Saudi workshop to discuss Israeli nuclear file

U. S. tries to force Iran to abandon nuclear ambitions

Major countries need more time to consider sanctions against Iran

Pakistan hides nuclear arsenal in safe places

Israel plans to call for launching strike against Iran's nuclear facilities

The Saudi center for strategic studies, an offshoot of the Saudi Diplomatic Institute, organized a workshop on the Israeli nuclear policy with the participation of foreign ministry's officials and a number of Saudi experts.

The participants will evaluate Israel's nuclear capabilities and Israeli tries to be an announced nuclear state.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki sent a message to the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdulrahman al-Attiyah.

Mottaki called for promoting economic and commercial relations between Iran and the six-member GCC.

In an earlier message in August, Mottaki had proposed a free trade market as a means of expanding economic ties.

The proposal was put on the agenda of the 104th GCC foreign ministers' meeting in September.

Iran newspaper quoted Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as saying that his country and Iran are working together towards bolstering bilateral ties in various domains.

The prince, who received an Iranian delegation of the Saudi-Iranian friendship parliamentary committee, that the kingdom works to foster bilateral relations with Iran as well as intensifying mutual visits between the two countries.

For his part, the head of the Saudi-Iranian friendship committee asserted the Iranian leadership's desire to boost relations with Saudi Arabia, noting to the continued consultations between the two governments on means to boost the security and the stability of the region for the good of the two peoples.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice voiced confidence over solving the Iranian nuclear crisis through diplomatic ways.

"Improved relations with Iran is possible if the Iranian leadership accepts the international community’s demand to suspend nuclear enrichment and joins the United States in negotiations," Rice said.

"I’ve said if that suspension takes place, I will meet my counterpart anytime, anyplace, anywhere to talk about anything," Rice said at a Davos forum panel discussion. "I don’t know how to make a stronger invitation than that."

Rice had took part in the meeting in Berlin with permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, to discuss a long-term strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program as well as broader regional concerns.

The participants agreed on a resolution to pressure Iran at the U.N. Security Council.

In New York, the representatives of the 10 elected members of the Security Council met at the British U.N. mission, where they received copies of an agreement reached in Berlin last week among the foreign ministers of China, Russia, America, France, Britain, and Germany, to impose a third round of council sanctions against Iran. After studying the document, the council members are expected to start deliberating the proposal.

The Bush administration policy, however, calls on all American officials to seek an authorization from the State Department before conducting dialogue with Iranian officials. The only person exempted from that restriction is the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, who can discuss Iraq-related issues with Iranian officials on a regular basis, according to a State Department official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Iran denies that it is seeking an atomic weapon, insisting its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed merely at providing energy for its growing population.

After the head of the UN atomic watchdog agency visited Tehran in mid-January, Iran agreed to clear up all outstanding issues about its atomic drive within four weeks.

Diplomats now indicate that Tehran could be given a six-week grace period.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said that he did not expect a tough new UN resolution on sanctions.

"Democracy is essential for political and economic development in the Middle East, said Condoleezza Rice," Rice said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The emphasis on democracy in the Middle East is controversial and some argue that is has made the situation worse, but I ask worse than what?" Rice asked.

She argued democracy would have helped (and would do in the future) in situations like the "Lebanese watching the Syrians occupying their country for 30 years" and the Palestinians" not being able to hold their government to account as it wasted a chance of peace and the second Intifada started."

"The past order in the Middle East is nothing to extol, but that does not make the challenges of the present less difficult... The process will take decades and it will be driven as it should be and can only be by courageous leaders and citizens in the region."

She rejected the idea that the United States should weaken its emphasis on democracy.

"The only truly effective solutions to many of these challenges will emerge not in spite of democracy, but because of it."

Rice was spelling out how she considers it essential that the USA does not make a distinction between its principles and its national interests, and that American foreign policy has to be based on seeking "political and economic freedom, open markets and free trade, human dignity and human rights, equal opportunity and the rule of law."

