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OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
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Posted on Tue, Jul. 27, 2004
Diplomats: Iran resumes nuclear program GEORGE JAHN Associated Press VIENNA, Austria - Iran has broken the U.N. nuclear watchdog's seals on centrifuge equipment and resumed building the devices, which are key to making nuclear weapons, in a show of defiance against international efforts to monitor its program, diplomats said Tuesday. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of working on a weapons program, something Tehran denies. It says its centrifuges are part of a nuclear program aimed solely at producing energy. Under international pressure last year, the Islamic republic agreed to stop enriching uranium and making centrifuges used for enrichment. But after the International Atomic Energy Agency rebuked it in June for not being open enough about its nuclear program, Tehran responded by saying it would end the suspension on building centrifuges. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that several weeks ago, Iranian officials broke IAEA seals on the equipment and restarted the process of assembling and installing centrifuges. The diplomats cautioned against equating Iran's move with the removal of IAEA seals on nuclear equipment by North Korea two years ago as it expelled agency inspectors and declared itself no longer bound by the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The agency was informed of Iran's decision to break the seals, which - unlike in North Korea - "were not a legal requirement" on the part of Tehran, one of the diplomats told The Associated Press. Iran still was respecting its pledge not to resume nuclear enrichment, which can be used to generate power or make warheads, said the diplomat, who is familiar with Tehran's nuclear dossier. Still, the move reflected Iranian defiance of international constraints on its nuclear program that have included more than a year of stringent IAEA inspections. Those inspections have come up with evidence strengthening suspicions about Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Iran suspended the centrifuge activity under a deal with Britain, France and Germany, which have been trying to find a negotiated resolution on Iran's nuclear program. But the removal of the seals could push the Europeans closer to the United States' position, which is to haul Iran before the U.N. Security Council for allegedly violating the Nonproliferation Treaty. That could lead to U.N. sanctions against Iran. Earlier this month, Washington called for a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors but could not get support from Britain and other close allies, said another diplomat. The Security Council can only get involved if the board asks it to take up Iran's case. Washington hoped the resumption of Iran's nuclear activities would give them the backing they need at the next regular board session, which starts Sept. 13, the diplomat said. Iran has not publicly announced that it has resumed building centrifuges. But President Mohammad Khatami told reporters in Tehran earlier this month that "there is no impediment to doing this work." Sources at Iran's state-run television recently told the AP that the country's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, said Iran restarted building centrifuges June 29 but that the broadcaster was told not to show it. Apparently, there were concerns about international criticism of Iran. IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said last month he hoped Iran would reverse its decision to restart building centrifuges. Khatami and other Iranian officials say the Europeans broke the deal under which Iran suspended its nuclear activities. Khatami said the three European powers promised to work toward closing Iran's file with the IAEA by June if Iran stopped making centrifuges. Iran stopped doing so in April, but the IAEA issued a sharply phrased resolution at its June meeting indicating it felt too many unanswered questions remained. Most of the concerns focus on the source of traces of highly enriched uranium found at several sites and the extent and nature of work on the advanced P-2 centrifuge, used to enrich uranium. Iran has acknowledged working with the P-2, but said its activities were purely experimental. It says the minute amounts of enriched uranium were from equipment bought on the nuclear black market. ElBaradei has indirectly questioned such assertions, suggesting that at least in one instance uranium enriched to 36 percent - not yet weapons-grade but higher than needed for energy generation - appeared to have been enriched domestically. A report written by him also said Iran inquired about buying thousands of magnets on the black market - substantially more than Tehran needed for what it said was purely a centrifuge research program. ElBaradei has said Iran expressed interest in 100,000 magnets. |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
NOYB wrote:
