Report: IAEA demandsvisit to Syrian nuclear sites | Middle East Conflict.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has demanded an urgent and immediate visit to suspected nuclear sites in Syria, Channel 10 cited foreign media reports on Monday night.

A satellite photo from Sept. 16, 2003, shows a large structure being built near the bombed site in Dir Azur, Syria.
Photo: GeoEye/SIME/ NY Times

SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region |  World

According to the report, IAEA inspectors discovered enriched uranium in three sites besides Dir Azur, where IAF jets destroyed an alleged reactor in September 2007.

These findings have led that UN nuclear watchdog to suspect that Syria has uranium stockpiles.

The main cause for suspicion was the discovery of nuclear material traces near a small research nuclear reactor outside Damascus, the TV channel reported.

When the evidence was presented to the Syrians, they failed to provide convincing explanations, senior IAEA officials were quoted as saying.

Agency inspectors who visited the Dir Azur site after the 2007 bombing found highly processed plutonium, so the uranium traces may indicate Syria’s nuclear program was more advanced than was previously assessed.

It was not yet clear whether authorities in Damascus would allow the inspectors into the alleged nuclear sites.

DEBKAfile – IAEA wants to inspect three secret Syrian nuclear sites.

November 16, 2009, 10:53 PM (GMT+02:00)

The new IAEA report on Iran’s formerly secret uranium enrichment site at Fordo near Qom also includes a section on Syria and a demand to inspect suspicious sites there too. The inspectors clearly suspect Both Tehran and Damascus of concealing from the UN nuclear watchdog secret facilities related to nuclear weapons production. Monday, Nov. 16, the seven-page IAEA inspectors’ report on their October visit to Fordo stated clearly that Tehran’s belated declaration of its uranium enrichment site suggested that more secret sites remained to be discovered in Iran.

With regard to Syria, IAEA inspectors are to visit Damascus on Tuesday, Nov. 17, for clarifications of the conflicting explanations Syria has offered for uranium traces. They will also insist on making return visits to three military sites which Damascus has so far refused, following information received by the agency of clandestine “nuclear activity” there. DEBKAfile‘s intelligence sources reveal that Israel hit one of three at the same time as its air force bombed the unfinished plutonium plant at Dair Alzour in 2007, although this was never admitted by Israel or Syria.

The nuclear watchdog wants a close survey of this site because it is certain the ground would yield up important clues to Syria covert nuclear weapons program. Permission has been denied for a visit there as well as a request to visit to the Euphrates River’s west bank opposite the bombed plant.

The Assad regime has claimed the uranium particles discovered near Damascus could have come from domestically produced “yellow cake” or imports of commercial uranyl nitrate undeclared to the IAEA. The Syrians also said they could have come from reference materials or from a transport container.

The report pointed out that the uranium traces found did not fit these explanations; nor could they be traced to Syria’s declared inventory.

DEBKAfile – Top US intelligence teams in Israel to discuss Iran.

November 16, 2009, 6:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

Gates and Barak get together

Two high-ranking teams of American CIA and DIA intelligence officials are conferring with their opposite numbers in Israel, in line with President Barack Obama’s strategy for applying military heat to Iran as well as diplomatic pressure for an accommodation on its nuclear program, DEBKAfile‘s military and intelligence sources report. The US teams arrived shortly after they attended a four-nation intelligence summit in Amman earlier this month together with the heads of Israeli, Egyptian and Jordanian clandestine services (first revealed by DEBKA Friday, Nov. 13) For item, click HERE.

Our intelligence sources report that frequent Middle East visits by high-ranking American intelligence teams are rare occurrences. Worthy of note is they are immersed in a second round of talks with their Israeli colleagues in the first half of November, in between two other related events: the joint US-Israel Juniper Cobra 10 ballistic defense exercise which ended last Tuesday and the publication of the much-awaited UN nuclear watchdog’s next report due out Monday, Nov. 16. This report should lay out the findings of the IAEA inspectors at Iran’s uranium enrichment plant near Qom.

DEBKAfile‘s sources say that the US-Israel intelligence conferences ongoing at present are the final touches to the process the Obama administration has instituted of strategic give-and-take with Israel ahead of a possible outbreak of war with Iran. The alignment has been going forward on four levels:

1. Communications between the White House and the Israeli prime minister’s office, which are handled at the Washington end by Dep. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who enjoys ready access to the president.

2. An open line to defense secretary Robert Gates which defense minister Ehud Barak set up when he visited the Pentagon last week.

