Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes questions at a press conference yesterday. Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue its nuclear development program (Getty Images). New Iranian President Vows to Continue Nuclear Work Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Tehran would continue its nuclear development program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 24). “Iran’s peaceful technology is the outcome of the scientific achievements of Iran's youth,” said Ahmadinejad. “We need the peaceful nuclear technology for energy, medical and agricultural purposes and our scientific progress. We will continue this.”..Full Story

Japan Concerned About Possible Cruise Missile Technology Transfer From Iran to North Korea Technology for a long-range nuclear-capable X-55 cruise missile exported to Iran from Ukraine in 2001 might have then been delivered to North Korea, the Sankei Shimbun quoted Japanese sources as saying yesterday (see GSN, April 11)...Full Story

U.S. Still Supports CTBT Organization, Rice Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A proposed, 30-percent cut to the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization for fiscal 2006 does not indicate reduced support by the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently told a congressional committee (see GSN, May 26)...Full Story

	Monday, June 27, 2005

Nunn Urges G-8 to Remember Nonproliferation Vows By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A little more than a week before a Group of Eight summit in Scotland, a founder of the U.S.-Russian threat reduction program said here today that G-8 countries should focus on implementing their existing commitments on proliferation and not only on taking new steps (see GSN, April 27). Launched in 2002 at a summit in Canada, the G-8 Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction included an initial plan to spend $20 billion on nonproliferation programs. The effort was most recently marked by a broad “action plan on nonproliferation” announced at the G-8 summit last year in the United States. “The job now is to get the G-8 to live up to its commitment,” former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, co-founder of the Nunn-Lugar threat reduction program, said this morning at a Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars discussion on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Nunn said progress toward the countries’ agreed nonproliferation goals has been insufficient. He said G-8 members’ specific pledges toward the overall commitment of $20 billion over 10 years — so far, about $17 billion — have for the most part not yet been translated into actual spending. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he intends to make climate change and debt relief the central subjects of next week’s summit at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland. London’s nonproliferation agenda for its G-8 presidency, laid out on the official Web site for the Scotland summit, indicates that on the subject of the Global Partnership, the “main theme will be transforming pledges into progress.” “The aim is results on the ground, increasing international security,” the Web site reads. The country’s G-8 agenda also includes pledges to “work towards an agreed approach to constraining the spread of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing technology” and to seek “ways to strengthen the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and to increase preparedness for responding effectively to outbreaks of disease.” At this morning’s discussion, Nunn also stressed the importance of a liability dispute that is threatening work on the U.S.-Russian programs he helped to create (see GSN, June 20). Recent reports have pointed to the possibility — following the departure of the White House nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, from his influential post at the State Department — of a thaw in negotiations on the stalemate. The dispute, which centers on how much protection from legal liability should be extended to U.S. employees and contractors participating in threat-reduction activities, threatens the future of programs such as the Nuclear Cities Initiative and the Plutonium Science and Technology agreement. “That liability issue has got to be solved,” Nunn said. “It is not that hard an issue.  Common sense can solve it. Leadership can solve it.” U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nunn said, should “solve it in the next 30 days — announce it at Gleneagles.” “It’s imperative that Bush and Putin get it done, and I think if those two individuals say they want it done, it’ll get done,” he said. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.] Back to top       Mississippi National Guard Forms WMD Response Unit The Mississippi National Guard is forming a WMD detection and response unit, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, Dec. 6, 2004). The 47th Civil Support Team/Weapons of Mass Destruction unit, composed of 22 members of the Mississippi National Guard’s army and air branches, is scheduled to be certified by October, said unit communications chief Sgt. Peter Eargle (Associated Press/Picayune Item, June 24). Back to top

