THURSDAY 04/09/2003 13:25:21
Blair warning to Iran
Tony Blair today issued a fresh warning to Iran to comply with international demands on nuclear weapons and cease support for terrorist groups.
The Prime Minister said Britain would remain critical of Tehran until it signed up to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and said his Government was under ``no illusions`` about their relationship.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is due to report next Monday on whether Iran is in breach of its international obligations. It has faced calls to open up its civil nuclear programme to international inspections amid fears that it is developing a bomb.
Mr Blair, speaking at his monthly Downing Street press conference, said: ``We have a policy of, I would describe it actually, as critical engagement (with Iran).
``We are engaged with Iran, we have a dialogue with their leadership, but we are under no illusions.
``It is important both that they adhere completely to the demands of the international community in respect of nuclear weapons and that they cease all support of terrorist groups.
``Until those two things are done, that engagement is going to remain critical.``
The Prime Minister`s warning is set to further sour relations between the two countries, already cooled by the recall of Iran`s ambassador to London this week over the detention of a diplomat wanted in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Argentina.
Yesterday shots were fired at the British embassy in Tehran in an incident which could be related to the row.
Morteza Sarmadi was recalled to Tehran after he failed to secure the release of Hade Soleimanpour during a meeting with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Monday.
Although the Foreign Office has insisted Mr Sarmadi`s return to Iran did not amount to a downgrading of relations, the move is a severe disappointment to Mr Straw, who has been cultivating ties with his Iranian counterpart for the past two years.
Soleimanpour was detained following an extradition request from Argentina over the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994 when he was ambassador to the country.
Last week the career diplomat, who is still employed by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was refused bail despite his government offering £500,000 for his surety.
The extradition hearing at Bow Street Magistrates Court had heard how Iranian President Ali Mohammed Khatami had demanded the release of Soleimanpour, 47, and an apology from the Government.
http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=36766&pt=nU.S. refuses to question Iraqi pilots held in Iran for information on Ron Arad
By Ellis Shuman September 4, 2003
The United States refused an official Israeli request to ask Iraqi pilots who had been held as prisoners of war in Iran if they know anything about missing IAF navigator Ron Arad, who may have been held at some time there, Channel Two television reported. The request came after an IDF panel concluded that there is no available information that can refute the defense establishment's working assumption that Arad is still alive.
After the United States refused to ask the Iraqi pilots they were interrogating about Ron Arad, Israel asked if Israelis could be given the opportunity to talk with the pilots directly. The Americans refused this request as well, Channel Two reported.
Israel turned to the Americans in Iraq at the recommendation of the Winograd Committee, a special IDF panel headed by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd. The committee was established over a year ago by then-IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz with the goal of reevaluating ways to handle the case of Ron Arad, who was captured in southern Lebanon after his jet was downed on October 16, 1986.
The committee reportedly examined thousands of documents collected in the seventeen years since Arad's capture and concluded that there was no evidence to change the assumption that he is still alive. The committee presented its findings to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon three weeks ago, but no conclusions or decisions have been made by the army, the army spokesman's office said.
"We have always said that we are certain that Ron is alive, although recently we have received unconfirmed reports that he might be very sick," said Yoske Harari, head of the Fellowship for Ron Arad's Release.
"Next Friday [September 12], we will gather some 5,000 students together near the Tel Aviv Museum to press the government not to forget Ron Arad," he said yesterday.
Dudu Arad, Ron's brother, said he was please to hear the committee's conclusion. "We were glad to hear that we are not crazy, that there is a committee, set up by the person who was IDF chief of staff and today is defense minister, that has determined that Ron is still alive."
The committee's report came as Israel and Hizbullah are negotiating a possible prisoner exchange deal. According to media reports, Israel would release former Hizbullah leader Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid and Believers Resistance head Mustafa Dirani in exchange for Israeli citizen Elchanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of the three IDF soldiers, who were presumably killed by Hizbullah. After Israel dropped its demand for information about Ron Arad's fate, progress was made in the talks, the reports indicated.
"As part of the proposed deal it is, apparently, planned to release two important figures, Sheikh Abdul Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, who were brought to Israel against their will specifically to help bring about the release and return of Ron," Harari said.
"We are sure that with patience, a deal can be concluded that would ensure the return of the missing Israelis and would include Ron or information about him. Not doing this would be a big mistake and the government still has the time to change its mind and plans," he added.
Military sources said that publication of the Winograd Committee report might complicate the prisoner exchange deal being brokered by German negotiator Ernst Uhrlau, Haaretz reported.
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