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AP: U.S. to give Iran nuclear technology By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

51 minutes ago

 

VIENNA, Austria - A package of incentives presented Tuesday to Iran includes a provision for the United States to supply Tehran with some nuclear technology if it stops enriching uranium ? a major concession by Washington, diplomats said.

 

The offer was part of a series of potential rewards offered to Tehran by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, according to the diplomats, who were familiar with the proposals and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were disclosing confidential details of the offer.

 

The package was agreed on last week by the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia ? the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, in a bid to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran.

 

The incentives include European offers of help in building nuclear reactors for a peaceful energy program, the diplomats said.

 

That European offer of light-water reactors meant for civilian nuclear energy purposes was revealed last month, but there had been no suggestion that the Americans would also agree to help build Iran's civilian nuclear program if Tehran freezes enrichment and agrees to negotiations.

 

Diplomats had revealed Monday that the United States had upped the ante on what had initially been a European offer by agreeing to provide Boeing aircraft parts for Iran's aging civilian fleet. Just days before, Washington broke with decades of official policy of no high-level diplomatic contacts with Tehran, announcing it was ready to join in multinational talks with the Islamic republic over its nuclear program.

 

But one of the diplomats described the U.S. nuclear offer as particularly significant because it would in effect loosen what has been a decades-long American embargo on giving Iran access "dual use" technologies ? equipment and know-how that has both civilian and military applications.

 

Both diplomats said Solana withheld the other part of the package ? a series of measures meant to penalize Tehran if it does not relinquish enrichment, which can generate power but also can be used to make weapons-grade uranium for the core of nuclear warheads.

 

Solana "carried a message" about potential penalties but withheld the specific threats ? including the possibility of U.N. sanctions ? so as not to jeopardize the "positive" atmosphere, one of the diplomats said.

 

Those possible penalties include selective U.N. Security Council sanctions such as travel bans of Iranian government figures and a freeze of their foreign assets. But in a bow to Russia and China, they contain no threat of military action, diplomats have said.

 

Way to hold their feet to the fire boys! :confused

Wait... The articles says the US offered to provide Iran with nuclear technology, but the only thing they mentioned was civilian air-craft parts? Weird.

 

Either way, providing nuclear technology as an incentive to stop nuclear weapons research sure worked really well with North Korea, didn't it...

 

:banghead

Uhhh...what the hell? Why are we trying to give everyone in that region nuclear technology?

monaaayyyy!

If we are giving them aid for their regular reactors that arent just for enrichment then that is fine. really the US needs to get on better terms with them.

 

But if we are giving them anything for military use that is bad.

If we are giving them aid for their regular reactors that arent just for enrichment then that is fine. really the US needs to get on better terms with them.

 

But if we are giving them anything for military use that is bad.

The problem with your logic is that once you give them the technology there is no way in hell that they will not attempt to use it for military use. It happens in every country. Once you hand over the technology for the betterment of civilians, it goes right into military research.

With respect to Iran, the British, French, and Germans were the ones who initiated an effort without the United States, regrettably, to begin to try to move to curb the nuclear possibilities in Iran. I believe we could have done better. I think the United States should have offered the opportunity to provide the nuclear fuel, test them, see whether or not they were actually looking for it for peaceful purposes. If they weren't willing to work a deal, then we could have put sanctions together. The president did nothing.

John Kerry, Presidential Debate, September 30, 2004

Don't they already have the technology to enrich uranium and contruct a bomb? So if this is a way to make sure they don't build a bomb by being involved in the process of what they claim they want to do, isnt this a good thing? Im sure heavy inspections would be part of it.