Iranian officials have said they are open to new nuclear talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (above) if Western nations stop threats of new punitive measures (Ramzi Haidar/Getty Images). Reformers Blast Iranian Leaders’ Nuclear Rhetoric Confrontational nuclear rhetoric by Iran’s leaders is damaging the country’s diplomatic ties and impairing its ability to pursue its nuclear program, top Iranian reformist and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karoubi said yesterday (see GSN, March 7). “The source of our problems is not whether we accept the suspension (of uranium enrichment) or not,” Karoubi said during a press conference...Full Story

Senate to Release Iraq WMD Intelligence Report The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee plans to release soon its long-awaited review of Bush administration claims about Iraq’s WMD capabilities before the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29, 2007)...Full Story

Indian Leaders, Communists Set Nuclear Trade Talks India’s leadership today set March 17 as the date for new talks with communist political supporters who have opposed a tentative nuclear trade agreement with the United States, the Press Trust of India reported (see GSN, March 7)...Full Story

	Monday, March 10, 2008

Senate to Release Iraq WMD Intelligence Report The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee plans to release soon its long-awaited review of Bush administration claims about Iraq’s WMD capabilities before the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29, 2007). “The whole purpose of this exercise is to answer questions about whether the administration was honest in its use of intelligence when it made the case for war,” said a Senate aide.  Iraq’s suspected possession of weapons of mass destruction was a major justification of the war, although no significant WMD stocks or programs were later found. Often delayed by political disputes, the committee report is expected to criticize the administration for failing to acknowledge disagreements within the intelligence community regarding Iraq’s weapons capabilities, according to officials interviewed by the Times.  It would also, however, demonstrate that some erroneous assertions made by administration officials were indeed supported by the intelligence agencies. “The left is not going to be happy.  The right is not going to be happy,” said one congressional official.  “Nobody is going to be happy” (Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times, March 10). Back to top       National Guard WMD Teams Conduct Drill National Guard WMD response units from six states and the District of Columbia responded to simulated terrorist attacks around the Washington, D.C., and Indianapolis areas during a three-day exercise last week (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2007). The exercise, dubbed “Capital Spear,” tested coordination between WMD Civil Support Teams from Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to the National Guard.  The units are trained to support civilian agencies in the response to a WMD incident. The exercise had Maryland’s 32nd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team investigating a suspicious powder and a suitcase-sized device found onboard the Berry, a decommissioned Navy destroyer.  A test of the substance indicated that it was ricin, a biological weapon agent derived from castor beans (see GSN, March 5). “We received a call from the incident commander at this location … where eight Boy Scouts had spent their weekend on the ship,” said CST survey team leader 2nd Lt. Michael Kesh.  The exercise called for four of the Boy Scouts to be hospitalized with weakness, nausea and other symptoms. “At this point we sent an entry team down.  They have done some presumptive analysis and found the potential for a biological weapon.” During the exercise, the team had already been called out to a Boy Scout camp in Virginia.  “It seems to be that they are targeting the Boy Scouts,” said Tech. Sgt. Chris Bolt (U.S. National Guard release, March 7). Back to top

