Gulf offers Iran nuclear compromise
Gulf Arab states is reported to have proposed providing enriched uranium to Iran via a multinational consortium in a bid to defuse Tehran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.
Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign affairs minister, told the Middle East Economic Digest that the six states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - would develop a uranium enrichment plant in a state outside the Mideast.
The plant would also provide nuclear fuel to the region.
"We have proposed a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East", al-Faisal said on Thursday.
Al-Faisal said the project would mean Tehran could continue developing nuclear energy while decreasing fears that their plans are a cover for an atomic weapons programme.
"America says Iran getting a nuclear weapon could cause WW3 but I think it's more likely that America would cause WW3 by invading Iran"
"[We will] do it in a collective manner through a consortium that will distribute according to needs, give each plant its own necessary amount, and ensure no use of this enriched uranium for atomic weapons", al-Faisal said.
"We believe it should be in a neutral country Switzerland, for instance".
"Any plant in the Middle East that needs enriched uranium would get its quota", he said.
Al-Faisal said he belived the US would support the proposal.
"The US is not involved, but I don't think it [would be] hostile to this, and it would resolve a main area of tension between the West and Iran."
He added that Iran was considering the offer.
"We hope the Iranians will accept this proposal. We continue to talk to them and urge them not only to look at the issue from the perspective of the needs of Iran for energy, but also in the interests of the security of the region," he said.
The six GCC states and Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Yemen have all said they want to pursue peaceful nuclear projects.
Source: Al Jazeerah
Russia raps Saudi atomic fuel proposal for Iran: RIA
Fri Nov 2, 2007
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's nuclear chief on Friday said only full nuclear powers should create centers for enriching uranium, in a swipe at a Saudi proposal for Arab states to help supply Iran with enriched uranium.
U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states are ready to set up a body to provide enriched uranium to Iran in a bid to defuse Tehran's stand-off with the West over its nuclear plan, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told a magazine this week.
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries -- Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates -- have proposed creating a Middle East consortium for users of enriched uranium, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).
When asked about the report, Russia's nuclear energy agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko said Russia had received no official information about the proposal, RIA news agency reported.
"In our opinion there should be many such centers but it is obvious that such centers must be in countries which have the full technology for enrichment (of uranium) so that this technology doesn't spread around the world," Kiriyenko said.
Prince Saud said Iran was considering the offer. He said the enrichment plant should be in a neutral country, such as Switzerland.
In late 2005 Russia offered to create a joint centre with Iran to enrich uranium on Russian territory, but Iran sent conflicting signals about its intentions. Later, Tehran said it would produce nuclear fuel inside Iran.
The Kremlin says that Iran should not be pushed into a corner and opposes tougher sanctions but senior officials say Russia has no interest in seeing Iran get nuclear weapons.
Russia, which says there is no evidence that Tehran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, fears that a U.S. invasion of Iran could provoke a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Source: Reuters
Iran urged to join Gulf nuclear deal
By Roula Khalaf in London
Published: November 1 2007 19:01 | Last updated: November 1 2007 19:01
Saudi Arabia is calling on Iran to respond to an Arab proposal for a joint uranium enrichment plant outside the Middle East, the first regional attempt to defuse Tehran’s nuclear crisis.
Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, yesterday revealed the proposal by Arab Gulf states allied to the US, in a briefing to the FT and other British media.
First put to Iran a year ago, he said it would satisfy Tehran’s right to nuclear technology while providing assurances that Iran’s programme would not produce nuclear weapons.
“We have proposed a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East,” Prince Saud said. “The consortium will distribute according to needs, give each plant its own necessary amount, and ensure no use of this enriched uranium for atomic weapons.”
The offer from the Gulf Co-operation Council (which groups Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait) follows the group’s decision to look at setting up its own civil nuclear programme. The move, an apparent response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, raised concerns of a nuclear arms race in the region.
Tehran has in the past invited western and regional powers to join it in a consortium to enrich uranium on Iranian soil, balking at any suggestion that would shift all its enrichment capabilities – the most sensitive part of a nuclear programme – outside the country. Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear reactors or atomic weapons.
But although Iran found the GCC idea “interesting”, said Prince Saud, it had yet to respond to it. “I hope the Iranians will accept this proposal,” he said, suggesting that an enrichment plant could be created in a neutral country such as Switzerland. “We urge them to look at this also from the point of view of security of the region.”
