Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiThursday, March 18, 2004
<b>IAEA Chief Calls for US-Iran Talks</b>
• Head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei called for direct talks between the US and Iran during meetings in Washington with the US officials and Congressmen. He told President Bush on Wednesday that direct talks with Iran could bring a quick resolution to Iran's nuclear crisis. He said he had told Mr. Bush that the “jury was still out” on whether Iran had the means to build a nuclear bomb. He told a House of Representatives' subcommittee that he cannot rule out the existence of a possible nuclear weapons program in Iran. Washington has “always made clear that we are willing to engage with Iran on specific issues of mutual concern in an appropriate manner,” US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said. “The fact is that Iran knows what those issues of concern are (terrorism, nuclear program, and support for terrorist groups). We haven't seen movement on any of those things, therefore the talk about a dialogue, I think, is misplaced,” Ereli added. (Shahran Tabari, London)
• “The Islamic republic has not tasked Mr. ElBaradei with any message for the American leadership,” said foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi. (Mina Baharmast)
• Andrei Malyshev, head of Russia's Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, cited logistical problems as reasons for stalling the Bushehr nuclear plant project. “The problem has to do with additional equipment Iran needs to buy,” he said. “Today's comments by Malyshev are just an attempt by the Russians to cover up the real nature of things," said Radzhab Safarov, head of Moscow center for Iranian studies, and Putin advisor. “It's a political game Russia plays with an aim to use Bushehr as a bargaining chip in its dealings with the West,” he said. (Mani Kasravi, Moscow)
<b>Shoe Industry Complains About Chinese Dumping</b>
• On the eve of the New Year, as most Iranians are shopping for new clothes and new shoes, shoe industry officials complained that despite bans on shoe imports, Chinese manufacturers were dumping low price product to drive domestic producers out of business. Head of the shoe-manufacturers' union Rasoul Shajari said 200,000 work directly or indirectly in Iran's 3,300 shoe-making establishments, producing 250 million pairs of shoes per year. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Shoppers Complain of 25 Percent Increase in Garment Prices</b>
• Prices of clothes appear to have gone up by an average of 25 percent, shoppers and shopkeepers tell <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Keyvan Hosseini)
• Even though it is five in the afternoon, all banks are open and the people have lined up to withdraw money for their new year's eve shopping, Tehran-based independent journalist <b> Arash Qavidel</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Jamshid Zand)
<b>Majles Asks Judiciary To Quit Prosecuting MPs</b>
• The Majles management asked the judiciary to stop prosecution of reformist MPs in general and Tehran MP Mohsen Armin in particular. In a letter to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, the Majles management said the critique of the February 20 elections, for which Armin and others have been summoned to courts, was done as a part of the MPs' official duty, which should be immune to prosecution. However, a conservative MP said the Iranian new year, which begins on Saturday, will witness a growing wave of prosecutions of reformist MPs, which will continue even after the end of the current session of the Majles. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>Inspector General Faults Rail Management for Train Explosion</b>
• The inspector general faulted head of the national rail organization and the transportation minister for the explosion last month of 19 runaway cargo train cars near Nishabur, which killed more than 300 people, wounded 450 and leveled several villages. (Mina Baharmast)
• Introducing officials as perpetrators of a major disaster in press releases, before the end of the investigations and any court proceedings, does not appear logical, the transportation ministry said in reaction to the inspector general's statement. (Amir-Mosaddegh Katouzian)
<b>Court Extends Jailed Tabrizi Journalist's "Temporary" Detention</b>
• In a hearing yesterday, the Tabriz revolutionary court extended the “temporary detention order” against jailed Tabrizi journalist Ensafali Hedayat for another month, his lawyer <b>Abbas Jamali</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The intelligence ministry has accused Hedayat of supporting secessionist ideas of Pan-Turkism, but Hedayat said he is a federalist, the lawyer adds. Hedayat continues to be held in the prison hospital, due to the intestinal illness he developed after receiving a vaccine with an infected needle, he says. Hedayat was arrested a day after he returned home from Berlin, where he attended the first convention of secular republicans' coalition. (Jamshid Zand)
• The Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Sans Frontiers asked to send an independent doctor to examine Ensafali Hedayat, RSF spokeswoman <b>Sedrine Kazov</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Mahmonir Rahimi)
<b>Asylum Seekers End Frankfurt Sit-in</b>
• The Iranian asylum seekers and refugees ended their week-long sit-in in Frankfurt and Leipzig, <b>Adel</b>, one of the strikers, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. The protesters demand approval of their asylum applicants, access to free lawyers and an end to the threat of deportation to Iran or a third country, he says. (Shahram Mirian, Cologne)
<b>Judiciary Jails Managing Editor of <i>Gorgan-e Emrooz</i> Weekly</b>
• This morning, Mostafa Sadiqi, managing editor of pro-reform weekly <i>Gorgan-e Emrooz</i> was sentenced to three months in jail. His sentence met with widespread protests from Gorgan's journalists and political activists, local journalist <b>Hossein Kavir</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. (Nazi Azima)
<b>Wife of Jailed Nationalist-Religious Activist Writes to Khatami</b>
• In a letter to President Khatami, <b>Parvin Bakhtiarnezhad</b>, wife of jailed nationalist-religious coalition activist Reza Alijani, complained about judiciary's continued detention of her husband and two other activists, Taqi Rahmani and Hoda Saber. She tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that the civil code permits holding a prisoner and preventing his access to lawyers as long as a judge pleases. (Tara Atefi)
.
