Mike Whitney : The Inevitable War with Iran :
If Washington wants a war with Iran, then there'll be a war with Iran. That's the great lesson of the Iraq war; once the decision is made, there's no turning back.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10366.htm
Full Version: Iran - Volume 2
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Foreign Policy and National Defense > Foreign Policy & National Defense Issues Archive
In case you missed it:
Bush Nominee as U.N. Ambassador Doesn’t Do Carrots—But Does Do Israel:
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—as demonstrated at its recent annual conference in Washington—continues to pressure the Bush administration to take action against what it calls the Iranian nuclear threat.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/August_2005/0508027.html
Bush Nominee as U.N. Ambassador Doesn’t Do Carrots—But Does Do Israel:
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—as demonstrated at its recent annual conference in Washington—continues to pressure the Bush administration to take action against what it calls the Iranian nuclear threat.
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/August_2005/0508027.html
Iran displays military might :
Iran yesterday showed off its military might and warned potential aggressors that the Islamic state would repel any attack vigorously.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1979582005
Iran yesterday showed off its military might and warned potential aggressors that the Islamic state would repel any attack vigorously.
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1979582005
Iran says sanctions could push oil to 100 usd/barrel :
The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme could push the price of oil to 100 usd a barrel.
http://tinyurl.com/7fcmu
The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme could push the price of oil to 100 usd a barrel.
http://tinyurl.com/7fcmu
Russia Reaffirms It's Against Referring Iran To UN : -
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Friday reiterated Moscow's opposition to referring the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, saying there was no hard evidence that Iran was in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
http://tinyurl.com/bemlz
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Friday reiterated Moscow's opposition to referring the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council, saying there was no hard evidence that Iran was in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
http://tinyurl.com/bemlz
Nuclear Agency Expected to Back Weaker Rebuke to Iran
By MARK LANDLER
Published: September 24, 2005
VIENNA, Sept. 23 - Raising the stakes in the West's confrontation with Iran, Britain formally proposed Friday that the Iranian government be reported to the United Nations Security Council for its failure to comply with treaties governing its nuclear program.
But in a sign of the deepening rift over Iran on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Britain submitted the weaker of two draft resolutions, which leaves open the timing of such a report to the Council.
After a rancorous debate over when to vote on the measure, the 35-member board agreed to reconvene on Saturday. Diplomats here said they expected it to be passed by a solid majority, though Russia, China, and several other countries have signaled they were likely to oppose it.
The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, and endorsed by the United States, said there was an "absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."
Under the circumstances, the resolution said, the issue should be taken up by the Security Council.
Europe's decision to propose the softer resolution came after a week of intense and ultimately fruitless diplomacy at the agency's Vienna headquarters. The Europeans had sought to win unanimous support for a resolution that would have reported Iran to the Council immediately.
Russia, China, and other nations steadfastly opposed that, saying it would aggravate an already tense situation. They also objected to the less severe resolution, a draft of which was circulated in the middle of the week.
Russia's likely opposition, as well as China's, sets up a confrontation on the Security Council, where both hold permanent seats.
The European nations' aggressive move reflects their frustration with Iran, which announced last month it would abandon an earlier pledge to suspend its conversion and enrichment of uranium. Iran had agreed to halt such activity while it tried to negotiate a settlement with Britain, France and Germany.
The goal of reporting Iran to the Security Council is not to impose sanctions, said diplomats involved in the negotiations.
"Our goal is not to punish Iran, but to put further pressure on Iran," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the talks. "We have no intention of sanctioning Iran; we recognize that sanctioning Iran would hurt Russia and China."
Russia, a longtime ally, is constructing a reactor for the Iranians in Bushehr, in southern Iran. China, which depends on Iran for oil, worries that sanctions could destabilize the international energy market.
Iranian officials did not speak during Friday's board meeting, but diplomats here said they showed two unsigned letters to some board members. In one, the Iranian government said that if the resolution were passed, Iran would resume uranium enrichment at a plant in Natanz.
In the second, Iran said it would withdraw from a set of agreements with the atomic energy agency that provide for more intrusive inspections.
If Iran moved to restart enrichment at Natanz, it would ratchet up the tension between the Iranian government, which claims its nuclear program is purely peaceful, and the West, particularly the United States, which suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
The discovery by inspectors in 2003 that Iran had been clandestinely enriching uranium - a process necessary for producing weapons-grade fuel - ignited this latest confrontation.
The agency's board has passed seven resolutions on Iran since June 2003, all unanimously, which chided Iran for its concealment and urged it to grant inspectors unfettered access.
By early this month, when the agency's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, issued his latest report, patience was running thin.
Departing from the agency's usual tone of studied neutrality, the report said, "In view of the fact that the agency is not in a position to clarify some important outstanding issues after two and a half years of intensive inspection and investigation, Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue."
Still, officials at the agency viewed this resolution with chagrin. The debate over the vote on the measure was as vitriolic as some here could recall, and they said it could harm efforts to seek consensus on Iran.
Mr. ElBaradei is said to be reluctant to report Iran to the Security Council now, according to officials familiar with his position, who said the director general believes the Europeans and the Americans do not have a strategy for managing the issue before the council.
An outside expert said Mr. ElBaradei's resistance might reflect an institutional reluctance to cede even some control over the issue.
"If they pull the trigger and refer it to the U.N., it could be seen as an admission of failure," said Gary Milhollin, the director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research group in Washington.
But he added: "They're supposed to sound the warning bell. What the international community does about it is someone else's problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/internat...artner=homepage
By MARK LANDLER
Published: September 24, 2005
VIENNA, Sept. 23 - Raising the stakes in the West's confrontation with Iran, Britain formally proposed Friday that the Iranian government be reported to the United Nations Security Council for its failure to comply with treaties governing its nuclear program.
But in a sign of the deepening rift over Iran on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Britain submitted the weaker of two draft resolutions, which leaves open the timing of such a report to the Council.
After a rancorous debate over when to vote on the measure, the 35-member board agreed to reconvene on Saturday. Diplomats here said they expected it to be passed by a solid majority, though Russia, China, and several other countries have signaled they were likely to oppose it.
The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany, and endorsed by the United States, said there was an "absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes."
Under the circumstances, the resolution said, the issue should be taken up by the Security Council.
Europe's decision to propose the softer resolution came after a week of intense and ultimately fruitless diplomacy at the agency's Vienna headquarters. The Europeans had sought to win unanimous support for a resolution that would have reported Iran to the Council immediately.
Russia, China, and other nations steadfastly opposed that, saying it would aggravate an already tense situation. They also objected to the less severe resolution, a draft of which was circulated in the middle of the week.
Russia's likely opposition, as well as China's, sets up a confrontation on the Security Council, where both hold permanent seats.
The European nations' aggressive move reflects their frustration with Iran, which announced last month it would abandon an earlier pledge to suspend its conversion and enrichment of uranium. Iran had agreed to halt such activity while it tried to negotiate a settlement with Britain, France and Germany.
The goal of reporting Iran to the Security Council is not to impose sanctions, said diplomats involved in the negotiations.
"Our goal is not to punish Iran, but to put further pressure on Iran," said a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the talks. "We have no intention of sanctioning Iran; we recognize that sanctioning Iran would hurt Russia and China."
Russia, a longtime ally, is constructing a reactor for the Iranians in Bushehr, in southern Iran. China, which depends on Iran for oil, worries that sanctions could destabilize the international energy market.
Iranian officials did not speak during Friday's board meeting, but diplomats here said they showed two unsigned letters to some board members. In one, the Iranian government said that if the resolution were passed, Iran would resume uranium enrichment at a plant in Natanz.
In the second, Iran said it would withdraw from a set of agreements with the atomic energy agency that provide for more intrusive inspections.
If Iran moved to restart enrichment at Natanz, it would ratchet up the tension between the Iranian government, which claims its nuclear program is purely peaceful, and the West, particularly the United States, which suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
The discovery by inspectors in 2003 that Iran had been clandestinely enriching uranium - a process necessary for producing weapons-grade fuel - ignited this latest confrontation.
The agency's board has passed seven resolutions on Iran since June 2003, all unanimously, which chided Iran for its concealment and urged it to grant inspectors unfettered access.
By early this month, when the agency's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, issued his latest report, patience was running thin.
Departing from the agency's usual tone of studied neutrality, the report said, "In view of the fact that the agency is not in a position to clarify some important outstanding issues after two and a half years of intensive inspection and investigation, Iran's full transparency is indispensable and overdue."
Still, officials at the agency viewed this resolution with chagrin. The debate over the vote on the measure was as vitriolic as some here could recall, and they said it could harm efforts to seek consensus on Iran.
Mr. ElBaradei is said to be reluctant to report Iran to the Security Council now, according to officials familiar with his position, who said the director general believes the Europeans and the Americans do not have a strategy for managing the issue before the council.
An outside expert said Mr. ElBaradei's resistance might reflect an institutional reluctance to cede even some control over the issue.
"If they pull the trigger and refer it to the U.N., it could be seen as an admission of failure," said Gary Milhollin, the director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research group in Washington.
But he added: "They're supposed to sound the warning bell. What the international community does about it is someone else's problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/24/internat...artner=homepage
Another Resolution On Iran Proposed
By John Ward Anderson
VIENNA, Sept. 23 -- Three European Union countries submitted a draft resolution to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency Friday declaring that Iran had violated treaty obligations by secretly developing a nuclear program that could be used to build weapons. A vote on the matter by the agency's board was scheduled for Saturday, sparking complaints from countries that wanted to delay a showdown.
The resolution from Britain, France and Germany is slightly softer than an earlier version that would have immediately reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
Iran, which has said it is developing nuclear technologies for electric power, not bombs, responded Friday by threatening to enrich uranium if its case goes to the Security Council.
Last month, Iran began a process known as converting uranium. Enriching uranium would be a further step toward production of nuclear fuel. Enriched uranium, depending on its quality, can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear bombs.
The European resolution, if approved, would declare Iran to be in "noncompliance" with its nuclear obligations, a finding that would make it obligatory for the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to report the case to the Security Council. But the resolution leaves open the question of when a referral would be made.
A key argument that U.S. and European diplomats are using to sway Iran's backers to their side is that it would be possible to delay sending the matter to the Security Council for years if Iran changes its behavior.
While the resolution appears to have majority support on the 35-member board, it is opposed by several key members, including Russia, China and many of the board's 14 members from the Non-Aligned Movement, an international group that dates to the Cold War.
Diplomats said some of the countries opposing the resolution were threatening to stay away from Saturday's board meeting, which might deny the board the more than two-thirds quorum, or 24 members, necessary to hold a meeting. If that happened, a vote could be rescheduled, perhaps for next week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/e...er=emailarticle
By John Ward Anderson
VIENNA, Sept. 23 -- Three European Union countries submitted a draft resolution to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency Friday declaring that Iran had violated treaty obligations by secretly developing a nuclear program that could be used to build weapons. A vote on the matter by the agency's board was scheduled for Saturday, sparking complaints from countries that wanted to delay a showdown.
