Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, March 27, 2004
<b>Iran Opens Uranium Plant, As IAEA Inspectors Arrive</b>
• As two inspectors from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Iran today, the Islamic government inaugurated a plant in Isfahan that turns uranium ore into gas for use by the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. The two IAEA inspectors are expected to visit both the Isfahan and Natanz facilities. They hope to assess if Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons and clarify important information that Iran has failed to report.
• Senior Iranian officials are overseeing efforts to conceal key elements of the country's nuclear program from international inspectors, the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> writes, quoting diplomats in Iran and intelligence reports. Iran set up a committee late last year to coordinate the concealment efforts after international inspectors uncovered evidence of hidden aspects of the country's nuclear program, LAT said. The massive effort involves hiding nuclear evidence at nearly 300 locations around the country, it added.
<b>Developers Turn Caspian Rice Paddies Into Suburbs</b>
• Rising real estate prices in the Caspian provinces is rapidly wiping out the country's rice production by turning patties to suburbs, environmental activists warn. Rice patties that a few years ago used to be sold at 30,000 rials per square meter are now being bought at 300,000 rials per square meter. Farmers are finding employment in the tourism industry, as the crowds of Tehranis visiting the area swells. (Arash Qavidel)
• Less New Year tourists visited the Caspian provinces in these holidays, Ms. <b>Mahdavi</b>, a Gilan province resident, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. High prices are keeping would-be tourists away, she adds. An ordinary villa goes for 800,000 rials per night ($100), better villas are priced at 2,3 million rials ($300) per night, she adds. She complains that visitors leave mountains of trash behind. “I don't see anyone cleaning up the streets; there are no signs about trash; there is nothing to protect the environment,” she says. (Leyli Arman)
<b>Street Traders Sell New 20,000 Rials Notes At 28,000</b>
• The new 20,000 notes issued by the central bank just before the New Year holiday turned into collectors' items overnight, after the banks ran out of them. Street money changers now sell them at 280,000 rials. The central bank will soon make new 50,000-rial notes available. (Arash Qavidel, Tehran)
<b>Tehran Mayor Warns Berlin Over Memorial Plaque for Assassination Victims</b>
• In a sharply worded letter, Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad warned Berlin that unveiling a plaque commemorating the assassination of four Iranian Kurdish leaders in a Berlin restaurant would be retaliated with a plaque condemning German companies' sale of chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein. A Berlin district council intends to unveil the plaque in Mykonos restaurant, where the Kurdish dissidents were gunned down. A German court ruled in 1997 the killers had acted on orders from the Islamic Republic authorities, including the Supreme Leader and former President Ali-Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani. Under pressure from the Islamic Republic, the Germans changed the wording on the plaque, Berlin-based activist <b>Parviz Dastmalchi</b>, who was at the scene of the massacre, tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. “Now, instead of ‘killed by the order of the Islamic Republic officials,' it says ‘killed by the order of former Islamic Republic officials,'” he adds. The unveiling ceremony was scheduled for March 13, but has been postponed until April 20. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Advocates Urge EU to Introduce Resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission on Iran's Abuses </b>
• In a public letter, a group of human rights advocates urged the European Union to introduce a resolution in the UN Human Rights Commission condemning the Islamic government's human rights violations. Since no resolution has yet been introduced on Iran, we wrote to the EU as an ultimatum, Paris-based human rights advocate, and deputy director of the federation of human rights organizations <b>Abdolkarim Lahiji</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. Hopefully, the EU and Canada will introduce a resolution within the next couple of weeks, otherwise we will have to continue our campaign, he says. Democratic governments need to justify their neglect of Iran's human rights abuses to their own people, he adds. In talks with the EU officials, “we said we did not oppose their policy of dialogue with Iran, but dialogue cannot be one-sided, and you can't have dialogue with the deaf, he says. (Fereydoun Zarnegar)
<b>Iran and the Prospect of A Democratic Iraq</b>
• The Islamic Republic faces big trouble in Iraq, internationally syndicated columnist <b>Amir Taheri</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>, after speaking last night to a crowd of more than 500 of the admirers of his articles, which are now appearing regularly in the <i>New York Post</i>. “On one hand, the Islamic regime does its best to make things as hard as possible for the US forces in Iraq. On the other hand, Iran cannot afford a US failure in Iran, which for Iran would mean being sucked into chaos and disintegration of the cosmic black hole that would become of Iraq. “A democratic, Muslim Iraq means that the dictatorship based on the principle of clerical rule cannot survive in Iran,” he says. (Behnam Nateghi, New York)
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جمشيد چالنگي (راديو فردا): امروز بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي وارد تهران شدند. ورود بازرسان اين سازمان به تهران در پي موافقت جمهوري اسلامي براي همكاري با سازمان مذكور صورت گرفته است. پيش از اين تهران با ورود بازرسان سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي به ايران مخالفت كرده بود و اين ديدار را به تعويق انداخته بود.
