Iran News and Discussions

[Pintu]

An interesting article appeared in Wall Street Journal , the link:

The Iran Experiment - WSJ.com

Regards

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Ahmadinejad Holocaust jibe 'totally unacceptable': Moscow

Ahmadinejad Holocaust jibe 'totally unacceptable': Moscow

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

MOSCOW — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement that the Holocaust was "a myth" is "totally unacceptable", the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.

"Such statements, wherever they come from, contradict the truth and are totally unacceptable," ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in the statement.

"Attempts to rewrite history, especially as the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II is being marked this year, are an offence to the memory of all victims and all those who fought fascism," he added.

Nesterenko said Ahmadinejad's comment "does not contribute to creating an international atmosphere that would foster a fruitful dialogue on issues concerning Iran."

Iran and six powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- are to meet again on October 1 on Iran's nuclear programme amid fears that Tehran is planning to build an atomic bomb.

Ahmadinejad made the statement as he addressed the annual Quds Day rally in Tehran on Friday, reiterating earlier comments that had sparked outrage around the world.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany all issued statements slamming his latest outburst dismissing the killing of some six million Jews of occupied Europe by the Nazis during World War II.

"The very existence of this regime is an insult to the dignity of the people," the hardline Ahmadinejad said of Iran's arch-foe Israel.

"They (the Western powers) launched the myth of the Holocaust. They lied, they put on a show and then they support the Jews.

"If as you claim the Holocaust is true, why can a study not be allowed?" he said to chants of "Death to Israel" from the crowd gathered for the annual display of solidarity with the Palestinians.

"The pretext for establishing the Zionist regime is a lie... a lie which relies on an unreliable claim, a mythical claim, and the occupation of Palestine has nothing to do with the Holocaust," he added.

"This claim is corrupt and the pretext is corrupt. This (the Israeli) regime's days are numbered and it is on its way to collapse. This regime is dying."

Washington condemned Ahmadinejad's comments as ignorant and hateful.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded the comments "abhorrent as well as ignorant," and said they were "not worthy of the leader of Iran".

"The coincidence of today's comments with the start of Jewish New Year only adds to the insult," he added.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called the remarks "unacceptable and shocking. We resolutely condemn them."

In Berlin German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said they shamed Iran.

Similar comments by Ahmadinejad shortly after his first election as president in 2005 also sparked an international outcry.

Then he said Israel was "doomed to be wiped off the map".

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Ahmadinejad's Holocaust 'myth' comments slammed

Ahmadinejad's Holocaust 'myth' comments slammed

(AFP) – 12 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Holocaust was a "myth" as he addressed the annual Quds Day rally in Tehran on Friday, reiterating comments that sparked outrage around the world.

The United States, Britain, France and Germany all issued statements slamming his latest outburst.

"The very existence of this regime is an insult to the dignity of the people," the hardline Ahmadinejad said of Iran's arch-foe Israel.

"They (Western powers) launched the myth of the Holocaust. They lied, they put on a show and then they support the Jews.

"If as you claim the Holocaust is true, why can a study not be allowed?" he said to chants of "Death to Israel" from the crowd gathered for the annual display of solidarity with the Palestinians.

"The pretext for establishing the Zionist regime is a lie... a lie which relies on an unreliable claim, a mythical claim, and the occupation of Palestine has nothing to do with the Holocaust," he added.

"This claim is corrupt and the pretext is corrupt. This (the Israeli) regime's days are numbered and it is on its way to collapse. This regime is dying."

Washington condemned Ahmadinejad's comments as ignorant and hateful.

"Regardless that we've heard that type of rhetoric before, obviously we condemn what he said, and I would point to what the president (Barack Obama) said in Cairo: denying the Holocaust is baseless, ignorant and hateful," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

"Promoting those vicious lies serves only to isolate Iran further from the world."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded Ahmadinejad's comments "abhorrent as well as ignorant," and said they were "not worthy of the leader of Iran."

"The coincidence of today's comments with the start of Jewish New Year only adds to the insult," he added.

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called the Iranian president's remarks "unacceptable and shocking. We resolutely condemn them."

In Berlin German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Ahmadinejad's remarks shamed Iran. "With his intolerable tirades, he shames his country," and his "anti-semitism... must be collectively condemned," he said.

Similar comments by Ahmadinejad shortly after his first election as president in 2005 also sparked an international outcry.

Then he said Israel was "doomed to be wiped off the map."

 

[Pintu]

German minister calls Ahmadinejad disgrace to Iran | World | Reuters

German minister calls Ahmadinejad disgrace to Iran
Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:27pm IST

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned on Friday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's latest denial of the Holocaust, calling him a disgrace to his country.

In a statement Steinmeier said: "Today's statements by the Iranian President are unacceptable. With his intolerable tirades he is a disgrace to his country. This sheer anti-Semitism demands our collective condemnation. We will continue to confront it decisively in the future."

Steinmeier's condemnation was unprecedented in its tone.

Denying the Holocaust -- carried out by Nazi Germany in World War Two -- is a crime in Germany, punishable by up to five years in prison.

President Ahmadinejad raised the stakes against Israel on Friday and called the Holocaust a lie, just as world powers try to decide how to deal with the nuclear ambitions of an Iran in political turmoil.

"The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim," he told worshippers at Tehran University at the end of an annual anti-Israel "Qods (Jerusalem) Day" rally.

"Confronting the Zionist regime is a national and religious duty."

Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust have caused international outcry and isolated Iran, which is at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear programme.

Germany has been a particularly vocal critic of the Iranian leader's Holocaust denial.

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson)

 

[Dark Sorrow]

How does the German minister suddenly gets intrest in iran's internal matters? Both the countries have zero foriegn relation with each other.

 

[Pintu]

Dear DS, I think German Government is going French way regarding the matter.

Here is another report on development to nuclear talk.............

The Associated Press: Iran says it is open to nuclear weapons discussion

Iran says it is open to nuclear weapons discussion

(AP) – 18 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Iran's leader is telling The Associated Press that he expects open discussion of nuclear issues at a planned meeting with officials from the U.S. and five other powers.

In an interview Tuesday evening at his hotel, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (ah-muh-DEE'-neh-zhahd) made clear, however, that Iran is not interested in discussing pressure to restrain its nuclear program, which he said is not intended to produce nuclear weapons.

The Oct. 1 meeting with the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain is to be the first of its kind since President Barack Obama took office.

The Iranian leader said Iran will push for international nuclear disarmament and expanded opportunities for all countries — including his own — to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Regards

 

[Pintu]

The Associated Press: Text of Obama, Sarkozy, Brown statements on Iran

Text of Obama, Sarkozy, Brown statements on Iran

By The Associated Press (AP) – 1 hour ago

Statements by President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Pittsburgh on Friday about an Iranian nuclear facility, as provided by the White House:

___

OBAMA: Good morning. We are here to announce that yesterday in Vienna, the United States, the United Kingdom and France presented detailed evidence to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) demonstrating that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years.

Earlier this week, the Iranian government presented a letter to the IAEA that made reference to a new enrichment facility, years after they had started its construction. The existence of this facility underscores Iran's continuing unwillingness to meet its obligations under U.N. Security Council resolutions and IAEA requirements. We expect the IAEA to immediately investigate this disturbing information, and to report to the IAEA Board of Governors.

Now, Iran's decision to build yet another nuclear facility without notifying the IAEA represents a direct challenge to the basic compact at the center of the nonproliferation regime. These rules are clear: All nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; those nations with nuclear weapons must move towards disarmament; those nations without nuclear weapons must forsake them. That compact has largely held for decades, keeping the world far safer and more secure. And that compact depends on all nations living up to their responsibilities.

This site deepens a growing concern that Iran is refusing to live up to those international responsibilities, including specifically revealing all nuclear-related activities. As the international community knows, this is not the first time that Iran has concealed information about its nuclear program. Iran has a right to peaceful nuclear power that meets the energy needs of its people. But the size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program. Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow — endangering the global nonproliferation regime, denying its own people access to the opportunity they deserve, and threatening the stability and security of the region and the world.

It is time for Iran to act immediately to restore the confidence of the international community by fulfilling its international obligations. We remain committed to serious, meaningful engagement with Iran to address the nuclear issue through the P5-plus-one negotiations. Through this dialogue, we are committed to demonstrating that international law is not an empty promise; that obligations must be kept; and that treaties will be enforced.

And that's why there's a sense of urgency about the upcoming meeting on October 1st between Iran, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. At that meeting, Iran must be prepared to cooperate fully and comprehensively with the IAEA to take concrete steps to create confidence and transparency in its nuclear program and to demonstrate that it is committed to establishing its peaceful intentions through meaningful dialogue and concrete actions.

To put it simply: Iran must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions and make clear it is willing to meet its responsibilities as a member of the community of nations. We have offered Iran a clear path toward greater international integration if it lives up to its obligations, and that offer stands. But the Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.

I should point out that although the United Kingdom, France and the United States made the presentation to Vienna, that Germany, a member of the P5-plus-one, and Chancellor Merkel in particular, who could not be here this morning, wished to associate herself with these remarks.

I would now like to turn to President Sarkozy of France for a brief statement.

SARKOZY: (As translated.) Ladies and gentlemen, we have met yesterday for a meeting — a summit meeting of the Security Council on disarmament and nuclear disarmament. I repeated my conviction that Iran was taking the international community on a dangerous path. I have recalled all the attempts that we have made to offer a negotiated solution to the Iranian leaders without any success, which what has been revealed today is exceptional. Following the enriching plant of Natanz in 2002, it is now the Qom one which is revealed. It was designed and built over the past several years in direct violation of resolutions from the Security Council and from the IAEA. I am expecting from the IAEA an exhaustive, strict and rigorous investigation, as President Obama just said.

We were already in a very severe confidence crisis. We are now faced with a challenge, a challenge made to the entire international communities. The six will meet with the Iranian representatives in Geneva. Everything — everything must be put on the table now.

We cannot let the Iranian leaders gain time while the motors are running. If by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken. This is for the peace and stability. Thank you.

BROWN: America, the United Kingdom and France are at one. Iran's nuclear program is the most urgent proliferation challenge that the world faces today.

As President Obama and President Sarkozy have just said, the level of deception by the Iranian government, and the scale of what we believe is the breach of international commitments, will shock and anger the whole international community, and it will harden our resolve.

Confronted by the serial deception of many years, the international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand. On October the 1st, Iran must now engage with the international community and join the international community as a partner. If it does not do so, it will be further isolated.

And I say on behalf of the United Kingdom today, we will not let this matter rest. And we are prepared to implement further and more stringent sanctions.

Let the message that goes out to the world be absolutely clear: that Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear program. Thank you.

 

[Pintu]

AFP: West demands access to Iran's secret nuclear plant

West demands access to Iran's secret nuclear plant

By Laurent Lozano and Anna Smolchenko (AFP) – 6 hours ago

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania — World leaders demanded on Friday that UN nuclear inspectors be given access to a previously secret Iranian plant and threatened to impose tough new sanctions on Tehran.

