BRUSSELS, Belgium, Feb. 13--Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, ruled out on Monday any military solution to Iran’s nuclear issue and said there was no evidence of a nuclear weapons program in Iran.
Talking to reporters after talks with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the IAEA chief stressed that he did not see any military solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, IRNA reported.
“We do not know if Iran has the industrial capacity to enrich uranium. We haven’t seen any indication or concrete proof of a nuclear weapons program. I don’t see what people mean when they talk about a military solution,“ he said.
ElBaradei noted that Iran is very much interested in dialogue and in reaching a solution.
The sticking point, he said, is the issue of suspension of uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure.
He reiterated his ’timeout’ proposal in which Iran will suspend enrichment activities during the negotiating period and the international community will suspend the application of sanctions.
Let us at least try to see whether we can, in three months or four months time, reach a solution, he said.
“I see no reason why Iran and the international community could not agree in a simultaneous way.“
ElBaradei is in Belgium on a two-day visit.

Lebanese soldiers secure the site where bomb blasts tore through two buses in the village of Ain Alak, northeast of Beirut, Feb. 13.

AIN ALAK, Lebanon, Feb. 13--Bomb blasts tore through two buses in Lebanon on Tuesday, killing three people as the deeply divided nation prepared to commemorate the murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri two years ago.
The bombings in a mainly Christian mountain area northeast of Beirut were the latest in a spate of attacks blamed on Lebanon’s former powerbroker Syria and came at a time of high political tensions, AFP reported.
“This is another terrorist attempt to exert control over Lebanon with blood and repression,“ charged Minister of Social Affairs Nayla Moawad, a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
The state news agency said the first explosion occurred at 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) in a minibus full of passengers and just seven minutes later another minibus was blown up.
“Three people were killed and 18 others were wounded,“ said a police spokesman, identifying the dead as an Egyptian national as well as a Lebanese man and a woman.
The bombings are likely to exacerbate tensions, as they come on the eve of ceremonies to remember the killing of billionaire five-time premier Hariri, the subject of a UN probe that has pointed the finger of blame at Syria.
His assassination in a massive Beirut truck bombing on February 14, 2005, was followed by a series of killings and attacks against other prominent anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
Parliamentary leader MP Saad Hariri described Tuesday’s bombings as a “cowardly terrorist attack“ designed to disrupt ceremonies for his slain father.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said the “massacre...is a clear attempt to foil all internal, regional and international efforts to achieve Lebanese national unity“.
“All the Lebanese feel that they are targets, and what happened was a harrowing crime that targeted civilians,“ added Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah.
Lebanon’s feuding factions are headed for a standoff on Wednesday after government supporters announced plans to mark Hariri’s death in the same Beirut square where the opposition has been staging its sit-in for more than two months.
Seven people were killed last month in fighting between pro- and anti-government demonstrators after the opposition called for a one-day protest strike.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--An economic corruption and spying gang has been dismantled, an informed source in the Intelligence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source noted that the network for collecting and selling invaluable data from telecommunication companies to foreign companies intending to sign contracts with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was dismantled after close cooperation between the Intelligence Ministry’s Economic Department and the Ministry of Communications, IRNA reported.
“The person in charge of the gang collected classified information about the tender bids, contracts, progress in telecom projects and information about the cellphone network,“ he said.
The source pointed out that while searching the house of the gang’s head, they found hard currencies of other countries, a great deal of documents, information and classified document of telecommunications tenders.
“During the preliminary interrogations, the prime suspect confessed to having links with foreign companies, selling information to them overseas and receiving $3.5 million,“ he said.
The gang had bribed the officials of Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to obtain classified information.
“The main members of the gang were arrested on January 13,“ he said.
The source further said the destructive economic measures of European telecommunication companies are being followed up through international bodies and the Iranian government will do its best to defend the rights of Iranians undermined by foreign companies.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s Islamic Revolution has the highest capabilities for serving the Muslim world, an official said on Tuesday.
In a meeting of Yazd Province’s Administrative Council, Mahmoud Arafi, the head of International Center for Islamic Sciences, noted that the Islamic Revolution accepts other religions and enjoys popular support, Fars News Agency reported.
“We should not forget that the comprehensiveness of the late Imam Khomeini clearly indicates the comprehensiveness of Iran’s Islamic Revolution,“ he said.
Presenting facts and figures on the graduates of International Center for Islamic Sciences from different countries, Arafi noted that Iran’s Islamic Revolution is held in high esteem in these countries.
Referring to the international aspects of Islamic Revolution, he pointed out that Qom Theological School has gained an international reputation.
“In the past 20 years, more than 12,000 students from 104 countries have graduated from Qom Theological School and are presently holding key posts in their own country,“ he said.
Arafi also said the people should appreciate the 1979 Islamic Revolution and make more efforts for its preservation.
“The officials should know that no matter to what extent they serve the people, they are still indebted to the revolution,“ he said.

