Iran's leader proposes talks with Bush

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line president proposed Monday to hold public talks with President Bush on a wide range of issues, without saying whether that included international suspicions of the Iranian nuclear program or allegations of Iranian meddling in Iraq.

"Last year, I announced readiness for a televised debate over global issues with his excellency Mr. Bush. And now we announce that I am ready to negotiate with him about bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on the Web site of Al-Alam, Iran's state-run Arabic satellite television channel.

The Iranian leader did not elaborate on what specifically he was willing to discuss with the U.S. president, but he said the talks "should be held with media present."

It was not immediately clear if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, supported Ahmadinejad's proposal.

Khamenei has regularly rejected any direct talks between Tehran and Washington because of what he calls U.S. "bullying" of Iran. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations since the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The Bush administration said Iran must abandon any nuclear weapon ambitions before talks could ever be held.

"Instead of offering televised debates or a media spectacle, the United States has offered actual discussions if Iran would only agree to what the international community has asked for repeatedly: stop uranium enrichment and reprocessing," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said Monday. "We're ready whenever they are."

Ahmadinejad's offer was not his first overture to Bush. Last year, Iran's president proposed holding a televised debate with the American leader, but the White House called the offer "a diversion from the legitimate concerns" about Iran's nuclear program.

He also wrote a letter to Bush last year that Washington dismissed as irrelevant because it did not address suspicions that Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons. Tehran denies doing that, saying the program is for the peaceful use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

The United States and others also have accused Tehran of helping Shiite Muslims militias blamed for much of Iraq's sectarian bloodshed — a charge Iran denies.

Ahmadinejad told Al-Alam that he thought the U.S. was "unlikely" to use military force against Iran because of the dispute over the nuclear program. U.S. officials have said Washington has no plans to attack Iran.

"It is unlikely that such a will exists in the United States. I think there are enough wise people in the U.S. administration to prevent such a decision," Al-Alam quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

The Iranian leader said military means are the wrong approach to solving disputes. "If some think that by resorting to threats they (can) change the world in favor of themselves, they are wrong," he was quoted as saying.

Earlier Monday, Ahmadinejad defended what he said are Iran's peaceful nuclear intentions and called on the European Union to speak for itself during nuclear negotiations.

"If the EU wants to have a role internationally, it needs to act independently," he Spain's state television TVE. "If it wants to translate the words of the United States, for that we already have the United States.

Iran and the EU were to resume talks in Turkey on Wednesday over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said he would meet with Iran's top negotiator, Ali Larijani, to see if Tehran can be persuaded to halt uranium enrichment in exchange for negotiations about economic incentives.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Tehran over its refusal to freeze enrichment.

According to a document by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has started feeding small amounts of uranium gas into centrifuges that can enrich it to weapons-grade level and is already running more than 1,300 of the machines.

The enrichment process can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or — if taken to a higher degree — the material for atomic bombs.

Iran, EU nuclear talks set for Turkey

LUXEMBOURG (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana confirmed here Monday that he will meet this week with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Turkey.

Iran on Sunday rejected Western calls for a suspension of its sensitive nuclear activities just days ahead of the crucial talks on its atomic drive.

"I will be meeting Larijani on Wednesday in Turkey," Solana told reporters in Luxembourg ahead of an
European Union foreign ministers meeting, adding that the talks would be held in Ankara.

Solana and Larijani held several rounds of discussions last year which failed to find a solution to the crisis. They last met face-to-face for informal talks on the sidelines of the Munich security conference on February 11.

It remains to be seen what result can come out of Wednesday's meeting, given Iran's insistence on enriching uranium and the EU position that Tehran must freeze the process before full negotiations can begin.

Solana declined to comment when asked what could be expected from the meeting given Iran had already delivered a hard line.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran on Sunday that "halting uranium enrichment is definitely deleted from the literature of Iran's nuclear activities."

"I will not talk about that," said Solana. "I expect to have a resumption of the talks that we had some time ago and see if we can move toward negotiations."

The UN Security Council has already imposed two sets of sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt sensitive atomic activities and has threatened to take further punitive action if Tehran's defiance continues.

The EU has been adopting a carrot and stick approach. Solana is expected to renew an offer to Tehran of a major package of political, economic and cooperation in the civil nuclear sector.

At the same time Wednesday's meeting will come half way through a 60-day UN deadline for Iran to cease its enrichment activities with the threat of further Security Council sanctions.

"We remain confident that Javier will be able to assess, to explore the possibilities to come into a prenegociating phase that would eventually lead to negotiations via a package of incentives and positive elements which is still on the table," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to make nuclear weapons, has never ruled out the option of military action to bring Tehran to heel. Iran insists its nuclear drive is solely for generating energy.

Iran has shown no sign of yielding in the stand-off, saying that its uranium enrichment operations have reached an industrial level and announcing it wishes to install over 50,000 uranium enriching centrifuges at a plant in Natanz.

Western observers however have said the extent of Iran's progress remains unclear and diplomats at the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna have said it has installed only 1,300 centrifuges so far.