US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that Tehran had admitted to the UN nuclear watchdog that it had built a second uranium enrichment plant.

Following their declaration, Russia expressed its concern and China said it had taken note of the information and had urged Tehran to cooperate with any probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Western leaders made it clear that they did not believe that the site had a civilian role, being of what one US official said was "the right size" to produce weapons grade uranium but of no use for nuclear fuel production.

"We expect the IAEA to immediately investigate this disturbing information and to report to the IAEA board of governors," Obama said, branding the new plant a "direct challenge" to international non-proliferation rules.

Iran -- which insists it is was defiant.

The head of Tehran's nuclear program, Ali Akbar Salehi, declared that the second plant had been built to ensure Iran could continue to refine uranium even the the event of attacks on its other sites.

"Considering the threats, our organisation decided to do what is necessary to preserve and continue our nuclear activities," he told Iranian television.

"So we decided to build new installations which will guarantee the continuation of our nuclear activities which will never stop at any cost."

Sarkozy backed Obama's tough stance, and threatened rapid sanctions if Iran did not agree to talks on its nuclear program at talks with the international six-nation contact group on October 1.

"It was designed and built over the past several years in direct violation of resolutions from the Security Council and from the IAEA," he said of the plant, during his joint appearance with Obama and Brown at the G20 summit.

"We already face a severe breakdown of trust. We are now faced with a challenge, a challenge to the entire international community," he said, demanding that Iranian negotiators change their stance.

"In December, if there is not an in-depth change in Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken," he said.

Brown said the scale of the Iranian "serial deception of many years" in hiding the plant for may years "will shock and anger the whole international community and it will harden our resolve.

"The international community has no choice today but to draw a line in the sand," he said, warning that Iranian faces "further more stringent sanctions". Nuclear standoff: chronology

At a later briefing with journalists, Brown said the "could not have been for a civil nuclear facility".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the revelation that Iran had been holding back information on the Qom plant would encourage countries that had been opposed to sanctions to toughen their position.

Russia, a member of the UN Security Council and the international community's six nation Iran contact group, has thus far been the main obstacle to sanction, but the Russian G20 delegation signaled that this might change.

Natalya Timakova, spokeswoman for Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, said: "The president will make a special statement on the latest announcement by Iran, which worries us."

This statement "will be in the spirit of those evaluations that were given by the president after a meeting with President Obama. If you remember, the word 'sanctions' was used there," she said.

China has been told of the second Iranian uranium enrichment plant and has asked Tehran to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog in any probe on the issue, Chinese government spokesman Ma Zhao Xu said. Uranium enrichment explained

"It is our hope that Iran will cooperate with the IAEA on this matter."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was unable to join her three colleagues, but separately briefed journalists on her concerns, adding her voice to calls for the IAEA to urgently investigate the site.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the United States had had intelligence information on the secret plant for "some time" and believes it houses 3,000 centrifuge machines.

But he added the plant would not be operational for at least a few months.

The IAEA earlier said Iran had sent a letter on September 21 to inform the watchdog "that a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country," agency spokesman Marc Vidricaire said in a statement.

"The IAEA has requested Iran to provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible."

 

[Pintu]

Russia alarmed by news of Iran uranium plant | Special Coverage | Reuters

Russia alarmed by news of Iran uranium plant
Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:49am EDT

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Russia is alarmed by Iran's revelation it is building a second uranium enrichment plant and President Dmitry Medvedev will address the matter on Friday, a spokeswoman said, hinting that Moscow might look more favorably at the idea of tougher sanctions against Tehran.

"The president will make a special statement on the latest announcement by Iran, which worries us," spokeswoman Natalya Timakova told reporters.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday that Iran had just told it about the plant. U.S. President Barack Obama and other Western leaders accused Iran of building a secret nuclear fuel facility and urged Tehran to comply with international rules.

Timakova said Medvedev's comments would be "in the spirit" of the ones he made after meeting Obama this week, when "sanctions were mentioned."

Obama and Medvedev agreed on Wednesday that serious additional sanctions had to be considered if Iran did not respond to proposals to end a nuclear standoff.

Moscow has so far supported U.N. Security Council statements condemning Iran's nuclear ambitions while rejecting the idea of tougher sanctions.

A U.S. official, speaking earlier in the day, said Washington had been monitoring the construction of the plant for several years.

A source in the Russian delegation said it appeared that "one of the Western secret services discovered the new plant and Iran came out with (the) disclosure to ease tough Western reaction."

(Reporting by Oleg Shchedrov; Writing by David Ljunggren; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Military action on Iran would only 'buy time': Gates

Military action on Iran would only 'buy time': Gates

(AFP) – 11 hours ago

WASHINGTON — Any possible military action against Iran would only "buy time" and delay Tehran's nuclear program by about one to three years, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

"The reality is there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," Gates told CNN.

"The estimates are one to three years or so," he said when asked about the impact of possible military options on Iran's disputed nuclear sites.

The Pentagon chief meanwhile told ABC television's "This Week" program that "the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons," but stressed that whether Tehran had formally decided to develop them "is in doubt."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier quipped that a nuclear enrichment plant whose existence was disclosed by Western leaders on Friday had not been kept secret and that US President Barack Obama should apologize for accusing Tehran of violating international law.

"Not a chance," said an unequivocal Gates.

The United States has been tracking for years the Iranian uranium enrichment plant burrowed into a mountain near the holy city of Qom, which one US official said was "the right size" to produce weapons grade uranium but of no use for nuclear fuel production.

