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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran offers nuclear tech to companies willing to help it |
| 2005-09-19 |
| Iran last night invited private firms to join its nuclear programme, further escalating tensions with the West. The country's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told the United Nations general assembly in New York that Tehran held the 'inalienable right' to develop a nuclear capability fuel cycle. His invitation to companies to share its nuclear secrets will prove antagonistic to the US, which earlier yesterday had issued a warning that Iran's atomic ambitions threatened world peace. Ahmadinejad, who was elected in June, claimed that the involvement of the private sector in its nuclear enrichment programme would prove that Tehran is not producing nuclear weapons. Hours earlier, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had warned Iran to abandon 'forever' its nuclear weapons ambitions. But Ahmadinejad rejected accusations that the regime was seeking to build nuclear weapons, claiming that its 'religious principles' prevent it from so doing. He also called for a UN committee to be set up to investigate which countries had given Israel the technology to develop nuclear weapons. Last night's speech in New York by Ahmadinejad follows US-led attempts to gather support for Iran to be referred to the UN security council and face possible sanctions if it did not halt is nuclear ambitions. Tomorrow, the International Atomic Energy Agency will vote on the action it will take over Iran. The debate over nuclear weapons took a further twist last week when senior diplomats told The Observer that the failure of last week's UN summit to deliver an agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was jeopardised by the US. Officials involved in the negotiations have confirmed that the Bush administration's refusal to countenance any form of disarmament blocked efforts to push measures that would prevent regimes seeking to develop a nuclear capability. The news contradicts some reports that the US had been furious that plans to crack down on nuclear proliferation were stripped out of the final UN document. Iran last month spurned a European package of economic, security and technology incentives for it to abandon sensitive nuclear work and reactivated a factory converting uranium ore into gas. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #12 Why, thank you Mrs. D -- that's awf'ly sweet of you to say! .com, so long as you buy your own, I'm fine with it. But understand that if Mr. Wife gives you the nuke, I am not going to be happy. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-19 22:42 |
| #11 Heh - go ahead, make fun, s'alright... I'm watching eBay. I'll get one soon enough. And I'll return it, activated, to whomever mfg'd the damned thing, lol. So you can expect a boom or two, sooner or later, in Puttyputz's back yard. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2005-09-19 19:29 |
| #10 d'you suppose I should ask Mr. Wife to give me a shiny, new Iranian nuke for our next anniversary? I'd feel better if I knew you had control of it rather than, say .com. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-09-19 19:26 |
| #9 Hmmm... d'you suppose I should ask Mr. Wife to give me a shiny, new Iranian nuke for our next anniversary? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-19 19:22 |
| #8 I don't think Bush, Rice and Rummy are bluffing. They will however play the talking game for as long as they humanly can. We are talking about action that puts the fear into G d fearing if carried to conclusion. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-19 13:52 |
| #7 Hours earlier...Condoleezza Rice had warned Iran to abandon 'forever' its nuclear weapons ambitions. I take that as definitive US threat of force. So at least a bluff is in play. I think the Iranians are going to call the bluff unless they see much stronger bets on the table. Does the administration have plans to raise the ante or will they blink? A nice raise would be some armored brigades on the Iranian border or a couple of carriers in position. Its getting time to pick a fight. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2005-09-19 13:28 |
| #6 Sneaky, by getting other nation's citizens inside their plants they've got a ready made, close at hand hostage pool. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2005-09-19 11:39 |
| #5 The debate over nuclear weapons took a further twist last week when senior diplomats told The Observer that the failure of last week's UN summit to deliver an agreement on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons was jeopardised by the US. Does this have anything to do with not wanting any international obstructions to developing our own tactical neutron bombs or even new sources of energy research, would it? We certainly don't need to be hamstrung by the UN! |
| Posted by: Danielle 2005-09-19 11:00 |
| #4 Yeah, what Mike said. Don't make us go Monroe. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-09-19 09:30 |
| #3 SPoD- Actually, that would be our out - Iran sells a nuke to Hugo, we go Monroe Doctrine on the bunch of them. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-09-19 07:13 |
| #2 That should be "companies," not countries. Sorry ... |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-09-19 02:24 |
| #1 Can you say proliferation? I knew you could. This is a slap at the UN and a sop to the EU as Iran is whoring to it's commercial interests as France and Germany both will fight to sell what ever they can. Folks get us the hell out of NATO and the UN. It's totally adverse to our national interests to remain entangled in what will become an even greater CF than we already have. Hugho Chavez is putting the down payment on his first nuclear weapon as we speak. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-19 02:18 |