The prime minister of Iran's arch-foe
Israel, Ehud Olmert, said that Tehran was "far from attaining the technology threshold and this country is not close to getting it, contrary to statements by its leadership."

Iran's first nuclear power station is being built with Russian help in the southern city of Bushehr but its completion has been delayed repeatedly and the nuclear fuel promised by Moscow has yet to arrive.

Iran on Sunday agreed on a plan to resolve a financing dispute with the Russian contractor building the country's first nuclear power plant, Russian news agencies reported, citing the company.

The semi-official Iranian Fars news agency said the EU-Iran meeting could go ahead following work by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Erdogan has been in talks with the head of the national security council (Larijani) and the EU foreign policy chief and agreed that the new round of talks on Wednesday will be held in Turkey," the agency said.

Iran signs major gas deal with Austria's OMV: reports

Sat Apr 21, 5:46 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran signed a major gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy group OMV on Saturday, official Iranian media reported.

State radio estimated the total value of the deal at $18 billion but other Iranian media did not mention any figures.

OMV officials in Tehran declined comment on the reports, saying information would be made available later on Saturday.

Iran sits atop the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia but politics, sanctions and construction delays have slowed the country's gas development and analysts say it is unlikely to become a major exporter for a decade.

The United States has urged its allies not to invest in Iran as part of a campaign to force Tehran to stop its nuclear programme. Washington is concerned the programme is aimed at making atomic bombs but Iran says it is meant for electricity production so that it can export more of its valuable oil and gas.

Iran's huge oil and gas reserves are a strong magnet for international energy companies despite the political risks.

"Officials of Iran's Oil Ministry and the managing director of the Austrian OMV have signed a gas agreement worth $18 billion," state radio said.

Under the deal, OMV would cooperate with Iran in producing liquefied natural gas, the radio added. State television said OMV would also purchase gas from Iran.

The Islamic republic is keen to become a big gas exporter but has been slow to develop its resources. LNG is natural gas altered for transportation in special tankers.

Gholamhossein Nozari, managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said three agreements had been signed with OMV, concerning the development of phase 12 of the South Pars gas field as well as construction of an LNG plant.

"Negotiations with the Austrian OMV company ended with an agreement that this company ... participates in the upstream and downstream activities of this project," he was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.

He said OMV would take a 10 percent stake in the new plant, from which it would buy 10.2 million tonnes of LNG per year. The report did not give details on when construction would start.

The IRNA news agency said Iran would deliver five billion cubic metres of natural gas per year to Europe via the planned Nabucco pipeline, a 4.6 billion euro project to transport gas from Turkey to Austria. OMV heads the Nabucco consortium.

US nuclear worker took software to Iran: FBI

Sat Apr 21,2007

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former engineer at the largest U.S. nuclear power plant was arrested on suspicion of taking software codes and using them to download details of plant control rooms and reactors while in Iran, officials said on Saturday.

The software involved was used to train plant operators and there was no indication of a terrorist connection, said Deborah McCarley, an FBI spokeswoman in Phoenix.

The FBI arrested Mohammad Alavi, who worked at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station outside Phoenix, earlier this month at Los Angeles International Airport when he arrived on a flight from Iran, she said.

He is charged with a single count of violating a trade embargo that bars Americans from exporting goods and services to Iran.

Electronic records show that Alavi's name and password were used to download software registration in October 2006 from a computer in Tehran, according to an FBI affidavit.

Alavi, 49, a U.S. citizen who was born in Tehran, denies wrongdoing, his lawyer, Milagros Cisneros, told the Arizona Republic newspaper.

On Friday a federal judge in Phoenix denied Alavi bail, saying he posed a substantial flight risk, the newspaper reported.

Alavi is accused of removing the software -- which mimics plant operations -- before he quit his job at Palo Verde last August. Export of the software, without prior authorization, is illegal, according to the affidavit.

Alavi faces up to 21 months in prison if convicted of the charge, according to the Arizona Republic.

A spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co., which runs the nuclear power plant, said that "because of existing security and safeguards in place at Palo Verde, the health and safety of the public were never compromised and at no time was the physical or cyber security of the plant compromised."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February increased its scrutiny of Palo Verde, which has experienced operational problems over the last few years.

Located about 50 miles west of Phoenix, the plant supplies power to around 4 million customers in Arizona and other southwestern states

Iran: West should build nuclear plants

TEHRAN, Iran - An Iranian official invited Western nations Friday to help build nuclear power plants across
Iran, reiterating his country's insistence on pursuing an atomic program as a European official said the two sides had agreed to discuss the standoff next week.

The invitation is a test of the West's "good will" and could help restore Iran's trust in the West after subjecting Iranians to intense pressure to suspend nuclear work, Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said.

He commented as a
European Union official said negotiators for Iran and the EU would meet Wednesday for the first time since February to assess the possibility of resuming negotiations over Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the meeting, gave no details of the planned talks between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief international negotiator, Ali Larijani.

"It will not be negotiations in themselves. We will examine the possibilities of what can be done," the official said.

Solana led largely unsuccessful diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to suspend uranium enrichment before the
U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions over Tehran's defiance of the council's demand that it halt such work.

