updated 5:58 p.m. ET Dec. 2, 2009
Iran whistleblower silenced by deadly salad
Opposition leaders fear doctor was killed for revealing jail torture
The Associated Press
CAIRO, Egypt - A 26-year-old doctor who exposed the torture of jailed protesters in Iran died of poisoning from a delivery salad laced with an overdose of blood pressure medication, prosecutors say. The findings fueled opposition fears that he was killed because of what he knew.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether his death was a suicide or murder, Tehran's public prosecutor Abbas Dowlatabadi said, according to the state news agency IRNA.
The revelations of torture against prisoners in Iran's postelection turmoil angered even government supporters and deeply embarrassed the country's clerical leadership and security forces.
Much of the abuse took place at Kahrizak, a prison on Tehran's outskirts where hundreds of opposition protesters were taken. Several there died, and the facility became so notorious that Iran's supreme leader closed it.
Ramin Pourandarjani, a doctor at Kahrizak, later testified to a parliamentary committee and reportedly told them that a young protester he treated died from severe torture. He said he was also forced by security officials to list the cause of death as meningitis, according to opposition Web sites.
Pourandarjani died on Nov. 10 in mysterious circumstances, with authorities initially saying he was in a car accident, had a heart attack or committed suicide.
Lethal in high doses
Forensic tests showed that the doctor died of "poisoning by drugs" that matched doses of propranolol found in a salad that was delivered to him, Dowlatabadi said Tuesday. "A large number of these pills must be used for a person to pass away from them," he said.
Propranolol is used to treat high blood pressure, rapid heart rate and tremors, and can be lethal in high doses.
The restaurant delivery man told investigators that he gave the salad directly to Pourandarjani and described how the doctor took it from him at the door of his room, then closed the door behind him, Dowlatabadi said. The delivery man is not under arrest, he said.
Last week, Iran's top police commander, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, insisted the death was a suicide. He said the doctor faced criminal charges over failure to fulfill his duties to treat the detainees and killed himself in despair in a courthouse lounge. The police chief said a note was found with the body.
But the police chief, speaking more than a week after the death, only highlighted the mysteries.
His comments were the first and only public word that Pourandarjani had faced any charges — or that he had died in a courthouse. The IRNA report on the prosecutor's announcement did not say where the doctor was when the salad was delivered to him.
Suicide questioned
One pro-reform lawmaker dismissed the claims and suggested a link to the prison torture.
"It is impossible to accuse him of suicide," said Masood Pezeshkian, the pro-opposition Web site Roozonline reported Wednesday. "The idea of suicide by someone who had no problems and no serious disease — and was present during the events at Kahrizak — seems questionable to us."
The doctor's father, Reza-Qoli Pourandarjani, told The Associated Press last month that he didn't believe any of the causes of death given so far by the government. But he didn't go as far as accusing anyone of killing his son.
"Just the night before his death, my child talked to me on the phone, it was around 8 or 9 p.m. He sounded great, very dignified, displaying no sign of someone about to commit suicide," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Tabriz in northwestern Iran.
"He was even full of hope" and making plans with friends, the father said.
The next day, the elder Pourandarjani received a call from a Tehran security official informing him that his son was in a car accident with a broken leg and needed his consent to have surgery. When he traveled to Tehran, "we found out that that wasn't the case," the father said.
Tortured?
Several opposition Web sites raised concerns that Pourandarjani was killed because he knew details on a number of torture victims at Kahrizak, including 24-year-old Mohsen Rouhalamini, the son of a prominent conservative figure. Rouhalamini's death in late July was the main factor raising anger among government supporters over the abuse.
In his testimony, the doctor told the committee investigating abuse that Rouhalamini was brought to him at Kahrizak "in a dreadful state after being subjected to extreme physical torture. He was in a critical state," the opposition Web site Mowjcamp said, citing parliament officials.
Pourandarjani said that after the youth's death, "officials in Kahrizak threatened that if I disclosed the causes of the wounds of the injured at Kahrizak, I would not be able to live," the site reported.
Hundreds of protesters and opposition activists were arrested in the crackdown on protests following the disputed June 12 presidential election, in which the opposition says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory was fraudulent. The opposition says at least 69 people were killed while the government has confirmed around 30 deaths.
More than 100 protesters, activists and pro-reform opposition have been on trial, accused of fueling the protests and being part of a plot to overthrow the government.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Iran
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Iran whistleblower silenced by deadly salad
by doug » Wed Dec 02, 2009 11:45 pm
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Iran agrees to nuclear fuel swap
by doug » Sat Dec 12, 2009 5:38 pm
updated 2:45 p.m. ET Dec. 12, 2009
Iran agrees to nuclear fuel swap
Offer, however, falls short of conditions set by international community
Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki says Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile but according to its own timetable.
The Associated Press
MANAMA, Bahrain - Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel rods — as proposed by the U.N. — but according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister said Saturday.
The minister's remarks come just days before an expected meeting between the U.S. and allies to discuss new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The offer, however, falls far short of the conditions set by the international community.
Speaking to reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Manochehr Mottaki said Iran agreed with a U.N. deal proposed in October in which up to 2,600 pounds of its uranium would be exchanged for fuel rods to power its research reactor.
"We accepted the proposal in principle," he said through a translator. "We suggested in the first phase we give you 400 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium and you give us the equivalent in 20 percent uranium."
Iran has about 3,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium and needs to refine to 20 percent to operate a research reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Uranium stockpiles
Uranium enriched at low levels can be used as fuel for nuclear energy, but when enriched to 90 percent and above, it can be used as material for a weapon. The United States and five other world powers have been trying to win Iran's acceptance of a deal under which Tehran would ship most of its low-enriched uranium stockpile abroad to be processed into fuel rods, which can't be enriched further.
The deal would leave Iran — at least temporarily — without enough enriched uranium to produce a bomb. However, after signaling in October that it would accept the proposal, Iran has since balked, giving mixed signals over the deal, including several statements from lawmakers rejecting it outright.
Mottaki maintained, however, that a clear proposal had been given involving the simultaneous exchange of uranium for fuel rods in stages.
"We gave a clear answer and we responded and our answer was we accepted in principle but there were differences in the mechanism," he said, suggesting the exchange take place on Iran's Kish island, in the Persian Gulf.
It is not clear, however, if the low-enriched uranium would then remain on the island or could be shipped out of the country — a necessary condition to any deal from the standpoint of the international community.
The world powers are also unlikely to accept a long drawn out exchange in stages, as it would allow Iran to maintain enough enriched uranium inside the country to possibly build a weapon.
'Comprehensively rejected'
Iran, meanwhile, wants to receive the fuel rods immediately in exchange for its uranium for fear that France or Russia could renege deal.
Last month, the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency endorsed a resolution from the six powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — criticizing Iran for defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment and continuing to expand its operations.
It also censured Iran for secretly building a second facility and demanded that it immediately suspend further construction.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last month that the U.N. offer has been "comprehensively rejected" by Iran. A diplomat from one of the six powers said Wednesday that America's Western allies were waiting for Washington to formally declare the wait for an Iranian response over, probably by the end of this month.
The six countries are expected to meet next week to discuss what action to take over Iran.
EU leaders said they would support further U.N. sanctions unless Tehran starts cooperating over its nuclear program.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Iran agrees to nuclear fuel swap
Offer, however, falls short of conditions set by international community
Iranian Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki says Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile but according to its own timetable.
The Associated Press
MANAMA, Bahrain - Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel rods — as proposed by the U.N. — but according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister said Saturday.
The minister's remarks come just days before an expected meeting between the U.S. and allies to discuss new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The offer, however, falls far short of the conditions set by the international community.
Speaking to reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Manochehr Mottaki said Iran agreed with a U.N. deal proposed in October in which up to 2,600 pounds of its uranium would be exchanged for fuel rods to power its research reactor.
"We accepted the proposal in principle," he said through a translator. "We suggested in the first phase we give you 400 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium and you give us the equivalent in 20 percent uranium."
Iran has about 3,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium and needs to refine to 20 percent to operate a research reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Uranium stockpiles
Uranium enriched at low levels can be used as fuel for nuclear energy, but when enriched to 90 percent and above, it can be used as material for a weapon. The United States and five other world powers have been trying to win Iran's acceptance of a deal under which Tehran would ship most of its low-enriched uranium stockpile abroad to be processed into fuel rods, which can't be enriched further.
The deal would leave Iran — at least temporarily — without enough enriched uranium to produce a bomb. However, after signaling in October that it would accept the proposal, Iran has since balked, giving mixed signals over the deal, including several statements from lawmakers rejecting it outright.
Mottaki maintained, however, that a clear proposal had been given involving the simultaneous exchange of uranium for fuel rods in stages.
"We gave a clear answer and we responded and our answer was we accepted in principle but there were differences in the mechanism," he said, suggesting the exchange take place on Iran's Kish island, in the Persian Gulf.
It is not clear, however, if the low-enriched uranium would then remain on the island or could be shipped out of the country — a necessary condition to any deal from the standpoint of the international community.
The world powers are also unlikely to accept a long drawn out exchange in stages, as it would allow Iran to maintain enough enriched uranium inside the country to possibly build a weapon.
'Comprehensively rejected'
Iran, meanwhile, wants to receive the fuel rods immediately in exchange for its uranium for fear that France or Russia could renege deal.
Last month, the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency endorsed a resolution from the six powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — criticizing Iran for defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment and continuing to expand its operations.
It also censured Iran for secretly building a second facility and demanded that it immediately suspend further construction.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last month that the U.N. offer has been "comprehensively rejected" by Iran. A diplomat from one of the six powers said Wednesday that America's Western allies were waiting for Washington to formally declare the wait for an Iranian response over, probably by the end of this month.
The six countries are expected to meet next week to discuss what action to take over Iran.
EU leaders said they would support further U.N. sanctions unless Tehran starts cooperating over its nuclear program.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Reports: Iran protesters ?savagely attacked?
by doug » Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:12 am
updated 10:57 a.m. ET Dec. 23, 2009
Reports: Iran protesters ‘savagely attacked’
Memorial for dissident cleric marred by violence, reformist Web sites claim
The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Security forces clashed with opposition protesters gathered Wednesday for a memorial for Iran's most senior dissident cleric, beating men and women and firing tear gas, reformist Web sites reported.
The gathering at the main mosque in the central city of Isfahan, 200 miles southeast of Tehran, was meant to honor Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual leader of the Iranian reformist movement who died Sunday.
His death set off large memorial ceremonies that turned into pro-opposition protests in defiance of a monthslong government crackdown on protesters rallying against the disputed June presidential elections. Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
Top opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was declared the loser in the June election, was sacked from his post at Iran's prestigious Art Academy after attending Montazeri's funeral. More than 50 people were arrested Wednesday in Isfahan, including pro-opposition cleric Masoud Adib, who was expected to address the gathering at the mosque, the Salaamnews and Parlemannews Web sites said.
Mourners poured out in thousands into the streets leading to the mosque, although anti-riot police and plainclothes pro-government Basij militiamen had blocked the neighborhood, the Web sites said.
Parlemannews reported that Basij beat people, including women, and used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. It said troops also surrounded the home of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, a senior reformist cleric who organized the memorial.
'Beaten by the Basijis'
Farid Salavati, an Isfahan resident who tried to attend the memorial, said anti-riot police and militiamen surrounded the Seyed Mosque since early morning.
"They didn't allow anybody to enter the mosque," Salavati told The Associated Press. "Tens of thousands gathered outside for the memorial but were savagely attacked by security forces and the Basijis."
Salavati said baton-wielding riot police clubbed people on the head and shoulders, and kicked men and women alike, injuring dozens. He said sporadic clashes were still going on by mid-day Wednesday. The memorial did not take place, he said.
"I saw at least two people with blood pouring down their face after being beaten by the Basijis," Salavati added.
The reports could not be independently confirmed. The authorities have banned foreign media from covering gatherings in any way connected to the opposition movement.
Taheri, the cleric who organized the service, was quoted by the Web sites as saying that "treating people this way at a memorial service is deplorable."
Taheri was the chief Friday prayer leader in Isfahan until he resigned in 2002 in protest against the establishment, which he said was paralyzing the country in the name of religion to maintain its hold on power.
Worries of more violence
The ceremonies in Montazeri's honor have became a show of defiance against the country's rulers. Tens of thousands of demonstrators had filled the main boulevards in Qom, the hub of Islamic scholarship and study in mostly Shiite Iran, for his funeral procession Monday.
Montazeri's death came as Iran marks one of the most important periods on the Shiite religious calendar, Ashoura. It culminates on Sunday, the same day mourners will gather for the traditional seven-day memorial for Montazeri, raising concerns of more violence.
Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months for anti-government rallies. Montazeri, who died of apparent natural causes on Sunday at age 87, had stunned even hard-core protesters with his scathing denunciations of the ruling clerics and their efforts to crush dissent after the June election.
His open assault on the highest reaches of the Islamic system helped galvanize the opposition and shatter taboos about criticizing the pinnacle of power, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Tuesday, Iranian state television Web site said Ahmadinejad had appointed a new chief of the Art Academy, removing Mousavi from the post. Salaamnews said Ahmadinejad broke off a tour of southern Iran Tuesday to attend the meeting that sacked Mousavi.
There are also been concerns Mousavi could be arrested and tried, along with hundreds of opposition supporters now on trial for taking part in the protests.
Pro-reform lawmaker Darioush Ghanbari said it was a "politically motivated decision" by the government. "It shows they can't tolerate Mousavi even" as part of the academy.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Reports: Iran protesters ‘savagely attacked’
Memorial for dissident cleric marred by violence, reformist Web sites claim
The Associated Press
TEHRAN - Security forces clashed with opposition protesters gathered Wednesday for a memorial for Iran's most senior dissident cleric, beating men and women and firing tear gas, reformist Web sites reported.
The gathering at the main mosque in the central city of Isfahan, 200 miles southeast of Tehran, was meant to honor Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the spiritual leader of the Iranian reformist movement who died Sunday.
His death set off large memorial ceremonies that turned into pro-opposition protests in defiance of a monthslong government crackdown on protesters rallying against the disputed June presidential elections. Iran has been in turmoil since the vote, which the opposition alleges Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by fraud.
Top opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was declared the loser in the June election, was sacked from his post at Iran's prestigious Art Academy after attending Montazeri's funeral. More than 50 people were arrested Wednesday in Isfahan, including pro-opposition cleric Masoud Adib, who was expected to address the gathering at the mosque, the Salaamnews and Parlemannews Web sites said.
Mourners poured out in thousands into the streets leading to the mosque, although anti-riot police and plainclothes pro-government Basij militiamen had blocked the neighborhood, the Web sites said.
