IRAN UPDATE

News and comment on the diplomatic movements over Iran's nuclear programme

No. 88 - 20 April 2007

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SUMMARY

• Ahmadinejad: Iran has joined the nuclear club
• ElBaradei calls for Iran and Israel to join a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East
• Russia and China joint statement on Iran and Security Council Resolutions
• US Central Command says that US has no plans to go to attack Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on the 9th of April that Iran had "joined the nuclear club of nations", stating that 3000 centrifuges were operating at the Natanz facility. Iran claimed it had reached the point of producing nuclear fuel on an 'industrial scale' and said it aims to build 54,000 centrifuges. The U.S., Britain and France criticized the announcement. Experts expressed skepticism over Iran's progress, pointing to the fact that Iranian announcements of advances in the past have tended to prove premature, glossing over glitches and setbacks.

Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the IAEA, believes Iran is currently operating several hundred centrifuges at Natanz and not the 3000 it claims. Following a meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, ElBaradei called on Iran and Israel to join a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has said that it has no evidence that Iran has made any technological breakthroughs to allow it to enrich uranium on an industrial scale. Russia declared that the Bushehr reactor will not be completed by the end of 2007. Meanwhile, Iran is inviting bids to build two nuclear power plants in the Southern province of Bushehr. Ahmad Fayyazbakhsh, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, said the light-water reactors would each be able to generate up to 1,600 megawatts of electricity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao of China issued a joint statement calling on Iran to abide by UN Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear program. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah raised the stakes, arguing that Iran's nuclear program added another crisis to the region and, along with the conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, needed to be contained.

Iranian Parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel indicated that the threat of further UN sanctions would not deter Iran from its nuclear drive. Iran said it would announce new " nuclear achievements" if the United Nations takes additional steps against it. Iran's Chief Nuclear Negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran was ready for negotiations on the condition that the West accepted the nuclear program as fact.

Larijani indicated that Iran was ready to share its nuclear technology with Gulf countries and open its research facilities to create confidence among neighbours. Mohamed El Baradei expressed support for the common nuclear energy program that six Arab nations in Persian Gulf are considering creating. The nuclear project is seen as an attempt by Arab nations to prevent an Iranian and Israeli monopoly on nuclear technology in the region.

The Israeli Defence Force's head of Military Intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, was reported to have told the Israeli cabinet that Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and the Palestinians are openly preparing to go to war against Israel and the US this summer.

The deputy director of operations for the US Central Command, Brigadier General Robert H. Holmes says the American military has no plan to attack Iran, but implied that the necessary preparations had been made. In a separate, worrying development, General Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, announced that the US had intercepted weapons in Afghanistan, headed for the Taliban, that were made in Iran. He said that the origins of the explosives and mortars were unclear.

Iran has denied holding a former FBI agent reported by the United States to have disappeared on the southern island of Kish, saying it had no information on his whereabouts. 2 Swedes, arrested in March 2006 for taking pictures of military installations on Iran's southern island of Qeshm, have been released.

The Telegraph's Con Coughlin has reported alleged talks between Iran and North Korea aimed at deepening co-operation on nuclear weapons technology. The reports alleges that Iran and North Korea are keen to seal a deal before North Korea starts to close its Yongbyon reactor in compliance with its February agreement with the United States and regional powers.

Sara Refai, Crisis Action

STORIES AND LINKS

10 Israelis 'recruited as spies by Iran' - 17/4
Iran has been making concerted efforts to recruit Israelis as spies during their visits to relatives in the Islamic Republic
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=
1176152814942&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Arab states must go for nuclear energy: Expert - 17/4
"The whole world is abuzz with the debate on Iran's nuclear policy. Atomic energy is the energy of future. No country can keep away from it
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?
section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2007
&file=Local_News2007041825434.xml

Oil edges up on renewed concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions - 10/4
Oil edges up after plunging in quiet Easter trade yesterday, as renewed concerns over key producer Iran's nuclear ambitions overshadowed worries over swelling crude oil stocks in the US
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2007/04/10/afx3597711.html

