Iranian Alert -- November 11, 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.

Iran Student Missing After Meeting U.N. Envoy

Tue November 11, 2003 10:40 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters)

An Iranian student jailed for his role in street protests four years ago has disappeared after meeting a senior United Nations official in Tehran, a close relative said Tuesday.

Ahmad Batebi was convicted of endangering national security when he was photographed holding up the bloody shirt of an injured friend during violent student protests in 1999 which were the largest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Batebi was originally sentenced to death but his sentence was later reduced to 10 years jail time after an appeal.

A relative said Batebi, who was on a brief furlough from Tehran's Evin prison, Saturday met Ambeyi Ligabo, a U.N. Special Rapporteur charged with promoting free speech.

"After this meeting Saturday, he just vanished," a close relative told Reuters by telephone.

The relative said Batebi was supposed to return to Evin prison Monday afternoon, but he did not show up.

"We called everywhere, his friends, the judiciary and the prison but nobody has any clue about his whereabouts," the relative said.

Judiciary officials could not be reached for comment.

Ligabo, who met 37 political dissidents during a six-day visit to Iran at the invitation of the Iranian government, called Monday for Iran to release all political prisoners.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3796779

FACTBOX-What Happens Next with IAEA Report on Iran
Tue November 11, 2003 01:43 PM ET

(Page 1 of 2)
VIENNA (Reuters) - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has circulated a new report on nuclear inspections in Iran ahead of its November 20 Board of Governors meeting.
The report says the U.N. nuclear watchdog has found no evidence of a secret atomic weapons program but it does not rule out that one exists.

WHAT'S IN THE REPORT

The IAEA report said Tehran had dabbled in activity often associated with arms, like plutonium production.

"Iran has admitted that it produced small amounts of low enriched uranium using both centrifuges and laser enrichment processes...and that it had failed to report a large number of conversion, fabrication and irradiation activities involving nuclear material, including the separation of a small amount of plutonium."

Enrichment is a process of purifying uranium to make it useable as nuclear fuel or in weapons.

In contrast to Tehran's previous denials, the IAEA said Iran also acknowledged some "tests using small amounts of (uranium hexafluoride) had been conducted in 1999 and 2002." The report added that, for decades, Iran received help from sources in four countries with sensitive technology that could be used to develop weapons.

The countries were not identified.

"Iran acknowledged that, starting in the 1970s, it had had contracts related to laser (uranium) enrichment with foreign sources from four countries," the report said.

Diplomats have said Pakistan, a nuclear weapons state that has opted out of signing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), was almost certainly one of the four countries.

NOVEMBER 20 IAEA BOARD MEETING

The 35-nation Board of Governors will meet to discuss the Iran report. The U.S. is pushing the board to declare that Iran has been in non-compliance with obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Tehran signed in 1970.

Diplomats said the board is divided as France, Britain and Germany have a tacit agreement not to back a non-compliance vote as part of a deal last month under which Iran agreed to stop enriching uranium and accept tougher U.N. nuclear inspections.
Other European and some Asian members of the board are said to stand between the U.S. and the "Big Three" EU states.

WHAT NON-COMPLIANCE MEANS

A country is in non-compliance with its IAEA Safeguards Agreement, a key part of the NPT, when the IAEA is unable to confirm that the country is not diverting nuclear resources to a weapons program, or when it confirms that a country diverted resources.

Such a finding would require notifying the U.N. Security Council.

The Security Council can issue a statement condemning the country in non-compliance, issue an ultimatum or impose economic or diplomatic sanctions. It can also choose to ignore the issue.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3798829

U.S. Set to Take on EU Big 3 Over Iran Nuke Program

Tue November 11, 2003 01:32 PM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters)

A U.N. report that Iran dabbled in activities linked to atom bomb-making has set the stage for a clash next week between Washington and three European states over Tehran's possible punishment, diplomats said on Tuesday.

The United States has long accused Iran of using a civilian nuclear energy program as a front to build a bomb, but will have a tough fight getting France, Germany and Britain to toe its line at a November 20 meeting of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Washington wants the IAEA board to pass a resolution to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, a move which could lead to sanctions against Tehran.

But the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain did a deal with Iran on October 21 under which Tehran was to suspend its uranium enrichment program and sign a protocol permitting more intrusive, short-notice IAEA inspections.

On Monday, Tehran announced it had fulfilled its side of the bargain, although the European Union said on Tuesday it wanted to see "deeds as well as the words."

Nevertheless, diplomats said they believed France, Germany and Britain were now bound not to support a U.S.-backed resolution that Iran had failed to comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"Some Europeans (on the IAEA board) agree with the U.S., but they will have a very hard time convincing the three Europeans to support a resolution of non-compliance," one diplomat said.

POSSIBLE SANCTIONS

In a confidential report on Monday on U.N. inspections in Iran, the IAEA said it had found no proof of an atomic weapons program in Iran, but said Tehran had covertly engaged in activities often associated with nuclear bombs.

"Iran has admitted that it produced small amounts of low enriched uranium...and that it had failed to report a large number of conversion, fabrication and irradiation activities involving nuclear material, including the separation of a small amount of plutonium," the IAEA report said.

Iran denies it wants weapons and says it was forced to hide some nuclear activities because of decades of illegal sanctions.

One Western diplomat said France, Britain and Germany had seized on one part of the report to back their approach.
This stated: "To date there is no evidence that (Iran's) previously undeclared nuclear material and activities referred to above were related to a nuclear weapons program.

