Posted on 07/26/2004 7:47:41 PM PDT by knak
Iran has broken the seals on nuclear equipment monitored by United Nations inspectors and is once again building and testing machines that could make fissile material for nuclear weapons.
Teheran's move, revealed to The Daily Telegraph yesterday by western sources, breaks a deal with European countries under which Iran suspended "all uranium enrichment activity".
It will also exacerbate fears that the regional power is determined to make an atomic bomb within a few years.
Enrichment is the most controversial part of Iran's "peaceful" nuclear programme because the same technology used to make low-enriched uranium to fuel nuclear reactors can be used to refine material for bombs.
America has in recent weeks renewed its call for Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
However, diplomats said senior officials from the "EU-3" - Britain, France and Germany - would try to coax Teheran back to the path of co-operation at a secret meeting in Paris on Thursday.
Their chances of success seem slim, however, because Teheran now appears to have calculated that America is paralysed by the presidential election campaign and that Europe is too divided to exert real pressure.
Western sources said Iranian officials last month reclaimed equipment for uranium enrichment centrifuges sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The centrifuges separate the fissile isotope U235.
In what may be a further escalation, some western sources said Iran was carrying out its threat to begin producing uranium hexafluoride, the gas fed into the centrifuges, but the claim could not be corroborated last night.
Under a deal reached with the EU-3 in October, Iran agreed to come clean about its nuclear programme and announced it would suspend "temporarily" all uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure.
However, Iran interpreted this to mean only that it would not introduce gas into the centrifuges while remaining free to build and test them.
Under a deal in February, the EU-3 closed this loophole when Iran accepted a wider definition of "suspension" - and it is this "Brussels agreement" which has collapsed.
Angered by the IAEA's condemnation last month of repeated failures to reveal all about its nuclear programme, Hassan Rowhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote to the EU-3 saying his country would resume manufacture, assembly and testing of centrifuges.
Iran argues that its nuclear programme is designed solely to generate electricity for civilian use.
It argues that it is entitled to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and insists that the suspension deal was a voluntary agreement that could be revoked.
America believes that a succession of reports by IAEA inspectors "revealing that Iran [has lied] systematically for 18 years and has yet to answer many troubling questions about its activities" provide ample evidence that Teheran has violated the treaty.
Inspectors have found that Iran made small quantities of weapons-grade uranium and plutonium.
Teheran has yet to explain the origin of highly-enriched uranium "contamination" detected at several sites.
Nor has it revealed the extent of its more sophisticated "P2" centrifuge programme that only came to light this year, with the unravelling of the "nuclear supermarket" operated by the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, AQ Khan.
British officials say they have no illusions about Iran's intentions, but have hitherto advocated patient diplomacy.
They want to allow inspectors to keep working to "box in" the Iranians to the point where they either give up nuclear weapons ambitions or commit such a blatant violation that the West can win international support for sanctions.
"Iran has resumed research and testing, and every day that passes means it gets closer to mastering the technology," said one western source.
"If the Europeans think they can outfox the Iranians in the carpet bazaar, they are deeply mistaken."
The Euroweenians tried dealmaking with Hitler, too. Didn't work then, won't work now.
Once again, the membership to the Neville Chamberlain Fan Club proves it is incapable of repeating history.
Once again, the membership to the Neville Chamberlain Fan Club proves it is incapable of NOT repeating history.
Sorry... Must be past my bedtime.
*sigh*
If Iran hits us with a nuke, it won't be fired, it will be smuggled in, possibly across the Mexican or Canadian borders. Our ABM systems will be useless.
Well, then, if they smuggle one or more in for a sneak attack, we will break all their toys. If somebody else tries to take advantage while we are trying to bring relief to the place or places hit by such a sneak attack, we will break all their toys, too. That is how the nuke game is played. I spent some of my working career making sure we could indeed break all their toys, and we will be able to do so.
using nukes isnt useful. everyone loses. its the active non-use of held nukes that iran wants in on. israel doesnt have to fire these weapons to feel their benefit.
nukes make you uninvadeable. noone is going to push you to extinction or defeat because you have the power to take them with you.
iran doesnt want nukes to use, it wants them so the usa cannot invade them.
They aren't 'tupid. They know if they scare us enough we will nuke them to the grubs and berries stage. We have done it before and will do it again.
And; if Doofus-Dork-Lurch sits in the Oval Office in January; whom do you think will assume this responsibility? ... Rhetorical question of course. If Lurch is elected, this country is TOAST.
I'm gettin' too old for this.
<>I would but the BeltWay boys wouldn't allow W or Rummy to use that ordnance. We'd pussy foot around and (well it's not a bad idea to play with the new F/A22 Raptor and other neat toys) and back off using nukes.
The entire world (with the exception of 'moi') would be in hysterics if we lit off a nuke.
Perskonally, I'd rip Mecca the next time an American is beheaded. Bing-Bang-BOOOM! Reload... /rant
That's a good question. A fair bet is that the perps would be found fairly soon. After all, nukes are special items, well researched. Each device would leave a distinctive signature pointing directly at it origin, and its path from factory to destination would be of interest to many investigative agencies.
iran doesnt want nukes to use, it wants them so the usa cannot invade them.
What causes you to think that way?
True, they would consider America a pariah among nations for a long time to come. That's the way it goes.
I think 9/11 proved that investigating after the fact - like what happened after the first time jihadis tried to destroy the WTC, in 1993 - is not good enough. It must not be allowed to happen in the first place, not when it is every bit as predictable as the Iranians reneging on this deal with the EU.
Iran is playing with fire here. If they are not careful the UN might just pass a resolution. If they still haven't had enough, as brutal as it sounds, the UN might even issue another one. Iran had just better watch their step.
they get no benefit from using them. most of the anti-usa, anti-israel stuff is simply part of the internal politics of the country. unfortunately for the mullahs, the crazed, militant part of their populace that eats up the anti-west rhetoric for dinner has been swamped by the more progressive children of the revolution in a vast population explosion. the mullahs keep screaming 'down with the usa' but the population (ESPECIALLY in tehran) is increasingly pro-west. i would guess that most mullahs are of the corrupt, self preserving variety than the overly religious, islamic jihad driven type. many iranians i know seem to have this opinion. the real religious types arent in tehran anyway, they seem to hang out in 'religious' cities like qom where they are surrounded by like minded angry young muslims. i sometimes read people here calling for nuking tehran, but thats wrong. tehran is the last place you would want to nuke in iran, because thats the pro-west heartland.
still, despite my beliefs here, who wants to take the risk? im all for bombing the reactors, but it needs to be done cleanly. we shouldnt risk the great asset that is the pro-western feeling among iranians.
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