“Iran has got used to conducting its affairs with similar sanctions and with or without one more round of economic terrorism Iran will live through the threat too. But Iran will have its legitimate nuclear regime at par with other power having bilinear facility. Whether Tehran makes electricity or weapons, it is merely their internal issue and its capacity and readiness to have such a facility.”
by Dr.Abdul Ruff Colachal
(September 04, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) It seems the Americans and Israelis are bowled out finally by Iran after it ignored the final warning on nuclear standoff that ended on 31 August. The US administration has never ruled out military option against Iran to resolve the standoff. Washington said it would move quickly for UN Security Council action on another set of sanctions against Iran if Tehran refused to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment work by August 31, as demanded by a UN resolution.
Iran had said it would reply by August 22 to a package of incentives offered by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany to halt its uranium enrichment program but even after the close of the deadline, Tehran does not care for the ultimatums. Since every nuclear powers do make “suitable” nuclear weapons ignoring international conventions, USA and other Western countries “suspect” that Iran is enriching uranium to use in nuclear weapons. Iran insists the program is to make fuel for civilian reactors.
USA, the most powerful and richest power on the earth is engaged in bullying the weak Muslim nations if they don’t comply with the requirements and ultimatums set by it. Once it was USSR and China that the USA fought vehemently and almost won. With the fall of the mighty Soviet Union, the USA has fixed its focus on Islamic nations rich in energy resources. After destroying Islamic Afghanistan on factious pretext of “terrorism” and WMD, USA attacked Iraq, squandered its resources, looted its wealth, shared it with other “willing” coalition partners and destroyed many cultural structures by popping up puppet governments. In the name of democracy, threat perception and regime change, US-led forces have encouraged rampant corruption and genocide both in Afghanistan and Iraq, their resources having been squandered and shifted to USA and its coalition partners.
Tehran rejects Western allegations that it is developing atomic weapons and says its nuclear ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity and refuses to halt the program. But Iran began its program to enrich uranium during its long war against Iraq in the 1980s, keeping it hidden until a group of dissident exiles revealed its existence in 2002. Some pro-Israeli-US specialists argue that slow negotiations and weak sanctions could send the wrong signal to Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal and thinks of a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.
The Iranians have remained steadfast in their refusal to suspend enrichment activities, asserting that they had previously done so, from October 2003 to August 2005, in order to allow negotiations with the Europeans to proceed, but that those negotiations had gone nowhere. The election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the summer of 2005 signaled a more hard-line turn in Tehran, and Iran resumed its enrichment activities shortly after, saying it would negotiate with its centrifuges spinning, not silent.
Surveys suggest that the Iranian people are not out there clamoring for a nuclear weapon, but the US-Isareli threat has encouraged them to have all sorts of weapons to combat any aggression and they will repel any attempt by the USA or Israeli attack faily quickly and more devastingly. US and UK, the English partners-in-arms, claimed that six major powers had agreed to consider new sanctions against Iran after Tehran refused, once again, to freeze its nuclear activities - the legitimate rights of Iran - but Russia contradicted this, saying there was no firm agreement. But the negotiations will be long and protracted as veto-wielding council members Russia and China seek to balance their growing frustration with Iran with major commercial interests in the world's fourth biggest oil producer. With a US election in November, if a new resolution goes through, there may be a new US president in office when the council votes on it.
The nuclear issue is hardly discussed in Iran. And often when the USA talks about a nuclear program, what immediately comes to mind is a nuclear-weapons program. When Iranian people talk about a nuclear program, they talk about a peaceful nuclear program. That’s not to say that there aren’t many people in the Iranian government who do not want the capacity to build nuclear weapons. USA certainly knows the select Iranians want that capacity. Given the time it’s going to take them to get the enrichment facility that is going to get the highly enriched uranium, but even they’re not anxiously waiting to get a weapons system now not.
ONE: Neo-Imperialist March
Arab countries seem to love Americans and their culture, perhaps more than their own. And here lies crux of Islamic problem not only in Arab world, but the entire Islamic world. Arab nations like Saudi Arabia have always stood by the USA and followed its dictates and made business. As the all-powerful super power, energy hungry USA considers its prerogative to own energy resources of the Mideast and it expects the regional nations to understand that fact and sub-serve the Washington’s dictates quite humbly. And if any nation refuses, then it does so at its own risks. US will have those resources any way by declaring war to search for Osama’s WMD or for regime changes. Result will be that USA will rule the entire region and control their energy resources including those of the Arab rulers and Sheikhs.
Invasion of alien nations for wealth is an age-old terrorist action by powerful nations possessing huge arsenals of weapons. Iran's resources have been haunting especially the USA and Israel, while Tel-Aviv is worried about Iran emerging another nuclear power to strengthen the Arabian profile of the Arabs. Even if they are serious, US-led West cannot bully Iran: politically, diplomatically, legally and even militarily. Any pre-empty war would be not only counterproductive, but also even disastrous for the invaders and the world at large.