"However, given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Several Western diplomats said there was more than enough evidence in the Iran report to support a non-compliance finding, which would require the board to notify the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

A senior Western diplomat also questioned the IAEA's ability to say there was no evidence of a weapons program yet, given the discovery of numerous activities usually related to bombs.

"We may have seen the tip of the iceberg or the bottom of the iceberg," he said. "But It's very possible that there may be part of the iceberg somewhere else."

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Iranian state television Iran's plutonium production and uranium enrichment referred to in the report were "insignificant and...at the level of gram and microgram."

But the senior diplomat dismissed Salehi's view.

"The U.S., the U.K., France, India and Pakistan all started out with laboratory scale activities," the diplomat said. "That was their weapons program until they set one off in the desert or on an island."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3798767

Iran Shrugs Off UN Nuke Report; U.S.-Europe Clash Set

Tue November 11, 2003 02:29 PM ET
By Paul Hughes and Louis Charbonneau
TEHRAN/VIENNA (Reuters)

Iran on Tuesday brushed off a U.N. report that it had engaged in activities linked to atom bomb-making, while Washington and three European states looked set to clash next week over Tehran's possible punishment.

Iran said the violations it was accused of in the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, were "insignificant."

The IAEA report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, said no evidence had so far been found of a bomb program in Iran, but Tehran had dabbled in possibly linked activities like plutonium production and uranium enrichment.

The United States, which has long accused Iran of using a civilian nuclear energy program as a front to build a bomb, had no immediate comment on the report, which diplomats said gave ammunition to both sides in the dispute.

But Secretary of State Colin Powell made clear U.S. hostility to Iran was undimmed, accusing "hidebound clerics" in Tehran of dragging Islam into "the political gutter."

Iran condemned Powell's statements, in a speech in New York on Monday night, as an interference in its affairs.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani said the IAEA report showed Tehran had been transparent about its nuclear past.

"This report shows the U.S. and Israeli propaganda against Iran was baseless and Iran did not violate the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and also that its nuclear activities were not for military purposes," he told state television.

Western diplomats said the United States will have a tough fight getting France, Germany and Britain to toe its line at a November 20 meeting of the IAEA board.

TRANSATLANTIC STAND-OFF

Washington wants the IAEA board to pass a resolution to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council, a move which could lead to sanctions against Tehran.

But the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain did a deal with Iran on October 21 under which Tehran was to suspend its uranium enrichment program and sign a protocol permitting more intrusive, short-notice IAEA inspections.
On Monday, Tehran announced it had fulfilled its side of the bargain, although the European Union said on Tuesday it wanted to see "deeds as well as the words."

Nevertheless, diplomats said they believed France, Germany and Britain were now bound not to support a U.S.-backed resolution that Iran had failed to comply with the NPT.

"Some Europeans (on the IAEA board) agree with the U.S., but they will have a very hard time convincing the three Europeans to support a resolution of non-compliance," one diplomat said.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said Iran's failures to declare some past nuclear activities were trivial.

"The failures attributed to Iran are insignificant and are at the level of gram and microgram of nuclear materials," state television quoted him as saying.

Iran denies it wants weapons and says it was forced to hide some nuclear activities because of decades of illegal sanctions.

But diplomats said production of even small amounts of plutonium proved Iran had the know-how to make a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon. "This is a very serious matter...(it) can't just be dismissed in a few lines and forgotten," said a Western diplomat in Vienna.

The IAEA report said: "To date there is no evidence that (Iran's) previously undeclared nuclear material and activities referred to above were related to a nuclear weapons program.

"However, given Iran's past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is able to conclude that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."

The report said that over decades of clandestine atomic research, Iran had received help from sources in four countries on laser enrichment of uranium. It did not name the countries but diplomats have said Pakistan was probably one.

Powell, speaking at his alma mater, City College of New York, said that "the Iranian people want their freedom back."

"They do not want to banish Islam from their lives. Far from it. They want to be free of those who have dragged the sacred garments of Islam into the political gutter," he said.

Iran condemned the remarks. "American officials' interpretations of Islam and Muslims clearly prove that, like many other issues such as Iraq, the Middle East and democracy, they know nothing about Islam and Muslims," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3799044

Editor
Middle East Online;

YOU MADE ME THINK! THANKS! I WAS PUZZLED AS TO WHY?
I HAVE HAD THE FOLLOWING ON MY WEBSITE FOR OVER A
YEAR NOW I KNOW WHY!
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FROM MY WEBSITE
4:44 A PHENOMENA ?

It seems to happen often enough that I'm thinking It must have a name. The phenomena I speak of, is not being consciously aware of it, but turning to look at the clock and seeing a specific time more than any other... the numbers that you see on the face, you end up seeing so often that you may shake your head because you've seen that string of digits again for the umpteenth time.

In my case it is 4:44 any one else experience anything like this? Let me know via email. Thanks for the reminder!
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FROM YOUR WEBSITE
RE:A furious response to Powell's criticism

Iran: Powell knows nothing about Islam
Asefi says US officials' comments on Islam clearly prove they do know nothing about Islam, Muslims.

" Islamist students stormed the US embassy in the Iranian capital on November 4, 1979, in the
wake of the Islamic revolution, and held its staff hostage there for 444 days. "
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I forgot. That is what the Holy Spirit was trying to pound into my thick skull it was the beginning of the World Wide islamic revolution or the end, so to speak, for it anyway.
I will never forget 911 or forget 444 Again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we forget we are doomed to repeat history.

BellStar
An Army Brat
Go Army, USA

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