Exclusive: Iran's Top Negotiator on Nukes, Iraq – Newsweek: World News – MSNBC.com (UPDATED)

 

Q: As you know, the U.S. and European negotiators were unhappy with ElBaradeis comments recently when he suggested that Irans uranium-enrichment program has advanced so far that the West may have to allow Tehran to keep some of that capacity. Do you see ElBaradei as being on Irans side in this matter now?

A: This is not only Mr. El Baradei who has made these assertions. There are intellectuals who are & more prone toward this approach, even inside the United States & We do believe we should have our rights through the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty [to develop civilian nuclear power]. And we believe that nobody should deviate toward a bomb & I ask you now, ever since the NPT came into effect [in 1970], have the countries in possession of nuclear weapons destroyed them? Dont we hear about new generations of nuclear weapons that the Americans and British are developing? The countries that have already developed nuclear weapons, have they ever accepted the NPT, like Pakistan, India and others? We would like to work within the framework of the NPT.

Exclusive: Iran’s Top Negotiator on Nukes, Iraq – Newsweek: World News – MSNBC.com

If I am not mistaken, the Non-proliferation Treaty is not about peaceful nuclear energy but about weapons. So, what is this about they “have their rights through the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty“? IF it’s only about energy, what is the need to mention that?

More commentary of this interview in NoisyRoom.Net.

From BBC h/t Jihad Watch:

Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned.

The incident took place before Iran successfully seized 15 British sailors and Marines in March.

The lessons from the earlier attempt do not appear to have been applied in time by British maritime patrols.

The 15 Britons were searching a cargo boat in the Gulf when they were captured over a boundary dispute.

From The Counterterrorism Blog:

The latest dramatic military and terror events in Gaza and Lebanon can be viewed from a regional geopolitical perspective: A Syro-Iranian axis offensive on its (their) primarily western front stretching along the Mediterranean coast.
..
In previous analyses I have argued that the Tehran-Damascus axis is involved in a regional campaign to seize as much physical terrain and score as many victories across the Middle East in order to consolidate their strategic posture before 2008; the year they believe Americans will limit – perhaps diminish — their moves because of the U.S. presidential campaign season.
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Iran’s and Syria’s offensives have been well-coordinated on battlefields across the Levant since last January, with a clear escalation since early spring.

Remember the video where Larijani was holding the hand of a brunette? Well, he has been indicted by the lustful act, even when he denies doing it and maintains that the tape has been altered:

“Khatami officially denied that he had shook hands with any woman and the film circulating is not based on reality,” said a statement from his office reported by the ISNA news agency and Ham Mihan newspaper.
“This film circulating on some conservative websites which shows him shaking hand with some Italian women is a version that has been edited and Khatami wholly denies this.”

Very important: Mike from Lamplighter, sent me yesterday a tip:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution urging the U.N. to charge Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President,under the UN Genocide Conventions. The resolution passed 411-2 – Dennie Kucinich (D-OH) and Ron Paul (R-TX) voted against the resolution. (Somehow I am not surprised that these two – representing the unstable elements of their respective parties – voted against this resolution).

Read it all.

If the other day, we had Jimmy Carter critisizing hardly US for its position -very justified- about not funding Hamas, Plateau writes about Carter’s influence in the seizing of power by Khomeini:

Carter viewed Khomeini as more of a religious holy man in a grassroots revolution than a founding father of modern terrorism. Carter’s ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, said “Khomeini will eventually be hailed as a saint.” Carter’s Iranian ambassador, William Sullivan, said, “Khomeini is a Gandhi-like figure.” Carter adviser James Bill proclaimed in a Newsweek interview on February 12, 1979 that Khomeini was not a mad mujahid, but a man of “impeccable integrity and honesty.”

He also writes about the perils of historial revisionists, not only about recent times, but back to Cyrus the Great. Read it all also.

But there are also good news from Iran. Or, to be more precise, from Iranian blogosphere: they have succeeded in their campaign to stop a stoning. Go over to Kamagir to read the details. More comments on Cityboy Blog.

Lastly serendip comments about Increased Drug Flow Fueling Spread Of HIV In Iran and Economic Segregation:

The number of HIV cases in Iran is increasing rapidly because of the increased flow of heroin into the country from Afghanistan, and an increasing number of HIV cases are being transmitted sexually, Christian Salazar, UNICEF coordinator for HIV in Iran, said recently, Reuters/Javno.com reports. Iran is located along a “key heroin smuggling route” from Afghanistan to the West, and injection drug users are the highest-risk group in the country, according to Reuters/Javno.com. Iran has an adult HIV prevalence of about 0.16%, but the number of cases is “skyrocketing,” Salazar said, adding that in the “worst of cases we are moving toward 1% or even 1.8% to 1.9% of the population.” Two-thirds of HIV cases in
the country occur among IDUs, Salazar said, adding that increasing numbers of narcotics are coming to the country from Afghanistan.

This is horrible marvellous: why on earth they do not stop the smuggling instead of hurrying to harrass women dressed in improper manner or torturing youths protesting peacefully in the streets?

UPDATE: Teheran open to nuclear compromise.

Key U.S. allies are debating the idea of a nuclear compromise with Iran that would call for only a partial freeze of Tehran’s uranium enrichment program — a stance that could put them at odds with Washington, officials said Friday.

The officials — U.S. and European diplomats and government employees — told The Associated Press that the deliberations among senior British, French and German decision-makers were only preliminary and that no conclusions had been drawn.

Germany was supportive, France opposed and Britain noncommittal, they said.

“Nothing is on paper,” said one European diplomat, describing the tentative plan as a “freeze for peace.”

With the United States continuing to insist on a full enrichment freeze, the talks could strain the U.S.-led attempt to show unity on the issue or even push Washington to settle for less than it has been demanding.

UPDATE 2: Anyway, it seems that Iran is taking a step nearer to nuclear bomb. h/t Jonz.

Iran moved significantly closer towards acquiring the essential material for a nuclear bomb yesterday when the regime claimed to have stockpiled 100 kg of enriched uranium.

President Ahmadinejad ‘seems to be goading the West and Israel’

So far, this uranium has only been enriched to the level needed to run civilian nuclear power stations. But if Iran chooses to enrich it to 84 per cent purity, the uranium would reach weapons-grade level. Iran would need 50 kg of weapons-grade uranium in to make one atomic weapon of the kind that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. By storing twice this quantity of low-enriched uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime is widening its options.