Iranian Alert -- September 5, 2003 -- IRAN LIVE THREAD PING LIST

The Guardian has not explained exactly how successful Straw and Cook were in their efforts to help the problems in Iran.I think they are in love with good intentions and don't consider if it works.i think Tisdall is an old lefty.

Basically article says who gives a **** about the Iranian peoples fight for democracy and freedom, but it's in British interest to engage the Mullahs.

disgusting!

Iran's Islamic Republic in US Sights as Washington Pursues War on Terror

September 05, 2003
AFP
Yahoo News

TEHRAN -- Having crushed the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq, Washington has turned its sights on Iran, which it suspects of building an atomic bomb and backing the al-Qaeda terror network.

It did not matter that Iran's Islamic republic officially condemned the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States. Relations between Washington and Tehran remain very tense.

But diplomats agree that Tehran -- which also condemned the US-led war on the Taliban -- has shown signs of goodwill, shored up ties with Europe and has been frequently drawn into discussions since the September 11 attacks.

In some ways Iran could have become one of the beneficiaries of the upheaval triggered by the attacks on the United States.

In fact, Iranian reformists took advantage of the situation to call for a direct dialogue with the United States and despite an official rebuke, informal contacts took place on neutral ground in Geneva.

Americans and Iranians began to talk of Afghanistan and soon their conversations were broadened to include discussions on the war against terrorism.

So when US President George W. Bush, speaking in January 2002, included Iran in the same "axis of evil" as Iraq and North Korea, the Iranians felt betrayed.

Nevertheless, indirect contacts between the two nations continued until the start of the US-led war on Iraq in March, when they finally broke down.

Fearing they would be next on a US hit-list, the Iranians kept a low profile during the conflict against their neighbour and former enemy, winning kudos from Britain, Washington's main coalition partner in the war on Iraq.

During a visit to Tehran in June, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was "broadly satisfied" with Iran's conduct in neighbouring Iraq, although he added that London had "some concerns" over Iran's post-war role in the
country.

Straw's remarks came in stark contrast to assertions from senior US officials that Iran was hampering the post-war reconstruction effort in Iraq through its support of hardline Shiite Muslim groups.US officials have repeatedly accused Iran of harbouring alleged terrorists, including members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks.

According to one report, the United States said it had intercepted telephone conversations implicating al-Qaeda leaders in a triple bombing that killed 35 people, including nine Americans, in Riyadh in May.

Some diplomats have expressed doubt that Tehran would have allowed top al-Qaeda militants, believed to be in Iran, to communicate with the outside world.

After initially denying that any al-Qaeda leaders were on its soil, Iran has admitted that it had arrested and extradited to their home countries "less than 500" members of the terror network since late 2001, including Saudi nationals.

Tehran also acknowledged holding a raft of suspected al-Qaeda militants, including top leaders, but has failed to identify them.

Diplomats and Arab press reports have said they include Osama bin Laden's son, Saad; the movement's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, and its number two and number three -- Ayman al-Zawahiri and Saif al-Adel.

The United States has expressed its desire to question these suspects but Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi ruled this out, saying any cooperation with Washington must be "reciprocal".

"There's no reason why we should cooperate with the Americans while the Americans do not cooperate with us," Kharazi told CNN recently, in reference to the continued presence of members of the opposition People's Mujahedeen in US-controlled Iraq.

Iran's Islamic Republic in US Sights as Washington Pursues War on Terror

Yahoo News

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030905/pl_afp/us_attacks_2years_iran_030905163120

Hardliner Hopes for Iran-style Revolution in Iraq

September 05, 2003
Reuters
MSNBC News

TEHRAN -- An influential hardline Iranian cleric told a Friday prayers gathering that he hoped for an Iran-style revolution in Iraq after the death of a top Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim leader a week ago.

But Ayatollah Mohammed Emami-Kashani said in comments broadcast on state radio that Iran, which established clerical rule after the 1979 Islamic revolution, was not interfering in Iraqi affairs.

The U.S.-led occupiers have accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's internal affairs. Iran denies the charge.

Emami-Kashani told worshippers in Tehran that Iraqis had become more united after the killing of Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, who was in exile in Iran for more than two decades until his return to Iraq in May.

''The Iraqi people and the Islamic society have been woken up by this crime,'' he said.

''By relying on God...the united Iraqi nation will become more united -- with the love, enthusiasm and belief that they have. Iraq's revolution, hopefully... will become like Iran's revolution,'' he said.

Emami-Kashani is a member of Iran's Expediency Council, which arbitrates in disputes between the Iranian parliament and the oversight body, the Guardian Council.

''Of course, they (Americans) talk nonsense by saying that Iran supports them (Iraqis). It (Iraqi action) has nothing to do with Iran,'' he said.

Iran, which is predominantly Shi'ite Muslim, has blamed U.S.-led security failures for the car bomb attack in the Iraqi city of Najaf that killed Hakim, who headed the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

Analysts said Hakim was seen as a close ally of Iran, although he had moderated previously revolutionary views prior to returning to Iraq by saying Iran's Islamic revolution could not be copied in Iraq.

Emami-Kashani said the United States and its ''agents'' were responsible for Hakim's death, saying: ''They (Americans and others) wanted to break the line of Islam in Iraq and they wanted to stop the Islamic movement in Iraq.''

Iraq's Shi'ite majority, around 60 percent of the population, were long repressed by Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters09-05-085657.asp?reg=MIDEAST

US Drops Plan to Report Iran to UN Security Council

September 05, 2003
Reuters
Louis Charbonneau

VIENNA -- Washington has abandoned plans to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for what it says are breaches of U.N. nuclear rules, despite worries that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, diplomats said on Friday.

Diplomats told Reuters on Thursday that Washington had circulated a draft resolution among members of the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declaring Iran in "non-compliance" with U.N. nuclear obligations.

Diplomats said Washington realized there was little support for its draft resolution, as the case for declaring Iran in breach is far from clear-cut.

If the resolution had found favor and been approved by the IAEA board at its meeting next week, the board would have been required to report Iran to the Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions.

However, one diplomat said Washington would likely try again to report Tehran to the council in November, after the next IAEA report on Iran.

The United States, which labeled Iran a member of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and pre-war Iraq, accuses Tehran of secretly developing atomic weapons, a charge Iran denies.

A senior Western diplomat told reporters the United States would now support a resolution demanding Iran urgently comply with its IAEA nuclear Safeguards Agreement and help the agency "get to the bottom of Iran's nuclear program" -- with no mention of non-compliance.

"I think we need to strengthen the hand of the agency," the diplomat said, adding that such a strongly worded resolution from the board would increase diplomatic pressure on Tehran to come clean about any nuclear weapons program.

Another Western diplomat told Reuters that the chances of getting the 35-nation board to approve a resolution that left out the Security Council were "better than 50-50."

The proposal has not yet been put down on paper but diplomats said it was likely to be drafted this weekend, in time for next week's meeting.

"BOARD MUST NOT BE SWAYED"

The board will discuss two IAEA reports that list numerous failures by Tehran to inform the agency of its nuclear facilities and activities as required by its Safeguards Agreement. The latest report also confirmed that traces of weapons-grade had been found in Iran.

Iran's foreign minister said in remarks published on Friday that he hoped the board would not be swayed by politics or U.S. pressure.

"We hope the Americans would not pressure the agency and its board of governors to adopt a political stance," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told Iran's Students' News Agency (ISNA). Iran has been under pressure to sign up to the so-called Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that would allow intrusive, short-notice inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Iran has said it is ready to start negotiations on signing the protocol but wants clarifications about some sovereignty issues, a caveat analysts say could lead to delays.

"By answering Iran's questions, it is possible to have the required consensus in Iran for joining the Additional Protocol," Kharrazi said.

"The important questions for us are whether the problems and the suspicions of the parties would be removed after signing the protocol or whether there would be other pressures on Iran."

(Additional reporting by Parinoosh Arami in Tehran)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3396099

US Drops Plan to Report Iran to UN Security Council

September 05, 2003
Reuters
Louis Charbonneau

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/976394/posts?page=26#26

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Still With Us? Testing Britain's Counter-terror Resolve

September 05, 2003
National Review Online
Matthew A. Levitt

Last week, two disparate events tested Britain's resolve to take bold action in the war on terrorism. London passed the first hurdle with flying colors, arresting a wanted fugitive, and will hopefully show similar determination by shutting a terrorist front organization operating openly out of London.

Coming on the heels of intelligence revealing al Qaeda plots to crash a hijacked aircraft into an important British building, it is critical London signal its continued resolve to fight terror.

Last Thursday, British authorities arrested a former Iranian diplomat (traveling on a student visa with no diplomatic status or protection) for his role in a 1994 Hezbollah bombing attack in Argentina. London bristled at Iranian threats to downgrade bilateral relations and withdraw its ambassador over the arrest, seeking instead to forge a common European front on relations to Iran and exploring the possibility of an EU-wide downgrading of relations with Tehran over the exposure of Iran's frenetic nuclear program.

The following day, the U.S. Treasury Department fingered the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, or Interpal, as a U.K.-based Hamas front organization and branded it a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity." While it received a clean bill of health from the Charity Commission for England and Wales in 1996, Interpal has since been linked to the International Islamic Relief Organization, a Saudi charity and al Qaeda front organization currently under investigation by U.S. and other authorities. Investigators have also tied Interpal to Sheikh Mohammad Ali Hassan al Moayad. In addition to heading the Yemen office of the al Aqsa International Foundation, a Hamas front whose assets were frozen by U.S., British, German, and Danish authorities, Moayad was arrested in Germany for providing money, arms, communication gear, and recruits to al Qaeda. Now, following the U.S. designation, Britain's Charity Commission froze Interpal's accounts, forcing the charity to receive the commission's approval for any donations it seeks to send abroad.

