Zimbabwe Helps Iran with The Fire

Zimbabwe’s Uranium Deal with Iran

Added by Laura Oneale on August 10, 2013.
Saved under Africa, Iran, Laura Oneale, Op-ed, Politics, World, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is in violation of the international sanctions by signing a secret deal with Iran last year to supply uranium to that country, and this will cause anxiety in the Western world.
Last year the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, visited several African countries with the hope of striking a stronger union and easing the crippling burden of the imposed sanctions against them. He is trying to boost Iran’s economy. It was reported that both Zimbabwe and Uganda had something to offer Iran and several meetings and visits between the countries surfaced.
A Memorandum of Understanding document has emerged and states that Zimbabwe will provide raw materials required to build nuclear weapons to Iran. The Deputy Mining Minister Gift Chimanikire told a British newspaper. Chimanikire is a member of the opposition party and will in all probably be replaced under the new coalition government. He also said that he was unaware of the uranium agreement signed last year, and it was only known to a few top government officials.
Crippling sanctions are imposed against Iran by both the United States and the European Union over its nuclear program. Although Tehran has insisted their program is for peaceful energy uses only. Iran remains under harsh criticism from the Western nations for undertaking its enrichment programs to produce nuclear energy.
Zimbabwe has received a lot of media attention lately regarding the general elections recently that appear to be corrupt and saw the Mugabe regime win another five years term. It is reported that the opposition party MDC has challenged the Mugabe landslide victory in a top court and is requesting a rerun of the election.
Robert Mugabe has in the past endorsed the Iranian Nuclear Program, and has accused the west of trying to exploit the two countries for asserting their independence and wanting to manage their own resources. Zimbabwe remains under international sanctions that are proving to have an adverse effect on the country. Zimbabwe is guilty of damaging the basic human rights of its country’s citizens.
The government of Zimbabwe has dismissed these reports claiming that a contract has been signed. There are some general cooperating agreements between the two countries for the energy, science, technology and agriculture, and it has been reported that the officials need to finalize the deals. It is noted that Zimbabwe would receive oil in exchange for its uranium deposits.
It is known that both Ahmadinejad and Mugabe are known for their controversial policies and anti Western style. Both of these leaders have clung to power by violent elections marred with allegations of fraud.
Analysts have reported that it would not happen quickly, and that there are no uranium reserves ready for export from Zimbabwe. With Mugabe, we can never be sure of the truth and must tread cautiously as he remains a strong unwavering tyrant who will not allow the Western countries to dictate to him. He continues to state that the western world is oppressive and arrogant toward both Iran and Zimbabwe.
Written by Laura Oneale

Iran Increases Uranium

Iran to Activate Thousands of Uranium Centrifuges: Ahmadinejad

By Global Security Newswire Staff

July 31, 2013 | 12:02 p.m.

Iran is poised to activate 5,000 more uranium enrichment centrifuges, increasing its count of the operating machines by more than 40 percent, the country’s departing president said earlier this week.
“Twelve thousand centrifuge machines are now running in our nuclear sites and 5,000 new centrifuges are ready to start operation,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday in televised remarks quoted by the Tehran Times.
The Persian Gulf power’s refinement of uranium has been at the center of a years-long dispute with foreign powers — including the United States — because the process can generate nuclear-weapon fuel. Tehran insists its atomic activities are strictly peaceful.
The fate of new punitive economic legislation targeting Iran appeared unclear on Wednesday, as many of its original backers have since called for delaying action that could undermine possible engagement after Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani takes office next week, the New York Times reported.
Floor discussion of the bill is likely to start on Wednesday and a vote could take place on Thursday, said Megan Whittemore, spokeswoman for House Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.). However, House lawmakers might put off final action until after their summer recess, separate sources said.
Meanwhile, an Iranian diplomat on Wednesday denied media claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet with Rouhani in August, ITAR-Tass reported.
“No meeting of this kind is planned,” Iranian Ambassador Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi said. “The Iranian and Russian presidents are [expected] to meet in September in Bishkek.”
Sajjadi said their governments had not conferred on potentially replacing a previously canceled S-300 air-defense shipment to Iran with more sophisticated technology, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday. U.N. sanctions prompted Moscow to cancel an earlier S-300 delivery, which experts had suggested might guard Iranian atomic assets against potential airstrikes.

