| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:27 pm Post subject: Russia & China "serious reservations" about Ir |
| Russia & China "serious reservations" about Iran's referral to
Security Council
Iran crisis talks expose west's split with China
Ewen MacAskill and Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
The Guardian Tuesday January 17, 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1688114,00.html
Differences between the west and Russia and China were exposed
yesterday during
a meeting in London to discuss strategy for tackling the crisis over
Iran's
suspected nuclear weapons programme.
After seven hours of talks Britain, France and Germany announced they
are to
seek Iran's referral to the security council at a meeting on February 2
and 3 of
the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Javier Solana, the EU foreign affairs chief, said he was "confident"
Russia and
China will back the referral.
But both countries expressed serious reservations about future handling
of the
crisis, in particular the prospect of the security council imposing
sanctions on
Iran.
Russia, though slowly shifting towards the west's position, is still
holding out
hope that Tehran may yet accept a compromise. China, which has close
economic
ties with Iran, is the most hardline in opposing tough action against
Tehran.
One European diplomat said: "What is really crucial is support from
Russia and
China. China does not look too good. China is the major obstacle."
He added that China, which has a veto on the security council, felt
squeezed
between pressure from the west and dependency on Iranian oil.
A British diplomat said: "There was serious concern about Iranian moves
to
restart enrichment-related activities contrary to the appeals of the
international community not to do so." He added that "there was a
thorough
exchange of views" on the role of the security council.
The crisis escalated last week when Iran broke seals on uranium
enrichment
equipment. Iran denies that it has a covert nuclear weapons programme.
The London meeting between senior officials from the US, Britain,
France, China
and Russia - the five permanent members of the UN security council -
plus
Germany, was held to try to avoid a repetition of the security council
divisions
that marked the run-up to the war in Iraq. The west's fear is that
China could
exercise its veto on Iran's behalf.
The Europeans have begun drafting a resolution to put before the IAEA.
"It's
short. It calls for [IAEA chief Mohamed] ElBaradei to report Iran to
the UN
security council," one diplomat said. The western nations have a simple
majority
in favour of referral but are hoping that Russia and China will back
it. The US
and Europeans are focusing on Russia in the hope that if Moscow backs
their
approach, then China will also follow.
President Vladimir Putin, after meeting Angela Merkel on her first
visit to
Moscow as German chancellor, signalled exasperation with Iran's
decision to
break the seals. Indicating he was moving towards the west's position,
he said:
"As for Russia, and Germany, and our European partners and the US, we
have very
close positions on the Iranian problem."
But he cautioned against "abrupt, erroneous steps" and suggested the
issue could
still be defused without reference to the UN. He said Iran has not
excluded the
possibility of accepting a Russian compromise in which Tehran would
conduct
uranium enrichment in Russia rather than Iran. "One of the main
problems is the
enrichment of uranium. We proposed to our Iranian partners to set up a
joint
enrichment venture on Russian territory ... our partners told us they
did not
exclude the implementation of our proposal."
But China, speaking before the London meeting, said resorting to the
security
council would "complicate the issue", citing Iran's threat to hit back
by
halting snap UN inspections at its atomic plants.
The Chinese foreign minister said "all relevant sides should remain
restrained
and stick to solving the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations".
Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, said that dialogue with Moscow and
Beijing
was of "crucial importance".
Iran yesterday banned CNN journalists from the country after the
broadcaster
misquoted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that Iran wanted
nuclear
weapons, the ISNA students news agency said.
