Iran would never make atom bomb: Ayatullah Khamenei

“The Iranian nation has never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons and will never seek nuclear weapons as it has the capacity to challenge the nuclear-backed influence such powers rely on,” said Ayatollah Khamenei, leader of the Islamic Revolution in a Wednesday meeting in Tehran with the director and officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and nuclear scientists the Leader described the country’s nuclear and technological achievements further in line with national interests and beneficial for the future of the country.

“There is no doubt that the decision makers in the countries opposing us know well that Iran is not after nuclear weapons because the Islamic Republic, logically, religiously and theoretically, considers the possession of nuclear weapons a grave sin and believes the proliferation of such weapons is senseless, destructive and dangerous.”

“If nations are allowed to independently make progress in the fields of nuclear energy, aerospace, science, technology and industry, there will be no room left for the tyrannical dominance of world powers,” said the Leader.

“Sanctions have been in place since the victory of the Islamic Revolution while the nuclear issue is a matter of the past few years; therefore their (the West) real problem is with a nation that has decided to be independent.”

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed a meeting with head and officials of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and nuclear scientists in Tehran on February 22, 2011.  Here

America is the problem: Mani Shanker

The problem is neither Riyadh nor Tehran. The problem is Washington. I think Washington is right in worrying about Iranian nuclear weapons but why aren’t the Americans also worrying about Israeli nuclear weapons? Israeli nuclear weapons exist. The Iranian nuclear weapon, if anybody is making it, lies in the future.

Mani Shankar Aiyer in Arab News. Here

Iran, India and the persian puzzle

This is perhaps what the expression ‘setting the cat among the pigeons’ means. Just when Israel was putting up that little show, going around the world crying about the way Iran was targeting its peaceful diplomats around the world, the ayatollahs come up with their own little performance taking everyone’s breath away.

Not that Ahmadinejad didn’t warn us. As always, everyone was sufficiently intimated of the glad tidings on the nuclear front were on their way. Yet it was a master stroke. Give the Iranians their due. If the Israelis are known for their cunning and craft of obfuscation and manipulation, it’s not easy beating the Persians at mind games either. After all, they invented the game of chess.

Defying years of Western sanctions and the endless talk of war by Israel, the Iranians seem to have gotten another decisive step closer to their goal. And they have all the players and pawns where they want them to be. And for all their bluff and bluster, Israel and its guardian angels can’t do much about it.

As a former Indian envoy to Iran put it, this is like the classic Persian puzzle. Iran takes one step forward and waits and watches for the reaction of adversaries before taking the next cautious step. Call it the Persian incrementalism or whatever but it seems to have worked so far.

Aijaz Zaka Syed in Foreign Policy Journal. Here

Full Text of the speech of Dr Ahmadinejad on Nuclear Energy

Dr. Mahmud Ahmadinejad President of the Islamic Republic of Iran on Nuclear Energy Advances (Full Text)

Iran: Ahmadinezhad Inaugurates Nuclear Projects
Speech by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad in Tehran at a ceremony marking the simultaneous launch of three nuclear projects — live.
Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Document Type: OSC Translated Text

In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful! O’ Lord, bless the soul of the Lord of the Age and make us his true followers and hasten his auspicious return.

I thank the great God, who is witness to the great achievements and the endeavors of the valiant children of the nation of Iran who have triumphed in various arenas, especially in the domain of nuclear power.

I present three achievements to the nation of Iran and the human community. We honor the memory of the Imam (Khomeyni) and the martyrs who showed us the path to glory and pride and not only to the people of Iran, but to the human community.

This is especially so for the martyrs of the nuclear endeavor, especially martyr Ahmadi-Rowshan, martyr Reza’inezhad as well as martyrs Shahriyary and Ali-Mohammadi.
Before I submit a few sentences about these achievements to you and the beloved nation of Iran I want to go back a bit and take a look at the global scene.
The heinous record of the hegemonic powers is not only confined to the era of slavery and colonialism. Those two periods are the darkest of all in the chapter of human history. The crimes that were committed in those periods were unprecedented.