Iran’s Nuclear Program

Iran’s Nuclear Program is one of the most sensitive and critical issues in the politics of Middle East that has various geo-political dimensions that generate some other aspects to talk about how a high level art of diplomacy and wisdom are needed to resolve this complicating issue that has gripped the World for several years.

Why Arabs are afraid of Iran’s Nuke Program?

In reality there is no nuclear threat from Iran to Arab World but since last century, after the political division of Arab territories, Arabs are failed to establish their identity on the basis of Arab Nationalism or Islam despite several moves from time to time in this regard. They are divided into tribes who have traditional domestic differences with each others and hence have a lack of any National Identity so Arab states have their pivot around Royal Families ruling the land (Monarchies) but enmity amongst tribes may have a serious threats in coming time to their existence as a state based on National Identity. Such threats have frightened them to think about portraying a foreign enemy in order to unify the nation and strengthen the country’s sense of national identity around the pivot of Royal families.

For this purpose a Non-Arab and Anti-America Iran is an ideal “foreign enemy” so Arab States are also on front alongside Western Countries to declare Iran a Global threat and their enemy. In other words, propagating a nuclear Iran would mean more strength for an enemy around which Arab’s new identity has taken shape. Therefore, the focus on Iran has been increased as Arab States trying to proceed with their own nation-building efforts.

Why US and West are consistently persuading Iran to cut back on sensitive aspects of its nuclear work?

The official policy of USA is that Iran should not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, while urging Tehran to respond to the international sanctions aimed at dissuading it from acquiring a nuclear bomb. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is solely for civilian energy and medical purposes, while the U.S.-led West and Israel suspect that Iran is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon that could be used to destroy Israel. Although several proposal and incentives have been offered to Iran to persuade it to roll back its Nuclear Program including supply of enriched uranium of a restricted degree for use only in civilian purposes but no significant success has been observed so far despite years-long negotiation with IAEA and European Union. Iranian Leadership under the influence of Revolutionary Guards has several times threatened Israel to wipe it out from the earth. The fear of West is in the background of specific ideology of Islamic Revolution that is totally controlled by hard liners Revolutionary Guards and its Nuclear Programs is also in the supervision and control of this Revolutionary Military Guards instead of any state civilian authority.

What are the fears of Iran?

Iran knows well that neighboring nations are not in support of its Islamic revolution. Just after the Revolution took place Saddam-led Iraq attacked on Iran with massive military and financial support of neighboring Arab States and West that went on about 18 years but Iran successfully not only pushed back enemies but also strengthened its revolutionary roots in region and acquired general public support in Islamic world. Iran also remained successful in establishing economical ties with other strong nations outside the region. Internally Iran foiled all the actions against Islamic Revolution and kept promoting a political system and held elections regularly instead of turning system into any sort of autocracy. Iran wants to secure its sovereignty and revolution hence aims at acquiring nuclear capabilities to overcome all difficulties and that’s why Iranian Leadership is looking steadfast against all sanctions, pressures and threats from USA and West. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently that international sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear drive had caused “problems”, but they had not stopped progress.

What makes Israel so anxious to attack on Iran immediately?

Acquiring a Nuclear Weapon by Iran is a “Death Warrant” to Israel so Israel does not want to give Iran any chance to get succeeded. Israel wants USA and West to attack Iran immediately. In past Israel destroyed Iraq’s nuclear plant by staging a air strike but in case of Iran so far situation is perhaps out of control. Although Israeli Commanders Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz boasts that Israel can act alone if need be and that’s true. But military experts believe that Israel’s current military capabilities aren’t enough to deliver a knockout blow against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure as Iranians have duplicated some of their nuclear installations and others are buried deep underground with heavy air defenses.

