'U.S. knew of secret Iranian nuclear plant for years'

duhh! for sure, seems israel and america ARE attacking those who are weak, has america threatened to attack north korea jim?, no, has iran ever attacked another country first? no, why are the arabs scared? those who are, are only scared of losing their position like all other politicians, or they are sunni who beleive the israeli/american lie of iran trying to spread the word of sharia law. i will have the last laugh jim, and i'll be laughing my butt off if israel attacks iran and when iran finally gets a nuke.

"secret" means undeclared by iran. - Cipora It depends upon what is, is, Cipora. The USA is a signatory of the NPT. It was required to give the 'secret' information to Iran even though under the treaty Iran wasn't required. This is a curious consequence of Article I which requires nuclear-weapon state to "not assist" any non-weapon state in acquiring nuclear weapons. Thus the fact that the US hid the existence of a facility which it deemed as existing for the production of nuclear weapons was a blatant violation. The USA as a nuclear weapons State party to the NPT has surrendered the right to keep the 'secret'. Whereas Iran is not required to reveal the site until it is processing fissile materials. Iran had a secret it could keep under the treaty. The US had a secret it could not.

"Is this region prone to earthquakes?" - Murray of Montreal The Kashan block, and the Qom formation are relatively stabile. The Chinese Shengi Petroleum Administration has done quite a bit of work concerning the prospects of the area.

At the root of the problem are assertions by the US that Iran has violated the NPT. So that everyone may understand what is, and isn't, in the treaty it may be found at http://www.un.org/events/npt2005/npttreaty.html Please note that Iran is not bound to tell anyone, anything, about a facility which is under construction but not in use. The USA has been the major transgressor of the NPT, for example we provided tactical nuclear weapons to Canada and Germany (Article I for the USA, Article II for them). The treaty made by the USA with India last year is so massive a violation as to have effectively abrogated the treaty. The 'hypocrisy' is not between Iran and Israel, as Israel is not a signatory to the NPT. They hypocrisy is incumbent within the United States which started violating the treaty the day it signed, and has been the major violator for the life of the treaty.

US taxpayer - you need to study up on both international law AND English.

You might have a case if we were talking about UN resolutions, and particularly those that the Arabs have also violated. But we are not, so this line of argument is entirely irrelevant.

Abe has hit the nail on the head. All of Israel's BS about Iran and nukes is intended to be a distraction, so the world won't talk about what Israel is doing in Palestine. The strategy is to complain very loudly about what other nations are doing. It is a diversionary maneuver. The blame game appeals to the emotions; says nothing of importance; but keeps Talkbackers and government leaders too busy emoting to talk about what Israel is really doing. Meanwhile, the land grab goes on.

"How many UN resolutions has Israel violated?" Each and every one biased against Israel

Arthur should get it straight that ANY nation has the RIGHT to nuclear energy and enrichment, including Israel and Iran. This liberal's complaint against Israel is that her people constantly talk about how "evil" are her enemies; but never present a plan for peace in the ME that is not also a patently obvious plan to advance Israel's aggrandisement and illegal acquisition of land, ensure the superiority of her armed forces, or deprive her enighbors of their basic human rights. As for justification, I have lost seven good friends (may they rest in peace) due to terror perpetrated by Israeli agents in the West Bank. Arthur should put that in his pipe and smoke it before he spouts out more accusations about how evil Iran is or accuse us liberals of anti-Israeli bias.

Let us pray!

"What makes us so special is that we haven`t signed the NPT ... Israel is free to develop a nuclear arsenal" Any and every nation is free to develop a nuclear arsenal, JES. So that does not make Israel special. What holds some nations back from developing a nuke is the willingness to promote world peace. Signing up with the NPT is a committment to that end. And that does make those nations special. Other nations, like Israel, choose to stand alone.That is their priviledge. But In the eyes of the world. Israel has fought so many battles and encroached on so much land not her own that she is regarded by other nations as a loose warhead. So enjoy your status, JES, but do not fool yourself into believing that other nations are bound to helplessness should Israel be dumb enought to start another major war.

JES, your reply implies that israel have the right to develop and use nuke simply because it did not sign NPT but Iran do not have the right to use peacful nuclear for generation of electricity. Please remember, israeli days are simply gone and Iran have every right to develop nuke as long as israel and others got those. Now, the question of Iranian nuke is over, simply get over it. Don't you see how Iranians circumvented you all and the western hypocracy. lol!!!! Iran is a great country.

How many UN resolutions has Israel violated?

If the US knew and Iran knew and the US chose not to tell either the IAEA or Israel, who kpt the secret of an unfinished underground building with no equipment inside? How many underground buildings are being built in Europe? Do they have a nuclear purpose? Might they in the future? The same rules that apply to European non-nuclear weapons states apply to Iran. For that matter, the same rules apply to Canada and Mexico. Please cite the part of the NPT that says unfinished underground structures have to be declared and at what point in time. And why wouldn't the Bush Administration, who knew years ago, not tell Israel or the IAEA, as required by the treaty?

"In this case Ahmadinejad pulled his out before Obama." Indeed he did! LOOL!

About mistranslations of Ahmadinejad's speeches. Interesting you should bring this up right now! Ahmadinejad's remarkes before the UNGA three days ago lacked the inane fire and fury that he usually gets on the news. He sounded far more rational and interesteed in a world-wide control of nuclear WMD's through cooperative efforts amongst nations. Of course, the Ameriocan and Israeli delgations walked out on him, so they can claim they never heard that. Oh well, children will be children and pretend not to hear; and politicians will be .... hmmmm .... expedient? Is that the right word?

"seems having a nuke is a right to bully others, if iran aquires one, it can`t be bullied " What I want to see is the day - the sooner the better - that Iran actually builds a nuclear power plant, fuels its reactors, and starts piping electrical power all over Iran. It won't stop the scare-mongers in Washington completely; or the frightened old ladies in Israeli government; but oh! how the scare-mongers would scramble for a new excuse to continue scapegoaing Iran! Lool! He who laughs last laughfs best. Of course if Iran did build a bomb, then VIPER has it right. But would the West really stop bullying Iran? Or would they start another war, just to prove their point? I'm right; you're wrong! Duh!

is the proverbial first strike option. this would leave the area around the mountain thoroughly contaminated ... not to mention alot of dead civilians. but don't the americans already do this in pakistan and afganistan with their drones and hellfire missiles? So instead of 30 or 40 dead civilians we have several hundred thousand. and that brothers and sisters is why the americans haven't done anything in iran ... too much collateral damage. sadly, isreal is going to have to make a real tough choice, a nuclear first strike or be anhilated by iranian nukes. the mad dictator has already said it will happen, why give him the chance or opportunity?

Jim:"Not politically expedient to reveal your rabbit before you pull it out of the hat." In this case Ahmadinejad pulled his out before Obama.

Israel is reputed to have had nuclear weapons for over 40 years and in that entire time none of its Arab neighbours have felt sufficiently threatened by that to pusue a nuclear program of their own. Enter Iran, and reports by the IAEA like the one in Feb 2006 that Iran is cheating on its treaty obligations under the 1974 Safeguards Agreement (IAEA Board of Governors Res. GOV/2006/14 (4 Feb. 2006)). Suddenly Egypt, the Saudis, and Gulf States (as well as Turkey) are talking about going nuclear. Seems that they know where the real threat is coming from even if the useful idiots who are Iran's apologists don't.

you say that if the u.s. knew it was not a secret. "secret" means undeclared by iran. be assured, though, that israel and other western powers knew, as of course do the russians.

What makes us so special is that we haven't signed the NPT, which Iran has. And that binds Iran by international law. Just like Inida and Pakistan (which BTW, apparently both developed nuclear weapons at least a decade after Israel), Israel is free to develop a nuclear arsenal.

All those who think Iran has the right to nuclear energy and enrichment and complain about Israel or the Shah for that matter should remember how Iran supports terrorist groups like Hamas, Jihad, Hezbollah, violent groups in Iraq, etc etc. It has violently stolen an election which was from the beginning not fair murdered tortured and raped it opponents. Stones women for adultery but all you liberals and Muslims think that Iran is the victim here while Israel and the USA are the bullies. A pity you have such a twisted world view.

Iran's claims that their plans are for 'peaceful purposes only' seem to fall flat when the following information is revealed: New York Times: September 25, 2009 Cryptic Iranian Note Ignited an Urgent Nuclear Strategy Debate In fact, the makings of the administration?s strategy was hatched months before, when the White House first came to believe that the complex, built into a mountain on property near Qum controlled by Iran?s powerful Revolutionary Guards, might be a part of the nuclear program. Over time, the file that intelligence officials accumulated on the facility developed as a cudgel, a way to win over wary allies and test if the Iranians were being truthful in their disclosures. Senior intelligence officials said Friday that several years ago American intelligence agencies under the administration of George W. Bush discovered the suspicious site. The site was one of Iran?s most closely guarded secrets, the officials said, known only by senior members of Iran?s nuclear establishment. The officials said that housing the complex on the base gave it an extra layer of security.

the know with the real information: Cryptic Iranian Note Ignited an Urgent Nuclear Strategy Debate By HELENE COOPER and MARK MAZZETTI Published: September 25, 2009 As the administration reviewed its Iran policy in April, Mr. Obama told aides at one point that if the United States entered into talks with Iran, he wanted to make sure ?all the facts were on the table early, including information on this site ? so that negotiations would be meaningful and transparent,? a senior administration official said. In late July, after the mass protests over Iran?s disputed election had died down, Mr. Obama told his national security team to have American intelligence officials work with their British and French counterparts to secretly put together a detailed presentation on the complex. ?That brief would be deployed in the case of a number of contingencies,? the administration official said. ?If Iran refused to negotiate, in the case of a leak of the information, and even an Iranian disclosure.? Mr. Obama asked his aides to have the presentation ready by the General Assembly meeting. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/world/middleeast/26intel.html?ref=world

"What makes you think your special? God?" Of course! And Israeli arrogance! Havebn;t you heard ? Well said, Loou Medel!

"What is curious is that the information was not given to the IAEA" Not politically expedient to reveal your rabbit before you pull it out of the hat.

# 6,,,, "wipe Israel off the map" was an incorrect translation of his prediction that the Zionist(read ethnic cleansing and continued expansion into historic Muslim lands)regime in Israel would not survive. This is well-documented but it doesn't appear to matter. I would not be surprised if Armenijad's recent comment saying"the U.S.will be sorry" was again deliberately mistranslated to suggest a threat whilethe real farsi meaning could well be predicting that the US will be apologizing to Iran(however unlikely) when the FACTS about this nuclear enrichment facility, still under construction,becomes known.

Oren, can you please provide us with the exact transcript of when he (Ahmedinejad) supposedly said that "Wipe Israel off the map". And whilst you are frantically searching for this phantom quote, peruse these links http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=4527 http://www.care2.com/news/member/281888439/1061509 http://www.antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad_and_Israel#.22Wiped_off_the_map.22_or_.22Vanish_from_the_pages_of_time.22_translation

tell me romi, why would iran defend a site? maybe because someone (israel)has threatened to attack, maybe they don't want a nuclear fallout incase someone attacks, as far as i am concerned, any nuclear site anywhere should be defended as much as possible.

give israel an X amount of days to tell all as well, seems having a nuke is a right to bully others, if iran aquires one, it can't be bullied anymore, a definite argument to have nukes than not to have, i support iran but not their presidents loud mouth attitude.

america knew and said nothing? what a load of BS, if america knew it would have said it in public to shore up more support, america and israel knew nothing, there are more sites in iran, i know that and i don't need intelligence reports to help me work that out. what about israels sites america, are the israeli nukes for israels purposes or yours?. either way, israel has a bullseye on it.

Several Israeli officials have talked about wiping Palestinians out of Gaza.Why when Jews make these comments its okay. Netanyaho is a hypocrit, he goes around the world criticizing Iran,when at least IRAN has nnounce to world they are developing a nuclear weapon,while Israel has rebuff the Iternational community about their nukes. Until Israel is will to let in inspectors they should keep quiet.Iran will never attack Israel first,Israel knows that. They bring up this Iran proganda to hide the crimes, land stealing in Gaza.

Natanyahu flew to Russia a couple of weeks ago with the new info on Iran. The Russians then told the Iranians who had no choice but to admit to the secret facility.

Anyone here who knows how Israel fooled the US when producing their WMDs in secrecy? Anyone remember the 6 floors hidden underground when inspectors came? The fake control room? Great teachers! Just look up: "Secret WMD in Israel" Youtube

Iran is not a western ally, back in the 70s the Americans were prepared to supply the shah with nuclear technology - whatever he wanted. Henry Kissinger said it They were an allied country" so they needed nuclear energy. Now they are not an ally, so they do not need nuclear energy. Look it up it's true

Israel on the other hand has not allowed the IAEA to inspect it's nuclear facilites or nuclear weapons for that matter.

Iraq started the Iran-Iraq war when it invaded Iran on September 1980.

israel must come clean by october 1st or else

He would be best used in the cleanup after Israel spanks Iran. Too bad a lot of decent Persians won't be able to finish the revolution and over throw the Mullahs and Ahmadin-jihad.

Well...that was a statemant from a senior US official, the US may have known about the Iranian well-hidden and well defended nuclear plants for years, for months or not known at all. The most important point here is that those nuclear plants exist now, and were "secret", well-hidden and well-defended ...I can't imagine a nuclear facility *meant for peace purposes*, as Iran has said thousands of times, being hidden and being kept so secret, and so well-defended ( against what ?...if the facilities were meant for peaceful purposes....) !. Let's turn the point to Iran and give all the importance it has...the nuclear facilities exist now and which country (ies) would help out Iran to build them. Some may say: the US knew....I may say Russia knew, and probaly North Korea and China knew as well, before the US found out about those secret nuclear facilities and probably those countries would help Iran to build them.

So the US knew all about this secret Iranian production center, all while they were lying to Israel saying that it would be years before Iran had the bomb. Please put Pollard back into US Naval Intelligence so that Israel will know the truth.

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Every day passes and the hysterical rantings of a paranoid little "Jewish state" must be heard loudly on all corners of the world to ad nauseam. This has been going on for years and just because the puppet regimes of the west get on the podium and parrot Tel-Aviv's blather doesn't mean anyone with an ounce of intelligence should pay it any attention. It's the biggest hoax since the Iraq fiasco. The same characters out to sell another war for Israel's behalf and everyone is supposed to march on like sheep to the slaughter. Thankfully Iran is not Iraq. It will not be trapped into striking Israel first although God knows Israel keeps itching for it. The Persians will wait - will make the right alliances - and will let Israel dig a hole for itself it can't crawl out of.

" . . .was this an intelligence failure by mossad?" - Dani Probably not. There is generally good intel sharing between the US and Israel concerning common threats. What is curious is that the information was not given to the IAEA.

One must ask why the Bush administration did not supply the IAEA with the information the government claims it had.

well...that's a good question, nobody knows about a Mossad failure at all so far...but the real question here is if Russia knew ?, not if Mossad knew or didn' know...?. Those who supplied Iran with nuclear reactors, nuclear parts, nuclear materials, nuclear equipments and training for those workers are those who should be questioned if they ever knew ...and other than Russia, I may add China and North Korea to the list of countries that probably knew as well.!, in other words, those countries who "knew" BEFORE US knew, ...those countries that would contribute and would help Iran, for months and years , to build those "secret" and well hidden nuclear facilities....Mossad could have known or not...that doesn't change the ecuation in any way. As a matter of fact one cannot "speculate" if there was an intelligence failure by Mossad ...do you know?, could be, or not. What everybody knows so far is that Mossad didn't help Iran out to build its secret nuclear facilities.

Before you chastise Marilyn about Iran, I suggest you regoogle the Iran-Iraq war and actually read the story. Everyone knows that the Iraq started the war with US backing and used chemical weapons during the war with silence from the United States. As far as Achmdidbajabagaddagdads holocaust denials, so what? Hes being deliberately provacative to piss Israel off. The guy has a PHD in Engineering, he knows the holocaust took place. Sticks and stone my friends, remember?

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Every day passes and the hysterical rantings of a paranoid little "Jewish state" must be heard loudly on all corners of the world to ad nauseam. This has been going on for years and just because the puppet regimes of the west get on the podium and parrot Tel-Aviv's blather doesn't mean anyone with an ounce of intelligence should pay it any attention. It's the biggest hoax since the Iraq fiasco. The same characters out to sell another war for Israel's behalf and everyone is supposed to march on like sheep to the slaughter. Thankfully Iran is not Iraq. It will not be trapped into striking Israel first although God knows Israel keeps itching for it. The Persians will wait - will make the right alliances - and will let Israel dig a hole for itself it can't crawl out of.

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Every day passes and the hysterical rantings of a paranoid little "Jewish state" must be heard loudly on all corners of the world to ad nauseam. This has been going on for years and just because the puppet regimes of the west get on the podium and parrot Tel-Aviv's blather doesn't mean anyone with an ounce of intelligence should pay it any attention. It's the biggest hoax since the Iraq fiasco. The same characters out to sell another war for Israel's behalf and everyone is supposed to march on like sheep to the slaughter. Thankfully Iran is not Iraq. It will not be trapped into striking Israel first although God knows Israel keeps itching for it. The Persians will wait - will make the right alliances - and will let Israel dig a hole for itself it can't crawl out of.

"if us knew, it wasn't a secret." if the us knew, then it had the obligation to inform the iaea. if the us informed the iaea, then al baredei had the obligation to inspect the site. if the us did not inform the iaea, then it is in violation of the npt. under all hypotheses, it is obvious that the npt is useless.

"if US knew, it wasn't secret" But for the hard, complicated and sophisticated work done by US intelligence, US knew !!!, it was a "secret" well hidden TILL the US found out, then I agree with you, NOW it's not a secret anymore.!, NOW ...!, not BEFORE the US knew...!....that's why Russia said *today* and not months ago and not years ago, that the discover of those nuclear plants was "disturbing", and the IAEA didn't know either....because it was kept "secretely".

....right-wing Israel supporters like vik will give a hoot about that....??? For most of them, non-Jewish life is of rather limited value.... ....most of them would have no problem at all with sacrificing 100'000 Iranians, if only the life of 1 Israeli could be saved.

"It`s all become a sick joke hasn`t it as Iran has not ever attacked anyone and has no intention of doing so." Thank GOD that you are nothing more then a tiny voice on a tiny website with no real decision making power. Because statements like the one you made above just show how ignorant people can be. Let me spell it out for, my mental midget friend, just because someone does not pull the actual trigger does not mean they are not behind the deaths and misery of other people. Iran is a puppet master and you are too stupid to see the wizard behind the curtain. Just a word of advice, don't take on any important positions which require intelligence....

that is the real question. was this an intelligence failure by mossad?

There are good Americans and there are rotten ones as well. Some good Americans work in the CIA and MI and some rotten ones work there as well. Cannot help but think of Pollard at this moment.

"Iran has not ever attacked anyone and has no intention of doing so" In response to this statement, maybe you should look at Iran's track history, google the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted 8 years. Or in Israel's case, look at the claims that Ahmedinejad has been making since he game to power, things like "Israel should be wiped off the map" for instance. If someone makes a statement like that, I think they mean business, and it would be disastrous if Iran ever acquired nuclear capabilities, as Israel would be its first target.

I cant respond to the fact that Israel mobilized their nukes during the yom kippur war as I have never heard this before, but if this is true maybe you shold ask yourself why? Egypt, along with all the other arab countries bordering israel, came in with a surprise attack against israel, equivalent to perhaps attacking a muslim country on Eid. It was probably viewed as a last ditch effort, because at a certain point during the war, it seemed as though Israel would not survive. Also, if you look deeper into israels nuclear history, they have been rumoured to have nuclear capabilities since the 1960's. I think if they wanted to kill with them, they would have used them by now. Israel has pursued nuclear weapons as a deterant against its enemies, not as an offence.

If the US knew about it, it wasn't secret. One article though said it's inside a mountain. Not reachable by aerial bomb. Too bad Vik. If you want it, you'll have to go in on the ground. Join the IDF or get a plane ticket to Iraq first. Hope your Arabic and Farsi are both good.

Vik you can't possibly be that naive to think there are any 'government locations away from the civilians' anywhere in Iran or really anywhere else in the world.

He knew about this and yet continued to make everyone think that iran is someone you can trust in negotiations?? Come on. Why play this game if you know iran is lying and not listening to any rules. Talk time is done. Give iran and the iranian people X number of days to report all nuke locations and then X days to start dismantling the locations or else we will do it for them. Bomb a govt location that is away from civilians and use that to show that we mean business. We can not wait until iran announces it has a nuke.

All the countries with nuclear weapons whine about a country who has none and will never have any while they continue to cover up for Israel. It's all become a sick joke hasn't it as Iran has not ever attacked anyone and has no intention of doing so.

None of this nonsense that Israel is so "moral" that it wouldn't incinerate an opponent with nukes. Baloney. Israel was loading nukes for use against Egypt during the Yom Kippur war. Iran is playing the game correctly. No WMD's. Just legal enrichment. Drives the Jews crazy doesn't it. Even the remotest possibility starts them screaming "existential threat." Get real. MAD is something you people will have to learn to live with. Like Americans, Russians, Pakistan, India, France, England.... have been doing over 60 years. What makes you think your special? God? Salaam/Shalom