Give Iran the Bomb?

Interesting post by Nate at Trust in One blog 29 Oct 2005, filed here for future reference.

Also, note Stupidity or Strategy? commentary at ComingAnarchy's plus Taking it back [makes sense]:

Ahmadinejad’s comments were for domestic consumption only, and were not meant to get into the international press. Yet once the controversy started, he couldn’t take back his comments for fear of coming across as a charlatan to his supporters.

Iran to construct $16 million water treatment plant in Sudan

Note this copy of a report from Tehran dated Oct 1, 2005 - via SudanTribune:

An Iranian private company is to build second water treatment plant in Sudan at the cost of 16 million dollars garanted by a public financement institution.

The agreement was finalized after the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI) approved the credit facility for the project under the risk coverage of Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI), The Iranian Mehr News Agency (MNA) reported.

EDBI offers 85 percent of total cost on a five-year repayment plan. The project commissioner of this plan, like the first one, is Kian Ab Company and the plant is expected to supply over 50,000 cubic meters of potable water to 120,000 households in Atbara, Sudan.

The first water treatment plant is to cover Jebel-Awlia area, near Khartoum.

According to MNA, the executive director of EDBI Noruz Kahzadi and Abdallah Khadir Bashir, Sudan's ambassador to Iran, signed the agreement in a ceremony held in Tehran.

Bashir considered these projects of paramount importance for developing Sudan's infrastructure and conveyed his country's interest in expanding economic ties with Iran.

"Such cooperation deepens and strengthens solidarity between Iran and Sudan in all spheres of activities," the report quoted him as saying.

Relations between Iran and Sudan is based on the principle of consolidation of ties and unity among Islamic countries to help preserve the independence of Muslims round the world which should be considered as a significant pole in globalization procedures.

In the past, many reports mentioned the role ponderant role played by Iran in the training of the Sudanese regime militia and the financement of miltary contracts conclued by Sudan.

Sudanese President pledged to Khatimi his country's support for Iran's right to possess and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and praised the way in which Iran is handling the question.

The visit of the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Sudan in October 2004 constitute an turning point in bilateral ties.

Iran in nuclear sanctions warning

BBC news report today says Iran warns the US and EU it would be a "grave mistake" to refer its nuclear programme to the UN.
- - -

Pakistan fires new cruise missile

Pakistan says it has fired its first cruise missile capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads.

The Babur missile has a range of 500km (310miles), a military spokesman said.

The launch comes days after Pakistan and neighbouring rival India agreed to give each other advance notice of future nuclear missile tests.

India had not been informed about Thursday's test because the agreement did not cover the type of missile fired on Thursday, the spokesman said.

Pakistan has joined a select group of countries which have the capability to design and develop cruise missiles
Pakistan military statement

The agreement "does not cover pre-notification of cruise missile tests," Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Naeem Khan told Associated Press.

There was no immediate reaction to the test from Delhi.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4140692.stm

Iran removes UN's nuclear seals

Excerpt from a report by the BBC today:

Iran says work will begin in sealed-off areas of the Isfahan plant
Iran has started to break the remaining UN seals placed on its nuclear plant at Isfahan, enabling it to operate fully.
"The removal of seals has begun with the presence of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors," Iranian official Mohammad Saeedi said.

The move comes as members of the UN's nuclear watchdog hold urgent private talks on Iran's decision to re-start uranium conversion activities.

The IAEA wants to persuade Iran to resume a voluntary suspension.

The organisation's spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, confirmed the breaking of the seals. "Once the removal is completed we will confirm this to the [IAEA] board," she said.

The IAEA has installed equipment to monitor activities at the plant.

Iran 'resumes nuclear programme'

From the BBC today - Iran 'resumes nuclear programme'

Iran says it has resumed work at its uranium conversion facility near the city of Isfahan.

Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, made the announcement at the Isfahan plant.

He said work at the plant where uranium conversion has taken place in the past had resumed under the supervision of the UN's nuclear watchdog.

