Tuesday, June 10, 2008
European Leaders Support Bush on Iran Sanctions
Opening a farewell tour of Europe, President Bush won European support on Tuesday to consider additional punitive sanctions against Iran, including restrictions on its banks, if Iran rejects a package of incentives to suspend its uranium enrichment program.
President Bush at Brdo Castle in Kranj, Slovenia, with, from left, Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission; Janez Jansa, prime minister of Slovenia; and Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
Iran’s leaders, the Mr. Bush said, “can either face isolation, or they can have better relations with all of us if they verifiably suspend their enrichment program.”
Mr. Bush was speaking at a news conference after what was billed as his final summit meeting with European officials before his term ends in January.
The meeting was held in the same small mountainous country as he chose for his first foray into Europe as president seven years ago.
It was, he said, a “fitting circle” to return to Slovenia. One day he would return as a tourist, he said. “You know, I’m close to retirement.”
A joint statement after the meeting urged Iran to “comply with its international obligations concerning its nuclear activities.” (NY Times)
Labels: European Union, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.S.
Al-Maliki's Balancing Act Leaves Iran Cool
As Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sought to alleviate neighbouring Iran's increasing concerns about a security deal between his country and the United States, he strove to keep a delicate balance with the two countries which are vying for hegemony over Iraq.
Speaking alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Tehran last Saturday, al-Maliki pledged that "Iraq will not be used as a military launch pad'' against Iran. The remarks by al-Maliki come at a time when Iran is becoming ever more suspicious of U.S. intentions toward it, fearing the superpower might consider using Iraq either as a base or a corridor to attack Iran.
But his apparent reassurances to Iran over a contentious security deal can hardly be mollifying to Iranians and perhaps at worst, in their view, denote al-Maliki's determination to maintain a strong relationship with the U.S.
Even the defence deal al-Maliki signed with Iran, which was meant to signify the importance Iraq attached to relations with its neighbour, hardly nears the new agreement with the U.S., which is still being negotiated but was outlined in the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed by Iraqi and U.S. leaders late last year. The DoP states clearly that the U.S. will protect Iraq in the face of "foreign aggression", which many say is a code phrase for Iranian intervention in Iraq, as alleged by Washington. Iran is not going to be pleased with that sort of attitude from al-Maliki, a Shia whom Tehran expects to be more attentive to its concerns in Iraq.
The Iraq-Iran-U.S. triangle is a highly complex and complicated web of relationships. (IPS)
POLITICS-US: Pledging Allegiance to AIPAC
With the Iranian nuclear "threat" in the crosshairs, discussion of Palestinians or a Syrian-Israeli detente was virtually non-existent. But then again, one should not expect many overtures for peace when attending the annual policy conference for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
As more than 5,000 Jewish-American activists ascended Capitol Hill last week, the most common word circulating through panel discussions, daily briefings, and remarks made by high-level officials and presidential candidates was "security" -- more accurately, Israel's security.
And most of the tough talk, whether substantive or merely stylistic, was directed at a nuclear Iran and its presumed proxies -- Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian Hamas, and even Syria.
The policy prescriptions, outlined in a draft proposal of AIPAC's policy agenda, urge, among other things, that the U.S. "take all appropriate measures to halt Iran's pursuit of nuclear and 152 other weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them."
The language remains unsettling for many Democrats and war-weary U.S. citizens, who view it as a license for the President George W. Bush administration to launch a military attack on Iran. (IPS)
Labels: Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, U.S.
Pentagon blocked Cheney's attack on Iran
Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a former George W Bush administration official.
J Scott Carpenter, who was then deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, recalled in an interview that senior Defense Department (DoD) officials and the Joint Chiefs used the escalation issue as the main argument against the Cheney proposal.
McClatchy newspapers reported last August that Cheney had proposal several weeks earlier "launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iran", citing two officials involved in Iran policy.
According to Carpenter, who is now at the Washington Institute on Near East Policy, a strongly pro-Israel think-tank, Pentagon officials argued that no decision should be made about the limited airstrike on Iran without a thorough discussion of the sequence of events that would follow an Iranian retaliation for such an attack. Carpenter said the DoD officials insisted that the Bush administration had to make "a policy decision about how far the administration would go - what would happen after the Iranians would go after our folks". (Asia Times)
Monday, June 9, 2008
Pentagon halted Cheney ploy to start war with Iran - ex-diplomat
Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for air strikes against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict, according to a former George W. Bush administration official.
J. Scott Carpenter, who was then deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, recalled in an interview that senior Defense Department (DoD) officials and the armed forces' Joint Chiefs of Staff used the escalation issue as the main argument against the Cheney proposal.
The McClatchy newspaper chain reported last August that Cheney had proposed several weeks earlier "launching air strikes at suspected training camps in Iran," citing two officials involved in Iran policy.
