Front-page Iran

Iran reiterates it's ready to negotiate on large-scale enrichment

ran said Tuesday it is willing to negotiate with world powers on the large-scale enrichment of uranium but will never give way on their key demand - to cease all enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or material for bombs.
The UN Security Council has demanded that Iran suspend all enrichment of uranium and formation shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security Council.
Her bottom line: ``I remain skeptical - lots of unanswered questions.''
``The conjecture that I have is that if I were Iran, and I wanted to put out disinformation, it might look a lot like what our government is claiming is information,'' she said. ``I can't tell you that's true, but I can't tell you it's not true.''
Harman didn't provide details on the classified session.
With tensions growing between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program, Tehran in the past week has touted new weapons including missiles supposedly invisible to radar and torpedoes too fast to be avoided. Experts have questioned Iran's claims about the weapons' capabilities.
The announcements came as the Bush administration was working toward a diplomatic solution to address its belief that Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says it aims only to generate electricity, but it has thus far defied U.N. Security Council demands that it give up key parts of its program.
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The Talks are on Saturday

Mehr news agency quoted an unnamed official in Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) as saying that the Iranian delegation would be led by either Ali Hosseini-Tash or Aziz Jaafari, both of whom are brigadier generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and now hold senior positions in the SNSC.
The report said that Iranian Foreign Ministry officials will also take part in the meeting which would be held in Baghdad.
“The talks would be held before the cameras at the request of Iran”, the official said.
U.S. President George W. Bush has authorised the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, to discuss the security situation in Iraq with Iran. The United States and Iraqi officials routinely blame Tehran for aiding the insurgency.
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Who's Supplying Irans New technology?

Iran has unveiled with great fanfare a series of what it portrays as sophisticated, homegrown weapons _ flying boats and missiles invisible to radar, torpedoes too fast to elude.
But experts said Tuesday it appears much of the technology came from Russia and questioned Iran's claims about the weapons' capabilities.
Still, the armaments, tested during war games by some 17,000 Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, send what may be Iran's real message: its increased ability to hit oil tankers if tension with America turns to outright confrontation.
To underline that message, the maneuvers _ code-named "The Great Prophet" _ have been held since Friday around the Strait of Hormuz, the 34-mile-wide entrance to the Gulf through which about two-fifths of the world's oil supplies pass.
Throughout the war games, Iran has touted what it calls technological leaps in its weapons production. In recent years, Iran revved up its arms programs after long relying on purchases abroad to keep up its aging arsenal, hampered by U.S. sanctions and Washington's pressure on other countries against selling weapons to Tehran.
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Another New Missle

Persisting with its show of strength, Iran has tested a land-to-sea missile as well as a "flying boat", near the Strait of Hormuz — an area through which large quantities of Gulf oil are exported.
The Iranians on Tuesday test-fired the Kowsar missile. On Friday, Iranian military commanders said they had tested a missile designed to carry multiple warheads. Analysts say that throughout the course of their on-going military exercises at the strategic junction of the Gulf and the Sea of Oman, the Iranians have been sending a clear message that they have the capacity to influence the global economy, in case they are subjected to a military attack.
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