US to demand inspection of Iran site

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

US to demand inspection of Iran site​

A satellite image of Iran's suspected nuclear facility at a military base near the holy city of Qom. The site was uncovered by Western intelligence. Photo: AFP





DAVID SANGER ,WASHINGTON (the guy who said GEN Musharaff was double dealing)
September 28, 2009

THE Obama Administration plans to tell Tehran this week that the nation must open a newly revealed nuclear enrichment site to international inspectors ''within weeks'', according to senior US officials.

From the White House to Europe, senior officials were pushing to exploit the disclosure of the covert facility as a turning point.

The United States will also seek full access to the key personnel who put together the clandestine plant.

The demands, following the revelation of the secret facility at a military base near the holy city of Qom, set the stage for the first direct negotiations between the United States and Iran in 30 years in Geneva on Thursday.

Iran, apparently learning that the site had been discovered by Western intelligence, delivered a short and vague letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency last Monday, disclosing that it was building a second plant, one that it had never mentioned during years of inspections.

Iranian officials have said the site is for peaceful purposes, although it is located inside an Iranian Revolutionary Guard base.

US President Barack Obama then decided to go public with what the US knew.

Over a two-day period, US, British and French officials briefed their Russian, Chinese, Israeli and UN counterparts. Mr Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during one-to-one talks, after which Mr Medvedev emerged sounding tougher on sanctions.

Mr Obama has said repeatedly that Iran must show significant co-operation by the end of the year. However, in the aftermath of this week's revelations, Iran will be told that, to avoid sanctions, it must adhere to an International Atomic Energy Agency agreement that would allow inspectors to go virtually anywhere in the country to track down suspicions of nuclear work.

Iran would then have to turn over documents that the agency has sought for more than three years, including some that appear to suggest work was done on the design of warheads and technologies for detonating a nuclear core.

A controversial US intelligence report in 2007 that said Iran seemed to have halted final work on a bomb also asserted that there were more than a dozen suspect sites about which officials knew little.

US officials would not say whether they included the one that was revealed on Friday, and acknowledge it is unlikely that Tehran will accede to all of their demands. But they say this is their best chance to resolve the seven-year stand-off over Iran's nuclear program.

On Saturday, Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the International Atomic Energy Agency would be invited to visit the site near Qom that US intelligence agencies estimate is designed to house 3000 centrifuges, enough to produce about one bomb's worth of material a year.

''This site will be under the supervision of the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] and will have a maximum of 5 per cent [uranium] enrichment capacity,'' Ali Akbar Salehi said on state television.

The plant, which is ''not an industrial scale'' unit, will be operational in two years' time, he said. Dismissing allegations that the plant has a military purpose, Mr Salehi said the facility was being constructed as a ''precautionary measure in case of an unwanted incident against our nuclear program''.

''This reopens the whole question of the military's involvement in the Iranian nuclear program,'' said David Kay, a nuclear specialist who led the fruitless US search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

NEW YORK TIMES, TELEGRAPH

US to demand inspection of Iran site

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Gates: Secret nuke site puts Iran in `bad spot'

By JIM KUHNHENN (AP)

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the disclosure of Iran's secret uranium-enriching facility could force more economic penalties against a country reeling from serious social and political divisions.

He played down the effectiveness of military strikes against the site, arguing that pressuring Tehran economically and diplomatically would have a better chance of changing the Tehran government's policies.

"The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN's "State of the Union" in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"The Iranians are in a very bad spot now because of this deception, in terms of all of the great powers. And there obviously is the opportunity for severe additional sanctions."

Gates' comments come ahead of a meeting Thursday in Geneva involving diplomats from Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. Tehran's nuclear program is at the top of the agenda.

On Sunday, Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range missiles during military drills by the elite Revolutionary Guard.

Gates emphasized China's key role in winning additional penalties against Iran. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including China, would have to agree to new sanctions. The United States, Britain and France support additional economic conditions and Russia now appears favorable. But China relies heavily on Iranian oil imports and remains reluctant to give its assent.

"China's participation is clearly important," Gates said.

Gates said further penalties could cause Iran to change its nuclear policies because it already faces serious economic problems. He described the political turmoil under Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as "simmering," and noted that unemployment among young people in the country is about 40 percent.

"It's clear in the aftermath of the election that there are some fairly deep fissures in Iranian society and politics and — and probably even in the leadership," he said. "And, frankly, this is one of the reasons why I think additional and especially severe economic sanctions could have some real impact because we know that the sanctions that have already been placed on the country have had an impact."

The Pentagon chief added, "We are seeing some changes or some divisions in the Iranian leadership and in society that we really haven't seen in the 30 years since the revolution."

It is critical that world powers persuade the Iranians that their pursuit of nuclear weapons will undermine their country's security, Gates said.

