IRAN UPDATE

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

No. 95 - 13 June 2007

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SUMMARY

This week

• IAEA meeting Monday 11th - Iran meeting with IAEA cancelled
• G8 leaders statement on the Iranian nuclear programme
• Military option(s) on the table
• Swiss- Iranian talks, EU- Iranian talks

A regular sitting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors started Monday. Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and non-cooperation with UN Security Council resolutions was discussed. As the file is with the Security Council, further resolutions are not expected from the IAEA Board at this stage. Iran was to send Javeed Vaidi to meet with Mohamed ElBaradei but the meeting was cancelled, purportedly due to Iran’s failure to come forward with any new information. Iran has still to clear up with the IAEA a number of questions over its nuclear programme.

G8 leaders, meeting in Germany last week, raised concerns about Iran’s failure to comply with UN Security Council resolutions 1696, 1737 and 1747 demanding a suspension of uranium enrichment. The leaders expressed support for more sanctions against Iran but at the same time emphasised peaceful means to resolving the issue and promise “a new chapter” for Iran within the international community if the dispute was resolved. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman condemned the threat to support the sanctions by the G8 leaders.

Israeli officials have stated that Israel and the US have agreed a strategy that includes a review of the effectiveness of sanctions before the end of 2007. Iran has threatened to respond to any military attack with missiles against US bases in the Middle East as well as to strike strategic targets such as oil refineries and power stations.

Iranian officials have announced that they have held talks with the Swiss (on June 5th) about Iranian nuclear plants and a previous Swiss proposal to suspend Iranian enrichment and UN sanctions simultaneously, in order to allow diplomatic talks to begin. Talks between EU and Iranian officials recommenced on June 11th. Chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had already described the talks as becoming “more rational”.

Ita O’Sullivan
BASIC

STORIES AND LINKS

Tehran Warns on New Sanctions, Has Talks with Germany, Reuters, 05/06
Iran warned the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday against slapping more sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear work, saying it was like "playing with a lion's tail" as its top negotiator met Germany's foreign minister.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-iran-nuclear.html?
_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

MI6 Probes UK Link To Nuclear Trade With Iran, Observer, 10/06
A British company has been closed down after being caught in an apparent attempt to sell black-market weapons-grade uranium to Iran and Sudan.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2099634,00.html

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency says the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program "needs to be defused", Radio Free Europe, 11/ 06
Speaking at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors that opened today in Vienna, Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran has not responded to UN demands to suspend uranium enrichment, and continues to expand its enrichment program.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2007/6/
3248cebe-e808-493e-8b58-45a9f9cc0c53.html

Iran Confirms that California Man is 4th Iranian-American held, New York Times, 11/ 06
Iran’s confirmation on Sunday that it had detained a fourth Iranian-American, a peace advocate from California, seems certain to upset relations even further between the countries, already tense over Iran’s nuclear program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/world/middleeast/11iran.html

Iranian MP threatened after comments on Khamenei, Guardian, 11/06
One of Iran's most outspoken MPs has received a death threat after suggesting that the country's supreme leader is a weaker figure than the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2100016,00.html

Israel Said Open To Deal With Syria, Boston Globe, 9/06
Israel has reportedly told Syrian leaders that it is willing to give up the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal that would require Syria to distance itself from Iran's regime.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2007/06/09/
fujimori_put_back_under_house_arrest/

Israel launches spy satellite to keep tabs on Iran, other enemies, PR-inside.com, 11/ 06
Israel successfully launched an advanced spy satellite into orbit on Monday, officials said, giving it a sophisticated new tool in its efforts to collect intelligence on archenemy Iran and other regional adversaries.
http://www.pr-inside.com/israel-launches-spy-satellite-to-keep-r150263.htm

NATO general says Iran secretly aiding Taliban. Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/ 06
Iran gives political and material support to President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government in neighboring Afghanistan, but might also be aiding the Taliban as a way of hedging its bets, NATO's top general here said yesterday.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20070612
_NATO_general_says_Iran_secretly_aiding_Taliban.html

Envoy: Iran Nearing Nuclear Capability , Guardian, 06/ 06
Iran has not yet crossed the threshold of being able to make nuclear weapons but may be only two years away, Israeli ambassador Sallai M. Meridor said Wednesday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6688267,00.html

Republicans insist Iran must not have nukes, Reuters, 05/ 06
Republican candidates for U.S. president agreed on Tuesday that Iran must not develop nuclear weapons, even if a tactical nuclear strike is needed to stop Tehran, and accused Democrats of being soft on the issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2007/06/05/AR2007060502034_pf.html

COMMENTARIES, EDITORIALS AND ANALYSIS

Candidates Lacking A Real-World Clue, Washington Post, 07/ 06
The 18 presidential candidates -- eight Democrats and 10 Republicans -- who came to Saint Anselm College here for a pair of debates this week displayed a remarkable ability to ignore the real-world consequences of many of the policies they were advocating.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602291.html

Getting real, al-Ahram weekly online, 31/05- 06/06
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) now says that it is too late to dissuade Iran from enriching uranium. The Arab world didn't seem interested in the news, but the Americans and Europeans have taken notice. From now on, their efforts are likely to focus on how to dissuade Iran from making the bomb.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/847/op4.htm

Bargaining With Russia To Contain Iran, Boston Globe, 08/ 06
Washington is struggling to get Russia's help in sanctioning Iran for its nuclear programme.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/
2007/06/08/bargaining_with_russia_to_contain_iran/

Al-Qaeda spark for an Iran-US fire, Asia Times, 07/ 06
After revelations of a US administration policy to hold Iran responsible for any al-Qaeda attack on the United States that could be portrayed as planned on Iranian soil.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IF07Ak04.html

ElBaradei: NPT Tattering Because Big Boys Continue to Rely on Nuclear Weapons, transcript of a BBC interview on CASMII website, 04/ 06
A copy of the full interview with El Baradei conducted by Rob Broomby has been posted on the CASMII website.
http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/2300