Parlemannews reported that Basij beat people, including women, and used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. It said troops also surrounded the home of Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri, a senior reformist cleric who organized the memorial.
'Beaten by the Basijis'
Farid Salavati, an Isfahan resident who tried to attend the memorial, said anti-riot police and militiamen surrounded the Seyed Mosque since early morning.
"They didn't allow anybody to enter the mosque," Salavati told The Associated Press. "Tens of thousands gathered outside for the memorial but were savagely attacked by security forces and the Basijis."
Salavati said baton-wielding riot police clubbed people on the head and shoulders, and kicked men and women alike, injuring dozens. He said sporadic clashes were still going on by mid-day Wednesday. The memorial did not take place, he said.
"I saw at least two people with blood pouring down their face after being beaten by the Basijis," Salavati added.
The reports could not be independently confirmed. The authorities have banned foreign media from covering gatherings in any way connected to the opposition movement.
Taheri, the cleric who organized the service, was quoted by the Web sites as saying that "treating people this way at a memorial service is deplorable."
Taheri was the chief Friday prayer leader in Isfahan until he resigned in 2002 in protest against the establishment, which he said was paralyzing the country in the name of religion to maintain its hold on power.
Worries of more violence
The ceremonies in Montazeri's honor have became a show of defiance against the country's rulers. Tens of thousands of demonstrators had filled the main boulevards in Qom, the hub of Islamic scholarship and study in mostly Shiite Iran, for his funeral procession Monday.
Montazeri's death came as Iran marks one of the most important periods on the Shiite religious calendar, Ashoura. It culminates on Sunday, the same day mourners will gather for the traditional seven-day memorial for Montazeri, raising concerns of more violence.
Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months for anti-government rallies. Montazeri, who died of apparent natural causes on Sunday at age 87, had stunned even hard-core protesters with his scathing denunciations of the ruling clerics and their efforts to crush dissent after the June election.
His open assault on the highest reaches of the Islamic system helped galvanize the opposition and shatter taboos about criticizing the pinnacle of power, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Tuesday, Iranian state television Web site said Ahmadinejad had appointed a new chief of the Art Academy, removing Mousavi from the post. Salaamnews said Ahmadinejad broke off a tour of southern Iran Tuesday to attend the meeting that sacked Mousavi.
There are also been concerns Mousavi could be arrested and tried, along with hundreds of opposition supporters now on trial for taking part in the protests.
Pro-reform lawmaker Darioush Ghanbari said it was a "politically motivated decision" by the government. "It shows they can't tolerate Mousavi even" as part of the academy.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Reports: Iran bans memorials for cleric
by doug » Thu Dec 24, 2009 9:46 am
updated 8:09 a.m. ET Dec. 24, 2009
Reports: Iran bans memorials for cleric
Move comes a day after reports of violent protests in Montazeri’s honor
Reuters
TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have banned memorial gatherings for a leading dissident cleric, with the exception of those in his birthplace and the holy city of Qom, opposition Web sites reported on Thursday.
The reports on the Kaleme and Parlemannews Web sites came a day after they and other pro-reform Web sites said security forces had clashed with supporters of late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri who were gathering for such a service in the city of Isfahan.
Montazeri, a government critic who was born in the central town of Najafabad, died on Saturday in the holy Shiite Muslim city of Qom, where vast crowds attended his funeral procession on Monday, some chanting anti-government slogans.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Fars news agency reported a reformist former government spokesman detained after Iran's disputed June election had been sentenced to six years in jail.
It said Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, who backed opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in the vote, was sentenced by a court on charges including acting against national security, propaganda against the Islamic system and possessing classified documents.
"Based on the court's decision Ramezanzadeh was given a six-year obligatory jail sentence," Fars quoted a Revolutionary court statement as saying. It did not say when the verdict was issued. Revolutionary courts usually handle security cases.
Thousands of people were arrested after the election, which the opposition says was rigged in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's favor. Most of them have since been freed, but more than 80 have received jail sentences of up to 15 years in connection with protests and violence after the vote, the judiciary says.
Strict restrictions
Montazeri's death occurred in the tense run-up to Ashura on December 27, a politically important Shiite religious commemoration that offers the opposition another opportunity to show its strength.
That day coincides with the traditional seventh day of mourning for Montazeri, when more memorial services are usually held.
"According to an announcement by the Supreme National Security Council, with the exception of Qom and Najafabad, the holding of any meeting (memorial service) for Montazeri will be forbidden throughout the country," Kaleme said.
As an example, it said a planned memorial service in the city of Kashan, south of Tehran, was banned on Wednesday.
Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution and a spiritual patron of the opposition, was a fierce critic of the hardline clerical establishment who denounced Ahmadinejad's re-election in June as fraudulent.
Reports of violent protests
On Wednesday, opposition Web sites said security forces armed with batons and tear gas clashed with Montazeri supporters in Isfahan and nearby Najafabad.
Despite scores of arrests and security crackdowns, opposition protests have repeatedly flared up since the vote. A senior local official denied reports of clashes in Isfahan, blaming foreign media of "staging a psychological war" against the clerical establishment by publishing such reports.
Iranian media reported Tehran would from next month ban banknotes which have been scribbled upon, a move one conservative Web site said was in response to the appearance of political slogans on some of them.
Expressions in support of moderate opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi have occasionally been cropping up on the Islamic Republic's banknotes since the disputed election.
Copyright 2009 Reuters
Reports: Iran bans memorials for cleric
Move comes a day after reports of violent protests in Montazeri’s honor
Reuters
TEHRAN - Iranian authorities have banned memorial gatherings for a leading dissident cleric, with the exception of those in his birthplace and the holy city of Qom, opposition Web sites reported on Thursday.
The reports on the Kaleme and Parlemannews Web sites came a day after they and other pro-reform Web sites said security forces had clashed with supporters of late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri who were gathering for such a service in the city of Isfahan.
Montazeri, a government critic who was born in the central town of Najafabad, died on Saturday in the holy Shiite Muslim city of Qom, where vast crowds attended his funeral procession on Monday, some chanting anti-government slogans.
Meanwhile, the semi-official Fars news agency reported a reformist former government spokesman detained after Iran's disputed June election had been sentenced to six years in jail.
It said Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, who backed opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in the vote, was sentenced by a court on charges including acting against national security, propaganda against the Islamic system and possessing classified documents.
"Based on the court's decision Ramezanzadeh was given a six-year obligatory jail sentence," Fars quoted a Revolutionary court statement as saying. It did not say when the verdict was issued. Revolutionary courts usually handle security cases.
Thousands of people were arrested after the election, which the opposition says was rigged in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's favor. Most of them have since been freed, but more than 80 have received jail sentences of up to 15 years in connection with protests and violence after the vote, the judiciary says.
Strict restrictions
Montazeri's death occurred in the tense run-up to Ashura on December 27, a politically important Shiite religious commemoration that offers the opposition another opportunity to show its strength.
That day coincides with the traditional seventh day of mourning for Montazeri, when more memorial services are usually held.
"According to an announcement by the Supreme National Security Council, with the exception of Qom and Najafabad, the holding of any meeting (memorial service) for Montazeri will be forbidden throughout the country," Kaleme said.
As an example, it said a planned memorial service in the city of Kashan, south of Tehran, was banned on Wednesday.
Montazeri, an architect of the 1979 Islamic revolution and a spiritual patron of the opposition, was a fierce critic of the hardline clerical establishment who denounced Ahmadinejad's re-election in June as fraudulent.
Reports of violent protests
On Wednesday, opposition Web sites said security forces armed with batons and tear gas clashed with Montazeri supporters in Isfahan and nearby Najafabad.
Despite scores of arrests and security crackdowns, opposition protests have repeatedly flared up since the vote. A senior local official denied reports of clashes in Isfahan, blaming foreign media of "staging a psychological war" against the clerical establishment by publishing such reports.
Iranian media reported Tehran would from next month ban banknotes which have been scribbled upon, a move one conservative Web site said was in response to the appearance of political slogans on some of them.
Expressions in support of moderate opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi have occasionally been cropping up on the Islamic Republic's banknotes since the disputed election.
Copyright 2009 Reuters
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Web site: Iran cops fatally shoot 3 protesters
by doug » Sun Dec 27, 2009 3:39 am
updated 4:25 a.m. ET Dec. 27, 2009
Web site: Iran cops fatally shoot 3 protesters
Witnesses report clashes between opposition supporters, security forces
msnbc.com news services
TEHRAN, Iran - Three opposition supporters were killed Sunday during clashes with police in central Tehran, according to an Iranian opposition Web site.
"Three people were killed and two others were injured when police opened fire at protesters," the Jaras Web site said.
The report followed witness accounts of fierce clashes between opposition supporters and security forces in the Iranian capital.
Earlier, the reformist Web site Rah-e-Sabz said security forces beat protesters as they chanted anti-government slogans.
Police were also said to have blocked streets leading to central Tehran to prevent thousands of people from joining opposition protests.
Rah-e-Sabz said many protesters still managed to break the security wall Sunday and join other opposition supporters.
Authorities warned of a harsh crackdown should opposition supporters hold rallies coinciding with religious observances marking the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.
Journalists working for foreign media organizations are banned from covering opposition protests.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
Web site: Iran cops fatally shoot 3 protesters
Witnesses report clashes between opposition supporters, security forces
msnbc.com news services
TEHRAN, Iran - Three opposition supporters were killed Sunday during clashes with police in central Tehran, according to an Iranian opposition Web site.
"Three people were killed and two others were injured when police opened fire at protesters," the Jaras Web site said.
The report followed witness accounts of fierce clashes between opposition supporters and security forces in the Iranian capital.
Earlier, the reformist Web site Rah-e-Sabz said security forces beat protesters as they chanted anti-government slogans.
Police were also said to have blocked streets leading to central Tehran to prevent thousands of people from joining opposition protests.
Rah-e-Sabz said many protesters still managed to break the security wall Sunday and join other opposition supporters.
Authorities warned of a harsh crackdown should opposition supporters hold rallies coinciding with religious observances marking the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.
Journalists working for foreign media organizations are banned from covering opposition protests.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
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Eight reported killed in Iran protests
by doug » Sun Dec 27, 2009 11:40 am
updated 12:49 p.m. ET Dec. 27, 2009
Eight reported killed in Iran protests
Nephew of opposition leader Mousavi reportedly killed
Police motorcycles burn as an Iranian opposition protester aims a stone at security forces during clashes in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday.
msnbc.com news services
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital Sunday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said. Another four people were reported killed in the northern city of Tabriz.
Thousands of opposition supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any protests coinciding with a religious observance on Sunday. Iranians were marking Ashoura, commemorating the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air. They then opened fire directly at protesters, killing at least three people, said witnesses and the pro-reform Web site Rah-e-Sabz.
Witnesses said one of the victims was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead. He was seen being carried away by opposition supporters with blood covering his face.
The clashes marked the bloodiest confrontation between protesters and security forces since the height of the unrest in the weeks after June's disputed presidential election. The opposition says Ahmadinejad won the June election through massive vote fraud and that its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the true winner.
An aide to Mousavi says a nephew of Mousavi was killed in the fighting between protesters and security forces. The close aide to Mousavi says the nephew, Ali Mousavi, died of wounds in a hospital on Sunday. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals from the government. A reformist Web site, Parlemannews.ir, also says Mousavi's nephew was killed.
An Iranian opposition website said at least four protesters also were killed in the northwestern city of Tabriz on Sunday during clashes between opposition supporters and security forces.
"During clashes between security forces and protesters ... at least four protesters were killed in Tabriz and many others wounded," said the Jaras website.
Ambulance sirens
Reporters from foreign media organizations were barred from covering the demonstrations on Tehran's central Engelab Street, or Revolution Street, and the reports of deaths could not be independently confirmed. Ambulance sirens could be heard near the site of the protests.
The witnesses and opposition Web site said angry protesters threw stones at security forces and set dozens of their motorbikes on fire. Police helicopters circled overhead as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky over the capital.
Police had blocked streets leading to the center of the capital to try to prevent thousands of people from joining the protest. Still, many opposition supporters managed to break the security wall.
Fierce clashes also broke out Sunday between security forces and opposition supporters in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran, the Rah-e-Sabz Web site said.
The Jaras Web site reported that some police officers refused orders to shoot at protesters.
"Police forces are refusing their commanders' orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran ... some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," Jaras said.
Cell phone services were down and Internet connections were slowed to a crawl, as has happened during most other days of opposition protest in an apparent government attempt to limit attention on the events.
Opposition activists have held a series of anti-government protests since the death of a dissident cleric last week.
The Dec. 20 death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a sharp critic of Iran's leaders, has given a new push to opposition protests, which have endured despite a heavy security crackdown since the election.
Anti-government slogans
His memorials have brought out not only the young, urban activists who filled the ranks of earlier protests, but also older, more religious Iranians who revered Montazeri on grounds of faith as much as politics. Tens of thousands marched in his funeral procession in the holy city of Qom on Monday, many chanting slogans against the government.
Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, had threatened tougher action against protesters on Sunday should they hold rallies.
Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months to stage anti-government rallies.
About 50 plainclothes hard-liners disrupted a speech by former reformist President Mohammad Khatami Saturday evening, attacking and injuring several of those who attended the speech, according to the pro-reform Web site http://www.salaamnews.ir.
The attackers chanted slogans in support of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it said.
Khatami was speaking at the former residence of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's 1979 revolution, in north Tehran on the occasion of the Ashoura holiday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
Eight reported killed in Iran protests
Nephew of opposition leader Mousavi reportedly killed
Police motorcycles burn as an Iranian opposition protester aims a stone at security forces during clashes in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday.
msnbc.com news services
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the capital Sunday, killing at least four people in the fiercest clashes in months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said. Another four people were reported killed in the northern city of Tabriz.
Thousands of opposition supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defied official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any protests coinciding with a religious observance on Sunday. Iranians were marking Ashoura, commemorating the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air. They then opened fire directly at protesters, killing at least three people, said witnesses and the pro-reform Web site Rah-e-Sabz.
Witnesses said one of the victims was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead. He was seen being carried away by opposition supporters with blood covering his face.
The clashes marked the bloodiest confrontation between protesters and security forces since the height of the unrest in the weeks after June's disputed presidential election. The opposition says Ahmadinejad won the June election through massive vote fraud and that its leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, was the true winner.
An aide to Mousavi says a nephew of Mousavi was killed in the fighting between protesters and security forces. The close aide to Mousavi says the nephew, Ali Mousavi, died of wounds in a hospital on Sunday. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals from the government. A reformist Web site, Parlemannews.ir, also says Mousavi's nephew was killed.
An Iranian opposition website said at least four protesters also were killed in the northwestern city of Tabriz on Sunday during clashes between opposition supporters and security forces.