What happens next
Vienna Europeans plan emergency IAEA meeting on February 2. Iran will
try to
avoid referral to security council by reopening talks with Russia
New York Once before the security council, the resolution could tell
Iran to
suspend uranium enrichment. If ignored, talks would get tougher as US
and Europe
sought sanctions
Tehran Iran could then scrap deal on intrusive nuclear checks, and
disrupt oil
supplies if sanctions imposed US/Israel Air strikes could begin to
delay Iran's
work on nuclear weapon. | |  | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:57 am Post subject: Iran Attack: No Way Back Now |
| Iran Attack: No Way Back Now
Wednesday January 18th 2006, 8:42 pm
www.kurtnimmo.com
As now appears obvious, the Straussian neocons will attack Iran, sooner before later. Secretary of State Condi Rice indicated as much when she said, “there's not much to talk about” until Iran promises to stop working on a nuclear weapon, never mind that—as Mike Whitney, citing nuclear weapons expert Gordon Prather, points out—Iran is not working on a nuclear weapon. History is a harsh taskmistress and history teaches that when nations stop talking, war is the result. As the Prussian general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once declared, “war is a continuation of politics by other means,” and the neocons are using a blood-soaked political ace to trump the United Nations and the Security Council into providing a familiar nod in the direction of war. As Whitney notes, the neocons believe they “can garner the necessary votes to bring Iran before the Security Council and, perhaps, win support for punitive action,” in other words support for total war, or rather total shock and awe, including the use of “global strike” nukes, as Cheney has promised.
Once again, the spineless United Nations is being set-up to rubber stamp the Straussian neocon plan for the total destruction of Islamic society and culture, as per the long-held neocon plan. It was nearly three years ago the cardboard cut-out non-president, George W. Bush, announced that “diplomacy has failed” and would rally the so-called “coalition of the willing” (or rather coalition of the bribed) to illegally and immorally invade Iraq and thus divest Saddam of his illusory “weapons of mass destruction.” As we know but far too many of us are wont to forget, prior to this “decision” (or implementation of the long-held Straussian neocon plan), there was a flurry of useless and (in retrospect) absurd diplomacy and debate amongst the members of the UN Security Council about the legality of invading an essentially defenseless and sanctions-wracked country.
As for the latter, France and Russia had asked long before the neocons grabbed the White House and the Pentagon that the murderous sanctions (more than a million people suffered and died, 500,000 of them children) but first Bill Clinton and then George Bush the Lesser, with the help of his faithful sidekick, Tony Blair, insisted on an unending cycle of mass murder, otherwise known as genocide. For its squeamishness and lack of fortitude in the task carved out by the neocons—kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and reduce the once proud nation to a violent cauldron—France was vilified and demonized in Congress (remember “Freedom Fries”) and the corporate media disparagingly referred to it as “Old Europe” (while “New Europe” semi-nations, such as Hungary, Georgia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Poland, and other post-communist wrecks, signed on in the hope they would be remunerated for their slavish behavior). It's basically the same dog-eared script the Straussian neocons are following this time around.
It is sincerely pathetic (although more or less predictable) to see stuffed shirts—Philippe Douste-Blazy (France), Jack Straw (Britain), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), and Javier Solana (European High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy)—”holding talks” in Berlin, basically pow-wowing in arrogant blue-blood fashion on how best to “refer” the sovereign nation of Iran to the bankrupt Security Council, greasing the skids for the neocons, who plan to kill as many Iranians as possible and, if the Straussian necromancer Cheney has his way, nuke the place and, as mindless Bush supporters, waving their plastic flags made by slaves in China, like to caterwaul, turn the place into a radioactive parking lot.
Meanwhile, as the old war criminal Ariel Sharon lies in a coma, acting Israeli PM Ehud Olmert decided to egg on the coming death dance. “Under no circumstances, and at no point, can Israel allow anyone with these kinds of malicious designs against us, to have control of weapons of destruction that can threaten our existence,” Olmert told a joint news conference with Israeli president Moshe Katsav. “The state of Israel cannot reconcile itself to a situation in which there is a threat against us, just as, in my view, the nations of Europe and the United States cannot reconcile themselves.”
Some of us cannot reconcile ourselves with the fact Israel has around 400 nuclear bombs (according to estimates based on information provided by Mordechai Vanunu, who was locked up for nearly 20 years for revealing the truth about Israel's nukes to the world). Israel has unscrupulously used these nukes to blackmail the United States (for instance, they forced Kissinger and Nixon to airlift supplies during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, according to Seymour M. Hersh in his book, The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy). “Too many senior Israeli officials have taken to issuing threatening statements vis-a-vis Iraq and Iran,” declared defense analyst Zeev Schiff. “Off-the-cuff Israeli nuclear threats have become a problem, even before the onset of the Iraqi crisis…. Washington may decide it wants to distance itself from Israel in order to avoid being accused of having conspired with us on an action we planned exclusively by ourselves” (see previous link). Of course, Washington did no such thing—and no politician there would think of it, considering the almighty clout of AIPAC and “lobbyists” with all the thuggish finesse of Jack Abramoff.
