Week in Review

DoctorZin provides a review of this past week's [9/04-9/10] major news events regarding Iran. (The reports are listed in chronological order, not by importance)

Ahmadinejad - A dangerous terrorist is flying into NY City next week.

• Iran Press News reported that Hamidreza Assefi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran said: The U.S.'s refusal to grant a visa to the Islamic Republic's Parliamentary delegation to attend the world conference of international parliamentarians is considered exceedingly rude. Adding: The United States with this action has proven itself unqualified to host international networks.
• Iran Press News reported Shokrollah Attaarzadeh, member of a division the Islamic regime's majority, in reaction to the United States refusal to grant Haddad Adel and his delegation visas said: Ahmadinejad must order Iran's extrication from the United Nations charter and have the embassies of countries who associate with America, closed.
• Mehr News reported that Ahmadinejad who is going to attend the summit of the United Nations General Assembly in New York will travel to there directly from Tehran. In a reversal, the State Department will let him bring with him the Majlis speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and his parliamentary entourage.
• Reuters reported that the United States granted a visa to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
• The Peninsula reported that the speaker of Iran's parliament yesterday cancelled plans to visit New York for a UN meeting because of delays in receiving a US visa.
• Nasser Rashidi, The Global Politician reminded us that the State Department says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a terrorist, but will grant him a visa anyway.
• SMCCDI has obtained a permit for protest by the UN for the September 14th protests of Ahmadinejad in NYC. They need our support.
• SMCCDI released a public letter to John Bolton, the US Ambassador at the UN regarding Ahmadinejad's visit to the UN.
• Political Prisoner, Mehrdad Haydarpour, Iran Press News writing from Evin Prison asked: What could the decrepit wolf, Ahmadinejad, have to say at the U.N.?
• Iran Press News reported that the Democratic Front of Iranian Kurds called for New York demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's presence at the U.N.

Iran's Nuclear Program.

• Reuters reported that the IRI said threats of U.N. Security Council referral would not persuade it to abandon its nuclear program.
• Chicago Tribune provided a recap of the major evidence of Iran secret nuclear program.
• Ha'aretz reported that the IRI rejected a European threat that Tehran had less than two weeks to freeze uranium conversion or face referral to the UN Security Council.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that the European Union felt betrayed by the IRI's restarting its uranium enrichment process. One diplomat saying: The Iranians have destroyed the basis for dialogue.
• Iran Press News reported that Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Agency, warned Europe saying: they should know that the regime also has plans in place in response to each one of the step that they take; it will all be scrutinized and enforced.
• Reuters said that Russia opposes reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
• Agence France-Presse: The European Union has lost hope that Iran will again suspend its uranium conversion activities.
• BBC News reported that London-based think tank, The International Institute for Strategic Studies, has assessed that Iran is still several years away from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. But takes no comfort in this.
• Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor believes Iran has changed its tack in its nuclear standoff with the west.
• And finally, Financial Times reported that Russia on Monday ruled out an early decision to report the Iran nuclear controversy to the United Nations Security Council.
• Reuters reported that Seoul acknowledged that a South Korean firm had nearly sold Iran a substance that can be used to boost a nuclear explosion.
• Dow Jones Newswires reported that a senior European Union diplomat said two years of talks with Iran are basically in the rubbish bin.
• Asia Times Online reported that in the high-stakes nuclear poker game between Iran and the EU-3, Tehran has decided to call the EU's bluff and turn the game around.
• Reuters reported that Iran's top nuclear negotiator's visit to Pakistan sought to soothe growing international unease over its nuclear program.
• Gulf Daily News reported that top deputies in Iran's parliament have threatened to limit UN inspectors' access to nuclear sites and even revoke its commitment to an additional protocol of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
• Iran Press News reported on the Iranian regime's anxiety in the face of U.N. Security Council referral.
• Bernard Gwertzman, The Council on Foreign Relations an interview with Ray Takeyh, the Council’s top expert on Iran.
• Media Line reported that Germany wants Iran to be referred to the United Nations Security Council.
• Louis Charbonneau, Reuters reported Iran threatened that: many countries will sustain a loss if Iran's nuclear dossier is securitized (by the UN Security Council).
  
• The Guardian reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia, China and India to support threatening Iran with sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear program, saying: Iran needs to get a message from the international community that is a unified message.
• Reuters reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: The United States expects Iran will be referred to the U.N. Security council.
  
• Reuters reported that Rafsanjani called on the western countries to stop making a fuss over Iran's atomic activities, warning: If they make immature decisions or implement their threats, Iran will not be the only country to be harmed.
• And finally, The Guardian reported that the British government softened its stance on the Iranian nuclear issue yesterday, for the first time, shifting the emphasis away from sanctions.
• The Indian Express reported that the US is turning the screws on Iran.
• Xinhuanet reported that Moscow rejected on Saturday appeals from the United States and other Western countries to support an initiative to submit Iran's nuclear problem to the UN Security Council.
• The Economist asked: Why is the pressure suddenly seeming to leak out of the diplomacy to persuade Iran to end its nuclear dabbling—just when the regime is flaunting its defiance?
• The New York Times reported the Bush administration has opened an unusual diplomatic struggle with Russia, China and India to have Iran's suspected nuclear weapons activities brought before the United Nations Security Council.
• Iran Press News reported a representative of the Islamic Parliament said: one cannot trust the Russians, Chinese, Germans, French and British.
• Iran Press News reported that Hassan Rowhani, the regime's ex-nuclear negotiator said: The conditions being set by Europeans for the continuation of discussions are unacceptable.
  

Akbar Ganji - Back in Jail.

• Reuters reported that Akbar Ganji was returned to prison.
• Iran Press News quoted Akbar Ganji's wife as saying: The regime's authorities had promised Ganji that with the various conditions in place and his hunger strike terminated, that he would be handed his release orders within 10 days; however as usual, the so-called Gentlemen, including Mortazavi conned us.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported that Iran's justice minister, Jamal Karimirad said that Akbar Ganji was transferred to Evin Prison after the hospital leave and will serve his sentence.
  

