Iranian Alert -- August 31, 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.

EU joins the wider International community in pressing Iran

AFP - World News
Aug 30, 2003

TEHRAN - The European Union gave Iran "friendly advice" Saturday to accept unconditional snap International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear sites, or jeopardise trade relations with the 15-member bloc.

"If you don't sign the protocol it will be a bad news for you," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana after talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi.

"Let me be very clear and very blunt," he added during a joint news conference with Kharazi.

"You don't have to expect anything because you signed a protocol which is a part of the Vienna agreement. The only thing you have to expect is that we will continue working as friends.

"There will be no reward for doing that. This is not a bargaining thing (it's) just like friends advise each other to do, to continue the relations in a deepening mode, which is just what we want to do," the EU official said.

The European Union has joined the wider international community in pressing Iran to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to descend on its nuclear sites without warning to ensure that Tehran was not secretly developing atomic weapons.

Brussels last month warned that, without credible guarantees over the protocol, it would review its economic ties with the country after an IAEA report on Iran is presented in Vienna on September 8.

"We want it to be signed: the sooner the better," said Solana. "It brings trust and confidence to the officials in Vienna and the members of the international community," he added.

Iran has come under increasing pressure, notably from the United States, to sign the additional protocol.

Concern over the issue resurfaced this week when a UN report said that inspectors had found two different types of highly-enriched nuclear particles at facilities in Iran not needed in civilian atomic programs.

Oil-rich Iran has denied that it was responsible for the find and insists its nuclear program is for civil purposes only. Kharazi said Thursday that the particles found by the United Nations originated from contaminated components imported from abroad.

He pointed Saturday to Iranian gestures of goodwill, saying Tehran had allowed IAEA inspectors to take samples at nuclear sites and had decided to open negotiations on signing the protocol.

Any refusal from Tehran to sign the additional protocol may convince IAEA governors to submit to US pressure and refer the matter to the UN Security Council, which would carry the threat of sanctions.

"We expect the European Union not to buckle under pressure and not let the (IAEA) governors politicize the affair," Kharazi said, alluding to US pressure on the UN's nuclear watchdog body.

The European Union, which unlike the United States advocates a policy of constructive engagement with the Islamic republic, is locked in trade talks with Iran. Brussels has made an agreement dependent on progress on Tehran's record on human rights, terror, peace in the Middle East and nuclear inspections.

The Iranian government has said it is open to signing the protocol provided that the IAEA provides "total" guarantees that inspectors are not given complete freedom of movement and would not violate military secrets.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2054.shtml

Iraq closes its border with Iran following death of Hakim

AFP - World News (via Iranmania)
Aug 30, 2003

KUWAIT CITY - Iraq's interim Governing Council requested the closure Saturday of the Iraq-Iran border to prevent an influx of mourners at the funeral of slain Iraqi Shiite leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, a British military spokesman said.

"The interim Governing Council has requested that the border with Iran be closed today for the funeral of Hakim. It is a decision by the Iraqi body, we will carry out their request," Captain Hisham Halawi told a press conference here.

Halawi, spokesman for the British forces occupying southern Iraq, said the border would be closed only on Saturday.

Hakim will be buried on Tuesday in Najaf, 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of Baghdad, the holy city where he was assassinated Friday in a car bomb blast outside the Tomb of Ali mosque, his nephew told AFP in Najaf.

Ammar Abdel Aziz al-Hakim also said plans were underway to hold a funeral procession in Baghdad's Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah on Sunday at 7:00 am (0300 GMT).

On Monday, his body will be transported to the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Baghdad, before it is returned to Najaf for burial, the nephew said.

The British spokesman also denied reports that the border had recently been closed.

"There is no substance to that, there was no closure of the (Iran) border with Iraq a few days ago," he said.

Asked whether Hakim's assassination would adversely affect relations between British coalition forces in southern Iraq and the mainly Shiite Muslim population in the area, Halawi said, if anything, the attack, which killed 82 others and wounded 175, would bring the two sides closer to track down the culprits.