The repugnance of their deeds caused the imposition of war and led to occupation and terror and humiliation which they inflicted on various nations. If you want to list the crimes that they committed against the international community, that list will be long indeed. They built atomic bombs, they built chemical weapons, and today, using their domination of centers of power, both in the arena of economics and politics, they have imposed a modern and complex system of plunder on the world.

In this way, the wealth of nations is systematically plundered and transferred into the pocket of the oppressors of the world. In my view, even more treacherous and more odious than this is their attitude toward science. It is their approach toward the progress of nations. They monopolize science. They monopolize technologies that originated from that science. Science has to be at the service of the international community.

It has to systemize a mode of relations between nations that fosters mutual respect and dignity. It has to be at the service of compassion, kindness, and justice. It has to be at the service of friendship.

They monopolized it and they transformed it into an instrument of domination in order to advance their colonial and repressive policies and to plunder nations. You are witness to this. Science is a bequest to humanity. It is a result of the endeavors of humanity throughout the ages.

They work little by little and it has accumulated. Little by little, they have worked on it and science has become the property of humanity.

Look at this very nuclear science; first of all they equated nuclear science to the technology of the bomb. Whenever you mention nuclear science it immediately conjures up the image of a bomb in your mind. Nuclear science and technology are quite useful to humanity and in various aspects of human life.

One of these is radio medicine. Another is radio isotopes which find applications in industry, agriculture, and medicine or generating clean power that is very cheap. It can lead to the speedy progress of nations and provide them with welfare and health and security.
Nevertheless, they (the West) equate all this to the nuclear bomb. At first glance, you might think that this is not very important. Of course, it is; when it is equated to the bomb many of the regulations related to security and constraints and monopoly creating laws are formulated. They impose various restrictions which you are witness to, that after 70-80 years it is only seven or eight nations that enjoy the benefit of nuclear power. The rest of the nations are deprived of it.
Any nation that dares to develop this science and technology is faced with pressures and sanctions on top of insults and much hullaballoo.

In my view, the biggest assault that they made on humanity was the assault on science. Look at what they have done in the arena of Iran’s nuclear episode. How much noise did they make?

How much bad conduct they showed and how impolite they were toward the nation of Iran.
They tried to prevent the progress of the nation of Iran. They launched resolutions and sanctions against us and applied political pressure and launched propaganda against Iran but all to no avail.

Our youth, our scientists, our experts bypassed all of the inhumane restrictions they imposed on us. We built and developed these technologies only to be faced with destructive software (presumably referring to Stuxnet) which they (the West) developed and infected our systems with.

They even announced it openly. The West, then, saw that the Iranian scientists and experts triumphed even over these.

Then, even more odious than that was that they had the audacity to commit bigger crimes — the assassination of Iranian scientists — Why did they do that?

This is because they didn’t want science to be spread throughout the world. They don’t want nations to progress. It is obvious that if the nations live in an enlightened way and make progress and enjoy the benefit of this enlightenment and progress and power then the West will not be able to plunder these nations.

They have closed off the source of the spring. This is so that no one would dare cross the boundaries set for them.

If a nation crosses these boundaries it would be subjected to heavy pressures and ultimately assassination. What was the crime of our scientists? What did they do other than endeavor to make the human community glorious? Martyrs Ali-Mohammadi and Shahriyari were among the most distinguished scientists in the world and the rest such as martyrs Reza’inezhad and Ahmadi-Rowshan were all at the service of the nuclear project of the nation.

They had the audacity to openly announce this (the assassinations). Today, whichever nation wants to experience the real meaning of dignity or progress, any nation that wants to enjoy justice and freedom, any nation that wants to experience greatness; has to break the domineering force of the hegemonic powers. They have to stand up to this force.

