Iranian Alert -- DAY 45 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movment in Iran from being reported.

From jamming satellite broadcasts, to prohibiting news reporters from covering any demonstrations to shutting down all cell phones and even hiring foreign security to control the population, the regime is doing everything in its power to keep the popular movement from expressing its demand for an end of the regime.

These efforts by the regime, while successful in the short term, do not resolve the fundamental reasons why this regime is crumbling from within.

Iran is a country ready for a regime change. 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.

Please continue to join us here, post your news stories and comments to this thread.

Iran Will Pull Out of NPT if Attacked

July 24, 2003
Reuters
MSNBC News

TEHRAN -- A member of Iran's top security body said Tehran would pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if any of its nuclear facilities came under military attack, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

''Because we have obtained the essential (nuclear) technology, if they attack our facilities, we will withdraw from the NPT,'' the afternoon Kayhan daily quoted Ali Larijani, member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying.

''If that case arose, our activities would go underground,'' Larijani, who is also head of Iran's state broadcaster IRIB -- a position which is appointed directly by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- said in a speech to university lecturers.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is aimed solely at generating electricity.

But U.S. officials have said they believe Iran is covertly trying to develop atomic weapons. Some hardline U.S. think-tanks have said Washington may have to consider military strikes against some of Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

U.S. and British officials have repeatedly said military action against Iran, which lies between Iraq and Afghanistan, is not being contemplated despite concerns about its nuclear ambitions.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said earlier this week Iran had no intention of pulling out of the NPT despite calls from some hardline conservatives in the Islamic Republic to do so.

Iran is under mounting international pressure to agree to tighter U.N. inspections of its nuclear facilities. Iran has said it may agree to the more intrusive, no-notice checks if it is given access to Western technology to advance its nuclear energy programme.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-24-073645.asp?reg=MIDEAST

Official: Iran Offers to Return Egyptian Terrorists to Cairo

Thursday, July 24, 2003

CAIRO, Egypt — Iran (search) has offered to hand over several Egyptian militants to Cairo, an Egyptian security official said Thursday.

Iran has said it has a number of Al Qaeda (search) members in custody, including some senior figures and that it will repatriate them to their home countries.

The suspects Iran offered to hand over to Egypt belonged to Islamic Jihad, an extremist group headed by Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden's deputy, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri (search), said the Egyptian official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Al-Zawahri reportedly brought members of his group into Al Qaeda when he allied with bin Laden.

The official did not name the militants or say how many might be returned.

Iran's Foreign Ministry made the offer to Egyptian authorities last month, but Cairo has not yet officially responded, the official said without elaborating.

Iranian officials in Tehran declined to comment.

U.S. officials have said intelligence suggests senior Al Qaeda figures and associates are inside Iran, including high value operatives such as Egyptian-born Saif al-Adil, believed to be bin Laden's security chief and possibly connected to the May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 25 people and nine attackers.

Saif al-Adil, or "Sword of Justice" in Arabic, is believed to be an alias used by Mohammed Ibrahim Mikkawi, an army veteran who left Egypt in the early 1990s, although he is not wanted on criminal charges.

The United States has accused Iran of harboring terrorists and demanded Tehran deport them either to jurisdictions where they're wanted for crimes, or to their home countries.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari told the Arab newspaper Al-Hayat that Iran would not extradite any suspected Al Qaeda detainees to America since "there are no justifications for handing over the citizens of neighboring and friendly countries to [a third] country."

Iran and Egypt have not held full diplomatic relations since 1980, shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but they operate interest sections in either country.

Taking custody of senior Al Qaeda figures could prove problematic for Egypt, which was home to an Islamic insurgency that killed hundreds of people -- mainly police and militants -- in the 1990s. Egypt has not seen any terror attacks since 1997 when militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor, southern Egypt.

In 1993, Cairo handed over to Washington Mahmoud Abou Halima, an Egyptian wanted in the World Trade Center bombing.

Other Al Qaeda figures U.S. officials have said may be in Iran are Abu Mohamed al-Masri, an Egyptian linked to the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who Washington alleges was a link between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein; and Saudi-born bin Laden's son, Saad.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92887,00.html

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