Iran's Response On Nuclear Issue

[KashifAsrar]

Iran gets fresh EU deadline


Lappeenranta (Finland): European Union foreign ministers agreed on Saturday to give Iran two more weeks to clarify its stance on halting sensitive nuclear work after Tehran ignored a UN deadline to suspend uranium enrichment.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, next week to try to clear up ambiguities in Tehran’s 21-page reply to a major power offer of cooperation if it stops work that could help build a bomb.
Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel said after the 25 ministers discussed the issue at a meeting in Finland: “We give Solana two weeks for his clarification talks.”
Iran defied an August 31 deadline set by the United Nations Security Council for it to halt uranium enrichment and has given no sign it is prepared to meet the international community’s condition for opening negotiations on economic, technological and political cooperation.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted on Saturday by the ISNA student news agency as saying: “Our nation is a supporter of peace but it will not retreat an iota from its right to nuclear technology.”
EU ministers declined to talk publicly of sanctions if Tehran did not comply and stressed their preference for a solution through dialogue.
“Despite our intensive efforts of the last six months, there has up to today unfortunately been no signal of reciprocity from Iran,” German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.
But he added: “We in the EU and Germany have no interest in an escalation in the coming days and weeks due to deliberations in the Security Council.” REUTERS

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran says sanctions threat is psychological game
Sun Sep 3, 2006 9:47 AM BST

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday the threat of sanctions was a "psychological game" aimed at putting pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at producing atomic weapons.

Iran failed to meet a U.N. Security deadline on Aug 31. to halt uranium enrichment, which can make fuel for power plants or material for weapons. It now faces the threat of sanctions.

"I think the issue of sanctions is more like a psychological game," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference.

Iran has repeatedly shrugged off the threat of sanctions, saying such a move would hurt industrialised economies more than Iran by driving already high oil prices higher still.



"Right now we should think about solving the issues through negotiations. I think the matter of sanctions was only brought up by some Zionist American circles to exert pressure," he said.

The United States said on Friday it was consulting European governments about possible sanctions against the Islamic Republic, but the EU has signalled it wants more dialogue and has agreed to try to clarify Iran's stance within two weeks.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, next week to try to clear up ambiguities in Tehran's reply to the major powers' offer of broad cooperation if it stops the nuclear work.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter which is brimming with petrodollars, says it can cope with any sanctions imposed, but economists say its economy would still suffer from punitive measures such as restrictions on European financing.

 

[KashifAsrar]

No breakthrough in Annan talks with Iran's Ahmadinejad (Roundup)

Tehran - Talks between United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran failed to produce any breakthrough in Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, informed sources said.

'Our position on the nuclear issue is transparent, clear and logical and although we have lost in trust in the Europeans during our talks in the last three years, we are still willing to hold talks under equal conditions,' Ahmadinejad reportedly told Annan during the meeting.

Ahmadinejad had, in recent days, stressed several times that Iran would not bow to pressure or threats and would continue its nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment.

Annan termed his talks with Iranian officials on the nuclear dispute as 'good and positive' and called for continued efforts to settle the dispute through negotiations.

The UN chief had tried to persuade Iran to accept the United Nations Security Council resolution 1696, which orders the Islamic state to suspend uranium enrichment or risk sanctions.

In a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki afterwards, Annan confirmed that President Ahmadinejad spoke in favour of continued negotiations with the West over the nuclear dispute but that 'Iran would not accept uranium suspension before the talks.'

Annan said that he now had a better understanding of the Iranian position in the dispute, which he would communicate to the relevant Western powers.

He hoped that the scheduled meeting between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani would lead to a breakthrough in negotiations.

Mottaki said that Iran has presented 'clear and transparent explanations to Mr Annan' and hoped that the West would now take 'the next positive steps.'

'Two aspects should be considered in the talks: one is Iran's undeniable right to pursue nuclear technology and the other is making Iran's (nuclear) programmes transparent to the West to remove any concern,' Mottaki said.

Mottaki termed the UN Security Council resolution 1696 as 'political and based on political pressure by the United States and Britain rather on a legal framework.' The resolution did nothing to increase the chances of a resolution, he said.

'Our position is clear and there is nothing more we can do,' Mottaki said.

Mottaki also referred to the Lebanon crisis and said that Iran was ready to cooperate with the UN in securing peace in Lebanon.

'But the main condition is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanon and an end to any further attacks,' Mottaki said.

Annan said that Iran would help the UN mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, on condition that the country's territorial integrity be upheld.

He also reiterated the importance of Iran playing a constructive role in resolving the Middle East crisis.

Iran is a key backer of the Lebanese Shiite militia, Hezbollah, which fought a bitter 33-day war with Israel ending August 14.

 

[KashifAsrar]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/04/wiran04.xml

Senior US diplomats will meet their counterparts from Germany, France and Britain in Berlin on Thursday to seek agreement on a package of sanctions against Iran.

The plan is for a "graduating" programme in two or three stages, diplomats said. They know, however, that they face a dilemma in how to "hurt" the leadership without alienating the population.

But difficult negotiations lie ahead. Germany is said to want to rule out any chance of force being used to enforce the UN's will, a proposal resisted by America.

China and Russia, two of the five veto-wielding powers, have made clear they oppose retaliatory sanctions and punitive measures against Iran's leaders.

John Bolton, America's hawkish ambassador to the UN, has an alternative strategy if the world body fails to toughen its stance. He is working on forging a "coalition of the willing" of US allies who could impose their own penalties.

 

[KashifAsrar]

See the musings of the writer on IRAN issue.
Kashif

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2341668,00.html

Iran is a special case because, first, it is already an established menace. It has spent the past two decades consistently seeking to sabotage any prospect of a permanent peace settlement between Israel and its neighbours and it remains dedicated to that mission. It continues to sponsor extremist fanatics in the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon. It is behind much of the trouble that has tortured Iraq and it does not intend to stop pulling these strings once US and British troops have left. If it becomes a nuclear nation, it is likely to be emboldened in these deeds.

Iran is also distinct because this project is not merely about national symbolism, but also religious aspirations. It would not be an “Islamic” bomb but a “Shia Islamic” bomb, the most potent physical representation so far of a drive to seize command over a faith that was briefly, if tenuously, held and then lost in the 7th century. It would be in the hands of people whose interpretation of theology places a weight and value on the concept of martyrdom that the rest of us properly find alien, bizarre and chilling.

The writer has gone mad with WMD (Weapons Of Mass DECEPTION)

 

[KashifAsrar]

http://english.people.com.cn/200609/06/eng20060906_300025.html

Russia possible to join sanctions on Iran

Russia still has a possibility to join sanctions on Iran, presidential aide Igor Shuvalov said on Tuesday.

"But we think so far that actions concerning Iran must be cautious," Shuvalov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

"While applying economic sanctions or military operations to Iran, one must be aware of the fact that they will consolidate the Iranian people around the government and strengthen their support to the uranium enrichment program," Shuvalov said.

"When 60 million Iranian citizens decide to support the non- peaceful uranium enrichment program, that would be very dangerous indeed," he said.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in late July, urging Tehran to suspend by Aug. 31 all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, or face prospect of sanctions, which was refused by Tehran.

Source: Xinhua

 

[KashifAsrar]

Read The Full News Here

China wants Iran talks despite U.N. deadline expiry
By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it still wanted big powers to negotiate with Iran even after Tehran defied a U.N. deadline to stop enriching uranium.

The Chinese stance, echoing Russia, underlined obstacles to a U.S.-led push for consideration of sanctions against Iran in the U.N. Security Council where Beijing and Moscow wield vetoes.

Washington's EU allies, also hesitant about sanctions, were looking to talks this week to explore hints by Iran that it could negotiate over the extent of its nuclear fuel programme, which the West fears is a disguised bid to build atom bombs.


European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was tentatively expected to meet Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Vienna on Wednesday, although diplomats said the day and venue for the talks could still change.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said resolving the nuclear issue required committed diplomatic efforts.

"But imposing sanctions will not necessarily get us there, and may even prove counter-productive. The parties involved should be cautious about moving toward sanctions," Wen told Reuters and a small group of foreign media.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference: "We have consistently stood for the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation and dialogue."

They were Beijing's first public comments on Iran since the August 31 U.N. deadline to halt enrichment passed.

China, whose trade with Iran reached nearly $8 billion in the first seven months of the year, has together with Russia long urged a negotiated solution and has traditionally opposed the use of sanctions in international diplomacy.

Iran provides more than 11 percent of China's oil imports.

Russia, another big trade partner of Iran and building the first Iranian nuclear power reactor, said after the deadline's expiry that while Iran's agenda was doubtful, sanctions were a "dead end" and a negotiated compromise the only solution.

IRAN SAYS IT WANTS NEGOTIATED OUTCOME


Although Tehran ignored the deadline, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday Iran wanted to find a negotiated solution to its nuclear standoff with the West. Annan has voiced support for further dialogue with Tehran.

Wen urged Iran to avoid deeper confrontation.

"We also hope Iran will heed the concerns of the international community and take constructive steps," he said.

The United States says the enrichment programme is aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Tehran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, says it is to meet civilian energy needs.

Germany has publicly signaled it is losing patience with Iran and the United States has said it is consulting European allies about possible sanctions against the Islamic state.

But diplomats say there is scant enthusiasm for sanctions in the 25-nation EU, given Iran's position as a major oil supplier to the bloc and market for EU exports, as well as a sense that diplomatic possibilities may not yet be exhausted.

They also say, however, that Iran's hint at flexibility may be a time-buying ploy designed to split the six powers handling its case -- Russia and China from the West as well as France, Germany and Britain from the United States.

EU officials said Solana would try to clarify Iran's stance, made in an August 22 reply to a six-power offer of trade incentives, by mid-September.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged Iraqi leaders during a visit to Baghdad to air the EU's concerns with Shi'ite Islamist allies in Tehran, a British official said.


Mohammed Khatami, Ahmadinejad's moderate predecessor as Iranian president, was quoted by the Financial Times newspaper as saying during a U.S. visit this week that Tehran's pilot uranium-enrichment programme posed no threat to anyone.

"There is nothing of utmost concern. Having a cascade of 164 centrifuges cannot provide sufficient enriched material for anything, let alone a bomb," he told the British daily.

"It will only help complete the experiments of our engineers. All the problems that we have and they (West) have can be dealt with, and talks with patience without preconditions are accessible," Khatami said.

(Additional reporting by David Schlesinger and Brian Rhoads in Beijing and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad)

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran nuclear talks 'constructive'
Sunday 10 September 2006, 7:14 Makka Time, 4:14 GMT

Ali Larijani, Iran's nuclear negotiator and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, have had "constructive" talks and will resume them on Sunday, both sides have said.


The talks between Solana and Ali Larijani have widely been seen as possibly being the last chance to avert UN Security Council moves to impose sanctions against Tehran over its atomic programme.



Larijani said: "We have had good and constructive talks and we have made some progress in some areas."



Cristina Gallach, Solana's spokeswoman, said: "The talks were constructive and positive and will resume on Sunday morning."



The talks came after two days of uncertainty reflecting doubts over whether they would achieve anything.



The Solana-Larijani meeting was originally scheduled for Wednesday but postponed at the last minute.



Uranium enrichment



The reluctance of both sides to commit to the talks betrayed a war of nerves that has intensified since Iran ignored a council deadline of August 31 to stop enriching uranium, a process that could yield atomic bombs.



Neither side provided details about what had been discussed at the meeting.

"We have had good and constructive talks and we have made some progress in some areas."

Ali Larijani, Iran's nuclear negotiator

Before the talks, Solana had wanted Larijani to clarify Iran's 21-page reply to an offer of trade and other incentives to halt its nuclear fuel programme.



Specifically, Solana was expected to home in on hints in the response that Tehran could curb the programme if engaged in negotiations to implement the benefits on offer.



Larijani meanwhile was expected to again rule out the precondition that enrichment be suspended indefinitely.



A diplomat from one of three EU states, France, Britain and Germany, in the sextet of powers who made the offers said: "We don't think this meeting will provide a basis for negotiations."



Diplomatic sanctions



Regardless of the Vienna talks, Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state, said after a meeting of the six in Berlin on Friday that Washington expected the council to begin deliberations next week on a draft sanctions resolution.



But key EU allies as well as Russia and China voiced growing doubt about the speed with which Washington wanted to pursue financial and diplomatic sanctions against Tehran, its arch-foe but also the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter.



To various degrees, they prefer further talks to explore a compromise that would save face on both sides.



Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, speaking after a China-EU summit in Helsinki on Saturday, urged the international community to exercise caution over sanctions and reiterated his government's call for Iran to "take seriously" concerns over the programme.



He said: "Sanctions or pressure will not necessarily bring about the goal of solving the Iran nuclear issue.



"Our objective is to promote an ultimate peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear issue."

 

[KashifAsrar]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-11T093333Z_01_L0859527_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml

Big powers mull moves after upbeat Iran-EU talks
By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Six world powers will weigh strategy toward Iran's disputed nuclear activity on Monday after hints of Iranian readiness to compromise in talks with Europe, which could blunt a U.S. push to hit Tehran with sanctions.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said they made progress in talks to explore a basis for formal negotiations to end a stalemate over Tehran's pursuit of technology that could yield atom bombs.

An EU diplomat said Larijani offered a 2-month enrichment freeze during seven hours of weekend discussions with Solana in Vienna that both sides described as constructive. An Iranian official denied that Larijani had discussed a suspension.

It was unclear if Iran would meet Western demands to suspend enrichment before negotiations to implement an offer of trade incentives not to enrich uranium.

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran offers 8-week suspension of nuclear program

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani offered to suspend Tehran's nuclear enrichment program for eight weeks during seven hours of talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana over the weekend, an EU diplomat said on Sunday.

But the diplomat was unclear whether Iran would meet Western demands it suspend enrichment before talks on trade incentives designed to halt Iranian pursuit of technology.

Two months is nothing, as the United States and others want a long-term suspension to restore confidence that Iran's nuclear programme is geared only to generate electricity, the diplomat was quoted by the Reuters as saying.

The weekend talks in Vienna were seen as a final chance to seek a compromise before possible punitive action after Iran ignored an Aug. 31 Security Council deadline to stop purifying uranium for use as nuclear fuel.

Larijani and Solana said they cleared up misunderstandings and made progress in a search for common ground

 

[Neo]

NAM moot opens with attacks on US, defence of Iran

HAVANA (updated on: September 11, 2006, 22:35 PST): Cuba opened a Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit on Monday with veiled attacks on the United States and Israel, and a defence of Iran's controversial nuclear program.

The summit "happens to coincide with the tightening of pressures against Iran for the exercise of its sovereign right to develop a program for the peaceful use of nuclear energy," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in his opening speech.

He urged the NAM members to close ranks in the face of threats he said "have a common origin" -- a veiled reference to the United States.

The six-day gathering brings together leaders from about 50 developing nations, and high-level representatives from dozens more, including some of the most outspoken foes of the United States, such as Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Syria.

Among the prominent leaders slated to attend is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has defied UN demands that he halt uranium enrichment, the process used to make nuclear reactor fuel but also atomic bomb material.

The NAM backed Iran in the stand-off, with a draft of the summit's final document stressing the right of developing nations to use and produce nuclear energy.

At the same time, the document condemned Israel "for continuing to develop and stockpile nuclear arsenals."

The summit will also give nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan an opportunity to jumpstart peace talks aimed at resolving the decades-old dispute over Kashmir, a Himalayan region by India.

"I hope and will make full efforts to make the talks substantive, so that these are result-oriented," said President Pervez Musharraf, who was scheduled to hold meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the summit.

The bilateral talks would be the first high-level contact between the two countries since multiple blasts on commuter trains in India's financial capital Mumbai in July stalled the peace process. New Delhi had pointed the finger at an allegedly Pakistan-backed armed group for the blasts which killed 183 people and wounded more than 800.

Cuba and several other members NAM have stressed the need to give new impetus and focus to the movement created during the Cold War to counter the hegemonic influence of the superpowers. Now, they say, they must work against overwhelming US might.

As the gathering began, it still remained unclear if Fidel Castro would be well enough to show up as scheduled for the summit, but he has said he would be meeting some of the visiting dignitaries.

The gathering should mark the international debut by Raul Castro, 75, who is officially in charge of Cuba until his more prominent brother is well enough to get back to work full time.

It will also form the backdrop for rival lobbying from Venezuela and Guatemala for one of the 10 temporary seats on the 15-member UN Security Council.

Venezuela's staunchly anti-US President Hugo Chavez recently conducted a 10-day tour of Asia and Africa that earned the oil-rich South American country support for its UN bid as well as trade deals.

Many of the leaders at the summit will also attend the UN General Assembly, which starts on Tuesday.

The heads of state and government were slated to start their talks on Friday, after four days of preparatory meetings. On Monday, Haiti and St Kitts and Nevis joined the movement, swelling its ranks to 118.

Link:
NAM moot opens with attacks on US, defence of Iran

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran sets conditions on enrichment suspension
(AFP)

12 September 2006



VIENNA - Iran has set a list of conditions in offering to consider a two-month suspension of uranium enrichment, but the United States on Monday welcomed progress made in weekend talks between the EU and Iran.


Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European foreign policy chief Javier Solana held talks here at the weekend to try to find a compromise to reopen talks on Iran’s disputed nuclear program and avoid threatened UN sanctions.

In the closed-door meetings Iran “had a long list (of conditions) including (a) complete and total halt in activity at the UN Security Council, an absolute stepping down from going for sanctions and that Iran would have the right to nuclear fuel technology on its soil,” a Western diplomat told AFP.

“In return for this, Larijani said the Iranians would consider, consider not actually carry out, a two-month halt in enrichment. It was all very conditional,” the diplomat said, in relating a briefing from Solana.

The Iranian offer first revealed Sunday had raised hopes of a breakthrough in the international standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions but the diplomat said that Larijani’s conditions dashed these hopes.

But the conditions are “unacceptable” to the six world powers who have offered Iran talks on a package of trade and other benefits because they would guarantee Teheran the right to sensitive nuclear fuel work and protect it from any punitive UN action, said the diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous due to the confidentiality of the information.

Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States want a full and unconditional suspension of uranium enrichment to start the negotiations, the diplomat said.

Enrichment is the strategic process which makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material.

The United States and European countries fear Iran is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, but Teheran says its program aims only to produce energy.

Iran has refused, however, to suspend enrichment and defied a UN Security Council August 31 deadline for it to freeze the strategic nuclear fuel work or face possible sanctions.

The United States is expected to begin work as soon as this week on a draft UN resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, even though Russia and China are reluctant to move towards a confrontation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday did not rule out accepting the possible offer from Iran to temporarily halt uranium enrichment, but insisted a suspension be in place and verifiable before any negotiations on resolving the deadlock over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Rice, during a visit to Canada, sidestepped whether the United States would accept a temporary suspension, but pointed out a halt to enrichment work would bring about the halt to sanctions efforts that Teheran desires.

“If the Iranians are in a state of suspension, then we would be prepared not to have activity in the Security Council. But there has to be suspension if there is going to be any negotiations,” she said.

Rice’s remarks indicated a willingness to let talks play out between Iran and Solana even as Washington pushes for UN Security Council action against Teheran.

“From our point of view, we’ve got nothing to lose by, as we work toward the sanctions resolution, having Javier Solana explore with the Iranians whether there is a way to get to the negotiations,” she told reporters.

Solana and Larijani are expected to meet again this week.

Rice noted there has yet to be a formal offer on halting enrichment, and warned Teheran had to move quickly as the United States won’t allow it to stall UN action.

“The time is coming very soon when we’re going to have to adopt a Security Council resolution,” Rice said.

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran may suspend nuke work during talks: diplomat


Iran, seeking to stave off sanctions, could be willing to suspend uranium enrichment during any new talks with world powers over its nuclear programme, an EU diplomat said yesterday.

Germany and the five permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States offered Iran a package of economic and political incentives in June if it suspended nuclear fuel work. The package was negotiable, but the six powers said Iran had to halt all enrichment work first.

Iran has so far refused to stop enrichment. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, however, told European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana over the weekend that Iran could possibly accept a temporary suspension once talks had commenced, an EU diplomat said.

"When negotiations are under way, Iran would suspend its programme during the negotiations. People estimate the negotiations (on the incentives offer) would take two to three months," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

The UN Security Council had ordered Teheran to suspend its enrichment programme, which could produce fuel for atom bombs, by August 31 or face possible UN sanctions. Iran ignored the deadline and Washington now is putting pressure on the council to begin drafting a sanctions resolution.

Teheran rejects Western accusations that it wants enrichment to make fuel for atomic weapons, insisting it only wants to produce low-grade enriched nuclear fuel for power plants.

The diplomat said on Sunday that Iran had offered to suspend its enrichment programme for two months in a bid to avoid UN sanctions. Iran denied making such a proposal.

"It's true it's not a formal offer yet. The talks with Solana are not over. And it's not clear what they mean by suspension. Everybody has a different idea of what suspension is," the diplomat said.

It was crucial to know if Iran would continue small-scale enrichment research and development during any "suspension", which Washington might not accept, he said. He also said Solana needed to make sure that he and Larijani were not using the same words with different meanings.

"Before you start negotiations (on the incentives offer), you have to clarify the wording, make sure everybody means the same thing," he said.

EU diplomats say that Russia, China, France and possibly Germany would be willing to compromise and accept a freeze that began once talks were under way. However, Britain and the United States have indicated that this would be unacceptable.

The diplomat said that Larijani had also made it clear that Tehran wanted the Iranian nuclear file returned to Vienna, where it would be handled by the International Atomic Energy Agency and not the UN Security Council, which can impose sanctions.

The IAEA's governing board referred the Iran file to the Council in February.

Source: China Daily


http://english.people.com.cn/200609/12/eng20060912_301802.html

 

[KashifAsrar]

Iran's nuclear threat started as gift from U.S.

Shah was an ally against Soviet Union

September 11, 2006
BY SAM ROE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE


CHICAGO -- In the heart of Tehran sits one of Iran's most important nuclear facilities, a dome-shaped building where scientists have conducted secret experiments that could help the country build atomic bombs. It was outfitted by the United States.
The Tehran Research Reactor represents a little-known aspect of the international uproar over the country's alleged weapons program.

Not only did the United States provide the reactor in the 1960s as part of a Cold War strategy, it supplied the weapons-grade uranium needed to power the facility -- fuel that remains in Iran.

As the United States and other nations wrestle with Iran's refusal to curb its nuclear capabilities, an examination of the Tehran facility sheds light on the degree to which the United States was complicit in Iran developing those capabilities.
Though the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, found no proof Iran is building a bomb, the agency says the country concealed its nuclear activities from inspectors repeatedly.
The United States gave Iran the reactor when America was eager to prop up the shah, an ally against the Soviet Union at the time. After the Islamic revolution toppled the shah in 1979, the reactor became a reminder that in geopolitics, today's ally can become tomorrow's threat.
Also missing from the debate about Iran's nuclear intentions is emerging evidence that the country's research program might be more troubled than previously known.

Quality control
The Bush administration portrayed the program as an operation that hid its true mission of making a bomb. But in the case of the Tehran Research Reactor, a study by an Iranian scientist suggests otherwise.
After a serious accident at the reactor in 2001, the scientist concluded that poor quality control was a chronic disease.
Problems included carelessness, sloppy bookkeeping and a staff so poorly trained that workers had a weak understanding of "the most basic and simple principles of physics and mathematics," according to the study presented at an international nuclear conference in France in 2004.
The Iranian scientist, Morteza Gharib, said management of the facility improved in the past three years. When asked whether sloppiness might have contributed to some of Iran's troubles with the IAEA, Gharib wrote in an e-mail: "It is always possible, for any system, to commit infractions inadvertently due to lack of proper bookkeeping."
Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert at Harvard University, said bungling might be to blame for some infractions, but the Iranians clearly concealed major nuclear activities, such as building a facility to enrich uranium. "This was not an oversight," he said.

Leftover fuel
Another overlooked concern about the Tehran reactor is the weapons-grade fuel the United States supplied to Iran in the 1960s -- about 10 pounds of highly enriched uranium, the most valuable material to bombmakers. It's still at the reactor and susceptible to theft, U.S. scientists familiar with the situation said.
This uranium was burned in the reactor and sat in storage for so long that it's probably no longer highly radioactive and could be handled easily, the U.S. scientists say.
The fuel is about a fifth the amount needed to make a nuclear weapon, but experts said it could be combined with other material to construct a bomb


http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060911/NEWS07/609110325/1009

 

[KashifAsrar]

Russia's ties to Iran a roadblock to U.S.
Trade, geopolitical interests trump sanctions effort

Perhaps the biggest obstacle is Russia -- a key member of the U.N. Security Council and the main supplier of Tehran's nuclear technology

Russia's reluctance to support sanctions is based on a number of factors, ranging from the Kremlin's belief that Iran does not pose a significant security threat, to its commercial interests there, to post-Soviet Russia's desire to demonstrate to the Western community -- particularly its Cold War arch-enemy, the United States -- that it has a sovereign foreign policy that will not be dictated by the West, say experts on Russia, Iran and nuclear proliferation.

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant -- a $1 billion, 1,000-megawatt facility in Bushehr, 250 miles southwest of Tehran, which is scheduled to begin operating next year. The Kremlin defends Iran's right to a peaceful nuclear program and denies helping Iran acquire nuclear weapons. To ensure that their nuclear cooperation abides by international laws, Russia says it will require all spent fuel from the Bushehr reactor to be returned to Russia for reprocessing, which ostensibly would prevent Iran from enriching fuel for military purposes.

"Russia believes Iran will be the most important and influential country in the gulf region, (and) it wants good relations with such a country," Einhorn said. If Iran does acquire nuclear weapons, he said, "surely Russia would prefer to be a friend of a nuclear-armed Iran."

Moscow enjoys America's discomfort.
"They look at the United States, they say, 'They're arrogant, we call them a hegemonic power, and the one real problem to them is nuclear proliferation. And if we solve nuclear proliferation for them, they will enjoy their hegemony over the entire world,' " Perkovich said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/10/MNGB8L2T931.DTL&type=politics