Moscow alarmed about Iranian nuclear program

Iranmania ^ | April 23 2003 | AFP

[knighthawk]

MOSCOW, April 22 (AFP) - Russia is concerned that Iran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said on Tuesday, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Rumyantsev referred to US press reports that Tehran had equipped a nuclear complex with the capacity to enrich its recently-disclosed uranium deposits, sparking fears that the country may be stepping up a covert weapons program.

"Such centrifuges are capable of enriching uranium to a high enough concentration for developing weapons," he said. "If the media reports are accurate, the situation is alarming."

"Iran must acknowledge these activities and allow an inspection" by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," he said.

Iran in February revealed that it was building an array of facilities to exploit uranium deposits which would make it self-sufficient in nuclear fuel.

IAEA inspectors were later shown a network of centrifuges designed to enrich uranium at a facility near the northwestern Iranian city of Natanz.

The US news magazine Time shortly afterwards quoted diplomatic sources as saying work on the Natanz plant was "extremely advanced" and involved "hundreds" of gas centrifuges ready to produce enriched uranium and "the parts for a thousand others ready for assembly".

Washington has branded Iran a "rogue state," charging that it had "a far more robust nuclear weapons development programme" than previously believed.

Russia has come under fire from the United States for helping construct the Bushehr nuclear reactor in southern Iran and promising to provide fuel for it.

Both Moscow and Tehran have denied that oil-rich Iran is engaged in a covert nuclear weapons programme, and have said Bushehr will provide nuclear energy for peaceful means.

Moscow last month turned the tables on Washington by charging that some of the United States' "closest allies" were supplying Iran with nuclear equipment.

"According to these press reports, this has been achieved thanks to technology from a US company," Rumyantsev reiterated.

"On the one hand the United States criticises Iran and Russia for cooperating in building a nuclear reactor, while on the other a US company is planning to build a powerful uranium enrichment factory," he charged.

Rumyantsev has claimed that centrifuge machines discovered in Iran were made by the Anglo-Dutch consortium Urenco, which provides uranium-enrichment services for nuclear power plants.

Urenco, which is due to take part in a US consortium building an enrichment plant in the United States, denied the claim.

[knighthawk]

Russia is concerned that Iran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said on Tuesday, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency

Middle East list

If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

[prairiebreeze]

In a word.... Duh.

Prairie

[knighthawk]

Ping

[RightWhale]

Russia has been supporting Iran's nuke program. Russia cannot possibly be worried about this. Maybe there are two Russias, one supporting and the other worried.

[Desecrated]

Gee, they told me they were going to use it for electricity only. Duped again!

/clinton

[Desecrated]

Gee, they told me they were going to use it for electricity only. Duped again!

/clinton

[Textide]

Or the Russia that wishes to widen its cultural influence a la the USSR via a 'preemptive strike' doctrine. Maybe they want war of their own; only they'll keep Iran.

[Asclepius]

Russia is concerned that Iran may be enriching uranium with a view to developing nuclear weapons, Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said on Tuesday, quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Then Russia should join us in a massive preemptive strike.

If only we had a mullah-guided missile.

[Britton J Wingfield]

We are worried that we have been supporting Iran's nuke program.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Shocked! Shocked!

Oh well. They won't have to worry long.

[DannyTN]

If only we had a mullah-guided missile.

Don't you mean a mullah-homing missle. The last thing in the world we want is a mullah-guided missle!

[TheBigB]

Can't be true. Hans Blix said there's no nuclear program in Iran. Also no WMDs, no soldiers, no buildings, and no people, as far as he could tell.

[Redcloak]

Translation: The Iranians don't buy their nuclear technology from Russia.

[Kadric]

Hmm... While we were taking care of Iraq it was N.Korea is a bigger threat. We are now dealing with NK now Iran is a big threat. Who's going to be the threat once we start dealing with Iran?

Syria
Saudi Arabia
One of the African Countries
Pakistan
India

[SSN558]

"Russia is concerned that Iran may be enriching uranium"

Russia is concerned that Iran may become Uranium independent and stop buying Russian Uranium. They want the U.S. to do something about it.

[Psycho_Bunny]

We have a "Barf Alert", we have a "Hold muh beer alert"

"Fisk Alert", "Whiner Aler"....alert alert alert....

But we don't have a "No Sh!t, Sherlock Alert".

[fractal38]

My translation of this "diplospeak" into english reads as follows:

We really screwed up by siding with France. Please don't hurt us. We'd like to make amends by helping you defang the Iranians !

W rules!

[Orion78]

PING!

[Orion78]

Hmm... While we were taking care of Iraq it was N.Korea is a bigger threat. We are now dealing with NK now Iran is a big threat. Who's going to be the threat once we start dealing with Iran?