They are far weaker than they would admit. They portray the image of being mighty and powerful. They are far weaker than that. We are witness to it today. They mustered all their power against the nation of Iran but what did they achieve?

They martyred our children, the children of the nation. Then, we saw that thousands upon thousands of our youth openly cried “I am martyr Ali-Mohammadi, I am martyr Reza’inezhad, I am martyr Ahmadi-Rowshan.” Thousands upon thousands will supplant these martyrs. They show ill conduct towards us and talk nonsense.

Of course, I still advise them to stop and not to tarnish their own images further. It is obvious that you are against the progress of nations. It is as clear as daylight, you can’t conceal it. Are you really against the bomb, but how many of the neighboring nations have you supplied with bombs? We have received news that most recently you have put bombs at the disposal of the nation (presumably in the region).

Are you really opposed to bombs? A nation that has stockpiled tens of thousands of bombs claims that it opposes bombs.

Are you not ridiculing yourself? History will ridicule you. The nation of Iran has found its true path. I advise them to refrain from this ill conduct.

The blood of all these martyrs has appeared on their record. The nation of Iran has registered this (on that record) and it will adjust its relations with them on the basis of that past. They have to realize that times have changed. All nations must know, and they do know, that times have changed, the era of bullying and building empires has passed.

In these last dying moments they are desperately struggling. They are making a few noises and taking a few steps forward.

The tide of history has turned, the times have changed. Attitudes, cultures and nations have been transformed. It would be in their interest to join the family of nations.
They have to change their ways. They have to especially change their attitude toward the nation of Iran. They constantly make frequent remarks against the nation of Iran. All options are on the table, they say. Fine, we say, let these options be on the table. Let it remain on the table for so long that it rots.

Much the same as yourself and your thoughts and the stench of your attitude, which has spread throughout history, let it rot.

I advise them to change their attitude and reform their ways to accompany the family of nations, to accompany their own nation because they cannot cover up their odious past by assaulting others. They concoct and fabricate false scenarios for nations and their own nation in order to cover up their own deep-rooted weaknesses.

Those times have passed. The nation of Iran has found its own clear path. This is the clear path that our martyrs have formulated for the nation of Iran. Did you see what the mother of the martyr said, she said just one sentence: Continue the path of that martyr.

This path will continue but, Mr Abbasi (head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization) made a few remarks on these achievements. These achievements are quite significant. I think it is in everyone’s mind that nearly two years ago, or two and a half years ago, we wrote a letter to the IAEA saying that the Tehran reactor’s fuel is about to be completed. Under the regulations and the charter of the agency you should supply us with some fuel. You can receive the money and supply us that fuel.

They said we will put this under consideration. The result of that consideration was that we sit down with two or three of the countries that can supply this fuel or could help us develop this fuel, and talk to them. This was so that we could reach an understanding with them. In a very bizarre fashion, they somehow link what was a humanitarian plea to the nuclear dossier of Iran.

This is against the background of the fact that this reactor is a medical reactor and produces radio medicine.

These are drugs which can be used to diagnose illnesses and many of these drugs have to be used immediately after production.

In other words, they cannot be stored, usage after production is what is the correct mode of handling. This is because they are active. Ultimately, they came up with excuses and tried to go back on their pledges.

Then they passed the resolution and a declaration was made to Tehran and then they make noises to date.

The reason for their going back on their words was that they wanted to use the needs of the nation of Iran as political levers to pull.

They wanted to impose conditions which contravened our sovereignty. It blocked the path of our nation’s scientific development. They kept on saying suspend enrichment. What do you want us to suspend? I remember that in a meeting on 9 April 2010 I told them that if you don’t supply us with 20 percent enriched uranium the reactor would be downed.

Please keep the reactor going! If you don’t supply us with the fuel, we will have to do it ourselves. They wrote articles and took part in interviews and they used to say that Iran is bluffing.

