By Kenneth J. Theisen
The recent “revelation” that Iran is building a second uranium enrichment facility has provided additional political ammunition for U.S. propagandists of the Obama administration to further attack the Iranian regime. They cite the development as “proof” that the Iranians are using their nuclear energy program as a cover for the development of nuclear weapons, despite the fact that it proves no such thing. But this latest use of deliberate lies is par for the course for the U.S. in its campaign to pressure Tehran and to mislead the public.
Iran is building a new facility about 20 miles from Qom, Iran. It apparently is built partially into a nearby mountainside and is intended to be partly underground. On September 29th Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi admitted that the new site was built for protection from aerial attack.
Salehi, who is an Iranian vice president and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran held a news conference about the building site. He stated, "This site is at the base of a mountain and was selected on purpose in a place that would be protected against aerial attack. That’s why the site was chosen adjacent to a military site. It was intended to safeguard our nuclear facilities and reduce the cost of an active defense system. If we had chosen another site, we would have had to set up another aerial defense system." At the press conference he also reiterated that while Iran is willing to discuss nuclear technology when it meets with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, Iran will not give up its "right" to uranium enrichment. Iran already has another nuclear enrichment plant at Natanz, Iran.
Salehi told reporters that Iran is already negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about a timetable for the inspection of the Qom facility. He stated, “We are working out the timetable. It could be sooner than a month or later." He further stated, “"Under (NPT) rules, we are required to inform the IAEA of the existence of such a facility 180 days before introducing materials but we are announcing it more than a year earlier."
Building its latest facility into a mountain and trying to protect it from aerial attack is far from proof that Iran is preparing to make nukes. It is no secret that the U.S. and its ally, Israel, have been contemplating possible attacks to wipe out Iran’s nuclear power program. On September 29th, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated that Israel is keeping all its options open regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Both the Bush regime and the Obama administration have refused to take the military option off the table in regard to the program. Obama had repeatedly said he will “do everything” to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The U.S. has also repeatedly accused Iran of using its nuclear power program to cover for the making of nukes. What does the U.S. expect Iran to do when building its nuclear facilities – paint a red bullseye target on top of its buildings?
The U.S. and its allies are using the latest propaganda offensive to prepare for the latest round of negotiations with Iran which are to begin on October 1,2001 outside of Geneva. The U.S. has been threatening new and tighter sanctions against Iran unless it caves into U.S. demands to curtail further uranium enrichment.
The October 1st negotiations are technically between chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili and the European Union’s Javier Solana. But at the talks the U.S., France, Britain, Germany, and Russia will also have senior officials. China, which is apparently opposed to tighter sanctions, is sending a relatively low-level official to represent it. The U.S. is sending William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Russia is to be represented by Sergey Ryabkov, a deputy foreign minister. Burns has frequently been unleashed as a propaganda attack dog against Iran, both under the Bush regime and in the Obama administration.
The talks and the publicity generated around them are a test of the positions and power of both sides in the negotiations. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated, “This meeting is a test to measure the extent of sincerity and commitment of some countries to law and justice.This meeting is an exceptional opportunity for the U.S. government and the two European countries to change their position in the world and reform their way of interacting with other governments and return to law, justice and respect." In a related warning about Iran’s ability to inflict damage on Israel and the U.S. if they should attack Iran, the Iranians test fired Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles earlier this week. These missiles have a range of 1,200 miles and can "target any place that threatens Iran,” according to the Iranian announcement regarding the tests.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that President Obama will assess Iran’s position and then consult with U.S. allies before deciding what next steps to take in regard to Iran’s nuclear program. He stated that if Iran is willing to address nuclear issues there can be future discussions. He further said, "That process will take some time. We’re not going to make a snap judgment on Thursday. We’re going to see how that meeting goes, evaluate the willingness of Iran to engage on these issues." Translation: If they cave we can reach some sort of agreement, but if they do not, we will take other steps such as sanctions or possibly military options.
At the upcoming talks, Iran is expected to introduce various political concerns while the U.S. and the other countries will try to limit the focus to Iran’s nuclear program with special attention on the facility located near Qom. But the U.S. is already focusing its attention beyond the latest round of negotiations. If the talks “fail” the U.S. has said it is prepared to seek new U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran.
Sanctions were first imposed on Iran in 2006. The initial sanctions banned trade with Iran in materials, equipment, goods and technology that could allegedly assist Iran’s uranium enrichment program. The next year additional sanctions were implemented that banned arms exports from Iran and that froze the financial assets of 28 individuals and Iranian entities. In 2008 sanctions were extended to restrict the import by Iran of alleged dual-use technologies which could be used for civilian or military purposes. The Obama administration has already made clear that additional sanctions it will push will include the targeting of Iran’s energy, financial and telecommunications sectors. This could include the cutoff of gasoline imports into Iran. Despite being a major oil exporter, Iran must import refined gasoline to run the country. The intent of the sanctions would be to cripple the Iranian economy. Sanctions against Iraq between the two Gulf Wars resulted in the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children.
All this pressure targeting Iran is based on the U.S. accusation that Iran is using its nuclear energy program as a cover to build nuclear weapons. But no actual evidence of a nuclear weapons’ program had ever been introduced. The U.S.’s own National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded that Iran does not have such a program. The IAEA has also reached similar conclusions. The recently “discovered” Qom facility is not even built yet and is certainly non-operational at this point. Apparently the U.S. knew about the facility’s construction for years, but only chose to reveal it last week, just prior to the newest round of negotiations, which makes the revelation appear to be politically timed to put additional pressure on Tehran. In fact Iran had sent a letter about the facility to the IAEA days ahead of the U.S. “discovery.”
Iran did not start the quest for nuclear energy under the current reactionary Islamic regime. It actually started under the Shah of Iran, and was encouraged at that time by the U.S. which propped up the dictatorial Shah who was installed by a U.S. CIA coup back in 1953. But now that Iran is controlled by those who the U.S. sees as an impediment to U.S. hegemony in the world, the Iranian energy program is now claimed to be a “cover” for the development of nukes.
The U.S. claims it fears a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iran has a nuclear program. But the U.S. is silent about the scores or hundreds of nuclear weapons that are in the Israeli arsenal. While the U.S. props up dictatorial regimes in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries, it attacks Tehran for failure to give the Iranian people freedom. The U.S. has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons and aid to Israel and these other allies, while spending similar amounts to bring down governments that fail to bend to the U.S. will in the Middle East. Fraudulent elections in Iran are bad, while fraudulent elections in Afghanistan are acceptable as long as the puppet Karzai regime is a U.S. ally. The U.S. wants the people in the U.S. to ignore all this hypocrisy and go along with the U.S. agenda. We are supposed to back our government, because the Iranian leadership defies the U.S.
Yes, the leadership in Iran is reactionary and does not serve the interests of the Iranian people. But that does not mean we need to be suckers and back our own reactionary leaders against other reactionaries in Iran. Our choices are not limited to backing one reactionary ruling class over another. Under no circumstances should we support further attacks by the U.S. against Iran. This includes not only opposing war, but sanctions as well. We must oppose all U.S. moves against Iran. Dying as a result of sanctions is just as bad as dying as a result of war. Both can be in the service of U.S. imperialism.
Good point, but what if they are planning on making Nuclear weapons AND by chance attack another country and/or the US? What would you do?
The U.S. needs to leave Iran alone. Those zionists sure have our country brainwashed and soon the zionists will be defeated.