AEOI Refining Uranium At Higher Level

Iran on Tuesday began enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent at its Natanz enrichment facility under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN nuclear agency.
The move comes after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tasked the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) with enriching uranium to 20 percent to help meet local medicinal needs.
On Monday Tehran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would start enriching uranium at the higher level on Tuesday, Presstv reported.
Iran needs 120 kg (264 lb) of 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients and is soon to run out of fuel.
The reactor, which produces 20 different kinds of radio-medicine for cancer patients, runs on 20 percent-enriched U-235.

Confirmation
AEOI Chief Ali-Akbar Salehi on Tuesday confirmed the beginning of uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity level at Natanz plant.
"The enrichment started on Tuesday in a separate cascade from the production line that enriches uranium in Natanz," Salehi told IRNA.
"We opened a new cascade, called S8, in Natanz which is more on a lab scale," he said.
The top nuclear official said that doors are still open for talks with Iran about nuclear fuel swap.
"The beginning of the enrichment is not tantamount to the end of interaction and negotiations on a UN-brokered proposal on fuel swap," he said.
Iran is still ready to continue cooperation if the negotiation parties act wisely and stop wasting time, Salehi underlined.
Iran says that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.
ISNA quoted Salehi as saying that Iran had set up a chain of 164 centrifuges, used to refine uranium, to refine fuel at 20 percent. He said production capacity is 3 to 5 kg a month, above the Tehran reactor's needs of 1.5 kg.

IAEA Inspectors in Place
The UN nuclear agency said Tuesday that a team of its inspectors was in place in Iran to monitor the plans to start enriching uranium to higher levels. "I can confirm that officials are there in Natanz today," said a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“What they find and assess will be reported to the board," he added.

Call for Massive Rallies On Revolution Anniv.

Every year on the anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution in 1979, millions of Iranians pour to the streets to once again pledge their loyalty to the revolution’s values.

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Chilcot May Seek Bush Testimony

Britain's inquiry into the Iraq war will seek meetings with former members of the Bush administration after taking evidence from Tony Blair and other key British officials, the panel's chairman said Monday.
John Chilcot, head of the inquiry, confirmed that he hopes to obtain evidence from officials in the United States, but did not name specific individuals, or specify if his panel hopes to put questions to former President George W. Bush himself, AP reported.
"We cannot take formal evidence as such from foreign nationals, but we can of course have discussions with them," Chilcot said, bringing to a close the inquiry's first set of public evidence sessions.
The hearings began in November and have seen Blair, current MI6 intelligence agency chief John Sawers, the head of Britain's military Jock Stirrup and a host of ministers and government officials offer testimony.
Chilcot said his panel will question British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Development Secretary Douglas Alexander in a second set of hearings before summer, and also make plans to gather evidence from US officials and military veterans.
"We will be holding a number of meetings and seminars with a range of individuals, British and non-British ... these could include veterans from the Iraq campaign and officials from the former American administration," Chilcot said.

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Malaysia Innovation Awards for Iranians

Iranian students won 11 awards to rank first among foreign students studying in Malaysian universities in the 9th Malaysia Technology Expo held during 4-6 February 2010.

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Afghan Avalanches Kill Dozens

Dozens of people died and hundreds were trapped through the night in freezing cold and darkness after avalanches swept over a mountain highway and closed a landmark Alpine tunnel in Afghanistan.
Passengers trapped in the Salang Pass, the main route across the Hindu Kush mountains, said by telephone on Tuesday they were freezing to death and being suffocated by car fumes, and had seen cars filled with dead bodies after being stuck through the night, Reuters reported.
Days of heavy snow triggered avalanches blocking the 2.6 km (1.6 mile) long Soviet-built Salang tunnel, a historic engineering feat that links Kabul and Afghanistan's north, connecting the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia through the treacherous mountain pass at 3,400 meters (11,000 feet).
Authorities gave an official death toll of 28. A Reuters reporting team at the scene saw one bus and several passenger cars that had been swept into the steep gorge by an avalanche, and several dead bodies being removed from trapped vehicles.
Soldiers had dug a footpath through snow along miles of blocked cars. Passengers who could escape on foot were walking out, while Afghan troops carried the injured and the elderly on their backs to waiting ambulances.
Rescue workers pulled frozen corpses out of cars.
"I saw five dead bodies from a car parked behind us, and so far the government has not done enough to save our lives," Qazi Azhar, an Afghan judge who was caught in the pass, told Reuters by mobile phone.

