Iran Taunts  Obama On Nuclear Program

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 5, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

              Announcing to the world that they’re now mining yellocake uranium, Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi thumbed his nose at the latest round of U.N. sanctions halting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.  Banned from buying foreign sources of yellocake, Salehi declared that Iran has now completed the “nuclear fuel cycle,” mining and processing raw uranium into enriched fuel capable of running nuclear reactors or building A-bombs.  Salehi proudly revealed that Iran’s southern Gachin uranium mine now produces enough yellocake to meet Iran’s atomic fuel needs.  “Today, we witnessed the shipment of the first domestically produced yellowcake . . . from Gachin mine to the Isfahan nuclear facility,” said Salehi on state television, letting the world know that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions go full steam ahead.  Four sets of U.N. sanctions haven’t made a dent in Iran’s atomic plans.

            Iran accelerated its nuclear program in 1967 under the “Atoms for Peace” program with U.S. help under the late Shah Mohammad Pahlavi.  When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s Islamic Revolution took place in 1979, the U.S. broke off diplomatic relations and cancelled involvement in Iran’s nuclear program.  Since signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty March 5, 1970, Tehran believes it has the right to develop the “nuclear fuel cycle” for peaceful purposes, benignly interpreted as generating electricity.  When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Iran a “nuclear state’ February 9, 2010, he wasn’t referring to Iran’s pursuit of electric power. Ahmadinejad seeks no restrictions currently in place by the International Atomic Energy Agency to limit Iran’s enrichment to 5%, the standard to run today’s nuclear power-plants, not produce A-bombs.

            Calling Iran’s nuclear program “self-sufficient,” Salehi said Iran no longer needs to buy yellocake from South Africa or China like it did under the Shah in the 1970s.  Mining yellocake on Iranian soil, Salehi rejected attempts by the U.N. and U.S. to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment activities.  He knows that the sooner Tehran gets a nuclear bomb the sooner the U.N. and U.S. will back down.  Had Ahmadinejad not threatened Israel with annihilation, he wouldn’t face the kind of opposition to Iran’s nuclear program.  When the IAEA meets Monday, Dec. 6 in Geneva, Tehran wants to remind the group that they can no longer bully Iran into giving up its enrichment program.  “No matter how much effort they put into their sanctions . . . out nuclear activities will proceed and they will witness greater achievement in the future,” said Salehi sounding a defiant tone.

            Iran ejected U.N. Aug. 22, 2006 inspectors refusing to submit to in-house inspections, prompting speculation that its nuclear program aims at developing atomic weapons.  Iran’s Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei believes that U.N. inspectors are spies trying to gain sensitive information.  IAEA inspectors are trying to find out whether Iran is trying to develop enough weapons’ grade uranium to build nuclear weapons.  Iran’s Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi also said Dec. 5 that he believes IAEA inspectors are spies.  Moslehi’s suspicions stem from Iran hiding the weapons-grade nature to Iran’s nuclear program.  Ahmandinejad uses Pakistan as its best example of how a relatively weak military power transformed instantly into a nuclear power by developing the bomb May 28, 1998, neutralizing it archenemy India almost overnight getting the bomb.

            While Ahamadinejad continues to deny Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it’s clear to almost everyone that Iran seeks A-bombs, not electric power.  Mining yellocake in Gachin and developing a new mine in Saghand in central Iran promises to give enough raw material to build several nuclear devices.  “In the near future,” said Salehi, referring to developing the new mine in central Iran.  Iran’s public announcement about self-sufficiency of uranium mining are designed to capitalize on the inability of the U.S. or U.N. to put teeth into any foreign policy challenges.  When North Korea attacked Yeonpyeong Island Nov. 23, it signaled that the U.S. or U.N. was not in a position to restrain the Norith.  Ahmadinejad now calls Obama’s bluff about doing anything to restrain Iran’s nuclear program.  Moving full-steam ahead, Iran now looks like it’ll have A-bombs sooner or later.

            U.S. and U.N. officials are running out of options to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  Unable to respond to Kim Jong-Il in North Korea, Ahmadinejad sees the U.S. reluctance to intervene militarily.  While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu beats to war drums with Tehran, Ahmadinejad has become more bold in announcing publicly Iran’s self-sufficiency in producing its own yellowcake.  Former George W. Bush once warned about Saddam Hussein’s feeble efforts to buy yellocake in Niger, while, at the same time, the CIA told him about Iran’s very real attempts about mining yellocake.  Whether the Obama administration admits it or not, they’re on a collision course for a military encounter with Tehran.  Nothing will stop Iran’s feverish pursuit of A-bombs short of regime change and military force.  Gunboat diplomacy from the U.S. and U.N. hasn’t changed a thing.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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