24 octobre 2009
Larijani: West trying to 'cheat' Iran with IAEA deal
Western powers are trying to "cheat" Iran through a UN-brokered deal for supplying nuclear fuel to a Tehran research reactor, parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Saturday. "Westerners are insisting to go in a direction that speaks of cheating and are imposing some things on us," Larijani told ISNA news agency. "They are saying we will give you the 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel for the Tehran reactor only if you give us your enriched uranium. I see no link between these two things." Under a deal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran would ship out its low-enriched uranium to be further enriched and converted into nuclear fuel for powering a reactor in Tehran. On Friday, Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said that Teheran was still studying the plan, and will formally respond to the offer next week. Soltanieh told Iran's state Press TV that Teheran was "working and elaborating on all the details of this proposal" and that he would inform the International Atomic Energy Agency "next week about our evaluation." The draft plan was put forth Wednesday after three days of talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna, Austria. The plan is seen as a way to curb Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. The United States, Russia and France officially endorsed the deal Friday. Soltanieh's statement indicated that Iran could still accept the plan. Teheran's acceptance would ease Western fears about Iran's potential to make a nuclear weapon. In Vienna, the IAEA said on Friday that Iran told the agency's chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, it is "considering the proposal in depth and in a favorable light, but needs until the middle of next week to provide a response." However, Soltanieh's comments came just hours after Iran's state TV quoted an unnamed source close to the Iranian nuclear negotiating team as saying Iran wants to buy nuclear fuel it needs for a research reactor, rather than accept the UN proposed plan. The official said Teheran has its own proposal on purchasing nuclear fuel and would wait for a response from the world powers. While the TV report was not an outright rejection, it raised concerns since Iran has often used counterproposals as a way to draw out nuclear negotiations with the West. On Thursday, Iran's deputy speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, dismissed the UN plan, saying Iran cannot accept US demands to ship its low enriched uranium abroad. The talks in Vienna followed a similar meeting at the beginning of October in Geneva that included the highest-level bilateral contact between the US and Iran in years. ElBaradei said after the Vienna talks ended that he hoped Iran and its three interlocutors - the US, Russia and France - would approve the plan by Friday. The country is currently enriching uranium to a 3.5 percent level for a nuclear power plant it is planning to build in southwestern Iran. Iranian officials have said it is more economical to purchase the more highly-enriched uranium needed for the Teheran reactor than produce it domestically. The Vienna-brokered plan would have required Iran to send 1.2 tons (1,100 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium - around 70 percent of its stockpile - to Russia in one batch by the end of the year, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Thursday. After further enrichment in Russia, France would have converted the uranium into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in the Teheran reactor, he said. Iran agreeing to ship most of its enriched uranium abroad would significantly ease fears about Teheran's nuclear program, since 0.98 tons (1,000 kilograms) is the commonly accepted amount of low-enriched uranium needed to produce weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear bomb. Based on the present Iranian stockpile, the US has estimated that Tehran could produce a nuclear weapon between 2010 and 2015, an assessment that broadly matches those from Israel and other nations. Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressed Israel's dissatisfaction with the deal on Thursday night, saying that there was a need to halt all uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. "This agreement, if it is signed, will set Iran's accumulation of enriched material back by about a year," Barak said during a speech at President Shimon Peres's 'Facing Tomorrow' Presidential Conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. "However, if they don't stop enrichment, then the only result will be that Iran has gained the legitimacy to enrich uranium on its soil for civilian purposes, in clear opposition to the interlocutors' and our understanding that their true plan is to attain [military] nuclear capability," he said. "So, I repeat, what is required is a halt to enrichment in Iran, not just an export of the enriched material to build fuel rods," the defense minister said. Opposition leader Tzipi Livni echoed Barak, saying that Israel was troubled by the recent Iranian nuclear agreement. She noted that "the world understands that we cannot permit a nuclear Iran, however to my regret, there is a gap between the understanding of the threat and action on the ground. "Israel needs to be worried by what we are witnessing today and the reports of the agreement. We suspect that this is another attempt by Iran to buy time. Israel must rally the world as this is not solely Israel's problem." Livni made the comments Friday when speaking at the annual meeting of the farmers' union.
