Iran Slams Europeans for Bowing to U.S.
March 10, 2004
AFP
Yahoo News
VIENNA -- Iran criticized European states for bowing to US pressure to condemn Tehran's atomic program before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and threatened to stop cooperating with the United Nations ' nuclear watchdog.
Britain, Germany and France "have tried their best, but we expected more from our European colleagues" Iranian ambassador Pirooz Hosseini told reporters at a meeting of the IAEA in Vienna. He was referring to a draft IAEA resolution that lists Iranian failures to report sensitive nuclear activities.
Hosseini said there was "too much pressure, unconstructive pressure, by the Americans".
The IAEA has been verifying since February 2003 whether Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, or devoted to secretly developing atomic weapons, as the United States maintains.
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said the Islamic Republic threatened to end cooperation with the IAEA unless it stopped being "influenced by the Americans".
"We are engaged in cooperation (with the IAEA) and for this to continue the cooperation has to be bilateral. If one side does not respect its obligations, the cooperation will end," Kharazai added after the Iranian government's weekly cabinet meeting.
In Brussels, the European Commission issued a veiled warning to Iran not to end cooperation with IAEA, noting that Europe's trade dialogue with Tehran was linked to the nuclear issue.
And IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran not to renew its uranium enrichment activities, as Tehran had threatened to do earlier Wednesday.
"Iran has been in breach of its (nuclear non proliferation) obligations for many years and we need to build confidence," ElBaradei said.
"I think suspension (of uranium enrichment) is a confidence-building measure and, as I said, Iran needs to do everything possible right now to create the confidence required."
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors is meeting in Vienna this week has not yet voted on the draft resolution on Iran.
But Hosseini said the text, drafted by the US and the three European states, was "an act of bullying and putting pressure on the others".
"This is against the statute of the IAEA and not fruitful anyway," he said.
The United States, which wants to take Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, agreed on a compromise text Tuesday with Britain, France and Germany, which have stressed the need to get Iran to cooperate with the international community over nuclear non-proliferation.
The compromise text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, condemns Iran for failing to report such crucial technologies as advanced P-2 centrifuge designs for enriching uranium, possibly to weapons grade.
But it puts off any immediate reaction, such as declaring Iran to be in non-compliance with the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a move that would mean the issue being taken up by the UN Security Council and pave the way towards possible sanctions.
Britain-France and Germany struck a deal with Iran in October 2003, under which the latter agreed to cooperate with the IAEA, and were currently stressing the need to maintain "constructive engagement", a Western diplomat said.
In Washington, a senior State Department official warned late Tuesday that Iran was likely to be referred to the Security Council eventually unless it radically altered its attitude on matters relating to its nuclear program.
But Hosseini responded: "We think that the Americans do not want to accept the fact that Iran is not looking for nuclear weapons programs. This is a fact but they don't want to accept this fact."
The 13 non-aligned states on the IAEA board of governors were Wednesday examining the compromise text for the first time. Several diplomats from those countries said they were "uncomfortable" that the draft had been leaked to the press before it had been given to them.
Meanwhile, Libya took a further step towards cooperation with the IAEA, signing an additional protocol to the NPT which allows IAEA inspectors to carry out wider, unannounced inspections of its nuclear facilities.
This came after the IAEA board adopted a resolution to notify the UN Security Council that Tripoli had violated its nuclear non-proliferation commitments but had since cooperated in remedying this, so that sanctions would not be called for.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1512&ncid=1276&e=1&u=/afp/20040310/wl_afp/iran_libya_nuclear_iaea
http://www.augustachronicle.com/iraq/graphics/weapon_centrifuge.gif
Of course Iran only wants to make a flakier pastry with such apparatus and more sophisticated follow-ons.
Yet the imperialist warmongering bully cowboy in Amerika wants to crush such progressive ventures.
And we are disappointed that the good money we paid in bribes to Galloway in the UK, Chirac in france, and Schroeder in Germany didn't buy more cooperation.
If the UN pushes us too hard, we will hold our breath until we turn a cerulean blue.
And, eat worms, and wear a long face like Mr. Ed Kerry, and other extreme dire measures too ominous to enunciate.
~~~
What is a Gas Centrifuge?
In nature, uranium contains less than 1 percent of the fissile isotope uranium 235 (U-235). A nuclear explosive needs uranium enriched to at least 20 percent U-235. Ideally greater than 90% U-235 is used. In order to increase the percentage of U-235 in relation to the more prevalent U-238 the uranium must be processed, or “enriched.” One technique to enrich uranium uses gas centrifuges.
A gas centrifuge (diagrams below) comprises an evacuated casing containing a cylindrical rotor which rotates at high speed in an almost friction-free environment. The uranium is fed into the rotor as gaseous uranium hexafluoride (UF6)2 which also rotates.
The centrifugal forces push the heavier uranium 238 (U-238) closer to the wall of the rotor than the lighter U-235. The gas closer to the wall becomes depleted in U-235 whereas the gas nearer the rotor axis is enriched in U-235.
The arrows in the first illustration depict the gas flowing within the rotor. The gas flow can be produced by a temperature gradient over the length of the centrifuge. UF6 depleted in U-235 flows upwards adjacent to the rotor wall, while UF6 enriched in U-235 flows downwards close to the axis. The two gas streams are removed through small scooped pipes, called "scoops."
The enrichment effect of a single centrifuge is small, so they are linked together by pipes into cascades. Passing through the successive centrifuges of a cascade, the U-235 is gradually enriched to the required level. For civil applications, natural uranium containing about 0.7 percent U-235 is enriched to about 3-5 percent U-235 and the depleted uranium contains typically about 0.2-0.3 percent U-235. For military applications, highly enriched uranium (HEU) containing greater than 20 percent U-235 is usually produced.
Once started, a modern centrifuge runs for more than 10 years with no maintenance. An advantage of the centrifuge process is its low energy consumption.