DAR AL ISLAM - IRAN: WHEN IRAN TALKS ABOUT ANYTHING NUCLEAR, IT'S ONLY MOTIVATIONAL & BLUFFS

Elbaradei: Iran at starting stage of nuke enrichment

The head of the UN's atomic watchdog said on Thursday that Iran was still at the starting stage of creating a uranium enrichment plant and that concerns stem more from its motivations than the scale of production.

"There are various definitions of industrial scale production. Iran is still at the starting stage of creating a uranium enrichment plant," Mohamed Elbaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters in Riyadh.


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Nuclear expert advises Gulf states to take Iran's nuke achievement as "bluff"

NEW YORK, April 11 (KUNA) -- An expert on nuclear non-proliferation and international nuclear policies on Wednesday played down Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement last Monday that his country can now enrich uranium on an industrial scale, advising Iran's neighbours to take it as a "bluff." "I do not see any credible evidence that Iran can enrich uranium at the industrial scale," Charles Ferguson, Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington D.C., told KUNA in reaction to the Iranian announcement.

He said Tehran "appears to be trying to use the announcement as public relations for an Iranian domestic audience to drum up nationalistic support for the nuclear program." He added that government officials in neighboring states would "hopefully see the announcement as more bluff and bluster rather than a real accomplishment." People on the street, however, he noted, may react differently and support Iran's nuclear program because it "stand up to the West."


Pertinent Links:

1) Elbaradei: Iran at starting stage of nuke enrichment

2) Nuclear expert advises Gulf states to take Iran's nuke achievement as "bluff"