Iran said Monday it has banned two U.N. nuclear inspectors from entering the country because they disclosed to the media the contents of a "false" report on the country's disputed nuclear program before the U.N. nuclear watchdog reviewed it.
A report posted on the Web site of the state broadcasting company quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, as saying the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, has been informed of the decision to ban the inspectors, whom he did not identify.
The ban is the latest twist in Iran's deepening tussle with the Vienna-based IAEA and the West over its nuclear program. The United States and Israel say Iran's program is geared toward making nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge, insisting that it is for peaceful purposes only.
Earlier this month, Salehi rejected the report by the agency as "false with the purpose of influencing public opinion."
In January, Iran told the IAEA it had carried out pyroprocessing experiments, prompting a request from the agency for more information — but then backtracked in March and denied conducting such activities.
IAEA experts in May revisited the site — the Jaber Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory in Tehran — only to find out that the electrochemical cell had been "removed" from the unit used in the experiments, according to the report.
Iran has already threatened several times to end all cooperation with the IAEA. I'm surprised they still bother, but I suppose there enjoyment on a certain level for the regime to continue to game the West and show its contempt.
And really, none of it - the so-called sanctions, the IAEA or the 'diplomacy'- really matters.The mullahs want nuclear weaponry and the centrifuges are continuing to spin, so it's simply a matter of time.
(hat tip, memeorandum)
In a related development, according to an Arabic newspaper in London, Al-Quds al-Arabi a dozen American warships including the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier strike group and several Israeli warships crossed through the Suez Canal on Friday with the complete assistance of the Egyptian government.
The Israelis are likely along to deal with the Iranian flotilla ship, while the Americans are likely there to deal with Iranian attempts to interdict Persian Gulf shipping...and to conduct drills for contingency plans dealing with Iran's nuclear facilities.
2 comments:
"....with the complete assistance of the Egyptian government." There is no Egyptian "assistance" here. This was likely done by the Egyptians and the Iranians together to spring a trap on the Americans. The Iranains want these ships in one place when they attack America. It makes it much easier for the Iranians to engage them. While the Egyptians and the Iranians may not like each other, they both hate America and Israel more than they hate each other. As such, they will work as one to oppose America and Israel.
We really don't need to worry about an attack by America on Iran. This is not going to happen and never was going to happen. Unfortunately while the news media has worked tirelessly to undercut a phantom American attack on Iran they've ignored the real threat which was the coming Iranian attack on America. In undercutting America's military option in dealing with Iran, they've actually, unwittingly or not, undermined American national defense.
Hi Poster,
Just FYI, the Mubarak government hates the Iranian regime.
Aside from them being Shia, they are also supporting Hamas, which is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood,Mubarak's main political opposition.
I might also point out that given that the US could make Iran into nothing more than a memory in a matter of minutes if it chose to, the idea of an overt Iranian attack on the US is unlikely IMO.
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