Solana negotiates on behalf of the permanent Security Council members — the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China — as well as Germany.

Those nations have offered Iran a package of economic and other incentives, including assistance for a peaceful nuclear power program to produce electricity, but insist Tehran first stop uranium enrichment.

The U.S. and other nations suspect Iran's government is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its only goal is the peaceful use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

Iran has started feeding small amounts of uranium gas into centrifuges that can enrich it to weapons-grade level and is already running more than 1,300 of the machines, according to an
International Atomic Energy Agency document obtained this week by The Associated Press.

The confidential document — a letter to Iranian officials from a senior IAEA staff member — also protests an Iranian decision to prevent the agency's U.N. inspectors from visiting the country's heavy water reactor that, when built, will produce plutonium.

Both enriched uranium and plutonium can be used to construct nuclear warheads.

Aghazadeh told Iran's official IRNA news agency that the government will never again stop uranium enrichment and vowed it will work around the clock to install even more centrifuges at its underground enrichment plant in Natanz.

Aghazadeh said Iran showed "good will" when it suspended uranium enrichment in 2003 for three years, but lost trust in Western nations after learning they were "seeking a permanent halt to Iran's nuclear activities" rather than guarantees the program would not be diverted to weapons making.

"Therefore, we won't repeat this experience," he said of another suspension.

Pace: Iran-made weapons are in Afghanistan

By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Tuesday Apr 17, 2007 1

Iranian-made munitions meant for Taliban militants have been intercepted by coalition forces in Afghanistan within the past month, the nation’s senior uniformed military officer said Tuesday.

Following earlier U.S. assertions that Iranian-made weapons are being supplied to anti-U.S. forces in Iraq, the new revelation is the first indication of a possible effort by some elements within Iran to broaden a covert effort against U.S. forces in the region.

“It is not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told reporters in Washington. “But we have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan, headed for the Taliban, that were made in Iran.”

The munitions included mortars and “C-4-type” explosives, Pace said, and were found in Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. C-4 is a plastic explosive that can be molded into various shapes and set off with a detonator or blasting cap.

Pace said markings on the explosives enabled officials to determine their source.

The Defense Department has previous reported that the Iranian Quds Force, a paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, is supplying parts for sophisticated and powerful roadside bombs, as well as training, financing and technical support, for Shiite militants fighting U.S forces in Iraq. The bombs, known as explosively formed projectiles or EFPs, are far more powerful than the deadly improvised explosive devices that insurgents have used against U.S. forces in Iraq.

Officials also said U.S. forces have detained members of the Quds Force in the process of attacking the IED network in Iraq.

Last week, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said that Iranian-made arms are being supplied to Sunni extremists. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell also said during that April 11 news conference that Iranian intelligence operatives were supporting the Sunni militants.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said during a Feb. 11 background briefing in Baghdad that the Quds Force activity in Iraq couldn’t have happened without the approval of “top leaders in Iran.” The Pentagon subsequently denied such proof exists.

Iran: Sanctions could push nuclear drive

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday warned that Iran would respond to additional U.N. sanctions with new nuclear advances, in yet another show of defiance to international demands that the country roll back its atomic program.

The U.N. Security Council has set a deadline of late May for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, warning it will gradually ratchet up its punishments. The council imposed limited sanctions in December and strengthened them slightly last month because of Iran's refusal to suspend enrichment.

The enrichment process can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or — if taken to a higher degree — the material for atomic bombs. Iran, however, denies accusations from the U.S. and some of its allies that the country is secretly developing nuclear weapons.

"After the first resolution, we undertook the nuclear fuel cycle; after the second one, we began the industrial phase of nuclear fuel; and if another resolution is issued, new capabilities of the Iranian nation will surface," the state broadcasting company's Web site quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a speech in the southern city of Kazeroun.

The U.N.'s latest sanctions ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets of 28 individuals and companies involved in Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile programs.

Iran has rejected the sanctions and announced a partial suspension of cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Association.

The Iranian president did not specify how the country would ramp up its development in response to a third set of sanctions.

Last week, Iran said it had begun operating 3,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant — nearly 10 times the previously known number. The U.S., Britain, France and others criticized the announcement, but experts expressed skepticism that Iran's claims were true.

During Monday's speech, Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran would not back down from its right to pursue nuclear development and maintained the peaceful nature of the country's program.

"The Iranian nation will use all capacities of nuclear energy in agriculture, industry, medicine and generating electricity," he said.

Iran's defiance has heightened concerns in the region that the U.S. or Israel could respond with a military strike against the country's nuclear facilities.

The U.S. stoked these fears last month when it held a military exercise off Iran's coast that included two aircraft carrier groups, its largest show of force in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Mullen attempted to quell concerns Monday by saying the U.S. had no plan to attack Iran and the heightened naval presence was meant to reassure its regional allies.

"I'm aware of no plans that involve any kind of attack on Iran," Mullen told reporters in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. "All efforts with respect to Iran, I believe, need to be handled through the diplomatic channels."

Saudi king describes Iran's nuclear program as new regional crisis

Pakistan Times

RIYADH: Iran's nuclear program has added one more crisis to the region that needs to be contained, along with the sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, King Abdullah said Saturday.