She refined these broad aims into three specific policy directions: promoting just economic models for development, the promotion of a free and more democratic world, and the importance of using diplomacy to overcome differences among nations.

She linked economic development to democracy, pointing out that "some states are growing economically through a kind of ‘authoritarian’ capitalism. But it is an open question whether this is sustainable for a government to respect people’s talents but not their rights," she said.

Iran received a sixth batch of nuclear fuel from Russia for the Islamic state's first atomic power plant, leaving just two more to complete the total consignment, the official IRNA news agency said.

Russia delivered the first shipment of uranium fuel rods to Iran on December 17 and urged Tehran to scrap its own program for making nuclear fuel, something it has repeatedly refused to do.

This shipment was the third in five days and came a day after Iranian leaders vowed to press on with the country's nuclear program regardless of any new U.N. sanctions, after world powers this week agreed the outline of a new resolution.

Iran, which has so far received about 66 tonnes of nuclear fuel out of an expected total of 82 tonnes, says it also wants to make its own fuel so that it will have secure supplies in the future.

Western powers fear Iran's enrichment activities are aimed at building nuclear weapons. Iran, the world's fourth-largest crude exporter, says it needs fuel for energy. Enriched uranium can have both civilian and military uses.

World powers agreed on the outline of a third U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive atomic work, but diplomats said it did not contain the punitive economic measures Washington had been pushing for.

Russia and China, both commercial partners with Iran, have hardened their opposition to tough sanctions since a U.S. intelligence report last month said Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Russia says the Bushehr power plant is being built under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Tehran has said the Bushehr plant, on the Gulf coast in southwest Iran, would start up in mid-2008.

Iran, which sits on the world's second biggest reserves of gas and oil, respectively, says its aim is to build nuclear power plants with 20,000 megawatts capacity to meet growing electricity demand, so it can save its hydrocarbons for export.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner ratcheted pressure on Tehran, saying France had to prepare for the prospect of war with Iran, though that was not an immediate danger.

Kouchner said in an interview "We must prepare for the worst," adding: "The worst, sir, is war."

The US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China have backed two rounds of UN sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive work that could potentially be used to make nuclear weapons.

Iran denies it is secretly seeking nuclear weapons, saying it only wants atomic technology to generate electricity.

It has however, ignored the UN Security Council's demands that it suspends enrichment, and Washington has called a meeting of major powers on Sept. 21 to discuss further sanctions.

A senior Iranian spokesman accused Kouchner of stirring up a crisis with Iran.

"Using crisis-making words is against France's high historical and cultural position and is against France's civilization," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the meeting that the new draft resolution envisages direct talks with Tehran that would include the United States.

"It's clearly confirmed by the resolution that direct negotiations on resolving all questions related to the Iranian nuclear program -- with the participation of all six powers, including the United States -- would be initiated if Iran accepts the proposals of the six," Lavrov told Russian journalists.

He added that the proposed text does not foresee fresh sanctions against Iran, although Western media reported that it does call for tightening existing travel and financial sanctions.

Lavrov said the new wording "not only acknowledges, but salutes progress made by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in clarifying aspects of Iran's nuclear program." Lavrov said Iran has promised to deliver answers on outstanding questions put to it "within the next two or three weeks."

Adoption of any possible third resolution against Iran over its nuclear program would be "an escape forward," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference, the minister said the fact that the Group 5+1 rushed to discuss Iran's nuclear issue and made a hasty decision about it indicated that they felt "some concerns about a breakthrough the next report by Director-General of International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, will make." ElBaradei is scheduled to work out his report by February 22 and present it to Board of Governors on March 3.

"The next report of the IAEA's chief would probably raise a question in the mind of the world public opinion asking if Iran had no diversion from its peaceful nuclear activities and if the agency was the leading body to monitor nuclear activities of the member states, so on basis of what the United Nations Security Council has so far, issued two resolutions against Iran?" Mottaki said, according to IRNA.

