Israel says the disclosure that Iran is building a second nuclear enrichment facility proves it "wants to equip itself with nuclear weapons".
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel wanted to see an "unequivocal" Western response to the development.
Tehran insists that the site, under construction near the city of Qom, is being built in line with United Nations regulations, though this is contested.
Iran says it wants atomic power only for the production of electricity.
But the new revelations have raised tension days before talks between Iran and six global powers negotiating over Tehran's atomic programme.
Meanwhile Iranian media reported that the elite Revolutionary Guards would start missile defence exercises on Sunday, in a move which seems guaranteed to increase tensions further.
'Disturbing pattern'
"The revelations of this second nuclear enrichment site... prove beyond any doubt that this country wants to equip itself with nuclear weapons," Mr Lieberman told Israeli public radio.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR SITES
Iran insists nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposes
Bushehr: Nuclear power plant
Isfahan: Uranium conversion plant
Natanz: Uranium enrichment plant, 4,592 working centrifuges, with 3,716 more installed
Qom: Second enrichment plant, not yet operational
Arak: Heavy water plant
"We hope that an unequivocal answer is given on 1 October," he added, referring to the forthcoming talks.
"We are not surprised... because we have been saying that Iran is developing its nuclear activities for military purposes, and the facts prove it now.
The BBC's Paul Wood says Israel is now looking for tough international sanctions against Iran and hoping that Russia and China will be brought on board by news of the second facility.
In his weekly address on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said the discovery continued a disturbing pattern of evasion by Iran.
"My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open," he said. "But Iran must now co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions."
On Friday, President Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded that Iran allow UN inspectors into the second site.
In response, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he had no problem with the plant being inspected, and denied it was "secret".
"According to IAEA rules, countries must inform the agency six months ahead of the gas injection in their uranium enrichment plants," he said. "We have done it 18 months ahead and this should be appreciated not condemned."
But the BBC's Paul Reynolds says there is a dispute about the amount of notice that Iran is required to give the IAEA before a new nuclear facility becomes operational.
In 2003, Iran agreed on what is called a Subsidiary Arrangement, under which it is required to tell the IAEA at the preliminary design stage. Iran later announced that it had repudiated this agreement, but the IAEA says that no such unilateral repudiation is allowed.
On Saturday, the chief of staff for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the second enrichment plant "will become operational soon".
"God willing this new plant will become operational soon and make the enemy blind," Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.
Also speaking on Saturday, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the BBC that the UK was "100% committed" to finding a diplomatic solution to the Iran issue, but refused to rule out military action altogether.
Israel, widely held to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has also refused to rule out the possibility of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.
Israel has never officially admitted having nuclear weapons, but is widely recognised to possess at least 75 warheads.
Ah personally I'm sick of the Western countries + Israel constant rants. They need to mind their own business.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
I see a 'disturbing pattern' too. A bit like when USA government was screaming Iraq has WMD...but no WMD was found.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
^ Yeah it is kinda sad some people are actually falling for it...
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
It's the Iranians who are doing the 'fooling', not the Israelis. Whether they actually are seriously developing nuclear weapons or not doesn't really matter; you need to look at it from the Israeli point of view, which Ahmadinejad is setting up for them, as in a theatre. What they are seeing is
a) Iran is developing nuclear facilities with the potential of producing nuclear weapons.
b) The second facility was not announced until it was discovered.
c) Co-operation with the IEAE has been sporadic
d) The Iranians, virtually as we type, are testing missile systems capable of delivering such weapons on Israel.
e) Ahmadinejad has publicity stated that the State of Israel should be destroyed.
Given those facts, the Israelis will consider they have no alternative but to attempt to destroy those nuclear facilities. That is, of course, exactly what Ahmadinejad wants them to do - they know that, but still they will consider they have no choice.
Ahmadinejad is playing a very dangerous game. He is gambling, probably with decent odds, that the US will not intervene and that the Israeli attempt will fail.
a) Iran is developing nuclear facilities with the potential of producing nuclear weapons.
So what. America and Israel have WMD.
b) The second facility was not announced until it was discovered.
