Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 4.23.2005:

Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam

The Middle East Media Research Institute:

The official Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to the conservative circles in Iran, published a statement by Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the Iranian regime's leading religious authorities, in which he advocates fighting the Jews in order to prepare the ground and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam, the Messiah according to Shiite belief.

The statement was removed from their website a few hours later. READ MORE

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• FOX News takes a look at how Iranian nuclear dreams challenge the Bush doctrine.
• Iran Focus reports that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards executed a number of teenage demonstrators in the streets of Ahwaz.
• Reuters reports the "official" death toll from ethnic unrest in southwest Iran remains five, rejecting higher figures from a rights group and exiled opposition activists.
• Radio Free Europe reports that we should expect the people arrested in the Ahvaz unrest to confess on television that they were involved with foreign elements.
• Adnkronos International reports that following the ethnic unrest in southern Iran, the government has decided to cut-off internet connections in many cities.
• Iran Press Service reports that Iran has offered the EU3 to allow the IAEA to install monitoring devices in its uranium enriching facilities.
• Janes Defence Weekly reports that inspectors from IAEA believe they have resolved a key question underlying Iran's nuclear programme: whether particles of enriched uranium detected in the country are due to previous contamination on imported equipment.
• Khaleej Times Online reports that some four million Iranians, or nearly six percent of the total population, can be classed as drug users.
• BBC News reports on Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of a historic trip to Israel.
• The Guardian reports that President Bush will receive a Pentagon plan for military strikes on Iran in June.
• World Tribune.com reports that Kuwait fears an eco-threat from Iran's reactor and the Saudi's want nuclear technology.
• And finally, UPI reports that Iran's southern Khuzestan province is sliding into chaos.

Iranian Nuke Dreams Challenge Bush Doctrine

FOX News:

Crowds in Tehran have been shouting the same chant for more than a quarter century: “Death to America!” The threat takes on new meaning — and new menace — with the real prospect that one of the oldest civilizations on Earth may be developing nuclear weapons.

Complicating matters is the issue of who would control these weapons. Iran is a theocracy that makes different foreign policy calculations than democracies or dictatorships.

“To have a despotic theocracy in the possession of a nuclear weapon … creates a much greater danger than having a democratically elected government in control of a nuclear weapon,” said Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“They are much, much more likely to use it — or threaten to use it — or attempt to use it, for blackmail,” he told FOX News. READ MORE

This much is certain: an Iranian bomb would be a crushing setback for President Bush, whose doctrine of "pre-emption" is based on the policy of keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the world's most dangerous people.

“This administration's entire foreign policy, in the name of which we have fought two wars, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, would look hollow,” said Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“I think it's a realistic threat that Iran could give nuclear weapons to terrorists,” Mead said.

Bush highlighted the treaty in the 2002 State of the Union Address. “The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons,” he said.

The world learned how terror could cripple a superpower when Iranian students held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days from 1979-1981. But the attacks against American interests didn’t stop there.

Soon after Iran began funding Hezbollah, the radial group based in Lebanon carried out a 1993 truck bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines. And Iran also supported another terror cell that in 1996 truck-bombed the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia, a complex which houses U.S. Air Force personnel. Nineteen Americans were killed and 372 were wounded.

“Iran is the mother of modern terrorism,” said Michael Ledeen, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “Every time you turn around to look at terrorism in the Middle East, you find Iran.”

Perhaps more worrisome for Americans are the links between Iran and Al Qaeda found by the U.S. commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In the early 1990s, the commission said, Iranian operatives struck a deal with Al Qaeda to coordinate terror attacks against Israel and the United States. The panel said that in the 1990s, Al Qaeda was trained by the Iranian-sponsored terror group Hezbollah. And after Al Qaeda bombed the USS Cole in October 2000, Iran tried to strengthen relations with Al Qaeda, the panel found.

While the commission stopped short of saying Iran had an active rule in the Sept. 11 attacks, it expressed suspicion that as many as 10 of the hijackers traveled through Iran on their way to the United States. And the CIA has reported that hundreds of Al Qaeda members are being harbored by the ayatollahs in Iran.

“To have these people armed with atomic bombs is truly nightmarish,” Ledeen said.

The nightmare does not end with Iran passing an atomic bomb to terrorists. Iran already has missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads that could strike Israel and even Europe.

Biden said the tension surrounding Iran nears Cold War proportions.

“It ratchets up everything,” Biden said. “It makes the neighborhood a hell of a lot more dangerous.”

What can the United States do about it? Diplomacy is the first hope but American officials have little trust for their Iranian counterparts after Iran was caught secretly developing an advanced nuclear program violating its international agreements and then lying about it.

“They've never told the truth on anything we've ever confronted them with,” said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., who has written legislation to turn up pressure on Iran. “They will lie in order to get what they believe is necessary to protect this regime.

“I don't think it's a good idea to negotiate with people that you can't trust.”

Santorum said he agrees with Bush that the United States can't allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. But he's against offering the clerics ruling Iran economic incentives and he won't commit to what might seem like the other logical step.

“Right now, I don’t think that we have good enough information that we can act, and nor do I believe that we, at this point, have the intelligence to know where that, where that strike would even be,” Santorum said.

Seventy percent of Iran's population is under age under 30 — too young to remember the Ayatollah Khomeini or the American hostage crisis. And a democratic reform movement has brought new hope for social liberalization, although the clerics have put that down for now.

So what Santorum is calling for is regime change — though he's reluctant to use those words.

To help democratic groups succeed, Santorum has introduced a bill to support the pro-democracy groups with funding and to penalize firms and countries that do business with Iran.

One supporter of Santorum is Ledeen, the American Enterprise Institute scholar who has long pushed for regime change in Iran.

“Believe me, if the regime in Iran comes down, it will change the whole world, it'll be a really dramatic event,” Ledeen said.

“The nuclear status of Iran is neither here nor there with regard to the war on terror. The only thing that matters with regard to the war on terror is whether that regime is there, or whether it's gone. That's the whole issue.

Does Santorum think it's possible that the pro-democratic forces in Iran are close to toppling the mullahs?

“Do I believe they’re close now? No, I don’t believe they’re close. What I do believe is that … we need to be there to be supportive of a fair and democratic elections process in Iran, which obviously this regime will never accept.”

Bush himself advocates regime change.

“I believe that the Iranian people ought to be allowed to freely discuss opinions, read a free press, have free votes, be able to choose amongst political parties. I believe Iran should adopt democracy. That's what I believe,” Bush said March 16.

Biden said such a view is “not unrealistic.”

“Can you base your policy on that certainty of that outcome? No. Is it a gambit that is worth trying while at the same time, you are preparing for the worst-case scenario? Yes.”

For Biden, the worst-case scenario is the United States having to strike again in that part of the world.

“I would not take military force, off the table. Period,” Biden said. “But the truth of the matter is … this is calculus, not arithmetic. Arithmetically, it doesn't look good ... The calculus — there are a lot of pieces on the board moving.”

FOX News' Chris Wallace, Brian Gaffney and Grace Cutler contributed to this report.

Iran executes teenage demonstrators in Ahwaz

Iran Focus:

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards executed a number of teenage demonstrators in the streets of Ahwaz, southern Iran, according to eye-witnesses.

Residents reported that Revolutionary Guards arrested demonstrators in the city streets and gunned them down to terrorise the local people and end a weeklong anti-government uprising that has spread throughout the oil-rich Khuzestan Province.