Iran cannot produce this fuel, they said. Let us not supply this fuel so that it would put pressure on the medical sector of Iran. Then the Iranians would submit (to our will). We told them that you are wrong. The Iranians can produce this fuel themselves. They did not believe us in that meeting of 9 April 2010.

We then asked our scientists to embark on producing 20 percent enriched uranium. The production of this 20 percent enriched uranium is a very complex process. It requires a high level of nuclear expertise and scientific know-how. It requires pretty complex technology.
Let me simplify things for you; the 20 percent fuel has its own complex process. The end product is just powder. It has to be transformed into a solid object which can be transported. They have to do a lot of mixing and pressing until it becomes a plate and it is a few millimeters thick. But, the fuel that has to be installed inside the reactor is 1.5 mm thick. The thickness of this plate is 1.5 mm. The kernel of this plate constitutes what is known as the fuel. Four tenths of a millimeter this way, and four-tenths that; this is the span of the plate. (sentence as heard) The thickness of the fuel itself is 0.7 mm. Is this right? This has to be spread throughout a wide container. (sentence as heard) It has to be uniformly distributed. There can’t be a surplus thickness in one part and unevenness in another or suffer breakages or come to a stop.

Reaching this stage required a lot of hard work and study. All our scientists were mobilized. In those days, they had told us that this would take two years. We have to first build the dedicated instruments. We have to develop the science and then build the machines.
We have to build the experimental machines to carry out the development process.
We used to produce only three and a half percent enriched uranium prior to that. To be able to produce 20 percent fuel we need to develop new designs. We have to deliver 3.5% enriched uranium. It is not as if we will something and it simply does of its own accord.

They told us that it would take two years for this process to be completed. We asked them to complete this process a few months before two years so that the reactor is not downed. In the period of time that they were unable to produce these radio medicines, those very countries hiked their prices of the fuel in question a few-fold. They hiked prices so much that the honor and dignity of our men and women would not allow us to accept these conditions.

Our men and women said we will work day and night to produce these drugs domestically. Thank the Lord, today we have produced this 20 percent fuel ourselves. Every month, we need a kilogram and a half of this fuel and every three years the entire fuel itself has to be replaced.

In other words, something like 40 kg has to be replaced and you saw all of this in the film (shown before Ahmadinezhad’s speech).

Iran has found out for itself that this very process of replacement must be conducted under certain standards and procedures which have to be complied with both in the production and utilization stage. God forbid, if problems are encountered with the fuel, it can damage the reactor. It can risk the health of the individuals who work here. After all, nuclear work has certain exacting requirements which must be adhered to. Numerous experiments have to be conducted.

The material used for this fuel is from special alloys. They have to be produced under critical temperature conditions, thank God, this fuel has been produced today.

It has been installed inside the reactor, it is a gift to the nation of Iran. It has been presented to our martyrs and we have undertaken another great stride in the nuclear path.

The second achievement that has been realized, our three and a half percent capacity has been enhanced by 50 percent. In other words, we have 6,000 centrifuges and we added 3,000 more to them. The total now stands at 9,000. I will remind you that one day our negotiators used to plead with them. Let us have four or 10. They used to say, we can’t let you. In other words, this was the continuation of that same monopolistic attitude.

It was more of the same bullying, ill-conduct, impoliteness and selfishness. Now let them open their eyes and see that we have 9,000 centrifuges. These are installed and they have been designed by the Iranians, built by the Iranians, and okay, maybe a few pieces here and there which have been supplied from elsewhere. If you want to sabotage anything go and do something to those few pieces, but rest assured that those few odd pieces will be manufactured one day by our kids too.

The third achievement is the development of a new centrifuge with a capacity three times its predecessors’. In other words, if on top of these 9,000 centrifuges we produce another 9,000, altogether we will have achieved a total capacity equal to 27,000 of the old centrifuges. In other words, if we produce another 9,000 we will have a total enrichment capacity equal to 36,000. (sentence as heard) This we offer to the nation of Iran and all free nations and I hope that we will reach the stage where we can meet all the nuclear needs of our nation ourselves.

