Iran says US should change policy, not tactics

Iran said it would welcome President Barack Obama's offer of a change in U.S. policy provided apology for past "crimes" against Tehran.

Iran said on Wednesday it would welcome President Barack Obama's offer of a change in U.S. policy provided it involved a withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad and an apology for past "crimes" against Tehran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was speaking after Obama offered to extend a hand of peace if Iran "unclenched its fist". This marked a new approach from George W. Bush, who had sought to isolate Tehran, and Western diplomats said the change in Washington could offer a "once-in-a-generation" chance for the two foes to end three decades of hostility. "We welcome change but on condition that change is fundamental and on the right track," Ahmadinejad told a rally in western Iran, broadcast live on state television. "When they say policy would change, it means they would end America's military presence around the world," he said, referring to U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world. Ahmadinejad said any change that was merely a shift in tactics would "soon be revealed". "Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologise to the Iranian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said. The new U.S. administration has said Obama would break from his predecessor by pursuing direct talks with Tehran but has also warned Iran to expect more pressure if it did not meet the U.N. Security Council demand to halt its disputed nuclear work.

'Go to hell'

Bush Ahmadinejad had harsh words for Obama's predecessor: "Mr Bush has gone into the trash can of history with a very black and shameful file full of treachery and killings." "He left and, God willing, he will go to hell," he added. A Western diplomat said Obama's election offered "a once in a generation opportunity" for a new start in relations between Tehran and Washington, which were cut after students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran following the 1979 revolution. "They will never get a new U.S. president who is as balanced as Obama's public statements are, who talks about wanting to engage in a respectful way with Iran and who seems less encumbered by the baggage of the past," the diplomat said. "To me it is in Iran's clear interest to engage," he said. Mahmoud Abbasi, a 48-year-old taxi driver also speaking in the Iranian capital, was more hesitant. "We should not rush and accept direct talks without a plan and precaution," he said. Iranian opposition politician Ebrahim Yazdi said he did not expect movement on the issue of U.S. relations before Iran's June vote, when Ahmadinejad is expected to seek re-election. But he said better ties were in Iran's strategic and economic interest, adding: "The political atmosphere in Iran is now ripe, is suitable for direct negotiation with the United States."

Reuters

Iran Dissidents in Iraq Pose Thorny Issue for U.S.

For many years, the roughly 3,500 members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) living quietly in Iraq drew little attention. But now the relatively obscure group is at the center of an increasingly contentious argument among leaders in Baghdad, Tehran and Washington, where decisions the new White House makes about the rebels will probably set the tone for U.S. relations with Iran in the near term.

The simmering issue of the MEK's fate flashed into the open earlier this month when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki unexpectedly declared that the group would no longer be allowed to remain in Iraq. Shortly after that, Maliki's national security adviser, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, said the MEK's camp roughly 40 miles north of Baghdad would be disbanded within two months, declaring during an appearance in Tehran that Iraq would not play host to threats toward its neighbor.
The issue grew more complicated on Jan. 26, when the European Union removed the MEK from its list of terrorist organizations, a roster that includes organizations such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The E.U. move, which came after a long lobbying campaign by the MEK's supporters in Europe, sparked an outcry in Tehran. About 300 people were gathered around noon on Wednesday in front of the British Embassy in Tehran to protest the E.U. decision. Some in the crowd threw stones at the embassy, while others held up shoes on sticks in a show of deep disrespect in the Middle East.
"What people side with the enemy and kill their own people in a war?" said demonstrator Sina Zamanian, 17, referring to the MEK's alliance with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, which led them to settle in Iraq. "They are the worst kind of opportunistic terrorists and should be forever marked as such."
Nevertheless, some in Baghdad are calling for the group to be allowed to remain in Iraq, or at least to not be turned over to Iran, for political reasons. "We have to deal with this issue very delicately," says Ayad Jamal al-Deen, an Iraqi parliamentarian aligned with Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "I'm not here to defend this organization. I have no interest in them. But I am looking out for the Iraqi national interest." Al-Deen and other Iraqi political figures see the group essentially as a bargaining chip with Iran, one of the few Iraq holds against its powerful neighbor. They argue that simply shuttering the MEK camp as Iran demands squanders what precious little leverage Iraq has against Iran. Al-Deen adds, "In my opinion, Iraq has only this card, MEK, to pressure Iran."
At the moment, however, the MEK's ability to remain in Iraq depends on the will of the Americans. The Bush White House continued to use the military to protect the MEK at Camp Ashraf despite its current status as a terrorist organization on the U.S. list and periodic complaints by the emerging Iraqi government and Tehran, which says the group is still involved in subversive activity inside Iran. Outwardly, U.S. officials have said disbanding the camp would be in contravention of international humanitarian law because the group's members are likely to face persecution in Iran or Iraq. But many Iraqis and Iranians suspect that the U.S. keeps the camp open for intelligence purposes, since the MEK's spy network played a key role in uncovering Iran's secret uranium-enrichment program in 2002.
Maliki appears intent on pressing the issue anew with the Obama Administration, which will have to decide soon whether to keep offering U.S. protection to the group or to yield to Iraqi demands to close Camp Ashraf. If the White House allows the Iraqi government to close the camp, the Iranian leadership is likely to see the move as a sign that the new Administration is eager to ease tensions between Washington and Tehran. A continuation of the status quo, however, could chill Obama's early outreach efforts.
At Camp Ashraf, MEK members simply wait for word on what may happen to them as discussions continue in Baghdad, Tehran and Washington. Shahriar Kia, a spokesman for the group, says a closure of the camp would be a disaster for those living in what amounts to a protective quarantine for roughly the past seven years. "Closing down Camp Ashraf and the displacement of its residents, who are protected by the Geneva Conventions, against their will is a war crime," says Kia. "This will cause a humanitarian catastrophe."

TIME

"5+1" to discuss Iran' nuclear program next week

Senior officials from major powers will meet in Germany next week to discuss the conflict with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the German FM said.

Senior officials from 5+1 will meet in Germany next week to discuss the conflict with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, the German Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Political directors from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and China are to meet in the Frankfurt area next Wednesday, a ministry spokeswoman said. The gathering will be the powers' first meeting since U.S. President Barack Obama came into office last week. The new U.S. administration has said Obama would break from his predecessor by pursuing direct talks with Tehran but has also warned Iran to expect more pressure if it did not meet the U.N. Security Council demand to halt uranium enrichment. Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday Iran was ready to cooperate with Obama if the United States changed its policies and practices in the region.

Reuters

26 security officers were killed in Baluchistan

26 security officers were killed in Baluchistan in two separate incidents, Iranian officials sites reported. The first incidents was organised by People's Resistance Movement of Iran, Jondollah, in Sarawan on 20th of January. Jondollah reported in a statement that this operation was conducted to prevent supplies of arms and ammunitions to a military base near the border of Pakistan. This base is used for operations against Baluch fighters in the area between Sarawan and Zahedan. Jondollah claimed that they have used two roadside bombs to explode two cars which were loaded by ammunitions and arms. 14 security guards were killed in this operation.

The second incidents happened near Zahedan, the capital of Baluchistan on 25th Jan 09 in which 12 members of security forces died. The incidents happened when a group of Baluch guerrilla fighters ambushed several cars that were carrying logistics to their headquarters near the border between Iran and Pakistan. The Baluchistan Branch of the Organization of Iranian Fighters took the responsibility for this event.

This organization is also stated that these operations were intended to prevent further daily executions of Baluch people in different provinces of country. The Islamic Republic of Iran usually transfers the Baluch prisoners into other provinces and executes them for fabricated charges of drug trafficking.

No Baluch fighters was reported to be killed in these incidents while human rights organizations reported that the Iranians regime hanged 30 Iranians in five days. Most of the political prisoners that were executed or hanged were from Baluchistan or Kurdistan. The hanging of Kurdish and Baluch political activists and human rights organisers has been increased recently in Iran.

At the same time Iranian media reported that 24000 Shia missionaries have been dispatched to the Sunni areas of Baluchistan to convert Sunni people into Shia. This act has infuriated the Baluch and Sunni people all over Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran designed the policy of Sunni conversions into Shia since the beginning of the revolution. So far they have not been successful in converting a large number of Sunnis. A handful of poor people have been bribed to become Shia. They have been given accommodation, some money and jobs. While 70 percent of the people in the province of Zanjan which is inhibited by Shias are living under poverty line, the government of Iran is spending a lot of money to bribe the Sunnis into Shiism. The newly converted Shias would be given some privileges for a short time and then they would be recruited by the Iranians security forces to spy on their community. Few of the newly Shia converts were killed as a result of their spying for the government.

