IAEA – Page 3 – Infinite Unknown

IAEA: Iran on Brink of Nuclear Weapon

September 8, 2010 by Infinite

(Reuters) – Russia and China called on trade partner Iran on Tuesday to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog after the Vienna-based organisation accused Tehran of making its work more difficult by barring some inspectors.

Iran, which rejects Western accusations it is seeking to build atom bombs, said it was cooperating fully with the agency and had the right to reject U.N. inspectors which gave “false” information about its nuclear programme.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, obtained by Reuters on Monday, said the Islamic Republic was pushing ahead with its nuclear work in defiance of tougher international sanctions.

Iran has passed a crucial nuclear threshold, weapons inspectors have warned, and could now go on to arm an atomic missile with relative ease.

Iran on brink of nuclear weapon, warns watchdog
Fuel is unloaded at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, August 21, 2010 Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iranian nuclear scientists had made at least 22 kilograms of enriched uranium up to 20 per cent purity, a technical hurdle that is the hardest to overcome on the way to weapons-grade uranium.

Experts estimate that 20 kgs of uranium is a significant step toward arming a warhead. The uranium would still need to have its purity raised to 90 per cent, but that is a relatively easy process.

The agency’s report comes in spite of the recent imposition at the United Nations of a fresh round of sanctions against Iran and will heighten fears of an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear plants. The prospect of an attack had receded only recently with American assurances that Tehran was more than a year away from acquiring a bomb.

The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog indicated Tehran had maintained its absolute defiance of international pressure to curb its programme despite the imposition of harsh sanctions in May. The IAEA has grown increasingly alarmed at Iran’s behaviour and the latest report, which will be presented to the agency’s governors at a meeting next week, lambasted Tehran on a series of fronts.

The country’s refusal to answer questions on its attempts to make a nuclear warhead that could be fitted on to its most advanced missiles was denounced as a violation of sanctions.

The agency also rebuked the regime for its repeated failure to co-operate with weapons inspections designed to ensure that material was held securely at Iranian plants.

Iran barred two weapons inspectors from the country in June after they reported undeclared nuclear activity by scientists. It has also systematically objected to other scientists on spurious grounds.

IAEA: U.N. inspectors found ‘nothing to be worried about’ at Iran site

November 6, 2009 by Infinite

A view of the underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, Iran, in a DigitalGlobe satellite image released with notations by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) on April 16, 2006.

VIENNA (Reuters) – U.N. inspectors found “nothing to be worried about” in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.

Mohamed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has foundered over Iranian objections.

The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity.

ElBaradei was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying his inspectors’ initial findings at the fortified site beneath a desert mountain near the Shi’ite holy city of Qom were “nothing to be worried about.”

Exclusive: IAEA letter thanks Iran over notification

October 2, 2009 by Infinite

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has thanked Iran for providing the agency with information about the construction of its new pilot enrichment plant.

“With reference to the letter of 21 September 2009… from HE Ambassador Soltanieh to the Director General of the Agency Dr ElBaradei, I wish to thank the Islamic Republic of Iran for providing the Agency with information about Iran’s activities related to the construction of a new pilot enrichment plant,” read a letter by the IAEA to Iran, a copy of which was obtained by Press TV.

Iran, on September 21, informed the agency that it was constructing an enrichment plant in Fordu, south of the capital Tehran. The plant will be, according to senior lawmaker Hassan Ghafouri-Fard, used as a backup facility to Iran’s first enrichment facility in Natanz.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says its program is solely aimed at the civilian applications of the technology.

“To ensure that appropriate safeguard measures are put in place, I would appreciate receiving, in accordance with Iran’s Safeguards Agreement, further information with respect to the name and location of the pilot enrichment facility, the current status of its construction and plans for the introduction of nuclear material into the facility,” continued the IAEA letter, signed by Herman Nackaerts, Director of IAEA’s Division Of Operations Department Of Safeguards.

“We kindly request that this information, along with the other information detailed in the attached design information questionnaire, be provided to the Agency as soon as possible. The Agency would also appreciate being given access to the facility as soon as possible.”