"During clashes between security forces and protesters ... at least four protesters were killed in Tabriz and many others wounded," said the Jaras website.
Ambulance sirens
Reporters from foreign media organizations were barred from covering the demonstrations on Tehran's central Engelab Street, or Revolution Street, and the reports of deaths could not be independently confirmed. Ambulance sirens could be heard near the site of the protests.
The witnesses and opposition Web site said angry protesters threw stones at security forces and set dozens of their motorbikes on fire. Police helicopters circled overhead as clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky over the capital.
Police had blocked streets leading to the center of the capital to try to prevent thousands of people from joining the protest. Still, many opposition supporters managed to break the security wall.
Fierce clashes also broke out Sunday between security forces and opposition supporters in the cities of Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran, the Rah-e-Sabz Web site said.
The Jaras Web site reported that some police officers refused orders to shoot at protesters.
"Police forces are refusing their commanders' orders to shoot at demonstrators in central Tehran ... some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," Jaras said.
Cell phone services were down and Internet connections were slowed to a crawl, as has happened during most other days of opposition protest in an apparent government attempt to limit attention on the events.
Opposition activists have held a series of anti-government protests since the death of a dissident cleric last week.
The Dec. 20 death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a sharp critic of Iran's leaders, has given a new push to opposition protests, which have endured despite a heavy security crackdown since the election.
Anti-government slogans
His memorials have brought out not only the young, urban activists who filled the ranks of earlier protests, but also older, more religious Iranians who revered Montazeri on grounds of faith as much as politics. Tens of thousands marched in his funeral procession in the holy city of Qom on Monday, many chanting slogans against the government.
Iran's police chief, Gen. Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, had threatened tougher action against protesters on Sunday should they hold rallies.
Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months to stage anti-government rallies.
About 50 plainclothes hard-liners disrupted a speech by former reformist President Mohammad Khatami Saturday evening, attacking and injuring several of those who attended the speech, according to the pro-reform Web site http://www.salaamnews.ir.
The attackers chanted slogans in support of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it said.
Khatami was speaking at the former residence of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of Iran's 1979 revolution, in north Tehran on the occasion of the Ashoura holiday.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
providing immigration services worldwide for 25 years
- doug
- Posts: 24817
- Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2002 10:06 pm
- Location: chapel hill, n.c.
Iran holds 5 bodies of slain protesters
by doug » Mon Dec 28, 2009 4:28 pm
updated 5:18 p.m. ET Dec. 28, 2009
Iran holds 5 bodies of slain protesters
Tehran fears funerals may be used as platform for more demonstrations
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian authorities said Monday that they were holding the bodies of five slain anti-government protesters, including the nephew of the opposition leader, in what appeared be an attempt to prevent activists from using their funerals as a platform for more demonstrations.
Pro-reform Web sites and activists said the government also detained at least eight prominent opposition figures — including a former foreign minister — in an intensified crackdown that could fuel more violence of the kind that engulfed the center of Tehran on Sunday. The activity pushed the bitterly opposed camps beyond any immediate prospect of reconciliation or compromise.
Hardliners, including clerical groups and the elite Revolutionary Guard, issued statements urging the country's judiciary to take action against the opposition for violating Islamic principles and insulting the head of Iran's religious leadership, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the bloodiest protests in months, groups of emboldened demonstrators on Sunday chanted slogans against Khamenei, casting aside a taboo on personal criticism of the leader. In outbursts of fury rarely seen in past street confrontations, they burned squad cars and motorcycles belonging to security forces who had opened fire on the crowds, according to witness accounts, opposition Web sites and amateur videos posted on the Web.
"I believe we are moving toward a more militarized and repressive confrontation. Things are going to get worse," said Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a political science professor at Tehran's Allameh Tabatabaei University.
'Can't find the body'
IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency, said the bodies of five protesters, including the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, were being held pending autopsies. The family of the nephew, Ali Mousavi, alleged that he was shot by security forces or government-backed militiamen, and his funeral would likely galvanize another outpouring of opposition anger.
The nephew's brother, Reza Mousavi, earlier said the body was taken overnight from a Tehran hospital.
"Unfortunately, they have taken the body of my brother from the hospital, and however much we search, we can't find the body," Reza Mousavi had told the reformist Web site Parlemannews.ir.
Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be buried within 24 hours of death.
The opposition has alleged that Mousavi's nephew had received death threats in recent days and was shot by assassins who drove to his house. Reformists believe the killing was an attempt to pressure Mousavi to back down, and that the government took his nephew's body to prevent mourners gathering in the street for his funeral.
Iranian state television reported that eight people died in the violence in Tehran, a higher toll than the five deaths reported by some opposition Web sites. The television also cited the Health Ministry as saying 60 people were injured, and many had been released from hospitals after treatment.
Independent confirmation of the casualties was virtually impossible because of state restrictions on media coverage of the upheaval that has gripped Iran since a disputed election in June.
Iranian authorities have said 300 people were arrested in the protests, but did not specify where they were detained. The opposition Jaras Web site said several hundred were arrested in Tehran, and a similar number were detained in the central city of Isfahan.
Tehran residents say limits on Internet access have been tightened since Sunday, and Iranians were unable to see opposition Web sites. Cell phone and text messaging services were sporadic. Communication problems are common around the time of demonstrations, likely a government bid to prevent negative publicity and disrupt coordination among protesters.
The Parlemannews.ir site said three Mousavi aides were detained Monday, including top adviser Ali Riza Beheshti.
Security forces also arrested two people in a raid on a foundation run by the reformist former President Mohammad Khatami, a foundation official said on condition of anonymity because of fears of police reprisal. The Baran Foundation works to promote dialogue between cultures.
Turmoil
Former Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi and human rights activist Emad Baghi were arrested, according to the Rah-e-Sabz Web site. Yazdi, who served as foreign minister after the 1979 Islamic revolution, is now leader of the banned but tolerated Freedom Movement of Iran. One of his aides was also detained.
Bakhshayesh, the Tehran professor, said the best way to defuse the crisis was for Khamenei to ask Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president close to the reformists, to mediate between the two sides. He said Khamenei's absolute support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is accused of stealing the election from Mousavi through massive vote fraud, was proving costly for the supreme leader.
Mahdi Karroubi, an opposition figure who also ran in the election, asked how the government could spill the blood of its people during commemorations of Shiite Islam's most important observance, Ashoura. The observance commemorates the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, and it conveys a message of sacrifice in the face of repression.
He told the opposition Rah-e-Sabz Web site that even the government of the shah, overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, respected the holy day. Comparing a rival to the shah is a serious, though common, insult in Iranian politics.
The government crackdown drew sharp criticism from the West, which is already locked in a dispute with Iran over its suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
"I am calling on those responsible in Tehran to do everything in order to avoid a further escalation of the situation and to end the violence," said Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, who condemned what he called the "brutal action" by security forces.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband of Britain said it was "particularly disturbing" to hear reports of the crackdown by security forces on the sacred occasion of Ashoura. The French Foreign Ministry criticized what it described as arbitrary arrests and violence against demonstrators.
The Dec. 20 death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a harsh critic of Iran's leaders, gave renewed momentum to opposition protests. Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months to stage anti-government rallies.
Also Monday, a Dubai television company said it had not heard from its correspondent in Iran since he went missing near his Tehran house on Sunday.
Dubai Media Inc. said it was in touch with Iranian officials about the fate of Reza al-Basha, a 27-year-old Syrian. Dubai Media is the government-owned parent of a handful of television stations in the emirate.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
Iran holds 5 bodies of slain protesters
Tehran fears funerals may be used as platform for more demonstrations
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian authorities said Monday that they were holding the bodies of five slain anti-government protesters, including the nephew of the opposition leader, in what appeared be an attempt to prevent activists from using their funerals as a platform for more demonstrations.
Pro-reform Web sites and activists said the government also detained at least eight prominent opposition figures — including a former foreign minister — in an intensified crackdown that could fuel more violence of the kind that engulfed the center of Tehran on Sunday. The activity pushed the bitterly opposed camps beyond any immediate prospect of reconciliation or compromise.
Hardliners, including clerical groups and the elite Revolutionary Guard, issued statements urging the country's judiciary to take action against the opposition for violating Islamic principles and insulting the head of Iran's religious leadership, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In the bloodiest protests in months, groups of emboldened demonstrators on Sunday chanted slogans against Khamenei, casting aside a taboo on personal criticism of the leader. In outbursts of fury rarely seen in past street confrontations, they burned squad cars and motorcycles belonging to security forces who had opened fire on the crowds, according to witness accounts, opposition Web sites and amateur videos posted on the Web.
"I believe we are moving toward a more militarized and repressive confrontation. Things are going to get worse," said Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a political science professor at Tehran's Allameh Tabatabaei University.
'Can't find the body'
IRNA, Iran's state-run news agency, said the bodies of five protesters, including the nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, were being held pending autopsies. The family of the nephew, Ali Mousavi, alleged that he was shot by security forces or government-backed militiamen, and his funeral would likely galvanize another outpouring of opposition anger.
The nephew's brother, Reza Mousavi, earlier said the body was taken overnight from a Tehran hospital.
"Unfortunately, they have taken the body of my brother from the hospital, and however much we search, we can't find the body," Reza Mousavi had told the reformist Web site Parlemannews.ir.
Islamic tradition calls for bodies to be buried within 24 hours of death.
The opposition has alleged that Mousavi's nephew had received death threats in recent days and was shot by assassins who drove to his house. Reformists believe the killing was an attempt to pressure Mousavi to back down, and that the government took his nephew's body to prevent mourners gathering in the street for his funeral.
Iranian state television reported that eight people died in the violence in Tehran, a higher toll than the five deaths reported by some opposition Web sites. The television also cited the Health Ministry as saying 60 people were injured, and many had been released from hospitals after treatment.
Independent confirmation of the casualties was virtually impossible because of state restrictions on media coverage of the upheaval that has gripped Iran since a disputed election in June.
Iranian authorities have said 300 people were arrested in the protests, but did not specify where they were detained. The opposition Jaras Web site said several hundred were arrested in Tehran, and a similar number were detained in the central city of Isfahan.
Tehran residents say limits on Internet access have been tightened since Sunday, and Iranians were unable to see opposition Web sites. Cell phone and text messaging services were sporadic. Communication problems are common around the time of demonstrations, likely a government bid to prevent negative publicity and disrupt coordination among protesters.
The Parlemannews.ir site said three Mousavi aides were detained Monday, including top adviser Ali Riza Beheshti.
Security forces also arrested two people in a raid on a foundation run by the reformist former President Mohammad Khatami, a foundation official said on condition of anonymity because of fears of police reprisal. The Baran Foundation works to promote dialogue between cultures.
Turmoil
Former Foreign Minister Ebrahim Yazdi and human rights activist Emad Baghi were arrested, according to the Rah-e-Sabz Web site. Yazdi, who served as foreign minister after the 1979 Islamic revolution, is now leader of the banned but tolerated Freedom Movement of Iran. One of his aides was also detained.
Bakhshayesh, the Tehran professor, said the best way to defuse the crisis was for Khamenei to ask Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president close to the reformists, to mediate between the two sides. He said Khamenei's absolute support for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is accused of stealing the election from Mousavi through massive vote fraud, was proving costly for the supreme leader.
Mahdi Karroubi, an opposition figure who also ran in the election, asked how the government could spill the blood of its people during commemorations of Shiite Islam's most important observance, Ashoura. The observance commemorates the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints, and it conveys a message of sacrifice in the face of repression.
He told the opposition Rah-e-Sabz Web site that even the government of the shah, overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, respected the holy day. Comparing a rival to the shah is a serious, though common, insult in Iranian politics.
The government crackdown drew sharp criticism from the West, which is already locked in a dispute with Iran over its suspected efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
"I am calling on those responsible in Tehran to do everything in order to avoid a further escalation of the situation and to end the violence," said Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, who condemned what he called the "brutal action" by security forces.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband of Britain said it was "particularly disturbing" to hear reports of the crackdown by security forces on the sacred occasion of Ashoura. The French Foreign Ministry criticized what it described as arbitrary arrests and violence against demonstrators.
The Dec. 20 death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a harsh critic of Iran's leaders, gave renewed momentum to opposition protests. Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months to stage anti-government rallies.
Also Monday, a Dubai television company said it had not heard from its correspondent in Iran since he went missing near his Tehran house on Sunday.
Dubai Media Inc. said it was in touch with Iranian officials about the fate of Reza al-Basha, a 27-year-old Syrian. Dubai Media is the government-owned parent of a handful of television stations in the emirate.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2009 MSNBC.com
providing immigration services worldwide for 25 years
- doug
- Posts: 24817
- Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2002 10:06 pm
- Location: chapel hill, n.c.
U.S. speeds up arms buildup with Gulf allies
by doug » Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:33 pm
updated 5:37 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2010
U.S. speeds up arms buildup with Gulf allies
Initiatives with Arab nations, military aimed at thwarting Iran attacks
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The Obama administration is quietly working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to speed up arms sales and rapidly upgrade defenses for oil terminals and other key infrastructure in a bid to thwart future military attacks by Iran, according to former and current U.S. and Middle Eastern government officials.
The initiatives, including a U.S.-backed plan to triple the size of a 10,000-man protection force in Saudi Arabia, are part of a broader push that includes unprecedented coordination of air defenses and expanded joint exercises between the U.S. and Arab militaries, the officials said. All appear to be aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran.
The efforts build on commitments by the George W. Bush administration to sell warplanes and anti-missile systems to friendly Arab states to counter Iran's growing conventional arsenal. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are leading a region-wide military buildup that has resulted in more than $25 billion in U.S. arms purchases in the past two years alone.
Middle Eastern military and intelligence officials said Gulf states are embracing the expansion as Iran reacts increasingly defiantly to international censure over its nuclear program. Gulf states fear retaliatory strikes by Iran or allied groups such as Hezbollah in the event of a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel.
For the Obama administration, the cooperation represents tangible progress against Iran at a time when the White House is struggling to build international support for stronger diplomatic measures, including tough new economic sanctions, a senior official said in an interview.
"We're developing a truly regional defensive capability, with missile systems, air defense and a hardening up of critical infrastructure," said the official, who is involved in strategic planning with Gulf states and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "All of these have progressed significantly over the past year."
U.S. support for the buildup has been kept low-key to avoid fueling concerns in Israel and elsewhere about an accelerating conventional-arms race in the region. Iran, which has made steady advances in developing medium-range missiles, is seeking to acquire modern air-defense systems from Russia while also expanding its navy with new submarines and ships.
Gulf officials say their defensive improvements would be undertaken regardless of U.S. support, but some said they were encouraged by the supportive signals from the Obama administration, which regional leaders initially feared would be more accommodating of Iran than the Bush White House.
