Tehran has rejected reports of a deal with world powers to ship its low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for further processing, says an official.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the assumption that such an agreement had been reached with the P5+1 group consisting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - Russia, China, USA, France and the UK- plus Germany during the Geneva talks was untrue.
The Council's Media Secretary Peyman... Jebelli's comments came after a number of media outlets reported that Iran had agreed to ship LEU of under 5 percent to Russia where it would be additionally enriched to about 20 percent, before being further processed in France and finally being returned to Iran.
...Iranian officials say, however, that the offer to "purchase" 20 percent enriched uranium is what would be discussed during a meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) scheduled for October 18, stressing that the session would have nothing to do with the Geneva talks.
Iran says that it will take the best offer from any of the legitimate bidders, which include Russia, France and the United States. ...
...and from GLORIA, Tuesday, October 6, 2009, by Barry Rubin:
It's Official! Iran Publicly Says it Fooled U.S. and Europeans in Geneva, Offered Nothing
... Iran's Supreme National Security Council has announced that the main "concession" it supposedly made in the Geneva meeting with the United States never happened. It has no intention of sending off its enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into someting fit only for medical research at all. This supposed pledge made by Iran was the alleged big development that set off so much optimism after Iran met with the United States along with China, France, Germany, Russia, and England).
No, says the Iranian government. This is merely an old idea--Tehran offered the same plan back in 2007 and then, after using it to stall for months, rejected it--which it has been planning to discuss on October 18 in yet another meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Not only did it not offer anything new in Geneva, the Iranian government maintains it offered nothing at all.
Of course, the Iranian regime will never actually give up the enriched uranium it plans to use for making nuclear weapons. But now they have not only fooled the U.S. and European governments, Tehran openly says so!
... Having stopped the sanctions’ train dead in its tracks, Obama will have trouble restarting it. ...Officials are now reduced to the kind of talking points just made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: After the “worthwhile meeting” in Geneva, “There is much more to be done. We expect much more..."
Well, you’re not going to get it because when it comes to Iran you still don’t “get it.”...
...Meanwhile, the British government—unlike its U.S. counterpart—is complaining that by delaying international inspections for three weeks, Iran is giving itself plenty of time to hide all the evidence of nuclear weapons’ work at its newly revealed enrichment plant. Iran has also announced it is installing new, more effective centrifuges there.
And also meanwhile, not content to have a wanted terrorist as its minister of defense—an issue on which I have yet to see a single complaint from the U.S. government—the Iranian regime has now appointed Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi as head of the Basij militia. This group, now part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the group which would control the nuclear weapons once they are built) has been the frontline force in beating up and in some case killing peaceful demonstrators.
Naqbi was also involved in previous repression and has been accused of involvement in torture. But most significantly for Western policy he is on the list of those involved in organizing the nuclear program’s cheating on treaty commitments and violating UN sanctions.
So there you have it: It is not a problem for U.S. policy that Iran’s regime has
- stolen an election,
- repressed peaceful demonstrators with violence,
- put on trial non-violent political opponents,
- appointed a wanted terrorist as minister of defense,
- broken its commitments repeatedly,
- been caught lying about constructing a massive enrichment facility,
- sponsored international terrorism,
- been proven to be killing U.S. soldiers in Iraq by sending bombs and terrorism advisors there,
- calling for genocide against Israel, etc.
After all, they are willing to talk to America.
Or in the words of Bronwen Maddox in the London Times:
“Iran has again proved world-class at spinning the West’s red lines and deadlines into more months in which to move its [nuclear weapons] work forward....If you look at the gains on either side in the past fortnight, the West has a promise without numbers. Tehran has a few solid more months to spin its uranium centrifuges.”
Iran, unlike the Obama Administration, cannot only walk and chew gum at the same time, it can chew up and spit out American policymakers as well.
For background on this article and the Geneva meeting, see here and here.
No comments:
Post a Comment