NYC Letter: "Crise Internationale" ! Let's Talk!

PRESIDENT [MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD]:
PEACEFUL NATURE OF IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM
ACCEPTABLE TO WORLD PUBLIC OPINION
August 29, 2006 (IRNA)

AHMADINEJAD SAYS UN ACTION
OVER IRAN NUCLEAR STANCE ‘UNLIKELY’
August 29, 2006 (Bloomberg)

September 1. The day after the big day.

IAEA REPORT CONFIRMS IRAN NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES
ARE PEACEFUL: SOLTANIEH

TEHRAN September 1, 2006 (MNA) - Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said on Thursday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report confirms that Iran’s nuclear activities are only for civilian purposes.

NEW NUCLEAR FIND AS IRAN DEFIES UN

VIENNA September 1, 2006 (SMH) - The International Atomic Energy Agency has deepened suspicions about Iran's nuclear program, reporting that inspectors had found new traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian facility.

Inspectors have twice in the past found such uranium, which at extreme enrichment levels can fuel bombs. The agency concluded that at least some of those samples came from contaminated equipment that Iran had obtained from Pakistan. But in the latest find, the nuclear fingerprint of the particles did not match those of the other samples, said an official familiar with the inspections.

The agency's six-page report to the UN Security Council on Thursday withheld judgement on where the material came from and whether it could be linked to a secret nuclear program.

Iran says its nuclear program is designed only for the production of energy. However, this would use uranium enriched at far lower levels than the sample described in the report. As expected, the report confirmed that Iran had continued producing enriched uranium at its vast Natanz facility but only on a small scale and at relatively low levels.

The UN has demanded that Iran stop such production.

UN HINTS AT TALKS, NOT SANCTIONS,
AS IRAN NUCLEAR DEADLINE PASSES

NEW YORK September 1, 2006 (Times Online) - On the eve of his two-day trip, Mr Annan suggested that some powers may be ready to start talks with Iran despite its rejection of the UN deadline of Thursday to halt its uranium enrichment work.

Were you surprised? Gobsmacked? Did you bet heavily on Iran being cowed by a determined UN? Do you need a hand up from the floor?

Or are you, much like us, bewildered by a UN arm-twist that was nothing more than a taffy pull?

Will it be left to America to stop the Iranians?

THANK YOU FOR NOT ENRICHING!
The Medium Is Not The Message