Summary of Iran Stories in Today&apos;s BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, April 08, 2004 <b>Italian Security Report Links Moqtada Sadr To The Supreme Leader</b> • Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, who is directing a widespread armed uprising against the coalition forces in Baghdad and southern Iraq, receives his orders directly from the office of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Italian foreign intelligence organization, Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (SISMI), a unit of the Italian defense ministry, said today in a report to the Italian parliament. The report, which prompted a call to foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi by Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini, said without political, financial and military support from the Supreme Leader, Moqtada Sadr and his al-Mahdi brigade could not have mounted their multiple, simultaneous attacks. Italian foreign minister asked Kharrazi to do what he can to put an end to the deadly clashes in Iraq. Agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp and the Quds special forces have infiltrated Iraq in the past months and have organized and armed Moqta Sadr&apos;s al-Mahdi brigade, SISMI said in its report. The Iranian agents work under the cover of several religious charity organizations in Sadr city in Baghdad and in the Shiite cities of Karbala, Najaf and Kufa, SISMI said. Iran is spending $70 million per month to support these front organizations, it added. The Supreme Leader has sent cleric Mohammad-Hossein Haeri to coordinate the efforts that are aimed at pushing the coalition forces out of Iraq, according to Italian daily <i>La Stampa</i>, which adds that, with that goal in mind, Sadr&apos;s al-Mahdi brigade has been attacking the Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Polish and Portuguese forces in Iraq. In his mission in Iraq, Haeri represents Qum-based senior Iraqi Shiite religious leader Ayatollah Kazem Haeri. Two Iranian intelligence officers who have recently defected to Britain have given the British intelligence agents documents showing the role being played by the Islamic Republic government in the recent unrest in Iraq, Italy&apos;s daily <i>La Reformista</i> reports, quoting British sources. (Ahmad Ra&apos;fat, Rome) • Even though Moqta Sadr is said to have links with the Islamic government in Tehran, it appears that the Iranian government in general prefers to deal with recent crisis in Iraq cautiously. By supporting Moqta Sadr, and the Shiite organizations opposing Moqta Sadr, Iran is playing both sides in order to come out as the winner of the current crisis, regardless of the outcome of the current insurgency, Agence France Press wrote yesterday in a commentary. • Moqta Sadr&apos;s rise is an expression of the wave of opposition to and the discontent with the occupation forces in Iraq, former editor of several banned reformist newspapers and an advisor to the Tehran-based Middle East Strategic Studies Center <b>Mashallah Shamsolvaezin</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. All the opposition forces, including the jobless masses, former Iraqi military personnel, former Baath party officials, the Arab socialists and even anti-imperialist Iraqi intellectuals, who returned to Iraq after the fall of the Saddam regime, have now joined forces under the umbrella of Moqtada Sadr, he adds. Naturally, the multitudes of jobless Iraqi youth, who have not yet been absorbed by the new social and economic structures, have gathered under Moqtada Sadr, he says. As the US occupation continues, many of the neighboring countries would feel more content to see the American forces surrounded by local and domestic Iraqi forces, he adds. Iran&apos;s strategic interest lies in further entangling the US forces within Iraq, but I have no information whether the authorities are taking any action to implement this strategy. (Mehdi Khalaji) <b>Iran To Work On “Heavy Water” Nuclear Reactor</b> • Iran will start building a heavy water nuclear reactor in June that can produce weapons-grade plutonium, diplomats close to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday in Vienna. Although Tehran insists that the heavy water facility is for research, the decision heightens concern about its nuclear ambitions, the AP reports. One diplomat said the planned 40-megawatt reactor could produce enough plutonium for one nuclear weapon per year. The announcement “sends a bad signal at a time all