[Mb-civic] FW: How we duped the West, by Iran's nuclear negotiator !!!!!!!

[Golsorkhi]

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From: Samii Shahla <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 2006 23:56:06 -0500
Subject: How we duped the West, by Iran's nuclear negotiator !!!!!!!

Telegraph Co. - UK

How we duped the West, by Iran's nuclear negotiator

By Philip Sherwell in Washington
(Filed: 05/03/2006)

The man who for two years led Iran's nuclear negotiations has laid out in
unprecedented detail how the regime took advantage of talks with Britain,
France and Germany to forge ahead with its secret atomic programme.

In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics,
Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with the so-called EU3 until last year,
revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its
secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.

Iran has completed uranium enrichment equipment at Isfahan
He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to
complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake - a key
stage in the nuclear fuel process - at its Isfahan plant but at the same
time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.

"From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, 'The Iranians
are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.' The
Europeans used to respond, 'We trust them'," he said.

Revelation of Mr Rowhani's remarks comes at an awkward moment for the
Iranian government, ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the United Nations'
atomic watchdog, which must make a fresh assessment of Iran's banned nuclear
operations.

The judgment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the final
step before Iran's case is passed to the UN Security Council, where
sanctions may be considered.

In his address to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Mr Rowhani
appears to have been seeking to rebut criticism from hardliners that he gave
too much ground in talks with the European troika. The contents of the
speech were published in a regime journal that circulates among the ruling
elite.

He told his audience: "When we were negotiating with the Europeans in
Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site.
There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work
there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan."

America and its European allies believe that Iran is clandestinely
developing an atomic bomb but Teheran insists it is merely seeking nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes. Iran's negotiating team engaged in a
last-ditch attempt last week to head off Security Council involvement. In
January the regime removed IAEA seals on sensitive nuclear equipment and
last month it resumed banned uranium enrichment.

Iran is trying to win support from Russia, which opposes any UN sanctions,
having unsuccessfully tried to persuade European leaders to give them more
time. Against this backdrop, Mr Rowhani's surprisingly candid comments on
Iran's record of obfuscation and delay are illuminating.

He described the regime's quandary in September 2003 when the IAEA had
demanded a "complete picture" of its nuclear activities. "The dilemma was if
we offered a complete picture, the picture itself could lead us to the UN
Security Council," he said. "And not providing a complete picture would also
be a violation of the resolution and we could have been referred to the
Security Council for not implementing the resolution."

Mr Rowhani disclosed that on at least two occasions the IAEA obtained
information on secret nuclear-related experiments from academic papers
published by scientists involved in the work.

The Iranians' biggest setback came when Libya secretly negotiated with
America and Britain to close down its nuclear operations. Mr Rowhani said
that Iran had bought much of its nuclear-related equipment from "the same
dealer" - a reference to the network of A Q Khan, the rogue Pakistani atomic
scientist. From information supplied by Libya, it became clear that Iran had
bought P2 advanced centrifuges.

In a separate development, the opposition National Council of Resistance of
Iran (NCRI) has obtained a copy of a confidential parliamentary report
making clear that Iranian MPs were also kept in the dark on the nuclear
programme, which was funded secretly, outside the normal budgetary process.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, the NCRI's foreign affairs chief, told the Sunday
Telegraph: "Rowhani's remarks show that the mullahs wanted to deceive the
international community from the onset of negotiations with EU3 - and that
the mullahs were fully aware that if they were transparent, the regime's
nuclear file would be referred to the UN immediately."

4 March 2006: Iran refuses to give ground over nuclear 'research'
19 February 2006: Iranian fatwa approves use of nuclear weapons
16 January 2006: Iran 'could go nuclear within three years'
---

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