February 12, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 10, 1423

MOSCOW, Feb 11: The US space agency said on Tuesday an obscure US law aimed at curbing Iran’s military ambitions bars Washington from financing Moscow’s struggling space program even though it now serves as the sole link to the International Space Station.

“We cannot finance Russia,” Nasa’s Moscow representative James Newman said, adding that high-level negotiations were underway on ways of using Russia’s limited stock of space rockets to keep the ISS alive.

Russia’s manned Soyuz and cargo Progress craft remain the only option for moving crew and keeping the ISS in proper orbit following Nasa’s decision to ground its shuttle program as it determines what caused the February 1 Columbia disaster.

Space officials in Moscow said last week that Russia needed to find nearly 50 million dollars to keep the ISS operational this year.

But Newman told reporters that this money could not come from Washington and that the United States was now eyeing partnerships with Europe and Japan because of Russia’s military cooperation with Iran.

The Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) signed by former US president Bill Clinton in March 2000 “limits financing and this agreement stands,” said Newman, who himself flew on the Columbia shuttle in March 2002.

“Right now we just can’t do it,” Newman said in reference to assistance to Russia.

The INA law prohibits Nasa from making payments “in cash or in kind” to Russia for the ISS until Moscow takes “necessary steps” to prevent the transfer of weapons of mass destruction and missile systems to Iran.

Russia is constructing a nuclear power plant in Iran and selling other military hardware to a country viewed by Washington as a “rogue state”. But Moscow denies that its cooperation with Tehran breaks international law.

The INA law can be repealed and Nasa financing to Russia resumed only if the life of ISS passengers is considered to be in danger.

The Nasa official refused to speculate how long the shuttle may remain grounded and whether Russia’s limited ability to compensate for the frozen US program could soon hurt the ISS.

“This is the question that we are trying to work on right now, and are trying to understand,” said Newman.

“Clearly it (the shuttle’s loss) is going to postpone the construction” of the ISS, he said.

“This delay has already had an unfortunate effect, but I wouldn’t call (the situation) bad,” he added.

A single burst of a Russian Progress M-47 caspule Tuesday boosted the ISS 10.5 kilometres higher into an orbit of 406 kilometers (224 miles) from the Earth.

The operation was to have been conducted by another shuttle mission and now highlights the importance of Russia’s creaking program to international space ambitions.

Rosaviokosmos (Russian space agency) chief Yury Koptev told the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily that Moscow must now prove “that our new space obligations go outside the frameworks of previous commitments, or that we are exceptionally poor.”

He added that political negotiations over limits imposed by the INA “will be very difficult” and likely involve direct talks between US President George W. Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Military analysts said that Washington is willing to pay for Russia’s Soyuz rockets in full should Moscow interrupt construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.

“This offer is part of the compensation package the Bush administration has been promising the Kremlin if it stops its nuclear cooperation with Iran .—AFP