Now we discover that what Teheran purports to be their “peaceful pursuit of nuclear power,” has progressed well beyond what they have been admitting. Not surprisingly Iran is now much closer to having the capability to build a nuclear weapon which some intelligence experts believe could be a few years away.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a U.N. watchdog group now candidly concedes that Iran has rapidly increased its enriched uranium stockpile which can be developed into a nuclear device. Since August Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium jumped from 480kg to 630kg.

While such research and development pose direct slaps to the Security Council’s authority, the reality remains that Iran has long been playing for time in its quest to harness the nuclear genie.

That’s why IAEA inspectors are barred from suspected sites and are not being allowed access to documentation related to Iran’s military programs.

Reports emerging from a IAEA’s closed door meeting in Vienna furthermore suggest a near “communication vacuum” between nuclear agency officials and the Iranians. Despite Iranian claims to the contrary, the U.N. agency admits that it cannot verify that Tehran’s nuclear program is not aimed at producing a bomb.

A Financial Times article adds, “The IAEA report also says there has been a breakdown in communication between the agency and Iran over alleged research on atomic weapons.” Equally, “The Iranians are making good progress on enrichment but there is absolute stone-walling on past military activities,” adds Mark Fitzpatrick of the London’s International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Diplomacy by the West Europeans to keep the nuclear genie in the bottle has been only marginally effective; the usual style over substance rhetoric about “tough resolutions” and tightening economic sanctions have done little to seriously deter the scientific research in sites inside the Islamic Republic most especially, the Natanz facility.

Though European diplomacy remains an important tool in ratcheting down Iran’s nuclear research, developments clearly favor the incoming American administration to stop the very real and present danger of further proliferation.

Barack Obama is famously on record of wanting to have negotiations with Iran’s leadership on defusing the threat.

While the Western Europeans are probably secretly happy to shift the burden of responsibility to the U.S., the inherent danger remains that the new administration would be pulled into a political vortex where the Iranians, expert and most accomplished bargainers, will present a host of extraneous issues from the 1970s for Washington to first surmount.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email