This is so that we suffer no need to stretch our begging hand to other nations especially those ungallant elements in this world. The hardest moment for a gallant nation is when it stretches its hand of need to a few ungallant elements.

We hope that we reach that stage, and we will reach it. Hundreds of thousands of specialists are working on this and thousands more are waiting in line.

The application to register on nuclear-related (university) courses has recently increased a few-fold. This has been precipitated recently by the blood of the martyrs, which is now circulating in the arteries of this nation. Once again it revives endeavor, working for God and dignity to achieve these aims. It has been institutionalized in the culture of Iran today and I congratulate the nation of Iran for these achievements. This belongs to all of humanity. We are not like them to want to monopolize this knowledge.

Under the regulations of the agency this right has been preserved for all nations, but only on paper. It has recognized the right of all members to benefit from this technology and produce the fuel and meet their own needs and I pledge to the member nations of the agency that we are ready to transfer this knowledge to them under the agency rules.

We have no covetous colonial eyes or designs. We want to do this without any political blackmail. But, I also have a plea to make with my colleagues.

This path has to be continued with resolve. We have to continue this path with might. They know that nobody is scared of all this hullaballoo. Let them shout so loud that they will suffer whatever they ought to suffer. (Ahmadinezhad laughs)

They are a bunch of uncultivated, savage people, they are the most savage in history. Even wild wolves are fairer than this lot. A wolf tears a couple of sheep apart and when he is no longer hungry, he goes and sleeps.

But the appetite of this lot is never satiated. This is a government that allocates $80 billion each year to build atomic bombs. For God’s sake, just one atomic bomb can kill 500,000 people. How much more destruction can you unleash with 10,000 bombs?

How many millions or billions of people do you want to kill? They even admit that they can destroy the whole world a few times over. Good, so you admit to it then? Let us applaud you. What great individuals you are. You call this progress or regression?

No one should listen to their promises. In fact, our nuclear activities are totally separate from the political squabbles against the nation of Iran.

These are all pretexts and if this pretext is confronted they bring up another pretext. They say they want to negotiate, so why don’t you? Or are you the sort to say that you are for talks but come to the table with a club and say listen to whatever I tell you? Is this what you call negotiation?

You want to negotiate in this way with a nation like Iran? Or, do you want to destroy the nation of Iran? Well, come and destroy it then. (laughs) Please come forward. (laughs) Please don’t pull any punches. History is filled with bullies who wanted to destroy the nation of Iran but the nation of Iran has survived and the name of their potential destroyers is not even registered in the pages of history.

We have to put up with this kind of logic in the political arena. You just get on with what you have to do. One of the things that you can do, and one of the urgent needs of the nation that the Atomic Energy Organization has to concentrate on an d the scientists must be mobilized for, is to build a few of these very same reactors.

In this way, we can deliver the drugs that are needed by the nation. I think that the fuel plate and its containers were the hardest part to build. The rest is just a matter of using a few sheets of steel and build a reactor. (laughs)

When I say this, I don’t want to belittle what you do. On the contrary, I want to show your greatness in the face of the challenges you face.

I want to say that in the face of your great knowledge, all the problems are like a few sheets of steel and a few iron rods, that’s all. (laughs)

We just saw that there was controlled instrumentation. Experimental instruments and equipment for the design of various pieces and all of these have been built by our kids. In other words, we have the infrastructure, we have the science and the structures.

We need a few more of these reactors. Prior to this, we had predicted four reactors to meet our needs. In other words, we should build reactors in four locations in Iran to both meet our experimental and research needs and our medical needs. I cordially thank all of you. (People chant “God is great” and “death to America”)

They thought that by killing a few people they can weaken your resolve. Who in Iran is scared of them? Nobody is scared of assassination. Of course, the main priority of the officials is to provide full protection to our scientists and technicians and I emphasize, of course our martyrs have reached exaltation, they have conquered the summit and are in flight, that no one should be under the illusion that people would be frightened in Iran.

