IAEA chief brushes off concern over Arab nuclear development

The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said Sunday that he was not concerned about Arab countries using nuclear energy for power development, despite international controversy over Iran's atomic program.

Many countries in the Mideast have expressed interest in developing peaceful atomic energy programs in response to rising domestic energy consumption and possibly to counter Iran's nuclear activities.

"All the Arab countries' nuclear activities will be under agency safeguard systems, so I don't see a reason why anybody should be concerned about ... Arab countries using nuclear energy for power development,"

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters after meeting with Arab League chief Amr Moussa in Cairo.

["and possibly to counter Iran's nuclear activities. " - nobody's talking about peaceful uses - we're being insulted by the suggestion]

FLASHBACKS :

[June 6, '07 >]
IAEA head: Attack on Iran over would be "madness"
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency cautioned on Thursday that an attack on Iran over its refusal to freeze programs that could make nuclear weapons would be "an act of madness," in indirect warnings to the United States and Israel. IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei also said Iran would likely be running close to 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges by the end of next month - a number agency officials have described as the point of no return ...
[context: nowhere in the article does the AP remind readers that this is the person who seriously called for the West to destroy all in nukes as an example to others - and we're supposed to listen to his definitions of 'madness'?]
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181813032839&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[May 24, '07 >]
IAEA head calls for total atomic ban as Iran still defiant
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called Thursday for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons as Iran continued defiance over its nuclear programme. /snip/ ElBaradei said governments should forge a new collective security order which bans [?!?] all nuclear weapons.
[certifiable but laughable coming from a nobody - but from the head of a world body, criminally insane - and yet another example of the UN's slide from worse-than-worthless to increasingly-dangerous]
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/news/article_1308927.php/IAEA_head_calls_for_total_atomic_ban_as_Iran_still_defiant

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Ahmadinejad Says Nuclear Issue ‘Over,’ Iran to Pursue Program

Tehran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who faces re-election next month, said he considers the dispute over his country’s nuclear program ''over.''

The Iranian people ''won’t allow negotiations to take place outside the framework of the IAEA''

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FLASHBACKs >

UN: Iran blocking IAEA from verifying its nuclear ambitions
''I regret that we are still not in a position to achieve full clarity regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,''

Iranian Nuclear Program Remains In Full Flow
the West's silliness in hiding behind the incompetent skirts of the IAEA is leading to war - Israel {rightly} will not allow Iran to get nukes - we need apply any & all pressure now to prevent that eventuality or share the blame for having set the predictable stage for it

ALL "IAEA" FLASHBACKs
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How the IAEA Encourages Proliferation

Subject: txt intl islm owg -
The International Atomic Energy Agency is, as Jonathan noted, deeply disturbed by its latest findings on Iran. It is also deeply disturbed by its latest findings on Syria, which it detailed in another report released this week. Syria’s explanation of the uranium traces found at a Damascus research reactor did not fit the facts, the report said, nor did these traces match Syria’s declared uranium inventory. Moreover, Syria is still refusing IAEA requests for both a return visit to Dair Alzour, the site Israel bombed in September 2007, and initial visits to three military sites whose appearance was altered after inspectors asked to see them.

“Essentially, no progress has been made since the last report to clarify any of the outstanding issues,”

the agency concluded.

The real mystery, however, is why the IAEA seems to find this behavior eternally surprising — because its own behavior positively demands such stonewalling...

[I.e., another worse-than-worthless UN organ - in charge of nuclear proliferation...]

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image toon gwot nsec owg iran israel = El baradei watchdog = Israel the problem

Iran Could Make Nuke In 6 Months

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei spoke on Al-Arabiya television on June 20, discussing Iran's nuclear program, and the potential for the Middle Eastern country to produce a nuclear weapon.

"If Iran wants to turn to the production of nuclear weapons, it would need at least, considering the number of centrifuges and the quantity of uranium Iran has...It would need at least six months to one year,"

ElBaradei also warned that he will resign as chief of the UN nuclear agency if Iran is attacked by any country.

The reports this week of Israeli military maneuvers, which took place in early June, provoked the IAEA warning, said CBS News Foreign Affairs Pamela Falk, who is based at the UN.

Ironically [predictably], Israel felt compelled to action by the last IAEA report, which concluded that there are unanswered questions about Iran's ability to eventually develop nuclear weapons - so it is elBaradei himself who produced the report that is making Israel nervous.

Meanwhile, Iran is reiterating its decision to continue enriching uranium...

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Nuclear Agency Head Pushes for Iran Honesty

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Monday that he cannot determine whether Iran is hiding some nuclear activities, comments that appeared to reflect a high level of frustration with stonewalling of his investigators.

IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran's stonewalling of his agency is a "serious concern."

"Iran needs to give the agency substantive information" to clear up suspicions, he said at the start of a 35-nation board IAEA meeting, in comments made available to reporters.

Diplomats at the gathering described ElBaradei's comments as unusually blunt.

['unusually blunt' - now wonder Prez. I'manidiot just laughs at these folks. How about this one: "prove you're clean, or we'll assume you're dirty and act accordingly." Now that would be 'blunt' {and at least stand some chance of averting the coming violence}]

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UN: Iran blocking IAEA from verifying its nuclear ambitions

The UN nuclear chief said Monday that Iran is blocking his watchdog agency from verifying whether the nation has any ambitions for nuclear weaponry. ''I regret that we are still not in a position to achieve full clarity regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran,'' Mohamed ElBaradei, (Snip) the IAEA does not in any way seek to pry into Iran's conventional or missile-related military activities.
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One Step Closer . . .

Since Iran’s nuclear program was exposed in August 2002, Tehran has protested its innocence and claimed its nuclear program has only civilian purposes. The IAEA has just produced its latest report and it is not expressing confidence in Iran’s version of the facts. The IAEA pressing Iran on a number of findings about clandestine military activities–a diagram for an underground testing arrangement, the testing of explosive bridgewire detonators normally used for nuclear weapons, and documents about modifying the Iranian Shahab-3 missile...

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What is Syria Hiding from the IAEA?

You will recall the spectacular raid by Israeli planes on what most are now calling a nuclear reactor in Syria that was built with the help of North Korean technicians and scientists.

At the time, we were assured by those in favor of engaging Syria that Baby Assad and his cutthroat regime had no intention of building weapons of mass destruction. Even after Syria was caught with its proverbial pants down, the call to "negotiate" with these thugs continued.

Now it appears that Assad has decided not to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to come into his country and sniff around for evidence the Syrian dictator is still trying to build nukes...

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Iran Enriches Nuclear Fuel, Says IAEA

Subject: txt intl owg gwot nsec iran -
United Nations' nuclear watchdog said it has information suggesting Iran may be working to build a nuclear warhead, an assessment that could escalate the U.S. and other Western governments' confrontation with Iran over its nuclear activities.

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[Maybe now that Iran's ally El Baradei isn't heading it any more the IAEA may actually do something constructive.]

FLASHBACKS for "Baradei":
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Nuclear watchdog asked to leave N.Korea

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that North Korea has asked its inspectors to leave the country. ''The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has today informed IAEA inspectors in the Yongbyon facility that it is immediately ceasing all cooperation with the IAEA. It has requested the removal of all containment and surveillance equipment
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China unmoved on Iran sanctions

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Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu called on all sides to "redouble diplomatic efforts" to persuade Iran to end its nuclear programme.

Her remarks came after Russia indicated it could soften its longstanding opposition to further sanctions.

Iran's nuclear ambitions are set to lead Thursday's nuclear proliferation debate at the UN General Assembly as many Western states believe it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Speaking in Beijing, Ms Jiang said:

"We believe that sanctions and exerting pressure are not the way to solve problems and are not conducive for the current diplomatic efforts on the Iran nuclear issue."

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FLASHBACK >

UK Telegraph 050814:

Iran's lead foreign policy diplomat to the IAEA Hosein Musavian boasts in an interview on Iranian TV that Teheran took advantage of nine months of "talk" with the UE 3 to finish work at its Isfahan enrichment facility:

"Thanks to negotiations with Europe we gained another nine months in which to complete the project in Isfahan."

Mr. Musavian also claimed that work onnuclear centerfuges at a plant in Natanz, which was kept secret until Iran's exiled opposition revealed its existance in 2002, progressed during talks with the EU.

"We needed six to twelve months to complete work on the centrifuges, the IAEA gave us a 50 day extension to suspend enrichment - by using it to geginn talks with the EU 3 [Britan, France & Russia] which gained us another year to complete the project"

[Yeah, more talks should do it.]

image toon - gwot nsec owg china = Oby juggles NKorea's Kim alone

IAEA Takes Iran to the Woodshed over Nuke Program

Note to Iran apologists: Even the United Nations nuclear watchdog - a notoriously anti-American group and obsessively non-confrontational - isn't satisfied with Iranian explanations about its nuclear enrichment activities:

The International Atomic Energy Agency, in an unusually blunt and detailed report, said Monday that Iran's suspected research into the development of nuclear weapons remained "a matter of serious concern" and that Iran continued to owe the agency "substantial explanations." [snip]

"There are certain parts of their nuclear program where the military seems to have played a role," said one senior official close to the agency, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under normal diplomatic constraints. He added, "We want to understand why."

Why would the military have "played a role" in "parts of their nuclear program?" They're kidding, right?

Sadly, no. This clueless group of bureaucrats is so concerned about telling the United Nations that Iran may be trying to build nukes that they usually praise the Iranians for their "cooperation" rather than confront them over technologies and hardware that have "dual use" capabilities.

The head of the IAEA Moahammed Elbaradei has even said he doesn't want to be responsible for starting a war between Iran and the US so he usually tempers his reports with so many caveats they are useless. As a document upon which the UN will take action, the report is a non-starter. There may be another round of watered down sanctions but that's it as far as the UN is concerned. Unless China and Russia suddenly change their minds, meaningful sanctions are out of the question.

Somewhere in Israel and probably in Washington, a clock is ticking and a countdown has begun. The world is running out of time to stop Iran from developing the capability to build nuclear weapons. Within a matter of months, they will have industrialized their enrichment capabilities. From there, it is another matter of months before they could enrich uranium to high enough levels to build a bomb.