But none of this is relevant now. Israel will goad the United States—with the dumbfounded blessing of the Europeans (or their blue-blood rulers) and the ineffectual suck-up Security Council—into blasting the daylights out of Iran, probably killing thousands, if not eventually hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
It appears all of this will go down in March, when “diplomacy” finally fails in the United Nations and, significantly, when America reaches its $8,184 trillion debt ceiling, thus forcing the nation (to the greedy glee of the criminal neolib financier class) into a spurt of military Keynesianism in order to jump-start the economy. Few seem to notice this is what happened in Germany in the 1930s and the result was fascism and mass misery and incomprehensible numbers of dead people. “Wars provide an economic boost but typically produce little of lasting value,” notes Gracchus Jones. “But in America today, there is no economic engine, and if there is one thing modern economic history proves, it is that you cannot have prosperity without one.”
And that's why we are inexorably headed for a dictatorship in this country. Iran will be the catalyst. The Straussian neocon Iran attack will undoubtedly ignite the Middle East and the coming depression will fill the ranks of a newly minted slave-conscription military with young unemployed bodies. Total war and economic misery mixed with a police state now rearing its ugly head is manna from heaven for the Straussian neocons. “No stages,” John Pilger reports Richard Perle declaring. “This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk about first we are going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq… this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth, and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever diplomacy, but just wage a total war… our children will sing great songs about us years from now.”
Of course, it will be difficult to sing when you're dying from cancer, thanks to a planet polluted with depleted uranium. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject: Rice demands UN action on Iran nuclear dispute |
| Rice demands UN action on Iran nuclear dispute
By Alistair Lyon
Thu Jan 19, 11:07 AM ET
The United States on Thursday demanded swift action to drag Iran to the U.N. Security Council over its atomic ambitions, while Russia and China urged caution.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began a visit to Syria in a signal to the world that the two regional allies, each facing threats of referral to the council, will not be cowed.
"On Iran, we have been very clear that the time has come for a referral to the Security Council," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.
She did not mention Russia, but she was speaking a day after the European Union said it was mulling a Russian proposal that would stop short of formally referring Iran to the council.
A formal referral would mean Iran could face sanctions over the West's suspicions it is pursuing a nuclear bomb. Tehran says its only goal is to produce atomic energy for civilian use.
Moscow wants Iran to be simply "reported" to the council, which could then discuss its case but there would be a lack of legal weight and there would no potential for "consequences," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana explained on Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's board is due to debate Iran at an emergency meeting on February 2, but no consensus has emerged on what the U.N. nuclear watchdog should do.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a cautious line, saying his country's position at the meeting would be guided by the IAEA's own assessment of Iran's behavior.
"The main principle is not to cause harm, not to cause harm to the international community, not cause harm to the system of non-proliferation," he said after talks on Iran with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy in Moscow.
Iran's Ahmadinejad has scorned a resolution drafted by EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany, asking the IAEA to send the Iranian nuclear dossier to the Security Council.
The Islamic republic is waging a high-stakes diplomatic battle with the West to head off any U.N. censure or sanctions.
China reiterated its preference for a diplomatic solution.
"We hope all parties will exercise restraint and patience and appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue through peaceful means," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
CHINESE, RUSSIAN MISGIVINGS
China and Russia, both permanent council members with veto powers like the United States, France and Britain, have big trade interests in Iran and are wary of any full-scale embargo.
"What Russia and China are concerned about is a shadow cast over Iran and their commercial stakes if this case goes to the council," a Vienna-based EU diplomat said.
"The Russians are very reluctant," he said. "For them, our draft leaves too much room for maneuver and interpretation to allow the Security Council to do much more than they want."
Iran, whose decision last week to remove U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment prompted the EU to break off two years of talks, has taken a defiant stance, aware of its muscle as the world's fourth biggest oil exporter in a volatile market.