The collective community of our nuclear scientists is part of one family. They are all working together to develop these products. Be it he who conducts research, or he who is a technician, or he who does control work, or he who carries out safety work, or he who conducts supply work, or transport work, or administrative work, they are all part of the same collective.

This family is the dearest family of the nation of Iran. Representing the nation of Iran, I kiss your hand. I thank you and may you continue your path to the conquest of the summit. May God be with you.

(Description of Source: Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Television (IRINN) in Persian — 24-hour news channel of state-run television, officially controlled by the office of the supreme leader)

Saudi Arabia in quest of a BOMB!

For all its wealth, Saudi Arabia does not have the technical and scientific base to create a nuclear infrastructure. It has many expatriate-staffed universities, and tens of thousands of Saudi students have been sent to universities overseas. But because of an ideological attitude unsuited to the acquisition of modern scientific skills, there has been little success in producing a significant number of accomplished Saudi engineers and scientists.

Perforce, a Saudi Arabia in search of the bomb will likely turn to Pakistan for help. An outright transfer of nuclear weapons by Pakistan to Saudi Arabia is improbable. Surely this would lead to extreme reaction from the United States and Europe.

Instead, the kingdom's route to nuclear weapons is likely to be long, beginning with the acquisition of nuclear reactors for electricity generation. The spent fuel from reactors can be reprocessed for plutonium. Like Iran, Saudi Arabia will have to find creative ways for skirting various treaty obstacles. But it will doubtless take heart from the US decision to "forgive" India for its nuclear testing in 1998 and eventually reward it with a nuclear deal.

The kingdom's first step toward making nuclear weapons may soon be taken. In June 2011, it revealed plans to build 16 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $300 billion. To create, run, and maintain the resulting nuclear infrastructure will require importing large numbers of technical workers. Some will no doubt be brought over from the West, Russia, and countries once part of the former Soviet Union. But Saudi Arabia will likely find engineering and scientific skills from Pakistan particularly desirable.

Pervez Hoodbhoy in The Bulletin. Here

Emergence of a resurgent Egypt

What is becoming apparent is that Egypt is reclaiming the regional influence it abjectly surrendered when it became a poodle of the US and a collaborator of Israel following the 1979 peace treaty. The spokesperson of the Egyptian foreign ministry told the New York Times, ''We are opening a new page. Egypt is resuming its role that was once abdicated.''

The profundity of the shift in the Egyptian policies is that the military is spearheading the process with the full realization that this is also the collective wish of Egyptian society, its elites and professionals as well as the working class, and the secular-minded as well as the observant Muslim masses. Even the strategic community, as practitioners of realpolitik, feel enthralled that an independent path bestows flexibility to Egypt's policies and earns respect for the country as a regional power when Cairo speaks or acts.

Ali Akbar Salehi

The New York Times noted, ''Egypt's shifts are likely to alter the balance of power in the region, allowing Iran new access to a previously implacable foe and creating distance between itself and Israel.'' No sooner than the news appeared about the Fatah-Hamas accord, Tehran scrambled to welcome it. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the agreement is the ''first great achievement of the great Egyptian nation on the international scene''.

The Egypt-Iran rapprochement has indeed gained traction. Starting with the granting of permission (disregarding US and Israeli protests) for the unprecedented passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal in February, Cairo moved purposively and by the beginning of April, Egyptian Foreign Minister was already reaching out for closer diplomatic ties with Iran.

Israel's worst fears about the meaning of the Egyptian revolution seem to be coming true.

The latest Egyptian announcement in the wake of the Fatah-Hamas accord, that it will reopen the Rafah crossing with Gaza permanently, has set alarm bells ringing in Israel. (An Egyptian security team is preparing to visit Gaza). An unnamed senior Israeli official told Wall Street Journal on Friday that recent developments in Egypt could affect Israel's ''security at a strategic level''. The chief of staff of the Egyptian armed forces General Sami Anan promptly warned Israel against interfering with Cairo's plan to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, saying it was not a matter of concern for Israel.