According to Carpenter, who is now at the Washington Institute on Near East Policy, a strongly pro-Israel think tank, Pentagon officials argued that no decision should be made about a limited air campaign against Iran without a thorough discussion of the sequence of events that would follow an Iranian retaliation for such an attack. Carpenter said the DoD officials insisted that the Bush administration had to make "a policy decision about how far the administration would go - what would happen after the Iranians would go after our folks." (IPS)
Iran Urges Closer Defense Ties With Iraq
Iranian officials advocated a close defense relationship with Iraq during meetings Sunday in Tehran with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his subordinates.
The talks came as Tehran grows increasingly concerned that a proposed long-term security agreement between the United States and Iraq would pose a threat to Iran.
Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar said there were many possibilities for security and defense cooperation between Iran and Iraq, emphasizing what he called "the great strategic potential" of the two oil-rich countries.
"We believe that sustainable Iran-Iraq defense cooperation will play a positive role in promoting long-term peace, security and stability in the Middle East," Najar said in a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart, Abdul-Qadir Muhammed Jasim.
"Iraq's ambition to build a strong military calls for further cooperation with Tehran, and for Baghdad to draw on its neighbor's defense potential," Jasim said.
With a U.N. mandate authorizing the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq due to expire at the end of the year, the Bush administration has proposed a long-term security agreement that would allow American troops to remain in Iraq. (Washington Post)
Iranian leader: US military is Iraq's top problem
Iran's supreme leader told the visiting Iraqi prime minister Monday that the U.S. military presence is the main cause of Iraq's problems, according to Iranian state television, making clear his opposition to a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's talks with Iranian leaders during his three-day visit here have focused on the proposed security agreement that Iran fears will keep the American military in neighboring Iraq for years.
Al-Maliki has tried to push Iranian leaders to back off their fierce opposition to the proposed pact, promising that Iraq will not be a launching pad for any attack on Iran.
But the agreement has become a point of contention as Baghdad tries to balance its close ties to rivals Washington and Tehran.
Iran, which has repeatedly said the way to end instability in Iraq is for U.S. forces to withdraw, believes the proposed pact could lead to permanent U.S bases on its doorstep amid fears of an eventual American attack. (AP)
Israel backs away from minister's Iran statement
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert distanced himself on Sunday from a Cabinet minister's suggestion that Israel will be forced to attack Iran.
A spokeswoman for Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said he had not been expressing government policy.
Mofaz set off an international uproar over the weekend by saying in a published interview that Israel will have "no choice" but to attack Iran if it doesn't halt its nuclear program. Mofaz is a former military chief and defense minister, and has been Israel's representative in a strategic dialogue on Iran with U.S. officials.
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, did not explicitly reject Mofaz's comments. But he said Olmert clearly stated Israel's policy last week during a trip to Washington.
Speaking to reporters after a White House meeting, Olmert called for tighter international sanctions, including boycotting Iranian businessmen and financial transactions and blocking the country's imports of refined petroleum. He also warned that a more "effective" solution was drawing closer, but would not elaborate. (AP)
Iran luxury cars to be barred from cheap fuel: report
It is the latest change of a rationing system launched a year ago under which motorists can buy 120 liters per month at the price of 1,000 rials per liter (around 11 U.S. cents), some of the cheapest fuel in the world.
Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer but lacks enough refining capacity for domestic needs, forcing it to import large amounts of gasoline and burdening its finances.
In a bid to curb consumption, it introduced rationing in June 2007. Until then, motorists could buy unlimited amounts of heavily-subsidized gasoline, forcing the state to spend an estimated $5 billion per year on imports.
From March this year, it allowed the sale of extra, higher-priced gasoline at 4,000 per liter outside the rationing system but all motorists still had access to the monthly quota of 120 liters at a quarter of that price. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Iraqi PM begins talks in Tehran
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has arrived in Iran for talks aimed at improving relations between the two neighbouring countries.
He is expected to raise allegations of Iranian support for violent Shia militias in Iraq.
Also on the agenda are the ongoing US-Iraqi talks over the two countries' future, long-term relationship.
Mr Maliki, on his third visit since taking office, was met in Tehran by Iranian Vice-President Parviz Davoudi.
"The prime minister's visit to Iran is considered a step in a series of visits... and to form a strategy committee to develop the relationship between the two nations," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP news agency.
Government sources say Iraqi security officials with the delegation will be showing the Iranians evidence of their alleged support for the militias, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad reports. (BBC)
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Mehdi Army
In Yemen, a Mostly Concealed Sectarian Fight Endures
The boom of explosions swept across the high-walled compounds and minarets of this ancient Arab capital before dawn one day last week, as Shiite rebels battled for control of a mountain overlooking the city and its airport.
Government warplanes backed by artillery rebuffed the rebels, the latest skirmish in a largely hidden sectarian conflict that has drawn increasing attention from Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, Shiite Iran and Sunni extremists eager for a fight.