Saudi Arabia is also seeking to ensure "fair" oil prices and increase its oil production capacity so that it can meet its domestic and international commitments.

In his annual address to the unelected Consultative Council, the closest thing Saudi Arabia has to a parliament, the king also called for national unity and pledged to continue the fight against terrorism until the militants either "come to their senses or are uprooted from Saudi society."

The king delivered a summary of his speech, but the full text was distributed to the media at the council.

Abdullah's speech came amid Arab fears that the sectarian turmoil in Iraq, tension in Lebanon and Iran's contentious nuclear program could lead to chaos that would engulf the whole region.

Riyadh has embarked on an aggressive push to resolve the crises, sending envoys to Iran, talking to Shiite and Sunni Iraqis and urging Lebanon's feuding leaders to sit together and talk.●

U.S. holds onto Iranians seized in Iraq

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration decided this week that it will hold onto five alleged Iranian intelligence agents for several more weeks, at least, instead of freeing them quickly on the heels of last week's release of 15 Britons who had been seized by Iran, U.S. officials said Friday.

Vice President Dick Cheney's foreign policy advisers won an internal administration tussle over what to do with the men, U.S. officials confirmed on condition of anonymity. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice had argued for a quicker release but was overruled, partly out of concern not to make the release appear part of a deal involving the British, the sources said.

The United States has held the five since they were seized in January under disputed circumstances in northern
Iraq. The Bush administration has accused Iran of supplying deadly roadside bombs used against U.S. troops in Iraq and of undermining the fragile democratic government there.

Some U.S. officials have suggested that Iran may have captured the 15 sailors and marines last month partly in hopes that Britain would ask close ally Washington to speed up release of the five. Britain has the second-largest number of troops in Iraq after the United States.

The five are classified as detainees and will be treated like other foreign detainees picked up in Iraq, one official said. That means they will be subject to periodic review of their status, a process that means they will be held "certainly a good number of weeks," and possibly for several months, the official said.

U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe an internal administration decision. The decision was first reported Friday on The Washington Post's Web site.

Iran has recently stepped up complaints over its personnel detained in Iraq, hinting that it might boycott an international conference on Iraq unless American forces release the five Revolutionary Guard agents.

U.S. troops seized the five Iranians in Kurdish northern Iraq, saying they were providing money and weapons to militants.

Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has said American forces were really after commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards who were visiting Kurdish officials.

Iran claimed the men were diplomats and that the building they occupied was a diplomatic mission. The United States claims the five hold no diplomatic immunity and were properly seized.

They have not been charged with a crime and little is known about their detention. The United States allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the men but has so far not allowed Iranian representatives to visit them.

Separately, an Iranian diplomat showed off wounds on his feet Wednesday, and said they were inflicted by drills during two months of detention in Iraq. He said he was harshly interrogated by an American official when he refused to cooperate.

The U.S. has denied any role in the capture of Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, who was seized by gunmen in Baghdad on Feb. 4. Tehran has said he was taken by an Iraqi military unit commanded by U.S. forces, and accusation repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers.

U.S. won't release 5 Iranians held in Iraq -report

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - In a move likely to irritate Tehran, the United States has decided not to release five Iranians captured in Iraq, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The Washington Post said that after intense internal debate, the Bush administration had decided to keep the Iranians in custody and make them go through a periodic six-month review process used for the other 250 foreign detainees held in Iraq.

The next review is not expected until July, the newspaper quoted U.S. officials as saying. Washington says the five, seized in a Jan. 11 raid by U.S. forces in the Kurdish city of Arbil, are linked with Iranian Revolutionary Guard networks involved in providing explosive devices used to attack U.S. troops in Iraq.

Iran says they are diplomats and has demanded their release. The Post said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had wanted to free the men because she judged them no longer useful but went along with the decision to retain them in custody that was strongly supported by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Seymour Hersh: US is funding Al-Qaeda to counter Iran

Iran offers 'proof' of CIA torture

Jalal Sharafi said that US agents had drilled holes in his foot Iranian state television has shown officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross examining an Iranian diplomat who has accused the CIA of torturing him while he was detained in Iraq. Jalal Sharafi was shown in a hospital bed being examined by Peter Stocker from the ICRC and the Iraqi ambassador in footage broadcast on Wednesday. During the examination, the voice of a doctor could be heard describing how Sharafi - formerly the second-most senior official in Iran's embassy in Baghdad - had been beaten with a cable during his detention. After his visit to the diplomat, Stocker told The Associated Press that he saw wounds on Sharafi's body that "were several weeks old", but said he did not know how the injuries occurred. "I cannot say who did it and where it happened," the ICRC official said. "I can only say that it happened during his detention." Stocker was accompanied to the hospital by Majid Sheikh, the Iraqi ambassador to Iran. Diplomat accuses US Earlier in the week, Sharafi's Iranian doctors had reported that holes had been drilled into his foot, but the TV images were not clear enough to indicate whether the small, red marks on his foot were indeed holes. Doctors also reported earlier that he had suffered a broken nose, serious injuries to his back, bleeding in his digestive system, and damage to his ears. None of these injuries has been independently verified, nor were they discernible from the TV footage. Footage released by Iranian TV showed Jalal Sharafi in hospital being examined by doctors A spokeswoman for the ICRC in Tehran, Katayoun Hosseinnejad, confirmed the visit to Sharafi had taken place and said it had been initiated by the Iranians. Sharafi was released from Iraq last week and later said that the CIA had questioned him about Iran's relations with Iraq and its assistance to various Iraqi groups. US officials have repeatedly said that Iran provides money and weapons to Shia militias in Iraq. Iran has denied this. On Wednesday the US military put more weapons on display in Baghdad that it said were made in Iran. An army spokesmen said that Iran had trained Iraqi insurgents in the use of roadside bombs as recently as last month.