3. Direct interchanges between the two army chiefs, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi.

4. Frequent conferences between US and Israeli intelligence heads.

Political, military and intelligence integration between the US and Israel on this comprehensive scale has been practically unknown in recent years. It serves the dual purpose of a demonstration of close American-Israel military cooperation while at the same time safeguarding the Obama administration against Israeli surprise moves in relation to Iran.

Sunday, Nov. 15, President Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in Singapore that time was running out for diplomacy to resolve the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. Medvedev added that if discussions failed to yield results, “other means” could be used.

Tehran delivered its comeback the same day: Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared grandiloquently: “Iran is a great world power whose strength is unlimited and on whom no other state would dare impose sanctions,” while parliament speaker Ali Larijani blasted America whom he accused of backing the Saudi bombardments killing Muslims (Shiites in Yemen). Obama is worse than George Bush, said Larijani: “His promise to change US policy toward Tehran amounts to nothing.” He flatly rejected the latest Western proposal to resolve questions about Iran’s nuclear program (overseas processing of enriched uranium) as “unimportant” and “irrational.”

Iran could have more secret nuclear sites, warns UN nuclear watchdog | World news | The Guardian.

Facility built in mountain at Qom raises suspicions
• Other construction could be in progress, report says

Satellite view of what is believed to be a uranium-enrichment facility near Qom, Iran. Photograph: DigitalGlobe/Reuters

The United Nations nuclear watchdog has expressed fears that Iran may have other secret nuclear sites following the discovery of the facility hidden in a mountain near the holy city of Qom.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, in a report published today, said the previously secret site at Fordo was in “an advanced state of construction” and was scheduled to start up in 2011.

The IAEA reprimanded Iran for failing to inform it until September about the site, even though construction had begun at least two years ago.

In a more pointed criticism of Iran than usual, the IAEA says the delay “reduces the level of confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction and gives rise to questions about whether there were any other nuclear facilities not declared to the agency”.

The expression of concern comes at a sensitive moment, with no sign of a peace deal between Iran and the US, backed by Britain, France and Germany. Iran has not yet formally replied to a compromise offered by Barack Obama, who said at the weekend that time was running out.

The IAEA sent inspectors to the Fordo site late last month but today indicated it is to seek clarification on several issues, in particular how long the Fordo site had been planned.

The report said that technicians had moved sophisticated technical equipment into the uranium enrichment facility situated deep inside the mountain. An IAEA official said the facility was designed to produce about a ton of enriched uranium a year, enough for a small warhead.

The report quotes Iran insisting it “did not have any other nuclear facilities that were currently under construction or in operation that had not yet been declared to the agency”.

Iran claims it is only intent on using nuclear energy to help meet its electricity needs.

The report is the last by the controversial head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, who has been accused by the US of being too soft on Iran. In contrast with the concern expressed in the report, ElBaradei only last week, in an interview with the New York Times, played down the significance of the previously undisclosed site, saying it was “nothing to worry about”.

The report may reflect the thinking of the IAEA’s inspectors and ElBaradei’s political staff, who have tended to be more sceptical about Iran’s intentions than their chief.

The US, along with Britain, France and Germany, claims that discovery of the Fordo site puts Iran in breach of its international treaty obligations. Although Iran reported its existence to the IAEA in September, the US said this was to pre-empt an announcement exposing the site.

Iran said work on the site only began in 2007 but the US said it started in 2002-04 and, after a pause, resumed in 2006.

The IAEA reprimanded Iran, saying its “failure to notify the agency of the new facility until September 2009 was inconsistent with its obligations”.

Israel has threatened military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapons capability.

The report said it was concern about just such an attack that prompted Iran to build the facility inside the mountain, according to a letter from Iran to the IAEA on 28 October. “As a result of the augmentation of the threats of military attacks against Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran decided to establish contingency centres for various organisations and activities,” the report said.

The Federation of American Scientists, which tracks nuclear proliferation, said today: “Of course, there is the question of whether Fordo is simply the only ‘secret’ facility that we know about. The danger is that there are other facilities that can escape safeguards because the IAEA does not know about them.”

It added: “The good news in this story is that the facility is now known and the IAEA kicked in exactly as it should.”

Russia today dashed Iranian hopes that a Russian-built nuclear reactor at Iran’s southern port Bushehr will be switched on this year, providing Iran with its first operating nuclear power plant.

Iranian parliamentarians reacted angrily to the Russian announcement.

Russia has long backed Iran in the nuclear stand-off, blocking tough UN security council sanctions, but Obama has been pressing Russian leaders to join the US, Britain, France and Germany in a show of solidarity on the nuclear issue.

Iran is tightening the battle lines.

November 12, 9:24 PMDefense Dept. ExaminerBruce Clarke

Recent reports of fighting, in Yemen, political activities in Vienna, Baghdad and Lebanon, weapons smuggling into Lebanon for Hezbollah and Yemen suggest that Iran is reacting to the “go slow” approach of the administration and increasing its regional power reach and thus positioning itself for what may be a major full scale conflict in the future. The clear message from Iran is that the US must cease its support for Israel.
Speaking in Istanbul the Iranian president said that it was up to US President Barack Obama to illustrate his motto of “Change.” “The support of both Israel and Iran can’t go hand in hand,” he was quoted as saying:”No change is made unless great choices are made.”

The Iranian approach seems to be to say that it will possibly stop stirring up trouble in the region and maybe do something about its nuclear weapons program in exchange for a US renunciation of Israel. The last few days have fully illustrated Iran’s reach.

Yemen
In Yemen Al-Huthi rebels allegedly sustained a high number of casualties and at least 200 were captured by Saudi troops before the Saudis scaled back attacks along the border with Yemen. Conversely the Yemeni rebels said they had taken control of more territory on the border with Saudi Arabia, The rebels said that they had taken full control over Qatabar Directorate and control of all supplies and ammunition as well as buildings and other military sites.

The Saudi Navy is now blockading Yemen’s Red Sea Coast to prevent further weapons smuggling.

Iran’s Foreign Minister said Yemen’s troubles center on separatism and it s treatment of the al Huthi tribe, a Shia separatist movement along the Yemen – Saudi border. He called for Yemen to rebuild trust with the population, particularly the Shia, adding that he respects the nation’s territorial integrity. With this declaration Iran has staked its interest in the Yemeni ethnic insurgency, on the side of the al Huthi tribe. That pits Iran as the protector of Shiites against the governments of Yemen and Saudi Arabia in an ethnic squabble.

In response the Saudi message is that Iran must stop its meddling or its proxies will suffer. Saudi Arabia received messages of support from Kuwait and Morocco.

Political Activities
In Vienna the US agreed to a delay by Iran on its response to the nuclear material offer that we reported on some time ago.

Meanwhile in Baghdad the pro – Iranian Sunni faction of the government of Prime Minister Malitk is preparing to consolidate power in the upcoming election.

After five months of political deadlock, the Lebanese political parties agreed on a cabinet to govern the country. with the big winner being Lebanese Hezbollah, the anti-Israel, Iranian proxy that controls southern Lebanon.

Finally, a leader of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, said Iran and Shiite militants are a greater threat to Islam and its people than are Jews and Christians, He said the Yemeni Shiite al-Huthi militants were against Sunnis. He also said Shiite militants “are being driven by a greed to take over Muslim countries, and they are full of a wish to annihilate Sunnis.” This statement is tantamount a call to internecine warfare within Islam.

Weapons smuggling
Israel released documents and pictures earlier which provided proof that a massive arms shipment seized at sea last week came from Iran and were headed for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Israeli commandos intercepted a ship near the coast of Cyprus, which was taking weapons to Syria with their ultimate destination being the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. Israel accused Iran of sending the disguised cargo and presented picture evidence to back up the charges and detail the extent of the huge cache. Many of the crates were mislabeled to conceal their real contents. The photos showed the ship’s manifest, containers bearing the logo of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and cargo with Iranian armed forces customs labels.

These series of events, most with Iranian fingerprints all over them certainly suggest the possibility of strange bedfellows emerging–the Sunnis and Israel against Iran and Iraq. It will be hard to achieve such a sleeping arrangement given the Muslim man on the street’s dislike of anything Israeli.

Does this Iranian strategy of trying to force the US to renounce Israel have a chance of working? What are your thoughts?

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Obama presses Iran on atomic deal, Tehran defiant | Reuters.

By Caren Bohan and Oleg Shchedrov

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday time was running out for diplomacy in a dispute over Iran‘s nuclear programme, but a top Iranian official said it was up to the West to show it sincerely wanted a deal.

Russia and France, both involved in talks with Iran over what the West fears are its plans for an atomic bomb, also put pressure on Tehran, with French Foreign Bernard Kouchner saying the Islamic republic looked set to reject a U.N.-drafted accord.

Obama suggested patience was running low in the dispute with Iran, which faces possible harsher international sanctions or even Israeli military action.

“Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran appears to have been unable to say yes to what everyone acknowledges is a creative and constructive approach,” Obama said after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore.

“We are running out of time with respect to that approach.”

Repeating previous Russian language, Medvedev said “other means” could be used if discussions did not yield results, but did not specify what they might be.

A draft deal brokered by the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calls on Iran to send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France to be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor.

HOW SINCERE?

A senior adviser to Iran‘s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said no official response to the proposal had been announced.

“We are waiting to see how much sincerity the Western countries have in their pledges,” said Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi.

Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said U.S. policy including steps to renew sanctions showed Obama was no better than his predecessor George W. Bush. The remarks in the legislature prompted lawmakers’ chants of “Death to America.”

Iranian officials have said Tehran prefers to buy reactor fuel from foreign suppliers rather than part with its LEU, or at most swap small amounts of LEU for the reactor material on Iranian soil. They have called for more talks.

Iran has amassed enough LEU for 1-2 bombs, analysts say, if it were further enriched to reach weapons-grade.

Asked by an Israeli newspaper whether a final Iranian decision was pending, France’s Kouchner said: “You could phrase it that way, but in effect the answer has almost been given already, and it is negative. That’s a shame, a shame, a shame.

“We demanded to take a large quantity of (LEU) because we do not want them, while we are enriching uranium on their behalf, to continue themselves enriching uranium which could one day be used for military purposes,” he told Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

DEADLINE FOR IRAN

Iranian pledges in Geneva talks with six powers on October 1 won Tehran a reprieve from sanctions targeting its oil sector, but Western powers stressed they would not wait indefinitely for it to follow through.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said an end-of-year deadline for Iran remained.

Russian officials such as foreign minister Sergei Lavrov have said Washington was trying to push Moscow into a position of publicly threatening the imposition of sanctions soon if Iran did not play ball.

Iran says it is enriching uranium only for power plant fuel, not for nuclear warheads. But its history of nuclear secrecy and continued restrictions on U.N. inspections have raised Western suspicions it is covertly pursuing nuclear weapons capability.

The IAEA is consulting on possible compromises to save the deal, including Iran placing its LEU under escrow in a friendly third country, like Turkey, pending delivery of reactor fuel. Iran and Turkey discussed the idea in talks this month.

Iran‘s presidential adviser Samareh-Hashemi said regarding Turkey’s role: “Turkey is also on the cards but they have not come to a firm agreement or decision to act accordingly.”

Iran has an enrichment plant at Natanz and IAEA inspectors have visited a second, hidden enrichment site near Qom that Iran revealed in September after, Western diplomats said, discovering that U.S., British and French spy services had detected it.

(Additional report by Parisa Hafezi and Reza Derakhshi in Tehran; Writing by Charles Dick)

Middle East Views | The importance of the Syrian card.

Tariq Alhomayed

It makes no difference whether France has become involved in the peace process, and particularly the Syrian – Israeli peace, in order to punish Turkey or not. What is important is the continuation of the peace process, and achieving peace between Damascus and Tel Aviv. This is something that I have written about repeatedly, the goal of this is not to ignore the Palestinian issue, but rather peace between Syria and Israel will enhance the chance of a Palestinian – Israeli peace.

The importance of peace between Syria and Israel is due to several factors which are in the interests of the region and the peace process as a whole. Firstly, Syria regaining the Golan Heights will serve to enhance the credibility of the peace process, and result in Damascus having a positive role in the region. This is because Syria will be keen to promote stability across the region in a practical manner, and not just with slogans.

This represents a gain for Syria, with the country being grouped with Egypt and Jordan, following the same path and sharing [mutual] interests. These three countries will be the countries that deal with Israel, and they will also be the countries who are at peace [with Israel]. They are supported by those countries that are united behind them; let us call them the political rational [countries] i.e. the Gulf States. These are led by Saudi Arabia, and all that Saudi Arabia represents with regards to its weight and position [in the region] as the driving force behind the Arab Peace Initiative.

The completion of a Syrian – Israeli peace will also facilitate the redrawing of the Syrian – Lebanese border, thus ending the problem of who has authority of the areas which are currently being occupied by Israel in Lebanon. Therefore with Israel withdrawing from these areas, Hezbollah will no longer have a pretext for arming itself, and this is a very important issue.

This will result in a [potential] crisis, or indeed an explosion, along the Israeli – Lebanese border being defused. It also means that a major impediment to social peace and stability in Lebanon will have been removed. Promoting Lebanese stability and ensuring that Lebanon stays away from regional maneuvering will be in Syria’s interests, especially when Damascus has an outright peace [with Israel] to maintain. It is enough that Damascus has succeeded in maintaining a thirty-year truce with Israel, so it will make sense that Syria will maintain peace [with Israel] as well, and this is something that will benefit the interests and stability of the region.