This week's meeting is the first step to see if Tehran can change policy to the satisfaction of the world's powers. If that fails, Gates said, then "you begin to move in the direction of severe sanctions. ... I think that severe sanctions would have the potential" of changing their policies.

"How long do I think we have? I would say somewhere between one to three years," he told ABC's "This Week."

The Associated Press: Gates: Secret nuke site puts Iran in `bad spot'

 

[fhassan]

Iran disclosed the location of this site before the media frenzy.

Moreover, the elected president of Iran has already said that he will allow inspections - he said this a couple of days ago.

 

[Patriot]

Iran disclosed the location of this site before the media frenzy.

Moreover, the elected president of Iran has already said that he will allow inspections - he said this a couple of days ago.

Just trying media spin now so they can later on give justification for bombing Iran.Lets just hope Iran has enough weapons to give a thrashing reply.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Confront Tehran now in pursuit of a nuclear-free world

Paul Wolfowitz

Barack Obama has displayed extraordinary flexibility in his approach to Iran’s nuclear programme. He has supported Iran’s “right to a peaceful nuclear energy programme”, declared his willingness to meet unconditionally and extended his own deadlines for Iran to begin serious negotiations. He has maintained that position despite Iran’s bellicose rhetoric and despite congressional pressure for sanctions.

Although it has produced no positive response from Tehran, the Obama administration’s flexibility has clearly demonstrated that the obstacle to resolving the Iranian nuclear issue is not a US refusal to negotiate. Even under the Bush administration, the US participated regularly in multilateral talks with Iran. But if there was any ambiguity about the previous administration’s willingness to negotiate, there has been none whatsoever about the Obama administration.

Last week’s revelation of a covert uranium enrichment facility makes it clear that Iran’s rulers are pursuing nuclear weapons. Common sense suggested this long ago. Iran’s proven reserves of natural gas are the world’s second largest (after Russia) and four times those of the US. With two-thirds of those reserves still undeveloped, expensive nuclear power plants are a waste of resources. Even for nuclear energy, it would be cheaper to purchase reactor fuel rather than enrich uranium. Most tellingly, why would Iran be developing long-range ballistic missiles if its nuclear intentions were peaceful? And why build a covert centrifuge plant that is too small to be of commercial use and at a military base? As a senior official of the Obama administration said last week: “Our information is that the Iranians began this facility with the intent that it be secret, and therefore giving them an option of producing weapons-grade uranium without the international community knowing about it.”

In 1994, proponents of the Framework Agreement with North Korea argued that Pyongyang would not cheat because the risks of being caught were too great. As it turned out, even the chances of being caught were not great and the consequences proved to be negligible. When the Clinton administration found signs of a secret facility in 1998, it was unable to prove it, perhaps because the North Koreans had cleaned up the site (as the Iranians are probably doing now). Definitive proof of North Korea’s centrifuge programme did not come to light until 2002, but when charged with this violation, Pyongyang rapidly broke out of the 1994 restrictions, reprocessed the previously “safeguarded” plutonium and tested a nuclear device. Faced with the prospect that North Korea could always do something worse, the US kept making concessions in order to resume negotiations.

Iran has said that it simply aspires to follow the Japanese model of peaceful nuclear development, but that is not as reassuring as it sounds. In 2002, Ichiro Ozawa, now general-secretary of Japan’s new ruling party, said: “We have plenty of plutonium in our nuclear power plants, [enough to] produce 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads.” Given Japan’s decidedly peaceful foreign policy, those stockpiles do not occasion great fears. No one expects Japan to kick out International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and abrogate safeguards as North Korea did. The same cannot be said of Iran, which is steadily accumulating its own break-out capability by producing low-enriched uranium. Thus, any agreement that allows Iran continued enrichment of uranium is likely to repeat the unsatisfactory experience with North Korea, in which violations are followed by new concessions to bring the violator back to the negotiating table.

Normally even the toughest sanctions would be unlikely to persuade Tehran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Iranian economy is far less vulnerable to sanctions than North Korea and Iran’s rulers have shown that they care little if their people suffer. However, circumstances in Iran are no longer normal. The push for reform in Iran that began with the protests against June’s election fraud offers an opportunity to bring the Iranian people into the debate about the true costs of their rulers’ nuclear ambitions.

To do so, the world must talk less about Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy and more about how the regime is wasting the people’s resources. It means doing what we can to support the forces of reform in Iran, both symbolically and practically. Unfortunately, it also means bringing home to the Iranian people that they will pay an increasingly high price for their rulers’ nuclear ambitions. That means the toughest possible sanctions, and soon. Time is running out. The suggestion that Iran can avoid sanctions without abandoning uranium enrichment, simply by opening its illegal facilities to inspection, will be interpreted by Tehran as a sign of weakness. Even this approach may not be enough to persuade Israel not to act on its own, but at least it offers some prospect of success. And it is more than Israel’s security that is at risk. Iran’s Arab neighbours are also deeply worried that nuclear weapons would embolden Iran’s support for terrorism, subversion and even conventional military aggression. Americans need to consider that nuclear weapons might embolden Tehran to provide sanctuary to al-Qaeda or other terrorists. Or, more catastrophically, even to provide them covertly with nuclear weapons.

