Russia to sign nuclear fuel deal with Iran: report
(AFP)
10 February 2005
MOSCOW - The Russian atomic energy agency said on Thursday it would sign a key agreement with Iran on the return of nuclear fuel later this month that would complete Moscow’s construction of the Islamic state’s first nuclear power plant.
The ITAR-TASS news agency quoted the agency’s spokesman Nikolai Shingaryov as saying that the elusive agreement, which has been delayed for over a year, would be signed during atomic energy chief Alexander Rumyantsev visit’s to Iran scheduled for February 25-27.
“We plan to sign, in Tehran, an additional protocol on the return of spent nuclear fuel to Russia,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.
The fuel’s return has remained the key impediment to the 800 million dollar Bushehr project.
Russia and the West both fear that Iran could reprocess the spent fuel delivered from Russia by upgrading it through centrifuges to either make a weak “dirty bomb” or an actual nuclear weapon.
Tehran has in the past used various arguments to avoid signing the agreement. It has said the material was too volatile and dangerous to transport back to Russia and also that Moscow was charging too much for the fuel itself.
The United States and Israel had jointly launched an international campaign against Russia’s Bushehr project but Moscow has countered that it would make sure the plant remained harmless to protect its own security interests.
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U.S. Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Blames Syria, Iran For The Unexpected Ferocity Of Iraq Insurgency
WASHINGTON - The United States said last week it has no plans to launch a military attack on Syria. But Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Sunday blamed Iran and Syria for the unexpected ferocity of the Iraq insurgency.
"We're not looking to end this [Syrian] behavior with another war," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 3. "It's not our policy to destabilize Syria. It shouldn't be their policy to destabilize Iraq, or Lebanon for that matter."
It was the highest level assertion by the Pentagon that the military did not intend to attack Damascus.
Nevertheless, the Pentagon has determined that Syria has been used as a base to finance and supply the insurgency war in Iraq, Middle East Newsline reported. Officials said Syria has been the source of at least 1,000 Islamic volunteers recruited by the former Saddam Hussein regime and Al Qaida.
"Syria has not been helpful," Rumsfeld said on Feb. 6. "There is no doubt that the Baathists are located in Syria, from Iraq."
"No one predicted the level of the insurgency as it is today," Rumsfeld said "Partly it's a function of money. Partly it's a function of what the Syrians and the Iranians are doing."
Rumsfeld said that Syrian behavior would help determine the future of U.S. deployment in Iraq. He said Syria continues to withhold millions of dollars in Iraqi assets from the former Saddam Hussein regime.
In his State of the Union address, President George Bush discussed Syrian assistance to the Iraqi insurgency. Bush also condemned Damascus for its support of groups deemed by the State Department as terrorists.
But Pentagon officials said this would not translate into a U.S. war against Syria, particularly in 2005. Officials said Syria, under pressure from Washington, has helped stop insurgency attacks from its territory on U.S. outposts along the western Iraqi border.
But Brig. Gen. Douglas Raaberg, deputy director of operations for U.S. Central Command, told a briefing in Qatar on Feb. 3 that Syria was continuing to allow insurgents to enter Iraq. He said Iran was also allowing insurgents to cross the eastern border with Iraq.
"We clearly see former regime elements and insurgents from Syria coming to Iraq and we have also told the Iranian government that we will not tolerate meddling in Iraq's affairs," Raaberg said. "The desert is vast.They don't just travel by the asphalt road."
Officials said the Pentagon has urged the Bush administration to approve a policy of hot pursuit of insurgents from Iraq into Syria. But they said the Pentagon has not proposed a fullscale war against Damascus.
Officials said the U.S. military would focus on force protection and the halt in the flow of insurgents along the Iraqi-Syrian border
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US intelligence on Iran ineffective, say experts
11.02.05
WASHINGTON - United States intelligence is unlikely to know much about Iran's contentious nuclear programme and could be vulnerable to manipulation for political ends, former intelligence officers and other experts say.
Amid an escalating war of words between Washington and Tehran, the experts say they doubt the CIA has been able to recruit agents with access to the small circle of clerics who control the Islamic Republic's national security policy.
Serious doubts also surround the effectiveness of an expanded intelligence role for the Pentagon, which former intelligence officials say is preparing covert military forays to look for evidence near suspected weapons facilities.
"I will be highly remarkably surprised if the United States has [intelligence] assets in the organs of power," said Ray Takeyh, an Iran expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "They don't even know who the second-tier Revolutionary Guards are."
Iran, in a renewed challenge to US and European efforts to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear bomb, vowed yesterday that it would never give up its nuclear programme.
President Mohammad Khatami also warned of "massive" consequences if it was treated unfairly over its nuclear programme, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes only and Washington believes is a cover for producing a bomb.
In Washington, President George W. Bush said a nuclear-armed Iran would be "a very destabilising force in the world" and urged the West to work together to stop this happening.
Doubts about US intelligence on Iran have arisen amid talk of possible military strikes by the US or Israel against suspected nuclear weapons facilities.
Former chief weapons inspector David Kay warned that the Bush Administration was again relying on evidence from dissidents, as it did in prewar Iraq.
"The tendency is to force the intelligence to support the political argument," Kay said in a CNN interview yesterday.
"We're talking about military action against Iran and we don't have a national intelligence estimate that shows what we do know, what we don't know and the basis for what we think we know."
"If US intelligence was bad in Iraq, and it was atrocious, it's probably going to be worse vis-a-vis Iran," said Richard Russell, a former CIA analyst who teaches at the National Defence University.
- REUTERS
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Austrian Firm Sells 800 (sniper) Rifles to Iran
VIENNA, Austria - Iran has contracted to buy hundreds of high-powered rifles from an Austrian firm, the company's owner said Wednesday. The sale drew an indirect rebuke from the United States, but Austrian government ministries said no laws were broken.
Wolfgang Fuerlinger, head of Steyr Mannlicher GmbH, confirmed the deal between his company and Iranian authorities and said U.S. Embassy officials had expressed concerns the arms could make their way to Iraq for use against American troops.
He said he could not confirm Austrian media reports that part of the order - 800 long-range semiautomatic rifles that can penetrate thick metal, along with high-tech snipers' scopes - was flown to Iran last month.
The United States has strict embargoes in place against Iran on sales of weapons or technology or materials that could be used to make weapons.
Steyr .50 HS sniper rifle (Austria)
http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn64-e.htm
Steyr .50HS heavy sniper rifle, with folded bipod
Caliber: .50BMG (12.7x99mm) or .460Steyr
Operation: manually operated rotating bolt action
Barrel: 833 mm (33")
Weight: 12.4 kg
Length: 1370 mm (54")
Feed Mechanism: single shot, no magazine
The Steyr .50 HS is the most recent development of the famous Austrian arms manufacturer, the Steyr Mannlicher Gmbh & Co KG. First displayed at the ShotShow-2004 (February 2004, Las-Vegas, USA), this single shot rifle is primary intended for anti-material applications and counter-sniping. The Steyr .50HS is available in two calibers, the old and venerable .50BMG and the apparently new .460Steyr (on which so far no data were obtained).
The Steyr .50 HS is a single shot rifle, with manually operated, rotating bolt with two large locking lugs at the front. The two-stage trigger is factory set to 4lbs (1.8kg). The buttstock is adjustable for length of pull, the cheekpiece is also adjustable. Heavy barrel is partially fluted and fitted with effective muzzle brake. Steyr .50 HS has no iron sights; the MilStd Picatinny rail is standard. Rifle is not intended to be fired off-hand; it is fitted with integral folding adjustable bipods.
http://www.steyr-aug.com/contriesarmrorments.htm
First, a police sharpshooter fired the NYPD’s own .30 caliber sniper rifle at a steel target. Downrange, three football fields away, the three shots from the .30 caliber (remember, the 308 is a .30 cal) rifle bounced off the half-inch thick steel.
"You can see it hasn’t penetrated it," says Kelly.
Then the sharpshooter fired three rounds from a Barrett .50-caliber rifle at the same target.
"Went right through," says Kelly. "It is clearly a weapon of war, a round to be used in a wartime situation. It’s appropriate for the military. The effective range is about 2,000 yards. It’s a very formidable weapon."
In other words, if the NYPD’s range had been 20 football fields long, instead of three, the .50-caliber rifle – firing ordinary ammunition -- still would have been devastatingly effective.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/...in665257.shtml
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