New Iranian President Vows to Continue Nuclear Work Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Tehran would continue its nuclear development program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 24). “Iran’s peaceful technology is the outcome of the scientific achievements of Iran's youth,” said Ahmadinejad. “We need the peaceful nuclear technology for energy, medical and agricultural purposes and our scientific progress. We will continue this.” He did not, however, say when Iran would resume sensitive nuclear work frozen for the duration of Tehran’s negotiations with the European Union. “We will continue talks with Europeans while preserving our national interests and insistence on the right of the Iranian nation to use nuclear energy,” he said. “If there is to be trust-building, then it should be mutual.” EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that “We are waiting for clear words on human rights and the nuclear issue from the new [Iranian] president. But if the responses are negative, the European Union can’t but freeze the dialogue with Iran.” Ahmadinejad replied to the statement, saying the EU “should come down from its ivory tower and understand that they cannot talk to the Iranian nation in this way. We are ready for trust-building measures in all fields, but ... our nation is a great nation and they cannot talk to the Iranian nation in such an arrogant manner” (Kathy Gannon, Associated Press/ABC News, June 27). The loss of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is seen as a blow to European efforts to negotiate an end to the nuclear situation. Not only has the more moderate candidate failed to reclaim the presidency, but his loss might also undermine his influence with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Agence France-Presse reported. Top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani, a strong supporter of Rafsanjani, for now remains on the job. Tehran made an effort to dispel worries that a victory by the hard-line candidate would put an end to the talks, according to AFP. “The nuclear issue is a part of a macro policy, and our position will not change with the change of a president,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said yesterday. “With this election, the Islamic republic of Iran is more capable of confronting challenges, and the Europeans have to take this into consideration,” Asefi added. Officials with the nations negotiating with Iran quickly raised the nuclear issue in the wake of Ahmadinejad’s victory. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Iran must take “early steps to address international concerns about its nuclear program.” German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Tehran must demonstrate that its nuclear program was intended exclusively for peaceful purposes. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he hoped “the newly elected Iranian authorities will continue the work that we European diplomats began with the aim of suspending nuclear activities.” Asefi, however, replied by saying the EU should put forth a proposal that allows for Iran’s legitimate pursuit of nuclear energy. “The Europeans and Mr. Straw should give their nuclear proposal as soon as possible, which includes Iran’s right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” he said. “They should stop making inappropriate comments. They should send respectful congratulatory messages to Iran. People have freely chosen their president. The Europeans should respect our democracy,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 26). Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday in a letter to Ahmadinejad that Moscow was prepared for further nuclear cooperation with Iran, AP reported. “The construction of the Bushehr nuclear plant is nearing an end, and we are ready to continue cooperation with Iran in the nuclear energy sphere with respect to our international obligations in the nonproliferation area and to help find a mutually acceptable political solution to relevant issues,” Putin wrote (Associated Press/Moscow Times, June 27). Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have arrived in Iran on a regular inspection mission, AFP reported today (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, June 27). Elsewhere, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, en route to Washington, announced an “aggressive offer” to Iran on its nuclear program, AP reported. Schroeder said Tehran cannot be prohibited from developing a peaceful nuclear program, “even though some might not like that.” He also said that nations must be sure that sanctions on the major oil supplier “won’t hurt us more than they hurt them” (Thomas Rietig, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, June 27). Back to top       U.S. Still Supports CTBT Organization, Rice Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A proposed, 30-percent cut to the U.S. contribution to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization for fiscal 2006 does not indicate reduced support by the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently told a congressional committee (see GSN, May 26). The administration this year budgeted $14.35 million for the organization for fiscal 2006. The United States was expected to pay about $22 million.  The Vienna-based organization’s budget, approved last year by member states, is $105 million for calendar year 2005. The annual U.S. contribution usually covers 22 percent of the total. In this case, it would cover about 14 percent. In recent correspondence to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee obtained by Global Security Newswire, Rice said the proposed reduction did not signal reduced U.S. support for the organization, but rather resulted from budget pressures. “The $7.65 million cut in funding for the International Monitoring System (IMS) does not signal a change in U.S. policy toward the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),” she wrote. “The U.S. continues to support and participate in those activities of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organization (CTBTO PrepCom) in Vienna that pertain to the IMS, and the U.S. has no plans to press the PrepCom to lower its budget to a level commensurate with the $14.35 million that the administration has allocated for it in FY’06,” she wrote. The House Appropriations Committee last week approved the reduced funding level as part of its version of the fiscal 2006 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to begin considering its version this week. Since its creation 1996, the Test Ban Treaty Organization has overseen the construction of the International Monitoring System, a global network of monitoring stations for detecting and analyzing possible nuclear weapons testing that would be banned by the treaty. The international norm against testing has grown quickly; 175 nations have signed the treaty, with 121 also ratifying the pact. While President Bill Clinton signed the treaty in 1996, the Senate in 1999 narrowly defeated U.S. ratification. The United States is one of 11 remaining countries for which ratification is required before the treaty enters into force. Bush administration officials have said they would not resubmit the treaty for ratification. They say the administration opposes the treaty, and reserves the option to test again. The White House has, though, maintained a U.S. moratorium on testing that has been in place for 13 years and said they support constructing the international monitoring system. Budget Pressures Cited Rice and other officials said the budget reduction was not the result of a State Department policy change, but rather, part of a budget savings effort by the White House Office of Management and Budget. “Unfortunately, budgets are very tight and cuts had to be made, even among programs supported by the administration,” Rice wrote. “A number of other cuts were made in the department’s program requests, including in the areas of nonproliferation and counterterrorism. The level of funding for a program in any given year’s budget does not necessarily have a bearing on the funding level for that program in the succeeding years,” she wrote. The House Appropriations Committee’s cut to the program corresponds with a 10-percent net cut it approved for fiscal 2006 to the State Department’s entire “nonproliferation, antiterrorism, demining and related programs” account through which the U.S. dues are paid, according to an analysis by the Friends Committee. Rice’s comments were provided in response to a question by Senator Joseph Biden (Del.), ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, at a February hearing on the State Department budget. Regarding the Test Ban Treaty Organization, Biden said then: “Now your budget justification calls this, ‘a key element in our global effort against the proliferation of nuclear weapons,’ [and] ‘an important supplement to U.S. monitoring capabilities.’ So my question is, ‘Why are we cutting it? We’re not talking about a lot of money here.” “The impact of this type of reduction in the U.S. contribution can have a highly negative cumulative effect. It will make it more difficult for the CTBTO Prepcom to secure full contributions from other states over time,” said Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball. “The Bush administration is smart to continue to contribute to the CTBTO because the international monitoring system does provide valuable intelligence information and monitoring capabilities that the U.S. national intelligence community simply cannot provide,” he said. Back to top       U.S. Wants Increase in IAEA Nonproliferation Efforts U.S. President George W. Bush is pressing for a larger International Atomic Energy Agency role in nonproliferation efforts while pushing other countries to step up export controls, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday (see GSN, June 21). Nonproliferation officials are also pushing for more cooperation between countries and an increase in efforts to combat what they perceive as an greater threat of nuclear terrorism, according to the Times. Robert Joseph, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, said that while the black market network led by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has been largely “put out of business,” other networks exist and are being targeted by the United States. None of these other networks are believed to be as extensive as the Khan ring. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, for its part, increased safeguards and monitoring following the discovery of the Khan network, and is working to better process public information and intelligence supplied by the United States and other countries. It is spending $1 million annually to purchase satellite images and finance a six-person intelligence until, and last year created a system for collecting information on nations seeking nuclear technology. “We need to get all the support possible from member states in terms of information sharing, particularly related to procurement activities,” said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky. IAEA officials said intelligence sharing between the agency and the United States slowed after 2003 when IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei went against the Bush administration’s assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Relations became further strained when ElBaradei refused to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council following the discovery of secret Iranian nuclear facilities. The recent U.S. approval of a third term for ElBaradei has strengthened relations, the Times reported. The U.S. Senate in March 2004 approved the Additional Protocol to the IAEA safeguards agreement, which would allow for more intrusive inspections of U.S. nuclear sites. The White House hopes to see Congress approve legislation implementing the protocol this summer. The Bush administration aims to make the Additional Protocol the standard that must be met for countries to obtain nuclear technology for civilian efforts. Washington also wants to improve the U.N. agency’s power to verify that countries are keeping the terms of nuclear agreements. However, IAEA officials are considering powers beyond the president’s vision. The agency is looking to extend its authority to explore the acquisition of technology that could be used to violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.  Some Bush administration officials are reluctant to give the agency this much power. “Right now, different people have different views and it hasn't come down to a formal administration decision,” said a State Department official. “It is very fluid.” Others are concerned that any expansion of the agency’s power would require boosting the expertise of IAEA scientists and technicians, according to the Times. “A building in Vienna with a lot of people who are acquiring knowledge or expertise in nuclear weapons represents a proliferation risk. People sign confidentiality agreements to come to work here, but that probably would not be sufficient for the U.S. and others,” said a Western diplomat at the agency (Doug Frantz and Sonni Efron, Los Angeles Times, June 26). Meanwhile, the Bush administration continues to push ahead with counterproliferation strategy known by nuclear experts as “NPT Plus.” The effort is designed to stop the spread of nuclear materials despite the failure of diplomats to agree on strategies at the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty conference in May, the Daily Yomiuri reported today (see GSN, May 27). “The Bush administration perceives the NPT review process as a forum that is, unto itself, a debating society,” said Leonard Spector, deputy director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. “These gatherings have at best a modest impact on the treaty, and the real action is elsewhere.” Experts acknowledge many of the president’s initiatives to counter proliferation have been successful. These include: expansion of the Proliferation Security Initiative; the formation of a 35-member IAEA committee to ensure greater NPT compliance and strengthen verification; and use of the U.N. Security Council to criminalize proliferation. However, some view the actions of the United States as weakening the NPT review process. “Given the context of U.S. power, someone needs to do some deep thinking about where our legitimacy is and how do we move forward in a way that gives us the moral high ground and therefore the legitimacy necessary to deal with these nuclear issues,” said Elizabeth Turpen, a former Senate nuclear policy adviser (Al Schleicher, Daily Yomiuri, June 27). Back to top       Nuclear Suppliers Group Adopts New Nonproliferation Measures; Croatia Approved as Member The Nuclear Suppliers Group last week backed procedures to stop nuclear technology transfers to countries that fail to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreements, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 21). The informal group consists of 44 nations that agree to voluntarily implement a common set of restraints on their exports of nuclear-related materials and equipment. Members announced Friday after a four-day meeting that effective export controls in recipient states should be “a criterion of supply for nuclear material, equipment and technology.” In addition, the organization selected Croatia as its 45th member, effective July 15, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, June 24). Back to top       Japan to Raise North Korea Nuclear Issue at G-8 Japan plans to raise North Korea’s nuclear development at next week’s meeting of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations, Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka said today (see GSN, June 24). “The present situation is very worrisome and it is a matter of course that this issue will be discussed,” said Yabunaka, Japan’s representative for the summit (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 27). Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Saturday called on North Korea to resume disarmament talks, Agence France-Presse reported. “The biggest threat to peace on the Korean Peninsula is the North Korean nuclear problem,” said Roh (Agence France-Presse, June 25). Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Seoul’s lead official on the nuclear issue, is scheduled to meet with U.S. officials in Washington starting Wednesday, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press/USA Today, June 27). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may visit China, Japan and South Korea next month to discuss a possible resumption of six-party talks on the North Korea nuclear issue, U.S. sources told the Daily Yomiuri on Thursday (Daily Yomiuri, June 25). Back to top       Tokyo Unlikely to Develop Nuclear Bomb, Report Says Japan is unlikely to build a nuclear arsenal, despite the fact that neighboring North Korea claims to have done so, according to an International Crisis Group report scheduled to be released today (see GSN, May 2). “Japan’s ‘nuclear allergy’ as the only country ever to experience a nuclear attack remains a constraint on nuclear development but one that is weakening,” says the report, entitled “Japan and North Korea: Bones of Contention.” “Nevertheless, Japanese experts interviewed for this report were universal in their appraisal that North Korean possession of nuclear weapons is an insufficient condition for pushing Japan to consider the nuclear option seriously,” according to the report, which was obtained by Reuters. Japan has the technology and the necessary plutonium to build a nuclear arsenal, Reuters reported. The report also says that Pyongyang’s abduction of Japanese nationals during the Cold War remains the primary hurdle for any negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue between the two countries. “While the nuclear issue is the paramount concern of policy-makers and security experts, the abduction issue is the primary focus of the Japanese public,” says the report. “Consequently, the government will not have full freedom to negotiate on the nuclear issue until it can satisfy the public the abduction problem has been resolved or at least will be resolved in parallel,” the document says. “While it is deeply concerned about North Korea’s nuclear weapons, there is an overwhelming consensus in Japan that the government would not pursue its own nuclear option, at least in the short to medium term,” the report adds (Martin Nesirky, Reuters, June 26). Back to top

