Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nicely summed up the Obama administration's official stance on Iran's nuclear program yesterday, saying "We don't know what to believe about the Iranian program. We've heard many different assessments and claims over a number of years," while madman Iranian president Mahmoud "I'm in the mood for Jihad" Ahmedinejad nearly simultaneously cut the ceremonial ribbon on Iran's THIRD "National Nuclear Day."
Here's a suggestion to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton - why don't we just take the Iranian statements at face value and hope we're wrong? The Obama administration seems content to assume that Iran is over-hyping their nuclear capability, an obvious commitment to fiction that appears almost certain to result in our waking up one day and SURPRISE! We'll have a nuclear armed Iran.
Why is the President of the United States so evidently committed to providing the Iranians with cover to build and perfect their nuclear capability? One day I'm sure there'll be some great books written about what's going on inside the Obama administration right now... if any of us are left to read them.
Ahmadinejad inaugurates Iran's first nuclear fuel plant – "We are a nuclear power!"
from the Debka Files
Cutting the ribbon on Iran's first nuclear fuel plant at Isfahan, Thursday, April 9, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad triumphantly marked a major breakthrough at a ceremony marking Iran's fourth national nuclear day. The day after the five UN Security Council powers and Germany offered Tehran economic incentives for negotiations on uranium enrichment, he inaugurated a plant for producing fuel rods for Iran's heavy water plant in Arak and its nuclear reactor in Bushehr, thereby reducing the Islamic Republic's fuel dependence Russia which built the reactor.
DEBKAfile's military sources: The Isfahan plant takes Iran's nuclear reactors another big step outside the purview of international inspections. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has complained often of Iran's tricks of concealment, will find it doubly difficult to track the uses Iran makes of nuclear fuel the closer it comes to mastering the complete fuel cycle.
Our sources believe that Tehran will have attained this goal before the end of 2009. According to Israeli and Western intelligence sources, this would also put the Arak heavy plant on the fast track for the manufacture of plutonium, alongside the weapons-grade enrichment of uranium.
Ahmadinejad also announced that Iran is testing two new high-capacity enrichment centrifuges. An Iranian nuclear official announced separately that Tehran is running 7,000 enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment complex, more than 1,000 more than previously reported.
These disclosures followed the concession announced by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton that her government would be fully involved in the talks with Tehran proposed by the 5+1 powers Wednesday. The first round of talks from 2007 and 2008 petered out when Tehran kept on asking for more time to review the generous incentives on offer and ended up refusing to give up uranium enrichment.
Ahmadinejad's Isfahan announcement told Washington and the other five powers that their offer of talks and incentives for discontinuing nuclear enrichment were now irrelevant; Tehran's nuclear program had progressed way point that point.
DEBKAfile's Iranian sources add that Iran's rulers, having won all the time they needed to bring their nuclear weapons program to fruition, are now made doubly cocky by being courted by the Obama administration's willingness to expand the agenda of their dialogue beyond the nuclear issue to Iran's role in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Tehran calculates that for the sake of its cooperation in resolving these conflicts, the US administration will give way on its nuclear drive.
U.S. does not see Iran's nuclear claims as rebuff
from Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday she did not see Iran's latest statements about its nuclear program as a rebuff to U.S. overtures to engage Tehran.
The top U.S. diplomat also voiced skepticism about Iran's new claims that it had made major progress in its nuclear program and tested more advanced equipment for enriching uranium.
"We do not attribute any particular meaning, with respect to the range of issues that we are looking to address with the Iranians, from this particular statement," Clinton said at a news conference when asked about an Iranian statement that it was now running 7,000 enrichment centrifuges.
Enriching uranium can produce fuel for a nuclear power plant or, if purified to a much higher degree, provide material for an atomic bomb.
"We don't know what to believe about the Iranian program. We've heard many different assessments and claims over a number of years," said Clinton of Iran's latest claims.
Clinton reiterated that Iran must abide by international obligations over its nuclear program, which the West suspects is cover for building an atomic bomb and Tehran argues is for peaceful purposes to generate electricity.
"It would benefit the Iranians in our view if they cooperated with the international community, if they abided by a set of obligations and expectations that affect them and by which we believe they are bound. We are going to continue to insist on that," said Clinton.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated Iran's first nuclear fuel production plant on Thursday, but also said Tehran was ready for talks with the West if those discussions were based on "justice and respect."
The six major powers dealing with Iran, including the United States, met in London this week and invited Tehran to a new round of talks about its nuclear program.
In a dramatic reversal of the former Bush administration's policy of isolating Tehran, Washington said it would now have a permanent seat at any future negotiations with Iran about its nuclear program.
WAITING FOR A RESPONSE
Asked about Ahmadinejad's comments on speaking to the West, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the United States was still waiting for a response from Iran.
"There are a lot of issues between us and we would like to move forward substantively and positively on them. It will be up to Iran whether it wants to engage with us," he added.
Wood urged Iran to take up the West's offer last year of financial and diplomatic incentives in exchange for giving up sensitive nuclear work.
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