Iranian Alert -- September 26, 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.

Iran Postpones Nuclear Regulatory Agency's Visit

September 26, 2003
VOA News
Melanie Sully

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its planned visit to Iran next week has been postponed at the request of Tehran. Western diplomats say the delay raises questions about Tehran's credibility.

Two senior IAEA experts were to leave for Tehran Sunday, and a follow-up team was to join them next week.

But the Iranians said they want more time to prepare for the inspections, and have asked the IAEA for at least another week. Iran has until the end of October to answer all the agency's questions on its nuclear program, which it claims is purely peaceful.

The IAEA said its scientists want to discuss inconsistencies in Iran's account of tests on gas centrifuges that could be used for a nuclear weapons program.

The delay follows media reports that international inspectors have found more traces of highly enriched uranium at locations in Iran.

Western diplomats say Iran could provide all the information the agency is seeking relatively quickly, and see the delay as adding to an already big "confidence deficit."

IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said this is not the first time Tehran has delayed a visit from the agency. "A year ago, almost exactly, we had the first revelations of these new facilities in Iran, and a year later, we're still proceeding in a very unsatisfactory manner. First, they brought us there in February - after a long delay, they finally allowed [IAEA chief Mohamed] ElBaradei to go in February," he said.

The IAEA is hoping this new delay will still give its experts enough time to analyze material, and make a report for the next Board of Governors meeting at the end of November.

Iran has just lost its seat on the board, due to a normal rotation in membership. So, it will have no vote, if the IAEA decides to refer its nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=93B95B53-647E-4355-B30552E64A1F7ECF&title=Iran%20Postpones%20Nuclear%20Regulatory%20Agency%27s%20Visit&catOID=45C9C78D-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Mideast

Bremer: U.S. Holding 19 al-Qaida Suspects

September 26, 2003
The Associated Press
Matt Kelley

WASHINGTON -- U.S. forces in Iraq are holding 19 suspected members of the al-Qaida terrorist network, the American civilian administrator said Friday.

The suspected al-Qaida members are among 248 non-Iraqi fighters being held by the Americans in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer said in a Pentagon news conference.

Bremer said authorities determined the suspects' al-Qaida links through interrogations and documents the suspects were carrying. He said he did not know what countries they came from.

The largest number of foreign fighters - 123 of the 248 - came from Syria, Bremer said. The next-highest numbers came from Iran and Yemen, he said, adding he did not have precise figures for those countries.

The flow of terrorist fighters into Iraq is the biggest obstacle to the peaceful reconstruction of the country, Bremer said. The fighting between anti-American elements and U.S. forces hasn't hampered the reconstruction effort so far, though, he said.

Reconstruction of Iraq is critical to the global war on terrorism, he added.

``We don't want Iraq to become a breeding ground for terrorism in the future,'' Bremer said.

Most of the foreign fighters are coming into Iraq via ``ratlines'' from Syria, he said.

Bremer and other Bush administration officials have repeatedly accused Syria of being an obstacle in the Iraq conflict, first by allowing shipments of military goods to Saddam Hussein before and during the war and now by allowing terrorists to cross the same border.

Syrian officials deny interfering with U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Some terrorists are members of Ansar al-Islam, a militant group linked to al-Qaida whose base in northern Iraq was wiped out by coalition forces early in the war, Bremer indicated.

Ansar has regrouped and re-entered Iraq with perhaps several hundred members, he said.

``They're a very dangerous group,'' he said.

Bremer spent most of this week testifying in Congress in favor of President Bush's $87 billion request for spending on Iraq. About $20 billion of that request would pay for reconstruction projects overseen by Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority, the civilian administration in Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3196417,00.html

Khomeini Kin Assails Fundamentalist Rule

September 26, 2003
The Associated Press
George Gedda

WASHINGTON -- The grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, symbol of Iran's Islamic revolution, said Friday his countrymen live in a depressed state that will persist until they are freed from strict fundamentalist rule.

Hossein Khomeini, who bears some resemblance to the man who launched the uprising against the pro-American shah's government 24 years ago, said the lack of organized resistance to the mullah-led system makes him pessimistic about the prospects for change in his homeland.

"The Iranian people want democracy," Khomeini said. "Religion and government cannot be one and the same."