Its top nuclear negotiator said his country was willing to discuss the West's concerns, but not to scrap nuclear fuel research, which could advance a quest for atomic power or bombs.
"They should not ask a brave nation with very good scientists to expect not to engage in nuclear research," Ali Larijani told the British Broadcasting Corporation. "If they want guarantees of no (military) diversion of nuclear fuel we can reach a formula acceptable to both sides in talks."
He was apparently referring to a Russian proposal to enrich uranium in a joint venture on Iran's behalf. Talks on this are due to resume in Moscow on February 16, although Western officials have expressed skepticism about Iran's intentions.
China favors reviving talks between Iran and the EU trio, but EU and U.S. officials say this is impossible unless Tehran returns to a moratorium on sensitive nuclear work.
In Damascus, Ahmadinejad won support from President Bashar al-Assad, a beleaguered ally who also risks confrontation with the Security Council over the killing of a Lebanese ex-premier.
"We support the right of Iran and any state in the world to acquire peaceful technology," Assad said after talks with his Iranian guest. "Countries which oppose this gave no convincing reason, regardless of whether it is legitimate or not."
Neither Iran nor Syria faces an imminent threat of military action or broad sanctions at the council, but will come under more diplomatic pressure on every front, analysts say.
Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel to be wiped out have heightened Western alarm about Iran's nuclear intentions.
Germany's foreign intelligence agency believes Iran is at least three or four years away from getting an atom bomb if it wants one, a source familiar with the BND agency's view said.
(Reporting by Paul Eckert in Washington, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Louis Charbonneau in Berlin, Mark Heinrich in Vienna and Oliver Bullough in Moscow) | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject: Rice: No Point in More Iran Negotiations |
| Rice: No Point in More Iran Negotiations
With U.S. Backing, France Rejects Iran Request for More Talks; Rice Says 'Not Much to Talk About'
By NASSER KARIMI
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - France, with the support of the United States, rejected Iran's request for more negotiations on the Islamic republic's nuclear program, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Wednesday "there's not much to talk about" after Iran resumed atomic activities.
As European countries pushed ahead with efforts to have Iran brought before the U.N. Security Council for its nuclear activities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused them of trying to deprive Iran of peaceful technology.
"We are asking they step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic," Ahmadinejad said. "Who are you to deprive us from fulfilling our goals?
"You think you are the lord of the world and everybody should follow you. But that idea is a wrong idea."
In Vienna, Austria, the International Atomic Energy Agency said a special meeting of its 35-nation board of governors would be held Feb. 2 at the request of Britain, France and Germany.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said European nations were seeking the "greatest possible consensus" on dealing with Iran, and the upcoming meeting was a "very important moment."
"What we wish is that there is the greatest possible consensus to mark clearly the limit of what we can accept," he said in Berlin after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Earlier, Iran's foreign minister said he did not believe the country would be referred to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions. However, diplomats say the council is unlikely to take such action since China and Russia, two veto-wielding members, oppose referral.
Tehran's defiant tone came as France, with U.S. backing, rejected Iran's request for a resumption of negotiations, saying Tehran must first suspend its nuclear-related activities.
Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities "means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.
"Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities."
In Washington, Rice and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also rejected any return to talks.
"There's not much to talk about," Rice said during a photo session at the State Department with Solana.
Rice said Iran must not be allowed to have a nuclear weapons capability or "to pursue activities that might to a nuclear weapons capability."
Later, during a speech at Georgetown University, Rice said the international community was united in its belief that Iran "stepped over a line when it broke the seals" at its main uranium enrichment facility and resumed reprocessing nuclear fuel.
"The Iranians want to make this about their rights. It's not about their rights," Rice said. "It's about the ability of the international system to trust them with the capabilities and technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon.
"They have a history with IAEA of not disclosing, with covering their activities and so no one does trust them with those technologies."
Solana agreed that "there is not much point" in resuming talks if there is "nothing new on the table."
The European countries have drawn up a draft IAEA resolution asking the Security Council to press Tehran "to extend full and prompt cooperation to the agency" in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities though it stops short of asking the council to impose sanctions.
A European diplomat accredited to the IAEA said Wednesday there were no significant changes in the language of the draft resolution.
