Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, March 13, 2004
<b>IAEA Resolution Sets New Deadline for Iran's Full Cooperation</b>
• In a resolution issued on Saturday, the board of governors of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) condemned Iran for withholding information on sensitive components of its nuclear programs. It gave Iran until June to fully cooperate with the UN, and urged the full and urgent cooperation of all third countries directly or indirectly involved with Iran's nuclear program. IAEA's board of governors deferred until June the “consideration of progress in verifying Iran's declarations, and of how to respond to (Iran's) … omitting any reference to… its possession of P-2 centrifuge design drawings and to associated research, manufacturing, and mechanical testing activities.”
• Although not mentioned in the resolution, the June deadline is veiled threat that in case of lack of cooperation, Iran's case would be referred to the UN Security Council, Tehran University international relations professor <b>Davood Hermidas-Bavand</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. This will now hang on Iran's head like a Damocles' Sword, he adds, leaving it with one of two options, either fully cooperate on all matters detailed in the resolution, or find a way to negotiate. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• Iran imposed on Saturday an indefinite freeze on IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities in protest against the critical resolution, which secretary of the supreme national security council Hassan Rowhani called “unfair and deceitful.” In a press conference today in Tehran Rowhani said: “We will not allow them (UN nuclear inspectors) to come until Iran sets a new date for their visit.” Responding to a reporter's question, Rowhani said the ban was indefinite, but Iran's envoy to the IAEA said the suspension of the inspectors' prescheduled Friday visit was due only to the new year holidays in Iran. “If they really have nothing to hide, it's fully against their interests [to delay the inspections] because people who accuse them of having a weapons program are getting a lot of ammunition,” a diplomat in Vienna told the Reuters news agency. (Ali Sajjadi, Amir Armin, Fereydoun Zarnegar)
• Russia, China and members of the non-aligned movement rejected reference in the US-proposed IAEA resolution to the Islamic Republic armed forces' involvement in Iran's nuclear program. (Maryam Ahmadi)
• “We think it's clear that Iran has not made any decision, any strategic decision, to abandon a nuclear weapons effort,” US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Tuesday. The US remained concerned by “Iran's grudging and partial cooperation only when confronted with compelling evidence of an undeclared program,” he added. The IAEA should “stay on the case, continue to scrutinize Iran's performance against the benchmarks that the IAEA board itself set, and against the commitments that Iran itself has made, Boucher said. “And that's what we're working with other countries in Vienna to do,” he added. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Women's Day: US President Shares Ebadi's View on Compatibility of Islam and Democracy</b>
• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi “believes that democracy is consistent with Islamic teachings. And we share in this belief,” US President George Bush said in remarks before a VIP audience gathered last night at the White House to mark the International Women's Day. “That's what we believe in America,” Mr. Bush added. “A religion that demands individual moral accountability and encourages the encounter of the individual with God is fully compatible with the rights and responsibilities of self-government. Promotion of democracy in the greater Middle East is important,” he added, reaffirming his administration's commitment to promotion of democracy in the Middle East. “It's a priority of ours,” he said. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
• Violence against women has been inserted in Iran's laws after the 1979 revolution, lawyer and women's rights activist <b>Mehrangiz Kar</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> after giving the keynote speech at the conference held last night in Paris by the Iranian Women's Society for Democracy, Of highest priority in the campaign to end violence against women is purging Iran's family laws and the Islamic Penal Code of all forms of physical, psychological, social and financial violence and discriminations against women, she adds. In many societies which have advanced legal systems, violence against women is rooted in culture, but we are trapped by violent laws; aspects of the 1400-year-old culture of the Arabian Peninsula have been written into law in our country, she says. We call for updating the legal system in order to make it compatible with the realities of today's society, she adds. In Iran, in reaction to the “backward legal system,” there are two forms of protests: one is a religious reformist movement, which is organized, and the other is an unorganized movement which believes that Iran has not seen any benefit from religious legislations, and calls for the secularization of Iranian laws,. (Mir-Ali Hosseini, Paris)
<b>Teachers End Week-long Strike</b>
• The teachers ended their week-long strike, government news agency IRNA quoted spokesman of the teachers' trade association Ali-Asghar Zati as saying. The authorities did not respond to the teachers' demand for pay increases to equal their wages with those of other government employees, he added. He asked the authorities to protect union activist teachers. More than 200,000 teachers, or a third of all teachers, took part in the strike. (Ardavan Niknam)
• “Teachers began attending classes as of Saturday morning,” Tehrani teacher <b>Ahmad Behrang</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The sit-in (strike) was very widespread. Most boys' high schools, middle schools and even some elementary schools were affected, he adds. He says he did not personally see any intimidation of striking teachers by officials. “In only a few educational districts, the officials held meetings with the teachers to hear their demands, he adds. In most schools, the principals supported the teachers, he says. The teachers demand the implementation of the pay equalization plan, but despite several promises, the government and the management and plan organization have not responded, he adds. The teachers returned to classrooms, but another strike or boycott of the final exams may follow, if the authorities continue to ignore the teachers' demands. (Farin Asemi)
<b>Iraqi Governing Council Arrives in Tehran</b>
• A delegation led by head of the Iraqi governing council Mohammed Bahr Ulum, a Shiite Muslim cleric, arrived in Tehran for talks with top officials, including President Khatami. “Control of the common borders, the organization of Iranian pilgrimages to the Shiite holy sites in Iraq and cooperation on oil will be on the menu of the talks,” Agence France Press quoted an unnamed Iraqi foreign ministry adviser. Among those accompanying Ulum were council members Samir al-Sumaydah, a Sunni Muslim charged with fashioning Iraq's new media laws, and Ahmed Shayah al-Barak, a Shiite head of a lawyers' union and human rights league. The Iraqi interim council wants to cooperate with Iran to prevent the infiltration of “foreign terrorist elements and to better organize the stay of Iranian pilgrims,” the ministry adviser said. (Ardavan Niknam)
• Of 19 border crossing points on their 1500-km border, Iran and Iraq have officially closed 16, after the bloody attacks last months on Shiite mourners in Karbala and Baghdad. Iraq's civilian administrator Paul Bremer said thousands of soldiers will prevent illegal border crossing by Iranian pilgrims. Iraqi Shiite leader Ayatollah Sistani said illegal transportation of pilgrims from Iran to Iraq is a religious offense. Head of Iraq's Islamic Democratic Party <b>Mohammad Al-Jabbar</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that visits to Iran, Egypt and other countries by members of the Iraqi governing council are helpful in attracting support for Iraq. (Jamshid Chalangi)
<b>Saudi Trade Delegation Arrives in Tehran</b>
• A 120-man trade delegation led by the Saudi commerce minister arrived in Tehran today for the sixth session of Iran-Saudi Arabia trade commission. (Ardavan Niknam)
<b>Human Rights Advocates Win Majority in Elections for Bar Association's Board</b>
• In last Friday's elections of the Tehran bar association's board of directors, the lawyers advocating judicial reforms and human rights won 8 of the 12 seats, but Godarz Eftekhar-Jahromi, who the 1979 revolution had run the bar association for 17 years as judiciary-appointed chairman, was elected as chairman by gaining the most votes. Lawyer and human rights advocate <b>Abdolfatah Soltani</b>, who was elected to the board in last Friday's elections, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that 54 candidates campaigned in seven groups for the votes of 1,500 members. Two groups were the most prominent: “Defenders of Justice and Law,” headed by Eftekhar-Jahromi, and “Free Lawyers Supporting Bar Independence and the Rule of Law.” The first group lost its majority in the board in last Friday's elections, as 8 of the 12 seats were won by the second. “We believe that in the 25 years since the Islamic Revolution, the status of lawyers in our legal system has been dealt heavy blows, he says. On the other hands, several new laws limit the people's right to legal representation. By campaigning against these laws, we hope to be able to reform them, and prevent the passage of similar laws in the future, he adds. Soltani, who has defended many political activist and journalists, adds that the bar association's new board of directors will press for the implementation of the constitution's call for open sessions and access to lawyers in trials of political defendants. Another goal of the new board of the bar association, he says, is to eliminate the parallel organization set up by the judiciary to issue law permits whereas the bar association is the sole issuer of law permits. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>Oil Minister Visits Cairo for Gas Exporters' Conference</b>
• Oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh arrived in Cairo today to attend an international conference of gas exporters. His was the first visit of a high-level Iranian official since the 1979 revolution. (Jamshid Chalangi)
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امير آرمين (راديو فردا): يك مقام وزارت امور خارجه جمهوري اسلامي، قطعنامه روز شنبه هيات مديره سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي را يك عقبگرد جدي قلمداد كرد. امير زماني نيا، از مقامهاي وزارت امور خارجه جمهوري اسلامي گفت: قطعنامه تنها از سوي يك كشور يعني آمريكا ارائه شده و به سازمان تحميل شده است.
اما حميدرضا آصفي، سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه گفت: آمريكا نتوانست قطعنامه كاملا يكجانبه خود را كه مورد مخالفت اروپا و كشورهاي غير متعهد بود به تصويب برساند و به ناچار تغييرهايي در متن اصلي پيش نويسد قطعنامه داده شد.
فريدون زرنگار (راديو فردا): هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي در ششمين روز نشست خود در وين، قطعنامه خود را درباره ايران صادر كرد. در اين قطعنامه كه متن كامل آن هنوز منتشر نشده است، آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي از حكومت ايران خواست تا ماه ژوئن آينده كليه نقشه ها و اطلاعات مربوط به تاسيسات هسته اي خود را كه تا كنون پنهان نگاه داشته است، آشكار كند. در قطعنامه ده ماده اي، همكاريهاي ايران با آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي ستوده شد، اما از ايران خواسته شد به تعهدات خود در پروتكل الحاقي عمل كند.