"I believe this war is a proxy war," Yemeni lawmaker Ahmed Saif Hashed said in Sanaa, where civilians of the same Shiite sect as the rebels say they are facing increasing detentions, beatings and surveillance.
The rebellion is being mounted by Yemen's Hashemite Shiites, who ruled the country for more than a 1,000 years until an alliance of Shiite and Sunni military officers deposed them in 1962. Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, belongs to the country's larger Shiite community, known as the Zaidis.
Giving the conflict a sectarian cast, his forces have been joined by Sunni tribesmen and extremists in battling the Hashemite rebels, whom the government says are supported by Iran. The rebels say they want only their share of development, resources and power. (Washington Post)
US/IRAN: Fearing Escalation, Pentagon Fought Cheney Plan
Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a former George W. Bush administration official.
J. Scott Carpenter, who was then deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, recalled in an interview that senior Defence Department (DoD) officials and the Joint Chiefs used the escalation issue as the main argument against the Cheney proposal.
McClatchy newspapers reported last August that Cheney had proposal several weeks earlier "launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iran", citing two officials involved in Iran policy.
According to Carpenter, who is now at the Washington Institute on Near East Policy, a strongly pro-Israel think tank, Pentagon officials argued that no decision should be made about the limited airstrike on Iran without a thorough discussion of the sequence of events that would follow an Iranian retaliation for such an attack. Carpenter said the DoD officials insisted that the Bush administration had to make "a policy decision about how far the administration would go -- what would happen after the Iranians would go after our folks." (IPS)
US refuses to clarify stance on Iran
The White House refuses to clarify its official position on a war with Iran after Israel threatened to strike Tehran's nuclear facilities.
In a Friday press conference, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program but evaded questions to clarify Washington's stance on what Israel calls an 'unavoidable' attack on the Islamic Republic.
"The world community, I believe, is united in the desire to make sure that Iran doesn't develop a nuclear weapon and have a severe threat that we don't want to see come to fruition," he said.
"I'm not going to talk about hypotheticals. I think we've been pretty clear in recent weeks and months about our approach on Iran," he added.
Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz claimed Friday that Israel has no choice but to strike Iran's nuclear sites as 'options are disappearing and sanctions have proven to be ineffective'. (Press TV)
Fars news agency resumes work in Islamic Republic
The Fars news agency, one of Iran's most prominent media organizations and normally considered close to the government, resumed operations Thursday after a three-day ban for reporting "false news." The government shut down Fars on Monday, apparently for publishing a story saying that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had replaced the central bank chief with the first vice president, one of his closest allies. The news agency, which resumed sending stories around midday (0730 GMT) Thursday, however indicated there may have been other reasons. "Until now the 'real' reason behind the ban is still unknown to Fars," it said in a report.
The contested report, quoting unnamed sources, had said Iran's central bank governor Tahmasb Mazaheri was stepping down and being replaced by Vice President Parviz Davoudi. Fars later published a denial of its report. The central bank chief's future has been the center of intense press speculation since Mazaheri and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are reported to be at odds over Iran's monetary policy with inflation close to 25 percent. Fars, which is known for its security contacts and regularly publishes interviews with top military commanders, is normally considered supportive of Ahmadinejad's government. It is a relatively recent creation, founded in 2002, but rapidly became one of the most significant news organizations in Iran with a wide domestic network. The identity of its political and financial backers is not known. The Iranian media scene, which contains a myriad of newspapers, Internet news sites and news agencies of all political colors, has been hit by a string of closures under Ahmadinejad. (AFP)
Labels: Free Media, Iran
Friday, June 6, 2008
Israel to attack Iran unless enrichment stops: minister
An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said on Friday.
"If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
"Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable," said the former army chief who has also been defense minister.
It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end.
Iran has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects, which it says are for peaceful electricity generation rather than bomb-building. The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iran. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Israel, Nuclear Power
Analysis: Growing talk of Iran attack
Last December American intelligence agencies said they had "high confidence" that in late 2003 Iran had stopped trying to build nuclear weapons.
That seemed to end much of the talk about an American - or Israeli - attempt to destroy the facilities that Iran has developed for what it insists is a purely peaceful nuclear programme.
Plenty of influential people in the Middle East, Europe and the United States think an attack on Iran would have consequences potentially as disastrous as the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It would also send oil prices, already through the roof, into orbit.
But the talk has started again. Negotiations with Iran - and sanctions against it - have not stopped it enriching uranium, which its critics say is being done to make a bomb.
In one of his first acts after he secured the Democratic nomination for president of the US, Senator Barack Obama told Aipac, America's most powerful pro-Israel lobby, that he would do everything in his power to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
He repeated the word "everything" several times. Even allowing for the fact that he was also trying to dispel the impression that he was soft on Iran, it was strong language. (BBC)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Iran's Lebanese 'aircraft carrier'
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria over a possible return of the Golan Heights have major implications for the Lebanese political and militant organisation Hezbollah.
