Front-page Iran

Germany Urges Suspension of Program

Elbaradei met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
"We are not in a position today to say that (Iran's nuclear) program is exclusively for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei told reporters after meeting Steinmeier.
Germany, France and Britain were the three European Union nations which mediated the negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program last year.
"I would like Iran to do what they can right now to lower our doubts ... until negotiations resume," the IAEA chief added.
Steinmeier said: "Iran must suspend all enrichment work, including research."
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Iran budgets $213 mln for two atomic power plants

Iran will put some $213 million of its national budget for the year to March 2007 into building two nuclear power stations, a senior government official was quoted as saying on Monday. Tehran insists its atomic scientists are only working on an ambitious power station programme that should produce 20,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity by 2020.
The official Iran newspaper quoted Farhad Rahbar, head of the government▓s management and planning organisation, saying 1.94 trillion rials ($213 million) would be directed towards two atomic power stations.
Building and completing two nuclear power stations in order to produce cheap electricity is among the most important construction plans,■ state television quoted him as saying.
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German police search firms over exports to Iran

Police searched business premises across Germany in connection with an investigation into the illegal export of equipment for Iran's controversial nuclear programme, prosecutors said Monday.
One of the companies searched was believed to be a front for the illegal export of hydraulic pumps and transformer parts, which could be used in nuclear facilities, prosecutor Benedikt Welfens said.
German law restricts the sale to Iran of such dual use equipment, which has applications in both military and civilian programmes.
Seven persons, most of them of Russian extraction, are under investigation in connection with the illegal exports, which investigations showed reach Iran via Russia. Police seized data, a special cable ready for export and cash during last week's raid of 41 premises in 10 German states
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Military force can't destroy our atomic program

Military strikes against Iran's nuclear sites would not destroy the Islamic republic's uranium enrichment activities, which could be easily moved and restarted, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.
"You know very well ... we can enrich uranium anywhere in the country, with a vast country of more than 1 million 600 square kilometers," said Aliasghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
"Enrichment can be done anywhere in Iran," he told a panel discussion on the possible use of military force to destroy what the West fears is Iran's atomic bomb program.
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All this comes one day before a possible airstrike on Iran by Israel according to a Russian Democrat, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Yah, yah we'll see.