Middle East News
Iran opens gates of nuclear site for escaping UN sanctions
Feb 3, 2007, 17:30 GMT
Isfahan, Iran - In a moved aimed at escaping UN sanctions, Iran Saturday opened its Isfahan nuclear plant to foreign press and envoys of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The moved came against the backdrop of the United Nations Security Council unanimously approving resolution 1737 calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment in its Natanz plant by February 21, or face sanctions.
Opening the Isfahan plant in central Iran - which is not a major feature of the resolution - was aimed at proving transparency and the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programmes to the envoys of the NAM troika of Cuba, Egypt and Malaysia.
The plant, covering over 150 acres of dry industrial area located some 300 kilometres southwest of Tehran and 20 km southeast of Isfahan, is heavily guarded by barbed wire fences, anti-aircraft batteries and radar stations.
The Isfahan plant is stated to be used for converting raw uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) which is later to be transferred to the neighbouring Natanz plant for being fed into centrifuges for enriching uranium.
Iran has stockpiled 250 tons of UF6 in Isfahan, all under full IAEA surveillance. Officials also showed the press the IAEA cameras installed at the main conversion room of the site.
Although the Isfahan plant was initially also subject of controversy between Iran and the international community, the past four years have seen global attention focus on on uranium enrichment in Natanz.
Iran's initiative to the Isfahan plant was seen by observers as of little use in changing world opinion on the country's nuclear programmes.
'The technical dispute is about uranium enrichment in Natanz and not conversion in Isfahan, and the political dispute is with 5+1 (five UN veto powers plus Germany) and not the NAM,' one European diplomat said in Tehran, reflecting a widely-held view.
Iranian political analyst Sadeq Zibakalam also saw Saturday's initiative as of limited use. 'If the scenario is to avoid the sanction resolution, then we should take the main sides - the United States and the European Union - and not the NAM member states,' he told Iran's ISNA news agency.
Several member states of NAM and Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) have spoken against punitive measures against Iran and granted the Islamic state the right to pursue civil nuclear programmes as signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
But observers say Iran's main struggle remains with the UN Security Council powers Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany, and all NAM or the Organisation of the Islamic Conference could do would be to issue a statement in favour of Iran with no effective political weight.
Iran's IAEA envoy, Ali-Asqar Soltani, who also acted as guide of the foreign inspectors, said there would be no obstacles for foreign delegations and press to visit the Natanz site as well.
But he added: 'The IAEA inspectors are more expert (than the press to judge on the nuclear activities) and de facto represent the international community in Nazanz.'
Soltani stressed at a press conference following the 60-minute inspection tour that activities both in Isfahan and Natanz were under the full surveillance of the IAEA and would remain so in the future.
He also played down the planned increase of the current 328 to 3,000 centrifuges within the next few days, on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
'The inspectors are here, they will report to (IAEA chief Mohamed) ElBaradei - and it is he who will make the final report to the IAEA on what has been fed into how many centrifuges,' Soltani said.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has several times proclaimed that a 'major development' will happen in February - but it remained unclear what this would be.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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I hope with all of my might that Iran gets nuclear weapons before the neocrazies attack them. That is the only hope of Iran or any country.
Perhaps N. Korea should make some technology transfer to Iran, and soon!
I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me why Iran needs to be able to enrich uranium for its 'peaceful' nuclear program. Several countries have agreed to supply peaceful grade enriched uranium for its nuclear power needs. Instead, it insists on enriching its own while importing 60% of its gasoline because it can't refine oil; that's a bit like a cattle farmer that has to buy fertilizer. President Iminajihad is quite a showman but if you look closely when the smoke clears, all you see is a little monkey with manure coming out of his mouth.
The ball is in the other court now because Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
This means that it is not subject to inspections and the threat of sanctions by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The extent of Israel's nuclear capability has been the subject of often wildly inaccurate intelligence estimates since the 1960s, when the country's nuclear reactor, at Dimona in the Negev desert, came online.
The shrouds of secrecy have lifted only once, in the mid-1980s, when a former worker at the plant, Mordechai Vanunu, gave a British newspaper descriptions and photographs of Israeli nuclear warheads.
Vanunu's evidence led to a sharp upwards revision of the number of nuclear warheads Israel was believed to possess - to at least 100 - and possibly as many as 200.
So if Iran is willing to allow the IAEA free access WHY DOSN'T ISRAEL DO THE SAME??????????
90% of Iran's population can be wiped out by less than 1/10th of a percent of the active U.S. Nukes.
0% of the U.S. Population can be wiped out by 100% of Iran's [nonexistent] Nukes.
Interesting.
I can almost hear the Iranians saying 'quick clean up this one, their coming' and 'take the fins off it and we can tell em its a trash can'.
Hey Frank,
Nice try, but we're talking about Iran here, not Israel.
Hey Lance,
Nice try, but we're talking about Iran here, not the US.
Either of you weapons experts want to tell me why Iran needs to enrich its own uranium in order to have a 'peaceful' nuclear program? Anyone want to take a stab at why this is more important than being able to refine their own oil into gasoline? I would have thought that a peaceful energy program would include importing enriched uranium that can be used to fuel a power plant now along with building refinery capability to reduce thier dependence on imported gasoline. I would really appreciate it if you guys could fill in the blanks for me.
highseasdrifter - 'Either of you weapons experts want to tell me why Iran needs to enrich its own uranium in order to have a 'peaceful' nuclear program?'
highseasdrifter: It's so obvious it isn't funny. Iran does it for the same reason the US and Russia stockpile more Nukes than they could possibly use: World Domination. Nukes are equivalent to negotiation power. But, the reality is that it takes decades to get there and while the U.S. and Russia are mature Nuke powers with plenty of ICBMs, the fact is Iran is a newcomer with NO inter-continental potential and nearly no weapon grade Nuke capability in any substantive quantity. Bush is throwing a tantrum because he wants the control and doesn't want to share it with anyone that doesn't play nice with him and suck up to him. Iran has potential, but that is different from having Nukes. Just the potential is enough to send Bush into a fit.
People do the same thing in small town America ... no guy actually needs a Lamborghini, but everyone wants one because they can pick up hot chicks in it and impress their beer drinking and football watching guy buddies with their (alleged) spending power. Same thing with a 50inch Plasma HDTV.
highseasdrifter: To carry the metaphor forward: If one of your neighbors gets a Lamborghini and you think they are going to drive crazy and run over one of your kids, then this is what you have to do: SHUT UP; unless you have very substantive factual information that you can take to the police. The law give you no right to take the Lamborghini away from your neighbor, unless your neighbor uses it as a weapon. I wouldn't recommend anyone actually get a Lamborghini because they are a target of thieves and con artists, plus the stick shift knob always get ripped off; and there are always people nagging that the Lamborghini is a waste of money, that you don't need it, that you just have it for power and to pick up chicks and on and on.
But, if your neighbor gets a Lamborghini and attracts your wife with it, then one strategy would be for you to get a Lamborghini and return the favor; if that is a game you want to play.
It is all just a game.
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SP4: wow. I feel better already.Feb 3rd, 2007 - 18:29:09
They opened the gates...what a relief. I guess all that silly talk about plutonium is over...
Tick Tock.
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