From AP:
TEHRAN, Iran Iran announced on Sunday that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency were in the country and preparing to remove seals from nuclear research facilities no later than Monday, allowing Tehran to move forward with its vow to resume nuclear fuel research.
"Iran is ready to resume the research activities after the inspectors remove the seals. It is our right as other members of the Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran should not be exempted," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency said Iranian officials claimed 90 percent of issues related to the resumption of research had been solved with the rest likely to be hashed out by the end of the day, Monday at latest...Asefi said there was no room for international concern about the actions, "We are doing research and development according to the agency's regulations as well as NPT's. We believe the western countries should not seek double standard in this respect. The activities will be under supervision of the agency, therefore there is nothing to be worried about."
Hossein Ghafourian, head of the nuclear research center of Iran's atomic energy organization, said there was no turning back. "(The organization) plans to continue its peaceful program. Blocking research activities is similar to blocking the light," Ghafourian told state-run radio on Sunday...
It's about time they restarted the nuclear program openly, and not just in underground bunkers. The Iranian apologists might have to switch arguing that Iran is justified in seeking peaceful technology argue to umm - oops the same argument: Iran is STILL justified in seeking peaceful technology argue.
The US must allow Iran must have a nuclear weapon because: the Americans enslaved the black man, bombed Hiroshima, slaughtered American Indians, did not offer universal suffrage until fairly recently, the US "discriminates" against Muslims in the US, discriminated against gays, destroys the environment by having a robust economy, did not "win" the "war on poverty", is creating a "boogey man" of poor/peaceful/oppressed/victims-of-Israel of "make-believe" terrorists who do not actually exist (never mind suitcase nukes which Iran will make, if it does not already have them) and Israel has them and strikes "fear" in its neighbors.
These fools believe mutually assured destruction will work as a deterrent to mad mullahs. They ignore the (lack of) importance of Islamic life when fighting a holy war for the “greater good” and the notion of martyrdom. These same apologists for Iran must not be aware of the portability of nuclear material, off-shore launches of nukes and worst of all: SUITCASE NUKES.
Iranian Resitance
WWW.NCR-IRAN.org
Iran is starting to remind me of the last scene in the classic Bergman film "The Seventh Seal" (pun intended.)
But their Totentanz will only last about .0001th of a second before it gets a little warm on the dance floor.
The sooner the sub-atomic sh*t hits the fanatical fan the better.
And send them off to Inshallah-la-land.
l do think Iran is more honest with its intentions, that it wants Israel destroyed! wonder how the liberal media, EU, and UN appologists will approve of Iranian nuclear research!
Here is some information from G2 about Ahmadinejad:
It seems the soon-to-be nuclear-armed potentate has some grand global plans to end the world as it is currently known.
In fact, he sees his main mission, as he recounted in a Nov. 16 speech in Tehran, as to “pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance.”
According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.
Ahmadinejad is urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a mighty and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West.
All Iran is buzzing about the Mahdi, the 12th imam and the role Iran and Ahmadinejad are playing in his anticipated return. There’s a new messiah hotline. There are news agencies especially devoted to the latest developments.
"People are anxious to know when and how will He rise; what they must do to receive this worldwide salvation," says Ali Lari, a cleric at the Bright Future Institute in Iran's religious center of Qom. "The timing is not clear, but the conditions are more specific," he adds. "There is a saying: 'When the students are ready, the teacher will come.' "
For his part, Ahmadinejad is living up to at least part of his call to the faithful. According to reports, he lives so modestly that declared assets include only a 30-year-old car, an even older house and an empty bank account.
Ahmadinejad and others in Iran are deadly serious about the imminent return of the 12th imam, who will prompt a global battle between good and evil (with striking parallels to biblical accounts of "Armageddon").
An institute set up in 2004 for the study and dissemination of information about the Mahdi now has a staff of 160 and influence in the schools and children’s magazines.
In Iran, theologians say endtimes beliefs appeal to one-fifth of the population. And the Jamkaran mosque east of Qom, 60 miles south of Tehran, is where the link between devotees and the Mahdi is closest.
Ahmadinejad's cabinet has given $17 million to Jamkaran. - G2 Bulletin
True believers dial messiah hotline in Iran
Energized by president's beliefs, end-of-timers redouble their outreach.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0104/p07s02-wome.html
When the attack comes from Syria...
Where will we be when the Mahdi appears? Will we be at work, at home, in our car/trains, at the super/hypermarket, doing gardening or busy piloting sophisticated aircraft while launching bombs (dodging radar) at the Majlis/President Mickeymousedoneajob?
Seems like Iran and the U.S. have a lot in common, both have influential end times nuts who know what is the will of their god..
Not much difference between the social policies of these nuts either.
I would't worry about Iran's nuclear arsenal though, they don't have the means to deliver it to the U.S. much less Russia, and although they may not fear Mutally Assured Destruction aka 2nd strike capability. I can assure you that should they launch Iran will be turned into a sheet of glass, as well as most assuredly other troublesome targets.
It's brinksmanship. The Islamic peasant, the lower class stooge, even the engineer and programmer might seek martyrdom and not fear death.. but the Ayatollahs, the Mullahs whats in Charge (MFWIC) have no desire at all to forfeit their lives and status..
Has anyone any knowledge of one prominent Islamic scholar, Imam, Mullah who has actually sacrificed himself? I don't. Even Khomeini ran off to Karbala when it got hot in Iran, and then when it got hot in Karbala he ran off to Paris, and didn't return to Iran until the streets were overrun with his fanatics and the Shah had fled the country.
I don't want to worry anyone unduly, especially since I am one of those despised, spineless Europeans (not true, incidentally, but that discussion is not for here), but one does not need suitcase bombs or effective, long-range delivery systems to use the products of a nuclear R&D programme as terrorist weapons. Plutonium - a product of such research - is just about the most toxic substance known to man. A very, very little released in one of our crowded cities could kill millions. Alternatively, how about just building a bomb inside an ocean-going tanker and detonating the device once one has sailed the vessel up the Thames, the Seine, the Hudson or the Potomac. Or, if you think that that is too cumbersome just put such a device in a large scheduled aeroplane and detonate it as soon as the plane touches down - after all, most of our airports are fairly close to our cities. Iranian terrorists have been ingenious in the past with the most up-to-date materials and they undoubtedly will be again. If I can think of these strategems then you can bet your bottom dollar that they already have. Remember, they only have to get lucky once but we have to be lucky all the time.
Nariz's head-in-the-sand perspective will protect no-one. The United States and Iran have nothing in common. In 2005 Iran Became The Most Dangerous Nation.
- "Iran already has Shahab 5 Missiles that are capable of delivering nuclear warheads to Israel and many places in Europe."
- "George Bush recently announced that “it is completely unacceptable for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.” "
- "Iran elected a new president who is fanatically driven by the most extreme teachings of the Shiite Muslim faith..."
- "Some of the Iranian Mullahs recently declared that Muslims would survive and win a nuclear exchange."
- "President Ahmadinejad is a devout believer in the apocalyptic Muslim prophecies about the soon coming of the ‘Mahdi’..."
- "President Ahmadinejad declared last month that “the main mission of the Islamic Revolution is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Twelfth Imam.”"
Don't worry - be a dhimmi. (a take on the once famous song.)
If four fifths of them don't want the apocalypse now, we might take some comfort in the recent attempt on Imadinnerjacket's motorcade. Maybe some influential pragmatists feel he's gone too far. Although the papers only reported that he'd attended the funeral of a bodyguard, most Iranians know what happened - despite internet censorship. Some small comfort.
One way or another, this false hope of an evil man will perish.