Israel and America have said they will not allow that to happen. What the world will do to help still isn't clear.

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Diplomats: Syria passes 1st test of nuclear probe

Vienna, Austria - site bombed by Israel show nothing to back up U.S. assertions that the target was a secret nuclear reactor, diplomats said Saturday.

But _ if they were interested in a cover-up _ the Syrians would have scoured the region to bury, wash away and otherwise remove any such traces. Long before the time of the June IAEA visit to the site, it had been encased in concrete that served as the foundation of a new building...

[I.e., it was a nuclear reactor, which is why Syria kept everyone out until they'd sanitized the place, despite which the IAEA published what anyone with the I.Q. of a cabbage knows is bullshit - but it's critical of the U.S. so run with it.

When will we learn? It's in our interest to dissolve the organization - starting with withholding our lion's share of dues and evicting them from New York]

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U.S.: Evidence mounts of Syrian nuclear cover-up

The United States said on Wednesday that United Nations inspectors had found growing evidence of covert nuclear activity in Syria, and European allies said a lack of Syrian transparency demanded utmost scrutiny.

''This report contributes to the growing evidence of clandestine nuclear activities in Syria,''

Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, said during a debate by its 35-nation Board of Governors in Vienna.

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Syria heartened by Obama's plan for Iraq
UNITED NATIONS - Syria said on Friday it was heartened by U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to pull U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months of taking office... [snip]

"We feel ... encouraged by what we hear as promises from the president, Mr. Obama, that he would like to withdraw the American forces from Iraq within a fixed timetable,"

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Iraq.

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Dots...

Iran missile launch renews urgency

WASHINGTON -- The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency says Iran's recent missile launch proves the value of deploying a missile defense system. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said Tuesday that Iran's launch of several different missiles, including one with more than 1,200 miles of target range, is an example of the importance of the missile defense system deployed in Eastern Europe and in the United States, the Missile Defense Agency reported.

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Iran ends cooperation with IAEA probe

Vienna, Austria - Iran on Thursday signaled it would no longer cooperate with International Atomic Energy Agency experts investigating for signs of nuclear weapons programs, confirming that the probe - launched a year ago with great expectations - was at a dead end.

[experts in the field have been saying to watch for this for years - it's a prerequisite for completing Iran's ambitions - they're likely nearing their goals]

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US: Iranian warhead blueprint 'alarming'

A ranking International Atomic Energy Agency official called Teheran's possession of a drawing showing how to make part of an atomic warhead "alarming" Thursday and said the onus is on Iran to prove it had not tried to develop nuclear arms, said diplomats attending a closed briefing. The US said the evidence detailed by IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen increased concerns that Teheran had tried to make such weapons...

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Nuclear Terrorism Is No. 1 Threat, ElBaradei Says

Vienna - The likelihood that terrorists will detonate a nuclear weapon poses the greatest risk to world security, surpassing proliferation threats from Iran and North Korea, United Nations atomic chief Mohamed ElBaradei said. ''There is a lot of interest on the part of extremist groups to obtain nuclear material,''.

The IAEA, established in 1956 under the slogan ''Atoms for Peace,'' said it's becoming easier for groups and countries to access nuclear secrets...

[which they'll just walk across our open border. GWOT will be won or lost on the intelligence needed to interdict a WMD attach - with it we'll likely win, without it we could lose.]

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U.S. must stop effort to force Israel into nuclear talks

Subject: txt israel -
The governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency next month are to discuss nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, the target perversely being the one country in the region whose atomic threat is zero.

That is, of course, not Iran, which has been defiantly enriching weapons-grade uranium.

It's Israel, which may or may not possess the bomb as a last-ditch deterrent against being overrun by a ring of [routinely threatening] enemies.

For almost half a century, the U.S. has backed Israel in cloaking its nuclear capabilities in doubt. This strategic ambiguity has enhanced its defensive posture.

Now, though, in one more break with the principles that have undergirded American-Israeli relations, the Obama administration has fed momentum at the IAEA and at the United Nations for pressuring Israel to reveal its nuclear secrets on the way to forced disarmament...

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Iranian Nuclear Program Remains In Full Flow

The threat posed by Iran to Coalition troops in the region is considerable. Iran has for a number of years run a systematic campaign of targeting all Coalition troops based in Iraq, Afghanistan and the wider region. However, this campaign may well be considerably more deadly if the Iranian regime were to acquire a nuclear weapon, a scenario which is now becoming an ever growing prospect...

[the West's silliness in hiding behind the incompetent skirts of the IAEA is leading to war - Israel {rightly} will not allow Iran to get nukes - we need apply any & all pressure now to prevent that eventuality or share the blame for having set the predictable stage for it]

READ MORE

IAEA: Iran To Upgrade Missile For Nuke Use

[HT:MN]
Vienna, Austria - he U.N. nuclear agency has presented intelligence allegedly showing plans to redesign an Iranian missile to accommodate a nuclear payload. The International Atomic Energy Agency shared the intelligence with 35 nations on Tuesday, but the Iranian representative to the organization says the information was fabricated.

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