There is one other issue to discuss, and that is the Palestinian issue. In the event of peace being achieved between Damascus and Tel Aviv, inter-Palestinian reconciliation will be in Syria’s interests and national security. In this case, we will see whether Syria can influence Hamas, or whether [Hamas chief] Khalid Mishal will relocate to Tehran. In any case things will resolve [one way or another]. If Mishal goes to Iran, he will have destroyed his Arab playing cards, while if returns to Palestine, the Israeli – Palestinian peace process can get underway.

Finally there is the issue of Iran, and its interference in our region. One of the benefits of a Syrian – Israeli peace is that Damascus will no longer take ambiguous decisions [with regards to Iran] for its interests will be in supporting regional stability, from Lebanon to Iraq. Therefore the Syrians will by necessity have to take clear positions [on the Iranian interference], and this is something that it is difficult for Damascus to do today, and there is no blame on Damascus for this.

The final point here is that with all due respect to France’s role, Washington is far more capable than Paris of completing this Syrian – Israeli peace. If Obama wishes to achieve a genuine peace in the region, he must start with Syria. Washington should initiate this peace and it will then spread throughout the region.

Saudi Arabia is continuing to attack a Shia rebel stronghold in northern Yemen by air, while Saudi troops and Houthi rebels have been engaged in bloody clashes for more than a week.

At least two Saudi soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting, and the conflict is further raising tensions in the region, with Iran warning Saudi Arabia not to interfere in Yemen's internal affairs.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said on Sunday: “The intervention of Saudi government in Yemen and repeated bombardment of unprotected Yemeni Muslims by Tornado and F-15 fighters is astounding.

“How has his Excellency, the servant of the two honourable shrines, allowed Muslims' blood be split in Yemen by means of its military devices? The news proves that the US government has been the accomplice and assistance in such suppressive measures.”

The Iranian parliament also called on the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to intervene to stop the killing of Yemeni Muslims.

Hashem Ahelbarra reports from Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, where he's been gauging the fallout from this ongoing battle.

via Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Yemen conflict raises Gulf tensions.

Satcasters pull Iranian channel off the air

By ALI JAAFAR

Earlier this November, Iran's state-funded Arabic-language news channel Al-Alam — Arabic for “the world” — was suddenly yanked off Nilesat and Arabsat, two major Arab satcasting platforms.

Nilesat, which is majority-owned by the Egyptian government, and Arabsat, a joint venture between all Arab states but with a majority share from Saudi Arabia, are the two most important satellite platforms in the Middle East.

The satcasters' move, which provoked condemnation from the Iranian government, deprives Iran of a valuable tool in the ongoing battle for the hearts and minds in the region. Iran and its allies — namely Syria and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah — have been locked in a regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and their allies in recent years.

The hostility can go both ways.

Al-Arabiya, which is Saudi-owned and is the most-watched pan-Arab satellite news channels alongside rival Al-Jazeera, had its Tehran offices closed down by Iranian officials in June after the channel covered the anti-government protests that broke out following the disputed presidential elections.

The politico's family and much of the Egyptian film biz labeled Sadat a “traitor” for signing the 1979 peace deal with Israel, and celebrated his killer Khaled Istambouli as a martyr.

The move against Al-Alam comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions between Iran and some Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In Yemen, for example, the government is locked in a vicious internecine battle with Houthi rebels in the country's northern regions.

Saudia Arabia and the Yemeni government have accused Iran's government of aiding the Houthi rebels, who are, like the majority of Iranians, of the Shia faith. Iranian officials in turn have accused Saudi Arabia of backing the Yemeni government's counterinsurgent campaign. Matters came to a head earlier this month when a Houthi-backed mission crossed the Saudi border and killed a Saudi official. A series of other events in recent weeks — such as the expulsion of dozens of Lebanese Shias from the United Arab Emirates as well as a bomb attack in Iran that targeted members of the country's Revolutionary Guards — have set relations between the two sides on edge, and the media is finding itself caught in the middle.

“You have Egypt, Saudi Arabia and their allies on one side with Iran and their allies on the other side and the media dancing in between,” says Al-Rached. “I don't know how the media war can escalate anymore given that it is so tense already. It reflects the situation on the ground.”

via Mideast hostilities on air – Entertainment News, International News, Media – Variety.