tagged w/ Iran Nuclear Weapon
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that evidence was mounting that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon.
'The evidence is accumulating that that's exactly what they are trying to do,' Mrs Clinton said in remarks in the Qatari capital, Doha.She said Washington wants a peaceful solution to the nuclear dispute with Iran, but does not want to engage with Tehran 'while they are building their bomb'.
'I would like to figure out a way to handle it in as peaceful an approach possible, and I certainly welcome any meaningful engagement, but ... we don't want to be engaging while they are building their bomb,' she added.
Mrs Clinton is in on a three-day trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, aimed at enlisting broader regional support in a drive to stop Iran's sensitive nuclear work.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that evidence was mounting that Iran... more
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One very informative movie about U.S, Iran relations.
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Countering the Conniptions Over Qom
by Muhammad Sahimi, October 07, 2009
Iran’s nuclear program is once again center stage, the dominant subject of discussions at the national and international levels. On Sept. 21, Iran sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informing it of the construction of a uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom, 90 miles south of Tehran.
In a press conference on Sept. 25 in the midst of the G-20 conference in Pittsburgh, President Barack Obama, flanked by Gordon Brown, the United Kingdom’s prime minister, and Nicholas Sarkozy, France’s president, declared that the day before the United States and its allies had provided the IAEA with detailed intelligence about the Qom facility.
Since then the War Party has declared that the construction of the Qom facility is a gross violation of Iran’s Safeguards Agreement and the smoking gun for a nuclear weapons program. Absent in all the rhetoric, proclamations, and warnings about the "danger" of Iran’s nonexistent "nuclear weapons program" has been a sober assessment of the situation based on Iran’s obligations toward the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA.
Reporting that China is skeptical about the new claims, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com said, "Shouldn’t the American media infuse its coverage with some of that same skepticism, along with a similar desire to see actual evidence to support the claims being made? Isn’t that exactly the lesson every rational person should have learned from the Iraq War?"
There is little evidence that any lesson from the Iraqi fiasco has been learned.
What are the facts? In 1974 Iran signed its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Code 3.1 of the Subsidiary Arrangements of the Safeguards Agreement stipulated that Iran must declare to the IAEA the existence of any nuclear facility no later than 180 days before introducing any nuclear materials into the facility. That is why, despite much propaganda, the construction of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility was perfectly legal.
In 1992, the Board of Governors of the IAEA replaced the original Code 3.1 with the modified Code 3.1, which requires a member state to notify the IAEA “as soon as the decision to construct or to authorize construction has been taken, whichever is earlier” (emphasis mine).
On Feb. 26, 2003, Iran agreed to voluntarily implement the modified Code 3.1 until the Majlis, Iran’s parliament, ratified it. But in February 2007, the Board of Governors of the IAEA sent Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council. Iran contends that the IAEA acted illegally.
In retaliation, Iran notified the IAEA in March 2007 that it would no longer voluntarily abide by the modified Code 3.1. Iran reverted to the original Code 3.1. Although the IAEA contends that Iran cannot revert to the original agreement without its consent, Iran’s argument is on solid ground, because the Majlis never ratified the modified Subsidiary Arrangements. It also presented evidence that the preliminary work on the Qom facility may have begun in the early 1990s, when the 180-day advanced notification was required.
But all the media talks about are Iran’s "nuclear weapons program" and its "violation of its obligations" and the various scenarios for imposing crippling sanctions on Iran, or even attacking it. But the fact is that even our national leaders and our allies lie, exaggerate, and threaten.
In the press conference, Brown said that the Qom facility is clear evidence of Iran’s "serial deception." Serial deception? Since 2003 every one of Iran’s nuclear facilities has been inspected and monitored by the IAEA. The agency itself has declared that the inspection has been the most intrusive of any of its members during its entire history.
continuedCountering the Conniptions Over Qom
by Muhammad Sahimi, October 07, 2009... more
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t is time to clarify the debate over Iran and its nuclear program. It's easy to criticize the current course adopted by the United States and its allies, to huff and puff about Iranian mendacity, to point out that Russia and China won't agree to tougher measures against Tehran, and to detail the leaks in the sanctions already in place. But what, then, should the United States do? The critics are eager to denounce the administration from the sidelines for being weak but rarely detail what they would do to be "tough." Would they attack Iran today? If not, then what should we do? It is time to put up or shut up on Iran.
