Iranian Alert -- October 13, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The US media almost entirely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, “this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year.” But most American’s are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East.

There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. Starting June 10th of this year, Iranians have begun taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy. Many even want the US to over throw their government.

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.

In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.

This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.

I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.

If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.

If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.

PS I have a daily ping list and a breaking news ping list. If you would like to receive alerts to these stories please let me know which list you would like to join.

Who Bombed the Baghdad Hotel?

October 13, 2003
FrontPageMagazine
Walid Phares

Who is responsible for the suicide bombing in Baghdad? Sources from the Arab World speculate on who has an immediate interest in striking now. Analysts with inner knowledge of Middle East politics rush to review statements made by several vicious parties mentioned on the suspect list. At this point we do not know for certain who pulled off this act of destruction, but the usual suspects in all terrorist attacks are on the short list.

Commentators in the West usually follow the judicial track. They wait for an FBI-like conclusion and the pieces of evidence. In sum, they treat each case separately and view it as a crime. Authorities strive for balance between hard-evidence and instincts andboth approaches are helpful in a state of war. Speculative approaches are risky and could be highly inaccurate, but in many cases, military and intelligence analysts, and sometimes media, are under pressure to provide answers. Even investigators count on speculations to start their work. In the War on Terror, you don't start always from zero. The Baghdad car bomb is one of many attacks aimed at Americans and Iraqis. The suspect list suggests a few possibilities.

Analysis of the Arab world suggests three scenarios. First, are the Saddam Baathists, followed by al-Qaeda and its allies of Ansar el-Islam on the Sunni side. Authorities also put radical Shiite jihad partisans like Hezbollah on the same list. But behind these forces the list includes intelligence services of regional powers, such as Syria and Iran, both of whom have stakes in the conflict. So who bombed the hotel yesterday in Baghdad?

[1] High speculation: The prime suspect since the attacks against the Jordanian embassy, the UN headquarters and a hotel that hosted the NBC crew, is Ansar el-Islam, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. Such attacks may have benefited from internal intelligence provided by former Iraqi Baathists. The lines separating the two groups are blurring by the day. But the "international dimension" of these attacks has the fingerprints of a network that keeps an eye on the world reaction to these types of deadly explosions.

The Jihadists are known for their psychological aims not only on the actual victims of the attacks but also on a public opinion that can weaken the resolve of the enemy, in this case the U.S. The real effects of a suicide attack or a car bomb in Baghdad are on U.S. TV and al-Jazeera. That is their real battlefield.

Statements made in the past indicate that al-Qaeda and its local allies are now targeting the "residence of U.S. personnel." If you make a normal deployment of your enemy's personnel in their offices and bedrooms a risk, then you have created a strategic problem for the enemy. That is a page taken directly the jihad manual recently found on the Internet.

[2] Possible speculation: Pieces of analysis tend to think that the strike could have been ordered by Syrian intelligence to "respond" to the U.S. endorsement of the Israeli strike on the Palestinian Islamic Jihad base near Damascus last week. If you analyze the statements made by several Syrian officials and pro-Syrian leaders this week, including the Syrian ambassador in Madrid ,and an al-Baath newspaper editor on al-Jazeera, they all share one talking point: Syria has "many ways" to respond to the Israeli-led (and, from their point of view, U.S.-sponsored) attacks, and Syria will choose when and where. For those with expertise in Syrian tactics, the logic of striking back at American interests in Iraq is not illogical. Many commentators in the Arab world have openly stated that the Israeli strike in Syria is an American message to Damascus. A logical extension of this equation would be that Syria responded to Washington on the battlefield on which it is most successful: Iraq.

[3] Potential link: A third possible theory is an amalgam of the previous two: that all these forces, and possibly more, are allied in their war against the Great Satan. This thesis suggests that there is a "regional war room" (RWR) centered in one - possibly more - capitals, which strategically coordinates the anti-American attacks. According to the proponents of this analysis, as of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the RWR is "in charge" of these two theatres: the suicide attacks in Israel and the anti-American terror activities in Iraq. Additionally, that hypothetical"room" is said to be plotting strikes against "moderate" Arab countries, as well.

