Ahmadinejad hits back after 'nuclear spy' cleared

NUKEWARS

Six powers to meet in Paris on Iran nuclear issue
Political directors from the six powers studying Iran's disputed nuclear program will meet in Paris on Saturday for new talks, the US State Department said Wednesday. "In Paris on December 1, Under Secretary (Nicholas) Burns will participate in a P5+1 political directors meeting to discuss the text of the next United Nations Security Council Chapter VII sanctions resolution on Iran," it said in a statement. The meeting had originally been scheduled for November 19, but was cancelled after China said it would not be able to take part.

The new talks in Paris will gather the political directors from the foreign ministries of France, Britain, Russia, China, Germany and the United States to discuss the next steps in the bid to rein in Iran's suspect nuclear program. The six countries take the international lead on the issue, and all but Germany hold a seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The United States on Monday urged China to back a new UN Security Council resolution mandating tougher sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, saying a deal with Beijing was possible soon. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday that Washington hoped for Chinese cooperation soon on the sanctions issue. "Over the past several weeks we have been encouraging them to be more constructive both in scheduling a political directors meeting as well as really agreeing to the elements of a resolution," he said.

"I think we will be able to come to some agreement. We will see if we can get that accomplished in the coming weeks," McCormack added. Burns was due first to attend the two-day annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which opens in Madrid on Thursday. "The United States again will demonstrate its support for the OSCE and its important work to promote human rights and democracy," the State Department said in its statement. Washington has criticized Moscow for putting up obstacles to an OSCE observers mission which had been planned during the upcoming Russian elections. At the Madrid talks "the United States delegation also will be seeking decisions on expanding the OSCE's activities in Afghanistan and Kosovo," the statement added.

by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Nov 28, 2007
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hit back on Wednesday after an ex-nuclear negotiator he accused of spying was cleared of espionage, calling for the publication of documents exposing the official.

In an indication the case was far from over, Tehran's prosecutor -- like Ahmadinejad a hardliner -- ordered a new investigation into the accusations that Hossein Moussavian handed over nuclear secrets to Western countries.

On Tuesday, the judiciary cleared Moussavian on two counts of espionage and holding classified information, in direct contradiction of government accusations against the former negotiator.

"The full content of the negotiation of this ex-member of the nuclear negotiating team should be published," Ahmadinejad said after a cabinet meeting, according to the Mehr news agency.

"It is very appropriate that the intelligence content he has given to the Westerners should be published, so others are informed of it," he added.

Several hours after Ahmadinejad's remarks, the office of the feared Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi issued a statement saying the judiciary's decision to exonorate Moussavian was invalid.

"The Tehran prosecutor quashed the non-prosecution writ issued for Hossein Moussavian concerning security crimes and ordered that the prosecution go on," the official IRNA news agency reported.

The statement said Mortazavi had found "procedural flaws" in the investigating magistrate's decision which was "in violation of the penal proceedings code."

There was no immediate reaction from the central judiciary to the statement and it was not clear whether prosecutors had the legal authority to overrule the judiciary in such a way.

The clearing of Moussavian before the case even reached trial exposed a brewing conflict between the judiciary and the government.

It was also an important victory for pragmatic former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- Moussavian's mentor who is the greatest political rival of Ahmadinejad -- ahead of parliamentary elections.

The judiciary is led by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a cleric renowned for his knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence, who has strongly cricitised Ahmadinejad's style of governance.

The president sparked a huge controversy on November 12 when he accused critics of "pressuring the judge to acquit a spy." The remarks were seen as an unmistakable reference to Moussavian.

Ahmadinejad's rivals expressed outrage that he made a judgement of guilt against Moussavian before the judiciary had reached any conclusion.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie, who accused Moussavian of passing classified information to the British embassy in Tehran, said the government would appeal, the official news agency said.

The judiciary found there was a case for Moussavian -- who was detained briefly in May but released on bail -- to answer a less serious allegation of making "propaganda against the system".

Moussavian was the spokesman of the moderate nuclear negotiating team that served under president Mohammad Khatami and was replaced when hardliner Ahmadinejad became president in 2005.

Emphasising the gulf between Ahmadinejad and elements of Iran's conservative establishment, prominent cleric Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri said the accusations against Moussavian "were not correct".

"Moussavian is one of the most experienced officials of the revolution and has carried out his duties in a good way," Nateq Nouri, who is an adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying.

Moussavian, also a former ambassador to Germany, is now the deputy head of a research institute led by Hassan Rowhani, who was Iran's top nuclear negotiator at the time and has since been bitterly critical of Ahmadinejad.

The research institute is run by the Expediency Council, Iran's top political arbitration body headed by Rafsanjani.

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NUKEWARS

IAEA tight-lipped on Iran's nuclear fuel claims

Vienna (AFP) Nov 26, 2007
The UN atomic watchdog declined to comment Monday on claims by Iran that it was now in a position to make its own fuel for a 40-megawatt heavy water research reactor under construction in the centre of the country.

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