Dressed in traditional Iranian garb, Khomeini spoke through a translator to a large gathering of Iranian exiles and American experts on Iran at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

His grandfather's revolution overthrew a pro-Western monarchy and made Iran one of the world's most vigorously anti-American countries. "Death to America" rallies in Tehran and elsewhere were commonplace.

Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, but his revolution lives, with like-minded clerics making virtually all key decisions. Iranians elected a moderate president in 1997, but his powers have remained limited.

Hossein Khomeini, 45, spent time this past summer in Iraq, where he praised the U.S. ouster of Saddam Hussein's government and said he believes the Iranian people would accept American military intervention if no other way existed to achieve freedom.

"The U.S. invasion is really a blessing for the people of Iraq," he said. In contrast, he said, "Iranians are frustrated, not hopeful but lacking a movement to bring about their yearning to be free."

"The regime stifles the psyche and the soul, creating hateful individuals," he said.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/breaking_news/6870666.htm

NEW ENRICHING URANIUM PLANT FOUND NEAR TEHRAN

VIENNA, 26 Sept. (IPS)

The Islamic Republic requested the International Atomic energy Agency to report the visit of the Agency’s inspectors one day after it was announced that experts had found new traces of weapons-grade enriched uranium at a second site in Iran.

"The Iranian government requested the delay to allow them more time to prepare for the visit", IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Friday, explaining that Iran had made the demand in order to prepare itself ahead of an October 31 deadline to prove it has no secret atomic weapons program.

The team of U.N. nuclear inspectors were to fly to Tehran on Sunday, but Ms. Fleming said they would leave for Iran sometime late next week.

In a resolution adopted on 12 September, the Board of Governors of the Vienna-based IAEA gave the Islamic Republic until the end of October to sign "immediately and unconditionally" the additional protocol to the Non Proliferation Treaty and stop "at once" all its uranium enriching programs.

So far, and under pressures from the ruling hard liners, the Iranian government that is led by the powerless president Mohammad Khatami has not said if it would comply with the Resolution or not.

Singing the Protocol means United Nations would have the right to inspect all Iranian nuclear facilities and sites without restriction or prior announcement. In case Tehran rejects the Resolution, it might face international sanctions by the United Nations Security Council.

On Monday, Iran’s ambassador at the IAEA confirmed for the first time that Iran had started enriching uranium at plants it has built secretly near the central city of Natanz, using contaminated centrifuges it had bought years ago on the black market.

The inspectors’ visit was necessary to insure that Iranian claims that its nuclear programs are for civilian use are correct.

But the united States, Israel and the European Union believes that Iran's atomic activities, including the nuclear-powered electricity plant it is building in the Persian gulf city of Booshehr with the help of Russia are a "cover" for dvelopping atomic bomb aimed at destroying the Jewish state.

In an interview with "The USA Today" newspaper, French President Jacques Chirac called on Tehran to fully cooperate with the United Nations nuclear inspectors to make sure that its atomic activities are for peaceful purposes and warned that if not, it could face international sanctions.

In a speech at the UN’s General Assembly, President George W. Bush who has declared the Islamic Republic an "evil State" alongside North Korea and the former government of Saddam Hoseyn also warned that Tehran would face global condemnation.

Speaking to reporters in Washington today, President Bush said, "It is very important for the world to come together to make it very clear to Iran that there will be universal condemnation if they continue with a nuclear weapons program."

He said today that he intended to raise the Iranian nuclear issue at his planned Camp David meeting with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

But like Tehran, Moscow also insists that the 1000 megawatts, 800 million US Dollars plant is to produce electricity only.

According to diplomats who talked to reporters on condition of anonymity, the discovery of new enriching uranium site could support Tehran's explanation that the highly enriched uranium found by IAEA inspectors during previous visit was due to contamination from imported components.

But several other diplomats said it could support the U.S. theory that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in a nuclear explosive device. The new finding, the result of environmental sampling at the Kalaye Electric Company plant near the Capital, further ratcheted up pressure on Iran, sources said.

The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said on Friday that the finding at the electric plant was "part of a longstanding pattern of evasions and deception to disguise the true nature and purpose of Iran's nuclear activities", the British news agency "Reuters" reported.

