Iran's Ahmadinejad to visit China to discuss sanctions

Iran TV shows film of missing nuclear scientist 'in Tucson'
Tehran (AFP) June 7, 2010 - Iranian television Monday night screened footage it said was of nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri, who in the four-minute clip confirmed claims by Tehran that he was kidnapped by US agents. In the film, the man identified by the Irib channel as Amiri, said he was now "in the city of Tucson, Arizona" in the United States. The television said Iranian intelligence services obtained the film "by special methods" without elaborating. Press TV, an Iranian television channel in English, carried a similar report, saying that Amiri insisted in the message that he was kidnapped by US agents en route to Mecca in June 2009. Amiri stated that his abduction was intended to mount political pressure on the Iranian government.

ABC news in the United States reported in March that Amiri, an Iranian nuclear physicist in his early 30s who disappeared in June 2009 after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, had defected and was working with the CIA. Iranian officials have long maintained that Amiri was abducted from Saudi Arabia by US agents while on pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places. The ABC report said that US agents described the defection as "an intelligence coup" in efforts to undermine Iran's controversial nuclear programme. Amiri's disappearance "was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect," ABC reported. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in April that "existing evidence" indicates Amiri is the United States.

IAEA stands by report of vanished nuclear gear in Iran
Vienna (AFP) June 7, 2010 - UN atomic watchdog chief Yukiya Amano insisted Monday that key nuclear equipment had disappeared from a facility in Tehran, dismissing Iran'a assertion that the information was incorrect. Asked at a news conference here to respond to Tehran's charge that a recent International Atomic Energy Agency report on the matter was "absolutely wrong", Amano said: "My short answer is that the IAEA report is correct." The IAEA's director general said he had received a letter from the Islamic republic's envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, disputing the agency's findings. But the IAEA had replied in writing, insisting on its interpretation, the Japanese diplomat said. IAEA inspectors conducted a so-called design information verification at a laboratory on April 14, during which "the inspectors observed that the equipment was not in place," Amano said. "The IAEA wrote a letter to (Soltanieh) to that effect."

Last week, Soltanieh insisted that "nothing has been removed (from the lab) and therefore this scenario, this story and whatever had been said is wrong, absolutely." But according to the IAEA, UN inspectors had noticed that a component of some pyroprocessing equipment previously present "had been removed". Pyroprocessing is a technique used to separate uranium or plutonium from spent fuel and some experts are concerned about the possible weaponisation implications of such work. And the fact that such equipment had gone missing has been interpreted by some as sign of a possible cover-up on the part of Iran. According to a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's Iran investigation, the information had not set alarm bells within the agency at this stage, since it was only one piece of a large apparatus, a container-like vessel, that had been removed, while all the other more important components remained in place.

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) June 7, 2010
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is heading to China this week to discuss the threat of new UN sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said world powers have the necessary votes at the Security Council.

Ahmadinejad will be attending Expo Shanghai 2010, but will also meet top Chinese officials to discuss Iran's nuclear programme, the threat of sanctions and a fuel swap deal for a Tehran research reactor brokered by Brazil and Turkey last month, Iranian state television reported on Monday.

His visit to Security Council veto-wielding permanent member China takes on particular significance as a vote on a new sanctions package looms after the United States introduced a draft resolution last month.

China, which has emerged in recent years as Iran's main trading partner, continues to insist on diplomacy to resolve the standoff over Tehran's nuclear programme but US officials say they have Beijing's support for the sanctions resolution.

Before heading to China, Ahmadinejad was due to hold a round of meetings in Istanbul where he was attending a regional security and confidence building conference on Monday.

He was expected to meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia, another Security Council permanent member, media reports said.

He was also due to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the nuclear fuel swap deal.

On May 17, Turkey and Brazil brokered a deal with under which Iran agreed to ship 1,200 kilogrammes (2,640 pounds) of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey in return for high-enriched uranium fuel for the Tehran reactor which would be supplied later by Russia and France.

The deal was cold-shouldered immediately by Washington which has ratcheted up diplomatic pressure for a fourth set of UN sanctions against Iran for continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of repeated Security Council ultimatums.

The US secretary of state said on Monday that world powers have the required number of votes to pass the sanctions resolution.

Clinton said she expected Iran would "pull some stunt in the next couple of days" to try to head it off.

"I don't think anybody should be surprised if they try to divert attention once again from the unity within the Security Council," the top US diplomat said.

Senior US officials have said they are forging ahead with the resolution without Brazil and Turkey, two non-permanent council members who insist that fresh sanctions would be counter-productive after the nuclear fuel deal they brokered opened up the opportunity for further diplomacy.

Asked if she was worried about opposition to the sanctions resolution among non-permanent members, Clinton said: "We'll wait and see what happens, but we have the votes."

US officials say the resolution has the support of all five council permanent members -- Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States.

For the resolution to pass, Washington will also need the votes of at least four of the 10 non-permanent members.

US officials have said they expect the resolution to be put to the vote later this month.

On Friday, Ahmadinejad said Iran will defend its rights even if new sanctions are imposed.

"We are standing in the face of enemies. To defend the rights of the nation, we will pull out any resolutions from the mouth" of the enemies, the hardliner said in a speech marking the 21st anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iran is already under three sets of UN sanctions for enriching uranium at its nuclear facility in the central city of Natanz.

Western governments suspect Iran of seeking to develop a weapons capability under cover of its civilian nuclear programme, an ambition Tehran strongly denies.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Clinton warns of likely Iranian 'stunt' ahead of UN sanctions vote
Washington (AFP) June 6, 2010
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday she expects Iran will "pull some stunt in the next couple of days" as a UN vote on tough sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program looms. Asked what she expects in the runup to a UN Security Council vote on sanctions on Tehran over its controversial nuclear program, Clinton said "I expect Iran to pull some stunt in the next couple of ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement