‘Iran klaar voor verrijking uranium op industriële schaal’

[ronjhe]

``Iran's a serious problem,'' Bush said. ``This is a country we believe wants to have a nuclear weapon, and to what end? They don't need a nuclear weapon.''

They don't need????? Vond men dat ook van India en Pakistan? Nee... India wilde kernwapens omdat vijand China die had en Pakistan wilde ze vervolgens omdat vijand India ze had.... Waarom geldt dit nu opeens niet meer voor Iran? Die ze wil omdat 1) vijand Israel ze heeft en 2) vijand Irak ze aan het ontwikkelen was en 3) omdat het regime zich bedreigd voelt in haar voortbestaan door de agressieve invasie van buurland Irak en dreigende taal van de VS en Israel aan haar adres... Wat je ook tegen het regime mag hebben, dit lijken me minstens even rechtvaardige redenen om dit "weapon of the last resort" in handen te krijgen...

Het argument vervolgens dat het regime ons niet aanstaat en zij terroristen steunen vind ik volkomen hypocriet.... Want Pakistan was en is notabene een dictatuur en heeft de Taliban en naar het schijnt Al quada gesteund en doet dat nog steeds....En het land dat de meeste radicale moskeen in het Westen financiert, Saudi-Arabie, schijnt binnen een korte tijd ook kernwapens te kunnen hebben via een geheim verdrag met Pakistan (en heeft de raketten al klaar staan)... Dus tja... Dat we met de mogelijke aanval op Iran de voedingsbodem van de radicale moslims op grote schaal gaan voeden en daarmee onze eigen veiligheid daadwerkelijk en direct in gevaar gaan brengen mag dan weinig verbazingwekkend zijn.....hoe dom kun je zijn...maar goed, dat zal de leiders in hun veilige bunkers en met hun eigen belangen en bankrekeningen goed gediend een rotzorg zijn...Bush zal er geen golfballetje minder om slaan zometeen... want a new enemy is the jackpot for every weak politician and president...en voor zijn vriendjes bij het militair-industriele complex...en al die christen-extremisten die hun eindtijddroom zo denken te zien uitkomen... pppffff scary world this becomes..    

[Lex]

Bush Fears Nuclear Arms Race in Middle East

TIPP CITY, Ohio (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Thursday he was concerned that Iran's nuclear ambitions will trigger an atomic arms race in the Middle East.
Bush expressed his concern after The New York Times reported on Sunday that the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, among other Middle Eastern states, were seeking to develop nuclear programs for electricity generation.
The Times said that while interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East and that the rush of activity appeared intended to counter the threat of a nuclear Iran. (*1)`
`I'm very worried about a nuclear arms race in the Middle East,'' Bush said in answer to a question from a member of the audience at Tippecanoe High School after a speech about Iraq.
Iran says its nuclear-enrichment program is for peaceful purposes and denies trying to develop a nuclear weapon, as Washington charges. Tehran is locked in a test of wills with the United States and its allies over its program.
``Iran's a serious problem,'' Bush said. ``This is a country we believe wants to have a nuclear weapon, and to what end? They don't need a nuclear weapon.''

By REUTERS
April 19, 2007
Filed at 2:24 p.m. ET

(*1): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/world/middleeast/15sunnis.html

[Lex]

Dit heeft mijns inziens alles te maken met de ontwikkelingen rond Iran en de Israelische reactie daarop... Want de uitkomst van het rapport zal waarschijnlijk zeer kritisch zijn over de regering Olmert.

Zo mag eenieder zijn/haar mening hebben; echter ik vind het te ver gaan om bij ieder onderwerp gelijk een relatie te leggen naar Iran.

[ronjhe]

De Winograd Commission heeft als opdracht een onderzoek te doen naar de oorlog met Libanon, hetgeen iets totaal anders is.
Zie: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/112224

Dit heeft mijns inziens alles te maken met de ontwikkelingen rond Iran en de Israelische reactie daarop... Want de uitkomst van het rapport zal waarschijnlijk zeer kritisch zijn over de regering Olmert.
Netanyahu van Likud wacht het al niet meer af en heeft de regering de "oorlog" verklaart.

