EU must press Iran on nukes
Chicago Tribune
Published August 10, 2003
The evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program grows clearer by the day. Experts disagree on details, but the consensus is that it's only a matter of a few years at most before Iran should have that capability, if nothing is done to stop it.
The full and frightening scope of the Iranian effort was detailed in the Los Angeles Times last week. The newspaper found that Iran has a secret, widespread, sophisticated program to buy or develop the technology to build a nuclear weapon.
Allowing Iran to build a bomb cannot be tolerated, as President Bush has said. A country that supports terrorism on a wide scale and brutally represses its people at home cannot be allowed to acquire or build the ultimate weapon. At the same time, however, diplomatic options to persuade Iran to halt its program are not plentiful.
Several weeks ago Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, went to Tehran to push the Iranian government to sign an expanded protocol to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. That would have allowed much tighter supervision of the Iranian nuclear program, including short-notice inspections at undeclared sites. There have been mixed signals from Iran about its willingness to sign, but so far the mullahs haven't budged.
The IAEA and the Bush administration must keep the pressure on Iran. But it is also time for Europe to move more aggressively to convince Iran to stop its nuclear program.
The EU, as a major trading partner of Iran, has far better relations with Iran and thus more leverage than the U.S. in some ways.
In the 1990s, European countries favored a softer approach towards Tehran, which was intended to foster reform-minded Iranian politicians like President Mohammad Khatami. But there's evidence that Europe is slowly concluding that the strategy isn't working to arrest Iran's nuclear ambitions. Khatami has defended Iran's right to build nuclear reactors, and insists that his country's efforts are focused on civilian application only.
Those assertions are not convincing, because Iranian leaders have hidden their nuclear weapons efforts for more than a decade and have failed to answer a basic question. Why, in a country rich with oil and natural gas, does Iran need nuclear power?
Partly in response to Iran's stonewalling on its nuclear arms programs, the European Union recently suspended negotiations on a new trade agreement with Iran. The EU is now telling Iran that more favorable trade terms with its biggest trading partner depend on Iran's unconditional signing of the IAEA's additional protocol. Furthermore, the EU agreed in June on a new foreign policy strategy on weapons of mass destruction that didn't rule out "coercive measures," including military action, to prevent states from developing them.
The EU's change of strategy is wise and welcome. But it must now back its words with action.
Several weeks ago, the IAEA scolded Iran for hiding its efforts to build nuclear facilities and import nuclear materials that could be used to construct an atomic weapon. Next month, the IAEA is expected to issue a second report on Iran's nuclear program. It could then refer the issue to the UN Security Council, which could impose trade sanctions or other punishments. It is crucial that the EU, along with the U.S. and the UN, present a united front against Iran's nuclear weapons programs. Such a front has the best chance of swaying the mullahs, especially if it is led by some of their most important trading partners--France, Germany and Italy.
The EU also should help the United States convince Russia to slow down, if not stop, its help in building a nuclear reactor at Bushehr--due to be operational by next year--unless the Iranians agree to stringent new controls.
The world must show Iran how much it risks--in economic sanctions and possible military action--if it continues in its headlong quest for nuclear weapons.
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0308100317aug10,1,5674932.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hedIran Radio Says 110 Have Died Crossing Into Iraq
Sun August 10, 2003 08:54 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - More than 100 people have been killed as they tried to cross Iran's heavily mined border to visit holy sites in Iraq over the last seven weeks, Iranian state radio reported Sunday.
Government officials have repeatedly urged Iranians in recent weeks not to travel to visit Shi'ite Muslim shrines in Iraq, citing security concerns.
"In the past 45 days about 110 bodies of people who illegally crossed the border to visit Iraqi holy sites have been handed back to Iran," state radio quoted Javad Salari, head of the coroner's office in the western city of Ilam, as saying.
He did not say whether all the dead were killed by mines.
Last week a senior police official was quoted as saying 42,000 people had been turned back from the Iran-Iraq border in the past three months while trying to cross.
He said Iranian pilgrims were at risk from land mines, heat exhaustion and general lack of security in Iraq.
Government officials could not immediately be reached to confirm the high death toll given in the radio report.
Thousands of Iraqi refugees, many of whom fled to Iran during former President Saddam Hussein's brutal repression of the uprising by Iraqi Shi'ites in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, have also been trying to return home in recent weeks.
The Iran-Iraq border area remains heavily mined due to the 1980-1988 war between the two countries.
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3251609