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WSJ: "The U.S. and its European allies struggled to present a unified international stance against Iran a day after the United Nations' nuclear agency said it had uncovered extensive evidence that Tehran has been developing the technologies needed to produce nuclear weapons. Russia on Wednesday formally vowed to block any move at the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions against Iran, saying it wasn't convinced by the new intelligence presented by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday. China called for the IAEA to be 'objective' in its work. France and the U.S., meanwhile, appeared divided on how aggressively to target Tehran as the IAEA's Board of Governors prepares to meet next week to discuss Iran and its nuclear program. Any splits between the U.S. and Europeans could undermine efforts to isolate Iran. The French government called for 'unprecedented sanctions' against Iran and a new Security Council resolution condemning its nuclear advances. But the Obama administration has declined to commit to any specific policy, even while acknowledging the seriousness of the new IAEA report. 'I'll just say that we're looking at a range of options. I don't want to say one is off the table...one is still on the table,' said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. 'I think that limits our ability to look at all possibilities and come up with additional pressure as appropriate.'" http://t.uani.com/s8yyRM
AP: "Iran's supreme leader on Thursday warned Israel and the United States that Tehran's response will be tough should its archenemies choose a military strike against Iran over the country's controversial nuclear program. 'Anybody who takes up the idea of an attack on Iran, should get ready to receive a strong slap and an iron fist' by the Iranian armed forces, said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei spoke two days after the U.N. atomic agency released a report that for the first time said Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear arms. The report was the International Atomic Energy Agency's most unequivocal yet in suggesting Iran is using the cover of a peaceful nuclear program to produce atomic weaponry. Iran insists it is pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes... 'The enemies, particularly the United States and its pawns and the Zionist regime, should know that the Iranian nation does not seek to invade any country or nation,' Khamenei said, addressing officers at a military academy in Tehran. 'But Iran will strongly respond to any invasion or attack with such power and in a way that the aggressors and invaders will be smashed from the inside,' said Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran. His remarks were quoted by state radio." http://t.uani.com/vllgFq
AP: "Russia's nuclear chief says Iran would like more Russian-built nuclear reactors following the launch of its first that began producing electricity in September. Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko told a Cabinet session chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that Iran has signaled interest in more Russian-built reactors, in addition to its first built in the southern port of Bushehr. Kiriyenko said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that his agency was working on a relevant agreement. Russin and Iranian officials have discussed building more reactors in the past, but the latest Kiriyenko statement comes amid Western calls for sanctions on Tehran over a U.N. nuclear watchdog report detailing suspected atomic weapons-related advances." http://t.uani.com/sYn8pw
Nuclear Program & Sanctions Reuters: "Iran remains ready to engage in negotiations with world powers concerned about its nuclear program, but only if the other parties show it due respect, its Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. 'We have always announced that we are ready for positive and useful negotiations but, as we have mentioned repeatedly, the condition for those talks to be successful is that we enter those negotiations in a stance of equality and respect for nations' rights,' Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by the website of Iran's Arabic language al-Alam television. Mehmanparast said a report published by the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) on Tuesday with what it said was credible evidence of military aspects of Iran's nuclear work, was merely the latest ploy by the United States to slander the Islamic Republic." http://t.uani.com/vnsL0c
Reuters: "A Soviet scientist has denied being the brains behind Iran's nuclear program, despite U.S. media reports that he helped put Tehran on the threshold of making an atomic bomb, a Russian newspaper said on Thursday. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog said in a report issued this week that it had strong indications that a foreign expert had helped Iran develop a 'high explosives detonation system' but did not identify this person. The Washington Post newspaper cited intelligence reports that named the foreign expert as Vyacheslav Danilenko and said he had assisted the Iranians for at least five years. Kommersant, one of Russia's leading newspapers, said it had tracked down Danilenko, now 76. It said he had worked for decades at one of Russia's top secret nuclear weapons research centers, known in Soviet times as Chelyabinsk-70. 'I am not a nuclear physicist and am not the founder of the Iranian nuclear program,' Danilenko was quoted as telling the newspaper. He declined any further comment, Kommersant said." http://t.uani.com/slGYqR
AFP: "Britain and France, in a joint statement Wednesday, called for new tougher strong sanctions to be imposed on Iran unless Tehran cooperates over its nuclear programme. The call came after Iran vowed it 'will not budge an iota' from its nuclear path despite a new UN report hardening suspicions it is seeking atomic weapons. 'The parties shared their utmost concern regarding the military dimension to Iran's nuclear programme in the light of ... (the) IAEA report and made clear their determination to seek new powerful sanctions if Iran refuses to cooperate,' the two nations said in their joint statement. 'Our goal remains to ensure that Iran fully adheres to its international obligations,' it added." http://t.uani.com/sXGTOP
