By Nader Bagherzadeh and Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Ali Larijani,
who is the head of Iran’s Supreme
National Security Council responsible for nuclear discussions with the West, has
called nuclear negotiations a “diplomatic chess.” Perhaps he is implying that like a good
chess player he plans a few moves ahead of his opponent. After receiving two sanctions, Larijani
had taken the position that as long as the Security Council (SC) refuses to
return Iran’s case to the IAEA, Iran will not clarify nuclear ambiguities that
have been reported by the Atomic Agency and will continue to reduce cooperation
on many additional inspection activities that are not within the framework of
the standard Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The grand wizard of current
US interventionist foreign
policy, Dick Cheney and his cohorts such as Elliot Abrams, were eager to take
advantage of this situation and rally up the support of the P5 members of the
Security Council for a third and more damaging sanction against Iran. Although the War Party is
very much in favor of a military outcome to the current debacle, there are some
that prefer the continuation of sanctions to squeeze and isolate
Iran even further and not
risk another preemptive war in the Middle East
with a far more devastating outcome.
However, Larijani’s decision to
clarify nuclear activities while under SC sanctions has made grand wizard’s job
tougher to get a unanimous support for yet another sanction. That is probably one of the
reasons why the war mongering rhetoric from the White House has reached a
dangerous level: The opponent does not like Iran’s latest
chess move and wants to shake up the board. Bush’s incendiary speech at the American
Legion was a clear indication of Cheney’s frustration with Iran and looking
to find a way out of this juggernaut, by elevating it to a military
confrontation. After all the only
way Cheney can be assured that centrifuges will not continue to work after he
leaves office is to have them destroyed--enrichment suspension is not good
enough.
The result of Larijani’s bold
reversal move could not bear fruit unless both Javier Solana and Mohammad El
Baradei were willing to engage Iran while US was pushing for more
sanctions. El Baradei’s recent
balanced comments regarding Iran’s case to BBC and New York Times
are truly exemplary of a Nobel Peace laureate and if his actions prevent another
illegal and immoral attack by US, he should be fully recognized by UN for his
efforts. The IAEA’s latest report
has several interesting points about their agreement with Iran
for resolving existing concerns that are worth discussing:
1.
The plutonium related concerns have
all been satisfactorily addressed by Iran. Recall that plutonium is one of the key
elements to make a nuclear bomb and also a byproduct of nuclear power
reactor. Contrary to what
US officials have been saying IAEA
does not confirm existence of any plutonium reprocessing
activities.
2.
According to this agreement all the
remaining concerns will be addressed sequentially. Namely once a concern has been fully
resolved they will move on to the next one. This is a good move for
Iran, since it will allow them to
close a file before moving on to the next concern. The agreement schedule is as
follows:
·
Explain circumstances related to a
more advanced centrifuge machine that is in the R&D
phase
·
Resolve equipment contamination at
Tehran
University
·
Explain uranium metal design
document which could be related to instructions for bomb
making
·
Explain Polonium 210 (Po 210)
experimentation; this was used by Russia for their early nuclear bomb designs
and for poisoning a former Russian
agent in London and caused several death cases in
Israel more than 40 years
ago
·
Provide details about a uranium mine
near Bandar Abbas
·
Explain the alleged military nature
of Iran’s nuclear program on a “laptop”
that was given by a defector to US
3.
IAEA is expecting
Iran to accept the highly intrusive
Additional Protocols (AP). Not all
NPT members have accepted it. For
instance, Saudi Arabia,
Egypt and Brazil have not
ratified it yet. Once accepted AP
will force the member country to, inter alia, allow spot inspection of
non-declared nuclear sites.
4.
Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at
Natanz which is the source of controversy with US has been running at a reduced
capacity since the last IAEA report.
The number of cascades has increased from 8 to 12, but they are running
at one tenth of the capacity. Given
the quality of Iranian engineers working on this project, it is most likely due
to political reasons that anything else.
The remaining 6 cascades are at different levels of preparation; and it
is likely that this slow down will continue unless the third sanction is
ratified. The Agency has also
implemented a variety of safeguards at the FEP, including unannounced
inspections.
5.
IAEA has assigned a staggering 219
inspectors for Iran. This must be a record for this
organization for inspecting any country in the past 50 years.
In spite of this, nothing can be
achieved in an arena void of honor.
The mainstream media in reporting this intricate ‘chess game’ has decided
to champion the side of war and has given the truth a ‘check mate’. Even ‘reputable’ papers such
as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post have all decided
that serving a departing administration that has led the nation into one
quagmire is of greater importance than loyalty to a nation consistent in its
devotion to the flag. By
violating the truth and misinforming the public about the IAEA’s findings on
Iran’ cooperation with the Atomic Agency, the media’s betrayal of the sons and
daughters of a nation which goes to war to make possible the existence of the
free media, is nothing short of treachery most brutally executed.
For deceit, we have others. An English Terrier that barked, and a
French Poodle that bites. Mr. Blair
and Mr. Sarkouzy have taken the war to the edge, waiting to push humanity into a
dark abyss where it will not be recovered. It will pass the gates of hell,
Dante’s inferno will no longer be a work of imagination – for us, it will be our
experience, our doom. Will the
papers, the media, be the trumpeters to this eternal hell that Mr. Cheney has in
mind?
... Payvand News - 9/6/07 ... --