جمشيد زند (راديو فردا): با ورود هيئت بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي به ايران، دور جديدي از بازرسي تاسيسات تحقيقاتي و صنعتي كه با فعاليتهاي هسته اي ايران در ارتباطند آغاز مي شود. اين هيئت قرار بود دو هفته پيش به ايران برود، ولي دولت ايران اين سفر را به دليل آنچه تعطيلات نوروزي ناميد به تعويق انداخت و سپس حسن روحاني، دبير شوراي عالي امنيت ملي اعلام كرد هيئت بازرسان بدون قيد و شرط مي تواند به ايران برود. اين هيئت قرار است از تاسيساتي در نطنز و اصفهان بازديد كند.
در بازديد قبلي از نطنز بازرسان نمونه هاي غني شده اورانيوم را بر روي دستگاههايي كه ايران مي گويد از كشورهاي ثالث و دلالان تهيه كرده است يافتند. اورانيوم غني شده بسيار از حد مجاز براي مصارف غير نظامي بود. محمد البرادعي، رئيس سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي هم در اواخر فروردين ماه به ايران سفر خواهد كرد تا مسئولان نظام را به همكاري كامل و شفاف با آژانس متقاعد كند. به گفته آقاي البرادعي دولت ايران بايد قدمهاي جدي در راه شفاف ساختن فعاليتهاي هسته اي خود بردارد و اين آژانس بتواند ادعاي ايران مبني بر صلح آميز بودن فعاليتهاي هسته ايش را تاييد كند.
در همين حال به گزارش خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس، ايران تاسيسات جديدي را براي تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز در اصفهان به راه انداخته است. اين تاسيسات به گفته يكي از مسئولان سازمان انرژي اتمي ايران كه نخواست نامش فاش شود از مدتي پيش كار خود را آغاز كرده است. تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز، آخرين مرحله پيش از غني كردن اورانيوم است كه به نوشته خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس محصول بدست آمده در تاسيسات نطنز به اورانيوم غني شده تبديل مي شود.
ايران سال گذشته غني سازي اورانيوم را به حالت تعويق درآورد. آمريكا هم از ايران خواسته است تمام فعاليتهاي مربوط به غني سازي اورانيوم را متوقف كند، اما دولت ايران بارها تاكيد كرده است پس از اينكه مشكلاتش با آژانس حل شد، غني سازي اورانيوم را از سر خواهد گرفت. محمد البرادعي، گزارش كار خود و بازرسان آژانس را در ماه ژوئن به شوراي حكام آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي مي فرستد. امروز بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي وارد تهران شدند. در بازديد قبلي از نطنز بازرسان نمونه هاي غني شده اورانيوم را بر روي دستگاههايي كه ايران مدعيست از كشورهاي ثالث و دلالان تهيه كرده، يافتند. محمد البرادعي، رئيس سازمان بين المللي انرژي اتمي اواخر فروردين ماه به ايران سفر خواهد كرد تا مسئولان نظام را به همكاري كامل و شفاف با آژانس متقاعد كند. در همين حال به گزارش خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس، ايران تاسيسات جديدي را براي تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز در اصفهان به راه انداخته است. تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز، آخرين مرحله پيش از غني كردن اورانيوم است. جمهوري اسلامي بارها تاكيد كرده پس از اينكه مشكلاتش با آژانس حل شد، غني سازي اورانيوم را از سر خواهد گرفت.
