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The Consulate General of Israel serves the Pacific Northwest Region of the United States: Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
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IAEA Inspector Dies in Iran

רביעי, 09 מאי 2012 12:56

TEHRAN, Iran—A United Nations nuclear inspector from South Korea was killed Tuesday and a colleague was injured in a car crash near a reactor site in central Iran,news reports said.

There were no immediate indications of foul play. But the crash is likely to undergo intense scrutiny.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the International Atomic Energy Agency inspector died when the car overturned around a heavy-water reactor being built in Khondab, about 150 miles southwest of Tehran.

Iran says the reactor, part of the Arak complex, will be used to produce isotopes for peaceful medical and industrial uses. But the U.S. and others fear that spent fuel from the reactors could be reprocessed into plutonium for a warhead. Iran denies it seeks nuclear weapons.

IRNA identified the fatally injured inspector as Seo Ok-Seok. Another news agency, ISNA, said an inspector from Slovakia was injured in the crash and taken to a hospital.

The Vienna-based IAEA had no immediate comment on the reports.

The incident comes ahead of a new round of technical discussions between Tehran and the IAEA to be held in Vienna beginning Sunday. Higher-level negotiations also are planned later this month in Baghdad between envoys from Iran and six world powers including the U.S.

Inspectors from the U.N nuclear watchdog regularly visit Iran's nuclear facilities, which include a Russian-built energy reactor and uranium-enrichment laboratories.

The stops often receive far less attention than the high-level IAEA teams sent to Iran to discuss access to other sites, such as the Parchin military base near Tehran, where the U.N. suspects nuclear-related work has taken place. Iran says Parchin is a conventional military base.

Iran's nuclear agency issued a statement offering condolences to the IAEA as well as the victim's family

With some 26,000 casualties a year, Iran has one the highest per capita road deaths. It is blamed on disregard of traffic rules, lack of safety of the roads as well as inadequate emergency services.

Wall Street Journal, AP

Group Seeks Iran I.M.F. Suspension

רביעי, 02 מאי 2012 11:26

An American advocacy group that has successfully pushed to isolate Iran economically through sanctions and business boycotts opened a new front in that effort on Tuesday, seeking to pressure the International Monetary Fund to withdraw all its holdings in Iran’s central bank or to suspend Iranian membership.

The advocacy group, United Against Nuclear Iran, also castigated the fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, over what it called her inappropriate compliments for Iran’s central bank, known as Bank Markazi, and its governor, Mahmoud Bahmani, at the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington last month. Ms. Lagarde had described the Iranian government’s effort to eliminate costly economic subsidies as a constructive step worthy of emulation, and the compliments were widely reported in Iran’s state-run media.

“The I.M.F. should not be hosting Iranian delegations in the U.S. and elsewhere, and Ms. Lagarde should stop lavishing praise on Iran and Bank Markazi,” the chief executive of United Against Nuclear Iran, Mark D. Wallace, said in a statement announcing its new effort.

Iran is one of the earliest members of the 188-nation I.M.F., founded in the aftermath of World War II to help strengthen monetary cooperation and stability through lending and economic data-gathering. Although Iran has not done any financial transactions with the I.M.F. since January 1984, according to the I.M.F. Web site, membership is regarded as a valued symbol of international legitimacy and respect.

In a letter to Ms. Lagarde dated April 26, Mr. Wallace, a former American diplomat at the United Nations, said the I.M.F. should close what he described as an I.M.F. account worth more than $1 billion held in the central bank, which has been penalized by the United States and European Union. Mr. Wallace said the bank had been shown to be untrustworthy, violating the I.M.F.’s own standards and safeguards.

“I don’t have a grudge with the good people of the I.M.F.,” Mr. Wallace said in a telephone interview. But, he said, “it can’t be business as usual anymore.”

William Murray, a spokesman for the I.M.F. in Washington, said in a statement that the fund’s holdings in Iran’s central bank are part of the arrangements made with any member, and that the account is denominated in Iranian currency, not dollars.