Obviously these are only speculations. But until the judicial track would put the evidence together, analyzing their jihad is a matter of reading events as they unfold and putting them into perspective. And it may offer a starting point to uncover evidence of the terrorists' actions -- and their weaknesses.

Walid Phares is a Professor of Middle East Studies and an MSNBC terrorism analyst.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10300

Russia delays launch of Iran nuclear power plant: report

MOSCOW (AFP) Oct 13, 2003
Spacewar.com

Russia may delay the launch of the Bushehr nuclear power reactor in Iran by one year, the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian atomic energy official as saying Monday.
"The Russian-Iranian commission has developed a new time frame (for Bushehr's development) in which the launch of the first energy reactor has been moved from 2004 to 2005," the unnamed ministry official was quoted as saying.

The official added that the Russia and Iran would agree on a firm date for the Bushehr project's launch in future negotiations.

Russia is building the Islamic state's first nuclear power reactor, but says it will not begin delivering nuclear fuel needed to operate the plant until Tehran signs a deal pledging to return the spent material to Russia.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel -- which fear that Iran is developing nuclear weapons -- Russia has made the return of the spent fuel a key condition for concluding the 800 million dollar (715 million euro) project.

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031013115604.8t3jjrdm.html

Swiss open human rights dialogue with Iran

NZZ.ch
10.13.2003

A Swiss foreign ministry delegation has travelled to Iran to open dialogue on human rights.

It comes amid mounting international concern over the Islamic state’s nuclear programme, commitment to fighting terrorism and treatment of dissidents.

The visit also comes 12 years after Bern started similar talks with China, which have been criticised by some human rights groups.

Switzerland has looked after American interests in Iran since relations were broken off between the two countries after the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Simon Amman, one of the officials on the two-day trip, says this good relationship between Switzerland and Iran was central to the decision to send a government delegation there.

“The human rights record of Iran is not very good at the moment and at the same time Switzerland and Iran entertain good relations,” he told swissinfo.

Prison standards
Ammann says the main aim of the trip is to hold discussions with a view to improving the human rights situation in the country.

The delegation, headed by diplomat Peter Maurer, will be holding talks with high-ranking Iranian officials on corporal punishment, including the use of stoning, and prison standards in Iran.

Ammann says the Swiss will also be discussing the possibility of helping to train prison officers.

The foreign ministry official says the project is a long term one and although Switzerland is a small country on the political scene, he is convinced it can make a difference.

“Switzerland maybe doesn't have huge weight, but there are other countries including the European Union, Japan, Australia which have started human rights dialogues with Iran,” explained Ammann.

“We work as so-called like-minded states and I think together we should have quite a lot of weight,” he said.

China – a success?
Twelve years ago Bern started similar talks with China, which is accused of having a poor human rights record.

But rights campaigners say very little has been achieved in this time.

The project, which still ongoing, is coordinated by Pascale Baeriswyl from the Swiss foreign ministry.

She says there have been successes, notably in the release of political prisoners in Tibet. And she points out that Switzerland was the first country to start a human rights dialogue with the communist country.

But Baeriswyl says it was never Switzerland’s aim to impose changes.

“With a human rights dialogue the first aim is not to influence directly or to improve directly the human rights situation on the ground, but to give some input to a country that is in transition,” Baeriswyl told swissinfo.

“This means we try to help the Chinese to meet the intentional level in human rights, concretely to ratify the UN conventions and to implement them on the ground,” she added.

A different situation
The Iran visit has been welcomed by human rights groups in Switzerland who say they have long been battling for Swiss intervention in the country.

Alain Bovard of Amnesty International Switzerland says that the talks might even have more chance of success than with China.

“The Iranian attitude towards Switzerland is quite different from the Chinese attitude towards Switzerland, as Switzerland is more respected in Iran than it is in China,” said Bovard.

