The Agonist - Iran

UN experts to visit Iran plant after Obama warning

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:06:49 -0800

Nov 19

AFP - UN experts will visit a controversial uranium enrichment plant south of Tehran on Thursday, as US President Barack Obama warned of "consequences" after Iran dismissed a UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal.

The visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team to the plant, which is being built inside a mountain near the Shiite holy city of Qom, was announced on Wednesday by Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh.

"It is a routine visit," a source close to Iran's nuclear body told AFP about the inspection, which is the second by the IAEA in less than a month.

Four inspectors first visited the plant on October 25 after its disclosure by Iran to the agency triggered intense outrage in the West.

"This site will, from now on, be under the IAEA. And for your information there will be tomorrow another inspection of this site in order to make sure that we are fully cooperating," Soltanieh told reporters in Vienna on Wednesday.

Israel gaffe reveals 'Iran ship photos' were forged

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:00:23 -0800

Nov 17

PRESS TV(IRAN) - Iran says labels reading 'Ministry of Sepah', a body that no longer exists, are enough to prove that the photos released by Israel are forged.

After Israel released photos it said proved that a huge shipment of weapons for Hezbollah came from Tehran, Iranian news agencies publish evidence showing that the photos are forged.

Israeli naval sources recently claimed that they found a large cache of Iranian-made arms when they stormed a vessel near Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.

They claimed that the ship was heading for the Hezbollah resistance movement, either in Lebanon or Syria.

Iran instantly dismissed the claims, issuing a statement with which it condemned Israel's many acts of piracy in international waters.

But the Israeli government persisted in its accusations, releasing what it claimed to be photos and documents in an effort to implicate the Iranian government in the matter.

The photos and documents were carried by a number of leading newspapers in the West, including The Los Angeles Times.

"The Israeli regime has made a fool of itself with regards to what it claims to be evidence that Iran was sending weapons to Hezbollah," IRNA news agency said on Monday.

"Take a close look at the photos, one of which merely shows a couple of boxes labeled 'Ministry of Sepah' without providing corroborative evidence that they came from Iran, and you will see the huge gaffe committed by Israel," it added.

The article explained that Iran's Ministry of Sepah gave its place to the Defense Ministry more than twenty years ago. "So this begs the question of what the emblem of a nonexistent body was doing on the cargo?"

grains of salt, grains of salt

"It seems the American daily has failed to get its facts straight, or on the other hand, maybe it is getting its cue from the Israeli leadership," said the news agency.

"In any case, the newspaper should know that if a country plans to send a secret arms cargo to another, it will not brand the shipment with a full description of the batch."

"Tel Aviv's baseless claims [about Iran providing Hezbollah with military] are evidently designed to justify another Israeli attack on Lebanon."

Yadollah Javani, the Director of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said last week that the claims were intended to divert attention from a UN report detailing Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

"These accusations are nothing but an Israeli ruse to deflect international attention from the Goldstone report as they move closer to the war crimes tribunal [at the International Criminal Court (ICC)]," noted Brigadier General Javani.

He was referring to the 575-page report headed by Jewish South African judge Richard Goldstone, which detailed numerous acts of war crimes and human rights violations committed by Israeli soldiers during their incursion into Gaza.

"Israeli officials have a longstanding tendency to level baseless accusations against others when they are in serious trouble," he added.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri also dismissed the charges, questioning why the Israelis had failed to detain the crew, if the ship was supposedly carrying weapons.

Berri said that while Hezbollah has the right to obtain arms from “anywhere in the world,” it is pretty obvious that Israel made the claims to fudge the issue of its war crimes in Gaza.

Three detained Americans entered Iran illegally: FM

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:03:10 -0800

Tehran | Nov 10

AFP - Iran said on Tuesday that three arrested American hikers committed the crime of entering the country illegally, even as they are also reported to be facing other possible charges.

"The crime they committed is of illegally entering Iranian territory. The other things are at the level of accusations," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters, indicating that the trio may not have been formally charged with spying as reported on Monday.

"The judiciary is examining their case... but what is important is the verdict which will be pronounced against them," Mottaki said.

Iranian forces in July captured Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, near the border with Iraq.

On Monday, Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jaffari Doulatabadi said investigations were continuing.

"The three Americans arrested near the border of Iran and Iraq are facing accusations of spying and the inquiry is continuing," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

** US trio 'entered Iran illegally'

The Story of 'Operation Orchard'

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:14:22 -0800

Erich Follath & Holger Stark | Nov 2

Spiegel Online - How Israel Destroyed Syria's Al Kibar Nuclear Reactor

In September 2007, Israeli fighter jets destroyed a mysterious complex in the Syrian desert. The incident could have led to war, but it was hushed up by all sides. Was it a nuclear plant and who gave the orders for the strike?

Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:31:46 -0800

Julian Borger | November 5

The Guardian - Exclusive: Watchdog fears Tehran has key component to put bombs in missiles

The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.

The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.

Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.

The dossier, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program", is drawn in part from reports submitted to it by western intelligence agencies.

[...]

James Acton, a British nuclear weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: "It's remarkable that, before perfecting step one, they are going straight to step four or five ... To start with more sophisticated designs speaks of level of technical ambition that is surprising."

Iran Clashes on Anniversary of Embassy Takeover

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:52:27 -0800

Robert F Worth & Alan Cowell | Beirut | November 4

NYT - Police firing tear gas and wielding batons clashed Wednesday with anti-government demonstrators in Tehran who sought to turn a rally commemorating the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy into a renewed protest against the disputed June 30 election, news reports said.

The protesters had turned out to display opposition to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose victory in Iran’s disputed elections last June provoked Iran’s biggest political crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Reuters quoted a reformist Web site, Mowjcamp, as saying police “opened fire” on protesters at Haft-e Tir Square, but there was no independent confirmation of the incident in which an unspecified number of people were reported injured. It was not clear whether the police opened fire with guns or were launching tear gas canisters.

The authorities had deployed thousands of security forces to thwart opposition plans for demonstrations.

Witnesses quoted by Reuters said police wielding batons clashed with hundreds of protesters chanting “Death to dictators” and “God is greatest.” In photographs posted on opposition Web sites, riot police in helmets could be seen clashing with protesters near Tehran University with clouds of tear-gas visible in the air.

Tehran: Taking the capital out of a city

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:44:08 -0800

Penny Spiller | November 3

Iran's rulers are considering plans to relocate the country's capital. They say Tehran is in danger of being struck by a major earthquake. So how easy is it to move a capital out of a city, and where might Iran's go?

BBC - Tehran is a sprawling metropolis at the foot of the Alborz mountain range. It is home to some 12 million people, and is the largest city in the Middle East. Not only is it the political and economic heart of the country, the city has a cosmopolitan air with its museums, art galleries, parks and universities. It has been Iran's capital since 1795.

But now a powerful state body, the expediency council, has approved plans by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end Tehran's days as a capital. The government is said to be reacting to calls from Iranian seismologists, who have long warned that Tehran lies on at least 100 known fault lines, and would not survive a major quake intact.

But the timing of this decision - coming as it does months after some of the worst anti-government riots Tehran has ever seen - is interesting, says Dominic Dudley, deputy editor of the London-based Middle East Economic Digest. more

Conditions ready for nuclear cooperation: Ahmadinejad

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:08:59 -0700

Tehran | Oct 29

AFP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that "conditions are ready" for a nuclear deal with world powers following a change in Western policy from "confrontation to cooperation."

Ahmadinejad welcomed the prospect of an agreement on uranium enrichment as Iran prepared to hand over its formal response to proposals drawn up by the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna later on Thursday.

The hardliner, whose presidency had seen Iran on a collision course with the West over its failure to heed repeated UN Security Council ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, said Iran was keen to respond positively to the new approach.

"We welcome fuel exchange, nuclear cooperation, building of power plants and reactors and we are ready to cooperate," the president said in a speech in Iran's second city of Mashhad broadcast live on state television.

He said the West had previously talked of "halting and suspending everything, but now they are talking about fuel exchange, nuclear cooperation, building nuclear power plants and reactors. They have moved from confrontation to cooperation."

He said that as a result "the conditions for nuclear cooperation are ready".

Iran: Oil bourse inaugurated

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:49:34 -0700

October 27

Tehran Times - The Iranian Oil Bourse was inaugurated on Monday in the Persian Gulf island of Kish as a venue to export oil and petrochemical products.

National Petrochemical Company's Managing Director Adel Nejad-Salim said in the opening ceremony that all petrochemical products will be gradually offered on the market, IRNA news agency reported.

The oil bourse is intended as an exchange market for petroleum, gas, and petrochemicals in various currencies, primarily the euro and Iranian rial, and a basket of other major currencies.

On February 4, 2008 the Iranian Cabinet approved the creation of the oil bourse in two stages - first for crude and second for oil byproducts transactions.

Iran, having the world's second largest gas reserves and third largest oil reserves, is trying to play a more active role in oil and petrochemical transactions in international markets.

Inside Iran's Intimidation Campaign

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:33:26 -0700

Gary Sick | October 25

The Daily Beast - Last week, an Iranian-American colleague of mine, Kian Tajbaksh, was sentenced in Tehran to 15 years in prison. The indictment included the charges that (1) he was in contact with me; (2) that he was part of the Gulf/2000 network that I manage; and (3) that I am an agent of the CIA.

