SumOfAllFears
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Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Thursday, 11 Feb 2010 07:47 AM
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions.
Ahmadinejad reiterated to hundreds of thousands of cheering Iranians on the anniversary of the 1979 foundation of the Islamic republic that the country was now a "nuclear state," an announcement he's made before. He insisted that Iran had no intention of building nuclear weapons.
It was not clear how much enriched material had actually been produced just two days after the process was announced to have started.
David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that any 20-percent enriched uranium produced just a few days after the start of the process would be "a tiny amount."
The United States and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons but Tehran denies the charge, saying the program is just geared toward generating electricity.
"I want to announce with a loud voice here that the first package of 20 percent fuel was produced and provided to the scientists," he said.
Enriching uranium produces fuel for a nuclear power plants but can also be used to create material for atomic weapons if enriched further to 90 percent or more.
"We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
Iran announced Tuesday it was beginning the process of enriching its uranium stockpile to a higher level. The international community reacted by discussing the imposition of new U.N. sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury Department went ahead on Wednesday and froze the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a construction firm he runs for their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
Tehran has said it wants to further enrich the uranium — which is still substantially below the 90 percent plus level used in the fissile core of nuclear warheads — as a part of a plan to fuel its research reactor that provides medical isotopes to hundreds of thousands of Iranians undergoing cancer treatment.
But the West says Tehran is not capable of turning the material into the fuel rods needed by the reactor. Instead it fears that Iran wants to enrich the uranium to make nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad restated Iran's position that it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons.
"When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he told the crowd. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it."
"We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks," Ahmadinejad added.
Western powers blame Tehran for rejecting an internationally endorsed plan to defuse the situation by having Iran export its low enriched uranium for enrichment abroad and returned as fuel rods for the Tehran reactor.
Iran, in turn, asserts it had no choice but to start enriching to higher levels because its suggested changes to the international plan were rejected.
The president said Iran will triple the production of its low-enriched uranium in the future but didn't elaborate.
"God willing, daily production (of low enriched uranium) will be tripled," he said.
A confidential document from the U.N. nuclear agency shared Wednesday with The Associated Press said Iran's initial effort at higher enrichment is modest, using only a small amount of feedstock and a fraction of its capacities.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2010 10:32 AM by SumOfAllFears.)
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02-11-2010 10:31 AM |
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I45owl
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
And, in other news, Technical setbacks cause Iran to falter in push to enrich uranium, report says
Quote:Iran is experiencing surprising setbacks in its efforts to enrich uranium, according to new assessments that suggest that equipment failures and other difficulties could undermine that nation's plans for dramatically scaling up its nuclear program.
Former U.S. officials and independent nuclear experts say continued technical problems could also delay -- though probably not halt -- Iran's march toward achieving nuclear-weapons capability, giving the United States and its allies more time to press for a diplomatic solution. In recent months, Israeli officials have been less vocal in their demands that Western nations curtail Iran's nuclear program.
Anything that indicates to our administration that they have more time means more inaction.
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02-11-2010 11:05 AM |
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DrTorch
Proved mach and GTS to be liars
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Congratulations
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02-11-2010 11:16 AM |
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SumOfAllFears
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Interesting Stuff. Could it be dis-information? Israel is sure non-vocal on all of this.
WashingtonPost Wrote:the Natanz plant appears to have performed so poorly that sabotage cannot be ruled out as an explanation, according to a draft study by David Albright
Quote:"They are really struggling to reproduce what is literally half-century-old European technology and doing a really bad job of it," Oelrich said.
Quote: ISIS acknowledges the possibility that Natanz's problems were caused by outside sources. "It is well known that the United States and European intelligence agencies seek to place defective or bugged equipment into Iran's smuggling networks," it said.
(This post was last modified: 02-11-2010 11:30 AM by SumOfAllFears.)
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02-11-2010 11:23 AM |
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Lord Stanley
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Whenever Ahmadinejad make a statement, it holds about as much water as when I make a statement. See the following:
Quote: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions.
OR
Quote:Home Owner Lord Stanley claimed Thursday that he has produced his first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his house will not be bullied by hippies into curtailing its nuclear program a day after Minnesota imposed new sanctions.
Which is more believable?
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02-11-2010 11:36 AM |
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I45owl
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
(02-11-2010 11:36 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote: Which is more believable?
In terms of aggregate credibility, you're way ahead. In terms of being all over the map with outrageous statements, well, that's a bit harder to say... But, you are funnier.
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02-11-2010 12:02 PM |
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WoodlandsOwl
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
(02-11-2010 11:05 AM)I45owl Wrote: And, in other news, Technical setbacks cause Iran to falter in push to enrich uranium, report says
Quote:Iran is experiencing surprising setbacks in its efforts to enrich uranium, according to new assessments that suggest that equipment failures and other difficulties could undermine that nation's plans for dramatically scaling up its nuclear program.
Former U.S. officials and independent nuclear experts say continued technical problems could also delay -- though probably not halt -- Iran's march toward achieving nuclear-weapons capability, giving the United States and its allies more time to press for a diplomatic solution. In recent months, Israeli officials have been less vocal in their demands that Western nations curtail Iran's nuclear program.
Anything that indicates to our administration that they have more time means more inaction.
The Iranians are using knock offs of AQ Khan designed gas centrifuges, so a deliberately placed inherent design defect can't be ruled out, just like the AQ Khan implosion bomb design that the North Koreans use doesn't work either.
In the early 1980's the US discovered that the Soviets were attempting to steal the Honeywell design for natural gas pipleine compressors for use on their Trans-Siberian gas pipeline.. so they "allowed" the Soviets to "steal" a planted compressor design that wouldn't work.
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02-11-2010 09:50 PM |
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I45owl
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RE: Ahmadinejad: Iran Now 'Nuclear State'
Regarding the poor yield from their centrifuges, the same article I linked (which seems to have changed now) also describes how they may be sandbagging their output to deceive inspectors. Another article I read described a recent IAEA report, and also talked about Malaysia censuring and recalling their representative to the IAEA because he failed to criticize Iran.
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02-12-2010 02:07 AM |
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