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The Islamic Regime Poses Serious Threat

August 05, 2003
The Denver Post
Editorial

Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, a prospect that could threaten world peace by destabilizing the already volatile Middle East and Persian Gulf regions. Iran also may have medium-range missiles capable of hitting Israel, Turkey and parts of Europe. The Bush administration, unfortunately, has few options for dealing with the situation.

To understand how close the nightmare is to reality, it helps to put recent news accounts in perspective. To do so, it's useful to know a little about how nuclear bombs work.

In simple terms, Iran needs to solve two technical problems to make its atomic bombs work.

One is to develop highly enriched uranium, an element that can be made to fission, or be flung apart at the atomic level. Unlike Iraq, which would have had to buy or steal the prized uranium, Iran could become self-sufficient in enriched uranium. It has vast natural deposits of uranium ore, so it needn't buy the basic materials from abroad. It also has constructed facilities that turn uranium into enriched uranium. Among them are the hundreds of centrifuges that international weapons inspectors discovered this spring about 200 miles south of Teheran.

The second crucial technical challenge is making plutonium, an element that doesn't exist in nature but can be created inside some types of nuclear reactors. Iran is building exactly the kinds of nuclear reactors that make plutonium - a major worry for the Bush administration. If Iran's goal was just to produce electricity, as it claims, it wouldn't need these sorts of reactors.

All Iran needs now is a little more know-how and machinery, and the sponsor of international terrorism will possess the ultimate political and diplomatic sledgehammer.

The conundrum for the Bush administration is how to stop Iran from taking these final steps. Unlike Iraq, Iran isn't burdened by a bevy of United Nations resolutions, so the Bush administration must build a case against Iran's weapons program almost from scratch.

U.S. military action would entail more serious risks than war in Iraq. For example, Iran has a formidable military, including a submarine fleet. Worse, if Iran is closer to building nuclear weapons than experts believe, a military confrontation could have unthinkable consequences.

The United States needs international help in curbing the Iranian threat. Since the prospect of a nuclear Iran would unsettle the global security calculus, the United States may find numerous allies in this matter.

Russia is largely responsible for getting Iran to this worrisome point because Moscow for years sold Teheran important machinery - and perhaps supplied scientists and technicians as well. This summer, though, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program. While belated, Putin's public worry is welcome. Even Moscow, it seems, doesn't want a radical regime across its backyard fence to become a nuclear menace.

In addition, it was the International Atomic Energy Agency that reported that Iran possesses the centrifuges - which are forbidden by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that Iran signed years ago. The IAEA didn't declare Iran in violation of the treaty, as the Bush administration wanted it to do. Still, the IAEA report all but invited the U.N. Security Council to act. The Security Council should do so.

Meanwhile, the United States should encourage political factions in Iran that want to replace the current repressive, corrupt regime with a more open, tolerant government. Hardliners may use any bullying by the Bush administration to shore up support for the tottering Teheran regime. So, U.S. support for political change must be quiet and largely behind the scenes.

Neither move removes the problem. But together, they represent ways for the United States and the United Nations to start solving the dangerous puzzle.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~417~1551681,00.html

Security sources: Iran has financed most attacks since truce

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
Last Update: 05/08/2003 22:25

Most terror attacks carried out since the cease-fire agreement between the Palestinian Authority and militant factions was signed in June were organized by Fatah members, who received orders and financing from Iran, security officials said Tuesday.

According to security sources, the militant organizations are also trying to send representatives abroad through the Rafah crossing in the Gaza Strip, which borders the Israel-Egypt frontier.

The armed militants who receive orders from Iran are members of local cells belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades, associated with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, but they do not necessarily adhere to orders from the party's political leadership, and are more dependent on
money and orders coming from Iran and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization, which is based in Lebanon.

Since the hudna agreement was signed on June 29, the Israeli security establishment has uncovered several attempts to transfer information on weapons from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are also
expecting large-scale deliveries of weapons smuggled through tunnels across the border with Egypt, the sources said.