Iran, under the Safeguards Agreement, is obliged to inform the IAEA of a new facility six months before using it for nuclear purposes. Tehran, however, informed the IAEA of the construction about a-year-and-a-half before the introduction of nuclear material.

Iran’s Nuclear Program: Iran truthful, in treaty compliance; US & Israel lying, in treaty violation

October 1, 2009 by Infinite

This article is a must-read.

“The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” – H. L. Mencken

We hold these Truths to be self-evident…

The title is of this article is alarming, and accurate. It will brief you on:

· the treaty that manages Iran’s nuclear program,
· the status of compliance with Iran, the US with the UK and now France, and Israel,
· analysis for the disinformation delivered by the US, UK, France, Israel.

The treaty in question: The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT): The Non-Proliferation Treaty[1] (NPT) was designed to limit nuclear weapon development, facilitate availability of nuclear energy, and lead to global nuclear disarmament. The treaty allows any country to develop nuclear material for energy, receive the assistance of the nuclear countries to do so (US, UK, France, Russia, and China), and then be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify they do not refine fissionable material beyond energy-grade (3-5%) to weapons-grade (over 85%). To date, no NPT country with a nuclear energy program has developed nuclear weapons. Iran and the US are signatories of NPT. Therefore, the legal and Constitutional US response is to help Iran develop nuclear energy.

Status of compliance: You need three brief paragraphs of history to put the present into context: in 1953, the United States CIA, led by one of President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandsons, initiated a coup in Iran (Operation Ajax[2]) to remove the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. The Iranian government was understandably dissatisfied with the terms of its contract with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company that allowed British interests to claim 85% of the oil profit from Iran.[3] Iran voted to nationalize the oil industry in 1951 after the British declined to renegotiate the terms. The US-led coup was successful, and the royal monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,[4] became virtual dictator. Fearing popular reprisal, Pahlavi’s government was supported by the CIA in creating the Iranian SAVAK, a vicious secret police for the Shah’s dictatorial government.[5] We can only assume that the oil revenue sharing agreement with the Shah was acceptable to the US and UK.

Under the Eisenhower administration, the US cooperated with the Shah’s government for the development of Iranian nuclear energy through the “Atoms for Peace” program.[6] President Ford agreed to US full cooperation to help Iran build about two dozen nuclear energy plants. When the Iranian people overthrew the Shah’s government in 1979, the US stopped cooperating. The US backed Iraq in their invasion of Iran in 1980 and throughout the war until 1988, seeking a more US-friendly Iranian government. The US provided Saddam Hussein with chemical and biological weapons to use against Iran that the W. Bush administration later used as justification for invading Iraq.[7] Since 1979, the US has worked to prevent Iran having a nuclear energy program, even under the legal provisions of the NPT, and reneged on a multi-billion dollar contract to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran without refunding Iran’s money.[8]

Therefore, all US administrations since Carter in 1979 have committed lies of omission by not disclosing to the public Iran’s treaty-right to nuclear energy under NPT. US political “leadership” obfuscates the issue with rhetoric of Iran’s “nuclear program” to link energy with weapons.[9] Ironically, the US is in additional violation of NPT by developing new nuclear weapons and threatening to use them rather than work for global disarmament as per treaty terms.[10] The US actions are also in violation of the UN Charter in threatening war.[11]

The UK and France are out of NPT compliance by not assisting Iran for nuclear energy development and then accepting the reasonable terms of full monitoring of nuclear refinement that has had a perfect history for safety and compliance for over 40 years. Israel is not signatory to NPT; they ironically choose what they accuse of Iran: a secret nuclear weapons program estimated at 200 warheads. Israel has also been found by the UN’s Human Rights Council to be in numerous violations of War Crimes against Gaza.

The previous three paragraphs are plain vanilla history in conservatively-known content. This means it is encyclopedic and not disputed by government or argued by historians. It should be clear to you that “leadership” from both political parties and mainstream media do not provide the necessary context of history and treaty facts to evaluate the Bush and Obama administrations’ statements threatening war with Iran. Their collective use of the term “nuclear program” is intentionally conflating the two distinct technologies of legal low-grade energy refinement with illegal very high-grade weapons refinement. We could also call it fraud, as it deliberately misinforms.[12]

Iran is in compliance of NPT by having all facilities disclosed and open for IAEA monitoring. On Monday September 21, 2009 Iran disclosed to IAEA per NPT terms of 180 day notification of a new nuclear energy facility that is about 18 months away from operation. For discussion, read here.

Paul Craig Roberts: Another War in the Works; America Is Led and Informed by Liars

October 15, 2009September 29, 2009 by Infinite

Related information: Ron Paul on the Iranian Nuclear Program

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

paul-craig-roberts
Paul Craig Roberts

Does anyone remember all the lies that they were told by President Bush and the “mainstream media” about the grave threat to America from weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? These lies were repeated endlessly in the print and TV media despite the reports from the weapons inspectors, who had been sent to Iraq, that no such weapons existed.

The weapons inspectors did an honest job in Iraq and told the truth, but the mainstream media did not emphasize their findings. Instead, the media served as a Ministry of Propaganda, beating the war drums for the US government.

Now the whole process is repeating itself. This time the target is Iran.

As there is no real case against Iran, Obama took a script from Bush’s playbook and fabricated one.

First the facts: As a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty, Iran’s nuclear facilities are open to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which carefully monitors Iran’s nuclear energy program to make certain that no material is diverted to nuclear weapons.

The IAEA has monitored Iran’s nuclear energy program and has announced repeatedly that it has found no diversion of nuclear material to a weapons program. All 16 US intelligence agencies have affirmed and reaffirmed that Iran abandoned interest in nuclear weapons years ago.

In keeping with the safeguard agreement that the IAEA be informed before an enrichment facility comes online, Iran informed the IAEA on September 21 that it had a new nuclear facility under construction. By informing the IAEA, Iran fulfilled its obligations under the safeguards agreement. The IAEA will inspect the facility and monitor the nuclear material produced to make sure it is not diverted to a weapons program.

Despite these unequivocal facts, Obama announced on September 25 that Iran has been caught with a “secret nuclear facility” with which to produce a bomb that would threaten the world.

The Obama regime’s claim that Iran is not in compliance with the safeguards agreement is disinformation. Between the end of 2004 and early 2007, Iran voluntarily complied with an additional protocol (Code 3.1) that was never ratified and never became a legal part of the safeguards agreement. The additional protocol would have required Iran to notify the IAEA prior to beginning construction of a new facility, whereas the safeguards agreement in force requires notification prior to completion of a new facility. Iran ceased its voluntary compliance with the unratified additional protocol in March 2007, most likely because of the American and Israeli misrepresentations of Iran’s existing facilities and military threats against them.

By accusing Iran of having a secret “nuclear weapons program” and demanding that Iran “come clean” about the nonexistent program, adding that he does not rule out a military attack on Iran, Obama mimics the discredited Bush regime’s use of nonexistent Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction” to set up Iraq for invasion.

The US media, even the “liberal” National Public Radio, quickly fell in with the Obama lie machine. Steven Thomma of the McClatchy Newspapers declared the non-operational facility under construction, which Iran reported to the IAEA, to be “a secret nuclear facility.”

Ron Paul on the Iranian Nuclear Program

October 22, 2009September 29, 2009 by Infinite

Added: 28. September 2009

Paul Craig Roberts: Hypocrisy in Pittsburgh – More Lies, More Deceptions

September 29, 2009September 29, 2009 by Infinite

Iran has not invaded another country for over 200 years!

paul-craig-roberts
Paul Craig Roberts

The G-20 ministers declared their meeting in Pittsburgh a success, but as Rob Kall reports in OpEdNews.com, the meeting’s main success was to turn Pittsburgh into “a ghost-town, emptied of workers and the usual pedestrians, but filled to overflowing with over 12,000 swat cops from all over the US.”

This is “freedom and democracy” at work. The leaders of the G-20 countries, which account for 85% of the world’s income, cannot meet in an American city without 12,000 cops outfitted like the emperor’s storm troopers in Star Wars. And the US government complains about Iran.

