WarSclerotic

IAEA head affirms Iran ‘steadily’ enriching uranium.

Iran is steadily producing enriched uranium despite the 2009 Stuxnet worm, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukia Amano told The Washington Post in an interview published on Monday.

The IAEA chief told the paper that the agency is concerned “over the possible use of nuclear materials for military purposes – in the past and perhaps now.”

She said that the Iranian regime has well over 3,000 kilograms of enriched uranium and continues to stockpile it contrary to UN Security Council resolutions to that effect.

Amano, however, admitted that the international nuclear regulatory agency doesn’t have much expertise in estimating when Iran might be capable of building a nuclear weapon. “What we are doing is [tracking] how much enriched uranium they have,” he said.

When pressed about her analysis of the Iranian leadership’s aspirations, Amano said he has the impression that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems very determined to build a nuclear program.

Discussing the reported Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed in an air raid in 2007, the IAEA chief said that Damascus has consistently denied the agency access to the site. “The problem with this facility was destroyed, cleaned up and a new building was built on that ground.”

On Egypt, Amano expressed confidence that there is little to worry about in the recently tremulous state. “I don’t have particular concern about the nuclear research facility in Egypt,” he said, adding that “Egypt is different than Syria  or Iran.”

Asked to discuss her predecessor in the international nuclear agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, Amano said he respects him but strongly emphasized that “there is a difference in style.” “I want to be as clear as possible and I am very firm,” he added, before declaring herself “the guardian of non-proliferation.”

US honors Hariri memory, backs tribunal – Israel News, Ynetnews.

President Obama says any attempt to interfere with probe into former Lebanese PM’s murder or fuel tensions within Lebanon ‘must not be tolerated’

AFP

US President Barack Obama on Sunday marked the upcoming sixth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese ex-Premier Rafik Hariri by reaffirming his support for a UN-backed probe into the slaying. 

For the past two years, a bitter political battle has revolved around the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), a controversial UN-backed court expected to implicate members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in the Hariri murder.

Hariri and 22 other victims killed in a car bombing February 14, 2005. “Any attempt to interfere with the tribunal’s work or fuel tensions within Lebanon must not be tolerated,” Obama said in a statement, adding that the court will “find the truth behind that outrageous act of terrorism.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the next Lebanese government to honor its obligations to the tribunal. “Those who would try to block Lebanon’s cooperation should desist and show a measure of human decency,” she said in a statement. “Ultimately, without justice, there can be no peace and stability for Lebanon.”

Marking 5th anniversary of Hariri murder, last year (Photo: AFP)

Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain five-time premier, enjoyed Western political support but his government was toppled last month in a feud over the tribunal. Hezbollah and its allies on January 12 withdrew their ministers from the unity government, forcing its collapse, and tapped Sunni billionaire Najib Mikati to head the next government. The militant party had been pressing Hariri to disavow the tribunal, which it worries will implicate Hezbollah members.

“At this critical moment, we call on all friends of Lebanon to stand with the people of Lebanon, who must be free to determine their own destiny,” Obama said. “And those Lebanese who forge their future in a spirit of peace and reconciliation will continue to have a strong partner in the United States,” he added.