Iranian Alert -- April 1, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"

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.” 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. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.

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.

Europeans Criticize Iran's Plan to Start Up Enrichment Plant

By RICHARD BERNSTEIN
NYTimes
Published: April 1, 2004

BERLIN, March 31 - The foreign ministries of Germany, France and Britain Wednesday criticized Iran's decision, announced last week, to start up a uranium conversion plant in Isfahan.

"This announcement sends the wrong signal regarding Iran's readiness to implement a suspension of its activities relating to uranium enrichment," the German Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "It will make it more difficult for Iran to restore international confidence in its activities. Iran must explain its announcement and its intentions."

The German Foreign Ministry said identical statements were issued Wednesday in Britain and France.

The move comes after a much-heralded diplomatic initiative by the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain that resulted last October in a promise by Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and to allow more intrusive international inspections of its nuclear program.

The agreement was widely viewed as an Iranian response to intense pressure by the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency to curtail activities aimed at making nuclear weapons. It was also welcomed by many people in Europe as a result of a successful European-American synergy in dealing with international crises.

Diplomats here referred to it as a good-cop, bad-cop approach, in which the Americans applied pressure on Iran and the Europeans offered a diplomatic way out.

But after the agreement in October and a round of international inspections, Iran admitted that it had concealed aspects of its nuclear development program for some 18 years. At one point earlier this year, after the international agency criticized Iran for failing to disclose aspects of its nuclear program, Iran banned further inspections.

The statements Wednesday by the foreign ministers of Europe's three major countries seemed an unmistakable sign of annoyance at Iran for its failure to cooperate fully with inspections or to stop its enrichment program definitively.

Reuters reported Wednesday on an internal report obtained by the news agency in Vienna concluding that Iran had "managed'' some of the agency's inspections. Reuters also cited unnamed Western diplomats as saying that Tehran had not stopped enriching uranium but had moved enrichment activities away from a known plant at Natanz to smaller sites that are part of a parallel program as yet undiscovered by inspectors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/europe/01iran.html?ex=1081400400&en=ee83ffdb4ceb4064&ei=5062

Afghan Army Moves Into Unruly Province Near Iran

By CARLOTTA GALL
NY Times
Published: April 1, 2004

HERAT, Afghanistan, March 28 — "Did you see Karzai's army?" a young Afghan security guard asked in a hushed voice. "They are all over the airport."

Hundreds of men in green berets and combat fatigues, troops of the fledgling Afghan National Army, have encamped in this city close to Afghanistan's border with Iran.

In addition to the troops in the airport, hundreds more have settled into the IV Army Corps base in the center of town and have rapidly become a familiar sight, driving around in new camouflage-painted Ford pickups.

But the soldiers, sent from Kabul by President Hamid Karzai, are far more than a friendly presence. Since they arrived with their American trainers, they have quietly, without fuss, changed the political and military dynamics in western Afghanistan.

Since the national aviation minister was shot dead in the city on March 21, setting off hours of heavy fighting between men loyal to his father, Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat Province, and those of an ambitious young division commander whose guards had shot the minister, the people of Herat have been wondering what will happen next.

Their first fears were that the 17th Division commander, Zaher Naibzadah, 34, who fled the city that night, would return and attack with a new force. Instead, to their surprise, hundreds of newly trained Afghan National Army troops showed up, averting for now the possibility of a brutal and destructive war.

"They are in control of the place," a Western diplomat in Herat said. Once the full contingent of 1,500 men has arrived, the soldiers will patrol in the city and out to the Iranian border 75 miles to the west with the local police, the diplomat said.

It is a setback for Governor Khan, who was ruling Herat with an increasingly strong hand and with little regard for the central government. But, reeling from the death of his son and chief ally in the cabinet, Mirwais Sadeq, he has had to accept the troops. "He is not in a position to refuse," the diplomat said.

"It is time for the central government to extend its grip on the periphery," said Abu Diek, the United Nations representative in Herat. "We are embarking on a political process, and it would be good if the A.N.A. stayed."

The most powerful warlord in the country, Mr. Khan was accustomed to wielding overwhelming military, political and economic control in his province, and strong influence in the poorer neighboring provinces of Ghor and Badghis. In the two years since the fall of the Taliban, he has shown a stubborn disdain for sharing power or heeding the strictures of the central government.

