Thank you for your support, Theresa.
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."
hmmm, just to be more clear about answering your question, the mullahs on balance, are more concerned about their own power, self preservation, and regional influence after that. nukes give them power, but as soon as they use them, its all over. what the nukes gives them, once they have them, is immunity from invasion. and they KNOW about invasions.
"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."
Have the French surrendered yet?
blessings, Bobo
I don't really hate the majority of Iranians. I think Bill Clinton, accompanied by Jimmy Carter and Kofi and Kojo Annan,
should lead a delegation of European diplomats, then, well...
How many hundreds of thousands of lives might your wait n' see policy cost? Give me a break. Iran one of the most oil rich countries in the world needs a reactor to generate electricity? Remember this is the country who's parliament begins and closes their sessions with "death to America." Hello?
Thanks to our superior technology, Iran does not have any effective means to deploy nuclear weapons in a conventional mode. Their only effective method of deployment is by sneak attack through terrorists.
And that's exactly what their bomb is for, and that's exactly why the West shouldn't wait before they wipe out their islamic atomic bomb factory.
We have been facing thermonuclear annihilation since the 50s. Hundreds of millions, a couple billion in minutes. Should we be worried about hundreds of thousands? This is not the Big Show.
I think the answer to that is self-evident.
This is not the Big Show
I'm sure those words will comfort the hundreds of thousands of scortched, irradiated victims gasping their last breaths under the rubble of the American or Israeli city that had to "wait and see".
Respond to the part you want the way you want. This is improv. Ignore reason and go for aesthetics. It works for Democrats.
Your "wait and see policy" works for the Democrats too.
You don't just 'wait and see' you see. You make sure the antagonist knows you fully intend to take them out if they cross the line, and they should also know you have the capability to do so. It is like 'trust but verify.'
Take what out? Suicidal terrorists don't have any property to take out. Trust and verify? I trust the Iranians mean it when they open and close parliamentary sessions with "Death to America." I suppose you opposed the Iraq war too.
--Theresa
Thank you for your support, Theresa.
The top CIA agent inside Alqaida--OBL--has pointed out several safe houses in Iraq with excellent results. Stay away from Iraqi safe houses and midnight weddings. OBL is watching you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.