But Gates, a former CIA chief, said the revelation did "not necessarily" challenge a 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that found Iran had halted its nuclear weapons development program in 2003, a judgment challenged by Israel and other US allies in Europe.

"What it does mean is that they had a covert site, they did not declare it. If this were a peaceful nuclear program, why didn't they announce this site when they began to construct it? Why didn't they allow IAEA inspectors in from the very beginning?" asked Gates.

"This is part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the Iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear program. So it's no wonder that world leaders think that they have ulterior motives that they have a plan to go forward with nuclear weapons."

His comments -- in interviews with talkshows to be aired in full on Sunday -- followed demands from world leaders Friday that UN nuclear inspectors be given access to the previously undisclosed plant as Western powers threatened to slap tough new sanctions on Tehran.

The defense secretary told CNN's "State of the Union" program that while the United States would not rule out the use of force, there was still time for diplomacy and sanctions to persuade Iran to give up uranium enrichment work that Washington believes is designed to develop nuclear weapons.

"The only way you end up not having a nuclear-capable Iran is for the Iranian government to decide that their security is diminished by having those weapons as opposed to strengthened," he said.

"While you don't take options off the table, I still think there's room left for diplomacy," he said.

Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown earlier announced that Tehran had admitted to the UN nuclear watchdog that it had built a second uranium enrichment plant.

"The Iranians are in a very bad spot now because of this deception, in terms of all of the great powers," Gates said.

"And there obviously is the opportunity for severe additional sanctions. And I think we have the time to make that work."

Western powers and Israel claims that Iran's uranium enrichment program masks plans to build a nuclear bomb, despite Tehran's denials and insistence it is a civilian nuclear energy program for peaceful purposes.

 

[Pintu]

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Iran denies violating IAEA rules

UPDATED ON:
Saturday, September 26, 2009
11:14 Mecca time, 08:14 GMT

Iran denies violating IAEA rules

Ahmadinjed rejected US criticism as a political game
in the run-up to nuclear talks in October [AFP]



Iran's president has denied his government violated International Atomic Energy Agency rules after disclosing the existence of a new nuclear-enrichment facility to the UN watchdog.

Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country had in fact informed the IAEA a full year in advance of the deadline set by the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"If you want to build the building, you can do that. If you want to lay the pipes, you can do that. Six months before you start processing itself ... then you need to inform the IAEA so it is prepared to begin its inspection programme," Ahmadinejad said.

"Now is this the right thing or the wrong thing to do?" he asked. "It is not a secret facility. If it was, why did we inform the IAEA a year ahead of time?"

Even as he insisted that Iran, as a sovereign state, did not need to report to Washington, Ahmadinejad said that Tehran would allow IAEA inspectors to visit the site.

Marc Vidricaire, an IAEA spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Friday that Tehran had notified the body of the second enrichment plant's existence in a letter earlier this week.

Iran was previously known to have one enrichment plant at Natanz, in central Isfahan province, which is under daily surveillance by IAEA inspectors.

The New York Times reported that the facility was being built inside a mountain near the city of Qom, where Iran's supreme leader and the country's influential religious leadership are based.

Criticism rejected

Ahmadinejad's comments came just hours after Barack Obama, the US president, took to the stage in Pittsburgh - site of a G20 summit - to condemn the building of the new plant, describing it as a "direct challenge" on the NPT regime.

"Iran is on notice that when we meet with them in October, they are going to have to come clean and they are going have to make a choice: Are they going to go down the path of giving up the acquisition of nuclear weapons and abide by international standards in their pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy, or continue going down a path that will lead to confrontation?" Obama said.

"The international community has spoken. It is up to Iran to respond. I am not going to speculate on the type of action we are going to take. I am going to give October 1st a chance. But we do not rule out any options when it comes to US security interests."

For his part, Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, accused the Iranians of "serial deception", saying: "Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear programme."

And Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, described the situation as a challenge to the entire international community.

But Ahmadinejad dismissed their criticism and said the three Western leaders were trying to gain a negotiating advantage before planned talks in Geneva on October 1.

"What Mr Brown and Sarkozy say isn't very important to us ... they want to set up a media game to get the upper hand in the upcoming negotiations," he said.

"When you go into negotiations you are supposed to go in with honesty and sincerity. And respect for international law."

'No smoking gun'

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Washington DC on Saturday, Gareth Porter, a Middle East policy analyst, played down the importance of the new nuclear facility under construction near the city of Qom.

"This is very far from a smoking gun, certainly with regard to Iranian intentions as far as nuclear weapons are concerned and also to the capablity of manufacturing a nuclear weapon."

Porter also said that under existing regulations, Iran had a strong case that it was in legal compliance with the NPT as it never ratified an additional protocol that it signed in 2003.

"I think they have a case ... they never ratifiied the protocol that is at stake here, the one that involves an additional obligation to notify immediately upon a decision to begin construction of a nuclear related facility.

"They voluntarily accepted many of the conditions .... that is why they make the argument and I think there is something to that."

System failure

On the other hand, John Large, a nuclear engineer based in the UK, said that the Qom facility showed that the international non-proliferation system, operated by the IAEA, had simply failed.

"Once Iran develops the centrifuge technology, which it seems to have done, then it is a relatively straightforward step to transfer that technology into a production unit in another location," he told Al Jazeera on Friday.

"That provides all sorts of opportunities for detouring material away from the main production plant ... [and] finishing to a nuclear weapons grade enrichment level at this new plant.

