America now says that Iran plans to use enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons, but ruling Mullahs in Iran says its nuclear program is dedicated solely for thermo-nuclear power plant to generate electricity.  In response to Iran’s threat to resume its nuclear activity, the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, unanimously adopted a resolution on September 18, 2004, calling on Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment-related activities.  A day later, Iran’s chief negotiator Hassan Rohani told a news conference quite boldly, “Iran will not accept any obligation regarding the suspension of uranium enrichment," chief nuclear Sunday.  “No international body can force Iran to do so.”  Iran after its recent “democratic” election on February 20, 2004, has instituted a parliament that is staunchly Islamist, which derides the West.  Mr. Hassan Rohani’s words echoes the view of the Iranian parliament, which had urged the government to ignore the resolution. 

The IAEA board termed the suspension a “necessary” confidence-building measure.  The agency observed that suspensions would be "voluntary decisions" by Iran and it should not be considered an obligation.  Thus, the recommendation from IAEA would enable Tehran to tell Iranians it was not acting under pressure from the U.N. agency.

Some nuclear experts such as Abdul Samad Minty, head of South Africa's Council for the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, has opined that Iran perhaps could institute a low-level uranium enrichment program to make only nuclear power plant fuel.  Iran is now building at Bushehr on its southern coast a thermo-nuclear power plant. 

It puzzles this scribe as Iran pushes for higher-grade uranium enrichment program.  Impure uranium is converted into gaseous uranium hexafluoride and then pure uranium is separated from impurities by centrifuging the gas in a supersonic gas-centrifuge.  Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment-related activities last year after the foreign minister of  “Big Three EU nation,” France, Germany, and Britain, talked to Iranian foreign minister and persuade the nation to halt its nuclear enrichment program.  Nonetheless, in July 2004, Iran said it had restarted building centrifuges and had recommenced work at a plant that produces uranium hexafluoride.  These developments have alarmed the West, especially the Bush Administration, as it had to deal with another rogue nation—North Korea—that aspired to become a nuclear capable nation.

Hassan Rohani, Iran’s spokesperson, is a mid ranking cleric who serves as the secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.  Therefore, Mr. Rohani’s statement carries both the weight and the sentiment of the ruling clerics in Teheran.  Now that Iran predicts a rough ride in the upcoming IAEA board of governors meeting on November 25, 2004, Mullah Rohani’s statement has become more scathing.  He said, “This is a war, we may win or we may lose.  Iran has never accepted suspension through a resolution, but through political talks.”  In a threatening tone, Mullah Rohani said that Iran would stop allowing U.N. inspectors to make short-notice visits to its atomic facilities if its dossier were sent to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.  Just listen to Mullah Rohani’s reaction; he said, “If they want to send Iran to the Security Council, it is not wise, and we will stop implementing the Additional Protocol.”  According to a Reuters’ report the ‘Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’ (NPT) allows U.N. inspectors to make snap checks of nuclear facilities.  The report also implied that Iran is implementing its terms, though parliament has not ratified it.

As a last ditch effort to resume Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment program, Mullah Rohani threatened by saying that Iran could pull out of the NPT if the Security Council took extreme measures against it.  An impudent cleric, Mullah Rohani said, “If they impose economic sanctions, parliament may ask the government to pull out of the NPT.”

In summary, the hardliner Iranian Mullahs have stiffened their position vis-à-vis uranium enrichment program.  Iran says it wants to make the nuclear fuel to feed its thermonuclear pant.  However, the West doubts Iran’s motives.  Fearing that enriched uranium could be used to make nukes, IAEA, the regulatory agency of the U.N. is tightening the screw on Teheran.  The Mullahs are reacting nervously to IAEA’s threat.  This is the beginning of another mini-crisis centering Iran but the West knows how to tame an unruly regime.  Therefore, stay tuned for more diplomatic hiccups that are surely to follow in coming days.  Now the world has to deal with not one but two aspirant Asian nations who are eager to join the coveted nuclear club.

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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist writes from New Orleans, USA