Today the Iranian government set a one-month deadline for the West to accept its counterproposal for swapping enriched uranium. Iran says it is now ready to swap its Natanz-produced LEU for higher enriched uranium needed for its research reactor in several stages. It also has proposed Turkey as the venue for the exchange.
"We have given them an ultimatum. There is one month left and that is by the end of January," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said [IRIB, 2 January].
Iran also threatened that it will start its own program for higher enriched uranium if the deadline is missed. It would take years before Iran could master the technology to turn uranium enriched to the level of 20% into the fuel rods it needs for the research reactor.
Iran had dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline imposed by President Obama to accept an IAEA-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for higher nuclear fuel.
UPDATE (3 January): The US has dismissed Iran’s ultimatum, saying the move amounted to Tehran "standing in its own way".
1 comment:
Plz check this article http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2009/12/airstrikes-on-iran-timing.html
Here is my reply.
Hi Pete,
You seem to be extremely certain that Iran will be bombed. One must always remember that, you cannot bomb the knowhow. Military solution can only gain time but then it will only harden and increase the Iranian resolve to get the bomb and the delivery systems. There has to be a political/diplomatic/economic solution.
Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu has visited both Moscow and Washington on this issue but both the US and Russia, have decided against any military solution so far. The sale of S-300 has although been stalled by Russia at least for the time being.
In any case, Israel does not have independent strike capability against Iran especially to destroy facilities like Natanz or Qom. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1138680.html
Fardow or Fordrow or Qom was revealed by Iran to the IAEA. Neither the US nor IAEA had the slightest of clue regharding this facility till then. Iran has also cooperated in IAEA inspection of the site. The site is still under construction, has no capability to produce weapons as of date. There are no surface to air missiles deployed around this site.
Kuperman’s Op-Ed in NYT is so incredulous that one wonders that how a Harvard graduate and MIT doctorate can be so insane and unrealistic in his views on today’s world. He was taken on by Joseph A. Palermo at
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/alan-kuperman-another-ben_b_403193.html
A few issues are against Iran.
Firstly, Iran had dismissed an end-of-2009 deadline imposed by President Obama to accept an IAEA-drafted deal to swap most of its enriched uranium for higher nuclear fuel.
Now the Iranian government has set a one-month deadline for the West to accept its counterproposal for swapping enriched uranium. Iran says it is now ready to swap its Natanz-produced LEU for higher enriched uranium needed for its research reactor in several stages. It also has proposed Turkey as the venue for the exchange. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100102/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsexchange_20100102144850
The US too has dismissed Iran’s ultimatum, saying the move amounted to Tehran "standing in its own way". As per Mike Hammer, a spokesman for the US National Security Council "The IAEA has a balanced proposal on the table that would fulfill Iran's own request for fuel, and has the backing of the international community".
Secondly, Iranian attempts to smuggle purified uranium ore don't come as a surprise given the ongoing shortage of the raw supplies procured from South Africa in the 1980s.
Iran and Kazakhstan both have denied secret deal to import Kazakh uranium by Iran. http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSSAL05347220091230
And http://www.spacewar.com/2006/091230152558.7mh6bxjf.html
Thirdly, the testing of neutron initiator technology possibly acquired from the infamous A Q Khan of Pakistan.
http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/farsi-and-english-versions-of-document-on-neutron-initiator/
To conclude, I would say that, we are only witnessing a US conspiracy to clear its path to the control of oil and mineral wealth of Iran.
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