UANI

EYE ON IRAN

AUGUST 25, 2008

The New York Times reported on Iran’s “web of shadowy deals” in its nuclear program. “The president of Switzerland stepped to a podium in Bern last May and read a statement confirming rumors that had swirled through the capital for months. The government, he acknowledged, had indeed destroyed a huge trove of computer files and other material documenting the business dealings of a family of Swiss engineers suspected of helping smuggle nuclear technology to Libya and Iran. The files were of particular interest not only to Swiss prosecutors but to international atomic inspectors working to unwind the activities of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani bomb pioneer-turned-nuclear black marketeer. The Swiss engineers, Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, were accused of having deep associations with Dr. Khan, acting as middlemen in his dealings with rogue nations seeking nuclear equipment and expertise…. Behind that official explanation, though, is a far more intriguing tale of spies, moles and the compromises that governments make in the name of national security.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/world/25nuke.html?ref=us)
 
The Associated Press reported that Iran has a second nuclear plant in the work. “Iran's official news agency says the country has begun designing its second light-water nuclear power plant, a 360-megawatt facility in the southwest. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, says experts have chosen the site where the light-water nuclear reactor will be built using local technology.” (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRqjZV1Meppj40hTs8IBOv4DdsQwD92ONDKG0)
 
Ahead of Iran’s 2009 election, Reuters reported that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed the current President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised the president in the past, including shortly before a parliamentary vote in March when Ahmadinejad's supporters fared poorly. But the latest remarks are some of the most supportive yet. ‘Do not think that this year is your final year,’ Khamenei told a meeting with the cabinet on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported.” (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-35164220080825)
 
Associated Press reported that Iran just delivered its first domestically built submarine to its armed forces. “Iranian state TV says the country has launched production of a domestically built submarine capable of firing missiles and torpedoes. Defense Minister Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar inaugurated a production line Monday for the mid-sized sub, named Ghaem. The TV quotes him as saying Iran has made huge investments to become self-sufficient and equip its armed forces with modern weapons.” (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hqkvqKSnI6JvYIRqQC3B63V5ZS8gD92P999O0)
 
The Miami Herald wrote on the effect that the Georgian conflict is having on diplomacy with Iran and Israel. “A war between a resurgent Russia and tiny Georgia over the microscopic region of South Ossetia should have little impact on another miniature country on the shores of the Mediterranean. And yet, the course of this conflict points in a direction that should trouble those who care about Israel and about the prospects for peace in the Middle East. The rumblings of a new model of Cold War could mean that cooperation between the West and Russia on matters crucial to Israel, particularly Iran, is coming to an end. Even worse, a possible new cycle of strategic competition between Moscow and Washington could become a game-changer in the Middle East.” (http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/656414.html)
 
The Irish Times reported on Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, and the censorship he has received in his home country. “The films of Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami are banned in his home country but now the authorities want to screen his latest work, and he is having none of it, he tells Angelique Chrisafis…. Kiarostami - the godfather of Iranian cinema, a director who has won so many international awards that he long ago stopped accepting them - still seems very much the outsider in the western cities that celebrate him as one of the greatest film-makers of all time. Unlike other Iranian directors who fled abroad, he still lives in Tehran, despite a regime that has not permitted his films to be shown there for the past 10 years.” (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2008/0825/1219449637239.html