Powell: Intelligence suggests Iran trying to adapt missiles for nukes

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Thursday November 18, 2004 13:57

by Jem

(Here we go again?)

Powell says Iran's nuclear activities "should be of concern to all parties."

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- The United States has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

Powell partially confirmed claims by an Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year.

"I have seen intelligence which would corroborate what this dissident group is saying," Powell told reporters Wednesday as he traveled to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago, Chile. "And it should be of concern to all parties."

Pressed by reporters on the intelligence reports, Powell said the intelligence indicates that Iran "had been actively working on delivery systems" capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

Powell said there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has developed the technology to make a nuclear weapon, but suggested that the regime is working to adapt missiles for nuclear warheads.

"I'm talking about information that says that they not only had these missiles, but I'm aware of information that suggests they were working hard as to how to put the two together," Powell said.

A senior official for the National Council for Resistance in Iran said Tuesday that a bomb diagram -- along with an unspecified amount of weapons-grade uranium -- was provided to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced former head of Pakistani's nuclear development which was tied to both Iran and Libya. (Full story)

The official said the designs were handed to the Iranians between 1994 and 1996, while Khan delivered HEU -- highly enriched uranium -- in 2001.

Banned in the United States as a terrorist organization, the group was instrumental in 2002 in revealing Iran's enrichment program in the central city of Natanz, based on what it said was information provided by sources in Iran.

The opposition group says a facility at Lavizan-Shian northeast of Tehran was part of a secret nuclear weapons program.

Powell declined comment on Khan but said that "for 20 years the Iranians have been trying to hide things from the international community."

Iran says its sole interest is to generate nuclear fuel through low-level uranium enrichment, but the United States suspects Iran wants to produce weapons-grade enriched uranium.

Enrichment does not violate the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but the International Atomic Energy Agency and most of its members want Iran to scrap enrichment plans as a confidence building measure.

Iran announced suspension of enrichment last week, and the agency said it would police that commitment starting next week, in advance of a Nov. 25 IAEA board meeting.

The pledge reduced Washington's hopes of having the board refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for alleged violations of the Nonproliferation Treaty.

Tehran has not dropped plans to run 50,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for what it says will be the fuel requirements of a nuclear reactor to be finished next year.

It currently possesses less than 1,000 centrifuges. But if it added 500 centrifuges, experts say Iran would be able to make enough weapons-grade uranium to make a bomb annually.

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Comments (7 of 7)

readers!

by iosaf

Fri Nov 19, 2004 13:48

search for "scud" in the engine on the left of your page, and you'll find alist I put up years ago of all nuclear capable missiles and where they are.
only Iraq has changed.

the name to watch: A.Q. Khan

by redjade

Fri Nov 19, 2004 15:21

What a shocker. [ http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6844621&src=rss/worldNews§ion=news ] A.Q. Khan (whom I've written about here [ http://www.usamnesia.com/2004/03/sy-hershs-most-recent-article-in-new.html ] and here [ http://www.usamnesia.com/2004/10/aq-khan-ed.html ]) is alleged to have provided highly enriched uranium to Iran in 2001.

Khan, we're told [ http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/05/debate.transcript/index.html ], has been "brought to justice" for his black-market peddling. The U.S. still hasn't interrogated him, and Musharraf has refused to allow [ http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041001-054443-3141r.htm ] IAEA access to Khan, who is said to be living large after being pardoned by the president.

text and links from....
http://www.usamnesia.com/2004/11/khanagain.html

And there's more

Fri Nov 19, 2004 17:33

Iran readies uranium for nuke enrichment-diplomats
Last updated: 19-11-04, 16:17

Iran is preparing large amounts of uranium for enrichment, a process that can be used to make nuclear weapons, days before its promise to freeze all such activities takes effect, Western diplomats said today.

"The Iranians are producing UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) like hell," a diplomat on the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. "The machines are running."

UF6 is the form of uranium that is fed into gas centrifuges, which purify uranium for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or weapons, by spinning at supersonic speeds.

Iran had promised the European Union it would freeze enrichment as of November 22.

© 2004 ireland.com

here we go again.... info from 'from a single, unvetted source'

Fri Nov 19, 2004 18:10

US accusations on Iran 'based on single source'
By Philippe Naughton, Times Online

Colin Powell's accusation this week that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear ballistic missile was based on information that is from a single, unvetted source, the Washington Post claimed today.

A US official with access to the highly classified material is said to have told the newspaper that the information came from a "walk-in" source who approached US intelligence earlier this month.

Report: US discussing strikes on Iran

Wed Nov 24, 2004 16:58

Pentagon officials are said to be discussing possible military action to neutralize Iran's nuclear weapons threat, according to a report in London's Observer. US administration sources are quoted as saying that air strikes – "either by the US or Israel" – to wipe out Iran's fledgling nuclear program would be difficult because of a lack of clear intelligence about where key components are located.

Instead, sources quoted by the paper said the Pentagon is considering strikes in support of regime change, including attacks on the leadership, as well as on political and security targets

IAEA Leader's Phone Tapped by USA

Sun Dec 12, 2004 13:32

IAEA Leader's Phone Tapped
U.S. Pores Over Transcripts to Try to Oust Nuclear Chief

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 12, 2004; Page A01

The Bush administration has dozens of intercepts of Mohamed ElBaradei's phone calls with Iranian diplomats and is scrutinizing them in search of ammunition to oust him as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to three U.S. government officials.

But the diplomatic offensive will not be easy. The administration has failed to come up with a candidate willing to oppose ElBaradei, who has run the agency since 1997, and there is disagreement among some senior officials over how hard to push for his removal, and what the diplomatic costs of a public campaign against him could be.

Tragic Flaws

by John O'Driscoll - Private Person

Mon Dec 13, 2004 15:22

jodrisco at ireland dot com

Shanghai People's Republic

Powell is probably right. Unfortunately he has a bit of a credibility problem, thanks to Uncle George. And Colin Powell's tragic flaw was that he allowed himself to be pressurised into becoming a mouthpiece for lies. Something in him gave way when it should have stood firm, given the man's record and character. Probably My Lai (or his lie perhaps) caused some chink in his psychic and moral armour.

Rarely does a (fallen) hero's tragic flaw pose such a threat to the safety of the world though.

If we doubt General Powell, as we sadly now must, then insufficient gravity must be attached to his portents as a result. And how much greater must our doubt be towards everything Bush and his second term of office tells us?

If we survive his second term of office. What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive eh George?

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Powell: Intelligence suggests Iran trying to adapt missiles for nukes

Comments (7 of 7)