Other Iranian dissidents inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported on the new fabricated charges against activist and political prisoner, Bina Darab-Zand, adding that Darab-Zand and fellow activist and prisoner, Behrooz Javid-Tehrani are both on hunger strike together.
• Iran Press News reported on the condition of several political prisoners, Kayvan Rafii, Behrooz Javid-Tehrani and Ejlaal Qavami.
• Iran Press News reported that Mostafa Jokaar, imprisoned journalist, is in grave danger after sustaining a heart attack in prison. The prison authorities refuse to allow him to be transported to a hospital so that he can in fact die.
  

The unrest against the regime spreads in Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that starting tomorrow, the Islamic regime's disciplinary forces fearing widespread protests, demonstrations and uprisings have plan to strategically place their disciplinary forces around university campuses and high schools, calling it: a direct confrontation with hoodlums and misfits.
• TurkishPress reported clashes in western Iran with Kurdish terrorists have left 120 Iranian police dead and a further 64 injured in less than six months.
• Iran Focus reported that more than 500 people attacked two government buildings and set fire to tyres in the streets of the town of Basamanj, northwest Iran, in protest to constant water and electricity disruptions.
  

Who is Who in Iran.

• Bahrain Tribune reported that former national police chief and defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf was appointed mayor of Tehran.
• Iran Press News reported that Qaalibaaf, the new mayor of Tehran confessed that people do not "live in Tehran" so much as they "tolerate" it.
• Adam Zagorin, Time Magazine reported that the nominee for Iran's powerful position of Oil Minister, Ali Saeedlou, couldn't get past his educational résumé. Iran's Parliament asked Saeedlou how he could have received a doctorate from an American university when he was supposedly living in Iran.
  

The Power Struggle inside of Iran.

• Iranian blogger, Hossein Derakhshan, Hoder.com reported that a recent photo provides evidence of the public split between Khamenei and Rafsanjani.
  

Iran's Troublemaking.

• Iran Focus reported that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has infiltrated key levers of power in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, southern Iraq.
• Iran Focus reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that dozens of “trained volunteers for martyrdom-seeking operations” will soon stage a manoeuvre to display their “readiness”.
• Arnaud de Borchgrave, The Washington Times said for those the say: If Iran wanted, it could make Iraq hell for the United States. He responds: Well, Iran not only wants to, it already has.
  

U.S. Policy.

• RIA Novosti reported that the United States does not have a clear policy in dealing with Iran, said Viktor Orlov, director of the Center for political studies in Russia.
• Reuters reported that Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said: China will be increasingly in conflict with the United States if it continues to pursue energy deals with countries like Iran and is unlikely to gain the energy security it seeks.
• Sify.com reported that members of the United States Committee on International relations criticized India's stand on the Iranian nuclear issue.
• The Telegraph UK reported that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought a meeting with George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
  

The Iranian Military.

• Iran Press News quoted Massoud Jazayeri, spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard saying: The slightest action taken by the United States vis a vis this matter will turn every single one of that country's states, into a disaster area.

The Iranian Economy.

• Iran mania reported that the U.S. has finally agreed with France’s sale of the VIP aircraft to Iran.
• Iran Mania reported that assets held by Iranian nationals residing in the United States reached $800 bln last year.
• IranMania.com reported that Iran's stock market chief dismissed reports that the proposed oil bourse will use the euro.
  

Human Rights/Freedom of the press inside of Iran.

• SMCCDI reported that a man accused to have waged 'war against god' was hanged, yesterday, in the southeastern City of Iranshahr.
• IranMania reported that Shirin Ebadi accused the hardline judiciary of placing so much pressure on her colleagues that few were prepared to defend dissidents.
• Iran Press News reported on received reports the IRI has executed political prisoner Ismail Mohammadi,by hanging.
• Iran Press News published an Iran Daily report that the disciplinary forces of the regime are ganging up and swarming around girls, harassing, disgracing and insulting them.
• Iran Focus reported that the IRI's prosecutor’s offices announced women who violate Iran’s strict Islamic dress code will be flogged immediately, usually 100 lashes in public.
• Iran Press News reported on a statement issued by the Kurdish Democratic Front of Iran regarding the execution sentence of 3 other activists.
• Iranian blogger, Windsteed, Iran Hopes mentioned that a UN special rapporteur on human rights will soon be visiting Tehran for a meeting with Ganji and other political prisoners.
• SMCCDI reported that tens have been arrested and hundreds more investigated in Iranian cities in the frame of a new systematic crackdown.
• Reporters Without Borders demanded the immediate release of four journalists who were arrested in the Kurdish part of Iran.
• Iran Press News reported that drivers of the Tehran Bus Drivers Association turned on the headlights of their vehicles in protest to non-receipt of their wages and benefits. The regime reacted harshly and arrested several drivers.
  

Protests inside of Iran.

• Iran Press News reported that workers in Khuzestan blocked the transit road between the cities of Ahvaz and Khorramshahr for an hour. The workers protested the company's conditions and apathy in the work place as well non payment of their salaries for the past two months.
• Iran Press News reported that workers gathered in Tehran to protest the mismanagement and dereliction of the authorities of said factory.
• Iran Press News reported that Azad Lotfpour, spokesman for the Committee for the National Civil and non-Government Protestors who attended the protest in front of the office of the governor of Kurdistan, was arrested today in Sanandadj.
• Iran Press News reported that the people of a suburb of Tabriz (Azerbaijan Province) protested the lack of water then attacked and invaded government offices and set fire to tires in the town square.
• KurdishMedia News called for the release of Ms. Roya Tolouie, an activist in the women’s movement, and a member of the Association for the Defence of Women in Kurdistan. She was arrested following a peaceful sit-in to demand the release of prisoners.
  

Iran and the International community.

