A day after Russia voted at IAEA to censure Iran over its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (at right) arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian Energy Minister Sergey Shmatko (center). Fars Photo
Correction: Russian Energy Minister Sergey Schmatko visited Tehran and held talks with Mottaki. Our apologies to our readers for reporting that Mottaki had visited Shmatko in Moscow.
IRNA, the official Iranian news agency, reported today that the Iranian government has approved a plan to build 10 additional uranium enrichment plants. IRNA said the decision has “infuriated” the US administration.
President Ahmadinejad has ordered the construction of the new sites to produce some 250-300 tons of LEU annually. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will be in charge of the construction of the new sites. The current Iranian inventory of LEU is reportedly less than two tons.
The move would signify a major expansion of enrichment activities by Iran. It was not clear why the country would need so much LEU fuel when it does not even have a single running electricity-generating nuclear reactor.
UPDATE: Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi told reporters in Tehran on Monday that Iran does intend to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants each with capacity to produce 20 percent enriched uranium. He emphasized that the plan announced earlier today was not a “political bluff.”
“They [the West] must see and will see that what we said was not a bluff,” Rahimi added [IRNA, 30 November].
The board of governors of IAEA today by a vote of 25-3 passed a sharply worded resolution censuring Iran over the construction of its new Fordu uranium enrichment facility near Qum, expressing serious concern and directing Iran to immediately shut down the facility. The resolution noted that Iran had broken international rules by building the new site and has referred the matter to UN Security Council for further consideration.
The resolution was drafted by US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. This was IAEA’s first resolution on Iran since 2006. At the time, the IAEA also referred Iran’s nuclear file to UNSC, which resulted in three sets of economic sanctions against the country. Today’s resolution was supported by both China and Russia, also a first since 2006. 25 counties voted in favor of the resolution. And only three countries voted against it- Cuba, Venezuela and Malaysia, with five abstentions and one member absent (among the abstentions was Brazil. Iranian President Ahmadinejad had just visited the country and Tehran expected it to cast a no vote).
The Chinese and Russian support are seen as critical for any future action by the UN Security Council over Iran’s nuclear program. The Washington Post reported yesterday that China agreed to join the US in voting for the resolution after two high-ranking US officials, Dennis Ross and Jeffrey Bader, in a recent visit to Beijing persuaded Chinese leaders that lack of a unified international stand against Iran would prompt Israel to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. An Israeli attack, the US representatives argued, would throw the entire Persian Gulf and its oil supplies into chaos, an outcome not in anyone’s interests, including China’s.
Yesterday, IAEA chief Mohamed Elbaradei told the board of governors that investigating Iran’s nuclear intentions has come to a dead end due to lack of support by the Iranian government. IAEA, he said, could not verify that Iran’s nuclear program in peaceful in nature.
Today’s resolution brings Iranian nuclear program closer to a full-fledge crisis. If Iran disregards the wide support for the resolution, it will prompt a new round of severe economic sanctions and/or military attack in the coming months. The government can probably avert the crisis by accepting the latest IAEA proposal which calls for a LEU swap agreement, whereas IAEA gets full control of Iranian LEU, shipping it to Turkey and in turn would deliver higher-grade uranium fuel to Iran for use in its nuclear reactor in Tehran (please see a previous post on the subject).
Russia has urged Iran to accept an IAEA-brokered proposal that calls on Tehran to send its enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has issued the appeal in a meeting with Iran's Ambassador to Russia Seyyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi [Press TV, 26 November].
"The Russian side stressed the need to observe the principals of the basic deal reached at negotiations on this problem in Geneva on October 1," Ryabkov has reportedly told the Iranian ambassador.
Iranian ambassador to IAEA had signed off on the original proposal. IAEA chief later revised the venue for uranium swap from Russia to Turkey to alleviate Iranian concerns. But Tehran has now rejected the deal and instead has proposed a change of venue to Iran for any uranium swap. Russia is asking Iran to stay with the original proposal.
How to swap most of Iran’s current inventory of low-enriched uranium (LEU) with higher-grade fuel produced in the West and required to power Tehran nuclear reactor has become the center of dispute with Iran, preventing a nuclear deal and raising the prospect of a crisis in Iran's relations with the West.