On Kuwait's Watch

By Mohiaddin Sajedi
The Kuwait newspaper Al-Siyasa has been testing its fortunes for yet another time in trying to drive a wedge between regional states and by extension create a climate more conducive for the presence of foreign troops in the Persian Gulf.
Its chief editor, Ahmad Jarallah strongly attacked what he claimed were Iran’s “Saddam-like policies” and emphasized that Tehran has no right to be concerned about US missiles on the southern tip of the strategic waterway.
He called on Arab regimes in the region to “stand united and act against Iran and defeat” the country. Any form of resistance against Israel, including those by Iran, Lebanon, Syria…to Gaza, is a satanic unity and must be dislodged, he wrote recently.
Freedom of expression and press is a right of all societies. Kuwait newspapers, like Israeli publications, have the right to write about anything they want.
But it is important that public opinion judge their true intentions and motivations.
The fanatical Kuwaiti tries to draw parallels between Iran and the murderous Saddam Hussein. He goes so far as to link Iran’s three-decade support for the oppressed Palestinians to Saddam’s adventurism, which is a “ disaster for all”.
Interestingly, Jarallah was a close friend and confidante of the ousted Iraqi dictator before he sent his tanks rolling into Kuwait in 1991 and took over the tiny emirate in a matter of hours.
In return for all the money the editor got at regular intervals from Saddam, he was obliged to blindly condemn Iran during the Iraqi-imposed war (1980-88) in which an estimated one million people died on both sides.
During those tense years Jarallah barely missed an opportunity to praise the Baath party boss as a “real hero” of the Arab world and routinely introduced him to his readers as a “savior of Arabs”.
But now he has made a huge U-turn and nurtures a totally different view of the man who did not even have mercy on his near and dear ones and ordered the extermination of his two sons-in-law.

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Abbas Mulls Peace Talks

Palestinian leaders have not set specific terms on which they would accept a US offer to mediate indirect peace talks with Israel, and expect clarification on such talks in a week, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.
The United States has proposed circumventing a dispute preventing the resumption of talks, stalled for more than a year since a war in Gaza, by reconvening in the form of "proximity talks" on an indirect basis, under closer US mediation, AFP reported.
Israel has agreed to the formula but Abbas has said he will announce a decision after hearing answers to some questions he has put to Washington.
"The Palestinian side has not set any conditions in particular," said Abbas, speaking to reporters in Japan through an interpreter, when he asked under what conditions he would accept the US offer on the proximity talks.
Speaking at a seminar in Tokyo, Abbas added that his government was keeping the door open to the US proposal, but stressed that he was still waiting to hear from Washington.
Abbas said that he expected US Middle East special envoy George Mitchell to get back to him with further clarification about the talks a week from now. After that, his government could consult with other Arab leaders and make a decision, he added.

Oppression Abolished

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said the nation will once again demonstrate its grandeur and loyalty to the ideals of the founder of Islamic Republic during the Feb 11 rallies. See Page 2

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Proxy Wars

Sudan and Chad agreed on Tuesday to end their proxy wars and engage in direct talks and joint development projects to rebuild their war-affected border areas.

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Showing Wisdom

Head of the Iran-UAE Chamber of Commerce said Iranian traders face barriers in the Persian Gulf state of UAE. “The UAE should not miss the opportunity to engage in trade with Iran...

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NATO Threat

NATO remains a serious threat to Russia’s security, the secretary of the country’s national security council said on Tuesday.

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No Exit

When Charles E. Haldeman Jr. became Freddie Mac’s chief executive officer in August, the ailing housing-finance giant had already consumed $51 billion of government money to stay afloat.

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IRAN DAILY

Number 3617● Wednesday February 10, 2010 ● Bahman 21, 1388 ● Safar 25, 1431 ● Price 2,000 Rials ● 12 Pages