"I can't see it having a negative effect on our efforts because Hakim had made it clear that he was willing to cooperate and he wanted to work with the coalition in order to bring about a prosperous Iraq.

"And this act of terrorism, it's a blow but we're working together with the Iraqi authorities, with the Governing Council, to bring these perpetrators to justice" and continue striving for a better Iraq, Halawi said.

A police source told AFP Saturday that four non-Iraqi Arabs detained by Iraqi police had confessed to the Najaf attack.

"They confessed to the attack," the source said, although he would not say if they revealed on whose behalf they carried it out.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2052.shtml

EU told Iran "sign the additional protocols or face sanctions"

Iran Press Service - Report Section
Aug 30, 2003

TEHRAN - The European Union warned the Islamic Republic on Saturday that it may faces international sanctions if it does not sign the additional protocols to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"The soonest you sign the protocols and open all of your nuclear programs to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, the better for you and for us", Mr. Xavier Solana, the European Union’s "super" Minister for security and foreign affairs said in Tehran.

Speaking at a joint conference with the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi in Tehran, Mr. Solana said bluntly: "If you don't sign the protocol it will be a bad news for you, for, this is not a bargain, expecting a reward from doing it", he explained.

The 15-25 members European Union has warned Iran that without credible guarantees concerning its atomic projects, it would review a Trade and Cooperation Agreement Tehran is keen to sign, for it would give Iran would greater access to the huge European market.

The IAEA has given Iran until 8 September to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to descend on its nuclear sites without warning to ensure that Tehran is not secretly developing atomic weapons.

The United States and Israel accuses the Islamic Republic for having secret plans aimed at producing atomic bomb out of facilities destined for civilian use, like the nuclear powered electrical plant it is constructing in the Persian Gulf port of Booshehr with the help of Russia.

But Tehran insists that it is not building up a nuclear-based military arsenal and all its atomic projects are for civilian purposes.

So far, Iran has adamantly refused to bow to the international pressures, demanding that in return for signing the additional protocols, the IAEA provide it with advanced nuclear technologies.

Meeting the EU Minister, President Mohammad Khatami reiterated that Islam prohibited atomic weapons. "Atomic weapons have no place in Iran's defense policy", Khatami said, adding however that Iran had an "absolute right to peaceful nuclear technology".

Solana met high-ranking Iranian officials one day after IAEA Director Moahammad el-Brade’i told the BBC that Iran had shopped for nuclear components on the international black market and called on Tehran to be more "proactive" and "transparent".

In the interview aired on Friday, he also said Iran's nuclear program had been going on "far longer than the agency had realised".

IAEA inspectors in their last survey of Iranian atomic-related installations found substantial amount of radioactivity in areas near Natanz, in central Iran and site of the country’s secret installations for enriching uranium.

Mr. Kharrazi explained that the equipments had been radio activated before their import to Iran, but he refused to say from which country Iran had purchased the equipments.

Mr. El-Brade’i said although he was not certain of the countries that made the equipment Iran had acquired on the black market, but he had a "pretty good idea" which ones they were.

Media reports have named Pakistan, a nuclear weapons state that has refused to sign the nuclear 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as one of countries whose nuclear technology Iran is believed to be using.

But both Tehran and Islamabad have denied the reports.

"If that process of enrichment has taken place, this has nothing do with a program for peaceful use of nuclear fuel," Solana told reporters.

Stopping short of accusing the Islamic Republic of lying to him about its atomic projects for military purposes, the IAEA Chief said Iran had failed to give the IAEA a complete picture of its nuclear programs.

"They have not really been fully transparent in telling us in advance what was going on", Mr. El-Barade’i told the BBC, according to a Reuters dispatch from Vienna, where IAEA is based.

Asked if he believed Iran was running a secret weapons program, ElBaradei said: "It might be, it might not be."

"I need to really get the Iranians to tell me the full, complete story," he said. "And I would like Iran to be more proactive, more transparent."

