TruthNews Commentary, September 18, 2003

The UN continues to drag its feet as Iran builds up its nuclear capability. The International Atomic Energy Agency has given Iran "one last chance" to cooperate with inspectors investigating charges that Iran has been undertaking clandestine nuclear activities in support of nuclear weapons programs. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, "We welcome the adoption of this resolution, which...gives Iran an October 31st deadline...to answer fully all unresolved, International Atomic Energy Agency questions about its nuclear activities." But does anyone expect this to be any more successful than the late lamented Iraq inspection regime?

The U.S. has long been concerned that Iran will use the reactor at Bushehr, currently under construction, as cover for efforts to produce nuclear weapons. The Iranians claim that they need the reactor to generate electrical power. But Iraq is one of the world’s leading oil exporters. Oil-fired generators can provide all of Iran’s power requirements, and they have has no requirement for nuclear power.

The Bushehr reactor is being built with assistance from Russia. Nuclear fuel will be supplied to the reactor by Russia. The spent fuel is supposed to be returned to Russia to help ensure that Iran does not have access to fissile material that could be used in a nuclear weapon. But Iran has announced that it intends to mine its own uranium, enrich it, and convert it into nuclear fuel. The spent enriched uranium from that process could provide Iran the critical material needed to produce nuclear weapons.

An Iranian nuclear weapons program, if allowed to continue, could give Iran the ability to attack other countries with nuclear missiles. Iran continues to develop and test long-range missiles which it specifically declares are for the destruction of Israel. Nuclear warheads for these missiles will allow Iran to make this threat a reality.

Iran is also the world's most active state sponsor of terrorism. It supports such terrorist groups as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Iran has already provided some of these groups with conventional weapons. Nuclear weapons will give Iran the ability to blackmail Europe into accepting its continued sponsorship of terrorism.

In February, IAEA Director General Mohammed El Baradei initiated a more rigorous investigation of Iran's nuclear activities. In reports in June and August, he provided compelling evidence that Iran was violating IAEA safeguards, hiding its nuclear activities, lying to inspectors, and refusing to cooperate with them.

Given that the IAEA is a UN agency, and that El Baradei was Hans Blix’s partner in whitewashing Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, we have scant hope that the IAEA’s "last chance" for Iran will, in fact, be a last chance. But perhaps the failure of Iran to cooperate with the UN will at least give Israel sufficient justification to destroy Iran’s reactor as they did Iraq’s nuclear capabilities 22 years ago.