France: With progress in sight, Iran must share its nuke goals
UN watchdog to inspect Iran nuclear site Oct. 25; IAEA chief says West moving from 'conspiracy' to 'cooperation.'
By The Associated Press Tags: Iran IAEA Israel newsThe small opening in the dialogue between Iran and the international community is making it more crucial than ever for Tehran to answer questions over its suspected nuclear ambitions, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Sunday.
Noting Sunday's announcement by the IAEA nuclear agency that UN experts would inspect Iran's newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant on Oct. 25, Kouchner said it was crucial to uncover the goals of Tehran's uranium enrichment efforts.
"We are ready to no longer speak about sanctions, but we need to discuss what we call the heart of the matter, that is to say: is this uranium enrichment dangerous or not?" Kouchner told RTL radio and LCI television.
Asked if Iran was pursuing a nuclear program for military ends, Kouchner said he was of the same view as Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Everything leads us to think that they were at least tempted to do this and we are trying to put an end to this by extending investigations and making sure they cannot do this any more," he said.
A senior official in the Obama administration said Sunday that the United States is pleased by some positive signs of cooperation from Iran regarding the latter's contentious nuclear program.
"For now, things are moving in the right direction," U.S. President Barack Obama's national security adviser James Jones said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.
"The fact that Iran came to the table and seemingly showed some degree of cooperation is a good thing," Jones told CNN.
"Clearly, on non-proliferation, whether it is North Korea or Iran, the world is sending its own message to both countries and fortunately we are seeing some positive reaction to that," Jones said.
Asked whether Iran was closer to having a bomb, Jones said: "No, we stand by the reports that we have put out."
"What has happened with regard to Iran in the last couple of weeks has been very significant," Jones said, pointing to the Iranian decision to open a new uranium enrichment facility near the holy Shi'ite city of Qom for inspection.
The U.S. and other world powers are still looking for answers in the short term, Jones said, adding that it would not likely take extended discussions before the U.S. and others decided on their bext step.
Also on Sunday, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said that Washington and other veto-holding permanent members in the United Nations Security Council were studying sanction options if Iran does not prove its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Rice also said the so-called P-5 + 1 is in a period of intense negotiations with Tehran, but that Iran had a finite period to completely open its nuclear program to international inspections. She refused to set a deadline.
Rice said the United States had three options: to push sanctions through the UN, to work with European allies to punish Iran, or to take unilateral action in conjunction with the other possible courses of action.
Rice spoke Sunday on NBC television's Meet the Press.
UN watchdog to inspect Iran nuclear site Oct. 25
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog on Sunday said inspectors would be examining Iran's recently revealed nuclear facility on October 25.
Head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, Mohammed ElBaradei, said Sunday that inspectors would be examining Iran's recently revealed nuclear facility on October 25.
ElBaradei spole in Tehran following talks with Iranian officials over a recently revealed uranium enrichment facility that has caused consternation around to world over the extent and purpose of Iran's nuclear program.
At the news conference Sunday, ElBaradei said that Iran's relations with the West were moving from "conspiracy" to "cooperation" and that the nuclear dispute could be resolved through diplomacy.
"It is important for us to send our inspectors to have a comprehensive verification of the facility and to make sure that it is for peaceful purposes," he said. "We agreed that our inspectors will inspect the site on the 25th of October."
ElBaradei, who sat alongside Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, said talks had been a success and he saw the possibility of defusing the international crisis over Iran's nuclear program.
"We need transparency on the part of Iran and we need cooperation on the part of the international community," he said, describing a shifting of gears in relations between Iran and the western powers.
Revelations that Iran had a second, previously unknown, site to refine uranium has raised new international fears over the purposes of the nation's nuclear program.
The U.S. and its allies say Iran's program is seeking nuclear weapons while Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.
Addressing the issue of the recently revealed nuclear site at Qom, ElBaradei said that "Iran should have informed us the day they decided to construct the facility ... Iran has a different view on that but the agency view was that," he said.
He said Salehi would visit the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on October 19, ahead of the inspectors visit to Iran.
"It is important for us to have comprehensive cooperation over the Qom site. We had dialogue, we had talks on clarification of the facility in Qom, which is a pilot enrichment plant," ElBaradei said.
