Friday, May 06, 2005

Iran Ready to Accelerate Nuclear Activities

AFX UK Focus:
Iran is ready to accelerate its nuclear activities if agreement is not reached quickly with the European Union over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear programme, a chief negotiator said Friday.

"A long-term suspension or an end (to uranium enrichment) is stupid, bad and irrational," Syrus Nasseri was quoted as saying by student news agency ISNA. ...
If negotiators from Britain, France and Germany "use threats, the response in terms of threats is perfectly ready", said Nasseri.

"If we see that an agreement with the European three is not possible, we will accelerate our (nuclear) activities." ...

"If the Europeans don't do anything, we will go to the next stage in little time," he said, referring to Tehran's plan to resume enrichment activities at its Ispahan plant.

"We won't be the first to make threats," he said. "There is a solution on the table and we are ready to resolve the problem ... but we do not have much time to give to the Europeans."
Iran has made a proposal that would allow it build up in phases from enrichment with 3,000 centrifuges, still enough to make one atomic bomb a year, to an industrial level of enrichment with 54,000 centrifuges.
Is there a country on the planet that sends more mixed messages than the Islamic Republic of Iran? One day they say they are going to restart aspects of their uranium enrichment program, the next day the say it is on hold, then the next day they preparing to restart it again. The sad thing is that it seems to work with the European negotiators.