The resolution from Britain, France and Germany is slightly softer than an earlier version that would have immediately reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
Iran, which has said it is developing nuclear technologies for electric power, not bombs, responded Friday by threatening to enrich uranium if its case goes to the Security Council.
Last month, Iran began a process known as converting uranium. Enriching uranium would be a further step toward production of nuclear fuel. Enriched uranium, depending on its quality, can be used to produce nuclear energy or nuclear bombs.
The European resolution, if approved, would declare Iran to be in "noncompliance" with its nuclear obligations, a finding that would make it obligatory for the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency to report the case to the Security Council. But the resolution leaves open the question of when a referral would be made.
A key argument that U.S. and European diplomats are using to sway Iran's backers to their side is that it would be possible to delay sending the matter to the Security Council for years if Iran changes its behavior.
While the resolution appears to have majority support on the 35-member board, it is opposed by several key members, including Russia, China and many of the board's 14 members from the Non-Aligned Movement, an international group that dates to the Cold War.
Diplomats said some of the countries opposing the resolution were threatening to stay away from Saturday's board meeting, which might deny the board the more than two-thirds quorum, or 24 members, necessary to hold a meeting. If that happened, a vote could be rescheduled, perhaps for next week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/e...er=emailarticle
Two years on, Iran is the only clear winner of war on Iraq:
Iraq’s old enemy has not been slow to capitalise on continuing confusion across the border
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10375.htm
IAEA Board Approves Resolution on Iran:
The 35-nation board of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency approved a resolution Saturday that could lead to Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council for violating a nuclear arms control treaty something the United States has been urging for years.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1155474
Iraq’s old enemy has not been slow to capitalise on continuing confusion across the border
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10375.htm
IAEA Board Approves Resolution on Iran:
The 35-nation board of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency approved a resolution Saturday that could lead to Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council for violating a nuclear arms control treaty something the United States has been urging for years.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1155474
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/arti...hp?storyid=3794
Iran hits back at Saudi Arabia over Iraq remarks Sat. 24 Sep 2005
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Sep. 24 – Iran reacted harshly to comments by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister who had criticised the United States of employing an incorrect strategy in Iraq which led to Iranian domination over the neighbouring country.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said during a visit to New York earlier this week that U.S. policy had deepened sectarianism in Iraq to the extend it was effectively handing over the country to Iran.
Iran’s semi-official daily, Jomhouri Islami, blasted al-Faisal’s comments on Saturday as a form of “meddling” in the internal affairs of Iraq.
“The remarks last week by Saud al-Faisal saying that America’s incorrect policies in Iraq could in the future hand over this country to Iran have had a lot of coverage in Western and Arab media”, the hard-line daily wrote.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Saturday that the statement by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal implicating Iran in unrest in Iraq was surprising and illogical.
"We believe when suspicious hands are at work to sow factional and ethnic discord among Muslims in Iraq and the entire region, we should not act in such a way as to enable the enemies of Islam to take advantage of these differences," Asefi told Iran’s official news agency, IRNA.
The hard-line Jomhouri Islami said the Saudi official’s remarks were “influenced by Western propaganda” and by U.S. policy in the region.
“While these comments are insulting to Iraqi officials, they also show a desire to meddle in the internal affairs of Iraq”, the daily said.
Al-Faisal warned that civil war could break out in Iraq if tensions increased between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, adding that such a conflict would lead to Iranian interference as it had interests in Iraq’s Shiite-dominated south.
"We have launched together a war to alienate Iran from Iraq after the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait, and now we are handing over the whole country to Iran, unjustifiably", the Saudi Foreign Minister said.
The Saudi prince went on to say that Iranian agents had established their own militias and had bribed much of the police force in regions in Iraq under U.S. and British control.
Iran hits back at Saudi Arabia over Iraq remarks Sat. 24 Sep 2005
Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Sep. 24 – Iran reacted harshly to comments by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister who had criticised the United States of employing an incorrect strategy in Iraq which led to Iranian domination over the neighbouring country.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said during a visit to New York earlier this week that U.S. policy had deepened sectarianism in Iraq to the extend it was effectively handing over the country to Iran.
Iran’s semi-official daily, Jomhouri Islami, blasted al-Faisal’s comments on Saturday as a form of “meddling” in the internal affairs of Iraq.
“The remarks last week by Saud al-Faisal saying that America’s incorrect policies in Iraq could in the future hand over this country to Iran have had a lot of coverage in Western and Arab media”, the hard-line daily wrote.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Saturday that the statement by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal implicating Iran in unrest in Iraq was surprising and illogical.
"We believe when suspicious hands are at work to sow factional and ethnic discord among Muslims in Iraq and the entire region, we should not act in such a way as to enable the enemies of Islam to take advantage of these differences," Asefi told Iran’s official news agency, IRNA.
The hard-line Jomhouri Islami said the Saudi official’s remarks were “influenced by Western propaganda” and by U.S. policy in the region.
“While these comments are insulting to Iraqi officials, they also show a desire to meddle in the internal affairs of Iraq”, the daily said.
Al-Faisal warned that civil war could break out in Iraq if tensions increased between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, adding that such a conflict would lead to Iranian interference as it had interests in Iraq’s Shiite-dominated south.
"We have launched together a war to alienate Iran from Iraq after the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait, and now we are handing over the whole country to Iran, unjustifiably", the Saudi Foreign Minister said.
The Saudi prince went on to say that Iranian agents had established their own militias and had bribed much of the police force in regions in Iraq under U.S. and British control.
US thanks India for its support in IAEA vote on Iran Expressindia.com
Washington, September 25: The United States on Saturday hailed a resolution passed by the UN's nuclear watchdog that required Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear plans and thanked India for backing Washington's bid to isolate Tehran. "This is a significant step forward in the international effort to isolate Iran and a setback for Iran's nuclear strategy," said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns in a conference call with reporters.
Iran rejects IAEA resolution China Daily
Iran furious over nuclear resolution, but says talks possible Forbes
The Sunday Times - Guardian Unlimited - CBS News - Asian Tribune - all 1,235 related »
Washington, September 25: The United States on Saturday hailed a resolution passed by the UN's nuclear watchdog that required Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear plans and thanked India for backing Washington's bid to isolate Tehran. "This is a significant step forward in the international effort to isolate Iran and a setback for Iran's nuclear strategy," said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns in a conference call with reporters.
Iran rejects IAEA resolution China Daily
Iran furious over nuclear resolution, but says talks possible Forbes
The Sunday Times - Guardian Unlimited - CBS News - Asian Tribune - all 1,235 related »
Mike Whitney : The impending Cakewalk in Iran :
The UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, officially signed Iran's death-warrant yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10402.htm
U.S. Financing Radar Station Near Iranian Border:
The Iranian media has reported a decision by the United States to finance radar stations in the central Asian republic of Azerbaijan, that the government in Tehran says are part of a military strategy by Washington to encircle the Islamic Republic.
http://tinyurl.com/cysev
The UN's nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, officially signed Iran's death-warrant yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10402.htm
U.S. Financing Radar Station Near Iranian Border:
The Iranian media has reported a decision by the United States to finance radar stations in the central Asian republic of Azerbaijan, that the government in Tehran says are part of a military strategy by Washington to encircle the Islamic Republic.
http://tinyurl.com/cysev
- US Warns Iran Over 'Unacceptable' Actions
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzs.html
Washington (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 - The United States warned Iran Monday that it must abide by international accords on nuclear programs or face possible UN sanctions if it persists in a "pattern of deception and concealment."
- Iran says UN referral would raise Middle East tensions
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926203446.dxs0ssx7.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzs.html
Washington (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 - The United States warned Iran Monday that it must abide by international accords on nuclear programs or face possible UN sanctions if it persists in a "pattern of deception and concealment."
- Iran says UN referral would raise Middle East tensions
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926203446.dxs0ssx7.html
Nuclear Agency Votes to Report Iran to U.N.
(Mark Landler, The New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/internat...t/25vienna.html
Sunday, September 25
Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The decision, by a vote of 22 to 1, with 12 countries abstaining, was expected. But it reflected continuing, often bitter, divisions within the agency's governing board about how firmly to handle Iran.
Only a flurry of last-minute diplomacy at the agency's headquarters here persuaded Russia and China to abstain rather than oppose the measure. Venezuela cast the sole no vote.
(Mark Landler, The New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/internat...t/25vienna.html
Sunday, September 25
Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The decision, by a vote of 22 to 1, with 12 countries abstaining, was expected. But it reflected continuing, often bitter, divisions within the agency's governing board about how firmly to handle Iran.
Only a flurry of last-minute diplomacy at the agency's headquarters here persuaded Russia and China to abstain rather than oppose the measure. Venezuela cast the sole no vote.
Iran Threatens Economic Backlash Over IAEA Vote
(Financial Times)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bc036e0-2f39-11d...000e2511c8.html
Tuesday, September 27
Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week's board meeting of the UN atomic watchdog.
Hamid Reza Asefi, foreign ministry spokesman, said Tehran was particularly surprised by the vote against it from India, which has recently agreed to to import 5m metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually from Iran via a gas pipeline project linking the two countries.
Mr Asefi said India's vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency "came as a great surprise to us", adding: "We will reconsider our economic co-operation with those countries that voted against us."
(Financial Times)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bc036e0-2f39-11d...000e2511c8.html
Tuesday, September 27
Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week's board meeting of the UN atomic watchdog.
Hamid Reza Asefi, foreign ministry spokesman, said Tehran was particularly surprised by the vote against it from India, which has recently agreed to to import 5m metric tons of liquefied natural gas annually from Iran via a gas pipeline project linking the two countries.
Mr Asefi said India's vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency "came as a great surprise to us", adding: "We will reconsider our economic co-operation with those countries that voted against us."
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Sep 27 2005, 05:27 PM)
Nuclear Agency Votes to Report Iran to U.N.
(Mark Landler, The New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/internat...t/25vienna.html
Sunday, September 25
Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The decision, by a vote of 22 to 1, with 12 countries abstaining, was expected. But it reflected continuing, often bitter, divisions within the agency's governing board about how firmly to handle Iran.
Only a flurry of last-minute diplomacy at the agency's headquarters here persuaded Russia and China to abstain rather than oppose the measure. Venezuela cast the sole no vote.
(Mark Landler, The New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/internat...t/25vienna.html
Sunday, September 25
Iran's showdown with the West over its nuclear ambitions entered a new, more volatile phase on Saturday, as the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the country to the United Nations Security Council for violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The decision, by a vote of 22 to 1, with 12 countries abstaining, was expected. But it reflected continuing, often bitter, divisions within the agency's governing board about how firmly to handle Iran.
Only a flurry of last-minute diplomacy at the agency's headquarters here persuaded Russia and China to abstain rather than oppose the measure. Venezuela cast the sole no vote.
Iran announced its plans to open a "Bourse" to trade Euros for oil in the Spring of 2006. This is an attack on dollar hegemony. It is therefore a weapon of mass destruction.