The pursuit of a nuclear-free world involves substantial risks. Those risks could only be justified if they eliminate the threat of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons and the threat of a nuclear war between regional powers. Iran is a crucial test of whether the path to a nuclear-free world is a realistic one or simply a dangerous pipe dream.

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Confront Tehran now in pursuit of a nuclear-free world

 

[fhassan]

Paul Wolfowitz

AIPAC member. Cockroach in other words.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Lets just hope Iran has enough weapons to give a thrashing reply.

Iran has the capability to respond in a drastic way . Their power of influence is spread across Africa and South America . Plus blocking the straight of Hurmuz (Global blood line) would bring US an economic nightmares . Apart from this the Iranians are covertly engaged in Booldbath against the US and Nato forces both in Iraq and Afghanistan . Their protection of Hezbollah and Hamas leadership is already a pain for Israel . The Iranians could brutally destroy the Gulf Oil Wells creating a global oil shortages . The laws of economics would fail .

More...... Such a scenario would benifit the Anti American Impereal Powers like Russia and China . Say if Iran is being Attacked the Russians might follow the path by attacking any weak country from Europe like Gorgia , Poland or Finland etc . Seeking the opertunity the Chinese on the other hand May go after South Korea , Japan , Or Taiwan ...

In short Attacking Iran would be equivalent to "TRIGRING A THIRD WORLD WAR " Does the leader ship in the West have such kind public support to carry out such a step . So attacking Iran is not the solution . Clever Diplomacy is needed . Moreever there is no force on earth which can stop Iran if there leadership is covertly determined to attain Nuclear Weapons.

 

[SinoIndusFriendship]

Iran has the capability to respond in a drastic way . Their power of influence is spread across Africa and South America . Plus blocking the straight of Hurmuz (Global blood line) would bring US an economic nightmares . Apart from this the Iranians are covertly engaged in Booldbath against the US and Nato forces both in Iraq and Afghanistan . Their protection of Hezbollah and Hamas leadership is already a pain for Israel . The Iranians could brutally destroy the Gulf Oil Wells creating a global oil shortages . The laws of economics would fail .

More...... Such a scenario would benifit the Anti American Impereal Powers like Russia and China . Say if Iran is being Attacked the Russians might follow the path by attacking any weak country from Europe like Gorgia , Poland or Finland etc . Seeking the opertunity the Chinese on the other hand May go after South Korea , Japan , Or Taiwan ...

In short Attacking Iran would be equivalent to "TRIGRING A THIRD WORLD WAR " Does the leader ship in the West have such kind public support to carry out such a step . So attacking Iran is not the solution . Clever Diplomacy is needed . Moreever there is no force on earth which can stop Iran if there leadership is covertly determined to attain Nuclear Weapons.

If you light Saudi Arabia's massive oilfields on fire, it will light the night skies for decades! Hope no one is foolish here.

PS: Chinese are very close to Koreans and Japanese, so no chance of what you say happening.

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

If you light Saudi Arabia's massive oilfields on fire, it will light the night skies for decades! Hope no one is foolish here.

PS: Chinese are very close to Koreans and Japanese, so no chance of what you say happening.

Saudia Arabia has already offered Israel its Airspace to launch Airstrike against Iran which also makes them the probable target for iran . The Iraqis also launched their skuds against Saudia Arabia Kuwait and Israel.
The Chinese maybe a bit closer to the Koreans but certinly not japan and taiwan.

 

[ejaz007]

Iran to provide IAEA with nuclear visit timetable
Released on - Tuesday,29 September , 2009 -11:39 11

Iran will soon give the UN nuclear watchdog a timetable for inspecting its second uranium enrichment plant, its atomic chief said in an interview posted on the website of state-owned Press TV on Tuesday.

"Iran will inform very soon IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) about a timetable for its visits to the second enrichment plant," Ali Akbar Salehi told the English-language channel.

The IAEA said on Friday that Iran had disclosed to it on September 21 that it was building a second uranium enrichment plant near the central holy city of Qom.

The disclosure sparked a chorus of international criticism just days ahead of high-profile talks in Geneva on Thursday between Iran and six world powers on its controversial nuclear programme.

Salehi said the world reaction to the new plant was "baseless", but added Iran would try to resolve the issue both politically and technically at the Geneva meeting.

He also reiterated that Tehran has no intention of making atomic weapons as suspected by the West.

It is "against our ethics and religion," he said.

"It is against our tenets, it is against our religion to produce, use, hold or have nuclear weapons or arsenal. How can we more clearly state our position? Since 1974, we have been saying this," he said.

Iran to provide IAEA with nuclear visit timetable