US Army 'jammed' Swiss and French satellites

Published: 25/03/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

AP

Bern: The US Army mistakenly jammed the satellite signal of a number of news organisations earlier this year - including the French and Swiss national news agencies - in an attempt to shut down an Iraqi TV station, according to a Swiss newspaper.

Daily Tages-Anzeiger reported in yesterday's edition that the incident occurred on January 23 and lasted about 24 hours, affecting a large number of radio, television and internet services, including those of Agence France Presse (AFP) and its Swiss counterpart Schweizerische Depeschagentur (SDA).

An internal SDA memo states that "the loss of all transmission signals via the Eutelsat satellite was caused by a mistaken attack by the US Army". Tages-Anzeiger says the reason for the mistake may have been a report in The Washington Post two days before the incident, in which the owner of Iraqi satellite channel Al Zawraa is cited saying his station would start broadcasting via Eutelsat "in 48 hours".

In fact, Al Zawraa, a Sunni station which broadcasts pictures of insurgent attacks on US and Iraqi forces, never broadcast on the Hot Bird 8 satellite, although another station with a similar name did.

Swiss discussed compromise idea in Iran: diplomats

By Louis CharbonneauWed Mar 21, 9:52 AM ET

Switzerland recently sent a senior official to Iran to discuss a proposal aimed at resolving Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West, despite requests by key Western powers to drop the idea, diplomats said.

The diplomats said Swiss Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Ambuehl went to Tehran sometime after a visit to Bern last month by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

"The purpose of (Ambuehl's) visit was to promote a Swiss initiative to reach a compromise with Iran over its nuclear file and resume talks on nuclear-related issues," said a one-page report about the trip given to Reuters by a Western diplomat.

The proposal was that Iran would be permitted to keep its current uranium enrichment infrastructure of several hundred centrifuges. Iran could run the centrifuges but would not feed any processed uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into them while negotiating a package of incentives with six world powers.

Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Johann Aeschlimann neither confirmed nor denied the report about Ambuehl's visit to Tehran, but said: "Switzerland has not put forward a proposal to run these centrifuges without uranium gas."

Half a dozen diplomats said the idea was not an official proposal on paper but confirmed the Swiss had been pushing it and had discussed it repeatedly with the Iranians.

Diplomats said the plan was being coordinated with International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

Key Western powers are dismissive of the idea, which could complicate their drive gradually to expand sanctions against Tehran since both the IAEA and Iran are considering it favorably, the diplomats said.

Several diplomats said Iran was wavering about the idea of running its centrifuges without uranium gas, fearing that Tehran might be perceived as having backed down.

Russia and China, which can veto any sanctions resolutions at the U.N. Security Council, would like a compromise with Iran.

Germany's U.N. ambassador in New York, Thomas Matussek, was aware of the proposal but said it had played no role in current discussions on Iran at the U.N. Security Council.

The IAEA declined to comment, but a diplomat close to the agency said the Iranians were "relatively positive" about the idea. Iran's foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

SPINNING ON EMPTY

The West fears Iran is developing atomic weapons under cover of an energy program and demands that it freeze its enrichment program, which can produce uranium fuel for bombs or power plants. Iran insists its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

The diplomats said the United States and the European Union's three biggest powers -- Germany, France and Britain -- dislike the Swiss idea and asked the Swiss not to open a second negotiating track with Iran.

The four powers, plus Russia and China, offered last year to hold talks with Iran on a package of incentives provided it suspended uranium enrichment beforehand, something Iran has so far refused to do.

"Trying to establish a second track is not an approach we wish to take," a U.S. official said. An EU3 diplomat agreed.

The IAEA concluded in an internal report on the Swiss idea that Iran could gain useful technical knowledge from the dry operation of centrifuges, including information about the durability of the machinery and trouble-shooting.

The United States and EU3 have drafted a second U.N. Security Council resolution imposing further sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend enrichment. But Council chair South Africa has called for the suspension of all sanctions against Iran.

(Additional reporting by Evelyn Leopold at the United Nations, Karin Strohecker in Vienna, Sam Cage in Zurich and Frederik Dahl in Tehran)

MP says Switzerland plans to guarantee enrichment in Iran

Tehran, Feb 17, IRNA

Iran-MP-Nuclear

A Majlis deputy said here Saturday that a plan has been presented by Switzerland to settle the dispute between the West and Iran over the latter's peaceful nuclear activities and guarantee enrichment inside Iranian territory.

First Deputy of Majlis' National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad-Nabi Roudaki made the disclosure while speaking to IRNA.

Asked to comment on the Swiss proposal, he said that "the plan was raised during a meeting between Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Secretary Ali Larijani with Swiss officials last week."
"It will guarantee uranium enrichment inside Iranian territory under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) while allowing resumption of talks as a first step to solving the dispute over Iran's nuclear activities," he said.

According to the Swiss plan, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium at a limited or low-scale rate and under IAEA surveillance.

The MP said that the plan was still being studied by the SNSC.

"The plan was offered to Iran after Iranian diplomacy gained international support through a recent visit by the Supreme Leader's Advisor for International Affairs Ali-Akbar Velayati to Moscow and Larijani's participation in the 43rd Conference on Security Policy in Munich, Germany.

"The offer also coincided with the Iranian nation's massive rallies on February 11 (Bahman 22) marking the 28th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution and President Ahmadinejad's promise at Tehran's Azadi Square to announce a major achievement in its nuclear program before the end of the current Iranian year and other remarkable achievements in the scientific field.

The MP from southern Shiraz city added: "They (the US and its allies) have now come to realize that the Iranian nation is determined to resist all obstacles and to assert its legal nuclear right." He noted that US President George W Bush has reiterated that direct talks with Iran is not on the US agenda and rumors of such talks are a media propaganda.

He said "Russia, China and India, three countries which exercise great influence in international affairs, have also understood that the US adopts a policy of unilateralism in the world and intends to pit Russia against China in international affairs." Pointing to a joint front set up by Russia, China and India, Roudaki said Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his address to the Munich security conference, stressed that his country would not tolerate US unilateralism.

He stressed the importance of the Iranian nation reinforcing its vigilance in order to confront adverse international developments.

"Iranian officials should exercise reason and carefully study the Switzerland plan," he said.

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