Iran, he added, was a “great country” that believed it had not been allowed to exercise its proper role as a leader in the region. “We encourage Iran to look for its rightful role but a leader has to look after the interests of those it is leading. Escalation that could lead to conflict would benefit no one,” he said.
The GCC proposal underlines the states’ anxiety over Tehran’s nuclear stand-off, which could lead to a new military conflict in the region.
“A peaceful resolution [to the nuclear dispute] is the only conceivably good result,” Prince Saud said.
Political directors from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are meeting in London today to discuss fresh sanctions against Tehran, which has so far refused to heed UN calls for a suspension of uranium enrichment.
But with China and Russia resisting more punitive measures, some diplomats fear deadlock at the UN will give hawks in Washington ammunition to push for military strikes against Iran.
Separately, the Saudi envoy warned on Thursday that there had to be a “significant amount of agreement” displayed by Palestinians and Israelis at the planned US-sponsored meeting later this year, reiterating the Saudi position that Riyadh would only attend if the conference can be successful.
He urged Israel to produce a “sincere” offer, which would include an end to Jewish settlement building and a halt to construction of the security wall. But he also stressed that progress on peace required reconciliation among warring Palestinian factions.
In a statement that highlighted Saudi opposition to the western isolation of the Islamist Hamas, he said the Arab League was working to revive a Palestinian national unity government, following the collapse of the previous administration in June and the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas.
Source: Financial Times
Saudi slams US dual policies on Iran
Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:33:55
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has slammed the West's dual policies on Iran's nuclear issue warning that the trend would backfire.
Prince Saud al-Faisal also warned in an exclusive interview with BBC that any military confrontation with Iran would lead to an escalation of tension in the entire region, causing insurmountable instability and a great economic loss.
Al-Faisal recommended that the West abandon its double-standard policy vis-à-vis the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, reported as peaceful in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.
He also accused the West for turning a blind eye to the Zionist regime, which possesses a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and is not subject to any international inspections.
Analysts believe the undeclared stockpile of Israeli regime's nuclear weapons can cause a human catastrophe in a possible military face-off with its foes.
Source: Press TV
Egypt Going Nuclear- More than Meets the Eye?
By David Eshel
Last Monday, 79 year-old Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced his readiness to begin a national nuclear program, but carefully emphasizing it would invoke the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog and "international partners", when describing his plans for "several" nuclear power stations.
"We believe that energy security is a major part of building the future for this country and an integral part of Egypt's national security system," said Mubarak, adding that the civil program would work "within a framework of transparency and respect of commitments to the nuclear non-proliferation system."
Strangely, Israeli media was noticeably quiet next day and the following, even after Mubarak announced his plan to build nuclear power plants - a proposal heralded in the Egyptian press as a major national project. Nor was there any comment from official sources in Jerusalem. Analysts believe that a new pattern is shaping in Sunni Arab nations, expressing growing interest in so-called nuclear programs, allegedly for "peaceful requirements" due to the spiraling oil prices, but the main focus seems to be Shi'ite Iran's determined nuclear weapons ambition, which is already haunting Sunni Arab nations in the Middle East and not only in this region itself.
Egyptian President Hosni MubarakPresident Mubarak's announcement just one week before his National Democratic Party's conference is regarded as no surprising coincidence. Used as a means to bolster the president's flagging popularity, since the Moslem Brotherhood managed to strengthen its power in Parliament (thanks to President George W Bush's catastrophic "democratization" policy), Mubarak needs everything in the book to strengthen his image in the eyes of his public. There can be no better way to achieve this by a dramatic declaration on such a highly prestigious national project. That this issue is very much 'en vogue' these days in Cairo seems to stem from Mubarak's son Gamal's call last September revealing plans for an Egyptian nuclear program - a call that reversed a policy by shelving such plans as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Incidentally, Gamal Mubarak's 2006 speech also took place around the time of the party's convention.
While Israel should of course be carefully monitoring these developments, but publicly is saying nothing, a nagging thought must be bothering the Israeli intelligence community, what could happen to Egypt's new nuclear technology if, for instance, Islamic radicals took power or, if the 1969 Peace Agreement should then be cancelled under much different strategic circumstances? Being an issue of real concern, but certainly not one which is being discussed publicly by Israeli decision-makers it remains, this certainly remains a big question mark!