Helicopters were also seen opening fire on demonstrators.

A 5-year-old boy was killed when he was run over by a Revolutionary Guards’ armoured personnel carrier, eye-witnesses said. READ MORE

Smoke from tear-gas that has been fired was so heavy that hospitals have been inundated with patients complaining of severe respiratory problems. A number of hospitals have also been raided by State Security Forces and large numbers of youth have been arrested on charges of taking part in the demonstrations.

Fierce fighting has brought the province to a complete stand-still since Friday, when State Security Forces (SSF) opened fire on a 3,000-strong anti-government demonstration in the city of Ahwaz.

Ahwaz was placed under a de facto martial law after anti-government demonstrations led to bloody clashes between local residents and security forces.

A government-orchestrated counter-demonstration on Friday was greeted with apathy by the local people. Even the non-Arab residents of Ahwaz stayed away from the march led by local clerics and officials of the Islamic Republic. State television showed scenes of the demonstration, with large banners blaming “the U.S., Israel and the Monafeqin” for the uprising. Monafeqin, or hypocrites, is the term Iranian state media and officials use to describe the People’s Mojahedin, Iran’s main opposition group. ...

Iran rejects higher death tolls in ethnic unrest

Reuters:

The death toll from ethnic unrest in oil-rich southwest Iran remains five, an Iranian official said on Saturday, rejecting higher figures from a rights group and exiled opposition activists.

Officials say demonstrations on April 15 were sparked by the circulation of a forged letter, supposedly from a senior official, suggesting that Iran's Arab minority be relocated to dilute its influence in the oil-producing heartland.

Amnesty International's Arabic Web site said the rights group had received "unconfirmed reports" of 31 dead in the violence in Khuzestan province.

The People's Mujahideen, an armed opposition movement listed as a terrorist group by Washington, said in a statement sent to Reuters via its political wing that 62 people had died.

But Iran's interior ministry spokesman said both figures were wrong. "The figure is still five," Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said. Some three percent of Iran's 67 million people are Arabs.

Handling Of Ahvaz Unrest Could End With Televised Confessions

Bill Samii, Radio Free Europe:

If the authorities follow a pattern established after other incidents of unrest, the people they arrested for involvement in the Ahvaz unrest could soon confess on television that they were involved with foreign elements. READ MORE

The official Iranian reaction to the 15-18 April unrest in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Khuzestan Province is following a pattern seen previously in the government's reaction to July 1999 student riots and its reaction to October 2000 ethnic violence in Sistan va Baluchistan.

In these and other cases Tehran has resorted to mass arrests, overwhelming force, blaming foreigners, superficial official interest in local problems, and false displays of national unity. This pattern suggests a predictable outcome which could include show trials and televised confessions, followed by imprisonments.

The riots in Ahvaz and several nearby habitations apparently were triggered by a letter signed by former vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi that called for forcibly relocating the local Arab population and replacing it with Persians. Abtahi described the letter as a forgery. Unconfirmed reports cited on 19 April by Radio Farda cited 20 dead and hundreds injured. The authorities arrested more than 360 people, news agencies reported on 18 and 19 April.

The first official step called for repression and scapegoating.

On 18 April, Amnesty International identified seven men who had been arrested and said at least 130 others were detained in the Ahvaz environs from 15-18 April. Amnesty International went on to cite "unconfirmed reports" that 29 people were killed and the authorities have cut off water, power, and telephones in parts of Ahvaz. Amnesty International also referred to extra judicial killings.

Minister of Intelligence and Security Hojatoleslam Ali Yunesi said at a gathering of district governors in Tehran on 18 April that unspecified enemies and domestic opponents are using many methods, in vain, to undermine the Iranian state, "Aftab-i Yazd" reported on 19 April. He accused "some people" of turning ethnic dissatisfaction into "political demands, as has happened in Khuzestan." Unnamed opponents are making false allegations about the government, and "presenting political problems as intractable." Certain "people try and get arrested in order to become famous. The Intelligence Ministry...is aware of [their] motives...and will not be trapped." "We have separatist and suspect moves under observation, and can confidently say, do not worry. The enemy has no power to provoke a crisis in collaboration with domestic opponents."

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Musavi-Lari said on 20 April that the Ministry of Intelligence and Security has identified the parties mainly responsible for the previous week's unrest, state television reported. He blamed counter-revolutionaries in other countries and irredentist websites. He said a "large number" of people were arrested. Anonymous sources told Mehr News Agency on 20 April that 10 people will be tried as the ringleaders, and 200 out of 340 detainees were released. Ahvaz prosecutor Iraj Amirkhani said on 21 April that most of the detainees are less than 20 years old, IRNA reported on the same day.

The government temporarily banned broadcasts by the Arabic-language satellite-television station Al-Jazeera, which is popular among local Arabs, accusing it of fanning the unrest, AP reported on 18 April.

Thousands of people were arrested in July 1999, and a 17 July 1999 Intelligence Ministry statement blamed "grouplets" and "counter-revolutionaries." After a bombing in Sistan va Baluchistan on 17 October 2000, local security officials blamed "subservient elements of arrogance" and added that the purpose of the bomb was to distract locals from events in Israel and undermine regional unity.

Then came the sudden display of interest in local concerns.

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, who is an ethnic Arab, was dispatched to the Ahvaz area to look into the reasons behind the unrest. He met with local leaders, and he stressed that ethnic Arabs are an integral part of the country but acknowledged that Khuzestan Province suffers from "underdevelopment and war destruction problems," IRNA reported on 21 April.

This is what happened after the October 2000 explosions in Sistan va Baluchistan. President Khatami gave local representatives the cold shoulder in a 16 October meeting. The bombing occurred on 17 October, and within four days Khatami sent a delegation to investigate locals' complaints about underdevelopment and drought damage.

The next step is the regime's show of strength and enforced unity.

This occurred on Friday, 22 April, when the regime organized a massive march in Ahvaz. The march is to commemorate Solidarity Week, ISNA reported. This is the first time Iran has had a Solidarity Week and the timing is probably not coincidental. Nor is it a coincidence that the visiting Shamkhani said locals have decided to organize a "grand solidarity gathering," according to IRNA. On 22 March IRNA reported that "hundreds of thousands" participated in the solidarity march.

On Friday, 16 July 1999, there were massive pro-regime rallies in Tehran, Tabriz, and other cities.

It is only a matter of time before some of the detainees appear on television to confess that they are working on behalf of foreigners. Iranian state television broadcast the "confession" of student leader Manuchehr Mohammadi on 19 July 1999. He admitted being in touch with Iranian expatriates, and according to the announcer he admitted receiving financial aid from "spies and fugitive Zionist elements" in various American cities.

Mohammadi, as well as other students arrested in July 1999, is still in prison. Young people from Ahvaz may join them soon.

Internet Blackout in Southern Iran

Adnkronos International:

Following the ethnic unrest in southern Iran, in the Arab majority region of Khuzestan on the Persian Gulf, the government of President Mohammad Khatami has decided to cut-off internet connections in many cities. "The decision was taken following the use of the internet by those involved in the protests, for communication purposes that had the security of the state at risk," according to the Tehran-based Mehr news agency.