"It's a tough neighborhood, and we have to make sure we are protected," said a senior government official in a U.S.-allied Arab state. The official, who also spoke on the condition that his name and country not be revealed, called Iran the "No. 1 threat in the region."
Major arms buildups
The expanded cooperation with the United States includes new agreements with Saudi Arabia to help establish a facilities-protection force under the country's Ministry of Interior to harden defenses for oil facilities, ports and water desalination plants. The new force is expected to grow to 30,000 personnel and will be used to deter attacks by al-Qaeda, as well as possible future strikes by Iran or Iranian-inspired terrorist groups, according to current and former officials familiar with the initiative. Washington is providing access to technology and equipment for the defense upgrade, the officials said.
Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are also undertaking multibillion-dollar purchases of U.S.-made defensive systems. In the past two years, Abu Dhabi has topped the list of foreign customers for U.S. arms, buying $17 billion worth of hardware, including Patriot anti-missile batteries and an advanced anti-missile system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD. Three other Middle Eastern countries are considering buying the same systems.
The UAE, which recently completed a purchase of 80 American-made F-16 fighter jets, last year was invited for the first time to participate in the U.S. Air Force's "Red Flag" exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The small Gulf country is in the process of negotiating a purchase of Rafale fighter jets.
A senior Emirati official familiar with the military exercises said UAE leaders want to enhance "interoperability" with U.S. defensive systems, as well as high-quality weapons.
"We don't measure ourselves by what our neighbors are doing," the official said. "We're interested in sophisticated training and the best and most capable platforms" available.
The country's buildup has impressed U.S. military officials, who say the U.S.-allied Emirates have emerged as a military power in their own right. In a speech in Bahrain last year, U.S. Centcom commander Gen. David A. Petraeus said the UAE air force alone "could take out the entire Iranian air force, I believe."
Although Gulf states are generally loath to publicly antagonize Tehran, the military expansion is occurring against a backdrop of anxiety over the growing dominance of Iran's hard-liners in the wake of last year's disputed presidential election. Like Washington, Arab capitals see Iran's nuclear program as dangerous and destabilizing, even if Iranian leaders stop short of building a nuclear warhead.
In interviews in three Middle East countries, political leaders and analysts said they fear that a nuclear-capable Iran will become the dominant regional power, able to intimidate its neighbors without fear of retaliation. Nearly all the Gulf countries have sizable Shiite Muslim populations with ties to Iran, and some analysts warned that Tehran may try to use these to stir up unrest and possibly even topple pro-Western governments.
"Nuclear weapons are probably most useful to Iran as a deterrent against attack by others, but beyond that, it's all about the swagger and mystique rather than the weapons system," said Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian ambassador to the United States. "I can't see Iran using such weapons, but they could become much more provocative."
Regional nuclear fears
The concern over Iran has partly eclipsed long-standing concerns about Israel, a military powerhouse with an undeclared nuclear arsenal that includes scores of warheads that can be delivered by aircraft, submarines or long-range ballistic missiles, some regional analysts said.
Iran's apparent progress toward nuclear-weapons capability has also heightened new fears of a regional arms race that will expand to include atomic bombs. Driving the concerns are new initiatives by several oil- and gas-rich Arab states to build nuclear reactors or power plants, ostensibly to augment domestic energy supplies. The UAE, with heavy U.S. support, recently signed deals to build its first nuclear power reactors. Among other countries taking or considering similar steps are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Yemen.
Western and Middle Eastern analysts say it is unlikely that any of those countries will openly pursue nuclear weapons, a move that would probably draw international condemnation and prompt a suspension of Western aid. The UAE has taken pains to design a nuclear energy program that it says is proliferation-proof, eliminating parts of the nuclear fuel cycle that could be exploited to obtain material for bombs.
But if Iran were to test a nuclear device, all countries in the region would reconsider their options, government officials and analysts said.
"Every country in the region will open their files and decide again what to do," said a retired Arab general who asked for anonymity so he could speak freely about the subject. "If nuclear weapons appears to be the road to becoming a world power, why shouldn't that be us?"
Warrick, a Washington Post staff writer, reported as part of a fellowship with the International Reporting Project, an independent nonprofit journalism program based in Washington that provides grants to U.S. journalists to report overseas.
© 2010 The Washington Post Company
U.S. speeds up arms buildup with Gulf allies
Initiatives with Arab nations, military aimed at thwarting Iran attacks
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The Obama administration is quietly working with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf allies to speed up arms sales and rapidly upgrade defenses for oil terminals and other key infrastructure in a bid to thwart future military attacks by Iran, according to former and current U.S. and Middle Eastern government officials.
The initiatives, including a U.S.-backed plan to triple the size of a 10,000-man protection force in Saudi Arabia, are part of a broader push that includes unprecedented coordination of air defenses and expanded joint exercises between the U.S. and Arab militaries, the officials said. All appear to be aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran.
The efforts build on commitments by the George W. Bush administration to sell warplanes and anti-missile systems to friendly Arab states to counter Iran's growing conventional arsenal. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are leading a region-wide military buildup that has resulted in more than $25 billion in U.S. arms purchases in the past two years alone.
Middle Eastern military and intelligence officials said Gulf states are embracing the expansion as Iran reacts increasingly defiantly to international censure over its nuclear program. Gulf states fear retaliatory strikes by Iran or allied groups such as Hezbollah in the event of a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel.
For the Obama administration, the cooperation represents tangible progress against Iran at a time when the White House is struggling to build international support for stronger diplomatic measures, including tough new economic sanctions, a senior official said in an interview.
"We're developing a truly regional defensive capability, with missile systems, air defense and a hardening up of critical infrastructure," said the official, who is involved in strategic planning with Gulf states and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "All of these have progressed significantly over the past year."
U.S. support for the buildup has been kept low-key to avoid fueling concerns in Israel and elsewhere about an accelerating conventional-arms race in the region. Iran, which has made steady advances in developing medium-range missiles, is seeking to acquire modern air-defense systems from Russia while also expanding its navy with new submarines and ships.
Gulf officials say their defensive improvements would be undertaken regardless of U.S. support, but some said they were encouraged by the supportive signals from the Obama administration, which regional leaders initially feared would be more accommodating of Iran than the Bush White House.
"It's a tough neighborhood, and we have to make sure we are protected," said a senior government official in a U.S.-allied Arab state. The official, who also spoke on the condition that his name and country not be revealed, called Iran the "No. 1 threat in the region."
Major arms buildups
The expanded cooperation with the United States includes new agreements with Saudi Arabia to help establish a facilities-protection force under the country's Ministry of Interior to harden defenses for oil facilities, ports and water desalination plants. The new force is expected to grow to 30,000 personnel and will be used to deter attacks by al-Qaeda, as well as possible future strikes by Iran or Iranian-inspired terrorist groups, according to current and former officials familiar with the initiative. Washington is providing access to technology and equipment for the defense upgrade, the officials said.
Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are also undertaking multibillion-dollar purchases of U.S.-made defensive systems. In the past two years, Abu Dhabi has topped the list of foreign customers for U.S. arms, buying $17 billion worth of hardware, including Patriot anti-missile batteries and an advanced anti-missile system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD. Three other Middle Eastern countries are considering buying the same systems.
The UAE, which recently completed a purchase of 80 American-made F-16 fighter jets, last year was invited for the first time to participate in the U.S. Air Force's "Red Flag" exercises at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The small Gulf country is in the process of negotiating a purchase of Rafale fighter jets.
A senior Emirati official familiar with the military exercises said UAE leaders want to enhance "interoperability" with U.S. defensive systems, as well as high-quality weapons.
"We don't measure ourselves by what our neighbors are doing," the official said. "We're interested in sophisticated training and the best and most capable platforms" available.
The country's buildup has impressed U.S. military officials, who say the U.S.-allied Emirates have emerged as a military power in their own right. In a speech in Bahrain last year, U.S. Centcom commander Gen. David A. Petraeus said the UAE air force alone "could take out the entire Iranian air force, I believe."
Although Gulf states are generally loath to publicly antagonize Tehran, the military expansion is occurring against a backdrop of anxiety over the growing dominance of Iran's hard-liners in the wake of last year's disputed presidential election. Like Washington, Arab capitals see Iran's nuclear program as dangerous and destabilizing, even if Iranian leaders stop short of building a nuclear warhead.
In interviews in three Middle East countries, political leaders and analysts said they fear that a nuclear-capable Iran will become the dominant regional power, able to intimidate its neighbors without fear of retaliation. Nearly all the Gulf countries have sizable Shiite Muslim populations with ties to Iran, and some analysts warned that Tehran may try to use these to stir up unrest and possibly even topple pro-Western governments.
"Nuclear weapons are probably most useful to Iran as a deterrent against attack by others, but beyond that, it's all about the swagger and mystique rather than the weapons system," said Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian ambassador to the United States. "I can't see Iran using such weapons, but they could become much more provocative."
Regional nuclear fears
The concern over Iran has partly eclipsed long-standing concerns about Israel, a military powerhouse with an undeclared nuclear arsenal that includes scores of warheads that can be delivered by aircraft, submarines or long-range ballistic missiles, some regional analysts said.
Iran's apparent progress toward nuclear-weapons capability has also heightened new fears of a regional arms race that will expand to include atomic bombs. Driving the concerns are new initiatives by several oil- and gas-rich Arab states to build nuclear reactors or power plants, ostensibly to augment domestic energy supplies. The UAE, with heavy U.S. support, recently signed deals to build its first nuclear power reactors. Among other countries taking or considering similar steps are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan and Yemen.
Western and Middle Eastern analysts say it is unlikely that any of those countries will openly pursue nuclear weapons, a move that would probably draw international condemnation and prompt a suspension of Western aid. The UAE has taken pains to design a nuclear energy program that it says is proliferation-proof, eliminating parts of the nuclear fuel cycle that could be exploited to obtain material for bombs.
But if Iran were to test a nuclear device, all countries in the region would reconsider their options, government officials and analysts said.
"Every country in the region will open their files and decide again what to do," said a retired Arab general who asked for anonymity so he could speak freely about the subject. "If nuclear weapons appears to be the road to becoming a world power, why shouldn't that be us?"
Warrick, a Washington Post staff writer, reported as part of a fellowship with the International Reporting Project, an independent nonprofit journalism program based in Washington that provides grants to U.S. journalists to report overseas.
© 2010 The Washington Post Company
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Iran raises stakes in nuclear dispute with West
by doug » Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:51 am
updated 4:54 a.m. ET Feb. 7, 2010
Iran raises stakes in nuclear dispute with West
Tehran orders atomic agency to begin producing higher enriched uranium
Reuters
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday told Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation to start work on producing nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor, further raising the stakes in a dispute with the West.
Ahmadinejad's announcement is likely to irritate Western powers which want Iran to send most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in return for higher-refined fuel for the Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes.
Last year, Iran and six major powers discussed making such a swap as a way to ease international concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, but they have failed so far to agree on how to implement the plan.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the Islamic Republic can make fuel enriched to 20 percent itself if there is no agreement on obtaining the material from abroad.
"We had told them (the West) to come and have a swap, although we could produce the 20 percent enriched fuel ourselves," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech.
"We gave them two-to-three months' time for such a deal. They started a new game and now I (ask) Dr Salehi to start work on the production of 20 percent fuel using centrifuges," he said, referring to atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi.
But he added at a ceremony marking Iran's laser technology achievements: "The doors for interaction are still open."
Contradictory signals
Ahmadinejad also said Iran had the capability to enrich uranium using laser technology, without elaborating.
On Tuesday, the president had appeared for the first time to drop long-standing conditions Tehran had set for accepting the U.N.-brokered fuel proposal, saying Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel.
But the United States and Germany said on Saturday they saw no sign Tehran would make concessions on its nuclear program, despite upbeat comments from Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki over prospects for a deal.
An accord on exchanging fuel could mark a breakthrough in the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to produce an atomic bomb. Iran, a major oil producer, says it only aims to generate electricity.
Mottaki said on Friday he saw good prospects for agreement, but restated two conditions that could be stumbling blocks — that any fuel exchange must be simultaneous and that Iran would determine quantities involved.
He said on Saturday he had "a very good meeting" with the head of the U.N. nuclear agency on the fuel swap plan.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano said he wanted dialogue with Iran to speed up.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ISNA news agency on Sunday: "Iran's stance on the nuclear fuel swap has not changed. Iran is still ready to do such an exchange and if the other side is ready we can negotiate over the details of such a deal."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Iran raises stakes in nuclear dispute with West
Tehran orders atomic agency to begin producing higher enriched uranium
Reuters
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday told Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation to start work on producing nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor, further raising the stakes in a dispute with the West.
Ahmadinejad's announcement is likely to irritate Western powers which want Iran to send most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in return for higher-refined fuel for the Tehran reactor producing medical isotopes.
Last year, Iran and six major powers discussed making such a swap as a way to ease international concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, but they have failed so far to agree on how to implement the plan.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the Islamic Republic can make fuel enriched to 20 percent itself if there is no agreement on obtaining the material from abroad.
"We had told them (the West) to come and have a swap, although we could produce the 20 percent enriched fuel ourselves," Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech.
"We gave them two-to-three months' time for such a deal. They started a new game and now I (ask) Dr Salehi to start work on the production of 20 percent fuel using centrifuges," he said, referring to atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi.
But he added at a ceremony marking Iran's laser technology achievements: "The doors for interaction are still open."
Contradictory signals
Ahmadinejad also said Iran had the capability to enrich uranium using laser technology, without elaborating.
On Tuesday, the president had appeared for the first time to drop long-standing conditions Tehran had set for accepting the U.N.-brokered fuel proposal, saying Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel.
But the United States and Germany said on Saturday they saw no sign Tehran would make concessions on its nuclear program, despite upbeat comments from Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki over prospects for a deal.
An accord on exchanging fuel could mark a breakthrough in the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which the West fears could be used to produce an atomic bomb. Iran, a major oil producer, says it only aims to generate electricity.
Mottaki said on Friday he saw good prospects for agreement, but restated two conditions that could be stumbling blocks — that any fuel exchange must be simultaneous and that Iran would determine quantities involved.
He said on Saturday he had "a very good meeting" with the head of the U.N. nuclear agency on the fuel swap plan.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano said he wanted dialogue with Iran to speed up.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ISNA news agency on Sunday: "Iran's stance on the nuclear fuel swap has not changed. Iran is still ready to do such an exchange and if the other side is ready we can negotiate over the details of such a deal."
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Ahmadinejad: Iran is now a ?nuclear state?
by doug » Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:53 am
updated 11:01 a.m. ET Feb. 11, 2010
Ahmadinejad: Iran is now a ‘nuclear state’
Amount of enriched material unclear just 2 days after process was started
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, flanked by bodyguards, waves to supporters before addressing tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in Azadi Square in southwestern Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, on Thursday.