In March 2004, US and British intelligence officials reported on evidence found that Libya traded nuclear and missile expertise with Egypt. It appeared that Egypt could been using Libya as a way-station for obtaining nuclear and missile technology and components from North Korea. Earlier, in 2002, Egypt denied US allegations that Cairo was conducting secret missile and WMD trade with Libya. The allegations were based on CIA satellite photographs.
In January 2005, the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, that there were indications on several Middle East states other than Iran - including Egypt and Syria - working at varying stages in development of indigenous nuclear programs.
Days after, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy expressed fears that Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia might have acquired some kind of nuclear capability via an illicit weapons trafficking network run by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the chief architect of Pakistan's nuclear bomb. Israeli military sources recently told The Jerusalem Post that, thanks to Khan, one of those three Arab states now has the potential to achieve a "significant nuclear leap."
Since the early Eighties, Egypt is the annual recipient of about $2 billion in aid from the U.S. foreign assistance program, and this year the Bush administration has agreed to increase the amount to $2.3 billion. The United States had expressed concern about reports that Egypt has a secret uranium research program and said it supports further investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Indeed, the UN nuclear agency also claimed in its recent report, that Egypt might have conducted secret nuclear experiments in violation of international non-proliferation treaties.
Egypt previously had obtained technology directly from Pyongyang, intelligence officials said, but the U.S. blocked a shipment of missiles in 2001. Nevertheless, the House subcommittee on terrorism learned a year later Egypt received 24 No-Dong missile engines from North Korea. These reports emerged following the dramatic changes in Libya's strategy, when Muammar Qaddafi allowed western experts to visit his secret weapons locations. When experts from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they also discovered some disturbing documents, pertaining to sofar suspected, but not proven intelligence rumors. The documents also confirmed U.S. suspicions of secret trade between Cairo and Tripoli in strategic weapons obtained from North Korea.
On the evidence found the experts gained new appreciation on the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by the notorious Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans disclosed that he sold them $100 million worth of nuclear gear. Among documents seized in Libya, Investigators learned, that Dr Khan had traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and among others, secretly visited Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, on what they believed were business trips, either to buy materials like uranium ore or even sell atomic goods.
American intelligence officials had Dr. Khan under surveillance for nearly three decades, since he began assembling components for Pakistan's bomb, but apparently missed some of his crucial transactions and secret negotiations in the Middle East.
The Libyan findings further cooled the already straining relations between Washington and the United Nations atomic agency and its director general, Mohamed El-Baradei, whom they are trying to replace this year.
Ever since Egypt first came to perceive Israel as having launched a nuclear program, and later (some time in the early 1970s) as having most likely crossed the nuclear threshold, Egypt has been struggling to come to terms with the regional implications of this development.
Dominating Egypt's efforts over the past decades is its pursuit of an intense and ongoing diplomatic process to bring Israel to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and place its nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguard regime. Egypt's own nuclear program is a delicate balance of championing nuclear nonproliferation in the Middle East, developing civilian nuclear industry to address its economic and electricity needs, while at the same time seeking some guarantee of security against the Israeli nuclear threat.
A view inside the Egyptian reactor at Inchas.At the center of Egypt's nuclear program is the Inshas Nuclear Research Center in Cairo. Inshas hosts a 2-megawatt, Soviet-supplied research reactor that started in 1961 and runs on ten-percent-enriched uranium fuel. The reactor was shut down for renovation during the 1980s, but started up again in 1990. In 1992, Egypt had signed a contract with Invap, Argentina's leading nuclear organization, to build a 22-megawatt research reactor at Inshas. According to statements by an official at Argentina's embassy in Washington, DC, construction began in March 1993.
Egypt's Nuclear Materials Authority has directed uranium exploration to concentrate on four areas in the eastern desert: Gabal Gattar, El Missikat, El Erediya and Um Ara. A new uranium-bearing area, Gabal Kadabora, has been discovered in the central eastern desert and is now under evaluation. Egypt has not in the past and does not presently appear to be aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons, however a recent increase in calls by military officers, government officials, and scholars to develop an Arab deterrent to Israel signals a growing frustration with what it perceives to be the international community's double standard regarding nuclear proliferation in the region.
Statements made by high-level Egyptian officials and various media reports overwhelmingly target Israel as Egypt's major concern in the nuclear realm. Embedded in these latest statements, however, are clear hints of Egypt's broader regional considerations, which make its agenda on nuclear issues more varied and complex. Egypt is particularly concerned how nuclear development and potential proliferators in the Middle East impact on its own regional prominence.