U.S. Says Iran Training EFP Bomb-Makers

Wednesday April 11, 2007

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iranian intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters inside Iran on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.

Commanders of a splinter group inside the Shiite Mahdi Army militia have told The Associated Press that there are as many as 4,000 members of their organization that were trained in Iran and that they have stockpiles of EFPs, a weapon that causes great uneasiness among U.S. forces here because they penetrate heavily armored vehicles.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell would not say how many militia fighters had been trained in Iran but said that questioning of fighters captured as recently as this month confirmed many had been in Iranian training camps.

``We know that they are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble them and how to employ them. We know that training has gone on as recently as this past month from detainees debriefs,'' Caldwell said at a weekly briefing.

EFP stands for explosively formed penetrator, deadly roadside bombs that hurl a fist-size lump of molten copper capable of piercing armor.

In January, U.S. officials said at least 170 U.S. soldiers had been killed by EFPs.

Caldwell also said the U.S. military had evidence that Iranian intelligence agents were active in Iraq in funding, training and arming Shiite militia fighters.

``We also know that training still is being conducted in Iran for insurgent elements from Iraq. We know that as recent as last week from debriefing personnel,'' he said.

``The do receive training on how to assemble and employ EFPs,'' Caldwell said, adding that fighters also were trained in how to carry out complex attacks that used explosives followed by assaults with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.

``There has been training on specialized weapons that are used here in Iraq. And then we do know they receive also training on general tactics in terms of how to take and employ and work what we call a more complex kind of attack where we see multiple types of engagements being used from an explosion to small arms fire to being done in multiple places,'' he said.

The general would not say specifically which arm of the Iranian government was doing the training but called the trainers ``surrogates'' of Iran's intelligence agency.

Caldwell opened the briefing by showing photographs of what he said were Iranian-made mortar rounds, RPG rounds and rockets that were found in Iraq.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi Cabinet ministers allied to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr threatened to quit the government to protest the prime minister's lack of support for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.

Such a pullout by the very bloc that put Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in office could collapse his already perilously weak government. The threat comes two months into a U.S. effort to pacify Baghdad in order to give al-Maliki's government room to function.

Meanwhile, bodies lay scattered across two central Baghdad neighborhoods after a raging battle left 20 suspected insurgents and four Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 U.S. soldiers wounded, witnesses and officials said.

The fighting Tuesday in Fadhil and Sheik Omar, two Sunni enclaves, was the most intense since a massive push to pacify the capital began two months ago.

Al-Sadr's political committee issued a statement a day after al-Maliki rejected an immediate U.S. troop withdrawal.

``We see no need for a withdrawal timetable. We are working as fast as we can,'' al-Maliki said on his four-day trip to Japan, where he signed loan agreements for redevelopment projects in Iraq.

``To demand the departure of the troops is a democratic right and a right we respect. What governs the departure at the end of the day is how confident we are in the handover process,'' he said, adding that ``achievements on the ground'' would dictate how long American troops remain.

Al-Maliki spoke a day after tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of two Shiite holy cities, on al-Sadr's orders, to protest the U.S. presence in their country. The rally marked the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad at the hands of American forces.

``The Sadrist movement strongly rejects the statements of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, in which he stood by the continued presence of occupation forces despite the will of the Iraqi people,'' said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by the AP. ``The Sadrist movement is studying the option of withdrawing from the Iraqi government - a government that has not fulfilled its promises to the people,'' it said.

``We are serious about withdrawing,'' it added.

It would not be the first time the Sadrists, who hold six seats in the Cabinet, left al-Maliki's government.

Al-Sadr's ministers and 30 legislators boycotted the government and parliament for nearly two months to protest a November meeting between al-Maliki and President Bush in Jordan.

The statement expressed anger over the Baghdad security plan launched Feb. 14, calling it ``unfair.'' Iraqi and U.S. troops have been targeting members of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has been blamed for sectarian killings.

Iraqi soldiers held a security cordon around Fadhil, and residents hid frightened in their homes, a witness told the AP by telephone, on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.

The Muslim Scholars Association, a Sunni group, issued a statement quoting witnesses as saying Tuesday's battle began after Iraqi troops entered a mosque and executed two young men in front of other worshippers. Ground forces used tear gas on civilians, it said.

``The association condemns this horrible crime carried out by occupiers and the government,'' the statement said.