Syria
Saudi Arabia
One of the African Countries
Pakistan
India

How about China or Russia? How come those countries didn't make your list?

---

The Urgent Need to Reconsider Prevailing Assumptions About Russia and China

"The failure of US policy makers to comprehend the veiled aggressiveness and hostility towards the United States inherent in Sino-Russian strategy and the belief that the political and economic reforms in Russia and the partial introduction of capitalism in China have foreshadowed these countries' development into real democracies, have eroded the effectiveness of US policies in the foreign affairs, defence, intelligence and counter-intelligence fields. US policymakers have recklessly accepted the premise that Russia and China are no longer their enemies, but are rather potential allies and partners fully deserving of US support. Only countries like Iran, Iraq and North Korea - which (ironically, in this context) work secretly with Russia and China - are still considered potential adversaries.

US policymakers should urgently re-examine their assumptions about the 'progress' of Russia and China 'towards democracy'. They should take account of Sino-Russian strategy and should recognize that the long-term strategic, political and economic threat comes from a Sino-Russian axis and associated participants like North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Russian and Chinese leaders are still committed to their objective of world domination and believe that, disguised as 'democrats', in accordance with Leninist teaching, they will be able to achieve it..."

[Willie Green]

Russia cannot possibly be worried about this. Maybe there are two Russias, one supporting and the other worried.

Maybe the worried one is getting ready to liberate the Iranians.

[Orion78]

Russia says nuclear technology sales to Iran pose no threat (5/11/98)

[Kadric]

Mainly because they seem to be the ones pointing their fingers at the others. It would appear that they don't want to take the chance that the US people may start thinking about them.

[Orion78]

Russia, China aid Iran's missile program (9/10/97)
Russia, N.Korea, China give Iran missile aid -CIA (9/8/01)

[Grampa Dave]

"Therefore, we'll do nothing about it but talk (another mission for Colin Powell)."

Just like we talked to Saddomite huh?

What world do you live in? The special needs/one created for third party losers?

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your documentation here, re the long connection of Russia to the Iranian nuclear program.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for the ping.

When this is over, the black hand of the USSR and now the Russian KGB/Mafia thugs will be all over Iraq, Iran, Syria and probably N. Korea.

Thanks for your documentation on the evil empire as the USSR and now as Russia.

[Grampa Dave]

Phil, pinging this fyi!

[dalebert]

I thought Russia was helping Iran with their Nuke program.

[American in Israel]

Yeah Russia will be bummed if Iran completes the reactors that Russia sold them, it will ruin the sales of blackmarket nuclear warheads.

[PhilDragoo]

Pooty Poot is jealous that Ayatollah is getting centrifuges from somebody else.

Anyone who's been keeping up with Bill Gertz on the Russia-Iran affair knows the Russians have been giving Iran whatever is lying about.

While Strobe Talbott was counseling patience with Russia, Russia was illegally doling out missile technology to the radical Muslim regime in Iran. Betrayal, p. 171.

There follows a chapter detailing Clinton's derelection of duty in allowing Russia to provide Iran with technology to build nuclear-capable missiles threatening Israel and U.S. forces on the peninsula.

A report March 4 indicates Iran well on way to enrichment:

Iran Uranium Facility Seen Onstream in Few Weeks

By REUTERS
March 4, 2003

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iran-nuclear.html

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran expects to bring onstream in the next few weeks a uranium processing plant which Washington fears could be part of a secret program to develop nuclear weapons, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

``Iran will start operating its nuclear facility in Isfahan early next (Iranian) year,'' Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of the National Supreme Security Council, was quoted as saying in several papers.

The Iranian calendar year starts on March 21.

The Isfahan plant in central Iran would process uranium from nearby mines. The resulting gas would then be enriched at another facility in the town of Natanz, Rohani said.

Iran has firmly denied the U.S. charges about its atomic energy program, arguing its nuclear program will be used only for peaceful purposes.

The Islamic Republic has said it wants to generate 6,000 MW of electricity from atomic power plants by 2022 to meet the growing energy demand of its 65 million population.

However U.S. officials say Iran's extensive oil and gas deposits make an expensive nuclear power program unnecessary.

Iran, which Washington has branded an ``axis of evil'' member along with Iraq and North Korea, last month unveiled details of an ambitious nuclear energy program, from mining uranium ore to managing the spent fuel from atomic reactors.

``Having access to the technology is not translated into having access to an atomic bomb. It is scientific technology used for peaceful purposes,'' Rohani said.

The head of U.N. nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei has said Iran could only dispel doubts about its nuclear ambitions by signing up to the International Atomic Energy Agency's ``Additional Protocol'' which would allow inspectors freer access to nuclear sites with little prior warning.

