[For full text of the articles, contact naiman at justforeignpolicy.org]
In this issue: 1) Iran Says It Will Give No Early Nuclear Reply 2) EU Set for Rescheduled Talks with Iran 3) No Formal Iran - EU Talks 'Til Tuesday 4) Exiled Iranian Opponent Says West Appeasing Iran 5) A Summary of Illinois News (legal battle over Persian artifacts) 6) Excerpts of letters regarding ancient Persian tablets 7) Iraqi PM Demands Rape Probe, Slams US Immunity 8) Calderon Has Slim Lead in Mexico's Final Vote Count 9) Mexican leftist vows to challenge results
Summary: Iran continued to reject calls for an early reply to an offer of incentives aimed at curtailing its nuclear program, insisting on Thursday it would use a key July 11 meeting with the European Union merely to raise questions on the package. The EU is due to hold preliminary talks with Iran on Thursday and more detailed discussions next Tuesday in which it has said it expects a formal response to a package of incentives to halt uranium enrichment. "The Tuesday meeting is just for removing ambiguities. Iran will not give its definitive answer at this meeting,'' an Iranian official told Reuters. Major powers have said they want a reply from Iran by a July 15 G8 summit in Russia at the latest, suggesting that otherwise would face the threat of sanctions from the UN Security Council. Possible sanctions are said to include a visa ban on government officials, freezing assets, blocking financial transactions by government figures and those involved in the country's nuclear program, an arms embargo and a blockade on the shipping of refined oil products. Iran insists it will not give its answer before August 22. Some diplomats say that as Russia and China are unlikely to back any U.N. sanctions against Iran at this stage, there is little pressure on Tehran to respond either at the Brussels talks or before the G8 summit in Russia.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an exiled Iranian opposition group, accused Western nations on Wednesday of appeasing Tehran with incentives to halt uranium enrichment that she compared to moves to placate Hitler before World War II. She said Iran would not give up its enrichment activities and that diplomatic efforts by the European Union and the United States to avert a crisis were only rewarding the Iranian government's strategies. "The solution to this crisis is neither appeasement nor war. It is to be found in democratic change in Iran," she said. The NCRI is the political wing of the outlawed People's Mujahideen armed group, which figures on the EU's list of banned terrorist organizations. It has followers among Iranian exiles living in Europe and the United States but diplomats and Iranian analysts say it has little public support in Iran.
Iraq's prime minister called on Wednesday for an independent inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of a teenager and killing of her family by U.S. soldiers and a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi law. "We will demand an independent Iraqi inquiry, or a joint investigation with Multinational Forces," Nuri al-Maliki told reporters in his first public comments since the case came to light. "We do not accept the violation of Iraqi people's honor as happened in this case. We believe that the immunity granted to international forces has emboldened them to commit such crimes and ... there must be a review of this immunity," he said. Lawmakers had demanded Maliki brief parliament on the case. Under a 3-year-old mandate from the U.N. Security Council, the 140,000 or so U.S. and foreign troops are immune from Iraqi law. Maliki has urged U.S. commanders to hold their soldiers to account under military law, which many Iraqis say has not happened. The rape and murder case is the fifth in a high-profile series of U.S. inquiries into killings of Iraqi civilians in recent months, and comes at time when Maliki and Washington face delicate negotiations over a treaty to regulate the presence of the U.S.-led force once the U.N. mandate expires in December. The addition of rape to the premeditated murder of civilians in an Islamic society could make the case especially damaging for the U.S. military. Baghdad's central morgue said on Wednesday it had received 1,595 bodies last month, the highest monthly total since the February bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra sparked a wave of sectarian killings. The figures for June show the pace of killings has increased, even after a U.S. military strike killed al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7.
Early this morning Felipe Calderon passed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by a razor-thin margin in the official count of polling place tallies in Mexico's presidential election. With 99.2 percent of the vote tallies counted, Calderon had 35.77 percent of the vote, while Lopez Obrador had 35.42 percent. These percentages translated into an estimated difference between the candidates of about 142,000 votes. Lopez Obrador had led the count since the tallying began early Wednesday. Leonel Cota, president of the Democratic Revolution Party [PRD], accused election officials of deliberately mishandling the preliminary vote count Sunday to confirm a win for Calderon. He said Lopez Obrador won the election. His party has claimed that more than 18,000 polling places had more votes cast than there were ballots and nearly 800 had more votes than there were registered voters. Cota said Democratic Revolution would not recognize the results without a ballot-by-ballot recount. Once the count is complete, the seven-judge Federal Electoral Tribunal will hear any complaints and can overturn elections. By law, it must certify a winner by Sept. 6, and its decision is final. Lopez Obrador said this morning he would not accept the official result and would take the case to the Federal Electoral Tribunal demanding that "the votes be counted." The count that took place yesterday largely re-added existing polling place totals. It is interesting to note that much of the U.S. press coverage, such as yesterday's stories by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR, refers to Obrador as a "leftist," while describing Calderon as a "conservative," without explaining the asymmetry of the characterizations. [This morning's Washington Post article refers to Obrador as a "populist."] It is also worth noting that Calderon is described as a supporter of "free trade," although as a supporter of NAFTA and the World Trade Organization he supports government restraints on trade such as patents and copyrights. It would be more accurate to describe him as an advocate of US-supported trade agreements.
