West to seek UN action on Iranian bomb threat

[cal04]

BRITAIN and its allies will seek a tough new resolution at the United Nations next week after a report from the world’s nuclear watchdog said that Iran was accelerating its uranium enrichment programme. Britain, acting in concert with France, Germany and the United States, will ask the 15-nation Security Council to pass a mandatory resolution declaring Iran’s nuclear programme a threat to international peace and security and ordering it to suspend its enrichment work.

But even as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delivered its report, President Ahmadinejad made clear that Iran would not back down. He told a rally that “we do not give a damn about such resolutions” and said that the Islamic republic could soon become a superpower. “Enemies think that by threatening us . . . they can dissuade our country from obstaining nuclear technology,” he said. “We will not back down.”

The British move — a prelude to possible sanctions — follows Iran’s refusal to comply with the UN’s 30-day deadline for freezing its enrichment programme that expired yesterday. The Vienna-based IAEA reported that Iran had ignored the Security Council’s demands and was stepping up its enrichment work. Tests confirmed that Iran’s newly built 164-centrifuge cascade had indeed succeeded in enriching uranium to 3.6 per cent, as Iran claimed this month. The agency said that Iran was building two additional 164-machine cascades.

The IAEA report also highlighted Iran’s failure to hand over a copy of a 15-page document dealing with the production and casting of uranium metal into hemispheres — a process used almost exclusively in building nuclear bombs. The agency said that it had asked for clarification of Mr Ahmadinejad’s assertion that Iran was “presently conducting research” with advanced P2 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium up to four times faster than the P1 machines that Tehran is known to possess.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2157163,00.html

[cantstandbush]

1. There is no fucking "Bomb threat" We are making this shit up.

Where the hell to we get off telling other nations how to run their own security?

[HuffleClaw]

2. 'iran bomb threat' ?????

meep. what sad sorry sordid shill 'journalism' is that?

i note the article makes NO mention of this weeks iranian oil bourse. hmmm. gotta love the blatant timing on this crap. china however, has already publicly opposed any bushco. warmongering. russia too iirc.

[cal04]

3. Downer urged to oppose strike on Iran(Australia)

A group of peace and environment campaigners has banded together with a number of federal MPs to urge the Federal Government against supporting military action against Iran. Iran is under increasing pressure to halt its nuclear work after a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found the nation has ignored a UN Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment.

The IAEA says Iran is instead speeding up its nuclear program. US President George Bush has promised to search for a diplomatic solution to the impasse. Friends of the Earth Australia spokesman John Hallam says Foreign Minister Alexander Downer should go one step further and rule out the use of military force.

"If military action against Iran is not ruled out, then it will have an entirely perverse effect," he said. "It will guarantee positively that we get the very thing that we say we don't want, namely a bitterly hostile, nuclear-armed Iran."
In a letter to Mr Downer, the group says the Federal Government needs to do everything in its power to discourage the US from any reckless course of action.

"The possibility of military action and indeed, still the possibility of even a nuclear strike is very real," Mr Hallam said.
"That's not to say that it's going to happen and I hope and pray and trust that it won't but it's on the table and it shouldn't be on the table. "It needs to be taken off the table."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200604/s1626628.htm

[uppityperson]

4. Their enrichment plan is a threat to national security. It truly is.

It is the excuse Mr.bush will use to bomb them. If they need an excuse.

[spinbaby]

5. This is getting big play on the morning news

With a lot of discussion of "Will military force be necessary?"