There are three basic options that the United States and its allies have regarding Iran's nuclear program. We can bomb Iran, engage it diplomatically, or contain and deter the threat it poses. Let me outline what each would entail and then explain why I favor containment and deterrenct is time to clarify the debate over Iran and its nuclear program. It's easy to... more
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The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Iran broke the law by not disclosing sooner its recently revealed uranium enrichment site.
"Iran was supposed to inform us on the day it was decided to construct the facility. They have not done that," International Atomic Energy Agency's Mohamed El Baradei told CNN's sister station, CNN-IBN. "They are saying that this was meant to be a back-up facility in case we were attacked and so they could not tell us earlier on.
"Nonetheless, they have been on the wrong side of the law, you know in so far as informing the agency about the construction and as you have seen it, it has created concern in the international community," he said.
Last week, Iran wrote a letter to the IAEA revealing the existence of the facility. The admission prompted President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France to publicly chide the Islamic republic and threaten further sanctions.
Iran claims its nuclear enrichment program is intended for peaceful purposes, but the international community accuses the country of continuing to try to develop nuclear weapons capability.The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Iran broke the law... more
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Here goes another war!
And why did Obama cancel the installation of a MISSLE DEFENSE system in Poland and Czech Rep.? I don't know, do you?Here goes another war!
And why did Obama cancel the installation of a MISSLE... more
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Image: The existence of Natanz was revealed by exiled groups several years ago.
Iran has revealed the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed.
Tehran made the announcement earlier this week in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei.
Iran has previously acknowledged it has one enrichment plant at Natanz, which IAEA inspectors are monitoring.
The US, UK and France are set to accuse Iran of concealing the plant later on Friday, media reports say.
They and other Western nations have long feared that Iran is planning to develop an atomic weapon.
Iran has revealed the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed.
Tehran made the announcement earlier this week in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei.
Iran has previously acknowledged it has one enrichment plant at Natanz, which IAEA inspectors are monitoring.
The US, UK and France are set to accuse Iran of concealing the plant later on Friday, media reports say.
They and other Western nations have long feared that Iran is planning to develop an atomic weapon.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR SITES:
Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposes
Bushehr: Nuclear power plant
Isfahan: Uranium conversion plant
Natanz: Uranium enrichment plant, 4,592 working centrifuges, with 3,716 more installed
Second enrichment plant: Existence revealed to IAEA in Sept 2009. Separate reports say it is near Qom, and not yet operational
Arak: Heavy water plant
Tehran has always insisted its programme is for peaceful means.
Iran is supposed to have stopped all enrichment under threat of sanctions from the UN Security Council.
News of the Iranian letter comes days before Iran is due to enter fresh talks over its controversial nuclear programme.
France called Iran's move a "serious violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
The IAEA confirmed it received a letter from Iran on Monday informing it that "a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction".
Iran told the agency that no nuclear material had been introduced into the plant, and enrichment levels would only be high enough to make nuclear fuel, not a bomb.
In response, the IAEA has requested Iran to "provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible", an IAEA statement adds.
Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposesImage: The existence of Natanz was revealed by exiled groups several years ago.... more
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Swampland, Time magazine's political blog, featured ASW.
Off The Trail: A Proxy War With Iran?Swampland, Time magazine's political blog, featured ASW.
Off The Trail: A... more
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A series of conflicts with insurgent groups along Iran’s borders may be impelling Tehran to back its own allies in Iraq in what it regards as a proxy war with the U.S., according to security experts and officials in the U.S., Iran and Iraq.
Dozens of Iranian officials, members of the security forces and insurgents belonging to Kurdish, Arab Iranian and Baluch groups have died in the fighting in recent years. It now appears to be heating up once again after an unusually cold and snowy winter.
In recent weeks, Iranians have begun the now-routine bombardment of suspected rebel Iranian Kurd positions in northern Iraq, and guerrillas have claimed incursions into northwestern Iran.A series of conflicts with insurgent groups along Iran’s borders may be... more
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Is the U.S. already at war with Iran? In "America's Secret War in Iran," Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to the Iraq-Iran border to investigate claims that the United States is supporting militant groups that are attacking Iran. In the rugged Qandil mountains, she meets with up with anti-Iranian guerillas who have been launching deadly raids against the Islamic Republic. A good percentage of the fighters are women, and Mariana accompanies a small group of them through what many believe has become the frontline of the U.S.'s secret war with Iran.Is the U.S. already at war with Iran? In "America's Secret War in... more
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran's response to an incentives package aimed at defusing a dispute over its nuclear program is unacceptable, U.S. officials said Tuesday, making the prospects of new sanctions against the country more likely.