===
Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer:
Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week's board meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog.
http://tinyurl.com/8k82g
Iran Unable To Enrich Uranium For Minimum 1 Year-Russia Minister:
Alexander Rumyantsev, said any such decision was voluntary on the part of Iran, suggesting the U.N. Security Council had no authority to demand such a move.
http://tinyurl.com/7vbu7
Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer:
Iran said on Tuesday it would reconsider economic ties with countries that voted against it at last week's board meeting of the U.N. atomic watchdog.
http://tinyurl.com/8k82g
Iran Unable To Enrich Uranium For Minimum 1 Year-Russia Minister:
Alexander Rumyantsev, said any such decision was voluntary on the part of Iran, suggesting the U.N. Security Council had no authority to demand such a move.
http://tinyurl.com/7vbu7
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticl...&archived=False
Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer
Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:14 PM BST
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to use trade ties to punish countries that voted against it at the U.N. atomic watchdog, after Tehran failed to convince the world its nuclear ambitions were peaceful.
The news could prove to be a sharp blow to India and Japan, both looking to sate their voracious appetites for energy through deals with the world's second biggest holder of oil and natural gas.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week passed a resolution requiring that Iran be reported in the future to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
"We will reconsider our economic cooperation with those countries that voted against us," Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news conference.
"India's vote came as a great surprise to us," he added.
New Delhi and Tokyo were among the 22 out of 35 delegations that voted against Iran.
Washington accuses Iran of seeking nuclear warheads, but Tehran insists it needs atomic fuel for power stations.
Energy-hungry India in June signed a $22 billion (12.4 billion pounds) deal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran for 25 years from 2009, when Iran's exports of the supercooled fuel are due to hit world markets.
India has also been seeking to pipe gas overland from Iran in a bold $7 billion project that will cross some of the most rugged and lawless stretches of Pakistan.
Iran is already Japan's number-three oil supplier. But Japan is seeking to increase imports from the Islamic Republic through a $2 billion development of the giant Azadegan oilfield in Iran's southwestern oil heartlands.
THE OIL WEAPON
Angered by the IAEA resolution, Tehran has already threatened to resume uranium enrichment -- a process which can be used to make bomb-grade material -- and curtail short-notice U.N. inspections.
Analysts had predicted Iran could also roll out the oil weapon in a bid to prompt a change of heart among countries seeking to send Iran to the Security Council.
But such a move could backfire. Oil accounts for 80 percent of export earnings and interrupting that flow of hard cash would be politically risky.
India had no immediate reaction to Asefi's remarks but its Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said on Monday New Delhi's stance at the IAEA should not cause much trouble.
"I see no reason why there should be apprehension that there would be any kind of impact on our energy security," he said, adding India had supported Iran by helping to delay an immediate Security Council referral.
Diplomats reckon referral is most likely in November.
France, Germany and Britain, who have drawn most of Iran's ire for drafting the IAEA resolution, are less exposed to attacks on commercial contracts.
Iran Khodro, the Middle East's biggest carmaker has signed production agreements with France's Renault and Peugeot.
France's Total, Royal Dutch Shell and BG have been pursuing major LNG projects but made little headway.
Germany's Linde has a stake in a $1.2 billion petrochemicals deal and Siemens is active in the mobile telephones sector.
(Additional reporting Palash Kumar in New Delhi)
Iran warns atomic opponents trade ties may suffer
Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:14 PM BST
By Parisa Hafezi
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to use trade ties to punish countries that voted against it at the U.N. atomic watchdog, after Tehran failed to convince the world its nuclear ambitions were peaceful.
The news could prove to be a sharp blow to India and Japan, both looking to sate their voracious appetites for energy through deals with the world's second biggest holder of oil and natural gas.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week passed a resolution requiring that Iran be reported in the future to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
"We will reconsider our economic cooperation with those countries that voted against us," Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a weekly news conference.
"India's vote came as a great surprise to us," he added.
New Delhi and Tokyo were among the 22 out of 35 delegations that voted against Iran.
Washington accuses Iran of seeking nuclear warheads, but Tehran insists it needs atomic fuel for power stations.
Energy-hungry India in June signed a $22 billion (12.4 billion pounds) deal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran for 25 years from 2009, when Iran's exports of the supercooled fuel are due to hit world markets.
India has also been seeking to pipe gas overland from Iran in a bold $7 billion project that will cross some of the most rugged and lawless stretches of Pakistan.
Iran is already Japan's number-three oil supplier. But Japan is seeking to increase imports from the Islamic Republic through a $2 billion development of the giant Azadegan oilfield in Iran's southwestern oil heartlands.
THE OIL WEAPON
Angered by the IAEA resolution, Tehran has already threatened to resume uranium enrichment -- a process which can be used to make bomb-grade material -- and curtail short-notice U.N. inspections.
Analysts had predicted Iran could also roll out the oil weapon in a bid to prompt a change of heart among countries seeking to send Iran to the Security Council.
But such a move could backfire. Oil accounts for 80 percent of export earnings and interrupting that flow of hard cash would be politically risky.
India had no immediate reaction to Asefi's remarks but its Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said on Monday New Delhi's stance at the IAEA should not cause much trouble.
"I see no reason why there should be apprehension that there would be any kind of impact on our energy security," he said, adding India had supported Iran by helping to delay an immediate Security Council referral.
Diplomats reckon referral is most likely in November.
France, Germany and Britain, who have drawn most of Iran's ire for drafting the IAEA resolution, are less exposed to attacks on commercial contracts.
Iran Khodro, the Middle East's biggest carmaker has signed production agreements with France's Renault and Peugeot.
France's Total, Royal Dutch Shell and BG have been pursuing major LNG projects but made little headway.
Germany's Linde has a stake in a $1.2 billion petrochemicals deal and Siemens is active in the mobile telephones sector.
(Additional reporting Palash Kumar in New Delhi)
IRAN NUKES
- Analysis: Iran And The IAEA
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzt.html
United Nations (UPI) Sep 27, 2005 - For the moment, at least, Iran says it is not taking any immediate action after taking it on the chin this past weekend from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors.
- Iran Fires Off More Threats After Nuclear Sanction
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzu.html
- Analysis: Iran And The IAEA
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzt.html
United Nations (UPI) Sep 27, 2005 - For the moment, at least, Iran says it is not taking any immediate action after taking it on the chin this past weekend from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors.
- Iran Fires Off More Threats After Nuclear Sanction
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzu.html
Jewish Groups Press for Iran Sanctions:
Pro-Israel activists in Washington are pressing Congress to tighten American sanctions on Iran. And last week, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Jewish communal leaders in New York urged world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to act against Tehran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10438.htm
Iran's Challenge to Nuclear Apartheid:
"The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly..."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10437.htm
Straw: No military action against Iran:
US President George Bush, whose government believes Iran intends to produce atomic weapons, has however refused the rule out military strikes.
http://tinyurl.com/e26ss
Pro-Israel activists in Washington are pressing Congress to tighten American sanctions on Iran. And last week, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, Jewish communal leaders in New York urged world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to act against Tehran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10438.htm
Iran's Challenge to Nuclear Apartheid:
"The West does not seek the elimination of nuclear weapons, but rather the establishment of nuclear monopoly..."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10437.htm
Straw: No military action against Iran:
US President George Bush, whose government believes Iran intends to produce atomic weapons, has however refused the rule out military strikes.
http://tinyurl.com/e26ss
Iran Takes First Step To Halt Snap Nuclear Checks
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzv.html
Tehran (AFP) Sep 28, 2005 - Iran's conservative-controlled parliament took a first step Wednesday towards halting snap international inspections of its atomic facilities as the country vowed to resist Western pressure over its nuclear activities.
Outside View: Policies Of Iran And Syria
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzw.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzv.html
Tehran (AFP) Sep 28, 2005 - Iran's conservative-controlled parliament took a first step Wednesday towards halting snap international inspections of its atomic facilities as the country vowed to resist Western pressure over its nuclear activities.
Outside View: Policies Of Iran And Syria
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzw.html
Iran's Uranium Gas Unusable for Fuel-Diplomats
(Francois Murphy and Louis Charbonneau, Reuters)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27139754.htm
Tuesday, September 27
A threat by Iran to resume uranium enrichment may have little substance behind it since Tehran has not yet mastered the technology to produce the high-quality gas required, Western diplomats say.
The processing at Iran's Isfahan plant converts raw uranium "yellowcake" into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), which can then be enriched into fuel for power stations or nuclear bombs. Diplomats said however that the quality of UF6 produced at Isfahan was so poor that it could not be used at Iran's massive enrichment site at Natanz.
(Francois Murphy and Louis Charbonneau, Reuters)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27139754.htm
Tuesday, September 27
A threat by Iran to resume uranium enrichment may have little substance behind it since Tehran has not yet mastered the technology to produce the high-quality gas required, Western diplomats say.
The processing at Iran's Isfahan plant converts raw uranium "yellowcake" into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), which can then be enriched into fuel for power stations or nuclear bombs. Diplomats said however that the quality of UF6 produced at Isfahan was so poor that it could not be used at Iran's massive enrichment site at Natanz.
Iran to Play Cards Carefully in Nuclear Dispute
(Alistair Lyon, Reuters)
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....R-IRAN-GAME.xml
Thursday, September 29
For all its hardline posturing, Iran is likely to play a cautious hand in its drawn-out nuclear game with the West to avoid isolation and to ride out the next attempt to haul it before the U.N. Security Council.
Tough talk from Tehran about hitting back for last week's IAEA resolution to recommend sending its case to the council for possible sanctions may remain just that in the short term.
(Alistair Lyon, Reuters)
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....R-IRAN-GAME.xml
Thursday, September 29
For all its hardline posturing, Iran is likely to play a cautious hand in its drawn-out nuclear game with the West to avoid isolation and to ride out the next attempt to haul it before the U.N. Security Council.
Tough talk from Tehran about hitting back for last week's IAEA resolution to recommend sending its case to the council for possible sanctions may remain just that in the short term.
Why Iran Isn't a Global Threat
(Ray Takeyh, Christian Science Monitor - Opinion)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0929/p09s02-coop.html
Thursday, September 29
Last week's vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency branding Iran in breach of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitments has given impetus to the United States to call for the deferral of Iran to the UN Security Council. Tehran is adamant that it wants nuclear power for generating electricity. Yet, Washington policymakers and their European counterparts subtly argue that Iran's previous treaty violations indicate a more sinister motive to subvert its neighbors and export its Islamic revolution.
(Ray Takeyh, Christian Science Monitor - Opinion)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0929/p09s02-coop.html
Thursday, September 29
Last week's vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency branding Iran in breach of its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) commitments has given impetus to the United States to call for the deferral of Iran to the UN Security Council. Tehran is adamant that it wants nuclear power for generating electricity. Yet, Washington policymakers and their European counterparts subtly argue that Iran's previous treaty violations indicate a more sinister motive to subvert its neighbors and export its Islamic revolution.
