TEHRAN, 29 May 2005 — Iran’s constitutional watchdog approved a bill yesterday that obliges the government to develop a nuclear fuel cycle — a step opposed by Washington which accuses Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. The bill, passed by Iranian parliamentarians on May 15, calls on the government “to take action to obtain peaceful nuclear technology, including provision of the fuel cycle for generating 20,000 megawatts of electricity”.
State television reported that the conservative Guardian Council, composed of six clerics and six lawyers, had approved the bill, passing it into law. The bill does not say when Iran should produce the nuclear fuel, and most analysts see it as a bargaining chip in talks with France, Germany and Britain, which are trying to get Iran to end its work on making nuclear fuel.
Meanwhile, Iranian reformist politician Mostafa Moin, who was given last-minute approval to stand in next month’s presidential election, announced yesterday that he would indeed stand as a candidate.
“After my illegal and unreasonable disqualification, I had two options - one was quitting the elections, the other was participating. It was a difficult choice to make,” Moin said in a statement.
He added that he had decided not to boycott in order to “invite all outstanding figures who have been unfairly and illegally tried and sentenced in the courts to be present on different levels of the country’s management.” The Guardians Council, a hard-line political watchdog which screens all candidates for public office, had initially blocked Moin — who is representing the Participation Front, the main pro-reform party - from standing in the June 17 election.
The former higher education minister has been seen as the most credible reform candidate, and his disqualification was greeted with accusations of a “coup d’etat” and calls for a damaging boycott.
Following the intervention of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Guardians Council backed down and agreed to allow Moin and another reformist to stand after all, bringing the field of contenders to eight.
A member of an Islamist vigilante group convicted of a string of murders in Iran has been sentenced to death while five other gang members have been handed long prison terms, the judiciary said.