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions.
Ahmadinejad reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the anniversary of the 1979 foundation of the Islamic republic that the country was now a "nuclear state," an announcement he's made before. He insisted that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons.
It was not clear how much enriched material had actually been produced just two days after the process was announced to have started.
David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that any 20-percent enriched uranium produced just a few days after the start of the process would be "a tiny amount."
The United States and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the charge, saying the program is just geared toward generating electricity.
"I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 percent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said.
Enriching uranium produces fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons if enriched further to 90 percent or more.
"We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Iran announced Tuesday it was beginning the process of enriching its uranium stockpile to a higher level. The international community reacted by discussing the imposition of new U.N. sanctions.
Revolutionary Guard assets frozen
The U.S. Treasury Department went ahead on Wednesday and froze the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a construction firm he runs for their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
Tehran has said it wants to further enrich the uranium — which is still substantially below the 90 percent plus level used in the fissile core of nuclear warheads — as a part of a plan to fuel its research reactor that provides medical isotopes to hundreds of thousands of Iranians undergoing cancer treatment.
But the West says Tehran is not capable of turning the material into the fuel rods needed by the reactor. Instead it fears that Iran wants to enrich the uranium to make nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad restated Iran's position that it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
"When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he told the crowd. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it."
"We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks," Ahmadinejad added.
Western powers blame Tehran for rejecting an internationally endorsed plan to defuse the situation by having Iran export its low enriched uranium for enrichment abroad and returned as fuel rods for the Tehran reactor.
Iran, in turn, asserts it had no choice but to start enriching to higher levels because its suggested changes to the international plan were rejected.
The president said Iran will triple the production of its low-enriched uranium in the future but didn't elaborate.
"God willing, daily production (of low enriched uranium) will be tripled," he said.
A confidential document from the U.N. nuclear agency shared Wednesday with The Associated Press said Iran's initial effort at higher enrichment is modest, using only a small amount of feedstock and a fraction of its capacities.
© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Ahmadinejad: Iran is now a ‘nuclear state’
Amount of enriched material unclear just 2 days after process was started
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, flanked by bodyguards, waves to supporters before addressing tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in Azadi Square in southwestern Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, on Thursday.
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions.
Ahmadinejad reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the anniversary of the 1979 foundation of the Islamic republic that the country was now a "nuclear state," an announcement he's made before. He insisted that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons.
It was not clear how much enriched material had actually been produced just two days after the process was announced to have started.
David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that any 20-percent enriched uranium produced just a few days after the start of the process would be "a tiny amount."
The United States and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the charge, saying the program is just geared toward generating electricity.
"I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 percent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said.
Enriching uranium produces fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons if enriched further to 90 percent or more.
"We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Iran announced Tuesday it was beginning the process of enriching its uranium stockpile to a higher level. The international community reacted by discussing the imposition of new U.N. sanctions.
Revolutionary Guard assets frozen
The U.S. Treasury Department went ahead on Wednesday and froze the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a construction firm he runs for their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
Tehran has said it wants to further enrich the uranium — which is still substantially below the 90 percent plus level used in the fissile core of nuclear warheads — as a part of a plan to fuel its research reactor that provides medical isotopes to hundreds of thousands of Iranians undergoing cancer treatment.
But the West says Tehran is not capable of turning the material into the fuel rods needed by the reactor. Instead it fears that Iran wants to enrich the uranium to make nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad restated Iran's position that it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
"When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he told the crowd. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it."
"We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks," Ahmadinejad added.
Western powers blame Tehran for rejecting an internationally endorsed plan to defuse the situation by having Iran export its low enriched uranium for enrichment abroad and returned as fuel rods for the Tehran reactor.
Iran, in turn, asserts it had no choice but to start enriching to higher levels because its suggested changes to the international plan were rejected.
The president said Iran will triple the production of its low-enriched uranium in the future but didn't elaborate.
"God willing, daily production (of low enriched uranium) will be tripled," he said.
A confidential document from the U.N. nuclear agency shared Wednesday with The Associated Press said Iran's initial effort at higher enrichment is modest, using only a small amount of feedstock and a fraction of its capacities.
© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Iran?s show of force quashes protest attempts
by doug » Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:00 pm
updated 1:13 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2010
Iran’s show of force quashes protest attempts
‘It means they won and we lost,’ opposition supporter says
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
Video: Protesters, security forces clash in Tehran
TEHRAN, Iran - A massive Iranian security presence, including riot police and gangs of motorbike-riding militia, appeared to snuff out attempts Thursday by anti-government protesters to orchestrate counter-demonstrations on the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic republic.
Police clashed with protesters in several sites around Tehran, firing tear gas to disperse them and paintballs to mark them for arrest. Gangs of hard-liners also attacked senior opposition figures as they tried to attend the rallies — including the wife of the head of the reform movement.
Plainclothes Basiji militiamen beat 65-year-old Zahra Rahnavard with clubs on her head and back until her supporters formed a human ring around her and whisked her away, according to the Web site of her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Foreign media, including NBC News, were only allowed to cover the official ceremonies in Freedom Square, where hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered to mark the revolution's 31st anniversary.
NBC's Ali Arouzi reported that he and the handful of other accredited reporters in Iran were bused into the official rally in Freedom Square, penned into a certain section, barred from talking to even the government supporters and then bused out of the area. He said they were told that they were absolutely prohibited from going out independently to film activities on the streets of Tehran.
The anniversary celebrations were an opportunity for Iran's clerical regime to tout its power in the face of the opposition movement, which has persisted in holding mass street protests since disputed presidential elections in June in defiance of a fierce months-long crackdown.
Based on the reports out of Tehran, the security clampdown appeared to have succeeded in preventing a major opposition turnout. Their numbers were not immediately known — but opposition Web sites spoke of groups of protesters in the hundreds, compared to thousands in past demonstrations.
Official media made no mention of clashes or arrests and state television said "tens of millions of people" attended rallies in support of the revolution across the country of 70 million.
One protester told The Associated Press she had tried to join the demonstrations but soon left in disappointment. "There were 300 of us, maximum 500. Against 10,000 people," she told an AP reporter outside Iran.
"It means they won and we lost. They defeated us. They were able to gather so many people," she said. "But this doesn't mean we have been defeated for good. It's a defeat for now, today. We need time to regroup." She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by authorities, who have jailed protesters for talking to foreign media.
Internet disruptions
Tehran residents also reported Internet speeds dropping dramatically and e-mail services such as Gmail being blocked in a common government tactic to foil opposition attempts to organize.
Heavy numbers of riot police, members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militiamen deployed at key squares and major avenues in the capital to prevent protests from marring the annual mass rallies for the revolution's anniversary.
State television showed images of thousands upon thousands carrying often identical banners marching along the city's broad avenues toward the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square. There, the massive crowds waved Iranian flags and carried pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state, and his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a nationally televised address in the square, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, reiterating that Iran is now a "nuclear state."
'Death to the dictator'
Ahmadinejad made no mention in his speech of Iran's political turmoil.
For days ahead of the anniversary celebrations, anti-government Web sites and blogs have called for a major turnout in counterprotests. Groups of opposition protesters gathered Thursday in several locations around Tehran, wearing green clothes and waving green balloons — the opposition's signature color.
Meantime, opposition Web sites sought to gather as much information as possible from the protests.
"Security forces fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who were trying to march toward Azadi Square as they chanted 'death to the dictator,'" the Web site Rahesabz said, reporting an unknown number of arrests. Police and Basijis on motorbikes swept toward central Tehran, where protesters and security forces clashed in several locations, it and other opposition Web sites reported.
The Web site, Iran's Green Voice, said security forces fired shots and teargas at supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi staging a rally in central Tehran. Mousavi and his wife attended one of the rallies, it said.
Another opposition site, Norooz, said 30 people were arrested in one Tehran square.
The various sites, many run from outside of Iran, also featured videos allegedly taken during protests. The Website, IranNewNow, had a live blog based on reports from the streets with many of the uploaded YouTube videos.
While msnbc.com can not confirm the provenance, date and other information about these clips, we are posting some here as there is no other source of video from the street protests.
Protesters tear down a poster of Ayatollah Khamenei. The location of the scene is not clear.
Protesters on a Tehran subway car chant ‘Death to the Dictator’ and tie green ribbons to hand-rails. While the subjects are wearing winter clothing, we can't be sure when this was shot.
Security forces also briefly detained the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and her husband, who are both senior pro-reform politicians, according to the couple's son, Ali.
The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for less than an hour before being released, their son told the AP.
Text messaging, Internet service hobbled
Iranian authorities again tried to squeeze off text messaging and Web links in attempts to cripple protest organizers. Internet service was sharply slowed, mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat, though some were sporadically accessible.
Many Internet users said they could not log into their Gmail account, Google's e-mail service, since last week.
"We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail," Google said in a statement. "We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly."
Opposition members went on roof tops late Wednesday and shouted Allah-u-Akbar ("God is greatest") in protest — echoing similar cries after the disputed June election as well as anti-shah protests more than three decades ago.
The opposition claims that Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 election was fraudulent and that the true winner was pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets against the government in the weeks after the vote, prompting a massive wave of arrests.
© 2010 msnbc.com
Iran’s show of force quashes protest attempts
‘It means they won and we lost,’ opposition supporter says
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
Video: Protesters, security forces clash in Tehran
TEHRAN, Iran - A massive Iranian security presence, including riot police and gangs of motorbike-riding militia, appeared to snuff out attempts Thursday by anti-government protesters to orchestrate counter-demonstrations on the anniversary of the revolution that created Iran's Islamic republic.
Police clashed with protesters in several sites around Tehran, firing tear gas to disperse them and paintballs to mark them for arrest. Gangs of hard-liners also attacked senior opposition figures as they tried to attend the rallies — including the wife of the head of the reform movement.
Plainclothes Basiji militiamen beat 65-year-old Zahra Rahnavard with clubs on her head and back until her supporters formed a human ring around her and whisked her away, according to the Web site of her husband, Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Foreign media, including NBC News, were only allowed to cover the official ceremonies in Freedom Square, where hundreds of thousands of Iranians gathered to mark the revolution's 31st anniversary.
NBC's Ali Arouzi reported that he and the handful of other accredited reporters in Iran were bused into the official rally in Freedom Square, penned into a certain section, barred from talking to even the government supporters and then bused out of the area. He said they were told that they were absolutely prohibited from going out independently to film activities on the streets of Tehran.
The anniversary celebrations were an opportunity for Iran's clerical regime to tout its power in the face of the opposition movement, which has persisted in holding mass street protests since disputed presidential elections in June in defiance of a fierce months-long crackdown.
Based on the reports out of Tehran, the security clampdown appeared to have succeeded in preventing a major opposition turnout. Their numbers were not immediately known — but opposition Web sites spoke of groups of protesters in the hundreds, compared to thousands in past demonstrations.
Official media made no mention of clashes or arrests and state television said "tens of millions of people" attended rallies in support of the revolution across the country of 70 million.
One protester told The Associated Press she had tried to join the demonstrations but soon left in disappointment. "There were 300 of us, maximum 500. Against 10,000 people," she told an AP reporter outside Iran.
"It means they won and we lost. They defeated us. They were able to gather so many people," she said. "But this doesn't mean we have been defeated for good. It's a defeat for now, today. We need time to regroup." She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by authorities, who have jailed protesters for talking to foreign media.
Internet disruptions
Tehran residents also reported Internet speeds dropping dramatically and e-mail services such as Gmail being blocked in a common government tactic to foil opposition attempts to organize.
Heavy numbers of riot police, members of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij militiamen deployed at key squares and major avenues in the capital to prevent protests from marring the annual mass rallies for the revolution's anniversary.
State television showed images of thousands upon thousands carrying often identical banners marching along the city's broad avenues toward the central Azadi, or Freedom, Square. There, the massive crowds waved Iranian flags and carried pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic state, and his successor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In a nationally televised address in the square, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, reiterating that Iran is now a "nuclear state."
'Death to the dictator'
Ahmadinejad made no mention in his speech of Iran's political turmoil.
For days ahead of the anniversary celebrations, anti-government Web sites and blogs have called for a major turnout in counterprotests. Groups of opposition protesters gathered Thursday in several locations around Tehran, wearing green clothes and waving green balloons — the opposition's signature color.
Meantime, opposition Web sites sought to gather as much information as possible from the protests.
"Security forces fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters who were trying to march toward Azadi Square as they chanted 'death to the dictator,'" the Web site Rahesabz said, reporting an unknown number of arrests. Police and Basijis on motorbikes swept toward central Tehran, where protesters and security forces clashed in several locations, it and other opposition Web sites reported.
The Web site, Iran's Green Voice, said security forces fired shots and teargas at supporters of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi staging a rally in central Tehran. Mousavi and his wife attended one of the rallies, it said.
Another opposition site, Norooz, said 30 people were arrested in one Tehran square.
The various sites, many run from outside of Iran, also featured videos allegedly taken during protests. The Website, IranNewNow, had a live blog based on reports from the streets with many of the uploaded YouTube videos.
While msnbc.com can not confirm the provenance, date and other information about these clips, we are posting some here as there is no other source of video from the street protests.
Protesters tear down a poster of Ayatollah Khamenei. The location of the scene is not clear.
Protesters on a Tehran subway car chant ‘Death to the Dictator’ and tie green ribbons to hand-rails. While the subjects are wearing winter clothing, we can't be sure when this was shot.
Security forces also briefly detained the granddaughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and her husband, who are both senior pro-reform politicians, according to the couple's son, Ali.
The granddaughter, Zahra Eshraghi, and her husband Mohammad Reza Khatami, who is the brother of a former pro-reform president, were held for less than an hour before being released, their son told the AP.
Text messaging, Internet service hobbled
Iranian authorities again tried to squeeze off text messaging and Web links in attempts to cripple protest organizers. Internet service was sharply slowed, mobile phone service widely cut and there were repeated disruptions in popular instant messaging services such as Google chat, though some were sporadically accessible.
Many Internet users said they could not log into their Gmail account, Google's e-mail service, since last week.
"We have heard from users in Iran that they are having trouble accessing Gmail," Google said in a statement. "We can confirm a sharp drop in traffic and we have looked at our own networks and found that they are working properly."
Opposition members went on roof tops late Wednesday and shouted Allah-u-Akbar ("God is greatest") in protest — echoing similar cries after the disputed June election as well as anti-shah protests more than three decades ago.
The opposition claims that Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 election was fraudulent and that the true winner was pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. Hundreds of thousands marched in the streets against the government in the weeks after the vote, prompting a massive wave of arrests.