The officials told The Associated Press that a one-page document Iran presented to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels is not, as had been sought, a definitive reply to the offer from major world powers to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing in exchange for economic and other benefits.
Instead, the officials said it was a restatement of Tehran's earlier insistance on the right to conduct peaceful nuclear activities and essentially a transcription of portions of recent telephone conversations to that effect between Solana and chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili.
One U.S. official familiar with the document described it as "more obfuscation and delay" and not a "real response" to the package, which was presented earlier this year by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany.
The officials, who said they were not surprised by the response, spoke on condition of anonymity because Solana's office has not yet characterized the Iranian reply.
In Brussels, an E.U. diplomat said the Iranian response would be analyzed and discussed "very soon" by Solana and senior diplomats from the six countries that made the offer - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
The State Department said those diplomats would hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the way ahead and the U.S. officials said a discussion of new sanctions on Iran could begin as early as then.
Shortly after Solana's office received the document and forwarded copies by e-mail to the six governments involved, the department said that anything less than full acceptance of the package would force the grouping, known as the P5-plus-1, to seek new sanctions against Iran.
"We are looking for a clear, positive response from Iran, and in the absence of that we're going to have no choice but to pursue further measures against them," said spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.
The offer was reiterated to Iran on July 19, when senior diplomats from the six nations and the European Union met in person with Jalili to set an informal two-week deadline for Iran to either accept or reject it.
The meeting was notable because the Bush administration broke with its long-standing policy and sent the third-ranking State Department diplomat to the session aimed at proving its seriousness about the package.
The United States and others accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies the charge, insisting its program is peaceful, but it has thus far refused to halt enriching uranium, which can produce the ingredients for a bomb.
Iran is currently under three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions and could soon face a fourth unless it accepts the incentives package. In addition, the United States, the European Union and individual E.U. members have imposed their own unilateral sanctions against Iranian banks and other institutions.WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iran's response to an incentives package aimed at defusing a... more
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ivxx
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3 years ago
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The Netherlands said they will ban Iranian Nationals from studying nuclear technology, although the ban doesn't include undergraduate studies up to the bachelor's degree level, as they are not considered specialised. Students are most notably banned from a nuclear reactor in Borssele in the southeast of Holland and a test reactor at the Delft University of Technology.
The Foreign Ministry stated; " It is forbidden... to grant Iranian nationals access to special training or teaching that could contribute to nuclear proliferation activities in Iran and the development of systems for transmitting nuclear arms, "
This coincides with the Dutch decree taking up international sanctions placed on Iran that were employed last year.The Netherlands said they will ban Iranian Nationals from studying nuclear technology,... more
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Britain's envoy to the United Nations nuclear watchdog contradicted the findings of US intelligence officials who said Iran stopped developing a nuclear weapon in 2003.
Simon Smith, the chief British delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, was speaking after diplomats were shown documents which, if accurate, would back claims by hawks in the Bush administration that Iran has continued to pursue its nuclear weapons programme.
Teheran has refused to address the weaponisation studies issue, dismissing such allegations as "baseless" and saying the intelligence used to back them up was "fabricated".
I wonder if we'll ever get a straight answer from either side.Britain's envoy to the United Nations nuclear watchdog contradicted the findings... more
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"Notwithstanding the latest elements, everyone is fully conscious of the fact that there is a will of the Iranian leaders to obtain nuclear weapons," - French President Nicholas Sarkozy."Notwithstanding the latest elements, everyone is fully conscious of the fact... more
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In typical Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fashion, the Iranian president is calling the report that Iran quit its weapons development program in 2003 a "victory" for the Iranian nuclear program. He went on to say "today, Iran has turned to a nuclear country and all world countries have accepted this fact".
Huh?
I was pretty sure the report said they stopped trying to make nuclear weapons, and wouldn't have enough to make a bomb for 3 more years at least On the other hand...3 years is not a long time!In typical Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fashion, the Iranian president is calling the report... more
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Tori
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4 years ago
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