Iran denies oil threat interview to UAE newspaper ABC News
Iran's presidential office denied on Sunday the president had given an interview to a Gulf paper which quoted him as saying Tehran may hold back on oil sales if its nuclear program is referred to the UN Security Council.
Iran threatens oil curbs if sanctioned Aljazeera.net
The loser in Iran vote Khaleej Times
Asian Tribune - Aljazeera.com - Jerusalem Post - Ha'aretz (subscription) - all 214 related »
Iran's presidential office denied on Sunday the president had given an interview to a Gulf paper which quoted him as saying Tehran may hold back on oil sales if its nuclear program is referred to the UN Security Council.
Iran threatens oil curbs if sanctioned Aljazeera.net
The loser in Iran vote Khaleej Times
Asian Tribune - Aljazeera.com - Jerusalem Post - Ha'aretz (subscription) - all 214 related »
IRANIAN NUKES
- Iran Might Use Oil In Response To UN Sanctions: Report
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzy.html
Dubai (AFP) Oct 01, 2005 - Iran's president was quoted Saturday as saying Tehran could use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over suspicions Tehran is seeking weapons of mass destruction, but the report was denied by his spokesman.
- Analysis: Iran At Nuclear Crossroads?
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzx.html
- Irans Warns Israel Against Attacking Nuclear Sites
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzk.html
- Iran Might Use Oil In Response To UN Sanctions: Report
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzy.html
Dubai (AFP) Oct 01, 2005 - Iran's president was quoted Saturday as saying Tehran could use oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over suspicions Tehran is seeking weapons of mass destruction, but the report was denied by his spokesman.
- Analysis: Iran At Nuclear Crossroads?
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzx.html
- Irans Warns Israel Against Attacking Nuclear Sites
http://www.spacewar.com/news/nuclear-doctrine-05zzk.html
US suggests nuclear co-operation with Iran should stop Ireland Online
In an apparent reference to Russia, the US today urged governments to end nuclear projects with Iran in light of a recent finding that Tehran is not complying with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
US presses Russia to freeze Iran nuclear project ABC News
Russia urges Iran to observe IAEA agreement - foreign ministry RIA Novosti
Xinhua - Kuwait News Agency - All Headline News - Leading The Charge - all 58 related »
In an apparent reference to Russia, the US today urged governments to end nuclear projects with Iran in light of a recent finding that Tehran is not complying with the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
US presses Russia to freeze Iran nuclear project ABC News
Russia urges Iran to observe IAEA agreement - foreign ministry RIA Novosti
Xinhua - Kuwait News Agency - All Headline News - Leading The Charge - all 58 related »
Ramadan begins for world's Muslims Aljazeera.net
Religious authorities in the Arab world have announced the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
Muslims turn eyes to sky to start Ramadan Indianapolis Star
Saudis start Ramadan on Tuesday ABC News
Paly Voice - Lansing State Journal - Mathaba.Net - Manila Bulletin - all 31 related »
Religious authorities in the Arab world have announced the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
Muslims turn eyes to sky to start Ramadan Indianapolis Star
Saudis start Ramadan on Tuesday ABC News
Paly Voice - Lansing State Journal - Mathaba.Net - Manila Bulletin - all 31 related »
Iran Issues Threat To US Interests
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzza.html
Tehran (AFP) Oct 03, 2005 - Iran will use "all means" to damage US interests if Washington steps up the pressure on the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear programme, a top official was quoted as saying Monday.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzza.html
Tehran (AFP) Oct 03, 2005 - Iran will use "all means" to damage US interests if Washington steps up the pressure on the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear programme, a top official was quoted as saying Monday.
US Calls For Freeze On Nuclear Cooperation With Iran
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzz.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzz.html
Iran Wants Unconditional Nuclear Talks With EU
(Reuters)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1182219
Tuesday, October 4
Iran said on Tuesday it was willing to resume unconditional talks with the European Union over its nuclear program, which Washington says is a cover to make atomic bombs.
Talks between the European Union and Iran collapsed in August after Tehran restarted uranium conversion, suspended under a November 2004 deal with France, Britain and Germany.
(Reuters)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1182219
Tuesday, October 4
Iran said on Tuesday it was willing to resume unconditional talks with the European Union over its nuclear program, which Washington says is a cover to make atomic bombs.
Talks between the European Union and Iran collapsed in August after Tehran restarted uranium conversion, suspended under a November 2004 deal with France, Britain and Germany.
Iran Attempts to Backtrack from Oil Supply Threat
(Gareth Smith, Financial Times - UK)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4bb2e3dc-33aa-11d...000e2511c8.html
Monday, October 3
Iran's presidential office yesterday tried to backtrack from an interview with president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in the Khaleej Times newspaper, which on Saturday quoted him as saying that Iran would withhold oil supplies if its nuclear programme was referred to the UN Security Council.
The interview added to the uncertainty surrounding Iran's strategy in the face of the International Atomic Energy Agency voting for referral to the UN at its next meeting in November.
(Gareth Smith, Financial Times - UK)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/4bb2e3dc-33aa-11d...000e2511c8.html
Monday, October 3
Iran's presidential office yesterday tried to backtrack from an interview with president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in the Khaleej Times newspaper, which on Saturday quoted him as saying that Iran would withhold oil supplies if its nuclear programme was referred to the UN Security Council.
The interview added to the uncertainty surrounding Iran's strategy in the face of the International Atomic Energy Agency voting for referral to the UN at its next meeting in November.
U.S. Presses Russia to Halt Trade In Nuclear Technology With Iran
(Colum Lynch, Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5100301466.html
Tuesday, October 4
The Bush administration Monday tried to increase pressure on Russia to halt the supply of nuclear energy technology to Iran, citing a recent finding by a U.N. board that Tehran is in violation of its commitment to disclose its nuclear activities.
Stephen G. Rademaker, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said governments needed to rethink their nuclear trade policies in light of the Sept. 24 decision by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The 35-member board declared Tehran in "noncompliance" with its obligations to report advances in its nuclear programs.
(Colum Lynch, Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5100301466.html
Tuesday, October 4
The Bush administration Monday tried to increase pressure on Russia to halt the supply of nuclear energy technology to Iran, citing a recent finding by a U.N. board that Tehran is in violation of its commitment to disclose its nuclear activities.
Stephen G. Rademaker, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said governments needed to rethink their nuclear trade policies in light of the Sept. 24 decision by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The 35-member board declared Tehran in "noncompliance" with its obligations to report advances in its nuclear programs.
US Denies Urging Russia To Freeze Nuclear Cooperation With Iran
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzb.html
Washington (AFP) Oct 04, 2005 - The United States on Tuesday denied it wanted Russia to freeze all nuclear cooperation with Iran, backtracking on earlier statements from a US diplomat.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzb.html
Washington (AFP) Oct 04, 2005 - The United States on Tuesday denied it wanted Russia to freeze all nuclear cooperation with Iran, backtracking on earlier statements from a US diplomat.
- Iran Rejects Nuclear Talks With Preconditions
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzc.html
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzc.html
U.S. Presses Russia to Halt Trade In Nuclear Technology With Iran:
The Bush administration Monday tried to increase pressure on Russia to halt the supply of nuclear energy technology to Iran, citing a recent finding by a U.N. board that Tehran is in violation of its commitment to disclose its nuclear activities.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10512.htm
The Bush administration Monday tried to increase pressure on Russia to halt the supply of nuclear energy technology to Iran, citing a recent finding by a U.N. board that Tehran is in violation of its commitment to disclose its nuclear activities.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10512.htm
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2005_10/OCT-AgencyIran.asp
Agency Report Offers Mixed View on Iran
Paul Kerr
Pressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors to assess Iran’s cooperation with a three-year-old agency investigation, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei delivered a mixed assessment.
ElBaradei noted in a Sept. 2 report to the board that Tehran has cooperated by, for example, granting agency inspectors required access to Iranian nuclear-related facilities. But the report also pointed out that Iran has persistently lagged in providing the agency with information regarding the country’s nuclear activities.
ElBaradei had drafted the report at the board’s request after Iran in August ended its suspension of uranium-conversion activities at a facility near Isfahan. (See ACT, September 2005.) By doing so, Tehran violated a political agreement with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to suspend its uranium-enrichment program while the two sides engaged in negotiations.
ElBaradei said that the IAEA’s ability to “verify the correctness and completeness” of Iran’s statements regarding its nuclear program “will be restricted” if Tehran does not take certain measures, such as providing the agency with documents and access to certain suspect facilities, beyond those legally required by the agency.
Indeed, the report provided few indications that the agency is significantly closer to resolving key outstanding issues regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities, particularly its gas centrifuge-based uranium-enrichment program. Although the report did not contain any evidence of previously unknown Iranian nuclear activities or of Iranian use of nuclear material for military purposes, it nevertheless stated that the IAEA is “still not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.”
Uranium-conversion facilities convert lightly processed uranium ore known as yellowcake into several uranium compounds, including uranium hexafluoride. Centrifuges enrich uranium by spinning uranium hexafluoride gas at very high speeds in order to increase the concentration of the uranium-235 isotope. This process can produce either low-enriched uranium (LEU) for civilian nuclear reactor fuel or highly enriched uranium (HEU), which can be used as fissile material in nuclear weapons.
According to the report, Iran has not yet produced any uranium tetrafluoride—the precursor compound for uranium hexafluoride—from the batch of yellowcake that it began to feed into the facility Aug. 8. However, Iran did produce 6,800 kilograms of uranium hexafluoride from 8,500 kilograms of uranium tetrafluoride that it had previously produced and placed under IAEA seal. A diplomatic source in Vienna close to the IAEA, however, told Arms Control Today that Iran continues to have trouble producing uranium hexafluoride suitable for enrichment.
The nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) permits states-parties to operate uranium-conversion facilities as long as they are monitored by the agency to ensure that they are not diverted to military use. The agency continues to monitor the Isfahan facility under such safeguards.
A Key Confirmation
The report noted that the IAEA has largely been able to resolve one outstanding issue concerning Tehran’s centrifuge program. The agency has determined that “most” HEU particles found in Iran by agency inspectors came from centrifuge components imported secretly from Pakistan via a proliferation network run by former Pakistani nuclear official Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The result did not come as a surprise. About a year ago, ElBaradei reported that the agency had come to similar preliminary conclusions. Moreover, the report cautioned that “it is not possible at this time…to establish a definite conclusion” regarding the origin of other HEU and LEU particles found in Iran. The report did not elaborate but said that more information about Iran’s centrifuge programs “could greatly contribute to the resolution” of these questions. The origin of the enriched uranium particles has long been a matter of interest because their presence suggests that Iran had either imported or produced undeclared enriched uranium. Iran has only admitted to enriching uranium to very low levels. However, the Vienna diplomat and a Department of State source said that, for all practical purposes, only the LEU issue remains unresolved. The U.S. official said that undeclared Iranian-produced LEU would likely only reveal previously concealed experiments on Tehran’s P-1 centrifuges, rather than more-advanced P-2 models.