He says that the Swiss have always had quite an open attitude towards Iran, which is in their favour.

But he warns that Switzerland shouldn't become complacent, saying that the country will have to offer something more concrete than just dialogue to achieve its aims.

swissinfo, Isobel Johnson

http://nzz.ch/2003/10/13/english/page-synd4302872.html

Nuke Dispute Tightens U.S., Iran Tension

Monday October 13, 2003 2:01 PM
By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer
Guardian.co.uk

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - At a Tehran University forum on nuclear technology, a bright green banner proclaimed the nation's ``absolute right'' to build reactors. Nearby, a student took notes in a folder decorated with Uncle Sam chasing an elusive atom around the Middle East.

The scene last week was another snapshot from one side of the huge gap between Iran and the United States. The tremors over Iran's nuclear ambitions have apparently wrenched it even wider at a delicate time.

Russia is building a nuclear reactor for Iran that the United States fears could be part of efforts to produce material for atomic weapons. In response, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency has set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove it has no secret agenda for producing nuclear weapons.

Iran is also being pressed to sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty giving U.N. inspectors unfettered access to any site.

The tension has reduced hopes that shared regional interests - topped by Afghanistan and Iraq - could draw the United States and Iran into the most productive dialogue since relations ended after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Instead, many Iranian leaders and opinion-shapers have revived the bitterness that followed President Bush's ``axis of evil'' label last year. They see Washington directing the international pressure to clarify Iran's nuclear objectives and capabilities - though the European Union and others also fully support unrestricted U.N. inspections of nuclear sites.

``It's a classic case of two sides of the same coin,'' said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a Tehran-based political analyst. ``The United States sees big worries. The Iranians say they are being unfairly bullied.''

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - the pinnacle of power in Iran - claims the United States wants to cripple Iran's economic potential by blocking nuclear development. It's one of the few messages that unite feuding reformers and conservatives.

``There is the right for all countries to have the peaceful use of nuclear technology,'' an Iranian atomic scientist, Mohammad Kazem Marashi, told a gathering of Tehran University students and professors. ``Every time someone mentions nuclear power all they can think of is bombs.''

Weapons are clearly on the minds of Washington and some allies.

The White House fears a chilling scenario: Iran could develop nuclear warheads for its Shahab-3 missiles, which could reach as far as Israel. That could touch off a regional arms race or an Israeli pre-emptive strike - as in 1981 when Israeli warplanes hit an Iraqi nuclear reactor.

Iran insists it has nothing to hide and wants nuclear plants for research and power - looking decades ahead to when its oil reserves dwindle.

But there is resistance to the U.N. demands that Iran allow international inspections. The Iranian leadership wants assurances that the nuclear reviews won't turn into spying, with inspectors combing ministries and offices.

That's as far as the objections go for the moment. Iran does not want an impasse that ends up in the U.N. Security Council, which could lead to international sanctions and a new host of problems for the ruling theocracy.

``Every way you look at it, the stakes are very high and getting higher,'' said Jonathan Stevensen, a regional analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

It's also thrown obstacles into what could have been a rare patch of common ground between Iran and the United States.

Iran sits between two of Washington's biggest burdens: Afghanistan and Iraq. And Iran shares the West's immediate goals in those countries.

A modernized Afghanistan would open important new commercial routes for Iran. A stabilized Iraq could boost Iran's regional power as the ally of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority.

Iranian and American envoys have taken part in Afghan meetings. Iran is expected to attend an Iraq donors' conference in Spain later this month.

But - for the moment - much of the diplomatic energy is being diverted to the nuclear dispute.

The United States seeks to keep a united front with European allies, although some have said Iran should be allowed to pursue nuclear power if inspections are thorough.

Iran, meanwhile, must deal with internal quarrels on how far to push nuclear development.

A Russian-built reactor could go into service as early as 2005, and Iran says it will continue to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Highly enriched uranium is needed for nuclear weapons and lower grades are used in power plants and research.

