Iranian Alert -- August 14, 2003 -- 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.

Zanganeh says increasing Iraqi supply will push down OPEC prices

Tehran, Aug 13, IRNA -- Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said here
Wednesday that an increase in Iraq's oil exports would be highly
significant in pushing down prices of OPEC crude on the market.
Commenting on the outcome of Iraq's entry to the oil market,
Zanganeh told reporters at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting that
higher supply has a reverse impact on demand.
Zanganeh turned to Iran's oil exploration and exploitation
projects, saying a semi-submersible oil rig is under construction in
the resource-rich sea by Iranian Company Sadra with an almost 50
percent progress and the capacity to operate in water and drill depths
of up to 800 to 900 meters.
He said the new-generation rig will be delivered to contractors in
the inland sea by end of the current Iranian year in March.
Public Relations Department at National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC)
had recently reported that operations on the project had shown more
than 59 percent progress until the end of `Khordad', the third month
in Iranian calendar, and the project is going to get complete by mid
next year.
The NIOC Public Relations Department had said the consortium of
Iran Maritime Industries (Sadra) and Swedish GVA-C Corp., had won a
bid on the dlrs 215 million contract in 2001.
Sadra has also won a dlrs 50.6 million plus rls 48 billion
contract in two chunks of international tenders in January 2002 for
construction of three more such rigs.

http://www.irna.ir/en/tnews/030814181154.etn03.shtml

New American-Style TV Show Is Beamed to Tehran in Persian

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 — At first glance, the broadcast that emanates each afternoon from a small studio in the Voice of America headquarters near the National Mall looks like a typical American news program.

A sophisticated anchor recounts the major events of the day. Satellite images from across the globe accompany her commentary, giving the broadcast a polished look. The program, however, is broadcast in Persian, and domestic news refers to events in Iran.

The show is "News and Views," the third television or radio program started by the United States for an Iranian audience since President Bush labeled the country part of an "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address.

Last September, the Voice of America began broadcasting "Next Chapter," an MTV-influenced weekly television show that illustrates the lifestyles of hip, young Iranian-Americans. Three months later, the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty jointly started Radio Farda ("tomorrow" in Persian), a round-the-clock broadcast of news and music. "News and Views" began on July 6 — three days before the anniversary of pro-democracy demonstrations in Iran in 1999.

In response, the Iranian government has jammed radio and television satellite signals, making it difficult for people in Iran to receive the programs consistently.

Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, says Iran is waging a "systematic campaign" to keep the truth from its people.

Since 1996 the Voice of America's Persian Service has broadcast "Round Table With You," a weekly call-in television show. The radio and television programs added in the past year have sought to engage the Iranian people further, especially the under-30 group that makes up 70 percent of the country's population.

Ahmad Baharloo, executive producer of "News and Views," said the program was "descriptive, not prescriptive." It is also markedly different from privately financed broadcasts from the United States. Typically broadcast from Los Angeles, home to a large Iranian-American population, many of the privately sponsored programs are stridently opposed to the Tehran government.

Mr. Tomlinson denied that the American government was financing propaganda. He said, "We are not on the air urging people to do regime change or to rise up against the mullahs," referring to Iran's religious clerics who wield great influence in the government.

The success of "News and Views" has been difficult to gauge, but Mr. Tomlinson said there had been an "extraordinary outpouring of e-mails" in support of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/international/middleeast/14VOIC.html?ex=1061524800&en=81ecf74f08009ec2&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVER

Iran to rule next month on nuclear protocol

Tehran |Reuters | 14-08-2003

The head of Iran's atomic energy programme yesterday said the Islamic Republic planned to allay international concerns about its nuclear ambitions. "I believe that we will remove the international concerns," Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Iran has come under mounting international pressure to allow closer inspections of its sophisticated network of nuclear facilities which the U.S. says could be a cover for a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely ge-ared to producing electricity and has so far resisted calls to sign the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which would allow intrusive inspections without prior notice.

Aghazadeh said Iranian officials had held "good" talks in recent days with a team from the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency about signing the protocol.

"We predict that before the (IAEA's) September meeting we will have positive information regarding this issue (the Additional Protocol)," he said.

The IAEA is due to report on Iran's nuclear programme again in September in a follow-up to a June report in which it criticised Tehran for failing to disclose some aspects of its nuclear programme.

President Mohammed Khatami yesterday denied newspaper reports that his government approached U.S. officials asking for a resumption of talks between the two countries.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=95150

Iran says will remove concerns on nuclear aims

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s atomic energy programme said on Wednesday the Islamic Republic planned to allay international concerns about its nuclear programme which Washington says may be used to produce atomic bombs.

“I believe that we will remove the international concerns,” Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting. The UN’s nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a June report cited a number of failures by Tehran in reporting its nuclear activities and is preparing a follow-up report to be released in September.

Aghazadeh said IAEA inspectors had just concluded a number of inspections in Iran during which “Iran considered all the points that the agency was concerned about”. “All the necessary visits and sample taking was done and I believe that there is no point which the agency will find ambiguous or have any question about,” he said.

IAEA officials in the past have complained that they have been denied access to take environmental samples at some of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran has come under mounting international pressure to allow closer inspections of its sophisticated network of nuclear facilities, which include a uranium enrichment facility. Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely geared to producing electricity and has so far resisted calls to sign the Additional Protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Aghazadeh said Iranian officials had held “good” talks in recent days with an IAEA legal team about signing the protocol. Additional protocol: He said that while most of Iran’s concerns about signing the protocol had been addressed in the talks both the IAEA and Tehran felt a further meeting would be needed to discuss the issue in the near future. Asked whether Iran would eventually sign the protocol and allow the snap inspections, —Reuters

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_14-8-2003_pg7_57

Argentina orders 8 Iranians arrested for Jewish center bomb

By Reuters

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - An Argentine judge on Wednesday ordered the arrest of eight Iranian officials implicated in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center that killed 85 people, court documents said.

Federal Judge Juan Jose Galeano asked Interpol to arrest the
eight - including Hadi Soleimanpour, Iran's ambassador
to Argentina at the time of the car bomb attack - after seeking the capture and extradition of five other diplomats earlier this year.

The Iranian Embassy said in a statement, "Iran objects to and rejects these declarations and believes they result from international Zionism's plan to manipulate Argentina."

Israel and the United States have always said they suspected that Iranian-backed Middle Eastern guerrillas were behind the AMIA bombing. Iran has repeatedly denied any
involvement.

"While this [international arrest warrant] is a very important step, Iran's refusal to cooperate with the investigation makes it very unlikely these officials will actually come here to testify," said Jose Hercman, head of
the Delegation of Israeli-Argentine Associations.

Galeano accused Iran of hindering the inquiry.

All eight officials were in Argentina when the explosion shook Buenos Aires, and Soleimanpour may now be living in Britain, court documents said.

Iran withdrew its ambassador from Argentina after being implicated by the Argentine government shortly after the bombing, but Tehran still retains a mission in Buenos
Aires.

Last year The New York Times reported that Iran paid Argentina's then-President Carlos Menem a $10 million bribe to cover up the Iranian role in the bombing. Menem and Iran denied the allegation.

Menem's government at first blamed Iranian-backed Muslim extremists from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for the bombing. But the Iran lead got lost in a slow investigation plagued by disappearing witnesses and unexplained delays.

In June, newly elected President Nestor Kirchner ordered the release of secret files of the intelligence services related to the bombing, which was hailed as a breakthrough in the case.

Argentina's 300,000-strong Jewish community is the biggest in Latin America and the seventh largest in the world. Two years before the AMIA attack, the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 29 people.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/329518.html

Iran's Economical Papers' Headlines:

ABRAR
"Japan to help Iran expand its textile industry"
The Japanese Nichimen Corporation will participate in a project
to develop Iran's textile industry. Nichimen Corporation in joint
cooperation with IRCI state enterprise of Japan will provide Iranian
textile production companies with the necessary equipment, raw
materials as well as the related technical and administrative
know-how.
-- ABRAR-E EQTESADI
"Iran following projects to collect associated gas of continental
shelf"
Iran is considering to launch projects to collect the
associated gas of oil fields in Kharg, Bahregan and Siri, and is
planning to put those projects at tenders.
-- AFARINESH
"Peugeot proposes to buy shares of Iran Khodro"
The French giant auto producer Peugeot has proposed to buy as
much as 51 percent of shares of Iran Khodro Industrial Group at a
price basis of one dollar.
-- AFTAB
"IRISL transported over 7m tons of goods in 3 months"
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) in a statement
on Monday announced that it had transported over 7.6 million tons of
goods in a period of three months starting March 21.
-- ENTEKHAB
"Commerce minister rejects reports on rice imports into Iran"
Minister of Commerce Mohammad Shariatmadari on Monday stressed
that his ministry has issued no license for importing rice into the
country, and termed reports in that connection as "sheer lies".
-- IRAN
"Private sector to construct six power plants in Iran"
The government is considering to contract the construction of
Assalouyeh and Chabahar power plants to the private sector. Also, the
government is planning to conclude build-operate-transfer (BOT) deals
with the private sector for the construction of Shirvan, Tabriz and
Jalal power plants.
-- IRAN DAILY
"Wheat production improving"
Minister of Agriculture Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati said on Monday that
wheat imports will fall to less than one million tons by next March,
adding that the new development will materialize in the wake of
a 10-percent growth in domestic wheat production this year compared
to the amount last year.
-- IRAN NEWS
"Six petrochemical projects under study"
Six new petrochemical projects are being studied or have been
completed at Bandar Imam Special Economic-Petrochemical Zone and
Assalouyeh port, including olefins 8, 11 and 12, GTL 1 and 2, and PVC.
-- JAVAN
"Iran to contract 270 projects worth Dlrs 2.2b to foreign firms"
Iran will contract 270 national projects totally worth 2.2 billion
dollars to foreign investors within the course of Tabriz International
Exhibition of Investment Opportunities, to open today.
-- JOMHOURI-E ESLAMI
"Iran to lay 3,300 kms of rail tracks"
Managing Director of the Islamic Republic Railways Company
Mohammad Saeednejad said here Monday that operations are underway to
lay 3,300 kilometers of tracks, the most important segment being the
1,000 kms Bafq-Mashhad track.
-- KAR-O KAREGAR
"Interests of car imports to be paid to state employees"
MP Gholam-Hossein Aqaei, a member of Majlis Industries and Mines
Commission, said on Monday that the interests derived from the import
of cars will be paid to the state employees, stressing that there will
be special discounts for importing cars to boost the interests.
-- KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
"IDB extends 10mn euros in loan to Iranian company"
Islamic Development Bank is to extend a loan of 10 million euros
to Iran's Golbaft Spinning Company. Public Relations Department at
the Ministry of Economy and Finance said on Monday that the sum would
be extended to the company to help it meet its required basic items.
-- SEDA-YE EDALAT
"Gov't to buy all surplus rice production of farmers"
Minister of Commerce Mohammad Shariatmadari said Monday that
the government is considering to buy all the surplus rice production
of farmers "with no restriction" in the current farming year.
-- SIASAT-E ROOZ
"Iran to connect railways to Iraq, Syria, Mediterranean Sea"
Managing Director of the Islamic Republic Railways Company
Mohammad Saeednejad said on Monday that Iran is planning to connect
its railways to Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea.
-- TEHRAN TIMES
"Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce elects ad hoc board of directors"
In a meeting of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce in Tehran
on Sunday, an ad hoc board of directors was elected to assess mutual
trade ties and solve the current obstacles and difficulties.
-- TOSSE'EH
"Bahman Group inks cooperation agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi"
Managing director of Bahman Industrial Group announced on Monday
that the group has signed a contract with the Japanese giant auto
producer Mitsubishi Motors to represent the company in Iran and also
to produce its Pajero cars in the Islamic Republic.

http://www.irna.ir/en/head/030812144755.ehe.shtml

Iran calls for strong ties with Iraq

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - ©2003 IranMania.com

Tehran, Aug 11, IRNA -- Iran on Monday said it sought to forge strong ties with Iraq which waged an imposed war against the Islamic Republic between 1980 and 1988 during the rule of ousted Saddam Hussein.

However, it called for patience to say when Tehran would recognize a US-appointed Governing Council, a 25-member body which roughly reflects Iraq's ethnic and religious make-up.
"Our official position will be announced (in due time) but we should exercise patience in this respect," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news briefing.

Asefi said, "We would like to forge strong relations with our neighbor now that its dictatorial government, which kept the two countries separated for years, is gone."

The official called for the immediate pullout of occupying forces from Iraq in order to end chaos in that country.

"To establish peace in Iraq, the occupying forces must immediately pull out from that country and leave Iraq's future to its own people.

"It is only in this case that one can hope the internal chaos in Iraq will end," Asefi added.

Iran recently dispatched its first high-ranking delegation for discussions with the Governing Council to shore up fences between the two countries.

Asefi hailed the trip as 'positive', saying it enabled Iran to 'clarify our stances, views and approaches towards Iraq and hear the views' of the other side.

Iranian officials met with members of the Governing Council as well as several Iraqi clerics and UN special representative on Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, he said.

"All the individuals whom the delegation met with ... described the visit as very positive and valuable and stressed on expanding and strengthening relations with Iran," Asefi said.

He described economic transactions between the two countries in recent months as good, saying Iran exported 160 million dollars of goods to Iraq in the period.

NO IRAQI POWS IN IRAN

Asefi stressed that Iran holds no Iraqi prisoners from the 1980-1988 war. "There is no Iraqi POW in Iran and all the registered POWs and those who were in Iran have been freed," he said.

The statements apparently came in reaction to demonstrations held by around 50 people in Baquba, 60 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, to demand the release of Iraqi POWs in Iran and compensation for those already freed.

Iran itself says that close to 4,000 Iranian prisoners of war in Iraq still remain unaccounted for.

The country has appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help establish the fate of its remaining prisoners of war in Iraq. Tehran has already accused US of intending to 'blackmail' the Islamic Republic on the fate of missing Iranians.