Fight the Jews and Vanquish Them so as to Hasten the Coming of the Hidden Imam

The Middle East Media Research Institute:

The official Iranian news agency Fars, which is close to the conservative circles in Iran, recently published a statement by Ayatollah Hossein Nouri-Hamedani, one of the Iranian regime's leading religious authorities, in which he advocates fighting the Jews in order to prepare the ground and to hasten the advent of the Hidden Imam, the Messiah according to Shiite belief.

It should be noted that the Fars news agency took the report off its web site several hours after its publication, and other Iranian media outlets close to the conservatives refrained from citing it. READ MORE

The following is the text of Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani's censored statements, which appeared in identical language on two internet sites: Peykeiran, a site close to the anti-regime communist left; and Asylum-Norway, an internet site belonging to an organization that supports Iranian refugees in Norway: [1]

Prior to the Advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance and Colonialism Rule the World

"Fars news agency: Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, discussing [Shi'ite] religious texts, said: 'One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam be met.' According to the Fars news agency's report, Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani met with members of the Mahdaviyat Studies Institute. [2] He praised the institute's work and demanded that the religious seminaries in Qom also do more to research religious texts and hadith concerning the Hidden Imam...

"Nouri-Hamedani said that the texts concerning the end of days are rife with allusions and hidden meanings. He asked the researchers to devote their efforts to elucidating these texts. He noted: 'In the texts it is told that the Hidden Imam will remove the yoke of humiliation from mankind's neck. Therefore it is clear that prior to the advent of the Hidden Imam, Arrogance [a common epithet for Western powers, especially the U.S.A.] and colonialism rule the world.'

The Jews Have Hoarded All the Wealth in One Place, and All the World are Their Slaves

"According to this religious authority, 'at present the Jews' policies threaten us. One should explain in the clearest terms the danger the Jews pose to the [Iranian] people and to the Muslims. Ever since Islam's appearance, the group that expressed fierce opposition to Islam – and still acts in this fashion – were the Jews. They were involved in the Khaybar, Uhud, and Ahzab wars.' [3] He added: 'Already from the beginning the Jews wanted to hoard the world's goods in [their] greed and voracity. They always worked in important professions and now they have hoarded all of the wealth in one place. And all of the world, especially America and Europe, are their slaves.'"

Crazy Ideas Such as Secularism, Liberalism, and Humanism are Part of Our Enemies' Plans to Sow Disunity

In another statement from last year, Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani, on the occasion of his visit to the cities of Khoramshahr and Shalamche, said: "World Arrogance [i.e., the U.S. and the Western powers] is creating a trinity of evil: heresy, divisiveness, and Zionism, in order to weaken the [Iranian] people's spirit and to create division and disagreement with respect to our regime. [Therefore] all of the senior officials and the public must be on their guard more than ever…

"The spreading of prostitution and evil things, the creation of a mentality of inferiority, and the propagation of crazy ideas such as secularism, liberalism, and humanism are [all] part of our enemies' plans to sow disunity in [our] society...

"The revelation of the culture of Jihad and martyrdom in the country [Iran] struck world Arrogance [i.e., the U.S. and the Western powers] with dread... The existence of such a spirit among our youth led to world Arrogance's not daring to infringe on our borders... History shows that every people that lost the culture of Jihad and martyrdom were brought down." [4]

---

[1] The speech was apparently delivered on April 14, 2005. http://web.peykeiran.com/net_iran/irnewsbody.aspx?ID=23105; http://www.asylum-norway.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=182. The speech was apparently delivered on April 14, 2005.

[2] Mahdaviyat studies are concerning the Shiite doctrine of the Hidden Imam, who is to reappear as Mahdi, i.e., the rightly guided one.

[3] These refer to famous victories of the Muslims under the leadership of Prophet Mohammad: The Battle of Khaybar took place in 628 A.D., the Battle of Uhud in 625 A.D., and the war of the Ahzab refers to the siege of Al-Madina in 627 A.D.

[4] Kayhan (Iran), April 4, 2004.

Iran EU Nuke Talks Ended With No Result

Safa Haeri, Iran Press Service:

Last round of nuclear talks between Iran and three European nations, namely Britain, France and Germany ended without producing any tangible result, negotiators told Iran Press Service.

"The fact that we are beginning to reach a clear framework (of negotiations) is a sign that we have taken a step forward and that we expect a probable agreement", Mr. Cyrus Naseri, one of Iran´s top negotiators told reporters, hinting once again that abandoning enriching uranium was “out of question”.

Earlier, and before the start of the negotiations in Geneva, Hojjatoleslam Hassan Rohani, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council in charge of the nuclear affairs had told reporters that some progress had been made in talks with the so-called “Big 3”, but had warned that if the Europeans would insist on Iran abandoning the enriching activities, talks would be stopped.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr. Rohani warned that talks with the EU could collapse if the EU negotiators continue to demand that the Islamic Republic abandon nuclear fuel work in order to guarantee it will not make atomic weapons.

"The talks can continue if we see any progress. If not, we will end it", he said, adding, "As long as the negotiations are progressing and we don't feel that the Europeans are killing time we will continue the talks for one or two months more, but not years".

Although Mr. Rohani gave no specific details of Iran's proposed compromise ideas, but diplomats told Iran Press Service on condition of not being named that Tehran is ready for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to install monitoring devices in its uranium enriching facilities making sure that the material is not enriched more than 3.5 per cent, a degree enough for civilian purposes.

"We are not supposed to discuss them publicly but it's possible we'll solve this problem stage by stage. But they do not include any limitations on our enrichment capacity", he said. READ MORE

But according to the text, read to AFP by another diplomat close to the talks, the Iranians are proposing the "assembly, installation and testing of 3,000 centrifuges in Natanz," the site where Iran wants to build an enrichment plant and has already built a pilot project of 164 centrifuges.

Another Iranian plan is to transform the underground Natanz uranium enrichment plant into an international joint-venture under multinational ownership; Reuters quoted EU diplomats as having indicated.

"The Europeans should tell us whether these ideas can work as the basis for continued negotiations or not," Rohani said. "If yes, fine. If not, then the negotiations cannot continue", he said.

"While there is progress and we are hopeful of a rapid conclusion we will continue the talks but if we judge that the Europeans are trying to buy time, we will stop them", Rohani said.

Centrifuges, placed in sequence, refine increasingly enriched uranium, which can be fuel for nuclear power reactors but also the explosive material for atom bombs.

A sequence, or cascade, of about 2,000 centrifuges could make enough highly enriched uranium in a year to make one atom bomb, experts say.

Iran suspended uranium enrichment in November last year as a confidence-building measure to start the EU-Iran talks, which offer Iran trade, security and technology rewards if it abandons enrichment.

But the diplomat who read the text to AFP said: "This isn't a pilot enrichment plant they are seeking, it's larger than that."

If the talks fail, Washington would expect Europe to back it in bringing Iran before the UN Security Council for possible international economic sanctions. "For our dossier to be sent to the Security Council would be a great failure on the part of Europe, the IAEA, and multilateralism as a whole", Rohani told the Financial Times.

If the centrifuges that Iran wants to put into production are similar to those running empty under IAEA monitors, then this program would permit Iran to maintain a clandestine uranium enrichment program, as we have reported in the past. It is believed that the US can detect the running of such centrifuges and thus any secret Iranian enrichment program must include the continued operation of legitimate centrifuges.

