Summary of Iran Stories in Today&apos;s BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, June 19, 2003 <b>UN Atomic Energy Agency Asks Iran for More Openness</b> • In a statement endorsed by the US, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency asked Iran on Thursday to allow more inspections of its uranium enrichment facilities, but the statement did not support the US position of bringing the matter before the Security Council. The Agency said in its statement endorsed by its 35 members, including the US, that Iran needs to prove that it does not have a nuclear weapons program. Iran&apos;s representative to IAEA Ali Salehi said that the IAEA board of governors was split on urging Iran to unconditionally sign the additional safeguard protocols of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which would allow unannounced inspection of Iran&apos;s nuclear facilities. IAEA chief Muhammad Elbaradei&apos;s report on Iran said Iran has not reported to the agency the purchase of 1800 kilograms of uranium and had started a uranium enriching plant without the knowledge of the agency. (Nazi Azima) • The US wanted a resolution that would clearly state Iran has violated the non-proliferation treaty, says international relations professor at Institute of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, <b>Mehdi Mozaffari</b> He tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that President Bush&apos;s statement about Iran&apos;s nuclear programs is very similar to the statement US officials made before the Iraq war. After a few months, he says, the US can declare Iran did not observe its commitments and now is time for action, which would mean seeking a Security Council resolution for military intervention, as we saw in the case of Iraq. (Siavash Ardalan, Prague) • President Mohammad Khatami said before signing the additional protocol, Iran needs to see international cooperation in its peaceful nuclear programs. Stockholm University international law professor <b>Said Mahmoudi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that according to article 4 of the non-proliferation treaty, all treaty members are obligated to exchange information and material to facilitate peaceful use of atomic energy, and the US argues that article 4 does not guarantee access to information for all members, but that the access is conditioned upon the members&apos; peaceful use of the technology and Iran is now under accusation. He adds that in his view, IAEA&apos;s statement today would not prevent Iran from having access to nuclear information and technology. He says Iran has made a few mistakes, maybe intentional mistakes, since it purchased uranium in 1991 and did not report it at the time that it should have had, but failure to observe a few duties under the treaty does not automatically deprive a country from benefiting from the treaty&apos;s other provisions. He says 78 countries have signed the additional protocol, but only 35, including China and France, have ratified it. It has not been ratified in the US, even though the US was one of the first to sign. He adds that even if Iran signs the additional protocol, it would not be obligated to immediately allow unannounced inspection of its nuclear sites. (Siavash Ardalan, Prague) • Despite legal arguments that Iran puts forward, Iranian officials know that the case of the Islamic Republic is different from other countries, at least in the eye of the US. According to the new thinking in the US, a country that is involved in anti-US terrorism should not have access to nuclear technology. Some Iranian observers consider the Islamic regime&apos;s access to such technology dangerous. Former education minister and US-based anti-regime activist <b>Akbar Ganji</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Iran has so much oil, gas and sunshine that it does not need to build nuclear power plants. It has so many dangers for Iran, he adds. He says former President Rafsanjani has repeatedly spoken of an Islamic atomic bomb. (Siavash Ardalan, Prague) • EU heads of state discuss Iran&apos;s nuclear programs in their meeting with the heads of the 10 new EU members today in Spain. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne) • The International Atomic Energy Agency&apos;s board of directors discussed IAEA chief Muhammad Elbaradei&apos;s report on Iran&apos;s atomic program Wednesday in Vienna for a second day in a row. IAEA spokesperson <b>Melissa Fleming</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the board is split between the US, its friends, and Russia and China on one side, who believe in closer inspections, and the countries that believe that Iran has been cooperative and there is no need for doubling the monitoring effort. She says a team of IAEA inspectors arrived in Iran on Sunday, but does not have access to, and cannot gather biological samples at Iran&apos;s suspicious nuclear sites, unless Iran signs the additional protocol of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. (Camellia Entekhabi-Fard, Washington) • Iran can build nuclear weapons within two or three years, writes the Wall Street Journal. The US would take the issue to the Security Council, if the IAEA condemns Iran on violations, writes the <i>Financial Times</i>. (Shahran Tabari, London) • IAEA inspectors found in Iran a nuclear program equal to that of North Korea, writes David Sanger in the <i>New York Times</i>. (Ali Sajjadi, Prague) <b>Iran Signs Highway Deal with Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan</b> • Presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan signed a treaty today in Tehran to build a highway for transporting goods. Afghan interior minister Ali Jalali tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that Iran agreed to build border posts on Iran-Afghanistan border. (Camellia Entekhabi-Fard, Washington) • Karzai discussed eradication of poppy seed cultivation in Afghanistan, and the legal problems of Afghan-Iranian marriages with Iranian authorities, including interior minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari. (Mina Baharmast, Prague) • Karzai said Iran is a good partner in the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. (Alireza Taheri, Prague) <b>Police Round Up Student Protesters</b> • On the ninth day of anti-regime demonstrations in Tehran and major cities, police and paramilitary security forces continued to make arrests. Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi issued an order to the police to round up people “related” to the recent demonstrations. Tehran-based lawyer <b>Nemat Ahmadi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that an arrest warrant targeting unnamed persons vaguely identified as “related to the demonstrations” has no legal basis. (Siavash Ardalan, Prague) • The demonstrations attracted fewer people on Wednesday, but it does not mean that the Islamic authorities have any doubts about the depth of the public discontent. Even the conservatives agree that a year before national elections, the Islamic regime is faced with a serious legitimacy problem, writes the Reuters from Tehran. (Ali Sajjadi) • A group of 200 to 300 students in the Urumieh University staged a rally inside the campus, shouting slogans, that can be heard on <b>Radio Farda</b>, against “dictatorship” and for “referendum.” A demonstrator tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the action will continue until people join the students in demanding freedom and democracy. (Live report by unnamed source from inside the university, Urumieh) • Hundreds gathered in Kerman&apos;s Kosar Square on Wednesday night in demonstrations that were joined by honking cars leading to the area. Women and children, along with their brothers and husbands joined in the rally. An Iran-Iraq war veteran, interviewed for <b>Radio Farda</b> says the veterans join the rest of the people in demanding an end to dictatorship, writes Kerman-based journalist Bardia Namdar. (Ali Sajjadi) • The Sunday night attack of 500 paramilitary security personnel on the Tarasht dormitory of the Alameh Tabatabai university in Tehran, has left the building in ruins, <b>Mehdi Bagheri</b> a member of the central committee of the association of Islamic student councils, Daftar-e Tahkim Vahdat, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> . He says 80 students were injured during the attack, 35 of them seriously. He doubts that the aggressors will face any punishment. (Jamshid Zand) • Security forces searched for young protesters in cars on every major square in the eastern Tehran suburb of Tehran-Pars, where protesters were heavily beaten by the plainclothes forces, an eyewitness tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Jamshid Zand) • Police arrested two students in the northern city of Rasht, were security forces tried to prevent hundreds of people from joining nearly 150 student protesters, an eyewitness <b>Arash Sigarchi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. • The voluntary unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a statement carried by the official government media on Thursday that it would defend the Islamic regime against what it called the “Washington mercenaries.” (Bijan Farhoodi, Washington) The Islamic regime appears winded, and protesters bravely resist the club-wielding security forces, knowing that President Khatami cannot overcome his conservative opponents, writes Paris daily Le Monde. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris) • Member of the central committee of the student organization Dafter-e Tahkim-e Vahdat <b>Mehdi Baqeri</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that there is no information on the number and the whereabouts of the arrested students. Mother of arrested journalist Amin Bozorgnia, editor of the banned <i>Golestan-e Iran</i> newspaper, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that she has no news of her husband. Journalist Amir Tehrani, founder of the Khaneh Pazhuhesh research institute was also arrested. Daughter of arrested Tabrizi journalist <b>Ensafali Hedayat</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that she does not know the reason for her father&apos;s arrest and is concerned about his condition in jail. (Jamshid Zand) <b>MKO Sympathizers Torch Themselves in Bern, London and Rome</b> • A sympathizer of the Iraq-based anti-regime group the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) Marzieh Babakhani, 40, died in a hospital in Paris of burns she suffered on Wednesday when she torched herself during a protest in Paris against the arrest by the French police of 165 members of the organization on terrorism charge. Several other MKO sympathizers staged similar protests in Rome, London and Bern. • French authorities announced that the wife of MKO leader Masoud Rajavi will remain in custody at least until Saturday along with 21 others, but 104 of those arrested early on Wednesday were released. DSD chief said the MKO had plans to blow up Iran embassies in Europe. A MKO spokesman in London Ali Safavi denied the charge. (Alireza Taheri, Prague) <b>Iran Ranks 69th in Per Capita Income</b> • The Deputy industries and mines minister said Iran&apos;s per-capita income of $1,400 ranked 69th in the world, while the world&apos;s average per-capita income is $5,600. (Arash Qavideh, Tehran) . نازي عظيما (راديو فردا): آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي سر انجام پس از چند روز بحث و گفتگو درباره برنامه هاي هسته اي جمهوري اسلامي، امروز بيانيه اي رسمي منتشر کرد. در اين بيانيه که همه 35 عضو هيئت مديره آژانس آن را امضا کرده اند، از جمهوري اسلامي خواسته شده است تا درباره برنامه هاي هسته ايش پنهانکاري نکند. محمد البرادعي، رئيس سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي گفت: هيئت مديره سازمان نيز مانند من نسبت به خودداري ايران از اعلام بعضي فعاليتها، مواد، و تجهيزات هسته ايش نگران است و خواستار انجام بعضي اقدامات ترميمي در برنامه هسته اي ايران، با کمک سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي شده است و ما از ايران خواسته ايم که اين اقدامات ترميمي را هرچه زودتر انجام دهد. درباره بيانيه امروز آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، عليرضا طاهري گزارش مي دهد. عليرضا طاهري (راديو فردا): آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي امروز در بيانيه اي که آمريکا نيز جزو 35 کشور امضاء کننده آن است، از جمهوري اسلامي خواست تا همچنان به شفافيت درباره برنامه هسته ايش ادامه دهد و از اعتراض به بازرسيهاي دقيقتر و شديدتر از تاسيسات هسته اي ايران باز ايستد. به گفته آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، جمهوري اسلامي با توجه به نکات ياد شده مي تواند به جهان اطمينان دهد که درپي دستيابي به سلاحهاي هسته اي نيست. اما علي صالحي، نماينده جمهوري اسلامي در مقر آژاني بين المللي انرژي اتمي در وين پايتخت اتريش به خبرنگاران گفت: درباره بدون قيد و شرط پيوستن جمهوري اسلامي به پروتکل الحاقي در آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي اتفاق نظر وجود ندارد و صرفا شماري از کشورهاي عضو هيئت مديره آن آژانس چنين نظري دارند. کشورهاي امضا کننده پروتکل الحاقي به بازرسان بين المللي اجازه مي دهند تا از تاسيسات هسته ايشان بدون دعوت، بي خبر، و سرزده بازديد کنند. بيانيه امروزآژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي بر خلاف خواست آمريکا، نوعي تنبيه جمهوري اسلامي بود اما حکومت تهران را محکوم نمي کند. از روز گذشته پيش بيني مي شد که آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي به جاي صدور قطعنامه اي بر ضد جمهوري اسلامي، صرفا به انتشار يک بيانيه بسنده کند. با اين حال، لحن بيانيه امروز تندتر از آن بود که پيش بيني مي شد. آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، نهاد وابسته به سازمان ملل متحد، در گزارشي درباره جمهوري اسلامي نوشته است: حکومت تهران 12 سال پيش 1800 کيلو اورانيوم خريده و احداث کارخانه هايي براي غني سازي اورانيوم را بدون اطلاع آژانس آغاز کرده است. محمد خاتمي، رئيس جمهوري ايران ديروز تکرار کرد که تهران در پي سلاحهاي هسته اي نيست و آماده است تا با بازديدهاي سرزده بازرسان بين المللي از تاسيسات ايران بي هيچ قيد و شرطي موافقت کند. آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي امروز در بيانيه اي كه به امضاي 35 كشور عضو رسيده است، از جمهوري اسلامي خواست برنامه اي هسته اي خود را روشن كند و به جهان اطمينان دهد كه در پي دستيابي به سلاح هاي اتمي نيست. علي صالحي نماينده جمهوري اسلامي در مقر آژانس در وين به خبرنگاران گفت درباره لزوم پيوستن بدون قيد وشرط ايران به پروتكل الحاقي بين اعضا اتفاق نظر وجود ندارد. بيانيه امروز آژانس بين المللي گرچه نوعي تنبيه جمهوري اسلامي است اما نظر آمريكا را تامين نمي كند.