A peace deal with Israel is likely to be conditional on Syria severing its connections with Hezbollah, but it would also remove Syria as the bridge to the group's other state backer, Iran.
In Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut, Alam Shourab, a young manager of a mobile phone shop, is very happy with the movement's dependence on Iran.
Here dozens of buildings and bridges that were bombed by Israel during the summer war in 2006 are are being rapidly and impressively rebuilt mostly with funding from Iran.
"I think this is a good thing," he told me, "Israel is supported by America, so there's nothing wrong with Hezbollah being supported by Iran."
The support is considerable. At the Carnegie Endowment independent think tank in Beirut, Paul Salem put it in a nutshell: "Hezbollah was set up, established, trained, armed, financed... wholly by Iran."
He says Hezbollah has about 50,000 salaried employees and "a large modern army" - most of whom are paid with money from Tehran. (BBC)
Labels: Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria
Iran says answered bomb allegations, "matter over"
Iran said on Thursday it had given U.N. investigators more than 200 pages of answers to questions about intelligence reports that it secretly researched how to make atom bombs and declared "the matter is over".
But Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran would heed any requests for clarification after the IAEA chief demanded "full disclosure", a call broadly endorsed by a 35-nation agency Board of Governors meeting this week.
"We gave more than 200 pages of explanations and documents to the agency on May 23. We left no question unanswered. We have done our job. This matter is over," Iranian Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said as the four-day meeting ended.
But, he told reporters: "Some of them ... are under evaluation and assessment (by the) agency ... If they have any questions we will answer them. The trend of removing the ambiguities will continue. This is our policy." (Reuters)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power
Iran fumes as Syria nods to Arab world
The strings pulled by Qatar, which helped end the stand-off in Lebanon last May, are now working to orchestrate a rapprochement between Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who meet King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia last weekend in Jeddah, told the Qataris he does not mind mending relations with Damascus, but wants first to see a soothing of tension between the Syrians and Riyadh.
Tension between Damascus and Cairo, after all, had stemmed from sour relations between the Syrians and Riyadh, with regard to Lebanon, and led to the no-show of both Mubarak and Abdullah at the Arab summit in Damascus held in March. Both countries accused the Syrians of prolonging the presidential crisis in Beirut and preventing the election of Michel Suleiman as president. That is now history.
The prime minister of Qatar, Hamad Bin Jassem al-Thani, recently visited Riyadh, while Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifeh al-Thani visited Damascus, carrying a positive message from the Syrians. President Bashar al-Assad's visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and then to Kuwait, is also a step towards rapprochement with the Saudis, and there is talk in Damascus of an upcoming summit in Doha to bring together presidents Assad and Mubarak, Sheikh Hamad and King Abdullah. (Asia Times)
Turkish army working with Iran on PKK strikes
Turkey's military is cooperating with Iran by sharing information and coordinating strikes against PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq, a senior Turkish general said on Thursday.
"We haven't done it (coordinated strikes) for one or two months but we would do it if necessary," General Ilker Basbug, head of the land forces and the second most powerful man in the Turkish military, told reporters at a security conference.
The Turkish military has regularly attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebel positions this year in the mountains of northern Iraq, where several thousands are believed to be holed up.
Turkish troops conducted a large-scale incursion across the border in February.
Iranian forces have often clashed in Iraqi border areas with rebels from the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an offshoot of the PKK. Analysts say PJAK has bases in northern Iraq from where they operate against Iran. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Kurdistan, Turkey
Larijani's Election Can Boost Congressional Diplomacy
Iranian Nobel prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has long argued that the United States and Iran need to have a dialogue with each other at three different levels: between their executive branches, between their civil societies and between their legislatures.
While the George W. Bush administration has opposed direct contact with the Iranian executive branch, and while its "Iran Democracy fund" has rendered civil society exchanges more difficult, according to prominent human rights organisations, Tehran bears overwhelming responsibility for the failure to initiate a parliamentarian dialogue between the two countries.
But change may be in the air. The new speaker of Iran's parliament, the Majlis, is the former nuclear negotiator who resigned over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's inflexible position on the nuclear file, Ali Larijani.
The election of the former hawk-turned-relative pragmatist has been interpreted as a blow to Ahmadinejad and an indication that the conservative camp in Iran is growing increasingly impatient with their hardline president. Larijani's more flexible posture on the nuclear issue, his relatively tempered rhetoric and his declared openness to talks with the U.S. has fueled speculation that if he were to successfully challenge Ahmadinejad in the March 2009 presidential elections, a significant opportunity for U.S.-Iran diplomacy would emerge. (IPS)
When the nukes start dropping ...