Looking at what has happened more recently with India and Pakistan since they became declared nuclear states, Egypt could conclude that the implications of going nuclear might not be that serious, especially in light of American-Pakistani cooperation since September 11. In this context, Egypt will most likely be very interested in U.S. policy toward North Korea and dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The Egyptian leadership has not closed the door on the atomic option altogether. The most prominent of these came from President Hosni Mubarak. In an interview with the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat in early October 1998, Mubarak said: "We do not think now of entering the nuclear club because we do not want war… We are not in a hurry. We have a nuclear reactor at Inshas, and we have very capable experts. If the time comes when we need nuclear weapons, we will not hesitate".
Source: Defense Update
After Iran- Are Arab Nuclear Efforts Underway?
By David Eshel
One of the greatest risks associated with Iran’s determined drive to acquire a nuclear weapons capability is that it will spark further nuclear proliferation in the region. According to recent reports, six new states in the Middle East are already considering developing nuclear programs. The oil-rich Arab Gulf states consider starting a joint nuclear program for peaceful purposes. Issued after a two-day meeting of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, the statement said the group "commissioned a study" on setting up "a common program in the area of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," which would abide by international standards and laws.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, was quick to tell reporters after the closing session that the group did not want to be "misunderstood," saying its aim "is to obtain the technology for peaceful purposes, no more no less." However, the Arab nations in the region, have expressed worry over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, which is the focus of a standoff with the West over Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. In fact, Iran's first reactor — being built in Bushehr just across the gulf from Kuwait and the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia — is projected to begin operating in late 2007. Arab analysts have urged their leaders sending a "clear, strong and courageous" message to Iran that the GCC nations will not sit and watch while Iran presses forward with its nuclear program.
For example, Egypt – one of the more serious potential proliferators – is undoubtedly most troubled by the prospect of Iran becoming a nuclear state and has begun to voice its concerns more openly than in the past.
In March 2004, US and British intelligence officials reported on evidence found that Libya traded nuclear and missile expertise with Egypt. It appeared that Egypt could been using Libya as a way-station for obtaining nuclear and missile technology and components from North Korea. Earlier, in 2002, Egypt denied US allegations that Cairo was conducting secret missile and WMD trade with Libya. The allegations were based on CIA satellite photographs. In January 2005, the head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, that there were indications on several Middle East states other than Iran - including Egypt and Syria - working at varying stages in development of indigenous nuclear programs.
Days after, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy expressed fears that Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia might have acquired some kind of nuclear capability via an illicit weapons trafficking network run by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the chief architect of Pakistan's nuclear bomb. Israeli military sources recently told The Jerusalem Post that, thanks to Khan, one of those three Arab states now has the potential to achieve a "significant nuclear leap."
United States officials have expressed concern about reports that Egypt has a secret uranium research program supporting further investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Indeed, the UN nuclear agency also claimed in its recent report, that Egypt might have conducted secret nuclear experiments in violation of international non-proliferation treaties.
When experts from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program, they discovered some disturbing documents, pertaining to so far suspected, but not proven intelligence rumors. These documents also confirmed U.S. suspicions of secret trade between Cairo and Tripoli in strategic weapons obtained from North Korea.
On the evidence found the experts gained new appreciation on the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by the notorious Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads.
Among documents seized in Libya, Investigators learned, that Dr Khan had traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and among others, secretly visited Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, on what they believed were business trips, either to buy materials like uranium ore or even sell atomic goods.
American intelligence officials had Dr. Khan under surveillance for nearly three decades, since he began assembling components for Pakistan's bomb, but apparently had missed some of his crucial transactions and secret negotiations in the Middle East.
Egypt's own nuclear program is a delicate balance of championing nuclear nonproliferation in the Middle East, developing civilian nuclear industry to address its economic and electricity needs, while at the same time seeking some guarantee of security against the Israeli nuclear threat.
At the core of Egypt's nuclear program is the Inshas Nuclear Research Center in Cairo. Inshas hosts a 2-megawatt, Soviet-supplied research reactor that started in 1961 and runs on ten-percent-enriched uranium fuel. The reactor was shut down for renovation during the 1980s, but started up again in 1990. In 1992, Egypt had signed a contract with Invap, Argentina's leading nuclear organization, to build a 22-megawatt research reactor at Inshas. According to statements by an official at Argentina's embassy in Washington, DC, construction began in March 1993.
