-

Iranian Nuclear Hi-Jinks

-

Iran Tried To Blackmail US

Over Nuke Program

Using Iraq War Attacks

Iran offered to stop attacking coalition troops in Iraq nearly four years ago in an attempt to get the West to accept Tehran's nuclear program, a British diplomat told the BBC in an interview aired Saturday.

"The Iranians wanted to be able to strike a deal whereby they stopped killing our forces in Iraq in return for them being allowed to carry on with their nuclear program -- 'We stop killing you in Iraq, stop undermining the political process there, you allow us to carry on with our nuclear program without let or hindrance," said John Sawers, now the British ambassador to the United Nations, in the documentary, "Iran and the West: Nuclear Confrontation."

The United States and other Western nations believe Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, but Iran says it is developing nuclear capability to produce energy. Iran also has been accused of sponsoring terrorists and supplying weapons to Iraqi insurgents. The latter prompted a warning from the United States that such behavior by Tehran "would be regarded by us as enemy action," Philip Zelikow, a State Department counselor, told the BBC.

Then, Iran began shopping its offer around Europe, Sawers said.

Sawers, Britain's political director at the time, reveals the behind-the-scene talks from 2005 -- when roadside bombing against British and American soldiers in Iraq peaked -- were held with British, French and German diplomats at hotels in London, Paris and Berlin.

"And then we'd compare notes among the three of us," Sawers told the BBC.

The British government dismissed the offer and Iran's nuclear enrichment program restarted once again, the BBC reports

For the full story, LINK HERE.

+++++

Iran Speeding Up Nuke Program

Iran is speeding ahead toward the production of a nuclear weapon, and is operating a shadow nuclear program in tandem with its public program to achieve that goal, a US analyst of the Islamic republic has said, following the publication of a UN report that suggests Teheran already has enough enriched uranium to build a bomb.

"Because it takes more time to create LEU [low-enriched uranium] than to go from LEU to HEU [highly-enriched uranium], the discovery of the additional LEU suggests that the Iranian regime has accelerated its quest for nuclear weapons capability," Prof. Raymond Tanter, president of the Washington-based Iran Policy Committee, told The Jerusalem Post.

"If inspectors had overlooked such a large amount of uranium, it is an additional indication that Teheran operates a shadow nuclear program in coordination with the public one, the latter of which is open to inspection," Tanter said.

UN inspectors said the discovery of an additional 210 kg. of enriched uranium was a product of a case of mistaken underreporting by Iran. According to a New York Times report, the inspectors said the the inconsistency was "reasonable for a new enrichment plant [Natanz]."

UN officials were dismissive of suggestions that "Iran could smuggle enriched uranium out of the Natanz plant for [further] processing at a secret location," the report added.

But Tanter challenged the UN dismissal, saying, "Contrary to explanations by the UN officials, the regime probably smuggled enriched uranium out of the Natanz plant for additional processing at a secret location, such as a military site called Lavizan-2 in the northeastern area of Teheran.

"Because Lavizan-2 is a military site, it is my understanding that it is not open to inspection. Buried deep in tunnels, the regime conducts covert enrichment activities at Lavizan-2, operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC]," Tanter said.

"The regime has a sophisticated method to hide its bomb-making research and development. The Islamic Republic of Iran hides a secret nuclear program under the cover of a legitimate program to complete the construction of the Bushehr civilian facility.

"Materials legitimately acquired for Bushehr are diverted to the covert military program operated by the IRGC," Tanter said.

The IAEA report exposed an urgent need for more intelligence on the ground in Iran, Tanter said.

He added that "one of the best sources of intelligence about the Iranian regime's quest for nuclear weapons status are Iranian opposition organizations - the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its largest component, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq. They first revealed the parallel Iranian nuclear military program in 2002 and continue to make startlingly accurate revelations."

Teheran was also swiftly developing missile technology that would enable delivery of any future nuclear weapon, said Emily Landau, director of the Arms Control and Regional Security Program at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.

"Iran is moving full steam ahead, not only with uranium enrichment but missile development as well. It's going to reach its goal - whether nuclear weapons or remaining one step short of them - very soon, or it could be that they are indeed already at the 'one step before' stage," Landau said.

"The situation is very serious, and you can see already a certain escalation in statements issued in Israel about the severity of the threat and preparations for the possibility of some kind of action," she said.

More details to this story, LINK HERE.

+++++

-

-

-

-

-

-

-