Iran sets condition to halt nuke program

[mcpeepants]

Iran sets condition to halt nuke program

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 44 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday said his country was ready to stop its enrichment program and return to talks provided Western nations also stopped their own. Ahmadinejad told a crowd of thousands in northern
Iran one day ahead of a
U.N. Security Council deadline that it was no problem for his country to stop, but that "fair talks" demanded a similar gesture from the West.
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"That ... we shut down our nuclear fuel cycle program to let talks begin. It's no problem. But justice demands that those who want to hold talks with us shut down their nuclear fuel cycle program too. Then, we can hold dialogue under a fair atmosphere," Ahmadinejad said.

The White House dismissed Ahmadinejad's call.

"Do you believe that's a serious offer?" White House press secretary Tony Snow asked. "It's pretty clear that the international community has said to the Iranians, `You can have nuclear power but we don't want you to have the ability to build nuclear weapons.' And that is an offer we continue to make."

The Security Council has set Wednesday as a deadline for Iran to stop uranium enrichment or face further economic sanctions.

Iran has long insisted that it will not stop its nuclear activities as a condition for negotiations to start.

"The condition they set for talks is a condition that deprives us of our rights," Ahmadinejad said of the United States and its Western allies. "We have never been after confrontation and tension. We have always been for dialogue but dialogue under fair conditions."

Ahmadinejad's speech was unusually conciliatory, avoiding fiery denunciations of the West.

"We are for talks but they have to be fair negotiations. That means, both sides hold talks under equal conditions," he said.

He added, however, that it was unacceptable for countries to demand that Iran stop its nuclear activities without reciprocity.

"We say how is it that your (nuclear fuel) production facilities work 24 hours a day, but you feel threatened by our newly established complex and we need to shut it down for talks," he asked.

Iran has rejected the sanctions as "illegal" and said it would not give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.

The United States and several of its Western allies believe that Iran is using its nuclear program to produce an atomic weapon — charges Iran denies, saying its aim is to generate electricity.

Enriched to a low level, uranium is used to produce nuclear fuel but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in building an atomic bomb.

Ahmadinejad said Iran would not give in to coercion, and warned the U.S. and its allies that they would fail to force it into giving up its nuclear program.

"If you want to speak from the position of power and make use of the oppressing leverage of some international institutions, you have to know the you will fail against the unity and resistance of the Iranian nation," he said.

[Kärnfysikern]

What bullshit. Ahmadinejad is so full of it that it stinks all the way from Iran to sweden. Time for him to stop beeing a stubborn fool. He wont milk a better deal out of the west than he has already been offered.

[singern]

He is positioning himself to be the one who stood up to the west, to strengthen his goal of uniting the Islamic world under him, as some kind of modern day Mohammed.

Unfortunately he doesnt see that he is only alienating Arab nations, hurting the Iranian people by bringing on international sanctions, supporting terror organizations, and creating an ever widening divide separating Iran from the rest of the world

[mcpeepants]

i don't see anything wrong with Iran's conditions. The west wants Iran to compromise on something it's legally allowed to do under the NPT. If you want Iran to provide goodwill, the west should provide goodwill too. Iran voluntarily suspended enrichment for nearly a year back in 2004 as they negotiated with Europe. Those negotiations didn't amount to anything and Iran wasted time it could of used to work on technical issues with enrichment. The same thing could happen during the next negotiations if Iran decides to stop enrichment.

[Kärnfysikern]

Whats wrong is that it isnt even a condition. Its just bullshit. Its just another chanse for Ahmadinejad to go out in public and pretend to be the big man fighting the evil west.

Iran should be allowed to enrichen I agree. But that wont happen now. So the best thing iran could do is to agree to the european offer and just chill for 10 years or so. This stubborness from all sides is just ridicilous.

[spywizard]

maybe we should ground our airforce and stop training our troops during that time as well?? i mean the definition of justice is so scewed by these people as to be completely unacceptable and foreign to us..

[mcpeepants]

I think Ahmadinejad is just playing a little tongue and cheek but he also aims to knock the Europeans and the US off their cross a little. Why does Iran have to submit to conditions to talk while they don't have to? Why can't Iran talk while enriching uranium? The inspectors are still in Iran.The Europeans made an offer, it's not a guarantee, and it could fail like the last time they had negotiations.

[juicedOUTbrain]

maybe we should ground our airforce and stop training our troops during that time as well?? i mean the definition of justice is so scewed by these people as to be completely unacceptable and foreign to us

...Ahmadinijad knows perfectly well that the US sill laugh at his proposal...He is trying to get people to open their eyes and realize that the US is asking Iran to give up their right as a nation to enrich uranium (remeber, they still state that its for peaceful purposes).

Whos view of justice is skewed here? The US, the only country to ever use atomic weapons, is commanding a country who has never attacked America to give up their nuclear program. All this while the US continues to produce enough nukes to literally destroy the world. Unless you want to argue that the US has the right to unilateraly control the world, than i think your nationalism bias is blurring your sense of justice...

The US has been extremely hostile to Iran since the 80s, maybe for good reasons maybe not...But this is just another excuse to continue that hostility, IMO...

[eliteforce]

I think the western position is just as extreme in the 1st place. Their asking Iran to completly abandon enrichment; Iran's goal is to have their own fuel cycle-from uranium mining (Iran is mining uranium in it's territory) to enriching it into fuel to manufacturing electricity. This fits with their revolutions goal of being self-sufficient in industrial areas such as big ticket manufacturing. If Iran is reduced to buying nuclear fuel from Russia, that defeats the purpose and Iran has already invested heavily in having a fuel cycle. A more realistic position is to insist on a close monitor of the enrichment at Natanz so the enrichment does not go over 5%, and then to monitor the spent fuel rods so they are not taken for plutonium reprocessing.

[Kärnfysikern]

I think the western position is just as extreme in the 1st place. Their asking Iran to completly abandon enrichment; Iran's goal is to have their own fuel cycle-from uranium mining (Iran is mining uranium in it's territory) to enriching it into fuel to manufacturing electricity. This fits with their revolutions goal of being self-sufficient in industrial areas such as big ticket manufacturing. If Iran is reduced to buying nuclear fuel from Russia, that defeats the purpose and Iran has already invested heavily in having a fuel cycle. A more realistic position is to insist on a close monitor of the enrichment at Natanz so the enrichment does not go over 5%, and then to monitor the spent fuel rods so they are not taken for plutonium reprocessing.

I agree that letting them enrichen and just monitor the plants its the best solution. But the thing it unless they plan on building loads of nuclear power plants they have no need for their own enrichment. As far as I know sweden has no enrichment capacity and we get 50% of our electricity from nuclear power.

The only reason they are pushing this so hard is stupid stubbornness or a weapons program. They dont realy have a demand for it.