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Iran: Nuclear program is 'irreversible'

 

U.S. lawmakers say intelligence information is lacking

 

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's controversial nuclear program is "irreversible," the country's foreign ministry spokesman has declared.

 

Hamid-Reza Asefi's comments on Sunday came a day before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke about his country's nuclear ambitions.

 

Ahmadinejad is addressing a group of international journalists -- only the second time since taking office last August that the Iranian leader has allowed foreign journalists into a news conference.

 

"We are determined not to give up our rights to nuclear energy, and suspension of relevant activities is not on our agenda," Asefi said. "The issue is irreversible."

 

Iran maintains its nuclear research is for a future civilian energy program, but the United States and several other countries contend that the work is a guise to hide its development of nuclear weapons.

 

Iran declared April 11 that it had produced enriched uranium in concentrations capable of running a nuclear power plant, defying the United Nations Security Council's call to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

 

The Security Council has given Iran until nearly the end of April to do so and asked International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to report back to it on April 28.

 

Asefi said Western nations should wait for the publication of that report before trying to exert any more pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear research.

 

IAEA officials have said they would press Iran about Ahmadinejad's assertion this month that Iran is "now under the process of research and testing" of P-2 uranium-enrichment centrifuge technology.

 

P-2 centrifuges, with their superstrong rotors, enrich uranium faster, and could help Iranian scientists construct a nuclear weapon much sooner than the P-1 centrifuges they have shown to international inspectors.

 

U.S. intelligence officials have estimated, based on the assumption that Iran has only P-1 centrifuges, that it is five to 10 years away from making a nuclear weapon.

 

But on Sunday, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said "we really don't know" how close Iran is to developing a nuclear weapon.

 

"We've got a long way to go in rebuilding our intelligence community," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, told "Fox News Sunday."

 

"We don't have all of the information that we would like to have."

 

Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat and the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, concurred that "our intelligence is thin."

 

"This is not a time to be saber-rattling in our government, talking about the military option," Harman told Fox.

 

"Just the fact that the Iranian government is making a lot of noise doesn't prove their capability. Remember, the Iraqi government made a lot of noise, and they had nothing."

 

U.S. officials have said they are pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the standoff with Iran, though President Bush has consistently said that no option is off the table.

 

Reporters asked Bush last week if that included the possibility of a nuclear strike.

 

"All options are on the table," Bush replied. "We want to solve this issue diplomatically, and we're working hard to do so."

 

Bush earlier this month referred to media coverage as "wild speculation" after The New Yorker magazine reported that the administration was considering a tactical nuclear strike to take out Iran's atomic program.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared in March that he will do "everything necessary" to defend Israel against an attack from Iran or on behalf on Iran.

 

Oil smashed through record highs last week, cruising past $75 a barrel, in part due to continued fears of supply disruptions in Iran.

 

U.S. to Russia: Freeze arms sales

 

The United States has urged Russia and other countries to stop the sale of arms and other sensitive technology to Iran in an effort to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

 

"It's time for countries to use their leverage against Iran," State Department Undersecretary Nicholas Burns said Friday. "We think it's very important that countries like Russia freeze any arms sales planned for Iran."

 

In recent weeks, the United States has stepped up its pressure on Moscow to stop its planned sale of surface-to-air missiles to Iran.

 

"We hope and we trust that that deal will not go forward," Burns said after returning from Moscow, where he met this week with officials from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to coordinate a diplomatic strategy for dealing with Iran.

 

Senior officials from the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council met Wednesday and failed to agree on imposing sanctions against Iran.

 

As part of what Burns said would be an intensified period of diplomacy on Iran, the group will meet again on May 2 in Paris.

 

The G-8 group of industrialized countries is also expected to focus on the Iran issue at its July summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, he said.

 

Robert Joseph, the State Department's top arms control official, said that Iran has "both feet on the accelerator" in its nuclear development.

 

He was referring to Ahmadinejad's claims of uranium enrichment at its Natanz facility in concentrations he said were capable of running a nuclear power plant -- a level far below that needed for a nuclear weapon.

 

The U.N. Security Council is expected to take up the issue next month. Last month, the council issued a presidential statement demanding that Iran cease its enrichment activities within 30 days, an action Iran refused to consider.

 

The United States is looking for the Security Council to pass a resolution under the U.N. charter requiring Iran to comply with international law.

 

The Bush administration wants the council to impose sanctions against Iran, including a freezing of assets, a travel ban against members of the regime, and a tightening of export controls to slow the development of Iran's nuclear program.

 

The Bush administration faces stiff resistance from Russia and China, which oppose sanctions and hold veto power as permanent members of the Security Council.

 

But Burns said that in Moscow he found a growing "sense of urgency" among the international community over Iran's nuclear program and suggested a group of like-minded countries could work together to put the diplomatic and financial squeeze on Iran.

 

"There are a lot of countries that trade with Iran that have billion-dollar trade relationships, and they ought to begin to rethink those commercial trade relationships," he said.

 

 

 

 

Iran just wants to have a war with the West. Just because Iran defied a UN Deadline does not mean very much, there will be more deadlines, if Iran defies those, likely the UN will authorize the use of force if they think that Iran is lying about it's Nuclear problem.

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Guest markotsay7

OH NOEZ, THEY DEFIED A UN DEADLINE!

 

Based on history, I can surmise that at least two more deadlines without any punishment are coming.

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Iran: U.N. sanctions would be mistake

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today dismissed the possibility of U.N. sanctions against his country. Ahmadinejad said he thought it unlikely the U.N. Security Council would impose sanctions against Iran, adding he believes most member countries "are rational enough not to make such a great mistake."

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Iran 'will harm U.S. interests if attacked'

 

Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei issues warning

 

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran has vowed to strike at U.S. interests worldwide if it is attacked by the United States, which is keeping military options open in case diplomacy fails to curb Tehran's nuclear program.

 

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the threat on Wednesday, two days before the U.N. nuclear watchdog reports on whether Iran is meeting Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment.

 

Iran says it will not stop enrichment, which it says is purely for civilian purposes and not part of what the United States says is a clandestine effort to make atomic bombs.

 

"The Americans should know that if they assault Iran their interests will be harmed anywhere in the world that is possible," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television.

 

"The Iranian nation will respond to any blow with double the intensity," he said.

 

Washington, backed by Britain and France, has been pushing for sanctions if, as it expects, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that Iran has flouted U.N. demands.

 

But Russia and China, the U.N. Security Council's other two veto-holding permanent members, oppose any embargo.

 

Iran's nuclear energy head, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, held talks with IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna on Wednesday.

 

"The talks were encouraging," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters, adding the two sides discussed ways to resolve outstanding issues with the IAEA. He gave no details.

 

 

 

Iran can say whatever it wants, it's just trying to wage psychological warfare. No one in the world is prepared for attack by the U.S.

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Guest marlins02

Iran 'will harm U.S. interests if attacked'

 

Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei issues warning

 

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran has vowed to strike at U.S. interests worldwide if it is attacked by the United States, which is keeping military options open in case diplomacy fails to curb Tehran's nuclear program.

 

 

 

um isnt that how it goes in warfare? you hit me and im gonna try to hit you back? doesnt that go without saying?

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Israel: Iran Missiles Can Carry Nukes, Hit Europe

 

JERUSALEM — Iran has received a first batch of BM-25 surface-to-surface missiles that put European countries within firing range, Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, was quoted as saying in the Haaretz daily on Thursday.

 

The missiles, purchased from North Korea, have a range of 1,550 miles and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, Haaretz reported.

 

The report comes as U.N. members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Islamic regime says its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

 

U.S. intelligence officials have said that Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the details of the Iranian missile program.

 

The U.N. Security Council has given Iran until Friday to stop enriching uranium, a necessary step for developing nuclear weapons. Should Iran refuse to comply, which it has indicated it will do, the Security Council is likely to consider taking punitive measures.

 

Israeli security officials confirmed the Haaretz report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

 

Yadlin has warned of the new Iranian missiles in several recent interviews to the media. Iran already has missiles capable of reaching Israel, but the BM-25 missiles are a significant upgrade over its existing top of the line missiles — the Shihab-4 and Shihab-3.

 

Those missiles spurred Israel to develop its Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system, which is can intercept the Iranian missiles.

 

Israeli concerns have been heightened in recent months by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls to wipe Israel "off the map."

 

Iran has also tested several long-range missiles in recent weeks, including a "top secret" missile capable of being fired from all military helicopters and jet fighters, the Iranian state-run television reported.

 

Iran also tested the Fajr-3, a missile it said can avoid radar and hit several targets simultaneously using multiple warheads. Iran also has tested what it calls two new torpedoes.

 

American intelligence officials have said that Iran is at an advanced stage of developing a missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The United States has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of the details of the Iranian missile program.

 

On Tuesday, Israel launched a satellite meant to spy on Iran's nuclear program. The satellite, launched from Russia, is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 27.5 inches and would allow Israel to monitor Iran's nuclear program and long-range missiles, an Israel defense official said.

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Iran vows to keep nuke program

 

Rice: Security Council must act

 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that "no one" could make "the Iranian nation" give up its nuclear technology.

 

The United States, France and Britain say if Iran does not meet the U.N. Security Council's Friday deadline to stop enriching uranium, they will seek to make the demand compulsory.

 

At a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the credibility of the United Nations Security Council was as stake as the world body decides how to deal with Iran's likely rejection of Friday's U.N. deadline to bring its nuclear program in line with international demands.

 

"In order to be credible, the Security Council of course has to act," Rice told reporters.

 

Ahmadinejad also warned the United States and its European allies that they would regret a decision to "violate the rights of the Iranian nation."

 

"The Iranian nation has acquired nuclear fuel production technology. It didn't get assistance from anybody and nobody can take it back," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in western Iran Thursday.

 

His comments were broadcast live on state television.

 

Iran has rejected the Security Council's deadline.

 

Ahmadinejad announced earlier this month that Iran had produced enriched uranium for the first time.

 

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, will report Friday on Iran's compliance with the Security Council demand.

 

Uranium enrichment can produce fuel for nuclear power or material for nuclear warheads.

 

"They must know that the Iranian nation will not give in one iota to oppression," Ahmadinejad said.

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