As the country prepares for national elections in September and tries to push through a program of disarmament and demobilization of thousands of militiamen, Mr. Khan's unchecked power was looming as a serious obstacle.

Even as he prepared to bury his son, Mr. Khan, a former mujahedeen commander famed for his bravery in fighting the Soviet occupation, still tried to resist the deployment of the Afghan National Army.

"Don't rub salt into our wounds," he reportedly told President Karzai, when informed of the plan by telephone, according to a local journalist. "Karzai said, `It's for your benefit,' and cut the phone," the journalist said.

The American commander of the local provincial reconstruction team, Lt. Col. James H. Hand, said the Afghan troops had received good cooperation so far from the governor and his officials. Buses met the troops, and facilities were provided, the colonel said.

The 13,000 American troops in the country are still so busy in the south and east pursuing Taliban forces and hunting for Al Qaeda's leaders that the last thing they want is protracted strife in the west to add to their problems, another American officer said.

Not satisfied with curbing Mr. Khan's military power, major figures in the central government are determined to remove him completely from western Afghanistan, offering him a position in Kabul or the governorship of another province. He has refused all offers so far, but close aides acknowledge that discussions are in progress.

Under his rule Herat has emerged as the economic jewel of Afghanistan, prospering from a surge in trade with Iran. One diplomat in the region estimates that 300 trucks come through Herat customs daily, bringing in up to $300,000 in levies.

At about $100 million a year, that represents a fifth of the national budget. That figure alone infuriates many in Kabul, although for the last year Mr. Khan has been passing a share of the custom revenues to the central authorities.

His conservative religious values and strict control of the media and political activity have alienated the intellectual class in Herat, which is a highly sophisticated city. Young people are chafing at the social controls and say they wish Herat had a movie theater. But everyone agrees that he has delivered on the most important thing, security.

Mr. Khan's reaction to the killing of his son is indicative of how strained his relations are with the central government. He has said the killing was part of a conspiracy that included an attack on the governor himself, and suggested that members of the central government had a hand in it.

The deputy interior minister, Hilaluddin Hilal, called it a "tragic accident."

Whatever its cause, the sudden outburst of violence was a sign of the growing tensions between Mr. Khan and Mr. Naibzadah, who was one of the military commanders who supported cooperation with Kabul and the Defense Ministry in opposition to Mr. Khan.

While Mr. Khan appears much weakened by the incident, he still has the support of some diplomats and members of the American military, who want stability and security above all.

"He has opponents, but a great many think that for the time and the future, he may be the best alternative," Colonel Hand said.

But the government is determined to capitalize on this opportunity to make an example of Mr. Khan. "It gives a signal to all who are up to some sort of mischief that they'd better think it over," said the deputy defense minister, Rahim Wardak.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/01/international/asia/01HERA.html?ex=1081400400&en=9a7ef682d6d71bac&ei=5062

Iran, Saudi Arabia lambasted for treatment of Canadians

AFP - World News (via Yahoo)
Mar 31, 2004

OTTAWA - An influential parliamentary committee, controlled by Canada's governing Liberal Party, lambasted Iran and Saudi Arabia for allegedly torturing and murdering Canadian citizens.

The House of Commons foreign affairs committee warned Saudi Arabia that its relations with Ottawa would not be able to develop properly "until justice is done and seen to be done."

In a report on Canada's relations with the Muslim world, the committee warned Saudi Arabia it needed to conduct a full investigation of allegations of miscarriage of justice and torture made by Canadian citizen William Sampson.

Sampson claims he was tortured by Saudi authorities into falsely confessing to murder. After being sentenced to death by beheading, Sampson was eventually released when the family of his alleged victim requested clemency.

The committee also called on Iran to undertake a full accounting for the illegal detention, torture and murder of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi.

Montreal-based Kazemi, who had dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship, was arrested for taking photos of a prison. She died while in custody with Iranian authorities saying she had been beaten to death while being interrogated.

So far, the Iranians have refused her son's request for her remains to be returned to Canada.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_5536.shtml

Iran's nuclear facility erodes diplomatic victory

Guardian - By Ewen MacAskill
Apr 1, 2004

The British government made a tacit admission for the first time yesterday that its much-trumpeted diplomatic initiative to try to prevent Iran securing a nuclear weapon may be in trouble.

The Foreign Office expressed unhappiness with an Iranian government announcement on Saturday that it had inaugurated at Isfahan a uranium conversion facility, a necessary first step in the creation of a nuclear bomb.

In October last year the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and his German and French counterparts, Joschka Fischer and Dominique de Villepin, flew to Tehran to persuade the Iranian government to avoid confrontation with the US by agreeing to spot checks of its nuclear facilities. The resultant agreement was hailed as a triumph for European diplomacy.

But the Foreign Office statement yesterday registered the disappointment of the three countries. By diplomatic standards, the language was strong and unequivocal.

It said the announcement sent "the wrong signal about Iranian willingness to implement a suspension of nuclear enrichment-related activities".

Parallel statements were issued in Berlin and Paris.

The British, German and French governments are to make another joint approach to the Iranian government.

The US, which expressed scepticism at the time the agreement was secured, has called on Iran to suspend all uranium-related activity.

Iran has repeatedly claimed it is merely interested in using nuclear technology for civilian purposes, and insists that it is sticking to the October agreement.

But a Foreign Office source said the steps being taken by Iran at Isfahan were incompatible with the promise to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

Gholam-Reza Aghazadeh, the head of the Iranian nuclear programme, said the Isfahan facility would continue the process of turning uranium ore into gas. He said it would produce uranium hexofloride, metallic uranium and uranium oxide. Hexofloride is used for uranium enrichment.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_5537.shtml

OPEC CUTS PRODUCTION BY ONE MILLION BARRELS

VIENNA, Austria 31 Mar. (IPS)

As decided last February in Algeria, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its 130th meeting in the Austrian Capital on Wednesday lowered its production by four percent, or one million, down from its 24.5 millions barrels per day, beginning Thursday, in a move that kept crude oil prices near 13-year highs.

The decision, to be enforced as first of April 2004, surprised some analysts, as oil prices are at their highest level, reaching 38 US Dollars in the United States on 17 March.

But Saudi and Iranian oil ministers, Ali al-Na’imi and Bizhan Namdar-Zanganeh had observed that the price rise was due to speculations than a shortage of supply from OPEC.

"The Saudis have gone from being a reliable OPEC price dove to OPEC's arch price hawk", the British news agency Reuters quoted Mr. Mehdi Varzi, an Iranian energy consultant as having commented on the decision.

"That's because of the demands of the Saudi budget. They need higher and higher oil prices every year to meet current expenditure for a larger and larger population", he added.

Other oil experts blamed the upward prices for oil on the dynamic Chinese market that he became the second largest oil consuming in the world, the artificially undervalued US money that penalises most of the Organisation’s 11 members buying goods from the Euro zone and the end of winter.

Informed sources said since Saudi Arabia has already reduced its production, market would not be affected adversely but would stop possible decrease in the prices.

Analysts said the decision could boost oil prices to the psychologically important threshold of $40 per barrel.

"The big question now is how serious OPEC members will be in complying with its new target. An expected drop in seasonal demand during the April-June quarter and quota-busting by individual members of the group could eventually dampen the effects of the cut", one oil analyst said.

Most OPEC members are taking advantage of the current high prices by pumping as much oil as they can. Excluding Iraq, which doesn't participate in the group's quota agreements, OPEC is already exceeding its target by an estimated 1.5 million barrels.

"We made decision to apply the Algiers decision. We're going to meet again in June ... and at that time we're going to review the market", Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters.

In London, May contracts of North Sea Brent were nine cents higher at $32.54 per barrel.

Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had proposed the decision to be delayed for one month or two, but other members like Algeria, Nigeria, Libya and Qatar backed Saudi Arabia, the world largest producer and exporter.

ENDS OPEC AND OIL 31304

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Mar_04/opec_cuts_production_by_one_mill.htm

Bam: The Catastrophe Continues
—By Leif Kongsgaard and Jacob Wheeler, Utne.com

BAM, Iran -- Bam lives on. But more than two months after the destructive and deadly earthquake which in just 15 seconds killed 43,200 and injured another 30,000 of the city's 125,000 residents, the survivors still find themselves in a state of shock, desperation, hopelessness and fear of what the future holds.