The US and EU have warned that such a move will lead to Iran being referred to the UN Security Council.

This could lead to the imposition of Security Council sanctions.

Iran maintains its right to carry out nuclear activity for peaceful purposes, and has rejected recent European proposals for its nuclear programme, designed to give guarantees that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

Nuclear work at the Isfahan plant had been suspended since November 2004.

A reporter for the Reuters news agency witnessed what she says was the resumption of uranium conversion. The reporter describes two workers at the Isfahan plant lifting a barrel full of uranium yellow cake, opening its lid and feeding it into the processing line.

The reporter says that the plant had earlier been surrounded by dozens of anti-aircraft batteries.

Emergency meeting

Earlier on Monday inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived at the Isfahan plant to install surveillance equipment and oversee removal of seals.

The IAEA board is due to hold an emergency meeting of the IAEA board on Tuesday. It was called by European Union states following deadlock in the talks they have been conducting with Tehran.

The Iranian government on Monday replaced its chief negotiator, Hassan Rohani, with Ali Larijani, a conservative former head of state broadcasting who is known to have close ties with Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The appointment was made by the conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, two days after he was sworn in. It is being seen as a hardening of Iran's position.

Some Bombs Used in Iraq Are Made in Iran, U.S. Says

By ERIC SCHMITT in today's New York Times:

"Many of the new, more sophisticated roadside bombs are specially designed to destroy armored vehicles, experts say."

Quotation of the Day

Via today's NYT:

"Let no one be in any doubt. The rules of the game are changing."
PRIME MINISTER TONY BLAIR, on plans for new measures in Britain's antiterrorism policy.

UK warns Iran over nuclear plans

From the BBC today - UK warns Iran over nuclear plans - Iran says it wants to resume nuclear enrichment:

The British government says Iran's threat to restart part of its nuclear programme - uranium conversion - is "unnecessary and damaging".

The UK Foreign Office (FCO) urged Iran not to take unilateral steps that could jeopardise talks with three European Union nations - known as the E3.

The remarks came after a top Iranian official set a Sunday deadline for the EU to propose economic incentives.

The UK - the current EU president - said these would be given in a week.

This was in accordance with the decisions of the Geneva meeting in May between Iran and the three European countries - Britain, France and Germany - as well as the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said the FCO spokesman.

This is threatening to become a dangerous escalation, says the BBC's Jon Leyne.

The US believes Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, but Iran insists its programme is for civilian use only.

Iran suspended all uranium conversion and enrichment activities in November 2004 as a result of international pressure.

However, it has always insisted that the suspension was temporary and that it would resume some of its nuclear activities regardless of EU proposals.

The European states have threatened to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions if Iran resumes its nuclear activities.

UK policy invited attacks - Iran

Copy of a report from the BBC today:

Iran has condemned the bomb attacks in London as inhumane, and offered its condolences to the victims.
But one of the country's top clerics, Ayatollah Mohammed Emami-Kashani, said they were the direct result of the UK's support for US and Israeli policies.

The ayatollah called al-Qaeda an "illegitimate child" of the West.

The Friday prayer leader said it was divine justice that a group which had nothing to do with Islam had now conspired against its backers.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says Iran's view is that US funding for extremist Sunni Muslim groups opposing the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s set the stage for the emergence of the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

A commentary on Iranian state radio, meanwhile, blamed the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, for the attacks.

It said Mossad was the only group capable of carrying out such operations in London and had often tried to attract attention to its opponents during G8 meetings in the past.

Ayatollah Kashani condemned the blasts, but also launched a stinging attack on Western foreign policy, punctuated with cries of "death to America, Britain and Israel".

"You talk about al-Qaeda. Have you forgotten who has bred al-Qaeda?" he asked, in remarks addressed to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"It's the illegitimate child of America and Israel, but you name it Islam. This savagery is not Islam. It is coming from inside of you and it is now punching you."

