Iran: In the News 10/26/09

October 27th, 2009  Iran Update (Thanks to Tony Wilson @ OSI)

Iran seeks slower pace on uranium plan, AP, October 27, 2009
Iran is seeking changes to a U.N.-drafted nuclear plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for final processing. State TV says Iran opposes shipping its full stockpile of low-enriched uranium at once. The demand for a step-by-step approach Tuesday comes as the world awaits Iran's decision on the plan, which seeks to ease Western worries about the country's ability to one day create nuclear weapons. Iran has hinted it could agree to the basic structure of the plan and send some enriched uranium to Russia, but it has not given a final answer. The proposal was issued last week after talks with Russia, France and the United States. Iran will respond on Friday.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jG7bnyWWJfgaYD-JwcqmIm...
 
Iran's Nuclear Statements Hint At High-Level Split, Radio Liberty, October 26, 2009
Iran has said it might agree to a UN-drafted deal that envisages sending Tehran's low-enriched uranium abroad to be converted into nuclear fuel, but also left open the possibility that it will buy the fuel from other countries. The statements are the latest sign of divisions among Iranian officials about whether to accept the UN deal, intended to reduce fears over the country's nuclear activities. In recent days several lawmakers including the influential speaker of the parliament and former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani have criticized the deal, under which Iran would ship about 75 percent of its stockpile of enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing into fuel. The head of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Alaedin Borujerdi, also expressed suspicion over the deal and said that officials should be cautious in their dealings with Western countries.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Iran_Says_It_Might_Or_Might_Not_Agree_To_Sh...
 
Both Iran and US fear a trap on deal, New York Times, October 26, 2009
Just before international inspectors on Sunday were guided for the first time into an Iranian nuclear enrichment plant whose existence was a state secret until recently, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament warned his countrymen to beware of American efforts to “cheat” Iran out of the nuclear fuel that has become the country’s currency in reasserting its power. In Washington, the concern is precisely the reverse. Here, even some of President Obama’s aides are wary that Iran is setting a trap, trying to turn the administration’s signature offer of engagement into a process of endless negotiations. They are acutely aware of the fact that the clock is ticking: While talks continue, Iran is steadily enriching more uranium, the fuel it would need if it ever decided to sprint for the bomb, much as Israel and India did 30 years ago, followed by Pakistan and North Korea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/middleeast/26iran.html?scp=2&sq=...
 
Families of US hikers held in Iran release video, AP, October 27, 2009
The families of three Americans being held in Iran plan to release video footage that they say prove the three were simply on vacation and had no underhand intentions when they strayed across the border. Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, have been detained since July 31. They apparently crossed into Iran by accident while hiking in a scenic area in northern Iraq. They have been visited by Swiss diplomats, who oversee U.S. interests in Iran, but have had no contact with their families. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said last week that investigators are still questioning the three and that their fate rests with judicial authorities.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6rpTLLXtAxP_UhHreYJuA...
 
North Korea and Iran on US religion watch list, Reuters, October 27, 2009
North Korea and Iran were among the world's worst offenders in abusing religious freedom, the U.S. State Department said on Monday in an annual report spotlighting countries Washington charges with severe religious repression. North Korea, often cited as among the harshest opponents of religious liberty, continued to block almost all unapproved religious activity while Iran's Islamic government saw already limited religious tolerance deteriorate, creating a threatening environment for religious minorities, the report said. The report cited six other countries for egregious violations of religious freedom over the past year -- Myanmar, China, Sudan, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan -- the same list that the State Department provided last year. Offenders can be subject to U.S. sanctions.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/27/world/international-uk-religio...
 
Election tensions at an Iranian expo, Washington Post, October 27, 2009
In other incidents at the 16th International Exhibition of Press and News Agencies, Karroubi and a top Mousavi aide were roughed up by pro-government vigilantes over the weekend, and authorities prematurely closed the expo without explanation Monday afternoon before reopening it hours later as large crowds waited at the entrance.  Usually a low-key event showcasing Iranian news outlets and international media with offices in Iran, the expo, scheduled to run Oct. 20-27, turned into the latest indicator that Iranians remain divided after this summer's post-election violence, when dozens of people were killed and hundreds arrested in a crackdown on street protests.  On Friday, Karroubi, a Shiite Muslim cleric, was set upon during a visit to the fair, where about 1,500 mainly state-owned domestic media outlets and 30 foreign organizations displayed their work. In the melee, one of his bodyguards drew a gun, pro-government media reported.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR200910...
 
Pakistan releases 11 Iranian guards after cross-border incursion, Christian Science Monitor, October 27, 2009
Pakistani authorities on Tuesday released 11 Iranians – initially identified as members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard – who had been detained a day earlier for trespassing on Pakistani soil. The guards were arrested on Monday in the Mashkhel area near the Iran-Pakistan border eight days after a suicide bomber in Iran's Sistan-Balochistan province killed 42 people, including Revolutionary Guard commanders. That attack heightened tensions between the two as Iran alleged those responsible were based in Pakistan. Islamabad denied the accusation.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1027/p99s01-duts.html
 
Erdogan hits West over Iran nuke pressure, Washington Times, October 27, 2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan began a high-level visit to Iran on Monday with criticism of Western pressure on Iran over its nuclear program and promises to double trade with the Islamic republic by 2011.  The visit comes as the United States and its allies consider stronger sanctions if Iran does not accept a plan to send out much of its nuclear fuel and U.N. inspectors examine a uranium enrichment plant whose existence Iran hid until last month.  Besides potentially weakening Western leverage with Iran, the visit could further undermine Turkey's relations with Israel.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/27/erdogan-hits-west-over-iran-...
 
Iran opens exchange to trade oil, products, Reuters, October 26, 2009
The bourse, based on the Gulf economic free zone island of Kish, has been planned for years but had faced repeated delays. The first phase of the exchange for trading oil products was inaugurated in February. When plans were first mooted, some analysts speculated Iran might use it to undermine the importance of the U.S. dollar by pricing crude in euros or other currencies. Iran wants to deregulate prices of petrochemicals and other oil products and create more transparency as part of a privatisation drive, aimed at attracting more foreign investment into the country's oil industry. But investors have shown limited interest mainly because of international sanctions imposed against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover to build nuclear arms, Iran denies this.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2620293120091026