Posted on 08/10/2004 4:56:49 PM PDT by Clive
Iran has issued an extraordinary list of demands to Britain and other European countries, telling them to provide advanced nuclear technology, conventional weapons and a security guarantee against nuclear attack by Israel.
Teheran's request, said by British officials to have "gone down very badly", sharply raises the stakes in the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme, which Britain and America believe is aimed at making an atomic bomb.
Iran's move came during crisis talks in Paris this month with senior diplomats from Britain, France and Germany.
The "EU-3" were trying to convince Iranian officials to honour an earlier deal to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment programme, which is ostensibly designed to make fuel for nuclear power stations but could also be used to make fissile material for nuclear bombs. Iranian officials refused point-blank to comply, saying they had every right under international law to pursue "peaceful" nuclear technology.
They then stunned the Europeans by presenting a letter setting out their own demands.
Iran said the EU-3 should support Iran's quest for "advanced (nuclear) technology, including those with dual use" - a reference to equipment that has both civilian and military applications.
The Europeans should "remove impediments" preventing Iran from having such technology, and stick to these commitments even if faced with "legal (or) political . . . limitations", an allusion to American pressure or even future international sanctions against Iran.
More astonishingly, Iran said the EU-3 should agree to meet Iran's requirements for conventional weapons and even "provide security assurances" against a nuclear attack on Iran.
This is a reference to Israel's nuclear arsenal, believed to include some 200 warheads and long-range missiles to deliver them.
The EU-3 are still debating over how to respond, but British officials said the Iranian letter was "extremely surprising, given the delicate state of process". Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will have to decide whether to adopt a more confrontational policy.
America is demanding that the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which meets next month, refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. US officials are also openly discussing "covert" means of disrupting the Iranian nuclear programme, while Israel has openly threatened military action.
However, there were signs yesterday that the next report of Mohammed ElBaradei, the IAEA director general, may give Iran a boost.
A key mystery for the past year has been the source of traces of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) found by IAEA inspectors at several sites in Iran. Teheran claimed this was "contamination" of equipment imported from other countries, rather than proof that it had secretly made HEU.
According to diplomats, inspectors have confirmed that in at least one case the contamination did come from Pakistan, as Iran claimed.
Other contamination issues remain unresolved, and may never be settled. Moreover there are several other open questions.
ping!
;^)
I'm sorry, but what the hell?
This is dangerous. Iran wouldn't behave this way if they weren't right on the verge of getting nukes.
I think the Ayatollas just pulled a 'Dean Scream'.
Wow. I am so surprised.
The Mullahs have been acting as nutty as Kim Jong Il as of late.......out of sheer desperation, no doubt.
No, no. This is actually extremely serious.
I registred in response to it, in order to comment.
For those who know diplomacy: this is the diplomatic equivilant of the middle finger. If Iran is really behaving like this we've got every reason to be very worried about what stage their program is at.
C'mon, Israel: take that Iranian reactor out before it goes *critical*. Screw the rest of the world's opinion, and the EU-Girlie-Men. Do what you need to do to survive, a la Iraq, in the 80s!
I don't agree. Especially if (as this article indicates) these were ongoing negotiations.
If two nations at war are negotiating- and things are moving along fine- and one nation suddenly demands the other nation hand over its capital and disband its army, the power who made such demands has decided to stop talking.
Frankly, I expect this year's "October Surprise" to be synchronized Iranian and North Korean nuclear tests.
??? I do believe they want to start the final battle now?
Sounds like some good ol' North Korean-style negotiation. Whatever else they got from membership in good standing in the Axis of Evil, that's the most obvious.
Tick, tock...
Wanna bet that this will be blamed on Bush? How you ask?
He invaded the wrong "I" country. Then with the fine folks over in North Korea...Bush will be blamed for not paying attention to the real threats....oh boy...this is gonna suck.
Thank you Jimmy Carter for replacing a US Ally, (the Shah) with a "religious theocracy".
Eh Whot? Sorry old chappe, but it seems that one of our AIRCRAWFT, regrettably I MUST say, accidently "lost" one of its 2,0000 pound bombs...terribly sorry you know...faw, faw faw, but it hit that nuclear power plant...so sorry old bean...would you like to buy some coal???
Lord Faulty
One begins to wonder just what "foreign leaders" have promised to support John Kerry.
Sounds serious to me too.
By the way, welcome to Free Republic!
The IAEA is totally useless and if it turns out that they have nukes, Al Baradi ought to be hanged.
When Iran actually gets a nuke or two, they will probably make some outrageous demands, especially of Israel, that could lead directly to war. That will consist of an ultimatim, followed by rejection, followed by war.
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