Iran uranium source revealed

Andrew Koch, Janes Defence Weekly:

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believe they have resolved a key question underlying Iran's nuclear programme: whether particles of enriched uranium detected in the country are due to previous contamination on imported equipment - as Tehran claims - or represent a smoking gun proving a clandestine nuclear weapons programme.

IAEA inspectors have reached a tentative conclusion that the contamination came from equipment provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistani scientist AQ Khan, sources close to the agency told JDW.

The existence of the particles of enriched uranium found by the agency in Iran has been a crucial factor in the continuing international dispute over whether Tehran has reneged on its obligations to inform the IAEA of all enrichment activities. Tehran claims that it has not introduced uranium into any enrichment facility - a step that would require IAEA notification - but it could not explain the presence of the enriched uranium particles.

Now, the sources say, the inspectors believe they can confirm that a sample of uranium enriched to 54%, found at one Iranian site, has come from Pakistani equipment. The confirmation was only possible after Islamabad gave the IAEA data to verify the uranium source and the US provided a simulation of the Pakistani nuclear programme that matched the account. A separate sample of 36% enriched uranium contamination derived from Russian equipment that Moscow had supplied to China. Beijing then passed it on to Pakistan as part of previous nuclear assistance and Khan later sold it to Iran.

The sources note that the origins of several other contamination samples are difficult to trace and may never be known.

The issue of enriched uranium contamination on Iranian centrifuges has been a key question the IAEA is working to resolve as part of its investigations into Tehran's nuclear programme. ...

Drug Use In Iran Hits New High

AFP, Khaleej Times Online:

Some four million Iranians, or nearly six percent of the total population, can be classed as drug users, a government newspaper reported on Saturday. Quoting “official surveys”, the Iran newspaper said that out of the total number of narcotics users, some 2.5 million people were actual addicts. The report gave no further details. READ MORE

Iran sits on a major trafficking route for heroin, opium, morphine and cannabis from Afghanistan, and in the past decade has experienced an explosion of narcotics use. In the past, official and unofficial estimates have put the number of drug users at around two million.

The latest report gave no details on the new statistics, including the number of estimated intravenous drug users. Previous figures have put drug injectors at around a quarter of a million people.

Putin Reassures Israel Over Iran

BBC News:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the nuclear collaboration between his country and Iran is merely for "peaceful uses" of atomic energy. Mr Putin was talking to Israel's Channel 1 ahead of a historic trip to Israel - the first by a Russian leader. READ MORE

He also said Russian missiles sold to Syria would not fall into the hands of anti-Israeli militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to express his concerns over the weapons during Mr Putin's visit.

"Our position on nuclear non-proliferation is consistent and strict - we are categorically against proliferation of nuclear weapons and categorically against any kind of military nuclear programmes in Iran," the president said.

He went on to say that the programme was being monitored by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), and that agreements had been amended "to make sure that our partners are not using this cooperation for military purposes".

But he also stressed the need to respect Iran's right to develop peaceful modern technology and to safeguard "their scientific and economic interests".

"Iran must not feel itself discriminated insofar as modern scientific achievements and technologies are concerned," he said.

Monitoring the weapons

Israel and the US oppose a Russian-Iranian project to build a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, in southern Iran, for fear the facility might be used to build nuclear weapons.

Mr Putin also dismissed concerns that short-range, anti-aircraft missiles sold by Moscow to Syria might be used by Palestinian groups or the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah against Israel.

"(The weapons) cannot be transferred to terror organisations without someone finding out," he told Israeli television.

"We have the capabilities to monitor them."

Mr Putin then admitted that the missiles would make it difficult fly over Syria's presidential residence at low altitude.

"These systems can hit a target within the visibility range. They are mounted on vehicles and cannot be secretly passed on to terrorist organisations.

"But I am not sure that these flights are correct if all of us, including Israel acting in the interests of its own people, want to create a favourable atmosphere for the further peace process," Mr Putin was quoted as saying by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.

Lib Dems Challenge Blair To Spell Out Iran Plans

Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian:

Tony Blair was challenged yesterday over his position on American military action against Iraq and whether he had given any secret assurances to President Bush.

The challenge came from Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, as his party, which opposed the war against Iraq, prepares to attack Labour's foreign policy. "The prime minister pledged George Bush his support for regime change in Iraq a year before military action took place. What private assurances, if any, have been given on Iran?" asked Sir Menzies yesterday. READ MORE

He pointed to an apparent difference in approach between Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, and the prime minister. "Jack Straw has said military action against Iran is 'in conceivable'. The prime minister has said 'there are no plans'. What exactly is the government's position?" he said.

"There is a world of difference between 'inconceivable' and 'no plans', as experience readily demonstrates," Sir Menzies said.

"The foreign secretary's confidential warnings to the prime minister, in 2002, about the dangers of invading Iraq, were ignored then. What warning is he giving now?" he asked. "The risks of military action are clear. A strike could provoke fearsome retaliation, could destabilise the Middle East, and undermine reform in Iran."

A paper circulating among defence thinktanks and non-government organisations says that a detailed Pentagon plan for military strikes on Iran could be presented to Mr Bush in June this year. "There is impatience in Washington with the European diplomatic initiative and some analysts have even predicted a strike on Iran within 18 months," Sir Menzies said yesterday.

He pointed to remarks by Mr Straw, who described a military attack on Iran as "inconceivable". In an interview with Muslim News, released on March 22 2005, Mr Blair said: "Iran is not Iraq", adding: "There are no plans for military invasion of Iran."

The article claims the President Bush will receive a Pentagon plan for military strikes on Iran in June.

Kuwait Fears Eco-threat from Iran Reactor

World Tribune.com:

For the first time, a Gulf Arab country has expressed concern over the construction of a nuclear power plant in Iran. Kuwait has expressed worry over Iran's nuclear reactor project in the coastal city of Bushehr. Officials said Bushehr could release nuclear waste in the air or water in the northern Gulf that could affect the sheikdom. READ MORE

"It could be a serious environmental catastrophe if operated without observing safety standards," Basel Al Rashed, director of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, said.

Al Rashed told parliament's Environment Committee that he has discussed Bushehr with the International Atomic Energy Agency, meant to supervise the Iranian nuclear facility. He said the IAEA was urged to ensure that Bushehr would not become an environmental hazard in the region.

[On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Iran and Kuwait met in Teheran to discuss cooperation as well as border issues. Reports from Teheran did not mention Bushehr, which was discussed in a meeting by Iranian senior officials in Moscow.]

Bushehr is located 300 kilometers from Kuwait. Western diplomatic sources said the sheikdom has been briefed by the United States on Bushehr's threat to the environment in the region.

The sources said the testimony to parliament was the first time a Kuwaiti or GCC official expressed concern over Bushehr. The GCC has formally supported the Bushehr project and refrained from responding to Western concerns over Iran's purported nuclear weapons program.

Al Rashed called on the government and parliament to increase cooperation with the IAEA to "face any future risks," regarding Bushehr. He also urged the sheikdom to accelerate the process of ratifying the Nuclear Safety Convention.

Russia has been the prime contractor of Bushehr, a $1 billion project. Moscow was expected to complete Bushehr and begin full operations in late 2006.

