U.N. Nuclear Agency Chief to Visit Iran
ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency chief will visit Iran this week to help persuade Tehran to meet an Oct. 31 deadline to prove it is not producing atomic weapons, a diplomat said Monday.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said only that Mohamed ElBaradei had received a formal invitation. But a Western diplomat close to the agency told The Associated Press that ElBaradei had accepted and would head to Tehran on Thursday.
The IAEA has been pressing Iran to prove it is not producing nuclear weapons as the United States suspects. Iran has protested the Oct. 31 deadline and said its nuclear program is to generate electricity as its oil reserves decline.
Failure to satisfy the IAEA could result in Iran's being referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions. The IAEA board of governors will meet on Nov. 20 to assess the Iranians' compliance.
Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bans the spread of nuclear weapons.
Pierre Goldschmidt, an IAEA deputy director general, and another top agency official held two days of talks in Tehran earlier this month. An IAEA inspection team is also in Tehran to carry out routine inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities.
A senior Iranian official said earlier this month that the IAEA representatives had reached "total agreement" with Iran on measures to prove the country's nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran has agreed to provide the IAEA with a list of imported equipment it contends had been contaminated.
In recent weeks, Iran has twice confirmed that particles of weapons-grade uranium had been found in separate places in the country. The government said the particles came from imported nuclear equipment that had been contaminated.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/oct/13/101307601.html
By David Blair in Jerusalem
(Filed: 13/10/2003)
Israel has acquired the capability of launching a nuclear strike from submarines, according to reports yesterday. This puts it among the handful of countries able to deliver atomic weapons from land, sea and air.
With American help, Israeli technicians have modified US-supplied cruise missiles to carry nuclear warheads. Commentators believe that the disclosure, in the Los Angeles Times, is intended as a message to Iran about the risks of its nuclear ambitions.
Iran has been given until the end of this month to allow international inspectors unfettered access to its nuclear facilities.
Both America and Israel believe that Iran is close to acquiring nuclear weapons. This would break Israel's nuclear monopoly in the Middle East and change the strategic balance of the region.
America has supplied Israel with Harpoon sea-launched cruise missiles - originally with conventional warheads - for deployment on three Dolphin class submarines. The diesel-electric submarines were bought from Germany four years ago.
The Israeli government does not comment on its nuclear capacity. But experts agree that Israel has the world's sixth largest nuclear arsenal with some 200 warheads, compared with Britain's 185.
Israeli commentators have no doubt that the latest reports are credible and cite the priorities of Mossad, the foreign intelligence agency.
"Heading off Iran's attempt to attain nuclear capability is one of Mossad's main missions," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported. A military commentator said he thought the Los Angeles Times report "made sense".
Israel's secret effort to acquire a bomb began in 1956 when France supplied a nuclear reactor and technical help. By 1968 Israel had a nuclear capability.
Until now, the country has relied on its Jericho II missiles, with a range of 930 miles, and American-supplied F-15 bombers, which can hit targets 2,000 miles away.
Now, even if a pre-emptive strike destroyed its land and air systems, Israel could hit back with nuclear weapons launched from its submarines.
• Israeli forces pulled back from the Rafah refugee camp yesterday after killing eight Palestinians in the heaviest raid in the Gaza Strip for six months. Two of the dead were boys aged eight and 12. Israel said its forces destroyed three tunnels used for smuggling weapons.
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