Some hard-line groups have openly urged Iran to develop nuclear weapons, citing neighboring Pakistan's nuclear program and the belief that Israel has nuclear warheads. Israel has never admitted to having a nuclear program.

In July, the conservative Students' Islamic Association urged Iran's government to ``openly and seriously'' develop nuclear arms as ``deterrence against our enemies.'' Others have also insisted Iran should hold open the right to develop such weapons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3258511,00.html

Iran hiding nuclear site from UN - exiled opposition

13 Oct 2003 12:57:38 GMT
VIENNA, Oct 13 (Reuters)

An Iranian opposition group that has provided accurate information about undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran in the past said on Monday that Tehran has been hiding another nuclear facility from U.N. inspectors.

"We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran," an official from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told Reuters. The official gave no details about the site, but said NCRI officials would provide full details on Tuesday.

In August 2002, the NCRI broke the news of two undeclared nuclear sites in Iran -- a massive uranium-enrichment complex at Natanz and a heavy-water production facility at Arak.

Tehran later declared these facilities to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has placed surveillance cameras at Natanz to ensure that no undeclared nuclear activities take place there.

Earlier this year, the IAEA found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz, fuelling fears that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies it secretly enriched uranium and blamed the traces on contaminated machinery purchased abroad in the 1980s.

The NCRI is a coalition of moderate or left-wing groups and presents itself as a potential replacement for Islamic rule in Iran. The U.S. State Department and the European Union list the NCRI's armed wing, the People's Mujahideen, as a terrorist group.

Last month the governing board of the IAEA gave Iran until October 31 to prove it is not diverting nuclear resources to a secret weapons programme, as the United States alleges, or face sanctions by the U.N. Security Council.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been invited to Tehran on Thursday, though an agency spokeswoman said he had not decided yet whether he would accept.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13574376.htm

Mehrabad Airport & Tehran, Iran (On 10/14-15/ 2003)

Iranians will gather, in the late hours of Tuesday night, at the Tehran's Mehrabad Int'l Airport, and on Wednesday afternoon, in the Laleh Park, in order to welcome Mrs.Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian Nobelist, awarded for her Human Rights actions.

At this time, Mrs. Ebadi has scheduled to fly back home, from France, on Tuesday at 14:30 (Paris local time) by Iran Air Flight #!R732 departing from S. Orly Airport. Her fregime (pretexting the strategic nature of Mehrabad Airport) will happen under huge security measures.light[sic] shall land around 22:00 on Tuesday (Tehran's local time).

These gatherings have been banned by the Islamic republic and might lead to a brual repression.

On Tuesday October 14, 2003
From 22:00 (local time)
At the Mehrabad Airport of Tehran, all its exits and the Azadi (former Shahyad) square.

On Wednesday October 15, 2003
From 14:00 (local time)
At the "Laleh Park" located in the "Fatemi" avenue.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/article/publish/cat_index_10.shtml#3081

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=3604178
EU Accuses Iran of Torture and Liberties Abuses
Mon October 13, 2003 11:40 AM ET
By Sebastian Alison

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union accused Iran Monday of torture and a catalog of civil liberties abuses, but foreign ministers said they wanted to maintain a dialogue on human rights.

For that reason, the 15-nation EU stopped just short of agreeing to table a resolution condemning Iran at the United Nations, saying instead it would "convey its serious concern."

"The Council continues to be seriously concerned about executions being carried out in Iran in apparent absence of respect for internationally recognized safeguards," the EU said in a statement on an Iran-EU human rights dialogue last week.

"The Council is equally concerned by the continued use of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment in Iran," it added.

The statement highlighted public executions and amputations as well as shortcomings in freedom of opinion and expression, women's rights, religious freedom, and discrimination against women and girls.

It drew special attention to the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian citizen of Iranian descent whose death in custody in June, from a blow to the head, seriously damaged relations between Ottawa and Tehran.

A member of Iran's intelligence services is currently on trial for her murder, a charge he denies.