As the confrontation between Baluch armed forces and Iranian security forces continue, the social environment in Baluchistan has become tenser. The Iranian government is also dismissing the Baluch workers from their jobs. They are not employing any educated Baluch people. The government is not creating any jobs; at that the same time they are closing the Borders to prevent border trading between Iran and Pakistan. As the Baluch people are completely deprived of governmental and bureaucratic jobs in Iran they have no any alternative but seeking border trading which is usually the exchange of foodstuff.

According to the official statistics of Iran, 76 percent of the Baluch people live under poverty line. Increasing unemployment and poverty motivate a large number of Baluch young people to fight for justice and equality opportunities. Since civil campaigning is not permitted in Baluchistan, most of these young men turn to armed groups to seek justice.

The Baluch people have chosen to get killed in the battlefield honorably with the Iranian security forces rather than surrendering to death by starvation; a policy the Iranian government has been implementing in Baluchistan. There is a saying in Baluchi which means living in poverty and misery is not worth living if you are pushed in it. What is worth, is the living of your choice with pride in freedom.
Reza Hossein Borr
20090130

Iranian Leader Demands U.S. Apology

(TEHRAN, Iran) — The Iranian president called for "profound changes" in U.S. foreign policy during a speech Wednesday, saying the Islamic Republic would welcome a real and fundamental shift from the new American administration. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments in the western city of Kermanshah come as Obama has indicated a new willingness to reach out to Muslims and the importance of engaging with Iran, a country the Bush administration often singled out as the most dangerous in the region. (See pictures of Ahmadinejad in New York.)
Without mentioning President Barack Obama by name, Ahmadinejad Wednesday repeatedly referred to those who want to bring "change," a word used often in Obama's election campaign, and indicated that Iran would be looking to see if there would be substantive differences in U.S. policy.
"We will wait patiently, listen to their words carefully, scrutinize their actions under a magnifier and if change happens truly and fundamentally, we will welcome that," Ahmadinejad said, speaking to a crowd of thousands.
But the Iranian leader also criticized the United States, saying it should apologize to Iran for past misdeeds.
"The change will be to apologize to the Iranian nation and try to compensate for their dark records and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," he said.
The hardline president also called on Washington to withdraw its troops from around the world and stop supporting Israel.
"Change means giving up support for the rootless, uncivilized, fabricated, murdering ... Zionists and let the Palestinian nation decide its own destiny," he said. "Change means putting an end to U.S. military presence in (different parts of) the world."
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari, speaking in Athens, Greece, said Tuesday that it was too early to say whether relations with the United States would improve with Obama as president.
Washington is at odds with Tehran over Iran's nuclear program and its Mideast policy that seeks to destroy Israel and supports the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge and refuses to give up uranium enrichment, saying it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to produce nuclear fuel.
The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after hardline students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

TIME

Egypt attacks Iran and allies in Arab world

CAIRO - Egypt aired its grievances against Iran, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, saying they worked together in the fighting over Gaza to provoke conflict in the Middle East.
"(They tried) to turn the region to confrontation in the interest of Iran, which is trying to use its cards to escape Western pressure ... on the nuclear file," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview with Orbit satellite channel broadcast Wednesday.
Aboul Gheit also said that Egypt undermined Qatar's attempts to arrange a formal Arab summit on Gaza earlier this month, arguing that it would have damaged "joint Arab action."
"Egypt made the summit fail... This summit, if it had taken place as an Arab summit with a proper quorum, would have damaged joint Arab action. We can see what others do not see," he said.
The interview was broadcast Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and the state news agency MENA carried excerpts.
The comments are the first acknowledgement by Egypt that it actively sought to prevent the Doha summit on January 16, which was the subject of a bitter tug-of-war between rival Arab states.
It also indicated that a reconciliation meeting in Kuwait last week between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on one hand, and Qatar and Syria on the other, had only a short-term effect.
Qatar failed to win enough support to hold a formal Arab League summit on Gaza but it went ahead anyway with an informal consultative meeting of Arab leaders.
The wrangling reflected deep divisions between Arab governments. On one side Saudi Arabia and Egypt, wary of the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, favored discussing Gaza at a separate economic summit in Kuwait a few days later.
Diplomats say Egypt resents the Qatari challenge to its traditional role as leading Arab mediator and dislikes the influence of the satellite television channel Al Jazeera, which is based in Doha and owned by the Qatari government.
"Some people imagined that a satellite channel could bring down the Egyptian state, without realizing that Egypt is much stronger than that," Aboul Gheit said.
"Egypt is very big and has extensive influence despite attempts to influence this stance and role, whether in the Al Jazeera channel or other channels," he added.
The Egyptian minister also criticized Hamas for what he called its coup against the forces of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Reuters

Soft-spoken line from Washington may terrify Tehran

Ahmadinejad's ferocity underlines the potency of the new policy of seeking to influence rather than oust the ayatollahs
The letter to Iran being drafted in Washington represents a determined break from past US policy but officials said yesterday there was still considerable debate on how and when to engage Tehran in talks.
Details have yet to be decided. At what level should talks take place? Should they grow organically from the existing six-nation negotiating group or open up a new track? When should negotiations start and, in particular, should they be postponed until Iran's presidential elections in June, for fear of helping Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election campaign, which was formally launched yesterday?
There is one thing everyone agrees on – it is impossible to do any kind of business with the current Iranian president. Ahmadinejad's speech in Kermanshah yesterday, demanding complete US withdrawal from all overseas deployments, clearly illustrated that.
"Those who say they want to make change, this is the change they should make: they should apologise to the Iran­ian nation and try to make up for their dark background and the crimes they have committed against the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said. He specifically mentioned the toppling of the government in 1953, the support for the shah and for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, and the downing of an Iranian airliner in 1988.
He fulminated against what he said were efforts to block Tehran's supposedly peaceful nuclear power programme and hinder Iran's development since the 1979 revolution, the event which along with the US embassy hostage crisis served to define bilateral relations for a generation.
And he had harsh words for George Bush, who he said "has gone into the trash can of history with a very black and shameful file full of treachery and killings. He left and, God willing, he will go to hell."
It was never clear whether the Bush administration was seeking to bring about regime change in Tehran or simply trying to persuade Iran's theocratic rulers to change policy on uranium enrichment.
The ambiguity was inevitable. The administration itself never quite made up its mind, and different strategies rose to the top of the White House agenda at different times, depending on who was winning the battle for the president's ear.
While mixed messages emanated from the Bush administration, only one was clearly received in Tehran – that Iran was next on the Axis of Evil list after Iraq.
The lesson of the Iraq invasion for the Iranian leadership was that Saddam lost his job and then his life not because he might have had weapons of mass destruction but because he had none. North Korea, the third member the axis, which had nuclear bombs, was treated with much greater respect. The hard task ahead for the Obama team is how to correct those perverse incentives.
Obama is intent on pursuing a very different approach. US policy is focused now on influencing the ayatollahs' behaviour and perceptions, not driving them out. The new president this week repeated his inaugural line, "we will extend our hand if you will unclench your fist", and explicitly addressed it to Tehran. The ferocity of Ahmadinejad's response does make one thing clear: the Tehran hardliners are more terrified of a moderate and charismatic new voice from Washington than all the sabres rattled by the Bush administration.
Obama does not trigger the same Persian-nationalist response that used to rally Iranians around Ahmadinejad's government at the prospect of American bombs. Perhaps more importantly, given the nature of Iranian elections, the arrival of a soft-talking administration may change the mind of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about the sort of president he wants to see elected.
The more radical thinkers now installed at their desks in Washington argue there is no need to wait until the June presidential elections. The Iranian presidency does not decide nuclear policy, even if it influences the political mood and sets limits on what is negotiable.
That wing argues there are ways of sending messages and making contacts that will not benefit Ahmadinejad. The opening of an American-staffed US interests section in Tehran, considered then rejected by the Bush administration, is on the table as a first step in a possible progression towards a normal relationship.
The administration radicals believe it is time to invert what they see as another fundamental flaw in Bush policy – tying US interests to reactionary Sunni regimes in the Arab world as a bulwark against Shia militancy. Tehran is militant, the new thinkers argue, but it is at least a rational state actor, with defined goals and interests, and therefore ultimately more amenable to cool discussion and engagement.
The more cautious wing warns against hasty interference in an opaque political system with all the unintended consequences that might entail.