آمريكا تهديد كرد در غير اين صورت پرونده را به شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل خواهد برد، اما نمايندگان كشورهاي غير متعهد در هيات مديره آژانس، اين اولتيماتوم آمريكا را رد كردند. در يك قطعنامه الحاقي، نمايندگان كشورهاي غير متعهد بر اين نظرند كه تنها محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي زمان پايان بازرسيها را تعيين خواهد كرد.
پس از انتشار گزارش آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي درباره برنامه هاي هسته اي جمهوري اسلامي كه در آن از حكومت ايران به خاطر پنهان كردن برخي تاسيسات هسته اي خود و بويژه دستگاه سانتريفيوژ پلونيوم 210 انتقاد شد، فشار آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي بر روي جمهوري اسلامي براي قبول تعهدات خود در چهارچوب قبول پروتكل الحاقي شدت يافت. انتشار اطلاعاتي درباره فروش فن آوريهاي هسته اي به ايران توسط عبدالقديرخان، دانشمند پاكستاني، اين فشار را دوچندان كرد.
در حالي كه ايران اعلام كرده است به دليل تعطيلات نوروزي از اجازه ورود به بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي به ايران معذور است، ناظران سياسي در وين مي گويند: ايران راهي به جز قبول بازرسان آژانس ندارد، چون در غير اين صورت بايد منتظر شدت درگيريهايي خود با آمريكا باشد.
در واكنش به قطعنامه آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، حميدرضا آصفي، سخنگوي وزارت خارجه جمهوري اسلامي گفت: آمريكا در اهداف خود براي تصويب قطعنامه مورد نظر خود ناكام مانده است. به گفته آقاي آصفي، فشارهاي وارد شده بر آژانس، كار تخصصي آن را دشوار مي كند. وي ضمن غير واقعي خواندن بخشهايي از قطعنامه گفت: در آن بسياري از اقدامات مثبت ايران ناديده گرفته شده است. از دكتر هرميداس باوند، استاد دانشگاه و كارشناس امور بين المللي در تهران، مي پرسم واكنش مقامات جمهوري اسلامي به قطعنامه آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي را چگونه مي شود پيش بيني كرد؟
دكتر داوود هرميداس باوند (تهران): من فكر مي كنم پروتكل را كه امضا كرده بود و در امضا هم تفكيكي قائل نشده بود بين راكتورهايي كه فرض كنيد اعلام شده يا راكتورهاي ديگري كه وجود دارد. بنابراين نكته اي كه مطرح مي شود، احتمالا تصويب آن است، چون امضا لازم است، ولي براي اينكه قانوني شود بايد به تصويب مجلس برسد.
ف. ز.: آيا اصولا پيش بيني مي شود كرد كه مجلس ششم اين را امضا كند؟
دكتر داوود هرميداس باوند: تاريخي كه اعلام كردند، احتمالا هم اين مجلس مي تواند تصويب كند و هم اگر مايل باشند به دلايلي، مجلس هفتم مي تواند. چون ماه خرداد تشكيل مي شود.
ف.ز.: از نظر اوضاع سياسي در درون كشور، مسئله مجلس ششم، مجلس اصلاح طلبان و مجلس آينده، مجلسي كه در اختيار محافظه كاران خواهد بود، آيا به نظر شما كداميك از اين مجلسها علاقه بيشتري دارد به امضاي اين پروتكل؟
دكتر داوود هرميداس باوند: مجلس ششم با ديد واقعبينانه يك نگرش ليبراليستي تصويب مي كند كه قبلا هم يك اعلاميه اي اكثر نمايندگان خواستار بودند كه ايران را امضا كند پروتكل را. مجلس بعدي بر اساس موضعي كه از بالا اتخاذ خواهد شد. بنابراين اين دو فرق اساسي بين دو مجلس است. در قطعنامه اي كه امروز تصويب شد، هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، از حكومت ايران خواست تا ماه ژوئن (تيرماه) آينده كليه نقشه ها و اطلاعات مربوط به تاسيسات هسته اي خود را كه تا كنون پنهان نگاه داشته است، آشكار كند و به تعهدات خود در پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي عمل كند. حميدرضا آصفي، سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه جمهوري اسلامي گفت: آمريكا در اهداف خود براي تصويب قطعنامه مورد نظر خود ناكام ماند. دكتر هرميداس باوند، استاد دانشگاه و كارشناس امور بين المللي در تهران، در مصاحبه با راديوفردا مي گويد پروتكل الحاقي پيمان منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي بايد در مجلس شوراي اسلامي به تصويب برسد و احتمال دارد تصويب آن به مجلس هفتم موكول شود.