Unfortunately, Interpal is only but one example of the logistical and financial support activity Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups continue to conduct in the United Kingdom today. To be sure, though Abu Qatada and the Finsbury Mosque's Sarin-gas plotters have been apprehended, Hamas and Hezbollah support networks operate freely in the United Kingdom alongside such terrorist associates as Abu Hamza al Masri and Omar Bakri Mohamad.

Hamas front groups in Europe have received increased attention over the past few months, in large part due to the fact that in April two British Muslims of South Asian descent from Derby and Hounslow carried out a Hamas suicide bombing in Tel Aviv after being recruited in Britain and instructed by Hamas leaders in Syria. The following month, U.S. and British authorities froze the funds of the al Aqsa International Foundation. Now, the U.S. Treasury listed not only Britain's Interpal as a Hamas front, but also several smaller Hamas front organizations that worked closely with Interpal, including: France's Commite de Bienfaisance et de Secours aux Palestiniens, Switzerland's Association de Secours Palestinien, and the Palestinian Association in Austria. The designation also included the Sanabil Association for Relief and Development, a recently shut front in Lebanon that served as Interpal's subcontractor there. Of course, none of this should surprise — a recently released 1996 CIA document reveals that authorities were aware even then that Hamas fronts like Human Appeal International and Human Relief International were operating offices in London.

Less attention, however, has been paid to Hezbollah activities in Britain and Europe, which is why the arrest of Hadi Soleimanpur, the former Iranian ambassador to Argentina and a suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, is so significant. Soleimanpur's arrest came just days after Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest based on the request of an Argentine court on charges he and several other Iranian diplomats played central roles in plotting the 1994 attack, which killed 85 and wounded 250. (Saied Baghban, another Iranian diplomat indicted in the AMIA bombing, was apprehended and then released in Brussels this week). In fact, according to the Argentinean indictment in the AMIA bombing, Iran was also behind a pair of London bombings perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists on July 26 and 27, 1994, just a little over a month after the AMIA bombing.

Iran has a record of dispatching terrorists, particularly Hezbollah members, to conduct attacks in or from Britain. Back in 1989, Mustafa Maza, a Hezbollah operative staying in a London hotel, was killed when explosives he was carrying in his suitcase detonated prematurely. In a similar event, Hussein Makdad, a senior Hezbollah operative, made his way into Israel on a forged British passport in 1996 and was severely wounded while preparing explosives in his East Jerusalem hotel room.

Hezbollah used the U.K. as an operational platform from which to launch a comparable plot in Israel. In January 2001, British citizen Gerard (Jihad) Shuman, a Lebanese Shia and Hezbollah operative flew from Lebanon to Britain on his Lebanese passport, which he left with local Hezbollah operatives for later collection by a Hezbollah courier. A U.K.-based Hezbollah logistical support network provided Shuman with European clothing and other assistance, after which Shuman flew to Israel on his own British passport. Shuman stayed in Jerusalem, but was apprehended before being able to carry out his mission, believed to include collecting operational intelligence for a major terrorist attack in Israel.

Hezbollah also maintains a robust fundraising and propaganda network in the U.K., raising tens of thousands of U.S. dollars for Hezbollah operations annually. The Lebanese Welfare Committee, which is registered as both a charity and a limited company and is co-located with the pro-Iranian Islamic Culture and Information Bureau, is suspected of raising funds for Hezbollah. So is the HELP Charity Association for Relief, which claims to raise funds for needy Lebanese but is believed to channel funds to Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the Abrar Islamic Foundation, formerly known as the Ahlul Bait Foundation, is suspected of funding both Palestinian terrorist groups and Hezbollah.

London now has the opportunity to take two strong steps in the war on terror by extraditing Soleimanpur — an Iranian who facilitated a deadly Hezbollah attack — to Buenos Aires, and by shutting Interpal — a Hamas front organization with ties to al Qaeda support networks. To their credit, British authorities are expected to lead the call for adding Hamas to the EU's terror list at this weekend's EU summit. But London's counter-terror campaign must also target Hezbollah, which maintains an even more-active and entrenched European network. Indeed, London's response to the global terrorist activities of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and states like Iran will signal the strength of its resolve to fight the proponents of a global jihad, particularly those operating on British soil.

— Matthew A. Levitt is a senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-levitt090503.asp

Put me on it.