• Iraqi blogger, Mohammed, Iraq the Model thinks that Iran is seeking a limited confrontation and Iran is calculating the possible gains and losses.
• Yoav Stern, Iran Press Service reported that one day after the historic meeting of Pakistani and Israeli foreign affairs ministers in Istanbul, it was learnt that Israel has opened a diplomatic mission in the Persian Gulf sheikhdom of United Arab Emirates.
• The Washington Times reported that the president of Iran's powerful Higher Council for National Security, Ali Larijani, canceled a Monday visit to Pakistan. Foreign Ministry spokesman saying: we express sorrow and bewilderment over the cordial meeting between Pakistani and Zionist officials.
• Iran Press News discussed China and Russia's dangerous game with the Mullahs.
• Frederick W. Stakelbeck, FrontPageMagazine.com reported that energy is bringing China and Iran closer together.
• Mehr News reported that Iran has held negotiations with Austria, Swiss, and France to export gas to these countries.
• MosNews reported a Russian oil company was forced to suspend its work in Iran due to the unstable political situation in the country.
• The New Zealand Herald reported a company is under scrutiny as part of a global investigation into the black market trade of United States military parts to Iran.
  

Iran's Offer of Help After Hurricane Katrina.

• Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the IRI will help US victims of Hurricane Katrina if there is a need to do so.
• Iranian blogger, Windsteed, Iran Hopes angry with his government's lack of concern for the victims of Katrina said: I wish to speak for all Iranians who are well-known for their kindness and caring attitude towards others: Our hearts are with victims of this massive and sad human tragedy.
• Islamic Republic News Agency reported the IRI announced readiness to send twenty million barrels of crude oil to the United States to help Washington deal with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina, if the sanctions are lifted.
• News Max reported that Iran offered to send the United States 20 million barrels of crude oil in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina if Washington waived trade sanctions, but a State Department official said the offer was rejected.
• Eli Lake, The NY Sun reported on U.S. rejection of Cuban Aid and 20 Million Barrels of Iranian Oil.
  

Can You Believe This?

• Iran Press News reported that the director of the regime's emergency management office confessed that under the rule of the Mullahs, Iran has become the sixth most disaster-ridden country in the world.
  

Must Read reports.

• The Mercury News reported that the most direct threat to Iran's theocracy is its expanding and restless middle class.
• Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times reported that 74% of European respondents, compared with 51% of Americans, want their governments to help establish democracy in other countries.
• Iranian blogger, Farid Pouya, Webgardian provided the link to the Transatlantic Trends poll on European attitudes.
• Iranian blogger, Farid Pouya, Webgardian quoted Fred Halliday, Professor in London School of Economic, who said: if we look at Iranian history we see Iranian leaders always miscalculated when they faced important events.
  

The Experts.

• Amir Taheri, Aawsat.com makes the case for NOT invading Iran. A must read.
• Amir Taheri, The NY Post reported on the "Quiet War" in Iraq and a disturbing recent agreement between Iran and Iraq.
  

Cartoon of the week.

• Cox & Forkum published a cartoon: Confronting Terrorism IV.
  

And finally, The Quote of the Week.

Iran Press News reported that Larijani, the Secretary of the regime's high council of security, warned:

Europeans and other major world powers (China and Russia) better not make the mistake of using the big stick of the U.N.'s Security Council.

Saturday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.10.2005:

US Turns Iran Screw, Wants India to Join

The Indian Express:

Asserting that seeking UN sanctions against Iran was a “reasonable option,” US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice today asked India, China and Russia to send a unified message to Tehran that it has to adhere to its international obligations on the nuclear issue.

‘‘Now we need leadership on this. The EU-3 (UK, France and Germany) led on this issue. The United States supported the EU-3 on this issue. But Iran needs to get a message from the international community that it is a unified message, and by this I mean not just the EU and the United States but also Russia, China and India,’’ Rice told reporters here ahead of her trip to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Rice’s remarks come amid reports that the EU is ready to call for Iran to be brought before the UN Security Council as a “clear signal of concern” over Tehran’s nuclear activities, according to a confidential document obtained by AFP today. ...

The EU trio ‘‘believe that the issue should be resolved diplomatically but are convinced that this will only be possible by the broader international community sending Tehran a clear signal of concern and appealing to it to return to the negotiating table,” said the “speaking notes” document given to IAEA diplomats this week, according to a diplomat who did not want to be named.

“This is highly official. This is the line being presented all over the globe,” a senior EU diplomat said.

The notes said that “by resuming suspended fuel cycle activity, iran is challenging the authority of the IAEA and raising further doubts about her programmes." READ MORE

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

• Amir Taheri, The NY Post reported on the "Quiet War" in Iraq and a disturbing recent agreement between Iran and Iraq.
• The Telegraph UK reported that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought a meeting with George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.
• The New Zealand Herald reported a company is under scrutiny as part of a global investigation into the black market trade of United States military parts to Iran.
• Xinhuanet reported that Moscow rejected on Saturday appeals from the United States and other Western countries to support an initiative to submit Iran's nuclear problem to the UN Security Council.
• The Economist asked: Why is the pressure suddenly seeming to leak out of the diplomacy to persuade Iran to end its nuclear dabbling—just when the regime is flaunting its defiance?
• The New York Times reported the Bush administration has opened an unusual diplomatic struggle with Russia, China and India to have Iran's suspected nuclear weapons activities brought before the United Nations Security Council.
• Iran Press News reported that the Democratic Front of Iranian Kurds called for New York demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's presence at the U.N.
• Iran Press News reported a representative of the Islamic Parliament said: one cannot trust the Russians, Chinese, Germans, French and British.
• Iran Press News reported that drivers of the Tehran Bus Drivers Association turned on the headlights of their vehicles in protest to non-receipt of their wages and benefits. The regime reacted harshly and arrested several drivers.
• Iran Press News reported that Hassan Rowhani, the regime's ex-nuclear negotiator said: The conditions being set by Europeans for the continuation of discussions are unacceptable.
• And finally, Iran Press News reported that the director of the regime's emergency management office confessed that under the rule of the Mullahs, Iran has become the sixth most disaster-ridden country in the world.

A Quiet War

Amir Taheri, The NY Post:

JUST over a month ago, Iraq's interim govern ment signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic in Tehran under which up to 5,000 Iranians would be allowed to visit the Shi'ite cities of Karbala and Najaf in southern Iraq. The agreement also provided for a speedier repatriation of Iraqi refugees from Iran.

The agreement attracted little attention, largely because Iranian pilgrims had been flooding the Iraqi "holy cities" since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Estimates show that more than 10 million pilgrims, mostly Iranians, have visited Karbala and Najaf in the past three years.

