US will back new Iran sanctions

US will back new Iran sanctions



The US wants a new resolution on Iran agreed 'with some dispatch'

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said there is a "very strong case" for a third round of sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.


She spoke as the UN nuclear agency said it could offer no "credible assurances" that Iran was not building a bomb.

UN Security Council members the US, UK, China, France and Russia meet on Monday in Washington to mull their next step.
But Iran's top nuclear negotiator said the UN report backed Tehran's claim its nuclear programme was peaceful.

Tehran refuses to stop enriching uranium, insisting its work is aimed purely at generating electricity.

Travel bans

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report did praise Iran for granting its inspectors access to previously off-limits sites, but said it remained evasive on key issues.


Tehran says its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes


The nuclear watchdog struck a deal last August with Iran on a timetable to resolve questions over aspects of its past nuclear activities.

But Friday's report said Tehran had evaded a proper response to claims it had made secret efforts to "weaponise" nuclear material.

It had also ducked questions about alleged high explosives testing and design work on a missile warhead, the IAEA found, noting: "This is a matter of serious concern."

Iran was also still openly enriching uranium in defiance of UN resolutions and testing advanced centrifuges to speed up the process, said the inspectors.

The US secretary of state said: "This report demonstrates that whatever the Iranians may be doing to try to clean up some elements of the past, it is inadequate given their current activities.

"What we all have to worry about... is the future in which Iran could start to perfect the technologies that could lead to a nuclear weapon."

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili told reporters: "This report showed that our activities are peaceful."




Iran's key nuclear sites


But BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says the IAEA findings are definitely not a clean bill of health.

On Thursday, Britain and France introduced a UN Security Council resolution - a draft of which was approved last month - with support from the US, Russia, China and Germany.

It seeks to expand the number of Iranian companies targeted by sanctions and impose travel bans on certain Iranian officials.

A declassified US intelligence report last December judged that the Iranians had put a nuclear weapons program on hold in 2003. But the US, Israel and others contend Iran's continued advances in the crucial centrifuge work will eventually give it a capability to build a bomb.

Iran Says Elbaradei's Report Will Clear Them of Nuclear Charges



Iran claims that UN nuclear watchdog agency chief will clear the regime with his report that is due out in hours.
The Iranian Fars News reported:

The UN nuclear watchdog agency chief will, thus, announce the end of IAEA's four-year-long probe into Iran's case, the diplomats said, adding, "ElBaradei will likely announce that according to the survey findings, Iran's nuclear activities have been peaceful, and thus, the country's case should be normalized."

After four years of allegations by the US-led West about the non-peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities and after a long-time ploy by the western countries that the IAEA has not been able to wrap up a probe into the nature of Iran's nuclear programs, the report to be presented by ElBaradei within hours seems to play a decisive role in annulling west's claims about Iran's nuclear drive.

Fars News obtained a copy of Elbaradei's report on Iran. It is posted in full HERE.

Earlier this week on Wednesday an Iranian dissident group charged that the regime was still developing nuclear warheads.

Meanwhile... Spiegel Online reported that Iran will have enough uranium for a bomb by year's end.
Hat Tip American Freedom

Iranians spar with Israel at UN

Iran and Israel are the bitterest of foes in a conflict-riven region

Iran is urging the UN Security Council to stop Israel threatening military action against its nuclear programme.
The highly unusual request was sent by Iran's UN envoy Mohammad Khazaee, to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Mr Khazaee said Israeli threats were unacceptable and unjustifiable, and flagrantly violated international law.
Israel's UN envoy called the letter "disgusting dangerous... hypocrisy" in the light of what Iranian leaders have said about Israel.
Ambassador Dan Gillerman said the secretary general should not even reply to Mr Khazaee's letter.
Mr Khazaee stressed that Iran's nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes only, and said the UN should respond to Israeli threats of force by unambiguously condemning them.
'Savage animal'
The diplomatic spat in New York between the old Middle East foes came late on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly launched a new strongly worded attack against Israel, describing it as a "dirty microbe", and a "savage animal".
"For a country whose leader describes a member state of the United Nations [in such terms], to complain about others' statements is the height of hypocrisy," Mr Gillerman said.
"It is a letter which the recipients, be it the Security Council or the secretary-general, should not even honour by acknowledging," he added. There have been press reports that Israel, which bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981, has begun planning for a possible raid against Iran. The Israeli government says it has not ruled out the possibility of using military force if Iran does not scrap its controversial uranium-enrichment programme.

[tranquill]

Israeli analyst suggests turning nuclear Iran against Egypt.
He argues that Shia dominance is prefereable to the Sunni's.
See this: http://samsonblinded.org/blog/use-ir...inst-egypt.htm