He said there was no "concrete proof" that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons capability but the IAEA remained concerned over the possibility.
"I continue to say today that the agency has no concrete proof that there is an ongoing weapons program in Iran. There are allegations that Iran has conducted weaponization studies. However, these are issues that we are still looking into," ElBaradei said, speaking in English.
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To the FIRST GULF WAR, where Saddam Hussein had his forces invade Kuwait, blew up the oil wells and raped the women for relaxation The reason for the war and the next one was OIL OIL OIL OIL The USA didn't want Saddam in a position where he could endager the supply of oil to the rest of the world Once in Kuwait, it was only a hop skip & jump for Saddam to invade Saudi Arabia, a major oil supplies, which has an army that is nothing more than a glorified police force with some airplanes Now, concerning the SECOND GULF WAR, best intelligence estimates from several sources indicated that Saddam was working on a nuke, the Allies didn't want to chance his actually having one or getting one You claim to be concerned, well, tell me just one itty bitty thing, what have YOU PERSONALLY done about it Writing letters don't count, getting your hand dirty does Been to an Aussie hospital to visit the wounded, paid respects at funeral, hostessing a service organization functions?
all of my posts. Ask Ben Jabo about my posts re returned soldiers with broken bones and minds, many of who are homeless, and of the number of American soldiers who have lost their lives, especially in Iraq, the war "Israel had to have."
Once Israel will be disarmed then no other country will try to get it.People like Olmert,Bibi or,probably,Lieberman can be allowed to make decisions on or even hold such weapon.When the people in Israel will be conscient that Bibi is more dangerous than Ahmadinejad ,then a big change will happen in Israel policy nd in the way in which the people vote.Bu for this the media have to abandon slogans as :"evry prime minister in Israel didn't leave a stone not up down searching for peace"
Who has proven that he's utterly blind to Atomic Weapons development He proved that by denying NK had nuclear capacity until NK set off their first nuke El Baradei didn't see the Iranian developments until outisde agencies alerted them to it. or should I say he didn't want to see them because his sympathy is with Iran Iran has the technolgy, courtesy of Pakistan Her missiles which have a range of a least 1200 KM are capable of reacing South Eastern Europe and Allied forces in the Persian Gulf region One more thing you might like to consider, his first name happens to be "MOHAMMED", maybe that will ring a bell
Since you mentioned it, I haven't seen any of your posts contain any form of condolences for your troops and the American's killed in Afghanistan Tell tell others what to do, if you don't practice it yourself, that's sheer hypocricy
It's been on TV and radio for the past few days Iran is going TO SEND HER URANIUM TO RUSSIA FOR ENRICHMENT It will be longer than 2 weeks, but they're doing their best to speed it up
If Iran gets the bomb and carries out her threat, 1.5 million Arabs living in Israel will also be part of the inferno Plus you might want to throw a consierable number of people in Jordan, Lebaonon and Syria into the mix
Can anybody tell me what Obama's goal is regarding Iran?
Iran must share!!! No Israel must first share and NO building walls in the seven storey building at Demona so inspectors do not see all that should be seen. Then Iran might regard the US, France, and Israel demand on her as legitimate. As for France making demands, who helped Israel to build its nuclear facilities. Why is French the second language at Demona. Before exorcising the demons from the Arab and Iranian world, Israel should seek to have its own demons exorcised.
I have a really hard time believing you are writing from Iran. But be it. What makes you believe Iran doesn't want the bomb, after so many lies and deceptions (in the IAEA's own words)? I'm interested in your honesty, not your sloganeering, whoever you are.
Stop the "peace-in-our-times" BS and confront Iran for God's sake !!!
It has become clear that the Obama administration has started to cooperate with, instead of demanding compliance from, the other concerned parties. This has led to a significant change in tone by Russia, leaving only China skeptical of the need to press Iran for full compliance with the NPT and ultimately the Additional Protocols. There has been since early last summer a significant change in approach by Iran as well. The decision to cooperate with the IAEA on the Arak heavy water reactor eliminated a major problem and the announcement of the Qom pilot plant follows that trend. That there is unity of approach on the part of the negotiators eliminates any wiggle room for Iran. The question is how soon will they resolve the outstanding issues and when they will readopt the Additional Protocols.
"I love the Paranoia it shows fear" - Reza Shah It is often a product of ignorance as well as fear. There is more than a bit of paranoia on the part of Iran as well as the war hawks. And like their paranoia, it is as much a product of ignorance as irrationality.
The USA was speaking for effect last week. When it became apparent that Iran had notified the IAEA of it's construction of a new Pilot Plant the US preempted publicity by loudly announcing it. I assume this was for effect prior to the initial negotiations by BOTH parties. Both sides have a problem with prior positions and statements. The positions taken by Iranians running the nuclear program have often been quite at odds with Ahmadinejad's bellicosity. Few have bother to pay attention to the men running the program while listening to a man who has NO authority over it whatsoever. Equally difficult is the fact that the previous US administration made it very clear in 2001-2006 that it intended to take down Iran after it finished with Iraq. . . Both sides have discredited themselves and have to repair self-inflicted damage while not appearing to be to compliant with the other side. This will be a bit like porcupines making love. Carefully!
So the boys and girls of the IAEA will make a fieldtrip.All they get to see is a clean plant. Everybody happy,But who is fooling who?
truth is the US would let out a big sigh of relief of Iran tested an atomic bomb without anyone knowing until it happened. Then the political pressure would be off as it would be too late to attack, ass the none of the US administrations, not Bush, or Obama want to start another war in the M.E. The time has come where it is just too costly to protect Israel against the threat, they prefer containment,
at the coffins arriving home from Afghanistan. In all the Israeli posts calling for war in Iran, never do I see empathy for dead American soldiers (or Australian soldiers) caused by the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.
the delay suits all the players in the game, most notably iran, the u.s., russia, china and el-baradei.
iran has always come to the table. that is not an accomplishment. iran will continue to talk while continuing its nuclear weapons program.
to step down from the stern statements issued by it last week.
Just wanted to let you know that you have many, many friends here in the U.S. We are with you with whatever you decide to do about Iran. I know that you cannot expect any help from us right now because of the 2 teenagers we have in the White House right now. We Christians are praying and fighting for you. May God be with you..........Nel
How exactly can they produce a nuclear warhead in 2 weeks? Lol
The irony in Israel scared of Iran while occupying Palestine. It's a joke.
even to the year 2000", as his stalling tactic in 1977. That's thirty-two years ago. And it's still working! No peace. Occupation. Land theft. So quit yer bitchin'. Persia moves at light-speed by comparison. Salaam/Shalom
What absolute and utter nonsense, but then again, what else would one expect from an Obama aid whose only interest is Obama's standing in the political polls. Israel better act soon. It surely can't depend upon the EU, the UN or the US. You can be sure that Obama and his crew care as much about the future of Israel as Chamberlin cared in 1938 about the future of Czechoslovokia.
They must be naive to think the Ayatollahs will not use their Taqiyyah tactic to fool them.
people on sight are really worried is it about real estate or where to move next well everything in due time every one shall reap what he planted very soon
Unlike Iran, Israel has not threatened to annihilate another country. Iran has threatened to annihilate Israel with nuke. Ergo, there is no point for you spewing your anti-Israel sarcasm.
And Israel will allow inspecters in to dimona the week after.
Dear Yosemite, As an Iranian I like to say exploding a real Bomb in the center of Qom (our religious city) is a dream of a majority of Iranian educated people. Please let me know if you have or know how to do it!!
After all the money invested by Iran, and all the loans financed by Swiss banks, Iran has not only every right but is obligated to finish production of nuclear weapons technology and bombs. How dare the Jews and their lackeys in the world's Zionist Occupied Governments believe they have the right to control the intentions of others? Had the Jews not tried the same methods in the 1930s, there would have been no WWII and no deaths from illnesses that the Jews were susceptible too, but rather international cooperation and agreement. There would have also been no Jew-state since Europe would have felt no misplaced guilt for something that never happened in the first place.
2 weeks till we probably hear from the comittee that they have reason to believe they are not seeing everything or something along those lines. Then we start the game again. Iran then will lie to the Arab world that they co-operated and the Arab world will eat that up....and so on and so on. The Liberals of the world have pushed the pendulum of patience way beyond a reasonable position. Say goodbye to a still reasonably rational world.....the end of it is around the corner.
on target. This one is especially funny.
how gullible is the gullible barry soetor? 5 years of playing araound and the fools still play games with iran !!
how gullible is the gullible barry soetor? 5 years of playing araound and the fools still play games with iran !!
1.Good evening hungry university students. 2.There are probably a couple out there who say so goes the Olympics, so goes the audacity and so goes the hope. Not yet. 3.Right here, right now is The Middle East Olympics and if it is any consolation, the perfect athlete for this important competition will come from Chicago. 4.With his formula of Five Loaves, the perfect athlete will catch two big fish: the Antichrist or Dajjal and Jesus Christ who has promised the following miracles: -weds two nations, two peoples and two religions in Cana with wisdom far greater than Solomon -calms down the violent weather -orders religious leaders to put their swords, including nuclear, back into the scabbard -peace not as world leaders give but as He gives -send exiles, foreign troops and prisoners home -reunites separated families including that of Abraham -feeds the hungry, angry, weary, cynical, difficult multitude with plenty of left-overs -etc. 5.Now, where is that athlete?
for he is a man of peace.
Iran has nothing to hide we built this site in case the other one bombed we shall be always two steps ahead of our enemy if we want the bomb we could have it long ago and every body knows there are easier methods than enrichment
He looks just like Tevya in that photo posing and performing for El Baradei. "If I were a hu-man, ya ha dida dada dida dada dah dah dah dah daaaah, all day long I'd shtoop and shtoop and shtoop, if I were a real maaaan! I'd build some big strong bombs with real radiation right in the center of Qom. One small one for you know-hu who, and the other for the USA! Hey!" Lol!
the US will not be starting any new wars esp. not for zion....give it up
You people are so easily controlled by mass media it's laughable. Obama too let himself taken away by propaganda.
ElBaredei is either totally incompetent or a paid hireling of Iran. He has let them delay and exploit every opportunity to hide, and deceive with diplomatic double talk. Everyone knows Iran is buidling a bomb. It could have gotten nuclear power plants dirt cheap without the complex and extreme expense they went to. History will record that ElBaredei foolishly or complicitly helped them in this historic catastrophe.
the Boss what happens in Iran. Iran shows that it cannot be dictated to......Obama should have known better.
Would you like to replace ElBaradei? The critical question is: do you read and speak Farsi fluently??? You know, all that beautiful, flowing artwork corrupted by all those little chicken scratches?
the second site was not secret and iran do its duty and before to inject the gas to centrifuge and even before complete the new site announce agency. so iran is honest and israel had secret plan and dont sign the NPT and had nuclear weapon and kills the people in Gaza strip
Dont be silly, Ryan. You cannot disembowel a nuclear bomb plant and hide the stuff in a month! Egad, man! It is not like re-stashing a pint from behind A Tale of Two Cities on your bookshelf!
Iran says no, and again and again the IAEA says no evidence! I think Obama will hold off arm-twisting Iran long enough for the IAEA to make their inspection. It is Obama's advisors that worry me. They have nothing to lose if they are wrong. And, as always, the military-industrial complex bears watching.
U.N., Elbaradie + Ahmadienjad + Cover-up + Time = N.Bomb !
US gives Teheran all the time in the World to perfect nukes.
That should be just enough time to hide away and remove any damning evidence. I swear, this is so stupid. "Here, have a nice long MONTH to make sure we don't see whats really going on there". Idiots. They should barge in there right now and catch them with their pants down.
Wasn't ElBaradei been kicked out and replaced? The UN continues to make a mistake by having an Islamist dealing with Nuke inspection in an Islamist-Jihadist country. As always ElBaradei closes his eyes when he inspects the nuke complex of the Ayatollahs. This kind of inspection is more like a joke. Apparently, Obama is closing his eyes too by not having ElBaradei replaced.
... does it take so long to get the cover-up completed...? ... Al Jaseera showed a rather serious and anxious 'watchdog' ElBaradei, surrounded by his eually anxious hosts...
They are not giving up their nukes, period. I am amused by ElBaradai`s optimism. This is the fellow who withheld critical information about Iran`s progress on nukes from the West until he was confronted. Yeah.. a very reliable source of misinformation indeed.