Iran responds to US accusations of WMD development

[The Kernel]

I just heard a fascinating interview with Iran's foreign minister on NPR about the allegations by the US of enriching uranium for the development of nuclear weapons. I don't have a transcript, but I wanted to provide a summary and some thoughts about how this situation is being handled.

The interview started out with some very direct questions about what Iran's intentions are with their uranium enrichment program. Iran's foreign minister replied that Iran was interested in enriching uranium for use in power production, which it has temporarily suspended voluntarily until it irons out the details with Internation Atomic Energy officials. He also responded that while Iran could purchase such uranium on the open market, there has been a push inside Iran lately to make themselves more self-sufficient and that this push has taken many forms including a goal of 7,000 MW of self produced nuclear power over the next ten years.

When asked about inspections, Iran's foreign minister replied that the Iranian government was in full support with inspections and went further to explain that the Iranian government feels such inspections are vital not only in Iran, but also in the greater Middle East. He spoke of wanting to ensure a nuclear free zone in the Middle East due to religious and cultural aversion to the use of nuclear weapons.

A touch of bitterness revealed itself when pressed about what he thought the motivations behind the United States' push against Iran and their uranium enrichment program. He speculated that the US was being politically motivated to lean on Iran and that his country was working hard to comply with International Atomic Energy officials.

Now, I'm not taking all of this at face value, but it does provide an interesting alternate opinion to the situation in Iran. The US doesn't have much credibility in this area anymore give that we pushed for an attack on Iran based on possession of WMD which turned out to be totally bunk and smacks of reaching for a justification. While Iran developing nuclear weapons is a serious threat, we have no evidence of this and Israel's determination to strike Iran quickly is quite troubling as oppossed to going through the proper channels on this.

My suggestion? Let's let turn this situation over to a third party capable of looking at this objectively (the EU is a strong candidate here) while the US keeps Israel on a tight leash until the matter is resolved. Whether or not it is justified, the US has zero credibility in this type of situation and the countries that make up the EU don't want Iran to develop nukes any more than the US does.

[The Kernel]

The US doesn't have much credibility in this area anymore give that we pushed for an attack on Iran based on possession of WMD which turned out to be totally bunk and smacks of reaching for a justification.

Excuse me, that should be that we pushed for an attack on IRAQ not Iran.

[Gustav32Vasa]

My suggestion? Let's let turn this situation over to a third party capable of looking at this objectively (the EU is a strong candidate here) while the US keeps Israel on a tight leash until the matter is resolved. Whether or not it is justified, the US has zero credibility in this type of situation and the countries that make up the EU don't want Iran to develop nukes any more than the US does.

It sounds interesting but I dont think EU is the right one to do it. EU has tried talking to Iran and it seemed to work for a while but then Iran continued with their plans.

[The Kernel]

It sounds interesting but I dont think EU is the right one to do it. EU has tried talking to Iran and it seemed to work for a while but then Iran continued with their plans.

According to the interview, Iran's voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment was brokered by the EU, so they at least appear to have made SOME progress. More to the point, Iran has a great deal more respect for them than Americans.