درباره ديدار و گفتگوي محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي با مقامهاي كاخ سفيد و كنگره آمريكا كه ديروز انجام شد، شهران طبري گزارشي دارد.
شهران طبري (راديو فردا): دكتر البرادعي، مشاور شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل در امور هسته اي و رئيس آژانس اتمي بعد از 45 دقيقه گفتگو با پرزيدنت بوش و خانم كاندليزا رايس در كاخ سفيد گفت: فكر مي كنم دولت آمريكا هنوز هم خواهان نوعي مذاكره مستقيم با ايران بر سر برنامه هاي هسته اي و مسائل ديگر در اين كشور است. صحبت دكتر البرادعي با مقامات آمريكا كه حول محور ايران، پاكستان و كره شمالي بود، بيشتر بر يافتن راههايي متمركز بود كه با توسل به آن بتوان مواد لازم براي تهيه سلاحهاي هسته اي را از دسترس گروههاي تروريستي و كشورهاي متمرد را دور نگاه داشت. جرج بوش علنا گفته است كه معتقد است ايران در صدد تهيه سلاحهاي هسته اي است.
آقاي البرادعي از سوي ديگر مي گويد: اگرچه هنوز شواهد كافي براي اثبات اين ادعا ندارد، اما نمي تواند امكان آن را نيز رد كند. بخصوص با توجه به آنكه اكنون مسلم است ايران سوخت هسته اي توليد كرده است. او همچنين روز چهارشنبه به كميته فرعي كنگره آمريكا در امور خاورميانه و آسياي مركزي گفت: امكان آن را كه ايران برنامه سلاحهاي هسته اي داشته باشد، رد نمي كند، اما افزود هنوز نمي توان در اين باره قضاوت نهايي و قاطع كرد. اين در حالي است كه او پيشتر در وين گفته بود هيچ شاهد و مدركي دال بر آنكه ايران چنين برنامه اي داشته باشد در دست نيست.
دكتر البرادعي در ملاقات 45 دقيقه اي خود با پرزيدنت بوش گفت: به گمان او شايد مذاكرات مستقيم ايران با آمريكا براي هموار كردن دشواريهاي برنامه هاي هسته اي ايران از هر راهي مفيدتر باشد. در پي صحبت دكتر البرادعي با مقامات آمريكا، آدام ارلي، معاون سخنگوي وزارت خارجه آمريكا گفت: در مورد ايران توافق شد كه بهترين راه كنترل برنامه هاي هسته اي ايران، از طريق آژانس اتمي است. به نظر ما اين روش تاثير مثبت دارد، بخصوص كه سه قطعنامه آژانس درباره ايران، به اتفاق آرا از سوي هيات مديره آن تصويب شد و از ايران خواسته شده است كه اقدامات فوري براي رعايت قرارداد منع ازدياد سلاحهاي هسته اي را در پيش گيرد.
آقاي ارلي گفت: در مورد مذاكرات همه جانبه تر و وراي اين موضوع با ايران، ما هميشه به وضوح گفته ايم كه حاضريم بر سر مسائلي كه منافع مشترك داريم، به شيوه درست مذاكره كنيم. واقعيت اين است كه ايران مي داند آن مسائل چيست. توليد سلاحهاي هسته اي، تروريسم و حمايت ايران از تروريسمي كه در سراسر جهان شاهد آن هستيم. در اين زمينه ها بايد ديد چه پيش مي آيد. تا حال كه هيچ پيشرفتي در مذاكرات مربوط به مسائلي كه مورد نظر ما است، حاصل نشده. آقاي ارلي گفت: از اين رو است كه ما فكر مي كنيم صحبت از گفتگو هنوز جا ندارد. معاون سخنگوي وزارت خارجه آمريكا افزود: ما كانالها ارتباطي با ايران را تعيين كرده ايم و اگر ايران بخواهد وارد گفتگو شود، مي تواند از راه همين كانالها ارتباط خود را برقرار كند.
از سوي ديگر پس از اظهار تاسف دكتر البرادعي از اين كه ايران بازرسي آژانس را دو هفته به پايان انداخته، محمد خاتمي، رئيس جمهوري اسلامي ايران روز چهارشنبه گفت: ايران با آژانس اتمي همكاري كامل خواهد كرد، به شرط آنكه آمريكا از توطئه هاي خود براي ارجاع ايران به شوراي امنيت براي اعمال تحريمهاي اقتصادي دست بردارد. محمدالبرادعي، مشاور شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل در امور هسته اي و رئيس آژانس اتمي در ملاقات خود بارئيس جمهوري آمريكا گفت: مذاكرات مستقيم ايران با آمريكا براي هموار كردن دشواريهاي برنامه هاي هسته اي از هر راهي مفيدتر است. او همچنين به كميته فرعي كنگره آمريكا در امور خاورميانه و آسياي مركزي گفت: امكان آن را كه ايران برنامه سلاحهاي هسته اي داشته باشد، رد نمي كند، اما هنوز نمي توان در اين باره قضاوت نهايي و قاطع كرد. آدام ارلي، معاون سخنگوي وزارت امور خارجه آمريكا گفت: در مورد ايران توافق شد كه بهترين راه كنترل برنامه هاي هسته اي ايران، از طريق آژانس اتمي است. وي گفت: هيچ پيشرفتي در مذاكرات مربوط به توليد سلاحهاي هسته اي، تروريسم و حمايت ايران از آن حاصل نشده است. وي افزود: اگر ايران بخواهد وارد گفتگو شود، مي تواند از راه همين كانالها ارتباط خود را برقرار كند.