"Netanyahu's move appears to be timed with precision, as the date of release of the interim report by the Winograd Commission approaches. The Winograd Commission was appointed to investigate failures in the conduct of the Second Lebanon War last summer and is expected to have harsh criticism for the government and its heads. Prime Minister Olmert has received record-setting low marks of support in the polls, one of which recently gave him an amazingly low 3% support level – less than the margin of error."
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122163

Het is geen geheim dat Netanyahu gesprekken heeft gevoerd met vice-president Cheney recentelijk. En het mag duidelijk zijn hoe Netanyahu staat tegenover Iran en dat probleem wil gaan aanpakken. Alsook Cheney. De vraag zal dus zijn of premier Olmert deze "bijltjesdag" zal afwachten of het bekende politieke middel zal grijpen om de impact hiervan te minimaliseren door een oorlog te starten, in dit geval een aanval op Iran. Hoewel de regering Bush waarschijnlijk beter zaken kan doen met Netanyahu is het voor de onderhandelingen met de Palestijnen waarschijnlijk weer beter om Olmert als Israelische gesprekspartner te houden. Ook dat gaat denk ik meewegen in de verdere ontwikkelingen. Ik vermoed dat Olmert, toch wel bekend staande als een enigzins opportunistische pragmaticus, op dit moment heftig met dit dillema worstelt. Al ken ik hem uit het verleden ook als een harde havik... Dus misschien is het keuze al gemaakt en wil hij zometeen de geschiedenis ingaan als de leider die zijn land via een aanval op Iran behoedde voor vernietiging en daarna ook nog vrede sloot met de Palestijnen. Want het is wel heel stil nu wat betreft reacties op het uitgelekte IAEA rapport dat Iran al 1300 centrifuges heeft draaien...maar goed... time will tell. 

[Lex]

En de Winograd Commission komt eind april in Israel met naar het schijnt een zeer kritisch rapport.. ben benieuwd of de regering Olmert dat nog afwacht.

De Winograd Commission heeft als opdracht een onderzoek te doen naar de oorlog met Libanon, hetgeen iets totaal anders is.
Zie: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/112224

[ronjhe]

Nu ook de IAEA de "geruchten" en Iraanse claims bevestigt lijkt me het stug dat een stevige reactie nu nog lang uitblijft....Zeker gezien de snelheid waarmee Iran nu blijkbaar centrifuges online krijgt... Want nog niet zo lang geleden waren dat er nog maar een paar.. nu gaat men al uit van meer dan 1300....En de Winograd Commission komt eind april in Israel met naar het schijnt een zeer kritisch rapport.. ben benieuwd of de regering Olmert dat nog afwacht...

[Lex]

Voor een geografische opfrisser zie: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6979727/ 

[Lex]

Iran verrijkt uranium in ondergrondse fabriek

WENEN -  Iran is in een ondergrondse fabriek in Natanz begonnen met eerste stappen voor een programma van verrijking van uranium op industriële schaal. Dit staat in een vertrouwelijk document van het Internationale Atoomenergieagentschap (IAEA) waarin journalisten in Wenen inzage hebben gehad.
Iran had vorige week bekendgemaakt dat het aan uraniumverrijking op grote schaal was begonnen. Diplomaten toonden zich sceptisch zolang het IAEA nog niet had gereageerd. Het vertrouwelijke document is gebaseerd op informatie die IAEA-inspecteurs in Iran hebben ingewonnen.
Volgens het rapport heeft Iran meer dan 1300 centrifuges opgestart. Voor productie op industriële schaal zijn zeker 3000 centrifuges nodig. Het Westen is bang dat Iran een atoombom wil bouwen

ANP | Gepubliceerd op 18 april 2007, 22:05

[ronjhe]

Het feit of er twijfels zijn over de efficientie of het tijdspad van het programma lijkt me nauwelijks relevant. Het feit dat men aan iets werkt dat tot doel kan hebben een nucleair wapen te maken des te meer. Wil men daar wat aan doen dan gaat met uit van de worst-case. En aangezien men niet weet wat er precies in de geheime plaatsen wordt uitgevoerd (althans dat zegt men) zal men geen risico's nemen...

