| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Russkies to supply Nuke parts . . .er . . . fuel to Mullahs |
| 2005-02-27 |
| BUSHEHR, Iran — Iran and Russia signed a nuclear fuel agreement Sunday, paving the way for Iran to get its first reactor up and running. Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh (search) and Alexander Rumyantsev, the head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency (search), signed the agreement at the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The signing, which was delayed by a day, came after the two senior officials toured the $800 million complex. Russia, which helped build the plant, has agreed to provide the fuel needed to run it — but only if Iran returns the spent fuel to prevent any possibility Tehran would extract plutonium from it to make an atomic bomb. Tehran (search) has agreed, but the two sides had disagreed on who should pay for its return. It is certain that the Russians will get the fuel back . . . but will it be in the rods, or in a terminally ballistic arc? The signing came a few days after a summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovakia, which touched on American concerns over Russian support for Iran's nuclear program. Washington accuses Tehran of covertly trying to build a nuclear bomb, which Iran denies. Putin has said he is sure Iran's intentions are merely to generate energy, not create weapons, and that Russian cooperation with Tehran would continue. It wasn't immediately clear whether Thursday's Bush-Putin summit had delayed the signing, which had been expected Saturday, but Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said "the Bush-Putin talks did not have an effect on the agreement. Our talks (with the Russians) have been successful." Just ahead of the signing, Aghazadeh showed Rumyantsev Bushehr's nuclear fuel storage house and the reactor core, expected to be operational by late 2005 or early 2006. "What I saw was much better and more than I had expected. Assembling operations in the past three to four months have been expedited," Rumyantsev said. Referring to the process to complete the plant, he added: "I can't say the situation is excellent, but it's very good." Aghazadeh said the fuel storage area was built to international standards. "This storage house is ready to receive nuclear fuel," he said. Iranian efforts to produce its own fuel rather than importing it have been a bigger concern in the international community than the deal with Russia. That's because the enrichment process can be carried further to produce material for nuclear weapons. France, Britain and Germany are trying to secure an Iranian commitment to scrap enrichment plans in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Tehran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. Iran has suspended enrichment-related activities during the talks with the Europeans, which both sides have said were difficult, but insists the freeze will be brief. Bush has expressed support for the European efforts. But documents being circulated among International Atomic Energy Agency board members in Vienna ahead of a board meeting Monday, and seen by The Associated Press there, indicated Washington would try to increase pressure on Tehran by the next agency board meeting in June should the European talks fail. Maybe, just maybe, the talks will work and we can all breathe easy. But we felt the same way about NKor, who gave Billy almost as good a head job as Monica did, while they were busy fumbling around build nukes in the dark. In Islam, lying to a Kufir is not a sin . . . just one more way to get the job of killing him done. It is much more likely we will end up turning the Persian sands a nice shde of BLAAAAM!!!! before too long. |
| Posted by:Jame Retief |
| #1 The Euros proposing giving economic aid to a major oil exporting nation in this age of record oil prices is insane. Of course if they want to bankrupt their taxpayers (remember them?) that is their thing. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-02-27 11:32:16 PM |