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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran has broken seals on uranium enrichment centrifuges |
| 2004-07-27 |
| EFL Iran has broken the seals on nuclear equipment monitored by United Nations inspectors and is once again building and testing machines that could make fissile material for nuclear weapons. Tehran's move, disclosed to the Daily Telegraph yesterday by Western sources, breaks a deal with European countries under which Iran suspended "all uranium enrichment activity." It will also exacerbate fears that the regional power is determined to make an atomic bomb within a few years. A few years? We're lucky if we have that long... America has in recent weeks renewed its call for Iran to be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Diplomats said senior officials from the "EU-3'' — Britain, France, and Germany — would try to coax Tehran back to the path of co-operation at a secret meeting in Paris on Thursday. Their chances of success seem slim because Tehran appears to have calculated that America is paralyzed by the presidential election campaign and that Europe is too divided to exert real pressure. Read: they know Kerry can be bamboozled as easily as the "Tehran three". Western sources said Iranian officials last month reclaimed equipment for uranium enrichment centrifuges sealed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The centrifuges separate the fissile isotope U235. In what may be a further escalation, some Western sources said Iran was carrying out its threat to begin producing uranium hexafluoride, the gas fed into the centrifuges, but the claim could not immediately be corroborated. So it's time for another cycle of (1) empty promises... Under a deal reached with the EU-3 in October, Iran agreed to come clean about its nuclear program and announced it would suspend "temporarily'' all uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure. then (2) brazen repudiation: Angered by the IAEA's condemnation last month of repeated failures to reveal all about its nuclear program, Hassan Rowhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote to the EU-3 saying his country would resume the manufacture, assembly, and testing of centrifuges. "Angered", right. Gotta be careful. Let 'em do just what they want or... they'll do just what they want. |
| Posted by:someone |
| #6 Since Allah won't let them break the seal on a nice bottle of California wine, breaking seals on something else with a kick is the only outlet they have. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-07-27 3:55:14 PM |
| #5 Frankly I've always like broken seals but I expect that's a water mammal thing. 5 4 3 2.... till blown seal joke appears for the fourth time in 6 months. |
| Posted by: Shamu 2004-07-27 3:07:57 PM |
| #4 Why do the EUros even bother? The towelheads will do whatever they want regardless of what anyone else thinks or says. The EU should just give them a couple of bombs. What the hell, its easier on all (/sarcasm) |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-07-27 9:49:41 AM |
| #3 Thank God, the Israeli's will never allow the Iranians to acquire a weapon. And it won't matter who is President. Surely Iran must know this though? Are they stupid enough to think they can prevent Israel from taking out their facilities? That's an interesting thought. |
| Posted by: AllahHateMe 2004-07-27 8:39:24 AM |
| #2 If Kerry is elected he will move from a policy of confrontation to a policy of deterrence. He will do nothing and say we can deter Iran with our nukes. Rogue states will continue to metastasize. |
| Posted by: virginian 2004-07-27 8:13:49 AM |
| #1 Whoops... Duplicate to late last night -- but how did that end up on Page 2? |
| Posted by: someone 2004-07-27 4:01:35 AM |