“There is nothing in the E.U. or U.S. sanctions regimes that is inconsistent with these arrangements,” he said. As for the call for Iran’s suspension, Mr. Murray said, “This is a matter that is best taken up with the fund’s member countries. We have no comment.”

Under Article 26 of the I.M.F. Articles of Agreement, suspension of an I.M.F. member’s voting rights requires approval from a 70 percent majority of the total voting power among the other members, which is weighted partly according to their economic size.

A Treasury Department spokesman in Washington, John Sullivan, said that the United States regarded the I.M.F. as exempt from sanctions on Iran’s central bank. Michael Mann, a spokesman for the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying the I.M.F. is not subject to E.U. sanctions.

There was no immediate comment from Iran. But the effort by Mr. Wallace’s group to pressure the I.M.F. could represent a new challenge to Iran, coming as all sides in the protracted dispute over Iran’s uranium enrichment program have been toning down inflammatory rhetoric in recent weeks and speaking with a measure of optimism about a possible diplomatic resolution.

Talks held in Turkey last month were described as positive by Iran and the group of six world powers seeking to stop Iran from enriching uranium that could be used to make nuclear weapons. But Iranian officials have also said the Western sanctions should be eased as a sign of good will, and have hinted their mood could darken if new efforts to isolate Iran were introduced. Talks are set to resume in Baghdad on May 23.

Rick Gladstone, New York Times

Former Iranian President Speaks Out

שני, 26 מרץ 2012 13:36

Former Iranian President: I am not pleased with the management of the country’s foreign policies right now – In an interview, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani spoke about the last time he served as a Friday prayer preacher in Tehran, the Friday after the presidential elections. He was asked about his non-appearance as a preacher and the limited number of appearances on television. When asked about his previous statement that he wanted to retire from all positions, Rafsanjani answered, “If not done in anger, yes. I don’t want to leave this regime, and I will remain as long as I am able to serve.” Rafsanjani was also asked why he no longer gives Friday sermons. He answered, “If I want to [lead] a Friday prayer service and the same audience that came to my last prayer service comes, the event is changed.” Rafsanjani is referring to the general sentiment in Iran after the 2009 elections, in which he expressed support for the protests and called for the release of prisoners.

המשך קריאה: Former Iranian President Speaks Out

Europe Takes Bold Step Toward a Ban on Iranian Oil

חמישי, 05 ינואר 2012 11:17

Steven Erlanger, New York Times

iran flag

Iran on Thursday sought to downplay the importance of intensified economic sanctions against it, even as European Union countries moved closer to agreement on an embargo on Iranian oil, their boldest step so far in the increasingly tense standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.

A final decision by the European Union would not come before the end of the month and would be carried out in stages to avoid major disruptions in global oil supplies. But the move by some of Iran’s most important oil customers appears to underscore the resolve of Western allies to impose on Iran the toughest round of sanctions to date, increasing pressure on Tehran to stop enriching uranium and to negotiate an end to what Western leaders argue is an accelerating program to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran denies military intent and refuses to stop enrichment of uranium for what it describes as civilian purposes. But it has responded to the threat of new U.S. and European sanctions with a series of military and diplomatic threats. It has test-fired new missiles, announced the production of its first nuclear-fuel rod, warned a U.S. aircraft carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf, and threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, which analysts said could drive oil prices up by at least 50 percent.

On Thursday in Tehran, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran was “not concerned at all” about an imminent E.U. ban on its oil, vowing that Iran would “weather the storm’’ of what the Economy Minister, Shamseddin Hosseini, likened to “an economic war.’’

Mr. Salehi told a press conference that “Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions.’’ He added: “Just as we have weathered the storm in the last 32 years with the hold of God and efforts that we make, we will be able to survive this as well.’’

המשך קריאה: Europe Takes Bold Step Toward a Ban on Iranian Oil

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