"Our greatest worry right now is that Bam will disappear from the world's conscience. Bam needs all the support and attention it can get," says Iain Logan, who supervises the Red Cross' daily work in Bam. Logan emphasizes that the work has only just begun.

Choking on dust

Street scenes in the middle of Bam are still hard to imagine. Families live along the roads and in the medians in tents supplied by the Red Crescent. Traffic is an odd mixture of huge Land Rovers driven by United Nations and Red Cross workers and Bam's own cars transporting people around the city despite their collapsed roofs and windows void of any glass. The houses are almost all gone. The quake wrecked everything and reduced Bam to a pulverized city. "Not everyone died of injuries on impact," explains Johannes Hoffman, Danish camp manager for the Red Cross. "Many choked to death. Two weeks after the tragedy the air here was still filled with dust from the collapsed houses." The old mud houses that provided perfect protection against the burning sun turned into pure deathtraps when the menace came from below.

Emergency relief workers in Bam agree that they have never seen anything like this. "Normally, families neighbors and friends are first on the scene to help after an earthquake," explained a volunteer from the Red Crescent who didn't want to be named. "But it was different in Bam. No one was left here since the accident took a toll on everyone." Not even the city's emergency preparedness was able to help. Two out of three hospitals collapsed, and half of all doctors, nurses and local Red Crescent volunteers were killed.

An epidemic threatens

Outside of a tent on a smaller side street lies a three year-old girl with her old grandmother. The remains of their house are across the street. One outer wall and a single room on the second floor remain as a mournful reminder of a family that no longer exists. The roof and the floor are one. The grandmother explains that the girl's mother, father and three siblings were buried alive under the rubble. The girl and her grandmother survived only because they happened to be visiting acquaintances in Teheran when the earthquake struck.

"Almost every night when she tries to sleep, she calls out for her mother," explains the grandmother. Like many of the survivors, these two have placed their tent as close to their onetime home as possible. Rumors have circulated that people from other cities are coming to claim the buildings that have been abandoned. These rumors, along with peoples' psychological attachments to their 'homes' make it difficult for Bam residents to move to tent camps where they have access to clean water and more sanitary conditions that the Red Cross has worked hard to establish.

But convincing people to move away from the streets is important -- partly to begin the rebuilding effort but also due to the risk of infection. "The risk of infection is a big danger," explains Logan while we sit in his 'tent office' and sweat in the 30-degree (Celsius) heat. "So far we've avoided epidemics and serious diseases, but temperatures here will reach 45 and 50 degrees (Celsius) in a few months, and sand storms are on the way too. We are currently setting up a quarantine area which we'll use if epidemics suddenly arise."

When the heat really kicks in, living in tents will become virtually impossible. The Iranian government has promised that all Bam families will be able to roll up their tents and move temporarily into prefabricated houses before the middle of April. But those pledges seem awfully optimistic considering the extent of destruction in Bam. The earthquake leveled 25,000 of the area's 29,500 houses. Removing all the mud bricks is enough of a task, and very few sites are already being rebuilt.

Iain Logan also underscores that, from the Red Cross' perspective, Bam isn't ready to move into phase two -- the rebuilding phase. "We are still in the catastrophe phase," he says. "The 40-day Muslim mourning period ended only recently, and the survivors are only now beginning to look forward. That path in front of them looks almost hopeless. Bam will need a psychological-social presence here for many years to come," says Logan, adding that the Red Cross will have emergency aid workers here for the next 10 years.

A total tragedy

Add increasing drug misuse to the tragedies that continue to befall Bam. The city is situated on the old silk route between the Far East and the Mediterranean Sea. But today opium from Afghanistan has replaced silk as the biggest commodity. A relatively large portion of the more than two million Iranian drug addicts live in Bam and its surrounding areas. Official figures from a Saudi Arabian field hospital in Bam indicate that more than half of the 2,000 patients treated in the second week after the earthquake were current or former drug abusers. Doctors from the Red Cross confirm that more and more patients have shown dependency symptoms, and several worry that drug addiction will increase as a sense of hopelessness spreads.

