PrintJune 9, 2009
Iran Invited for Hot Dogs: U.S. to Eat Crow
In one of his many overtures to Iran, President Obama authorized U.S. embassies around the world to invite Iranian representatives to celebrate American Independence Day. Inviting Iran for hot days and barbeques is part of this administration’s engagement strategy, which include direct negotiations without preconditions.
On Friday, June 5, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report gave us a first look at how Tehran is responding to this administration’s softer and friendlier approach to the Islamic Republic. ( Report Title: Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant provisions of Security Council resolutions 1737 (2006), 1747 (2007), 1803 (2008) and 1835 (2008) in the Islamic Republic of Iran.)
1. Iran has blocked its inspectors for more than a year now from visiting its Irak heavy-water reactor, which is capable of being modified to produce plutonium that could be used in weapons.
2. Tehran continues to refuse to answer the agency’s questions about reports of Iranian studies obtained by Western intelligence agencies that suggest that its scientists have performed research on the design of a nuclear warhead.
3. The pace of enrichment and the installation of new centrifuges are both accelerating at a high rate. Nearly 4,920 centrifuges are currently enriching uranium, and 2,300 more are ready to go, representing an increase of 30 percent in the total number of installed centrifuges since the agency’s February report. Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research organization in Washington, said Iran’s 7,200 centrifuges, if suitably arranged, could annually produce enough nuclear fuel for up to two bombs. “The facts on the ground continue to change,” he said in an interview, “and not in our favor.”
4. After producing low-enriched uranium a rate of 40 kg per month over a 21-month period, Iran has now increased its stockpile by 60% in just the last six months, doubling its rate to over 80 kg per month.
Iran, it seems, has extended its own invitation to the U.S. We can eat crow.