But the new agreement contains two disturbing provisions. The first gives Tehran sole authority to decide who should be allowed to visit the Iraqi "holy cities" from Iran. In other words, it would be Iran, not the Iraqi government, that provides the laisser-passer needed for the pilgrimage.

Before the new agreement was signed, Iranian pilgrims had to travel with private tour companies that obtained Iraqi visas at the point of entry into Iraq. This gave the Iraqis an opportunity to refuse entry to any group they deemed undesirable.

The second provision commits Baghdad to recognising as an Iraqi citizen anyone producing a paper to that effect issued by Iranian authorities. READ MORE

During the three decades of Ba'athist rule in Baghdad, an estimated 2.5 million Iraqis either fled to Iran or were expelled by Saddam Hussein as "fake Iraqis of Iranian origin." The expellees became known as the mua'wedeen ("the returned ones"). Many became Iranian citizens while retaining their Iraqi papers.

Days after signing the accord with Iraq, Iranian "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei transferred the entire Iraqi dossier to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC's commander, Gen. Rahim Safavi, later told a news conference in Tehran that his force had been asked to "prepare for all eventualities" with regard to Iraq.

In the past few weeks, the Iranian border police, part of the regular army, have been put under command of the IRGC, which now controls all points of entry into Iraq. At the same time, the IRGC has moved vast quantities of heavy weaponry to "sensitive points" (including the Zaynalkush salient, the Hamroun mountain range and the Dasht-e-Mishan plain) along the 900-mile-long border. Official Iranian reports indicate that the IRCG now has more than 250,000 men at or close to the Iraqi border, the highest concentration of troops there since the Iraq-Iraq war ended in 1988.

All this activity is accompanied by the beginnings of what looks like a massive program of building roads, airstrips and storage facilities close to the border. The IRCG has also set up a number of listening posts along the border, plus a major "electronic surveillance center" on Mainau Island in the middle of the Shatt all-Arab border estuary.

Tehran presents the transfer of the Iraqi dossier to the IRGC as a precautionary measure against alleged attempts by the U.S.-led Coalition to send "saboteurs and infiltrators" into southern Iran. It has accused Britain of having fomented riots that left six dead in the oil capital of Ahvaz last month, and blamed the United States for riots in Iranian Kurdistan, where at least 13 people died in clashes with the security forces in July. (The British and Americans have denied these charges.)

Last year, Iran closed the last refugee camp for the mua'wedeen and announced that almost all had decided to return to Iraq. As the process of repatriation started, however, many Iraqis feared that Iran would use the opportunity to infiltrate thousands of its agents into Iraq disguised as mua'wedeen.

The fear may be exaggerated: Fewer than 3 percent of Iranians have Arabic as their mother tongue. These are members of ethnic Arab tribes who have kith and kin on the Iraqi side of the border. It would not be easy for these Iranian-Arabs to enter Iraq without being exposed as Iranian nationals.

Nevertheless, the IRGC, which surely recruited agents among Iraqi refugees and expellees over the years, is now in a position infiltrate them into Iraq. Such infiltrations are further facilitated by the fact that the new Iraqi police, especially in southern provinces, is made up mainly of members of the Shi'ite militias trained and armed in exile by Iran.

Many Iraqis hold these "Iranian agents" responsible for a series of mysterious murders that have shocked the south, especially Basra, since last March. Nongovernemental groups in Basra, Kut and al-Imarah say that more than 400 people have been assassinated by "unknown assailants" in the past four months.

Some of the victims were members of the Ba'ath, the former ruling party, and may have died in revenge-killings. Others, however, were doctors, lawyers, academics and businessmen who were known for their opposition to Iranian-style theocracy in Iraq.

One thing is certain: Iran is engaged in a low-intensity war against the United States and its allies, including most Iraqi political parties. The Iranian calculation is that the U.S.-led coalition is tired of Iraq and will disengage within a maximum of 31/2 years, that is by the end of the Bush presidency at the latest.

And then, as Khamenei has said, it will be the Islamic Republic — not the United States — that will decide the future not only of Iraq but of the entire Middle East.

Iranian author Amir Taheri is a member of Benador Associates.

US Turns Iran Screw, Wants India to Join

The Indian Express:

Asserting that seeking UN sanctions against Iran was a “reasonable option,” US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice today asked India, China and Russia to send a unified message to Tehran that it has to adhere to its international obligations on the nuclear issue.

‘‘Now we need leadership on this. The EU-3 (UK, France and Germany) led on this issue. The United States supported the EU-3 on this issue. But Iran needs to get a message from the international community that it is a unified message, and by this I mean not just the EU and the United States but also Russia, China and India,’’ Rice told reporters here ahead of her trip to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Rice’s remarks come amid reports that the EU is ready to call for Iran to be brought before the UN Security Council as a “clear signal of concern” over Tehran’s nuclear activities, according to a confidential document obtained by AFP today.

The document confirms the position of EU-3, faced with Iran’s continuing nuclear fuel work that could be related to developing atomic weapons, as alleged by the US.

The Secretary of State was answering questions on whether EU’s talks with Iran have run their course and on the possibility of referring Iran’s nuclear programme to the UN Security Council.

‘‘The question whether the negotiations have run their course is really one that should be put to the Iranians. The Iranians are the ones who voluntarily entered into these negotiations with the EU because there were concerns in the IAEA about their nuclear activities,” she said.

‘‘The European 3, I think, have negotiated in good faith, they have worked very hard on it, and what they have got is an Iran that that walked out of the agreement and started enriching uranium,’’ she said.

The EU trio ‘‘believe that the issue should be resolved diplomatically but are convinced that this will only be possible by the broader international community sending Tehran a clear signal of concern and appealing to it to return to the negotiating table,” said the “speaking notes” document given to IAEA diplomats this week, according to a diplomat who did not want to be named.

“This is highly official. This is the line being presented all over the globe,” a senior EU diplomat said.

The notes said that “by resuming suspended fuel cycle activity, iran is challenging the authority of the IAEA and raising further doubts about her programmes." READ MORE

India: Iran Push to Bush Meeting

The Telegraph UK:

Manmohan Singh has sought a meeting with George W. Bush on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week, following reports from Washington raising doubts over India’s stand on the alleged nuclear programme being pursued by Iran. READ MORE

The meeting between the Prime Minister and the US President will be held either on September 13 or 14.

