The Guardian: The Bush administration yesterday accused
Iran of attempting to develop missiles with nuclear warheads – a charge that could derail the European arms-control agreement struck earlier this week. The accusation was made by the outgoing secretary of state, Colin Powell, while on an official visit to Chile for an Asia-Pacific economic summit.
Powell accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear missiles
U.S.-Iran Talks on Nukes May Be Ruled Out
AP: The Bush administration is not considering talks with Iran on developing nuclear weapons even though Secretary of State Colin Powell will attend a conference next week with diplomats from Iran and other countries. Already suspicious that Iran is developing such weapons, the administration now has intelligence provided by a resistance group that Iran is trying to adapt missiles to deliver the weapons, Powell said Wednesday.
Iran’s nuclear ambition
Daily Telegraph – Leader Article: There has always been something suspect about European mediation over Iran’s nuclear programme. This is not to deny that the EU trio (Britain, France and Germany) is sincere in wishing to prevent Teheran from acquiring nuclear arms. It lies, rather, in its ineffectiveness.
Iranian news website operator gets 15-month suspended jail term
AFP: An Iranian operating a news website from the central clerical city of Qom has received a 15-month suspended jail term amid a jusicial crackdown on Internet writing, the state news agency IRNA reported Thursday. An appeals court in Qom handed Hamed Motaghi the sentence for publishing “false information” and “disturbing public order” with his Naghshineh website, which was also closed down.
Iran denies secret nuclear activities
Reuters: Iran has denied an exiled opposition group’s allegations that it is secretly seeking material to build an atomic bomb, says a senior official. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said on Wednesday Iran obtained weapons-grade uranium and a nuclear bomb design from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb.
‘Nuclear spies’ go on trial in Iran
AFP: Four Iranians accused of spying on the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme for foreign governments have gone on trial in Tehran, a judicial official was quoted as saying Thursday. “These individuals, who infiltrated nuclear facilities and managed to win the confidence of the officials, were spying for foreign countries,” Ali Mobacheri, the head of Tehran’s revolutionary courts, told the government newspaper Iran.
Iran denies running secret nuclear site
AFP: A senior Iranian official on Thursday angrily denied allegations by an exiled opposition group that the clerical regime was running a secret nuclear bomb facility near Tehran, and indicated that UN inspectors would be allowed to visit the site. “I totally deny these allegations. This site is not a nuclear site and has nothing to do with our nuclear activities. Iran has no undeclared nuclear activities,” top diplomat and nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian told AFP.
Protest and tears
Washington Times: Zolal Habibi carried a book the size of a telephone directory with page after page of photographs of dissidents killed by the Iranian regime. Her father is in this book of the dead that she showed to reporters yesterday at The Washington Times, as she discussed plans for a massive protest in Washington tomorrow. “My father was killed when I was 7,” said the 23-year-old Iranian American. “That was hard for me. I was daddy’s little girl,” she said. “I cried for days, then I promised myself I would never cry again. … I didn’t cry for years.”
Powell Says Iran Is Pursuing Bomb
Washington Post: The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday. Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.
UN committee raps Iran on rights abuses
AFP: A UN committee on Wednesday sharply criticised human rights in Iran, citing the use of torture and a widespread crackdown on the country’s media and political opposition. The UN General Assembly’s social and humanitarian committee adopted the resolution, which carries symbolic value but no legal weight, for the second straight year in a 69-55 vote with 51 abstentions.