Muslim pilgrims began arriving in Mecca. Fears of swine flue pandemic force some to wear masks. 25 November 2009. ISNA
UPDATE (26 November): Iranian pilgrims carried out a protest on Thursday ignoring Saudi warnings against political activity inside their camp at Arafat outside Mecca. Some 65,000 Iranian pilgrims are on the hajj this year. Ayatollah Mohammad Rajari, the supreme leader’s representative at hajj pilgrimage, led the Iranian delegation. In his speech he asked all Muslims to focus on important issues of Al Asqa [mosque in Jerusalem], the occupation of Palestine, Iraqi and Afghan occupation and the fighting in Yemen. The crowd chanted political slogans. There was no presence by Saudi security forces during the protest and no report of any incident.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told reporters in Brazilian capital Brasília that he doesn't fear any attacks against Iran’s nuclear program. “Neither the US or Israel have the courage" to start a war against Iran, Ahmadinejad said. "The era of military attacks is over," he said [brazzilmag.com, 24 November]. President Ahmdinejad is visiting Brazil.
"Now is the time for dialogue and understanding. Weapons and threats belong to the past. They are things for mentally challenged people. Those countries you reporters mentioned [US and Israel] wouldn't have the courage to do this, they don't even think about it."
The extensive plan calls for the introduction of the Basij into 6,000 elementary schools across the country, according to IRGC General Mohammad Saleh Jokar, head of the Schoolchildren and Teachers' Basij Organization. 'We want to expand the Basij's activities at the primary-school level because students are more impressionable at a young age than at other times in their lives,' Jokar told Mehr News in an interview published on Monday. 'We intend to promote and instill a revolutionary and Basiji thought process among elementary school students.'
"Iran will not send its 3.5-percent-enriched uranium out of the country. That means we are considering exchanging the enriched uranium inside Iran.
The Economist reports that General Raymond Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, the United States’ two most senior officials in Iraq, met with Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani, who commands the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, to discuss Iraqi politics:".... The White House has called him a terrorist. A UN Security Council resolution singles him out as a suitable target of sanctions. So why—if a report leaked to The Economist proves correct—would he recently have had a chat with General Raymond Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, America’s two most senior officials in Baghdad?
The answer is that regional diplomacy requires Iran’s involvement if a stable Iraq is to have a chance of emerging after the election due in January. General Suleimani has great influence in Iraq through a web of politicians and insurgents. It was he who brokered a peace deal last year after Iraq’s security forces fought against the Mahdi Army militia loyal to a Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who has spent most of the past two years in Iran. With American combat troops due to leave Iraq next year, American officials reluctantly, it seems, turned to General Suleimani. General Odierno and Mr Hill, who deny the event, are said to have met him in the office of Iraq’s president, Jalal Talabani, who has known the Quds Force commander for decades. “It’s a complicated world,” says an American official".
UPDATE: The Economist has pulled the story. The meeting did not happen. The Economist story has received authoritative denials and has since been pulled. This post was based on their story -Nader Uskowi
Frontline's latest documentary A Death in Tehran and its related web site revisit the tragic shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan, which took place during a protest last June following Iran's disputed presidential election. Readers are encouraged to view the documentary, made in association with Tehran Bureau, here.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced during an interview with ISNA today that Teheran would “definitely” not agree to send its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for further processing [ISNA, 18 November].
“Definitely, Iran will not send its 3.5 percent enriched fuel out, it means that we think the simultaneous fuel swap is considerable inside Iran,” Mottaki told ISNA.
The foreign minister did not elaborate how the fuel swap inside Iran works. But he was clear that no LEU would be shipped out. On Iran’s formal response to IAEA nuclear deal, Mottaki said the agency has been notified of Iran’s position.
“The proposal was studied in Tehran and we notified the IAEA of our response.”
Iran's armed forces chief of staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said on Friday he backs proposals for Tehran to ship out stocks of low-enriched uranium in return for fuel for a reactor designed to produce medical isotopes.
Reports coming out of Kurdistan indicate that after the execution of the Kurdish political activist Ehsan Fatahian on Wednesday, an atmosphere of anger toward the central government has prevailed throughout the region. In Saqez, a demonstration has been planned in town’s center for Saturday morning. There have been unconfirmed reports that the government will soon execute another detained activist and Saqez resident, the 24-year old Shirkouh Moarefi. The situation in the entire region is reported to be very tense.
UPDATE: Amnesty International and the parents of Shirkouh Moarefi have called on Iranian government to stop his execution.
"Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal."
