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| Iran To Share Nuke Tech With Other Islamic Countries: World Yawns |
| 2005-09-17 |
| Countries that don't enforce non-proliferation shouldn't receive US BDM technology promise. Cracks appeared yesterday in the U.S.-European diplomatic drive to curb Iran's nuclear weapons programs as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares to reveal a new compromise to the U.N. General Assembly today. A French Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday that Paris would not object to Mr. Ahmadinejad's suggestion that Iran share its nuclear energy technology with other Islamic countries, as long as the Iranian program fully adhered to the international treaty against nuclear proliferation. That comment came after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials said the idea of Iran sharing nuclear technology with anyone only underscored the dangers of Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Denis Simonneau, spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Paris yesterday that France had no objection to Iran sharing nuclear energy technology "so long as it remains under the terms of the [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]." "Each signatory to the treaty can cooperate with other nations" under the terms of the pact, said Mr. Simonneau, if they adhere to the rules against developing or exporting military nuclear material. But Miss Rice, in an interview with NBC News that was released yesterday, said Mr. Ahmadinejad's idea of sharing Iranian nuclear technology showed again why Tehran's nuclear programs must be halted. "Generally, that's called proliferation and so I would think that would probably not be within the responsibilities of a state operating within the [nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]," she said. "I hope people were listening." The United States and the group known as EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) had been united in a push to halt Iran's clandestine efforts to enrich uranium, a critical step in the development of nuclear weapons. Iran, an oil-rich nation, insists its nuclear programs are intended for peaceful civilian energy uses, but the United States thinks Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. The EU powers had taken the diplomatic lead, offering a combination of political and economic sweeteners if Tehran curbed its nuclear programs and agreed to international inspections. But the campaign to pressure Iran has faltered internationally. Opposition from China, Russia and others has undercut a drive by the Bush administration and its allies for a quick referral by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, of the Iran question to the Security Council a necessary first step for punitive sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting with President Bush at the White House yesterday, sidestepped a question of whether Russia would back a Security Council referral next week, saying he had been told directly by Mr. Ahmadinejad in a private meeting here Thursday that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons. Mr. Bush said there was a strong international consensus that Iran should not be allowed to obtain nuclear arms. "I am confident that the world will see to it that Iran goes to the U.N. Security Council if it does not live up to its agreements," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Ahmadinejad reportedly will offer to bring in major international partners for its nuclear programs as a way to ease fears that its efforts could be secretly diverted to making nuclear bombs. European diplomats in Vienna yesterday confirmed an account that first appeared in the British Financial Times that Iran is proposing to form "joint ventures" for its nuclear programs, perhaps including control of the critical uranium-enrichment process. The model appears to be the Russian-built nuclear plant near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr. Moscow has tried to ease intense U.S. concerns about the plant by keeping control of the spent fuel the site will generate, material that could be diverted to make weapons. Not clear is the extent of Mr. Ahmadinejad's compromise or whether it would cover a network of secret nuclear sites that Iran only recently was forced to admit existed. EU-3 foreign ministers and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with Mr. Ahmadinejad and top Iranian negotiators Thursday, offering no firm verdict on the Iranian proposal. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the ministers had a "frank discussion," and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the European incentive package "remained on the table." The little-known Mr. Ahmadinejad, an Islamic hard-liner who was the surprise winner in the presidential election in June, has been a star attraction of the massive United Nations summit. Although shunned by U.S. officials, he met with the American press, with Mr. Putin, with Mr. Annan and European officials, and with leaders from Turkey, Nigeria and Kuwait, among other countries. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #3 The net is closing India will vote with U.S. on Iran in IAEA Amit Baruah NEW DELHI: India will vote with the United States, France, Britain and Germany in the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) board of governors if forced to make a choice on referring the question of Iran's nuclear intentions to the United Nations' Security Council. Highly-placed South Block sources told The Hindu that such a decision to vote with the U.S. in a crunch situation was taken even before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went into a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush in New York. At this bilateral meeting Iran is said to have come up for discussion. According to reports from New York, it appears that the U.S. and the European Union "three" are backing off from asking the IAEA's board to refer Iran to the Security Council on September 19 itself. The board is meeting in Vienna on Monday, In such a scenario, where the E.U. "three" Foreign Ministers have had diplomatic contacts with the new Iranian leadership in New York, it appears that India will not immediately be called upon to vote one way or another in the IAEA board. |
| Posted by: john 2005-09-17 16:07 |
| #2 I'm tired of this circle-jerk. There is no negotiation with the Mullahs. They are hell bent on the bomb and will have it. Let them give it away, they are going to anyway. This administration and all subsequent ones should have a Kennedy type policy toward Tehran. Any nuke that goes off in the Western hemisphere we will presume to be an attack on the US by Iran which will result in Iran's complete destruction. They want to be assholes about it?, hold them directly accountable with their country's life. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2005-09-17 07:57 |
| #1 Iran's Revol Guard Corps spokeman > KATRINA = ANTI-US NUKES = Amer can suffer war-devastated areas or war zones at any time. It is also feasible that America can break up in many small independent states. IOW, the IRGC and its God-based SOcialism and Theocracy has just threatened America. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-09-17 01:36 |