The US government’s complaints about Iran have reached a new level of shrillness. On September 25 Obama declared: “Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow.” The heads of America’s British, French, and German puppet states added their two cents worth, giving the government of Iran three months to meet the “international community’s demands” to give up its rights as a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty to nuclear energy. In case you don’t know, the term “international community” is shorthand for the US, Israel, and Europe, a handful of arrogant and rich countries that oppress the rest of the world.

Who is breaking the rules? Iran or the United States?

Iran is insisting that the US government abide by the non-proliferation treaty that the US originated and pushed and that Iran signed. But the US government, which is currently engaged in three wars of aggression and has occupying troops in a number of other countries, insists that Iran, which is invading and occupying no country, cannot be trusted with nuclear energy capability, because the capability might in the future lead to nuclear weapon capability, like Israel’s, India’s, and Pakistan’s–all non-signatories to the nuclear proliferation treaty, countries that, unlike Iran, have never submitted to IAEA inspections. Indeed, at this very moment the Israeli government is screaming and yelling “anti-semite” to the suggestion that Israel submit to IAEA inspections. Iran has submitted to the IAEA inspections for years.

In keeping with its obligations under the treaty, on September 21 Iran disclosed to the International Atomic Energy Agency that it is constructing another nuclear facility. The British prime minister Gordon Brown confused Iran’s disclosure with “serial deception,” and declared, “We will not let this matter rest.”

What matter? Why does Gordon Brown think that Iran’s disclosure to the IAEA is a deception. Does the moronic UK prime minister mean that Iran is claiming to be constructing a plant but is not, and thus by claiming one is deceiving the world?

Not to be outdone in idiocy, out of Obama’s mouth jumped Orwellian doublespeak: “The Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.”

The incongruity blows the mind. Here is Obama, with troops engaged in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan demanding that a peaceful nation at war with no one demonstrate “its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law.”

It is the US government and its NATO puppet states, and militarist Israel, of course, that need to be held accountable to international law. Under international law the US, its NATO puppets, and Israel are war criminal governments. There is no doubt about it. The record is totally clear. The US, Israel, and the NATO puppet states have committed military aggression exactly as did Germany’s Third Reich, and they have murdered large numbers of civilians. Following the Fuhrer’s script, “the great democratic republics” have justified these acts of lawlessness with lies and deceptions.

Philip Giraldi: Wag The Dog, Again

August 21, 2009 by Infinite

A must read article by former CIA field officer Philip Giraldi.

Philip Giraldi was the foreign policy advisor to Ron Paul during his last presidential run.

giraldi
Philip Giraldi

aipac_rules_america

Israeli media reports that visiting National Security Adviser General Jim Jones and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have told the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop complaining about Iran because the US is preparing to take action “in eight weeks” demonstrate that even when everything changes in Washington, nothing changes. President Barack Obama has claimed that a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a high priority but the Israelis and their allies in congress and the media have been able to stonewall the issue. Israel has made no concessions on its settlement policy, which is rightly seen as the single biggest obstacle to eventual creation of a Palestinian state, and has instead pushed ahead with new building and confiscations of Arab homes. Obama has protested both Israeli actions but done nothing else, meaning that Israel has determined that the new US president’s policies are toothless, giving it a free hand to deal with the Arabs. Vice President Joe Biden’s comments that Israel is free to attack Iran if it sees fit was a warning that worse might be coming. If the Israeli reports are true, it would appear that the Obama Administration has now bought completely into the Israeli view of Iran and is indicating to Tel Aviv that it will fall into line to bring the Mullahs to their knees. In short, Israel gets what it wants and Washington yet again surrenders.

President Obama’s ultimatum that Iran must start talks and quickly “or else” may be based on the belief that pressuring the government in Tehran will produce a positive result. If that is the judgment, it is wrong. Sanctions did not force Italy to change its policies in 1935, nor those of Japan five years later. Saddam Hussein survived them in the 1990s, and they have most certainly not brought the Cuban government down after fifty years of trying. The Iranian government will only respond by closing ranks against foreign pressure. Quite possibly, the only result an enhanced sanctions regime backed by a military threat will produce is a war, which would be catastrophic both for the United States and for Iran. Nor would it be particularly good for Israel in spite of what the current crackpot regime in Tel Aviv might think.