"We have now entered a stage of cooperation. At the moment, one of the key issues is Iran's participation in projects such as the international [nuclear] fuel bank or reactor and plant construction,"
"There is no more talk of suspension. We have reached a stage where we are cooperating, on a high level, with other countries that have the technology through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),"
Iran’s Revolutionary Court announced today that the brother-in-law of the country’s opposition leader would be put on trial. Shapour Kazemi, the brother of Hossein Mousavi's wife, was arrested in June during a pro-Green Movement protest.
A large number of the ruling conservative politicians have openly called for the arrest and trial of Mousavi on charges of treason. Trying his brother-in-law is an act of revenge by the authorities against the Green Movement and its leader.
UPDATE: The Revolutionary Court on Saturday 14 November sentenced Abdullah Momeni, a student who took part in protests following presidential election, to eight years in prison.
Several other postelection detainees have received jail terms and three people have been sentenced to death, according to Iranian media.
President Ahmadinejad holds hands with Turkey's President Gul and Syria's President Assad, at this week's Islamic conference in Istanbul.
The Islamic Revolutionary Court today sentenced Soheil Navidi Yekta, a Green Movement supporter who was detained during post-election protests in Iran, to seven years in prison and 74 lashes. He had been charged with taking action against national security, propaganda against the system and disrupting public order [Rah-e Sabz, 12 November].
Navidi-Yekta, son of a martyr of Iran-Iraq war, received maximum punishment for all of the charges brought against him by the prosecutor. It is widely feared that many more detainees will receive harsh sentences in the coming days.
The US government moved today to seize properties of Iran’s Alavi Foundation, including a Manhattan skyscraper and three mosques in New York, Maryland and Texas. The foundation is accused of illegal money transfer to Iran.
Alavi Foundation was established as Pahlavi Foundation during the shah’s government and its assets, including the 36-story office tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, was taken over by the Islamic Republic after the revolution in Iran. The Foundation since has invested in further properties. A sister foundation, the Assa Corp., was co-owner of the skyscraper.
The US attorney for Southern district of New York today announced the filing of a civil complaint seeking forfeiture of the Alavi Foundation's properties, accusing the foundation of transferring money to Bank Melli of Iran which is owned and controlled by the government of Iran.
The complaint alleges that the properties were "involved in and were the proceeds of money laundering offenses," and that the owners violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, executive orders and US Department of Treasury regulations.
The complaint alleges that the Alavi Foundation has effectively been a front for the government of Iran.
"For two decades, the Alavi Foundation's affairs have been directed by various Iranian officials, including Iranian ambassadors to the United Nations, in violation of a series of American laws. The Alavi Foundation's former president remains under investigation for alleged obstruction of justice, and both the criminal and civil investigations are ongoing."
In a related development, President Obama said Thursday in a letter to Congress that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared in 1979 during the Iranian revolution has not ended.
"Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal, and the process of implementing the January 19, 1981, agreements with Iran is still under way," Obama wrote in an official "notice of continuation" required to extend the emergency status with Iran beyond the anniversary date of November 14.
"For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, with respect to Iran, beyond November 14, 2009."
UPDATE (15 November 2009): Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said today that the seizure of the New York skyscraper and other Iranian assets show that President Obama is no better than his predecessor George W. Bush. Larijani's statement was followed by chants of "Death to America" among MPs in the chamber.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that Tehran would continue to expand its uranium enrichment facilities to up to 50,000 centrifuges. Ahmadinejad made the comments in a news conference in Turkey.
“We are currently producing fuel for our nuclear plants… We have one facility in Natanz and another one is being built near Qom. I have already said that we should at least have 50,000 centrifuges to provide the fuel for one power plant,” Ahmadinejad said [IRINN, 9 November].
Referring to the proposal put forward at Vienna talks, Ahmadinejad was vague as to Iran’s intentions to accept or reject it. He said the idea of purchasing higher grade LEU came from Iran, but did not say if Iran was ready to swap most of its low grade LEU for the higher-grade fuel, as agreed upon in Vienna.
"The West used all they had in its power against the Iranian nation, but the nation was steadfast and was victorious. The proposal to purchase 20 percent enriched uranium was made by us to start interaction [with the West]. They are the ones to choose. We prefer them to choose interaction, but they are free to choose," Ahmadinejad said.
According to IAEA chief Mohamded El-Baradei, UN inspectors found “nothing to be worried about” in a first look at a recently disclosed pilot uranium enrichment site in Iran last month.