(19,24)
Abbas: Palestinian elections on Jan. 24
General elections for the PA presidency and parliament will be held in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on January 24, 2010, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced in a presidential decree Friday. Abbas's move is likely to deepen the rift with Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. It follows the failure of reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas, which would have postponed the vote until June. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the president's decree calls for elections in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza. But it remained unclear how Abbas's faction intends to organize the balloting in east Jerusalem or in the Hamas-ruled Gaza. Hamas promptly condemned the decision, with its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri saying the Abbas government could not hold elections in Gaza. "This announcement means that elections will take place only in the West Bank, cementing the Palestinian split instead of fixing the problem," Abu Zuhri said. Relations between Fatah and Hamas collapsed after Hamas violently seized full control of Gaza in June 2007, expelling the Palestinian Authority government to Ramallah and leaving Abbas to rule over the West Bank only. Egypt failed this week to get the two sides to commit to another round of talks in Cairo, where it hoped a reconciliation deal would be signed. Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub on Saturday said Hamas was wrong to reject a Palestinian reconciliation agreement negotiated by Egypt, Israel Radio reported. Hamas sets conditions and acts as if it were a power, Rajoub said, stressing that the group could not dictate its will to the Palestinian people. According to the report, Rajoub said that in the coming weeks, Fatah will check how Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem will be able to participate in the elections. On Friday, Abu Rdeneh said that without a Fatah-Hamas agreement, Abbas is constitutionally bound to hold elections in January. (19,19)
23 octobre 2009
Iran appears to fall short of accepting UN-drafted nuke deal
Iran on Friday failed to accept a UN-drafted plan that would ship most of the country's uranium abroad for enrichment, saying instead it would prefer to buy the nuclear fuel it needs for a reactor that makes medical isotopes. The response will come as a disappointment to the US, Russia and France, which endorsed the UN plan Friday they drafted in discussions with Iran earlier in the week. The agreement was meant to ease Western fears about Iran's potential to make a nuclear weapon. While Iran did not reject the plan outright, state TV said that Teheran was waiting for a response to its own proposal to buy nuclear fuel rather than ship low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment. Iran has often used counterproposals as a way to draw out nuclear negotiations with the West. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is waiting for a constructive and confidence building response to the clear proposal of buying fuel for the Teheran research reactor," state TV quoted an unnamed source close to Iran's negotiating team as saying Friday.Iranian opposition to the UN plan could be driven by concerns that it weakens Iran's control over its stockpiles of nuclear fuel and could be perceived as a concession to the US, which suspects Iran is using its nuclear program as a way to covertly develop weapons - an allegation denied by Teheran. An unnamed member of Iran's negotiating team urged world powers Friday to "refrain from past mistakes in violating agreements and make efforts to win the trust of the Iranian nation," according to state TV.
(19,44)
Lieberman: World hypocritical, motivated by prejudices
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman telephoned United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday night and complained to him of a distorted reality being created, in which countries which are far from caring about human rights have an automatic majority in every international forum. According to Lieberman, the international arena has become hypocritical and is motivated by prejudices. "We must think about ways to fix this situation," he told Ban. The foreign minister mentioned countries like Cuba, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which he said are active in international forums but are not strict about human rights themselves. The Foreign Ministry did not report on Ban's response to Lieberman's complaint. Lieberman expressed his hope that the Goldstone Report, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza and was endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, would not be discussed by the UN General Assembly or Security Council. "The Palestinians cannot hold talks with Israel in the local arena and fight it in the international arena," he told Ban. Meanwhile, US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell said Thursday night that the Goldstone Report was "one sided and deeply flawed." He added that the report was one of the setbacks in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. (12,16)
Mitchell: Mideast talks effort isn't a failure
US President Obama's Mideast envoy George Mitchell said Thursday it's too soon to brand his efforts to resume peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders a failure. The former Senate leader, who brokered the 1999 Northern Ireland peace agreement, said the administration is deeply committed to the peace process. He said no other president has taken action so early in his administration to start peace talks in the region whose conflicts have "deep and historic roots." "There's a sense of urgency, a sense of involvement and commitment" on the part of the president, Mitchell said before delivering a speech on conflict resolution at Colby College, where his father once worked as a janitor. His speech also came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a report the progress of peace efforts in the Mideast. Mitchell has been shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for months in an attempt to get peace talks between the two sides going again. Mitchell acknowledged setbacks in the process, including a United Nations report that accused Israel and Palestinian militants of committing war crimes last winter. "We continue in our efforts, notwithstanding that" report, Mitchell said. He noted that the United States has taken the position that the report is "one sides and deeply flawed." He said the process has been in motion only for months. His experience in Northern Ireland from 1995 to 1999 suggests that the current peacemaking effort could take years. "I am not in the slightest discouraged," said the 76-year-old Mitchell. He recalled being asked "hundreds of times" while negotiating in Northern Ireland when he was going home because the talks were considered a failure. He finally brokered the Good Friday peace accords in 1999. The current efforts are "as difficult and complex as everyone told me it would be," said Mitchell. "But we are determined to stay the course ... until the job is done." (12,14)
22 octobre 2009
PM convenes Forum of 7 over emerging Iranian nuclear agreement
