Tehran ambassador back at work
The Scotsman 9.8.2003
IRAN’S ambassador to Britain, Morteza Sarmadi, returned to his job yesterday after talks over the detention of a former Iranian diplomat sought by Argentina over a 1994 bombing.
Relations between Iran and Britain soured after last month’s arrest of the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, Hade Soleimanpour, in England, where he is currently studying.
"We think the British government has learned that the detention is unacceptable for Iran," an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said after talks between the two countries. "Diplomatic channels are still open to find a way out of the problem through the unconditional release of Mr Soleimanpour."
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=988282003Iran’s regime poses difficult problem for the world: Rice
WASHINGTON: Iran poses a difficult problem for the United States, US President George W. Bush’s national security adviser said on Sunday, when asked about regime change there.
ìIran has been a source for terrorism. We will continue to tell the Iranian government to turn them over,î Condoleezza Rice told Fox television. Iranian authorities claim to have arrested members of Al Qaeda since September 2001, whom the United States wants handed over.
Asked specifically about regime change, Rice noted that the Iranian people have repeatedly expressed their desire for freedom, and the president has associated himself with those aspirations.
ìYet this is a place that has had elections, the people of Iran have expressed themselves. We want to be certain that we always use the right tools in the right circumstances,î she said.But Rice stressed, ìThere is no doubt that this is a regime that poses a very difficult problem, not just for the United States but for the rest of the world.î
ìIf you look at what they are doing on their nuclear programme now, where the International Atomic Energy Agency has been I think surprised and alarmed at some of the things that they have found in Iran, people are taking a second look at Iran and we are encouraging that second look.î
Earlier, Iran said it expects the upcoming UN nuclear agency’s meeting to avoid political considerations and instead make efforts to help the country agree to open its nuclear programmes to unfettered access.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi made the comments a day before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
Asefi said the IAEA did not share the view of the United States, which pursues an extremist position and its behaviour is politically motivated.’’
"We hope Monday’s (today’s) meeting in Vienna will carry out its professional job away from political considerations," he said.
The meeting will discuss Iran’s nuclear programme, including a protocol that would allow tougher IAEA inspections without notice.
Iran has said it would agree to unfettered inspections if it is granted access to advanced nuclear technology as provided for under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Tehran says Washington’s influence is blocking that technology.
A report to be presented at the meeting, which opens on Monday (today), outlines inconsistencies between what UN agency inspectors found and what Iran says it is doing in the nuclear field. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.
Diplomats in Vienna said on Friday that the United States has backed away from presenting a resolution to the meeting asking the UN Security Council to look at Iran’s suspect nuclear activities because it expects little support from other countries.
The United States will instead agree to present a less strongly worded resolution at the IAEA board of governors meeting, urging Iran to open up its nuclear programmes to unfettered access.
The weekly Tagesspiegel am Sonntag said in its Sunday edition up to 90 scientists are working secretly on the construction of a nuclear bomb in Iran under the supervision of the ministry of defence.
Quoting intelligence sources, it said Iran had bought high-tension switches and high-speed cameras to conduct nuclear tests.
According to German newspaper Die Welt, Iran secretly put pressure on the Egyptian head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to play down the significance of its nuclear programme.
Quoting western intelligence sources, the newspaper said Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s top diplomat on the UN nuclear watchdog, met the agency’s director general, Mohammed ElBaradei, at the home of a prominent Egyptian businessman.
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en37896&F_catID=&f_type=source