Analysts say the Iranian ruling conservative clerics are afraid to see the snap inspections by the IAEA experts reaches its secret atomic projects and conservatives-controlled newspapers have called on the authroties to get out of the NPT

Asked what Iran would get in return for signing, Solana said: "The only thing you have to expect is we continue working as friends."

The IAEA said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday that Iran had improved cooperation, but there were still questions about weapons-grade uranium found at a site in Iran.

In July, the EU issued its strongest warning so far to Iran about its nuclear program, its appalling human rights records as well as its support for international terrorism and Palestinian and Arab groups opposed to peace with Israel.

Iran is the first stop on Solana's regional tour that will also take him to Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where he will focus on the battered Middle East peace "road map".

http://www.iran-press-service.com/

Europeans Warn Iran on Nuclear Inspections

New York Times - By Nazila Fathi
Aug 31, 2003

TEHRAN, Aug. 30 — Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, today pressed Iran to sign a protocol that would allow more aggressive inspections of its nuclear sites.

"We will have bad news for Iran if it refuses to sign the additional protocol," said Mr. Solana, who came to Iran to meet with officials here, during a news conference with the Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi.

"Let me say this openly: no one should expect a reward for signing it," he added. "The issue is not for bargaining; it is a matter of a friend advising another friend, and Iranian authorities are politically mature to hear a friend's advice."

Iran has come under mounting pressure to sign the protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The United States has repeatedly accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. The European Union warned last month that it would review its economic ties with Iran if it refused to sign the protocol.

Iran took a step toward signing the protocol this week after a report disclosed that the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors had found traces of highly enriched uranium in environmental samples taken at the country's Natanz facility. Iran announced its willingness in a letter to the agency to begin negotiations on the issue.

Mr. Kharazi said today that Iran's good will was evident in its willingness to let the agency's inspectors take samples from its nuclear facilities and in its talks on the protocol.

Iran, which has always maintained that its nuclear power program is for peaceful purposes, has so far refused to sign the protocol, and demands technical cooperation in nuclear science from other signing nations in return. It also wants a guarantee that inspectors will not be given complete freedom to move inside the country to gain access to and expose military secrets.

In response to the report about enriched uranium, Iran said the equipment had been imported and had arrived with the traces of the substance.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will meet on Sept. 8 to review the protocol issue and could send the case to the United Nations Security Council if the agency concludes that Iran's nuclear activities pose a threat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/31/international/middleeast/31TEHR.html

Despite all pressures uncertainty exists over whether Iran will sign NPT

AFP - World News (via Yahoo)
Aug 31, 2003

TEHRAN - The international community has stepped up the pressure on Iran to accept unconditional and snap International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear sites, but just days ahead of a crucial IAEA meeting, uncertainty reigns as to Tehran's intentions.

An IAEA report on Iran will be presented to the IAEA's board of governors in Vienna at a September 8-11 meeting, and were Iran to be found in breach of its commitments the matter could be referred to the UN Security Council.

On a visit to Tehran on Saturday, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it would be "bad news" if Iran did not sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and warned Tehran against bargaining.

"We want it to be signed: the sooner the better," Solana said. "It brings trust and confidence to the officials in Vienna and the members of the international community."

Brussels last month warned that if Iran did not sign the protocol, it would review its economic ties with Iran following the IAEA meeting.

The European Union, which is negotiating a trade pact with Tehran, seemed to be moving closer to the position taken by Washington, which has accused Iran of secretly seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

According to diplomats here, there are no indications that Iran will sign the protocol before September 8.

"Iran could be tempted to gain time. The decision to open negotiations on signing the protocol could be part of this tactic," said one, referring to Tehran's announcement on Tuesday that it was seeking clarifications but had a "positive approach" to the protocol.

In a surprise announcement Friday, Moscow said it would delay until the end of the year the signing of an accord under which Iran would return all spent nuclear fuel from its Bushehr nuclear reactor that is being built in southern Iran with Russian help.

