October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

TEHRAN: As the clock ticks toward the end-October deadline set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), debate is raging in Iran on an action that many see as a hostile and western-inspired one.

Many here expressed concern that Iran is being targetted for some kind of action by countries like the United States government, whose ‘axis of evil’ list contains Iran along with North Korea and Iraq.

“One thing is certain, regardless of what IAEA decides on deadline day over Iran’s nuke policy, apart from the Iran-Iraq war’s time, our foreign policy is facing the most serious challenge since the establishment of the Islamic republic,” writes Dr Sadeq Ziba Kalam, a professor of political sciences in Tehran university, whose columns appear in the reformist ‘Sharq’ daily.

The IAEA has given Iran until Oct 31 to suspend its uranium enrichment activities and make all nuclear facilities open to its inspectors, and present proof that its nuclear activities are for energy purposes and not for the development of nuclear weapons.

Last week, Iran began releasing details of components it had imported unofficially for its nuclear programme as requested by IAEA.

At the same time, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was quoted last week as telling religious leaders: “We will not allow anyone to deprive us of our legitimate right to use nuclear technology, particularly enrichment for providing fuel for nuclear power stations.”

Concern by foreign governments and the United Nations rose when traces of highly enriched uranium were found during an earlier IAEA inspection this year. Iran maintains that they were from contaminated parts that came from abroad.

Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power station at the southern port of Bushehr and is supplying uranium over a 10-year period from 2005.

Iran is also under pressure to sign by the end of this month an additional protocol or agreement that would allow IAEA more intrusive inspections, including samplings of air and soil at Iranian sites.

All of this, plus warnings from the United States, Russia and the European Union in recent months, have put Iranians and their officials on guard.

The Iranian ruling establishment sees the IAEA action, in the wake of its Sept 12 resolution asking Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, as signs of a new animosity toward the Iranian nation.

Almost everyday, high-ranking officials or politicians give their comment about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or its additional protocol.

“IAEA is trying to undermine the national sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran” is how Iranian President Mohammad Khatami ‘s legal and security advisor, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, describes the situation.

In the streets too, it is easy for many think that Iran is, or is about to be, under some kind of siege.

Thus far, Khatami has said that Iran will continue cooperation “to assure the world that we are not pursuing nuclear weapons”. At the same time, however, he has been quoted as saying that “we never sign any document that undermines our national sovereignty”.

Earlier this month, Dr Hasan Rouhani was quoted as saying that Tehran continues to weigh its options on the international inspection process. “Domestic and foreign media speculate a lot, but we have not decided yet to sign or not the protocol. Various options are open to us and in time we will make a proper decision.”

Iranian officials say the country is enriching uranium to ensure continuity of fuel supply, but other countries doubt this.

Among the Iranians’ fears — especially if Tehran does not reach agreement with the IAEA — is that the United States or Israel might go as far as attacking its nuclear plants, as Israel did to Iraq in 1981.

If this happens, the chairman of the state’s expediency council, Hashemi Rafsanjani, warned: “Iran will retaliate against any Israeli attack to the Bushehr nuclear plant in an unforgettable blow.”

Khamenei, on various occasions, has said: “With God Almighty’s grace, the Iranian nation would continue to be prepared for resistance and perseverance against its enemies (the United States and Israel)”.

One hardliner says that if such an attack happens, Iranians will rally the Muslim world. “Taking the high human casualty of Americans and British in Iraq into consideration, you will realize that Iran has multiple leverages to make life miserable for any intruder in the Middle East.”

Mohsen Kadivar, a religious leader and advocate of reform, believes that Iran in the end budge and sign the additional protocol, as the government does not have popular legitimacy and has to appease the United States anyway.

But the real challenge, others say, remains how Iran can convince other countries about its supposedly peaceful intentions in the remaining weeks ahead.

“The problem is how a regime with a legacy of extremism in hostage-taking in the former United States embassy and openly supports Hamas and Hezbollah in south Lebanon can persuade the US-influenced IAEA that it has only peaceful targets in its nuclear technology,” says Amir Hormoz Bozorgmehr, a sociology teacher who was purged in the post-revolutionary period.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.