By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--June 3, 2015
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If you believe the administration, they've made great strides in their efforts to bring Iran back into the world's family of responsible nations. We've been assured that they don't want the bomb, that they've stopped their nuclear program, and that they're getting rid of all that pesky nuclear material.
Why, just a few months ago, the President told us:"Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we've halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material." - Barack Obama, State of the Union Jan. 20, 2015Obviously, no sane person actually bought this malarkey. Unfortunately there seem to be an awful lot of folks who don't quite qualify as "sane," and they're probably having a rough day today. That's because, according to the UN's International Atomic Energy Association, Iran has increased its stockpile of uranium almost 20% in the last year. As the New York Times reports:
With only one month left before a deadline to complete a nuclear deal with Iran, international inspectors have reported that Tehran's stockpile of nuclear fuel increased about 20 percent over the last 18 months of negotiations, partially undercutting the Obama administration's contention that the Iranian program had been "frozen" during that period. But Western officials and experts cannot quite figure out why. One possibility is that Iran has run into technical problems that have kept it from converting some of its enriched uranium into fuel rods for reactors, which would make the material essentially unusable for weapons. Another is that it is increasing its stockpile to give it an edge if the negotiations fail.
A major element of the forthcoming deal, if it is completed, permits Iran to maintain a stockpile of only 300 kilograms, or about 660 pounds, of nuclear fuel, less than would be needed to make a single weapon. That means Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, would have to rid itself of more than nine tons of its stockpile in a matter of months. One easy solution would be to ship the fuel out of the country, but that is a politically fraught topic for the Iranians--and one that their deputy negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, ruled out in March.Actually, it doesn't mean that at all, since no one seriously believes Iran has any intention of ever complying with the terms of Obama & Kerry's folly. For its part, the State Department is shocked by the New York Times story, and Marie Harf described it as "patently absurd" and "perplexing." She promises that Iran will get rid of all that extra uranium, and this won't slow down the administration's desperate desire to enter into a terrible, terrible, deal. "There are some real issues - serious ones - that we have to resolve in these talks. This isn't one of them." Well, there go. Our supremely capable State Department has reassured us that this isn't news and doesn't really matter. We feel better already.
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