Since the truce was declared, there have been 178 terror attacks in the territories, 118 of which were shooting attacks. The IDF and the Shin Bet security service have arrested 75 terrorists, and the Shin Bet says that 36
large-scale terror attacks have been foiled.

Three Israelis and one Bulgarian national have died in terror attacks since the agreement was signed.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/325909.html

N.Korea Plans to Export Missiles to Iran

Reuters
Tuesday, August 5, 2003; 11:37 PM

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea is in talks to export its Taepodong 2 long-range ballistic missile to Iran and to jointly develop nuclear warheads with Tehran, a Japanese newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The conservative Sankei Shimbun, quoting military sources familiar with North Korea, said that the communist state planned to export components and Iran would then assemble the Taepodongs at a factory near Tehran.

The paper, known for its hardline stance on Pyongyang, said North Korea would also send experts to provide Iran with assistance on missile technology and the two states -- both included in President Bush's "axis of evil" -- would jointly develop nuclear warheads.

They have been discussing the plans for about a year and are expected to reach an agreement in mid-October, the Sankei added.

The United States and North Korea's neighbors are putting pressure on Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear programs. North Korea has finally agreed to multilateral talks, which are expected to take place in Beijing later this month or early in September.

If Iran acquires the Taepodong 2, which has a range of over 6,000 km (3,700 miles), it would be able to hit targets in Europe, the paper said.

Missile exports are a vital source of foreign currency for cash-strapped North Korea and it is widely believed that Pyongyang has had dealings with countries in the Middle East as well as with Pakistan.

Iran said last month that it had completed tests on its Shahab 3 ballistic missiles, based on the North Korean Rodong 1.

The Japanese report is likely to fuel suspicions that Tehran is using its commercial nuclear program to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied any plans to build nuclear weapons, saying its program is for civilian use.

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Number 2 of Egyptian group Al-Jihad held in Iran

World News
Aug 5, 2003

CAIRO - The second in command of Egyptian Islamist group Al-Jihad, Sarwat Salah Shehata, has been arrested in Iran and will be extradited along with dozens of other Arab prisoners, a lawyer said Tuesday.

Sentenced twice to the death penalty in absentia by Egyptian courts, Shehata is being held with around 350 Arab and Egyptian Islamic militants, lawyer Hani al-Sebai told AFP.

"Egypt recently sent an interior ministry delegation (to Iran) to identify Egyptian prisoners, before making an official request for their extradition," said the London-based Sebai.

His claims could not be corroborated by the Egyptian government.

Shehata left Egypt in 1991 for Afghanistan, where he worked with fellow Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's right hand man and number two of the al-Qaeda terror network.

However, the Egyptian lawyer told Arab daily Al-Hayat that Shehata is not linked to the group, accused by the United States of carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

The lawyer insisted that Shehata led a group of Jihad (holy war) fighters who broke away from Zawahri and bin Laden in 1998, but he is on a US list of most wanted Islamic militants, drawn up after the attacks.

It is unclear when Shehata was arrested, but he has lived in Iran for two years, Sebai told AFP.

"Several Arab militants, arrested since September 11 2001, have already been extradited to Europe or their home countries, frequently via Syria," Sebai told AFP during a telephone interview.

"The Iranian authorities have set up a special detention centre for militants and their families," he added.

Diplomatic sources and the Arab media say Iran is holding Saad bin Laden, a son of the al Qaeda leader, stripped of his Saudi nationality; Zawahri; another Egyptian Saif al-Adel, who became al-Qaeda number three after military operations chief, Mohammad Atef, died in Afghanistan; and Kuwaiti Suleiman Abu Ghaith, the network's spokesman, also stripped of his nationality.

However, Sebai however, told AFP that Zawahri was not among these prisoners.

On Sunday, Dubai-based satellite television channel Al-Arabiya broadcast an audiotape purported to have been made by Zawahri, vowing to take revenge if any prisoners held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba were sentenced to death.

Tehran said Monday it had decided to keep secret the identities of al-Qaeda

suspects in its custody "for security reasons" and ruled out a tradeoff with Washington for members of the Iranian armed opposition People's Mujahedeen.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_1571.shtml