Iran's Russian "assurances"

Peter Brooks:

LIKE the bone-chilling Siberian winter winds, the bad news just keeps howling out of Mother Russia these days.

Following on the heels of less-than-free-and-fair parliamentary elections, last week Russia concluded a deal with Iran to finish construction of the nuclear reactor at Bushehr early next year.

And this week, Russia delivered a year's worth of nuclear fuel - 82 tons - for Bushehr, broadening and deepening Tehran's atomic aptitude and its potential for joining the once exclusive nuclear-weapons club.

Of course, the Russians say there's no reason to worry because they have written assurances from the Iranians the fuel won't go for anything but power generation at the plant - and will be returned to Russia after it's "spent."

The Kremlin's foreign ministry also assures us that the nuclear fuel, while in Iran, will be under the "control and guarantee" of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. (Yes, the same agency Iran has hoodwinked for over 20 years.)

Both Moscow and Washington tried to put a happy face on it, saying the Kremlin's decision should provide more incentive to Iran to stop enriching uranium with those 3,000 or so A.Q. Khan-designed centrifuges they're spinning 24/7/365. (The Iranian response? "Fat chance.")

...

Iran's word is no good when it comes to nukes. They lied for years about their weapons plans. What the delivery does is free up the fuel they are generating on their own for use in weapons since they will not have to go through the motions of appearing to use it to generate electricity. The Russians and Iranians are behaving badly here.