Indian officials said the meeting will allow the leaders to discuss several issues of mutual interest, including the possible visit by Bush to India early next year.

Singh is scheduled to leave on Sunday for his eight-day visit, which also includes a stopover in Paris for a bilateral meeting. He will spend two days in Paris before leaving for the General Assembly and the Millennium Development Summit in New York.

However, reports from Washington suggest that some members of the US Congress have raised doubts over Indo-Iranian relations and have sought to know from the Bush administration India’s position on the Iranian nuclear programme.

The questions were raised at a time when the US government has begun getting Congress’s approval on the deal that Singh and Bush signed in July on cooperation in nuclear civilian energy.

A leading Democrat of the US House of Representatives, Tom Lantos, was quoted by agencies as raising objections to India’s opposition to a key element in US foreign policy. “New Delhi must understand how important its cooperation is for US initiatives to counter the nuclear threat from Iran,” he was reported to have said.

The report also referred to remarks foreign secretary Shyam Saran was supposed to have made recently on Iran. “India’s relations with Iran are not predicated on positions and views attributed to some governments,” Saran reportedly said.

Reports from the US suggested that Nick Burns, the under secretary of state, has assured the Congress members that he would seek a clarification from Saran.

However, the foreign secretary said the reported statement had no basis and made it clear that so far he had not received any request for clarification.

“There is no ambiguity on India’s position on the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme,” Saran said this afternoon. “India is against proliferation of any weapon of mass destruction and there can be no exception on this.”

Saran clarified that India believes Iran and all other countries must deliver on their treaty obligations.

Company Questioned in Iran 'Black Market' Inquiry

The New Zealand Herald:

A Christchurch company is under scrutiny as part of a global investigation into the black market trade of United States military parts to Iran. Diesel engine specialist TransDiesel has been swept into an investigation of a Netherlands company and the movement of US-sourced military supplies into Iran.

Some of the machinery parts in question allegedly came to and moved through New Zealand on a convoluted route to the Middle East.

A British company is believed to have acted as a broker.

The global trade in ex-US military supplies, including parts for tanks, is estimated to be worth millions of dollars and appears to breach US trade sanctions against Iran.

US President George Bush labelled Iran as part of an "axis of evil", alongside Iraq and North Korea, in early 2002.

The US Government forbids most trade with Iran as a "state sponsor of terrorism" and tries to control the on-selling of military supplies made in the States.

While New Zealand does not have sanctions against Iran, the export of "strategic goods" like guns, howitzers, weapon sights, tanks, armoured vehicles and their parts, needs special consent.

TransDiesel director Alister McLaughlin said his company was "on the fringes" of the investigation.

Netherlands authorities were investigating Iwah Import-Export, a Dutch truck parts dealer in Maarheeze, and came across records of its dealings with TransDiesel.

Dutch investigators descended on Christchurch and combed through TransDiesel's documents.

They requested police help and a crack police investigation unit became involved. Among other roles, the Special Investigations Group (SIG) assesses threats to national security.

Customs representatives from both countries are also involved.

For months, investigators have been trying to unravel the labyrinth behind the sourcing, financing and distribution of parts. Some single transactions ran into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Iwah owner-manager Enno Noll said Customs began investigating his company about two years ago and was still asking questions.

"I am as surprised as you are," he said, from Holland.

Mr Noll said he was unaware of any of his truck parts ending up in Iran. "Not at all".

He did not know what sparked the investigation and was continuing to trade, in spite of it.

"It's not easy. I just do my normal business."

Mr McLaughlin said the investigators had been thorough on their visit to TransDiesel and "we're not expecting any more really".

SIG leader Detective Sergeant Earle Borrell would not discuss the operation, "because it wouldn't be right to do so".

Customs' communications manager Zelda MacKenzie said the department was liaising between the police and the Netherlands authorities. Beyond that, she would not comment.

The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry (MFAT) would not confirm whether or not it was involved in the investigation. Neither would spokeswoman Emma Reilly comment on whether TransDiesel had sought consent to export strategic goods, citing "commercial confidentiality and the Privacy Act".

TransDiesel is jointly owned and directed by Mr McLaughlin, and Stephen and David Wooff.

The firm supplies diesel parts, engines, earth-moving equipment, filtration and exhaust products. Its website also boasts a large stock of obsolete and surplus parts.

Mr McLaughlin said parts could end up in a truck, a boat, an armoured vehicle, or a tank.

Military watch websites show that Iran's main battle tank, the Zolfaqar, is believed to be pieced together or developed from major components of the Russian T-72 and American M48 and M60 tanks. READ MORE

The tank is said to have a similar makeup to the American tanks.

Some versions of the M60 tank use Allison transmissions. TransDiesel is the New Zealand distributor for products including Allison transmissions, Detriot Diesel and Terex earth-moving equipment.

In 1992 the US sought to tighten export controls on Iran, including technology that could improve Iran's military capabilities.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's website warns exporters that although US regulations on "re-exporting" strategic goods are not recognised in New Zealand law, US authorities penalise foreign companies that do not comply.

Such companies are denied access to US goods or technology in future. Companies with a presence in the US may face legal action.

Despite the US ban, an estimated $80 million of Iran's imports reportedly originate in the US.

In the year to June, New Zealand exports worth $76m went to Iran, mainly butter and wool. Iran also bought gas compressors, seafood, paper and electronics.

Iranian imports in that period totalled about $43m, mostly petroleum products, carpets and dates. Exporters require the consent of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade to supply strategic goods. They include dual-use goods -- primarily for civilian life, but which may have military applications -- and goods designed for military use.

Russia ignores appeal to refer Iran to UN Security Council

Xinhuanet:

Moscow rejected on Saturday the appeals from the United States and other Western countries to support an initiative to submit Iran's nuclear problem to the UN Security Council, the Interfax news agency reported.

"We see no reason to refer the matter, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is currently dealing with intensively and productively, to the UN Security Council," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian mission to the United Nations, told Interfax by telephone from New York.

The Iranian nuclear problem can be resolved only when Iran comes to "complete" cooperation and fulfills resolutions of the IAEA Board of Governors, according to the spokeswoman. READ MORE

Russia expects that a planned session of the IAEA Board of Governors on Sept. 19 would hold a detailed debate on a report by IAEA head Mohamed al-Baradey and set guidelines for solving the remaining problems, Zakharova was quoted as saying.

In her view, the report prepared by al-Baradey "lays a good basis for further removing the political dimension from the work done within the IAEA framework for the earliest possible resolution of this problem," said Interfax.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko repeated Moscow's objections on Friday to referring the Iranian nuclear problem to the UN Security Council, warning against "hasty steps" in the growing crisis over Iran's nuclear program.

Talking with British Ambassador Tony Brenton, Yakovenko said "While discussing Iran's nuclear problem, the necessity of not taking hasty steps was underscored by the Russia side," according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The Case Against Iran: Strengthening or Weakening?

The Economist:

Why is the pressure suddenly seeming to leak out of the diplomacy to persuade Iran to end its nuclear dabbling—just when the regime is flaunting its defiance? Despite frantic lobbying that will continue at next week's United Nations summit in New York, Britain, France and Germany are struggling to keep up support for efforts to coax a recalcitrant Iran to give up—or else!—its plans to enrich uranium and make plutonium, two ingredients of civilian nuclear fuel that can also be fashioned into the fissile core of a bomb.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear guardian, confirmed this week that Iran has resumed work at its uranium-conversion plant at Isfahan, where uranium ore is turned into gas, ready for later enrichment. That breaks Iran's agreement with the Europeans, bringing months of talks to an end. They now want the IAEA's 35-nation board, when it meets on September 19th, to report Iran to the UN Security Council—something it should have done two years ago, when two decades of nuclear deception first came to light, but deferred to give diplomacy a chance. Now Russia, among others, is balking. So is Iran about to shake off all nuclear restraint? READ MORE

Its new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will make new proposals, possibly next week in New York, that his officials claim will reassure the world about the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme. Yet conversion work will continue, they insist; future talks can cover the conditions under which Iran will resume full-scale enrichment work in the fast-spinning centrifuges it had already been building at Natanz before inspectors were tipped off three years ago.

Iran has played nuclear hardball like this with the Europeans before, only to beat a retreat in the face of concerted diplomatic pressure. But on this occasion the Europeans themselves acknowledge that, as the diplomatic clock runs out, consensus on the issue at the IAEA is starting to weaken.

Venezuela, increasingly friendly with nose-thumbing Iran, is unlikely to go along with the Europeans. Others, such as Brazil and South Africa, are critical of Iran but leery of reporting it to the UN for activities that are not explicitly ruled out by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and that they have an interest in pursuing themselves. So Iran has been pressing what it claims is its right to fuel-making technologies under the treaty.

In fact, the NPT promises only the benefits of civilian nuclear power to its members, not particular technologies, and only to those with a nuclear programme under proper IAEA safeguards. The Europeans have offered Iran safer nuclear technologies. Russia is already contracted to supply fuel to Iran's one nuclear power reactor, at Bushehr, and would happily do more. Other countries use nuclear power without making their own fuel.

Timetables for breakout

Yet what's the rush? In a report this week, entitled “Iran's Strategic Weapons Programmes”, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies concludes that, even without technical hitches, Iran is still some five years from having enough highly enriched uranium at its declared nuclear facilities for its first bomb (America thinks it might take the Iranians longer; Israel thinks they could do it a bit faster). But that assumes Iran has no secret enriching under way. If it has, skills acquired by restarting nuclear work the inspectors know about could help it break out of the NPT more quickly.

So suspicions about Iran's nuclear ambitions continue. This week the IAEA once again documented Iran's past nuclear transgressions: failing to account properly for importing enrichment equipment and materials from the nuclear black market; secretly enriching uranium and separating plutonium; and experimenting with polonium and attempting to import beryllium, two materials with civilian uses that also can be used as triggers for bombs.

Though reasonably sure that the traces of highly enriched uranium they found came from black-market equipment from Pakistan, the IAEA's inspectors still have no explanation for extra traces of the low-enriched sort. They cannot, they say, be certain that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.

Yet even some of those sceptical of Iran's nuclear motives fret that referral to the Security Council might not help. Iran has already been growling about disrupting oil supplies through the Gulf. If pushed, it could end co-operation with the IAEA. North Korea's even more flagrant breaches, and then its withdrawal from the NPT, were reported to the UN, but China blocked further discussion. Will Russia do the same for Iran?

The Europeans are keen to show this is not an argument between themselves and Iran, but between Iran and all who would uphold the NPT rules. Russia had been quite helpful. But this week its foreign ministry—saying now was not the time to involve the UN—set a different tone. So Russia's Vladimir Putin, like China's Hu Jintao, can expect an earful about Iran from President George Bush in the wings of next week's UN meeting.

Would bringing Iran to the UN simply give America or others an excuse to take extreme measures, even using military force? The Europeans insist their aim is to strengthen the authority of the IAEA and its inspectors, not to usurp it. But they have a lot of persuading to do.

Wider U.S. Net Seeks Allies Against Iran's Nuclear Plan

Steven R. Weisman, The New York Times:

Stymied in its effort to rally a worldwide coalition to press Iran, the Bush administration has opened an unusual diplomatic struggle with Russia, China and India to have Iran's suspected nuclear weapons activities brought before the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.

But the administration's efforts face an uphill battle, endangering its longtime goal of stopping what Western experts say is Iran's pursuit of a nuclear bomb. READ MORE

Earlier this week, both Russia and India rebuffed the United States and its European allies, saying they opposed sending the issue to the Council at this time. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday, however, that she and President Bush would try to change their minds at United Nations meetings next week.

"We need leadership on this," Ms. Rice said at a State Department news conference, citing Russia, China and India as vital potential partners in telling Iranian leaders to "live up to their international obligations" to suspend uranium conversion and enrichment.

Iran suspended these activities last year but resumed them last month, rejecting as inadequate the West's offer of incentives in return for Iran's pledge to stop uranium conversion and enrichment permanently.