Normally, I simply ignore silly accusations such as this. They are nothing new. On one hand, it has been intimated that I must be under the influence of Iranian intelligence (by prominent neoconservatives who believe that my views on Iran’s political development and especially its nuclear program are not sufficiently alarmist). I have also been accused (by such worthies as Hossein Shariatmadari, the ultra-radical editor of Iran’s Kayhan newspaper, who is also a representative of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei) of being a CIA agent. I regard these insinuations as badges of honor, since they merely confirm that I do not subscribe to the ideological extremes of either of these groups. I have always felt that my reputation could speak for itself and required no public defense.

However, this time the accusations are really not about me but about a friend and colleague. Moreover, they are not just newspaper hyperbole by people who have an ax to grind and whose desire to make a political point exceeds their respect for the truth. These assertions are a matter of law—an official indictment by the judicial authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

more

Israeli, Iranian officials "held talks on nukes"

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:08:54 -0700

Jerusalem | Oct 22

AFP - A representative of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission held several meetings with an Iranian official to discuss nuclear issues in the region, the commission's spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The spokeswoman declined to give details of the meetings, but the Haaretz daily said the officials discussed the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.

"There were several meetings between a representative of our commission and an Iranian official in a regional context," spokeswoman Yael Doron told AFP.

"These meetings were held behind closed doors," she said, adding that they were organised by Australia.

She declined to give further details of the talks, the first between the two archfoes to be officially disclosed since the shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.

Iran nuclear talks 'off to good start', says UN host

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:41:54 -0700

Julian Borger | Vienna | Oct 19

The Guardian - The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said tonight that international talks on Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium were "off to a good start".

Despite fears that negotiations could collapse after Tehran gave conflicting signals, delegates from Iran, the US, Russia and France talked for two and a half hours and agreed to meet again tomorrow morning.

"We're off to a good start. We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed," Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the host of the talks, said today.

If the talks succeed, most of Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium (LEU) would be sent to France and Russia for processing so that it could be used in a Tehran research reactor for making medical isotopes.

Iranian commanders assassinated

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:03:29 -0700

Oct 18

BBC -

Several top commanders in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been killed in a suicide bombing in the volatile south-east of the country.

Iranian state media say at least 20 people have died in the attack, in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, and dozens more injured.

The commanders were in Pishin region for a meeting with tribal leaders.

Iran has previously accused a Sunni resistance group, Jundallah, of terrorist activities in the province.

Sistan-Baluchistan is mainly made up of the Baluchi ethnic group, who belong to the Sunni Muslim minority of Shia-ruled Iran.

The deputy commander of the Guards' ground force, General Noor Ali Shooshtari, and the Guards' chief provincial commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, were among the dead, Irna state news agency reported.

Reuters - Iranian state television cited informed sources as saying Britain was directly involved in Sunday's suicide attack on the elite Revolutionary Guards, which killed several senior officers.

** Iranian official blames deadly bombing on 'U.S. actions'
** Jundallah (Soldiers of God) claims responsibility for the attack

Benchmarks prove elusive in Iran talks

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:22:02 -0700

Kaveh L Afrasiabi | Oct 14

Asia Times - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's high-profile trip to Moscow this week to shore up Russian support for tougher sanctions on Iran if talks on its nuclear program fail has been openly rebuffed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

He labeled as "counter-productive" even the mere threat of sanctions at this delicate moment in the Iran nuclear standoff. "At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process. Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counter-productive," Lavrov said.

Iran activist sentenced to death for election protests

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:26:52 -0700

Robert Tait | Oct 9

The Guardian - The first death sentence has been passed against a defendant accused of involvement in the mass protests in Iran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, prompting fears of a wave of executions against opposition activists.

A revolutionary court in Tehran handed the penalty to Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani, 37, after convicting him of muhabereh – taking up arms against Iran's Islamic system.

The sentence was imposed after he confessed to working for a little-known exile group, the Iran Monarchy Committee, which Iranian officials describe as a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors alleged that he plotted political assassinations with US military officials in Iraq before returning to Iran "aiming at causing disruption during and after the election".

Ali-Zamani admitted guilt during a series of public mass trials that began in August in which scores of senior pro-reformist politicians confessed to fomenting the unrest that followed Ahmadinejad's victory. Opposition leaders condemned the events as "show trials" and say defendants were tortured to force them to confess. Human rights campaigners today challenged Ali-Zamani's conviction and warned that it paved the way for further politically driven executions.