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Nuclear War of Words

Is the U.S. fibbing in its claims against Iran?

by
Michael Weiss
September 04, 2009

In advance of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s forthcoming report on Iran’s nuclear program, Iranian ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, has drafted an 8-page letter to the agency’s outgoing head, Mohammed ElBaradei. In it, Soltanieh accuses the United States of relying on “fabricated, baseless and false” evidence to support its claim that Iran, in flagrant violation of international law, is still pursuing a nuclear weapons program while employing deceit and subterfuge to convince the rest of the world that it’s not. The Jerusalem Post quotes from the missive: “By interfering in the work of the IAEA and exerting various political pressures, the government of the United States attempted to spoil the cooperative spirit between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA.”

The agency has wanted the U.S. and other Western government to disclose more of their intelligence suggesting Iran has belligerent intentions (specifically, against Israel)—the mullahs, along with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have long insisted they want nuclear energy for civilian purposes only. Nevertheless, the forthcoming report is said to call for tougher penalties on Iran, which has failed to answer the IAEA’s outstanding questions.