The Egyptian military leadership's decision on Rafah reflects a collective wish of the domestic public opinion which empathizes with the sufferings and hardships of the people of Gaza. (A recent poll by US-based Pew Research Center found that 54% of Egyptians want Egypt's peace treaty with Israel to be annulled.) In the circumstances, what will worry Israel (and the US) most is whether the surprise Fatah-Hamas agreement brokered by Egypt is linked in some way to the Palestinian plan to push at the General Assembly session in New York in September for UN recognition for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Such an apprehension is not unwarranted. The Wall Street Journal commented last week, ''In the more than two months since … Mubarak abdicated … Egypt has reached out to Iran, questioned the price on a contract to export natural gas that is crucial to Israel's energy needs, and won major diplomatic victories with Hamas.''

At the very least, as Helena Cobban, a long-time expert on the region and author, blogged, ''What is true as a general rule in the region is that the kind of sordid backroom deals that regimes like Mubarak's, that of successive Jordanian monarchs, or others have struck with Israel in the past - that is, arrangements to quash Palestinian movements that go far beyond the formal requirements of the peace treaties - have become considerably harder for these Arab parties to uphold, given the long overdue and very welcome emergence of strong movements calling for transparency and accountability from Arab governments.''

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jabir al-Sabah

That is to say, any digressions in the nature of stoking the fires of Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian passions may work only momentarily in the developing regional milieu. This became amply clear when Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Abdulaziz Sharaf chose the occasion of a meeting last week with the Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah to shrug off the paranoia about Iran whipped up by Saudi Arabia and firmly asserted Cairo's resolve to expand ties with Iran. He said, ''Egypt is trying to begin a new chapter in ties with Iran, which is one of the world's important countries.''

M K Bhadrakumar in Asia Times. Here

Obama is behaving like Bush : Iranian minister

Speaking on the second day of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Regional Security Summit at the Ritz-Carlton Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki blamed the American presence in the region for its instability.

“They bombed Afghanistan (after 9/11) and then became so arrogant that they did not even feel the need to take the permission of the United Nations to bomb Iraq. They killed hundreds of innocent people in Iraq — people who had committed no crime,” he said in Farsi.

He accused the US of spreading lies and deception, citing the recent WikiLeaks controversy, and claimed that Iran was a friend to all Arab and Muslim countries in the region. “We are happy when Saudi Arabia flourishes. We are happy to note that Bahrain has become an important center of international banking. Why should we not be happy? These are our Muslim brothers,” he said while driving his point home.

It is the foreign intervention that is to blame for all the ills afflicting the region, he said. “It has been proven that foreign intervention creates unhealthy rivalries between neighbors. It is the presence of foreign powers in our region that is the immediate cause for regional divisions and strife.”

He denied claims that Iran was building a nuclear weapon and claimed the Americans were spreading lies.
“We are not. And let me clarify that throughout our 700 years of history and culture we have not used force against any of our Arab neighbors ... We cannot even think of it because our neighbors are Muslims.”

He said Muslim countries must not submit to pressures by outsiders that divide them and create instability and create divisions among friends in the region. “In the region it has been proven that foreign intervention creates unhealthy rivalries between neighbors.”

Iranian nuclear power, he said, will benefit the entire Muslim world. “Muslims must be happy to see other Muslims becoming powerful ... Our power is your power, and your power is ours,” he told the high-powered gathering. “We must not allow the Western media to tell us what to think of each other.”

According to him, things have not changed under US President Barack Obama. “We see the same policies are in motion that were started by (George W.) Bush. The American people had given Obama the mandate to stop the wars. He did not do so and was therefore punished in recent elections,” said Mottaki.

