Visit By UN Agency Causes Iran to ‘Sanitize’ Potential Nuclear Site
- Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:28am by
Mytheos Holt
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VIENNA (AP) — Iran is in the final stages of sanitizing a military site it is suspected of using for secret nuclear weapons-related experiments, two senior diplomats said Tuesday, as the UN atomic agency intensified efforts to gain access to the area before the alleged clean-up succeeds in erasing any traces of such work.
Iran, which insists its nuclear program is peaceful contrary to Western fears, has denied experts of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency permission to visit the Parchin site despite multiple requests from the agency this year. Tehran says a visit is possible only after extensive planning and a detailed outline of procedures — a caveat IAEA officials describe as a stalling tactic.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility some 200 miles south of the capital Tehran, Iran. (AP)
The agency said a new meeting was planned for Friday “to resolve issues relating to Iran’s nuclear program,” terminology similar to that describing previous such sessions related to Parchin.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano has urged Iran to give access, saying wrecking crews at the site have removed buildings, moved soil and carried out other activities that “may hamper our future verification activities.” He also has said that information about Parchin indicates activities “may have been undertaken related to the development of nuclear explosive devices,” adding that early access “is very important to clarify this issue.”
The alleged experiments at Parchin, which is located about 20 miles southeast of Tehran, are part of a broader skein of suspected activities that the IAEA has said point to attempts by Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says it is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and for scientific and medical research. But its refusal to accept enriched material from abroad and continue enrichment domestically despite stifling sanctions has strengthened fears it may want to use enriched uranium for its other purpose — the creation of nuclear missile warheads.
An Iranian Patrol Boat fires a missile
Earlier this year, the IAEA showed its 35 board member nations satellite images of the site that apparently showed suspicious activity. According to the diplomats who attended the closed meeting, the images showed that at least two buildings were razed and water streaming out of another structure suspected of hiding a metal chamber allegedly used to test explosives that could be used to set off a nuclear charge.
Commercial satellite images published subsequently by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security showed two buildings visible on earlier photos no longer standing, while later satellite photos published by ISIS showed more work on changing the topography of the site.
Asked Tuesday about the status of the alleged cleanup, a senior diplomat from a nation critical of Iran’s nuclear program said that it had now entered the “end-phase.”
The diplomat, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss intelligence information, said his information was based on secret satellite imagery. He declined to discuss what the images showed because they were classified but suggested some of the work was now hidden from spy satellite view by screens set up over the site.
He and another diplomat said the agency could conclude in its Iran report due within the next few weeks that its chances of finding the smoking gun it seeks at Parchin are now minimal due to the alleged extensive cleanup. The second diplomat also demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss confidential information with reporters.
Iran also has defied international pressure — and growingly severe UN and other sanctions — aimed at forcing it to curb uranium enrichment. Instead, it has increased the enrichment from grades used for reactor fuel to a level closer to what is needed to arm nuclear warheads.
Tensions have further been fueled by deep Israeli-Iranian enmity. Israeli leaders have been indicating impatience over Western diplomatic and economic moves to deter Iran and increasingly talk of attacking its nuclear facilities, though some analysts believe the saber-rattling is a bluff to increase pressure on Tehran. Iranian leaders have rejected Israel’s warnings, threatening punishing retaliation
Because all enriched uranium can be further processed to weapons-grade material, Iran’s nuclear secrecy has fed worries that it could quickly “break out” a weapons program.
“The comments of Israel’s top officials suggest that its patience is wearing thin and that it may act soon, in weeks if not months,” Eliott Adams, who served in foreign policy positions under presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, wrote in a recent commentary for The Foreign Policy Initiative.
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Pigpen
Posted on September 1, 2012 at 8:04pmJust for the record, I couldn’t give a cr@p about Iran. And my OFFICIAL policy towards Iran is LET ISRAEL NUKE THEM. I really couldn’t care less about the Middle East. Let them all kill each other. Stability? Who cares? Oil prices? Its not like oil prices aren’t manipulated anyway! Hello, people, can you say “OPEC”!?! If oil prices do go way up, maybe then we will stop allowing the parasite energy companies to export our own US coal and natural gas to the filth overseas and use OUR RESOURCES for OUR BENEFIT.
BUT ANYWAY… for you less enlightened goyim I would like to ask you big, tough, “Stand with Israel” types, how many times has anyone inspected ISRAEL’s nuclear program? Did you even know that Israel HAD a nuclear program? Did you know that the world only knows about Israel’s nukes because a traitor in their midst reported it to the UK press? Why isn’t anyone clamoring for a US led preemptive strike against Israel?
Report Post »dumpsterdog
Posted on August 23, 2012 at 9:26pmIran had better give up their nukes or be faced with a good “talking to” by Obama. Iran must be shaking in their boots…..from laughter at our threats over the last 3 years.
Report Post »progoyim
Posted on August 23, 2012 at 1:07pmWhat Ahmadinejad should do is tell them the day you inspect Israel‘s reactors and certify they have no nuke’s .You will have free access to our facility’s
Report Post »Jerry Frey
Posted on August 23, 2012 at 12:34amWisdom from Marshal Zhukov – “The very existence of nuclear weapons harbours the possibility of their employment, and certain madmen might go to the length of using them in spite of everything. It is our duty to do our utmost to have these weapons banned….It should be remembered that atomic weapons are double-edged. Atomic war is just as dangerous to the attacker as to the attacked.”
http://napoleonlive.info/what-i-think/mullahs-want-the-bomb/
Report Post »LakeHartwellSailor
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 5:28pmI do believe that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons capability, and I do believe they would use such technology against Israel, as well as us. To be honest, I would love to see the Iranian government obliterated in a mushroom cloud……but notice I said the Iranian Government; its the Iranian citizenry that I feel sorry for…therefore, in absence of “nuking” them, I hope the Israeli Mossad are rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to go to work.
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:39amHow many false claims of WMDs does it take to penetrate the dense minds of a citizenry? It’s all about manipulation.
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 1:39pmRemember:
—If they are wrong, and there are no nukes, America embarrasses itself. Nothing new there.
—If you are wrong, and Iran builds / uses 1 or more of them, millions of people get to discuss your folly with God in a big hurry.
I dunno about you, but I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms to begin with, much less mushroom clouds. I’d much rather err on the side of caution on this one. Embarrassment beats the hell out of choking on uranium dust.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 3:03pmCareful wearing allumnum hats for too long cause brain damage!
Report Post »netmail
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:38amToo bad we didn‘t ’sanitize‘ them in the 70’s….but like everything else, it’s easier for the so called “civilized world” to put it‘s collective head under the pillow in hopes that evil will just go away on it’s own or that someone else will deal with it.
Report Post »Steelhead
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:17amhey jerk- nice video, some people don’t like the truth especially fundy xtians
Report Post »TEIN
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 12:04pmJerk….Truth or Propaganda…to many words of students know best, Imperialist rule and such leads to the propaganda side….way too slanted to be believable…
Report Post »woodyee
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:37amIMHO, I don’t think Iran is developing nukes to use against Israel (according to them, Little Satan); common sense tells me they can reach Israel with one or more dirty bombs.
I think they’re developing nukes to use against us (according to them, Great Satan).
If they’re successful at sanitizing this nuke site, the UN reps will walk away claiming there is no evidence of Iran developing offensive nukes.
Report Post »Wildblue3
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 11:09amWoodyee,
Report Post »They will use the Nukes again ANYONE who opposses them just to show their strength IMHO.
502_eagle
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:35amNo—-Iran wouldn’t try to hide anything. They are a tiny country. Their not a threat.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:34amIt’s like a drop in by your parents….”hurry, clean up, throw away those pizza boxes, put away the dirty clothes, quick hide the uranium and heavy water.”
Report Post »502_eagle
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:36amBetter hide the beer too. Someone might lose a head.
Report Post »woodyee
Posted on August 22, 2012 at 10:38amLol!
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