He said the West had also nurtured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by supplying him with weapons during the Iran-Iraq war.

"You armed Saddam with every weapon against us," he said. "But your feet are still bogged down in the Iraqi quagmires and you cannot get out."

He also attacked US George W Bush's war on terror and Middle East policies.

"Where have you reached by cracking down on terrorism? It has happened again because you do not want to use your head."

"You train terrorists and state terrorism. If you want to succeed you have to leave Palestine alone," he added.

"Acting against terrorism must be honest ... and you will not succeed unless you wise up and change your ways."

MEDIA FAST FOR MOJTABA

Excerpt from a post at Committee to Protect Bloggers Thursday, May 19, 2005:
 
The CPB is asking bloggers and other concerned people to observe next Thursday, May 26 as a Media Fast for Mojtaba.

Mojtaba Saminejad, a blogger from Iran, has declared a hunger strike. He is being held at Tehran’s Gohar Dashat prison, which has a reputation for mistreatment of detainees. He is being held in the general population, the overwhelming majority of which are common criminals.

Mojtaba was arrested for reporting the earlier arrest of three of his fellow Iranian bloggers. (Iran has arrested over 20 bloggers over the last year.) Iranian bloggers who have been released have reported being the victims of torture.

Read full story at Committee to Protect Bloggers: MEDIA FAST FOR MOJTABA.

[via Curt with thanks] Tags: Tehran Iran Mojtaba Blog Bloggers Committee+to+Protect+Bloggers

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC RADIO IN THE AGE OF PODCASTING: Anybody can create their own public radio online

Note Rebecca MacKinnon's post linking to a live webcast from Harvard's Berkman Center today, May 17, 2005.

Jake Shapiro of the Public Radio Exchange will talk about the future of public radio in the age of podcasting, which enables anybody to create their own public radio online.

This is history in the making. Keep it for your archives.

Tags: Podcasting Radio Audioblogging MacKinnon Shapiro Berkman Harvard

Open Source. It'll be a radio show. May 30, 2005

Here is a don't miss, must-do: listen to Open Source's pilot on podcasting and bloggers without borders. Hear phone interviews and discussions with Rebecca and Ethan of Global Voices, and several other bloggers, hosted by smooth (and thankfully not-so-fast) talking American Christopher Lydon at Harvad's Berkman.

Historic stuff. Keep it for your archives.

See Ethan's follow-up post "On hold with Chris Lydon".

Note also GlobalCoordinate.com Geo-Community. Click on the map to zoom in. You can add your own comments, stories, or photos at any location.

Tags: Tehran Iran Podcast Blog

Europeans warn Iran not to resume nuclear work

My post at Sudan Watch May 2, 2005 titled EU's Solana to start dialogue with US on China - CIA supports genocide in Sudan? was linked to today within the comments at a post by Little Green Footballs, and caused a spike in the traffic at Sudan Watch.

Here is a copy of LGF post Thursday, May 12, 2005:

European Union Springs into Action

The European Union has broken out their most feared weapon to threaten Iran - the dreaded toughly worded letter: Europeans warn Iran not to resume nuclear work (Hat tip: Ethel.)

VIENNA (Reuters) - France, Britain and Germany have warned Iran they will break off talks and join Washington in seeking U.N. Security Council action if Tehran makes good on its threats to resume atomic work, EU officials said on Thursday.

The foreign ministers of the European Union’s three biggest powers sent a toughly worded letter to Hassan Rohani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, warning that resuming potentially arms-related nuclear work “would bring the negotiating process to an end,” an EU diplomat quoted the letter as saying.

“The consequences could only be negative for Iran,” it said.

That’s telling ’em.

Russia-Iran nuclear deal signed

Here is a copy of a BBC News online report published 27 February, 2005:

Russia and Iran have signed an agreement for Moscow to supply fuel to Iran's new nuclear reactor in Bushehr.

Under the deal Iran has to return spent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor, which was designed and built by Russia.

The clause is a safeguard meant to banish fears that Iran might misuse the rods to build nuclear weapons, a concern of the US, Israel and others.

The agreement sets out a time-frame for delivery of the fuel, but officials said the dates would be kept secret.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says the deal is significant because Bushehr will be Iran's first reactor to go on stream - a project that has become an issue of national prestige in the face of intense US opposition.

The signing, which had been expected on Saturday, was apparently delayed over disagreements about when the spent fuel should be returned.

Russia had been insisting that no spent fuel should be diverted for the manufacture of weapons.

Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear programme is solely for the generation of power.

'Strongest indication yet'

But despite Iran's denials, diplomats said investigations showed Tehran had had full possession of enrichment know-how for two decades, after acquiring the information from Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan's black-market network.

The Washington Post on Sunday quoted officials as saying that the programme originated at a secret meeting in Dubai 18 years ago between Iranian officials and Mr Khan's associates.

The officials said Tehran, which was then at war with Iraq, bought centrifuges and an enrichment starter kit but also used the meeting as a guide before purchasing more expensive items elsewhere.

The offer "was the strongest indication to date" that Iran had a nuclear weapons programme, a diplomat was quoted as saying.

'Confidential protocol'

Iran's nuclear energy chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh and his Russian counterpart, Alexander Rumyantsev, agreed the deal.

"We have signed a confidential protocol that sets out the timetable for the delivery of fuel to the nuclear power plant at Bushehr," Mr Rumyantsev said, quoted by Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Russia has rejected US pressure to cut nuclear co-operation with Iran.

Washington is also concerned that the nuclear project could allow for the covert transfer of weapons technology to Iran.

At a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W Bush in Slovakia on Thursday, both sides agreed Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The signing of the nuclear fuel deal has been delayed several times, apparently over technical and financial issues.

Our correspondent says Iran is currently in negotiations over its nuclear programme with Europe, and one of the incentives on the table is an offer of a nuclear reactor from the West.

If Iran is already receiving nuclear fuel and technology from Russia, she says, it is in a stronger negotiating position.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4301889.stm

Iran warns BP it 'will not forget' oil firm's refusal to do business

The following editorial is compiled by Daily Star staff - Lebanon - Tuesday, January 25, 2005:

Iran warned on Monday it would not forget a decision by British oil giant BP to pull out of the Islamic Republic because of U.S. sanctions against companies investing in the country's vital energy industry.

"We do not consider this to be a friendly attitude and we will not forget it. This is a gesture by BP in favor of the United States and this company has ruined its long-term interests in Iran," Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanghaneh told reporters.

BP's chief executive John Browne was quoted as saying last week that it was "impractical" for his company to do business in Iran due to its massive operations in the United States.

"To do business with Iran at the moment would be offensive to the United States, and therefore against BP's interests,'' Browne said at the London headquarters. "We're very heavily influenced by our American position.''

BP, with origins in the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company formed in 1909, was forced out of Iran in the 1970s during a phase of rampant nationalization of oil industries in the Middle East.

BP has spent almost $100 billion on acquisitions, including Amoco Corp. and Atlantic Richfield Co., and currently gets almost half of its revenue from the U.S. Most of the company's growth is centered on Russia, the second largest oil exporter in the world.

The U.S. Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 imposes mandatory and discretionary sanctions on non-U.S. companies investing more than $20 million annually in Iranian oil and gas. In late July 2001, the U.S. Congress voted to renew the sanctions for five more years.

But Zanganeh played down the importance of BP's decision.

"Basically BP has not had any oil projects in Iran during its 10-year presence here, except for some small research activities. We never counted on BP," he said.

Brown said he has not been in any talks with Iran since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which "changed everything."

BP is allegedly unhappy with Iran's investment policies, so-called "buybacks," where foreign companies operate a project in Iran to cover development and running costs, and earn a profit before handing the project over to the state.