The IAEA’s investigation of Iran’s efforts to obtain P-1 technology seems to be making less progress. Despite the agency’s requests, Iran has provided little additional information about its dealings with foreign intermediaries who provided Iran with centrifuge designs and related components in 1987 and again “around 1994.” Iran also has failed to provide the agency with adequate documentation of shipments of enrichment-related equipment that the country received during the mid-1990s.
Iran has explained its lack of relevant documentation by asserting that the country kept few records of such transactions at the time they were conducted. The report, however, seemed to contest this claim, stating that the IAEA’s investigation into the Khan network “indicates that Iran should have additional supporting documentation that could be useful.”
Both U.S. and IAEA officials have said that Iran’s failure to account fully for its centrifuge procurement activities may indicate that the government has pursued undisclosed centrifuge programs. U.S. officials have repeatedly suggested that the Iranian military is involved in the enrichment program.
Tehran also has not provided any further information about its more-advanced P-2 centrifuge program, the report said. The agency has long been concerned that Iran has conducted undisclosed work on such a centrifuge.
Interestingly, the IAEA also has asked Tehran for the first time “to provide additional details” about the government’s decision to begin its enrichment program in 1985, as well as the program’s progress through 1987. The report did not elaborate, but former IAEA Deputy Director General Pierre Goldschmidt seemed to indicate in a Sept.14 New York Times op-ed that the timing of Iran’s decision to begin the program suggests that Tehran planned to produce nuclear weapons.
“Iran has not provided the requested evidence on why its leadership decided in 1985, in the middle of the war against Iraq, to pursue a uranium-enrichment program when there was no short- or medium-term need to fuel any electrical nuclear power plant,” Goldschmidt wrote.
Other Issues
ElBaradei’s report also provided additional details about Iran’s operation of its Gchine uranium mine. The IAEA is continuing to investigate the “complex arrangements governing the past and current administration” of the mine and an associated plant to process uranium ore. Echoing a June oral report from Goldschmidt, the report stated that the agency is investigating why Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization conducted no work at the Gchine mine between 1993 and 2000 but worked instead at a less promising mine. Iranian officials have told the IAEA that the organization was conducting laboratory experiments on ore from the Gchine mine during that time.
Additionally, the report raised questions about an inexperienced Iranian company’s success in constructing a uranium-ore processing plant at the Gchine mine less than two years after Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization resumed operations there, apparently suggesting that another organization might have previously conducted still-undisclosed work on the project.
U.S. and European officials have told Arms Control Today that the lack of clarity surrounding the mine’s operation suggests that Iran’s military or an affiliated organization might have been working at the mine in an effort to obtain an independent uranium source.
On the other hand, ElBaradei’s report appears to have resolved questions over whether Iran has obtained beryllium, saying its efforts to do so had failed. U.S. officials have expressed concern that, if Tehran acquired beryllium, it could combine it with polonium, a radioisotope with limited civilian applications that Iran has attempted to produce to trigger a nuclear chain reaction in certain types of nuclear weapons. U.S. officials had indicated that the IAEA might have information that Iran had already obtained the material.
U.S. Ambassador Jackie Sanders said before the IAEA board last November that, although Iranian officials have claimed in the past that Iran never procured or worked with beryllium, “[w]e wonder whether the IAEA has found evidence suggesting otherwise.”
Additionally, the IAEA is still asking Iran to allow further inspections at two sites where Iran is suspected of having either worked with nuclear material or performing nuclear weapons-related work. Although agency inspectors have previously visited those sites, Iran has not allowed them to do so recently. Absent evidence that Tehran is conducting nuclear activities at these sites, the IAEA has limited authority to visit them because the sites are not subject to agency safeguards.
Agency Report Offers Mixed View on Iran
Paul Kerr
Pressed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors to assess Iran’s cooperation with a three-year-old agency investigation, Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei delivered a mixed assessment.
ElBaradei noted in a Sept. 2 report to the board that Tehran has cooperated by, for example, granting agency inspectors required access to Iranian nuclear-related facilities. But the report also pointed out that Iran has persistently lagged in providing the agency with information regarding the country’s nuclear activities.
ElBaradei had drafted the report at the board’s request after Iran in August ended its suspension of uranium-conversion activities at a facility near Isfahan. (See ACT, September 2005.) By doing so, Tehran violated a political agreement with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to suspend its uranium-enrichment program while the two sides engaged in negotiations.
ElBaradei said that the IAEA’s ability to “verify the correctness and completeness” of Iran’s statements regarding its nuclear program “will be restricted” if Tehran does not take certain measures, such as providing the agency with documents and access to certain suspect facilities, beyond those legally required by the agency.
Indeed, the report provided few indications that the agency is significantly closer to resolving key outstanding issues regarding Tehran’s nuclear activities, particularly its gas centrifuge-based uranium-enrichment program. Although the report did not contain any evidence of previously unknown Iranian nuclear activities or of Iranian use of nuclear material for military purposes, it nevertheless stated that the IAEA is “still not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.”
Uranium-conversion facilities convert lightly processed uranium ore known as yellowcake into several uranium compounds, including uranium hexafluoride. Centrifuges enrich uranium by spinning uranium hexafluoride gas at very high speeds in order to increase the concentration of the uranium-235 isotope. This process can produce either low-enriched uranium (LEU) for civilian nuclear reactor fuel or highly enriched uranium (HEU), which can be used as fissile material in nuclear weapons.
According to the report, Iran has not yet produced any uranium tetrafluoride—the precursor compound for uranium hexafluoride—from the batch of yellowcake that it began to feed into the facility Aug. 8. However, Iran did produce 6,800 kilograms of uranium hexafluoride from 8,500 kilograms of uranium tetrafluoride that it had previously produced and placed under IAEA seal. A diplomatic source in Vienna close to the IAEA, however, told Arms Control Today that Iran continues to have trouble producing uranium hexafluoride suitable for enrichment.
The nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) permits states-parties to operate uranium-conversion facilities as long as they are monitored by the agency to ensure that they are not diverted to military use. The agency continues to monitor the Isfahan facility under such safeguards.
A Key Confirmation
The report noted that the IAEA has largely been able to resolve one outstanding issue concerning Tehran’s centrifuge program. The agency has determined that “most” HEU particles found in Iran by agency inspectors came from centrifuge components imported secretly from Pakistan via a proliferation network run by former Pakistani nuclear official Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The result did not come as a surprise. About a year ago, ElBaradei reported that the agency had come to similar preliminary conclusions. Moreover, the report cautioned that “it is not possible at this time…to establish a definite conclusion” regarding the origin of other HEU and LEU particles found in Iran. The report did not elaborate but said that more information about Iran’s centrifuge programs “could greatly contribute to the resolution” of these questions. The origin of the enriched uranium particles has long been a matter of interest because their presence suggests that Iran had either imported or produced undeclared enriched uranium. Iran has only admitted to enriching uranium to very low levels. However, the Vienna diplomat and a Department of State source said that, for all practical purposes, only the LEU issue remains unresolved. The U.S. official said that undeclared Iranian-produced LEU would likely only reveal previously concealed experiments on Tehran’s P-1 centrifuges, rather than more-advanced P-2 models.
The IAEA’s investigation of Iran’s efforts to obtain P-1 technology seems to be making less progress. Despite the agency’s requests, Iran has provided little additional information about its dealings with foreign intermediaries who provided Iran with centrifuge designs and related components in 1987 and again “around 1994.” Iran also has failed to provide the agency with adequate documentation of shipments of enrichment-related equipment that the country received during the mid-1990s.
Iran has explained its lack of relevant documentation by asserting that the country kept few records of such transactions at the time they were conducted. The report, however, seemed to contest this claim, stating that the IAEA’s investigation into the Khan network “indicates that Iran should have additional supporting documentation that could be useful.”
Both U.S. and IAEA officials have said that Iran’s failure to account fully for its centrifuge procurement activities may indicate that the government has pursued undisclosed centrifuge programs. U.S. officials have repeatedly suggested that the Iranian military is involved in the enrichment program.
Tehran also has not provided any further information about its more-advanced P-2 centrifuge program, the report said. The agency has long been concerned that Iran has conducted undisclosed work on such a centrifuge.
Interestingly, the IAEA also has asked Tehran for the first time “to provide additional details” about the government’s decision to begin its enrichment program in 1985, as well as the program’s progress through 1987. The report did not elaborate, but former IAEA Deputy Director General Pierre Goldschmidt seemed to indicate in a Sept.14 New York Times op-ed that the timing of Iran’s decision to begin the program suggests that Tehran planned to produce nuclear weapons.
“Iran has not provided the requested evidence on why its leadership decided in 1985, in the middle of the war against Iraq, to pursue a uranium-enrichment program when there was no short- or medium-term need to fuel any electrical nuclear power plant,” Goldschmidt wrote.
Other Issues
ElBaradei’s report also provided additional details about Iran’s operation of its Gchine uranium mine. The IAEA is continuing to investigate the “complex arrangements governing the past and current administration” of the mine and an associated plant to process uranium ore. Echoing a June oral report from Goldschmidt, the report stated that the agency is investigating why Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization conducted no work at the Gchine mine between 1993 and 2000 but worked instead at a less promising mine. Iranian officials have told the IAEA that the organization was conducting laboratory experiments on ore from the Gchine mine during that time.
Additionally, the report raised questions about an inexperienced Iranian company’s success in constructing a uranium-ore processing plant at the Gchine mine less than two years after Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization resumed operations there, apparently suggesting that another organization might have previously conducted still-undisclosed work on the project.
U.S. and European officials have told Arms Control Today that the lack of clarity surrounding the mine’s operation suggests that Iran’s military or an affiliated organization might have been working at the mine in an effort to obtain an independent uranium source.
On the other hand, ElBaradei’s report appears to have resolved questions over whether Iran has obtained beryllium, saying its efforts to do so had failed. U.S. officials have expressed concern that, if Tehran acquired beryllium, it could combine it with polonium, a radioisotope with limited civilian applications that Iran has attempted to produce to trigger a nuclear chain reaction in certain types of nuclear weapons. U.S. officials had indicated that the IAEA might have information that Iran had already obtained the material.
U.S. Ambassador Jackie Sanders said before the IAEA board last November that, although Iranian officials have claimed in the past that Iran never procured or worked with beryllium, “[w]e wonder whether the IAEA has found evidence suggesting otherwise.”
Additionally, the IAEA is still asking Iran to allow further inspections at two sites where Iran is suspected of having either worked with nuclear material or performing nuclear weapons-related work. Although agency inspectors have previously visited those sites, Iran has not allowed them to do so recently. Absent evidence that Tehran is conducting nuclear activities at these sites, the IAEA has limited authority to visit them because the sites are not subject to agency safeguards.
