So who is duplicitous, Iran or our government?
Iran
has discovered an unexpectedly high reserve of uranium and will soon
begin extracting the radioactive element at a new mine, the head of
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said on Saturday.
The
comments cast doubt on previous assessments from some Western analysts
who said the country had a low supply and sooner or later would need to
import uranium, the raw material needed for its nuclear program.
Any indication Iran
could become more self-sufficient will be closely watched by world
powers, which reached a landmark deal with Tehran in July over its
program. They had feared the nuclear activities were aimed at acquiring
the capability to produce atomic weapons - something denied by Tehran.
"I cannot announce (the level of)
Iran's uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial
prospecting for uranium ores we were not too optimistic, but the new
discoveries have made us confident about our reserves," Iranian nuclear
chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
Salehi said uranium exploration had covered almost two-thirds of Iran and would be complete in the next four years.
Uranium can be used for civilian power production and scientific purposes, but is also a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.
The July deal between Iran and world powers will lift international sanctions on Iran in exchange for at least a decade of curbs on the country's nuclear activity.
The U.S. State Department said any new reserves of uranium discovered in Iran will be under the same monitoring as existing mines under the nuclear agreement.
"Any
violation of that commitment would be met with the appropriate
response,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
After decades of effort, Iran -
which has consistently said its program is for peaceful purposes - has
achieved a full nuclear fuel cycle, ranging from the extraction of
uranium ore to enrichment and production of fuel rods for nuclear
reactors.
Sanctions on companies taking part in Iran's uranium mining industry will be lifted when the agreement is implemented.
Salehi said uranium extraction was set to begin at a new mine in the central province of Yazd, according to IRNA.
Some Western analysts have previously said that Iran was close to exhausting its supply of yellowcake - or raw uranium - and that mining it domestically was not cost-efficient.
A report
published in 2013 by U.S. think-tanks Carnegie Endowment and the
Federation of American Scientists said the scarcity and low quality of
Iran's uranium resources compelled it "to rely on external sources of
natural and processed uranium".
It
added: "Despite the Iranian leadership's assertions to the contrary,
Iran's estimated uranium endowments are nowhere near sufficient to
supply its planned nuclear program."
Iran has repeatedly denied overseas media reports that it has tried to import uranium from countries like Kazakhstan and Zimbabwe.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Additional reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Noah Browning, Pravin Char and David Gregorio)
From Reuters.
Would the outcome be the same today as Friday? DO the Democrats feel deceived by the president of the democratic party?
Amazing after taking a victory lap the left is very quiet.
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON — Senate Democrats delivered a major victory to President Obama when they blocked a Republican resolution to reject a six-nation nuclear accord with Iran on Thursday, ensuring the landmark deal will take effect without a veto showdown between Congress and the White House.
Mr. Obama is likely to go down in history as a rare president whose single biggest foreign policy and domestic achievements were won with no Republican votes, a stark departure from his 2008 campaign that was fueled by the promise of bridging Washington’s yawning partisan divide. As with the Iran accord, the health care law — passed exclusively with Democratic votes — was a policy achievement that has come to define his presidency, in part through the vehemence of its opponents in Congress.
Mission accomplished.