by Hugh Fitzgerald
Some questions for the 'Supreme Leader'.
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, has dismissed as “nonsense” the charge that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon. A report on his latest sooterkins of taqiyya is here: “Khamenei rejects ‘nonsense’ accusation Iran seeking atomic bomb,” Times of Israel, February 17, 2022:
Iran’s supreme leader vowed on Thursday that his country [Feb. 17] would ramp up the development of its civilian nuclear program, as major world powers continued delicate talks in Vienna to revive Tehran’s landmark nuclear deal.
In a televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stressed the importance of nuclear energy for Iran, while again asserting that it had no interest in nuclear weapons, saying any claim otherwise was “nonsense.”
If Iran has “no interest” in nuclear weapons, why has it been enriching uranium to a level of 60%, far above the level needed for “peaceful” nuclear energy? There is no country that has enriched uranium to that level and not gone on to produce nuclear weapons. There is no other explanation for enriching it to the 60% level than the intent to become a nuclear power.
Khamenei’s remarks seemed clearly aimed at the countries involved in the Vienna talks.
“Enemies are making cruel moves against our nuclear energy issue, (putting) sanctions on nuclear energy that they know is peaceful,” he said. “They do not want Iran to achieve this great and significant progress.”
Neither the United States, nor any of the five other countries – the U.K., France, Germany, Russia, China — that are parties to the JCPOA, have expressed any objections to Iran pursuing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It is strange, however, that Iran continues to enrich uranium far above the level needed for those peaceful uses. It is strange, too, that Iran, a country awash in oil, would have spent so much merely in order to lessen its reliance on oil. As of 2015, Iran’s nuclear program had cost the country $100 billion in lost oil revenues and lost foreign direct investment because of international sanctions ($500 billion, when including other opportunity costs). And since 2015, how many hundreds of billions of dollars more in lost oil revenues, and lost foreign direct investment, has there been because of Iran’s nuclear program? Finally, what have been the out-of-pocket cost to build, and then to rebuild, the facility at Natanz, which twice was damaged by agents of Mossad, and then to rebuild a third facility deep inside the mountain at Natanz, and another deep inside the mountain at Fordow? Another $50-to-$100 billion? And we are expected to believe that these colossal sums, surpassing one trillion dollars, were spent only to build plants for the peaceful production of nuclear energy for a country as oil-and-gas rich as Iran. It defies belief.
The accord, which former US president Donald Trump abandoned nearly four years ago, granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, tweeted late Wednesday that the parties were “closer than ever” to an agreement.
But talks have repeatedly stalled in recent months as Iranian negotiators press hardline demands, exasperating Western diplomats.
Khamenei, who so far has largely stayed silent on the ongoing negotiations, called claims that Iran was pursuing a bomb “nonsense,” saying they were meant to deprive Iran of its legitimate right to nuclear power.
“If we do not pursue (peaceful nuclear energy) today, tomorrow will be late,” he said.…
When Mossad agents in 2018 located, and spirited back to Israel 100,000 documents – Iran’s entire nuclear archive, it provided conclusive evidence that Iran had been hiding many of its nuclear sites from the IAEA inspectors. Why did they feel the need to do this? There is only one answer: they were dead-set on producing nuclear weapons, whatever it cost.
A US assessment earlier this month [February [ found that Iran is just “weeks” away from bomb breakout technology.
But Iran must do more. After it develops enough highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium to fuel one or more nuclear bombs, it then must construct a nuclear warhead capable of housing the fissile nuclear fuel. It then must develop a ballistic missile system capable of delivering a nuclear explosive to its target. Finally, it needs to conduct a test to see if the explosive actually works. All those steps take time, not weeks or months, but perhaps a year or two.
Why would a country that only has an interest in the “peaceful uses of nuclear energy” be enriching uranium to just-below weapons-grade level in sites built deep inside mountains , where no bunker busters can reach them? Why would it then be working on a nuclear warhead, or conducting a test of that weapon in the Iranian desert? Khamenei has no answer to any of these obvious questions.
And one last question for the Supreme Leader: why is Iran working on long-range missiles that can carry nuclear warheads?
Please respond at your earliest convenience. We look forward to hearing from you, and having our fears allayed.
Hugh Fitzgerald
Source: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/02/khamenei-whats-all-nonsense-about-iran-wanting-hugh-fitzgerald/
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