Iran: Nuclear plant to start operating by August 22

August 16, 2009 by Infinite

What Iran does is perfectly legal under international law.

Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran is regularly inspected by the IAEA.

It is Israel that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, because this would mean mandatory inspections of their nuclear facilities.

It is Israel that has about 150 nuclear weapons as former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has said.

Any force that would attack Iran is responsible for starting WW III as Russian officials have stated.

bushehr

Iran said on Tuesday that its much-delayed nuclear power plant, where testing began last month, would start operating by August 22.

The 1,000-megawatt Russian-built plant in the southern port city of Bushehr will first generate around 500 megawatts by August 22, Energy Minister Parviz Fattah said, quoted by state television’s website.

The Russian federal nuclear company which is constructing the plant has so far declined to give a date for the start-up.

“By the end of the Iranian month of Mordad (August 22), 500 megawatts of the 1,000 megawatt Bushehr nuclear plant will be transmitted to the national grid,” Fattah said.

“The remaining 500 megawatts will be transmitted in the second half of the (Iranian) year,” which will end in March 2010.

On March 4, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced in parliament that the plant would begin operating by September.

Iranian and Russian officials began testing the plant on February 25, as Tehran pressed on with its controversial nuclear programme despite Western fears it may be secretly trying to build an atomic bomb.

Moscow supplied the fuel for the plant in 2008 but it is currently sealed by the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been investigating Iran’s nuclear drive for six years.

UN nuclear chief boycotts BBC over Gaza appeal

January 28, 2009 by Infinite

Watch the Gaza aid appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee rejected by the BBC and Sky

The head of the UN”s nuclear watchdog has cancelled planned interviews with the BBC in protest at the corporation’s decision not to air an emergency appeal for Gaza on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee.

In a statement to the Guardian, Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace prize winner, unleashed a stinging denunciation of the BBC, deepening the damage already caused by the controversy.

[ BBC accused of fakery over Barack Obama inauguration speech (Telegraph) ]

The statement, from his office at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the BBC decision not to air the aid appeal for victims of the conflict “violates the rules of basic human decency which are there to help vulnerable people, irrespective of who is right or wrong”.

It said the IAEA director had cancelled interviews with BBC World Service television and radio, which had been scheduled to take place at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Saturday.

Hans Blix Would Testify Against Bush-Cheney War Crimes

December 21, 2008December 21, 2008 by Infinite

On their History Rewrite Tour, Bush and Cheney insist the pre-war intelligence about Iraq’s WMD’s was bad and they were innocent dupes.

Of course we all know the truth from the Downing Street Memos and dozens of other sources, which is that “the intelligence and facts were fixed” around the policy of invasion. And here’s one more damning piece of evidence, courtesy of Roads to Iraq. (The Aljazeera link is in Arabic – someone needs to translate it.)

In an interview with Aljazeera today, former Chief of the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq told the TV that he and the Head of the IAEA “Mohamed Al-Baradei” were subjected to direct threats from Dick Cheney before the war.

Blix said that Cheney threatened to defame both men’s reputations if they didn’t came with the “required” answers.

It’s the same story from everyone else – Bush and Cheney demanded pro-war lies under one threat or another – being defamed, getting fired, and even outing covert CIA operatives. The Bush Administration was nothing more than a mafia operation.

But here’s the good part:

Blix also added that he is ready to be a witness on the United States’ false allegations before an International tribunal.

You go, Hans!

Submitted by Bob Fertik on December 21, 2008

Source: Democrats.com

Bush and Olmert to meet over Iran’s nuclear ambitions

November 21, 2008 by Infinite

The White House, announcing the meeting with Mr Olmert, gave little indication that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions would be at the top of the agenda

President Bush is to hold White House talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday after publication of a nuclear watchdog’s report this week showing that Iran may have stockpiled enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb.

