RUSSIA to START IRAN NUCLEAR PLANT

[Christina]

RUSSIA TO START IRAN NUCLEAR PLANT BY YEAR ENDFebruary 5, 2009YnetNews.com reports: “Russia plans to start up a nuclear reactor at Iran's Bushehr plant by the end of the year, Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation as saying on Thursday.‘If there are no unforeseen events ... then the launch will go according to the timetable,’ Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko was quoted as saying. ‘The launch is scheduled for this year.’A spokesman for Rosatom said Kiriyenko was talking about the so called ‘technical’ start-up, which will be the first time the reactor is fully switched on and aims to test its systems before electricity is supplied to the grid.The launch of the Bushehr plant's nuclear reactor has been delayed numerous times. Russian and Iranian officials have given different dates for the start-up.Russia has already delivered nuclear fuel under a $1 billion contract to build the Bushehr plant on the Gulf coast in southwest Iran…”

 

[Christina]

IRAN SAYS US MUST ACCEPT NUCLEAR PROGRAMMEFebruary 5, 2009The Financial Times reports: “A senior adviser to Iran’s president says dialogue with the US will succeed only if the Obama administration accepts Tehran’s right to have a nuclear programme.Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, right-hand man to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the fundamentalist president, said, in an interview with the Financial Times, Tehran was studying its options, just as the new US administration was reviewing its Iran policy.The US hopes to engage with Iran and persuade the country to halt its uranium enrichment activities, the most sensitive part of the nuclear programme, and withdraw its support for militant groups in the region.The launch of a homemade Iranian satellite on Tuesday further raised concerns among western powers that Iran was accelerating its development of ballistic missile technology.But Iran too has a list of demands requiring US policy shifts.On some issues – such as the removal of US troops from Iraq and stabilising Afghanistan – Iran and the US can find common ground.Others, particularly Iran’s claim that its nuclear programme is peaceful in nature and so advanced that it has become a fact on the ground, could prove the two sides’ differences are irreconcilable.‘If [US] policies change the two nations will get closer to each other, the two governments will get closer to each other and the chances for dialogue and co-operation will succeed,’ said Mr Samareh.‘The policy of [George W.] Bush was to use this [the nuclear issue] as an excuse to stand up against the Iranian nation.‘For there to be change, this policy has to change.’ In Afghanistan, he said, Iran was expecting a more robust effort to fight opium production.Another big concern for Tehran were US attempts to negotiate with elements of the Taliban, the radical Sunni group ousted from power and seen by Tehran as a security threat.‘When the US goes into Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting illegal groups how can it enter into negotiations with them?’ said Mr Samareh.He also pointed to the Bush administration’s support for Israel during conflicts such as the offensive in Gaza against Hamas, which is supported by Iran, and the 2006 Israeli war against Hizbollah, another Iran-backed group.In both cases the US sought to delay the passing of a UN ceasefire resolution.‘Is the new US administration going to continue these policies? If it does, then nothing will change,’ he said…”