Kuwaiti media: U.S. to attack Iran by end of April - 8/4
The United States is planning to attack Iran's nuclear reactors and other nuclear facilities by the end of this month, Kuwait-based daily Arab Times reported Wednesday.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=
viewArticle&code=20070408&articleId=5304

Iran does not plan to meet with US on sidelines of Iraq conference - 9/4
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said Sunday that Iran had no plans to meet with U.S. officials on the sidelines of the upcoming conference on Iraq, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
http://www.thenewanatolian.com/tna-25246.html

Britain's Propaganda War Against Iran - 10/4
The British Defense Secretary's decision to allow the 15 sailors and marines who were freed by Iran last week to sell their stories to the media triggered accusations that the government is using the navy crew as pawns in a propaganda war against the Islamic Republic.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=13339

Iran vows nuclear expansion - 10/4
Iran announced yesterday that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, a dramatic expansion of a nuclear programme that has drawn UN sanctions and condemnation from the West
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?
Article=177309&Sn=WORL&IssueID=30021

Iran to enhance energy cooperation with China - 9/4
China has always been an excellent energy cooperation partner of Iran, and hopefully both sides would further expand and deepen their collaboration in the oil and natural gas industries, Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said here on Monday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-04/10/
content_5957359.htm

COMMENT & ANALYSIS

With the passion of a preacher he delivered his killer line - 5/4 "With the timing of a demagogue and passion of a preacher, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lectured the world on the wrongs of the international system yesterday before revealing his secret: that he had "forgiven" his British captives."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2007/04/05/wiran205.xml

They're free, but Britain has been humiliated - 5/4
"Relief at the freeing of the British sailors and Marines in Iran is tempered with dismay at the humiliation to which they and the country they serve have been subjected. The 14 men and one woman are due to return to Britain today, in time to be reunited with their families for Easter, a point not lost on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he announced their release."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?
xml=/opinion/2007/04/05/dl0501.xml

Britain's Response: Hostage: the banned word on diplomatic roller coaster - 5/4
"As Britain's dispute with Iran waxed and waned over the past 13 days, ministers and officials in London tried to avoid one word: "hostage"."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/
e0aab708-e312-11db-a1c9-000b5df10621.html

Iran's calculated end to hostages drama: Lesson is that crisis ended quickly after direct talks - 5/4
"It was a weirdly effective performance. Invoking the "anniversary of the death of Jesus Christ" and the spirit of forgiveness, Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran's mercurial president, ended a characteristically prolix press conference yesterday with a coup de theatre: freeing the 15 British sailors and marines seized by Revolutionary Guards in the northern Gulf 13 days ago.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/
a4c2ad1e-e311-11db-a1c9-000b5df10621.html

Diplomacy or a deal - how the standoff ended - 5/4
"The release of the 15 Britons was a "gift" to the British people to celebrate the birth of the prophet Muhammad and Easter, according to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It also came two hours after an American general revealed the US might allow Iranian diplomats to visit five countrymen arrested in Iraq three months ago."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2050424,00.html

Analysis: Ahmadinejad aims to keep Bush, Israel on their toes - 10/4
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the release of the 15 captured British sailors and marines, he already knew that exactly four days later he would be celebrating Iran's "joining the nuclear club."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152757285
&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Iran, Egypt pioneered idea of Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone: Hosseini - 17/4
As IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei is well aware, Iran and Egypt were the first countries to call for the Middle East to be made a nuclear weapons-free zone, a proposal they presented to the United Nations in the 1970s
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?
Da=4/17/2007&Cat=2&Num=006

Iran's leaders may have laughed too soon - 10/4
By Karim Sadjadpour
"You know the thing about Iran," a European ambassador in Tehran once lamented to me. "It has such a rich culture, a grand history, wonderful people. The cuisine is sophisticated and the scenery is breathtaking. It's got incredible poets, musicians and filmmakers. Beautiful art and architecture. But it's cursed with lousy politicians."
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?
edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=81283

Pity the Poor Sailors? - 10/4
Were they beaten or tortured? Were their families threatened? Were they subjected to stress positions, strobe lighting, and deafening music? Were they stripped naked, photographed and humiliated by an Iranian version of Lindy England?
http://arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&
article=94789&d=10&m=4&y=2007