Most men, it is generally agreed, will do anything to survive. In my favorite World War II/Holocaust movie, Lina Wertmuller's 1975 Seven Beauties, a harmless little nebbish of an Italian petty thief, Pasqualino (Giancarlo Giannini), finds himself in a horrible, hellish Nazi concentration camp; the camp setting is some sort of huge, enclosed, indoor hall, a setting so evil that the inmates never even see the sun.
To survive, Pasqualino agrees to make love to the camp commandant, a ghastly, sadistic, Brobdingnagian-girthed gorgon-like SS officer, played by Shirley Stoler. Pasqualino outlasts both the camp and the war, but his soul dies. He did what he had to do to survive.
Failing being placed in a circumstance where their lives are at stake, there are things that men don't want to do. One of those is to kiss another man. In 1978, on the NBC Network program Saturday Night Live, the troupe performed a skit lampooning the legends of white slaveowners forcing themselves onto their black slaves in the US ante-bellum south. The script called for comedian Bill Murray, playing a slaveowner, to attempt to force his desires on an unwilling slave; the comedy was in that the slave was not a woman, but America's favorite, cheerful, non-threatening African-American of the time, O J Simpson. (Asia Times)
Labels: GCC, Iran, Israel, Nuclear Power, U.S.
Iran's untapped resources
Iran is a golden goose locked in a steel cage built by the West. There may well be good reasons for having locked up the goose, such as the risk that it might try to peck its neighbors; but there certainly exists an even better case for making the most of such a promising creature's resources.
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), Iran "ranks amongst the world's top three holders of proven oil and natural gas reserves" with "roughly 10 percent of the world's total proven petroleum reserves" and is "the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil globally after Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Norway." [1]
Despite this, "the Iranian government heavily subsidizes the price of refined oil products, which has contributed to increased domestic demand." The EIA adds, "Iran has limited refinery capacity to produce light fuels, and imports much of its gasoline supply."
Yes, Iran, one of the world's biggest oil holders and exporters, imports most of the gasoline its people use on a daily basis.
On a comparative key, the EIA continues, "Iran produced 6 million billion barrels per day [bbl/d] of crude oil in 1974, but has been unable to produce at that level since the 1979 revolution due to a combination of war, limited investment, sanctions, and a high rate of natural decline in Iran's mature oil fields." (Asia Times)
Labels: Iran
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Developing states back U.N. probe of Iran bomb claims
Developing nations joined the West on Wednesday in throwing their weight behind the U.N. nuclear watchdog's attempt to get Iran to clarify intelligence alleging that it secretly researched ways of making atom bombs.
It was a rare sign of convergence on the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors after an inspector report on Iran that was tougher than previous ones and a call by the IAEA chief for "full disclosure" by Tehran.
The May 26 report said Iran seemed to be withholding information needed to explain intelligence reports that it illicitly melded programs to process uranium, test high explosives and modify a missile cone in a way that would accommodate a nuclear warhead.
Iran has rejected the intelligence, which comes from about 10 nations, as forged or related solely to conventional military hardware, but not furnished evidence to bolster its denials.
It is accelerating uranium enrichment that it says will be only for electricity, not bombs, but is under U.N. sanctions for hiding the work in the past, continuing to curb IAEA inspections and refusing to halt enrichment in exchange for trade benefits. (Reuters)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power, U.N.
Chomsky: Bush's bankrupt vision
In mid-May, President Bush travelled to the Middle East to establish his legacy more firmly in the part of the world that has been the prime focus of his presidency.
The trip had two principal destinations, each chosen to celebrate a major anniversary: Israel, the 60th anniversary of its founding and recognition by the United States, and Saudi Arabia, the 75th anniversary of US recognition of the newly founded kingdom. The choices made good sense in the light of history and the enduring character of US Middle East policy: control of oil, and support of the proxies who help maintain it.
An omission, however, was not lost on the people of the region. Though Bush celebrated the founding of Israel, he did not recognise (let alone commemorate) the paired event from 60 years ago: the destruction of Palestine, the Nakba, as Palestinians refer to the events that expelled them from their lands.
During his three days in Jerusalem, the president was an enthusiastic participant in lavish events and made sure to go to Masada, a near-sacred site of Jewish nationalism.
But he did not visit the seat of the Palestinian authority in Ramallah, or Gaza City, or a refugee camp, or the town of Qalqilya Ñ strangled by the Separation Wall, now becoming an Annexation Wall under the illegal Israeli settlement and development programmes that Bush has endorsed officially, the first president to do so. (Khaleej Times)
Labels: Iran, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, U.S.
Iran: US-Iraq security deal aims to enslave Iraqis
One of Iran's most powerful politicians vowed Wednesday that the Islamic world will stop a long-term security agreement that is being negotiated by the U.S. and Iraq.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told a gathering of Muslim figures in the holy city of Mecca that the United States is trying to enslave Iraqis through the deal. This comments were the strongest and most high-level public condemnations of the potential security deal by an Iranian official.
