IRAN NUCLEAR WORK 'IRREVERSIBLE' '

April 23, 2006 (BBC) - [Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi] told a weekly news conference: "Iran's uranium enrichment and nuclear research and development activities are irreversible". ... [He] also said [UN] demands for Iran to suspend its nuclear research work were "not on the agenda".

IRAN 'MODELS NUCLEAR PLAN ON PAKISTAN

WASHINGTON April 23, 2006 (Telegraph) - "In terms of activities on the ground in Iran, it is fair to say that the Iranians have put both feet on the accelerator," said Robert Joseph, the senior US State Department official responsible for countering nuclear proliferation.

Iran is following tactics outlined by its former chief nuclear negotiator in comments to clerics and academics previously unreported in the West. Hassan Rowhani made clear that Iran's goal was to present the world with a fait accompli over its nuclear ambitions. ... During the speech, Mr Rowhani emphasised that Iran had intended to complete its programme in secret. "This was never supposed to be in the open. But in any case the spies exposed it," he said, in reference to the revelation by opposition exiles of Iran's clandestine nuclear operations.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian analyst with the International Crisis Group, said Teheran was aiming to shape the debate with its claims. "Iran is betting that it can redraw the West's red lines by creating facts on the ground. At the time they re-commenced uranium conversion activities in Isfahan, last August, much fuss was made in the US and EU, but it eventually became an irreversible fait accompli. They may well believe that the West will eventually come to accept their enrichment activities as well."

Even now new big red crayons are being distributed amongst the geopolitical pie-slicers at the Quai d'Orsay. Still there is the burning question, the question that haunts France's Foreign Minister. When the Iranians say they are enriching uranium that they intend to continue doing so and to hell with the world, when they say all that -- openly and repeatedly -- well, are they serious?

FRANCE 'EXCESSIVELY WORRIED' ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME

PARIS April 23, 2006 (AFP) - French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said his country was unsettled by an evaluation by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei that Iran had made quick progress in the nuclear field. He told Radio J that France was also "excessively worried" by a comment earlier Sunday by Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi that "Iran's research activities are irreversible."

The UN Security Council has given Iran to Friday to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Douste-Blazy said: "If the response is negative, the Security Council will assume its responsibilities and everybody knows that in the panoply of options before the Security Council there are possible sanctions."

He added that ministers from UN Security Council countries would be meeting in the coming weeks "to prepare the decisions of the Security Council".

"Panoply of options"! That's news!

Let's open up the UN panoply and have a look inside. Hhmmm, let's see, here are the "possible" sanctions right next to the much smaller "real" sanctions. Oh, and they've already been rigged for French commissions. What else...pleading, begging, weeping, pretty pleases, hand-wringing, finger-crossing, a change of undies, some lollipops, and a paid subscription to the UN's Our Planet magazine.

Oh my, that is quite the panoply.

Here is a flare to the clueless M. le Ministre, April 28 is just another Friday in Iran.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT SHRUGS OFF UN NUCLEAR DEADLINE

WASHINGTON April 24, 2006 (Telegraph) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran confidently dismissed the chances of the United Nations imposing sanctions over Teheran's nuclear programme.

"I think it is very unlikely for them to be so stupid to do that," he said. "I think even the two or three countries who oppose us are wise enough not to resort to such a big mistake. Those who are speaking of sanctions would suffer more harm."

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is due to report to the Security Council on Friday, the deadline for its call for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment programme.

Iran has rejected the demand, insisting that, as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, it has the right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. Mr Ahmadinejad all but laughed off the deadline. "It is not like we just follow whatever they issue," he said of the Security Council's demands.

In a rare press conference with foreign journalists, he hinted that Iran might consider withdrawing from the IAEA. "What has more than 30 years of membership given us?" he asked.

And what is a chat with Mr. Ahmadinejad without a plain message about Israel:

"We say that this fake regime [Israel] cannot logically continue to live … Let the Jews go back to their own countries," he said.

Of course, Israel is not a regime. It is a sovereign nation and member of the United Nations, which Mr. Ahmadinejad's Iran as a subscribed fellow member is obliged to recognize. As for the Jews returning to their own country, dear Mahmoud, they have!

PFFT (What is this?): Chucklehead diplomacy 5 | Iran, serious as a heart attack 5 | Rayonnement français 0