Reuters: "The German government said on Wednesday that a U.N. nuclear watchdog's findings that Iran had worked on the design of an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research reinforced concerns about the country's nuclear program. 'The German government has been concerned for a long time about the progress of Iran's atomic program and its possible true character. The content of the report naturally reinforces these worries considerably,' said government spokesman Steffen Seibert. He said the International Atomic Energy Agency would be presented at the United Nations next week 'and we will push for a clear resolution urging Iran to meet its commitments to the U.N. Security Council' and return to the negotiating table." http://t.uani.com/veqfV5
AP: "'There is lots of talk about how to slap new punishments on Iran,' said Patrick Clawson, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 'Where it would hurt is oil. That, however, is a tough call with the world economy teetering.' Iran's oil exports -- among the biggest in OPEC -- are undoubtedly the Islamic Republic's most vulnerable spot as its key revenue source, but also represent a possible no-go zone for new sanctions. 'You'd want to impose the last big sanction on Iran to cut the revenue once and for all, but there would be detrimental consequences' by driving up oil prices and rattling world financial markets already uneasy over Europe's debt crisis, said Jamie Webster, a senior analyst at the Washington-based consultants PFC Energy. An indirect option is seeking U.S. and European bans on dealings with Iran's central bank, which handles the country's oil commerce around the world. But that, too, could drive up oil prices -- now approaching $100 per barrel -- by raising the costs of transactions in Iran's main markets in Europe and Asia, including Security Council member China, which depends on Iran for about 10 percent of its growing fuel needs. 'There seems to be no appetite from the Obama administration to do anything to drive oil prices higher,' said Helima Croft, a geopolitical analyst with Barclays Capital. 'An oil embargo seems absolutely off the table.'" http://t.uani.com/rIw0IN
Human Rights AFP: "Two Iranian film-makers detained in September for collaborating with the BBC Persian service were released on bail on Wednesday, the ISNA news agency reported. 'Katayoun Shahabi and Mehran Zinatbakhsh, two documentary makers arrested for working with the BBC, were released on Wednesday after making bail,' the news agency said. Iran detained six filmmakers on accusations of working for the BBC Persian service. Naser Safarian and Mohsen Shahnazdar were released on October 8, the Fars news agency reported at the time, citing a statement by the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association (IDFA). Hadi Afarideh was released 'in recent weeks', ISNA reported on Wednesday." http://t.uani.com/tn6g82 Opinion & Analysis
NYT Editorial Board: "Tehran was in full dudgeon on Wednesday, denouncing the International Atomic Energy Agency - calling its top inspector a Washington stooge - after it reported that Iran's scientists had pursued secret activities 'relevant to the development of a nuclear device.' The agency did not back down, and neither should anyone else. The report is chillingly comprehensive. It says that Iran created computer models of nuclear explosions, conducted experiments on nuclear triggers and did advanced research on a warhead that could be delivered by a medium-range missile. What gives the report particular credibility is its meticulous sourcing. The agency's director, Yukiya Amano, built a case on more than a thousand pages of documents, the assistance of more than 10 agency member states and interviews with 'a number of individuals who were involved in relevant activities in Iran.' The United Nations Security Council - particularly Russia and China, which have been shielding Iran - has no more excuses. It needs to quickly impose a new round of even tougher sanctions on Iran, which is also enriching uranium five years after the Council ordered it to stop. Russia, which is still doing a lot of business with Iran, ruled out more sanctions, saying they would be seen as an 'instrument for regime change.' China said it would study the report. The enrichment program is having technical problems, and sanctions are making it harder to import materials. But not hard enough." http://t.uani.com/vaKTi7
Mitt Romney in WSJ: "The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report this week makes clear what I and others have been warning about for too long: Iran is making rapid headway toward its goal of obtaining nuclear weapons. Successive American presidents, including Barack Obama, have declared such an outcome to be unacceptable. But under the Obama administration, rhetoric and policy have been sharply at odds, and we're hurtling toward a major crisis involving nuclear weapons in one of the most politically volatile and economically significant regions of the world. Things did not have to be this way. To understand how best to proceed from here, we need to review the administration's extraordinary record of failure. As a candidate for the presidency in 2007, Barack Obama put forward 'engagement' with Tehran as a way to solve the nuclear problem, declaring he would meet with Iran's leaders 'without preconditions.' Whether this approach was rooted in naïveté or in realistic expectations can be debated; I believe it was the former. But whatever calculation lay behind the proposed diplomatic opening, it was predictably rebuffed by the Iranian regime. After that repudiation, a serious U.S. strategy to block Iran's nuclear ambitions became an urgent necessity. But that is precisely what the