Drug Could Limit Smallpox Vaccine Side Effects Researchers have discovered that a cancer drug could be effective in combating side effects of the smallpox vaccine, the National Institutes of Health said today (see GSN, June 24). “This study helps illuminate the cellular machinery used by poxviruses to exit infected cells, and also provides new support for the concept of treating viral infections by targeting specific host cell molecules rather than the viruses themselves,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which supported the research, said in a press release. The findings were published online this week in the journal Nature Medicine. Researchers treated mice with the cancer drug Gleevec or a saline solution then exposed them to lethal amounts of vaccinia virus, a relative of smallpox. All the mice given Gleevec survived, while 70 percent of the mice given saline solution died. If these findings are confirmed in additional animal tests, Gleevec could be used during a smallpox outbreak to prevent adverse reactions to smallpox vaccine, Kalman said. For a short time period, Gleevec in theory could also slow the internal spread of the virus. Additional tests are being planned to determine if Gleevec could be used against the smallpox virus. “The approach of fighting disease by targeting drugs to cellular molecules rather than to disease agents themselves may be applicable to a wide variety of pathogenic microorganisms,” Kalman said in the release (National Institutes of Health release, June 27). Back to top       Experts Split on Anthrax Vaccine Tests on Children Potential tests on children of a new anthrax vaccine are drawing criticism from a vaccine safety advocate, the Kansas City Star reported today (see GSN, June 17). “There is almost no risk to these children of being exposed to a form of … anthrax that has been weaponized,” said Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center. “The benefits are zero and risk is quite high.” However, pediatricians knowledgeable in bioterrorism issues argue that children must be included in the tests, the Star reported.  “Considering that in a worst-case scenario, this vaccine would have to be used in an emergency over a very short period of time, we would be in a bad position medically and ethically if it were not tested beforehand,” said University of Pennsylvania pediatrics professor Stanley Plotkin. In current testing, 350 adults are being injected with either the licensed BioPort vaccine or the experimental treatment being developed by VaxGen, to determine if the new drug is more effective. Children would not be included in tests until the safety of the new vaccine is demonstrated, according to a statement from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Institute spokesman Robert Bock said tests on 100 first- and second-graders would occur if the vaccine is shown to be safe in adults. Meryl Nass, an internist in Maine who treated military personnel for adverse reactions to BioPort’s vaccine, said she doubts the new vaccine would prove less harmful. “There is no good reason to expect that (the experimental) vaccine will be any safer than the older one,” Nass said. Federal rules dictate that any research conducted on children can only put them at “minimal risk.” If the risk is greater, the research must have direct benefit to the children or increase understanding of a disease that affects children. Parents or guardians must be told of potential risks before testing begins. “As long as effective safeguards are in place and families and the children understand the risk, I think that this is the right thing to do,” said Julian McMillan, a pediatrics professor at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases (David Goldstein, Kansas City Star, June 27). Back to top