He added: "Adoption of any possible third resolution against Iran would be a move to escape from being accountable to the world public opinion." Mottaki urged members of the UN Security Council "to take two brave steps; one is to wait for the release of the next report by the IAEA director general and the other is to normalize the issue of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities by nullifying their previous two anti-Iran resolutions." Mottaki hoped again that the council would not make any decision on Iran "before receiving ElBaradei's next report."

Meanwhile, Iran has allowed top UN nuclear monitors to visit an advanced centrifuge development site for the first time in a gesture of transparency on its atomic program, diplomats familiar with the matter said.

One of the diplomats, who is close to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the IAEA was nearing the end of an inquiry into Iran's nuclear activity and cited concern that a new effort by the major powers to increase sanctions against Tehran could hurt the process.

Western diplomats said Iran's admission of the monitors was not significant and was no reason to relieve pressure on Tehran.

Six world powers agreed in Berlin to the outline of a new UN sanctions resolution, although diplomats said the draft lacked the punitive trade measures that Washington had sought.

After a rare visit last month to Tehran by the IAEA's director, Mohamed ElBaradei, the agency said Iran had agreed to settle remaining questions in the long-stalled inquiry within four weeks and had handed over some information about efforts to develop "a new generation" of centrifuges able to refine uranium much faster.

Diplomats familiar with IAEA-Iran relations said that ElBaradei and his safeguards chief, Olli Heinonen, had visited a Tehran site where a centrifuge to replace Iran's current outmoded, breakdown-prone model was being developed.

"This was a research and development lab for their new design," the first diplomat said, in what was the first such visit since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran disclosed the activity in 2006.

UN inspectors had long demanded such access to assess how close Iran is to mastering enrichment technology and to determine the scope of the current program and verify that it is not for illicit military ends. But Iran stopped permitting wider-ranging inspections beyond its few declared nuclear production sites in 2006 in retaliation for moves to adopt initial sanctions then.

Iran accused also France of adopting an "unfriendly" position in Tehran's nuclear row with the West, and said the military base France is setting up in the Gulf would harm peace in the region.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to Tehran, an apparent tit-for-tat response after Paris last week called in Iran's envoy over anti-Israeli remarks made by its hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Iran expressed its objection to France's adopted negative view on Iran's nuclear work and also its backing of the Zionist regime's [Israel's] activities," the official IRNA news agency said.

A French diplomat confirmed that French ambassador Bernard Poletti had been summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry, whose spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini accused France of "ignoring the Zionist regime's crimes" against Palestinians.

On Friday, the French Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's ambassador to Paris over a new verbal attack on Israel last week by Ahmadinejad, who in the past has called for the Jewish state to be "wiped off the map".

France is among world powers trying to exert diplomatic pressure on Iran to halt atomic work, which they fear is aimed at making bombs. It has stepped up its rhetoric against Tehran since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office last May.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to generate electricity.

France and Iran have commercial ties but relations took a turn for the worse after France's foreign minister in September said the world should prepare for a war with Iran.

"So far, our policies regarding France and their unfriendly stances have been restrained, but if they continue this trend we will also review our stances," Hosseini said.

He also criticized a deal that Paris signed with the United Arab Emirates to build France's first permanent military installation in the Gulf, just across the water from Iran.

The base, housing 400 to 500 personnel, will keep French forces within reach of sea lanes through which over a third of global oil shipments pass. France has also said it will hold its first joint war games with UAE and Qatar in the Gulf this month.

"We are against any kind of increase in the military presence of foreign forces in the region," Hosseini said.

"We believe that such a presence is not conducive to the security and peace in the region."

U.S. President George W. Bush has delivered his last State of the Union address, during which he had strong words for Iran, calling on that nation’s leaders to verifiably suspend their nuclear program and to “rejoin the community of nations,” as well as to stop oppression in Iran and support of terrorism in other countries. Bush said sanctions may be enacted on Iran in the near future.

"Iran is funding and training militia groups in Iraq, supporting Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, and backing Hamas' efforts to undermine peace in the Holy Land. Tehran is also developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and continues to develop its capability to enrich uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon," the U.S. president noted.

"Our message to the people of Iran is clear. We have no quarrel with you. We have respected your traditions and your history. We look forward to the day when you have your freedom," he also said.

"We're also standing against the forces of extremism in the Holy Land, where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel," Bush added.

"Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security. This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do and I will do everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year," Bush added.

"The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side by side in peace." He continued.

"Above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops; we will stand by our allies; and we will defend our vital interests in the Arab Gulf," he said.

In Iraq, Bush said the terrorists and extremists are fighting to deny a proud people their liberty and fighting to establish safe havens for attacks across the world.

"One year ago, our enemies were succeeding in their efforts to plunge Iraq into chaos, so we reviewed our strategy and changed course. We launched a surge of American forces into Iraq. We gave our troops a new mission: Work with the Iraqi forces to protect the Iraqi people, pursue the enemy in his strongholds, and deny the terrorists sanctuary anywhere in the country," he highlighted.

"Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw tens of thousands of American forces flowing into their country. They saw our forces moving into neighborhoods, clearing out the terrorists and staying behind to ensure the enemy did not return. And they saw our troops, along with provincial reconstruction teams that include Foreign Service officers and other skilled public servants, coming in to ensure that improved security was followed by improvements in daily life," Bush said.

"Our military and civilians in Iraq are performing with courage and distinction, and they have the gratitude of our whole nation," he explained.

"When we met last year, Al Qaeda had sanctuaries in many areas of Iraq. And their leaders had just offered American forces safe passage out of the country. Today, it is Al Qaeda that is searching for safe passage," the U.S. president asserted.

"They have been driven from many of the strongholds they once held, and over the past year, we've captured or killed thousands of extremists in Iraq, including hundreds of key Al Qaeda leaders and operatives," he pointed out.

"When we met last year our troop levels in Iraq were on the rise. Today, because of the progress just described, we are implementing a policy of return on success, and the surge forces we sent to Iraq are beginning to come home," Bush said.

"This progress is a credit to the valor of our troops and the brilliance of their commanders," he added.

The White House branded Iran's firing a rocket into space "unfortunate" and warned that the move would further isolate the Islamic republic from the international community.

"I saw this morning that Iran, again, tested a ballistic missile. It's unfortunate that they continue to do that because it further isolates the country from the rest of the world," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

She spoke after Iran fired a rocket into space to mark the opening of its first space center, hailing the base's inauguration as a step forward in its battle against what it sees as Western dominance.

The installation, located in the remote desert of northern Iran, will be used to launch Iran's first home-produced satellite "Omid" (Hope) in May or June this year, officials said.

The rocket launch was believed to be the second time Iran has attempted to put an object into space after it claimed the successful firing of a missile above the atmosphere in February 2007.

The latest launch comes amid a push by Washington and its European allies to impose a third set of United Nations sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt its disputed nuclear program.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the rocket launch as "another troubling development."

"The kinds of technologies and capabilities that are needed in order to launch ... a space vehicle for orbit are the same kinds of capabilities and technologies that one would employ for long-range ballistic missiles," he said.

"And of course, the UN Security Council and other members of the international system have expressed their deep concern about Iran's continuing development of medium- and long-range ballistic missiles," McCormack said.

"The reason for that concern is tied to their ... continued search to perfect enrichment of uranium, which can, of course, be used in a nuclear weapon," he said.

For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Iran had achieved a progress in making nuclear weapons, noting it may work on nuclear heads.

"We have doubts they are working on making ground-to-ground missiles," He said in statements to the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.

In Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf said that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were well protected in safe places.

"The Pakistani government does not need foreign support or advises to protect these weapons," Musharraf added.

Pakistan has stepped up efforts to counter what it regards as scaremongering over the security of its nuclear weapons because of threats from al-Qaeda and its allies.