"We are pretty well where we were yesterday," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the draft.
Russia and China as well as Egypt, which also sits on the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors are reluctant to support Iran's referral.
"In view of the overall situation, we regard the possibility of the hauling of Iran's nuclear case to the Security Council to be weak," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told state radio.
"During the past 10 days we have tried to relay our message to all relevant parties, including the Europeans, about Iran's readiness to negotiate on the production of nuclear fuel."
Mottaki said he hoped European countries would avoid taking steps that could only worsen the current situation an apparent reference to U.S. and European talk of sanctions.
Ahmadinejad shrugged off the draft resolution, calling it politically motivated and said he was unconcerned by the attempts to refer Iran to the council.
"There isn't any problem. This is their endeavor. We can't stop others from trying," he told reporters.
The United States accuses Iran of trying to secretly build nuclear weapons a charge Iran denies. Britain, France and Germany, with U.S. backing, have been trying to persuade Iran to import nuclear fuel instead of having its own uranium enrichment program, but Iran has rejected this.
The Bush administration sent U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns to London to coordinate a strategy with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia on dealing with Iran. Burns conceded differences remained after Tuesday's meeting.
"We reached a consensus on some points ... others need to be worked on," he said in Bombay, India, during a South Asia tour.
"There is a consensus that Iran should turn back, return to negotiations and suspend its nuclear program. But that's not the path Iran is on now."
A delegation of Israeli security experts was in Moscow on Wednesday to meet with Russia's Security Council and Foreign Ministry in hopes of winning Russian backing for Security Council referral.
Russia's Interfax news agency said the head of country's nuclear energy agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, met with the delegation led by Israeli National Security Chief Giora Eiland.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was scheduled to meet with Russian officials on Thursday.
Associated Press reporter George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Last edited by Alpha on Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:21 pm Post subject: Iran threatens oil crisis in nuclear standoff |
| Iran threatens oil crisis in nuclear standoff
1 hour, 13 minutes ago
Iran warned of a world oil crisis if sanctions are imposed over its nuclear program even as the United States and Europe struggled to get support for UN Security Council action.
"In case of sanctions, other countries will suffer as well as Iran," Oil Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari said, according to the official news agency, IRNA.
"One of the consequences will be the unleashing of a crisis in the oil sector and particularly a price hike."
Iran, the number two oil exporter in OPEC with oil revenue last year of 42 billion dollars, risks being referred to the United Nations Security Council over what the West suspects is a covert nuclear weapons drive.
World oil prices this week hit a near-four-month high in New York, partly on fears of Iran sanctions.
The nuclear standoff came to a head when Iran broke international seals last week to restart uranium enrichment research which had been suspended for two years under deals with the Europeans.
But the United States and Europe are facing resistance, particularly from permanent UN Security Council members China and Russia, to their push for a referral to the world body and possible sanctions.
"We have been very clear that we believe the time has come for a referral of Iran to the Security Council," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington.
Rice said Iran had been given adequate opportunities to resolve the nuclear issue through negotiations and prove to the world that it was not seeking nuclear weapons.
Russia, which is Iran's main partner in the growing civil nuclear program, has been trying to steer away from a UN showdown. China has also opposed such a step.
Britain, France and Germany, backed by the United States, have called for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on February 2, a first step before possible UN Security Council referral.
Iran insists it is not seeking to build nuclear weapons and that it has the right to develop atomic energy. It has threatened to suspend snap inspections by the IAEA if it is brought before the Security Council.
But the Western powers have rejected Iran's call for a return to direct talks, Britain describing it as "vacuous," unless there is a return to the fuel cycle suspension.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy met with resistance when he held talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to get support for UN action.
"We must simultaneously be united but also firm, to tell the Iranians to return to reason, to stop these dangerous nuclear activities and to let us negotiate together," Douste-Blazy told reporters after the talks.
But Lavrov reiterated Russia's attempts to strike a less confrontational stance.
"We need to act exactly as in medicine," he told journalists. "First understand what method is the most effective -- the scalpel or therapy. Only then do you understand all the aftereffects of further steps. Only then should you act."
