Iran vows to expand nuclear program

[Michael]

Iran vows to expand its nuclear program

10 uranium-enrichment sites announced after international rebuke

Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 30, 2009

TEHRAN -- Iran's government will build 10 new sites to enrich uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a dramatic expansion of the country's nuclear program and one that is bound to fuel fears that it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that construction of at least five nuclear facilities is to begin within two months.

The surprise announcement came two days after a censure of Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency over the Islamic republic's refusal to stop enriching uranium, a key demand of Western powers. The 35-member board of the agency also criticized Iran's construction of a second enrichment plant in Qom, southwest of Tehran.

Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/29/AR2009112900992.html)

Oh boy this doesn't sound good. I'm not particularly opposed to Iran developing nukes, but I am disturbed by the "in your face" type attitude they are displaying.

I think thirty years of short-sighted US policy here is paying very ugly dividends. :shrug:

[Zarquon]

Source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/29/AR2009112900992.html)

Oh boy this doesn't sound good. I'm not particularly opposed to Iran developing nukes, but I am disturbed by the "in your face" type attitude they are displaying.

I think thirty years of short-sighted US policy here is paying very ugly dividends. :shrug:
Try 56 to include the coup of 1953 which toppled a social-democratic govt and installed the aristocratic shah, and sowed the seeds of the eventual revolution.

[Americano]

Try 56 to include the coup of 1953 which toppled a social-democratic govt and installed the aristocratic shah, and sowed the seeds of the eventual revolution.

The US/UK implemented coup.

[Donkey]

Listening to NPR's discussion of feasibility of the progam's ambitions, it's much like Iran threatening to build a giant laaaaaaser.

[Michael]

Listening to NPR's discussion of feasibility of the progam's ambitions, it's much like Iran threatening to build a giant laaaaaaser.

That's essentially irrelevant. This is a game of words that the USA likes to play. Iran has been encouraged to play this game in precisely this way.

Its not about actual nuclear plants, it is about attitude. Iran has figured out that their nuclear program is irrelevant to their relations with the western powers. They are now just tweaking our noses.

Iran must bow before America or America will continue to seek war. Iran could shelf their entire nuke program tomorrow and relations between US and Iran wouldn't change one whit. Iran has figured this out. When will the USA admitt that?

[The Drunk Guy]

When will the USA admit that?
When American corporations control their government, too.

[Americano]

That's essentially irrelevant. This is a game of words that the USA likes to play. Iran has been encouraged to play this game in precisely this way.

Its not about actual nuclear plants, it is about attitude. Iran has figured out that their nuclear program is irrelevant to their relations with the western powers. They are now just tweaking our noses.

Iran must bow before America or America will continue to seek war. Iran could shelf their entire nuke program tomorrow and relations between US and Iran wouldn't change one whit. Iran has figured this out. When will the USA admitt that?

Accurate assessment. With Israel in the mix Iran has no other direction. If I was an Iranian I would despise America, not just for the current situation, and hate her gunslinger Israel. Global economics and US domestic requirements are going to become more of an issue in that circumstance over the coming decade, making Israel even more paranoid.