Iran undoubtedly pulled off a diplomatic coup with its announcement yesterday of a deal with Brazil and Turkey to store its low grade uranium. It is very hard for even the most ardent warmonger to claim that Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons, when that same uranium is in storage in Turkey.
But perhaps the most significant fact yesterday is one that does not bode well for Iran in the long term. It is that plainly the Russians were caught on the hop and struggling for a response. Russia has been Iran’s most powerful diplomatic protector, but in recent months the Obama diplomatic offensive to win Russia over on Iran appeared to have made dramatic headway. That the Iranians had not kept the Russians informed on the Brazil Turkey deal was a mistake – and led to eventual remarks by Medvedev that were not welcoming, and appeared graduated to the US response. Iran cannot afford to lose Russian support in the long term.
Under this deal, Iran is swapping some of its low grade for 20% uranium, and putting the balance in storage. In effect the whole lot goes to Turkey. It is worth noting that, according to the IAEA, all of Iran’s uranium is verified and accounted for. None has gone AWOL. This deal would leave Iran with nothing to make a nuclear bomb with. It is also worth noting – a point the western media never cover – that Iran has a perfectly legitimate requirement for 20% uranium. It has a reactor donated by the United States which produces medical isotopes and which runs on 20% uranium.
I should stress that I have no time at all for the murderous group of theocratic nutters who constitute the Iranian regime. For their own warped reasons, it suits them to heighten international tension around speculation that they may wish to produce a nuclear weapon. They are anything but straightforward, and anyone who believes that the welfare of the Iranian people is the primary concern of Iran’s governing elite is quite wrong.
But there is no indication that Iran has the ability for years to produce a nuclear weapon, and this arrangement makes that ever more plain. If any nation has a genune concern that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear weapon, this agreement to remove almost the entire stock of uranium from Iran can only be welcomed.
The failure to welcome this step by US and UK governments indicates that their actual agenda does not relate to Iran’s nuclear programme at all. And I still wait for a British minister to say something about Israel’s very real and very large stockpile of nuclear weapons.
I am not aware Turkey had reprocessing facilities. Its a BS deal. I am concerned that western intelligence has no clue what is going on. Maybe they do. It is still heading to an Israeli strike on selected targets, what ever the small print on the deal. Israel is certainly not satisfied with these latest developments.
“I still wait for a British minister to say something about Israel’s very real and very large stockpile of nuclear weapons”
Have you considered a career in comedy?
Ishmael
I think Turkey is just storing the uranium, and the 20% uranium will come from Brazil.
Quote: “Iran cannot afford to lose Russian support in the long term”
Are you sure it has such ‘support’?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/trilateral-commission-wants-war-with-iran.html
Craig. I don’t think you’ve touched the deep politics of this at all.
E.g. Trita Parsi, author of Treacherous Triangle – The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States. Yale University Press, 2007. I have many big ‘?s’ about Parsi’s analysis [not just the politico/philosophical leanings of those who pay his wages, but other things besides}, but at least he starts to get among the nitty gritty.
Also you may like to peruse what Sibel Edmonds uncovered e.g. Sibel Edmonds Documentary – Kill The Messenger http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6063340745569143497 (50+ mins)
and her other interviews / speeches
Also Turkey (NATO member) It played a double faced role in the destruction of Iraq. It’s trying to ‘reinterpret’ Islam. It has Islamophobic policies, is ruled by a military ‘guardian council’ to ensure Attaturd’s de-Islaimicization, And lets not mention the Kurds or the Armenians
some cornflour to the soup…
Russia has has stalled in the delivery of an air defence system (S300 I think), delayed getting Irans nuclear energy sector online (Bushir?), made claims that that Iran hasn’t paid up, supported sanctions against Iran. Russia also helped over 1m self-claimed Jews to help boot out the Palestinians in Palestine. Russia and Israel signed intelligence sharing agreements after Beslan. If Iran’s oil/gas supply faced ‘problems’ Russia would financially benefit. Russia it has been claimed was to be what the US is today. Good Russian people are just as beguiled by their rulers as United States citizens are about theirs.
P.S. Are you looking for an Civil Servant type job with this new dictatorship? Ambassadorial or otherwise? If you are I’m pretty sure you will face the same problems as before.
“For their own warped reasons, it suits them to heighten international tension around speculation that they may wish to produce a nuclear weapon. They are anything but straightforward, and anyone who believes that the welfare of the Iranian people is the primary concern of Iran’s governing elite is quite wrong. ”
I thought you were talking about the UK for a minute.
“They are anything but straightforward, and anyone who believes that the welfare of the Iranian people is the primary concern of Iran’s governing elite is quite wrong.”
Craig, is there a country on this earth where the welfare of its people is the primary concern of its governing elite?
Here is a reaction from the US:-
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, “It remains to see, and this is what we will be working through in coming days, what does this actually represent. There are those who might characterize this as a breakthrough. I think we remain skeptical that this represents anything fundamentally new.”
So, pray tell, what actually does the US require of Iran?
