Iranian Alert -- September 9, 2003 -- IRAN 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.

IAEA Cites Iran On Uranium Work
Report Says Weapons Effort Is Cloaked

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 9, 2003; Page A09

Inspectors for the United Nations recently concluded that Iran has attempted to produce highly enriched uranium without properly disclosing it, which would be a serious violation of its nuclear nonproliferation agreements, according to a confidential report by the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The 10-page report, which recently began circulating among nonproliferation specialists in Washington, is written in bland diplomatic prose and buries many of its conclusions. But experts who have read the report said it provides damning evidence that Iran has quickly and secretly attempted to build a crash nuclear weapons program, and then tried to mislead U.N. investigators with contradictory and implausible explanations.

"As you read this report, the vastness and sophistication of the Iran program becomes apparent," said Joseph Cirincione, director of the nonproliferation project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Anyone looking at this has got to conclude this is a nuclear bomb program."

In a speech yesterday in Vienna before the IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran "to show proactive and accelerated cooperation, and to demonstrate full transparency by providing the Agency with a complete and accurate declaration of all its nuclear activities."

ElBaradei said "information and access [from Iran] were in some instances slow in coming, piecemeal and reactive, and at times the information provided has been inconsistent with that given previously."

The Bush administration has accused Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons program -- which Iran has vehemently denied -- but it has had trouble winning support for an IAEA resolution that would send the matter to the U.N. Security Council. But experts said the conclusions by the U.N. experts could help win support for tougher action against Iran.

"The significance is, this is a more objective measure of Iran's noncompliance," said Michael Levi, a nuclear physicist at the Brookings Institution.

Late last month, it was disclosed that IAEA investigators found traces of highly enriched uranium on some of the equipment examined in Iran. The Iranian government said the traces were residue already on the equipment when it was received from another country. But the report goes further and says the experts determined that Iran could not have built its massive gas centrifuge enrichment facility at Natanz, about 300 miles south of Tehran, without having first tested the equipment covertly with nuclear material.

"This is an egregious violation of their nonproliferation agreement," Levi said. "You are not allowed to enrich uranium secretly."

The report also says that in June, the IAEA board urged Iran not to introduce any nuclear material into the facility "as a confidence-building measure" while questions were being raised about Iran's nuclear ambitions. But just days later, on June 25, Iran began using nuclear material anyway in one machine and last month it expanded testing in other machines -- making it difficult to determine whether enriched uranium had been in the facility before June.

The report raises many questions about Iran's conflicting explanations for its programs, including its inability to provide original copies of design documents that might explain how Iran built such sophisticated equipment without secretly using nuclear material. The report also suggests that Iran provided an implausible explanation for why it is building a heavy water reactor that could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, but which Iran says is for medical and industrial purposes.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45116-2003Sep8.html

Russia under US pressure & fear of Iran's nuke reactor

MOSCOW, Sept 8 (AFP) - Russia appears to be dragging its feet over the construction of Iran's first nuclear reactor, partly due to US pressure but also out of its own safety concerns, analysts said.

As Tehran's nuclear program fell under the international spotlight Monday in a debate in Vienna, Iran insisted that it has fully cooperated with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and again denied it intended to acquire a nuclear arsenal. But it is Russia's involvement in Iran that has troubled many nations.

And Moscow's contradictory statements over the Bushehr nuclear project have left some wondering if President Vladimir Putin is in full control of the situation.

One of the main intrigues here is whether Russian officials pushing for the deal -- Russia is due to earn up to one billion dollars on the project -- will win over those who understand the diplomatic damage the Bushehr project may cause. Few, including Putin, are giving away clues.

Russia's atomic energy minister was quoted as saying that a key agreement on Iran's return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia may be signed soon. But he gave no date for the signing, although other Russian officials had earlier said the protocol may be signed this month -- perhaps even during the IAEA talks now underway in Vienna.

Close observers of the Bushehr negotiations said Russia was becoming genuinely concerned over Iran's apparent demands to keep the spent nuclear fuel for two years before it is returned here.

Western nations worry the fuel can be reprocessed to make nuclear bombs -- although most analysts agree Tehran still lacks the technology to attack another nation with such a weapon if it was ever developed. "Iran wants to keep the fuel for at least two years in its own storage sites," said Anton Khlopkov of the PIR Center military research institute.

