Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Firstly two repeats .. IAEA turns its attention to Israel

Yukiya Amano, the new director general of the IAEA, is already drawing up a report discussing ways
to make Israel open up its facilities to international inspection and sign up to the international non-
proliferation treaty, which would commit it to disarmament. That should be delivered in September. .. more ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=51053467

That's one perspective on Israel's cooperation with the IAEA and Iran's suggested non-cooperation, and a plus for
Mr. Amano if anything comes of it .. hope it wasn't just words .. one other different again .. remember this one?

Iran, IAEA say nuclear proposal still on table .. one bit ..

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Reuters the proposal, which would involve Iran sending its low enriched uranium abroad in exchange for more highly enriched fuel to produce medical isotopes, "still can be on the table."

He was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, shortly after Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency which brokered the draft deal on enriched uranium, told reporters in the Swiss ski resort that the offer remained.

"The proposal is on the table. Dialogue is continuing," Amano said in his first public remarks on the standoff since he succeeded Mohamed ElBaradei two months ago. .. more ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=46114118

Oh .. the one above was posted Jan 29 2010 .. this an earlier one, ElBaradei still head ..

IAEA introduces proposal to Ankara for Iran’s uranium
[img]
medya.todayszaman.com/todayszaman/2009/11/13/iaea.jpg[/img]

13 November 2009 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA

Days after publicly suggesting Turkey as a third-country destination for transport of Iran’s enriched uranium, the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog revealed the details of the proposal to Ankara on Thursday, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.

In televised remarks over the weekend, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he proposed Turkey as a third-country destination after Iran failed to agree to a Western plan where its enriched uranium would be sent to Russia for further enrichment to reactor-grade fuel. Tehran has yet to give a full, official reply to the proposal, which was drafted three weeks ago after consultations with Iran, France, Russia and the US.

Earlier this week, expressing Ankara’s readiness to contribute to efforts to help resolve Iran’s nuclear row peacefully, Turkish officials noted that Turkey had not received any formal proposal to help with ElBaradei’s offer.

IAEA chief ElBaradei initiated a telephone conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin told the Anatolia news agency on Thursday. Özügergin noted that Davutoglu conveyed his observations during comprehensive meetings he, President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who were both in Istanbul to attend an economic summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

A comprehensive exchange of views took place during a telephone conversation between ElBaradei and Davutoglu, Özügergin told Anatolia, while underlining that ElBaradei has offered “some technical details” as well.

Diplomatic sources, approached by Today’s Zaman, admitted that the technical details were about Turkey’s possible role in shipping Iran’s enriched uranium. Yet, the same sources declined to give further details on the content of those technical talks, pointing to the sensitivity of the ongoing process as a reason.

Ankara, which constantly emphasizes its stance for a resolution of the international dispute through diplomatic means and through maintaining dialogue between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), will apparently stay in close contact with ElBaradei in the near future as well, the same diplomatic sources said.

On Monday, Davutoglu briefly said ElBaradei’s proposal to send Iranian low-enriched uranium to Turkey was discussed with Ahmadinejad and Mottaki. “We are in a very constructive position with both the IAEA and Iran,” Davutoglu said then of the talks.

The plan requires Tehran to send 1.2 tons (1,100 kilograms) -- around 70 percent of its stockpile -- of low-enriched uranium to Russia in one batch by the end of the year for further enrichment, a move that would ease international concerns that the material could be processed for a bomb. After further enrichment in Russia, France would then convert the uranium into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in a reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes. Fuel rods cannot be further enriched into weapons-grade material.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has not yet given its final response to the UN proposal and has instead come up with its own request to buy nuclear fuel from abroad.

Speaking to reporters before departing Istanbul late on Monday, Ahmadinejad declined to comment directly on ElBaradei’s offer for Turkey to play a role but said Iran had much trust in Turkey. “We have very good relations with Turkey. We trust each other,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Anatolia. He avoided giving a direct answer when persistently asked about Iranian media reports that said Tehran had rejected the offer. ..
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-192793-iaea-introduces-proposal-to-ankara-for-irans-uranium.html

=============== .. one more .. i don't like the heading .. the bold bit toward the bottom is mine ..

Iran's New Nuke Proposal: Progress, or Delaying Tactic?
By Andrew Lee Butters Monday, May 17, 2010



Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, standing at center, joins hands with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, left, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after an agreement was signed in Tehran to export half of Iran's enriched-uranium stockpile in exchange for reactor fuel
Vahid Salemi / AP

For more than a decade, Iran and the West have tried, with no luck, to bridge their differences over the Islamic Republic's determination to have its own nuclear energy program and the West's suspicion that Iran wants to build nuclear weapons. Now Brazil and Turkey, two countries ambitious to play bigger roles on the world stage, claim to have found a formula to break through. On Monday, May 17, Turkey, Brazil and Iran announced a deal whereby Iran would ship a significant amount of its uranium fuel stockpiles to Turkey for reprocessing. But there are many questions about the details of the deal, which will be scrutinized closely once Iran submits it to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. In fact, some observers say it could increase tensions in the standoff between Iran and those who wish to curtail the country's nuclear program.

