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Kiss of Death
Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow
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Iran: A real threat...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/...eut/index.html
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VIENNA, Sept 25 (Reuters) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog has found traces of arms-grade enriched uranium at a second site in Iran, a month before a U.N. deadline for Tehran to prove it has no secret atomic weapons programme, diplomats said on Thursday.
One diplomat told Reuters the discovery could support Tehran's explanation that the discovery of highly-enriched uranium at a previous site in Iran was due to contamination from imported components.
But several other diplomats said it could support the U.S. theory that Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in a nuclear explosive device -- a charge Tehran denies.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomats said the new traces of enriched uranium were found in environmental samples taken during inspections at the Kalaye Electric Co. on the southern outskirts of Tehran.
Earlier this year, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found traces of enriched uranium at a plant at Natanz, some 250 km (150 miles) south of the Iranian capital.
The IAEA finding at Natanz was a surprise, since Iran had insisted that its enrichment centrifuges were never tested live -- that is, with nuclear material. Also, Iran has always said it only wants to produce low-enriched uranium, unusable in bombs.
Tehran, which says its nuclear programme is peaceful, blames the earlier find at Natanz on machinery which it says was contaminated with enriched uranium when it was purchased abroad on the black market in the 1980s. This explanation has met with scepticism inside and outside the IAEA.
However, one Western diplomat said failure to get a positive result from samples taken at Kalaye would have been surprising, as this is where Iran said it stored the centrifuge components which it says were contaminated.
"Not getting a positive result would have been odd,'' the diplomat said. "This was the facility where components used in the centrifuges were said to be stored and manufactured.''
Another Western diplomat disagreed, saying that this finding would not vindicate Iran, but could support the theory that Iran has been enriching uranium secretly at Natanz and Kalaye.
"This finding may actually raise even more questions about the discovery of enriched uranium,'' the diplomat told Reuters.
Secret tests
Other diplomats said that the result could show that Iran has been covertly testing its enrichment machinery at Kalaye.
The United States and a number of other countries have long suspected that Iran secretly tested its centrifuges at Kalaye, which diplomats say would be a serious beach of Iran's obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and would oblige the IAEA board to notify the U.N. Security Council.
The Security Council has the power to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions.
Iran has always insisted that it did not conduct live tests of its centrifuges either at Kalaye or Natanz. But in an August 26 report, the IAEA said that a team of U.N. centrifuge experts had said Iran must have tested its centrifuges with uranium.
An IAEA spokeswoman neither confirmed nor denied the diplomats' statements, saying only that the IAEA was focusing on Iran's October deadline and the departure of inspectors to Tehran on Sunday for a month of intensive inspections and talks.
"We can't divulge the results of any analysis of samples at this stage,'' IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.
Iranian officials were not available for comment.
Iran has until October 31 to enable the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons programme, as the United States alleges, or it will be reported to the Security Council.
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From a State Dept transcript http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/2441.htm
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Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Cuba, North Korea, and Sudan continue to be the seven governments that the US Secretary of State has designated as state sponsors of international terrorism. Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2000. It provided increasing support to numerous terrorist groups, including the Lebanese Hizballah, HAMAS, and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which seek to undermine the Middle East peace negotiations through the use of terrorism.
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Iran
Despite the victory for moderates in Iran's Majles elections in February, aggressive countermeasures by hardline conservatives have blocked most reform efforts. Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2000. Its Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) continued to be involved in the planning and the execution of terrorist acts and continued to support a variety of groups that use terrorism to pursue their goals.
Iran's involvement in terrorist-related activities remained focused on support for groups opposed to Israel and peace between Israel and its neighbors. Statements by Iran's leaders demonstrated Iran's unrelenting hostility to Israel. Supreme Leader Khamenei continued to refer to Israel as a "cancerous tumor" that must be removed; President Khatami, labeling Israel an "illegal entity," called for sanctions against Israel during the intifadah; and Expediency Council Secretary Rezai said, "Iran will continue its campaign against Zionism until Israel is completely eradicated." Iran has long provided Lebanese Hizballah and the Palestinian rejectionist groups--notably HAMAS, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, and Ahmad Jibril's PFLP-GC--with varying amounts of funding, safehaven, training, and weapons. This activity continued at its already high levels following the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May and during the intifadah in the fall. Iran continued to encourage Hizballah and the Palestinian groups to coordinate their planning and to escalate their activities against Israel. Iran also provided a lower level of support--including funding, training, and logistics assistance--to extremist groups in the Gulf, Africa, Turkey, and Central Asia.
Although the Iranian Government has taken no direct action to date to implement Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the decree has not been revoked, and the $2.8 million bounty for his assassination has not been withdrawn. Moreover, hardline Iranians continued to stress that the decree is irrevocable. On the anniversary of the fatwa in February, the IRGC released a statement that the decree remains in force, and Ayatollah Yazdi, a member of the Council of Guardians, reiterated that "the decree is irrevocable and, God willing, will be carried out."
Iran also was a victim of Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK)-sponsored terrorism. The Islamic Republic presented a letter to the UN Secretary General in October citing seven acts of sabotage by the MEK against Iran between January and August 2000. The United States has designated the MEK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
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WHat would people think if we were to take some form of action against an actual threat like Iran? Does anyone see this happening? Iran been nothing but trouble since the revolution back in the early 80's (granted the Shah was a rat-bastard himself). When I think of an Islamic threat Iran comes to mind, hard lining theocrats who blur religion and politics. Also now you hear about The Iranian gov't stirring up problems in Iraq due to Shiite majority... things could get interesting.
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To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.
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