TEHRAN // While Iranian reformists have so far not reacted publicly to the news of Iran's second uranium enrichment plant, hardliners and conservatives say the revelation demonstrates Iran's ability to take the West by surprise, and called the existence of the new facility "a winning card" that Iran can use to increase its bargaining power during talks in Geneva that are scheduled for October 1.
The talks are with the so-called P5-plus-one, referring to the five permanent UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany.
"Against the wishes of the western powers, Iran will sit at talks in Switzerland with a winning card and initiative [to] discuss its proposed package," an editorial said yesterday in the government mouthpiece, Iran newspaper, referring to the establishment of the new nuclear facility 100km south of Tehran near the holy city of Qom.
The editorial said the Islamic republic has the right to expand its peaceful nuclear activities at any time and that the country would be accountable only to the International Atomic Energy Agency. It demanded that "Iran's interlocutors in the West and East of the world carefully take note of that".
In an interview with state-run television yesterday, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, stressed that the Qom enrichment plant will not be different from the one already in use in Natanz except that it will be more immune to military attacks because of the careful selection of its location.
He also said Iran did not intend to produce all the enriched uranium it needs to operate its nuclear plants, most likely signalling that Iran is prepared to buy nuclear fuel as well as produce it. Dismissing the existence of nuclear plants in other parts of the country, Mr Salehi said Iran is capable of producing nuclear fuel even if world powers try to limit its ability to do so.
A report yesterday in the hardline, semi-official Kayhan newspaper, which supports President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed that by voluntarily announcing the existence of its new enrichment facility Iran has foiled threats of a military strike by the West because "the multiplicity of facilities is a very effective defensive action" and that the announcement was a "shock to the western countries' diplomatic apparatus and media".
The analysis reasoned that by surprising the West, Iran had succeeded in excluding the issue of suspension of uranium enrichment from the agenda of the upcoming Geneva talks and said " western countries now realise that they [can] only supervise enrichment by Iran and that wishing to suspend [Iran's enrichment programme altogether] is meaningless".
Other conservative commentators, however, criticised the government of Mr Ahmadinejad for the "[overly] hasty announcement" of the existence of the new plant.
"Authorities must explain whether the announcement of the construction of semi-industrial enrichment facilities was based on reason ? or like other reckless policies of the past five years will it pave the way for a fourth [UN] resolution [against Iran] or will [lead to the] continuation of the normalisation of Iran's case in [the] IAEA?" Ayandeh, a conservative news portal, wrote in an analysis. The site is said to be close to Mohsen Rezaie, who was conservative candidate in the June presidential election.
The analysis also said authorities behind the decision were mistaken if they thought the announcement could strengthen Iran's position in the approaching talks.
Although western sources claim that they had known about the facility deep underground in the mountainous terrain near Qom since 2006, and that the disclosure was made by Iran only when it realised the existence of the facility was no longer a secret, Kayhan quoted an unnamed "informed official" as saying Iran had in 2004 informed the IAEA that "it had to do something about the threat of a military attack [on its nuclear facilities] repeatedly posed by the western countries", implying that western intelligence services had not discovered the Qom plant on their own.
Iranian officials said that under the IAEA safeguards agreement, it is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants 180 days before the introduction of uranium hexafluoride gas into its centrifuges. They accuse the West of believing erroneously that Iran is required to announce the initiation of any and all new activity regarding its nuclear programme.
"I categorically reject that there has been any concealment or any deception," Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, was quoted by Iran's Press TV as saying on Saturday. Mr Soltanieh said he had informed the IAEA secretary general that the new plant would become operational in about 540 days. Mr Soltaniyeh said: "Iran has been too co-operative [and informed the IAEA] well in advance."
The Iranian envoy also criticised the leaders of the United States, France and Britain for not being aware of the IAEA statute and said it was a pity they did not know that Iran was only obliged to inform the IAEA only six months before new nuclear material was introduced to the centrifuges.
He added that the site does not have any nuclear material at the moment, and accused the three countries of violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for the past 40 years by operating their own nuclear weapons programmes.
Speaking on Friday the US President Barack Obama called the new Iranian nuclear facility "a direct challenge to the basic foundation of the non-proliferation regime".
He also said Iran's second enrichment facility "is inconsistent with a peaceful [nuclear] programme" and demonstrated a "disturbing pattern" of evasion by Iran.
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Iran of leading the world down a "dangerous" path, and the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "serial deception of many years" by Iran required tougher action by the world community.
msinaiee@thenational.ae
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Results:
Women:
1. Rhiannan Iffland (AUS) 322.95 points
2. Lysanne Richard (CAN) 285.75
3. Ellie Smart (USA) 277.70
Men:
1. Gary Hunt (GBR) 431.55
2. Constantin Popovici (ROU) 424.65
3. Oleksiy Prygorov (UKR) 392.30
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1 (Hudson-Odoi 90 1')
Manchester City 3 (Gundogan 18', Foden 21', De Bruyne 34')
Man of the match: Ilkay Gundogan (Man City)
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
Company%C2%A0profile
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The specs: 2018 BMW X2 and X3
Price, as tested: Dh255,150 (X2); Dh383,250 (X3)
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged inline four-cylinder (X2); 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline six-cylinder (X3)
Power 192hp @ 5,000rpm (X2); 355hp @ 5,500rpm (X3)
Torque: 280Nm @ 1,350rpm (X2); 500Nm @ 1,520rpm (X3)
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic (X2); Eight-speed automatic (X3)
Fuel consumption, combined: 5.7L / 100km (X2); 8.3L / 100km (X3)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
The details
Colette
Director: Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Keira Knightley, Dominic West
Our take: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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