Iran Will Resume Nuclear Talks, But Questions Persist: IAEA Chief
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzd.html
Moscow (AFP) Oct 05, 2005 - Iran is likely to resume talks on its nuclear program with three EU countries soon but must still answer questions to allay fears it wants to build nuclear weapons, the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzd.html
Moscow (AFP) Oct 05, 2005 - Iran is likely to resume talks on its nuclear program with three EU countries soon but must still answer questions to allay fears it wants to build nuclear weapons, the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
Iran Will Resume Nuclear Talks, But Questions Persist: IAEA Chief
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzd.html
Moscow (AFP) Oct 05, 2005 - Iran is likely to resume talks on its nuclear program with three EU countries soon but must still answer questions to allay fears it wants to build nuclear weapons, the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
Iran's tough nuclear stance causes domestic jitters
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051005120417.0msmcorx.html
------------
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzd.html
Moscow (AFP) Oct 05, 2005 - Iran is likely to resume talks on its nuclear program with three EU countries soon but must still answer questions to allay fears it wants to build nuclear weapons, the UN nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
Iran's tough nuclear stance causes domestic jitters
http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051005120417.0msmcorx.html
------------
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051...21400-6491r.htm
Army takes control of Iran nukes
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 5, 2005
Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has placed the military firmly in control of his nation's nuclear program, undercutting his government's claim that the program is intended for civilian use, according to a leading opposition group.
Leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the force created specifically to defend the 1979 Islamic revolution, now dominate Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the country's top foreign policy-making body under the constitution.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, a little-known former mayor of Tehran before his surprise election in July, is a former IRGC commander, as is new council Secretary-General Ali Larijani, who has taken the lead in negotiations about Iran's nuclear programs.
Revolutionary Guard commanders also have taken charge of the council's internal security, strategy and political posts, according to a report issued by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. A Revolutionary Guard veteran even serves as the council's press spokesman.
"The military under the new president is firmly in control of the nuclear program and the nuclear negotiations with the United Nations and the West," said Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the NCRI's foreign affairs committee, in a telephone interview yesterday.
The personnel changes "make it less and less credible that Iran is pursuing nuclear programs for peaceful uses," he said.
The report, which also tracks Iran's extensive nuclear infrastructure and technical programs, charges that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei has turned to IRGC personnel in order to "eliminate all bureaucratic and political obstacles to obtaining nuclear weapons."
Iran, which claims the right to pursue a civilian nuclear program to meet its domestic energy needs, is in intense negotiations with European Union powers France, Britain and Germany over the fate of its nuclear programs.
The Bush administration is deeply skeptical of Tehran's ambitions. The board of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency last month threatened to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if it does not allow tight international oversight of its programs.
The NCRI is the political arm of the People's Mujahadeen, a secular Iranian bloc that broke violently with the Islamic leaders of the revolution shortly after the ouster of the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The opposition group has had a checkered and at times contradictory role. Branded a terrorist group by U.S. and European governments, it also has proven to be the single best intelligence source on Iran's clandestine nuclear programs, exposing in recent years massive research and testing sites inside Iran unknown to U.N. and Western monitors.
But other analysts also have reported a wave of senior appointments for Iran's military, especially from within the more ideological forces under the direct control of the ruling Islamic clerics.
Houchang Hassan-Yari, a political scientist at the Royal Military College of Canada, noted in a recent analysis that current and former members of the IRGC now can be found throughout Iran's political and administrative bureaucracy, from lawmakers in parliament to mayors, university officials and even managers of some of Iran's biggest business concerns.
The corps is "on the verge of being transformed from a junior player in the country's military defense to a key factor in the country's military and security doctrine -- a rise that could come at the [traditional] army's expense," he noted.
Bill Samii, an Iranian analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said a key factor in Mr. Ahmadinejad's surprise presidential election was the support of the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary force with extensive links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The new president, with virtually no experience in foreign affairs when he was elected, named a senior Basij leader as a top adviser just after assuming office in August.
Army takes control of Iran nukes
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
October 5, 2005
Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has placed the military firmly in control of his nation's nuclear program, undercutting his government's claim that the program is intended for civilian use, according to a leading opposition group.
Leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the force created specifically to defend the 1979 Islamic revolution, now dominate Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the country's top foreign policy-making body under the constitution.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, a little-known former mayor of Tehran before his surprise election in July, is a former IRGC commander, as is new council Secretary-General Ali Larijani, who has taken the lead in negotiations about Iran's nuclear programs.
Revolutionary Guard commanders also have taken charge of the council's internal security, strategy and political posts, according to a report issued by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. A Revolutionary Guard veteran even serves as the council's press spokesman.
"The military under the new president is firmly in control of the nuclear program and the nuclear negotiations with the United Nations and the West," said Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the NCRI's foreign affairs committee, in a telephone interview yesterday.
The personnel changes "make it less and less credible that Iran is pursuing nuclear programs for peaceful uses," he said.
The report, which also tracks Iran's extensive nuclear infrastructure and technical programs, charges that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei has turned to IRGC personnel in order to "eliminate all bureaucratic and political obstacles to obtaining nuclear weapons."
Iran, which claims the right to pursue a civilian nuclear program to meet its domestic energy needs, is in intense negotiations with European Union powers France, Britain and Germany over the fate of its nuclear programs.
The Bush administration is deeply skeptical of Tehran's ambitions. The board of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency last month threatened to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if it does not allow tight international oversight of its programs.
The NCRI is the political arm of the People's Mujahadeen, a secular Iranian bloc that broke violently with the Islamic leaders of the revolution shortly after the ouster of the U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The opposition group has had a checkered and at times contradictory role. Branded a terrorist group by U.S. and European governments, it also has proven to be the single best intelligence source on Iran's clandestine nuclear programs, exposing in recent years massive research and testing sites inside Iran unknown to U.N. and Western monitors.
But other analysts also have reported a wave of senior appointments for Iran's military, especially from within the more ideological forces under the direct control of the ruling Islamic clerics.
Houchang Hassan-Yari, a political scientist at the Royal Military College of Canada, noted in a recent analysis that current and former members of the IRGC now can be found throughout Iran's political and administrative bureaucracy, from lawmakers in parliament to mayors, university officials and even managers of some of Iran's biggest business concerns.
The corps is "on the verge of being transformed from a junior player in the country's military defense to a key factor in the country's military and security doctrine -- a rise that could come at the [traditional] army's expense," he noted.
Bill Samii, an Iranian analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said a key factor in Mr. Ahmadinejad's surprise presidential election was the support of the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary force with extensive links to the Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The new president, with virtually no experience in foreign affairs when he was elected, named a senior Basij leader as a top adviser just after assuming office in August.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3151006,00.html
Iran warns Israel: Don't attack us
Speaker of the Iranian parliament tells London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat, ‘Our goal is to establish trust with world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace; we in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies’
Roee Nahmias
Iranian parliament speaker Ghulam Ali Haddad-Adel warned Israel against "folly that would lead it to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities," London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported.
"If Israel realizes its threats and strikes our nuclear facilities, as happened in Iraq in 1981, we'll teach her a lesson she will never forget," the official warned following his recent meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus.
Nuclear Power
President: Iran willing to share nukes / Associated Press
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran willing to provide other Islamic nations with nuclear technology. Iran has said it is determined to pursue its nuclear program to process uranium and produce energy, despite European attempts to limit it
Haddad-Adel added, “Our goal is to establish trust with the world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace. In the past two years more than 1,200 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have visited Iran, but they did not find any proof indicating that we are planning to direct our nuclear plan toward producing military weapons.”
'Atomic energy for peaceful purposes'
According to Haddad-Adel, should the Iranian nuclear program be referred to the U.N. Security Council, in accordance with the recent IAEA decision, “we will regard this as certain pressure that is being applied on us. We in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies.”
Meanwhile, Iranian sources told al-Hayat that during his recent meeting with the Iranian parliament speaker Assad said the U.S.’s “plot” to isolate Syria and Iran has failed as “no one will be able to come between Tehran and Damascus.”
As to Iran’s nuclear program, an Iranian source said, “Assad supported Iran’s right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes and denounced the U.S.’s attempt to prevent Iran from upholding this right when it permits Israel to posses weapons of mass destruction.”
(10.04.05, 17:02)
Iran warns Israel: Don't attack us
Speaker of the Iranian parliament tells London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat, ‘Our goal is to establish trust with world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace; we in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies’
Roee Nahmias
Iranian parliament speaker Ghulam Ali Haddad-Adel warned Israel against "folly that would lead it to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities," London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported.
"If Israel realizes its threats and strikes our nuclear facilities, as happened in Iraq in 1981, we'll teach her a lesson she will never forget," the official warned following his recent meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus.
Nuclear Power
President: Iran willing to share nukes / Associated Press
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran willing to provide other Islamic nations with nuclear technology. Iran has said it is determined to pursue its nuclear program to process uranium and produce energy, despite European attempts to limit it
Haddad-Adel added, “Our goal is to establish trust with the world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace. In the past two years more than 1,200 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have visited Iran, but they did not find any proof indicating that we are planning to direct our nuclear plan toward producing military weapons.”
'Atomic energy for peaceful purposes'
According to Haddad-Adel, should the Iranian nuclear program be referred to the U.N. Security Council, in accordance with the recent IAEA decision, “we will regard this as certain pressure that is being applied on us. We in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies.”
Meanwhile, Iranian sources told al-Hayat that during his recent meeting with the Iranian parliament speaker Assad said the U.S.’s “plot” to isolate Syria and Iran has failed as “no one will be able to come between Tehran and Damascus.”
As to Iran’s nuclear program, an Iranian source said, “Assad supported Iran’s right to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes and denounced the U.S.’s attempt to prevent Iran from upholding this right when it permits Israel to posses weapons of mass destruction.”
(10.04.05, 17:02)
http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=73401
Iran FM puts off Saudi visit amid row over Iraq
Published: 10/5/2005
RIYADH - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki put off a planned visit to Saudi Arabia Wednesday after the two countries publicly rowed over the situation in Iraq.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has accused Shiite Iran of meddling in the affairs of the violence-ravaged country, but Tehran has denied the charge, which also drew a scathing attack on Riyadh from an Iraqi Shiite minister.
The surprise postponement of Mottaki's visit was reported by Saudi foreign ministry sources and later confirmed by an Iranian foreign ministry source.
"Based on the proposed dates for the trip given by both sides, this trip could not take place, but the principle of the trip taking place still holds and in the future a date will be announced," the Iranian source said.
Mottaki had proposed delaying his visit by a day to Thursday but Saudi officials chose to put it off to a later date, one Saudi source said.
"Iraqis are complaining of interference by Iran. If there is indeed such interference, especially in provinces neighboring Iran, that would be quite serious," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said last month.
The alleged interference "includes the entry of people, money and weapons as well as meddling in political life", he said.
His remarks reflected Riyadh's concern that Iran could increase its influence in Iraq, where it already enjoys sympathy among the ruling majority Shiite community while the once-dominant Sunnis feel marginalized.
Saud has also charged that Washington was effectively handing Iraq to Iran by pursuing a policy that deepens sectarian divisions.