Is Israel really capable of launching attack on Iran on its own?

According to foreign sources, “Israel has 100 advanced F-16I and 25 F-16I to carry out attacks and seven known aerial tankers. The limitation on in-flight refueling, the key factor in such a long-range operation, some 2,000 miles there and back, curtails the number of strike aircraft that can be deployed and thus the damage they can inflict.”

To overcome the limitations Israelis are buying the new U.S. F-35 stealth fighter, which they see as the best option for the kind of air strike they have in mind but the first 20 won’t be available until 2015, with another 55 following over 2-3 years after that. But Western Analysts say Iran may have nuclear weapons by then, as well as a couple of hundred more ballistic missiles to drop them anywhere.

Why US and West are avoiding the military option against Iran so far?

Although US officials have declared several times that military option against Iran is always on table but US seeks its diplomatic solution instead of war. Strategic experts believe that US is not sure about the success of any attack on Iran but any such action will result in uncontrollable consequences all over the World. Iran’s geo-political location in Middle East is of great importance. Any military action in that region will surely result in closure of a major oil supply route to Asia and Asian Pacific Region and nobody can predict in advance what reaction will come from that region’s powerful countries and economic forces. Moreover, the possible emerging global economic turmoil will not make the America’s life easy to deal with such unforeseen and unpredictable situation. In that scenario USA and West understand it better to hold talks and more and more talks with Iran by any forum to sort out this issue to reach to a respectable solution for all stake-holders.

Diplomatic efforts have been underway for years in which the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, all nuclear powers and Germany have tried, so far in vain, to persuade Iran to cut back on sensitive aspects of its nuclear work. Nobody knows what happens in talks but holding another talk after failure of a talk means that there is a room for a success but how to reach there is a matter of patience and art of diplomacy.

Nuclear Talks End at Dead End

Iran and six world powers failed to reach agreement today on a common approach to reducing fears that Tehran might misuse its nuclear technology to make weapons, with the EU’s foreign policy chief declaring that the two sides “remain far apart on substance”.

Expectations that the negotiations were making progress rose as an afternoon session was extended into the evening. But comments by Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s head of foreign policy, made clear that the two sides failed to make enough headway to qualify the meeting as a success.

“What matters in the end is substance, and … we are still a considerable distance apart,” Baroness Ashton told reporters in Almaty, Kazakhstan, at the end of the two-day talks.

She said negotiators would now consult with their capitals and made no mention of plans for a new meeting – another sign that the gap dividing the two sides remains substantial.

The six insist Iran cut back on its highest grade uranium enrichment production and stockpile, fearing Tehran will divert it from making nuclear fuel to form the material used in the core of nuclear warhead. They say Iran must make that move, and make it first, to build confidence that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

They were asking Tehran to greatly limit its production and stockpiling of uranium enriched to 20%, which is just a technical step away from weapons-grade uranium. That would keep Iran’s supply below the amount needed for further processing into a weapon.

But Iran wants greater rewards for any concessions that the six are ready to give. They have offered to lift sanctions on Iran’s gold transactions and petrochemical trade. But Tehran wants much more substantial sanctions relief. It is also seeking an end to international penalties crippling its oil trade and financial transactions.

The talks already seemed to run into trouble shortly after they began yesterday with a Western diplomat saying Iran’s response to the offer from the group fell short of what the six wanted and instead amounted to a “reworking” of proposals it made last year at negotiations that broke up in disagreement.

Ahmadinejad Quickens to the End

VIENNA: Technicians upgrading Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility have tripled their installations of high-tech machines that could be used in a nuclear weapons program to more than 600 in the last three months, diplomats said Wednesday.
They say the machines are not yet producing enriched uranium and some may be only partially installed. Still the move is the latest sign that 10 years of diplomatic efforts have failed to persuade Tehran to curb its uranium enrichment. Instead, Iran continues to increase its capacities.