Vatican ‘may appeal’ to Iran over stoning case
September 6, 2010 Filed under Ahen
Ms Ashtiani's family say they have not been allowed to contact her in prison for two weeks. AFP Photo
The Vatican has said it could appeal diplomatically to Iran to spare the life of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
The statement followed a plea for help from the son of the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, in an interview with an Italian news agency.
After an international outcry, Iranian officials temporarily halted Ms Ashtiani’s stoning sentence in July.
However, campaigners fear Ms Ashtiani could still be hanged.
The Vatican said it was “following this affair with attention and commitment,” spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.
“The Church’s position against the death penalty is well known and stoning is a particularly brutal form of it,” he said.
Fr Lombardi said the Vatican could use diplomatic channels to try to save Ms Ashtiani, but he told Associated Press news agency that no formal request to intervene had been made.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11195287
Iran stoning case lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei’s relatives arrested
The lawyer of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who faced death by stoning, now faces re-arrest and his wife and brother-in-law have also been held by Iran's authorities. Photograph: AP
(Guardian)-Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.
Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei’s office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.
Mostafaei called Sakineh’s stoning sentence “a bogus conviction” and “absolutely illegal” in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month.
He was released, then called back for further questioning before being set free. Authorities then issued an arrest warrant.
When they were unable to find him the authorities arrested his wife, Fereshteh Halimi and her brother Farhad Halimi to try to force him to surrender. However, it is still unclear whether Mostafaei has been arrested or he has managed to evade officials.
“It is ridiculous that they [officials] have taken Mostafaei’s family as ransom, they have somehow taken them hostage. This confirms what Sakineh’s son wrote in his public letter, that there’s no justice in Iran,” said Mina Ahadi, a human rights activist for Iran Committee against Stoning (ICAS), based in Germany who spoke to Mostafaei after he was interrogated.
“Mohammadi Ashtiani’s sentence is not Mostafaei’s first stoning case, he has defended many others against execution by stoning but it was Sakineh’s story which took world attention and made the Iranian authorities angry,” she said.
Mostafaei initially wrote an open letter about Sakineh’s death by stoning after her sentence was handed down. He then tried to publicise her case by giving interviews to international media and helping her children launch the campaign for their mother’s release.
China objects to US unilateral sanctions on Iran
China objects to US unilateral sanctions on Iran
(AFP) – ā China warned other nations Tuesday against taking unilateral actions against Iran’s nuclear programme outside newly passed UN sanctions and denounced the United States for making such moves.
China, under pressure from the United States and Europe, last month voted with 11 other UN Security Council nations for a fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment.
The sanctions target Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, ballistic missiles and nuclear-related investments.
Last week, US President Barack Obama signed into law far-reaching new sanctions on Iran that aim to curb Tehran’s fuel imports and deepen its international isolation.
“We have noted the US announcements on unilateral sanctions on Iran,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists.
“China believes that countries should earnestly, correctly and comprehensively implement the sanctions and avoid making arbitrary interpretations that expand the Security Council sanctions.”
Qin reiterated China’s long-standing position that diplomacy and dialogue were the best way to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.
Western governments suspect Iran of seeking to develop a weapons capability under cover of its civilian nuclear programme, an allegation Tehran strongly denies.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100706/tap-iran-nuclear-politics-us-china-sanct-8d4ea94.html
Iran could have nuclear weapons by 2012, CIA chief warns
Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to produce two nuclear weapons, according to Leon Panetta, pictured, the CIA director Photo: GETTY
(Telegraph)-Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to produce two nuclear weapons, which it could have prepared and ready for delivery as early as 2012, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, said on Sunday.
Tehran would need a year to enrich the uranium fully to produce a bomb and it would take āanother year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable,ā Mr Panetta said.
Sanctions imposed by the United Nations could help weaken Tehranās government by creating economic problems, but were unlikely to put an end to Iranās nuclear ambitions, Mr Panetta told the ABC networkās āThis Weekā programme.
Iran is under mounting international pressure over its suspect nuclear programme, which the West fears masks a covert weapons drive. Iran denies the charge, insisting that its atomic programme is for peaceful civilian purposes only.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said the CIA chief’s revelations were “worrying” and criticised Tehran’s secrecy over its nuclear programme.
Iran’s Ahmadinejad to visit China
June 8, 2010 Filed under Ahen
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad AFP Photo
TEHRAN ā 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.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j7hHc0EtMvXi4NxUBFVBz06GHE-Q
Iran’s Ahmadinejad to visit China
Iran's Ahmadinejad to visit China
(AFP) – ā 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.
US orders escalation in secret operations in Middle East
General David Petraeus with President Barack Obama Photo: AP
(Telegraph)-The United States has ordered a major escalation of clandestine military operations in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, according to a secret directive.
The classified order, approved last September, represents a significant escalation of the covert military activities ordered by George W Bush at the height of the War on Terror.
It also reveals that the Obama administration has embarked on a contingency plan for possible military action in Iran if the impasse over its nuclear programme is not resolved through diplomacy or international sanctions.
The seven-page directive was signed by Gen David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command. Widening the scope of previous such operations, it orders US special forces to launch intelligence gathering missions in both friendly and hostile nations across the Middle East.
Al-Qaeda and its growing international network of affiliates are clearly the main focus of the order, with special forces being instructed to “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” Islamic terror groups.
But the directive also permits reconnaissance to prepare the way for military strikes against Iran, according to officials quoted by The New York Times, which first exposed the existence of a “Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Executive Order”.
The missions authorised for Iran are believed to include gathering intelligence its nuclear programme and establishing relationships with dissident groups who could play a role in a future military offensive.
In public at least, the United States and its allies remain committed to dealing with Iran’s nuclear programme through peaceful mechanisms.
A US-backed draft resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran is expected to be presented to the UN’s Security Council within a few weeks.
Iran open to new talks on fuel swap
May 4, 2010 Filed under Ahen
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (L) shakes hands with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterates Iran’s readiness to play a “constructive and positive” role in breaking the stalemate in nuclear fuel swap deal.
President Ahmadinejad’s offer came in talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Monday on the sidelines of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
According to the fuel swap proposal, Iran is required to ship most of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing and conversion into fuel rods for Tehran’s research reactor, which produces medical isotopes.
While Iran accepted the swap proposal in general terms, it demanded for tangible guarantees that the other parties involved — Russia and France — would in fact deliver the fuel in a timely manner. The talks reached a stalemate after the Iranian stipulation was ignored by the West.
Iran called for simultaneous exchange of nuclear fuels or similar guarantees after voicing concerns about past practices of Western nations in arbitrary violating and even abrogating their nuclear contracts with the Islamic Republic.
Regarding Iran’s interaction with Europe, Ahmadinejad said Iran is ready to cooperate with the European Union on a wide range of issues.
The UN chief praised Ahmadinejad’s speech at the NPT Review Conference, saying his remarks were “constructive.”
He added that the attendance of the Iranian president in the conference showed that the Islamic Republic attaches special significance to settling global issues.
Ban expressed optimism that negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US – plus Germany (P5+1) would reconcile unresolved issues.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125373§ionid=351020104
Friendship Isnāt Iron-Clad When It Comes to Ore
April 28, 2010 Filed under anniewei
As China languishes in a multiyear wrangle over control of iron ore prices with global mining giants in Australia and Brazil, it has sought to diversify the security of its overseas iron ore resources.
The Middle Kingdom has pursued alternative supply from Mauritania to Peru in search of the steelmaking ingredient, and Chinaās import data shows itās been quite successful in reaching out, albeit in small steps, to other foreign suppliers.
But one country, otherwise quite friendly with China in foreign-policy terms, wonāt be shipping more of the steelmaking ingredient to slake Chinaās industrial thirst, according to an industry report Monday: Iran.
Iran was Chinaās eighth-largest iron ore supplier in 2008 and 2009. Last year, it shipped 7 million tons of ore to China, up 33% on 2008, Chinese customs data showed. This year, as of March, it had already exported 3 million tons of ore to its Asian ally, a whopping rise of 115% on the same period last year, according to China Customs.
But not for much longer, according to the SteelOrbis industry information portal.
The chief of the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, or Imidro, said Iran has to focus on its own needs, since its crude steel output is rising by 2.5 million metric tons this year and is expected to increase by 5 million tons in 2011, SteelOrbisreported.
Iran used to export two-fifths of its ore, and 90% of the shipments went to China, the report said.
But now, āour need for iron ore concentrate will increase by about 5-7 million tons per year,ā said Ahmad Ali Haratinik, according to SteelOrbis. āTherefore local iron ore concentrate production will be consumed totally by local plants.ā
In other words, sorry, but Iranās going to be looking out for number one.
ā Chuin-Wei Yap
(http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2010/04/27/friendship-isnāt-iron-clad-when-it-comes-to-ore/)
Obama, Medvedev press Iran, differ on Kyrgyzstan
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) at Prague Castle in Prague, April 8, 2010. The United States and Russia signed a landmark disarmament treaty on Thursday they hope will herald better bilateral ties and raise pressure on countries seeking nuclear weapons to renounce such ambitions. Presidents Obama and Medvedev signed the pact at a ceremony in the mediaeval Prague Castle after talks that covered nuclear security, Iran's atomic programme and an uprising in the strategic Central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan.
(Reuters) – The United States and Russia pressed Iran on Thursday to renounce its nuclear ambitions or face new sanctions as they signed a landmark strategic nuclear disarmament treaty, but differences flared over Kyrgyzstan.
Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed the pact at a ceremony in Prague Castle after talks that centred on possible extra sanctions over Iran’s atomic programme, which the West believes is aimed at making bombs.
But their attempt to display a united front faltered over Kyrgyzstan, with a senior Russian official saying Moscow would urge the new leaders who toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Wednesday to shut a strategic U.S. air base in the former Soviet central Asian republic.
That would be a severe blow to Washington, which has used the Manas base to supply U.S.-led NATO forces fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since losing similar facilities in Uzbekistan, apparently due to pressure from Moscow.
The arms treaty will cut strategic nuclear arsenals deployed by the former Cold War foes by 30 percent within seven years, but leave each with enough to destroy the other.
Obama said the agreement had “ended the drift” in relations between Moscow and Washington and sent a strong signal that the two powers that together possess 90 percent of all atomic weapons were taking their disarmament obligations seriously.
“We are working together at the United Nations Security Council to pass strong sanctions on Iran and we will not tolerate actions that flout the NPT,” he said, referring to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
“My expectation is that we are
