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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Diplomatic sources say radioactive materials discovered in Tehran facility, but not enriched to level needed for weapons
Samples taken by the United Nations nuclear watchdog at a facility in Tehran showed traces of uranium that Iran has yet to explain, two unnamed diplomats told Reuters news agency, although they could not say whether the materials predated the 2015 nuclear deal, or were more recent.
The news comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called on Cornel Feruta, acting chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency and his inspectors "to observe the principles of professional work, maintain confidentiality of activities, and keep doing its duties impartially".
Tehran has not yet responded to the IAEA's specific request for answers, according to the diplomats interviewed by Reuters, stoking more tensions between Washington and Tehran. Reuters did not identify the nationalities of the two diplomats.
Reuters first reported in April that the IAEA, which is policing the nuclear deal, had inspected the site - a step it had said it takes "only when necessary" - and environmental samples were taken there were sent for analysis.
Those traces were of uranium, the diplomats said - the same element Iran is enriching and one of only two fissile elements that can make the core of a nuclear bomb.
But since Iran has not yet given any to the IAEA it is hard to verify the particles' origin, and it is also not clear whether the traces are remnants of material or activities that predate the landmark 2015 deal or more recent, the diplomats say.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Monday September 09 2019, @11:05PM (8 children)
The US seems to be desperate to get some sort of vaguely believable casus belli with Iran.
I suppose the other wars you're fighting are all winding down, and any war with Iran should go on for years. Lots of money to be made.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Pav on Monday September 09 2019, @11:30PM
And Iran is full of Afghanis who've had to leave Afghanistan for one reason or another, many of which I'm sure have first hand experience of unconventional war. The major dialect in Afghanistan can be understood by Iranians, and vice versa. Much of Iran is mountainous too... it's not the tabletop Iraq is, not to mention Iran has a greater population than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The allies the US government, Bolton in particular, is courting ie. the MEK has next to no support in Iran - they are viewed as traitors who allied with Saddam to attack Iran during the Iran/Iraq war.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Pav on Monday September 09 2019, @11:38PM
BTW, that's not to say the majority of Iranians are pro religious dictatorship... they've just seen what puppet governments of the USA do to their people also. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place... but this isn't new. The only reason the religious dictatorship managed to stay in power in the first place is because it gained legitimacy by defending Iran during the US-initiated Iran/Iraq war.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday September 09 2019, @11:40PM (2 children)
Iran has committed the heinous crime of having oil and not just giving it away to oil companies based in the UK and USA. That's also the reason behind the push to overthrow the government of Venezuela yet again. And also related to this simple cause of controlling the fossil fuels is Syria's civil war, which was all about getting oil and gas pipelines from Iraq through Syria and Turkey to Europe. Contrast this to the EU strategy, which has been all about reducing their dependence on fossil fuels entirely so that the Russians can't cause them trouble by cutting off their natural gas supply (which they've done a couple of times).
And of course there's also the simple fact that Iran isn't US-aligned, and the Cold Warriors who never stopped fighting the USSR see Iran as a salient on the southern front. I can guarantee you that in the event that the Iranian government is destroyed, the people who advocated an attack on Iran will immediately turn their attention to Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, and from there through to the Caucusus (which also have oil and gas, of course). Along with continuing to push along the western front in Ukraine, of course.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @12:46AM (1 child)
And then Canada?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @02:14AM
Alberta is pretty much giving away [www.cbc.ca] their oil and gas, British Columbia is giving away their water, until those change, why bother with an expensive war?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @01:54AM
I mean, if having nukes or trying to make them is a reason to invade a country, then the US (and many other countries) should be invaded as well. To make matters even more hypocritical, the US is the only country to actually use them, and they killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in doing so. I guess the entire world should invade the US, based on this reasoning.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 10 2019, @03:13PM (1 child)
Recently overrunning our embassy and holding our citizens as hostages for 444 days seems like it should be cause enough.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday September 10 2019, @08:03PM
Don't worry, that nice Mr. Reagan got them back. (After the election of course, couldn't let the Democrats take credit, after all).