Russia Makes 1st Nuke Shipment To Iran
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia has made its first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr plant, which is at the center of the international tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Iran contends the nuclear power plant operation in Bushehr is strictly for civilian purposes, but many critics suspect Tehran intends to use the plant as part of an alleged effort to develop nuclear weapons.
Construction at Bushehr had been frequently delayed. Officials said the delays were due to payment disputes, but many observers suggested Russia also was unhappy with Iran’s resistance to international pressure to make its nuclear program more open and to assure the international community that it was not developing nuclear arms.
“All fuel that will be delivered will be under the control and guarantees of the International Atomic Energy Agency for the whole time it stays on Iranian territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Moreover, the Iranian side gave additional written guarantees that the fuel will be used only for the Bushehr nuclear power plant.”
Russia announced last week that its construction disputes with Iran had been resolved and said fuel deliveries would begin about a half year before Bushehr was expected to go into service.
Two weeks ago, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate report concluded that Iran had halted efforts to develop nuclear weapons in 2003 and that the program had been frozen through at least the middle of this year.
Although Russia has resisted drives to impose sanctions on Iran, it also repeatedly has urged Tehran to cooperate with the Vienna, Austria-based IAEA to resolve concerns over the nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined that position last week after a meeting in Moscow with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.
Lavrov said resolving the controversy is possible “solely on the basis of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, IAEA rules and principles and, certainly, with Iran proving its right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.”
Officials at Atomstryexport, the Russian contractor for Bushehr, raised the prospect last week of creating a Russian-Iranian joint venture “to ensure security” at the Bushehr plant, according to the RIA-Novosti agency.
That could indicate Russian interest in ensuring that enriched uranium at the plant is not stolen or diverted. Depleted fuel rods also could be reprocessed into plutonium.
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Call me the eternal optimist, I can’t imagine, well, yea, I can imagine, but don’t think Russia would do anything stupid.
December 17th, 2007 at 3:38 amI agree with you John
December 17th, 2007 at 4:14 amIn late 2002, Russia signed a $40B economic deal with Iraq, despite U.N. Sanctions against Iraq and much of the “economic” business Russia would be conducting with Iraq, and Russia answered the criticism with a terse “Mind your own F-n’ business!” [paraphrased, of course]
Russia, like China, conducts itself with an “amoral business ethic”, and makes the great deals where they can be made, which is often with and in sanctioned and rebellious nation-states. The deals are good ESPECIALLY and DIRECTLY because of the very condition those states are in. Russia is an opportunist of the worst kind right now, and has been for the latter half of the 20th century and beyond.
I, for one, do NOT trust that Russia will “Do the right thing.” This is made more serious by the way Russia has been villanizing, and encouraging European intellectual dissent, of America all along. If anything goes wrong, Putin hopes to point the finger, and aim the blame, directly at America. We’re the perfect scapegoat for these “amoral” people.
December 17th, 2007 at 7:33 amWe’re messing up big time with regards to Iran, the evil empire wouldnt think twice about helping them get a bomb. Mutual destruction ensures this. the worst case scenario for Russia is we will bomb Iran and they walk away clean. Just a thought
December 17th, 2007 at 7:42 amLooks clear to me that the battle lines have been drawn. Iran WILL develop a nuke. Iran WILL use it. And when that times comes, we will not only be at war with them, but WILL hold Russia accountable.
December 17th, 2007 at 8:27 am“This situation is due to the publication of the American report/ratio on the state of the Iranian nuclear activities, report/ratio which put the meters at zero and made us return 2 to 4 years in back” (babelfish : Iran resist)
so the race with the bluff communication goes on
December 17th, 2007 at 9:37 am“It is essential, therefore, not to confuse Iran with the clerical dictatorship. The cult of death and superstition that personifies the Islamic Republic has not conquered the spirit of our nation, especially its women and youth, who make up some 70 percent of the population. REZA PALHAVI (for whom “Iran resist” works)
http://www.newsweek.com/id/77075/page/1
December 17th, 2007 at 10:20 am