The Times: Iran awaits Ayatollah’s nod for nuclear bomb
dandelion salad | 04.08.2009 08:19 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Other Press | World
a map by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
[propaganda alert]
1) Iran is ready to build an N-bomb – it is just waiting for the Ayatollah’s order (August 2009)
2) (from the archives) Clandestine aims of NIE report (December 2007)
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6736785.ece
excerpts from: Iran is ready to build an N-bomb – it is just waiting for the Ayatollah’s order
by James Hider, Richard Beeston and Michael Evans, Times, 3 August 2009
Iran has perfected the technology to create and detonate a nuclear warhead and is merely awaiting the word from its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to produce its first bomb, Western intelligence sources have told The Times.
The sources said that Iran completed a research programme to create weaponised uranium in the summer of 2003 and that it could feasibly make a bomb within a year of an order from its Supreme Leader.
A US National Intelligence Estimate two years ago concluded that Iran had ended its nuclear arms research programme in 2003 because of the threat from the American invasion of Iraq.
But intelligence sources have told The Times that Tehran had halted the research because it had achieved its aim — to find a way of detonating a warhead that could be launched on its long-range Shehab-3 missiles. […]
The Iranian Defence Ministry has been running a covert nuclear research department for years, employing hundreds of scientists, researchers and metallurgists in a multibillion-dollar programme to develop nuclear technology alongside the civilian nuclear programme.
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from the archives:
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=158570
excerpts from: Clandestine aims of NIE report
by Parviz Esmaeili, Tehran Times, 6 December 2007
What is the content of the U.S. intelligence report [i.e. the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) ]?
The intelligence agencies’ report can interestingly be divided into evaluations with “high confidence” and “moderate confidence”.
The conclusions that are made with high certainty are:
“In fall 2003 (September), Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.”
Attention: The abovementioned time is exactly after an agreement was made with three European countries, and Iran suspended its uranium enrichment activities.
Moreover, contrary to what was declared in ElBaradei’s recent report (which indicated the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program had been peaceful), the U.S. intelligence report referred to an IAEA report that was issued on September 24, 2005 in which ElBaradei had violated the agency’s regulations by stating that the UN Security Council was authorized to investigate Iran’s motives behind 18 years of concealment!
In this way, ElBaradei created a pretext for referring Iran’s nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, and he was then immediately appointed to serve a third four-year term as IAEA director general.
While the nuclear watchdog states that it has not observed any non-peaceful nuclear activities, the U.S. intelligence agencies have evaluated Iran’s nuclear program to be of a military nature, so that, unlike a technical approach, this political evaluation would influence public opinion.
“The halt, and Tehran’s announcement of its decision to suspend its declared uranium enrichment program and sign an Additional Protocol to its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement, was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure…”
In this way they are trying to justify their decision to pressure Iran and implying that the country is not committed to the agreements.
“Until fall 2003, Iranian military entities were working under government direction to develop nuclear weapons.”
This big lie is not mentioned in any of the IAEA reports and is only an allegation made by the United States.
“Since fall 2003, Iran has been conducting research and development projects with commercial and conventional military applications”; “Iran’s civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing”; “Iran will not be technically capable of producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015”; and “Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity eventually to produce nuclear weapons if it decides to do so.”
These sentences suggest that the pressure that was put on Iran, under the leadership of the U.S. government, has been successful in halting the country’s efforts to produce nuclear weapons and thus should be continued.
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related links:
Top US commander: The clock is ticking (7 July 2009)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/top-us-commander-military-option-against-iran-on-the-table-the-clock-is-ticking/
Israeli ambassador to US: Iranian nuke could wipe off Israel in seconds (4 July 2009)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/07/04/israeli-ambassador-to-us-iranian-nuke-could-wipe-off-israel-in-seconds/
US Vice President: US won’t stop Israel attack on Iran (5 July 2009)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/biden-us-wont-stop-israel-attack-on-iran/
Obama: The clock is ticking (26 June 2009)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/obama-the-clock-is-ticking/
Brookings Institution: Options for a new American strategy toward Iran (23 June 2009)
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/obama-the-clock-is-ticking/
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dandelion salad
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