Iranian nuclear programme for defence or attack?

March 28, 2008 Tehran: While Iran grapples with Western powers over its nuclear programme, analysts in Iran are coming up with divergent scenarios of the situation and its possible repercussions.
Their perspectives range between expecting an attack on Iran, accusing the West of arrogance, and blaming the "hostile" tone of the Iranian government for fuelling the tension towards the West.

"It is a right for every member of NPT [Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty] to have access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes," said political science professor Herimidas Bovand.
"But as I said, they [the West] usually focus on Iranian intentions, and unfortunately enough, [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and some other individuals in higher positions make statements hostile to Western powers and Israel. The West uses these kind of statements to substantiate claims and accusations against Iran," he added in reference to the belligerent statements made by the Iranian president against the West and Israel, including questioning the reality of the Holocaust. More >>>

A way to stave off Iran sanctions

United Nations Security Council Imposes Resolution 1803 on Iran
March 11 2008

Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in Tehran this week, enhancing Iran-Indonesia bilateral relations, particularly in the economic and energy fields. Yet in light of Indonesia's historic vote of abstention on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1803, which imposed a third round of sanctions on Iran, his trip has a symbolic importance that transcends Tehran-Jakarta ties: it touches directly on the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

As the head of the largest Muslim nation in the world which traditionally has played an important role in the formation and evolution of the NAM, Yudhoyono has already jolted Western nations opposed to Iran's nuclear program by ending the consensus on Iran at the Security Council and thus putting South Africa, Vietnam and Libya, who voted for the sanctions resolutions irrespective of this initial objection, on the defensive.

Since the adoption of Resolution 1803, South African leaders and their press have agonized over how to justify the country's vote at the Security Council, given the fact that South Africa's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Abdul Minty, has criticized the resolution for failing to take into account progress made in resolving questions about Iran's nuclear program. Minty is worth quoting at length:

“South Africa furthermore regrets that the adoption of the new resolution could apparently not be postponed until the [IAEA] board had the opportunity to consider the matter ... This creates the impression that the verification work of the agency and the important progress that has been made is virtually irrelevant to the co-sponsors of the resolution“.

More >>>

Iran's nuclear program: talk of international consortium

Western and Iranian officials consider new framework as Iran program progresses. March 10, 2008

Tehran, Iran - Interest is growing in a possible US-Iran nuclear compromise that could enable sensitive atomic work on Iranian soil, lower the risks of proliferation, and ease Iran's isolation.
Despite a series of UN sanctions designed to halt Iran's ability to enrich uranium, Iran has continued to make progress. And a growing number of Western and Iranian officials and analysts, arguing that turning back the clock is impossible, are pushing for a new framework to ensure that Iran's nuclear work is aimed at peaceful, not military, applications.

On the agenda is a proposal to turn Iran's uranium-enrichment program into a multilateral consortium on Iranian soil, bringing Western eyes and expertise directly into the project in a bid to minimize potential weapons danger. In exchange, the West would end Iran's pariah status.
"Now we are in the point of realizing our right to enrich uranium in our land in Iran, by our own people," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the Monitor during a conference on nuclear issues in Tehran. "If any proposal is there for joining to this activity, we can consider that." More>>>