Army Investigators Look for Unlisted Chemical Weapons The U.S. Army’s Nonstockpile Chemical Materiel Project is set to determine whether certain munitions stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas contain chemical agents, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 24). In addition to housing 3,850 tons of chemical agent, Pine Bluff also holds Livens projectiles, 4.2-inch mortars, 75 mm munitions and World War II German Traktor rockets. All of these weapons possibly contain chemical agent. “Most of these items were recovered at some point and eventually stored here,” said Maj. Kevin Peel, project manager for the Pine Bluff Munitions Assessment System. “The assessment will confirm what agents, if any, are in them, and give Nonstockpile a clearer path in the destruction of these potentially dangerous items.” Investigators will use X-rays to determine if any liquids are inside the weapons as well as gamma rays to determine if the munitions contain mustard gas or DA Arsinol, a German blister agent, AP reported. “The ability to determine what’s inside a potential chemical warfare item without opening it is beneficial to the environment and to the safety of the people involved,” Peel said. Pine Bluff spokesman Jason Huffine said the investigation would be finished by next summer and is part of the process to destroy unlisted chemical agents. Plans are in the works to destroy any agent found with the Explosive Destruction System and Rapid Response System, which use centrifuges and other technology to change chemical states and neutralize the toxins. These methods have been used to eliminate blister agent and World War I-era munitions. The Rapid Response System is scheduled to destroy a batch of unlisted chemical weapons identified at Pine Bluff last winter (David Hammer, Associated Press, June 27). Back to top       Japan Admits Weapons Leak Caused Chinese Illnesses Japan has admitted that three people in China became ill last month after being exposed to chemical weapons left in the country after World War II, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 6). “A Japanese fact-finding mission has concluded the poison gas incident in Guangzhou city of June 21 was caused by chemical weapons of the former Japanese military,” Hatsuhisa Takashima, spokesman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said in a prepared statement. “The government feels an extreme regret that this kind of accident happened and offers a sincere sympathy for the people injured.” Three Chinese citizens became ill after inhaling gas leaking from abandoned shells. Their condition is not life threatening, according to public broadcaster NHK (Agence France-Presse, June 27). Back to top       Jordanian Chemical Attack Plotter Killed in Iraq A suspect being tried in absentia for plotting a chemical attack against Jordanian intelligence headquarter in Amman was killed in Iraq, United Press International reported Saturday (see GSN, June 23). Suleiman Khaled Darweesh, also known as Abu Ghadiya, was killed several weeks ago by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces near the Syrian boarder, judicial sources told UPI. Nine people are being tried in court and four in absentia for the planned attack (United Press International/Web India 123, June 25) Back to top

Japan Concerned About Possible Cruise Missile Technology Transfer From Iran to North Korea Technology for a long-range nuclear-capable X-55 cruise missile exported to Iran from Ukraine in 2001 might have then been delivered to North Korea, the Sankei Shimbun quoted Japanese sources as saying yesterday (see GSN, April 11). Iran and North Korea “are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction,” a Defense Ministry source told Sankei. A U.S. intelligence agency told Tokyo of the possible leak, Sankei reported. Japan has made inquiries with Kiev and Tehran on the issue, according to Sankei. Ukraine replied to Tokyo’s missive, saying the issue was under investigation, Reuters reported (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 26).                           Back to top

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