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor

Guardian

Revealed: the letter Obama team hope will heal Iran rift

Symbolic gesture gives assurances that US does not want to topple Islamic regime

One draft urges Iranians to consider the bene? ts of losing their pariah status in the west. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
Officials of Barack Obama's administration have drafted a letter to Iran from the president aimed at unfreezing US-Iranian relations and opening the way for face-to-face talks, the Guardian has learned.
The US state department has been working on drafts of the letter since Obama was elected on 4 November last year. It is in reply to a lengthy letter of congratulations sent by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on 6 November.
Diplomats said Obama's letter would be a symbolic gesture to mark a change in tone from the hostile one adopted by the Bush administration, which portrayed Iran as part of an "axis of evil".
It would be intended to allay the ­suspicions of Iran's leaders and pave the way for Obama to engage them directly, a break with past policy.
State department officials have composed at least three drafts of the letter, which gives assurances that Washington does not want to overthrow the Islamic regime, but merely seeks a change in its behaviour. The letter would be addressed to the Iranian people and sent directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or released as an open letter.
One draft proposal suggests that Iran should compare its relatively low standard of living with that of some of its more prosperous neighbours, and contemplate the benefits of losing its pariah status in the west. Although the tone is conciliatory, it also calls on Iran to end what the US calls state sponsorship of terrorism.
The letter is being considered by the new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, as part of a sweeping review of US policy on Iran. A decision on sending it is not expected until the review is complete.
In an interview on Monday with the al-Arabiya television network, Obama hinted at a more friendly approach towards the Islamic Republic.
Ahmadinejad said yesterday that he was waiting patiently to see what the Obama administration would come up with. "We will listen to the statements closely, we will carefully study their actions, and, if there are real changes, we will welcome it," he said.
Ahmadinejad, who confirmed that he would stand for election again in June, said it was unclear whether the Obama administration was intent on just a shift in tactics or was seeking fundamental change. He called on Washington to apologise for its actions against Iran over the past 60 years, including US support for a 1953 coup that ousted the democratically elected government, and the US shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane in 1988.
The state department refused to comment yesterday on the draft letters.
US concern about Iran mainly centres on its uranium enrichment programme, which Washington claims is intended to provide the country with a nuclear weapons capability. Iran claims the programme is for civilian purposes.
The diplomatic moves are given increased urgency by fears that Israel might take unilateral action to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
The scale of the problem facing the new American president was reinforced yesterday when a senior aide to Ahmadinejad, Aliakbar Javanfekr, said that, despite the calls from the US, Iran had no intention of stopping its nuclear activities. When asked about a UN resolution calling for the suspension of Iran's uranium enrichment, Javanfekr, the presidential adviser for press affairs, replied: "We are past that stage."
One of the chief Iranian concerns revolves around suspicion that the US is engaged in covert action aimed at regime change, including support for separatist groups in areas such as Kurdistan, Sistan-Baluchestan and Khuzestan.
The state department has repeatedly denied that there is any American support for such groups.
In its dying days, the Bush administration was planning to open a US interests section in the Iranian capital Tehran, one step down from an embassy. Bush's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said that never happened because attention was diverted by the Russian invasion of Georgia. Others say that rightwingers in the Bush administration mounted a rearguard action to block it.
The idea has resurfaced, but if there are direct talks with Iran, it may be decided that a diplomatic presence would obviate the need for a diplomatic mission there, at least in the short term.
While Obama is taking the lead on policy towards Iran, the administration will soon announce that Dennis Ross will become a special envoy to the country, following the appointments last week of George Mitchell, the veteran US mediator, as special envoy to the Middle East, and Richard Holbrooke, who helped to broker the Bosnia peace agreement, as special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ross, who took a leading role in the Middle East peace talks in Bill Clinton's administration, will be responsible on a day-to-day basis for implementing policy towards Iran.
In a graphic sign of Iranian mistrust, the hardline newspaper Kayhan, which is considered close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has denounced Ross as a "Zionist lobbyist".
Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based analyst, said a US letter would have to be accompanied by security guarantees and an agreement to drop economic sanctions. "If they send such a letter it will be a very significant step towards better ties, but they should be careful in not thinking Tehran will respond immediately," he said.
"There will be disputes inside the system about such a letter. There are lot of radicals who don't want to see ordinary relations between Tehran and Washington. To convince Iran, they should send a very clear message that they are not going to try to destroy the regime."

Robert Tait and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 29 January 2009 01.44 GMT

Guardian

Iranian Terrorist Regime : EU not serious about fighting terrorism

TEHRAN - The European Union’s decision to remove the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from its terrorist list shows that the EU is not really committed to fighting terrorism, Tehran’s interim Friday prayers leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami said here on Monday.
He made the remarks shortly after the EU foreign ministers approved a decision to remove the MKO from the EU list of banned terrorist organizations, even though the organization is recognized as a terrorist group by much of the international community, including the United States. The recent move by the EU shows that its boasting about “liberal democracy” is just lies, he told the Mehr News Agency. Removing the MKO, which has killed 13,000 innocent people, including 72 Iranian officials on one day, from the list of terrorist organizations is total support for terrorism, he noted. “The EU, with this action, showed that it uses terms like human rights and the campaign against terrorism only as a means to serve its own evil interests,” he added. In pursuing its interests, the EU is even prepared to support a terrorist organization like the MKO, Khatami observed. Such evil acts are meant to counter Iran’s great revolution, but in this confrontation the arrogant powers will not win, he stated. Sooner or later the United States and the European Union will have to recognize Islamic Iran as a major power in the world, he noted. Meanwhile, MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Monday that Iran devised a plan to try the group at international tribunals after EU diplomats put forward the proposal to remove the MKO from the bloc’s list of terrorist organizations. However, MKO members who have not participated in the organization’s terrorist activities are allowed to return to Iran, he added. Iranian officials have called on the Iraqi government to intensify its efforts to close Camp Ashraf, where 3500 MKO members are being held under house arrest, and to expel them. Iraq has assured Iran that it will soon close the camp and that MKO members will be expelled from Iraq. Shortly before the EU announced its decision on Monday, MP Eivaz Heidarpour of the Majlis Foreign Policy and National Security Committee said that Iran should reconsider its relations with those European states that are seeking to remove the Mojahedin Khalq Organization from the terrorist list. The Europeans are aware of the fact that the MKO is one of the “most dangerous” terrorist groups, Heidarpour told the Mehr News Agency. The terrorist crimes committed by the MKO are so well documented that no European leaders will agree to rehabilitate the organization, he opined. Iran should reconsider and even break off its relations with some European states, he insisted.

Tehran Times Iranian Regime News Agency

Clinton Sees an Opportunity for Iran to Return to Diplomacy

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that Iran had a “clear opportunity” to engage with the international community, amplifying the conciliatory tone struck a day earlier by President Obama toward Iran and the rest of the Muslim world.
Sketching out an ambitious diplomatic agenda, Mrs. Clinton also suggested that there could be some form of direct communication between the United States and North Korea. And she said relations with China had been excessively influenced by economic issues during the Bush administration.
Mrs. Clinton, in her first remarks to reporters since becoming the nation’s chief diplomat, said, “There is a clear opportunity for the Iranians, as the president expressed in his interview, to demonstrate some willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community.”
Speaking Monday to an Arabic-language news channel, Al Arabiya, Mr. Obama reiterated his determination that the United States explore ways to engage directly with Iran, even as he said Tehran’s suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and its support for terrorist groups were destabilizing.
Less than a week into her job, Mrs. Clinton seemed energized. She traveled to the White House on Monday to help send off the administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, George J. Mitchell, and she has racked up a list of calls to nearly 40 foreign leaders or foreign ministers.
The world, Mrs. Clinton asserted, was yearning for a new American foreign policy.
“There is a great exhalation of breath going on around the world,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of damage to repair.”
Mrs. Clinton did not disclose the options under consideration for reaching out to Iran, beyond mentioning the existing multilateral talks involving Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. But she indicated that she and Mr. Obama were thinking broadly.
The multilateral group is scheduled to meet next week in Germany, and European diplomats said they hoped that the meeting would provide the first clues about the administration’s strategy.
The administration is expected to name Dennis B. Ross, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator, to a senior post handling Iran, according to State Department officials. That Mr. Ross was not at the same meeting as Mr. Mitchell surprised some people who follow Iranian issues, given how long his appointment had been rumored. But officials said Mr. Ross was at the State Department on Monday.
Analysts said the timing for an American overture to Iran was better now than it had been for a long time.
“The Iranian regime is in a truly desperate situation,” said Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University. “The regime is in a much more amenable mood because the economy is in a shambles. They’re also dealing with someone whose name is Barack Hussein Obama.”
As for North Korea, Mrs. Clinton said the administration was committed to existing multilateral talks over its nuclear program. But she noted that in the past, there had been bilateral talks within the current six-nation arrangement. “We’re going to pursue steps that we think are effective,” she said.
On China, Mrs. Clinton said that the United States needed “a more comprehensive approach” and that the strategic dialogue of the Bush administration “turned into an economic dialogue.”
“The economy will always be a centerpiece of our relationship, but we want it to be part of a broader agenda,” Mrs. Clinton said. She did not specify what other issues the United States would put on the table.
Last week, Timothy F. Geithner, who was sworn in Monday as Treasury secretary, signaled a potentially more confrontational stance toward China, saying in written testimony to the Senate that China manipulated its currency.
During the Bush administration, the Treasury Department, particularly under Henry M. Paulson Jr., played a lead role in coordinating policy toward China. Mrs. Clinton has pushed for the State Department to increase its profile on economic affairs, which suggests a stronger role on China.
Mrs. Clinton declined to be drawn out on details about changes in policy toward Iran or another thorny challenge, Afghanistan. Both, she said, were the subject of policy reviews.
She also said little about Mr. Mitchell’s first mission, except to note that the United States was focused for now on talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. She did not address Syria’s role.
Mrs. Clinton brushed off suggestions that the appointment of Mr. Mitchell and another emissary — Richard C. Holbrooke, who will be special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan — could lead to conflict or rivalries in policy making.
“Oh, no, no,” she said. “I think we have already established a collegial, effective working relationship.”