Egypt's Nuclear Materials Authority has directed uranium exploration to concentrate on four areas in the eastern desert: Gabal Gattar, El Missikat, El Erediya and Um Ara. A new uranium-bearing area, Gabal Kadabora, has been discovered in the central eastern desert and is now under evaluation
Egypt has not in the past and does not presently appear to be aggressively pursuing nuclear weapons, however a recent increase in calls by military officers, government officials, and scholars to develop an Arab deterrent to Israel signals a growing frustration with what it perceives to be the international community's double standard regarding nuclear proliferation in the region. Unfortunately, this trend may receive new impetus following PM Olmert's unexplained gaffe this week.
Statements already made by high-level Egyptian officials and various media reports have overwhelmingly target Israel as Egypt's major concern in the nuclear realm. However, embedded in these latest statements, are clear hints of Egypt's broader regional considerations, which make its agenda on nuclear issues much more varied and complex. Egypt is particularly concerned how nuclear development and potential proliferators and especially a shiite dominated nuclear Iran could have impact on Egypt's own regional prominence.
Looking at what has happened more recently with India and Pakistan since they became declared nuclear states, Egypt could conclude that implications of going nuclear in the future might not be that serious, especially in light of American-Pakistani cooperation since September 11. In this context, Egypt will most likely be very interested in U.S. policy toward North Korea and its so far incapable dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Thus it is not surprising that President Hosni Mubarak called recently for Egypt to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy program. Mubarak echoed a call made earlier by his 42 year old son, Gamal, who many in Egypt believe is being groomed to succeed his father at the helm. The proposal raised eyebrows, which analysts saw as a jab at the United States, which, while still locked in a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, may lately be wavering in its firm stance. Middle East experts and analysts point to the timing of these announcements – coinciding with western concerns that Iran’s nuclear program may prompt an arms race in the Middle East – as a sign of their potentially broader regional significance.
Source: Defense Update
Assad's "big secret" A Joint Iran-Syrian-DPRK Nuclear Program?
By David Eshel
There have been persistent allegations that Syria's regime wants to create its own nuclear weapons capability. Already in 1991 former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms reported before a Senate committee that there were "credible reports" that "China is engaged in furthering the nuclear weapons ambitions of Syria and Iran". Helms did not elaborate on these "reports" or their origins. In fact, to the contrary, then CIA director John Deutch testified before the U.S. Senate that "Syria’s nuclear research program is at a rudimentary level and appears to be aimed at peaceful uses at this time". Sources also emphasized that all Syrian activities were subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. But the cause for concern among allied intelligence communities rose, when CIA report notes revealed the controversial Russian-Syrian cooperation agreement which became finalized in 1998, still under Hafez Assad's rule in Damascus. Nuclear intelligence experts then assessed that Syrian efforts to acquire dual-use technologies could be applied to a future secret nuclear weapons program.
Ominous signs foreboded further concern when news trickled out of Syria, that President Bashar al-Asad held secret negotiations with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to secure Tehran's assistance for a group of Iraqi nuclear scientists who were sent to Damascus before Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The reports indicated a group of about 12 middle-ranking Iraqi nuclear scientists and their families that were secretly transported to Syria before the collapse of Saddam's regime. Allegedly, the scientists who brought with them boxes of CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear program, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have probably been conducting research work for the Syrian military.
New focus on Syria's nuclear ambitions highlighted earlier this week, when, following the unprecedented security clamp-down in Israel on the mystery-filled air strike over Northern Syria, American media, allegedly reporting on information leaked by unnamed official Washington sources, indicated, for the first time that Israel had "struck at a secret Syrian nuclear installation" and destroyed it. This triggered a flurry of reports, from various sources in the Arab Middle East trying to raise the dense fog which stubbornly persisted among the tight-lipped Israeli and US officials. An interesting report by the Paris based 'Iran Press Service' revealed a story claiming that the Israeli attack targeted the village of Tal Abyadh, near Deir az Zohr, 160 Kilometers north of Raqqa, but without indicating the nature of this target area. IPS claimed, though, that Israel completely destroyed a long-range missile base and that Israeli leaders suspected Syria and Iran building nuclear arms with the help of North Korea. Although this report, among others, privy to the so-called Iranian resistance opposition sources must always be taken with a large "pinch of salt", may have some truth inserted, which should rate further examination.
Defense related cooperation between Syria and North Korea have been known for many years, mainly in the realm of extended Scud missiles. Even between the nation's leaders relation warmed considerably during the last years.