The International Atomic Energy Agency believes that Iran has amassed 630kg of low enriched (=useless) uranium, up from 480kg in late August. Some experts believe this is enough to produce the weapons-grade material needed for a crude nuclear device similar in size to that which America used to destroy the city of Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.

Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, said: “It’s concerning. This is a matter that will be taken up next week at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.” Asked if Tehran now had sufficient material to build a bomb, he suggested that there were different opinions. “Some said it was enough; others said it was not enough, but close,” said Mr McCormack. “In any case, you don’t want Iran to get close.”

In its report, the IAEA said that Iran was working hard roughly to double its number of operating centrifuges. European diplomats say that Iran might have 6,000 centrifuges enriching uranium by the end of the year – and plans to install another 3,000 early next year.

Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated

November 11, 2008 by Infinite

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.

The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source — most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.

The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents, according to a Vienna-based diplomatic source close to the IAEA, who spoke to RAW STORY on condition of anonymity.

The laptop documents include what the IAEA has described in a published report as technical drawings of efforts to redesign the nosecone of the Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missile “to accommodate a nuclear warhead.” The documents are also said to include studies on the use of a high explosive detonation system, drawings of a shaft apparently to be used for nuclear tests, and studies on a bench-scale uranium conversion facility.

These technical papers, along with some correspondence related to the alleged secret Iranian program — referred to by the IAEA as “alleged studies” — have been the primary basis during 2008 for the insistence by the US-led international coalition pushing for sanctions against Iran that the Iranian case must be kept going in the United Nations Security Council.

EU and US block IAEA Israel resolution

October 5, 2008 by Infinite

The International Atomic Energy Agency conference of 145 nations criticizes Israel for refusing to put its atomic program under monitoring.

Israel is known to have nuclear arms, but has a “no tell” policy on the issue.

However, Israel managed to evade a vote to link it to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.

FM: Iran will never halt uranium enrichment

October 5, 2008 by Infinite

TEHRAN, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday that Iran will never halt uranium enrichment even if the West guarantees its need for nuclear fuel, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Mottaki made the remarks at a joint press conference with his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro.

“They (the western countries) are not trustworthy and we have experienced this,” Mottaki said.

“The peaceful nuclear activities of Iran, especially the enrichment and generating of fuel for the nuclear power stations, will never be stopped until we gain independence,” he added.

Military intelligence: Iran halfway to first nuclear bomb

September 22, 2008 by Infinite

Have a look at the related articles from the Jerusalem Post:

“Column One: Israel must bomb Iran’s nuclear installations”

Warmongers ahead!?

Israel has according to Jimmy Carter around 150 nuclear weapons. Even if Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon, is this reason enough for an attack? If so, then maybe someone should have been attacking Israel for developing 150 of them. And not just Israel is beating the war drums: Ron Paul: I hear members of Congress saying “if we could only nuke Iran”.

So Israel and/or the US might nuke Iran to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon? How can you even come up with such madness? Are there so many potential Hitlers walking the face of the earth these days?

The US have told Israel recently several times not to attack Iran, but that could be just a ruse. And who sold Israel just recently 1000 smart bombs? ‘U.S. to sell Israel Air Force smart bombs for heavily fortified targets’

Politicians and military ‘experts’ may call this a ‘surgical strike’, but any attack on Iran will cause WW III. Basta!
___________________________________________________________________________

Sep 22, 2008 0:05 | Updated Sep 22, 2008 15:53
Source: The Jerusalem Post

Military intelligence: Iran halfway to first nuclear bomb

Iran is halfway to a nuclear bomb, and Hizbullah, Hamas and Syria are using this period of relative calm to significantly rearm, Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, the Military Intelligence’s head of research, told the cabinet Sunday during a particularly gloomy briefing on the threats facing the country.

Ahmadinejad: We’ll stop any attacker

Baidatz said there was a growing gap between Iran’s progress on the nuclear front and the West’s determination to stop it. “Iran is concentrating on uranium enrichment, and is making progress,” he said, noting that they have improved the function of their 4,000 centrifuges.