"The logic of Iran's enrichment programme has been very much doubted, because it just simply doesn't have the civil nuclear-reactor capacity to demand an enrichment programme that it has in place."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

 

[Pintu]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/world/middleeast/27nuke.html

Iran Agrees to Let U.N. Examine Nuclear Site

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: September 26, 2009

Iran’s nuclear chief said Saturday that United Nations nuclear inspectors would be allowed to visit the newly revealed uranium-enrichment facility.

The comments by Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, did not extend to the questions that have long plagued inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran: How quickly can the inspectors get to the site? Can the agency designate any inspectors it pleases? What kind of continuing monitoring can they set up for the site?

Unless the agency is allowed to act quickly and without restrictions, it is difficult to try to determine if the facility would be part of a nuclear weapons program rather than a site to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.

In the past, Iran has often tried to restrict the number of inspectors and has insisted on vetting who can come into the facilities. In this case, Iran’s leaders are likely to be suspicious that American and European intelligence agencies will try to use the inspections to get their own personnel into the long-hidden site.

Some American officials believe that now that the existence of the plant near the religious center of Qum has been revealed, Iran may well abandon the facility and concentrate efforts elsewhere.

Mr. Salehi spoke on state television on Saturday.

President Obama and his allies revealed publicly Friday — in a dramatic appearance at an economic summit meeting — that the plant existed and demanded the country allow highly intrusive international inspections.

The new plant, which Iran strongly denied was intended to be kept a secret or to be used for making weapons, is months away from completion and does nothing to shorten intelligence estimates of how long it would take Iran to produce a bomb. American intelligence officials say it would take at least a year, perhaps five, for Iran to develop the full ability to make a nuclear weapon.

Iran, apparently learning that the site had been discovered by Western intelligence, delivered a short and vague letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency last week, disclosing that it was building a second plant, one that it had never mentioned during years of inspections.

Mr. Salehi on Saturday said that Iran had “pre-empted a conspiracy” against his country by the United States and its allies by reporting the site voluntarily to the United Nations agency.

President Obama said on Saturday that the discovery of a secret nuclear plant in Iran showed a “disturbing pattern” of evasion by Tehran and called it a “serious challenge to the global nonproliferation regime.”

“That is why international negotiations with Iran scheduled for Oct. 1 now take on added urgency,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address on Saturday.

 

[Pintu]

Al Jazeera English - Americas - US welcomes Iran inspection access

UPDATED ON:
Sunday, September 27, 2009
01:49 Mecca time, 22:49 GMT

US welcomes Iran inspection access

Clinton said the disclosure of a second uranium
enrichment plant adds urgency to talks [Getty]



Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has welcomed Iran's decision to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors into a newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant.

Clinton told reporters in New York on Saturday that "It is always welcome when Iran makes a decision to comply with the international rules and regulations, and particularly with respect to the IAEA".

She was reacting to comments from Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's atomic energy chief, who said on Iranian state television on Saturday, "we have no problem for inspection within the framework of the agency regulations."

"This site will be under the supervision of the IAEA and will have a maximum of five per cent [uranium] enrichment capacity," Salehi said.

'Urgent talks'

The announcement of the new facility came just days before an October 1 meeting in Geneva between Iran and six world powers to discuss Tehran's disputed atomic programme.

The US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are sending diplomats to meet their Iranian counterpart in Geneva in order to test how serious Iran is about coming clean on its uranium enrichment programme.

Clinton said the disclosure of a second uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom adds urgency to the talks next week.

Obama and other Western leaders have threatened Tehran with new sanctions if it does not "come clean" during the Geneva talks.

"They are going to have to make a choice," Obama said at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh, US, on Friday.

"Are they going to go down the path of giving up the acquisition of nuclear weapons and abide by international standards in their pursuit of peaceful nuclear energy, or continue going down a path that will lead to confrontation?" he said.

Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of the nuclear controversy, as the process can be used to make an atomic bomb as well as producing fuel for nuclear reactors.

Source: Agencies

 

[Pintu]

Russia: Iran’s enigmatic ally and key crisis player

Russia: Iran’s enigmatic ally and key crisis player

(AFP)

27 September 2009, 11:44 AM

MOSCOW - Russia, which has the deepest relations with Iran of any big power, is to play a critical role in the Iranian nuclear crisis as the clock ticks on efforts to find a diplomatic solution.

Moscow is a key supplier of military hardware to Tehran, a reliable trade partner in difficult times and is building Iran’s first nuclear power plant — subtle levers to pressure Tehran which the West does not possess, analysts say.

And after the revelation Iran has been building a secret uranium enrichment site, President Dmitry Medvedev warned Iran at the Pittsburgh G20 that “mechanisms” could come into play if it did not cooperate.

With Western powers warning of a December deadline for Iran to show progress or face further UN sanctions, the crucial question is whether Moscow is prepared to support measures that could cripple the Iranian economy.

According to Rajab Safarov, director of the Centre for Contemporary Iranian Studies in Moscow, Russia has “sufficiently effective levers” to have an effect on Iran’s behaviour.

“Iran has an interest in good relations with Russia,” Safarov told AFP. “This means that Iran could listen to advice from Russia.”

Safarov said that not even Russia has the ability to make Iran halt uranium enrichment operations, which Western powers fear Tehran could use to make a nuclear bomb.

But he said Russia could nudge Iran into “behaving constructively with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and showing great openness.”

“If progress is made, the Russians will not support sanctions. But if not, Russia could in principle agree to sanctions.”

A Western diplomat in Moscow said the big question is “where will the Russians be” when crunch time comes at the end of the year.

