Powell claims progress with Russia on proliferation to Iran

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Powell claims progress with Russia on proliferation to Iran

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
The United States reports progress in persuading Russia to halt its transfer of missile and weapons of mass technology to Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the progress was the result of the summit between President George Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in May. Powell, who said further progress was detected during the meeting by industrial nations in Canada last month, said Putin recognizes the danger of exporting WMD components and technology to Iran and the need to halt such transfers.
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Officials said the U.S. priority is to stop Russia from continuing its Bushehr nuclear reactor project in Iran without guarantees from Teheran to accept an aggressive inspection regime by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but has rejected a proposal of more intrusive IAEA inspections established after the 1991 Gulf war.

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http://216.26.163.62/2002/ss_russia_07_10.html

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The article quotes more from Powell's testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday and gives a little background on Russia's trade with Iran.

Obviously Israel is at great risk if Iran gets a nuclear bomb, not to mention the entire region. As discussed in the Hope in Iran thread, Iran is facing huge internal pressures and is rather unstable.

This article is possibly encouraging, but it's clear that for the tiem being nothing concrete has happened, and nuclear trade is continuing to flow unabated.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/26/international/26AFP-RUSS.html
Russia to Build a Second Nuclear Reactor for Iran
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

MOSCOW, July 26 (AFP) - The Russian government voiced its right Friday to build a second nuclear power plant in Iran and engage in long-term nuclear cooperation with Tehran despite fierce US criticism of an existing project.

The announcement of a new 10-year Iranian nuclear development program surprised analysts and some politicians, coming less than a month after the West agreed a confidence-building 20-billion-dollar aid package for dismantling Russia's weapons of mass destruction.

Some noted that Iran may have no intention of buying a second nuclear plant from Russia and read the announcement as a bid by Moscow to up the stakes and win new Western concessions for ending its nuclear relations with a nation identified as a member of an "axis of evil" by Washington.

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Clearly Russia getting rid of its weapons of mass destruction is of little effect if Russia helps other countries, possibly even more unstable, acquire their own such weapons. It sounds as if Russia is engaging in blackmail.

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The following article discusses Iran's nuclear program. I've highlighted the parts of the article that relate to the possibility of Israel taking out Iran's reactors. As has been mentioned before, the US relies on Israel for help in the region, just as Israel also uses US help.

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http://www.msnbc.com/news/786860.asp?0si=-
Iran’s nuclear plant challenges U.S.
Bush’s policy of preempting threats in spotlight

By Dana Priest
THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON, July 29 — For the past seven years, U.S. and Israeli spy satellites have swept regularly over Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, snapping pictures of Russian and Iranian construction crews working to complete a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. This year, the satellites beamed back images of a round reactor dome, cooling pipes, pumping equipment and what some intelligence analysts believe to be antiaircraft missile battery sites.
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Whatever path the administration chooses could be overshadowed by a key U.S. ally in the region: Israel. Although a preemptive strike appears to be supported by only a minority in the administration and has not been discussed at the top levels of government, Israel has suggested it will not allow the plant to open.
“Does Israel have a military option?” said a government official in Washington who is familiar with the Israeli position. “The answer is yes.”
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In recent weeks, Israel has publicly warned Iran that it considers the Bushehr plant — which Germany began building for Iran in 1974 and Iraq bombed three times in the mid-1980s during the Iran-Iraq war — a threat to its national security. There is some evidence, though not conclusive, that Iran is positioning antiaircraft missile batteries around the plant and a nuclear research facility near Tehran, according to analysts who have looked at high-resolution satellite images of those sites.
Last month, the Hebrew daily Haaretz reported that Israel’s National Security Council was conducting an urgent review of its policy toward Iran and quoted one official as saying “that everything must be done, including, if necessary, using force to prevent Tehran from achieving nuclear weapons capabilities.”
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“Within the next year, either the U.S. or Israel is going to either attack Iran’s [nuclear sites] or acquiesce to Iran being a nuclear state,” said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a nonpartisan military and intelligence research center.

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http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020729-014236-3728r
Solana: EU seeks broader ties with Iran
Published 7/29/2002 2:09 PM

TEHRAN, Iran, July 29 (UPI) -- European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday that the EU was determined to broaden its ties and expand economic cooperation with Iran.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi in Tehran, Solana said the EU-Iran cooperation "should broaden in both economic and political areas."
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No mention at all about the nuclear issues. I wonder if the EU is interested in this aspect at all.

From the same article, the Iranian Foreign Minister Kharrazi couldn't help but let out his true opinions about another subject:

Kharrazi said the expansion of Iran-EU ties would serve both sides' interests and that his country was keen to promote a comprehensive cooperation with the European Union.

He blamed the United States' "unconditional support of Israel" on what he termed as "the Zionist atrocities" against the Palestinians.

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http://msnbc.com/news/786933.asp
Experts see growing threat from Iraq
WASHINGTON, July 31 — A panel of experts told senators Wednesday that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would have nuclear weapons by 2005, if he did not already have them. He also already may have weaponized smallpox, anthrax and nerve gas, they said, giving him arms as devastating as nuclear ones.
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In addition to the threat of the current Iranian and Iraqi regimes having nuclear bombs, there's always the possibility of a yet more unstable regime taking power. That new regime would also have access to whatever nuclear weapons have been developed.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/03/international/europe/03RUSS.html

Russia Says It May Reconsider Its Nuclear Plant Deal With Iran
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

OSCOW, Aug. 2 — Russia, under pressure from the Bush administration, indicated today for the first time that it was prepared to reconsider plans to continue building nuclear reactors in Iran that American officials fear could be used in a covert program to build nuclear weapons.

After a third day of meetings here in Moscow with American officials, the minister of Russia's nuclear energy agency, Aleksandr Y. Rumyantsev, said in a statement that Russia would take into account "political factors" before deepening its assistance to Iran, according to a statement released by his ministry.

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Maybe the US is using a carrot-and-stick approach in respect to Russia?