Iranian Alert -- November 18, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD

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.

US Slams Iran Draft; Exiles Say Tehran Fooling UN

November 18, 2003
Reuters
Gideon Long and Louis Charbonneau

LONDON/VIENNA, Austria -- The United States said Tuesday a draft resolution on Iran's breach of U.N. nuclear obligations was "deficient," while an Iranian opposition group accused Tehran of hiding an "atomic weapons program" from the United Nations.

France, Britain and Germany have circulated a draft resolution criticizing Iran's long history of concealing its atomic program to be discussed by the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors Thursday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed his disappointment with the work of the European Union's three biggest states.

"The resolution that I was aware (of) being presented by the EU three was not adequate," Powell told reporters on a flight from Brussels to London where he was to join President Bush who is on a three-day state visit to Britain.

"It did not have the trigger mechanisms in the case of further Iranian intransigence or difficulty," he said.

Powell said the draft was a matter of intense discussion and he said Washington was considering whether to abandon the quest for one entirely, saying, "If a resolution (is) totally inadequate, then maybe don't have a resolution right now."

In Brussels earlier, Powell accused Iran of violating the global pact against atomic weapons and indicated that he felt any resolution on Iran must formally acknowledge this.

"The fact of the matter is that Iran has been in noncompliance" with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Powell said after what he called a "very candid discussion" with his EU counterparts.

"We'll be in discussion with our EU colleagues and other members of the IAEA as to whether or not the resolution is strong enough to convey to the world the difficulties we've had with Iran over the years," he said.

COOPERATION

However, Powell said Iran appeared to be moving in the right direction recently by cooperating with the IAEA.

The United States says Iran has a secret weapons program and wants the 35-nation IAEA board to declare the Islamic republic in "noncompliance" and report its NPT breaches to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.

The draft resolution, which will undergo revisions over the next few days, merely criticizes Iran for "failures to meet safeguards obligations," diplomats familiar with the text told Reuters. This is too weak for Washington, they said.

Iran denies wanting an atomic bomb and urged the IAEA board not to give in to pressure from Washington.

"America should abandon such useless pressures and stop imposing its ideas on the agency," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters in Tehran.

Last month, Iran submitted a declaration of its entire nuclear program to the IAEA that Tehran said was accurate and complete in order to comply with an Oct. 31 IAEA deadline to come clean about the full extent of its atomic program.

In this declaration, Iran admitted to reprocessing a small amount of plutonium and concealing a uranium enrichment program for 18 years. But it denies having weapons ambitions.

However, Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Reuters his group had specific information about further "recent violations" of Iran's obligation to report all its nuclear activities to the IAEA.

Tehran is also hiding its "secret atomic weapons program," Gobadi said, echoing an often-made U.S. accusation. Iran says it wants nuclear power for the peaceful generation of electricity.

Gobadi said officials working within Iran's nuclear industry had informed some workers that Iran's current policy of openness with the IAEA was "all temporary."

He said his group, which has accurately informed about undeclared nuclear sites in Iran in the past but is considered by Washington as a terrorist group, would give details Wednesday.

The IAEA said last week it had "no evidence" yet that Iran had a clandestine nuclear weapons program but the jury was still out on whether such a program existed.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3846919

US and Europe clash over Iran

The Guardian
Ian Black in Brussels and Ian Traynor
November 19, 2003

Europe and the US clashed last night when Washington said publicly that it disagreed with the EU's position on the nuclear threat posed by Iran.
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, who joined President George Bush in London last night at the start of the state visit to Britain, had been seeking to mend fences after months of disagreements over Iraq.

But talks on Iran, described by Mr Powell as "very candid", revealed fresh disagreement over what many consider to be the next big international crisis.

The row centres on tomorrow's meeting in Vienna of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, over the contested Iranian programme. Washington wants Iran declared in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty at the meeting, a move which could lead to sanctions by the UN security council.

Last week, the IAEA said Iran had conducted secret experiments, including uranium enrichment and the production of small amounts of plutonium that put it in violation of the treaty. But the EU said Iran had pledged to cooperate, during a meeting with Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and his French and German counterparts last month, and should now be given the benefit of any doubt.

The Europeans want a milder statement by the IAEA and are prepared to give Iran peaceful nuclear technology if it abandons weapons programmes.

Negotiations were continuing last night among diplomats in Vienna over the wording of the EU draft, the only document being discussed. Sources said the Americans would prefer no resolution rather than support the EU's draft, which failed to mention the security council and did not use the word "non-compliance".

"I am pleased that Iran seems to be moving in the right direction now," Mr Powell said after talks with EU foreign ministers.

"But we can't be satisfied until Iran has demonstrated that all of the programmes it had been pursuing have now been made known... and they are now being brought to a halt."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1088339,00.html

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