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Iran to Lead Campaign for Global Disarmament?
Is This Guy For Real?
February 2, 2006
(Photo: www.document.no)
(VizReport) The world's largest and most powerful nations must decommission their nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, according to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nezhad. His remarks came during a pre-festival speech in the town of Jam, in the province of Bushehr, today. He also explained that Iran would serve as the "flag-bearer of the nations" in leading the world toward a more secure and peaceful existence.
Most Western officials declined to place much faith in Iran's intentions to promote global harmony, peace and understanding, especially in the wake of repeated demands by its leader that the Jews of Israel be re-located to Germany, Austria, the United States, Canada or "Alaska". He has also called for Israel to be "wiped from the map", and has announced plans to host a "scientific conference" on the "myth" of the Holocaust.
Speaking to an enthusiastic and youthful crowd in advance of the Shi'ite religious festival of Ashura, he bemoaned the state of a world in which the strong bully the weak, forcing them to spend their budgets on building armies instead of caring for the needs of their people.
"Weaker countries are forced to build armies to defend themselves from possible enemy threats instead of education and welfare," he said, and demanded to know, "What kind of a system is this?"
"They think that they can rule the world through bullying," he scoffed. At the mention of bullies, the crowd began chanting: "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"
Nuclear Standoff
Earlier in the day, during a speech in the town of Kangan, also in Bushehr province, he affirmed that Iran would never back down in its pursuit of nuclear technology, despite a pending referral of the country's case to the United Nations Security Council by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran is suspected by a majority of IAEA board member nations of being less than forthright in its dealings with the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, to the extent that most Western governments believe Iran is hiding a significant nuclear weapons program.
In 2002, Iran was exposed by dissident factions within the country as having conducted a clandestine nuclear program for the previous 18 years, including the planning and construction of an extensive underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, a heavy water plutonium reactor at Arak, purchasing restricted equipment through black market operators such as the Pakistani network of A. Q. Khan, and running numerous other covert nuclear research programs.
The IAEA is set to vote in the next few hours on a provisional referral of Iran's nuclear dossier to the Security Council by the time a final IAEA report on the matter is submitted to its board on March 6, 2006. The government in Teheran has until then to cease its controversial research and enrichment work, to provide for in-depth inspections of controversial sites, to allow the IAEA to personally interview scientists involved in its various nuclear projects, and to adhere to the tenets of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty's (NPT's) Additional Protocol -- a document it has signed, but which has not been ratified by its parliament. It is also being strongly encouraged to accept a proposal made by Russia to enrich Iran's uranium on Russian soil and to remove the country's nuclear waste, thereby reducing the likelihood that dangerous materials would be diverted for use in nuclear weapons development.
Should a referral to the UNSC ensue, Iran has threatened to forsake its commitments under the Additional Protocol, refusing snap inspections of its facilities and opening the door to the prospect of industrial-scale uranium enrichment. It has also aggressively suggested that it would seek to penalise the nations (mostly Western democracies) that it blames for bringing the situation to such a level of crisis.
Regional Tension
It's regional arch-enemy, Israel, has warned that it cannot co-exist with a nuclear-armed Iran because the Islamic Revolutionary government in Teheran has continuously vowed the destruction of the Jewish state. Several Israeli officials have allowed that they possess the capability to destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but Teheran denies that this could be true and promises that Israel would "pay a high price for such a misadventure."
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has stated on several occasions that the situation must be largely resolved by the end of March, 2006. This coincides with a number of interesting milestones, including the 27th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution and the scheduled inauguration of its own Oil Bourse for international petroleum trading (denominated in Euros), both of which are slated to occur on March 20th.
The projected opening of the Teheran Bourse may be in jeopardy since it did require the tacit cooperation of the European Union, most members of which are now arrayed against the Islamic Republic at the IAEA table.
It has been rumoured that Iran might also choose this date, which is also the vernal equinox of 2006, for a test of its alleged nuclear weapons capability. Though this has not been verified, it does represent a strong possibility since some nuclear control experts believe that Israel may have done the same thing on September 22, 1979, in cooperation with the government of South Africa. This may have been the cause of the "South Atlantic Flash" that was observed on that day from the Vela 6911 satellite high overhead. It was New Year's Day 5740 on the Jewish calendar and, albeit less significantly, it was also your humble author's birthday.
Best regards,
Viz
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