USA and Un know this fact, but still USA and Israel want to invade Iran chiefly to take control of its vast energy resources and share the booty among the willing coalition partners and strategic advisers. Besides, the US-Israel combine could showcase their newest weapon systems used in the war for new trade agreements in the Third worlds, while the USA could also allot construction contracts to nations that do exactly whatever the USA wants.
On Aug 11 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for an alternative world forum on par with the UN, which is 'outdated' and fully dominated by the US , the official IRNA news agency reported. 'The United Nations Security Council can no longer settle international conflicts and challenges in a fair way and just serves the interests of world powers. 'Therefore, we should look for alternatives to manage world affairs,' the Iranian leader said, underlining the possible roles of the Islamic country and Algeria in the new world order. The US and other big powers should save their face in the UNSC instead of seeking to halt Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, referring to the pressure being exerted on Iran to halt its controversial nuclear activities.
Ahmadinejad said USA is doing UN policy making and the UNSC is now like a tool in the hands of the US. US double-talk is evident as it also had stated that Iran had stopped uranium enrichment program way back in 2003, but again it rakes up the issue. Iran's claims that it only wants nuclear technology for the production of energy have failed to quell Western suspicions that it is seeking a pathway to an atomic bomb. To make the matter very explicit, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran now possesses 6,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium - nearly twice the number of only a few months ago. His comments come just as Iran is considering freezing the nuclear program at current levels, in return for a freeze on new sanctions. He claimed the West had agreed to allow Iran to have 5,000 to 6,000 centrifuges has accepted the increase. The West say Iranian president has often exaggerated the program, as a deliberate challenge to the world powers who are trying to restrict Iran’s ability to enrich uranium.
TWO: US Focus on Iran
Iran is under international pressure to halt uranium enrichment, a process which lies at the core of fears about Iran's nuclear program as it can make nuclear fuel as well as the fissile core of an atom bomb. Iran, a leading OPEC member, has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting its only wants to provide electricity for a growing population when its reserves of fossil fuels run out. However, Iran has repeatedly vowed a crushing response to any attacks and has flexed military muscles in recent years by holding war games and showing off an array of home-grown weaponry including ballistic missiles.
Washington has been busy keeping Iran under virtual siege and keen to invade and do exactly what it has done in Afghanistan and Iraq. The United States and its staunch ally Israel, the region's sole (undeclared) nuclear armed nation, accuse Iran of seeking atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program and want to invade Iran.
A senior Iranian military commander Brigadier General Jazayeri warned that any attack on Iran would start a new world war, as Tehran pressed on with its controversial nuclear drive despite the risk of further UN sanctions. As the ultimatum came to end on 31 August, once again “Cold war” might restart in the region. "The unrestrained greed of the US leadership and global Zionism... is gradually leading the world to the edge of a precipice," Jazayeri said, citing the unrest in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and Georgia.
On top that, the former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the United States not to seek confrontation with Tehran over its nuclear program and to learn from the war in Lebanon. "We expect America to have learned enough (from the Israel-Hezbollah war) not to enter another game and upset the security of the region," Rafsanjani said in his Friday prayer sermon carried live on state radio. He said the USA would be wise to try and resolve its nuclear standoff with Iran through negotiations.
The Europeans have offered to refrain from adding any new sanctions, for a defined period, if Tehran agrees not to expand its enrichment program during the same time frame. Iran and Syria stand accused by USA and Israel of channeling arms to the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which was involved in a month-long deadly conflict with an arrogant Israel.
The UN atomic watchdog chief has warned that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear program would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected an Israeli strike as impossible. Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that he would not be able to continue in his role as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general, should the Islamic republic be attacked. His stark comments came as Iran stressed yet again that it would not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear program if it is required to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran would continue uranium enrichment nonstop since this activity is under the 24 hour surveillance (of IAEA cameras). Any attack would simply harden Iran’s position in its row with the West over its nuclear program.
THREE: USA needs Iran’s resources too?
Iran has long been a whipping boy for successive American administrations, an easy target for both rhetorical excess and diplomatic abuse. A former US ally and fought a 10-year long bloody war with its neighbor Iraq, Iran has strained its ties with USA over years. The U.S. has had no diplomatic relations with Tehran since the seizure of its embassy there in 1979. And the U.S. is dangling what it calls a "generous" new incentives package and the prospect of opening an "interest section" in Tehran that would function as a kind of lesser embassy. Currently, USA seeks to gain full control over its vast energy resources by invading the nation on fictitious pretexts. After the fall of Iraq, Neo-cons and missile manufactures have been pressuring the Bush administration to go for the kill in Iran without delay.
