Ahmadinejad addresses the crowd Thursday
Commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared his country to be a “nuclear state” having produced its first batch of 20% enriched uranium.
It was not clear how much of the enriched uranium was created, but it does take a level of 90% or greater to create nuclear weapons. Ahmadinejad said his scientists have the ability to enrich up to 80% but they do not want to, insisting the program was for peaceful purposes only.
“When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb,” he told the crowd. “If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it.”
The question of whether Iran is trying to get such devices has been of great concern to the United States and its ally in the region, Israel.
The United States reacted strongly to the announcement, with its Treasury Department freezing the assets in U.S. jurisdictions of a Revolutionary Guard general and four subsidiaries of a construction firm he runs for their alleged involvement in producing and spreading weapons of mass destruction.
Ahmadinejad remained defiant to the West over increasing isolation and sanctions. “We told them the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks,” he said.
He also said the country was looking to triple its output.
A confidential document from the U.N. nuclear agency shared Wednesday with The Associated Press said Iran’s initial effort at higher enrichment is modest, using only a small amount of feedstock and a fraction of its capacities.
The document, relying on onsite reports from International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, also cited Iranian experts at the country’s enrichment plant at Natanz as saying that only about 10 kilograms — 22 pounds — of low enriched uranium had been fed into the cascade for further enrichment.
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The best way to contain Iran and other hot spots in the Middle East is to get off of foreign oil. Without the billions in oil revenue these countries would not be relevant nor would they be able to afford weapons to threaten our allies.
It’s sad that we wasted eight years enriching oil companies and expanding our dependence on oil. 911 which was funded by Saudi oil money should have been a wake up call to America. Bush should have shown true leadership and set a plan to stop the billions of dollars that flow to many of our enemies. Sadly he squandered that opportunity on a poorly executed Afghan war and a misguided quagmire in Iraq.
I hope Obama and the Dems can crystallize the security and economic implications of continuing our addiction to fossil fuels when the Cap and Trade debate heats up.
dropdeadpolitics.com
@ Seth: So agree with Palin when she says “drill baby drill” then.
@ Stan: Drill baby drill ignores the real implications of climate change. Further it would take close to a decade to start reaping the benefit of any new drilling. The best way is to transition to renewable green energy that can be created here keeping the billions of dollars we spend every year in our own economy.
I support new drilling on sites that already have leases. We need to drill more in the short term but that has to be accompanied with aggressive policies to transition towards green energy. Cap and Trade is the only way to make dirty fossil fuels expensive enough to make any meaningful change any time soon. We also need to stop subsidizing the oil companies and artificially depressing the price at the pump. If American’s had to pay the same price for gas as the Europeans we might just see some progress.
dropdeadpolitics.com
BTW, how can i contact the site admin? Can someone provide an email address please?
Check your inbox, I e-mailed you earlier today. - Admin.
If the U.S. wasn’t a slave to Israel, we wouldn’t be worrying about Iran.
And they wouldn’t be worrying about us either.
Admin- I did not receive any email from you. Please resend, thanks!