In addition to the unfathomable number of deaths, injuries, traumatized survivors and the increasing temperatures, the entire area's infrastructure has also been wiped out. There are no jobs left; the date fields have been destroyed; and many families have lost their only source of income since the man of the family is dead. Tragedy is everywhere. But other than a visit in January from Prince Charles, the outside world has already moved on to the next bestseller tragedy.

http://www.utne.com/web_special/web_specials_2004-03/articles/11143-1.html

Iran uranium plant sparks new row

Iran has been accused of keeping some of its nuclear activities secret

Iran has hit back after European criticism of its decision to set up a uranium conversion plant near Isfahan.
UN ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told Reuters news agency the plant was not in breach of Iran's commitment to suspend uranium enrichment.

On Wednesday the UK, Germany and France issued a joint statement saying the plant's creation sent the wrong signal to the international community.

The row comes less than a week after UN inspectors returned to Iran.

The plant is a totally separate issue from our commitment to the suspension of uranium enrichment

The IAEA has rebuked Tehran for keeping some of its nuclear activities secret.

The US, meanwhile, says Iran is using its nuclear power programme to develop weapons.

Strong reaction

Mr Hosseini told Reuters that he would be discussing criticism of the new plant with British, French and German representatives in the next few days, adding that Iran would keep its promise made to European countries last October about enrichment and inspections.

"[The plant is] a totally separate issue from our commitment to the suspension of uranium enrichment," he said.

This announcement sends the wrong signal about Iranian willingness to implement a suspension of nuclear enrichment-related activities

UK Foreign Office statement

The ambassador did not say whether Tehran would be prepared to shut down the plant, the inauguration of which was announced on Saturday.

Iran says the facility will process uranium ore into gas, a step towards enrichment.

The news prompted a strong reaction from the UK Foreign Office.

"This announcement sends the wrong signal about Iranian willingness to implement a suspension of nuclear enrichment-related activities," it said in a statement.

"It will make it more difficult for Iran to re-establish international confidence in her undertakings. Iran must explain her statement and her intentions."

The German Foreign Ministry expressed similar concerns.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3589737.stm

EU Big 3 Blast Iran's Mullahs
Apr 1, 2004, 04:51

France, Britain and Germany toughened their stance on Iran Wednesday by criticizing its decision to start a uranium conversion plant and demanding Tehran explain itself.

In a strongly worded statement, Europe's "Big Three" powers said Iran's announcement that it was starting up the plant near its central city of Esfahan sent the wrong signal and would make it harder for the country to regain international confidence.

The United States says Iran's nuclear program is a front for building an atom bomb, while Britain, Germany and France defied Washington in September by offering to share technology with Tehran if it stopped its nuclear fuel enrichment program.

Wednesday's statement reflected the Big Three's frustration with Iran, which has repeatedly violated its obligation to inform the United Nations of its nuclear activities.

EU diplomats have privately complained that they have been far too soft on Iran. Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for the peaceful generation of electricity.

"This announcement sends the wrong signal regarding Iran's readiness to implement a suspension of its activities relating to uranium enrichment," the German Foreign Ministry said, adding that France and Britain had issued the same statement.

"It will make it more difficult for Iran to restore international confidence in its activities. Iran must explain its announcement and its intentions."

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_1885.shtml

U.N. Agency Contradicts Iranians on Nuke Access

April 01, 2004
The Arizona Republic

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- An internal report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency challenges Iran's contention that it has provided international inspectors with free access to workshops where it has manufactured parts for centrifuges.

The document contradicts Iranian assurances early last month that it allowed inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency unrestricted access to the sites during inspections in January.

"The agency's visit was 'managed' by the Iranians in the sense that the inspectors were not permitted to take pictures with IAEA cameras or use their own electronic equipment," said the document, which was first reported by Reuters and obtained Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times.

Iran signed an agreement in December promising inspectors unfettered access to its nuclear facilities and to sites where the agency suspected nuclear activities took place.

The agreement came after inspectors discovered traces of weapons-grade uranium at two locations and other evidence that Iran had failed to disclose.

The contradictory report from the international agency was disclosed the same day Britain, France and Germany criticized Iran for starting operations at a uranium-conversion facility in Esfahan.

The plant is designed to transform uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride, a gas used in centrifuges to produce enriched uranium, which can be used in civilian reactors or in the production of weapons.

