NGOs 'behind' India nuclear delay

24 February 2012 Last updated at 08:22 GMT Mr Singh says foreign groups do not appreciate India's growing energy and food needs The Indian prime minister has blamed US non-governmental organisations for the delay in commissioning the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu state.

Manmohan Singh told the prestigious Science journal that these groups did not appreciate India's growing energy requirements.

The plant has been stalled by protests from local people over safety concerns.

Mr Singh also blamed US and Scandinavian groups for opposing genetically modified crops in India.

Critics say Mr Singh's comments hark back to the pre-liberalisation days when Indian politicians blamed all of India's problems on foreign countries.

"You know what's happening in Koodankulam," Mr Singh said, referring to months of protests which have stalled the commissioning of two 1,000-MW nuclear reactors at the plant in Tirunalveli district.

"The atomic energy programme has gone into difficulties because these NGOs [non-governmental organisations], mostly I think based in the United States, don't appreciate the need for our country to increase the energy supply."

Referring to a 2010 government decision to defer the commercial cultivation of the genetically modified vegetable BT brinjal, Mr Singh said biotechnology had enormous potential and India must make use of it to increase agricultural produce.

"But there are controversies. There are NGOs, often funded from the United States and the Scandinavian countries, which are not fully appreciative of the development challenges that our country faces.

"But we are a democracy, we are not like China," he said.

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'No Obstacles Can Stop Iran's Nuclear Work': Khamenei

Iran’s Supreme Leader has once again rejected accusations of pursuing a nuclear weapon, and insisted the country’s policy would not change despite a ramp-up in sanctions.

Photo: Satellite image by GeoEye"With God’s help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran’s nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously…pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran’s nuclear work,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on state television.

The absence of tangible progress during the two-day visit by the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog this week has further clouded hopes of a diplomatic resolution to the long-running standoff. The disagreement appeared to center on access to certain nuclear sites, despite Tehran maintaining its program was entirely for peaceful purposes.

In a statement, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said it was "disappointing” that Iran did not accept the request to visit Parchin, a site located southeast of the capital Tehran.

"We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," Amano added.

Hopes for talks had received a boost over the weekend following a formal request from Iran. But with the latest setback, it was not immediately clear when, or whether at all, there would be any future visits.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman told reporters on Tuesday that they would “wait and see” what issues the IAEA brought up and how it would impact negotiations.

The United States and Israel have refused to exclude the option of a military strike on Iran, provided diplomacy and sanctions failed to bring about a change in Iran’s nuclear policy.

In comments likely to fan concerns of a strike this year, a Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman said on Wednesday that the use of a US airbase in Kyrgyzstan for a possible strike by the US on Iran “cannot be excluded”. Located to the west of China, Kyrgyzstan is some 1200 miles from Iran.

Oil Prices Rise

Widened sanctions from the international community, notably the United States and the European Union, have pushed some of Iran’s crude clients to reduce their imports and find alternative suppliers. A complete EU ban on Iranian oil imports is set to take effect on July 1st.

Several Iranian media outlets celebrated the recent build-up in oil prices as proof of Iran’s leverage and ability to respond, particularly after the announcement of a ban on oil sales to Britain and France.

Officials are currently considering widening the measures to other European states, with the Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed Qalebani making it clear on Wednesday that there would be no oil sales to any companies that gave oil to Britain and France either.

Mixed signals also came from South Korea, where new data from the Korea National Oil Corporation showed that crude imports from Iran fell by almost 25 percent in January compared with a year earlier, but were still up 53 percent from December.

In its monthly report, the IEA estimated Iran’s production, OPEC’s second largest, to have been 3.45 million barrels per day (bpd) in January. The figure reflects a 100,000 bpd from a month earlier.

Oil trader Vitol warned on Tuesday that geopolitical risk, “especially in the Middle East”, created “material upside” for oil prices this year.

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UN Watchdog Says Nuclear Talks With Iran Failed

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had failed to secure an agreement with Iran during two days of talks over disputed atomic activities and that the Islamic Republic had rejected a request to visit a key military site.

Photo: Satellite image by GeoEyeSatellite view of Iran's nuclear site.

In the second such trip in less than a month, a senior team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had traveled to Tehran to press Iranian officials to start addressing mounting concerns that the Islamic Republic may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The outcome seems likely to add to already soaring tension between Iran and Western powers, which have ratcheted up sanctions on the major oil producer in recent months.

"During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place," the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement after the Feb 20-21 talks.

The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran was working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials reject.

"It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.

Earlier, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the country's ISNA news agency that Tehran expected to hold more talks with the U.N. agency, whose task it is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the world.

But Amano's spokeswoman, Gill Tudor, made clear no further meetings were planned: "At this point in time there is no agreement on further discussions," she said.

Iran rejects accusations that its nuclear program is a covert bid to develop a nuclear weapons capability, saying it is seeking to produce only electricity.

But its refusal to curb sensitive atomic activities which can have both civilian and military purposes, and its track record of years of nuclear secrecy has drawn increasingly tough U.N. and separate U.S. and European punitive measures.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out using force against Iran if they conclude diplomacy and sanctions will not stop it from developing a nuclear bomb.

The five-member IAEA team led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts was seeking answers from Iran about intelligence suggesting its declared civilian program is a facade for a weapons program.

Still Time for Diplomacy?

Last year's IAEA report suggesting Iran had pursued military nuclear technology helped precipitate the latest rounds of European Union and U.S. sanctions, which are causing economic hardship in Iran ahead of a parliamentary election in March.

One key finding was information that Iran had built a large containment chamber at Parchin southeast of Tehran in which to conduct high-explosives tests, which the U.N. agency said were "strong indicators of possible weapon development".

The IAEA said intensive efforts were made to reach agreement in the talks on a document "facilitating the clarification of unresolved issues" in connection with Iran's nuclear program, particularly those relating to possible military dimensions.

"Unfortunately, agreement was not reached on this document," it said in an unusually blunt statement.

The IAEA mission's lack of progress may also have an impact on the chances of any resumption of wider nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six world powers, the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany.

The West last week expressed some optimism at the prospect of new talks, particularly after Iran sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton promising to bring "new initiatives", without stating preconditions.

But the United States and its allies may become more reluctant if they feel that the Islamic state is unlikely to engage in substantive discussions about its nuclear activities.

The deputy head of Iran's armed forces was quoted on Tuesday as saying Iran would take pre-emptive action against its enemies if it felt its national interests were endangered.

"Our strategy now is that if we feel our enemies want to endanger Iran's national interests, and want to decide to do that, we will act without waiting for their actions," Mohammad Hejazi told the Fars news agency.

In retaliation for oil sanctions, Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a third of the world's seaborne oil, while the United States signaled it would use force to keep it open.

The White House said there was still time for diplomacy.

"Israel and the United States share the same objective, which is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," White House spokesman Jay Carney said when asked about a weekend visit to Israel by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon.

"There is time and space for diplomacy to work, for the effect of sanctions to result in a change of Iranian behavior."

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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