The news of the electric plant finding came as Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, told reporters in New York that his government was resisting domestic pressure to drop out of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

He said that in principle Iran had no problem acceding to the atomic energy agency's request to allow surprise inspections at nuclear facilities.

Conservatives-controlled media that usually reflects the views of Ayatollah ali Khameneh'i, the orthodox leader of the Islamic Republic have unanimously urged the government to emulate the Stalinist regime of North Korea and get out of the NPT.

The call was also reiterated by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the hard line Secretary of the powerful Guardians Council, asking "what is wrong with adopting North Korea’s policy in dealing with pressures from the IAEA?"

Pyongyang expelled all international experts last December, left the NPT and revived its atomic programs.

But Dr. Mohammad el-Bradeh’i, the Egyptian Director of the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned Iran against such a decision, telling reporters that in this case, Iran "would only make its situation more difficult, as it would to face the international community".

"If Iran fails to prove until the end of October that its nuclear activities are not for military use, it must be prepared for harsh punishments and sanctions by the Security Council", Mr. El-Barde’i said, adding that in case Iran fails to sign the additional Protocol and stop enriching uranium, the whole question would be referred to the Security Council.

Asked about the enriched uranium particles found in Natanz, Mr. Kharrazi, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly session, said that that enrichment itself was "not illegal" and had been begun there before the atomic energy agency had formally asked Tehran to stop any enrichment activities.

He also said that Ayatollah Khameneh’i has said that nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islamic law.

On Sunday, Iran held a military parade to honour the 23rd anniversary of the start of the eight years War with Iraq and prominently displayed its most modern missile, the Shahab-3 that a military announcer said it has a range of 1.700 kilometres, "capable of hitting the heart of the enemy", which means Israel. ENDS IAEA IRAN URANIUM 26903

http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2003/Sept-2003/iaea_iran_uranium_26903.htm

Khomeini kin seeks action on Iran

The grandson of the man who led the religious revolution in Iran has called on the West to do more to support those who wish to end Islamic rule there.
In the same way that Winston Churchill mobilised an unconcerned population about Adolf Hitler, so could leaders such as US President George W Bush generate action inside Iran, Hossein Khomeini said.

"The best way is for the United States to help the movement for democracy in Iran," he said through a translator during a visit to Washington.

They should look at this issue very seriously and not as dispassionately as they have been, waiting for something to happen and then get involved."

Correspondents say Mr Khomenei's criticism of Tehran's rulers is highly significant because he is himself a Muslim cleric and it attracts attention overseas because of his lineage.

Mr Khomeini told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative thinktank, that he welcomed the US action against Saddam Hussein in Iran's neighbour Iraq even though he had not expected it until the US was faced by an immediate threat.

He railed against the "dictatorship" in Tehran and said the regime could yet give the US a reason for intervention. Though he had no knowledge that Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons, he added: "I wouldn't put anything [past] them."

He said that while Iranian individuals had not been involved in terrorism recently, he believed the Tehran regime was a strong supporter of such activities and of working to destablilise both Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the killing of Iraqi Shia cleric Ayatollah Muhammad Baqr al-Hakim and more than 120 others in a massive bomb attack outside Najaf's holiest shrine last month had been at the "behest" of Iran, with co-operation from Saudi Arabia.

Saddam Hussein loyalists and Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda are among those blamed for the attack by Iraqis and Americans.

Frustration of youth

Mr Khomeini recently left Iran, and has been spending time in Iraq, both in Najaf and Baghdad where he was outspoken in his criticism of the leadership in Tehran.

He told his American audience that Iranians - a vast majority of whom were under voting age or not yet born when an Islamic republic was voted in - had become frustrated but also enervated by the situation in his country.

Today, Iranian people again want democracy, they want freedom. Furthermore they have experienced everything, they have experience theocracy in Iran and they have come to understand that religion and government cannot be one and the same."

Mr Khomeini said he had been involved in the 1979 revolution led by his grandfather but about two years after the fall of the shah he began to question the practicalities of an Islamic republic.

He said Ayatollah Khomeini had himself only become converted to the idea of an Islamic republic with a supreme spiritual leader later in his life.

"I have differences with him," Mr Khomeini said of his grandfather. "[But] I have not fought with those who want that [theocratic regime], I'm simply against it."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3144082.stm

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