Kazemi's family is to be represented in Iranian courts by human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last week. The EU congratulated Ebadi in its statement as an "eminent Iranian lawyer and human rights defender."

While welcoming the dialogue and looking forward to the next round of talks on human rights, to be held in Tehran, the EU said improvements on the ground were needed if talks were to continue.

"As the Council has recalled on previous occasions, this dialogue is an acceptable option only if sufficient progress is achieved and reflected on the ground," the statement said.

The EU is fully backing demands by the U.N. nuclear watchdog that Iran produce proof before the end of this month that it is not secretly working to develop nuclear weapons under cover of its bigger than previously disclosed civilian nuclear program.

"The Council considered that the Iranian nuclear program remains an issue of grave concern...," the statement said, reaffirming that the entire relationship would be reviewed in the light of Tehran's compliance with the International Atomic Energy Agency deadline.

It is much easier for us to reward a woman who is working against a government no one loves than it would be to reward a woman working against a government the west has created.

Sorry, Guardian, the west isn't creating today's Afghanistan, the Afghan people are. Nice try. Bring back the Taliban? No thanks.

Radical, unrepresentative Western feminist groups, through Universities, NGOS, governments and the internet, spread their bitterness and demands around the world - often led by Madeline Albright and Hillary Clinton in the 90s.

It's dishonest to equate women's rights and human rights with a bitter, disrespectful radical feminist movement that is so easily offended and accusatory re. perceived offenses by others and yet refuses to repent or acknowledge their own offensive words and deeds - their own disrepect for men, their grandparents, God.

A traditional society with a faith-based foundation is of course offended by self-centered radical feminists. If a "Code Pink" office is 'graffitied' in Kabul today, it does not mean things aren't far better for women in Afghanistan - being trained at Universities, taking professional jobs, not being beheaded in the public square for suspected adultery, etc., than they were under the Taliban!

Iran Warns Israel Over Reports of Planned Air Strike

October 13, 2003
Ha'aretz
News Agencies and Ha'aretz Service

TEHRAN -- The Iranian government issued a warning to Israel over reports appearing in a German news magazine Monday that Jerusalem was researching how to strike Iranian nuclear sites.

"We are used to such foolish rhetoric from Israel and consider it not even worth replying, but still Israel knows not to mess around with us," government spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh told journalists.

According to the news magazine Der Spiegel, Israeli intelligence services were ordered two months ago to study ways of knocking out more than half a dozen nuclear sites in Iran.

A Mossad team in Jerusalem had drafted "scenarios" in which raids would be flown by F-16 fighter-bombers that destroy the sites "simultaneously and completely."

Source: Iran hiding another nuke site

An Iranian opposition group that has provided accurate information about undeclared nuclear facilities in Iran in the past said Monday that Tehran has been hiding another nuclear facility from UN inspectors.

"We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran," an official from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told Reuters. The official gave no details about the site, but said the NCRI would provide full details Tuesday.

In an emailed statement, the NCRI also said it would provide information on Iran's use of foreign technology in its atomic program, as well as details about the Kalaye Electric Co., where UN inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium.

IAEA officials were not immediately available for comment.

Russia puts off start-up of Iran nuclear plant
Meanwhile, a source in the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry said Monday that Moscow has postponed plans to start up a nuclear reactor in Iran until 2005, due to technical reasons.

"We are putting off the start-up of the first generating set of the Bushehr plant because much of the technical equipment has not been supplied in time," the source told Reuters. "But mind you, this has nothing to do with politics and other issues surrounding Iran at this point."

In August 2002, the NCRI broke the news of two undeclared nuclear sites in Iran - a massive uranium-enrichment complex at Natanz and a heavy-water production facility at Arak.

Tehran later declared these facilities to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has placed surveillance cameras at Natanz to ensure that no undeclared nuclear activities take place there.

In addition to the uranium found at Kalaye, the IAEA found traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at Natanz, fuelling fears that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in an atomic bomb.

Tehran denies it secretly enriched uranium and blamed the traces on contaminated machinery purchased abroad in the 1980s.