"I think that Russia is delaying this not because of US pressure, but out of its own fears about the broader aspects of Iran's potential nuclear ambition." The analyst said any bomb made out of the spent fuel would be the size of "one or two rooms" -- and therefore impossible to launch on a missile.

But he added for the time being "the United States has not made any financial offers to Russia that would give it reason to halt the project." Other analysts pointed to confusion within the Kremlin's own ranks ahead of December's parliamentary polls and March presidential elections.

These involve debates not revolving around Iran but the very future of Russia's democracy and economic development. "There is no single center of power in Russia and there is fighting going on over various questions including Iran," said political and military analyst Andrei Piontkovsky.

"There are people in the Kremlin that want to ally themselves with the United States and those who want to oppose it at all costs," he said. "Putin does not belong to either of these clans -- but he is stranded between them.

Russia has no firm position concerning Iran because of internal struggles."

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17859&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran denies exchanging detained al-Qaeda members

TEHRAN, Sept 8 (AFP) - The Iranian government denied accusations that it was seeking to exchange suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network detained in the Islamic republic.

We haven't suggested any trade deal regarding combatting terrorism with any country," government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh told reporters.

"Combatting terrorism is one of our goals because we have been the victim of terrorism," he added.Privately, a number of diplomats have said Iran has been trying to exchange al-Qaeda fugitives with detained members of the Iranian People's Mudjahedeen, a banned armed opposition group.

On Sunday, Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that Tehran had made such an offer to the United States. Iran has acknowledged holding a raft of suspected al-Qaeda militants, including top leaders, but has refused to identify them.

Tehran has also launched negotiations with the home countries of these suspects but has said it would decide whether or not to extradite them.

It has also ruled out giving the United States access to them. Diplomats and Arab press reports have said the al-Qaeda members held in Iran include Osama bin Laden's son Saad, who has been stripped of his Saudi nationality; the movement's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, a former Kuwaiti; and its number two and number three -- Ayman al-Zawahiri and Saif al-Adel -- both of them formerly Egyptian.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17858&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Iran Under Fire for Suspicions It Wants Atom Bomb
Tue September 9, 2003 06:03 AM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - Washington is winning more allies at the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog to back a U.S. demand that Tehran come clean about its nuclear program, which some believe is a front to build an atomic bomb, diplomats said Tuesday.

The United States -- which labeled Iran part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and pre-war Iraq -- along with Canada and Britain is pressing the U.N. agency's board of governors to demand at this week's closed-door meeting that Iran enable U.N. inspectors to get to the bottom of its nuclear program.

In a situation reminiscent of the run-up to the war on Iraq, Washington found itself isolated when it tried to push the board to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for what it says is a clear breach of Iran's nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

But when U.S. officials dropped their Security Council plans, diplomats said most of the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) became ready to support a new resolution demanding Iran's "urgent and essential cooperation" with the IAEA.

The resolution will also call on Iran to quickly sign and implement a protocol permitting more intrusive, snap inspections, and to answer the IAEA's many outstanding questions about its uranium-enrichment program.

Some countries believe Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities could be at the heart of a secret weapons program, a suspicion fueled by the IAEA's recent discovery of traces of weapons-grade uranium at an enrichment facility in Iran.

Enrichment is a process of purifying uranium to make it usable in nuclear fuel, or when highly enriched, in weapons.

TEHRAN DENIES HAVING NUCLEAR PROGRAM

Tehran denies that it has a secret bomb program. It said the bomb-grade material came from "contaminated" machinery purchased abroad on the black market in the 1980s. This explanation has met with skepticism inside and outside the IAEA.

"To many, it is already clear that ... Iran is seeking the option of producing nuclear weapons through its own independent nuclear program," Jon Wolfsthal of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote on his organization's Web site.

"Given its history of conflict with Iraq -- a state by no means guaranteed of a peaceful and stable future -- (and) perceived threats from Israel's and America's nuclear arsenals, Iran's position is understandable in some circles," he wrote.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, harshly criticized the U.S.-backed draft resolution -- now the focus of heated behind-the-scenes discussions in Vienna -- calling it a distortion of the truth, overly pessimistic and unacceptable.

"It's looking at things with pessimism," he told Reuters, adding that the resolution ignored the IAEA's praise of Iran's improved cooperation with the agency. "In other words, (it is) looking at the half-empty glass, and not the half-full."

