A win, win, win ending for Tehran

[bemildred]

Even as Iran basks in worldwide praise for its handling of the crisis over the 15 British sailors and marines it seized and then released after two weeks, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has ensured that the focus stays on his country by announcing that Iran has the ability to produce enriched uranium at "industrial scale".

This presses the point that, technologically speaking, Iran has reached a point of no return and henceforth the best the West can hope for is to negotiate over the "objective guarantees" regarding the peaceful use of Iran's nuclear technology.

In a speech at Natanz, Iran's main nuclear site, Ahmadinejad said on Monday that 3,000 centrifuges had been installed in an underground facility, allowing Iran "to produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale".

Earlier, The Times of London wrote, "For the first time in his 20- month presidency, Ahmadinejad made a magnanimous gesture to the West," adding that Iran's president had achieved a "huge publicity coup" by his decision to free the 15 captives.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ID11Ak01.html