I wonder what percentage of US uranium has gone missing?
I find it amazing that the US (and to a lesser but still significant degree the other nuclear powers) are the main culprits for proliferation yet they are subject to little or no denunciation. A plague on all their houses.
Agreed with Edo and Andy.
@ edwin.
Yes, the US has loast loads of radio active materials including at least (possible two or more) two nuclear weapons!!
>>waits for the third Pearl Harbor
Have to say I dont care if Iran had an A-bomb, just dont care. In judging how much of a threat any country poses regionally etc, surely one takes into account their record. And Iran hasnt invaded another country in, what is it, 90 years? While the US and Israel have bombed the living crap out of defenceless peoples on innumerable occasions. Oh, and there is of course the ring of military bases which now surrounds Iran – nothing there for Iranians to be worried about, eh?
“their actual agenda does not relate to Iran’s nuclear programme at all”
I welcome that response Craig.
Russia was ‘marking time’ over the supply of the S-300 missile defence system and completion of the Bushehr reactor as a bargaining stance to counter the US missile defence system.
In Article Five of this Exchange Agreement, which is the main part of this agreement, is that less than 1200 kilograms (1200Kg)of enriched uranium fuel be kept under trusteeship in Turkey , that Iran will have ownership, and Iran and the IAEA have the possibility to monitor it.
Article Six of this Agreement confirms that the Islamic Republic of Iran through the IAEA will announce, within 7 days, an appropriate official request to the Vienna Group (Russia, France, USA and IAEA) to confirm exchange details of the fuel exchange through agreements and arrangements related to Iran and the Vienna Agreement, which pledged to deliver 120 kg of uranium fuel for the reactor in Tehran.
Unconfirmed sources have suggested these were back-channel arrangements with Iran under threat of severe sanctions and were prepared and agreed by BRITISH negotiators. I cannot however provide a source for this information, although I am waiting to confirm that Hague’s trip to the United States was essentially to confirm the details of the exchange before the official announcement from Iran and Turkey.
Interesting?
“….they are anything but straightforward, and anyone who believes that the welfare of the Iranian people is the primary concern of Iran’s governing elite is quite wrong.”
That sums up the real, largely hidden permanent government of Western Alliance nations to a tee.
… and I don’t mean the David Camerons and Nick Cleggs of this world either – mere sock-puppets in the scheme of things.
BTW – for those with a real interest in Deep State issues, wikispooks.com has just gone live and is gearing up for contributions.
“Have to say I dont care if Iran had an A-bomb, just dont care. In judging how much of a threat any country poses regionally etc, surely one takes into account their record. And Iran hasnt invaded another country in, what is it, 90 years?”
Iran may not have invaded a country in the last 90 years but it has supported many terrorist groups in destabilise their own countries, and supported them attacking neighbouring countries. Hezbollah are a prime example of this kind of foriegn policy.
The current regime in Iran has no real regard for human life and is happy to control it’s own people using medieval laws such as public hangings, lashings and stoning. It always astonishes me how people can forget this when talking about Iran.
I am no supporter of US and Israel but I have little love for the current Iranian regime.
Chris, I thought you were talking about the USA there.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/revealed-how-the-west-set-saddam-on-the-bloody-road-to-power-1258618.html
“Iran may not have invaded a country in the last 90 years but it has supported many terrorist groups in destabilise their own countries, and supported them attacking neighbouring countries. Hezbollah are a prime example of this kind of foriegn policy.
The current regime in Iran has no real regard for human life and is happy to control it’s own people using medieval laws such as public hangings, lashings and stoning. It always astonishes me how people can forget this when talking about Iran.
I am no supporter of US and Israel but I have little love for the current Iranian regime.”
the weird thing is that much of the same abuses could be applied to usa/uk/israel/etc .. and they have nukes , white phosphorus, du tipped bombs .. shall i go on?
as for 90 years youll find its a bit more than that.
“Unconfirmed sources have suggested these were back-channel arrangements with Iran under threat of severe sanctions and were prepared and agreed by BRITISH negotiators. I cannot however provide a source for this information, although I am waiting to confirm that Hague’s trip to the United States was essentially to confirm the details of the exchange before the official announcement from Iran and Turkey.
Interesting?”
the public response from all of the war hawk – players suggest this is not true.
as for russia – they did not expect a deal only giving it a 30% chance – they did not want a deal that is why there are no s300 nor the commissioning of the reactor and why there is a window until august for an attack to take place.
listening to the war rhetoric from israel and the usa .. and the hawkish hague clearly we are building upto iran if not as yet pakistan (despite even more revelations of blackwater-xe infiltration in islamabad/karachi and lahore)
90 years
I think someone missed an 0 off the end.
Chris,
I have worked with many Iranians and I have Iranian friends in Britain. They have told me real stories (first-hand knowledge) of the brutal torture and murders by the US trained secret police, the Savak, under the dictatorship of the Shah until he was overthrown by the people in 1978.