Ms. Rice's comments reflected a sense of growing urgency over Iran, in part because of what American and European diplomats say are indications that it has recently accelerated activities that the West says are a precursor to making weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

At the moment, however, opposition to further pressure on Iran is widespread among the 35 countries on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations watchdog, where by tradition an issue is not referred to the Security Council without a broad consensus.

Without that support, it would be easier for Russia or China to veto any Security Council action, Western diplomats fear.

France, Britain, Germany and the leadership of the European Union all favor referring the issue to the Security Council and plan to demand that the board act at its next meeting, on Sept. 19.

But not only India and Russia are opposed to the referral; so are the countries in a bloc of other nations, led by Malaysia, and including Brazil and South Africa, which belong to the so-called nonaligned movement. China has not indicated its preference, but several diplomats say it would have trouble defying the nonaligned bloc.

"This is an I.A.E.A. matter and should be resolved here in Vienna, not at the United Nations Security Council," Rajmah Hussain, the Malaysian ambassador to the agency, said in an interview. "We do not want to precipitate a crisis."

Lacking a consensus, the United States and its European allies have shifted strategy and are now trying to get the matter referred to the Security Council by a simple majority of the agency's board, a step that officials in Vienna say is without precedent. North Korea was referred to the United Nations, for example, by consensus.

The developing nations have been swayed in part by blandishments from Iran, like energy supply contracts, many diplomats say. But they are also supporters of Iran's right to have complete control over its civilian nuclear reactors, a right that the West says Iran has forfeited because of evidence that it hid its activities from inspectors for many years.

The Bush administration has been demanding for two years that Iran be penalized because of its failure to disclose these activities. But winning agreement for sanctions has been difficult because while a succession of international inspectors have criticized Iran for failing to be candid, they have also failed to turn up concrete evidence of weapons programs.

In a meeting with foreign reporters and academics on Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said he agreed that Iran needed to be kept from making nuclear arms but added that it was premature to take up the matter at the United Nations. The Indian foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh, visited Tehran last weekend and afterward Indian officials said they agreed with Russia.

"We don't want to end up in a confrontation with Iran," a senior Indian official said in an interview from New Delhi. "We're concerned that if Iran is pushed too far, it will turn its back on the whole dialogue with the Europeans on this."

A senior State Department official said Friday, however, that India and Russia might still be persuaded in coming days, when Ms. Rice and Mr. Bush plan to step up the pressure.

"We'd like to have a consensus but technically you don't need one," said the official. "There's a very intense diplomatic campaign going on, and the Europeans are fanning out across the globe. We haven't given up on this."

India's rebuff of the administration has been acutely felt. Over the summer, the United States offered India help on civilian nuclear matters, saying it would waive a ban on such help required because of India's nuclear weapons. Now the United States is pressing India to cooperate on Iran to avoid having Congress void that deal.

The European-American strategy has been dealt other blows recently, including the election of a hard-liner as Iran's president and a report from the I.A.E.A. on Sept. 2 that was viewed as a mild rebuke of Iran but not the "smoking gun" some had hoped would persuade wavering countries.

American officials maintain that they have already won a major argument, convincing the world that Iran's activities are improper even if no immediate action is taken.

"The Iranians have miscalculated if they think they have broad support for what they are doing," R. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, said in an interview. "They do not have a significant number of countries rushing to their defense. What is likely to happen at the I.A.E.A. and beyond is a ratcheting up of international pressure on Iran."

Call to New York demonstrations against Ahmadinejad's presence at the U.N.

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

Democratic Front of Iranian Kurds (D.C. Branch)

Freedom-loving activists, Compatriots and lovers of liberty around the World,

The 60th session of the 191 country General Assembly of the United Nations, will take place on Wednesday, September 14th of 2005. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the installed President of the “immutable jurisconsult supremacy” and architect of the assassination of a messenger of peace and reconciliation, the illustrious, Abdolrahman Qassemlou, will be attending as representative of the ravaged and bloodied nation of Iran.

Ahmadinejad is the representative of the monstrous and bloodthirsty regime, which has with Iron fists beaten the righteous people of our nation, Iran, into submission for the last 26 years. The shredded corpses of countless of our defenseless and exploited Kurds have yet to be turned over to their families [for burial] while this tyrant, intending to deceive, exploits the governing body of the humanitarian citizens of the world.

Please join in demonstrating against the infernal and absolutist regime [of Mullahs] and their planted representative; help expose the heinous face of the terrorist-financing Mullah hegemony, to the world.

Regime's representative brands China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain as devious

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

Noureddin Peermozen, the representative of the Islamic Parliament, in an interview with FARS, one of the regime's news agencies said: "Historical awareness has shown us that in the arena of foreign policy one cannot trust the Russians, Chinese, Germans, French and British as they only think of what is to their own benefit and welfare, gambling with other countries' interests."

He continued: "Many of the important Iraqi officials like Tarik Aziz and Taha Yassin Ramadan confessed in their interrogations that France, Russia and Germany had promised Saddam that the U.S. would not invade Iraq but the opposite happened.” READ MORE

He added: “We should not forget that directly after an interview where President of the United States spoke negatively of the Islamic Republic, Mr. Putin cancelled his meeting with Kamal Kharrazi's* though Kharrazi was at the airport and ready to travel to Russia."

Regarding the regime's nuclear dossier, Peermozen said: "What is clear in respect to the way the nuclear issue is being reported, is that certain of the world's countries have formed a global alliance to confront the Islamic regime and to marshal a worldwide consensus against us."

* Kamal Kharrazi was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran during Khatami's presidency.

False accusations being brought against members of bus-drivers' union

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

On Wednesday, Sept. 7th, the drivers of the Tehran Bus Drivers Association turned on the headlights of their vehicles [while on their regular route] in protest to non-receipt of their wages and benefits. The regressive regime, which cannot even tolerate such peaceful and non-confrontational protests, reacted harshly against this action and arrested several members, including the director of the board of the bus drivers' union. READ MORE

Mansour Hayat-Qaybi, member of the board of directors of said union spoke to Radio Farda, the Persian broadcast of Radio Free Europe: "Ibrahim Madadi, the deputy director of the board of the union, has himself been unlawfully arrested while inquiring about a few of our colleagues who had been detained and held at one of the detention centers of the security forces. The disciplinary forces treated the members of our union obscenely."

