Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a speech last week that brought the world's attention to a piqued state. Along with the standard message that Iran sought only peaceful nuclear capabilities, Ahmadinejad appearently began boasting about his country's ability to make not only reactor-enriched uranium, used for power plants, but on accelerated uranium processing, and a program that is progressing now that had been repeatedly asserted halted since the mid 1990's.
Ahmadinejad, the newly "elected" president of Iran was remarking to the press on a recent appearance at the site of military manuvers. Last week, during naval training operations in the Persian Gulf, Iran announced the successful launch of a new, stealth underwater missle. This week, the incindiary Iranian leader brought up the further enrichment of uranium, a capability Iran denied having, although disclosures about facility construction and secret shipments of precision centrifuge parts have I.A.E.A. inspectors suspicious.
International Atomic Energy Agency's Mohammed El Baradei will brief the U.N. Security council on April 28 in large part about a meeting El Baradei will have tomorrow in Vienna with an Iranian delegation. This meeting will attempt to determine for one, did Iran recieve a shipment of centrifuge parts from a Malaysian firm, parts that are needed to upgrade Iran's current stockpile of centrifuges needed to purify uranium. Already, a jailed associate of A.Q.Khan, the father of Middle East nuclear programs, has maintained Iran recieved much more in the way of actual centrifuges-not just plans- than they are admitting, a key in their ability to manufacture more of the advanced, P-2 centrifuges.
Khan, on the other hand, isn't saying much either. Abdul Qadeer Khan is a Pakistani scientist who brought Pakistan's nuclear-bomb ambitions to reality. Khan was made a hero for pulling Pakistan even with India in the two opposing countries' nuclear weapon's race in the '90's. Since that time, Khan has exported his program to several third-world, nuclear ambitious countries: Iran, North Korea and Libya. Libya has since opened up about it's nuclear program, and has begun to comply with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the United Nations treaty Iran and N. Korea stand in violation of. These countries argue, though, 'If you can have it, then so can I', in response to the U.S.'s role in forcing compliance with the treaty.
Khan is an admitted force in the nuclear advancements of these rougue nations. Technology to enrich Uranium to 'reactor' level is available, but since Khan succeeded in detonating a nuclear device, then passed that information on to those nations who wanted it, trepidation about nuclear weapons reached it's highest levels.
Khan is now back in Pakistan under "house arrest", and according to President Musharaf, can no longer educate others in the art of creating nuclear weapons.
But perhaps the damage is done. With Iran's latest statements, the U.S. and others are taking a hard look at Iran and what they've said and done in the past. Many times, statements made of capabilities are farfetched, yet other times, they have been understatements. Clearly, there is cause for alarm. Israel stands to fear the most, although the U.S., by it's nature, will continue to stand alongside her. The Iranian leader's message has been clear about Israel: That Iran will continue to seek Israel's destruction. It will continue to fund terrorist organizations, specifically HAMAS, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, the miscreant authors of another atrocity today in Tel Aviv.
At current estimates, Iran, if unchecked, could possess atomic bombs by 2010. If this revelation by Ahmadinejad is true, it would greatly accellerate that estimate.
In this war of religions, remember who fought on the side of life and liberty, and who fought on the side of death and destruction.
posted 5-5-06
by Ian
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