eyes are on Iran,” the AP&apos;s source said. • Iran agreed to a timetable for nuclear checks and to submit full details of its program and ambitions to the IAEA in mid-May, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in Tehran in a joint press conference with head of Iran&apos;s nuclear energy organization Gholam-Reza Aghazadeh. • “We&apos;ve heard promises before and we&apos;ve also seen them broken before,” US State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli said on Tuesday. “I&apos;d point out to you that on October 21st Iran told the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the UK that it would ‘suspend all enrichment -- uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities as defined by the IAEA.&apos; Then they later went on and said that, ‘Okay, but that doesn&apos;t include domestic manufacture and assembly of centrifuges.&apos; Then again, on November 10th Iran sent a letter to the IAEA saying that it had decided to suspend ‘all enrichment-related reprocessing activities in Iran,&apos;” Ereli said, responding to a question about Iran&apos;s promise yesterday to increase cooperation with the IAEA. • The heavy water reactor is a part of Iran&apos;s nuclear program that had fallen off the radar, with all the attention that is being focused on uranium enrichment. It appears that by bringing up this program at this time, the government wants to score a political point and appear to be standing firm in front of the international community&apos;s pressure, despite the announcement that it will fully cooperate with the IAEA, <b>Rose Gottemoeller</b>, for International Peace, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. “I believe the heavy water reactor is a part of a military program to produce nuclear weapons,” she adds. The US should apply pressure to stop this program, Ms. Gottemoeller, Clinton administration&apos;s non-proliferation advisor, says. Other than heavy water reactor, which has military use, there are many technologies through which Iran can reach the same results for scientific and medical research, she say, adding that she sees no link between Iran&apos;s nuclear program and Iran&apos;s policy towards Iraq. (Amir Armin) <b>”Privatization” Transfers Shares of State Enterprises to Semi-Governmental Concerns</b> • In the privatization process, shares of “privatized” state enterprises were transferred to public entities controlled by the government, according to Tehran economic daily <i>Hayat-e Now Eqtesadi</i>, which said the government used 80 percent of the shares of privatized companies to cover the deficit in the funds of such semi-governmental enterprises as the national social security organization. The government role in the country&apos;s economy has increased in the past twelve years since the so-called privatization process started, <b>Radio Farda</b>&apos;s Paris-based economic commentator <b>Fereydoun Khavand</b> says. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the privatization process has been a failure, he adds. <b>Failed Reforms in the Judiciary</b> • At the end of his term in office, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi has failed to institute any of the reforms he promised after taking over from his predecessor Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Tehran-based lawyer <b>Nemat Ahmadi</b>, who issued an open letter yesterday to the judiciary chief to press for prison reforms, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. However, he adds, it is expected that the Supreme Leader would re-assign Shahroudi. In a surprise visit to the Evin prison, Shahroudi boasted of having eliminated solitary confinement. Many political prisoners, including pro-reform theoretician, journalist and pollster Abbas Abdi, continue to languish in solitary confinement, Ahmadi says. (Mahmonir Rahimi) • In a statement issued today, Paris-based advocacy group the Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) expressed concern about jailed Tabrizi independent journalist Ensafali Hedayat. It also called for the release of provincial weekly <i>Gorgan-e Emrooz</i>&apos;s managing editor Mostafa Sabbati. Hedayat was arrested three months ago by the Tabriz Islamic revolutionary court, a day after he returned from Berlin, where he attended the first convention of the secular republican coalition Etehad-e Jumhurikhahan. <b>Oxford Conference on Future of Iran</b> • In the two-day conference “Iran Facing The New Century” held by the Oriental Institute of University of Oxford, a