Why should Iran reveal their plans to anyone? What do they owe to the international community?
d) The Iranians, virtually as we type, are testing missile systems capable of delivering such weapons on Israel.
Does not Israel have weapons to attack Iran too?
e) Ahmadinejad has publicity stated that the State of Israel should be destroyed.
I assume your referring to ''Israel to be wiped off the map?'' Ironically isn't that what Israel did to Palestine...I can't seem to find Palestine on the map.
Watch the interview between Ahmadinejad and Larry King. The President of Iran stated he wants to see the Zionist government collapse like the way the Soviet Union collapsed.
Ahmadinejad is playing a very dangerous game. He is gambling, probably with decent odds, that the US will not intervene and that the Israeli attempt will fail.
Indeed someone is playing a very dangerous game..... : P
There is far too much speculation. I guess we have to wait and see what happens. I wonder what sanctions Obama is thinking of using...
Last edited by GuestFellow; 09-27-2009 at 05:30 PM.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
I like how people with nukes are telling others that they aren't allowed to have any lol. Make more sense please kthnx. And besides, sending a nuke to israel would surely devastate the lives of everyone living there, not just the jews..... I think people are taking this whole 'wiping israel off the map' thing a little too literally.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Why should Iran reveal their plans to anyone? What do they owe to the international community?
Does not Israel have weapons to attack Iran too?
I assume your referring to ''Israel to be wiped off the map?'' Ironically isn't that what Israel did to Palestine...I can't seem to find Palestine on the map.
Watch the interview between Ahmadinejad and Larry King. The President of Iran stated he wants to see the Zionist government collapse like the way the Soviet Union collapsed.
Indeed someone is playing a very dangerous game..... : P
There is far too much speculation. I guess we have to wait and see what happens. I wonder what sanctions Obama is thinking of using...
That was a sublime response.
I just wanted to add to this arguement about nuclear capability, we're living in a world where double standards are pervasive. If we want nuclear disarmament, either everyone should denuclearise, or everyone be entitled to the technology. And lets start with israel's undisclosed nuclear stockpile.
Not only was Palestine wiped off the map, any chances of it being resotred to even less than half its historical entirety has been annihilated by relentess israeli expanisionsm in the OPTs, intransigence on the settlement issue, and unilateral murderous invasions and incursions into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ahmadinejad has every right to question the foundation on which the modern israeli state was founded and its merits. Its astounding that when the most profane cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are allowed to be published in western publications and rationalised by invoking freedom of expression, it all of a sudden turns into rabid anti-semitism and hate-mongering when Ahmadinejad invokes the same principle to question certain premises.
We then have the US, which under President Obama is traversing the world preaching political and moral rectitude within the context of demilitarisation and nuclear disarmament. This then, is the same nation that has facilitated the acquisition of a nuclear stockpile for israel, sucessfully prevented its full extent from being disclosed and it is the same US that is the only country ever in the world to use nuclear weapons on a civilian population when they utterly devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki and wrought the kind of carnage that heralded an era where nucealr weapons actually proliferated globally.
This is the same supposed pinnacle of civilisation that has incarcerated indefinitely hundreds of people at Guantanamo Bay, many of them without access to legal assistance.
This is the same US, that has intervened in pretty much every part of the world in the name not of democracy, but the usurpation of democracy and its replacement with vicious miltary dictatorships. Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Somalia etc just to name a few.
In Afghanistan today, where the price of "freedom" is the monthly slaughter of hundreds of civilians by coalition forces, the people governing the country are the very same warlords who have presided over the drug trade and are known well to the people as nothing other than ruthless gangsters whose position has been legitimised by an unscrupulous and opportunistic American administration.
I think Iran and Israel should just have at it with each other, I am really sick of the both of them dominating the news..
Yes, going at it with each other would surely take them out of the spotlight on the news channels... right I don't know, I guess I care too much for my families safety than to worry about what comes up in the news.
i doing really know why Israel really cares for what the UN have to say, considering they bombed 3 UN schools in Gaza earlier this year...
people indeed are falling for it.
Asslamu Aliakum sister.
No Western country gives a crap what Israel does no matter how many international laws they break.
