Vol. 73/No. 35      September 14, 2009

At a news conference August 27 German chancellor Angela Merkel demanded Tehran submit to negotiations on its nuclear work or face more sanctions “in the energy, financial, and other important sectors.” She was joined at the news conference by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The previous day, French president Nicholas Sarkozy said that if Iran does not submit, “the question of very substantial strengthening of sanctions” will be posed. Since 2006 the UN Security Council has imposed three rounds of economic and travel sanctions against Iran in an effort to force that country’s government to retreat.

“President Obama has said he will use the opening of the United Nations General Assembly … to press for far tougher sanctions,” the August 26 New York Times reported. “Among the penalties under consideration is a cutoff of refined gasoline to Iran.”

The paper added that a senior administration official said that such a step “will be a hard sell for China and Russia.” Beijing and Moscow, who are permanent members of the Security Council, both have substantial trade relations with Tehran. Washington, Paris, and London are the other three permanent members.

Obama had earlier urged Tehran to open negotiations, promising economic incentives if the Iranians agree to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, announced September 1 that Tehran is ready “to present its revised package of proposals … and hold talks with world powers.”

The imperialists claim Tehran’s nuclear program is designed to produce atomic weapons, pointing to the fact that the Iranian project includes uranium enrichment, which is necessary to produce a bomb. Tehran says the program is for peaceful use of nuclear energy to develop the country’s infrastructure. Uranium enrichment is also necessary to generate fuel for nuclear power plants.

The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released its quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear program August 28. The IAEA board of governors is due to discuss it at a September 7 meeting.

The report states that Tehran has been more cooperative in allowing IAEA inspections of its facilities. Inspectors were able to visit the heavy water reactor under construction in Arak in mid-August for the first time in a year. The inspectors have also been given greater access to the Natanz enrichment plant.

The report, however, criticized the fact that “Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities or its work on heavy water related projects as required by the Security Council.” Nor has it provided the UN agency with information “to exclude the possibility of military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme.”

The Jerusalem Post reported that the government of Israel said the report did not go nearly far enough in condemning Iran and demanded release of an IAEA report it claims exists on Iran’s nuclear weapons efforts. “Israel expects the international community to take substantive and prompt steps to halt Iran’s military nuclear program,” a statement from the foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said all Iran’s nuclear activities have been within the framework of the IAEA and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). “Sanctions will not prevent us from pursuing our legal rights,” he added.

The NPT favors nuclear-armed imperialist powers over semicolonial countries. Under the treaty, which Tehran has signed, Iran has the right to produce nuclear power, including enriching uranium “for peaceful purposes.” But it and other “non-nuclear-weapon States” must submit to inspections to verify they are not developing nuclear weapons.

A “nuclear-weapon State,” on the other hand, does not have to allow these intrusive inspections. Such a state is defined by the treaty as “one which has manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device prior to 1 January 1967.”
 
 
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