The IAEA has been discussing Iran's nuclear program with other GCC states as well. Diplomatic sources said the Iranian program was discussed during IAEA talks with Saudi Arabia, which has sought to sign an agency protocol that would exempt the kingdom from reporting up to 10 tons of natural uranium or 20 tons of depleted uranium. The protocol would also allow a signator to maintain secrecy of any nuclear facility until six months before operation.

In 2003, Saudi Arabia was said to have issued a position paper that envisioned the acquisition of nuclear weapons. The following year, Riyad was said to have signed an agreement with Pakistan on nuclear cooperation.

Now Saudi Arabia want nuclear technology.

Iran's Southern Khuzestan Province Sliding into Chaos

John C.K. Daly, UPI:

Ethnic tension in the northern Persian Gulf is not limited to Iraq; Iran's southern Khuzestan province is sliding into chaos. Friday marked another day of fierce fighting between people and government forces. READ MORE

Several days ago severe clashes left dozens dead and hundreds wounded or arrested. The latest incidents erupted between Iran's State Security Forces and local residents in several districts of Ahwaz, including Kut Abdullah, Kian and Khashayar.

Ahwaz, near to the Iraqi border, has a largely Arab population that has faced harsh repression under clerical rule. On Friday, anti-government protests again erupted in Ahwaz after SSF units were dispatched to quiet 3,000 residents demonstrating over government plans to redefine the ethnic makeup of the province.

The demonstrators looted several government buildings, police stations and set fire to the Agriculture Bank. After the SSF opened up with weapons on the demonstrators at least 300 people were reported injured.

This was the sixth consecutive day of unrest in Ahwaz despite the heavy presence of various security forces, Revolutionary Guards, and officials of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, who have been arresting anyone suspected of starting demonstrations. Ahwaz was placed under a de facto martial law after demonstrators killed a number of SSF agents.

When Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani, known locally as the "Butcher of Ahwaz" for his role in the bloody suppression of anti-government disturbances in the city in 1979, tried to enter an Ahwaz's Dayereh neighborhood with a large contingent of bodyguards, youths attacked them with stones, forcing Shamkhani and his entourage to flee. Unrest has spread to other cities of the province.

Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 4.22.2005:

Iran Hid Nuclear Plans for Nearly 2 Decades

Chris Wallace, Jonathan Hunt and Greg Palkot, FOX News:

This report provides a sneak peek at some of their finding that will appear on this Sunday night's Special Report. READ MORE

Here are a few other news items you may have missed.

• Reuters reports that thousands of people marched for peace in southwest Iran on Friday one week after bloody ethnic unrest in which at least five people were killed and more than 300 arrested. The march appears state sponsored.
• IranMania.com reports that Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hassan Rowhani says he may become a presidential candidate if Rafsanjani does not.
• Reuters reports that Tehran appears committed to safety at its Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to the IAEA.
• VOA News reports that Iranian officials say they have released 155 of some 350 people arrested during recent protests by Arab-Iranians in southwest Iran and more will released soon.
• Reuters is reporting that the European Union's three biggest powers appear to genuinely want an agreement with Iran, according to the Iranians.
• Al Jazeera reports that a joint statement by the Arab Commission for Human Rights in Paris and International Justice Organisation in The Hague has expressed concerns about the unrest in al-Ahwaz.
• WorldNetDaily.com reports that Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden is partly responsible for the growing threat the U.S. faces from the mullah regime.
• The Los Angeles Times is reporting that critical components and specialized tools destined for Libya's nuclear weapons program disappeared before arrival in 2003 and international investigators now suspect that they were diverted to another country.
• Radio Free Europe reports on Tehran's opposition to U.S. Democracy efforts.
• Fox News reports on the military options that the U.S. has towards a nuclear Iran.
• The Wall Street Journal criticizes the EU saying "in the name of promoting democracy and reforms (and against the pleading of Iranian dissidents), the EU improved its economic ties with yet another despotic regime."
• The Economist is reporting that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is calling on Lebanon's clerics to apply his fatwa to abstain from political office.
• Reporters Without Borders report that Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who has served his fifth year in Tehran's Evin prison tomorrow, is seriously ill.
• And finally, the Editors of the National Review Online write, "The attack on Bolton's temperament is an obvious misdirection anyway. Democrats simply object to his kind of multilateralism that aggressively pursues international support for the goals of President Bush's foreign policy. Bolton will "serve" the president rather than the U.N.

Thousands join peace march in SW Iran after unrest

Reuters:

Thousands of people marched for peace in southwest Iran on Friday one week after bloody ethnic unrest in which at least five people were killed and more than 300 arrested, state media reported.

State television showed images of thousands of men and women marching through the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province where just days ago groups of Arab-Iranians attacked and set fire to cars and buildings and clashed with security forces. READ MORE

Officials say the protests were sparked by circulation of a forged letter, supposedly written by a senior government official, which suggested ways to dilute Arab influence in southwest Iran -- the heartland of the country's oil industry.

Only about three percent of Iran's 67 million population is Arab but in some parts of the southwest they are in a majority.

Those taking part in the Grand Solidarity rally in Ahvaz on Friday carried banners and chanted slogans in both Farsi and Arabic condemning the unrest and attacking the Islamic state's chief enemies.

"Oh Muslims, unite, unite!" they chanted. "Down with hypocrites, down with America, down with Israel!"

Many officials and politicians have accused Iran's foreign enemies and exile opposition groups of stirring up the recent unrest. Authorities have temporarily closed down the Tehran bureau of Qatar-based Arabic language news network Al Jazeera, saying its role in encouraging the violence was being investigated.

"The Iranian Arabs of Khuzestan have proven their devotion to Islam and are bound to safeguard the Islamic Republic," Ahvaz Friday Prayer leader Mohsen Heydari told the crowd, the official IRNA news agency said.

Ahvaz residents say a massive security clampdown has taken place since the unrest, with scores of Revolutionary Guards manning checkpoints and patrolling the streets.

Officials said on Wednesday around 200 of those arrested have been freed but another 144 remained in detention.

The regime supports peaceful demonstrations, if they are in support of the regime. They typically bus in people for such demonstrations. Sounds like an attempt to quiet international concerns.

Iran's Rowhani awaiting Rafsanjani’s decision

IranMania.com:

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hassan Rowhani said that his decision on becoming a presidential candidate would be significantly influenced by Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s decision about running in the upcoming election. READ MORE

“I will only enter the election if I see the need, and this depends on who the final candidates will be,” he told the Mehr News Agency (MNA).

“Some candidates want to quit, and we are not yet sure how many candidates will run. Therefore, I have not yet made a final decision,” Rowhani added.

The SNSC secretary also noted that Rafsanjani’s participation in the election would have a greater influence than that of the current candidates.

Karrubi would establish Article 15 Committee if elected

Presidential candidate Mahdi Karrubi intends to establish a committee mandated by Article 15 of the Constitution for the first time if elected president, the head of the candidate’s campaign headquarters announced on Wednesday.

Speaking to a group of political activists in West Azarbaijan Province, Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur said that Karrubi would make meeting the people’s demands a priority in the next government.

If people call for ties with any specific country, the Karrubi administration will strive to realize that aim, he asserted.

He went on to say that the late Imam Khomeini believed in serving the people, which is also what pure Islam is about, adding that Karrubi also pursues this goal.

Qalibaf says his cabinet would not be a corporation

Iran's Former police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Wednesday that he would first attempt to change the structure of the government if elected president.

The next president should encourage public participation and make use of collective judgment in resolving national issues, he told university students in Mashhad.