When someone in America criticises Israel military action, the Zionist accuse them of being Anti-Semitic. When someone in Europe criticises Israel military action, the Zionist government bring up the holocaust.
It is a trick and they always use it.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Yes, going at it with each other would surely take them out of the spotlight on the news channels... right I don't know, I guess I care too much for my families safety than to worry about what comes up in the news.
I am pretty sure caring while watching the TV really won't change matters any.. what do you propose any of us do?
all the best
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
It's the Iranians who are doing the 'fooling', not the Israelis. Whether they actually are seriously developing nuclear weapons or not doesn't really matter; you need to look at it from the Israeli point of view, which Ahmadinejad is setting up for them, as in a theatre. What they are seeing is
a) Iran is developing nuclear facilities with the potential of producing nuclear weapons.
b) The second facility was not announced until it was discovered.
c) Co-operation with the IEAE has been sporadic
d) The Iranians, virtually as we type, are testing missile systems capable of delivering such weapons on Israel.
e) Ahmadinejad has publicity stated that the State of Israel should be destroyed.
Given those facts, the Israelis will consider they have no alternative but to attempt to destroy those nuclear facilities. That is, of course, exactly what Ahmadinejad wants them to do - they know that, but still they will consider they have no choice.
Ahmadinejad is playing a very dangerous game. He is gambling, probably with decent odds, that the US will not intervene and that the Israeli attempt will fail.
Please get your facts straight!
In points B and C you state
(B)The second facility was not announced until it was discovered.
(c) Co-operation with the IEAE has been sporadic
Still, the accusations issuing about Iran are unaccompanied by evidence and raise at least as many question as they answer. Yet here we have, yet again, inflammatory (and, in many eyes, war-justifying) accusations made against an American Enemy, and the American establishment media seems capable of nothing other than mindlessly repeating it, asking no real questions, and doing little other than fueling the fire.
By contrast, The Washington Independent's Spencer Ackerman spent all day yesterday diligently and critically grappling with the question of whether Iran even breached any of its obligations under the NPT (he quotes an analyst with the Federation of American Scientists’ Strategic Security Program who points out out that the NPT requires notification to the IAEA no less than 6 months before a facility is operational -- which Iran plainly did -- but also notes there may be non-public Iran/IAEA agreements requiring earlier notification). Either way, everyone agrees that -- despite all the rhetoric about Iran getting caught red-handed -- it was Iran itself which notified the IAEA of this facility; the facility is far from operational; and there's no evidence that it contains or even can produce weapons-grade material. Until there's an IAEA inspection -- which Iran said it would permit -- it's impossible to know the true purpose and capabilities of this facility, which is the cause for the Chinese's skepticism and should cause skepticism among every thinking person, beginning with the American media. Can anyone point to any such skepticism anywhere? Listening to the media coverage, one would think that Iran just got caught sitting on a secret atomic bomb.
Look Trumble you have to read multiple sources to get the full story. From your post it seems as if you're repeating the israeli and american talking points about how grave a threat Iran is.
I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ THE ARTICLES IN THESE LINKS TO GET THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NUCLEAR AMBITIONS OF IRAN, WHICH THE AMERICAN AND ISRAELI MEDIA WILL NOT COVER.
I'm going to make a gurantee that if America continually follows its current path of attacking and threatening other countries with military action IT WILL GO BANKRUPT. In fact IT ALREADY IS BANKRUPT. Once China and the rest of the world starts slowly weaning itself off american treasuries and the U.S. dollar americans will never enjoy the current lifestyle that they currently enjoy. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article13804.html
I suggested you need to appreciate the Israeli point of view to fully grasp the issue. As the Israelis are obviously not concerned about being targeted by either their own or American nukes the point is irrelevant.
As to the 'so what?', perhaps you should ask those living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi. A glance at your map will show what those countries have in common, and why their inhabitants might not be enthused at the idea of an Israeli / Iranian nuclear exchange.
Why should Iran reveal their plans to anyone? What do they owe to the international community?
They are under no more obligation to reveal 'plans' than anyone else. If, though, they didn't want to reveal the existence of nuclear facilities, they should have withdrawn from the treaties that require them to do so.
