The occasion of Tehran's report to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on September 21, 2009 that it is in the process of building a low-capacity second uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom provided President Barack Obama with a new opportunity to backtrack on one of his outstanding presidential campaign promises of engagement and normalization of diplomatic relations with Iran.

Such a report by a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory to the IAEA board, 18 months prior to the injection of gaseous nuclear material into the centrifuges, which are not installed in the new site yet, should have been welcomed by the IAEA Board and seen as a sign of sincerity and transparency.

On the contrary, at the G20 Economic Summit in Pittsburgh, instead of offering solutions to the world economic crisis, Obama, flanked by two junior lieutenants, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Brown, exploited the old news of Iran's new uranium enrichment site to show off his newly-forged united front, not against the resistant forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but for putting "Iran on notice."

On the basis of his arbitrary and misleading statements of the facts and
the rules and regulations of the NPT and IAEA, as to the length of the
period reporting in advance and the completion of a new nuclear
enrichment facility, Obama, who is incapable of getting a public option
healthcare proposal passed in a Congress with a so-called "democratic"
majority, had the arrogance to condemn Iran for "concealing" the
construction of the site, when in fact it was Iran which presented its
report of the site to the UN watchdog agency on Monday – three days
before Obama's announcement of a "secret discovery!"

But what are the rules and regulations of the IAEA in regards to
constructing a new facility for enriching uranium for non-military
application by NPT-member states? Under the currently valid IAEA
safeguard agreement reached with Iran, the latter is obligated to report
to the agency 180 days before the first introduction of nuclear materials
into the system of centrifuges, rather than being obligated to report, as
it is claimed by the U.S. government, any new nuclear installation 180
days before the start of construction work, the condition which was
imposed on Iraq by the U.S. and its allies before the invasion.

Accordingly, Iran's new uranium enrichment plant in Qom, which is still
under construction, cannot be labeled "secret" and therefore Iran could
not be charged with violation of its safeguard agreement with the IAEA or
disregard for the fundamentals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) for beginning to build such a low capacity plant, with a maximum
housing capacity of 3000 centrifuges.

It is imperative to underscore that the U.S. and the European
"democracies" have never charged Israel with violation of international
nuclear norms and never brought to the attention of the United Nation's
Security Council that Israel is not a signatory of the NPT and has never
made Israel's nuclear stockpiles to be inspected by the IAEA. Is it
because the Jewish State of Israel is considered to be above
international laws of the world community?

How is it that these leaders of the "free world" purposefully
misrepresent the articles governing the relations between the nuclear
agency and the NPT-member states, and believe they can misinterpret
international laws to suit their aggressive national policy goals? These
three gentlemen, headed by President Obama, tried to lead the
international community to believe that their intelligence agencies "just
discovered a secret underground plant" in Iran, (they had known about its
existence for several years), but hoped to diplomatically "pre-empt"
Iran, who had already publicly announced Iran's report about the facility
to the IAEA. In their assertions, there was nothing farther from the
truth.

G20 Theatrics a Flat Out Lie

The scenario outlined by these three "honorable" statesmen was that Iran
has had a secret nuclear weapons facility that they as leaders of the
mighty and intelligent nations knew all about for years and they even
shared their findings with the Zionist leaders of Israel. This scenario
played out on all the major western news media can only work with an
ignorant and uninformed populace. Their scenario is a flat out lie, and
will be proven wrong when the IAEA inspectors verify that there are
neither working centrifuges nor radioactive materials on the site.

Apparently, American, British and French intelligent political leaders
and scientists have been wasting their human and material resources
watching an underground tunnel that they now call a "secret nuclear
weapons" facility. The ultimate objective of the U.S. government and its
partners in deceit is to convince the American working class that Iran
cannot be trusted because it has no respect for international covenants
and only deserves to be treated savagely and/or subjected to the harshest
regimes of sanctions and mistreatment.

In the short-run, there is a calculated effort by Obama to mount pressure
against Iran days before a multi-national orchestration over its lawful
and legitimate plans on Thursday, Oct. 1, in Geneva, Switzerland. For
weeks, if not months, Obama borrowing a page or two from George Bush's
ghastly playbook, worked hard to create a "coalition of the willing." 1)
The post-election unrest and its aftermath involvement of security forces
in Iran provided a golden opportunity for Obama's administration to rally
a united front of the imperialist nations against Iran's nuclear program
and at its center the uranium enrichment industry. 2) In Eastern Europe,
Obama scrapped the plans for a ballistic missile defense system with an
eye to attract Russia to the coalition and finally, 3) he slapped tariffs
on Chinese tires to pressure them to remain a silent opposition.

Whether Obama and company would be able to keep Russia and China
immobilized with regard to the Iranian issue, remains to be seen. Put
together, all this is one side of the equation. On the other side, stand
the determined and revolutionary people and government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran with its own logic and actual and potential forces
domestically and internationally.

The U.S. vast propaganda juggernaut coupled with George Soros' financial
backings and the innumerable funds made available by the National
Endowment for Democracy have made the U.S. establishment in the eyes of
especially some beneficiaries of these funds as untrustworthy and
unreliable, so much so that it has convinced an Iranian professor at Penn
State University, Fariborz Ghadar, to express his own words of wisdom by
saying that "This is a very clever way of doing it. We have been taking
baby steps. Now we have the Oct. 1 meeting coming up and we have an ace
in the hole, knowing that these guys have been cheating again. He played
the cheating card. They are making Iran look really bad."

Hopefully, this professor is not teaching literature or logic.

________________


* Ardeshir Ommani is an Iranian-born writer and co-founder of the American
Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC), www.iranaifc.com which advocates
dialogue and peace between the U.S. and Iran. His articles of analysis on
Iran-U.S. relations, and the U.S. economy can be viewed at:
www.mathaba.net. The author may be contacted at:  ardeshiromm@optonline.net.