According to Baidatz, the Iranian centrifuges have so far produced between one-third to one-half of the enriched material needed to build a bomb.

“The time when they will have crossed the nuclear point-of-no-return is fast approaching,” he said, though he stopped short of giving a firm deadline. Last week in the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, however, he put the date at 2011.

‘U.S. may use Georgian air bases to strike at Iran’

September 18, 2008 by Infinite

AFP Photo/US Navy/ Peter Scheu

The U.S. military could have plans to use Georgian air bases to launch air strikes against Iran, according to Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin. He pointed out that Georgia would be the perfect base for a potential U.S. operation in Iran.

Speaking in Brussels, Dmitry Rogozin said:

“What NATO is doing now in Georgia is restoring its ability to monitor its airspace, in other words restoring the whole locator system and an anti-missile defence system which were destroyed by Russian artillery. Now these systems are being restored as soon as possible. We have unconfirmed information that American ships under cover of himanitarian aid have delivered all the equipment necessary for the restoration of these systems.”

He noted that there it is impossible that these preparations are designed for Georgia’s protection against Russia, since the war in the Caucasus is over and all the security measures in South Ossetia and Abkhazia are being pursued.

“It’s done for logistical support of some air operations either of the alliance as a whole or of the United States in particular in this region. The swift reconstruction of the airfields and all the systems proves that some air operation is being planned against another country which is located not far from Georgia. What country could it be? Which country is in the spotlight now? Of course it’s Iran, there are no other countries,” the envoy said.

IAEA: Iran blocks probe into alleged atom bomb work

September 15, 2008 by Infinite

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has blocked a U.N. inquiry into whether it researched ways to make a nuclear bomb, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday, as Britain said it would push hard for tougher sanctions against Tehran.

A confidential IAEA report said Iran had raised the number of centrifuges enriching uranium by 500 to 3,820 since May and was stepping up development of an advanced model able to refine nuclear fuel 2-3 times faster, in defiance of U.N. resolutions.

But a senior U.N. official familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency findings said Iran seemed a good two years away from enriching enough uranium for an atomic weapon, if it eventually chose to do so.

Iran denies its nuclear work is aimed at developing a bomb.

Qatar warns against attacking Iran

September 7, 2008September 7, 2008 by Infinite

Qatari emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, has warned that Doha will not allow any country to turn the Persian Gulf into a war zone.

His remarks on the subject come in an environment of long-standing US and Israel threats to launch an attack against Iranian nuclear installations under the pretext that Tehran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is planning to secretly weaponize its civilian use nuclear program.

The international nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has strongly denied the charge with. IAEA chief Mohammad elBaradei stating he would resign if Iran is attacked on this pretext.

Tehran insists that its program is purely for electricity generation.

Nations to establish independent new world order – Ahmadinejad

September 7, 2008April 9, 2008 by Infinite

Stressing that era for the US Government to consider itself the owner of the entire world is over, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here, “Resorting to countless capabilities, world nations would establish an independent new world order, if hegemonic powers would keep on exerting pressure over them.” President Ahmadinejad made the comment in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo news agency, adding, “Today is beginning of an era for the domineering of the world nations who will soon impose their will, like many governments that are fed up with the status quo of the unjust international relations and willing to alter them, and this is an event that would definitely take place.”

OPPRESSIVE POWERS HAVE BECOME ISOLATED
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran pointed out that the oppressive powers of the world had assumed they could isolate the Iranian nation, but the reverse has happened today, since Iran enjoys excellent and friendly ties with most world nations based on mutual respect.

President Ahmadinejad further reiterated, “On the contrary, the US government is suffering from having achieved the worst international status today. They had assumed if they would sit at the UN Security Council and decide over a matter it would be done for sure, while they had better realize if such decisions remain unheeded it means that they need to harmonize with world nations.”
He added, “It is to their own benefit to do so, since otherwise they would be fully isolated in the long run.”
Ahmadinejad added, “Today no nation, including the Japanese nation, likes the politicians of the oppressive powers, such as the US president, and I can assure you that even the Americans do not like their own president.”