Qalibaf stressed that he is an independent candidate and added that he does not want to turn his cabinet into a corporation.

Velayati can solve the country’s problems: MP

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Mahmud Mohammadi has called former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati a strong manager who can solve the country’s problems.

Speaking at a gathering of Velayati supporters on Wednesday, Mohammadi said that Velayati will run as an independent candidate in the presidential election.

The country needs a president like Velayati, who cares for the people and is flexible at home and adopts a strong and decisive policy in foreign affairs, he added.

UN lauds safety at Iran's Russian-built nuke plant

Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:

Tehran appears committed to safety at its Bushehr nuclear power plant, which a consortium of Russian companies is constructing in Iran, a senior nuclear safety expert at the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Friday. ... READ MORE

"So far so good," Ken Brockman, director of nuclear installation safety at the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters when asked about Iran's commitment to safety standards at the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr reactor.

"I've seen many applications out there where the Iranians have identified construction that did not meet their quality standards and they've been very aggressive in going in and replacing it and making sure it does," he said.

Brockman said that the IAEA, in cooperation with the Russian government and regulatory authority, has been providing a wide range of technical assistance and expertise to Iran to ensure the plant is run safely when it goes on line in late 2006.

"It's a commercial nuclear power plant and that's the aspect in which we're providing this particular guidance and assistance to the Islamic republic of Iran," he said. ...

Iran Frees 155 Arrested in Ethnic Protests

VOA News:

Iranian officials say they have released 155 of some 350 people arrested during recent protests by Arab-Iranians in southwest Iran.

Iran's state news agency quotes judiciary officials as saying more prisoners are expected to be released over the next few days. Officials said most of the detainees were under 20 years of age. ...

Iran sees "genuine" EU effort to reach nuke deal

Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:

The European Union's three biggest powers appear to genuinely want an agreement with Iran, which is determined to become a producer of enriched nuclear fuel, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday. READ MORE

Sharing Washington's suspicions that Tehran is developing the capability to make atomic weapons, France, Britain and Germany have offered Iran economic and political incentives if it permanently abandons its uranium enrichment programme, which could produce nuclear fuel for power plants and bombs. ...

Iran has accused the Europeans of dragging their feet in the talks and some European diplomats have admitted privately this was a strategy on their part to keep Tehran talking.

But Sirus Naseri, who led Iran's delegation at this week's EU-Iran talks in Geneva, told Reuters: "The general trend of the negotiations (with the EU) right now indicates there is a willingness to make a genuine effort to come to an agreeable solution, a solution that both sides can live with."

European diplomats have said their governments are determined to reach a deal with Iran to demonstrate that the EU can wield diplomatic clout on a key global security problem.

EU diplomats say their official position in the negotiations is that Iran must dismantle its uranium enrichment programme, but are considering Iran's proposal for a small-scale enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran.

They said there were no breakthroughs at the EU-Iran nuclear working group talks on Tuesday and Wednesday though both sides agreed to continue meeting. The next round will be held at a more senior level in London on April 29. ...

Concerns raised over Iran town unrest

Al Jazeera:

A joint statement by the Arab Commission for Human Rights in Paris and International Justice Organisation in The Hague has expressed concerns about the unrest in al-Ahwaz town in southwestern Iran. READ MORE

Clashes broke out last Friday between ethnic Arabs in al-Ahwaz town in Khuzestan province and Iranian security forces, leaving five people dead and many injured.

The confrontations had been sparked by a forged letter attributed to former vice-president Muhammad Ali Abtahi calling for modifications to the ethnic composition of Khuzestan.

The commission says it has not received reports confirming the restoration of stability in the Arab dominated oil-rich Iranian province, and heavy security measures are still being applied in what is known locally as the Arab misery belt.

Aljazeera.net received a copy of the statement in which the commission said it had received reports of heavy casualties from the province's hospitals and called on the Iranian government to give up using guns to respond to peaceful demonstrations.

The statement, which was issued in Paris and The Hague, demanded immediate release of all political prisoners in Khuzestan, and that the Iranian government respect minorities' right to speak.

Government denial

The Iranian authorities have made clear that they have no intention of changing the ethnic balance of the province in favour of non-Arab Iranians.

Arabs form a majority in the oil-rich region, but only 3% of the 66 million people in Iran

Tehran promised to release more than 300 detainees arrested during the bloody clashes that took place on the 80th anniversary of Iran's annexation of the province.

Arabs form a majority in the oil-rich region, but only 3% of the 66 million people in Iran.

Foreign involvement

Ghulam Rida Shariati, an official in Khuzestan province, told Iranian TV Al-Alam that foreign parties played a role in igniting the unrest.

He warned that such ethnic tensions might jeopardise national unity, especially since Iran is about to hold presidential elections this year. ...

Al Jazeera made no mention of their offices in Iran having been shut down by the government.

Biden Accused of 'Double Talk' on Iran

Art Moore, WorldNetDaily.com:

In an upcoming TV special, Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden declares nuclear technology in the hands of Iran's "despotic theocracy" is "unacceptable," but a critic charges the Delaware lawmaker's engagement policy with Tehran over the last decade makes him partly responsible for the growing threat the U.S. faces from the mullah regime. READ MORE

Biden tells host Chris Wallace in Fox News Channel's "Iran: The Nuclear Threat" airing Sunday night, "To have a despotic theocracy in possession of a nuclear weapon, creates a much bigger danger than having a democratically elected government in control of a nuclear weapon. ... They're much more likely to use it or threaten to use it or attempt to use it for blackmail."

Biden, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also comments on Iran's stockpile of missiles, capable of delivering nuclear warheads: "It ratchets up everything and makes the neighborhood a hell of a lot more dangerous."

Wallace asks: "You're saying at this point a nuclear Iran is unacceptable?"

"Correct," Biden replies.

But critic Jerome Corsi, author of newly released "Atomic Iran," contends Biden's words should be assessed in the context of his "long track record of appeasement and double talk on the Iran nuclear risk."

"The mullahs have known that Biden is their No. 1 go-to guy in the Senate whenever they want their bidding done to fool the American people," Corsi charges.

In his book, Corsi names Biden, along with Democratic Sens. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton as recipients of funds from the "pro-mullah lobby" in the U.S.

While there always has been debate over whether to engage or isolate rogue regimes, Biden's concilatory approach to Tehran is especially dangerous, asserts Corsi.

"He's being played for a fool and doesn't recognize that that strategy failed in North Korea, and it's going to fail here again," he said. "What's he going to do, act surprised when the mullahs make a bomb?"

Corsi cites intelligence reports indicating Iran may be close to developing a nuclear weapon.

Last week, for example, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon showed President Bush satellite surveillance photographs of Iranian nuclear installations to demonstrate the country's development has reached an "advanced stage." Sharon spoke of the danger of relying upon a time-consuming process of European negotiations, which include France, Germany and Italy.

Corsi said, "Just talking with [Tehran] over time, just negotiating with them, plays into the mullah's strategy to buy time and make weapons. As long as we're still talking, the mullahs are winning."

WorldNetDaily reported, Biden recently told a columnist the world must address Iran's emotional needs and agree to a nonagression pact.

Biden was cited by the Boston Globe's H.D.S. Greenway, who wrote that President Bush's rhetoric about freedom and specific references to Iran is making people wonder if Tehran will be the next target, after Iraq.