The New York Times

Gates says Iran bigger worry than Russia in Latin America

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he is troubled by Iranian activities in Latin America that he sees as meddling. But he told a Senate panel Tuesday that Russian military outreach there doesn't bother him at all.
Iran has used the United States as a foil as it tries to establish ties with left-leaning Latin American leaders.
Gates didn't say just what he thinks Iran is up to militarily. But he called Iran a threat there that Russia, despite high-profile maneuvers, is not.
Gates shrugged off Russian naval tours in places like Venezuela. He said that if Russia hadn't raised alarms by invading Georgia last year, he would have invited Russian ships to dock in Miami as well.
He said the Russian sailors would have had more fun there than in Caracas.

Ap Associated Press

Six Bahais, Christian arrested in Iran: judiciary

Iran has arrested six adherents of the banned Bahai faith and a Christian for alleged propaganda against the Islamic republic and insulting Islam, the judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday.
"These people were not arrested for their faith. The six Bahais are accused of insulting religious sanctities and the Christian citizen of propaganda against the system," Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters.
He said the detainees' cases were under investigation, but did not reveal their identities or say when they had been arrested.
Jinous Sobhani, the former secretary of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi's rights group, is also accused of "propaganda against the system and acting against national security," Jamshidi said.
Fars news agency reported that Sobhani was arrested in mid-January for links with a Bahai organisation.
The Bahai faith was founded in Iran in 1863 but is not recognised by the government. Its followers are regarded as infidels and have suffered persecution both before and after the 1979 Islamic revolution

AFP

Iranian Regime says 12 policemen killed on Pakistani border

TEHRAN, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran's judiciary spokesman, Ali Reza Jamshidi, said on Tuesday that 12 border policemen have been killed in an ambush by rebels on the Pakistani border.
"They (the policemen) were on a mission and they were trapped in the bandits' ambush and 12 of them were killed," Jamshidi said.
The rebels fled after the attack on Sunday in the town of Saravan, located in the southeast border area of Sistan-Baluchestan province, he added.
On Monday, Iran's Students news agency (ISNA) reported "A truck which was used to feeding the border outposts with their provisions was attacked by the rebels in an ambush in the zero bordering point of Iran and Pakistan, which led to the martyrdom of some of Iran's border policemen."
The report did not say how many Iranian policemen were killed in the ambush.
Quoting an unidentified police commander, the report said, "this wicked operation which means retaliation is due to the deadly blows that the rebels had received from the border police within the last few days.
"In case invited, Iran's police is ready to help the Pakistani police to encounter and eradicate the rebels, the international bandits and the smugglers inside Pakistani territory," the unnamed police commander was quoted as saying.
An Iranian Sunni rebel group based in southeastern Iran, the Jundullah (Soldiers of God), has constantly been blamed for offense and kidnappings in southeastern Iran at the border zone with Pakistan.
The group, which is the target of Iran's border police operation, killed 16 policemen it kidnapped in southeast Iran in June.
Iran's Drug Control Headquarters (DCH) announced in November that Iran would seal all the borders of the country within two years to control drugs smuggling.
Iran is located at the crossroad of international drug smuggling from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the world's top opium producer, to Europe.

Iran Press News

Holocaust a 'big lie': Iran govt spokesman

Iran's government spokesman on Tuesday branded the Holocaust a "big lie" created to place the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel in the Middle East, the state IRNA news agency reported.
"The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world," Gholam Hossein Elham told a conference on Gaza in central Iran's religious city of Qom.
It was not the first time an Iranian official has questioned the massacre of Jews by Nazis in World War II.
Iran does not recognise Israel, and since his election in 2005 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted international condemnation by repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.
In late 2005 Ahmadinejad branded the Holocaust a "myth." His comment was followed by a conference in Tehran in 2006 that brought together Holocaust deniers and revisionists.
A mass-circulation Iranian newspaper also staged a controversial cartoon competition on the subject.
In September last year a group of Iranian Islamist students unveiled a book mocking the Holocaust and filled with anti-Semitic stereotypes and revisionist arguments.
The United Nations designated January 27 as international Holocaust memorial day in 2005, marking the date Soviet troops liberated the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland.

AFP

Clinton: Iranians must choose whether to cooperate

President Barack Obama's intent to change the direction of U.S. foreign policy gives Iran a "clear opportunity" to engage more productively on its nuclear program and other issues, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.
In her first remarks to reporters at the State Department, Clinton said Obama's first days in office have made it clear that a more open Iranian approach to the international community could benefit Iran. She said this was reflected in statements Obama made in an interview Monday with an Arab TV network.
"There is a clear opportunity for the Iranians, as the president expressed in his interview, to demonstrate some willingness to engage meaningfully with the international community," she said. "Whether or not that hand becomes less clenched is really up to them."
Obama told the Al-Arabiya news channel that he wanted to communicate to Muslims that "the Americans are not your enemy." He condemned Iran's threats to destroy Israel and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, but said "it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress."
Clinton, who criticized Obama for his willingness to speak without conditions with leaders of rogue nations like Iran during their contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, told reporters that the administration is undertaking a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of U.S. policy options toward Iran.
"There is just a lot that we are considering that I'm not prepared to discuss," she added.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari, speaking in Athens, Greece, said Tuesday that it was too early to say whether relations with the United States would improve with Obama as president.
"We will wait and see (if there is) actual change or just slogans," he said.
Clinton's comments came one day after U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the Obama administration will engage in "direct diplomacy" with Iran. Not since before the 1979 Iranian revolution are U.S. officials believed to have conducted wide-ranging direct diplomacy with Iranian officials. Rice said Iran must meet U.N. Security Council demands to suspend uranium enrichment before any talks on its nuclear program.
More broadly, Clinton said her initial round of telephone calls with world leaders has yielded positive signs.
"There's a great exhalation of breath going on around the world as people express their appreciation for the new direction that's being set and the team that's (been) put together by the president," said the former New York senator and first lady.
"In areas of the world that have felt either overlooked or not receiving appropriate attention to the problems they are experiencing, there's a welcoming of the engagement that we are promising," she said. "It's not any kind of repudiation or indictment of the past eight years so much as an excitement and an acceptance of how we are going to be doing business."
She dismissed suggestions that Obama's foreign policy team will find it difficult to work together. She said all are determined to find the best way to execute the president's foreign policy objectives.
"We have a lot of damage to repair," she said, referring to U.S. foreign relations as they stood when President George W. Bush left office Jan. 20.
Clinton said she spoke by telephone Tuesday with top Iraqi officials to make clear that there will be continuity in U.S. policy.
She said her call was intended to "reinforce our commitment to a democratic and sovereign Iraq and the importance of their provincial elections." Iraqis are scheduled to vote on Saturday in a set of elections that U.S. and Iraqi officials hope will further solidify progress toward national political reconciliation.

Ap Associated press

Baloch Freedom Fighters

Germany to Curb Trade With Iran on Criticism

Germany took measures to curb trade with Iran because of criticism from partners including the U.S. and Israel, Handelsblatt reported. Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Economy Minister Michael Glos to cease issuing guarantees for companies’ transactions with Iranian clients, the newspaper said, citing unidentified people close to industry and government. Exceptions will be made for “small” deals, Handelsblatt said. Germany, where exports to Iran rose last year, is trying to aid an eventual offer of talks between new U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration and the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the newspaper said without being more specific.

Bllomberg News

US favors “vigorous” diplomacy with Iran: envoy

The new United States ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that Washington was committed to direct, "vigorous" diplomacy with Iran over its suspect nuclear program but warned Tehran of increased pressure if it refuses to halt uranium enrichment. Susan Rice told reporters that President Barack Obama's administration looked forward to "engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct diplomacy with Iran, as well as continued collaboration and partnership with" the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany."

