Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSunday, March 28, 2004
<b>Two UN Nuclear Inspectors Arrive in Iran</b>
• Two IAEA inspectors arrived in Tehran to visit the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. On their second day in Iran, the inspectors set out for Natanz uranium enrichment plant. She said Iran's work on a project to turn uranium ore into gas for use by Natanz uranium enrichment facility does not arise suspicions, since Iran had informed the IAEA of the experimental project.
• IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei will visit Iran in April.
<b>Iran-Iraq Firm Oil Deal, Says Iraqi Oil Minister</b>
• Iraqi oil minister Ibrahim-Muhammad Bahr-ul-ulum said Iraq will export 400,000 bpd of crude oil from Basra to the Abadan refinery in Iran through a pipeline which will be built by December 2004. (Peyman Pezhman)
<b>Young People Abandon Politics, Says Italian Weekly</b>
• Frustrated with reform, the youth have abandoned politics, and are now pressing for individual freedoms, writes Italian weekly <i>Panorama</i>. (Ahmad Ra'fat, Rome)
<b>RadioFarda Democracy and Human Rights Roundtable: Iranian Kurds and Iraq</b>
The impact on Iranian Kurds of Iraq's interim constitution, which recognized the autonomy of the Iraqi Kurdish provinces, is the subject of today's roundtable.
• <b>Dariush Homayoon</b>, former Information minister in pre-revolutionary Iran and a Geneva-based monarchist activist, says: The Iraqi constitution will strengthen the demand in Iran for more local control. And, he adds, this should not worry anyone, he adds. It is inevitable for the ethnic minorities, such as Kurds and Azeris, to gain strong local governments within the framework of a united Iran, teach their languages, and have their own universities. The events in Iraq will help Iran reach this eventual solution earlier.
• <b>Ahmad Eskandari</b>, a Kurdish activist, says Iranian Kurds are happy to see the people, who were second-rate citizens and refugees a couple of years ago, have now gained such rights, at least on paper. The Iranian Kurds hope that this would bring a quicker end to their own problems. They see a huge difference between the Iraqi constitution and the ambiguous position of the Iranian government on teaching or broadcasting in Kurdish. Unfortunately, when Iranian Kurds tried to show their joy with street demonstrations, they were violently suppressed by the regime's security forces.
• <b>Ali Keshtgar</b>, Paris-based activist, says this is a great opportunity for Kurds and for all the people in the Middle East to work towards democratic reforms. (Ali Sajjadi)
<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)
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بهمن باستاني (راديوفردا): هيات دو نفره بازرسان تسليحاتي آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي ديروز وارد تهران شد و قرار است اين هفته از تاسيسات نطنز و اصفهان بازرسي كند.
همزمان با اين سفر، مليسا فلمينگ، سخنگوي آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي گفت ايران تاسيسات جديدي را براي تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز در اصفهان به راه انداخته است كه آخرين مرحله پيش از غني سازي اورانيوم است. سخنگوي آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي گفت ايران اعلام كرد اين اقدام كاملا در جهت اهداف صلح آميز است و هيات بازرسان كه ديروز به تهران رفت، در بازرسي هاي خود اين هفته صحت و سقم اين موضوع را بررسي خواهد كرد، هرچند به گفته او اين تاسيسات مورد سوءظن آژانس نيست.
به گفته مليسا فلمينگ، آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي ماه گذشته توسط جمهوري اسلامي از وجود چنين تاسيسات تازه اي خبردار شده بود. وي به رويتر گفت بازرسان آژانس به محض ورود به ايران كار خود را شروع كرده اند.
سفر هيات بازرسان آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي به ايران قرار بود 21 اسفند گذشته انجام شود اما با تصويب قطعنامه اخير هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، جمهوري اسلامي اعلام كرد در اعتراض به لحن تند اين قطعنامه، اين سفر را لغو مي كند.
در پي اعلام لغو سفر اما در فاصله كمتر از يك هفته در اثر فشارهاي بين المللي، جمهوري اسلامي به محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي كه به آمريكا سفر كرده بود، اطلاع داده بود بازرسان مي توانند هشتم فروردين ماه 1383 به ايران سفر كنند.
محمد البرادعي در واشنگتن با جرج بوش، رئيس جمهوري آمريكا و بعضي ديگر از مسئولان كاخ سفيد واشنگتن، از جمله در باره برنامه هاي هسته اي جمهوري اسلامي مذاكره كرد.
آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي همچنانكه در برنامه هاي هيات مديره اين آژانس منعكس است، اعتقاد دارد كه ايران عليرغم تعهد خود به پيمان منع گسترش تسليحات هسته اي، كليه فعاليت ها و برنامه هاي هسته اي خود را به آژانس گزارش نكرده است.
قرار است محمد البرادعي، رئيس آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي، گزارش كار خود را در ماه ژوئن آينده، يعني حدود سه ماه ديگر، به هيات مديره آژانس ارائه دهد. هيات دو نفره بازرسان تسليحاتي آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي ديروز وارد تهران شد و قرار است اين هفته از تاسيسات نطنز و اصفهان بازرسي كند. مليسا فلمينگ، سخنگوي آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي گفت ايران تاسيسات جديدي را براي تبديل سنگ معدن اورانيوم به گاز در اصفهان به راه انداخته است كه آخرين مرحله پيش از غني سازي اورانيوم است. به گفته وي جمهوري اسلامي ماه گذشته وجود تاسيسات تازه را خبردار داده بود. آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي همچنانكه در برنامه هاي هيات مديره اين آژانس منعكس است، اعتقاد دارد كه ايران عليرغم تعهد خود به پيمان منع گسترش تسليحات هسته اي، كليه فعاليت ها و برنامه هاي هسته اي خود را به آژانس گزارش نكرده است.