Crucially, Russia has still not fulfilled a 2005 contract to supply Tehran with its S-300 air defence systems which could seriously complicate any plans for a US or Israeli air strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Russia’s reluctance to supply the missiles to Iran gives it another useful lever to Tehran, Western diplomats say, although mystery surrounds reports a cargo ship allegedly hijacked in July was actually carrying S-300s to Iran.

Analysts have also speculated that Russia could be prepared to give ground over Iran in return for the US change of mind over plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

Russia invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to talks in Moscow ahead of the UN General Assembly in a bid to convince him to make concessions but Iran turned the offer down, the respected Kommersant newspaper reported.

Adding to the uncertainty, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seen by most as Russia’s true strongman, has yet to reaffirm Medvedev’s apparent tougher line on Iran.

But a major visit by then president Putin in October 2007 to Tehran — the first by a Kremlin chief since Stalin — failed to bring about any discernable shift in Iranian policy.

For Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the Institute for US and Canada Studies, Russia and the United States have more in common than differences on Iran as “both are against Iran obtaining nuclear weapons”.

“It is the manner of acting to obtain this end that is not the same,” he said.

Although Russia is one of few countries to have had robust relations with both the deposed Pahlavi imperial dynasty and the Islamic Republic, relations between Moscow and Tehran have not always been easy, even in modern times.

Russia was a major player in the “Great Game” battle for influence in Persia that is still regarded with cynicism in modern Iran.

Russians for their part painfully remember the killing of one of their greatest playwrights, Alexander Griboyedov, in Tehran in 1829 by a mob incensed by his diplomatic delegation’s treatment of harem women.

And while the Soviet Union was not displeased to see pro-US shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ousted by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ties turned sour when Moscow began arming Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in its war with Iran.

In the early years of the Islamic Republic, “Death to the Soviet Union” was as much a mantra for the faithful as the still familiar “Death to America”.

But after the end of the war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, relations improved with Russia emerging as key supplier of civilian and military technology for Iran.

It was Russia that in 1995 signed a contract with Iran to build its first nuclear power station in the southern city of Bushehr, a project expected to go online at the end of the year after numerous delays.

And when turmoil erupted after Iran’s disputed presidential elections in June, Ahmadinejad headed to a summit in Russia for the golden photo opportunity of a smiling handshake with Medvedev.

“Russia is the most important partner of Iran in the development of its nuclear programme. No other country in the world is cooperating so much with Iran,” said Safarov.

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Iran vows to stick with low-level nuclear enrichment

Iran vows to stick with low-level nuclear enrichment

By Hiedeh Farmani (AFP) – 2 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iran will keep its uranium enrichment level at up to five percent -- much lower than bomb-grade -- its nuclear chief said on Sunday after news of Tehran's new atomic facility sparked a global outcry.

"We don't want to change the arrangement of five-percent enrichment merely to produce 150 to 300 kilos of 20-percent (enriched) fuel," ILNA news agency quoted Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi as saying.

He said Iran needed 20-percent fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, and that it will reportedly ask to import enriched fuel of that level when it meets world powers in Geneva on October 1 for talks on its nuclear programme.

Uranium enrichment lies at the centre of fears over Iran's controversial atomic work as the process to make nuclear fuel can also be used to make the fissile core of an atom bomb in much higher purifications of over 90 percent.

On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tehran wrote to the agency on September 21 disclosing that it is building a new uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom.

Iran's other enrichment plant is in Natanz located in the central Isfahan province.

The announcement of the new plant was met with concern by Western powers, but Iran insisted it was not hiding anything and said the facility would be put under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog.

Tehran insists it has a right to enrichment to make nuclear fuel for power plants as a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, the country's first, Russian-built, power plant has yet to come online.

"The Natanz and Qom facilities complement each other and we don't want to produce all the fuel needed for our reactors there. What we mean to say is that if they restrain us in the process of generating energy from nuclear fuel, we have the capability to make fuel," Salehi said.

"If we had wanted to create the new plant for high-level enrichment we would not have declared it," he added.

Iran has been under mounting international pressure to halt enrichment and has defiantly pressed ahead with the sensitive work despite five UN Security Council resolutions, including three sets of sanctions.

World powers have threatened Iran with more sanctions if the Geneva talks fail.

The talks will be attended by officials of the six world powers -- Britain, France, Russia, China, Germany and the United States -- and Iran's nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

The United States and Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel have never ruled out a military option to thwart Tehran's atomic drive.

Widely considered to be the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel along with the West thinks Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its controversial nuclear programme, a charge Tehran denies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for more sanctions in phone calls with US congressmen and senators after Iran's announcement of the second plant, the left-leading Israeli Haaretz daily said on Sunday.

"Action must be taken in all areas to increase pressure on Iran and impose crippling sanctions on it," the paper quoted him as saying. "If not now, then when?"

Another Israeli daily, Maariv, quoted military chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi as telling close aides that "there is still time to stop Iran from getting nuclear arms with tougher sanctions."

The Jewish state considers the Islamic republic to be its arch-enemy after repeated statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust was a "myth" and that Israel is doomed to be "wiped off the map."

Meanwhile Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, which enjoys good ties with both Iran and the West, said he plans to visit Tehran next month in a bid to help resolve the nuclear dispute.

Erdogan also warned that any military attack against its eastern neighbour Iran would be an act of "insanity."

 

[Pintu]

The Associated Press: Russian FM: Iran enrichment deal needs finalizing

Russian FM: Iran enrichment deal needs finalizing

(AP) – 45 minutes ago

MOSCOW — Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that an agreement reached between Tehran and six world powers last week for Russia to help enrich uranium for an Iranian reactor has yet to be finalized.