A legal battle over Persian artifacts has the University of Chicago defending the Iranian government in court. At issue is a collection of ancient Persian tablets that victims of a terror bombing want to seize and auction as compensation. The clay tablets have been kept in the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute since the 1930s. Lawyers for Americans wounded in a 1997 bombing in Jerusalem won a court ruling last month that takes them a step closer to seizing the collection as part of Iranian assets in the United States. The university plans to appeal the ruling. The Institute's director, Gil Stein, said the Institute would do "everything in its power to protect cultural patrimony and the character of the tablets as an irreplaceable scholarly data set." Stein noted that the tablets have never been bought or sold nor been a source of profit.
Articles: 1) Iran Says It Will Give No Early Nuclear Reply Reuters July 6, 2006 Filed at 7:30 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-nuclear-iran.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iran defied international calls for an early reply to an offer of incentives aimed at ending a nuclear stand-off, insisting on Thursday it would use a key July 11 meeting merely to raise questions on the package.
The European Union is due to hold preliminary talks with Iran on Thursday and more detailed discussions next Tuesday in which it expects a formal response to a package of technology, trade and other incentives to halt uranium enrichment.
``The Tuesday meeting is just for removing ambiguities. Iran will not give its definitive answer at this meeting,'' an Iranian official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
2) EU Set for Rescheduled Talks with Iran Reuters July 6, 2006 Filed at 5:18 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-nuclear-iran.html
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union holds rescheduled talks with Iran about its nuclear program on Thursday amid rising Western concern at Tehran's failure to respond to a package of incentives designed to end a standoff.
Iran postponed talks with the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels on Wednesday in apparent anger at an exiled opposition leader's visit to the European parliament.
But Iran said its chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani would meet Solana for a private dinner on Thursday.
Solana said he had agreed to a second meeting with Larijani on July 11, keeping up Western pressure for a clear answer from Iran on the package before leaders of the Group of Eightleading industrialized nations meet in St Petersburg on July 15.
3) No Formal Iran - EU Talks 'Til Tuesday Associated Press July 6, 2006 Filed at 6:41 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The top Iranian and EU negotiators agreed to meet Thursday night for informal discussions but postponed until next week formal talks crucial to diffusing the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, officials said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, scheduled a dinner for Thursday night, said EU spokeswoman Cristina Gallach. Solana and Larijani were to discuss a package of incentives put forward by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany and presented to Tehran by Solana in June.
Larijani had been scheduled to meet with Solana on Wednesday, but Iran canceled at the last minute, citing anger over intensified activities of exiled Iranian opposition groups in EU-member countries.
4) Exiled Iranian Opponent Says West Appeasing Iran Reuters July 5, 2006 Filed at 10:00 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-nuclear-iran-rajavi.html
STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The head of an exiled Iranian opposition group accused Western nations on Wednesday of appeasing Tehran with incentives to halt uranium enrichment that she compared to moves to placate Hitler before World War Two.
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said she had clear indications that Tehran would not give up its enrichment activities and that diplomatic efforts by the European Union and the United States to avert a crisis were only rewarding the Tehran government's strategies.
5) A Summary of Illinois News (legal battle over Persian artifacts) Associated Press July 6, 2006, 2:20 AM CDT http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/wisconsin/chi-ap-il-illinoistoday,1,1435399.story
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A legal battle over ancient Persian artifacts has the Iranian government asking for Washington to intervene and the University of Chicago defending the Islamic regime in court.
At issue is an extremely valuable collection of ancient Persian tablets, written in cuneiform, that victims of a terror bombing want to seize and auction as compensation.
The clay tablets have been kept in the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute since the 1930s. But lawyers for Americans wounded in a 1997 bombing in Jerusalem won a court ruling last month that takes them a step closer to seizing the collection as part of Iranian assets in the United States.
6) Excerpts of letters regarding ancient Persian tablets Associated Press
July 5, 2006, 2:37 PM CDT http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/illinois/chi-ap-il-iran-ancienttable,1,2381600.story
The following is an excerpt from a letter Gil Stein, director of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, sent to Esfandiar Rahim Mashaii, director of the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization, regarding a legal battle concerning ancient Persian tablets on a long-term loan from Iran:
"The Oriental Institute will do everything in its power to protect cultural patrimony and the character of the tablets as an irreplaceable scholarly data set. We remain absolutely committed to safeguarding the Persepolis tablets. The protection of cultural patrimony and of scholarly research are fundamental matters of principle for us, as they should be for every civilized person and nation," Stein wrote.
7) Iraqi PM Demands Rape Probe, Slams US Immunity Ibon Villelabeitia Reuters Wednesday, July 5, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0705-05.htm
BAGHDAD - Iraq's prime minister called on Wednesday for an independent inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of a teenager and killing of her family by U.S. soldiers and a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi law.
8) Calderon Has Slim Lead in Mexico's Final Vote Count Associated Press July 6, 2006 Filed at 9:32 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mexico-Elections.html
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon caught up to his leftist rival and passed him by a razor-thin margin early Thursday in a grueling, round-the-clock vote tally to decide Mexico's closest presidential race in history.
9) Mexican leftist vows to challenge results Lisa J. Adams Associated Press July 6, 2006 Filed at 9:42 a.m. ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060706/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_elections_77
Conservative candidate Felipe Calderon was winning an official vote count by a razor-thin margin Thursday, but his leftist rival said he won't accept the results and will take his demands to court.
"We are going to the Federal Electoral Tribunal with the same demand — that the votes be counted — because we cannot accept these results," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.
-- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy