Iran Nuclear Standoff

[cycloneye]

http://reuters.myway.com/article/200603 ... NA-DC.html

No surprise here that China and Russia are united.

[BEER980]

Iran speeds up nuclear programme as crisis talks bog down

Ian Traynor
Friday March 24, 2006

Guardian

Iran is racing ahead with preparations to enrich uranium as the big powers struggle to decide on their next moves aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis surrounding the country. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, charged with investigating Iran's nuclear programme, say that the Iranians are assembling and making operational dozens of centrifuge machines for enriching uranium at their vast complex in Natanz south of Tehran.

According to diplomats, the Iranians are in the process of achieving a "technological leap" by making operational a cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium for power plants or warheads. A fortnight ago they were known to have assembled only 34 centrifuges. They are believed to be rushing to assemble dozens more at a time when western negotiations with Tehran have collapsed and big power attempts to develop a coherent policy are deadlocked.

"The Iranians are pushing ahead, marking out their intentions clearly," said a European diplomat. Another added: "It will be almost impossible to get them to give up, to come back down to zero."

For the first time in almost three years of dispute, the Iranian issue was passed from the IAEA in Vienna to the UN security council in New York this month. But talks this week among the permanent five security council members are deadlocked, with the Russians balking at what they see as US and European attempts to start a process that will lead to sanctions and possibly military action against Iran.

The five powers - the US, Russia, China, France and Britain - are trying to agree a security council statement ordering Iran to restore a freeze on its uranium enrichment activities within a fortnight. The draft also terms Iran's nuclear programmes "a threat to international peace and security" - language that could later be used to trigger economic sanctions and even military intervention.

"The deadlines outlined in the proposed draft are quite categorical and provide a foundation for sanctions against Iran. We consider it all premature," said the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, yesterday.

The Russians and the Chinese want the dispute handled by the IAEA, but the Americans are determined to keep it with the security council, and want the IAEA chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, to report directly to the council as soon as possible.

The operation of 164 centrifuges would leave Iran able to process only minute volumes of uranium. But experts and diplomats say the real value lies in the know-how acquired in running highly delicate machinery. The Iranians appear determined to configure six rigs of 164 centrifuges at Natanz for what they call a "pilot enrichment plant". They have also told UN inspectors they intend to assemble 3,000 centrifuges by the end of the year.
Source

[cycloneye]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060329/D8GLEPH80.html

Aparently the five members that are permanent members of the UN security council agree on a statement warning Iran but Russia and China (No Surprise) dont favor any military action.

[cycloneye]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/ ... index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

[greeng13]

if it is not sanctions and not military options then what exactly happens after 30 days????

doesn't make much sense...to me it seems like a "bite with no teeth" so to speak

[Brent]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/29/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

Or what?

[cycloneye]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/29/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

Or what?

Good question.After the 30 days what is next?

[BEER980]

Well after 30 days Bush will say we tried everything so we have no choice now. Welcome to the nuke club or we start the bombing campaign. You may want to double your hurricane stocks this year in case oil goes out of control. Here is a little tidbit on the region that hit yesterday.

Saudis, with Pakistani help, working on nuclear programme

Saudi Arabia is working secretly on a nuclear programme, with help from Pakistani experts, a German magazine reports in its latest edition, citing Western security sources. The German magazine Cicero says that during the Hajj pilgrimages to Mecca in 2003 through 2005, Pakistani scientists posed as pilgrims to come to Saudi Arabia in aircraft laid on by the oil-rich kingdom. Between October 2004 and January 2005, some of them took the opportunity to "disappear" from their hotel rooms, sometimes for up to three weeks, it quoted German security expert Udo Ulfkotte as saying.

According to Western security services, the magazine added, Saudi scientists have been working since the mid-1990s in Pakistan, a nuclear power since 1998 thanks to the work of the now-disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Cicero, which will appear on newstands on Thursday, also quoted a US military analyst, John Pike, as saying that Saudi bar codes can be found on half of Pakistan's nuclear weapons "because it is Saudi Arabia which ultimately co-financed the Pakistani atomic nuclear programme".

The magazine also said satellite images prove that Saudi Arabia has set up in Al-Sulaiyil, south of Riyadh, a secret underground city and dozens of underground silos for missiles. According to some Western security services, long-range Ghauri-type missiles of Pakistani-origin are housed inside the silos.
Source

[greeng13]

there is definitely enough $$$$ in the region for that kind of support that's for sure

[cycloneye]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/30/D8GLVH400.html

Iran rejects the UN statement.

[JTD]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/29/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

Or what?

Or what? More diplomacy of course, more deadlines without meaning. There hasn't been the kind of build-up necessary for a military attack against Iran. Remember the Iraq build up quietly went on for a year.

[Brent]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/29/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

Or what?

Or what? More diplomacy of course, more deadlines without meaning. There hasn't been the kind of build-up necessary for a military attack against Iran. Remember the Iraq build up quietly went on for a year.

Yeah... exactly why I am certain the U.S. is not anywhere close to attacking Iran.

[SouthFloridawx]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/29/UN.iran.nuclear/index.html

The UN security council voted to give Iran 30 days to comply and halt the nuke program.Let's now see how Iran responds.

Or what?

Or what? More diplomacy of course, more deadlines without meaning. There hasn't been the kind of build-up necessary for a military attack against Iran. Remember the Iraq build up quietly went on for a year.

Yeah... exactly why I am certain the U.S. is not anywhere close to attacking Iran.

By conventional methods anyway brent. Just because there is not a build up of troops does not mean some type of attack could be launched against Iran.

[cycloneye]

Brent it has not to be like the Iraq military theater but the U.S can launch some air strikes againts the plants that are working on the nuke program,in other words no ground invasion like what occured in Iraq.

[f5]

if the US does attack Iran it will be with air strike ground troops will not be involved beacuse the polls show frustration in Iraq wanting to bring the troops home.

[cycloneye]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/ ... index.html

Iran tested a ballistic missle.If they say the Nuclear program is for peace means why they are testing missles?

[brunota2003]

well...its coming...with this testing the tension shall break the line...

[brunota2003]

Salami said Friday the Iranian-made missile was test-fired as large military maneuvers began in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The maneuvers are scheduled to last a week and will involve 17,000 Revolutionary Guards as well as boats, fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

this sounds more like they are practicing for war to me...

[SouthFloridawx]

Salami said Friday the Iranian-made missile was test-fired as large military maneuvers began in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The maneuvers are scheduled to last a week and will involve 17,000 Revolutionary Guards as well as boats, fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

this sounds more like they are practicing for war to me...

It does sound like they are doing some training operations for something.

Luis thanks for the article.

[Gtmalacd]

The missle fired is to evade radar more like a stealth missle. This is worrisome because if, Iran shoots one of these, then no one will know its coming. Also, it will include nuke warheads. Israel will strike first because they will be the primary target for theses missles. Now, if they fire first, and Irand shoots these missles, then whose to say Israel will when and where it's coming and going. It is almost like shooting someone to maim, but they fight back with a blind punch that no one sees. This is getting scary, but I don't think nothing of it because I am far enough south to worry about stuff like that.