The NCRI is a coalition of exiled opposition groups and sees itself as a potential replacement for Islamic rule in Iran. But the U.S. State Department and the European Union list the NCRI's armed wing, the People's Mujahideen, as a terrorist group.

Last month the governing board of the IAEA gave Iran until October 31 to prove it is not diverting nuclear resources to a secret weapons program, as the United States alleges, or face sanctions by the UN Security Council.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has been invited to Tehran on Thursday, though an agency spokeswoman said he had not decided yet whether he would accept.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=349435&contrassID=1&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Iran Seeks to Extend Nuclear Deadline

October 13, 2003
VOA News
James Martone

Iran is indicating it wants more time to comply with demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency beyond the October 31 deadline the agency has set.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA says his country is committed to boosting cooperation with the agency but may need more time to satisfy all of its demands.

In comments published in the state-run daily Iran, envoy Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran's cooperation with the IAEA has "quickened" since talks earlier this month. Mr. Salehi said cooperation should accelerate further in the coming weeks but that more time may be needed. He said it would be wrong to declare failure as long as progress is being made.

The IAEA has given Iran until the end of October to fully disclose the nature of its nuclear program and to agree to an additional protocol that would subject its nuclear sites to closer scrutiny by agency inspectors.

Meanwhile, Iran's Presidential Advisor Ali Rabiee told the country's news agency that "highly placed officials in the Iranian government were discussing seriously the issue of the additional protocol." The presidential advisor also announced that IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to arrive Thursday in Tehran for more talks on nuclear issues.

Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, and says its nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes. The United States has accused Iran of pursuing a clandestine nuclear-weapons program.

In a related development, Egypt's official news agency reports from Tehran that the Deputy Speaker of Iran's Parliament, Mohamed Reza Khatami, has called on his country to allow more IAEA inspections in order to convince the world Iran has no nuclear weapons. Mr. Khatami is the brother of Iranian president Mohamed Khatemi.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=70010289-95E3-41FE-AF70B7B6AC649639&title=Iran%20Seeks%20to%20Extend%20Nuclear%20Group%20Demands&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Mid

EU reiterates "grave concern" over Iran's nuclear capacity

13 October 2003
EU Business News

The European Union reiterated Monday its "grave concern" at Iran's failure to reassure the world over its nuclear capacity, calling on Tehran to agree unconditionally to snap UN inspections.

"We confirm our urgent invitation (to Tehran) to sign without any preconditions" a UN protocol allowing unannounced inspections of its nuclear facilities, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"The EU remains gravely concerned by Iran's failure to cooperate fully with the IAEA," added British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The EU comments came as IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei prepares to begin a visit to Iran on Thursday, 15 days before a deadline expires for Iran to dispel suspicions it is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

Straw added that the EU will review its position depending on Tehran's actions in response to the October 31 deadline. "Iran's performance in this area will be critical if her relationship with the EU is to develop," he said.

In contast to the United States, the European Union is pressing ahead with a policy of constructive engagement with Iran, pressing it human rights issues at the same time seeking to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement.

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/031013171719.5no8ee9k

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031013183741.jm3tm2pq.html

Iran, NKorea at centre of meeting between Russian FM and IAEA chief

BERN (AFP) Oct 13, 2003
Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov said that he would meet International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed Elbaradei in Vienna on Tuesday to discuss the nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.
"Most probably we will speak about the problems relating to Iran, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Ivanov told journalists after a meeting with his Swiss counterpart here on Monday.

Ivanov reiterated Russia's desire for a peaceful solution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear power programme and allowing more intrusive IAEA inspections, which Tehran has so far rejected despite suspicions that it is trying to make nuclear weapons.

"We believe it is necessary that Iran signs up to the additional protocol," he added.

The meeting comes only days before Elbaradei is due to fly to Iran following an invitation from the Islamic republic.

Elbaradei's visit beginning on Thursday will come 15 days before a deadline expires for Iran to dispel suspicions it is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

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