"You can't plan for the long term in this area,'' Brown said. "When we were talking to Iran some time ago, we were trying to explore other ways.''

This "exploration" is focusing on Iraq. "We want to help Iraq build its oil and gas business, if the circumstances are right,'' Browne said. "We want to participate in it. Step one is to do the study for Iraq.''

Browne conceded however that due to the hazardous security situation in Iraq BP would only be carrying out studies over the next year at the Rumaila oil field.

"For a company like BP it is not the right moment to physically go into Iraq, the real issue if the security of our personnel,'" Browne said. "People joined BP to do oil and gas, not to be a soldier.'" - Agencies

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=12048

Report says US preparing strikes in Iran

The following is a copy of a report published by ISN Security Watch, January 17, 2005:

Veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh writes in the latest edition of The New Yorker weekly magazine that US Special Forces are conducting reconnaissance operations in Iran in preparation of possible future military strikes against suspected nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons installations there.

The report, posted on Monday, is entitled “The Coming Wars – What the Pentagon can now do in secret”. Citing high-ranking defense officials, Hersh says that the so-called “neoconservatives” in the administration regard US President George Bush’s election victory in November as a vindication and legitimization of their militant foreign policy. As a result, the role of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld can be expected to increase, a former high-level defense official said. Responsibility for the expanded “war on terror” will be taken away from the CIA – which will be downgraded to serve as a “facilitator” of White House policy – and given to the Pentagon, which has the freedom to run “black” operations “free from legal restrictions imposed on the CIA”, Hersh writes.

Such secret operations have been authorized by Bush in up to ten Middle Eastern and South Asian states, according to The New Yorker. Iran in particular has been a nuisance for so long that patience with EU-led negotiations over its nuclear program is said to be fading in Washington.

One senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Hersh that “the civilian leadership in the Pentagon” considered negotiations “a bad deal” because they did not exert enough pressure on Tehran, and thought Iran needed “to be whacked”.

The extent of Iran’s nuclear program is difficult to assess, and leaders in Tehran say that they are only conducting research for peaceful applications. US and other Western intelligence agencies believe that Iran is three to five years away from producing its own nuclear warheads, while the Islamic state is already believed to possess an advanced delivery system.

A government consultant with close ties to the US Defense Department told Hersh that US Special Forces had conducted secret reconnaissance missions in Iran since the summer of 2004 to identify three dozen or more target installations for destruction by air strikes or commando raids.

Sources also told Hersh that Pakistan was cooperating closely with US officials on this issue, allowing US military task forces to infiltrate Iran from across the Pakistani border and supplying information on Iran’s alleged nuclear developments. In return, Washington is turning a blind eye on the nuclear proliferation activities of the former head of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, and is allowing Pakistan to purchase spare parts for its nuclear arsenal on the international black market, Hersh writes.

The transfer of primary responsibility for Washington’s “global terror war” from the CIA to Rumsfeld’s Defense Department dovetails with recent reports of a Presidential Finding signed by Bush that allows unilateral clandestine military operations in countries seen as hosting terrorists. That list of countries may include Algeria, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Malaysia, and Tunisia, and others, Hersh indicates.

Some US officials say they are concerned about the legal implications of the Pentagon getting carte blanche to operate without Congressional oversight and say that the militarization of counter-terrorism could result in the formation of death squads such as those backed by the US in El Salvador’s civil war during the 1980s.

Although Rumsfeld is unpopular among the US armed forces and has come in for heavy criticism for his handling of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, Bush’s support would give him the freedom to operate in a “global free-fire zone”, a Pentagon adviser said. “It’s not empowering military intelligence. It’s emasculating the CIA,” he added. White House spokesman Dan Bartlett offered a formal rebuttal of Hersh’s report on Sunday: "I think it's riddled with inaccuracies, and I don't believe that some of the conclusions he's drawing are based on fact," Bartlett said.

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/infoservice/secwatch/details.cfm?id=10573