Just days before it is supposed to suspend enrichment of uranium or face the prospect of sanctions, Iran continues to project an image of defiance and confidence. Its position regarding the demand it suspend enrichment remains a determined "No."On Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a provocative, if symbolic, gesture by formally inaugurating a heavy-water plant. The plant, which Iranians say is intended for peaceful purposes, would also produce plutonium, which in turn could be used in the building of nuclear warheads. "There are no talks of nuclear weapons in Iran," President Ahmadinejad said as he announced the opening of the plant. "And we are not a threat for any country, even the Zionist regime that is the enemy of the countries in the region."
| You don't need plutonium for energy purposes if you're enriching uranium. |
The action was the latest in a series of not-too-veiled threats against the West if Iran is saddled with sanctions. Iranian's public confidence is based on three primary factors, political analysts here said: There is a strong belief that two of the council's permanent members, Russia and China, will support Iran's call for talks and oppose moving toward sanctions; that the United States is far too bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan to be willing to spark another conflict in the region; and the perceived victory of Hezbollah in its war with Israel has strengthened Iran's political capital in the region.
"After the defeat of Israel by Hezbollah forces, China and Russia should not want to leave the side that won the war, which is the Islamic world," said Hossein Shariatmadari, who is the editor of the conservative daily newspaper Kayhan.
Just four days earlier, Iranian officials had offered their response to a package of incentives that Western diplomats had hoped would encourage Tehran to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment. While the details of the response were not released, Shariatmadari, who is was appointed by Iran's supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the package noted 50 "ambiguities" in the original incentives package that needed clarification. Those, he said, included questions as basic as "Who is responsible for implementing the incentives," he said. "The E.U., the U.S., the nuclear agency, who?"
Soon after Iran gave its reply to the incentives package, Iran's public posture reverted back to confrontation. The deputy speaker of parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, cautioned that too much pressure on Iran could lead to calls for a nuclear weapons program. "Our country is confronted with illogical countries who have nuclear weapons," he was quoted as saying in Saturday's edition of the reformist newspaper Shargh. "If they put too much pressure, our people might ask the government to produce nuclear weapons as a deterrent instrument."
On Friday, a mid-level cleric, Ahmad Khatami, said during a Friday prayer ceremony that the West ought to be cautious in the way it addressed Iran. "You can not use the language of force against this nation," Khatami, in a speech broadcast around the nation from central Tehran. "Do not test us as you have tested us before." As is customary, Khatami stood with his right hand gripping the barrel of an automatic weapon as he addressed thousands of people gathered for the weekly prayer ceremony. "You can not deal with a nation as great as the Iranian nation this way. It is a very stupid approach. Russia and China, we count on you to be careful not to fall into the trap American has set for you."For Iran, the issue of its nuclear program is as much about domestic politics as it is about international relations. President Ahmadinejad was elected last year on a populist economic message, promising a redistribution of the nation's vast oil wealth and immediate economic improvements. Instead, while the economy remains gridlocked, inflation and unemployment high, Ahmadinejad has turned the nuclear issue into his raison d'etre. Focusing on national pride, the president and Ayatollah Khamenei have succeeded in winning public support for the nuclear program.
While the depth of that support could be tested by sanctions, the president continue to appeal to pride as he opened the new heavy-water plant in Arak, south of Tehran. "Having nuclear technology and using it is a blessing and is the right of all nations, including Iran," President Ahmadinejad said in Arak. "As the people's representative, I pursue whatever people want. Today they want to have nuclear technology and I pursue this demand and will not back down."