"The essence of this agreement is to turn the Iraqis into slaves before the Americans, if it is sealed," the former president of Iran said. "This will not happen. The Iraqi people, the Iraqi government and the Islamic nation will not allow it."
Rafsanjani said the U.S. "occupation of Iraq represents a danger to all nations of the region" and warned that the security deal would create a "permanent occupation." Rafsanjani heads two of the country's most powerful clerical governing bodies, the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts.
Iran's previous criticism of the security agreement has largely been in private talks with Iraqi officials. (AP)
AIPAC Roundup
Olmert - (Full Transcript)
"We must stop the Iranian threat by all possible means," he said.
"Each and every country must understand that the long-term cost of a nuclear Iran greatly outweighs the short-term benefits of doing business with Iran." (Haaretz)
McCain - (Full Transcript)
The unofficial Republican nominee called for tougher sanctions as a means of safeguarding Israel as well as promoting U.S. interests. Of the horrors of the Holocaust he had this to say: ”When we join in saying ‘never again,’ that is not a wish, a request, or a plea to the enemies of Israel. It is a promise that the U.S. and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us.” The crowd erupted in a standing ovation.
The Arizona senator, who coauthored the Iran-Iraq Arms Non-Proliferation Act in 1992, suggested limiting gasoline imports as well as specific sanctions on the regime’s leaders such as denying visas and freezing assets. To harm the leaders further, McCain also called for a “world-wide divestment campaign.”
“As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already,” he said.
McCain said the responsibility falls first on the United Nations Security Council—but that the U.S. should be prepared to take action. “Should the Security Council continue to delay in this responsibility, the U.S. must lead like-minded countries in imposing multilateral sanctions outside the U.N. framework,” McCain said to applause from the large crowd. McCain said the U.S. specifically should impose financial sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran. (WSJ)
Hilary -
"I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel." (Haaretz)
Obama - (Full Transcript)
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided," Obama told the vast annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC).
"We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past agreements. There is no room at the negotiating table for terrorist organizations."(AFP)
"I'll do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything," Obama told the pro-Israel lobby at a conference in Washington, only hours after securing his party's nomination.
The Illinois senator also vowed he would never compromise on Israel's security, especially "not while there are still groups who deny the holocaust, not when there are terrorist groups that are committed to Israel's destruction... Not while there are rockets raining down on Sderot."
"I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world," he added. (Haaretz)
Rice - (Full Transcript)
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice... stressed the urgency of establishing a Palestinian state, saying that the increase in violence in the Middle East makes the establishment of a peaceful Palestinian state more urgent rather than less.
Regarding the Iranian issue, Rice said "We would be willing to meet with them, but not while they continue to inch closer to a nuclear weapon under the cover of talk."
"Our partners in Europe and beyond need to exploit Iran's vulnerabilities more vigorously and impose greater costs on the regime - economically, financially, politically and diplomatically," she added. (Haaretz)
This is the second news round up we've done here at meagg.com. Comments, Complaints, Suggestions or otherwise are helpful, so please either email us or comment.
Labels: Iran, Israel, Roundup, U.S.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Ahmadinejad says Israel to vanish with or without Iran
The state of Israel will cease to exist with or without the involvement of Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.
"This will happen whether we are involved in it or not," the Iranian leader told a news conference at a U.N. food summit in Rome, when asked to explain his statement on Monday that the Jewish state would soon disappear from the map. (Reuters)
Talking is still on the table
Republican presidential aspirant John McCain's recent criticism of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama's foreign policy platform exposes contradictions with the George W Bush administration's own actions.
Bush and McCain have dismissed Obama's willingness to talk directly with US adversaries like Iran as "negotiation with terrorists and radicals", even though the Bush administration itself has repeatedly talked with "enemies" such as Libya, North Korea and even Iran on various occasions throughout Bush's presidency.
Talking to adversaries is not unprecedented in US foreign policy. The US has successfully resolved tough situations before throughthis tactic, most notably during the Cold War, and Obama seems to believe it can work again.
In the case of Iran, however, the US is reluctant. During the past two years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered to hold direct talks with the Iranian government only on the precondition that Iran halts its uranium-enrichment program. Iran's government cannot do this, for it would diminish its stature in the eyes of the Iranian people.
But critics of the administration's stance say there are many reasons why the US should consider direct talks with Tehran. Iran has helped the US pursue its foreign policy aims in the past. It was Iran that paved the way for the US to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan and help President Hamid Karzai's government reconstruct the country in 2002. Iran also did not oppose the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. (Asia Times)
Iran 'not seeking' nuclear arms
Iran's supreme leader has insisted it will continue its nuclear activities for civilian purposes only and will not manufacture nuclear weapons.
"No wise nation would be interested in making a nuclear weapon today. They are against rational thought," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a speech.
The comments come a day after the UN's atomic watchdog urged from Iran "full disclosure" about its atomic work.
Its report said alleged research into warheads was "of serious concern".