The announcement appeared to be a direct concession to Washington's concerns that Iran could re-process the used fuel to create low-grade nuclear weapons. Washington had been pressing Russia to suspend the project with Tehran until it agreed to more stringent checks.

This, in addition to the findings of the IAEA report, will strengthen the case put forward by the United States and France who suspect Iran is secretly trying to develop weapons and raise the burden on Tehran to take swift action.

Within Iran, the issue of signing the protocol has raised a debate, with some media voices arguing Tehran should refuse to sign the protocol because it would give Western inspectors unimpeded access to military sites.

On Tuesday, the Iranian government reiterated these concerns, saying it wanted total guarantees that IAEA inspectors would not be given complete freedom of movement.

Diplomats and nuclear experts said in Vienna this week that IAEA experts had found in Iran two forms of highly enriched uranium molecules not needed in civilian energy programs, something presented in the report.

This in itself did not mean Iran was developing nuclear weapons, but one expert said the question was why Tehran conducted these enrichment activities covertly.

The report also says Iran had admitted to working with heavy water, which some nuclear states use to produce plutonium, in the 1980s.

Tehran also conceded for the first time that it had imported nuclear equipment, the sources said, adding that the IAEA was investigating which countries had helped Iran in this.

"These admissions came under duress, Iran changed its story because IAEA inspectors have found evidence that made it impossible for it to do otherwise," one official said.

However, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on Thursday that the particles had been brought into Iran on imported equipment that had been contaminated.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2061.shtml

UK Ambassador Returns to Tehran to Defuse Soleimanpour Crisis

Tehran Times - Politics Section
Aug 31, 2003

London -- British Ambassador to Iran, Richard Dalton, has cut short his holiday to return to Tehran amid the controversy over the continuing detention of former Iranian Ambassador to Argentina, Hadi Soleimanpour, in the UK, IRNA reported.

Dalton flew back to Tehran on Friday as an application to release Soleimanpour was refused for a second time, despite being held only on a provisional extradition request from Argentina, pending a formal application with full evidence.

Argentina has to present supporting documents by September 19, when the former Iranian ambassador is next due to appear in court. It is at that stage that Home Secretary David Blunkett has to sign an Authority to Proceed for a committal hearing to go ahead.

Despite Blunkett's role, the British Foreign Office has insisted that it is powerless to intervene in the case that is seen as having strong political dimensions following the election of a new president in Argentina earlier this year.

The accusations go back to the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires and come after relatives of the 85 victims filed a civil suit charging Argentinean authorities in February with failing to adequately investigate the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in 1992.

London's Jewish Chronicle earlier this month suggested that right-wing elements in Argentina's own police or security forces could be involved in the terror bombings and that the extradition suit filed against Soleimanpour and other Iranian diplomats could be cover.

The Times newspaper connected Dalton's early return to Tehran with British fears that Iran may retaliate over the treatment of Soleimanpour and suggested that the expulsion of the British ambassador could come as early as Saturday.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2062.shtml

Iran Finance Minister declares strategic reform in banking system

Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Tahmasb Mazaheri declared on Saturday that 40 percent of the strategic banking reform consisting of 26 basic and 100 operational projects, which have been underway for one and a half years, is now completed, IRNA reported from Tehran.

He told IRNA that improvement of the operating system of national banking network and optimization of the presented services is one of the continuous programs of the banking system.

Mazaheri referred to implementation of phone banks, common checks, inter-bank cash transfer, payment of water, electricity, telephone and gas bills through internet and project on making Iran check acceptable to all banks as some of the continuous services to be presented to clients.

"Optimized banking system and presenting better service to clients are part of the constantly pursued banking strategic reform projects, which prompt banks to compete against one another in attempt to satisfy their clients," he added.

The official added that ways of running state banks is one of the reform projects, whose draft is currently being examined by Majlis commissions.