variety of articles and opinions were offered on the country&apos;s political and social future. This conference should have been held long ago, because it was for the first time that experts from a variety of fields, social, political and economic, gathered under one roof, co-convener Oxford University professor <b>Homayoun Kaatouzian</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The articles offered at the conference will be published in the <i>Iranian Studies</i> magazine, which he edits, and will also be collected in a book, he adds. (Shahran Tabari, London) . عليرضا طاهري (راديو فردا): سازمان امنيت خارجي ايتاليا، در گزارشي كه بخشهايي از آن به رسانه هاي گروهي ايتاليا درز كرده است، اشاراتي به نقش به گفته آن سازمان، «مخرب» جمهوري اسلامي در رويدادهاي اخير عراق دارد. احمد رافت، گزارشگر راديو فردا در رم كه خود اين گزارش سازمان امنيت خارجي ايتاليا را خوانده، با توجه به گفتگوي اخير تلفني ميان وزيران خارجه ايتاليا و جمهوري اسلامي، نكاتي از گزارش يادشده و بازتاب آن در رسانه هاي گروهي ايتاليا را بازگو مي كند. احمد رافت (راديو فردا): وزير خارجه ايتاليا، فرانكوفراتيني در گفتگويي تلفني با كمال خرازي، همتاي ايرانيش از جمهوري اسلامي خواست از هيچگونه تلاشي براي پايان دادن به آشوبهاي كنوني در عراق خودداري نكند. فرانكو فراتيني در گفتگو با خبرنگاران ايتاليايي، در حاشيه حضورش در مجلس، براي اطلاع رساني به نمايندگان در رابطه با آخرين وقايع عراق گفت: جمهوري اسلامي داراي روابط بسيار ويژه اي با شيعيان عراق است و مي تواند آنها را تحت الشعاع قرار دهد. وزير خارجه ايتاليا افزود: ما از جمهوري اسلامي انتظار داريم با ما در جهت پايان دادن به اغتشاش و بويژه در ناصريه همكاري داشته باشد. فرانكو فراتيني زماني با همتاي ايرانيش تماس تلفني برقرار كرد كه سازمان امنيت خارجي ايتاليا سيزمي Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (SISMI)، وابسته به وزارت دفاع، در گزارشي كه به پارلمان دولت در رابطه با بحران كنوني در عراق ارسال داشته بود، به نقش مخرب بخشهايي از جمهوري اسلامي اشاره مي كند. در اين گزارش كه بخشهايي از آن در مطبوعات ايتاليايي نيز انتشار يافته است، سيزمي مي نويسد: مقتدي صدر كه رهبري اغتشاشها و ناآراميهاي كنوني را برعهده دارد، به طور مستقيم از دفتر آيت الله خامنه اي دستور مي گيرد. در گزارش سيزمي همچنين اشاره مي شود كه بدون حمايت سياسي، مالي و نظامي اين رهبر ايراني، مقتدي صدر و ارتش مهدي آن به هيچ وجه قادر به سازماندهي اينچنين ناآراميها و درگيريهايي با نيروهاي نظامي ائتلاف نيستند. در ادامه گزارش سيزمي آمده است عوامل وابسته به سپاه پاسداران و نيروهاي ويژه قدس در ماههاي اخير به داخل عراق نفوذ كرده اند و ارتش مهدي مقتدي صدر در عمل توسط اين افراد تشكيل و هم اكنون نيز تحت نظر آنان عمل مي كنند. سيزمي در گزارشش همچنين اشاره مي كند كه اين افراد تحت پوشش سازمانهاي خيريه در شهرك صدر در حومه بغداد و در شهرهاي جنوبي عراق چون كربلا، نجف و كوفه به فعاليت مشغولند. در ادامه اين گزارش مخارج ماهانه نگهداري اين افراد و دفاترشان در بسياري از شهرهاي عراق بيش از 70 ميليون دلار تخمين زده مي شود. روزنامه لاستامپاي ايتاليا كه وابسته به گروه صنعتي فيات است در مقاله اي كه بر مبناي همين گزارش تهيه شده است و تحت عنوان «سرنخ مقتدي صدر را بايد در تهران جستجو كرد»، مي نويسد: آيت الله خامنه اي جهت هماهنگي نيروهاي شورش آفرين شيعه در عراق حجت الاسلام محمد حسين حائري را به اين كشور اعزام داشته است. حجت الاسلام محمد حسين حائري كه به عنوان نماينده آيت الله كاظم حائري، روحاني عراقي تبار ساكن قم به عراق رفته است، به نوشته روزنامه لاستانپا، هدفش مجبور ساختن متحدين اروپايي آمريكا به ترك عراق است و به همين دليل نيز هواداران مقتدي صدر عمدتا نيروهاي بلغاري، لهستاني، ايتاليايي، اسپانيايي و پرتغالي را مورد حمله قرار مي دهند. روزنامه ايل ريفورميستا از جانب ديگر به نقل از منابع بريتانيايي مي نويسد: دو تن از مامورين امنيتي ايراني كه اخيرا به لندن سفر كرده و از دولت بريتانيا درخواست پناهندگي كرده اند، مداركي دال بر نقش ايران در آشوبهاي عراق را در اختيار مقامات امنيتي اين كشور اروپايي قرار داده اند. سيزمي، سازمان امنيت خارجي ايتاليا، در گزارشي به نقش «مخرب» جمهوري اسلامي در رويدادهاي اخير عراق پرداخته است. در پي انتشار آن، وزير امورخارجه ايتاليا، گفت: جمهوري اسلامي داراي روابط بسيار ويژه اي با شيعيان عراق است و مي تواند آنها را تحت الشعاع قرار دهد. در گزارش مذكور گفته مي شود مقتدي صدر، رهبر اغتشاشها و ناآراميهاي كنوني به طور مستقيم از دفتر رهبر جمهوري اسلامي دستور مي گيرد. روزنامه لا استامپا ايتاليا در مقاله اي تحت عنوان «سرنخ مقتدي صدر را بايد در تهران جستجو كرد»، نوشت: رهبر جمهوري اسلامي جهت هماهنگي نيروهاي شورش آفرين شيعه در عراق حجت الاسلام محمد حسين حائري را به اين كشور اعزام داشت. روزنامه ايل ريفورميستا به نقل از منابع بريتانيايي نوشت: دو تن از مامورين امنيتي ايراني كه اخيرا به لندن سفر كرده و از دولت بريتانيا درخواست پناهندگي كرده اند، مداركي دال بر نقش ايران در آشوبهاي عراق را در اختيار مقامات امنيتي اين كشور اروپايي قرار داده اند.