 by Jordan Michael Smith |
During his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, dramatically escalating a program begun under President Bush, The New York Times reported last week. Administration officials say the stepped up program, code-named “Olympic Games,” has delayed Iran’s efforts to build nuclear weapons, buying the U.S. valuable time.
But not everyone agrees. Indeed, several experts argue that in fact, the attacks have helped alienate Iran, thereby increasing—not decreasing—the chances that it will ultimately develop nukes.
“Despite the fact that Iran’s timetable to enrich uranium may have been set back, the country has increasingly enriched uranium even as the cyber-attacks have gone on,” Reza Marashi, who served in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. State Department during both the Bush and Obama administrations, told MSNBC’s Lean Forward. The attacks, according to Marashi, have hardened Iran’s resolve to build a full-blown nuclear program, by convincing the regime that it needs to protect itself from the United States and Israel.
“We’ve really opened up Pandora’s Box with the cyberattacks, which are really unprecedented,” added Marashi, who is now research director at the National Iranian American Council.
Paul Pillar, a former CIA veteran of nearly 30 years who specialized in the Middle East, goes further, labeling the sabotage a clear-cut act of aggression.
“With the cyberattacks, we have passed a threshold by pursuing a direct form of warfare,” Pillar, currently a visiting professor at Georgetown University, said, adding that it’s no coincidence that the agencies in charge of the program—the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense—control war-making for the United States.
In the short-term, U.S. sabotage of Iranian computer programs—which uses a worm known as Stuxnet, developed jointly with Israel—may delay the mullahs’ pursuit of nuclear weapons, but in the long-term it has the exact opposite effect, says Pillar.
One reason why: The attacks undermine the ongoing diplomatic negotiations.
“The only scenario in which the Iranians would decide not to have a nuclear programs is when they are convinced that we want a lasting deal with them, and when we are not seen as being hostile to them,” says Pillar. “The cyber-attacks are certainly an indication of hostility on the part of Israel and the United States which add to the Iranian perception that they need to deter any attack on them.”
Marashi agreed, saying that the Stuxnet attacks have launched an arms race with the Iranians, likely leading them to respond in some fashion. “This creates a sort of cat-and-mouse game with each side creating new facts on the ground that leads us into uncharted waters,” he said.
Of course, the larger context here is an ongoing debate about how our Iran policy should balance carrots and sticks. Many hawks—including Mitt Romney—say only intense pressure will convince Iran to abandon its weapons program. "Only when [Iran's leaders] understand that at the end of that road lies not nuclear weapons but ruin will there be a real chance for a peaceful resolution," Romney wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed.
After all, the hard-liners argue, didn’t Obama extend a hand to the Iranians only in 2009, only to have it slapped back?
But proponents of engagement say that early outreach was halfhearted and wasn't pursued long or consistently enough to be effective—an argument bolstered by last week’s revelation that Obama ordered stepped-up cyber-attacks soon after taking office.
U.S. efforts to hack our way into Iran’s nuclear program may have set back that country’s quest to build nuclear weapons by weeks or months. But the value of that delay may be outweighed by the attacks’ other consequence: the deepening of Iran’s resolve to join the club of countries with the world’s worst weapons.
Jordan Michael Smith is a Contributing Writer at Salon.
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TEHRAN – The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations has said that Tehran will not negotiate with the major powers over its inalienable rights, rights that cannot be taken away, denied, or transferred.
Ambassador Mohammad Khazaii made the remarks during an interview with the Washington-based radio network NPR on February 9.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to engage in negotiations with the 5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), but it will not negotiate over its inalienable rights, Khazaii stated.
Furthermore, Iranian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran is not after acquiring military atomic technology but resolute to continue with its nuclear energy program.
We “will never, ever suspend our activities, including [uranium] enrichment,” he added.
IT IS THE INALIENABLE RIGHT OF EVERY SOVEREIGN STATE IN THE WORLD, INCLUDING IRAN AS STATED IN NPT TO ENRICH URANIUM.
Iran is determined to continue nuclear energy program, US sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities have been ineffective.
He also said that Tehran will send a letter to European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the six major powers in nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Iran is ready to hold serious talks without preconditions, he added, BUT will not le be tricked out with sweet words.
IRAN WILL REFUSE A BILETERAL MEETING WITH US DUE TO NO-DIPLOMATIC-RELATIONSHIP, SANCTIONS, US RHETORICS TO BOMB IRAN, CYBERSABOTAGE AND FLORIDA, AFGHANISTAN QURAN BURNINGS.
But those who think that Iran will change its logical and principled policy under the pressure of sanctions, threats are mistaken, Khazaii said, adding that the Islamic Republic has never made concessions on its absolute rights.
Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons pose the greatest threat to Mideast peace and accused the United States and other nuclear powers of hypocritically ignoring their disarmament commitments, he said.
Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty rules, Iran is not required to allow inspectors into its military bases, on January 13, 2005, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors were allowed "partial access" to the Parchin military base as a confidence-building measure.Since 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has requested further inspections of the site, but has been denied access by the Iranian government.
Tehran will not give the International Atomic Energy Agency a blank check for inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA says.
Article IV of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
1. Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the INALIENABLE RIGHT of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.
2. All the Parties to the Treaty undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Parties to the Treaty in a position to do so shall also co-operate in contributing alone or together with other States or international organizations to the further development of the applications of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, especially in the territories of non-nuclear-weapon States Party to the Treaty, with due consideration for the needs of the developing areas of the world.
Article X. Establishes the right to withdraw from the Treaty giving 3 months' notice. It also establishes the duration of the Treaty (25 years before 1995 Extension Initiative).
UN CHARTER VII ARTICLE 51:
Provides for the right of countries to engage in military action in self-defense, including collective self-defense (i.e. under an alliance) FOR IRAN TO RETALIATE WITH EQUAL FORCE IF ATTACKED, meaning Iran will hurt the enemies at least as much as they hurt Iran since They may be able start one but they cannot end it and it remains in Iran’s hands.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST ANTI IRAN, ANTI ISLAM BS CREATED BY US ON BEHALF OF UNBREAKABLE BOND ISRAEL.
11 months ago, Iran working on trigger for nukes, U.N. agency reports unsubstantiated by JTA, The information about the technology was part of a nine-page report on Iran's nuclear progress. The report did not indicate where the information came from nor provide any details, according to the Times.
Now The assosiated press exclisively reports A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that U.N. inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there. But, the report is unsubstantiated again.
ElBaradei: US, Europe Weren’t Interested in Compromise With Iran
Officials Withheld Key Info From IAEA Chief in Push for Regime Change by sanctions.
by Jason Ditz, April 20, 2011
Former IAEA Chief and current Egyptian Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei has given a high profile interview to Der Spiegel this week. Though the interview largely centers around domestic politics, it also delves into his IAEA experience, particularly with respect to the attempts to broker a deal on Iran.
ElBaradei reported that he was “on the verge of a solution on several occasions” and that politics had always foiled the efforts. In particular he accused US and European officials of withholding important documents.
“They weren’t interested in a compromise with the government in Tehran, but regime change – by any means necessary,” reported ElBaradei. He also noted the difficulty of trying to broker talks under these circumstances.
ElBaradei is releasing his memoirs of his time as IAEA chief in a book to be released next month. It is expected to detail his diplomatic efforts with Iraq (before the 2003 US invasion) as well as Iran and North Korea.
It is Iran's INALIEANBLE RIGHT to enrich uranium, as stated in NPT.
AN INALIEANBLE RIGHT is a right that cannot be taken away, denied, or transferred.