Stephen Lendman: Iran's Legal Right to Enrich Uranium

Unchallenged. It's been that way for years. Iran fully complies with Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) provisions. Its nuclear program is peaceful. US intelligence says so. Annually, it repeats earlier assessments. Washington, other Western countries, and Israel know what they won't admit publicly. So do media scoundrels. They target Iran unfairly. They report what's not true. They hype fear. They spread Big Lies. They claim non existent existential threats. They do it for political, not security reasons. Iran threatens no one. It hasn't attacked another country in centuries. Its neighbors have no reason for concern. Israel points fingers the wrong way. It's the region's only nuclear power. It's heavily armed and dangerous. It's got sophisticated chemical and biological weapons. It threatens to use its arsenal, if endangered. On January 31, Iran announced plans to enhance uranium enrichment. It told IAEA officials it intends to use IR2m centrifuges. An agency communication said: "The Secretariat of the Agency received a letter from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), dated 23 January 2013, informing the Agency that 'centrifuge machines type IR2m will be used in Unit A-22 at the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) at Natanz." It's Tehran's main enrichment facility. It's used to to enrich uranium to 5%. Faster enrichment runs counter to Western demands. They want Iran to abandon its legitimate rights altogether. Dozens of other nations have similar nuclear operations. Demands to suspend activities don't follow. Tehran alone is targeted. It's solely for political reasons. On January 29, IAEA officials asked Iran to provide technical and other information about its plans. The unit Tehran plans to upgrade can house over 3,000 centrifuges. International Institute for Strategic Studies, nuclear expert Mark Fitzpatrick said upgraded centrifuges could be "a most unfortunate game changer." It depends on the number installed. "If Iran introduces them in a large scale, the timeline for being able to produce fissile material would be significantly reduced," he said. Tehran does so for power generation and medical research. Its program is peaceful. Claiming otherwise is false. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov calls Iran's enhanced enrichment plans acceptable. They're within legal limits. It's "doing everything in line with its commitment under the Safeguards Agreement," he said.