The Islamic Republic has also said that it considers US-British troops responsible for any threat against Iranian PoWs who may still be in Iraqi prisons.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17431&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran refuses US al-Qaeda access

BBC 8.13.2003

Iran has no intention of allowing United States officials to interrogate the al-Qaeda suspects it has arrested, the country's president has said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Tuesday that Washington wanted to interrogate senior al-Qaeda members being held in Iran.

But Tehran has refused to identify which al-Qaeda members it has caught and has already ruled out handing them over to the US.

Saad Bin Laden, son of the Saudi-born al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, is thought to be one of the men being held by the Iranians.

Egyptian Saif al Adel, believed to be the network's security chief, and Kuwait-born Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, al-Qaeda's spokesman, are also reported to be under arrest.

Animosity towards US

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Khatami said: "Al-Qaeda members in our custody will be questioned. If they should be tried (in Iran) they will be. If they should be deported, they will be."

Tehran says it will extradite some al-Qaeda suspects to unspecified "friendly countries" and try those whose citizenship has been revoked and cannot be extradited.

"We will arrest all members of al-Qaeda members we find. Their animosity toward us is nothing compared with their animosity toward the United States," added the president.

Asked whether the al-Qaeda suspects it has detained were being held in safe houses or in prison, Mr Khatami said: "They are under arrest."

Iran says it has arrested and deported around 500 al-Qaeda members in the last year, many of whom crossed into Iran from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Some have been sent to Saudi Arabia.

At Wednesday's news conference, the president also denied Iranian press speculation that Tehran secretly asked Washington in late July to resume informal talks.

Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic relations in 1980 after Iran's Islamic revolution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3147933.stm

Official: Dlrs 14.5bn needed to be invested in Iran annually

Tabriz, East Azarbaijan prov, Aug 13, IRNA -- Dlrs 14.5 billion is needed to be invested in Iran annually in line with global standards, said Director General of the Economic Affairs Department at Ministry of Economy and Finance Mohammad Taheri said here on Wednesday.

Taheri told the International Seminar of Foreign Investment Opportunities that Iran has not yet been able to achieve its targets in terms of investment due to lack of comprehensive laws. He hoped that ratification of the Law on Attraction of Foreign Investment would help promote national economy and attain economic objectives.

He put the amount of assets held by expatriate Iranians at dlrs 600 billion and said attraction of the sum would help upgrade Iranian economy.

The International Seminar of Foreign Investment is underway in this northwestern provincial city for two days.
Some 270 projects, worth dlrs 2.2 billion, are to be offered for foreign investment at the seminar. The meeting aims to make the participants acquainted with each other.

Some 200 foreign and 500 Iranian investors are taking part in the seminar.
216/AH/210
End

http://www.irna.ir/en/tnews/030814191039.etn06.shtml

Comments: They do not only have to change the foreign investment act.

Iran's hardliners say 'no' to pact on women's rights

TEHERAN - A Bill urging Iran to join a global agreement on women's rights has been rejected by the government's supervisory body.

The Guardian Council defied Parliament and rejected a United Nations treaty which aimed to eliminate discrimination against women, the BBC reported.

Iranian state television said the council claimed the convention was against syariah law and the Constitution.

The reformist-dominated Parliament ratified the Bill last month, believing that it would promote Iran's image abroad and help domestic problems.

That decision provoked bitter denunciation by hardliners, many of whom claimed the convention was colonialist.

However, the council's decision came as no surprise, according to the BBC.

It noted that the unelected Guardian Council, which vets all legislation in accordance with syariah law, was controlled by hardliners and had rejected scores of Bills passed by Parliament in the past, including a few on human rights.

The issue of signing off on the women's rights treaty has created much debate in Iran.

Earlier this month, dozens of clerics held rallies in the holy city of Qom to protest against Parliament's decision.

But the 13 female Members of Parliament had pointed to the fact that 168 countries, including several Islamic ones, had signed the convention.

Despite enjoying greater freedom than in many other Islamic countries, Iranian women are treated as second-class citizens.

In the courts, they are worth half the value of men, have fewer rights in divorce and child custody, and need their husbands' permission to work or travel abroad.

President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday warned religious hardliners who opposed his reform efforts that they were alienating the country's youth and storing up trouble for the future.

He was quoted by Reuters as saying: 'Ignoring young people and their demands and misusing religion and Islamic values to oust political rivals from the scene could create big problems for society.'

Mr Khatami's failure to deliver promised reforms in democracy, justice and citizens' rights since his 1997 election has caused his popularity to dip in recent months, particularly among the two-thirds of Iranians under 30 years old.

But in the latest in a recent spate of reflective and hard-hitting speeches by the normally conciliatory President, he hit out at those who he said 'believe that their thoughts...are God's religion itself', the official Irna news agency reported.

He said Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution was not supposed to 'create a religious aristocracy and say that because our revolution is a religious one, the religious people and those who hold religious titles are different from others and enjoy more privileges'.

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,204618,00.html

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