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened the so-called ministerial Forum of Seven for consultations on the emerging nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran. According to the draft agreement, Iran will export most of its uranium abroad to be enriched to power a Tehran research reactor. A Kol Yisrael reporter says Jerusalem is concerned the agreement will give Iran time to advance its nuclear program. According to one assessment, Iran will not act with full transparency and will continue to try to deny UN inspectors access to nuclear sites, thus advancing its program without concern for sanctions. A Kol Yisrael reporter says Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres conveyed Israel's concerns in talks with the visiting US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice. Rice reportedly responded that the administration in Washington is determined to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapon capabilities. In Washington, the spokesman for the US State Department praised the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency Mohammed ElBaradei for his efforts and dedication to reach the agreement. (20,11)
PM Netanyahu PM convenes 'septet' on Iran's deal with West
The government's seven-man security forum, dubbed "the septet" convened to discuss the impending deal between the US, France and Russia and Iran. The forum includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Yaalon, Minister of Intelligence Services Dan Meridor, Minister Benny Begin (Likud) and Shas Chairman Eli Yishai.(12,30)
Goldstone doubts Security Council to debate war report
Richard Goldstone said he believes Russia, France and China will oppose having the report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza debated in the UN Security Council. In an interview to Aljazeera television, he said that while he is not an expert on the political power ties in the UN, he believes these three nations will refuse to move forward with the report. He said the report could still be brought before the UN General Assembly, and added that if the UN refuses to discuss this report, it would be the end of UN involvement in international crises. The South African Judge defended his report, which accuses both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the January offensive, and reiterated claims that it is an objective document. Most of the report's accusations were directed at Israel. Goldstone's comments come at a time when Israel is undergoing a diplomatic struggle aimed at minimizing damage caused by the report on the international front. Alongside the PR campaign to be launched by Israeli representatives against the report, a security cabinet meeting on Wednesday raised the possibility of succumbing to international pressure and appointing an inquiry committee to probe the Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to formulate his position on the matter, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi have expressed their objection to such a probe. However, the Justice Ministry, and the attorney general's office, are not ruling out the option. (12,29)
Israel and Iran hold secret nuclear talks in Cairo
A representative of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and a senior Iranian official met last month to discuss the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, Haaretz has learned. This is the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two states since the fall of the Shah in 1979. Meirav Zafary-Odiz, director of policy and arms control for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met several times over September 29 and 30 and, together with representatives of other countries, conversed, presented questions and gave replies. The meeting was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo under the auspices of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. Also attending were representatives of the Arab League, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, along with European and American officials. The ICNND was set up by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and it is chaired by a former foreign minister of Australia, Gareth Evans, and a former foreign minister of Japan, Yoriko Kawaguchi. Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami sits on the advisory committee of the organization. The meetings were held behind closed doors, and all participants committed to complete secrecy, to allow a full and frank discussion. However, the fact of the meeting was leaked by Australian sources to the Australian daily The Age. The Israel Atomic Energy Commission confirmed that such a meeting did take place but refused to comment. The exchanges between the Iranian and Israeli representatives took place within three panel sessions, each dealing with one of the issues with which the ICNND is concerned - declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, preventing nuclear proliferation in the region and matters of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The two did not meet or shake hands outside the sessions. In one of the discussions, Soltanieh directly asked Zafary-Odiz - and eyewitnesses say he spoke in an impassioned voice, "Do you or do you not have nuclear weapons?" Zafary-Odiz smiled, but did not respond. During the meetings, Zafary-Odiz explained the Israeli policy of being willing, in principle, to discuss the Middle East as a nuclear-free zone. She also detailed Israel's unique strategic situation, saying regional security must be strengthened, security arrangements must be agreed upon and a peace agreement must be sealed before Israel would feel at liberty to discuss this topic. Zafary-Odiz said Israel lived in a complex geopolitical reality, noting that in three decades, four countries in the region broke their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria. She said Israel takes a responsible approach to the nuclear issue as a whole, and that the far horizon of its vision did include the possibility of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, even if the chances for this were slim. Soltanieh defended his country's policy, and said Iran was not striving for nuclear armament and did not endanger Israel. He said Israel did not understand the mentality and ideology of the Tehran regime. He said the regime did not oppose or hate Jews, but was merely politically opposed to Zionism. He said Iran's growing arsenal of missiles was for defensive, not offensive, purposes. Israel and Iran have refrained from all direct and indirect diplomatic contact since 1979. (12,27)
Ex-U.S. envoy: Livni told Palestinians to reject Olmert peace offer
During her tenure as foreign minister, Tzipi Livni advised the Palestinian Authority to reject then-prime minister Ehud Olmert's proposals for a peace agreement, former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said on Thursday. "The prime minister was about to have an indictment filed against him and the foreign minister herself specifically told both the Americans and the Palestinians: Don't you dare sign the agreement," Indyk said, during a panel discussion at President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference in Jerusalem. He made the comment the panel's facilitator, Channel 2 reporter Udi Segal, asked whether the Palestinians had missed an opportunity in rejecting Olmert's peace offers. Livni on Thursday denied Indyk's appraisal, telling Army Radio she had not been involved in the discussions between Olmert and Paletsinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "I wasn't party to the Olmert-Abbas contacts, and only once the proposal was released did I publicly say that it was unacceptable to me," said Livni. "There was no need to speak behind Olmert's back. The opposition leader added that she had objected to the clauses in the proposal which would see thousands of Palestinian refugees returned to Israel, as well as a transfer of Jerusalem to international control." Indyk, who served as ambassador in 1995-1997 and in 2000-2001, was not an official in the Bush administration at the time of Livni's alleged warning. (12,25)