"We will look at what is necessary and appropriate with respect to maintaining pressure toward that goal of ending Iran's nuclear program," she added following her meeting with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to present her credentials. "Dialogue and diplomacy must go hand in hand with a very firm message from the U.S. and the international community that Iran needs to meet its obligations as defined by the Security Council and its continued refusal to do so will only cause pressure to increase," Rice added. The five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany have offered Tehran a set of economic and energy incentives in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment program which the West sees as a cover for seeking to build nuclear weapons. But Tehran is pressing on with its sensitive nuclear fuel work, insisting that its nuclear program is peaceful and solely geared toward electricity generation. The Security Council has already adopted four resolutions -- three of which included sanctions -- requiring Iran to suspend uranium enrichment.

Alarabiya

Iranians protest PMOI removal off EU terror list

Hundreds of Iranians rallied in front of the French embassy on Sunday to protest at the European Union's likely removal of Iran's exiled armed opposition from its list of terror groups. The demonstrators shouted "Death to (Nicolas) Sarkozy" and "Europe be ashamed, leave the hypocrites" -- a term Iran uses to describe its main opposition, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI). The EU is expected to strike PMOI off its list of terror groups on Monday, ending a long legal battle. "Europeans must be aware of the consequences of such a decision in relations with Iran," said Mojtaba Keshani, a mid-ranking cleric addressing the crowd. Later on Sunday, the Iranian foreign ministry also lashed out at the EU.
"The record of the actions of hypocrites (PMOI) is very serious and if the EU decides to remove them from their list of terrorist groups, it will be considered a conscious political decision," Hassan Ghashghavi, a ministry spokesman, said in a statement to the semi-official agency Ilna. "The Iranian public is waiting to see if (the Europeans) will act in the case of hypocrites selectively and adopt an attitude of double standards or if they are serious in the fight against terrorism," he added. The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance ruled last month that the EU had wrongly frozen the funds of the PMOI and violated its rights by not justifying why it was placed on the list. "The only outcome will be the worsening of ties between Iran and Europe," the cleric at the demonstration said, while acknowledging France's announcement that it had appealed against the ruling. Anti-riot police were deployed around the embassy in central Tehran and protesters also shouted "death to America" before calmly breaking off. A similar protest is expected to be held outside the British embassy on Monday, a demonstrator said. Formed in the 1960s in opposition to the rule of the U.S.-backed shah, the PMOI joined in the 1979 Islamic revolution but then took up arms against the new clerical regime. It killed several of Iran's new leaders in the first years after the revolution and backed the then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980-1988 war with Iran. But major attacks had ceased by the early 1990s. The group has since 2002 tried to have itself removed from the EU list of terror organizations which are subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. It is also designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization.

Alarabiya

Mohammad Sadegh Kaboudvand Awarded Hellman/Hammett Grant

(New York) - Human Rights Watch today announced a Hellman/Hammett grant, awarded to persecuted writers, for the Iranian human rights activist Mohammad Sadegh Kaboudvand. He is serving a 10-year prison term in Iran for his writings and is in a critical medical condition in urgent need of care.
Each year, Human Rights Watch awards Hellman/Hammett grants to writers punished by their governments for expressing opposition views, criticizing government officials or actions, or writing about topics that the government does not want reported. A special emergency grant is awarded to writers who need to flee for their safety or need immediate medical treatment for injury caused by torture, assault or harsh prison conditions.
"Kaboudvand's work as a human rights defender and journalist promoting critically needed reform in Iran has landed him in prison with little access to urgently needed medical care," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "His experience is harsh testimony to the plight of journalists, dissidents and other peaceful critics in Iran today."
Kaboudvand is a prominent human rights defender, journalist, and founder in 2005 of a group that seeks to protect the rights of Iranian Kurds, the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK). The group grew to include 200 local reporters throughout the Iranian Kurdish region, allowing it to provide detailed and timely reports from throughout the region, published in the now-banned newspaper Payam-e Mardom (Message of the People) for which Kaboudvand was the managing director and editor.
Through his human rights and journalism work, Kaboudvand was instrumental in creating a civil society network for Kurdish youth and activists. He is also the author of three books, Nimeh-ye Digar ("The Other Half," a book on women's rights), Barzakh-e Democracy ("The Stuggle for Democracy"), and Jonbesh-e Ejtemaii ("Social Movements").
Intelligence agents arrested Kaboudvand on July 1, 2007 and then searched his home and possessions, his lawyers said. The agents took him to ward 209 of Evin Prison, under the control of the Intelligence Ministry and used to detain political prisoners. They held him without charge in solitary confinement for nearly six months.
In May 2008, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Kaboudvand to 10 years in prison for "acting against national security by establishing the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan, widespread propaganda against the system by disseminating news, opposing Islamic penal laws by publicizing punishments such as stoning and executions, and advocating on behalf of political prisoners." In October 2008, Branch 54 of the Tehran Appeals Court upheld his sentence.
The Iranian government relies on these and other provisions of its "security laws" to imprison writers, intellectuals, and human rights defenders for expressing critical views, or for trying to meet peacefully. In 2008, Human Rights Watch issued a report about how Iran's security laws are used to clamp down on independent activism (http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/01/06/you-can-detain-anyone-anything-0 ).
Kaboudvand's wife and three children last heard from him on December 16. On December 17, Kaboudvand, whose parents both died of heart attacks, suffered a heart attack in prison, said his lawyers. He had already been in fragile health because of a previous heart attack, high blood pressure, a kidney infection, and a prostate condition. According to his lawyers, the authorities have rejected requests from prison doctors to allow him access to specialists for medical care that is not available in the prison medical center.
Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to grant Kaboudvand the medical care he needs to treat his life-threatening conditions immediately and to end his unjust confinement. Human Rights Watch reiterated its calls on the government to repeal the vague and arbitrary provisions of its penal code used to silence critics and activists who seek to exercise their rights to free expression and assembly.
Human Rights Watch started the Hellman/Hammett program in 1990. Since then, it has awarded grants to more than 600 writers from 91 countries. It awards the grants every year after a selection committee composed of authors, editors, and journalists who have a longstanding interest in free expression issues review nominations.
Human Rights Watch

Uranium nations urged not to sell to Iran

LONDON (Reuters) - Western powers believe Iran is running short of raw uranium for its nuclear program and are urging producer nations not to sell to Tehran, The Times reported Saturday. The British newspaper said Britain's Foreign Office late last year ordered its diplomats in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Brazil -- all major uranium producers -- to lobby their governments on the issue. "Countries including Britain, the U.S., France and Germany have started intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade major uranium producers from selling to Iran," the newspaper said.The Western governments accuse Tehran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program. Iran denies the accusation and says it only wants nuclear power in order to generate electricity.The enriched uranium required for use in nuclear reactors or weapons is produced in centrifuges that spin uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) at high speeds. The UF6 is derived in a chemical reaction from "yellow cake," a concentrate obtained from mined uranium ore.The vice president of Kazakhstan's state atomic company told Reuters in an interview in November that the former Soviet republic planned to increase uranium production to nearly 12,000 tonnes this year from around 8,600 tonnes in 2008.The World Nuclear Association lists the top 10 uranium mining nations in 2007 as Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Niger, Namibia, Uzbekistan, the United States, Ukraine and China. Brazil was 13th.The Times said the Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting and smuggling are rife, was another potential source of supply that troubles Western nations and the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Washington Post

Iran's First Lady Engages in International Politics!

Like all the Islamic Republic's first ladies, the wife of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has been something of a phantom, with very occasional public appearances and no discernible political role. Yet recently Azam al-Sadat Farahi has bucked that trend. She has publicly called on Egypt's first lady to use her influence to secure help for the people of Gaza. In a letter to Suzanne Mubarak, published by Iranian news agencies, Farahi wrote that "witnessing the dead bodies of women and children is painful and even worse is that some governments in Arab and Islamic countries do not support Gaza's oppressed people."She then adds: "You could ask your husband and his administration to prevent the intensification of the humanitarian catastrophe by opening the way for aiding Palestine's people."The move has surprised many Iranians and it has been widely discussed on Farsi forums and blogs. Here's a selection of comments from an Iranian news aggregator: One refers to Ahmadinejad's wife black chador: "the little bit of her nose that has not been covered by her chador looks beautiful."Another suggests that Egypt's first lady should reply: "She should write back to Ahmadinejad's wife and say 'behave like the wife of Imam Hassan did.' I think it was his eighth wife who killed him."One writes: "What do you expect from someone who sleeps next to Ahmadinejad?!"And another: "They give money for killing Mubarak, then they write a letter." (A group of radical Iranian students has offered a .5 million reward for the execution of Mubarak.)According to the Shahab news agency, Farahi sent her letter to Suzanne Mubarak about two weeks after Iran's former first lady, the wife of Mohammad Khatami, sent a letter to the wife of the king of Qatar calling on all governments and people to support the Palestinian people.Perhaps Khatami's wife has inspired the first lady? Or is this a public expression of a personal rivalry?

Golnaz Esfandiari
January 22, 2009

Payvand

A possible minor offender among yesterday executions

Iran Human Rights, January 22: One of the 10 men executed in Tehran’s Evin prison yesterday, was a 21 years old man who was convicted of a murder 4 years ago, according to the government newspaper Iran.
According to the report, Molla Gol Hassan (21 years old, an Afghan citizen) was convicted of murdering Fakhreddin in December 2004, making Hassan 17 years old at that time.
If Hassan’s age and date of alleged offence is correctly stated by Iran newspaper, he was a minor at the time of committing the alleged offence, and he would be the first minor offender to be executed in 2009.
Iran Human Rights is investigating the facts about Molla Gol Hassan’s age at the time of the offence.
Iran has ratified UN’s convention of children’s right which bans death penalty for the offences committed at under 18 years of age.
However, at least 7 minor offenders were executed in Iran in 2008

Iran Press News

Appeasement is a wrong policy

Until a few weeks ago, the general assumption in Washington was that the new Obama administration would take its time before seeking direct talks with Iran. The idea was that the US should wait until after Iran's presidential election in June. The prospect of the United States trying to appease Iran would be used by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a vindication of his tough line and thus a boost to his chances of re-election.
However, at last week's Senate hearing, the new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that the Obama administration would not wait until after the Iranian presidential election. From Clinton's testimony it was clear that President Barack Obama wants to tackle the Iranian problem with utmost urgency.
With the exception of a few hardliners, the idea of appeasing the Islamic Republic through negotiations enjoys widespread support in the policymaking microcosm in Washington. This new wave of 'negotiationism', to coin a phrase, is based on a mixture of false assumptions and bad faith.
The first false assumption is that Iran launched its nuclear programme merely to gain a bargaining chip for future deals with the US and would switch it off once a process of reconciliation is in place. This was precisely the same assumption that the Europeans made in 2004 when President Mohammad Khatami ordered a suspension of uranium enrichment as a show of goodwill towards them. That decision was reversed by Ahmadinejad soon after he was sworn in, and uranium enrichment was resumed at a faster pace.
Since then, Ahmadinejad has elevated the nuclear programme to the level of a grand national strategy that would not be abandoned under any circumstances. There is a great deal of evidence that Ahmadinejad is no longer prepared even to consider the kind of concessions offered by Khatami.
- According to official estimates in Tehran, allocations for the nuclear programme have risen by almost 40 per cent.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that all of Iran's known nuclear sites remain in full operation.
- The IAEA also reports that it has no access to a number of other industrial sites in Iran that may well be linked to the nuclear programme. In other words, we know what we don't know but don't know what we don't know.
The negotiationists forget that the European Union trio of Britain, Germany and France, have been negotiating with the Islamic Republic on this issue for almost a decade. During his term as British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw visited Tehran more than any other capital outside Europe. Javier Solana, the EU's chief foreign policy official, has spent more time talking to envoys from Tehran than diplomats from any other nation. Tehran has also been engaged in negotiations with the five permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council plus Germany.
Not only do they ignore the history of negotiations with Tehran, the appeasers also refuse to state clearly what it is that should be negotiated. In other words, they put process in place of policy. Talking about what to do becomes a substitute for doing what needs to be done. Iran, of course, would love to talk to anybody for as long as it is not required to do anything it does not wish to do.
In the 1990s we termed the technique "the Shamir method" after the then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir. Forced by the first Bush administration to enter peace talks with the Arabs, Shamir discovered one of the quirks of Western democracies: their pathological faith in negotiations. Western public opinion admires those who negotiate even though the process may lead to nothing tangible. Thus perceived, negotiations become a fascinating game both to play and to watch.
You would have to have talks about talks before proceeding to establish an agenda. Once this is done, you would still need weeks, if not months and years, of negotiating which item should be tackled in what order. At times, the negotiations break down. So, you will have to negotiate about resuming the process. To do that you would need a "road map", taking you from the point of breakdown to that of resumption. Needless to say you would need intermediaries, practising their talent at "shuttle diplomacy."
If things get out of control and you are forced to show something tangible, you might have to attach your initials to an interim agreement. This could be a long and vague document designed to obfuscate rather than clarify, a method of drowning the fish in water. To get cheers from the party of appeasement, you might have to make "goodwill gestures", a technique for dancing around the issue. The negotiationists do not say what it is that one should negotiate about with Ahmadinejad.
More than four years ago, the IAEA discovered that the Islamic Republic had been violating the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) for almost 18 years. Such a violation should have led to sanctions spelled out in the NPT itself. Instead, the IAEA decided to "negotiate" to prevent future violations. When those negotiations failed, the matter was taken to the UN Security Council which passed three resolutions demanding that Iran stop uranium enrichment.
The Islamic Republic has ignored those resolutions and repeatedly stated that it would never abide by them. In other words, Iran is ready to negotiate, provided the talks are about everything except the one thing that could be the object of credible negotiations.
The appeasers are indirectly calling on the UN Security Council to drop its one demand and enter into "unconditional negotiations" with the Islamic Republic. This means surrendering to Tehran, and may or may not be a good option.
Appeasers should shed their lexicon of obfuscation and admit that they are recommending unconditional surrender to Iran. Once they do that, they may have a stronger point. They would be able to say that, since the major democracies have no stomach for a fight with a "rogue regime", it is better to surrender to it in the hope that it moderates its temperament.
Amir Taheri is an Iranian writer, based in Europe

Gulf news

World powers to meet to discuss Iran next month

LONDON : Representatives of six major powers are expected to discuss Iran's nuclear program next month, their first meeting since the new U.S. administration took office, Russia's ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday.
"Political directors are scheduled to meet at the beginning of February in Berlin. That will be the first meeting this year. They will brainstorm the opportunities of further action with regard to this issue," Yuri Fedotov told reporters.
Western countries fear that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic program. Iran says it only wants to master nuclear technology to generate electricity to meet its growing power needs.
The group of six countries -- Russia, the United States, China, Germany, Britain and France -- have obtained several rounds of U.N. sanctions against Tehran while pushing for further talks.
French daily Le Monde reported this week that France and Britain were spearheading an effort within the European Union to pass new sanctions, but with limited success.
New U.S. President Barack Obama has talked of incentives, as well as tougher sanctions if Tehran does not halt its nuclear work. He has said he is ready to deal directly with Iran, something his predecessor largely rejected.
A spokeswoman in the German Foreign Ministry said she could not confirm a date for a meeting, but said the six political directors had regular meetings to discuss the Iran issue

Reuters

10 people were hanged in Tehran's Evin prison today, Jan. 21

Iran Human Rights, January 21: Ten men were hanged in Tehran’s Evin prison early this morning reported the Iranian state run enws agency ISCA news.
According to Fars news agency, execution of one man was postponed for one month, since the family of the man he was convicted of murdering, were not present. He watched hanging of the other 10 men before being taken to his cell, said the report.
According to a later report by ISCAnews, those executed today were identified as:
Mehdi (25), Firouz (27), Yadollah (33), Safar Ali (also named Kianoosh) (26), unidentified person convicted of murdering a man called Bakhtiyar, Behrooz (age not given, convicted of a murder in 1992), Majid (age not given), Arash (age not given), Safi (age not given), Wasim (age not given).
Iran Human Rights will come back with more details about today’s executions in Tehran.
Iran Press News