Stories of stoning and public hangings are amplified by the West according to Iranians in Britain who DO however admit the clerics in charge are religious nutters – a point of argument – certainly these religious leaders have a deep regard for human life when compared to the genocide we created in Iraq – murdering babies and children in thousands at the breakfast table – or perhaps you take the view of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when she spoke of the carnage in Iraq, “We think the price is worth it!”
Nine years on Iraqi children are still dying from treatable diseases, malnutrition, phosphor burns and DU cancers. Astonishing eh?
Mark,
I appreciate what you are saying but I was talking about supporting the current Iranian regime simply because they are against the US. I know that the US and the UK have done terrible things but that is not the point. What I was saying is that it is wrong to support a regime like Iran just because they are against the US.
It is like saying that I believe they are the better of two evils so I’ll support them. It make no sense.
Also if they have such a deep regard for human life why did they execute over 400 of their own people last year, up 100 from the year before? Many of these executions are in public, why? To intimidate the general population.
I too have friends who are Iranian living in the UK and they don’t share the same view as your friends on the point of their government.
who are britian and usa to tell others not to have weapons or bombs anyway? britian stole nuclear secret from americans who stole it from the germans. americans have bene proliferating nuclear bombs and misile(trident) to britan at nominal price for ages.
It is a little-known slice of history that in the countdown to the Anglo-American coup in Tehran against Mohammed Mosaddeq in 1953, the US Central Intelligence Agency lost nerve just as the Tehran street protests – eerily similar to the recent unrest – were about to be staged, but the British intelligence outpost in Cyprus which coordinated the entire operation held firm, forced the pace and ultimately created a fait accompli for Washington.
At any rate, Tehran is going after Britain – “the most treacherous of foreign powers”, to use Khamenei’s words.
=======================================================================
“Blowback” is a CIA term that means retaliation, or payback. It was first used in the after-action report on our first clandestine overthrow of a foreign government, the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953, when, for the sake of the British Petroleum Company, we claimed he was a Communist when he just didn’t want the British to keep stealing Iranian resources. In the report, which was finally declassifi ed in 2000, the CIA says, “We should expect some blowback from what we have done here.” This was the first model clandestine operation.
===========================================
the Corporation of the City of London, is virtually a self regulating and selfserving parasitic organisation so called this financial center has turned into into a self-regulating state like the Vatican.(ofocurse for the anglosaxon protestants only God is money and nothing else.).
The ruthless advantage-seeking was racheted up around 1980 and it may have been inspired by the fact that insiders in Lloyd’s of London were facing bankruptcy, conspired to offload their losses onto 34,000 foreigners and women and got away with it.
“They are anything but straightforward, and anyone who believes that the welfare of the Iranian people is the primary concern of Iran’s governing elite is quite wrong.”
And again, anyone who believes that the welfare of the British people is the primary concern of the UK’s governing elite needs a brain transplant.
Thanks for the reply Chris. No, I don’t support Iran because they are against the US, I am just putting these crimes into perspective.
I do not agree to hanging or stoning or electrocution or chemical poisoning.
Iran may aid Hezbollah, but this organisation (a provider of social services) formed as a result of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
I really do think you need to take a closer historical view Chris; better to look for good than get lost in a sea of evil.
Mark – agreed with all that. One clarification though – I believe Albright’s insane comments were in reference to the effects of the economic sanctions, which was that an estimated one million people died, rather than the effects wrought by either of the Gulf wars.
It is true that non aryan nations like england( english are certainly a non aryan race and its anglosaxon are noneuropean descendent of phonecians and neanaderthall settled in marshes of what is called north holland and frisa)will never understand the sense of honour and warriors code that flows in the iranain blood.
who tlaks of human rights ?those who torture, incarcerate 8untried prisoners for months and years?
” I, The king of many countries and many people
The king of this expansive land,
The son of Wishtaspa of Achaemenid,
Persian, the son of a Persian,
‘Aryan’, from the Aryan race ” .
From the Darius the Great’s Inscription in Naqshe-e-Rostam, Iran. 5th century BCE
=====================
this one from Kipling:
”
It does not pay for the Christian
to hustle the Aryan Brown
for the Christian riles
and the Aryan smiles
and he weareth the Christian down
and the end of the fight is a tombstone white
and the name of the late deceased
and an epithet drear
a fool lies here who tried to hustle the East.”
avatar singh,
A comprehensive account – thank-you
Agreed Jon – genocide by sanctions; “that’s more than died in Hiroshima”
Avatar Singh –
I find your racial obsessions – Anglo Saxons, Aryans, Persians etc, objectionable.
“Craig”
Does anyone know if any country in south east asia has the KH-55. In the orange colour.
I seen a comment regarding the Russian S300. I had thought Iran had the S400, with technicians having been trained in Russia. The Iranians want to shoot down some Israeli jets.
Anyway current Israeli plans to use american pilots in its raid on Iranian targets will go horribly wrong when an Israeli jet gets shot down and they pull a yank out. Israel need to revisit this part of the plan. It will fail.