But the witness in Fadhil said the two men were executed in an outdoor vegetable market, not in the mosque. The Iraqi military was not immediately available to comment on the claim.

The U.S. military said the battle began after American and Iraqi troops came under fire around 7 a.m. during a routine search operation. Helicopter gunships then swooped in, engaging insurgents with machine gun fire, the military said.

Some Arab TV stations reported a U.S. helicopter was shot down in the fight, and showed video of a charred piece of mechanical wreckage that was impossible to identify. Caldwell said four helicopters sustained minor damage but were able to return to base. He confirmed that one Apache gunship had dropped a missile pod as it left the area.

Caldwell said 13 of the 16 wounded Americans had returned to duty and that 20 suspected insurgents were killed and 30 wounded, he said.

معناي موضع جان بولتون در قضيه ملوانان

معناي موضع جان بولتون در قضيه ملوانان

يكي از فرق‌هاي ورزش و سياست در نوع اعلان نتيجه رقابت حاكم بر آنهاست. در ورزش پيروزي و شكست بسيار عيني و قابل سنجش است. اما در سياست نه. وقتي كه كسي زودتر از بقيه از خط پايان بگذرد ،قهرمان رسمي و بلاترديد مسابقه است. اما در رقابت سياسي موارد زيادي پيش مي‌آيد كه طرفين بازي؛ خود را پيروز ميدان معرفي مي‌كنند. مثل انتخابات شوراهاي سال گذشته. چرا چنين است؟
براي فهم اين مسأله بايد در مورد نتايج مسابقات ورزشي هم تا حدي دقت كرد. چه بسا كه تيمي برنده شود، اما تيم بازنده هم خوشحال باشد. اگر تيم واليبال ايران به تيم ايتاليا با اختلاف اندك و 2-3 ببازد، گرچه باخته است، اما همه تيم بازنده خوشحال خواهند بود و برنده‌ها غمگين. زيرا انتظار فاصله بيشتري را داشته‌اند، گرچه به صورت رسمي نتيجه را باخته‌اند. اين مسأله در سياست بيشتر صادق است. اگر گروهي كه هيچ انتظاري بر پيروزي آنان در انتخابات نيست، چند تا كرسي هم به دست آورند، خود را پيروز محسوب مي‌كنند، اما در مسابقه سياسي نكات ديگري هم هست كه در ورزش نيست يا كمتر هست. از جمله اينكه در سياست معيارهاي ارزشي هم وارد ارزيابي مي‌شوند.
فرض كنيد فردي با رشوه و دروغ امتياز و مالي به دست آورد، ما چه قضاوتي در باره موفقيت وي مي‌كنيم؟ اگر معيار اخلاقي را در نظر نگيريم، طبعاً او را موفق و پيروز مي‌دانيم، اما با لحاظ كردن معيار اخلاقي، او را ناموفق و شكست خورده خواهيم خواند.
با توجه به اين موارد مي‌توان فهميد كه جان بولتون چرا دولت ايران را پيروز ميدان دستگيري و رهاسازي ملوانان مي‌داند. وي مخالف سرسخت دولت ايران و خواهان براندازي آن است. حكومت ايران را با معيارهاي خود، شرور و ياغي مي‌شناسد و معتقد است كه هيچ امتيازي را نبايد به چنين رژيمي داد، و طبعاً در جريان اخير هم طرفدار مواجهه و شدت عمل با ايران بوده است. بنابراين با چنين معيارها و ديدگاهي نسبت به دولت ايران، آن را پيروز هر دو مرحله ميداند. زيرا هيچ مصالحه و سازشي و حتي مجازات اندك را براي دولت ايران تجويز نمي‌كند. در مقابل اگر كسي جايگاه بهتري براي دولت ايران تصور كند، طبعاً چنين ارزيابي را ارايه نمي‌كند. تحليل بولتون كاملاً سياسي و معطوف به اهدافي است كه در سر مي‌پروراند، وي چون دنبال تغيير حكومت ايران است، چنين تحليلی را ارايه مي‌كند تا نتيجه بگيرد كه بايد فشارها را بر ايران افزايش داد و كساني كه در داخل كشور خود را به تحليل امثال بولتون دلخوش كرده‌اند، بايد منتظر تبعات آن هم باشند. اگر بولتون چنين تحليلي را با هدف توصیه به سازش و كنار آمدن با حكومت ايران ارايه مي‌كرد، قابل فهم بود، اما هنگامي كه آن را با رويكرد تغيير حكومت ارايه مي‌كند، طرفداران حكومت ايران بايد قدري تأمل به خرج دهند.
هدف وي از اين تحليل اين نيست كه دولت ايران را قدرت بلامنازعي معرفي كند كه چاره‌اي جز سازش و تفاهم با آن نيست، بلكه هدفش اين است كه پيروزي ايران را ناشي از ضعف برخورد كشورهاي غربي معرفي كند و اين نتيجه را بگيرد كه با برخورد ضعيف غرب، دولت ايران سركش‌تر و غير قابل كنترل‌تر مي‌شود.
در تاريخ هم هر دو نوع تحليل را داشته‌ايم. تحليل چرچيل از هيتلر منجر به مواجهه جدي غرب با آلمان نازي شد، و تحليل كيسينجر از چين منجر به سازش و صلح ميان چين و غرب گرديد. ظاهراً تحليلگران داخلي طرفدار دولت چون نتوانسته‌اند قضيه اخير را حل كنند، و شأن نزول رأفت و عطوفت اسلامي ، براي چنين موضوعي كه به قول خودشان كشش نداشت و در حال تبديل شدن به تله‌اي خطرناك بود، را بیان کنند، لذا دست به دامن تحليل‌هاي جان بولتون شده‌اند، بدون آنكه به مضمون واقعي آن توجه كنند.
یکی از اهم دلائل طرفداران دولت نسبت به پیروز دانستن خود ارائه نامه معذرت خواهی از سوی انگلیسی هاست.در واقع این کلیدی ترین دلیل آنهاست و انصافا هم باید پذیرفت که اگر چنین نامه ای وجود داشته باشد طرف انگلیسی (با توجه به تکذیب وجود چنین نامه ای از سوی آنها) از چند جهت بازنده این بازی است و اگر چنین نامه ای نباشد طرف ایرانی بازنده چند جانبه است.در این صورت این سوال پیش می آید که ایران چرا این نامه را منتشر نمی کند؟ چرا مصاحبه های ملوانان را که هر منصفی می پذیرد که هیچ اعتباری ندارد و اخلاقا هم مذموم است بارها پخش می کنند اما از انتشار یک نامه عادی دولتی به صرف این که انتشار آنها مرسوم نیست سرباز می زنند. حتی اگر این ادعای را هم بپذیریم وقتی می توان منتشر نکرد که طرف انگلیسی سکوت تائید آمیزی مبنی بر ارسال چنین نامه ای داشته باشد نه این که مرتب وجود چنین نامه ای را تکذیب کند!! اگر دولت ایران برنده این بازی است چرا اصرار غیر قابل تائیدی را درباره انتشار چنین نامه ای می کند؟
شاید دوستان در این جریان برای حل مساله هسته ای تمرین کردند، که در این صورت از حالا باید از مصالحه احتمالی در پرونده هسته ای استقبال کرد و به آنان دست مریزاد گفت. اگر یادتان باشد درباره بحران هسته ای هم پیشنهاد من همین شکل رفتار بود که به خاطر درخواست مسلمانان و فارغ از سازش با کشورهای غربی اقدامی یکطرفه کنند تا قطعنامه ها و اقدامات بعدی علیه ایران کان لم یکن شود. چنین اقدامی حتما با استقبال همه مواجه خواهد شد، دوستانی هم که شعار های آنچنانی می دهند فورا می توانند قضیه را رفع و رجوع کنند و آن را پیروزی معرفی نمایند.

