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NUKEWARS
Iran hangs 'Mossad spy': state media
by Staff Writers
Tehran (AFP) Dec 28, 2010


Iran says no date set for nuclear talks
Tehran (AFP) Dec 28, 2010 - Iran is yet to agree on an exact date for the next round of nuclear talks with world powers due to be held next month in Istanbul, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday. "There is an agreement on the venue of the meeting but the date has not been finalised yet. Consultations are ongoing to organise talks in Istanbul somewhere around the end of January," Mehmanparast told reporters. A senior Iranian official said in Damascus on Monday that next month's talks could resolve the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.

"We think (the negotiations), in line with the agenda decided in Geneva, could clear the way to resolving problems," said Ali Bagheri, deputy to Said Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator. "Continuing the negotiations in Istanbul could bring gains to both the parties concerned," Bagheri told a news conference after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, on Tuesday welcomed the upcoming talks in Istanbul, which he said would be followed by rounds of negotiations in Brazil and Iran. The hardliner said world powers had applied a "lot of political pressure" against Iran and adopted "sanctions one after another to prevent Iran from becoming nuclear."

"But Iranians won this political battle," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA in a speech to the people of Karaj, west of Tehran. "If you add a 100 more sanctions to your list, it will not even slightly affect the will of Iranians," he said. Iran's nuclear programme has grown under the presidency of Ahmadinejad, attracting four rounds of UN sanctions and several other unilateral punitive measures from various countries, including the United States. The Istanbul negotiations would be the second round between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, United States and Germany -- after talks resumed in Geneva earlier this month following a 14-month hiatus. The West suspects that Tehran is pursuing an atomic weapons programme under the guise of a civilian nuclear work. Iran denies the charges and insists its activities have a purely peaceful purpose.

Iran on Tuesday hanged a man found guilty of feeding Israeli spy agency Mossad with Iranian military secrets and information on its missile programme over a period of six years, news agency IRNA reported.

Ali Akbar Siadat was hanged in Tehran's Evin prison after being condemned to death for "working for Mossad," IRNA quoted the Tehran prosecutor's office as saying.

Siadat was found guilty of having had links with Mossad for six years. "He had received 60,000 dollars to give classified information to the Zionist regime," the state news agency said.

IRNA said Siadat had been sentenced to death on charges of "strengthening the Zionist regime, opposing the Islamic republic and (spreading) corruption on earth."

Siadat had acknowledged having established contacts with one Israeli embassy overseas and that he had been giving information "about missiles belonging to the Revolutionary Guards."

He was also transferring information "to the enemy of military bases, fighter jets, the number of training flights, airplane accidents and air systems of the Revolutionary Guards," the report said.

Israeli government officials declined to comment on the allegations.

The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful ideological army, controls the country's sensitive missile programme, including the Shahab-3 missile which Tehran says can reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf.

Three years ago Siadat had received a computer and other equipment for his work. He used to meet his contacts from the Israeli intelligence service in hotels in Turkey, Thailand and the Netherlands, IRNA said.

It added that he was found with 29 pages of classified information when arrested two years ago with his wife while trying to leave Iran.

Iranian media on Sunday announced that another Iranian had also been sentenced to death for working as a spy for Israel.

His identity will be revealed after confirmation of the sentence, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said, according to Mehr news agency.

Media reports late October quoted Dolatabadi as saying that two Iranians had been charged with spying for Israel, which accuses Tehran of seeking to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme.

In November 2008, Iran executed an Iranian telecom salesman convicted of spying for the Jewish state. In the same month Iran said it had busted a ring of Iranians who spied for Israel after being trained in Tel Aviv.

It was unclear whether Siadat was among those arrested in November 2008.

Iran routinely accuses arch-foe Israel of carrying out hostile activities against the Islamic republic, including espionage against its armed forces and its nuclear programmes.

Iranian officials have accused the Israeli intelligence services, as well as the United States and Britain, of attacking two of its top nuclear scientists on November 26.

Majid Shahriari, a senior scientist involved in Iran's nuclear activities, was killed by a bomb placed against his car. Fereydoun Abbassi Davani, another top nuclear expert, was wounded in a similar attack.

Israel and its ally the United States have not ruled out a military strike against Iran to stop its nuclear programme.

Iran denies that its programme of uranium enrichment is aimed at making nuclear weapons.

IRNA reported that another man, Ali Saremi, was also hanged on Tuesday in Evin prison after he was found guilty of anti-revolution activities.

Saremi, a member of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), the main armed opposition group, was charged with participating in activities of counter-revolution groups and providing them with information.

The latest two hangings bring to 171 the total number of people executed in Iran so far this year, according to an AFP count based on media reports. At least 270 people were executed in 2009.

Along with China, Saudi Arabia and the United States, Iran has one of the highest numbers of executions each year.

The Islamic republic says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are other crimes punishable by death in Iran.

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NUKEWARS
Istanbul talks can resolve nuclear row: Iran
Damascus (AFP) Dec 27, 2010
A senior Iranian official said in Damascus on Monday that next month's talks in Istanbul between world powers and Tehran could resolve their dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. "We think (the negotiations), in line with the agenda decided in Geneva, could clear the way to resolving problems," said Ali Baqiri, the deputy of Said Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator. "Continuing the negoti ... read more


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