And if the whole reason is peaceful nuclear power generation only, what have they to hide? Again, consider how the Israelis will view Iranian actions.
Does not Israel have weapons to attack Iran too?
They were not built for that purpose, although of course they could be used for it.
I assume your referring to ''Israel to be wiped off the map?'' Ironically isn't that what Israel did to Palestine...I can't seem to find Palestine on the map.
Ironic, possibly. Irrelevant in the context I am suggesting, certainly.
I am not arguing about who has a right to do what or even what the specific facts are - take note, too, mustafaisb. I am arguing that Iranian actions are intended to present a particular picture to the Israelis that forces them into a particular course of action.
This is the reason Obama has stepped up the rhetoric against Iran on nuclear disarmament. Remember the world pays for oil in USD, if OPEC starts to shift away from the dollar and into some other currency or basket of currencies then america will have to pay a lot more for oil, and thus further crippling america's already tattered economy.
I suggested you need to appreciate the Israeli point of view to fully grasp the issue. As the Israelis are obviously not concerned about being targeted by either their own or American nukes the point is irrelevant.
As to the 'so what?', perhaps you should ask those living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi. A glance at your map will show what those countries have in common, and why their inhabitants might not be enthused at the idea of an Israeli / Iranian nuclear exchange.
They are under no more obligation to reveal 'plans' than anyone else. If, though, they didn't want to reveal the existence of nuclear facilities, they should have withdrawn from the treaties that require them to do so.
And if the whole reason is peaceful nuclear power generation only, what have they to hide? Again, consider how the Israelis will view Iranian actions.
They were not built for that purpose, although of course they could be used for it.
Ironic, possibly. Irrelevant in the context I am suggesting, certainly.
I am not arguing about who has a right to do what or even what the specific facts are - take note, too, mustafaisb. I am arguing that Iranian actions are intended to present a particular picture to the Israelis that forces them into a particular course of action.
Greetings,
Israeli's suspicions and concerns have no validity to begin with. What evidence is there to suggest that Iran is planning to attack Israel? Is there any evidence to show that Iran is planning to develop nuclear weapons. Iran is a peaceful country when it comes to international disputes. Unlike America or Israel Iran does not threaten other countries with sanctions or war when there is a dispute. Iran wants to develop nuclear energy for electricity and for the development of their own country. I do not see anything wrong with that.
Again President Ahmadinejad stated he welcomes international forces to inspect his nuclear energy facilities. This tells me they have nothing to hide. Yet again Israeli government is simply making false allegations. If there is concerns...then Western countries and Israel must begin to act civilize. They continue to demonize Iran and continue to make false allegations. Instead of overreacting all they have to do is talk to Iranians officials without threatening them with sanctions.
It is purely based on suspicion that Iran is making weapons to attack Israel. If this is the case, then where is the evidence? Every country makes weapons to defend themselves.
There is nothing that the Iranians have done wrong. It is Israel that is paranoid and bombarding the media with false allegations. They continue to claim Iran is making WMD when there is no evidence to support those claims. France, Britain and America need to take into a consideration of the Iranian civilians needs as well. Israel overreacts over anything and need to learn the world does not revolve around them!
Peace. : P
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Right, I'm sick of the Israeli Zionist dog Netanyahu who thinks he can say what he wants, when he wants. Who are these swines to constantly threaten Iran? Iran should just unleash the Shahab-3 missile and bomb Israel. I am honestly sick of these pigs who act as if they own the world
To those who claim Iran are in the wrong, You are in the minority of idiots who are brainwashed by the Media, Like a puppet on a string!
Long Live Iran, Long live Hezbollah And Long Live Hamas! May they all unite and destroy the illegal, racist state of Israel and wipe them off the map!
O 1.5 billion Muslims, March towards Israel and tear down their satanic flag and liberate Palestine! May Allah SWT give us the strength to do so. Ameen
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I don't know, I guess I care too much for my families safety than to worry about what comes up in the news.
Re: Israel calls for action on Iran
Please get your facts straight!
Re: Israel calls for action on Iran
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