Last month ElBaradei visited the gas centrifuge enrichment plant at Natanz, about 320 km (200 miles) south of Tehran, and reported seeing a sophisticated facility with a pilot project and a larger unit still under construction. Part of the facility was being built underground.

Uranium must be enriched before it can be used in nuclear reactors to generate electricity. But highly enriched uranium is also a key ingredient for nuclear weapons.

Independent experts say Iran is at least two years away from producing enriched uranium.

Construction of the Natanz plant and a heavy water plant in the nearby town of Arak was first publicly disclosed by an Iranian opposition group. That led ElBaradei to push Iranian officials for an assurance they would in future inform the IAEA of any new nuclear facilities as soon as the decision to build them has been taken.

Rohani said investment in nuclear technology ``will help boost our national prowess.''

``Nuclear technology is such a complicated technology on which Iran has capitalized in the last two years. We have managed to reach out for the technology to produce enriched uranium,'' he was quoted as saying.

Iran's first nuclear reactor, the 1000 MW Bushehr plant being built with Russian help in southern Iran, is due to become operational by early 2004.

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks, Phil, that is some scary stuff about Iran and its whores, the Russians.

[myprecious]

The Iranians don't buy their nuclear technology from Russia

Or maybe they did, but the check bounced and now they won't pay up.......

[Grampa Dave]

You should save your apologies when this works out. However as constant attacker of our President, you will not!

[Grampa Dave]

Glad that you cleared that up.

You posts recently have seem to be the opposite.

I have a lot of concern of those who label themselves as conservatives and then use your #2, the party line of the Deformed Party as the foundation of all arguments against GW.

I have concern about the those who feel that GW is on Arafat's side while ignoring the fact that GW has not met with Arafat and will not meet with him. GW and Sharon have worked a good arrangement which allows Sharon to use his IDF and other resources to remove the PA terrorists from this earth. Is it perfect? No, however it is the best arrangement that Israel has had in my lifetime with an American President.

[RusIvan]

Russia has been supporting Iran's nuke program.+++

I don't think so.
Russia sells defensive conventional arms for US dollars.
Russia sells energy nuclier reactor under approvement of ICAE.

You show plz proves that Russia sells WMD technology? Until then you are wrong.

[RusIvan]

The Russian and Chinese leaders are still committed to their objective of world domination and believe that, disguised as 'democrats', in accordance with Leninist teaching, they will be able to achieve it..+++

I don't know nothing about China.
But Russia and Leninist teaching? It sounds ridicluous.
Russia is capitalist country.

Yes they are many former beuracrats and today capitalists in Russia but there wasn't others then them available.

They don't ally with China. They rather worry about China.
What they want now is money not world domination.

[RightWhale]

Russia has been supporting Iran's nuke program

Nuke is short for nuclear. That is, all things that use nuclear processes such as splitting or merging nuclei. It could be weapons, but it also includes municipal power production and medical instruments. It might even include illuminated watchdials and commercial food preparation.

[Destructor]

"Who's going to be the threat once we start dealing with Iran?"

Don't forget about Kalifornia. They're closer than any of those other countries.

[RusIvan]

Nuke is short for nuclear.++

Ok I got it. But here on FR I frequantly saw the use of "nuke" in sense of warhead. WMD.

"Nuclier" on other hand is more for civilian atomic.
So Russia sold that reactor but as I red in press the russian experts believe that iranians can't extract nothing weapon class from it.

[RightWhale]

the russian experts believe that iranians can't extract nothing weapon class from it.

That is probably true. Russian atomic sciencists are highly capable, and Russia wouldn't export that kind of tech, no one who is sane would do that.

[Orion78]

So what do you think about the North Koreans having Nuclear Weapons? They have Plutonium Nukes. Thats Russia's speciality isnt it?

[Orion78]

PING!

[Orion78]

The Russians were only supposed to sell the reactor under the terms that they remove the spent fuel rods afterwards, so they couldn't be used for WMD's. However, it has been reported, now that Bushehr is almost finished, that the Iranians have a Gas Centrifuge Plant and will provide their own fuel. It should also be noted that a Gas Centrifuge Plant can enrich Uranium up to Weapons-Grade quality. Right RusIvan?

[RusIvan]

So what do you think about the North Koreans having Nuclear Weapons? They have Plutonium Nukes. Thats Russia's speciality isnt it?++

I think it is bad.

Yes I red somewhere that Russia has about 100 tons of weapon plutonium now.
It was 134 but Russia degraded 34 tons by mixing with uranium and sold it to USA. As nuiclier fuel.
So if USA pay Russia sells to her. Mybe it is a solution?

Let US buy everything Russia sells and US don't like it?

I'm interested so who else use plutonium technology except Russia?