Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, addressed the 44th Munich Conference on Security Policy on Monday. Excerpts follow:
I saw it on the wall that the question is “Is the world in disarray?“ and, unfortunately, my answer is “yes“.
The world is in disarray. The world is going through a period of insecurity both at the individual level and at the state level. I think we all agree on that. You just look at the security we have to go through at the airport. It’s an awful kind of life.
I look at insecurity from the very beginning, from poverty and I’ll tell you how it ends up with weapons of mass destruction. I look also at how weapons of mass destruction in fact exacerbate our insecurity. It doesn’t solve any of our problemsÉ
We have 20,000 people who die every day because they are too poor to live. Are we serious about the sanctity of human life?
We have chronic conflicts that have been going on for decades. Whether you are right or wrong, the Palestinian issue has been there for 40 years. People have been under occupation for 40 years. Kashmir has been there for 50 years. The Korean issue has been there for 50 years. These are conflicts that we cannot resolve, but we have not really invested in resolving them.
We have the energy problem. We have the drug problem, organized crime and then extremism. We all talk about “the war on terror“. But we have to see where that is coming from. These are people who have lost hope, who are humiliated, who are repressed by their own governments; feel badly treated by the outside world. I always say that people are not born Mother Teresa or suicide bombers. It’s (nurtured by) the environment within which they grow up. And unless we change that environment, we will continue to see more extremism.
I come to my area which is arms control. What is the environment that we still have: 37 years after the NPT has been concluded? After a commitment by the weapon states to move towards nuclear disarmament, we still have 27,000 warheads.
The nuclear technology is out of the tube; completely out of the tube. We have seen that any country with an average infrastructure can develop the know-how to develop a nuclear warhead. And we have seen, as witnessed by Iran, a new phenomenon in addition to the nine weapons states you can be a nuclear weapon capable, while continue to be kosher within the NPT treaty. That is a new phenomenon, which you really have to address.
A lot of people, including Iran, which I will come to, are really moving into that direction. You don’t really need to have a nuclear weapon. It’s enough to buy yourself an insurance policy, as I call it, by developing the capability and sit on it. You can come with an economic justification for it. But let us not kid ourselves, 90 percent of it is insurance. Is it a deterrence? Why do I have a deterrence? Because the big boys continue to rely on nuclear weapons.
The big boys continue to say we need nuclear weapons, we need to develop more modern nuclear weapons, we need mini-nukes, we need bunker busters, but it is bad for you to have nuclear weapons.
If you go anywhere, people will tell you this is called double standard. It is not sustainable. And I try as much obviously in my job to ensure that we do as much to avoid proliferation but we are working against the tideÉ
We still have around 150 cases per year of illicit trafficking of nuclear material. That is a scary numberÉ
Finally, the elephant in the room is Iran É
We are making good progress and I am going to report at the end of the month. We are making good progress in clarifying the past. The only remaining issue in fact raised in the NIE whether they had any weaponization activity is the most difficult, is the most tricky.
But we are working on it to try to see whether in fact they had a program in the past and if they did, they have to come cleanÉ
Basically the suspension is a statement by the Security Council: ’we do not trust you to have that technology and therefore you should suspend’, and obviously they have been urging the Iranians to suspend in order to build confidence.
I should make this clear: this is an issue which is not verifiable. I cannot verify future intentions; I cannot verify a regime’s behavior in future. That is clearly a question of confidence building.
Confidence could only be built through direct negotiations. You can have sanctions, you can have pressure, but at the end of the day it’s a question of ’we don’t trust this regime because of its behavior, we don’t trust this regime because it has certain ideology’. Or the regime will tell you, they also have their own insecurities, whether you agree with them or not.
That’s why I always keep saying that you need to get into direct negotiations É The earlier we can do that I think the better secure all of us
will be.

Alireza Ali-Ahmadi

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad introduced Alireza Ali-Ahmadi to Majlis as his nominee for the post of education minister.
The president proposed Alireza Ali-Ahmadi as his nominee in a letter to Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel who read it during the Majlis session on Wednesday, IRNA reported.
The speaker said the MPs will probably debate the qualification and plans of the proposed minister next week.
Ali-Ahmadi was previously introduced to Majlis as a nominee for the post of cooperatives minister, but failed to receive the vote of confidence from the legislative body.
Mahmoud Farshidi, the former education minister, resigned early December.
President Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation and named Ali-Ahmadi, chancellor of Payam-e Nour University, as the ministry’s caretaker on December 3.

Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi said the ministry will supervise the performance of legal news websites during the next Majlis elections.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a cabinet session on Wednesday, the minister said if the websites commit electoral offenses, they will be confronted, IRNA reported.
“If unregistered websites commit offenses, the ministry will introduce them to the respective committees,“ he said.
Harandi noted that websites should be careful not to commit any electoral offenses because of the high sensitivity.
Also on Wednesday, Intelligence Minister Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said there is no room for concern over the security of the next Majlis elections, adding that preparations have been made for holding the elections.
The minister rejected rumors about the presence of military personnel in elections.
Referring to some websites, which insulted the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Hojjatoleslam Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, Ejei condemned the mudslinging and said no one should resort to such measures in the elections.

ORUMIEH, West Azarbaijan,
Feb. 13--Iran will build five disinfecting tunnels near borders with neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan in the next Iranian year (starting March 20).
Director general of West Azerbaijan’s Veterinary Department, Shahram Deylamaqani, also told Mehr News Agency on Wednesday that the tunnels will be established in Makou, Poldasht, Orumieh and Piranshahr to prevent the entry of deadly illnesses into the country.
He noted that the tunnels will cost five billions rials.
“All cars entering into Iran will be disinfected completely in the tunnels to prevent the entry of dangerous illnesses such as bird flu to the country,“ Deylamaqani said.
Iran’s neighboring countries recently reported deadly illnesses such as bird flu.

Mehdi Karroubi Ahmad Jannati

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Mehdi Karroubi, secretary-general of National Trust Party, said his recent meeting with the secretary of the Guardians Council, Ahmad Jannati, was constructive.
Asked about discussions during the meeting, Karroubi said they had a very fruitful meeting and spoke about the candidates of the March 14 parliamentary elections.
“I did not merely talk about the reformist candidates with Ayatollah Jannati,“ he said, ISNA reported.
Karroubi pointed out that the Guardians Council has had a good performance with regard to the vetting of reformist candidates.
“Of course, I am not the only one to have discussed the next election with Jannati. Other people such as former presidents, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, have also met Jannati,“ he added.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--Defense Minister Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said the world arrogant powers are presenting an unreal image of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities by implying that the country is a major threat. Najjar made the remark to reporters after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday in response to allegations made by western countries about the launch of Iran’s research missile into space, IRNA reported.
Commenting on allegations by France that Iran’s research missile did not enter the space, he said the world arrogant powers are unhappy with the progress and development of independent countries.
“Access to space is among the 20-Year Vision Plan for economic, cultural and social development, which is beyond their tolerance,“ he said.

TEHRAN, Feb. 13--The first State Insurance Guild Association was formed in Iran by associations of Asia Insurance Company’s representatives in the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan.
Ataollah Razi-Fard was also elected as the head of the association. Iran’s insurance industry has a 70-year history.