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| UK FM Straw Urges Iran To Allow Effective Nuke Inspections |
| 2003-06-30 |
| Via Google News: Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, urged Iran today to sign "quickly and unconditionally" an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that would lead to more aggressive United Nations inspections of its nuclear sites. But we told you, we have nothing to hide, so why should we allow your spies into our peaceful country? Iran has come under increasing pressure since the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report earlier this month saying that Iran had secretly processed nuclear material. So far, however, Iran has refused to sign the protocol, arguing that the country is seeking nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. We want to be prepared. Someday, our oil will run out, you know. Speaking at a news conference at the outset of his fourth visit to Iran in less than two years, Mr. Straw said Iran's refusal to sign the protocol allowing surprise inspections was undermining international confidence and discouraging the lifting of trade sanctions. "With my colleagues in Germany and in France we want to have closer trade cooperation with Iran, but we have to say that progress in trade cooperation depends on progress in issues of human rights and weapons of mass destruction," he said. "If there is no signature, then confidence will not be improved and the international community will be profoundly reluctant to lift the sanctions," he added. Know what I mean, huh? Know what I mean? (hint, hint, nudge, nudge...) Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, responded that his country was willing to be more open about its nuclear activity but that first other countries would have to fulfill what he said were their obligations toward Iran. Iran has demanded other countries that have signed the nonproliferation treaty to assist Iran with its nuclear energy program. It is your duty to bring us into the 21st century. Though we were the cat's meow, once upon a time 1400+ years ago, since Big Mo came on the scene, we Persians and our Mr. Kharrazi also objected to remarks by Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, supporting antigovernment demonstrations in Iran earlier this month. He said the police in Iran should be praised for the way they controlled what he called the "chaos." You imperialists should stop meddling in our Internal Affairs! Our brave On Friday, the country's prosecutor general, Ayatollah Abdolnabi Namazi, said that more than 4,000 protesters had been arrested, including 30 student leaders. He added that 40 percent of those arrested had since been released. When we found them with shopping bags, we realized that they might not have been traitors. The protests, some of the largest since 1999, began in Tehran June 10 and spread to other cities before they were suppressed by knife- and club-wielding vigilantes close to hard-line clerics. Scores of demonstrators were injured. One protester was killed in the southern city of Shiraz. Although the street demonstrations have simmered down, protests have continued in other forms. At Isfahan University, 200 miles south of Tehran, 17 students have been on a hunger strike for more than a week. Today, the former Friday prayer leader of Isfahan, Ayatollah Jalaledin Taheri, who resigned in protest against the government a year ago, visited the students in Isfahan today in a gesture of solidarity. An imprisoned pro-democracy activist, Mohsen Sazegara, started a hunger strike two weeks ago after he was arrested with his son, Vahid. He has also refused to take his heart medication until Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, agrees to a referendum on his absolute power. Four members of Parliament also began a two-day sit-in at Parliament on Saturday to protest the arrests of the students. In a letter to President Mohammad Khatami last week, the students stated their disillusion with his reform movement and urged him to resign. "Mr. President, if you are incapable of protecting our rights, if you cannot put an end to illegal arrests and kidnapping of students, please resign so that the student movement can confront the regime on its own," the statement said. "Then everyone will know what the end result of such confrontation will be." You're in the way... Foreign Minister Kharrazi, addressing another subject that has raised tensions between Iraq and the West, denied today that his country was sheltering Al Qaeda operatives and said that Iran had arrested or returned "hundreds" of Al Qaeda members to their countries of origin. Honest! We did, we did! "For security reasons, I cannot say publicly how many and who are among those arrested now," he said. When we have a handle on who is expendable, we'll let you know. Last week, Al Arabiya, the satellite television network, reported that Ayman al-Zawahiri, a top leader of Al Qaeda, and Suleiman Abu Gaith, a spokesman for Al Qaeda, were among those arrested. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamidreza Assefi, denied today that the two men were among those arrested, but said that there were "a handful whose identity was still under investigation." It is not yet clear if the Ayman al-Zawahiri we have in custody is THAT Ayman al-Zawahiri. There are so many. |
| Posted by:PD |