Iran Nuclear Standoff

[brunota2003]

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia toughened its stance towards Iran on Wednesday, threatening to back further United Nations sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program unless it halted uranium enrichment in the next few days.

The United States, Britain and France are pushing to impose new punitive measures on Iran, which they suspect of seeking to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said Moscow could back a sanctions resolution the Western powers have drafted and which they want to discuss in the U.N. Security Council this week.

"If Iran in the next few days does not stop the enrichment activities of its heavy water project then yes, Russia ... has taken upon itself certain commitments... to support the resolution that has been drafted in the past month," Churkin told reporters via a video link from New York.

The Security Council has demanded Iran halt uranium enrichment, the part of its nuclear program that most worries the West because the process can potentially be used to make material for bombs.

Iran has refused to halt the work. It says it is seeking to master nuclear technology so it can make fuel for a planned network of nuclear power plants and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export.

France and Britain have submitted a third sanctions resolution against Iran calling for measures including asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials.

It also expands the list of Iranian officials and companies targeted by the sanctions. Earlier rounds of sanctions were imposed in December 2006 and March 2007.

Russia, which has strong ties to Iran's energy industry, has previously been reluctant to impose more U.N. sanctions on Iran.

Though it agreed on the outline of the sanctions resolution last month in Berlin, some Western diplomats had expressed concern Russia might try to weaken the resolution out of pique over the West's recognition of Kosovo.

In Vienna, the chief U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran's dismissal of intelligence indicating it tested technology relevant to nuclear bombs could trigger a resolution by the nuclear watchdog's governors to put further pressure on Iran.

"We haven't made a decision on a resolution but it could be an effective way to convey this message," Gregory Schulte told Reuters in an interview.

Iran has denounced the intelligence, which came mainly from a laptop spirited out of Iran in 2004 and handed to Washington, as baseless and fabricated.

There is a clip from an interesting article on Yahoo! tonight...
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080227/wl_ ... nuclear_dc

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

If Russia gets onboard, we might actually see some meaningful action be taken against Iran via the Security Council. The Russian, and to a lesser degree the Chinese, have been protecting the Iranians thus far in the conflict, and as such have been obstructing any truly meaningful and effective steps being taken against them.

[HURAKAN]

Iran calls Security Council debates on its nuclear program illegal and 'futile'

The Associated Press
Published: March 1, 2008

TEHRAN, Iran: Tehran on Saturday called illegal and "futile" U.N. Security Council debates for new sanctions against Iran, saying sanctions would undermine, not strengthen, global security.

The U.S. push for a third round of sanctions against Iran is an "exercise in futility," said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham.

He made the remarks after Britain and France delayed a Security Council vote on new sanctions against Iran until Monday to try to get more support for the resolution. The two countries are co-sponsoring the resolution that would impose a third round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran says a report released by the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency last week has vindicated Iran's nuclear program and left no justification for any Security Council sanctions.

"The Security Council's re-entry into (Iran's) nuclear issue lacks legal justification," Elham told a press conference Saturday. "Any action (new sanctions against Iran) will be a violation of the Security Council's philosophy of existence and a violation of the charter of the United Nations."

Full Article

[Aquawind]

I gotta laugh reading this thread now and remembering some of the threatening articles in previous pages by both sides of this issue. I just visualize thier micro leader screaming in denial and defiance of anyone and everything not Muslin or Iranian. Insanity. I actually think he has a mental issue after all. Being a president of a country does kinda stop the laughing after ya think about it though.

[cycloneye]

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council approved a third round of sanctions Monday against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

The decision came from the United Nations about 2 p.m. EST.

Earlier Monday, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector urged Iran to stop stonewalling his experts and cooperate over indications it may have tried to make atomic arms under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.

A senior Iranian official said such allegations were "fabricated." But a U.S. envoy repeated Washington's assertions that Tehran tried to make such weapons in the past.

The exchange came as the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency convened to focus on Iran's defiance of U.N. Security Council demands to freeze uranium enrichment. It is also looking at an IAEA report that says Iran has cleared up some questions about its nuclear past but that it refuses to discuss the topic of its alleged weapons development activities beyond dismissing them as groundless accusations.

Calling the issue of alleged weapons development, "a matter of serious concern," IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, in comments to the board, urged Iran "to be as active and cooperative as possible in working with the agency" to put the issue to rest.

"A full-fledged examination of this issue has yet to take place," he said, indirectly denying Iranian suggestions that an IAEA probe of Tehran's past activities has ended positively.

As the board met in Vienna, the U.N. Security Council scheduled a session expected to agree on a third set of sanctions to punish Iran for ignoring its demand to freeze enrichment, a potential component of a nuclear weapons program.

A diplomat accredited to the IAEA said all five permanent council members appeared ready to back new sanctions as well as the majority of temporary members, with only Libya, South Africa and Indonesia opposed. He demanded anonymity because his information was confidential.

A separate draft resolution was in the works in Vienna. Britain, France and Germany prepared a document focused on Tehran's nuclear failings that would be supported by the majority of board members — including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and the EU.

A senior diplomat, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality, said the resolution would be introduced by Wednesday. He said it would praise ElBaradei for his efforts, but note the investigation's failings on the issue of nuclear weapons and emphasize the board's authority on the issue of Iran's nuclear program.

Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief IAEA representative, dismissed any push for an IAEA resolution critical of his country as "ridiculous."

In comments later Monday, he dismissed intelligence forwarded to the IAEA by the U.S. and its allies on purported weapons programs by Tehran as "forged and fabricated," and driven by "political motivations." And he suggested that for Iran the issue was closed, saying the IAEA probe "is concluded."

But chief U.S. IAEA delegate Gregory L. Schulte said the report shows that "troubling questions remain about Iranian activities that strongly suggest a clandestine weapons related program." Both he and Soltanieh spoke to reporters.

Iran's nuclear past has been a key topic at IAEA board meetings for the past five years, after revelations that the Islamic Republic had carried out nearly two decades of secret atomic work, some of it potentially linked to weapons research.

The last IAEA resolution, more than two years ago, referred Tehran's nuclear file to the Security Council. The council imposed two sets of sanctions to punish Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment and fully open its nuclear activities to agency inspectors.

Iran not only continues enrichment — which can produce both nuclear fuel and the fissile core of nuclear warheads — but has expanded its activities, saying it has a right to the technology for a civilian nuclear program. That has led to Monday's planned council vote.

Additionally fueling Western frustrations is Tehran's refusal even to discuss allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons through interlinked projects enriching uranium, testing explosives and designing missiles and warheads suitable for a nuclear payload.

While a Feb. 22 IAEA report said a probe had made progress on other past nuclear activities, it said that Tehran had not responded properly to intelligence forwarded by the U.S. and its allies purportedly showing nuclear weapons technology being developed by Iran.

Iran has focused on the agency's assessment of progress on some topics to assert that the IAEA report vindicates its claims that its nuclear project is strictly civilian. Soltanieh on Monday said the report "proves Iran's activities are peaceful."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334550,00.html

[Cryomaniac]

So what are these new sanctions exactly?..

[cycloneye]

Iran installs 6,000 centrifuges





Here we go again.

[cycloneye]

U.S fires warning shots at Iranian boats





Will this be the start of another war?

[HURAKAN]

Hopefully not but the actions of both countries could be taken as a provocation to war. If we have learned anything from Iraq and the current state of the economy is that we don't need another war.

[x-y-no]

U.S fires warning shots at Iranian boats





Will this be the start of another war?

Actually, this appears to be a fairly ordinary incident. Two small boats approached this DoD employed cargo freighter, didn't respond to repeated hails so the got some warning shots fired at them, after which they left.

It could be innocent (boats do sometimes approach wanting to sell stuff) or more likely in my opinion it was a bit of probing on the part of the Iranians to see how soft defenses might be. Just like we'll overfly territory to get them to light up their air defenses. Both sides gather this kind of intelligence all the time.

Sure, it can lead to a worse incident if someone happens to get hurt or killed, but most of the time nothing comes of it.

[Cryomaniac]

U.S fires warning shots at Iranian boats





Will this be the start of another war?

Both sides are being belligerent. Iran is denying there was a clash, so perhaps they are trying to avoid confrontation. Or they are waiting for an chance to do something else.

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0804254916210524.htm

Link for the Iranian denial.

[gtalum]

Smart move, that. Record oil prices, and we attack a major producer who controls a critical pathway. Brilliant. :rolleyes:

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Smart move, that. Record oil prices, and we attack a major producer who controls a critical pathway. Brilliant. :rolleyes:

It is if you own oil stocks.

[gtalum]

It is if you own oil stocks.

True, I'm glad I chickened out and didn't sell a few weeks back.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

It is if you own oil stocks.

True, I'm glad I chickened out and didn't sell a few weeks back.

Same here; I'm thinking $150 - $200 a barrel by Fall.

[Derek Ortt]

war CAN help the economy (at least a major war and a full mobilization)

Got us out of the great depression very quickly

[Cryomaniac]

war CAN help the economy (at least a major war and a full mobilization)

Got us out of the great depression very quickly

That's true. Whether that is a reason for supporting a war is a different issue. However, as I have said before, I support action against Iran.

[cycloneye]

(CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

U.S. officials are also concerned by Iranian harassment of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf as well as Iran's still growing nuclear program. New pictures of Iran's uranium enrichment plant show the country's defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.


Second Aircraft Carrier Enters Persian Gulf



Lets see what happens in that part of the world in the comming days and weeks.The last thing we need now is something that for sure will skyrocket those Oil Prices much more.

[HURAKAN]

Russia Joins New UN Sanctions on Iran
By VOA News
08 May 2008

Russia has adopted new United Nations economic sanctions on Iran aimed at getting Tehran to suspend its nuclear enrichment activities.

The Kremlin announced Thursday that former President Vladimir Putin signed the sanctions into law earlier this week, just before stepping down to be replaced by Dmitri Medvedev.

The U.N. Security Council imposed the sanctions on Iran in early March. They tighten existing sanctions on trade, and on the travel and assets of people involved in Tehran's nuclear and missile programs. They also call for vigilance over banks in Iran.

This is the third set of sanctions the Security Council has imposed on Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons.

The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of working to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

Russia has been helping Iran build its first nuclear power plant. It is located in southwestern Iran on the Gulf Coast.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Good news here. Russian support up until now has played a huge role in allowing Iran to thump it's nose at the world.