Worldwatch

Nuclear Showdown
IRAN Days after the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved a resolution demanding that Iran suspend all uranium-enrichment activities, a defiant Tehran announced that it had started the conversion of some 37 tons of uranium oxide (yellowcake) into UF6-gas — the feed material for enriched uranium. Iran denies its enrichment efforts are part of a weapons program, claiming they are for electricity generation, which the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) permits. A senior official at Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Hossein Mousavian, argued that ” Iran cannot be subjected only to the limitations of the treaty and be deprived of its privileges.” President Mohammed Khatami even hinted that if its hand is forced, Iran might leave the NPT.

Meanwhile, Israel agreed to buy 500 so-called bunker-busters from the U.S., which Israeli security sources said could be used against an underground Iranian nuclear facility.

Tehran said it would react “most severely” to any Israeli strikes. Unless Iran makes progress in meeting IAEA requirements, its case could land at the U.N. Security Council following an IAEA meeting on Nov. 25. But such a move might not result in the imposition of sanctions. Even countries in favor of a Security Council referral agree that an isolated Tehran might simply end cooperation with U.N. inspections altogether. A U.S. State Department official said that the Security Council would likely only require Iran to suspend its enrichment activities, much as the IAEA has already done, but with a little more clout. — By Andrew Purvis and Nahid Siamdoust

Toxic Politics
UKRAINE A criminal inquiry and a parliamentary commission will investigate claims by opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko that he was poisoned. Yushchenko, who is in a close race with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for elections on Oct. 31, became ill on Sept. 6. Doctors at a Vienna clinic where he underwent tests could neither confirm nor rule out poisoning.

Join the Club
TURKEY Ankara moved a step closer to joining the E.U. as European Commissioner for Enlargement Günter Verheugen, following a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Brussels, announced that there were “no more obstacles” to the start of accession talks. Crucially, Erdogan gave assurances that a revised penal code to bring Turkey in line with E.U. human-rights law would be adopted — without a controversial clause criminalizing adultery that drew criticism from Brussels and threatened to derail the talks. Verheugen is to make a recommendation on whether negotiations on Turkish membership should start in an Oct. 6 report. E.U. leaders will make a final decision in December.

Moving Out
SYRIA In a partial concession to the U.N., Damascus began withdrawing some 300 of the estimated 16,000 troops it has stationed in Lebanon since 1976. A Sept. 2 U.N. Security Council resolution called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon. The withdrawal was part of a wider redeployment exercise involving a total of 3,000 soldiers.

The Thaw Continues
LIBYA In a further sign of Tripoli’s diplomatic rehabilitation, E.U. ambassadors agreed to lift both trade sanctions and a ban on arms sales to Libya. The decision, which must be ratified at a meeting of E.U. Foreign Ministers in mid-October, came two days after U.S. President George W. Bush formally lifted America’s own economic sanctions. Libya remains on the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism.