IRAN NUCLEAR STOCKPILE OUT IN OPEN
"Iran moved nearly its entire stockpile of low-enriched nuclear fuel to an above-ground plant... with inspectors present, the Iranians moved roughly 4,300 pounds of low-enriched uranium out of deep underground storage to the small plant that they have declared they will use to re-enrich the fuel to 20 percent purity... the fuel now sits out in the open, where an air attack... could destroy it.... military officials say this is a tempting moment for the Israelis...."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/world/middleeast/27iran.html?hp
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR TREATY
From the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:
"Article I: Each nuclear-weapons state (NWS) undertakes not to transfer, to any recipient, nuclear weapons...
Article II: Each non-NWS party undertakes not to receive, from any source, nuclear weapons...
Article III: Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
Article IV: Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty
"... Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow at the Arms Control Association, notes that it would be far better if the U.S. would stress that Iran's right to uranium enrichment, consistent with Non-Proliferation Treaty Article IV, is contingent on Iran's adherence to the treaty's Articles I, II, and III. Thielmann notes that Iran has no inherent right to uranium enrichment while it is violating its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Yet this point is being lost by the West's unqualified emphasis on the demand that uranium enrichment be suspended, and inconsistent U.S. statements about Iran's intention to develop nuclear weapons. Consequently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can posture that the West is just trying to keep Iran down and deny it the rights guaranteed under the NPT..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/22-1
From the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty:
"Article I: Each nuclear-weapons state (NWS) undertakes not to transfer, to any recipient, nuclear weapons...
Article II: Each non-NWS party undertakes not to receive, from any source, nuclear weapons...
Article III: Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
Article IV: Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty
"... Greg Thielmann, Senior Fellow at the Arms Control Association, notes that it would be far better if the U.S. would stress that Iran's right to uranium enrichment, consistent with Non-Proliferation Treaty Article IV, is contingent on Iran's adherence to the treaty's Articles I, II, and III. Thielmann notes that Iran has no inherent right to uranium enrichment while it is violating its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Yet this point is being lost by the West's unqualified emphasis on the demand that uranium enrichment be suspended, and inconsistent U.S. statements about Iran's intention to develop nuclear weapons. Consequently, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can posture that the West is just trying to keep Iran down and deny it the rights guaranteed under the NPT..."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/02/22-1
Monday, February 22, 2010
WAR GAME SHOWS ATTACK ON IRAN COULD BACKFIRE
"... (A) recent war game conducted at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, part of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank, appears to dampen hopes for a simple solution to Iran's real-world nuclear challenge. The lesson is "once you start this, it's really hard to stop it"... even a "successful" airstrike on Iran's nuclear facilities — setting the program back by two to four years — could come at a tremendous, unpredictable cost..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/21/87061/war-game-shows-how-attacking-iran.html
"... (A) recent war game conducted at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, part of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank, appears to dampen hopes for a simple solution to Iran's real-world nuclear challenge. The lesson is "once you start this, it's really hard to stop it"... even a "successful" airstrike on Iran's nuclear facilities — setting the program back by two to four years — could come at a tremendous, unpredictable cost..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/21/87061/war-game-shows-how-attacking-iran.html
Sunday, February 21, 2010
ISRAEL HAS DRONE FLEET THAT CAN REACH IRAN
"Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel's military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.... The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer... The plane's maker, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, has said it is capable of reaching the Persian Gulf, which would put Iran within its range. Israeli defense officials said the Heron TP could be a useful tool against Iran. It could provide surveillance, jam enemy communications and connect ground control and manned air force planes..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_drones
"Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel's military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.... The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer... The plane's maker, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, has said it is capable of reaching the Persian Gulf, which would put Iran within its range. Israeli defense officials said the Heron TP could be a useful tool against Iran. It could provide surveillance, jam enemy communications and connect ground control and manned air force planes..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100221/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_drones
CLINTON PROMOTES CONFLICT WITH IRAN
"In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran "is moving toward a military dictatorship"... What could America's top diplomat hope to accomplish with this kind of inflammatory rhetoric?... what is the purpose of a speech like this? The most obvious conclusion is that it is to promote conflict, and to convince Americans that Iran is an actual threat to their security. Americans generally have to be prepared and persuaded for years if they are to accept that they must go to war... (Americans must be led to believe that) it's really true that all these people just want to kill us for no reason; that it has nothing to do with our foreign policy or wars; that we can effectively reduce terrorism by bombing and occupying Muslim countries; and that terrorism is the country's most urgent security threat..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/18/hillary-clinton-iran
"In a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, Hillary Clinton said that Iran "is moving toward a military dictatorship"... What could America's top diplomat hope to accomplish with this kind of inflammatory rhetoric?... what is the purpose of a speech like this? The most obvious conclusion is that it is to promote conflict, and to convince Americans that Iran is an actual threat to their security. Americans generally have to be prepared and persuaded for years if they are to accept that they must go to war... (Americans must be led to believe that) it's really true that all these people just want to kill us for no reason; that it has nothing to do with our foreign policy or wars; that we can effectively reduce terrorism by bombing and occupying Muslim countries; and that terrorism is the country's most urgent security threat..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/feb/18/hillary-clinton-iran
Saturday, February 20, 2010
IRAN SAYS NUKES ARE BANNED BY ISLAM
"Iran's supreme leader said Friday the Islamic republic isn't seeking and doesn't believe in pursuing nuclear bombs... "Iran will not get emotional in its response to these nonsensical statements, because we have often said that our religious tenets and beliefs consider these kinds of weapons of mass destruction to be symbols of genocide and are, therefore, forbidden and considered to be haram (religiously banned)," he said. "This is why we do not believe in atomic bombs and weapons and do not seek them."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/19/iran.nuclear/index.html?iphoneemail
"Iran's supreme leader said Friday the Islamic republic isn't seeking and doesn't believe in pursuing nuclear bombs... "Iran will not get emotional in its response to these nonsensical statements, because we have often said that our religious tenets and beliefs consider these kinds of weapons of mass destruction to be symbols of genocide and are, therefore, forbidden and considered to be haram (religiously banned)," he said. "This is why we do not believe in atomic bombs and weapons and do not seek them."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/02/19/iran.nuclear/index.html?iphoneemail
DEBATE OVER DEFINITION OF TERRORISM
"... confusion and doubt arose (after Joseph Stack's airplane attack on an IRS building) over whether a person who perpetrated a classic act of Terrorism should, in fact, be called a Terrorist: he's not a Muslim and isn't acting on behalf of standard Muslim grievances against the U.S. or Israel, and thus does not fit the "definition." It has really come to mean: "a Muslim who fights against or even expresses hostility towards the United States, Israel and their allies."
If an American Muslim argues that violence against the U.S. (particularly when aimed at military targets) is justified due to American violence aimed at the Muslim world, that person is a Terrorist who deserves assassination... if the U.S. military invades a Muslim country, Muslims who live in the invaded and occupied country and who fight back against the invading American army -- by attacking nothing but military targets -- are also Terrorists.... (And) large numbers of detainees at Guantanamo were accused of being Terrorists for nothing more than attacking members of an invading foreign army in their country..."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/19/terrorism/index.html
"... Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm specializing in international risk management, said the rhetoric in Stack's rant clearly matches the USA Patriot Act's definition of terrorism: a criminal act that is intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping..."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/plane-attack-prompts-debate-over-terrorism-label-558975.html
"... confusion and doubt arose (after Joseph Stack's airplane attack on an IRS building) over whether a person who perpetrated a classic act of Terrorism should, in fact, be called a Terrorist: he's not a Muslim and isn't acting on behalf of standard Muslim grievances against the U.S. or Israel, and thus does not fit the "definition." It has really come to mean: "a Muslim who fights against or even expresses hostility towards the United States, Israel and their allies."
If an American Muslim argues that violence against the U.S. (particularly when aimed at military targets) is justified due to American violence aimed at the Muslim world, that person is a Terrorist who deserves assassination... if the U.S. military invades a Muslim country, Muslims who live in the invaded and occupied country and who fight back against the invading American army -- by attacking nothing but military targets -- are also Terrorists.... (And) large numbers of detainees at Guantanamo were accused of being Terrorists for nothing more than attacking members of an invading foreign army in their country..."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/19/terrorism/index.html
"... Stratfor, an Austin-based global intelligence firm specializing in international risk management, said the rhetoric in Stack's rant clearly matches the USA Patriot Act's definition of terrorism: a criminal act that is intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping..."
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/nation-world-news/plane-attack-prompts-debate-over-terrorism-label-558975.html
Saturday, January 02, 2010
IRAN DISMISSES U.S. DEADLINE, SETS ITS OWN DEADLINE
"... Iran dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline... to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The deal would reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium... Under the plan, Iran would export most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further enrichment in Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel rods. The rods, which Iran needs for the research reactor in Tehran, would be returned to the country about a year later... Exporting the uranium would temporarily leave Iran without enough of a stockpile to further enrich the uranium into material for a nuclear warhead, and the rods that are returned cannot be processed further for use in making weapons..."
"(Now) Iran (has) set a one-month deadline... for the West to accept its counterproposal... (which is) to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran's enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the U.N. plan requires... (Iran)... warned that otherwise it will produce reactor fuel at a higher level of enrichment on its own..."
"(However) it would likely take years before it could master the technology to turn uranium enriched to the level of 20 percent into the fuel rods it needs for a medical research reactor..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/02/iran-warns-west-it-will-m_n_409306.html
"... Iran dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline... to accept a U.N.-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. The deal would reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium... Under the plan, Iran would export most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further enrichment in Russia and France, where it would be converted into fuel rods. The rods, which Iran needs for the research reactor in Tehran, would be returned to the country about a year later... Exporting the uranium would temporarily leave Iran without enough of a stockpile to further enrich the uranium into material for a nuclear warhead, and the rods that are returned cannot be processed further for use in making weapons..."
"(Now) Iran (has) set a one-month deadline... for the West to accept its counterproposal... (which is) to have the West either sell nuclear fuel to Iran, or swap its nuclear fuel for Iran's enriched uranium in smaller batches instead of at once as the U.N. plan requires... (Iran)... warned that otherwise it will produce reactor fuel at a higher level of enrichment on its own..."
"(However) it would likely take years before it could master the technology to turn uranium enriched to the level of 20 percent into the fuel rods it needs for a medical research reactor..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/02/iran-warns-west-it-will-m_n_409306.html
Sunday, December 27, 2009
TEHRAN POLICE SHOOT INTO PROTESTERS, KILL 4
"Iranian police opened fire on protesters in Tehran... killing at least four people... crowds marched down a central avenue ... They refused to retreat even as police fired tear gas, charged them with batons and discharged warning shots. The police then opened fire directly into the crowd... One of the dead was Ali Moussavi... a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi... He was shot near the heart..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=1&hp
"Iranian police opened fire on protesters in Tehran... killing at least four people... crowds marched down a central avenue ... They refused to retreat even as police fired tear gas, charged them with batons and discharged warning shots. The police then opened fire directly into the crowd... One of the dead was Ali Moussavi... a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi... He was shot near the heart..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/middleeast/28iran.html?_r=1&hp
Friday, December 25, 2009
ISRAELI ATTACK WOULD RESULT IN RETALIATION AGAINST U.S. SPONSOR
"... it must be a distinct possibility that Israel will indeed launch a massive air assault, feasibly backed up by cruise missiles launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea sometime next year... A very significant proportion of the munitions... would be "Made in the USA".... Iran may... be far more vengeful against those who made the weapons, trained the pilots, built the aircraft and who Tehran ultimately blames for sponsoring and protecting its attacker... Iran's response may therefore be to blindly strike back at any and all available targets, whether Israeli or Western, and by any means left to it, including missile strikes and attacks by its worldwide network of supporters, including Hezbollah and Hamas... "
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html
"... it must be a distinct possibility that Israel will indeed launch a massive air assault, feasibly backed up by cruise missiles launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea sometime next year... A very significant proportion of the munitions... would be "Made in the USA".... Iran may... be far more vengeful against those who made the weapons, trained the pilots, built the aircraft and who Tehran ultimately blames for sponsoring and protecting its attacker... Iran's response may therefore be to blindly strike back at any and all available targets, whether Israeli or Western, and by any means left to it, including missile strikes and attacks by its worldwide network of supporters, including Hezbollah and Hamas... "
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html
AHMADINEJAD SAYS U.S. SPURNED NUCLEAR DEAL
"Ahmadinejad... said his country's cooperation on its nuclear programme had been spurned... He once again dismissed a year-end deadline on a U.N.-drafted fuel deal, saying it was "meaningless"... The deal requires Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran research reactor... Ahmadinejad said Iran had made the proposal, and according to the regulations the offer of fuel was unconditional but "they are insisting that to have conditions for giving us the fuel -- political conditions"...
"Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is solely aimed at generating electricity so it can export more gas and oil.The West believes Iran wants to make atomic bombs..."
here
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BM1IY
"Ahmadinejad... said his country's cooperation on its nuclear programme had been spurned... He once again dismissed a year-end deadline on a U.N.-drafted fuel deal, saying it was "meaningless"... The deal requires Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran research reactor... Ahmadinejad said Iran had made the proposal, and according to the regulations the offer of fuel was unconditional but "they are insisting that to have conditions for giving us the fuel -- political conditions"...
"Iran says its uranium enrichment programme is solely aimed at generating electricity so it can export more gas and oil.The West believes Iran wants to make atomic bombs..."
here
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE5BM1IY
NUCLEAR MEMO A FABRICATION
December 22
"Ahmadinejad, rejected the notion that a memo published last week by a British newspaper shows that Iran has been working on a trigger for a nuclear weapon... said that the document was one of “a fabricated bunch of papers continuously being forged and disseminated by the American government”...
"Intelligence officials say they have yet to authenticate” the two-page Persian-language document... which describes research Iran would need to conduct on an advanced technology to detonate a nuclear weapon, if it was to develop one... (and that) This information’s been sloshing around for well over a year..."
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/ahmadinejad-calls-nuclear-claims-a-joke/?sudsredirect=true
December 28
"U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document... which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication... intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect... The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis... (the) Murdoch publishing empire... includes the Sunday Times, Fox News and the New York Post. All Murdoch-owned news media report on Iran with an aggressively pro-Israeli slant..."
http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2758
December 22
"Ahmadinejad, rejected the notion that a memo published last week by a British newspaper shows that Iran has been working on a trigger for a nuclear weapon... said that the document was one of “a fabricated bunch of papers continuously being forged and disseminated by the American government”...
"Intelligence officials say they have yet to authenticate” the two-page Persian-language document... which describes research Iran would need to conduct on an advanced technology to detonate a nuclear weapon, if it was to develop one... (and that) This information’s been sloshing around for well over a year..."
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/ahmadinejad-calls-nuclear-claims-a-joke/?sudsredirect=true
December 28
"U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document... which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication... intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect... The Rupert Murdoch chain has been used extensively to publish false intelligence from the Israelis... (the) Murdoch publishing empire... includes the Sunday Times, Fox News and the New York Post. All Murdoch-owned news media report on Iran with an aggressively pro-Israeli slant..."
http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2758
Monday, December 21, 2009
OBAMA SAYS U.S. UNABLE TO PREVENT ISRAELI ATTACK
"President Barack Obama has warned... that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer... ... if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program... The Iranian government, its military and intelligence services go out of their way to needle the West in a manner that suggests that they still harbor the illusion of surviving such a military confrontation..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html
"President Barack Obama has warned... that the United States would not be able to keep Israel from attacking Iranian nuclear installations for much longer... ... if it does not accept Western proposals for its nuclear program... The Iranian government, its military and intelligence services go out of their way to needle the West in a manner that suggests that they still harbor the illusion of surviving such a military confrontation..."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KL22Ak04.html
Saturday, December 19, 2009
LIMBAUGH CALLS FOR MASSIVE BOMBING, WAR
"On his show Friday, Rush Limbaugh warned his listeners that "if we don't pound Iran into submission at some point they are going to get the bomb." Unhappy with Obama's "appeasement mentality," Limbaugh insisted that the only choice was to go to war:
'Let's be blunt here: the only way to stop them is to destroy the Iranian regime, the mullahs, and that can only be accomplished through war. And by war I don't mean ground troops; I mean massive bombing raids intended to destroy every one of the key targets..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/limbaugh-calls-for-massiv_n_397715.html
"On his show Friday, Rush Limbaugh warned his listeners that "if we don't pound Iran into submission at some point they are going to get the bomb." Unhappy with Obama's "appeasement mentality," Limbaugh insisted that the only choice was to go to war:
'Let's be blunt here: the only way to stop them is to destroy the Iranian regime, the mullahs, and that can only be accomplished through war. And by war I don't mean ground troops; I mean massive bombing raids intended to destroy every one of the key targets..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/limbaugh-calls-for-massiv_n_397715.html
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
CAMPUS PROTESTS ACROSS IRAN
"Campuses across Iran erupted in protests Monday as defiant college students chanting anti-government slogans clashed with security forces armed with clubs in a forceful new round of confrontations over the nation's disputed June presidential election... amateur videotape posted on the Internet showed thousands of anti-government students chanting slogans and gathering on various campuses around the country... in the central Iranian cities of Esfahan, Shiraz and Kerman, in the eastern city of Mashhad and in the western cities of Tabriz, Kermanshah, Hamedan and Ilam as well as in Rasht on the Caspian Sea... Fewer of the slogans were aimed at Ahmadinejad and more at Iran's theocracy-based political system, a shift that could... destabilize the Islamic Republic..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-iran-protests8-2009dec08,0,7136715.story
"Campuses across Iran erupted in protests Monday as defiant college students chanting anti-government slogans clashed with security forces armed with clubs in a forceful new round of confrontations over the nation's disputed June presidential election... amateur videotape posted on the Internet showed thousands of anti-government students chanting slogans and gathering on various campuses around the country... in the central Iranian cities of Esfahan, Shiraz and Kerman, in the eastern city of Mashhad and in the western cities of Tabriz, Kermanshah, Hamedan and Ilam as well as in Rasht on the Caspian Sea... Fewer of the slogans were aimed at Ahmadinejad and more at Iran's theocracy-based political system, a shift that could... destabilize the Islamic Republic..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-iran-protests8-2009dec08,0,7136715.story
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
IRAN DEBATES LEAVING NUCLEAR TREATY
"... Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said there was little point in Iran staying in the treaty if it was liable to be reprimanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency for exercising its right to develop peaceful nuclear energy... However, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's atomic energy agency... (said) Tehran had no wish to leave the NPT... (saying) "Our spiritual leader says that to obtain nuclear weapons is a sin -- if we wanted to obtain nuclear weapons we would leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are naturally enduring a lot of pressure but we will remain in the treaty..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSHAF93199320091130
"... Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said there was little point in Iran staying in the treaty if it was liable to be reprimanded by the International Atomic Energy Agency for exercising its right to develop peaceful nuclear energy... However, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's atomic energy agency... (said) Tehran had no wish to leave the NPT... (saying) "Our spiritual leader says that to obtain nuclear weapons is a sin -- if we wanted to obtain nuclear weapons we would leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are naturally enduring a lot of pressure but we will remain in the treaty..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSHAF93199320091130
Sunday, November 29, 2009
IRAN TO BUILD 10 MORE ENRICHMENT PLANTS
"The Iranian government approved a plan... to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities... just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities...
"... the new sites (will) be on the same scale as Iran's only other industrial-scale enrichment plant currently in operation, near the town of Natanz in central Iran. About 8,600 centrifuges have been set up in Natanz, but only about 4,000 are actively enriching uranium... The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges...
"Iran,... says it seeks only to generate electricity... (and) aims to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants in the next 20 years... the new plants are needed to produce enough fuel for its future reactors... Iran will need to install 500,000 centrifuges throughout the planned enrichment facilities to produce between 250 to 300 tons of fuel annually..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_nuclear
"The Iranian government approved a plan... to build 10 new uranium enrichment facilities... just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities...
"... the new sites (will) be on the same scale as Iran's only other industrial-scale enrichment plant currently in operation, near the town of Natanz in central Iran. About 8,600 centrifuges have been set up in Natanz, but only about 4,000 are actively enriching uranium... The facility will eventually house 54,000 centrifuges...
"Iran,... says it seeks only to generate electricity... (and) aims to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power plants in the next 20 years... the new plants are needed to produce enough fuel for its future reactors... Iran will need to install 500,000 centrifuges throughout the planned enrichment facilities to produce between 250 to 300 tons of fuel annually..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_nuclear
Saturday, November 28, 2009
IRAN'S TRUE NUCLEAR AMBITION: BREAKOUT CAPABILITY
"... Iranian leaders say that nuclear weapons are contrary to the Islamic law of war, that they do not want them and could not legally deploy them. They hold that the enrichment facilities are intended to produce fuel for a string of nuclear reactors that will keep Iran from having to use its precious petroleum, a key earner of foreign exchange and guarantor of national independence, for domestic power generation...
"Iran's leadership is seeking what is sometimes called the "Japan option" or a "rapid breakout capability." Unlike North Korea, India and Pakistan... Tehran genuinely does not want to actually construct and detonate a nuclear device. India and Pakistan are such large and important countries that they defied the First World nuclear club successfully and so joined it. North Korea, much smaller, weaker and poorer, has made itself an international pariah in this way, and is suffering more and more severe UN sanctions... most senior Iranian leaders wish to avoid those heavy sanctions, having seen what they did to Iraq...
"But having a rapid breakout capability-- being able to make a bomb in short order if it is felt absolutely necessary to forestall a foreign attack-- has a deterrent effect. So Iran would have the advantages of deterrence without the disadvantages of a bomb if it could get to the rapid breakout stage.."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/11/iaea-condemnation-of-iran-omen-of-new.html
"... Iranian leaders say that nuclear weapons are contrary to the Islamic law of war, that they do not want them and could not legally deploy them. They hold that the enrichment facilities are intended to produce fuel for a string of nuclear reactors that will keep Iran from having to use its precious petroleum, a key earner of foreign exchange and guarantor of national independence, for domestic power generation...
"Iran's leadership is seeking what is sometimes called the "Japan option" or a "rapid breakout capability." Unlike North Korea, India and Pakistan... Tehran genuinely does not want to actually construct and detonate a nuclear device. India and Pakistan are such large and important countries that they defied the First World nuclear club successfully and so joined it. North Korea, much smaller, weaker and poorer, has made itself an international pariah in this way, and is suffering more and more severe UN sanctions... most senior Iranian leaders wish to avoid those heavy sanctions, having seen what they did to Iraq...
"But having a rapid breakout capability-- being able to make a bomb in short order if it is felt absolutely necessary to forestall a foreign attack-- has a deterrent effect. So Iran would have the advantages of deterrence without the disadvantages of a bomb if it could get to the rapid breakout stage.."
http://www.juancole.com/2009/11/iaea-condemnation-of-iran-omen-of-new.html
Thursday, November 26, 2009
IRAN CONFISCATES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE MEDAL
"Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal... from a safe-deposit box in Iran... They also seized her Legion of Honor and a ring awarded to her by a German association of journalists... Authorities froze the bank accounts of her and her husband and demanded $410,000 in taxes that they claimed were owed on the $1.3 million she was awarded... the government also appears intent on trying to confiscate her home. In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize. Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts in promoting democracy."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/shirin_ebadi_nobel_seized
"Iranian authorities have confiscated Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal... from a safe-deposit box in Iran... They also seized her Legion of Honor and a ring awarded to her by a German association of journalists... Authorities froze the bank accounts of her and her husband and demanded $410,000 in taxes that they claimed were owed on the $1.3 million she was awarded... the government also appears intent on trying to confiscate her home. In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize. Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts in promoting democracy."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/shirin_ebadi_nobel_seized
AHMADINEJAD VISITS BRAZIL
"... The most concrete result of the visit was the signing of eight cooperation agreements in areas like science, technology, agriculture and industry, which reflect the desire of both Brazil and Iran to strengthen South-South cooperation and increase bilateral trade, which currently stands at around two billion dollars, while the goal is to raise that amount to 10 billion dollars in the near future. Some 200 business leaders accompanied Ahmadinejad on his visit…"
"... the visit made it clear that both Brazil and Iran are keen on playing a more active role on the world stage, based on each nation's clout in their specific areas of influence.... Iran enjoys significant territorial, linguistic and cultural cohesion, added to its abundant natural resources and considerable technological development - it launched a domestically made satellite in 2008, and 48 percent of the population has access to the internet - all of which give it a strong sense of national pride and a central role in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Brazil, for its part, buoyed up by strong economic indicators, besides its position as Latin America's giant, has expanded its influence on the international scene..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49403
"... The most concrete result of the visit was the signing of eight cooperation agreements in areas like science, technology, agriculture and industry, which reflect the desire of both Brazil and Iran to strengthen South-South cooperation and increase bilateral trade, which currently stands at around two billion dollars, while the goal is to raise that amount to 10 billion dollars in the near future. Some 200 business leaders accompanied Ahmadinejad on his visit…"
"... the visit made it clear that both Brazil and Iran are keen on playing a more active role on the world stage, based on each nation's clout in their specific areas of influence.... Iran enjoys significant territorial, linguistic and cultural cohesion, added to its abundant natural resources and considerable technological development - it launched a domestically made satellite in 2008, and 48 percent of the population has access to the internet - all of which give it a strong sense of national pride and a central role in Middle Eastern geopolitics. Brazil, for its part, buoyed up by strong economic indicators, besides its position as Latin America's giant, has expanded its influence on the international scene..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49403
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