Tehran acknowledged Saturday that it had started operations at the plant, following an article in the Times that reported enrichment had begun there last month.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0401iran01.html

Yassin's Death Opens Door to Iran Control

April 01, 2004
WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily.com

Whatever becomes of its efforts for revenge, Hamas has become weaker and clearly divided following the Israeli assassination of Ahmed Yassin, opening the door for support from Iran, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service.

Within a week of Yassin's death, Hamas already has been wracked over who will lead the organization and where will the money come from.

The feud within the normally united organization pits Yassin's chief aide, Abdul Aziz Rantisi, against Khaled Masha'al. Both claim leadership within the organization and both are seeking outside support.

Masha'al and Rantisi are virulently anti-American. The latter has declared President Bush to be the enemy of Hamas and Islam. The fiery and threatening rhetoric could signal Rantisi's assessment that his future and the organization's funding source lies with Iran.

"We knew that Bush is the enemy of God, the enemy of Islam and Muslims," Rantisi told thousands of Hamas supporters Sunday in Gaza City.

"America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon. The war of God continues against them, and I can see the victory coming up from the land of Palestine by the hand of Hamas."

Yassin's strength was in raising money. In the 1960s, he started his Islamic proselytizing in the Gaza Strip to stem the spread of Western values. He opened a mosque and began receiving money from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council states.

After Israel captured the Gaza Strip in 1967, Yassin continued to work quietly in Gaza mosques. This resulted in accusations from the Palestine Liberation Organization, headed by Yasser Arafat, that Yassin collaborating with Israel. But Yassin's agenda was long term and in 1982 he was already forming a terrorist infrastructure.

Israel arrested Yassin and sentenced him to 13 years. In 1985, Yassin was released in a prisoner exchange with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command led by Syrian Army Capt. Ahmed Jibril.

By the end of 1987, Hamas had become the leading terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. Hamas organized the first Palestinian uprising and sent tens of thousands of young people to battle Israel during the next five years.

In 1994, Yassin faced Arafat who arrived in the Gaza Strip under the accord by Israel and the PLO. Arafat foiled most attempts by Hamas to attack Israel.

For his part, Yassin restrained Hamas, saying he didn't want a fight with Arafat.

Now, Yassin's death is seen as an opportunity for Iran to move into the vacuum. Control over a Sunni Muslim group would be a huge feather in Teheran's cap and could help target Washington's allies in the Middle East.

"The biggest issue of the Islamic world today is the martyrdom of Sheik Ahmed Yassin," said Iran's Ayatollah Mohammed Imami Kishani, a prominent cleric.

Masha'al's support comes mainly from Qatar, whose ruling sheiks have provided Hamas with safe haven as well as millions of dollars. Qatar also has lobbied for Masha'al with Arab countries, the United States and Europe.

Rantisi doesn't have such a powerful Arab ally. Indeed, his rhetoric and bloody attacks have alarmed Saudi Arabia, the biggest supporter of Hamas.

Rantisi has made enemies in the Palestinian Authority and is regarded as a serious threat to chairman Yasser Arafat.

Arafat has responded subtly by curtailing Hamas's revenue streams. Arafat has refused to unfreeze 39 bank accounts linked to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Last week, the Palestinian High Court ordered the unfreezing of the accounts of nine Hamas-aligned charities said to have funded terrorist groups.

In August 2003, the PA froze 39 accounts – including those of Al Jamiya Al Islamiya, A-Salah, Islamic Young Women's Association, Social Care Committee, Islamic Charity for Zakat and Al Aqsa Charity Association – under pressure from the United States.

Palestinian sources and analysts said the tens of millions of dollars relayed by the Saudi kingdom every year to Hamas stem from the close ties of the royal family to Yassin. Saudi rulers will find it harder to deal with either Rantisi or Masha'al, they said.

And that's where Iran comes in.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37835

Iran Says Uranium Conversion Plant a 'Separate Issue'

April 01, 2004
Reuters
Louis Charbonneau

VIENNA -- Iran's ambassador to the U.N. in Vienna dismissed European criticism of Iran's uranium-conversion activities on Thursday and reaffirmed his country's commitment to nuclear cooperation with France, Germany and Britain.

The European Union's "Big Three" powers said in a strongly worded statement on Wednesday that Iran's announcement it was starting up a uranium conversion plant near its central city of Esfahan sent the wrong signal and would make it harder for the country to regain international confidence.

"It's a totally separate issue from our commitment to the suspension of uranium enrichment," ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Wednesday's statement reflected the Big Three's frustration with Iran, which has repeatedly violated its obligation to inform the United Nations of its nuclear activities.

Under fire over U.S. allegations that its atomic energy program is a front to build nuclear weapons, Tehran promised the Europeans last October it would suspend uranium enrichment and accept tougher inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog in exchange for peaceful nuclear technology.

Asked if Iran would be willing to shut down the conversion plant to appease the Europeans, Hosseini said: "I have not heard of such a decision from our government."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the conversion process was not included in a list of enrichment-related activities Iran has agreed to suspend.

Uranium conversion plants are key to the enrichment process. They convert uranium oxide concentrate into uranium hexafluoride gas, which is placed in centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. The element can then be used to make fuel or weapons.

Hosseini said Tehran would be talking with the three European states "tomorrow and in the days ahead" about their criticism of Iran's conversion plant.

"Our cooperation with the three countries and with the EU will continue," he said. "We maintain our commitments and they have been trying to do the same...This suspension of enrichment will continue."

EU diplomats have privately complained that the three have been far too soft on Iran. Tehran insists its nuclear program is solely for the peaceful generation of electricity.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4722139

More Lies from Tehran

April 01, 2004
The Washington Times
Editorials/ Op-Ed

As it has for the past nine months, the radical Islamic regime in Iran continues to cheat the U.N.-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the world when confronted about its nuclear weapons programs. Since March 13, when the United States joined with France, Germany and Great Britain to pass a tough resolution at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting criticizing Iran's nuclear proliferation, Tehran has continued to respond in an erratic, defiant manner.

On March 13, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, denounced the IAEA resolution as "unfair and deceitful," and declared that his government was canceling IAEA inspections indefinitely — a move that would effectively freeze continued inspections of the country's nuclear facilities. Three days later, Iran agreed that the IAEA could resume inspections on March 27. The inspections have resumed for the time being, and Iran asserted Monday that it had suspended the production of components and technology for uranium enrichment.

But a careful look at Iran's pattern of behavior suggests that it is only a matter of time until it tosses aside even the pretext of cooperation. In June, the IAEA issued a report confirming longstanding U.S. charges that Iran was secretly attempting to develop nuclear weapons. For the next few months, the agency lobbied unsuccessfully to persuade Iran to permit the agency's inspectors to make surprise visits to the country's nuclear facilities. By early September, even IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (who had been resisting pressure from Washington to declare Tehran in noncompliance with regulations governing the handling of nuclear materials) had finally lost patience. Mr. ElBaradei noted that, along with Iraq and North Korea, Iran "has been giving the international community the runaround." On Sept. 12, the IAEA gave Iran an Oct. 31 deadline to disprove the mounting body of evidence that it is developing nuclear weapons. Then, just days before the deadline, Tehran reached agreement with Britain, France and Germany to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for promises from European countries to help it obtain nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In November, the IAEA issued a 30-page report documenting Iran's deceptions about its nuclear program going back to the mid-1980s. Washington insisted that Iran's behavior be condemned and that the matter be referred to the U.N. Security Council. But Iran declared that it would not cooperate with the IAEA if this took place, and the IAEA backed down.

In January, Iran brazenly announced it was building centrifuges in violation of its commitments to the Europeans. Then last month, IAEA inspectors announced that they had found traces of polonium, a radioactive substance that can help trigger a nuclear chain reaction. It was yet another item that Iran had failed to declare. Inspectors also discovered high-tech enrichment equipment on an Iranian military base — the first known link between the nuclear program and the Iranian military. More ominously, there have been reports that Tehran has been helping North Korea with its atomic weapons development efforts.

In sum, when it comes to nuclear weapons, Iran's current behavior seems to be little more than a continuation of its policy over the last two decades: sustained cheating, occasionally interrupted by tactical retreats. These calculated cycles are inducing international inaction — as the day of decisive action grows closer.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20040331-085924-2495r.htm

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