On February 2002, President Bashar Assad personally conveyed the gift of a special sword to North Korean leader Kim Yong Il. In 2006 Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Supreme People's Assembly, met and had a friendly talk with the Syrian government economic delegation.
In fact, a rare statement by Kim Jong Il's regime, denouncing Israel's alleged incursion into Syria, raised speculation about a possible North Korean role in the current tensions between Damascus and Jerusalem. Pyongyang's public statement, strangely coincidented just as press reports from Washington said Israel had recently used its air force in an attempt to document alleged transfers of North Korean nuclear technology to Syria.
It has been an open secret, that Damascus has become the main focus of clandestine activities pertaining to weapons of mass destruction smuggling since the American-led coalition forces invaded Saddam Hussein's Iraq in March 2003. In January 2004, David Kay, former head of the coalition's hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, claimed that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons program was already hidden somewhere in Syria.
Behind these top secret activities seemed to be a former Iraqi air force general, an Assyrian- Christian named Georges Hormiz Sada. On January 24th 2006, Sada announced the publication of a book he had written entitled Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied And Survived Saddam Hussein, with the tagline "An insider exposes plans to destroy Israel, hide WMDs and control the Arab world." In his book, Sada claimed that Saddam Hussein ordered to fly portions of the WMD stockpiles to secret locations in Syria. Although Sada's book included some highly contradictory material, the Post OIF coalition fact-finding mission (ISG) hunting for suspected stockpiles of WMD, ruled that although it was unlikely that an "official" transfer of WMD material from Iraq to Syria took place. However, it also acknowledged that ISG was unable to complete its investigation and was unable to "rule out the possibility that WMD was evacuated to Syria before the war."
A United Nations briefing indeed determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program. The briefing even contained satellite photographs demonstrating the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war.
In January 2004, a prominent Syrian journalist named Nizar Nayyouf, known for his challenging reports on the Damascus regime, defected to Europe and published, what he claimed to be Bashar's top secret hiding places of Saddam's WMD caches in Syria. According to Nayyouf's report, the storage is in three locations: Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida, near Homs, being part of a secret underground factory built by North Korea for Scud Missiles and chemical weapons storage. Another is placed at the Syrian airforce camp at Tal Snan, north of Salamija and the third near the city of Sjinsjar, south of Homs, on the border with Lebanon, where armed air force patrols are in control of a large bunker facility.
As for Syria's own nuclear program, intelligence sources have indicated that recent progress has finally accelerated efforts which had stalled any progress for years, due to continued financial constraints. In 1988 Syria initiated an ambitious plan to build no less six nuclear power reactors scheduled by the late 1990s capable of producing 6,000MW at a cost of $3.6 billion. Although Belgium, the then Soviet Union and Switzerland were approached for assistance, the plan came to nought as a result of mostly financial, but also technical issues.
Nevertheless, GlobalSecurity reported that in 1991, the Peoples Republic of China reporting to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) the potential sale of a 30 KW research reactor to Syria. However, the IAEA blocked the sale and Syria subsequently reduced its nuclear activities. Another effort in 1995, became nullified when the US persuaded Argentina into abandoning a proposed sale of a reactor to Syria. Two years later, in 1997, it was reported that the Russian government was interested in selling a nuclear reactor to Syria. Indeed, on 23 February 1998, Syria and Russia signed an agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. In July 1998, the two sides agreed on the time table for the realization of a 25-MW light-water nuclear research center project in Syria with the participation of Russia's Atomstroyeksport and Nikiet. In addition, Russia and Syria have approved a draft program on cooperation on civil nuclear power. Broader access to Russian expertise could provide opportunities for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities, should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons. According to a London Financial Times report on January 16, 2003, Russian government sources indicated that Russia is negotiating to build a nuclear power plant in Syria. Syrian officials neither confirmed nor denied this report.