As the world powers appeared split, Iran secured backing from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who pledged support for Iran's nuclear program and rejected pressure on Tehran.
"We expressed our support for Iran in its pursuit of peaceful nuclear technology and we back the idea of a dialogue with international parties," Assad said after talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"We also reject the pressure being exerted on this country" over its nuclear program, he said.
A US senator said he planned to introduce a bill calling on President George W. Bush's administration to press governments around the world to shun Iran over its nuclear program.
Democratic Senator Evan Bayh, speaking on US television, said he plans to introduce his resolution Friday, calling for Iran to be excluded from international forums and events and asking the administration to urge other governments to sever economic relations with Tehran. | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:38 pm Post subject: Iran president arrives in Syria |
| Iran president arrives in Syria
(CNN) -- The presidents of Iran and Syria were meeting for talks in Damascus on Thursday -- two regional allies facing prospects of showdowns with the U.N. Security Council.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived for an official two-day visit aimed at holding talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara welcomed Ahmadinejad at Damascus' airport, the news agency said, and Al-Assad was to host a welcome ceremony for Ahmadinejad at the presidential palace within hours.
"Tehran and Damascus have a common stance on Islamic and regional issues," Ahmadinejad told reporters before departing for Damascus, according to IRNA.
Relations between the two countries have improved, he said, following the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
Ahmadinejad said that during his visit, he and al-Assad will confer on "bilateral, regional and international issues," IRNA reported, and the two will sign documents for economic and cultural cooperation.
Both Iran and Syria have recently faced international pressure: Iran over its nuclear program and Syria over its leaders' possible involvement in the February. 14 bombing assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In November, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi voiced support for Syria, although he noted those responsible for Hariri's death should be brought to justice.
"Syria is one of our friends," Asefi said, as reported by the semi-official Mehr news agency. "The actions that are taking place against this country, headed by Israel, is an injustice."
Syrian officials have denied any involvement in Hariri's death and has dismissed a report from a U.N. investigator that found evidence of involvement by Syrian leaders as false and politically motivated.
Iran, meanwhile, faces the threat of possible referral to the U.N. Security Council after it resuming research at its Natanz nuclear enrichment plant.
Tehran insists it is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program, but the United States and the three European nations that conducted failed negotiations with Iran -- Britain, France and Germany, known as the EU3 -- want Iran to halt all nuclear activity, fearing it may try to build a nuclear weapon under the guise of a nuclear energy program.
Iran has refused, standing by its right to nuclear research, and is calling for an immediate resumption of negotiations with the EU3 to iron out any misunderstandings on its nuclear program.
The EU3, backed by the United States, has refused to resume negotiations until Iran replaces the seals on the Natanz plant and returns to its previous, voluntary moratorium on nuclear activity.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/19/syria.iran/index.html?section=cnn_latest | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 10:26 am Post subject: |
| How convenient as the following would be right in accordance with the 'A Clean Break' (war for Israel) agenda that esteemed US intelligence author James Bamford discusses on pages 261-269/321 of his 'A Pretext for War' book (the recently released paperback version of 'A Pretext for War' discusses - on page 403 - the AIPAC/Israel espionage via the Pentagon which the serving Israel first US press/media is hardly covering either):
'A Clean Break' (war for Israel) agenda (from pages 261-269 of James Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book - scroll down to such at the following URL):
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism/2005/02/11/a-clean-break-from-james-bamford-s-a-pretext-for-war.php
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Iran and Syria behind Tel Aviv bomb: Israel's Mofaz
By Ori Lewis
Fri Jan 20, 1:50 AM ET
Israel's defense minister accused Iran and Syria of being directly responsible for Thursday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv which wounded 30 people, newspaper reports said on Friday.
The Haaretz daily reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israeli authorities had "decisive proof that that the attack in Tel Aviv was a direct result of the Axis of Terror that operates between Iran and Syria."
Mofaz was also quoted as saying that Iran had funded the attack while the operational orders to the suicide bomber, who came from the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, were issued at the Islamic Jihad headquarters in Damascus.
Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Mofaz as saying that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, who is on a two-day visit to Syria, was holding a "terrorism summit" with his host, President Bashar al-Assad.