Reformers Blast Iranian Leaders’ Nuclear Rhetoric Confrontational nuclear rhetoric by Iran’s leaders is damaging the country’s diplomatic ties and impairing its ability to pursue its nuclear program, top Iranian reformist and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karoubi said yesterday (see GSN, March 7). “The source of our problems is not whether we accept the suspension (of uranium enrichment) or not,” Karoubi said during a press conference. He was referring to the nuclear activity that Western powers suspect is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon ingredient, although Iran has insisted it would only be used to create nuclear power plant fuel, Reuters reported. “Fiery speeches and stances have created many problems for Iran,” Karoubi added, seemingly taking aim at President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  “We can insist on our rights without provocative speeches.” “Our ties (with Washington) have been cut but it cannot last forever,” he added.  “If they respect our rights, we can start relations based on mutual respect.” Ahmadinejad has set back diplomatic progress made by past administrations, said Mohammad Reza-Khatami, the brother of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. “Under the previous (Khatami) government, most Western countries had split away from the United States, but this government … has pushed all Western countries towards the United States,” Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted him as saying (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters, March 9). Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official said yesterday that Tehran might resume nuclear negotiations with Western powers after they put an end to threats of new penalties against Iran, Agence France-Presse reported.  “The time of using the policy of the carrot and the stick has ended,” Javad Vaidi, deputy head of Iran’s supreme national security council, told AFP at a security conference in Tehran.  “If they (the West) want to have serious negotiations, in fair conditions and taking into account the interests of the two parties, they must first stop threatening.” Iranian officials indicated last week, following enactment of a third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution, that they would restrict nuclear talks to the International Atomic Energy Agency.  Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki declined to say whether Iran might resume nuclear talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, March 9). In Kuwait, former government adviser Sami al-Faraj said an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would serve the interests of a Middle Eastern nuclear energy consortium and the wider region, the Associated Press reported. “Honestly speaking, they would be achieving something of great strategic value for the [Gulf Cooperation Council] by stopping Iran’s tendency for hegemony over the area,” he said, adding that “nipping it in the bud by Israeli hands would be less embarrassing for us” than if the United States took military action against Iran. Al-Faraj, head of the independent Kuwait Center for Strategy Studies, accused Iran of exacerbating tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and of meddling in the affairs of Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian region. “The question is what would it do if it were a nuclear nation?  We have to call a spade a spade and say that burying the military nuclear Iranian project is in the interest of GCC states” and neighboring Gulf nations, he said (Associated Press I/International Herald Tribune, March 9). Israeli President Shimon Peres yesterday said that an operational Iranian nuclear reactor would “make the world ungovernable,” but added that it was not Israel’s responsibility to handle the problem on its own, AP reported. “Iran is a danger not just for Israel but for the rest of the world, the combination of being a center of terror and developing a nuclear option is the most dangerous you can think of,” Peres said.  “Israel will not be forced (to act),” he added.  “Israel will do whatever she should do, but Israel doesn’t claim that she is the leader of the world” (Associated Press II/PR-inside, March 9). Iranian parliamentary elections planned for March 14 are widely seen as a test of Washington’s strategy of gradually increasing economic penalties against Tehran in hopes of pressuring it to suspend its controversial nuclear activities, AFP reported Saturday. According to Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran analyst for the Carnegie Endowment, the aim of the new U.N. Security Council sanctions “was to send a signal to Iranian voters” to choose “more pragmatic and moderate officials” who would make ending the sanctions a priority.  “By and large, he (Ahmadinejad) hasn’t delivered on his economic promises,” Sadjadpour said. Without addressing the upcoming elections directly, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said:  “I would hold to you that there are political consequences in that system for that failure, that fundamental failure of President Ahmadinejad and his (group) to live up to that basic commitment that they made to their people when they were elected.” Diplomatic pressure rather than military action is the likely path with Iran for the time being, analysts said. “No one has said that there are any magic bullets here, there's no silver bullet,” Casey said (Agence France-Presse II/Google News, March 9). Back to top       Indian Leaders, Communists Set Nuclear Trade Talks India’s leadership today set March 17 as the date for new talks with communist political supporters who have opposed a tentative nuclear trade agreement with the United States, the Press Trust of India reported (see GSN, March 7). The talks follow the recently concluded nuclear inspections agreement that India reached with the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, March 5). That agreement is a key condition of the trade deal designed to enable India to purchase U.S. nuclear materials and technology in exchange for placing the nation’s civilian nuclear sites under IAEA supervision (Press Trust of India/The Hindu, March 10). “That stage is over now because that negotiation has been completed,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday (The Hindu, March 8). The deal also requires the United States to exempt India from most of its nuclear nonproliferation laws, a step completed in December 2006, and for the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to modify its international trade guidelines that currently bar key nuclear sales to nations outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime. The deal has been snagged unexpectedly, however, by opposition from Indian political parties, including four communist parties that currently back the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Manhmohan Singh.  Those parties allowed Singh to negotiate the inspections agreement, but warned that if he signed the agreement without their permission, they would withdraw their parliamentary support and force early elections. The head of the communist faction said he was not anxious to proceed. “We are in no hurry to know what transpired between the government and the IAEA at Vienna on the India-specific safeguards agreement,” said Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).  “Let the government tell us about it when we meet” (Economic Times, March 10). Above all, nobody wants early elections, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday. Regularly scheduled elections are set for just over a year from now, and both Singh’s party and the communist parties are facing dissatisfaction, according to AFP. “None of the coalition partners or coalition supporters are talking of early elections,” Mukherjee said (Agence France-Presse/Google News, March 8). Back to top       U.K. Prepares Shipment of Weapon-Grade Plutonium The United Kingdom is preparing to ship weapon-grade plutonium dioxide powder to France, but critics say the means of moving the material lacks sufficient security, the London Independent reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 22, 2002). Several shipments are expected of material that was supposed to be used to produce nuclear fuel at the Sellafield reprocessing site.  However, due to problems with a nearly $1 billion plant the work is being conducted at a French facility. The British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority plans to use an unarmed ferry to move the powder hundreds of miles.  The vessel would have no escorts and would be secured by armed members of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. Experts warned that the plutonium could be used to produce a nuclear weapon or a radiological “dirty bomb.” “A reasonably resourced terrorist group would have no problem making a bomb out of this material,” said nuclear terrorism expert Frank Barnaby. “This is madness, totally irresponsible,” he said.  Other experts and opposition politicians agreed, the Independent reported. Government and international regulators have signed off on the shipment plan, according to Sellafield, which described its nuclear shipments as “safe and secure.”  Nuclear material is placed under “the most stringent” safeguards during transport, according to the British Business and Enterprise Department (Geoffrey Lean, London Independent, March 9). Back to top       Pakistan Could Pose Nuclear Threat, Turkey Says Pakistan could become a nuclear terror threat if Taliban militants seize control of the country’s government, Turkish military chief Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said today (see GSN, Feb. 7). Buyukanit said during a terrorism conference in Ankara that the Taliban could take hold of Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal if Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is forced to abdicate his position, the Associated Press reported.  Should that occur, it would be the first time that such weapons have fallen under control of a terrorist group, he said. “I hope Pakistan reaches stability in a short time,” Buyukanit said. Pakistan’s government has insisted that its nuclear arsenal is secure.  Khalid Kidwai, the stockpile’s operational chief, said in January that 10,000 troops guard the weapons with U.S. financial backing (Associated Press/MSNBC, March 10). Meanwhile, former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has been discharged from a hospital after receiving treatment for a suspected infection, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, March 5). “Dr. Khan was shifted to his residence after gaining significant improvement in his health,” Pakistani state media quoted unnamed sources as saying.  “Further treatment as required would be provided to Dr. Khan at his residence” (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 9). Back to top       North Korea Must Provide Nuclear Report, U.S. Says North Korea must provide a full declaration of its nuclear activities if it wants to be freed from U.S. trade sanctions and the list of state sponsors of terrorism, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow said today (see GSN, March 7). “When they’re ready to do so, we’ll be ready to deliver on our commitments,” he said during a speech in Seoul. There is “a sense of impatience building up” in Washington over Pyongyang’s failure to provide the list required under a 2007 denuclearization agreement.  North Korea said it issued a declaration in November, but U.S. officials counter that the regime has failed to address suspected uranium enrichment efforts and other atomic activities (Kwang-Tae Kim, Associated Press, March 10). “They have not yet shown us even the elements of what will constitute a complete and correct declaration,” Vershbow added (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 10). Meanwhile, the new South Korean government under President Lee Myung-bak appears set to designate a new top negotiator to the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The Korea Herald reported that envoy Chun Young-woo was not expected to be present at the next negotiation session (Xinhua News Agency/People's Daily, March 10). Elsewhere, North Korea recently said it sent engineers to work in Syria but denied that the personnel were involved in any nuclear efforts, Bloomberg reported. The admission came during talks between U.S. and North Korean officials, Kyodo News reported. Reports have indicated that the target of a September Israeli air strike in Syria was a nuclear reactor.  Israel and the United States have refused to verify those suspicions while Syria has denied that the demolished facility was nuclear in nature (see GSN, Feb. 22; Sungwoo Park, Bloomberg, March 8). Back to top