Posted on Tue, Jul. 27, 2004 Diplomats: Iran resumes nuclear program GEORGE JAHN Associated Press VIENNA, Austria - Iran has broken the U.N. nuclear watchdog's seals on centrifuge equipment and resumed building the devices, which are key to making nuclear weapons, in a show of defiance against international efforts to monitor its program, diplomats said Tuesday. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of working on a weapons program, something Tehran denies. It says its centrifuges are part of a nuclear program aimed solely at producing energy. Iran has nothing to fear from us. Bush blew our wad in Iraq, and no one is going to let him invade another country unless that country itself- its actual government, not some ragtag terrorists hiding out in it- makes war on us. -- We have nothing to fear.. ....but four more years of George W. Bush. |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
"Harry Krause" wrote in message ... NOYB wrote: Posted on Tue, Jul. 27, 2004 Diplomats: Iran resumes nuclear program GEORGE JAHN Associated Press VIENNA, Austria - Iran has broken the U.N. nuclear watchdog's seals on centrifuge equipment and resumed building the devices, which are key to making nuclear weapons, in a show of defiance against international efforts to monitor its program, diplomats said Tuesday. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of working on a weapons program, something Tehran denies. It says its centrifuges are part of a nuclear program aimed solely at producing energy. Iran has nothing to fear from us. Bush blew our wad in Iraq, and no one is going to let him invade another country unless that country itself- its actual government, not some ragtag terrorists hiding out in it- makes war on us. We'll take a page from the Democratic paly book and bomb the crap out of Iran with cruise missles. |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
"The United States is showing off by threatening to use its wild dog,
Israel," the public relations head of the Revolutionary Guards, Commander Seyed Masood Jazayeri, was quoted as saying by the Iranian student news agency ISNA. "They will not hesitate to strike Iran if they are capable of it. However, their threats to attack Irans nuclear facilities cannot be realised. They are aware Tehran's reaction will be so harsh that Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth and US interests will be easily damaged," he warned. |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
Official Warns of Iranian Infiltration Iraqi Government Worries That Old Enemies Are Exploiting Open Borders By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, July 26, 2004; Page A14 BAGHDAD, July 25 -- Hazim Shalan, Iraq's defense minister, charged in an interview that Iran has taken over Iraqi border positions, sent spies and saboteurs into the country and infiltrated the new government -- including his own ministry. Iran remains "the first enemy of Iraq," he declared. Shalan's comments were the clearest sign the new government is concerned that the country's open borders are being exploited by old enemies, turning Iraq into a battleground for Middle Eastern opponents of the United States. "I've seen clear interference in Iraqi issues by Iran," Shalan said Saturday. "Iran interferes in order to kill democracy." Shalan accused Iran of supporting "terrorism and bringing enemies into Iraq." Spreading out a hand-drawn map on his desk in the Defense Ministry, an ornate former government building secluded in the former Green Zone, Shalan pointed out what he said were numerous Iraqi border positions that Iran has taken over. Shalan said that former fighters from Afghanistan have been caught in Iraq and that they have admitted receiving help from Iranian security forces. A Sudanese man with Iranian intelligence contacts was caught in April with a "very powerful poison," Shalan said, and planned to contaminate drinking water in Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad. Two other people who were "working with Iranian intelligence" were seized in northeastern Iraq three weeks ago, he said. Shalan bluntly warned Iran: "We can send the death to Tehran's streets, like they do to us. But we can't do it if we are a democracy. But if my people say do it now, I will do it." |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
NOYB wrote:
More on Iran: What's Iran Got to Do With It? Tuesday, July 27, 2004 By Liza Porteus FOX News' Bret Baier and Trish Turner contributed to this report. Ahh, Faux News, the All-Bush All-the-Time Network. -- "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
"Harry Krause" wrote in message ... NOYB wrote: More on Iran: What's Iran Got to Do With It? Tuesday, July 27, 2004 By Liza Porteus FOX News' Bret Baier and Trish Turner contributed to this report. Ahh, Faux News, the All-Bush All-the-Time Network. And what precisely does that have to do with the facts layed out in the the report? Or did you not read it? |
OT--Iran keeps playing with fire
NOYB wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message ... NOYB wrote: More on Iran: What's Iran Got to Do With It? Tuesday, July 27, 2004 By Liza Porteus FOX News' Bret Baier and Trish Turner contributed to this report. Ahh, Faux News, the All-Bush All-the-Time Network. And what precisely does that have to do with the facts layed out in the the report? Or did you not read it? Of course not. If it is "Faux News" "enterprise" reporting, it is All-Bush****-All-the-Time. Faux is nothing more than a GOP house organ. -- "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." -George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 |
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