Some western powers accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear arms.
Iran has always denied such charges but has refused to suspend some nuclear work which could have military application, prompting three rounds of sanctions imposed by the UN.
"[Iran] is after peacefully using nuclear energy for the purposes of daily life and it will follow this path," Mr Khamenei said in the speech to mark the 19th anniversary of the death of the leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"Contrary to what the enemy wishes, it will reach it [nuclear energy] with full strength," he added. (BBC)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power
Tehran suspends local news agency over 'false' report
Iran on Monday ordered the Fars news agency, one of the country's most prominent news organizations and normally considered close to the government, to close for three days for publishing "false news." "We have received a letter from the commission for surveillance of non-governmental press agencies ordering us to halt our operations for three days," Fars editor in chief Abbas Tavangar told AFP.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Fars had been "suspended for publishing false news and disturbing the public order."
No further details were given but Fars had on Sunday published a report saying that the governor of Iran's central bank, Tahmasb Mazaheri, was stepping down and being replaced by Vice President Parviz Davoudi. It later issued another report denying the story.
Mazaheri and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are reported to be at loggerheads over Iran's monetary policy amid inflation rates of close to 25 percent. The central bank chief's future has been the center of intense press speculation.
The conservative news Web site Borna said the story about Mazaheri was the reason for the temporary closure.
Tavangar said Fars would halt operations for three days with immediate effect. The last story on its news wire was at 11:30 a.m. (0700 GMT) Monday. (AFP)
Labels: Free Media, Free Speech, Iran
Mugabe and Ahmadinejad left out of U.N. summit dinner
The Italian and U.N. hosts of a U.N. crisis summit on rising food prices on Monday left the presidents of Zimbabwe and Iran off the guest list of a ceremonial dinner for the leaders attending the meeting.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is able to take part in the conference only because an EU travel ban on him does not apply to U.N. forums.
And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on his first visit to Western Europe as Iranian president, made sure of a frosty welcome by offending Israel on the eve of his departure.
Neither was named on the list of guests for the official dinner being given on Tuesday by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the heads of state attending the June 3-5 summit, Italian media reported.
Western ministers said Mugabe was responsible for the food shortages faced by millions in Zimbabwe's shattered economy.
"We will not allow the millions of people who can no longer afford a normal meal to be held hostage by Mugabe," said Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders. (Reuters)
POLITICS-US: How Cheney Outfoxed His Foes on Iran and EFPs
For many months, the propaganda line that explosively formed projectiles (EFPs) that could penetrate U.S. armoured vehicles were coming straight from Iran has been embraced publicly by the entire George W. Bush administration. But when that argument was proposed internally by military officials in January 2007, it was attacked by key administration officials as unsupported by the facts.
Vice President Dick Cheney was able to get around those objections and get his Iranian EFP line accepted only because of arrangements he and Bush made with Gen. David Petraeus before he took command of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The initial draft of the proposed military briefing on the issue of EFPs, which asserted flatly that EFPs were being manufactured and smuggled to Iraqi Shiite groups directly by the Iranian regime, was met with unanimous objection from the State Department, Defence Department and National Security Council staff, as administration officials themselves stated publicly.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley tried to push back against Cheney's proposed line because they recognised it as an effort to go well beyond the compromise policy toward Iran that had been worked out in December and early January. The compromise policy had been to focus on networks working on procuring EFPs within Iraq and not to target Iran as directly responsible. (IPS)
Labels: Iran, Iraq, Mehdi Army, U.S.
ElBaradei urges Iran "full disclosure" on bomb issue
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said on Monday Iran seemed to be holding back information needed to clarify intelligence reports that it researched nuclear bombs in secret and he demanded "full disclosure" by Tehran.
In an unusually tough speech opening a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation Board of Governors, IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said the intelligence remained a "matter of serious concern".
The Islamic Republic says the material, which was supplied by around 10 countries, primarily the United States, is forged but has not backed up its denials with evidence.
"Iran has not yet agreed to implement all the transparency measures required to clarify this cluster of allegations and questions," ElBaradei told the closed Vienna gathering.
"Iran has not provided the agency with all the access to documents and to individuals requested ... nor provided the substantive explanations required to support its statements. (Reuters)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Iran warns IAEA on nuclear cooperation
Iran said on Sunday it might have to limit its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, criticizing the agency's report which said Tehran's alleged research into nuclear warheads was a matter of serious concern.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a May 26 report, also said Tehran should provide more information on its missile-related work.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tehran believed the U.N. agency could have submitted a better report had it not been for the "continuing pressures of one or two known countries," in a clear reference to Tehran's Western foes.
The United States accuses the Islamic Republic of seeking to develop nuclear arms. Iran denies the charge but its refusal to suspend sensitive nuclear work has prompted three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006.
