August 27, 2006

Iran Warns It May Develop Nuclear Weapons

Cross-posted at Freedom for Some

A senior Iranian official, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker warned that Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty if international pressure against its nuclear program continues.

At the same time the U.S. has said it may go it only if the UN Security Council does not vote for sanctions against Iran. And in response to that statement several anonymous experts warned that a win by proponents of immediate sanctions carried grave risks. "Doing so would put the U.S. on the slippery slope towards military action, because none of America's allies believe that U.N. sanctions will be effective."

***Scroll down for Updates***

Iran may pull out of NPT; U.S. weighing sanctions without UN
By Yossi Melman and Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies

Iran may develop nuclear weapons and pull out from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if international pressure against its nuclear program continues, a senior Iranian official warned yesterday.

The statements made by Iranian Parliament Vice Speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar mark the first time a senior Iranian official specifically mentioned the development of nuclear weapons as part of the country's nuclear program, which to date Tehran had insisted was for peaceful purposes.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that his country poses no threat to Israel, and that no one can deprive Iran of its right to nuclear technology.

"No one can deprive a nation of its rights based on its capabilities," he said in a speech to inaugurate a new phase of a heavy-water reactor project southwest of Tehran.

"Iran is not a threat to anybody, not even to the Zionist regime," he said.

"They may impose some restrictions on us under pressure. But will they be able to prevent the thoughts of a nation? Will they be able to prevent the progress and technology of a nation? They have to accept the reality of a powerful, peace-loving and developed Iran. This is in the interest of all governments and all nations, whether they like it or not," he said.

Ahmadinejad inaugurated the project and toured the site at Khondab, near Arak, 190 kilometers southwest of the capital Tehran. The plant's plutonium by-product could be used to make atomic warheads.

The pressure Iran is concerned with includes plans by the U.S. administration to bypass the Security Council and impose economic sanctions on Iran because of Tehran's refusal to abide by the United Nations resolution ordering it to cease its uranium enrichment program, sources at UN headquarters in New York said on Friday.

According to the sources at the UN, American officials are convinced the chances of passing a Security Council resolution imposing economic sanctions on Iran are flimsy because Russia and China have decided not to support the proposal.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said yesterday that it is too early to discuss economic sanctions against Iran and went as far as to say that Moscow opposed any form of sanctions.
Update:

Iran Test-Fires Sub-to-Surface Missile
Iran on Sunday test-fired a sub-to-surface missile in the Persian Gulf during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported.

"The army successfully test-fired a top speed long-range sub-to-surface missile off the Persian Gulf," the Army's Navy commander, Gen. Sajjad Kouchaki, said on state television.

A brief video clip showed the missile, fired from a submarine, hitting a target on the surface of the water within less than a mile.

The test came as part of large-scale military exercises under way throughout the country. Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to improve its combat readiness and to test equipment including missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Sounds like it was a dud. I can't imagine the target was less than a mile away. That's just where it landed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jihadists voices from Hell are the most popular... so, the muslim peoples themselves (Sunni and Shiite alike) is so 'moderate' as their 'heroes' and idols...


Nelson Ascher:

Leftists intellectuals (Chomsky, Hobsbawn, Vidal, Sontag) 'translate' Jihad statements:

When Bin Laden launches "jews, crusaders, christians", his words are translated as 'zionists, conservatives, capitalists'.

When a clerig makes sure "homossexuals, adulteress females, no-beard men and no-veil women deserves die by stoning", the unique interpretation to his sermon is 'a metaforic-metaphysic attack against Hollywood and George Bush'.

And that classic sentence which the Afgan mujaheedin Maulana Inyadullah said to a reporter "Americans like movies and Pepsi-Cola, but we really like death." means 'Proletarians worldwide, unite you!'


Nelson Ascher is a conservative Brazilian journalist, essayist and poet.


http://inferno_.blig.ig.com.br/