© 2010 msnbc.com
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Clinton: Iran becoming ?military dictatorship?
by doug » Mon Feb 15, 2010 9:23 am
updated 3:59 a.m. ET Feb. 15, 2010
Clinton: Iran becoming ‘military dictatorship’
Revolutionary Guard is supplanting Tehran’s government, she says
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers questions during the programme 'From Washington', moderated by Al Jazeera's Washington Bureau Chief Abdulrahim Fukara, left, on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Doha on Monday.
The Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, a new U.S. accusation in the midst of rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and crack down on anti-government protesters.
Speaking to Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus, Clinton said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps appears to have gained so much power that it effectively is supplanting the government.
"Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," she said. "That is our view."
Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a previously penalized construction firm he runs because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
The Revolutionary Guard has long been a pillar of Iran's regime as a force separate from the ordinary armed forces. The Guard now has a hand in every critical area including missile development, oil resources, dam building, road construction, telecommunications and nuclear technology.
It also has absorbed the paramilitary Basij as a full-fledged part of its command structure — giving the militia greater funding and a stronger presence in Iran's internal politics.
'Serious negotiations'
In her Doha appearance, Clinton also said she foresees a possible breakthrough soon in stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I'm hopeful that this year will see the commencement of serious negotiations that will cover every issue that is outstanding," she said, adding that "everyone is anticipating" progress after more than a year of impasse between the negotiating parties.
The peace talks broke down in late 2008 with Israel's incursion into Gaza, which had launched rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
Clinton spoke in an interview with the Al-Jazeera TV network before a live audience of mostly Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus.
In remarks in the Qatari capital on Sunday, Clinton said she and the president are disappointed that the administration's efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks had failed thus far.
A Carnegie Mellon audience member who identified himself as an Iranian expatriate asked Clinton if the U.S. would be present in Iraq if Iraq had no oil resources. She said the U.S. wants a normal relationship with the Iraqi government, regardless of its natural resources.
"When we leave Iraq, as has been agreed to, with our military — and we're on schedule to do that — we will hopefully have a relationship with Iraq as we have with any other country," she said. On Sunday she said the number of U.S. troops in Iraq had fallen this month below 100,000 and that the United States is on track to have all combat troops out of the country by the end of summer.
Reflecting the extent of concern in the Persian Gulf region about a U.S. confrontation with Iran, another member of the audience asked Clinton about the outlook for improving relations with Tehran. Clinton reiterated the Obama's administration view that Iran has violated its international obligation to use nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes. And she regretted that Iran has not accepted U.S. offers of nuclear negotiations.
"Unfortunately, there has not been the kind of response that we had hope for from the Iranian leadership," she said.
Clinton makes a point of raising the topic of women and girls' rights whenever she travels abroad. In a speech Sunday to a forum on U.S.-Muslim relations, she stressed it in the context of U.S. support for nations seeking to build democratic institutions.
"As nations strive to build and strengthen governments that reflect the will of their people, grounded in their own traditions, they can count on the United States to be their partner," she said. "But the will of the people means the will of all the people, men and women. Women's rights are an issue of singular importance to me personally and as secretary of state."
She also cited the issue of violence against women, without mentioning any specific country.
"Even today, in 2010, women are still targets of violence," she said Sunday. "And all too often, religion might be used to justify it. But there is never a justification for violence against women. It is not cultural. It is criminal. And it is up to religious leaders to take a stand for women, to call for an end to honor killings, child marriages, domestic and gender-based violence."
Later Monday, Clinton was flying to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a meeting with King Abdullah and a session with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Clinton: Iran becoming ‘military dictatorship’
Revolutionary Guard is supplanting Tehran’s government, she says
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton answers questions during the programme 'From Washington', moderated by Al Jazeera's Washington Bureau Chief Abdulrahim Fukara, left, on the Carnegie Mellon campus in Doha on Monday.
The Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, a new U.S. accusation in the midst of rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and crack down on anti-government protesters.
Speaking to Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus, Clinton said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps appears to have gained so much power that it effectively is supplanting the government.
"Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship," she said. "That is our view."
Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a previously penalized construction firm he runs because of their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
The Revolutionary Guard has long been a pillar of Iran's regime as a force separate from the ordinary armed forces. The Guard now has a hand in every critical area including missile development, oil resources, dam building, road construction, telecommunications and nuclear technology.
It also has absorbed the paramilitary Basij as a full-fledged part of its command structure — giving the militia greater funding and a stronger presence in Iran's internal politics.
'Serious negotiations'
In her Doha appearance, Clinton also said she foresees a possible breakthrough soon in stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I'm hopeful that this year will see the commencement of serious negotiations that will cover every issue that is outstanding," she said, adding that "everyone is anticipating" progress after more than a year of impasse between the negotiating parties.
The peace talks broke down in late 2008 with Israel's incursion into Gaza, which had launched rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
Clinton spoke in an interview with the Al-Jazeera TV network before a live audience of mostly Arab students at Carnegie Mellon's Doha campus.
In remarks in the Qatari capital on Sunday, Clinton said she and the president are disappointed that the administration's efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks had failed thus far.
A Carnegie Mellon audience member who identified himself as an Iranian expatriate asked Clinton if the U.S. would be present in Iraq if Iraq had no oil resources. She said the U.S. wants a normal relationship with the Iraqi government, regardless of its natural resources.
"When we leave Iraq, as has been agreed to, with our military — and we're on schedule to do that — we will hopefully have a relationship with Iraq as we have with any other country," she said. On Sunday she said the number of U.S. troops in Iraq had fallen this month below 100,000 and that the United States is on track to have all combat troops out of the country by the end of summer.
Reflecting the extent of concern in the Persian Gulf region about a U.S. confrontation with Iran, another member of the audience asked Clinton about the outlook for improving relations with Tehran. Clinton reiterated the Obama's administration view that Iran has violated its international obligation to use nuclear technology only for peaceful purposes. And she regretted that Iran has not accepted U.S. offers of nuclear negotiations.
"Unfortunately, there has not been the kind of response that we had hope for from the Iranian leadership," she said.
Clinton makes a point of raising the topic of women and girls' rights whenever she travels abroad. In a speech Sunday to a forum on U.S.-Muslim relations, she stressed it in the context of U.S. support for nations seeking to build democratic institutions.
"As nations strive to build and strengthen governments that reflect the will of their people, grounded in their own traditions, they can count on the United States to be their partner," she said. "But the will of the people means the will of all the people, men and women. Women's rights are an issue of singular importance to me personally and as secretary of state."
She also cited the issue of violence against women, without mentioning any specific country.
"Even today, in 2010, women are still targets of violence," she said Sunday. "And all too often, religion might be used to justify it. But there is never a justification for violence against women. It is not cultural. It is criminal. And it is up to religious leaders to take a stand for women, to call for an end to honor killings, child marriages, domestic and gender-based violence."
Later Monday, Clinton was flying to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a meeting with King Abdullah and a session with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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NYT: U.S. enriches firms defying Iran policy
by doug » Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:51 pm
updated 1:58 p.m. ET March 6, 2010
NYT: U.S. enriches firms defying Iran policy
NYT: Billions of dollars paid to companies that defied sanctions law
An oil refinery and petrochemical complex is seen in the port of Mahshahr, Iran. Companies doing business in Iran's energy industry have been recipients of billions of dollars in U.S. contracts, grants and other benefits.
By Jo Becker and Ron Nixon
The New York Times
The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there, records show.
That includes nearly $15 billion paid to companies that defied American sanctions law by making large investments that helped Iran develop its vast oil and gas reserves.
For years, the United States has been pressing other nations to join its efforts to squeeze the Iranian economy, in hopes of reining in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Now, with the nuclear standoff hardening and Iran rebuffing American diplomatic outreach, the Obama administration is trying to win a tough new round of United Nations sanctions.
But a New York Times analysis of federal records, company reports and other documents shows that both the Obama and Bush administrations have sent mixed messages to the corporate world when it comes to doing business in Iran, rewarding companies whose commercial interests conflict with American security goals.
Many of those companies are enmeshed in the most vital elements of Iran’s economy. More than two-thirds of the government money went to companies doing business in Iran’s energy industry — a huge source of revenue for the Iranian government and a stronghold of the increasingly powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a primary focus of the Obama administration’s proposed sanctions because it oversees Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Other companies are involved in auto manufacturing and distribution, another important sector of the Iranian economy with links to the Revolutionary Guards. One supplied container ship motors to IRISL, a government-owned shipping line that was subsequently blacklisted by the United States for concealing arms shipments.
Under pressure
Beyond $102 billion in United States government contract payments since 2000 — to do everything from building military housing to providing platinum to the United States Mint — the companies and their subsidiaries have reaped a variety of benefits. They include nearly $4.5 billion in loans and loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that underwrites the export of American goods and services, and more than $500 million in grants for work that includes cancer research and the turning of agricultural byproducts into fuel.
In addition, oil and gas companies that have done business in Iran have over the years won lucrative drilling leases for close to 14 million acres of offshore and onshore federal land.
In recent months, a number of companies have decided to pull out of Iran, because of a combination of pressure by the United States and other Western governments, “terrorism free” divestment campaigns by shareholders and the difficulty of doing business with Iran’s government. And several oil and gas companies are holding off on new investment, waiting to see what shape new sanctions may assume.
The Obama administration points to that record, saying that it has successfully pressed allied governments and even reached out directly to corporate officials to dissuade investment in Iran, particularly in the energy industry. In addition, an American effort over many years to persuade banks to leave the country has isolated Iran from much of the international financial system, making it more difficult to do deals there.
“We are very aggressive, using a range of tools,” said Denis McDonough, chief of staff to the National Security Council.
Trade embargo
The government can, and does, bar American companies from most types of trade with Iran, under a broad embargo that has been in place since the 1990s. But as The Times’s analysis illustrates, multiple administrations have struggled diplomatically, politically and practically to exert American authority over companies outside the embargo’s reach — foreign companies and the foreign subsidiaries of American ones.
Indeed, of the 74 companies The Times identified as doing business with both the United States government and Iran, 49 continue to do business there with no announced plans to leave.
One of the government’s most powerful tools, at least on paper, to influence the behavior of companies beyond the jurisdiction of the embargo is the Iran Sanctions Act, devised to punish foreign companies that invest more than $20 million in a given year to develop Iran’s oil and gas fields. But in the 14 years since the law was passed, the government has never enforced it, in part for fear of angering America’s allies.
That has given rise to situations like the one involving the South Korean engineering giant Daelim Industrial, which in 2007 won a $700 million contract to upgrade an Iranian oil refinery.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the deal appeared to violate the Iran Sanctions Act, meaning Daelim could have faced a range of punishments, including denial of federal contracts. That is because the law covers not only direct investments, such as the purchase of shares and deals that yield royalties, but also contracts similar to Daelim’s to manage oil and gas development projects.
But in 2009 the United States Army awarded the company a $111 million contract to build housing in a military base in South Korea. Just months later, Daelim, which disputes that its contracts violated the letter of the law, announced a new $600 million deal to help develop the South Pars gas field in Iran.
Now, though, frustration over Iran’s intransigence has spawned a growing, if still piecemeal, movement to more effectively use the power of the government purse to turn companies away from investing there.
Investment bans
Nineteen states — including New York, California and Florida — have rules that bar or discourage their pension funds from investing in companies that do certain types of business in Iran. Congress is considering legislation that would have the federal government follow suit, by mandating that companies that invest in Iran’s energy industry be denied federal contracts. The provision is modeled on an existing law dealing with war-torn Sudan.
Obama administration officials, while indicating that they were open to the idea, called it only one variable in a complex equation. Right now, the president’s priority is on breaking down Chinese resistance to the new United Nations sanctions, which apply across borders and are aimed squarely at entities that support Iran’s nuclear program.
But Representative Ron Klein, a Florida Democrat who sponsored the contracting provision moving through Congress, said it offered a way forward with or without international agreement.
“We need to send a strong message to corporations that we’re not going to continue to allow them to economically enable the Iranian government to continue to do what they have been doing,” Mr. Klein said.
An unused tool
Sending a strong message was Congress’s intention when it passed the Iran Sanctions Act in 1996.
The law gives the president a menu of possible punishments that he can choose to levy against offending companies. Not only do they risk losing federal contracts, but they can also be prevented from receiving Export-Import Bank loans, obtaining American bank loans exceeding $10 million in a given year, exporting their goods to the United States, purchasing licensed American military technology and, in the case of financial firms, serving as a primary dealer in United States government bonds or as a repository for government funds.
Congress is now considering expanding its purview to a broader array of energy-related activities, including selling gasoline to Iran, which despite its vast oil and gas reserves has antiquated refineries that leave it heavily dependent on imports.
From the beginning, though, the law proved difficult to enforce.
European allies howled that it constituted an improper attempt to apply American law in other countries. Exercising an option to waive the law in the name of national security, the Clinton administration in 1998 declined to penalize the first violator — a consortium led by the French oil company TotalFina, now known as Total.
The administration also indicated that it would waive future penalties against European companies, winning in return tougher European export controls on technology that Iran could convert to military use.
Stuart E. Eizenstat, who as the deputy Treasury secretary handled those negotiations, said the law let Iran “exploit divisions between the U.S. and our European allies.”
Waiving it, though, was followed by additional investments in Iran — and more government largesse for the companies making them.
Oil deals
In 1999, for instance, Royal Dutch Shell signed an $800 million deal to develop two Iranian oil fields. Since then, Shell has won federal contract payments and grants totaling more than $11 billion, mostly for providing fuel to the American military, as well as $200 million in Export-Import loan guarantee and drilling rights to federal lands, records show.
Shell has a second Iranian development deal pending, but officials say they are awaiting the results of a feasibility study. In the meantime, the company continues to receive payments from Iran for its 1999 investment and sells gasoline and lubricants there.
Records show Shell is one of seven companies that challenged the Iran Sanctions Act and received federal benefits.
John R. Bolton, who dealt with Iran as an under secretary of state and United Nations ambassador in the Bush administration, said failing to enforce the law by punishing such companies both sent “a signal to the Iranians that we’re not serious” and undercut Washington’s credibility when it did threaten action.
Mr. Bolton recalled what happened in 2004 when he suggested to the Japanese ambassador that Japan’s state-controlled oil exploration company, Inpex, might be penalized for a $2 billion investment in the Azadegan field in Iran. “The Japanese ambassador said, ‘Well, that’s interesting. How come you’ve never sanctioned a European Union company?’ ” Mr. Bolton recounted.
Inpex was never penalized, though several years later it decided to reduce its stake in the Iranian project. And to Mr. Bolton’s chagrin, the Bush administration did not act on reports about other such investments, neither waiving the law nor penalizing violators.
Recently, after 50 lawmakers from both parties complained to President Obama about the lack of enforcement and sent him a list of companies that apparently violated the law, the State Department announced a preliminary investigation. Officials said that they were looking at 27 deals, and that while some appeared to have been “carefully constructed” to get around the letter of the law, they had identified a number of problematic cases and were focusing on companies still active in Iran.
Competing interests
Among the companies on the list Congress sent to the State Department is the Brazilian state-controlled energy conglomerate Petrobras. Last August, Brazilian officials announced that the company had received a $2 billion Export-Import Bank loan to develop an oil reserve off Rio de Janeiro. The loan offers a case study in the competing interests officials must confront when it comes to the Iran Sanctions Act.
Despite repeated American entreaties, Petrobras had previously invested $100 million to explore Iran’s offshore oil prospects in the Persian Gulf.
But the Export-Import Bank loan could help create American jobs, since Petrobras would use the money to buy goods and services from American companies. Perhaps more important, it could help develop a source of oil outside the Middle East.
After The Times inquired about the loan, bank officials said that they asked for and received a letter of assurance from Petrobras that it had finished its work in Iran. A senior White House official, in a Nov. 13 e-mail message, said that while it was the administration’s policy to warn companies against such investments, “Brazil is an important U.S. trading partner and our discussions with them are ongoing.”
But if the administration hoped that the loan would bring Brazil in line with its objectives in Iran, it would soon prove mistaken.
On Nov. 23, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited Brazil, and the two countries agreed to share technical expertise on energy projects. Iranian officials said they might offer Petrobras additional incentives for further investment.
The visit infuriated American officials, who felt it undercut efforts to press Iran on its nuclear program while lending international legitimacy to the Iranian president. Brazil’s relationship with Iran has also complicated American maneuvering at the United Nations, where Brazil holds a rotating seat on the Security Council. Just last week, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, restated his opposition to the administration’s sanctions proposal, warning, “It is not prudent to push Iran against a wall.”
Carter Lawson, the Export-Import Bank’s deputy general counsel, acknowledged that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit was “problematic for us, and it raised our antenna.” He said that since December the bank had been operating under a new budget rule requiring borrowers to certify that they had no continuing operations in Iran’s energy industry, and was carefully monitoring Petrobras’s activities.
In the meantime, Petrobras’s Tehran office remains open. And Diogo Almeida, the acting economic attaché at the Brazilian Embassy in Iran, said that while Petrobras was currently assessing how much it could invest in Iran, given the huge discovery off Rio de Janeiro, company officials were in active discussions with the Iranian government and were interested in pursuing new business.
Opportunities for profit
For all the American rules and focus, there is still plenty of room for companies to profit in crucial areas of Iran’s economy without fear of reprisal or loss of United States government business.
Auto companies doing business in Iran, for instance, received $7.3 billion in federal contracts over the past 10 years. Among them was Mazda, whose cars in Iran are assembled by a company called the Bahman Group. A 45 percent share in Bahman is held by the Sepah Cooperative Foundation, a large investment fund linked to the Revolutionary Guards, according to Iranian news accounts and a 2009 RAND Corporation report prepared for the Defense Department.
A Mazda spokesman declined to comment, saying the company was unaware of the links.
Even companies based in the United States, including some of the biggest federal contractors, can invest in Iran through foreign subsidiaries run independently by non-Americans.
Honeywell, the aviation and aerospace company, has received nearly $13 billion in federal contracts since 2005. That year it acquired Universal Oil Products, whose British subsidiary is working on a project to expand gasoline production at the Arak refinery in Iran. Universal recently received a $25 million federal grant for a clean-energy project in Hawaii.
In a statement, Honeywell said it had told the State Department in January that while it was fulfilling its Arak contract, it would not undertake new projects in Iran.
Ingersoll Rand, another American company with foreign subsidiaries, says it is evaluating its “minor” business in Iran in light of the political climate. But for now, according to a spokesman, Paul Dickard, it continues to sell air-compression systems with a “wide variety of applications,” including in the oil and gas industries and in nuclear power plants.
Business interests
Senator Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, tried to close the foreign subsidiary loophole after a furor erupted in 2004 over Halliburton, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, which had used a Cayman Islands subsidiary to sell oil-field services to Iran. But he said he was unable to overcome business opposition.
William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, lobbied against Mr. Dorgan’s bill and has opposed other unilateral sanctions. He argues that their futility can be seen in the intransigence of the Iranian government and the way American oil companies have simply been replaced by foreign competitors. Moreover, many foreign companies with business interests in Iran are also large American employers; deny them federal contracts and other benefits, Mr. Reinsch said, “and it’s those workers who will pay the price.”
But Hans Sandberg, senior vice president of Atlas Copco, which is based in Sweden, offered a different perspective. Atlas Copco’s sales of mining and construction equipment to Iran are dwarfed by its American business, including military contracts. If forced to choose, he said: “It would be no problem. We wouldn’t trade with Iran.”
Eric Owles contributed reporting.
This story, "U.S. Enriches Companies Defying Its Policy on Iran," originally appeared in The New York Times.
Copyright © 2010 The New York Times
NYT: U.S. enriches firms defying Iran policy
NYT: Billions of dollars paid to companies that defied sanctions law
An oil refinery and petrochemical complex is seen in the port of Mahshahr, Iran. Companies doing business in Iran's energy industry have been recipients of billions of dollars in U.S. contracts, grants and other benefits.
By Jo Becker and Ron Nixon
The New York Times
The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there, records show.
That includes nearly $15 billion paid to companies that defied American sanctions law by making large investments that helped Iran develop its vast oil and gas reserves.
For years, the United States has been pressing other nations to join its efforts to squeeze the Iranian economy, in hopes of reining in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Now, with the nuclear standoff hardening and Iran rebuffing American diplomatic outreach, the Obama administration is trying to win a tough new round of United Nations sanctions.
But a New York Times analysis of federal records, company reports and other documents shows that both the Obama and Bush administrations have sent mixed messages to the corporate world when it comes to doing business in Iran, rewarding companies whose commercial interests conflict with American security goals.
Many of those companies are enmeshed in the most vital elements of Iran’s economy. More than two-thirds of the government money went to companies doing business in Iran’s energy industry — a huge source of revenue for the Iranian government and a stronghold of the increasingly powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a primary focus of the Obama administration’s proposed sanctions because it oversees Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Other companies are involved in auto manufacturing and distribution, another important sector of the Iranian economy with links to the Revolutionary Guards. One supplied container ship motors to IRISL, a government-owned shipping line that was subsequently blacklisted by the United States for concealing arms shipments.
Under pressure
Beyond $102 billion in United States government contract payments since 2000 — to do everything from building military housing to providing platinum to the United States Mint — the companies and their subsidiaries have reaped a variety of benefits. They include nearly $4.5 billion in loans and loan guarantees from the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that underwrites the export of American goods and services, and more than $500 million in grants for work that includes cancer research and the turning of agricultural byproducts into fuel.
In addition, oil and gas companies that have done business in Iran have over the years won lucrative drilling leases for close to 14 million acres of offshore and onshore federal land.
In recent months, a number of companies have decided to pull out of Iran, because of a combination of pressure by the United States and other Western governments, “terrorism free” divestment campaigns by shareholders and the difficulty of doing business with Iran’s government. And several oil and gas companies are holding off on new investment, waiting to see what shape new sanctions may assume.
The Obama administration points to that record, saying that it has successfully pressed allied governments and even reached out directly to corporate officials to dissuade investment in Iran, particularly in the energy industry. In addition, an American effort over many years to persuade banks to leave the country has isolated Iran from much of the international financial system, making it more difficult to do deals there.
“We are very aggressive, using a range of tools,” said Denis McDonough, chief of staff to the National Security Council.
Trade embargo
The government can, and does, bar American companies from most types of trade with Iran, under a broad embargo that has been in place since the 1990s. But as The Times’s analysis illustrates, multiple administrations have struggled diplomatically, politically and practically to exert American authority over companies outside the embargo’s reach — foreign companies and the foreign subsidiaries of American ones.
Indeed, of the 74 companies The Times identified as doing business with both the United States government and Iran, 49 continue to do business there with no announced plans to leave.
One of the government’s most powerful tools, at least on paper, to influence the behavior of companies beyond the jurisdiction of the embargo is the Iran Sanctions Act, devised to punish foreign companies that invest more than $20 million in a given year to develop Iran’s oil and gas fields. But in the 14 years since the law was passed, the government has never enforced it, in part for fear of angering America’s allies.
That has given rise to situations like the one involving the South Korean engineering giant Daelim Industrial, which in 2007 won a $700 million contract to upgrade an Iranian oil refinery.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the deal appeared to violate the Iran Sanctions Act, meaning Daelim could have faced a range of punishments, including denial of federal contracts. That is because the law covers not only direct investments, such as the purchase of shares and deals that yield royalties, but also contracts similar to Daelim’s to manage oil and gas development projects.
But in 2009 the United States Army awarded the company a $111 million contract to build housing in a military base in South Korea. Just months later, Daelim, which disputes that its contracts violated the letter of the law, announced a new $600 million deal to help develop the South Pars gas field in Iran.
Now, though, frustration over Iran’s intransigence has spawned a growing, if still piecemeal, movement to more effectively use the power of the government purse to turn companies away from investing there.
Investment bans
Nineteen states — including New York, California and Florida — have rules that bar or discourage their pension funds from investing in companies that do certain types of business in Iran. Congress is considering legislation that would have the federal government follow suit, by mandating that companies that invest in Iran’s energy industry be denied federal contracts. The provision is modeled on an existing law dealing with war-torn Sudan.
Obama administration officials, while indicating that they were open to the idea, called it only one variable in a complex equation. Right now, the president’s priority is on breaking down Chinese resistance to the new United Nations sanctions, which apply across borders and are aimed squarely at entities that support Iran’s nuclear program.
But Representative Ron Klein, a Florida Democrat who sponsored the contracting provision moving through Congress, said it offered a way forward with or without international agreement.
“We need to send a strong message to corporations that we’re not going to continue to allow them to economically enable the Iranian government to continue to do what they have been doing,” Mr. Klein said.
An unused tool
Sending a strong message was Congress’s intention when it passed the Iran Sanctions Act in 1996.
The law gives the president a menu of possible punishments that he can choose to levy against offending companies. Not only do they risk losing federal contracts, but they can also be prevented from receiving Export-Import Bank loans, obtaining American bank loans exceeding $10 million in a given year, exporting their goods to the United States, purchasing licensed American military technology and, in the case of financial firms, serving as a primary dealer in United States government bonds or as a repository for government funds.
Congress is now considering expanding its purview to a broader array of energy-related activities, including selling gasoline to Iran, which despite its vast oil and gas reserves has antiquated refineries that leave it heavily dependent on imports.
From the beginning, though, the law proved difficult to enforce.
European allies howled that it constituted an improper attempt to apply American law in other countries. Exercising an option to waive the law in the name of national security, the Clinton administration in 1998 declined to penalize the first violator — a consortium led by the French oil company TotalFina, now known as Total.
The administration also indicated that it would waive future penalties against European companies, winning in return tougher European export controls on technology that Iran could convert to military use.
Stuart E. Eizenstat, who as the deputy Treasury secretary handled those negotiations, said the law let Iran “exploit divisions between the U.S. and our European allies.”
Waiving it, though, was followed by additional investments in Iran — and more government largesse for the companies making them.
Oil deals
In 1999, for instance, Royal Dutch Shell signed an $800 million deal to develop two Iranian oil fields. Since then, Shell has won federal contract payments and grants totaling more than $11 billion, mostly for providing fuel to the American military, as well as $200 million in Export-Import loan guarantee and drilling rights to federal lands, records show.
Shell has a second Iranian development deal pending, but officials say they are awaiting the results of a feasibility study. In the meantime, the company continues to receive payments from Iran for its 1999 investment and sells gasoline and lubricants there.
Records show Shell is one of seven companies that challenged the Iran Sanctions Act and received federal benefits.
John R. Bolton, who dealt with Iran as an under secretary of state and United Nations ambassador in the Bush administration, said failing to enforce the law by punishing such companies both sent “a signal to the Iranians that we’re not serious” and undercut Washington’s credibility when it did threaten action.
Mr. Bolton recalled what happened in 2004 when he suggested to the Japanese ambassador that Japan’s state-controlled oil exploration company, Inpex, might be penalized for a $2 billion investment in the Azadegan field in Iran. “The Japanese ambassador said, ‘Well, that’s interesting. How come you’ve never sanctioned a European Union company?’ ” Mr. Bolton recounted.
Inpex was never penalized, though several years later it decided to reduce its stake in the Iranian project. And to Mr. Bolton’s chagrin, the Bush administration did not act on reports about other such investments, neither waiving the law nor penalizing violators.
Recently, after 50 lawmakers from both parties complained to President Obama about the lack of enforcement and sent him a list of companies that apparently violated the law, the State Department announced a preliminary investigation. Officials said that they were looking at 27 deals, and that while some appeared to have been “carefully constructed” to get around the letter of the law, they had identified a number of problematic cases and were focusing on companies still active in Iran.
Competing interests
Among the companies on the list Congress sent to the State Department is the Brazilian state-controlled energy conglomerate Petrobras. Last August, Brazilian officials announced that the company had received a $2 billion Export-Import Bank loan to develop an oil reserve off Rio de Janeiro. The loan offers a case study in the competing interests officials must confront when it comes to the Iran Sanctions Act.
Despite repeated American entreaties, Petrobras had previously invested $100 million to explore Iran’s offshore oil prospects in the Persian Gulf.
But the Export-Import Bank loan could help create American jobs, since Petrobras would use the money to buy goods and services from American companies. Perhaps more important, it could help develop a source of oil outside the Middle East.
After The Times inquired about the loan, bank officials said that they asked for and received a letter of assurance from Petrobras that it had finished its work in Iran. A senior White House official, in a Nov. 13 e-mail message, said that while it was the administration’s policy to warn companies against such investments, “Brazil is an important U.S. trading partner and our discussions with them are ongoing.”
But if the administration hoped that the loan would bring Brazil in line with its objectives in Iran, it would soon prove mistaken.
On Nov. 23, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited Brazil, and the two countries agreed to share technical expertise on energy projects. Iranian officials said they might offer Petrobras additional incentives for further investment.
The visit infuriated American officials, who felt it undercut efforts to press Iran on its nuclear program while lending international legitimacy to the Iranian president. Brazil’s relationship with Iran has also complicated American maneuvering at the United Nations, where Brazil holds a rotating seat on the Security Council. Just last week, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, restated his opposition to the administration’s sanctions proposal, warning, “It is not prudent to push Iran against a wall.”
Carter Lawson, the Export-Import Bank’s deputy general counsel, acknowledged that Mr. Ahmadinejad’s visit was “problematic for us, and it raised our antenna.” He said that since December the bank had been operating under a new budget rule requiring borrowers to certify that they had no continuing operations in Iran’s energy industry, and was carefully monitoring Petrobras’s activities.