Greenway wrote: "Senator Joseph Biden said that even if Iran was a full democracy like India, it would want nuclear capability, like India. What the world needed to address was Iran's emotional needs, he said, with a nonaggression pact."

Biden's office in Washington did not reply to repeated requests from WND for comment.

Finding 'common ground'

The senator's sharp criticism of the Bush administration's Iran policy has been expressed not only in Congress but in meetings with Iranian-Americans sympathetic to the mullah regime and with Iranian officials themselves.

Last year, Biden held a high-level, 90-minute meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, which took place in a lounge in full view of reporters during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The U.S. has had no official relations with Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

IRNA, the state Iranian news agency, reported Biden "stressed the importance of Iran and the role which it can play in the sensitive and volatile region" and said "he hoped the existing problems between the Islamic Republic of Iran and America would be removed someday."

According to IRNA, "Kharrazi, in turn, said 'the Iranian nation has suffered gravely from the antagonistic steps of the American government and so long as these wrong policies continue, there will be no ground for dialogue and improving the two countries' relations.'"

"The report said Kharrazi "stressed that ... American statesmen are required first to change their existing approach and prove their goodwill in order to pave the way for dialogue and diplomatic relations according to mutual respect."

After expressing concern about Tehran's nuclear intentions, Biden reportedly told Kharrazi he also is urging his own government to rethink its positions.

"You have to grow up, and my administration has to grow up, with all due respect, and find out if there is any common ground," the senator said. "We are on the course of unintended consequences."

Biden criticized Bush's unwillingness to rule out an armed response, according to the report.

"I hope we're all smarter about this, smarter than we've been," Biden said. "I hope our leadership is brighter because if it's not, it's a very dull picture for the region, and for humanity."

Show of support?

In 2002, amid protests from Iranian-Americans, Biden held a fund-raiser in the California home of a prominent lobbyist for the radical mullah regime, during which the senator "delivered a sweeping condemnation" of President Bush's "Axis of Evil" formula, according to Ken Timmerman, writing in Insight magazine.

One Iranian-American activist said, "Getting the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to appear at this event will certainly be seen by the regime in Tehran as a show of support."

Held at the home of Sadegh Namazi-khah, the fund-raiser brought in $30,000 for Biden's re-election to the Senate that year.

"He really impressed us by his grasp of world affairs," Namazi-khah told Insight. "He encouraged us to make our views known and to get more involved in American politics."

Many of the participants were impressed with Biden's friendly attitude toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, Timmerman wrote.

The senator said "Iran always wanted to be an ally of the United States and to have good relations with the U.S.," according to Housang Dadgostar, a prominent lawyer.

"As Iranian-Americans, we don't want anything to happen to the Iranian government or to the Iranian people as a result of this war on terrorism," says Mohsen Movaghar, a Los Angeles businessman.

Both men belong to the 70-member board of directors of Namazi-khah's Iranian Muslim Association of North America, or IMAN, Timmerman wrote.

Namazi-khah denied any official contact with the Iranian government, but said he regularly travels to Iran and actively supports "moderates" within the ruling clergy, such as Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

Namazi-khah and other IMAN board members said Biden's office had asked if they would hold the private fund-raiser after meeting with them at a pro-Tehran gala in New York in December 2001.

That event was sponsored by the American-Iranian Council, a pro-regime group lobbying to lift the trade embargo on Iran.

In a speech before that group in March 2002, Biden gave his prescription for U.S.-Iran relations.

The address, later entered into the Congressional Record, offered a five-step program for U.S. policy to improve relations with Iran. Biden said the United States should allow non-governmental organizations to support a range of civil society and democracy building activities in Iran; continue to work with Tehran on matters of mutual interest; should go along with Iran's bid to join the World Trade Organization; should work to "indirectly assist" the Tehran regime in the fields of refugees and anti-narcotics efforts; and should encourage citizen exchanges with Iran.

Arms control

In February, Biden said the Bush administration, which says it does not rule out any option to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, had to be willing to sign on to a "genuine nonaggression pact."

"This is a case where we're remaining to sit on the sidelines," Biden said. "The three European countries that are negotiating with the Iranians are saying, 'Look, we've got to get in the deal with them. We can't just sit on the sidelines."'

He criticized Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for saying the U.S. might not sign on to a deal even if Iran promised to eschew missiles and nuclear weapons in a verifiable way.

"Nothing they're going to be able to do is going to be involved with us unless we're willing to get into some kind of an agreement that results in a verifiable arms control agreement," Biden said.

Vital Nuclear Parts Missing

Douglas Frantz, The Los Angeles Times:

Critical components and specialized tools destined for Libya's nuclear weapons program disappeared before arrival in 2003 and international investigators now suspect that they were diverted to another country, according to court records and investigators. READ MORE

Efforts to find the missing equipment have led to dead ends, raising what investigators said was the strong likelihood that the sophisticated material was sold to an unidentified customer by members of the international smuggling ring that had been supplying nuclear technology and weapons designs to Libya.

The equipment — components for advanced centrifuges, along with material and precision tools to manufacture more of them — does not constitute an immediate threat, but nuclear experts said it would cut years off an effort to enrich uranium for an atomic bomb.

The mystery of the missing high-tech equipment illustrates both the extensive knowledge investigators have gained about the smuggling operation and the troubling gaps that remain. It also raises the question of whether a rogue nation or group might be secretly building a nuclear weapon.

Two senior international investigators said that the illicit technology had been shipped to Turkey, Malaysia and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, before it disappeared and that it remained unaccounted for.

The equipment was initially meant for a $100-million, clandestine uranium enrichment plant and bomb factory being built for Libya by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and a network of middlemen on three continents.

The seizure by the United States and Britain of a separate shipment of nuclear-related components from a freighter headed for Libya in October 2003 crippled the network and led to Khan's admission that he had been selling know-how and technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Since then, the biggest concerns for international inspectors and intelligence agencies examining Khan's operation have been whether an unidentified customer is also pursuing a nuclear weapon or whether Iran might have received the missing technology and, potentially, designs for an atomic weapon.

Investigators said business records and interviews with some participants in the ring suggested the existence of a customer other than Libya. They said the vanished equipment, though not proof, constituted the strongest clue yet.

The list of potential clients for a nuclear weapons program is not long, but it extends to countries in the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. Khan traveled extensively and had contacts worldwide. Investigators have identified at least 30 companies and middlemen who sold goods to his network.

"For sure there were other customers," said one of the senior investigators, who spoke on condition that his name be withheld because the inquiry is ongoing. "We just don't know who and we don't know how far along they might be." ...

A non-Western intelligence official said it was possible that the missing centrifuge components and other material was sold secretly to Iran by someone in the Khan network as the operation started to unravel after the seizure of the shipment in 2003. ...

The IAEA has been inspecting Iranian installations for nearly two years and says it has uncovered no proof that Iran is working on weapons.

But concerns remain. Last month, the agency's deputy director complained publicly that Tehran had not turned over all information related to a 1987 meeting in which Khan's associates offered to sell weapons designs to Iran.

The complexity of enriching uranium makes it likely that an unknown customer would be a country rather than a terrorist group. Intelligence officials said it was unlikely that even a sophisticated terrorist group would have the resources for such an undertaking, though they could not rule it out.