The U.S. National Intelligence Council noted in December 2001that the American intelligence community "remains concerned about Syria’s intentions regarding nuclear weapons". The report indicated the establishment of nuclear research center at Dayr Al Hajar including a small Chinese-supplied research reactor. Three years later, in 2004 there came intelligence reports alleging that Syria may have acquired centrifuge enrichment technology from the A. Q.Khan network. That same year, an agreement reportedly was signed between Syria and Iran on defense and military cooperation. There are reports that Syria has conducted significant work to examine the feasibility of exploiting phosphatic rock to recover uranium. It is well known that the country is rich in phosphate sediments deposits and produces around one-fifth of the phosphate rock mined in the entire Middle East. According to statistics, in 2001, Syria mined over 2.04 million tons of phosphate. A uranium recovery micro-pilot plant is already operating at Homs. There were also reports that Syria had obtained potential acquisition of enrichment technologies from the notorious A.Q. Khan network. According to one report issued in August 2004, American officials believed that Syria received "an unspecified number" of P1 centrifuge components "in what could be the most significant step" in the country’s "nascent nuclear weapons program."
Wether Syria will join Iran in its race towards nuclear wepons capability, or limit its activities in peaceful research remains debatable. Will the recent "air show" mystery over northern Syria may decide the issue?
Source: Defense Update
Egypt to build nuclear power plants to meet energy needs
By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times | October 30, 2007
CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak announced yesterday that Egypt, which lacks the oil reserves of some of its Middle East neighbors, would build several nuclear power plants to meet rising energy demands.
The statement was made in a nationally televised address and seemed to have twin purposes: overhaul an energy policy to keep pace with economic growth and support his son, Gamal, who has stressed the need for nuclear power and who many analysts regard as a front-runner to succeed the 79-year-old president.
"We believe that energy security is a major part of building the future of this country and an integral part of Egypt's national security system," Mubarak said in remarks at an electrical power plant under construction outside Cairo. "We have to face the fact that oil and gas are not renewable energy sources. And we also have to admit that we are facing a great challenge to meet increasing consumption."
The president said the program would seek the backing and help of the United Nations's International Atomic Energy Agency and countries such as the United States, which gives Cairo nearly $2 billion annually in military and economic aid.
Egypt's nuclear announcement comes as Washington has imposed new economic sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program, which the Bush administration says is seeking atomic weapons to destabilize the region. Tehran says its program is for civilian purposes only.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States would not object to Egypt's program as long as Cairo adhered to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.
Energy officials estimate that at current production rates Egypt's oil and gas reserves will dwindle in less than 50 years.
Mubarak's remarks came days before the main political convention for his ruling National Democratic Party. In 2006, the president's son, a Western-educated businessman, addressed the conference and called for reviving the country's nuclear energy policy.
Source: Boston Globe
Why Egypt wants nuclear energy
By Marwan Kabalan, Special to Gulf News
Published: November 02, 2007, 01:20
In a speech before the annual meeting of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stated last week that his country would start building several nuclear power plants in the coming years.
To assure critics, Mubarak said that the aim of the programme was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. He also pledged that his country would work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and would not seek nuclear weapons.
Mubarak's announcement is meant to serve different purposes. Domestically, it was considered as a father's response to his son's call to restart Egypt's nuclear programme. Speaking at the NDP's annual conference on September 19, 2006, Jamal Mubarak said that he thought the time had come for Egypt to harness nuclear energy.
"The whole world - I don't want to say all, but many developing countries," he said, "have proposed and started to execute the issue of alternative energy. It is time for Egypt to put forth, and the party will put forth, this proposal for discussion about its future energy policies, the issue of alternative energy, including nuclear energy, as one of the alternatives".
In recent years Jamal has become a key policymaker in Egypt. He currently heads the NDP's powerful policies secretariat. At the time, his call for reviving his country's nuclear programme was meant to play music to the ears of the domestic public opinion.
He was chosen to make it in order to rally support around him as a possible successor to his father by touching on an issue that is considered by most Egyptians as a matter of national pride.
The elder Mubarak's recent pledge about resuming Egypt's nuclear programme is widely associated with his attempt to hand over the country's top job to his son.
Amidst speculation that the 78-year-old Mubarak might not serve his full six-year mandate - started in 2005 - questions are raised about the timing of his emphasis on possessing nuclear energy.
In regional context, Mubarak's announcement came amidst rising tension over Iran's nuclear programme, which is believed to have been designed to produce nuclear weapons.
Reviving Egypt's nuclear programme, notwithstanding its peaceful nature, is meant to suggest that the Arab world would not stand idle watching Iran and Israel possessing nuclear power. In his speech Mubarak made clear that there were strategic reasons for the programme, considering it as ''an integral part of Egypt's national security interest''.
Regional influence
In fact, Iran's programme has prompted a slew of Middle East countries to announce plans of their own - in part simply to counteract Tehran's rising regional influence.