In the meantime, Petrobras’s Tehran office remains open. And Diogo Almeida, the acting economic attaché at the Brazilian Embassy in Iran, said that while Petrobras was currently assessing how much it could invest in Iran, given the huge discovery off Rio de Janeiro, company officials were in active discussions with the Iranian government and were interested in pursuing new business.
Opportunities for profit
For all the American rules and focus, there is still plenty of room for companies to profit in crucial areas of Iran’s economy without fear of reprisal or loss of United States government business.
Auto companies doing business in Iran, for instance, received $7.3 billion in federal contracts over the past 10 years. Among them was Mazda, whose cars in Iran are assembled by a company called the Bahman Group. A 45 percent share in Bahman is held by the Sepah Cooperative Foundation, a large investment fund linked to the Revolutionary Guards, according to Iranian news accounts and a 2009 RAND Corporation report prepared for the Defense Department.
A Mazda spokesman declined to comment, saying the company was unaware of the links.
Even companies based in the United States, including some of the biggest federal contractors, can invest in Iran through foreign subsidiaries run independently by non-Americans.
Honeywell, the aviation and aerospace company, has received nearly $13 billion in federal contracts since 2005. That year it acquired Universal Oil Products, whose British subsidiary is working on a project to expand gasoline production at the Arak refinery in Iran. Universal recently received a $25 million federal grant for a clean-energy project in Hawaii.
In a statement, Honeywell said it had told the State Department in January that while it was fulfilling its Arak contract, it would not undertake new projects in Iran.
Ingersoll Rand, another American company with foreign subsidiaries, says it is evaluating its “minor” business in Iran in light of the political climate. But for now, according to a spokesman, Paul Dickard, it continues to sell air-compression systems with a “wide variety of applications,” including in the oil and gas industries and in nuclear power plants.
Business interests
Senator Byron L. Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, tried to close the foreign subsidiary loophole after a furor erupted in 2004 over Halliburton, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s old company, which had used a Cayman Islands subsidiary to sell oil-field services to Iran. But he said he was unable to overcome business opposition.
William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, lobbied against Mr. Dorgan’s bill and has opposed other unilateral sanctions. He argues that their futility can be seen in the intransigence of the Iranian government and the way American oil companies have simply been replaced by foreign competitors. Moreover, many foreign companies with business interests in Iran are also large American employers; deny them federal contracts and other benefits, Mr. Reinsch said, “and it’s those workers who will pay the price.”
But Hans Sandberg, senior vice president of Atlas Copco, which is based in Sweden, offered a different perspective. Atlas Copco’s sales of mining and construction equipment to Iran are dwarfed by its American business, including military contracts. If forced to choose, he said: “It would be no problem. We wouldn’t trade with Iran.”
Eric Owles contributed reporting.
This story, "U.S. Enriches Companies Defying Its Policy on Iran," originally appeared in The New York Times.
Copyright © 2010 The New York Times
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Biden says Israel and U.S. stand together
by doug » Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:14 am
updated 6:44 a.m. ET March 9, 2010
Biden says Israel and U.S. stand together
‘No space’ between states on Israel’s security, VP says
Vice President Joseph Biden, center, arrives at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that Israel enjoyed Washington's unstinting support for its security and repeated U.S. intent to curb Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," Biden said as the two leaders made statements to the media following talks in Jerusalem.
This was a message Biden had been widely expected to bring in person from President Barack Obama.
The Vice President also said that the U.S. was willing to stand by those who will "take risks for peace," telling Netanyahu that he was confident Israel was prepared to take such risks.
"I think we are at a moment of real opportunity, and I think that the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, if everybody stops and takes a deep breath, are actually more in line than they are opposites," he said earlier.
'Layer of mistrust'
Biden added he hoped the beginning of indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians would be "a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years."
He said he hoped this would lead to direct negotiations that would produce a historic peace treaty.
Video: Wall between Israel, West Bank comes down
Israeli political sources have said he is also making clear Washington does not want Israel to risk any military action against Iran while the United States is seeking a wide coalition for sanctions on Tehran.
Netanyahu said Israel's security priorities were ensuring Iran did not build nuclear weapons and establishing peace with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors.
"I very much appreciate the efforts of President Obama and the American government to lead the international community to place tough sanctions on Iran," he said.
"The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to choose between advancing its nuclear program and advancing the future of its own permanence."
Israel has been pushing for stricter international sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, and has refused to rule out a military strike if sanctions fail.
Biden is due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
Polls show that Israelis have come to see Obama as less friendly to Israel than previous presidents and Biden's visit seemed aimed at least in part at assuaging some of those concerns, both among Israelis and their American supporters, whose backing is seen as crucial ahead of next November's congressional elections.
Obama began his term with a push for Mideast peace, prodding Israel to freeze its construction of West Bank settlements that swallow up land the Palestinians want for a future state. But that call came just as Netanyahu took over in Israel, and though the Israeli leader scaled back settlement construction, he would not accept a full freeze.
Obama's insistence on a total settlement freeze is seen by many in the region to have backfired by encouraging Palestinians to stake out a position that was politically untenable for Israel's hawkish government.
The Palestinians are still saying they will not talk directly to Israel unless it freezes settlement building completely.
But hours after Biden's arrival Monday, the U.S. announced the sides would begin indirect peace negotiations. The fact that the discussions will be held through a U.S. mediator attests to the estrangement between the Israelis and Palestinians, who have been speaking to each other directly, on and off, since the early 1990s.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Biden says Israel and U.S. stand together
‘No space’ between states on Israel’s security, VP says
Vice President Joseph Biden, center, arrives at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel.
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that Israel enjoyed Washington's unstinting support for its security and repeated U.S. intent to curb Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security," Biden said as the two leaders made statements to the media following talks in Jerusalem.
This was a message Biden had been widely expected to bring in person from President Barack Obama.
The Vice President also said that the U.S. was willing to stand by those who will "take risks for peace," telling Netanyahu that he was confident Israel was prepared to take such risks.
"I think we are at a moment of real opportunity, and I think that the interests of the Israeli and Palestinian people, if everybody stops and takes a deep breath, are actually more in line than they are opposites," he said earlier.
'Layer of mistrust'
Biden added he hoped the beginning of indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians would be "a vehicle by which we can begin to allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years."
He said he hoped this would lead to direct negotiations that would produce a historic peace treaty.
Video: Wall between Israel, West Bank comes down
Israeli political sources have said he is also making clear Washington does not want Israel to risk any military action against Iran while the United States is seeking a wide coalition for sanctions on Tehran.
Netanyahu said Israel's security priorities were ensuring Iran did not build nuclear weapons and establishing peace with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbors.
"I very much appreciate the efforts of President Obama and the American government to lead the international community to place tough sanctions on Iran," he said.
"The stronger those sanctions are, the more likely it will be that the Iranian regime will have to choose between advancing its nuclear program and advancing the future of its own permanence."
Israel has been pushing for stricter international sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, and has refused to rule out a military strike if sanctions fail.
Biden is due to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
Polls show that Israelis have come to see Obama as less friendly to Israel than previous presidents and Biden's visit seemed aimed at least in part at assuaging some of those concerns, both among Israelis and their American supporters, whose backing is seen as crucial ahead of next November's congressional elections.
Obama began his term with a push for Mideast peace, prodding Israel to freeze its construction of West Bank settlements that swallow up land the Palestinians want for a future state. But that call came just as Netanyahu took over in Israel, and though the Israeli leader scaled back settlement construction, he would not accept a full freeze.
Obama's insistence on a total settlement freeze is seen by many in the region to have backfired by encouraging Palestinians to stake out a position that was politically untenable for Israel's hawkish government.
The Palestinians are still saying they will not talk directly to Israel unless it freezes settlement building completely.
But hours after Biden's arrival Monday, the U.S. announced the sides would begin indirect peace negotiations. The fact that the discussions will be held through a U.S. mediator attests to the estrangement between the Israelis and Palestinians, who have been speaking to each other directly, on and off, since the early 1990s.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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Obama, Sarkozy urge sanctions on Iran
by doug » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:29 pm
updated 5:41 p.m. ET March 30, 2010
Obama, Sarkozy urge sanctions on Iran
Presidents take united stand against Tehran, condemn Israeli settlements
The Associated Press
Video: Obama, Sarkozy share sometimes charged French connection
WASHINGTON - At the side of his French ally, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the world is "more united than ever" on the need to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed state.
"On this the United States and France are united," Obama said, opening a joint appearance before reporters that capped White House meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Today, the international community is more united than ever on the need for Iran to uphold its obligations."
The United States is working with France and other allies to develop a new, tougher round of sanctions against Iran, which they accuse of continuing uranium enrichment in defiance of United Nations demands. Tehran says it seeks only nuclear power, not weapons.
Obama said he wants to see U.N. sanctions in place against Iran within weeks.
Condemning Israeli settlements
During the press conference, Sarkozy also joined Obama in condemning Israeli settlement activity in east Jerusalem.
Sarkozy said his own commitment to Israel's security was well known, but added that the settlement activity in an area claimed by the Palestinians "contributes nothing."
Sarkozy praised Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks. Sarkozy said the "absence of peace" in the region "is a problem for all of us" — and that it feeds terrorism around the world.
In earlier developments, Obama, Sarkozy and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde visited the Capitol for talks about climate change and other issues with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After the session with Kerry, Sarkozy said he would push for "very, very hard sanctions" against Iran.
The French leader also met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
In between affairs of state Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, lunched at Ben's Chili Bowl, a no-frills urban diner that has become a Washington institution.
The Sarkozys were scheduled to join Obama and his wife, Michelle, for a private dinner in the White House. The French presidential palace called the diner a first-of-its-kind invite and a sign of esteem for America's oldest ally.
No holds-barred speech
In a no-holds-barred speech at Columbia University on Monday, Sarkozy criticized the U.S. health care system and scolded the U.S. for not listening closely enough to what the rest of the world has to say.
But underlying the criticism was a clear respect for American dynamism and openness, and admiration for Obama. Sarkozy has hosted Obama twice in France, though Tuesday marks his first White House visit.
"You are very loved in the world but we expect a lot of you," Sarkozy said Monday to his largely American audience. "In Europe, we are your friends. In Europe, we admire you. You don't have to worry about that."
Obama, Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Korean President Lee Myung-bak sent a joint letter to the other leaders of the G-20 group of leading world economies urging them to firm up new global financial rules and stick to pledges for better coordination made at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh last year. The letter was released by Sarkozy's office Tuesday.
Will Sarkozy risk unpopular decision?
Whether or not they agree on troop levels in Afghanistan, Obama and Sarkozy are of a mind on wanting new sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities, resuming Mideast peace talks, and better regulating the U.S. financial system.
France has about 3,750 troops and trainers in Afghanistan, but Sarkozy resisted calls by Obama last year to send many more. Some other NATO allies have also been cautious, even as the U.S. is deploying 30,000 more troops to try to reverse gains made by the Taliban.
Two Western diplomats said Obama will ask Sarkozy for more military or police trainers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.
French trainers have been among those killed in Afghanistan this year, and polls show most French voters don't see the point.
"It is not easy to explain that French people are dying in Afghanistan," Sarkozy said.
A French diplomat said France would make its decision based on what the generals on the ground say is needed, not on political expediency. That diplomat was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Sarkozy may not risk an unpopular decision with his own popularity at record lows, and with his conservative party suffering from fractures and badly beaten in recent regional elections.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Obama, Sarkozy urge sanctions on Iran
Presidents take united stand against Tehran, condemn Israeli settlements
The Associated Press
Video: Obama, Sarkozy share sometimes charged French connection
WASHINGTON - At the side of his French ally, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the world is "more united than ever" on the need to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed state.
"On this the United States and France are united," Obama said, opening a joint appearance before reporters that capped White House meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Today, the international community is more united than ever on the need for Iran to uphold its obligations."
The United States is working with France and other allies to develop a new, tougher round of sanctions against Iran, which they accuse of continuing uranium enrichment in defiance of United Nations demands. Tehran says it seeks only nuclear power, not weapons.
Obama said he wants to see U.N. sanctions in place against Iran within weeks.
Condemning Israeli settlements
During the press conference, Sarkozy also joined Obama in condemning Israeli settlement activity in east Jerusalem.
Sarkozy said his own commitment to Israel's security was well known, but added that the settlement activity in an area claimed by the Palestinians "contributes nothing."
Sarkozy praised Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks. Sarkozy said the "absence of peace" in the region "is a problem for all of us" — and that it feeds terrorism around the world.
In earlier developments, Obama, Sarkozy and French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde visited the Capitol for talks about climate change and other issues with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After the session with Kerry, Sarkozy said he would push for "very, very hard sanctions" against Iran.
The French leader also met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
In between affairs of state Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, lunched at Ben's Chili Bowl, a no-frills urban diner that has become a Washington institution.
The Sarkozys were scheduled to join Obama and his wife, Michelle, for a private dinner in the White House. The French presidential palace called the diner a first-of-its-kind invite and a sign of esteem for America's oldest ally.
No holds-barred speech
In a no-holds-barred speech at Columbia University on Monday, Sarkozy criticized the U.S. health care system and scolded the U.S. for not listening closely enough to what the rest of the world has to say.
But underlying the criticism was a clear respect for American dynamism and openness, and admiration for Obama. Sarkozy has hosted Obama twice in France, though Tuesday marks his first White House visit.
"You are very loved in the world but we expect a lot of you," Sarkozy said Monday to his largely American audience. "In Europe, we are your friends. In Europe, we admire you. You don't have to worry about that."
Obama, Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Korean President Lee Myung-bak sent a joint letter to the other leaders of the G-20 group of leading world economies urging them to firm up new global financial rules and stick to pledges for better coordination made at the Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh last year. The letter was released by Sarkozy's office Tuesday.
Will Sarkozy risk unpopular decision?
Whether or not they agree on troop levels in Afghanistan, Obama and Sarkozy are of a mind on wanting new sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities, resuming Mideast peace talks, and better regulating the U.S. financial system.
France has about 3,750 troops and trainers in Afghanistan, but Sarkozy resisted calls by Obama last year to send many more. Some other NATO allies have also been cautious, even as the U.S. is deploying 30,000 more troops to try to reverse gains made by the Taliban.
Two Western diplomats said Obama will ask Sarkozy for more military or police trainers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.
French trainers have been among those killed in Afghanistan this year, and polls show most French voters don't see the point.
"It is not easy to explain that French people are dying in Afghanistan," Sarkozy said.
A French diplomat said France would make its decision based on what the generals on the ground say is needed, not on political expediency. That diplomat was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Sarkozy may not risk an unpopular decision with his own popularity at record lows, and with his conservative party suffering from fractures and badly beaten in recent regional elections.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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- doug
- Posts: 24817
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