The Bush Administration, helped by anti-Islamic media world wide, initially found little international support for holding Iran’s feet to the fire, while the combination of U.S. difficulties in Iraq and the dramatic rise in oil prices has boosted Tehran’s confidence. Shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Washington rejected an Iranian offer of broad talks in which Tehran would seek to address all U.S. concerns. But when Rice took over as Secretary of State in 2005, she agreed to support European negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. also agreed to facilitate the sale of spare parts for airliners to Iran, and to stop blocking Iranian accession talks to the World Trade Organization.
The European talks went nowhere, and six months after the U.S. concessions, the Iranians accelerated their nuclear program by starting to enrich of uranium. On the last day of May 2006, under pressure from European allies to open up talks with Tehran, the U.S. offered to join the Europeans at the negotiating table - but only if Iran first agreed to suspend its program of uranium enrichment. And, hoping to press the Iranians to comply, Washington spent the next two years trying in vain to forge a consensus in the U.N. Security Council for meaningful sanctions.
Meanwhile in Brussels, a European Union official that the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had not yet received an answer from Iran. EU nations and diplomats are not too concerned about Tehran’s adherence to the exact deadline — but are keen for Iran to come back with a concrete reply that could form the basis of further negotiations. Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged Iran to stop playing for time and deliver a "clear answer" to the latest initiative. "Stop dallying”. But Iran cannot be bullied!
FOUR: Economic Terrorism
USA is suing economic terrorism, sanctions, to control the weaker nations. Iran is under UN economic sanctions, with the demand that it suspend the enrichment program, which the West fears may be used for nuclear bombs. The Security Council has slapped three sets of sanctions on Iran over its enrichment and reprocessing of uranium, which can produce the ingredients for a bomb but which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes only. The first sanctions resolution was approved by the council in December 2006 and the second in March 2007. It took nearly a year for the third to be approved in March 2008, and analysts say that it was a mere tightening of the screws from the second resolution -- essentially more travel bans and asset freezes. The first three rounds of U.N. sanctions have proven ineffective so far leading to oil price rise at $130 a barrel.
Some doubt that even tougher measures would move Iran. Even the most robust sanctions would change the mind-set in Iran. Iran’s oil and gas industries remain off limits. Iran has a strong hand, the price of oil being what it is, gives them a nice cushion. Hence the USA and Israel are eager to go for a quick war and quickly control the energy resources and transit them to USA, Israel and their Western countries. Israel is very keen to use Iranian oil free. Tehran rejected the an informal US ultimatum set by the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany, to stop expanding uranium enrichment — at least temporarily — in exchange for their commitment to stop seeking new U.N. sanctions. Tehran is trying to reassert Iran’s right to nuclear facility for whatever reason, which it certainly has, to the new higher figure, even if it agrees to a freeze.
Iran had been set another deadline to respond to a proposal from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany to suspend uranium enrichment. The Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions, and a fourth could follow if the current offer is rejected by Tehran. But they now reason that setting Iran a deadline always threatened to be counter-productive, especially when there was no immediate penalty for not complying. For their part, the European Union and the USA, who are co-operating on this initiative, have been giving mixed messages on how precisely and how seriously they view the deadline.
Economic terrorism is followed by military invasion threats. A report by the New York Times cited US officials as saying, a major Israeli military exercise earlier last month seemed to be in a practice for any potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. In Athens, an official with the Greek Air Forces central command confirmed the substance of the US media report, stating that it had taken part in joint training exercises with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete. The maneuvers, codenamed Glorious Spartan 08, took place on May 28 and June 12, and consisted of aerial exercises and knowledge exchange, said the Greek source, who requested anonymity. The goal was for more than 100 Israeli F16 and F15 fighter jets to prepare for long-range strikes and demonstrate Israel’s serious concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
FIVE: US Fragile Calculations
Some strategist suggest that USA would become a partnership with Iran to further develop their nuclear capacity for peaceful uses, and be accompanied by a very strict and thorough regime of inspections and monitoring that would make certain that Iran did not produce highly enriched uranium, which is what would be necessary for nuclear weapons. It would also bar a heavy-water reactor, which could develop plutonium for nuclear weapons, and would encompass other constraints on Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear-weapons capacity.
The most important thing for the international community is to have as much access as USA can get to their nuclear program. The basic new approach is that it’s too late to stop Iran’s enrichment—the goal of current U.S. policy. Every time the UNSC passes new sanctions in the UN Security Council, Iran increases its enrichment activities. So USA wants to find a way to get control of it.
USA is keen to exploit Iran’s anti-Sunni sentiemnts to its advantage. And ironically, of all the countries in the region with which USA has a common purpose in the region it is Iran. They want a stable pro-Shia’ Iraq. They want a Shiite government. They want a stable Afghanistan. And they’re terribly worried about the rise of Sunni “extremists” in northwestern Pakistan. They’re even opposed to the Taliban. So there are a lot of common interests that the USA tries to address as this region gets more and more chaotic.
USA and EU are trying to pressurize Iran through various sources. Iran will not give up "a single iota of its nuclear rights," the country's president said, rebuffing an informal deadline to stop expanding uranium enrichment or face more sanctions. Ahmadinejad made the remarks during discussions with Syrian President Beshar Assad in Tehran while discussing Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment following a request from French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Assad, who has been seeking a more prominent Mideast role for Syria, promised Sarkozy during a visit to France in July to try to persuade Iran to offer proof to the West that it isn't developing nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad's stance signaled both a failure of Assad's mission and a rejection of the deadline, although his comments indicated he was not ruling out international talks on Iran’s nuclear program. Syria is Iran’s closest Arab ally — the two countries have had close relations since 1980, when Syria sided with Persian Iran against Iraq in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
On the contrary, the nuclear issue has brought them even closer, politically and economically- a jolt the US diplomacy. . In Damascus, media reported that Assad's visit as having affirmed "identical views" of the two countries on major regional and international issues. Both the two nations rejected "foreign dictates" and stressed the need for a "timetable for a withdrawal of foreign forces from" Iraq — an allusion to U.S. troops there. Assad's visit focused on economic ties between Tehran and Damascus that have resulted in over a dozen projects in Syria, worth $896 million; both governments are "seriously seeking to increase the size of joint investments to more than $3 billion over the next years."
An Observation: Iran Ready!
Iran will have its nuclear facility that could be used for manufacturing weapons too and there cannot be any doubts over that, though USA has said that Tehran had stopped its nuclear processing way back in 2003. As US-led West trying to bully it, Iran also test-fired its Shahab-3 missile which it says puts Israel within range. In recent months, several Israeli politicians have talked of the possibility of a preemptive military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities to avoid any possibility of Tehran acquiring an atomic weapon. US-Israel strategists have taken Iranian challenge quite earnestly and are now silent. World powers offered to start pre-negotiations with Iran during which Tehran would add no more uranium-enriching centrifuges and in return face no further sanctions. The offer by permanent Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany included trade incentives and help with a civilian nuclear program.
Senator Barack Obama has said he'll enter unconditional negotiations with Iran if elected President. More importantly, the past two years have seen the U.S. rather than Tehran forced to bend its position. Because USA has placed the nuclear issue above everything else, it’s been very difficult for them to see the increasingly powerful role of Iran. And as they look at the frustrating developments in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and now in Pakistan, all countries that surround Iran, Iran emerges as the strongest, most powerful country in the region. And USA should be dealing with them on all these other issues. Iran has beocme a much complicated issue for the USA now.
However, Iran has repeatedly said it has no intention of halting enrichment despite three sets of UN Security Council sanctions and US and EU sanctions on its banking system. Iran insists it has a right to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is currently operating about 4,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges and installing several thousand more. However, the country's first Russian-built nuclear power plant is yet to come on line. The Islamic republic risks further sanctions for failing to give a clear response to an incentives package offered by six world powers in return for a halt to the sensitive work, but Iran has already the war against the UNSC-6.
Russia with which Iran has lucrative business deal including for nuclear reactors supports Iran, while at the same time asking Tehran to allay the international fears about its intentions. Russia wants to keep talking with Iran about a July 19 offer it and the other permanent Security Council members -- China, Britain, France, the United States -- and Germany made: an incentives package in exchange for Iran halting enrichment. Iran sticks to its declarations. Foreign ministers from the six UNSC-5 (plus 1) countries will meet in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to discuss next steps on Iran. If they agree to pursue sanctions, it would make no difference to Iran.
Iran has got used to conducting its affairs with similar sanctions and with or without one more round of economic terrorism Iran will live through the threat too. But Iran will have its legitimate nuclear regime at par with other power having bilinear facility. Whether Tehran makes electricity or weapons, it is merely their internal issue and its capacity and readiness to have such a facility. Of course, if the UN puts a total nuclear disarmament into practice, Iran also would follow the pattern accordingly. But for now, let Iran continue with fulfilling its nuclear ambitions.
Coercion diplomacy of Bush administration has badly failed in Iran and USA should find a safe exit door to wind up the war agenda. Enough of “terrorism” planks, invasions of oil rich nations and genocide of Muslims. It is therefore high time USA sheds its anti-Islamic wars and hunt for free energy resources in Arab world and quit both Afghanistan and Iraq1 and give up it ambitions in Iran and other Islamic nations, both Sunni and Shia’ one against other US-led West plays so cunningly. In stead, USA and UNSC should concentrate on Human Rights evasions systematically done by claimants of democracies like India. India has been violating all norms of human conduct and kills Kashmiris in a sustained manner. India should be bought to justice for its Human Rights Violations both in India and Kashmir.
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