LONDON, June 12, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to allow Israeli jets to use its airspace in a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times newspaper reported Saturday. “The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” a US defence source in the area told the paper. “They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the (US) State Department.” Israel, which regards Iran as its principal threat, has refused to rule out using military action to prevent Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is aimed solely at power generation.

The Times said Riyadh, which views Iran as a regional threat, had agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance in the event of any bombing raid on Iran. A source in Saudi Arabia said the arrangement was common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom. “We all know this. We will let them (the Israelis) through and see nothing,” the source told The Times.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia categorically rejected Saturday violation of its sovereignty nor use of its airspace or territories as a launch pad to attack other countries. A foreign ministry official, quoted by state-run news agency (SPA), brushed aside some British media reports claiming that Saudi Arabia would allow Israel to use its airspace to attack Iran. Saudi Arabia is firm in “not allowing and rejecting the violation of its sovereignty and use of its airspace or territories by anyone to attack any country,” he said. Iran will unveil a new advance in its nuclear programme in the coming months, the head of its Atomic Energy Organisation was quoted as saying on Saturday, in comments that showed defiance in the face of new UN sanctions.

“In the next few months Iran will announce a new nuclear achievement in connection to the production of fuel for its Tehran research reactor,” Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying in the Resalat daily. He gave no details. The last major advance Iran announced was in February, when it said it had started refining uranium to 20 percent purity — saying it wanted to produce fuel for the Tehran reactor, which makes isotopes for treating cancer. That increased Western concerns as it meant Iran was now refining uranium closer to the level needed for nuclear weapons, adding to the momentum behind a fourth round of sanctions passed by the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says there are reasons to suspect Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons capability. Once 20 percent purity is reached, the next step to the 90 percent needed for a warhead is much less onerous. Iran is not known to have the technology to convert 20 percent enriched uranium into the special plates needed for the research reactor.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the sanctions as no worse than “pesky flies” and said the resolution was “like a used handkerchief that should be thrown in the bin”. His vice-president, Mehrdad Bazrpash, told the official IRNA news agency: “America and its allies should wait for Iran’s next move on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear issues and they will soon realise that they have made a mistake.”
Iran has refused to suspend its sensitive nuclear work, as demanded by the Security Council, and that the programme only represents its legitimate right to power generation.

“Iran’s nuclear activities will not face any problems due to the new sanctions resolution,” said Salehi.
Iran’s parliament will start discussing a bill on Sunday to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. “Iran will remain committed to its international commitments and will continue its cooperation with the IAEA,” Salehi said. In comments carried by IRNA, Salehi warned the West “not to drown in the quagmire of Iran’s nuclear programme”.

The new sanctions target Iranian banks suspected of connections with nuclear or missile programmes; expand an arms embargo; and call for a cargo inspection regime. One result has been Russia freezing the delivery of S-300 air defence missiles to Iran. The United States and Israel opposed the sale because it could give Iran the means to withstand any future air strikes aimed at knocking out its nuclear sites.
Iran called on Western powers on Saturday to accept a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil as a “dignified” way out of an intensified atomic standoff, the state news agency IRNA reported.
“The best dignified way out of Iran’s nuclear issue for Western countries is to accept the fuel swap,” the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, told IRNA. He branded the standoff with world powers over Iran’s atomic programme as their “self-created quagmire.”

International pressure increased on Iran as the UN Security Council on Wednesday slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear drive, this time tightening the noose on military and financial transactions. Iran has refused to heed UN demands of suspending its uranium enrichment programme, insisting it is aimed at peaceful nuclear fuel production, and it denies charges of seeking atomic weapons as suspected by the West.

In May, Iran signed a deal with temporary UN Security Council members Turkey and Brazil to ship about half of its low enriched uranium (LEU) stockpile to Turkey for an exchange with higher enriched reactor fuel. Western powers reacted coolly to the deal, which builds on an October proposal by the UN nuclear watchdog to ship Iran’s LEU to Russia and France to be converted to reactor fuel. But Iran dragged its feet for several months, insisting it wants a simultaneous swap on its own territory, a condition that was rejected by world powers backing the UN-brokered proposal.