Jordan, Turkey and several Gulf Arab states have announced in recent months that they are interested in developing nuclear power programmes. Last September, Yemen signed a deal with a US company to build civilian nuclear plants over the next 10 years.
Algeria also signed a cooperation accord with the US on civil nuclear energy last June, and Morocco announced a deal last week under which France will help develop nuclear reactors there. These countries' quest for nuclear energy has put pressure on Egypt to seek it own, being the largest and the strongest Arab country.
Israel remains, of course, the only nuclear power in the Middle East and by far the largest threat to the region's security with more than 200 nuclear war heads.
Following a policy it calls "nuclear ambiguity'', Israel has never confirmed nor denied having a nuclear weapons programme itself.
Yet, Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at an Israeli nuclear plant, spent 18 years in prison after giving details of the country's atomic programme to a British newspaper in 1986. His information confirmed fears that Israel has the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Egypt has repeatedly complained about Israel's refusal to join the International Atomic Energy Agency's Non-Proliferation Treaty. Because of its ambiguity, Israel's nuclear installations are not subject to international inspection; a situation Egypt believes could lead to an arms race that would jeopardise security and stability of the region.
For all these reasons Egypt seeks to restart its nuclear programme that was publicly shelved in the aftermath of the 1986 accident at the Soviet nuclear plant in Chernobyl.
Dr Marwan Al Kabalan is a lecturer in media and international relations, Faculty of Political Science and Media, Damascus University, Syria.
Source: Gulf News
Mideast nuclear power race intensifies
Published: November 02, 2007, 01:20
Cairo: This week Egypt became the 13th Middle Eastern country in the past year to say it wants nuclear power, intensifying an atomic race spurred largely by Iran's nuclear agenda, which many in the region and the West claim is cover for a weapons programme.
Experts say the nuclear ambitions of majority Muslim states such as Libya, Jordan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia are reactions to Iran's high-profile nuclear bid, seen as linked with Tehran's campaign for greater influence and prestige throughout the Middle East.
"To have 13 states in the region say they're interested in nuclear power over the course of a year certainly catches the eye," says Mark Fitzpatrick, a former senior nonproliferation official in the US State Department who is now a fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
The Iranian angle is the reason." But economics are also behind this new push to explore nuclear power, at least for some of the aspirants.
Egypt's oil reserves are dwindling, Jordan has no natural resources to speak of at all, and power from oil and gas has grown much more expensive for everyone. Though the day has not arrived, it's conceivable that nuclear power will be a cheaper option than traditional plants.
But analysts say the driver is Iran, which appears to be moving ahead with its nuclear programme despite sanctions and threats of possible military action by the US.
The Gulf Cooperation Council countries reversed their longstanding opposition to nuclear power last year.
As the closest US allies in the region and sitting on vast oil wealth, these states had said they saw no need for nuclear energy.
But Fitzpatrick, as well as other analysts, say these countries now see their own declarations of nuclear intent as a way to contain Iran's influence. At least, experts say, it signals to the US how alarmed they are by a nuclear Iran.
Though the US has been vociferous in its opposition to Iran's nuclear bid, particularly since the country says it's determined to establish its own nuclear fuel cycle, which would dramatically increase its ability to build a nuclear bomb, it has generally been tolerant of the nuclear ambitions of its friends in the region.
"Those states that want to pursue peaceful nuclear energy ... [are] not a problem for us," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in response to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement on Monday.
Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Centre in Washington and a former Defence Department official focused on containing the spread of nuclear weapons, says he finds that hands-off approach of the Bush administration alarming.
"I think we're trying to put out a fire of proliferation with a bucket of kerosene," he says.
He said he recently spoke with a senior administration official on the matter, who argued that it was better for the US to cooperate with Egypt and other countries since, in the official's view, nuclear power in these countries is "inevitable" and it's better to be in a position to influence their choices and monitor the process.
Egypt has had an on-again, off-again nuclear programme since the 1950s. In the 1960s, Egypt threatened to develop a bomb largely out of anger over Israel's nuclear pursuit.
Under Mubarak, who has ruled since 1981, the country has been consistent in saying it does not want nuclear weapons, and Egypt has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to declare the region a nuclear-weapons-free zone - a strategy it uses to target Israel's nuclear weapons.
Today, the country has a 22-megawatt research reactor north of Cairo that was built by an Argentine company and completed in 1997.
A drive to develop a power plant in the 1980s stalled after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia.
Source: Gulf News
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