Army Radio reported that Israel had already shared the evidence of Iran's and Syria's involvement with officials in the United States, Europe and Egypt.
Islamic Jihad, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv bombing, the first in the Jewish state since an 11-month truce expired at the end of last year.
The bombing raised tensions five days before a Palestinian election and confronted interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a major test.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the attack was aimed at sabotaging the January 25 parliamentary election. Violence could complicate the poll, in which the militant group Hamas is expected to make a strong showing against his Fatah movement.
Hours after the attack, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian on the side of a road near the West Bank city of Hebron, the army and Palestinian security sources said.
An army spokesman said soldiers fired at two Palestinians who had lit a petrol bomb, killing one man. They arrested the other.
Abbas, who engineered the truce to help smooth the way for Israel's Gaza withdrawal in September, said the bombing was a "flagrant violation" of the truce and was aimed to try to derail the Palestinian vote.
"Whoever stands behind this operation will be pursued," he told reporters in Ramallah.
Authorities said the bomber was the only fatality but one person was in serious condition. The other injuries were mostly light to moderate, medics said. | | | | Alpha | | | | Alpha | | Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 7:03 pm Post subject: |
| Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Thursday review the honour guard at Damascus Airport (AFP photo by Louai Beshara)
DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad closed ranks in talks between the two allies on Thursday, both nations facing growing international pressure.
"Iran has the right to build up nuclear technology for peaceful purposes," Assad said at a joint press conference after their meeting, in which he also called for Israel to renounce its alleged nuclear weapons arsenal.
"We also reject the pressure being exerted on this country" over its nuclear programme, the Syrian leader said.
"Israel is the only country which possesses nuclear arms in the region," said Assad, calling for a Middle East "without weapons of mass destruction.
"If WMD is the pretext of the West, then it should start with Israel."
Israel is widely believed to possess several hundred nuclear warheads, though it has never confirmed or denied having a nuclear arsenal.
"No country in the world should be prevented from having nuclear capacity for peaceful use. Countries which have opposed Iran's programme have no convincing argument, be it legal or logical," Assad said.
Iran and Syria were also united in their support for the resistance against Israel and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, he said.
Ahmadinejad described his trip as producing "excellent results."
"Our relations are solid and deep-rooted and our countries have common positions," he said.
Ahmadinejad's trip to Damascus came two weeks ahead of an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board on February 2, with the European Union and the United States seeking to refer Iran to the UN Security Council.
While Iran faces possible UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, Assad's regime is also increasingly isolated over its alleged involvement in former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's murder in February 2005.
Iran said this month it was halting a voluntary moratorium on sensitive uranium enrichment research — a step short of a process that could be extended to make the core of a nuclear weapon.
The Islamic republic insists it only wants to make reactor fuel to generate electricity, and asserts it has the right to do so under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
On Lebanon, Assad said Syria and Iran wanted stability there but stressed "the need to support the resistance" to Israel, in reference to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbollah.
Tehran and Damascus both back Hizbollah, which is called on to disarm under UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004.
Syria, the former power-broker in Lebanon, was opposed to "any interference in the internal affairs of Lebanon and its internationalisation," Assad said.
Iran and Syria are both under US sanctions for their alleged sponsorship of terrorism and quest for weapons of mass destruction. They also stand accused of playing a spoiling role in their shared neighbour Iraq.
Damascus' ties with neighbouring Lebanon have been increasingly strained since the Hariri assassination, which stirred an international outcry and led to Syria's military pullout from Lebanon last April after a 29-year deployment.
The UN probe into the murder has implicated top-level Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials, and it has asked to interview Assad.
Syria has denied involvement and described the UN probe as biased, a position Iran's state-run press and government officials have consistently supported.
Apart from the nuclear dispute, Ahmadinejad has also made a series of anti-Israeli outbursts in recent months, describing the Jewish state as a "tumor" and calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
The alliance between Tehran and Damascus dates back to the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 when Syria sided with the Islamic republic against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Iranian investment in Syria has risen to $750 million, Ahmadinejad said, adding that a joint Syrian-Iranian commission is to meet in February to discuss economic projects.
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