He hoped that Majlis will soon ratify the draft on banking reform to enable banks to be more flexible in banking management and enjoy more strict discipline in their decision-making process.

http://www.payvand.com/news/03/aug/1158.html

Iran invites EU for nuke cooperation

Tehran, Aug 31 - Iran has invited the European Union for bilateral cooperation on the country's nuclear programs, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization (IAEO) Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh said here Saturday.

Talking to reporters after his meeting with EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, Aqazadeh said Iran has asked the EU to prevent the politicization of the country's nuclear programs.

"During the meeting, we asked the EU representative to prevent the politicization of Iran's nuclear activities so that the agency (International Atomic Energy Agency) could continue its work in a calm atmosphere without propaganda," Aqazadeh said.
< br> "Touching upon the additional protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), we told the European side that Iran is ready to launch the expert discussion to this effect," he added.

He underlined the need to hold talks with the IAEA and said, "It is natural that there are important issues which should be discussed by the two sides in order to clear the ambiguities."

The official noted that Iran's cooperation with the IAEA is beyond legal commitments as the director general of the agency had confirmed such an issue so the agency be helped to reach favorable results.

He said this time the two sides held more positive talks compared to previous negotiations, adding European states are interested to cooperate more with Iran after signing the additional protocol.

The EU is also interested to be informed of Iran's nuclear programs, he added.

In a meeting with Aqazadeh, Solana urged Iran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying "Tehran's cooperation with IAEA will remove ambiguities and hasten to assuage the prevailing political atmosphere."

Solana urged Iran to embark on a confidence building process with the aim of assuring the world community and to calm the international atmosphere on Iran's nuclear program.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=187035&n=14

Aug. 31, 2003
Where are our friends? By Yossi Olmert
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1062228120045

Persia and Israel shared years of friendship and strategic cooperation until the Shah's regime was overthrown in 1979. Early good relations resulted from the fact that Persian nationalism did not contradict close relations with Israel. The Shah's never conducted a Shi'ite foreign policy, and Arab countries chiefly Iraq were the Shah's implacable enemies.

However, under the current Islamic Republic foreign policy is driven not only by Iranian interests but also by Islamicism. With regard to Israel, the Islamic element is dominant and unshakeable.

By adopting a vitriolic anti-Israel policy the Islamic regime hoped to win over Arab and Muslim public opinion. Let's admit it: They have largely succeeded.

By placing itself in the forefront of the struggle against Israel, the regime seeks to highlight the conflict in the Middle East as not just Israeli-Palestinian or Israel-Arab, but as one with a major religious dimension something that was previously in the background. For tactical reasons the religious angle was blurred by the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.

It is no coincidence that Islamic terrorism aimed at Israel as well as the US has flourished since the establishment of the Islamic regime.

THE IRAN of the Ayatollahs means business. Its leaders want to destroy Israel, and they say so without any qualms. But many in Israel and in the West can't bring themselves to grasp the depth of Iran's hatred. Legions of pundits and politicians would have us believe that the Iranians do not mean what they say.

The inability to accept that there are political systems motivated by philosophies utterly opposed to ours and which really do intend to realize themselves at our expense is hard for Westerners to acknowledge the shock of 9/11 notwithstanding.

The Bush administration defines Iran as part of the axis of evil, suggesting growing awareness of the dangers it poses. But that is as far as it goes.

In Israel there was a behind-the-scenes debate about the extent to which Iran actually poses a challenge. Israel's security and intelligence community is now unified behind the assessment that the Iranian situation is serious. Even so-called moderates, including former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, are in the forefront of the anti-Israel chorus.

But our problem isn't the rhetoric. Iran is relentlessly pursuing a nuclear program which could pose a mortal danger to Israel. Whether they are two or four years from the completion of this program is unknown, but there is no doubt that we are approaching the twelfth hour.

The bulk of the intelligence gathered by various countries attests to this reality, and the fact that there may have been some exaggeration about Iraq's WMD programs should not undermine our faith in the depth and accuracy of the information about Iran.