April 6: Bravo, Iran!

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - The U.S. military operation against Iran code-named "Operation Bite" and scheduled by the leading global media for April 6 did not take place. Bravo, Iran!

Bravo, because Iran did not swallow the bait. Eye-witnesses report that life there remained perfectly normal. State-run television and radio continued working as usual. News reports in the early hours of April 6 informed the audience as usual about the situation in Iran and the rest of the world, and the latest events in sports and culture. Now, the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to live a normal life, as if the "Bite" had never been planned.

A whole army of military experts had swallowed the provocative misinformation, and Iran could have reacted in the same way, especially with the U.S. carrier-based naval force next door - the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft-carrier in the Gulf, and the Stennis aircraft-carrier in the north of the Arabian Sea.

When all experts talked about the imminent military operation, it was hard to resist the temptation of a pre-emptive strike. But if Iran had gone for it, it would have made a priceless gift to the United States, and in this case April 6th would certainly have taken place.

Military experts have every reason to talk about Washington's readiness to resolve the Iranian problem by force, all the more so since it has had a plan for quite a long time now. This plan was drafted as soon as the first leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed a concept of exporting the Iranian-type revolution to the Middle East, and denied Israel the right to exist as a state. Khomeini did not conceal that one of the major motives of the Islamic revolution was to oppose the U.S. presence not only in Iran but also in the Middle East.

Although nothing terrible happened on April 6, the situation in Iran is closer to war than ever. Having adopted a tough stance on the UN Security Council sanctions, and refuting all Washington's demands to curtail its nuclear program, Tehran is actually precipitating the war. Numerous forecasts of a potential strike come in handy. They are invariably accompanied by reassurances that the U.S. has got stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan, that Iran is not Iraq, and that Washington is not likely to risk a military action.

But it can well risk it. Indeed, Iran is not Iraq, and for the U.S. this has both negative and positive implications. It is hard to say which are stronger. Besides, the U.S. and NATO are not so badly stuck in Afghanistan. Finally, the main point is that Washington will never leave Israel to face nuclear Iran single-handed.

The trouble is that Tehran can talk forever about its lack of ambition to produce its own nuclear bomb, or appeal to Islam and Khomeini's fetwa, which ostensibly prohibit the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, but neither the U.S. nor Europe, nor even its Mid-Eastern neighbors will believe it. And there are grounds not to believe it but, regrettably, official Tehran does not want to consider them.

This is a stalemate. But if the U.S. has to make a choice between nuclear Iran and a military operation, it will undoubtedly opt for the latter.

But still Iran deserves a round of applause because it did not choose the move that suggested itself - to keep British seamen as hostages in the event of a strike. By letting them return home, Tehran made it clear that it is ready for constructive dialogue if its positions are considered.

Maybe, the European negotiators should meet Tehran halfway, and sit down at the negotiating table without the pre-condition of the cessation of uranium enrichment?

They could do that at least before a regular session of the UN Security Council. After all, the Iran-launched centrifuges will be enriching uranium in any case. Too much is at stake, and April 6 may still happen.

Iran wants 50,000 centrifuges, not 3000

IRAN is still seeking to install 50,000 uranium enriching centrifuges at its nuclear plant in Natanz, the head of the Iranian atomic energy organisation said today.

"The objective of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not just the installation of 3,000 centrifuges at the Natanz plant but we are doing everything to install 50,000 centrifuges,'' Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said, according to the IRNA news agency.

Iran said yesterday it could now enrich uranium on an industrial scale but did not disclose how many centrifuges it had now installed at the Natanz plant in central Iran to enrich uranium.

Mr Aghazadeh said he did not disclose at a ceremony yesterday the number of centrifuges Iran had installed at a massive underground facility in Natanz as he did not want to "create ambiguities'' about Iran's objectives.

"I did not want people to say that Iran has finished installing 3000 centrifuges and everything has been completed now,'' he said.

"I thought that foreign media might interpret that the nuclear program of Iran had come to an end with the installation of 3000 centrifuges,'' he said.

"On the contrary, we have entered into the industrial phase and the installation of machines will continue until we reach 50,000 centrifuges,'' he said.

The US, which accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons and has not ruled out the option of military action to bring Iran to heel, said it was "very concerned'' by yesterday's announcement.

Enrichment of uranium is the key sticking point in the stand-off between Iran and the West as the process can produce nuclear fuel but in highly extended form can also make the fissile core for an atomic bomb.

Iran insists its nuclear drive is solely aimed at generating energy.

First Look: Nuclear Iran (CBS News)

Rosie O'Donnell speaks out on Iran and 9/11 (3/29/07)

Iran reaches industrial phase of nuke production

Iranian diplomat says CIA tortured him in Iraq

Saturday, April 7, 2007

The Associated Press

An Iranian diplomat freed two months after being abducted in Iraq accused the CIA of torturing him during his detention, state television reported Saturday. The U.S. immediately denied any involvement in the Iranian's disappearance or release.

Jalal Sharafi, who was freed on Tuesday, said the CIA questioned him about Iran's relations with Iraq and assistance to various Iraqi groups, according to state television.

"Once they heard my response that Iran merely has official relations with the Iraqi government and officials, they intensified tortures and tortured me through different methods days and nights," he said.

Sharafi's comments came a day after 15 British sailors released by Iran said they had been subject to psychological pressure and coercion in captivity. The sailors were captured in the Persian Gulf on March 23 for allegedly entering Iranian waters and released Wednesday.

At the time of his disappearance, Iran alleged Sharafi had been abducted by an Iraqi military unit commanded by American forces — a charge repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers. U.S. authorities denied any role in his disappearance.

"As we have said repeatedly, we were not involved in the abduction, detention or release of this individual," Lou Fintor, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Baghdad, said Saturday.

A U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the CIA vehemently denies any role in the capture or release of Sharafi.

The official dismissed any claims of torture, saying "the CIA does not conduct or condone torture."

In the report Saturday read by a newscaster, Sharafi, second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, said he was kidnapped by agents of an Iraqi organization operating under CIA supervision and was badly tortured.

State television said signs of torture were still visible on Sharafi, who is being treated at an Iranian hospital. Images of Sharafi were not shown.

Sharafi dropped near back of airport: report

The television quoted Sharafi as saying he was approached by agents while shopping in Baghdad. The agents allegedly showed him Iraqi Defence Ministry identification papers and were driving U.S. coalition vehicles.

He said they took him to a base near Baghdad airport and interrogated him in both Arabic and English, questioning him mainly about Iran's influence in Iraq, and assistance to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government and Iraqi groups. Sharafi did not provide additional details about his captors or their nationalities.

U.S. officials allege that Iran provides money and weapons to Iraqi Shiite militias.

After the initial interrogation, Sharafi said that his captors "softened their behaviour and showed leniency to encourage" him to co-operate.

"I explained I was unable to do anything outside my legal responsibilities," Sharafi was quoted as saying. "Later, they released me under pressure from Iraqi government officials. They dropped me near the back of the airport."

Several of the British crew members said Friday that they had been blindfolded, bound, kept in solitary confinement and subjected to psychological pressure during their captivity. They said they were coerced into saying they had been in Iranian waters when they were detained, and one said he believed one of his colleagues had
been executed on the second day of the ordeal.

Iran dismissed the crew members' news conference as propaganda — just as Britain had condemned the crew members' frequent appearances on Iranian TV during their captivity.