Mitsubishi unveils first mass-market electric car from a major car maker

Mitsubishi has unveiled the first mass-market electric car from a mainstream car maker.
Slightly bigger than the Smart ForTwo but with a similar design, the i-MiEV — which goes on sale in the UK later this year — is based on the i, Mitsubishi's existing city car. With room for four adults, it has a top speed of 87mph and produces the equivalent of 57 horsepower. Its lithium-ion battery has a range of 100 miles and can be charged from flat to 80% in 20 minutes using Mitsubishi's bespoke high-powered charger; otherwise, a normal mains electricity socket will charge the battery from flat to full in six hours. Mitsubishi estimates that the car can travel 10,000 miles on £45 of electricity at current UK domestic prices.
Jim Tyrrell, managing director of Mitsubishi, said: "The i-MiEV is a great example of Mitsubishi's ability to innovate and bring the latest technology to market. We have a city car to suit real-world users with its ease of use, great environmental credentials and very low running costs."
Around 200 cars will be available in the UK at first, with final costs yet to be determined. A Mitsubishi spokesperson the cars might not be sold outright, but be leased at a cost of around £750 a month.
Kieren Puffett, editor of car website Parkers.co.uk who took the i-MiEV for a test drive today, said the car was ideal for urban areas. "Through the town, the car is particularly torquey, it can get away from traffic lights and across roundabouts really quite quickly. That's quite a nice benefit for town driving."
He added: "Because it's based on an existing city car, the characteristics are fairly familiar. If someone got in, I don't think they'd notice anything massively adrift."
Puffett had some reservations, however, about Mitsubishi's claims on the car's range. "I deliberately drove the car with headlights, heater and the radio on. I did about 50 minutes of driving and covered about 22 miles — and I discharged the battery to half way from full."
Robert Evans, chief executive of Cenex, a government-backed agency that is leading the introduction of low-carbon road transport to the UK, welcomed the i-MiEV. He said that momentum towards the increased electrification of transport had been building in the UK ever since the publication of a report by Julia King, vice chancellor of Aston University and a former director of advanced engineering at Rolls-Royce. Working with economist Nicholas Stern, King reviewed the vehicle and fuel technologies which could help to decarbonise road transport in the next 25 years. They identified electric cars as a major feature of the future of personal transport.
"If progress is to be maintained, the public needs to be convinced that electric vehicles are a practical proposition that are capable of fulfilling their transport needs," said Evans. "The UK launch of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV — capable of carrying four passengers and with a range of 100 miles — marks an important step in this process.''
Mitsubishi has been developing its electric vehicle technology since 1995, most notably producing in-wheel electric motors that were showcased in an all-electric Lancer Evolution rally car in 2005 though Tyrrell said that specific technology was some way from market yet. This allows each wheel to be driven independently by its own motor. "In-wheel technology lends itself very well to 4-wheel drive performance but is not cost-effective when considering mass-market applications."
Lance Bradley, sales director at Mitsubishi, said: "The i-MiEV is just one of Mitsubishi's environmental initiatives to be unveiled this year. In February, we will launch the Colt ClearTec which uses stop-start technology to radically reduce CO2 emissions. ClearTec technology will be rolled out across most vehicles in the Mitsubishi range within the next three years."
Tyrrell said that as car makers bring out their electric cars he and others were now waiting for a "clear strategic direction and financial support from central government" on ways to make electric cars more attractive to consumers. This could perhaps include giving local authorities clearer direction to start initiatives such as free parking or exemption from certain taxes for electric cars.

The Guardian

Iran busts another CIA network

TEHRAN - Iran has broken up a CIA-backed network that sought to carry out a “soft revolution” in Iran through people-to-people contacts.
The “soft revolution” plan is based in Dubai and is similar to a U.S. plan that targeted the Soviet Union in 1959, the director of the counterespionage department of the Intelligence Ministry told reporters at a press conference here on Monday. He said the CIA was seeking to implement the plan under the cover of scientific and cultural contacts between Iranian and U.S. nationals. Unfortunately, some Iranian nationals, especially cultural and scientific figures, were deceived through such activities, he added. “The U.S. intelligence agency was seeking to (repeat) its experiences of color revolutions through such public contacts with influential persons and elites.” The CIA tried to attain its goals by taking advantage of people-to-people contacts, joint studies, efforts to share scientific experiences, and other similar projects, he added. The soft revolution plan was carried out through “NGOs, union protests, non-violent demonstrations, civil disobedience… and (efforts to) foment ethnic strife” all across Iran, the official stated. Four of the people who led the network inside Iran were actively and intentionally cooperating with CIA agents, he noted. These four persons were put on trial, some others were pardoned, and some others were acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence, he explained. These four persons confessed and videotapes of parts of their confessions will be released soon, he noted. He only named two of the persons, the brothers Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamyar Alaei. The Intelligence Ministry official said that $32 million of the $75 million allocated by the U.S. Congress to destabilize Iran was spent on this project. The CIA used institutions such as the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Soros Foundation, AIPAC, and charity organizations and sought the help of William Burns and other people in the United States and agents in the Azerbaijan Republic, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. He stated that the CIA enlisted scientists, physicians, university professors, clergymen, artists, athletes, and dress designers for its plot. He went on to say that these people were invited to the United States in groups of 10-15 people, with visas issued for them in Dubai in the shortest possible time, and according to their professions, they participated in scientific seminars and toured various states, and when they returned home they were asked to write “analyses” of the situation inside Iran. The CIA was actively seeking to recruit more people for the network, who also would have been invited to visit the United States, he added. These persons were ordered to put pressure on the government to change its policy and to sow discord between the government and the people, he explained. The Intelligence Ministry found out about the secret plan from the very beginning and “even allowed the operation to be conducted to a (certain level) so that we could inform talented people with full confidence that they should not be deceived by such scientific centers,” he stated. The Iranian Intelligence Ministry countered the plot by “infiltrating” the network and even derailed it from its path by providing false information, but the CIA eventually discovered the ruse, he explained.

------ Advice for Obama The official advised the incoming U.S. administration to avoid repeating the previous “failed” policies toward Iran. He made the remarks one day before Barack Obama is officially inaugurated as the next U.S. president. The Intelligence Ministry official said the U.S. is discrediting its scientific and charity organizations by allowing the CIA to use them as cover for its activities. “It is not in the interests of scientific and political institutions (to allow themselves) to be used by the CIA for its hidden agenda.” Employing such organizations to conduct spy activities will create skepticism about them that will be very difficult to eliminate, he noted.

Iranian Regime News Agency Tehran Times

Barack Obama sworn in as President of the United States

Obama sworn in as first black U.S. president

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama was sworn in on Tuesday as the first black U.S. president, taking power to lead anxious Americans through a severe economic recession and two wars aboard.

Reuters

Obama's historic moment arrives

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A deafening roar erupted among the crowd of hundreds of thousands as President-elect Barack Obama was introduced at the Capitol before his swearing-in Tuesday.

Obama, who will be sworn in using the same Bible that was used in Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, greeted congressional leaders on a stage stretching across the front of the Capitol. He gave Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, a hug after being introduced.
Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren delivered the invocation, calling for the nation to put its differences aside, and applauding what he called "a hinge-point in history."
"We know today that [the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.] and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven," he said in his prayer.
Aretha Franlkin sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" following the prayer.
After winning the presidency on a message of hope, Obama will deliver a sober inaugural address that lays out the problems facing the country, Obama aides said.
"The speech balances a very serious and sober tone with a dose of hope and inspiration that we can get through this," said one presidential transition aide, who outlined the address on the condition of anonymity.
Hundreds of thousands of people were on the National Mall -- dancing, singing and vigorously shaking flags -- in anticipation of Tuesday's swearing-in of Obama as the nation's 44th president.
"This is America happening," said Evadey Minott of Brooklyn, New York. "It was prophesized by King that we would have a day when everyone would come together. This is that day. I am excited. I am joyful. It brings tears to my eyes."
Minott was at Lafayette Square near the White House, where Obama and his wife, Michelle, had coffee with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush before heading to Capitol Hill.
Obama arrived at the Capitol, and cheers erupted as his image appeared on large television screens lined up on the Mall.
The Obamas attended a prayer service earlier at St. John's Episcopal Church to kick off the day of events surrounding Obama's inauguration. Watch the Bushes greet the Obamas »
As many as 2 million people are expected to crowd into the area between the Capitol, the White House and the Lincoln Memorial as Obama takes the oath of office at noon ET.
Gerrard Coles of Norwalk, Connecticut, had staked out a position in front of St. John's.
"Everyone's down here -- hopefully to catch a glimpse of Barack, just for a split second," he said. "I think this was a beautiful thing. It's something I always wanted to do. It's not every day that you get to be a part of history. Rather than just watch it on TV, you actually get to partake in it and you have a story to tell your kids."
Nine-year-old Laura Bruggerman also hoped to catch a glimpse of the soon-to-be president. She waited with her mother, Wendy, and father, Jeff, of Bethesda, Maryland, amid an affable crowd that tried to let shorter onlookers and children to the front for better views.
"I want to see Obama. I think that would be really cool. I could tell all of my friends that I got to see him," the youngster said.
Some spectators will be more than a mile from the swearing-in ceremony, watching on giant TV screens erected along the National Mall.The historic event has drawn myriad celebrities and politicians, including actors Dustin Hoffman and Denzel Washington, director Steven Spielberg and former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Al Gore and Walter Mondale.
Former Presidents Clinton, Carter and George H.W. Bush also were in attendance. Clinton and Bush shared an embrace.
Oprah Winfrey and actor Samuel L. Jackson sat on the same row. Winfrey hugged Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy and later said of the inauguration, "It's behind the dream. We're just here feeling it with the throngs of people. It's amazing grace personified."
Thousands arrived before daylight Tuesday in standing-room-only trains. They carried blankets and wore Obama scarves to ward off the wind chills of minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Suburban Washington train stations were jammed. A four-story parking deck at the Springfield, Virginia, station was filled at 5 a.m. Trains rolling into the stop about 15 miles south of the Capitol had no room for the hundreds on the platform.
The Metro rail system's Red Line was shut down about 9 a.m. after a pedestrian was hit by a train, further snarling the already overloaded train service, fire officials said.
On Monday night, visitors wandered around the Mall, snapping pictures and shooting video of the Capitol and monuments.
The scene around Lafayette Square was almost chaotic, with cars turning around in the street as they were confronted with barriers to closed-off areas and clots of pedestrians crossing streets against the light.
The visitors' excitement rubbed off on some of the jaded locals, one of whom said D.C. residents were "cynical of government."
"The energy on the streets is something I've never seen before," said Nancy Wigal, a 45-year-old technical writer who lives in the Mount Vernon Square area. "People are walking lighter, standing taller and are reaching out to one another. It feels like hope. It feels like shared happiness."
The morning began at 4 a.m. for many as those without tickets made a land grab on the Mall, rushing to stake out positions for the ceremony.
After Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden take their oaths of office on the western front of the Capitol, Obama will deliver his inaugural address, which Obama aides say will emphasize that America is entering a new era of responsibility.
In the approximately 20-minute speech, Obama will say America has been hurt by a "me-first" mentality that contributed to the current economic crisis, aides say, and he will call on individuals -- as well as corporations and businesses -- to take responsibility for their actions.After a formal farewell to President George W. Bush and lunch with congressional leaders, Obama will head up Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, where he and his family will watch the inauguration parade from a reviewing stand. The parade begins at 3:45 p.m. ET. Watch the final preparations for Inauguration Day »
The new president and first lady will then close the night by attending 10 official inaugural balls.
Officials say they really don't know how many will show up, but estimates range from 1 million to 2 million.
Organizers have said about 280,000 people can fit into the secure zones around the Capitol and roughly 300,000 into the area around the parade. A mere 28,000 seats are available on Capitol grounds. Watch how Washington has become the "it" place »
Those with tickets to the inauguration will undergo tight screening, including passing through magnetometers, when they enter the seating area in front of the Capitol.
Spectators without tickets will be routed to the Mall, which for the first time will be open from end to end for an inauguration. Security there will be less stringent.
Jeri Pickett of Rochester, New York, was one of the few who got a ticket.
"I'd just like to see the inspiration of America," said Pickett, when asked what he was expecting from Inauguration Day. "There's so much warmth here now, and excitement -- rejuvenation."
Transportation officials say they will run subway trains on rush-hour schedules starting at 4 a.m. as well as extra buses. The Metro expects more than 1 million riders.
Inauguration events have already drawn record crowds. A crowd attending an inauguration concert Sunday was estimated between 300,000 and 400,000 and stretched from the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Washington Monument, which stands at the midpoint of the Mall. Watch iReporter who lives near the Mall describe the atmosphere »
While Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan said Monday there was "no credible threat" to the inauguration events, a security cordon has been put in place around the city's core, turning much of downtown Washington into a pedestrian-only zone.
In addition to Secret Service, the security effort will involve 8,000 police officers from the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions, 10,000 National Guard troops, about 1,000 FBI personnel, and hundreds of others from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Park Service and U.S. Capitol Police.
Another 20,000 members of the National Guard are ready to respond if there is an emergency, according to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff

CNN

Crowds pack frigid Mall for Obama's inauguration

WASHINGTON – Braving frigid temperatures, an exuberant crowd of hundreds of thousands packed the National Mall on Tuesday to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as America's first black president. He grasps the reins of power in a high-noon ceremony amid grave economic worries and high expectations.
It was the first change of administrations since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Crowds filled the National Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol for a glimpse of the proceedings and, in the words of many, simply "to be here." Washington's subway system was jammed and two downtown stations were closed when a woman was struck by a subway train.
Two years after beginning his improbable quest as a little-known, first-term Illinois senator with a foreign-sounding name, Obama moves into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth youngest president, at 47, and the first African-American, a barrier-breaking achievement believed impossible by generations of minorities.
Around the world, Obama's election electrified millions with the hope that America will be more embracing, more open to change.
The dawn of the new Democratic era — with Obama allies in charge of both houses of Congress — ends eight years of Republican control of the White House by George W. Bush. He leaves Washington as one of the nation's most unpopular and divisive presidents, the architect of two unfinished wars and the man in charge at a time of economic calamity that swept away many Americans' jobs, savings and homes.
Bush — following tradition — left a note for Obama in the top drawer of his desk in the Oval Office.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said the theme of the message — which Bush wrote on Monday — was similar to what he has said since election night: that Obama is about to begin a "fabulous new chapter" in the United States, and that he wishes him well.
The unfinished business of the Bush administration thrusts an enormous burden onto the new administration, though polls show Americans are confident Obama is on track to succeed. He has cautioned that improvements will take time and that things will get worse before they get better.
Culminating four days of celebration, the nation's 56th inauguration day began for Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden with a traditional morning worship service at St. John's Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Park from the White House. Bells pealed from the historic church's tower as Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived five minutes behind schedule.
The festivities won't end until well after midnight, with dancing and partying at 10 inaugural balls.
By custom, Obama and his wife, and Biden and his wife, Jill, went directly from church to the White House for coffee with Bush and his wife, Laura. Michelle Obama brought a gift for the outgoing first lady in a white box decorated with a red ribbon.
Shortly before 11 a.m., Obama and Bush climbed into a heavily armored Cadillac limousine to share a ride to the Capitol for the transfer of power, an event flashed around the world in television and radio broadcasts, podcasts and Internet streaming. On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back, leaving him in a wheelchair for the inauguration.
Just before noon, Obama steps forward on the West Front of the Capitol to lay his left hand on the same Bible that President Abraham Lincoln used at his first inauguration in 1861. The 35-word oath of office, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, has been uttered by every president since George Washington. Obama was one of 22 Democratic senators to vote against Roberts' confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2005.
The son of a white, Kansas-born mother and a black, Kenya-born father, Obama decided to use his full name in the swearing-in ceremony.
The Constitution says the clock — not the pomp, ceremony and oaths — signals the transfer of the office from the old president to the new one.
The 20th Amendment to the Constitution specifies that the terms of office of the president and vice president "shall end at noon on the 20th day of January ... and the terms of their successors shall then begin."
To the dismay of liberals, Obama invited conservative evangelical pastor Rick Warren — an opponent of gay rights — to give the inaugural invocation.
About a dozen members of Obama's Cabinet and top appointees were ready for Senate confirmation Tuesday, provided no objections were raised. But Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas indicated he would block a move to immediately confirm Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Still, she is expected to be approved in a roll call vote Wednesday.
More than 10,000 people from all 50 states — including bands and military units — were assembled to follow Obama and Biden from the Capitol on the 1.5-mile inaugural parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue, concluding at a bulletproof reviewing stand in front of the White House. Security was unprecedented. Most bridges into Washington and about 3.5 square miles of downtown were closed.
Among the VIPs at the Capitol was pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the hero of last week's US Airways crash into the Hudson River. All the media-shy Sullenberger would say is "I'm not allowed to say anything." Boxing legend Muhammad Ali was on the inaugural platform along with Hollywood celebrities.
Obama's inauguration represents a time of renewal and optimism for a nation gripped by fear and anxiety. Stark numbers tell the story of an economic debacle unrivaled since the 1930s:
_Eleven million people have lost their jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, a 16-year high.
_One in 10 U.S. homeowners is delinquent on mortgage payments or in arrears.
_The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 33.8 percent in 2008, the worst decline since 1931, and stocks lost $10 trillion in value between October 2007 and November 2008.
Obama and congressional Democrats are working on an $825 billion economic recovery bill that would provide an enormous infusion of public spending and tax cuts. Obama also will have at his disposal the remaining $350 billion in the federal financial bailout fund. His goal is to save or create 3 million jobs and put banks back in the job of lending to customers.
In an appeal for bipartisanship, Obama honored defeated Republican presidential rival John McCain at a dinner Monday night. "There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," Obama said.
Young and untested, Obama is a man of enormous confidence and electrifying oratorical skills. Hopes for Obama are extremely high, suggesting that Americans are willing to give him a long honeymoon to strengthen the economy and lift the financial gloom.
On Wednesday, his first working day in office, Obama is expected to redeem his campaign promise to begin the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq under a 16-month timetable. Aides said he would summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Oval Office and order that the pullout commence.

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Associated Press Writers Alan Fram, Donna Cassata, Gillian Gaynair, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Kevin Freking, Ed Tobias, Ben Evans, Seth Borenstein and H. Josef Hebert contributed to this report

Ap Associated Press