Tehran dismissed Riyadh's concerns.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran does not expect such remarks from its friends at such a sensitive time in the region, and considers them surprising and irrational," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said last month.
Saud's comments also drew a vitriolic attack from Iraq's interior minister, who said Iraqis would "not accept a Bedouin on a camel teaching us about human rights and democracy".
Bayan Baqer Sulagh said the oil-rich kingdom had several problems of its own to take care of.
"Saudis should first allow women to drive, as is the case in Iraq," he said, adding that "four million Shiites live like second-class citizens in the Saudi kingdom".
Commenting on the outburst, an Emirati newspaper said the minister could do with some lessons of his own.
"Sulagh says the new 'democratic Iraq' would not accept lessons from others. But surely the minister needs to learn how to speak," Gulf News wrote.
Sulagh's "racist, and equally silly, statement has reminded us of the outrageous rhetoric of the former Baathist regime" of Saddam Hussein, the paper said.
"Our Bedouin heritage is a source of pride, not of shame."
The Saudi daily Al-Yom said Saudi Arabia would continue to try to help the Iraqi people and would not be provoked by those who had "failed to defend themselves and their people".
Mottaki had been due to fly to Saudi Arabia from Oman after visiting Kuwait and Bahrain on his first tour of Gulf Arab states since he assumed office in August under hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Instead, he headed from Oman to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and was scheduled to go on to Qatar, according to an Iranian diplomat in Doha.
The UAE, where Mottaki arrived late Wednesday, has a longstanding row with Iran over three strategic southern Gulf islands controlled by Tehran since 1971.
In Oman, the Iranian minister held talks with both the minister responsible for foreign affairs, Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, and the deputy prime minister for cabinet affairs, Sayed Fahd bin Mahmud al-Said.
10/05/2005 15:33 GMT
Iran FM puts off Saudi visit amid row over Iraq
Published: 10/5/2005
RIYADH - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki put off a planned visit to Saudi Arabia Wednesday after the two countries publicly rowed over the situation in Iraq.
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has accused Shiite Iran of meddling in the affairs of the violence-ravaged country, but Tehran has denied the charge, which also drew a scathing attack on Riyadh from an Iraqi Shiite minister.
The surprise postponement of Mottaki's visit was reported by Saudi foreign ministry sources and later confirmed by an Iranian foreign ministry source.
"Based on the proposed dates for the trip given by both sides, this trip could not take place, but the principle of the trip taking place still holds and in the future a date will be announced," the Iranian source said.
Mottaki had proposed delaying his visit by a day to Thursday but Saudi officials chose to put it off to a later date, one Saudi source said.
"Iraqis are complaining of interference by Iran. If there is indeed such interference, especially in provinces neighboring Iran, that would be quite serious," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said last month.
The alleged interference "includes the entry of people, money and weapons as well as meddling in political life", he said.
His remarks reflected Riyadh's concern that Iran could increase its influence in Iraq, where it already enjoys sympathy among the ruling majority Shiite community while the once-dominant Sunnis feel marginalized.
Saud has also charged that Washington was effectively handing Iraq to Iran by pursuing a policy that deepens sectarian divisions.
Tehran dismissed Riyadh's concerns.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran does not expect such remarks from its friends at such a sensitive time in the region, and considers them surprising and irrational," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said last month.
Saud's comments also drew a vitriolic attack from Iraq's interior minister, who said Iraqis would "not accept a Bedouin on a camel teaching us about human rights and democracy".
Bayan Baqer Sulagh said the oil-rich kingdom had several problems of its own to take care of.
"Saudis should first allow women to drive, as is the case in Iraq," he said, adding that "four million Shiites live like second-class citizens in the Saudi kingdom".
Commenting on the outburst, an Emirati newspaper said the minister could do with some lessons of his own.
"Sulagh says the new 'democratic Iraq' would not accept lessons from others. But surely the minister needs to learn how to speak," Gulf News wrote.
Sulagh's "racist, and equally silly, statement has reminded us of the outrageous rhetoric of the former Baathist regime" of Saddam Hussein, the paper said.
"Our Bedouin heritage is a source of pride, not of shame."
The Saudi daily Al-Yom said Saudi Arabia would continue to try to help the Iraqi people and would not be provoked by those who had "failed to defend themselves and their people".
Mottaki had been due to fly to Saudi Arabia from Oman after visiting Kuwait and Bahrain on his first tour of Gulf Arab states since he assumed office in August under hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Instead, he headed from Oman to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and was scheduled to go on to Qatar, according to an Iranian diplomat in Doha.
The UAE, where Mottaki arrived late Wednesday, has a longstanding row with Iran over three strategic southern Gulf islands controlled by Tehran since 1971.
In Oman, the Iranian minister held talks with both the minister responsible for foreign affairs, Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, and the deputy prime minister for cabinet affairs, Sayed Fahd bin Mahmud al-Said.
10/05/2005 15:33 GMT
U.S. Policy Makers Weigh Options For Handling Iran
(Carla Anne Robbins, Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1128563479...N=wsjie/archive
Thursday, October 6
With President Bush's top advisers set to discuss U.S. policy toward Iran today, the State Department has circulated a briefing paper that proposes significantly expanding U.S. diplomatic contacts with Tehran's new hard-line government.
The idea is part of a list of incentives and punishments that U.S. officials are outlining as they consider ways to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions and encourage internal political change there, U.S. officials said.
(Carla Anne Robbins, Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1128563479...N=wsjie/archive
Thursday, October 6
With President Bush's top advisers set to discuss U.S. policy toward Iran today, the State Department has circulated a briefing paper that proposes significantly expanding U.S. diplomatic contacts with Tehran's new hard-line government.
The idea is part of a list of incentives and punishments that U.S. officials are outlining as they consider ways to block Tehran's nuclear ambitions and encourage internal political change there, U.S. officials said.
Iran Must Heed the Call
(Japan Times - Editorial)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted....d20051006a1.htm
Thursday, October 6
The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) late last month adopted a resolution that criticized Iran's response over its nuclear development problem and, although postponing referral to the United Nations Security Council, warned that the issue might be referred in the future. The situation gives cause for concern because Iran's immediate rejection of the resolution underlines the possibility that it might start full-scale uranium-enrichment activities any time.
The resolution recognized that Iran has violated the safeguards agreement and called into question the Iranian position that its nuclear development program is purely for peaceful purposes. Iran should seriously pay heed to this resolution and again search for a way to a diplomatic solution so that a decision to refer the issue to the Security Council can be avoided at the next IAEA board of governors meeting in November. Iran should refrain from raising tensions in the international community by spreading suspicions that its ultimate aim is to develop nuclear weapons.
(Japan Times - Editorial)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted....d20051006a1.htm
Thursday, October 6
The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) late last month adopted a resolution that criticized Iran's response over its nuclear development problem and, although postponing referral to the United Nations Security Council, warned that the issue might be referred in the future. The situation gives cause for concern because Iran's immediate rejection of the resolution underlines the possibility that it might start full-scale uranium-enrichment activities any time.
The resolution recognized that Iran has violated the safeguards agreement and called into question the Iranian position that its nuclear development program is purely for peaceful purposes. Iran should seriously pay heed to this resolution and again search for a way to a diplomatic solution so that a decision to refer the issue to the Security Council can be avoided at the next IAEA board of governors meeting in November. Iran should refrain from raising tensions in the international community by spreading suspicions that its ultimate aim is to develop nuclear weapons.
..
Britain accuses Iran of supplying bombs to militias Christian Science Monitor
Prime Minister Tony Blair told a London news conference Thursday that "evidence" ties Iran to bombings in Iraq, but that Britain doesn't have "definite proof." Blair's statement came the morning after a senior British official told several British media outlets that Iran – specifically the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – was supplying Shiite militias in southern Iraq with "sophisticated roadside bombs" that have led to the deaths of eight British soldiers since May. Reuters reports that the allegations were made under condition of anonymity. The official told Reuters that the attacks are being carried out by a splinter group from the militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Blair links Iran to Iraq blasts Guardian Unlimited
Blair says explosives found in Iraq may have links to Iran Forbes
IranMania News - Bloomberg - Reuters - BBC News - all 432 related »
Prime Minister Tony Blair told a London news conference Thursday that "evidence" ties Iran to bombings in Iraq, but that Britain doesn't have "definite proof." Blair's statement came the morning after a senior British official told several British media outlets that Iran – specifically the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – was supplying Shiite militias in southern Iraq with "sophisticated roadside bombs" that have led to the deaths of eight British soldiers since May. Reuters reports that the allegations were made under condition of anonymity. The official told Reuters that the attacks are being carried out by a splinter group from the militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Blair links Iran to Iraq blasts Guardian Unlimited
Blair says explosives found in Iraq may have links to Iran Forbes
IranMania News - Bloomberg - Reuters - BBC News - all 432 related »
Iran says nuclear power plants not up for negotiation Forbes
The top Iranian nuclear negotiator reiterated that Tehran's nuclear facilities were not up for negotiation and insisted it would not talk with countries demanding they be dismantled.
ElBaradei Says Iran Talks May Restart The Moscow Times
Iran must heed the call The Japan Times
IranMania News - San Jose Mercury News - Globe and Mail - Jerusalem Post - all 256 related »
The top Iranian nuclear negotiator reiterated that Tehran's nuclear facilities were not up for negotiation and insisted it would not talk with countries demanding they be dismantled.
ElBaradei Says Iran Talks May Restart The Moscow Times
Iran must heed the call The Japan Times
IranMania News - San Jose Mercury News - Globe and Mail - Jerusalem Post - all 256 related »
Iran not to invite Solana to next round of Iran-EU nuclear talks Xinhua
Iran will not invite EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to the next round of nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany, the official IRNA news agency quoted an official close to Iranian negotiating team as saying on Thursday. The official, who asked not to be named, said Iran is not satisfied with Solana's negative attitude toward Iran's nuclear program and opted for not inviting him to the next round of talks with the European trio. Iran-EU standoff about nuclear program has led to a draft resolution adopted at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)Board of Governors in September.
Iran to resume nuke talks, but questions persist IranMania News
Iran must heed the call The Japan Times
Globe and Mail - Boston Globe - Jerusalem Post - Times of India - all 266 related »
Iran will not invite EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to the next round of nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany, the official IRNA news agency quoted an official close to Iranian negotiating team as saying on Thursday. The official, who asked not to be named, said Iran is not satisfied with Solana's negative attitude toward Iran's nuclear program and opted for not inviting him to the next round of talks with the European trio. Iran-EU standoff about nuclear program has led to a draft resolution adopted at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)Board of Governors in September.