A Western diplomat told Reuters that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei helped rally support for the new U.S.-backed resolution when he indicated his support for the draft in comments to reporters before Monday's session began.

"I'm going to strongly urge Iran to clarify all issues relevant to its (uranium) enrichment program to make sure that all its enrichment activities have been declared and (are) under agency verification," ElBaradei said.

"It is absolutely essential for Iran to cooperate actively and...demonstrate full transparency with the IAEA as early as possible," he said.

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3410842

Shots fired at British embassy in Iran again.

Tuesday, September 9

LONDON, England (CNN) – Shots have been fired for the second time in less than a week at or near the British Embassy in Tehran.

Foreign Office spokesman Ian Gleason told CNN that three or four shots were fired from the street at or near the embassy just before 1am local time on Tuesday.

He said there were no injuries and he was not aware of any damage to the building.

The shots come less than a week after a similar incident near the British mission in Iran's capital, amid bilateral tension between the countries after a former Iranian diplomat was arrested in Britain over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina that killed 85.

Britain closed its embassy in Tehran last Wednesday after shots were fired at it from the street. No one was injured in that shooting.

The embassy has been on a heightened state of alert since the current diplomatic crisis with Iran began.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said last week security had been beefed up around the compound and police were investigating the shooting, which he described as an "irresponsible act."

Last week's shooting took place just hours after the announcement that Iran had temporarily recalled its British ambassador, Morteza Sarmadi, for consultation over the dispute over the arrest of former diplomat Hadi Soleimanpour.

The Foreign Office in London has denied that Sarmadi's departure amounts to any downgrading of relations.

Soleimanpour, who is in custody at Argentina's request, has protested his innocence.

Iran says his detention is politically motivated. It has promised "strong action" and warned Britain that the issue would harm bilateral ties.

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/09/09/iran.britain/

Bush warning to Iran and Syria

US President George W Bush has accused Syria and Iran of "supporting terrorists", adding that countries continuing the practice would be held accountable.

"Today Syria and Iran continue to harbour and assist terrorists," he said.

"This behaviour is completely unacceptable and states that support terror will be held accountable."

Mr Bush was speaking after a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at his ranch in Texas.

Earlier, Israel said Iran was "trying to do everything" to build a nuclear weapon and would pose a threat to the whole world unless it was stopped.

Iran rejected the charge, saying it viewed weapons of mass destruction as a serious threat to its own security.

It repeated that its nuclear program was aimed at meeting the enormous energy demands of its rapidly developing economy.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking after a meeting with his European Union counterparts, said that Tehran refused to accept tough nuclear inspections and was continuing to enrich uranium.

"Iran now is trying to do everything to have a nuclear weapon and that is threatening not only the Middle East, it is threatening Europe, the southern part of Russia," he said.

"And I think the EU should take a key role in the last efforts to prevent them from having this ability."

But Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said that the country's nuclear programme was open to scrutiny by the UN nuclear watchdog agency and was considering signing a new protocol on weapons inspections with the body.

"It is clear for us that we do not have any programme for nuclear weapons production," said Kharrazi.

"Israel wants to justify its nuclear arsenal. They want to justify that they are under threat when the source of the threat is Israeli capabilities," he added.

http://www.itv.com/news/584381.html

Iran, Syria discuss bilateral ties

Damascus, Sept 9 - Iran and Syria discussed here Monday possible avenues for bolstering of bilateral ties in all areas.

Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, in a meeting with Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro, pointed to political and economic bilateral cooperation at various levels and stressed expansion of ties.

"Tehran and Damascus have serious will and determination to expand economic relations particularly in those fields that Iran has great potentials for participation in infrastructural projects and its presence in private sector which should be noticed" Kharrazi said.

He assessed as "positive" the results of bilateral ties and political, economic and cultural agreements in line with the advices of two countries' leaders.

"Iran has modern potentials regarding capabilities of reputable and successful Iranian companies to participate in the reconstruction of power plants as well as production of automobile spare parts and petrochemical products," he said, adding "regular consultations between the two sides would play an important role in implementation of executive affairs."

Miro, for his part, pointed to historical and cultural commonalities between the two sides and said, Syria always attaches special importance to strengthening of relations with Iran.