House Panel Passes Chemical Plant Security Bill The U.S. House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday endorsed a bill that would boost security requirements at U.S. sites that work with chemicals that could become weapons in terrorists’ hands, Environment and Energy Daily reported (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2007). The legislation, approved 15-7, opens the door for states to enact more stringent security rules than those set by the Homeland Security Department. Homeland Security would also receive oversight of security at water and wastewater treatment facilities.  The bill also calls for extending agency chemical regulations past their current end date of October 2009. The committee rejected an effort to change language allowing Homeland Security to require that chemical plants facing the greatest security risks to halt the use of some particularly dangerous materials, E&E Daily reported.  Other plants identified in four security tiers would be required to study usage of some chemicals. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to next review the legislation.  Its chairman, Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.) hopes to have the panel assume jurisdiction over the issue. “I know that once this bill leaves this committee there will be an effort to weaken it,” said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).  “However, we should not allow narrow interests to interfere with the homeland security imperative of securing our chemical security sector from terrorists.” The U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report last week that 100 U.S. chemical facilities could endanger 1 million people during an attack or mishap.  Another 7,000 posed a potential danger to thousands of people (Russell Dinnage, Environment and Energy Daily, March 7). Back to top

U.S. Businessman Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Computer Equipment to Iranian Missile Group U.S. businessman Mohammad Farahbakhsh has admitted to illegally shipping computer equipment to an organization involved with Iran’s ballistic missile program, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 17, 2005). A federal judge sentenced the Los Angeles resident — a naturalized U.S. citizen who emigrated from Iran — to time served, partially due to “extraordinary family circumstances relating to the health of a family member,” according to court documents filed last week. The records do not specify when Farahbakhsh entered the guilty plea or for how long he was incarcerated.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons does not have him listed as a past inmate, AP reported. The court dismissed three related charges involving shipping goods to Iran without a valid export permit. Prosecutors contended that from 1998 to 2000 Farahbakhsh sold computer equipment to the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, a state-owned firm “involved in developing and producing ballistic and cruise missiles.” However, Farahbakhsh’s attorney said the equipment involved in the alleged transactions posed no threat and could be found on the Internet (John Christoffersen, Associated Press/Boston Globe, March 8). Back to top

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