The primary investigation of the Khan network is being conducted by a small team of nuclear experts from the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna. Intelligence officials and prosecutors from other countries, including the United States, Germany, Britain, France, South Africa and Switzerland, are involved.

Seven people alleged to have ties to the ring have been taken into custody in Dubai, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa and Switzerland, but none has gone to trial. ...

Tens of thousands of documents and computer files have been recovered from suspected participants in the ring. Other records were destroyed after members suspected that they were under surveillance in late 2002.

The first confirmation that sensitive technology had disappeared was in court records filed this year by German prosecutors trying to extradite Gotthard Lerch, a German engineer who lives outside Zurich.

Lerch was not charged in connection with the missing equipment, but German prosecutors accused him of helping Libya obtain restricted technology for uranium enrichment. He is being held without bond in Switzerland.

His lawyer, Adrian Bachmann, denied that Lerch had any connection to Khan or Libya. "The German authorities are under huge international pressure to produce something and Lerch is the last chance for them to get any result," Bachmann said in an interview. "He wouldn't even know how to build a centrifuge plant."

In a previously undisclosed meeting June 17 in Vienna, Olli Heinonen, the senior IAEA investigator, told German prosecutors that Lerch had helped the Khan network develop the Libyan plant.

Heinonen said nine rotors for an advanced type of centrifuge had been delivered to the network's base of operations for the Libyan plant in Dubai and he said records showed two of them were later shipped to Libya, according to an account of the meeting written by the prosecutors and filed in the Lerch case.

Heinonen told the prosecutors that the other seven rotors remained unaccounted for. He did not say when the rotors had arrived in Dubai, according to the account. But previous IAEA reports and other interviews indicate that they were shipped there from Pakistan in early to mid-2000.

Libyan officials later told the IAEA that two of the rotors had arrived in Tripoli in September 2000 as samples for an order of 10,000 that was never filled, according to an IAEA report in February 2004.

The rotors are slim cylinders, about 6 feet high, manufactured to exact measurements. The missing ones were for P-2 centrifuges, and experts said they would be extremely valuable prototypes for an enrichment plant.

In addition to the rotors, a shipping container of centrifuge components and a ton of high-strength aluminum intended for manufacturing parts for Libya's centrifuges also vanished, Heinonen said. Those parts, last seen in Turkey and Malaysia, disappeared after the seizure of the separate shipment to Libya in 2003, according to the account.

Mark Gwozdecky, chief spokesman for the IAEA, and Frauke-Katrin Scheuten, spokeswoman for the German federal prosecutor's office, declined to comment on the meeting or other elements of the investigations.

Another international official, who refused to permit his name to be used because he is directly involved in the investigation, said the rotors, components and aluminum are still missing.

In addition, he said, a separate container filled with precision tools and key parts for two specialized lathes that were supposed to manufacture the 10,000 rotors for Libya also disappeared at some point after the 2003 seizure.

The components and tools were either manufactured by the network or purchased by it from suppliers for use in the Libya enrichment project. The account by the prosecutors did not provide precise dates about the acquisition of the material or its disappearance.

The most common way to produce fissile material, the biggest challenge in building a nuclear weapon, is to use centrifuges.

The complicated process involves converting uranium ore to a gas and pumping it into an array of thousands of interconnected centrifuges. Rotors inside the centrifuges spin at up to twice the speed of sound to separate isotopes and concentrate the uranium to produce weapons-grade material.

Centrifuges must be manufactured to precise tolerances so they remain balanced as they spin rapidly for long periods. Years of testing and experimentation are usually required before an array of 1,000 or more centrifuges can produce enough material for a single weapon.

Khan used blueprints that he allegedly stole from a European consortium to help build Pakistan's enrichment plant in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He developed a network of suppliers in Europe and elsewhere to secretly provide much of the equipment.

In 1987, with Pakistan well on its way to its first bombs, the scientist began selling centrifuge know-how and equipment to Iran. The scheme lasted until at least the mid-1990s and remained secret until August 2002, when elements of Iran's hidden program were exposed by an Iranian exile group. ...

Iranian authorities confirmed to IAEA experts this year that Khan's associates had first provided a written offer to supply both centrifuges and designs for a nuclear weapon in 1987 at a meeting in Dubai.

The Iranians said they had bought centrifuge designs and components and a list of suppliers, but rejected the weapons technology.

Pierre Goldschmidt, deputy director of the IAEA, told the agency's board last month that Iran showed the IAEA a one-page offer for centrifuges, but he said Tehran refused to produce other documentation from the meeting.

In addition to the sales to Iran, Khan is suspected of transferring enrichment technology to North Korea in return for help developing missiles for Pakistani nuclear warheads.

But the network's most ambitious — and now most transparent — transaction involved engineering and manufacturing the $100-million, off-the-shelf plant in Libya to produce nuclear weapons.

U.S. and British intelligence agencies seized five crates of centrifuge components from a ship bound for Libya in October 2003. The components had been manufactured at a Malaysian factory affiliated with the Khan network.

The seizure helped persuade Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi to give up his nuclear program later that year. Along with equipment and designs for a nuclear warhead obtained from Khan, Libya turned over records of six years of dealing with the network to the U.S. and IAEA.

Tucked among thousands of documents were four pages outlining the journey of two specialized lathes, each of which weighed several tons. Following that trail led investigators to the discovery that critical components and machinery produced for Libya were missing, according to documents and investigators.

Khan and his associates had struck the deal with Libya in 1997. To avoid attracting attention, elements of the engineering and production were farmed out to separate locations. The entire plant was then to be shipped to Libya and reassembled.

An operating system for the plant was being manufactured in South Africa. German prosecutors alleged that Lerch used contacts in South Africa to set up that part of the project. The system eventually filled 11 huge shipping containers.

The centrifuges themselves were to be produced in Dubai, the Persian Gulf port where the network operated quietly from a computer firm and several nondescript warehouses.

On July 7, 2000, two lathes bought from a Spanish manufacturer left the port of Barcelona bound for Dubai, according to the shipping invoice.

Production of some components of the centrifuges was undertaken at a factory in Malaysia. For help on the rotors, according to court papers in South Africa and interviews there, the network turned to Tradefin, a company outside Johannesburg, South Africa, that was already producing the plant's operating system. Its owner, Johan A.M. Meyer, had worked for South Africa's nuclear program before it was closed down in the early 1990s.

Meyer agreed to try to make the rotors and records show that one of the lathes was shipped to his company from Dubai in late 2000.

The rotors had to be made from maraging steel, a high-strength alloy that is under export controls because of its use in weapons. A lawyer for Meyer, who was charged with helping the Libyan project and is cooperating with authorities, said he was unable to buy the steel, so the lathe sat unused.

In December 2001, the lathe was shipped back to Dubai. Both lathes later were discovered in Libya along with two of the nine P-2 rotors initially shipped to Dubai. The other seven rotors are still missing.

Heinonen told the German prosecutors that four supposedly had been destroyed and three were still somewhere in Dubai, according to the prosecutors' account. But investigators have found no evidence that the rotors were destroyed, and searches of the network's facilities in Dubai did not locate them or other missing equipment.

The senior investigator who suspects the existence of an unidentified network customer said the rotors and other equipment could have gone directly to the other customer or to an undiscovered manufacturing site operated by the network.

The P-2 rotors in particular are too valuable to have been destroyed, even as investigators closed in on most of the network's operations, he said.