"We are so pleased with progress and great efforts in various fields particularly in economic and trade ties and are ready to expand new areas for cooperation in order to activate joint economic commissions," he said.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=187680

UK, US stance on Iran unlike: Straw

London, Sept 9 - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has reiterated that the UK government still disagrees with the US hostile policy towards Iran despite its closeness with the Bush administration.

"Some areas of foreign policy proposed by the government and supported by the house (of commons), such as our approach to Iran and to chairman Arafat, we happen to have disagreements with the United States," Straw told MPs on Monday.

The foreign secretary was responding to a question from labor MP Jeremy Corbyn, who asked him to 'declare some independence in our foreign policy rather than following George Bush from war to war'.

"After five months of occupation and now an increase in the deployment of British troops in Iraq, does the foreign secretary think it is now time to reconsider the closeness of British foreign policy to that of the Bush administration?" Corbyn asked.

The distinction between US and UK policy comes after the assistant editor of the Guardian newspaper, Simon Tinsdall, blamed Prime Minister Tony Blair personally for the recent deterioration of the UK relations with Iran.

"As over Iraq, Blair and his Downing Street machine have a habit of taking charge of the big foreign policy issues and Arguably, comprehensively fouling them up," Tinsdall said.

He argued that the diplomatic dispute did not arise solely from the arrest of former Iranian ambassador Hadi Soleimanpour in the UK, but from 'Blair's latest, clumsy foray into the delicate and complex world of international diplomacy'.

The assistant editor suggested that the 'unilaterally pre-emptive transformation of British policy on Iran' was sealed by the prime minister 'during a private Downing Street dinner with Israel's Ariel Sharon in July'.

http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=187717&n=31

Remaining 'Axis of Evil' Nations Pursuing WMD

By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter
September 8, 2003

The two remaining 'Axis of Evil' nations -- Iran and North Korea -- are still working to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

(CBN News) -- While Iraq remains at the top of President Bush's foreign policy agenda, the rest of the president's 'Axis of Evil' - Iran and North Korea - is at work trying to build weapons of mass destruction.
But the Bush Administration is running into trouble trying to put pressure on Iran.

The United States will reportedly agree to a less strongly worded resolution at today's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, because it doesn't think enough nations are ready to get tough with Iran.

Iran's chief delegate to the U.N. agency warned the world that too much pressure on Tehran will only worsen tensions. But Iran still faces some pointed questions, because it's widely viewed as staging a cover up.

The U.S. and many European nations worry about the dangers a nuclear Iran could pose to the Middle East -- and possibly the world -- if it passes nuclear weapons on to terrorists.

Meanwhile, a South Korean newspaper reports that North Korea may display a new long-range missile at a military parade on Tuesday. The missile is said to have a range of 2,500 miles. In another development, Reuters quotes German human rights activist Norbert Vollertsen as saying a North Korean biological weapons expert has been detained while trying to slip into the Australian consulate in China. Vollertsen says Ri Chae Woo planned to testify in the U.S. against Pyongyang's chemical and biological weapons program. Vollertsen says Ri has evidence of human experiments in North Korea.

http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/030908d.asp

Israel Keeping Eyes on Iran's Nuke Program

September 09, 2003
The New York Times
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM -- Israel has hinted at possible military action to stop what it calls a nightmare scenario -- nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran -- but for now is waiting for U.S. diplomatic pressure and closer international scrutiny to do the job.

On Monday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating suspicions of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program, demanded full disclosure from Tehran, including acceptance of snap inspections.

Iran insists its nuclear programs are only for generating electricity as oil supplies dwindle. It also has said its equipment was ``contaminated'' with enriched uranium by a previous owner.

But Israel estimates Iran is just two to three years from having nuclear weapons.

An Israeli government official said Iran does not yet have the right amount of enriched uranium, as well as some other chemicals, needed to build a nuclear bomb, but it has the ``know-how'' and the ability to develop the materials. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The delivery method -- the long-range Shahab-3 missile -- was successfully tested in July, and experts said Iran is to begin serial production within two years.

If diplomacy fails, Israel, which is about 600 miles to the west of Iran, has made clear a military operation is feasible.

Israeli security officials said Iran's nuclear program is a focus of the army's five-year strategic plan, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered the Mossad spy service to keep a close eye on the developments in Tehran.