Lavrov said that experts would have to work out specifics of the deal involving the United States, France, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful, and needs the fuel to power a research reactor in Tehran.

"A meeting of experts will be held in the near future in order to implement that plan," Lavrov said after a meeting with his Austrian counterpart.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has said experts will meet in Vienna on Oct. 19 to discuss the deal for Russia to take some of Iran's processed uranium and enrich it. He said Iran would take part.

The uranium-enrichment arrangement discussed at Thursday's talks between Iran and the six powers — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — has increased hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear standoff.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said Moscow could support tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran if diplomatic efforts to halt its domestic enrichment program fail.

Thursday's talks in Geneva included the highest-level bilateral contact between U.S. and Iranian officials, and Tehran also agreed to allow U.N. inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant during the talks.

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Iran vows 'positive' approach to nuclear talks

Iran vows 'positive' approach to nuclear talks

By Farhad Pouladi (AFP) – 5 hours ago

TEHRAN — Iran, praised by the UN atomic watchdog chief for deciding to cooperate with world powers over its nuclear programme, said on Monday it will head with a "positive" approach into the next round of talks later this month.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi reiterated at a news conference that the Iranian nuclear programme was peaceful in purpose and dismissed Western demands that Tehran offer guarantees to this effect.

Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are to meet again by the end of October for more discussions on Tehran's nuclear programme after talks last week in Geneva, the first in 15 months.

Ghashghavi said he was not in a position to make a "judgment" about how the late October round of talks would proceed, but he said that Tehran "was going forward with this positive approach."

"We think it is constructive because the fact is that the negotiations are going forward," he said. "Its continuation shows that there is material to talk about in the future. We see no reason to be pessimistic."

On Mohamed ElBaradei's weekend visit to Tehran, Ghashghavi said the outgoing UN atomic chief had "praised Iran's cooperation" over the nuclear file.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head flew in to the Iranian capital on Saturday to work out the procedures for UN inspections of Iran's newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom.

After a series of meetings with Iranian officials, ElBaradei told reporters on Sunday that UN experts would visit the site on October 25.

He also said that the controversy over Iran's nuclear programme can be solved through dialogue.

"At present we are shifting from confrontation to cooperation and I am asking Iran to continue its transparency," ElBaradei said.

"We are now on an appropriate path. The agency and the international community and Iran have started constructive talks."

The disclosure by Tehran prior to last week's Geneva talks that it is building a second nuclear enrichment plant inside a mountain at Qom triggered worldwide outrage.

Late on Sunday, Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Tehran would install its "domestically built new generation centrifuges" in the Qom plant, but did not offer details on the type of centrifuges -- the device that rotates at supersonic speed for enriching uranium.

Salehi also said that the UN inspection on October 25 was of a "routine" nature, adding that the IAEA was under pressure from some world powers. "One cannot rule out the pressures of some powers on the IAEA," he said.

Ghashghavi was adamant on Monday that Iran's nuclear programme was purely for peaceful purposes.

"There is no military diversion in our nuclear activities. How can we prove the non-existence of something?" he asked. "Such issue cannot be proved. There is no nuclear weapon" in Iran.

 

[Pintu]

AFP: Washington readies fresh Iran sanctions

Washington readies fresh Iran sanctions

(AFP) – 50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The United States is ready to slap fresh sanctions on Iran in the event international negotiations over its suspected nuclear weapons program fail, a senior US Treasury Department official said Tuesday.

"This administration has demonstrated that it is committed to a diplomatic resolution of the international community's issues with Iran," Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey told the Senate Banking Committee.

"The world is now united in looking to Iran for a response. If Iran does not live up to its obligations in this process, it alone will bear the responsibility for that outcome," he said.

"Under these circumstances, the United States would be obliged to turn to strengthened sanctions," said Levey, who as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence oversees the department's efforts to staunch the flow of funds to international terrorists and weapons of mass destruction proliferators.

"We are intensifying work with our allies and other partners to ensure that, if we must go down this path, we will do so with as much international support as possible," said Levey.

"We will now wait to see whether Iran follows its constructive words with concrete action. If it does not, and if the president determines that additional measures are necessary, we will be ready to take action, ideally with our international partners."

Levey told lawmakers that he was not in a position to provide details of the planned sanctions, although the department has completed work on them.

He added that sanctions already in place have borne fruit, and that the United States hope to exploit certain "economic vulnerabilities" in Iran.

"We will need to impose measures simultaneously in many different forms in order to be effective," he said.

At the same hearing, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg described the administration's approach as a "dual track strategy that presents a clear choice to Iran's leaders."

"They can negotiate in good faith, prove their willingness to address the concern of the international community, and in turn improve Iran's standing in that community, or they can face increasing international isolation and pressure," said Steinberg.

Meanwhile, the banking panel's powerful chairman, Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, said he was strongly in favor of ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran, and said he was crafting "comprehensive sanctions legislation" to be unveiled later this month.

"I am committed to ensuring that this Congress equips President Obama with all the tools he needs to confront the threats posed by Iran," he said.

The draft Senate bill, which will combine proposals from various lawmakers, aims to impose new sanctions on companies exporting refined petroleum products to Tehran, and other measures.

It also would expand existing legislation to cover financial institutions and businesses and extend sanctions to oil and gas pipelines, boost moves to freeze the assets of Iranians accused of weapons proliferation and tighten export controls to halt the illegal export of sensitive technology.