Iran to resume nuke talks, but questions persist IranMania News
Iran must heed the call The Japan Times
Globe and Mail - Boston Globe - Jerusalem Post - Times of India - all 266 related »
Iran not interfering in Iraq-Iraqi prime minister:
Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Thursday rejected accusations that Shi'ite Muslim Iran was interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06105261.htm
Iran brands British bomb claims 'fantasy':
Relations between Britain and Iran deteriorated further today as Tehran fiercely denied claims that it had supplied sophisticated weapons used to kill British troops in southern Iraq.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1813621,00.html
Hasani blames Iran for murders of Shiite clerics:
Iraqi parliament speaker accuses Iran of being behind assassination of al-Hakim, al-Khoie for not serving its interest in Iraq.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14713
Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on Thursday rejected accusations that Shi'ite Muslim Iran was interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06105261.htm
Iran brands British bomb claims 'fantasy':
Relations between Britain and Iran deteriorated further today as Tehran fiercely denied claims that it had supplied sophisticated weapons used to kill British troops in southern Iraq.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1813621,00.html
Hasani blames Iran for murders of Shiite clerics:
Iraqi parliament speaker accuses Iran of being behind assassination of al-Hakim, al-Khoie for not serving its interest in Iraq.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14713
Iran Says Nuclear Fuel Cycle Not Up For Negotiation
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzf.html
Tehran (AFP) Oct 06, 2005 - Iran's president and top nuclear negotiator asserted Thursday that Tehran's controversial nuclear facilities were not up for negotiation and said they would not talk with countries demanding they be dismantled.
http://www.spacewar.com/news/iran-05zzzzf.html
Tehran (AFP) Oct 06, 2005 - Iran's president and top nuclear negotiator asserted Thursday that Tehran's controversial nuclear facilities were not up for negotiation and said they would not talk with countries demanding they be dismantled.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/hirsch.php?articleid=7542
October 7, 2005
Chemical Weapons,
Nuclear War
What's at stake in a war on Iran
by Jorge Hirsch
The Bush administration started a conventional war over imagined chemical weapons in Iraq. It is getting ready to start a war over imagined nuclear weapons, and real chemical ones, against Iran. This time it may be a nuclear war.
It is well known that Iran has chemical weapons (1), (2), (3) , as many other countries do. However, there has not been a single mention of this fact in the aggressive rhetoric of the Bush administration against Iran. Why? Because it is being deliberately silenced up to the last moments before a U.S. attack against Iran is launched. At that time, this fact will be trumpeted as "proof" that Iran is an evil country and a threat to the world.
As the U.S. bombers are about to take off, there will be no time to talk about the fact that Iran has signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (in 1993 and 1997, respectively) that requires it to terminate production and eliminate stockpiles over a period of years. Instead, it will be emphasized that Iran used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war (conveniently omitting the fact that it was responding to chemical attacks by Iraq) and that it could use them again against U.S. troops next door. The administration will present proof (real this time) that Iran has chemical weapons, and will also suggest that terrorists in bed with Iran could get hold of those weapons and attack the U.S. homeland.
An ultimatum will be given to Iran to destroy all its chemical weapons and abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) within 48 hours, lest it face the wrath of U.S. bombers. Bush's statements of March 17, 2003, will be copied and pasted replacing Iraq with Iran, and this time it will be less false than last:
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iranian regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iran's neighbors. …
"The danger is clear: using chemical, biological, or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iran, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other."
The IAEA resolution of Sept. 24, which found Iran in violation of the NPT, will be at the center of the argument. All the diplomatic avenues will have been closed when Russia and China exercise their veto powers at the Security Council meeting that will consider imposing sanctions on Iran, and the military option, explicitly not ruled out by Bush, will be all that remains. U.S. planes launched from Iraq will bomb Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile installations. Many of these facilities are underground. Conventional bunker-busters will be used, as well as some nuclear bombs.
Why will nukes be used? As stated in the recently released draft document "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," the Pentagon is prepared to "demonstrate U.S. intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter adversary use of WMD." If only conventional bombs are used in such an unprovoked U.S. attack, Iran is likely to retaliate violently, launching a barrage of missiles against U.S. forces in Iraq and possibly Israel, as well as a possible ground invasion of Iraq that the 150,000 U.S. troops there would not be able to withstand. Bunker-busting nuclear gravity bombs (B61-11 or similar) will be more effective than conventional ones in destroying Iranian underground installations, and at the same time will send a clear message to Iran that any response would be answered with an immensely more devastating nuclear attack.
How will the U.S. Senate go along? It probably has already approved the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, in particular low-yield gravity bombs and short-range missiles, in the Persian Gulf. The Bush administration is likely to have presented to senators entirely credible "secret" information that Iran has missiles with chemical warheads, and suggested that Iran could launch a chemical attack against U.S. forces in Iraq at a moment's notice. Reasonable senators would certainly approve such measures to protect U.S. forces in Iraq against a devastating actual or "imminent" Iranian attack. Using the argument that making this information public would endanger U.S. troops in Iraq, Bush may have been able to convince senators to approve such a grave measure without public disclosure. Once the military action starts, the use of nuclear bombs will follow the script in the "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations":
"Against an adversary using or intending to use WMD against U.S., multinational, or alliance forces or civilian populations…
"[T]o counter potentially overwhelming conventional forces…
"For rapid and favorable war termination on U.S. terms…
"To ensure success of U.S. and multinational operations…
"[O]n adversary installations including WMD, deep, hardened bunkers containing chemical or biological weapons or the C2 infrastructure required for the adversary to execute a WMD attack against the United States or its friends and allies."
Given these prospects, the U.S. should be focusing on low-key negotiations with Iran to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with respect to Iran's nuclear ambitions (which are, at least in the view of Russia and China, entirely legitimate), instead of issuing strident denunciations. The fact that it has chosen the latter rather than the former path (even refusing to discuss the issues directly with Iran) suggests that a decision to attack Iran was made long ago. This would parallel the scenario played out in Iraq as proved by the Downing Street memos, and is also supported by the information revealed by Seymour Hersh in his January 2005 article in the New Yorker. Whether by accident or by design, the Bush attack against the toothless Saddam will not have been an end in itself but only a necessary intermediate step toward the real goal, the subjugation of the far more powerful Iran.
Such an attack will usher in a different, much more frightening world. After the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world has relied on a universally agreed-upon taboo against the use of all nuclear weapons, no matter how small. Once that taboo is broken, the NPT is likely to fall apart, a new nuclear arms race will ensue, and any regional conflict will have the potential to explode into all-out nuclear war, with unimaginable consequences.
October 7, 2005
Chemical Weapons,
Nuclear War
What's at stake in a war on Iran
by Jorge Hirsch
The Bush administration started a conventional war over imagined chemical weapons in Iraq. It is getting ready to start a war over imagined nuclear weapons, and real chemical ones, against Iran. This time it may be a nuclear war.
It is well known that Iran has chemical weapons (1), (2), (3) , as many other countries do. However, there has not been a single mention of this fact in the aggressive rhetoric of the Bush administration against Iran. Why? Because it is being deliberately silenced up to the last moments before a U.S. attack against Iran is launched. At that time, this fact will be trumpeted as "proof" that Iran is an evil country and a threat to the world.
As the U.S. bombers are about to take off, there will be no time to talk about the fact that Iran has signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (in 1993 and 1997, respectively) that requires it to terminate production and eliminate stockpiles over a period of years. Instead, it will be emphasized that Iran used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war (conveniently omitting the fact that it was responding to chemical attacks by Iraq) and that it could use them again against U.S. troops next door. The administration will present proof (real this time) that Iran has chemical weapons, and will also suggest that terrorists in bed with Iran could get hold of those weapons and attack the U.S. homeland.
An ultimatum will be given to Iran to destroy all its chemical weapons and abide by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) within 48 hours, lest it face the wrath of U.S. bombers. Bush's statements of March 17, 2003, will be copied and pasted replacing Iraq with Iran, and this time it will be less false than last:
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iranian regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iran's neighbors. …
"The danger is clear: using chemical, biological, or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iran, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other."
The IAEA resolution of Sept. 24, which found Iran in violation of the NPT, will be at the center of the argument. All the diplomatic avenues will have been closed when Russia and China exercise their veto powers at the Security Council meeting that will consider imposing sanctions on Iran, and the military option, explicitly not ruled out by Bush, will be all that remains. U.S. planes launched from Iraq will bomb Iranian nuclear, chemical, and missile installations. Many of these facilities are underground. Conventional bunker-busters will be used, as well as some nuclear bombs.
Why will nukes be used? As stated in the recently released draft document "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations," the Pentagon is prepared to "demonstrate U.S. intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter adversary use of WMD." If only conventional bombs are used in such an unprovoked U.S. attack, Iran is likely to retaliate violently, launching a barrage of missiles against U.S. forces in Iraq and possibly Israel, as well as a possible ground invasion of Iraq that the 150,000 U.S. troops there would not be able to withstand. Bunker-busting nuclear gravity bombs (B61-11 or similar) will be more effective than conventional ones in destroying Iranian underground installations, and at the same time will send a clear message to Iran that any response would be answered with an immensely more devastating nuclear attack.
How will the U.S. Senate go along? It probably has already approved the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, in particular low-yield gravity bombs and short-range missiles, in the Persian Gulf. The Bush administration is likely to have presented to senators entirely credible "secret" information that Iran has missiles with chemical warheads, and suggested that Iran could launch a chemical attack against U.S. forces in Iraq at a moment's notice. Reasonable senators would certainly approve such measures to protect U.S. forces in Iraq against a devastating actual or "imminent" Iranian attack. Using the argument that making this information public would endanger U.S. troops in Iraq, Bush may have been able to convince senators to approve such a grave measure without public disclosure. Once the military action starts, the use of nuclear bombs will follow the script in the "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations":
"Against an adversary using or intending to use WMD against U.S., multinational, or alliance forces or civilian populations…
"[T]o counter potentially overwhelming conventional forces…
"For rapid and favorable war termination on U.S. terms…
"To ensure success of U.S. and multinational operations…
"[O]n adversary installations including WMD, deep, hardened bunkers containing chemical or biological weapons or the C2 infrastructure required for the adversary to execute a WMD attack against the United States or its friends and allies."
Given these prospects, the U.S. should be focusing on low-key negotiations with Iran to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with respect to Iran's nuclear ambitions (which are, at least in the view of Russia and China, entirely legitimate), instead of issuing strident denunciations. The fact that it has chosen the latter rather than the former path (even refusing to discuss the issues directly with Iran) suggests that a decision to attack Iran was made long ago. This would parallel the scenario played out in Iraq as proved by the Downing Street memos, and is also supported by the information revealed by Seymour Hersh in his January 2005 article in the New Yorker. Whether by accident or by design, the Bush attack against the toothless Saddam will not have been an end in itself but only a necessary intermediate step toward the real goal, the subjugation of the far more powerful Iran.
Such an attack will usher in a different, much more frightening world. After the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world has relied on a universally agreed-upon taboo against the use of all nuclear weapons, no matter how small. Once that taboo is broken, the NPT is likely to fall apart, a new nuclear arms race will ensue, and any regional conflict will have the potential to explode into all-out nuclear war, with unimaginable consequences.
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