Ahmadinejad and Mugabe
A top Zimbabwe official says Iran has struck a secret deal with Zimbabwe to mine its untapped uranium reserves in a move to secure raw material for its steadily expanding nuclear program.
In turn, Zimbabwe will get a stead supply of oil that will keep the Mugabe regime going.
The agreement was sealed last month during a visit to Tehran by a close aide to Robert Mugabe.
“Iran secured the exclusive uranium rights last month when minister of state for Presidential affairs, Didymus Mutasa visited Tehran,” said a Zimbabwean government source. “That is when the formal signing of the deal was made, away from the glare of the media.”
Ahmadinejad meets with Didymus Mutasa
Mutasa is the former lands minister in the Zanu-PF administration and one of Mr Mugabe’s most senior aides.
A senior official at the Iranian embassy in Harare confirmed Tehran had been offered the uranium rights, after negotiations over many years. “After a lot of diplomatic work and understanding, we have received reports of a deal having been made for Iran to mine not only uranium but also other metals,” he said.
The pact seems certain to place Iran under even greater scrutiny by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“If Zimbabwe and Iran were to announce a deal, then I am sure it is something the IAEA would be very interested in,” said an IAEA source.
Any deal to supply Iran is likely to put Zimbabwe in breach of current UN sanctions on Iran. Under Security Council Resolution 1737, passed in December 2006, all countries are ordered to “prevent the supply, sale or transfer … of all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology which could contribute to Iran’s enrichment-related, reprocessing or heavy water-related activities.”
The UN Sanctions Committee which deals with Resolution 1737 said that if the issue of uranium mining in Zimbabwe was raised, it would investigate.
Mr Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba insisted that mining rights had not yet been finalised, but he defended Iran’s right to apply for them.
George Charamba
“The Iranians have a peaceful nuclear program. This cannot be said about the Americans who mined uranium in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and went on to produce a nuclear bomb used to attack Japan,” he said. “We have our uranium and no one is mining it, until we decide otherwise,” he said.
Uranium was first discovered in the Kanyemba district, about 150 miles north of the capital Harare by German prospectors in the 1980s but were not exploited due to low world prices.
Russia, Australia, South Africa and Namibia are among nations that have also expressed a desire to tap into the mineral wealth.
The extent of Zimbabwe’s uranium reserves is uncertain, although some metallurgists believe that they may be very large. Initial exploration has indicated that there are an estimated 450,000 tonnes of uranium ore with some 20,000 tonnes of extractable uranium.
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I wish them success, now America, and the west can see what they have created!
They were not happy with white government's in southern Africa so they put these people in power which will be the cause and downfall of the west.
South Africa might have been the largest white habitation to fall but looks like America is now not too far behind.
I hope they send ALL the uranium to Iran to get this whole thing sorted out soon. And i hope the first rocket heads towards Israel. They are the ones who are behind the USAs fall the "zionistic Faction" we might laugh at ahmadinejad but when he says that the zionists are in control, you know they are.
This isnt some conspiracy all you have to do is look at who's behind the largest financial institutions and the federal reserve, have a look where there largest mining companies in the word are (south Africa) then the pattern is a whole lot easier to see.
seems this zimbabwe is endowed with lots of minerals from huge diamond reserves, gold, platinum, uranium and coal. there is even talk of oil somewhere up the zambizi basin yet its a poor nation. am i missing something somewhere.
The Rhodesian Bush War —also known as the Second Chimurenga —was a civil war in the former country of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) fought from July 1964 to 1979. Once again the Rhodesians white immigrants from the UK could not continua 2 fight the heat anymore with their SADF allies; so they agree to serenader to Robert Mugabe`s freedom fighters who fought for freedom, national reconciliation & equality. Chimurenga is a Shona word for ‘revolutionary struggle’. The word’s modern interpretation has been extended to describe a struggle for human rights, political dignity and social justice, specifically used by the African patriots from ZANU-PF. jackals daniels was wrong so learn to speak Shona or other Bantu languages before u try to learn African politicks.