administration never provided. Instead, we've been offered a case study in botched diplomacy and its potentially horrific costs. In his 'reset' of relations with Russia, President Obama caved in to Moscow's demands by reneging on a missile-defense agreement with Eastern European allies and agreeing to a New Start Treaty to reduce strategic nuclear weapons while getting virtually nothing in return. If there ever was a possibility of gaining the Kremlin's support for tougher action against Tehran, that unilateral giveaway was the moment. President Obama foreclosed it. Another key juncture came with the emergence of Iran's Green Revolution after the stolen election of 2009. Here-more than a year before the eruption of the Arab Spring-was a spontaneous popular revolt against a regime that has been destabilizing the region, supporting terrorism around the world, killing American soldiers in Iraq, and attacking the U.S. for three decades. Yet President Obama, evidently fearful of jeopardizing any further hope of engagement, proclaimed his intention not to 'meddle' as the ayatollahs unleashed a wave of terror against their own society. A proper American policy might or might not have altered the outcome; we will never know. But thanks to this shameful abdication of moral authority, any hope of toppling a vicious regime was lost, perhaps for generations. In 2010, the administration did finally impose another round of sanctions, which President Obama hailed as a strike 'at the heart' of Iran's ability to fund its nuclear programs. But here again we can see a gulf between words and deeds. As the IAEA report makes plain, the heart that we supposedly struck is still pumping just fine. Sanctions clearly failed in their purpose. Iran is on the threshold of becoming a nuclear power... I want peace. And if I am president, I will begin by imposing a new round of far tougher economic sanctions on Iran. I will do this together with the world if we can, unilaterally if we must. I will speak out forcefully on behalf of Iranian dissidents. I will back up American diplomacy with a very real and very credible military option. I will restore the regular presence of aircraft carrier groups in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf region simultaneously. I will increase military assistance to Israel and coordination with all of our allies in the region. These actions will send an unequivocal signal to Iran that the United States, acting in concert with allies, will never permit Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. Only when the ayatollahs no longer have doubts about America's resolve will they abandon their nuclear ambitions." http://t.uani.com/rTwEie
Con Couglin in The Daily Telegraph: "For a country riven by violent political, religious and social divisions, the one issue that is guaranteed to unite Iran's 75 million citizens is their country's inalienable right to build an atom bomb. Any discussion of its nuclear programme must, of necessity, commence with the oft-repeated Iranian caveat that its ambitions are peaceful, and that they are focused solely on the development of nuclear power, rather than building weapons. But that claim now looks increasingly threadbare following publication of this week's uncompromising report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which, for the first time, accuses Iran of trying to acquire a nuclear weapons arsenal. That is certainly the conclusion most reasonable people will draw from the report, which provides a damning catalogue of wilful Iranian wrong-doing lasting more than a decade. It details Iran's clandestine efforts to obtain fissile material whose usual application is for the production of nuclear warheads. It confirms that Iran is actively seeking to develop a long-range missile that can be fitted with a nuclear warhead. And it reveals that Iranian scientists - aided by a rogue nuclear expert from the former Soviet Union - have conducted experiments to develop a trigger mechanism for a nuclear weapon. And yet, rather than being dismayed by the IAEA's findings, which is the instinctive response of most Westerners, I suspect the majority of Iranians will be delighted that, for all their political and economic travails, the report shows that their country is still very much on course to join the world's elite club of nuclear-armed powers. We in the West might be horrified at the prospect of the mullahs getting the atom bomb, but Iranians have a very different take on their country's nuclear ambitions. Whether they are Islamist hardliners devoted to the rigorous application of Sharia law, or party-going secularists from the prosperous suburbs of north Tehran, their ideological and political differences disappear the moment there is any discussion of Iran's quest for nuclear parity with other world powers. This national mood of uniformity on Iran's most contentious issue was very much in evidence during the hotly disputed 2009 presidential election campaign, which resulted in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being elected to serve a second four-year term. Thousands of people were killed or injured as supporters of Iran's opposition Green Movement fought street battles with the regime's security forces. But while Green Movement activists such as Mir Hossein Mousavi, who served as Iran's prime minister in the 1980s, were highly critical of many of the policies pursued by Mr Ahmadinejad during his first term, no word of protest was raised against the country's relentless pursuit of nuclear technology. One of the West's more futile diplomatic enterprises of the past 30 years has been to attempt to divide Tehran's ruling elites into groups of moderates and hardliners - those such as its former president, Mohammed Khatami (another Green Movement acolyte), with whom the West could do business, and those, such as the present incumbent, who are clearly beyond the pale. But such distinctions are meaningless so far as Iran's nuclear programme is concerned." http://t.uani.com/tIcS2e |
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