaples), the excellence center of the Group for these applications, while equipment will be manufactured in Paderno Dugnano (Milan).

http://www.engineering-uk.co.uk/eng_news.taf?_function=detail&_record=22850&_UserReference=43F75FE02C1A089EC32063B8&_start=1

U.S. Army Turns Over Policing of Iraq-Iran Frontier to Iraqis

September 27, 2003
The Associated Press
MSNBC News

Muntheria Border Crossing, Iraq -- The U.S. Army for the first time Saturday gave Iraq's provisional government responsibility for patrolling a stretch of the country's borders — a sensitive, 210-mile region of forbidding desert frontier between Iraq and Iran.

The transfer was significant, because it comes as the U.S.-led coalition faces pressure to give Iraqis more control over their affairs. And security here is crucial: The border is a popular crossing point for illegal Iranian pilgrims en route to Shiite holy sites, raising fears that al-Qaida or other terrorists could sneak through in disguise.

Calling it an ''important day for the Iraqi people,'' Col. Michael Moody, commander of the 4th Infantry's 4th Brigade, formally handed patrol duties in area to Iraqi Col. Nazim Shareef Mohammed.

Part of an American drive to ease the burden on thinly stretched U.S. soldiers, the switch marked the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein that Iraqis have been given policing authority over an entire border region. The American occupation forces now have only an advisory role.

''This is a great example of new Iraqi security forces taking control,'' Moody said. ''Each day the border becomes more secure. This is good news for the Iraqi people and the coalition.''

The frontier includes a craggy, mountainous region — some of the most treacherous terrain in Iraq — and temperatures often surpass 122 degrees. It runs from the edges of Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Iraq to a point just southeast of Baghdad, encompassing nearly all of Delay province, one of three under 4th Infantry control.

''If this experiment is successful in Diyalia province, then it is an example for all of Iraq,'' declared Lt. Col. Reggie Allen, commanding officer of the 4th Infantry Division's 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, standing just near the border.

Mohammed's 1,178-strong force is made up of Arabs, Kurds and Turks. ''We are unique,'' said Mohammed, a Kurd. ''This is an important day for us because we officially take over this highly sensitive border.''

U.S. soldiers started training the Iraqi border forces in May, in sessions that touched on human rights of detainees as well as searches for Islamic militants or suicide bombers of the Iraqi resistance, trying to blend in with pilgrims.

With no diplomatic relations between Iran and Iraq, many Iranians try to cross at a point about 75 miles east of Baghdad on their way to Najaf and Karbala — the most-sacred cities for Shiites after Mecca and Medina.

Allen said his 4th Infantry forces, equipped with armored vehicles and scout helicopters, have stopped more than 14,000 illegal pilgrims since the end of August.

The pilgrims often trek for two or three days through the wasteland to reach a highway just inside Iraq, hoping to hook up with smugglers who charge them up to $30 to drive them south to the two cities. They are often robbed by the people offering to drive them.

''The word is out in Iran that Iraq is free,'' Allen said. ''For years, Saddam Hussein did not allow them into the country. Now, they mass themselves in groups sometimes as large as 1,000 and cross. Some die of dehydration as they cross.''

When border forces catch them, the Iranians are held in a collection facility, screened and returned home.

Lt. Col. Vince Price, who runs part of the border with Allen, said border guards recently stopped two Afghans with Taliban identification cards. The Afghans were released, but Price said it was a sign of the close cooperation between the Iraqi border police and U.S. Army.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/ap09-27-093709.asp?reg=MIDEAST

Iranian Militia seize 14,000 Satellite Dishes

September 27, 2003
AFP
Yahoo News

TEHRAN -- Iran's volunteer Bassij militia have seized 14,000 satellite dishes from four workshops near Tehran.

A group of 15 men were arrested from workshops located in the city of Shahriar, southwest of Tehran, and the city of Varamin, southeast of the capital, the Jaam-e-Jam newspaper reported here Saturday, giving no further details.

On September 20, Iran's volunteer Bassij militia seized 2,000 satellite dishes from a workshop near Tehran.

Use and possession of satellite dishes are banned in the Islamic republic, punishable by fines and jail terms.

Iranian hardliners denounce foreign satellite broadcasts for trampling on Islamic values and say they are used increasingly by exiled opposition groups, especially those based in Los Angeles, California, to stir anti-government unrest.

But according to official estimates about three million households have access to satellite television, while security forces have in recent years only managed to seize 70,000 sets.

On January 21, the Council of Guardians, a conservative-controlled legislative watchdog, rejected a bill approved by the reformist parliament that would have allowed limited access to satellite television.

Meanwhile, two Iranian men identified only as Sattar A. and Hani L. were sentenced to 91 days in prison and 35 lashes each for trading in pornographic compact discs, said a statement from the southwestern Khuzestan province's judiciary.

Pornography is banned in the Islamic republic.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030927/tc_afp/iran_media_satellite_030927143145

Kazemi Murder Enquiry Farce Continues

September 26, 2003
Reporters Without Borders
RSF

Reporters Without Borders today deplored the conclusion of a judge investigating the murder of Canadian-Iranian journalist Zahra Kazemi that no state body was behind the killing and that it was simply the work of a single intelligence ministry agent who interrogated her. It repeated its call for an independent enquiry including international experts.

The judge, Javad Esmaeli, attached to the office of the hardline Teheran prosecutor, Said Mortazavi, presented his report on 22 September, blaming the unnamed agent, who has been charged with her "semi-intentional" murder, implying that he hit Kazemi without intending to kill her.

"We are very suspicious of this report, conducted under the authority of Judge Mortazavi, who has been implicated in this affair," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. "We hope that parliament's Article 90 Committee (which investigates public complaints against government bodies) will publish its own conclusions without making any compromises."

"What does the Esmaeli report mean ? Kazemi was held for 77 hours, during which she passed from the prosecutor's office, to the police and then the intelligence ministry. The commission of enquiry set up by reformist President Mohammad Khatami said she was "beaten" during the first few hours. How can Judge Esmaeli come to such a different conclusion ? Why has only one person been charged ? How did this person hit Kazemi without his superior knowing ? How can no civilian or military official not have known she was beaten ?" Ménard said.

Canadian foreign minister Bill Graham met his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharrazi, on 23 September and was assured that Canadian officials and Kazemi's family could take part in the trial, whose date has not been set. Reporters Without Borders hopes that neither the Iranian nor the Canadian government will accept Judge Esmaeli's conclusions and that a thorough investigation will establish the identity of all those responsible for Kazemi's death.

The case has become a political football between the reformists around President Khatami and the hardliners led by the country's Supreme Guide, Ali Khamenei, thus preventing a proper enquiry. The intelligence ministry, which is close to the reformists, reacted angrily to the charging of one of its officials and reiterated a threat to release evidence pointing a finger at Judge Mortazavi's office.

Kazemi, who lived in Canada, was arrested on 23 June this year as she took pictures of prisoners' families in front of Teheran's Evin prison. She died on 10 July from a brain haemorrhage caused by her beating in detention. After officials tried to cover up the cause of her death, Vice-President Ali Abtahi admitted on 16 July she had been beaten.

Her body was hastily buried on 22 July despite the request of her mother, who lives in Iran, for the body to be repatriated to Canada. The request has since been repeated by Kazemi's son and the Canadian authorities.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8092

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