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The European Union (EU) 3 countries
Britain, France, and Germany revealed
a proposal that offers Iran a new
nuclear plant, a consortium-based
guaranteed fuel supply, warplanes, and
recognition of boundaries. The deal
asks Iran to cease its enrichment
plans, abandon the heavy-water
facility at Arak, and stop all
research and development work on
nuclear enrichment.
The proposal also outlines a list of
possibilities that will be invoked if
Iran rejects this proposal. These
include rejection of visas to senior
Iranian officials and their families,
freezing of assets of Iranians and
companies, and trade sanctions.
The United States has not approved the
plan and will provide an answer in
London where it will meet the other
so-called permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
and Germany.
Iran has so far
ridiculed the EU proposal
and has been negative on a Russian
plan that proposes to enrich uranium
solely for Iran in Russia. The EU
proposal is a variation of the Russian
proposal that says that the plant in
Russia will be consortium—which is a
demand from Iran, and not just a
Russian one. India has supported the
Russian proposal and should not have
any reservation on the EU proposal
which only sweetens the offer.
Circumstantial evidence makes the
international community suspicious
that Iran is developing bomb grade
uranium enrichment facility to augment
its bomb program. Iran rejects this
charge and says that as a signatory of
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
it is eligible to enrich uranium for
power generation purposes. Everyone
agrees that signatories of NPT are
eligible for enrichment of uranium.
However, the lack of adequate
reporting, hiding illegal purchases
from disgraced Pakistani nuclear
scientist A.Q. Khan, possible
secretive programs recently discovered
by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) does not infuse
confidence in what Iran says.
Moreover, a stringent of virulent
statements against the Jewish people
and Israel, the lack of recognition of
Israel’s right to exist, and the overt
support to certain terrorist groups in
Palestine makes the world community
nervous about Iran’s intentions.
A report by the British paper The
Telegraph quoted unnamed sources with
the Iranian establishment citing
advanced and bombing making efforts in
the Imam Hossein University. National
Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
leader Alireza Jafarzadeh has named 21
professors and researchers involved in
nuclear work in this University and
accused many of them as being part of
the 1979 revolution against the Shah
of Iran and which occupied the US
Embassy in Iran and held its employees
hostage. Israeli Ben-Gurion Professor
Zeev Alfassi has theorized that Iran
may already have a bomb and is being
“smart” negotiating a good deal from
the world but rejected the notion that
it will ever use it on Israel. Alfassi
thinks that the US will destroy Iran
if it did use it on Israel.
Noted strategic writer K. Subhramanyam
has advanced a theory that the US is
being held hostage by the Pakistani
military establishment through its
nuclear weapons and the threat of
non-cooperation should materials be
stolen by terrorists in collusion with
establishment radicals. He also
postulated the theory that Pakistan
has taught Iran its position to
threaten hitting India should it be
threatened and has encouraged that
country to threaten hitting Israel in
case of military action against it. He
also questioned why the US is not
calling the Pakistani bluff and
demanding access to A.Q. Khan who has
received official pardon and is held
in house arrest and away from IAEA
investigators. Besides, only recently,
Pakistan accepted responsibility for
aiding in the
export of nuclear bomb technology to
Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Syria..
The US Administration recently
announced its decision to reopen the
Khan nuclear market case and indicated
that it will be pressing Pakistan for
access and information.
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