SPIEGEL Interview with Former Nuclear Watchdog: The Iranians ‘Tricked and Misled Us’

I just have one thing to say about this. Why and how did the Iranians manage to trick the world’s nuclear experts and not for instance, me, who is an amateur geopolitics observer and blogger, or any of my readers, my readers girlfriends, my readers girlfriends tennis partners, my readers girlfriends tennis partners Portuguese maids and their children, and their children’s grade 2 finger-painting teachers, or the entirety of the English speaking world? (with respect to Black Adder Goes Forth)

Why is it the only one who was fooled was the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

Could it be because the UNAEC actually works to help little crappy totalitarian rogue states get the bomb? Pakistan thinks so and told everyone with an award they gave to the UN which is on display at the UN building in NYC for all to see.

Now on to the article. A little ‘Quel Surprise’ by the UN AEA from:

Der Spiegel

Photo Gallery: 'There Are Quite a Few Things I Am Proud Of'

Photos
DPA

In a SPIEGEL interview, Olli Heinonen, the former deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, offers his first assessment of his 27 years at the global nuclear watchdog. He addresses Iran’s nuclear program, his concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and mistakes made in Fukushima.  

SPIEGEL: Mr. Heinonen, if you consider your time as the United Nations’ atomic “watchdog,” do you look back in anger? Or did you succeed in making the world safer from nuclear bombs

 Heinonen: There are quite a few things I’m proud of. While I was at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we played a significant role in putting Abdul Qadir Khan— the most dangerous nuclear smuggler of all times — out of action. But when I think about the nuclear activities of certain states, for instance Iran’s nuclear program, I have to say that we allowed ourselves to be placated too often. We should have done more than carrying out our inspections. Yes, with hindsight you could perhaps even say we failed.

 

SPIEGEL: You sound worried. Is Tehran really on a direct path to becoming a nuclear state?

Heinonen: It’s undeniable that Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced than it was in 2003, when the discovery of the Natanz facility brought it to the IAEA’s attention. At the time, uranium enrichment tests were being carried out in secret on a small scale. But at the end of 2003, the Iranians admitted they were also planning to set up a heavy-water reactor in Arak to generate plutonium.

SPIEGEL: In other words, the other ingredient you need to create either nuclear power or an atom bomb.

Heinonen: Iran always told us it was only interested in the civilian uses of atomic energy. I’ve always had my doubts about that, more so now than ever.

SPIEGEL: Why don’t you say what your former boss, Mohamed ElBaradei, said: That you haven’t found the so-called “smoking gun” — i.e. clear proof that Iran is developing nuclear weapons?

Heinonen: Before opponents of the Iranian regime exposed the existence of Natanz, those in power in Tehran had kept parts of their nuclear program secret for two decades. Today the facts are as follows: The conversion plant in Isfahan has produced 371 tons of uranium hexafluoride. Some 8,000 centrifuges in Natanz are being used to enrich this raw material. In February 2010, Iran began increasing enrichment to 20 percent. That’s a significant step closer to making an atomic bomb because it takes only a few months to turn that into weapons-grade material. And at the beginning of this year, Fereydoun Abbasi was appointed the head of the atomic energy organization in Tehran …

SPIEGEL: … a scientist who has been on a UN list of suspected bombmakers since 2007, whom a UN Security Council resolution forbids from traveling abroad, and who just barely survived an assassination attempt in Tehran 10 months ago suspected to have been carried out by the Israeli secret service.

Please click through to Spiegel.de for the rest

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

2 Replies to “SPIEGEL Interview with Former Nuclear Watchdog: The Iranians ‘Tricked and Misled Us’”

  1. a while ago some douche bags from around here did some song and dance that was a take off on a Pink Floyd song in which they changed the lines including one that went like “hey AIPAC! leave iran alone”. the San Francisco Bay Area is basically the “liberal progressive” capitol of the U.S. so of course anti-Israel sentiment is high here. but Israel does have it’s supporters here too who stand up to these islamonazi loving leftist social parasites. i recently put together a blog that like Gary’s is a video link collection of pro-Israel advocates having confrontations here in the S.F. Bay Area. you might be surprised at what you see. you’ve got a good blog here it speaks my language:
    http://proisraelctu.blogspot.com/