ElBaradei’s ruse helps Iran keep on enriching uranium for a nuke
Mohammed ElBaradei, about to retire as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, pulled a rabbit out of his hat Wednesday, Oct. 21 to save the Vienna talks with Iran on the future of its enriched uranium from breaking down on its third day. He put before the US, France and Russia and Iran a draft proposal and gave them until Friday to come back with their answer.
The only officials to come smiling out of the aborted meeting were the Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalilee and his aides. But strangely enough, it was greeted with happy applause in the West, from secretary of state Hillary Clinton to Israel’s deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai, who should have been wise to ElBaradei’s machinations by now. Even in Tehran, officials were puzzled by the Western reaction and stressed that the draft had not yet been approved and Iran would not succumb to “Western pressure.”
According to debkafile‘s sources, the ElBaradei draft allows Iran to ship 1,200 kilos of low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing. It would then go to the IAEA center in Vienna and on to France where the uranium would be converted into fuel rods for the small medical reactor in Tehran to make isotopes.
By some magic, this proposal “forgot” three UN Security Council resolutions and six-power demands for Iran to give up uranium enrichment. Iran is also suddenly absolved of the obligation to allow UN inspectors to monitor its facilities and not by a single word is Tehran forbidden to process masses of additional enriched uranium after it ships the 1.200 kilos to Russia, or even to make a bomb.
Tehran is therefore free to infer that all these curbs have been lifted with the concurrence of the six powers with whom it is engaged in nuclear negotiations, as well as the IAEA in the person of its director.
No wonder Jalilee smiled.
The IAEA director did not disclose who wrote the document (probably himself). The West appears to have been hoodwinked by yet another ElBaradei ruse. For years, he has maneuvered to get Iran off the hook of international pressure and free to advance on a nuclear weapon undisturbed. This time, paradoxically, an Iranian rejection would save the day.