BEIJING, Feb. 13--North Korea agreed Tuesday after arduous talks to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program, just four months after the communist state shocked the world by testing a nuclear bomb.
The deal marks the first concrete plan for disarmament in more than three years of six-nation negotiations. The plan also could potentially herald a new era of cooperation in the region with the North’s longtime foes--the United States and Japan--also agreeing to discuss normalizing relations, AP reported.
“Obviously we have a long way to go, but we’re very pleased with this agreement,“ US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters. “It’s a very solid step forward.“
Making sure North Korea declares all its nuclear facilities and shuts them down is likely to prove difficult, nuclear experts have said.
Under the deal, the North would receive initial aid equal to 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for shutting down and sealing its main nuclear reactor and related facilities at Yongbyon, north of the capital, within 60 days, to be confirmed by international inspectors. For irreversibly disabling the reactor and declaring all nuclear programs, the North will eventually receive another 950,000 tons in aid. The total is worth $250 million.
The agreement, which also requires that North Korea state all its nuclear programs including plutonium already extracted, was read to all delegates in a conference room at a Chinese state guesthouse.
If North Korea goes through with its promises, they would be the first moves the communist nation has made to scale back its atomic development since the talks began in 2003 after the North kicked out international inspectors and restarted its sole operating nuclear reactor.
Hill said the North Koreans had insisted that the specific amount of aid was spelled out during the talks and not left to a later working group to address as the US had wanted.
In return, Hill said the negotiators moved to also discuss the next step in disarmament, the actual disabling of the North’s programs so they could not easily be restarted.
“We took what was essentially a sticking point and used it as a way to make further progress on the road to denuclearization,“ he said.
Under the agreement, North Korea and United States will embark on talks aimed at resolving disputes and restarting diplomatic relations, Wu said. The Korean peninsula has remained in a state of war for more than a half-century since the Korean War ended in a 1953 ceasefire.
The United States will also begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a terror-sponsoring state and also on ending US trade sanctions, but no deadlines have been was set, according to the agreement.

BERLIN, Feb. 13--Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated only international diplomatic efforts can resolve the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program.
Speaking to the German Die Welt newspaper on Tuesday, Ivanov said, “We believe the international community has to take the diplomatic way,“ IRNA reported.
The Russian minister noted that his country is cooperating closely with the 5+1 group (the five veto powers plus Germany).
Lavrov warned against any anti-Iran military action, saying it would have “catastrophic consequences“.
His comments followed earlier remarks by Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who said over the weekend in Munich that Tehran was ready to address the remaining concerns of western countries over its nuclear program.
“It is the political will of the government to have a negotiated settlement of this case...through constructive dialogue,“ he said.
He stressed that Tehran had the right to peaceful nuclear technology and Iran’s uranium enrichment activities were purely for research purposes.
“In Iran’s national security doctrine, there is no room for atomic and chemical weapons,“ he said.
Larijani also said “unreasonable preconditions“ such as western demands that Iran must suspend uranium enrichment before coming to the negotiating table hinder the resolution of the nuclear dispute.
“This misguided approach will not solve the problem,“ he said.

MONS, Belgium,
Feb. 13--NATO nations are putting the lives of their soldiers in danger in Afghanistan by refusing to provide enough troops to fight off the Taliban, the alliance’s military chief warned on Tuesday.
“If you don’t source this to 100 percent,“ said NATO military commander US General Bantz Craddock, “it places every NATO soldier there at greater risk,“ AFP reported.
Speaking to reporters at the NATO military headquarters in Mons, southern Belgium, Craddock said military needs--known as the joint statement of requirements--are “probably filled to 93 or 94 percent“.
“I want full sourcing of the combined joint statement of requirements: 100 percent,“ he said. In Spain on Thursday, Craddock urged NATO defense ministers to provide two more battalions and important support forces to put down the resistance of the Taliban, whose attacks increased fourfold last year.
NATO has, since 2003, been leading the 35,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which draws forces from 37 nations and has been trying to broaden the influence of Afghanistan’s weak central government.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Iran’s ambassador in Baghdad said on Tuesday Iranian nationals should never underestimate the risks of illegal entry into Iraq.
Hassan Kazemi-Qomi also told IRNA that although the number of Iranians in Iraqi prisons reached its lowest level after negotiations with Iraqi officials, some 70 illegal pilgrims were arrested in the last one month.
He said all Iranians should be aware that Iraq’s security conditions make it more difficult for those who illegally enter the Arab country.
“Iraq’s prisons have very difficult conditions and Iranians detained there are forced to spend at least six months under difficult conditions with Iraqi and Afghan prisoners,“ he said.
The Iranian ambassador pointed out that in many cases the prison term is extended by another six months and without any reason.
Since more Iranian pilgrims are likely to enter Iraq to mark the anniversary of Arbaeen (40th day) of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), Kazemi-Qomi warned Iranian Shiites to avoid entering Iraq illegally.