The push to impose new sanctions follows revelations that Iran had a second, secret nuclear reactor under construction under a mountain near Qom, and weekend reports that Tehran may be closer than originally feared to developing a nuclear weapon.

Tehran's insists its nuclear program is designed for purely peaceful purposes while the United States accuses Iran of a clandestine effort to build nuclear weapons.

Iran held nuclear talks last week with world powers, and a second round of talks has been set for October 19.

 

[Pintu]

The Associated Press: US Officials: Iran's behavior will bring penalties

US Officials: Iran's behavior will bring penalties

By JIM ABRAMS (AP) – 52 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Administration officials told impatient lawmakers Tuesday that they are ready to take swift and substantial action against Iran if it disregards current diplomatic efforts to stop its alleged nuclear weapons program.

At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, lawmakers expressed skepticism that Iran would negotiate in good faith. They said they would not wait long before acting on legislation to impose tough new sanctions on the Tehran government.

Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he planned to move forward this month on a proposal to extend restrictions on financial transactions, impose new sanctions on oil and gas pipelines and tankers, restrict exports of certain refined petroleum products to Iran and impose a broad ban on imports from Iran.

He said the world, and particularly the Iranian government, must know that the United States won't wait long to act and Congress wants action: "The fear here collectively is that the Iranian government is taking us to the cleaners on this issue."

Administration officials at the hearing stressed that sanctions against Iran are most effective if imposed by a united international coalition. Undersecretary of the Treasury Stuart Levey told the panel: "The less united we are in applying pressure, the greater the risk our measures will not have the impact we seek."

Last week, the United States and five allies held talks with Iran in Geneva where Iranaian officials agreed to open its newly disclosed nuclear plant to U.N. inspectors and take other steps to show it is not trying to develop nuclear weapons.

President Barack Obama said the talks were a "constructive beginning," while adding that his administration was working with Congress on new actions targeting Iran's energy, financial and telecommunications sectors in the event Iran did not live up to its promises.

James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state, told the hearing that the administration was "realistic" about prospects for engaging with the Iranian government. But he said the current dual-track strategy of diplomatic talks with the threat of punitive action was helping develop a strong consensus within the international community if the talks falter.

He said it would be clear by the end of this month whether Iran is serious about meeting two specific commitments: providing access to the newly revealed nuclear facility and shipping low enriched uranium out of the country.

"Our patience is not unlimited," he added.

Levey said that with targeted sanctions backed by a broad coalition of governments, "we can at the very least demonstrate to the Iranian government that there are serious costs to any continued refusal to cooperate with the international community."

International concerns about Iran's nuclear work grew Tuesday with an Iranian newspaper report that the country plans to install a more advanced type of centrifuge at its newly revealed uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom

Iran insists its enrichment work is only meant for use in generating power, but Washington and its allies are suspicions of Tehran's intentions and fear its mastery of the technology will give them a pathway to weapons development.

Despite years of diplomatic efforts, Iran has "continued to choose a collision course with the free world," said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Brownback and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., are promoting a bill that would allow state and local governments and universities to divest their assets from any company that invests $20 million or more in Iran's energy sector.

Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Iran has a history of using diplomatic talks to stall for time and said the United States should move with urgency to impose "severe sanctions to arrest Iran's nuclear ambitions." He said steps to box in Iran's financial and energy sectors could have a profound effect, and that blocking gasoline exports "could be devastating to Iran's economy."

Dodd raised the issue of whether sanctions that disrupt the lives of ordinary Iranians are effective.

Sanctions, said Steinberg, are a matter of judgment and not science, and that the administration needed to decide what are the "smart sanctions that have the biggest impact."

 

[Pintu]

The Associated Press: UN nuke agency head says Iran talks started well

UN nuke agency head says Iran talks started well

By GEORGE JAHN (AP) – 1 hour ago

VIENNA — Talks to persuade Iran to move most of its enriched uranium out of the country have gotten off to a "good start," the head of the U.N. nuclear agency said Monday.

The comments by Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency, were significant because Iran earlier had signaled it would not meet Western demands for a deal under which it would send most of its enriched material abroad — a move that would delay its ability to make a nuclear bomb.

Tehran has said it needs enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. But the West fears it could be used to make weapons, and the U.S. says Iran is now one to six years away from being able to do so.

Monday's Vienna talks between Iran and the U.S., Russia and France were focused on a technical issue with huge strategic ramifications — whether Iran is ready to farm out some of its uranium enrichment program to a foreign country.

Progress would strengthen confidence on the part of the U.S. and five other big powers trying to persuade Iran to dispel fears about its nuclear program that this time Tehran is serious about reducing tensions.

ElBaradei appeared cautiously optimistic after the first day of closed meetings, saying most technical issues had been discussed and the parties would meet again Tuesday morning.

"We have had this afternoon quite a constructive meeting," ElBaradei told reporters. "We are off to a good start."

The delegations said little as they left the meeting. The chief Iranian delegate, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said only that he endorsed ElBaradei's comments.

Iranian agreement to ship out most of its enriched uranium would be significant because 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds) is the commonly accepted threshold of the amount of low-enriched uranium needed for production of weapons-grade uranium enriched to levels above 90 percent.

Iran's state-run Press TV cited unnamed officials in Tehran as saying the Islamic Republic was looking to keep its low-enriched uranium and buy what it needed for the Tehran reactor abroad. One source said Iran was looking to the U.S., Russia or France for such supplies.

Such a stance would likely doom the talks, with neither the U.S. or France accepting such terms.

Tehran's refusal to give up most of its enriched stock could also abort chances of a second round of broader negotiations between Tehran and six world powers on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.