Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Cheat and retreat, redux
'Iran Promises to Stop Making Centrifuges' - headline, A.P. We've seen this movie before.
Even the media is skeptical:
Appearing at a news conference with ElBaradei, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the country would "voluntarily" suspend its centrifuge work starting April 9. That appeared to contradict a March 29 announcement from Iran that it already had stopped building centrifuges for uranium enrichment. Such ambiguities are among the reasons the international community views Iran's nuclear ambitions with increasing skepticism. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
It is laughable that a country that is floating on oil and gets infinite sunshine needs to generate nuclear power. They are building a bomb, and ElBaradei should call them on it. Even France and Germany are getting grumpy (probably because Iran hasn't done enough business with them, but you take what you can get):
Adding to the skepticism was Iran's announcement last month that it inaugurated a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, 155 miles south of Tehran, to process uranium ore into gas — a crucial step before uranium enrichment.
Iran insists the move does not contravene its pledge to suspend enrichment. But Britain, France and Germany — which have blunted past U.S. attempts to come down hard on Iran — were critical. They said the Isfahan plant sent the wrong signal.
If you aren't familiar with Iran's history of dealing with the U.N. inspectors, read the whole thing.
Even the media is skeptical:
Appearing at a news conference with ElBaradei, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the country would "voluntarily" suspend its centrifuge work starting April 9. That appeared to contradict a March 29 announcement from Iran that it already had stopped building centrifuges for uranium enrichment. Such ambiguities are among the reasons the international community views Iran's nuclear ambitions with increasing skepticism. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.
It is laughable that a country that is floating on oil and gets infinite sunshine needs to generate nuclear power. They are building a bomb, and ElBaradei should call them on it. Even France and Germany are getting grumpy (probably because Iran hasn't done enough business with them, but you take what you can get):
Adding to the skepticism was Iran's announcement last month that it inaugurated a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan, 155 miles south of Tehran, to process uranium ore into gas — a crucial step before uranium enrichment.
Iran insists the move does not contravene its pledge to suspend enrichment. But Britain, France and Germany — which have blunted past U.S. attempts to come down hard on Iran — were critical. They said the Isfahan plant sent the wrong signal.
If you aren't familiar with Iran's history of dealing with the U.N. inspectors, read the whole thing.
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