[Lex]

Analysts Not Buying Ahmadinejad's Nuclear Success Tale

WASHINGTON —  Western diplomats and private-sector analysts strongly doubt Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim today that his country is producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, and believe his announcement saying as much was designed purely for domestic political reasons, sources tell FOX News.
Ahmadinejad was joined in the claim in a separate announcement by the country's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who said that Iran was feeding uranium gas into 3,000 centrifuges. U.S. experts say 3,000 centrifuges are in theory enough to produce a nuclear weapon, and possibly successfully within a year.
Foreign and domestic sources tell Fox News that Iran has installed at most 1,320 centrifuges, probably fewer, and the country has not yet even mastered the enrichment process with its first "cascade" of centrifuges — its first set of 164 centrifuges.
In the enrichment process, uranium gas is pumped into centrifuges, which spin and purify the gas. Enriched to a low degree, the result is fuel for a reactor that can be used in electric power generation, but enriched to a high degree it creates the material for a nuclear warhead.
One source repeated a widely reported fact that Iran has installed two above-ground pilot cascades of 328 centrifuges. The source added that Iran has built another six or seven cascades below ground, which could be an additional 1,148 centrifuges.
But the hardest part of mastering the nuclear fuel process — for peaceful purposes or otherwise — is getting first cascade to work properly, and for months at a time. With a functioning cascade, it is easier to replicate the process.
But sources tell Fox News Iran's pilot cascade operates "haphazardly," and mostly "dry" or "on vacuum" — without the introduction of the uranium gas.
Sources say that by building multiple cascades without necessarily building one that has succeeded in the enrichment process is how the country can make announcements like today's that might have a strong domestic political effect but do not mean the program is moving along as fast as it might seem.
Judging the strength of Iran's nuclear program is difficult though, the sources said, because outside analysis is based entirely on what is known by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and aerial reconnaissance.
Ahmadinejad previously has claimed that his country's scientists are conducting research into the use of advanced, more time-efficient P-2 centrifuges. That could mean a highly accelerated timetable for mastery of the fuel cycle. Iran is believed to have acquired some P-2 design technology from A.Q. Khan, the renegade Pakistani nuclear scientist who supplied similar materiel to North Korea and Libya.
Some analysts assert that Iran is proceeding at the rate of installing one cascade a week, and should reach its immediate goal of 3,000 — despite today's claims already to have done so — by the end of May.
Other sources could not confirm the one-cascade-per-week claim. However the general consensus is that if Iran develops the ability to operate 3,000 centrifuges successfully for one year, the country will have enough enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.
Despite the skepticism over the country's claims, a real threat remains, analysts believe: Iran already has the missiles that can deliver a nuclear warhead.

Monday , April 09, 2007
Fox News.
FOX News James Rosen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[ronjhe]

the clock is ticking...

[Lex]

Ahmadinejad: Iran expanding nuclear process

Defiant president says country can make nuclear fuel on 'industrial scale'

WASHINGTON - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Monday that Iran was now capable of producing nuclear fuel on an "industrial scale" in an expansion of the uranium enrichment program that the United Nations has demanded it halt.
The announcement suggests Iran has succeeded in operating a larger number of centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.
Asked if Iran has begun injecting uranium gas into 3,000 centrifuges for enrichment, top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani replied, "Yes." He did not elaborate, but it was the first confirmation that Iran had installed the larger set of centrifuges after months of saying it intends to do so. Until now, Iran was only known to have 328 centrifuges operating.
"With great honor, I declare that as of today our dear country has joined the nuclear club of nations and can produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale," Ahmadinejad said.

U.S. decries 'missed opportunity'

The United States criticized Iran's latest statements.
"It's a missed opportunity," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said when asked about Iran's announcement. "This is another signal that Iran is defying the international community."
McCormack said the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. nuclear watchdog group "don't believe Iran's assurances that their (nuclear) program is peaceful in nature."
The White House also criticized the announcement.

"Iran continues to defy the international community and further isolate itself by expanding its nuclear program, rather than suspending uranium enrichment," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
The United Nations has vowed to ratchet up sanctions as long as Iran refuses to suspend enrichment. The Security Council first imposed limited sanctions in December, then increased them slightly last month and has set a new deadline of late May.
"What we are looking for are reasonable Iranian leaders who view the cost-benefit calculation and see that it is not to the benefit of the Iranian people to continue to pursue the course on which they find themselves," McCormack said.

Analyst doubts scale of production

Michael Levi, a fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, was skeptical of the Iranian claims. He said by his calculations, the capabilities Iran has just announced would provide 10 percent of the material needed to run its plant.

"To me, that's not industrial scale," Levi said. "An industrial-scale facility is a facility that can support your industry."

