Russia presses Iran over nuclear fuel

By Guy Dinmore in Washington
May 27 2003

Russia has responded to US pressure by telling Iran it will not supply nuclear fuel for the reactor it is constructing unless the Islamic republic agrees to intrusive inspections of all its nuclear facilities, say US and European officials.

Moscow’s move was seen in Washington as a big step in the Bush administration’s efforts to hinder Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Russia had resisted US pressure to stop construction of the Bushehr plant.

Iraqi Leaders Attack Plans for Interim Rule

By Charles Clover in Baghdad & Guy Dinmore in Washington
The Financial Times

Published: May 19 2003

Relations between US forces and political groups in Iraq deteriorated further on Monday as local politicians lambasted US plans for a toothless interim authority and thousands of Shia demonstrators marched through Baghdad protesting against “occupation” by coalition forces.

Turkey, an uneasy ally of the US, also expressed its concern about political developments as well as violence in the northern city of Kirkuk, where at least 10 people were killed at the weekend in clashes between Kurds and Arabs. The deaths were apparently linked to town council elections planned for later this week.

Post-war plans – US-UK SPLIT ON THE ROAD AHEAD

by Stephen Fidler, Guy Dinmore

After the bitter diplomatic battle in the UN over whether to go to war in Iraq, another could be shaping up. This time, however, it could split the closest allies in the military coalition to unseat Saddam Hussein: Britain and the US. The issue: what to do afterwards.

Ideologues reshape world over breakfast

Published on FT March 22 2003

Billed as a “black coffee briefing on the war on Iraq”, yesterday’s breakfast for the influential hawks of the American Enterprise Institute was more of a victory celebration.

UN to have no political power in postwar Iraq

Financial Times
Guy Dinmore and Peronet Despeignes in Washington and Henry Hamman in Miami

Gen Tommy Franks will take immediate charge of Iraq once Saddam Hussein is overthrown, but the head of US Central Command will then start the process of handing over government to an interim Iraqi authority, a senior US official said yesterday.

While the US and UK will seek United Nations endorsement of an “appropriate post-conflict administration”, US officials made it clear the UN would have no political authority in postwar Iraq and its role would be mainly humanitarian.

The international community is also expected to help pick up the bill.

Iranian-backed forces cross into Iraq

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran and Guy Dinmore in Washington
Published: February 18 2003

Iranian-backed Iraqi opposition forces have crossed into northern Iraq from Iran with the aim of securing the frontier in the event of war, according to senior Iranian officials.

The forces, numbering up to 5,000 troops, with some heavy equipment, are nominally under the command of Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim, a prominent Iraqi Shia Muslim opposition leader who has been based in Iran since 1980 and lives in Tehran.

A HEART-WRENCHING TASK

Less than a kilometre away from where Canadian troops kept them under high-tech surveillance, obstructive Russian troops were engaged in the most serious eyeball-to-eyeball standoff between Moscow’s and NATO’s forces for half a century. In a nearby ethnic Albanian village, survivors told of a gruesome massacre by Serb forces. Everywhere were signs of the human tragedy caused by the conflict in Kosovo. As they passed their first week in the tortured Yugoslav province, Canadian peacekeepers had quickly become immersed in the tricky and often heart-wrenching complexities of ending a messy Balkan war.