WH: "Iran has rights, but with those rights come responsibilities."

[Clio the Leo]

Anyone want to hide under the bed with me? Why does it suddenly seem like Afghanistan is the LEAST of our problems? :crazy:

Iran announces plans for 10 new uranium enrichment plants
By Thomas Erdbrink
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 29, 2009; 2:15 PM

TEHRAN -- Iran's government will build 10 new sites to enrich uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a dramatic expansion of the country's nuclear program and one that is bound to fuel fears that it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon.

Ahmadinejad told state news agency IRNA that construction of at least five nuclear facilities was to begin within two months.

The announcement comes just days after a censure of Iran by the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA) over the Islamic republic's refusal to stop enriching uranium, a key demand of Western powers. The 35-member board of the agency also criticized Iran's construction of a second enrichment plant in Qom, southwest of Tehran.

Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is designed for energy production and denies it is seeking to build a nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad said Sunday that his country's need for energy would grow dramatically over the next 15 years.

"We annually must produce between 250 to 300 tons of nuclear fuel," he said.

If completed, the proposed expansion of Iran's nuclear program would give it vastly more nuclear fuel. According to a November report by the Vienna-based IAEA, Iran currently has 8,745 centrifuges to enrich uranium, but less than half of them are operational.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/29/AR2009112900992.html

Statement by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Reports About Iran's Nuclear Program

"If true, this would be yet another serious violation of Iran's clear obligations under multiple UN security council resolutions, and another example of Iran choosing to isolate itself. The international community has made clear that Iran has rights, but with those rights come responsibilities. As the overwhelming IAEA board of governors vote made clear, time is running out for Iran to address the international community's growing concerns about its nuclear program."

http://thepage.time.com/gibbs-statement-on-iran-enrichment-site-plans/

Related:

White House sees progress from Chinese trip

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Perhaps Barack Obama's trip to China this month was not such a flop after all.

Obama was criticized for kowtowing to the Chinese and apparently returning empty-handed, but movement from Beijing last week on Iran's nuclear program and climate change suggests the U.S. president got further than it seemed at first.

Obama went to China with three major issues on the table -- economic relations, climate change and denuclearization -- and seems to have made progress on at least two of them.

But analysts said it was unclear exactly how much the U.S. leader had actually influenced the Chinese, or what the long-term impact would be of what was announced last week.

"The Chinese were pressed in a very focused fashion on both of those issues," said Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"I think their position does reflect, in fact, the impact of the Obama visit and of American diplomacy," he said.

China offered rare backing on Friday to a vote by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in secret, the first such vote against Tehran in almost four years.

China, like Russia, backed the measure, smoothing its 25-3 passage through the International Atomic Energy Agency and departing from an earlier pattern of blocking global attempts to isolate trading partner Iran.

Obama stressed in Beijing that Iran's nuclear program could disrupt the Middle East and world energy supplies, experts and administration officials said.

The Washington Post reported that U.S. officials had argued that Israel saw Iran's nuclear ambitions as an existential threat, and implied Israel could one day attack Iran to disrupt those ambitions. That argument helped bring the Chinese on board to take a firmer line on Tehran, it reported.

"Obama pressed very hard with the Chinese," Lieberthal said. "And they went the right way today."

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN27434109

and

Today's overwhelming vote at the IAEA's Board of Governors demonstrates the resolve and unity of the international community with regard to Iran's nuclear program. It underscores broad consensus in calling upon Iran to live up to its international obligations and offer transparency in its nuclear program. It also underscores a commitment to strengthen the rules of the international system, and to support the ability of the IAEA and UN Security Council to enforce the rules of the road, and to hold Iran accountable to those rules. Indeed, the fact that 25 countries from all parts of the world cast their votes in favor shows the urgent need for Iran to address the growing international deficit of confidence in its intentions.

The United States has strongly supported the Director General’s positive proposal to provide Iran fuel for its Tehran Research Reactor - a proposal intended to help meet the medical and humanitarian needs of the Iranian people while building confidence in Iran’s intentions. The United States has recognized Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy and remains willing to engage Iran to work toward a diplomatic solution to the concerns about its nuclear program, if - and only if - Iran chooses such a course. To date, Iran has refused a follow-on meeting to the October 1 meeting with the P5+1 countries if its nuclear program is included on the agenda. Our patience and that of the international community is limited, and time is running out. If Iran refuses to meet its obligations, then it will be responsible for its own growing isolation and the consequences.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-white-house-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-todays-iaea-vote

Did a bow to the Japanese Emperor get us a vote from the Russians and Chinese? I suspect the answer is the same as "how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootise Pop?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IA5Cv_5-g8

[Cha]

1. Problems on all fronts and the Prez and his

Intrepid Team are taking them on multilaterally

[Clio the Leo]

2. I'm just geeked at the phrase "Iran has rights...."

Sure, their leader is nuttier than a fruitcake and despite the fact that he's following the example that Bush set by doing this....



.... to the rest of the world, I never cease to be amazed at how THIS WH operates from the assumption (at least publicly) that in order to get respect, you have to treat other nations with respect. That is DEFINITELY the change *I* voted for.

[Cha]

3. Yeah, that's our current White House's MO

which as we know is diametrically opposed to the last white house's position..and we all know how that turned out.