In a February 20 speech at Princeton University, U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell said, referring to so-called weapons of mass destruction, that “Iran is slowly—still too slowly—coming forward with answers needed by the IAEA and the rest of the international community to make sure that they are not violating their obligations.” He called on Tehran to “pledge and end—not just a suspension—all of its WMD programs.”

That same day a Washington Post editorial, titled “Iran’s ‘Serious Failures,’” called upon the Bush administration to be “more insistent” with Washington’s European allies on pushing them to join in clamping down on Tehran, so that there would be no watering down of the message sent to would-be nuclear powers by the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq and the subsequent capitulation of Libya.

“Beware Iran’s Atomic Ayatollahs,” was the headline of an editorial in the New York Daily News the following day. “Iran must get no more wiggle room,” it said. “And the United Nations must gear itself to cracking down with economic sanctions and every other means possible to ensure that Iran does not get close to developing a weapon of mass destruction. Because there are exactly two words for a nuclear-capable Iran: imminent threat.”

Last October, under intense pressure from Paris, Berlin, London, and Moscow, the Iranian government announced it would agree to demands of the IAEA to allow surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities. As a gesture of good faith Iran also said it would voluntarily halt enrichment of uranium. In pressuring Tehran to agree to the unannounced inspections, European Union governments—particularly Paris and Berlin, which had differed with Washington on the assault on Iraq—hoped to keep the U.S. rulers at bay.

In mid-November the IAEA released a report stating that Iran had manufactured small amounts of enriched uranium and plutonium as part of a nuclear program that Tehran operated secretly over 18 years. Tension between Washington and its European rivals flared up at the November 20 meeting of the IAEA board over the language of a resolution condemning Tehran for its nuclear program. Washington failed in its attempt to get a resolution that would declare Tehran in “non-compliance” with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That would have also allowed Washington to refer the matter to the UN Security Council, which could impose a range of economic and other sanctions against Iran.

The current allegations against Tehran are based on drawings of a P-2 gas centrifuge that were among documents given to UN weapons inspectors by Iranian authorities. It is a more advanced model than Iran had acknowledged possession of, said the BBC report. USA Today reported that Iranian officials also admitted to having the centrifuge and having tested it. Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi told the British news agency that Iran had only been studying the design of a P-2 centrifuge and that the IAEA had been informed about the research.

The IAEA board is scheduled to meet March 8-11 to review current findings by weapons inspectors in Iran and Libya. According to the BBC report, the White House has so far said it will give Iran time to fully disclose its nuclear activities before deciding whether to refer the issue to the UN Security Council.  
 
Imperialist ‘experts’ in Libya
Preliminary investigations by weapons “inspectors” indicate that the drawings of the P-2 centrifuge match those in Libya that were allegedly supplied by the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan. On December 19 the Libyan government announced it would dismantle its nuclear and chemical weapons programs and allow UN inspectors to verify compliance. With this move, Tripoli effectively surrendered a good part of its sovereignty—the decision came after Washington and London had made it clear that the Libyan regime would face a similar fate to that of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein unless it bowed to U.S. dictates on “weapons of mass destruction.”

A 10-page report by imperialist “experts” now in Libya describes Tripoli as providing “active cooperation and openness.” The report being prepared for the IAEA board meeting states that Libya produced only a small amount of plutonium and that its nuclear program was at best in “disarray.” In one instance the report states that some 20 centrifuges that had been preassembled were suddenly disassembled and placed into storage by the Libyan government for “security reasons.” This was done while a shipment of thousands of parts was en route to Tripoli.

Much in this report is based on the testimony to Malaysian police of Buhary Syed Abu Tahir. Bush has called Tahir the “chief financial officer and money launderer” of a “nuclear network.” According to the Post, Tahir has described in detail how designs, parts, and uranium fuel that could be used in production of nuclear weapons were sold and transported involving businesses and individuals in Pakistan, Britain, Spain, Germany, Turkey, and Italy. Tahir has not been arrested or charged, and according to the Post report he has also told police that on instructions from Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan he arranged to ship equipment used to enrich uranium to Iran and Libya.

Washington has also singled out the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), along with Iran, in its push to prevent these states from developing nuclear weapons. The last week of February, a U.S. delegation took part in talks in Beijing along with government representatives from the DPRK, south Korea, Japan, Russia, and China at six-party talks on the so-called nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Talks between DPRK and U.S. negotiators, hosted by Beijing, broke down at the end of April 2003 when U.S. officials accused Pyongyang of having admitted to possession of nuclear weapons and threatened to test and export them. North Korean officials also reportedly told the U.S. delegation that they had reprocessed enough spent nuclear fuel rods to be used in the production of nuclear weapons.

Pyongyang has offered to freeze its nuclear activities in exchange for economic aid, lifting of U.S. economic sanctions, and removal of the DPRK from Washington’s list of countries that sponsor “terrorism.” The Bush administration is demanding that Pyongyang begin dismantling—not just freezing—its nuclear program before making any concessions. Washington also accuses Pyongyang of operating a uranium-enrichment program, and that it begin discussions on them.

Pyongyang has denied statements attributed to Pakistani nuclear scientist Qadeer Khan that he sold nuclear secrets to north Korea, calling them a “whopping lie.”  
 
 
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