Newsday (New York) November 30, 2004
THE FOLD: IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES
U.S. questions the purpose
Iran's nuclear program drives much of U.S.-Iranian tensions, but also offers hints that there may be room for detente between the countries.
After President George W. Bush called Iran part of an "axis of evil" in 2002, the United States stepped up pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, threatening to get United Nations sanctions imposed and pressing for inspections.
Iran decided to cooperate with UN inspectors and named a relatively pragmatic conservative, Hassan Rohani, to negotiate a deal. In the fall of 2003, Iran opened its nuclear facilities to the inspectors, who soon said Iran had bought nuclear technology from Pakistani scientists and had gone further toward building nuclear bombs than had been thought.
Iran insists it seeks only nuclear energy, not a bomb (a point doubted by critics who note its plentiful oil energy). Western diplomats say evidence is growing for U.S. allegations that Iran has tried to build bombs.
Iran's ability to satisfy U.S. demands for transparency in its nuclear program may help determine whether the ruling clerics ultimately might trade ideology for pragmatism on other issues.
As of late this month, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency was unable to confirm that Iran had completely suspended its nuclear programs.
The Islamic republic said it wanted to continue working with some of its equipment, but its request to operate 20 centrifuges for research and development was rejected by European diplomats, who said such an arrangement would spell the end for a deal Tehran had just signed promising to suspend all of its nuclear work.
IRAN'S IMPORTANCE BEYOND THE THREAT
Iran matters to America because of oil and Islam. Iran produces 5 percent of the world's crude oil. With its 68 million people (almost three times the population of Iraq), it overshadows the Persian Gulf region, which overall is the source of 25 percent of global crude.
And with time, Iran and its neighbors are likely to become only more critical as our oil suppliers; they hold two-thirds of the world's proven reserves (and 40 percent of known gas reserves). U.S. policy makers hope more oil will be found in other regions, reducing the future importance of the Persian Gulf - but they cannot count on that.
Iran also is important in the critical battle of ideas within the Islamic world (home to more than 1 billion people - a fifth of humanity). Oddly, while Iran is largely in the grip of conservative Islamic mullahs, it has arguably the most vibrant pro-democracy movement in the Islamic world and could be a great force for democratization there.
Intellectual debate in Iran about how to meld Islam and modern governance has been vigorous, if stunted by the ruling Islamic clerics. If allowed to flower, it could influence the evolution of political Islam.
STORMY HISTORY WITH THE UNITED STATES
After World War II, the United States propped up Iran's Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi as a bulwark against Soviet power to the north - and as a friendly supplier of oil. But the shah was repressive and his regime corrupt, and Iranians revolted in 1979 under the leadership of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iranian anger at America's backing for the shah was dramatized when radicals in the Islamic Revolution seized 52 U.S. diplomats and held them hostage for 444 days, sparking an enmity in U.S.-Iranian relations that has never healed. While many Iranian people voice interest in renewed ties with the United States, they remain suspicious of U.S. motives in the region.
After 25 years, hardline Shia Muslim clerics remain in control and have proven no more democratic than the shah. A generation of Iranians (70 percent are younger than 30) has grown up knowing only the frustrations of a stagnant economy. Iranians complain that corruption is rife. Average income had dropped by 30 percent between the revolution and the mid 1990s, to about $100 a month. It has since risen to $166. As many as 21 percent of the people are estimated to live in poverty.
Beginning in 1997, angry voters elected reformists who support greater democracy and transparency in government, including President Mohammed Khatami and most members of parliament. But conservative clerics led by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have a veto on laws passed by the elected government. Clerics blocked the reformists' agenda and barred many of them from running in elections earlier this year.
The reformists' failure to bring change has sapped their political support and left many Iranians apathetic.
Strategic location
Iran sits between Iraq, where the U.S. has 138,000 troops, and Afghanistan, where there are 18,000. It is a major presence along the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz, major shipping lanes for Mideast Oil. Map locates known or suspected nuclear facilities.
Bushehr
A nuclear reactor here has been a focus of U.S. concern over Iran's nuclear ambition.
Anarak: Uranium mining and nuclear waste disposal.
Arak: Heavy water production, research reactor.
Ardakan: Uranium mill.
Bushehr: Nuclear reactor.
Chalus: Suspected nuclear weapons development facility.
Darkhovin: Suspected underground nuclear weapons development facility.
Esfahan: 3 reactors, nuclear research and uranium conversion.
Fasa: Nuclear research.
Gchine: Uranium mine and mill.
Karaj: Nuclear research.
Natanz: Uranium enrichment.
Saghand: Uranium mines.
Tabriz: Suspected nuclear weapons research facility.
Tehran: Nuclear research (also missile program).
SOURCE: GLOBAL SECURITY.ORG.
CORRECTION-DATE: December 1, 2004
CORRECTION:
A nuclear power plant shown under construction in a photo in yesterday's Fold is in Iran. The caption misstated its location. pg. A08 ALL 12/01/04ART:1) Newsday Photo/Jiro Ose-Iraq's nuclear plant under construction last year in Bushehr [CORRECTION: A nuclear power plant shown under construction in a photo in yesterday's Fold is in Iran. The caption misstated its location. pg. A08 ALL 12/01/04]. 2) Courtesy GlobalSecurity.org - An Iranian Shahab-3 missile being tested. It is capable of reaching as far as Israel. 3) UPI PHOTO - American hostages at U.S. Embassy in Tehran, November 1979. Photos - 4) Ayatollah Ali Khamenei 5) and President Mohammed Khatami, 6) Ayatollah Khomeini; 7) Pahlavi; NEWSDAY CAHRT / Map by GUSTAVO PABON - Strategic location (SEE END OF TEXT); Newsday Map by Richard Cornett - Map depicting the range of Shahab-3 missile 807.8 miles (not in text database)
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