Whether or not Iran plans to develop nuclear weapons is beside the point now, their childish attitude in handling the whole situation has gone beyond a joke.
The latest episode in this long running saga involves Iran's plans to build a new heavy water reactor in 2014, and the US announcing that it is "deeply troubled" by the refusal to provide the required design information to the UN nuclear watchdog.
Western experts worry that the plutonium waste produced by the Arak reactor could be reprocessed and used to build nuclear bombs. Although Iran says it has no such plans, and will merely use the nuclear material for medical and agricultural research.
Related Articles: Is Iraq Capable of Becoming the Largest Oil Producer in the World
Iran, as a member of the UN is obliged to inform the Vienna-based agency of any nuclear facilities, along with providing design details, as soon as any decision is made to build such a plant.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged Iran to provide the appropriate design data for the new reactor, and says that without it their investors will not be able to monitor the site effectively.
Jospeh Macmanus, the US Ambassador, told the IAEA's board of governors that the US is "deeply troubled that Iran claims that the IR-40 heavy water reactor at Arak could be commissioned as soon as early 2014, but still refuses to provide the requisite design information for the reactor.
Iran's refusal to fulfil this basic obligation must necessarily cause one to ask whether Iran is again pursuing covert nuclear activities."
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More