Iran says it has made progress in nuke fuel cycle programme (When is Iran's Turn?)

Iran has made progress in its nuclear fuel cycle programme, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or atomic weapons, the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a television interview.

Ahmadinejad also said in the interview Wednesday night that Iran was studying offers by several European countries for negotiations over its nuclear programme, but warned that Tehran won't accept talks that seek to deny it of its right to enrich uranium.

"In the sphere of nuclear fuel cycle activities, today we are one step ahead of two months ago," Ahmadinejad told state-run television.

The president was apparently referring to the several tons of uranium gas that Iran has produced since it resumed uranium reprocessing activities at its Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan, central Iran, in early August.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi suggested Tuesday that tons of uranium gas Iran has produced since August was low-quality and unusable as feedstock for enrichment, but said it was natural for an indigenous programme like the one pursued by Iran.

He explained that Iran needs to encourage its scientists and complete its uranium enrichment programme.

Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran was open to dialogue with Europe, but said Tehran won't accept negotiations that do not recognise its right to enrich uranium.

Uranium enrichment does not violate the terms of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, to which Iran is a signatory.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

"Why can't we simply bomb the hell out of them [nuclear sites] with bunker busters??"

Tehran’s nuclear threat is a symptom of a disease Bunker Busters can't cure. Ideological sickness is the root cause, therefore any relevant target must be ideological in nature. The best weapon in an ideological war renders pillars of the enemy’s ideology socially irrelevant. History has shown that virulent ideologies can be uprooted in short periods of time with massive violence or non-violently replaced over long periods of time. A grand experiment is underway to combine the two to approaches, attempting to achieve the most favorable results for everyone, ie… minimize loss of life and adverse impact to the economy/environment.

Most of the world would like to see Tehran’s nuclear threat erased but unless the world addresses the Supreme Leader and all of his henchmen, erasing anything in Iran is likely to make the situation worse for all concerned. Limiting our threats to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)’s nuclear facilities tells the IRI that we are either missing the main point or are trying to avoid it altogether. Symptoms like Iran’s nuclear threat may start a war, but a decisive defeat over the symptom’s root cause is required to win it. Do you think we're ready to win what Bunker Busters would start? I think the U.S. is but are our neighbors in the community of free nations? hmmmm... not so sure.

Thanks for the reasoned thinking.

The last question is the key one. Are our "so called" allies really with us on the grand plan?

Time will tell, but so far Iran seems to have the upper hand, and once they have the bomb, the options will diminish substantially.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.