Today: September 28, 2003
Iran Says It'll Work With U.N. on Nukes
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Iran's foreign minister said his country is willing to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear agency as the United States and Russia press Tehran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program.
"We are trying and we are determined to cooperate" with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
He also indicated that Iran was receptive to resuming talks with the United States. Talks last were held in May in Geneva, under the auspices of the United Nations.
Discussions began not long after the Afghan war started in the fall of 2001 and initially were largely limited to developments in Afghanistan. They grew to include exchanges on Iraq, with which Iran fought an eight-year war in the 1980s. Iran shares long borders with Afghanistan and Iraq.
"To start any dialogue between Iran and the United States, this has to be based on mutual respect and equal footing," Kharrazi said in the interview, taped Saturday. "Otherwise, there's no meaning to have such a dialogue."
He said Iran does not want the Bush administration "to interfere in our internal affairs. We want the United States to take gestures to prove that it's sincere in its call for a dialogue."
Relations with Washington were severed after Iranian militants overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held U.S. diplomats hostage until 1981.
Officials in the Clinton and Bush administrations have suggested from time to time that there was a reformist surge in Iran that could have a moderating influence on the Muslim fundamentalist government.
Still, the State Department this year again accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism. Iran also is accused regularly of trying to undercut peace efforts in the Middle East.
Asked if Iran was prepared to restart the talks, the foreign minister replied, "If it is useful."
On Saturday, President Bush and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Putin, though, gave no indication he was willing to pull back from an $800 million deal to build a nuclear power plant in southern Iran, although Bush has pressed the Russian leader for two years to abandon the project.
The IAEA said last week it had found new evidence that Iran is enriching uranium.
Kharrazi said the "contamination" of the uranium had occurred outside Iran. He said, however, that uranium enrichment "is legal, and nothing is wrong as long as it is under the auspices of the IAEA and the inspection regime."
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman reaffirmed his country's commitment to its nuclear program.
"Relinquishing peaceful nuclear technology or enriching uranium is not a subject Iran can compromise on," Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States needs "to have all questions with respect to their nuclear weapons programs answered."
He told ABC's "This Week" that over the past year, "the evidence that has come forward ... has made it clear to the world that there is something going on in Iran with respect to nuclear weapons development that goes beyond their nuclear power industry."
Putin, after meeting with Bush at Camp David, said Russia would "give a clear but respectful signal to Iran about the necessity to continue and expand its cooperation" with international inspectors.
Iran says its nuclear programs are to produce energy and that the traces of weapons-grade material were imported on equipment purchased from abroad. "We want to make sure that we can continue with enrichment facilities to produce fewer needed power fuels," Kharrazi said,
The United States and its allies argue the only purpose of Iran's nuclear efforts is for weapons programs.
The U.N. agency has set an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove that its nuclear program is for energy purposes and not for weapons.
Asked about the deadline, Kaharrazi said, "We want to make sure that this is enough and is going to solve our problems and remove all suspicions."
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/sep/28/092805824.htmlProgress Reported in Israel-Hezbollah Prisoner Exchange Negotiations
Ross Dunn
Jerusalem
26 Sep 2003
Israeli officials say Germany is ready to release an Iranian and a Lebanese prisoner to help Israel secure the return of its missing soldiers. The offer comes as Israel is attempting to conclude a prisoner swap with the militant Islamic group, Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that prisoners held in Europe might be part of an agreement with the Hezbollah. The prisoners are being held in German jails.
Israeli media reported that the prisoners, one Iranian and one Lebanese, were convicted in 1997 for their role in the murder of a Kurdish-Iranian dissident in a Berlin restaurant in September 1992.
German mediators are involved in the negotiations between Israel and the Hezbollah, which is funded by Iran.
Hezbollah has been holding Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum captive since October 2000.
The militant Lebanese group also has the remains of three Israeli soldiers, killed during a kidnapping operation along the Lebanese border in the same period.
As part of a possible deal with the Hezbollah, Israel is considering releasing two prominent Lebanese prisoners, and setting free hundreds of Palestinian detainees. In return, Israel is demanding Mr. Tannenbuam be released and the bodies of the three soldiers returned.
Israel is also demanding information on the fate of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986.
Israeli officials say Mr. Arad was held captive in Lebanon for two years, before being handed over to the Iranian government.
On Friday, Israel's High Court ruled that Mr. Arad's family be given a copy of an Israeli government commission report on his disappearance.
The copy, however, is to be censored by the Israeli military to prevent the disclosure of what it says is sensitive information related to the nation's security.
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=C127E1E0-3816-49E6-956F21418027828C