He said Iran is fully aware of the dangers of building nuclear weapons. “A nuclear bomb does only one thing: it destroys everything. Why will we go for such a weapon? Look at our history and show one instance where we have used force? We never sought weapons of mass destruction. Even when we were attacked by chemical weapons in the 1980s we did not think of building such weapons. These chemical weapons were by the way supplied by the American and European governments to Iraq.”

As recently as Thursday, the UN International Atomic Energy Agency restated that Iran was not fulfilling its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which it is signatory. The UN imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran in June for its continued noncompliance with the international watchdog group.

“It has been six months since they introduced the sanctions, and if they need more time in order to see if these sanctions worked they can wait a longer time. The sanctions have no impact on us,” the 57-year-old Iranian career diplomat maintained.


From Siraj Wahab's report in Arab News. More Here.

The dawn of a powerful Iran..!

The scientific output has grown 11 times faster in Iran than the world average, faster than any other country. A survey of the number of scientific publications listed in the Web of Science database shows that the growth in the Middle East––mostly in Iran and Turkey––is nearly four times faster than the world average. Only in February last Iran had sent mouse, turtles and worms into the space.

It is not any Iranian or Turkish agency but Science-Metrix, a data analysis company in Montreal, which has published a detailed report on “geo-political shift in knowledge creation” since 1980. Eric Archambault, the author of the report and president of Science-Metrix is of the view that “Asia is catching up even more rapidly than previously thought, Europe is holding its position more than most would expect. And the Middle East is the region to watch.”

If that study is to be believed the scientific output of North America––the United States is the most important country in this continent––has grown considerably slower than the world as a whole in the last two decades. World scientific output grew steadily from 450,000 papers in 1980 to 1,500,000 in 2009. Asia as a whole surpassed North America last year.

The development of Iran and Turkey need to be viewed in a different context too. They have acquired this distinction when they have elected Islamic governments in power and do not have the secular and western-minded tin-pot dictators thrust on the people.

The progress made by these two powers are being recognized by countries like Russia and China, albeit for their own diplomatic and military interest. The United States, Israel and West Europe want to use sanctions to push back their development.

The people of Iran have exploded the western myth woven since the Khomeini-led Islamic Revolution in 1979; that the country of Ayatollahs cannot make any progress.

Now the western scholars are floundering for words to explain as to how “the Iran of Mullahs” and burqa-clad women are on the threshold of the space and nuclear age and has not travelled back to the stone age as they predicted. This notwithstanding all sorts of sanctions in the past and US backed and Saddam Husain-led eight year old war thrust on it (1980-87).

From Soroor Ahmed's article From Mini-Skirts To Burqas: Iran, Turkey Clad As Scientific Powers in Indian Muslims. Read More

It might be the Chinese year of the tiger, but scientifically, 2010 is looking like Iran's year.

Scientific output has grown 11 times faster in Iran than the world average, faster than any other country. A survey of the number of scientific publications listed in the Web of Science database shows that growth in the Middle East – mostly in Turkey and Iran – is nearly four times faster than the world average.

Science-Metrix, a data-analysis company in Montreal, Canada, has published a detailed report (PDF) on "geopolitical shifts in knowledge creation" since 1980. "Asia is catching up even more rapidly than previously thought, Europe is holding its position more than most would expect, and the Middle East is a region to watch," says the report's author, Eric Archambault.

From New Scientist.com More here and here and here

Iran has joined the ''nuclear club"

Iran has entered the world's ''nuclear club" and major powers should accept it, an influential cleric told worshippers on Friday, underlining Tehran's defiance in a dispute with the West over its atomic activities.

Ahmad Khatami, a conservative hard-liner in the clerical establishment, also warned the major powers that Iran could "endanger your entire world" in any future confrontation.

The United States is lobbying UN Security Council members to back a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, to press it into curbing sensitive nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity and has refused to bow to international pressure to halt it

From Reuters' report in Arab News

To read the full report click here.