Islamic Parliament "True Finding" mission on Kazemi rejects rape but aknowledges very brutal treatment

SMCCDI (Information Service)
Sep 5, 2003

The Islamic Parliament's so-called "True Finding" commission, affiliated to section 90 of the Majles, has rejected the accusation of rape made against the regime's secret services in the Kazemi affair. This accusation was made by SMCCDI following a trust worthy report from very reliable sources within the Islamic republic regime.

The same official commission, due to the wave of International pressures and in order to compensate the denial of rape charge, has acknowledge that Kazemi received more than a fatal blow to her head as she had traces of brutal treatement in several parts of her body and especially her nails.

Some of the victim's nails seem to have been pulled off during the forced investigation.

It's to note that the regime's so-called reformists, who intend to avoid a direct confrontation with the offices of the regime's Supreme leader which supervise directly and protect the actions of the Judiciary system, are founding necessary to give up some more information as they try to reject the rape factor in the case.

The rape and the chemical treatement, of the body, have raised an unprecedented wave of scandal which the regime tries to put away by acting like a kid game of giving more informations while hidding the most essential.

http://www.daneshjoo.org/generalnews/article/publish/article_2172.shtml

"The same official commission, due to the wave of International pressures and in order to compensate the denial of rape charge, has acknowledge that Kazemi received more than a fatal blow to her head as she had traces of brutal treatement in several parts of her body and especially her nails."

The Canadians have been kind of quiet lately. Hope this makes their blood boil.

"Indeed, London's response to the global terrorist activities of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and states like Iran will signal the strength of its resolve to fight the proponents of a global jihad, particularly those operating on British soil."

England needs to do a lot more to convince the U.S. that it's truly on our side in the war on terrorism. And it needs to stop supporting the mullahs.

US to seek help over Iranian nukes
From correspondents in Washington
September 5, 2003

CONCERN about Iran's nuclear program is prompting the United States to consult with other nations on how the international watchdog agency can apply restraints.

The result could be a proposed resolution for the meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"We would look for the board to take appropriate action," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. He did not elaborate, saying only "the board can take actions of various kinds."

Nor would he or other State Department officials describe what the resolution might say. There apparently was no decision yet within the department.

A diplomat at UN headquarters in New York said the United States is trying to decide whether to seek an immediate resolution declaring that Iran is not complying with its obligations to be open to UN inspections of its nuclear activities, or whether to press for a resolution of condemnation that would warn Iran to come into compliance.

US officials are sounding out other nations on the 35-member board of governors of the IAEA to see which resolution would get consensus, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. If the United States opts for a resolution of condemnation, it still could seek a tougher noncompliance resolution at the board's November meeting if Iran does not come into compliance, the diplomat said.

American diplomats approached other governments last week and again this week, telling them it was time for the IAEA to report Iran's noncompliance with inspection requirements to the United Nations, a senior U.S. official said.

In Paris, meanwhile, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton was holding parallel talks about Iran with officials from nations attending a conference designed to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology.

Iran's president said his country was not seeking to make atomic weapons, but he insisted on a right to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Mohammad Khatami's comments followed a meeting in Tehran with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who urged Iran to clear up questions about its nuclear program and allow unfettered inspections of related sites.

Mohammed ElBaradei, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said traces of weapons-grade uranium have been found at a nuclear facility at Natanz in central Iran.

But it was not clear what the watchdog agency could do about it. ElBaradei has said the IAEA needs more power and more cooperation to deal with Iran and North Korea.

He said they "have been giving the international community the run-around" on nuclear programs and possible weapons ambitions.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Iran to permit rigorous inspections of its nuclear sites and to stop supporting terror groups.

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7173065%255E1702,00.html

Iran, Russia mull spent fuel return

Moscow, Sept 6 - Iran's Ambassador to Moscow Gholam-Reza Shafeie and Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev here on Friday discussed the return of Bushehr nuclear power plant's spent fuel to Russia.

Shafeie and Rumyantsev also held talks on conclusion of an additional protocol on the return of used nuclear fuel from the power plant to Russia and also on a concrete date of signing the additional protocol.

Iranian and Russian experts are busy investigating the original text of the additional protocol, that is to be signed in the coming days.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=187391&n=14

A Bump To The Top = BTTT

Hakims brother takes over his job

Tehran, Sept 3 - Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim has been unanimously elected to succeed as head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) his brother, who was assassinated in Iraq last week, Abdul Aziz's son and political advisor said here Wednesday.

The leadership of Iraq's main Shiite Muslim political movement elected Abdul Aziz, who is SCIRI's number two, at a meeting in the holy city of Najaf, Mohsen Al-Hakim told reporters.

Mohsen Al-Hakim had previously said his father was expected to take the place Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Al-Hakim, who was among 83 people killed in a massive car bombing in Najaf last Friday.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=187281&n=33

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