"In regard to this report, we of course had more expectations from the agency," spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference, a day before the IAEA's board of governors begin a June 2-6 meeting in Vienna. (Reuters)
Labels: IAEA, Iran, Nuclear Power
Iranian parliament chooses Larijani as speaker
Iran's newly-elected parliament picked one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's potential rivals in next year's presidential election for the influential post of speaker on Sunday, official media reported.
Ali Larijani, who quit as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator last year citing differences with Ahmadinejad over how to handle the country's atomic dispute with the West, received a clear majority of 237 votes in the 290-member legislature.
He was beaten in the 2005 presidential race but analysts expect him to run again in 2009. They say he may become a rallying point for conservative MPs who oppose the president's economic policies and his fiery speeches against the West.
"Obviously the Majles (parliament) wanted a stronger speaker, someone who can stand up to Ahmadinejad," said one Iranian analyst, who declined to be named.
Larijani himself made clear his intention of creating a more active role for parliament with him as speaker.
"We are looking for ways of more carefully supervising the country's affairs," state television quoted him as saying. "We are also after looking for a mechanism to resolve differences between the legislative branch and other branches." (Reuters)
Labels: Iran
France calls on Iran to open nuclear plants for scrutiny
Iran should open its nuclear installations to international scrutiny to clear suspicions about its nuclear ambitions, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said on Sunday.
"We support calls that Iran demonstrates through total opening of its installations that Iran is not conducting nuclear program with military purposes and goals," he told reporters on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore.
Iran said on Saturday it would not give up its right to enrich uranium, only days before major powers submit an upgraded package of incentives to try to coax Tehran into halting the work
Iran has agreed to a visit by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana to submit the package of incentives, in exchange for a full suspension of uranium enrichment.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia -- and Germany, known as the P5+1, offered a package to Iran in 2006 that also required Iran to halt enrichment. (Reuters)
Labels: France, Iran, Nuclear Power
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Iran says its right to enrichment is non-negotiable
Iran will not give up its right to enrich uranium, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday, days before major powers submit an upgraded package of incentives to try to coax Tehran into halting the work.
"Suspending enrichment is not negotiable ... Depriving Iran of its right cannot be on offer," Gholamhossein Elham, the government spokesman, told a weekly news conference.
Iran has agreed to a visit by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to submit the package of incentives, in exchange for a full suspension of uranium enrichment.
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia -- and Germany, known as the P5+1, offered a package to Iran in 2006 that also required Iran to halt enrichment.
Tehran rejected those proposals and the latest package is an enhanced version. (Reuters)
Labels: Iran, Nuclear Power, Security Council
Afghan journalist freed from Iranian custody
An Afghan editor and supporter of women's rights in Islam has been freed after 86 days in detention in Iran, but is not allowed to leave the country, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Friday. Intelligence agents picked up Ali Muhaqiq Nasab from his home in the town of Qumm, about 150 kilometers from Tehran, on March 4 on unspecified charges. He was released on Thursday, the media group said in a statement. Nasab told RSF that he had been accused of "suspicious relations with foreign embassies," it said. However his interrogation at an Intelligence Ministry prison was mainly about his journalistic activities and articles published in his magazine Haqoq-e-Zan (Women's Rights), the statement cited him as saying. "He has been released conditionally and is not allowed to leave the country. We urge the authorities to drop the charges against him," the media rights group said. Nasab was in jail for 86 days, 81 of which were in solitary confinement, it said. He had gone to Iran after being freed from jail in Afghanistan, where he was arrested in October 2005 for blasphemy after publishing articles that questioned harsh penalties for adultery and conversion to another religion. He was sentenced to two years in jail but freed on appeal almost three months later, although he was forced to close down his magazine. (AFP)
Labels: Afghanistan, Free Media, Free Speech, Iran
US/IRAN: Necessity is the Mother of Negotiation
Republican presidential aspirant John McCain's recent criticism of Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama's foreign policy platform exposes contradictions with the George W. Bush administration's own actions.
Bush and McCain have dismissed Obama's willingness to talk directly with U.S. adversaries like Iran as "negotiation with terrorists and radicals", even though the Bush administration itself has repeatedly talked with "enemies" like Libya, North Korea, and Iran on various occasions throughout Bush's presidency.
Talking to adversaries is not unprecedented in U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. has successfully resolved tough situations before through this tactic, most notably during the Cold War, and Senator Obama seems to believe it can work again.
In the case of Iran, however, the U.S. is reluctant. During the past two years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered to hold direct talks with the Iranian government only on the precondition that Iran halts its uranium enrichment programme. Iran's government cannot do this, for it would diminish its stature in the eyes of the Iranian people.
But critics of the administration's stance say there are many reasons why the U.S. should consider direct talks with Tehran. Iran has helped the U.S. pursue its foreign policy aims in the past. It was Iran that paved the way for the United States to overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan and help President Hamid Karzai's government reconstruct the country in 2002. Iran also did not oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. (IPS)