On the other hand, "from a political perspective, it's more important to have them in place than to have them run properly," he explained since the announcement stirs up support and patriotism at home, and the international community has almost no way to verify how well the program is working.

"Iran looks to be moving its nuclear program along on a political schedule rather than a technical schedule," Levi said.

Levi marveled that Iran has the power to cause such a stir with an announcement. He noted that most of the time, world leaders complain they can't trust Iran, "except when they say something really scary, we take them at their word."

The U.N. has imposed limited sanctions on Iran until it suspends enrichment a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the basis of a warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim the country denies.

Defying the sanctions

Meantime, Iranian state television reported Monday that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general who is banned from traveling abroad under the sanctions has visited Russia without any difficulty.
Gen. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who is also deputy interior minister for security affairs, was quoted on the state TV Web site as saying that his six-day journey to Moscow, which ended Monday, showed "the ineffectiveness of the resolution."
The resolution calls on all governments to ban visits by the 15 individuals and says that should such visits occur — presumably for exceptional circumstances — the countries should notify a U.N. committee.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov confirmed that Zolqadr visited Russia. He told The Associated Press that the resolution does not prohibit visits by the listed individuals, instead calling for heightened vigilance and attention, and that "this vigilance is directed first of all at people who are directly related to nuclear programs," suggesting that Zolqadr was not.

EU boycott

The unveiling of new centrifuges at Natanz would be a strong show of defiance toward the United Nations, which has vowed to ratchet up sanctions as long as Iran refuses to suspend enrichment. The Security Council has set a new deadline of late May.
Tensions are also high between Iran and the West following the 13-day detention of 15 British sailors by Iran. The sailors, who were seized by Revolutionary Guards off the Iraqi coast, were released on Wednesday, but since then have said they were put under psychological pressure by their captors to force them to "confess" to being in Iranian waters when captured, angering many in Britain.
Diplomats from developing nations were attending Monday's celebrations at Natanz, but diplomats from European Union boycotted to protest Iran's refusal of the U.N. demands, said the Foreign Ministry in Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency.
Larijani said his country was willing to negotiate with the West and offer assurances that its program is peaceful. But he said the West must accept its nuclear program as a fact.
"We are ready to reach understanding with the Westerners through a corridor of real negotiations — in the current situation, in which Iran's nuclear activities have been concluded," state television quoted Larijani as saying.
"The understanding regards assuring the other party about the peacefulness of Iran's nuclear activities," he said. "But we do not give in our rights."

'National day of nuclear energy'

Across Iran, school bells rang to mark the "national day of nuclear energy." The government sent out SMS messages of congratulations for the occasion to millions of mobile phone users.
In Tehran, some 200 students formed a human chain at Iran's Atomic Energy Organization while chanting "death to America" and "death to Britain." The students burnt flags of the U.S. and Britain.
On April 9, 2006, Iran announced it had first enriched uranium using an array of 164 centrifuges.
Iran has said its next step is to set up 3,000 centrifuges, but it is not clear where the project stands. Experts say the Natanz plant needs between 50,000 to 60,000 centrifuges to consistently produce fuel for a reactor or build a warhead.
In the enrichment process, uranium gas is pumped into a "cascade" of thousands of centrifuges, which spin the gas at supersonic speeds to purify it. Uranium enriched to a low level, at least 3 percent, can be used as fuel, while at a far higher level, more than 90 percent, it can be used to build a weapon.
Iran currently has two cascades of 164 centrifuges each operating at an aboveground portion of the Natanz facility in central Iran. The two cascades have produced small quantities of non-weapons grade enriched uranium, U.N. nuclear inspectors have said.

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 1:37 p.m. ET April 9, 2007

[-Peter-]

AP
TEHERAN - Iran is klaar voor uraniumverrijking op industriële schaal. Dat heeft de Iraanse vice-president Gholamreza Aghazadeh maandag gezegd, precies een jaar nadat Iran bekendmaakte voor het eerst kleine hoeveelheden uranium te hebben verrijkt in zijn verrijkingsfabriek in het centraal gelegen Natanz.

'Thans gaan we over tot de massaproductie van centrifuges en gaan we een begin maken met verrijking op industriële schaal, een nieuwe stap naar de bloei van Islamitisch Iran', zei Aghazadeh, die aan het hoofd staat van de Iraanse Organisatie voor Atoomenergie, op een ceremonie in Natanz.

[bron: www.volkskrant.nl]