Ideally, the US should have led an uncompromising campaign against Iran's programs, preferably achieving the cooperation of Russia and other states which support Iran's buildup.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Israel is more or less alone in sounding the alarm. Publicity is the first element in a strategy designed to arouse world attention. But more needs to be done.

For instance, America's presence in Iraq could act as the main leverage of pressure on Iran. Overt and covert activities could be initiated by the US that would weaken Iran's self-confidence and boost the motivation of its internal opposition.

With the clock ticking, Israel may have to take a crucial decision regarding Iran and in the not too distant future.

The choice confronting our leadership is between relying on American-led action, which has not yet materialized, or going it alone and dealing militarily with the Iranian nuclear buildup.
Let us not delude ourselves: This is not going to be like the Iraqi operation. We are facing an entirely different and much more difficult situation, though not an impossible one.

Even at this late stage Israel's supreme national interest lies in cooperation with the US. Any US action would have less hazardous regional repercussions than unilateral Israeli moves. The question therefore is whether the Bush administration still possesses enough energy to go beyond the Iraqi arena to deal with Iran.

For Israeli leaders, the question is: Will they be ready, in due course, to follow Menachem Begin's courageous 1981 example left no other choice?
Nothing less than the very existence of Israel is at stake.

The writer is a Middle East specialist.

Iran to Sell Electricity to Iraq

August 31, 2003
AFP
Khaleej Times Online

TEHERAN - Iran is to sell electricity from Mehran and Dehloran, two border cities in its western Ilam province to the eastern Iraqi provinces of Wasset and Meysan, state media reported here on Sunday.

“Based on discussions between officials from the two countries, the electricity network of Mehran and Dehloran will be connected to that of the two neighboring Iraqi provinces Wasset and Meysan,” the Mehran city governor, Morteza Lotfi was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA. No further details were given.

On August 27, Muwaffak al-Rubai, a member of Iraq’s interim Governing Council, said Iraq was negotiating the purchase of electricity from Iran, Syria and Turkey in an effort to stem growing power shortages since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Rubai said talks Turkey were in an advanced stage, those with Syria were moving ahead and that Iran would supply power to Iraq’s predominately Shiite Muslim southern provinces. The US-led coalition imposed in late July a power rationing program which supplies electricity every three hours followed by a similar period of cuts.

Iraq’s current power production capacity is 3,200 megawatts compared with 4,000 megawatts before the start of the war in March, according to one coalition official.

Iraq’s maximum potential capacity is 6,000 megawatts, the same source said.

Iraq’s power sector needs a five-billion-dollar investment over five years to meet the country’s needs, Iraq’s US-appointed overseer Paul Bremer said at the start of July.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2003/August/middleeast_August508.xml&section=middleeast

Russia and Iran Keep Trying to Sign Nuclear Agreement

August 28, 2003
Bellona
bellona.no

Russia has pressed ahead with plans to build a nuclear plant at the southern port of Bushehr in Iran despite criticism from Washington, which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian program.

"The agreement will be signed very soon, perhaps by the end of September. It has been a year since Russian officials began to announce that they are about to sign this agreement. Last week, the Russian government instructed our ministry to sign the protocol in the nearest future," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

As soon as the protocol is signed, Russia will ship fuel to Iran for the Bushehr reactor, which will then process it to generate power and send all spent nuclear material–which can be converted to weapons grade material–back to Russia. The official said the document would be signed during a regular visit by a ministry delegation to the Islamic Republic in coming weeks, but the precise date of the signing was yet to be decided.

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, a key U.S. arms official, is in Moscow for what is seen as an attempt to persuade Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran and bring the issue of Tehran's nuclear ambitions before the U.N. Security Council.

Iran, which says it is ready to sign the agreement with Russia, has dismissed the U.S. charges, saying it wants to develop nuclear power to satisfy a booming demand for electricity and save its oil and gas reserves for export.

http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/nuke_industry/co-operation/30973.html

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