Hayat-Qaybi explained that the court charged the protestors with "disturbing social order" though what they were doing was completely pacifistic. He also said: "Our colleagues have been treated miserably. The commander of the first garrison, General (Revolutionary Guard) Babaii, has also behaved improperly; he did not react too decently with myself either. When I simply inquired [from him] as to where my colleagues were being detained, he threatened to arrest me as well and said that I should get lost, because none of this is any of my business. Our fellow drivers are innocent and haven't committed any offense."

Rowhani: The conditions being offered by Europeans for the continuation of discussion are unacceptable

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

According to reports by the regime's news agency ILNA, Mullah Hassan Rowhani, the regime's ex-nuclear negotiator and present director of the Strategic Center of the Assembly for the Analysis of Expedient Order, said: "The conditions being set by Europeans for the continuation of discussions are unacceptable."

Rowhani who spoke to the press at the 14th Session of the Assembly of Experts of the regime, added: "Cessation of our Uranium enrichment activities at our Esfahan plant is out of the question for us. The Islamic Republic has recommenced work at this installation and to stop everything all over again is simply preposterous; however we can discuss issues such as Natanz and other nuclear matters. At the moment the only thing that's happened is that these 3 European countries have put conditions on the continuation of discussions that we cannot tolerate."

Iran is the sixth most disaster-ridden country in the world

Iran Press News: Translation by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzzi

The director of the regime's emergency management office confessed that under the rule of the Mullahs, Iran has become the sixth most disaster-ridden country in the world and Asia's forth, when it comes to natural disasters and phenomena.

According to MEHR, one of the regime's news agencies, this expert stated that out of forty one (41) forms of natural disasters in the world, thirty three (33) have in fact occurred in Iran. He asserted that the regime was completely derelict in assisting and supervising any sort of aid to the survivors of the Bam earthquake [in Dec. '03] and that during the aftermath of that disaster, over 80% of the operations to excavate the people stuck under the wreckage and debris was done by the people themselves.

Friday's Daily Briefing on Iran

DoctorZin reports, 9.9.2005:

Iran Readies for UN Nuclear Battle with EU, US

Louis Charbonneau, Reuters:

Iran is working hard to gather allies to defeat a joint effort by the European Union and Washington to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council because of their fears it may be developing nuclear weapons. ...

"They (the EU and U.S.) have to realize that they cannot talk to Iran with a language of force," Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told reporters this week on returning from Pakistan, where he put his case to top officials.

"Many countries will sustain a loss if Iran's nuclear dossier is securitized (by the Council)," Larijani warned. READ MORE

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

• The Guardian reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia, China and India to support threatening Iran with sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear program, saying: Iran needs to get a message from the international community that is a unified message.
• Reuters reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: The United States expects Iran will be referred to the U.N. Security council.
• Political Prisoner, Mehrdad Haydarpour, Iran Press News writing from Evin Prison asked: What could the decrepit wolf, Ahmadinejad, have to say at the U.N.?
• Dr. Jermone Corsi, WorldNetDaily reported that a defiant Iran wants confrontation with U.S.
• Iranian blogger, Farid Pouya, Webgardian quoted Fred Halliday, Professor in London School of Economic, who said: if we look at Iranian history we see Iranian leaders always miscalculated when they faced important events.
• Iran Focus reported that more than 500 people attacked two government buildings and set fire to tyres in the streets of the town of Basamanj, northwest Iran, in protest to constant water and electricity disruptions.
• Iranian blogger, Hossein Derakhshan, Hoder.com reported that a recent photo provides evidence of the public split between Khamenei and Rafsanjani.
• Reuters reported that Rafsanjani called on the western countries to stop making a fuss over Iran's atomic activities, warning: If they make immature decisions or implement their threats, Iran will not be the only country to be harmed.
• And finally, The Guardian reported that the British government softened its stance on the Iranian nuclear issue yesterday, for the first time, shifting the emphasis away from sanctions.

Rice Wants Nations to Send Iran a Message

Barry Shweid, The Guardian UK:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday called on Russia, China and India to support threatening Iran with sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear program.

"Iran needs to get a message from the international community that is a unified message,'' Rice said at a news conference. READ MORE

The message, she said, is that it is not acceptable for Iran to enter into negotiations on living up to its international obligations and then walk out on the talks with the Europeans.

"We will be working with our colleagues on this,'' Rice said, declaring that a drive to round up support for U.N. Security Council consideration of Iran's behavior was under way.

Iran's refusal to accept a U.S.-backed European Union offer of economic concessions to halt suspicious nuclear activities has led to renewal of the Bush administration's drive for censure or sanctions.

Approval is not assured in the Security Council even though French President Jacques Chirac has grown impatient with Iran. For one thing, China historically has opposed sanctions, Russia's stance is uncertain, and they both can kill a resolution with a veto.

As she discussed her meetings in New York next week during the special session of the U.N. General Assembly, Rice said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was granted a visa to attend even though he was ineligible because of terrorist ties.

"I don't know if I will have a chance to bump into him,'' Rice said with a smile. "But you know, I am a pleasant person. I suppose I would say, 'Hello.'''

Referring to ongoing U.S. suspicions that he played a role in Iranian radicals' takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, Rice gave no indication she was willing to have serious talks with the Iranian leader.

On another subject, Rice called for sweeping reform of the United Nations, including its management, though she said she expected to continue to work with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The United States is the largest single donor to the United Nations and we owe the American taxpayers an accounting for the fact their tax dollars are being used well,'' she said.

"The United Nations must be fully accountable, transparent and efficient, with a work force based on high standards of integrity and accountability,'' she said.

While in New York, Rice plans to meet with European, Russian and U.N. partners who helped produce a blueprint, or roadmap, designed to promote negotiations on an overall accord between Israel and the Palestinians.

She said they would try to use the success of Israel's withdrawal from Gaza as momentum for more action by the two sides on the roadmap, which she called a reliable guide to setting up a Palestinian state.