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01/24/2006:

"Iran Threatens Enrichment if It's Referred"

Iran will immediately retaliate if referred to the U.N. Security Council next week by forging ahead with developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program, a senior envoy said Monday.

The comments by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, a senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, reflected Iran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production but it also is needed in making uranium-based nuclear weapons.

Separately, Iran's top nuclear negotiator planned to travel to Moscow on Tuesday for a high-level session as talks intensified surrounding a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors _ a compromise that would provide more oversight and ease tensions.
breitbart.com


Ukraine admits withholding gas from Europe
Ukraine has been withholding some Russian natural gas exports meant for customers in Europe, where several countries have reported falls in gas supplies amid a severe cold weather snap, an official with Ukraine's state-owned energy firm told AFP.

"We have in fact allowed the withholding of gas in excess of the contract during the past day," a Naftogaz official said on the condition of anonymity.



The official declined to say how much gas Ukraine -- which transports the vast majority of Russian gas exports to Europe -- was using over and above its agreed contract with Moscow.

"But we are certain that according to monthly totals, Ukraine will withhold exactly the volume agreed with Gazprom," the official said.

Earlier, a spokesman for Ukraine's Prime Minister Yury Yekhanurov denied charges by Russia's state-owned Gazprom giant that Kiev was withholding European supplies.


Although gas consumption in Ukraine has risen to record levels because of a severe cold snap gripping the country, "the increase of gas use in Ukraine has not at all affected the carrying out of our transport obligations," spokesman Valentin Mondrievsky told AFP.

Earlier on Monday, Russia's state-owned Gazprom monopoly admitted for the first time that it was not entirely fulfilling its contractual obligations to clients abroad because Ukraine was retaining some of the exports.

"You can call it withholding or taking, legal or illegal -- call it whatever you like," Gazprom's deputy chief Alexander Medvedev said in an interview with Russian television networks, extracts of which were broadcast Monday evening.

"But what is happening is that gas is remaining in Ukraine at higher volumes than envisioned. This prevents us from fully fulfilling our obligations to our foreign customers," he said.

Around 80 percent of Gazprom's exports to Europe pass through a pipeline network located on Ukrainian territory.


Senator Hillary Clinton Takes Money from Pro-Regime Iranians
Senator Hillary Clinton yesterday accused President George W. Bush of mishandling the threat from Iran while she's been accepting money from supporters of the renegade Iranian regime.

Wealthy businessmen Hassan Nemazee and Faraj Aalaei who are associated with the American Iranian Council, a pro-regime, anti-sanctions group, are vocal Clinton supporters and contributors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Namazee has contributed $4,000 to Clinton's reelection while Aalaei contributed $1,000.

Insight Magazine, published by the Washington Times, describes their lobby this way: "the American-Iranian Council [AIC], a pro-regime lobbying group [are] trying to get Congress and the Bush administration to lift the trade embargo on Iran."

According to reports in Hillary Clinton's home state, she's also raising money from Gati Kashani, another figure linked with the Iranian Mullahs and who also supports the regime.

On its website, the Iranian American Political Action Committee (PAC) noted, "On Friday, June 3rd [2005], Iranian-American friends of the Hillary Clinton Senate re-election campaign hosted a fundraising event in honor of Senator Clinton. The event took place at the home of Gita and Behzad Kashani in Los Altos Hills, California."