``Any Iranian regime knows of course that Israel has the capability, the wherewithal, to deal with a military threat,'' said Zalman Shoval, an aide to Sharon. ``Hopefully, a military threat can be avoided, nipped in the bud ... before it begins and this is where the United States comes in.''

Israel has never confirmed being a nuclear power, but it is widely believed to have nuclear weapons.

In 1981, a fleet of Israeli warplanes flew some 460 miles over Middle Eastern deserts and mountains to Baghdad -- sticking close to the ground throughout the flight to avoid being picked up by radars.

The warplanes let loose a string of bombs, knocking out Baghdad's nuclear reactors and halting Saddam Hussein's progress in obtaining nuclear weapons.

At the time, the operation was internationally condemned, even by Israel's staunchest ally, the United States.

However, the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States have changed the rules.

U.S. troops have overthrown regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, both on Iran's borders, in less than two years. Tehran is aware that as a member of President Bush's ``axis of evil'' it could be next in line.

``Iran must cooperate fully. Iran has pledged not to develop nuclear weapons and the entire international community must hold that regime to its commitments,'' Bush recently said.

Iran apparently believes the attack could come from the United States or Israel and announced it was increasing its defense spending this year.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi recently warned Israel against embarking on an ``adventure'' similar to the 1981 strike, saying ``it will pay dearly'' if it does so.

The United States and Israel would most likely choose to carry out pinpoint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, rather than a large-scale assault if forced to take military measures, said Ephraim Kam, a researcher with Tel Aviv University's Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies. Kam released a study last week on Iran's nuclear capabilities.

``A combination of nuclear capabilities and long-range missile capabilities...combined with their position that Israel should not exist is a real threat,'' Kam said.

Suspicions about Iran's nuclear activities prompted IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in February to tour Iran's nuclear facilities, including the incomplete plant in Natanz, about 300 miles south of Tehran. Diplomats said he was taken aback by the advanced stage of a project using hundreds of centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Another, larger uranium enrichment facility, is to be completed within the next few years, Western intelligence agencies discovered with the help of Iranian opposition groups.

ElBaradei has said that Iran's nuclear program has been going on far longer than the agency had realized and that it's possible Tehran had bought nuclear components on the ``black market.''

``I would urge Iran in the coming weeks to show proactive and accelerated cooperation, and to demonstrate full transparency by providing the agency with a complete and accurate declaration of all its nuclear activities,'' he said Monday in Vienna, Austria.

The United States is pushing the IAEA to report to the U.N. Security Council that Iran is violating nuclear safeguard regulations, opening the door to economic sanctions. Tehran recently signaled that it is open to negotiating terms for snap U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Iran.html

Turkey Accused of Handing Over Kurdish Dissidents

September 08, 2003
AFP
IranMania

ARBIL -- An Iranian Kurdish opposition group accused Turkey of handing over 16 Iranian Kurdish dissidents to the Tehran government, putting their lives at risk.

"The Turks handed over to the Iranian (government) 16 Iranian Kurds who were formerly active in the Union of Kurdistan Revolutionaries (UKR) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) under an agreement between the intelligence services of the two countries," UKR secretary Hussein Yazdanpana told AFP.

"This puts their lives at risk," he said, adding that two Iranian Kurdish dissidents handed over by Turkey to the Islamic Republic were executed in January and November 2002.

Yazdanpana was speaking a day after his party issued a statement in this Iraqi Kurdish town charging that Turkish authorities had moved a number of Iranian Kurds from a refugee camp in Van in southeast Turkey to an area along the border with Iran as a prelude to their expulsion to the Islamic Republic.

The statement said the Iranian Kurds were registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and were living at the refugee camp in Van from where they intended to move on to a third country.

Yazdanpana accused the UNHCR of failing to prevent the expulsion of the Iranian Kurds and urged human rights organizations to intervene to protect more than 1,500 Iranian Kurds living in the camp. Iran has a six-million-strong Kurdish minority.

The two main Iranian Kurdish rebel groups active within the Islamic Republic are the leftist Komala, or Revolutionary Organization of Kurkish Toilers, and the rival KDPI.

After briefly allying themselves with the Islamic regime following the 1979 revolution, the rebels were ruthlessly crushed by Iranian security forces, particularly the Revolutionary Guards, in the 1980s.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17860&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Kharrazi Handed Khatami's Message to Al-Assad

September 08, 2003
AFP
IranMania

Damascus -- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi in a meeting with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad handed a message from President Khatami.

They also discussed bilateral ties and regional developments, including the Iraq crisis and Palestinian issue. Kharrazi said that consultations between Tehran and Damascus have always had important impact on bilateral ties and forging common views.

Assad said developments is the region mandate that Iran and Syria exchange views on various issues. He referred to the American `security quagmire` in Iraq, adding Syria has always maintained that peace and security in Iraq should only be established though national unity and withdrawal of occupiers from the country. He rejected any efforts `to legitimize the occupation of foreign forces over Iraqi sovereignty`.

Kharrazi said Iran regards the understanding of the Iraq`s situation as predicated on complexities of the country`s power structure and on the people`s aspirations. Initially, the US did not pay due attention to Iraq`s neighbors views and embarked on a course of unilateralism, embracing a security-laced strategy.

"But, the deteriorating situation in the country has forced the US to alter its position." The quickest way to resolve the Iraqi problem is to cede the affairs to the people and for the occupiers to leave the country, the Iranian foreign minister underlined. On another issue, Assad and Kharrazi discussed bilateral economic ties, notably the petrochemical and electricity sectors. Kharrazi arrived here Monday on the first leg of his three-nation tour which will also take him to Bulgaria and Bosnia.

Kharrazi, heading a high-ranking political delegation, is scheduled to attend a ceremony held by the office in Damascus of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to commemorate the late Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Hakim.

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Hakim, the head of the Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI), was recently martyred in a truck bomb blast when he was returning from Friday prayers in Najaf. Some 125 people were martyred in the blast. Kharrazi is scheduled to proceed to Bulgaria on the second leg of his trip.

In Sofia, Kharrazi and his entourage will explore various avenues for strengthening of mutual political, economic and cultural cooperation with Bulgarian officials. On the last leg of his tour, the Iranian foreign minister will review issues of mutual interest with Bosnian officials in Sarajevo.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=17865&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs

Britain Rebukes Iran Over Embassy Gunfire

September 09, 2003
The Guardian
Staff and Agencies

Britain "protested strongly" to Iran today for not protecting its embassy in Tehran, after shots were fired at the building for the second time in a week.

Diplomats said three or four shots were fired at the embassy overnight. In a similar incident last Wednesday, the embassy was temporarily closed after shots were fired from a passing motorbike.

"We've protested strongly to the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs that security precautions taken by the Iranian authorities after last week's shooting did not prevent this further incident," a Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters.

"We consider it a further failure of our hosts' duty to protect the embassy under the Vienna convention. The embassy has called once again for an urgent investigation. We want to see those responsible brought to justice," the spokesman said.

Britain's ambassador in Tehran, Richard Dalton, was said to be in contact with the Iranian authorities over today's incident, but he was not aware of any arrests following the attack.

Last Wednesday, the embassy was closed after it came under fire from men on motorcycles. Five shots were fired at the building, hitting offices on the first and second floors. Nobody was hurt in the attack.

Non-essential members of staff and dependants were advised to leave the embassy due to the "increased threat" following the earlier attack.

The mission continued to offer a limited service but consular services are by appointment only. This precaution would stay in place following the new attack, said the spokesman.

The foreign office has yet to update its travel advice following the latest shooting, but after the September 3 incident it said: "The Iranian authorities are investigating the incident. Responsibility and motive for the attack are not yet known.

"We do not believe that there is an increased threat to private individuals as a result of this incident, but all British nationals should follow events closely and be especially vigilant."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1038625,00.html

A Law to Outlaw Financing Outlaws!

September 09, 2003
Iran va Jahan
Shaheen Fatemi

Seldom the news from Tehran these days can surprise you. Practically any horrifying event, no matter how repugnant for the normal human beings, attributed to the Talebans of Tehran, is unconsciously dismissed as 'déjà vu.' Public proclamations by government officials during the so-called Friday prayers for killing of Americans and other Westerners has become so common that it is not even reported by the international media any longer. Public lashing of the youth, amputation of limbs, lapidation of women and men, and other forms of public executions all these have become so routine in case of the government of IRI that most people seem not to be shocked any longer. A few months ago there was a worldwide uproar about the verdict of a Sharia court in Nigeria against women who had been accused of adultery. The ensuing massive publicity given to this news forced the Nigerian government to back down and the victim's life (so far) has been spared. But in case of Iran, hundreds of such verdicts have been issued and enforced while the criminals in charge of the country continue to function with total impunity and to receive international respectability. The following news dispatch from Tehran might prove an exception to the above rule.

According to Radiofarda, A proposed piece of legislation will be presented to the parliament, by Mr. Khatami's government, in order to "cut off financial assistance to terrorist groups:" For a year officials of the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Economy, Finance and the Central Bank have been collaborating for the preparation of this legislation. According to the same source, Mr. Abdollah Ramazanzadeh, the government's spokesman added that if this law is passed by the parliament, IRI will cut off funding to those groups that 'it recognizes as terrorist.' He further adds that after the expected approval of the parliament, the approval of the Guardian Council is also required.

BBC, of course, has its own more polished version of the same news,

"Iran has announced plans for legislation to let it freeze terrorist-linked assets in line with its United Nations responsibilities.

If - as expected - the bill is ratified by parliament and by the hard-line Guardian Council, it will make Iran a member of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which was created in 1999 and came into force in 2002.

That commits Iran to banning the collecting of money intended to support terrorist actings, and to answering calls by other signatories for help with tracking terror funds.

But while Al-Qaeda will be included on its list of banned organisations, a government spokesman said, Hamas - the Palestinian extremist group banned by the European Union over the weekend - will not.

Despite US accusations to the contrary Hamas is not a terrorist group in Iran's view, the Iranian spokesman said.

"Defence against aggressors and occupiers is the legitimate right over any nation, and you cannot label these movements as terrorist movements," said the spokesman, Abdollah Ramazanzadeh."

I have more trust in Radiofarda's version than the polished version of BBC, which omits the important point about IRI's own definition of 'terrorism.' What both sources miss is how shallow and hypocritical this entire gesture is. IRI abandoning terrorism is analogous to Mafia fighting crime. The foundations of this regime and its 'raison d'être' are amalgamated with terrorism. Terrorism and the Islamic regime have been born as Siamese twins. The creation of the Islamic Republic was an act of terrorism and its collapse would coincide with the end of terrorism. If the IRI really wants to abandon terrorism, it should begin at home by ending its reign of terror and by letting the Iranian people choose their own free form of government.

To better grasp the relationship between these two symbols of evil, just read the Preamble to the so-called Constitution of the Islamic Republic or more specifically take a good look at the Article 154 of the Constitution:

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has as its ideal human felicity throughout human society, and considers the attainment of independence, freedom, and rule of justice and truth to be the right of all people of the world. Accordingly, while scrupulously refraining from all forms of interference in the internal affairs of other nations, it supports the just struggles of the mustad'afun against the mustakbirun in every corner of the globe."

These archaic words such as "mustad'afun" and "mustakbirun" are pseudo-Marxist terminologies in Arabic for the 'proletariat' and the 'capitalists.' More specifically, Khomeini used to use the later as a reference to the United States.

This is just one of many references to open licensing of international terrorism. Not that this regime needs legal basis for its outrageous behavior. But such references further re-enforce the wide gap that separates this 'rouge' regime from other governments. A regime founded on lies, terror and deceit can never reform itself.

http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2003&m=09&d=09&a=10

U.S. Judge: Iran Liable for Beirut Blast

September 9, 2003, 12:34 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ruled that the government of Iran was responsible for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, and awarded $123 million in damages to some of the U.S. victims and their families.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said the bombing on April 18, 1983 was carried out by the terrorist group Hezbollah with funding, weapons and training provided by senior Iranian officials.

In the 165-page opinion released late Monday, Bates concluded the bombing was part of Iran's campaign to remove the U.S. presence in Lebanon by killing American diplomats and servicemen and kidnapping civilians.

The bombing was the first major attack against any American embassy in the world and was followed only six months later by a massive suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen. That attack led then-President Reagan to withdraw U.S. troops from Lebanon.

The lawsuit is one of dozens filed against Iran under a 1996 U.S. law that allows Americans to sue nations that sponsor terrorism for damages suffered in terrorist acts. The Iranian government has not formally responded to any of the lawsuits.

In the embassy bombing case, Bates issued his ruling after holding a six-day evidentiary hearing in April.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-beirut-bombing-lawsuit,0,531625.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

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