Posted on 05/31/2010 6:42:01 PM PDT by Steelfish
Nuclear Equipment Missing From Iranian Lab, IAEA Report Says
An apparatus that could be used to extract plutonium for an atomic bomb is gone, the United Nations watchdog agency says.
By Borzou Daragahi and Julia Damianova May 31, 2010
Reporting from New York and Vienna — International arms control inspectors say sensitive equipment that could be used to extract plutonium for an atomic bomb has gone missing from a Tehran laboratory months after the apparatus was disclosed to a United Nations watchdog agency, according to an official report released Monday.
The report is expected to feed suspicions in the West that Iran is attempting to hide the nature and scope of its nuclear program.
On the other hand, Iran agreed in May to allow inspectors greater surveillance and access to the area where it is producing 20% enriched uranium meant for a Tehran medical reactor, clearing up one of the points of contention between the Islamic Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Still, analysts and diplomats say overall cooperation between Iran and the agency seems to continue to deteriorate, a dynamic that emerged after the tenure of new IAEA Secretary-General Yukiya Amano began late last year.
"If Iran were really interested in cooperation with the agency, it would have allowed the IAEA to undertake additional surveillance measures before it started enriching up to 20%," said a Western diplomat in Vienna, speaking on condition of anonymity.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Obama was probably sending them nuclear scientists while he was on vacation... Hey! Where is Jimmy Carter?
IAEA isn’t the sharpest group of sleuths out there. The Iranians fooled them a couple years ago by stacking boxes from the floor to the ceiling to make it look like gear stacked against a wall. All the stuff they wanted to hide was behind the boxes.
Just how many smoking guns is this?? I’ve lost track.
Yep. I personally think we should allow Iran to blow themselves up with nuclear weapons if they want.
Ya think?
We, the West, are such fools and our enemies know it.
Kinda makes me miss Jimmy Carter. He looks competent compared to the current CIC.
Sad but true. Jimmy Carter looking more competent than anyone is a sad commentary to our current times.
Sounds like the very definition of a "shell game". Are the IAEA inspectors and/or administrators and diplomats really so clueless and easily fooled?
That's a rhetorical question - of course the IAEA is easily fooled...
Don’t worry. He has been on top of the situation from day one. Commission to follow.
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