The Turkish-Brazilian deal was designed to satisfy the U.N. Security Council's concerns about the transparency of Iran's nuclear agenda. The Council is currently considering another round of sanctions to persuade Iran to halt its uranium-enrichment program, which Iran says has peaceful purposes (mainly, in a reactor in Tehran for use in medical research). By shipping its uranium abroad for conversion into fuel for its medical reactor, Iran will have a smaller uranium stockpile at home — an amount sufficiently reduced to convince critics that Iran does not have enough to enrich to the very high levels necessary for weapon-building. Once uranium is turned into the type of nuclear fuel necessary for the medical reactor, it cannot be weaponized. (See pictures of people around the world protesting Iran's election.)

The problem is that by and large, the U.S. and the E.U. have been running out of patience with Iran, while Russia and China (which can cast vetoes in the Security Council) have been making diplomatic nods to encourage movement in the negotiations. The U.S. and the U.N. have been asking Iran for the past six months to accept a deal similar to the Turkish-Brazilian one, whereby Iran would ship uranium to France for reprocessing. Though President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad initially backed the deal, it fell apart in October amid a chorus of criticism from across Iran's political spectrum, as both hard-liners and moderates accused the government of trading away the country's nuclear patrimony. (See how a Brazilian-Turkish deal may not be at cross-purposes with U.S. goals.)

Brazil and Turkey may have succeeded in breaking through to Iran, where the U.S. failed, merely by being developing, rather than established, powers — and therefore more trusted by Iran. But because the U.S. offer to Iran fell through, the Obama Administration has largely given up hope that Iran will cooperate voluntarily. It has begun to push for a new round of U.N. sanctions, and Europe and, at least for now, Russia and China have not raised objections. The Obama Administration is likely to see the new deal as a delaying tactic thrown up by Iran once it became clear that sanctions were imminent.

Indeed, there are many unanswered questions in the agreement. For one thing, it doesn't specify which nation is going to do the enriching, since Turkey doesn't have the ability to do so on its own. More important, Iran has continued building stockpiles of enriched uranium. So even though Iran is offering to send the same amount of uranium to Turkey as the U.S. wanted Iran to send to France, it most likely has a larger stockpile. Therefore, Iran may still have enough enriched uranium to remain above the threshold necessary for building a weapon. And the U.S. has expressed suspicion that Iran has more enrichment facilities than are currently known to the IAEA. (See the nuclear gamesmanship between the U.S. and Iran.)

Even if the proposed deal meets IAEA approval and is implemented, it isn't likely to appease Israel, which believes that Iran's nuclear program poses an existential threat to the Jewish state. The Israeli government disapproved even of the original IAEA-brokered deal and is unlikely to see the Turkish-mediated deal as a solution. Until now, the U.S. has persuaded Israel to back down from its threats to end Iran's nuclear program the old-fashioned way — with military bombardment — but Israel says it reserves the right to act unilaterally if the U.S. is unable to get Iran to end its enrichment program entirely. Indeed, even the original IAEA-brokered proposal for Iran to ship uranium to France was meant merely as a stopgap measure to buy time and build confidence between the opposing sides for a more comprehensive deal in the future. And Israel is well aware that while the world's diplomats keep talking, Iran's centrifuges keep spinning. If the Turkish-Brazilian deal ends up being just more hot air, this foray into high-stakes global diplomacy may end up coming back to haunt the Middle East. .. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1989665,00.html

REPEAT THE FIVE POST .. the escalation is bad news .. sure feels like .. with headings and links and bits here this time ..

1. Seymour Hersh: Despite Intelligence Rejecting Iran as Nuclear Threat, US Could Be Headed for Iraq Redux ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=63957542

2. Nuclear proliferation: Engaging Iran .. bits ..

This piece was written by six former ambassadors to Iran from European countries: Richard Dalton (United Kingdom), Steen Hohwü-Christensen (Sweden), Paul von Maltzahn (Germany), Guillaume Metten (Belgium), François Nicoullaud (France) and Roberto Toscano (Italy) .. [one of the bits] ..

We often hear that Iran's ill-will, its refusal to negotiate seriously, left our countries no other choice but to drag it to the Security Council in 2006. Here also, things are not quite that clear.

Let us remember that in 2005 Iran was ready to discuss a ceiling limit for the number of its centrifuges and to maintain its rate of enrichment far below the high levels necessary for weapons. Tehran also expressed its readiness to put into force the additional protocol that it had signed with the IAEA allowing intrusive inspections throughout Iran, even in non-declared sites. But at that time, the Europeans and the Americans wanted to compel Iran to forsake its enrichment program entirely. ..
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=64150008

3. Juan Cole .. Iraq, Iran and the Nuclear Phantasm: We’ve Seen this Picture

[...] It is likely that Iran wants “nuclear latency,” [...] But the propaganda will say otherwise. ..
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4. Nuclear agency says Iran worked on weapons

Nov 8 2011 Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington DC, said: "This is a report the US wanted the IAEA to come out with. We expect the Obama administration to use this report on the international stage to impose stricter sanctions... but to get that, they need China and Russia to get on board."

A senior US administration official told Al Jazeera: "The IAEA report does not assert that Iran has resumed a full-scale nuclear weapons programme, nor does it have a conclusion about how advanced those activities are, but clearly indicates there are activities of concern." .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=68801009

5. Another Iranian nuclear scientist murdered in Tehran .. http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=66214852

it's a long war .. 5 years of sanctions, virus attacks, assassination
of top nuclear physicists .. now more .. with seemingly no good reason ..

then there was the Fatah by Khamanei against the development of nuclear
weapons .. if it was broken it would be a real blow to his authority ..
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I am scared for Iran.