You ever feel like you’re writing the same post over and over again? We’re beginning to think that our entire blogging existence could be replaced by a very small, very efficient shell script. US readies new sanctions:
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov exchanged sharp words as the Bush administration tried to cement support for new UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programs. Rice and Lavrov disagreed on the matter Wednesday at a German-hosted luncheon of foreign ministers from the G-8 group of industrialized nations, according to Lavrov and US and European diplomats present. Another participant, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, called the exchange “very emotional.” The lunch came as Rice and her top aides moved to capitalize on international frustration with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for declaring on Tuesday that the nuclear issue is “closed” and vowed to defy any UN Security Council move for more sanctions… Earlier, Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, had rebuked Ahmadinejad for his comments to the General Assembly. “We’re going to keep going,” Burns told reporters. “If Mr. Ahmadinejad thinks somehow that he has been given a pass, he is mistaken about that.”
So when the reports reference how the US is getting ready to impose new sanctions, what they actually mean is that the US is getting ready to make a symbolic gesture that will be heavily watered down to avoid a Russian veto in the UNSC. Super. Maybe Ahmadinejad has a point about having been given a pass. At least it certainly looks that way:
An Iranian resistance group claimed on Thursday that Iran is constructing a secret, new underground military nuclear facility near its Natanz uranium enrichment plant. The claim, made by the National Council of Resistance of Iran at a Paris news conference, could not be independently verified. The group said it has passed its information, which it said came from sources inside Iran, to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, but has so far not received a response. Officials at the IAEA said they would have no comment on the claims. The opposition group claimed that the site is 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of the Natanz plant, under a mountain called Siah Kooh, which it said would help protect it from any air strike. It said the site includes two tunnels with entrances 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter and that a third tunnel links the alleged facility to Natanz. The group said the site has been under construction since late 2006 and that it believed it would be completed within six months.
On one hand, it’s Iranian opposition and we wouldn’t trust them to tell us the color of the sky. On the other hand it’s the IAEA, and we wouldn’t trust them to tell us not to trust Iranian opposition groups when they tell us the color of the sky. So, based on this report, it could be the case that Iran is building a playground filled with rainbows and unicorns just at the new site.
The Natanz plant though – that one they’re definitely using to enrich nuclear material so that they can wipe millions of Jews off the face of the earth and then inaugurate an age of regional Iranian hegemony and global nuclear terrorism. That much everyone’s pretty solid on.
References:
* US readies new sanctions against Iran [JPost]
* ‘Iran building new nuclear facility’ [JPost]
Previously:
* IAEA Plays Charlie Brown To Iran’s Lucy
* IAEA: Maybe Iran Is Developing Nukes and Maybe They’re Not
* NYT: The Media’s "New IAEA Report Says Iran Is Not A Problem" Spin Is Basically A Lie
