Have they now got nukes?
By Christopher Leake and Damien Gayle
12th February 2012
Iran's leader issued a new threat to the West yesterday – warning that his country would soon unveil ‘big new nuclear achievements’.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not elaborate on the announcement – but insisted Iran would never give up its uranium enrichment process.
Western powers, including Britain and the United States, suspect the country’s nuclear programme is aimed at producing atomic weapons.
Iran insists it is designed for peaceful purposes only, such as energy production.
Addressing a rally of tens of thousands of Iranians in Tehran yesterday, Ahmadinejad said: ‘Within the next few days the world will witness the inauguration of several big new achievements in the nuclear field.’
He said Iran was prepared to stage fresh talks over its nuclear programme, but added that Tehran ‘will never enter talks if enemies behave arrogantly’.
The president’s remarks were made to a rally marking the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamic clerics to power.
They will do little to encourage the revival of talks with the West over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Four rounds of UN sanctions and recent tough financial penalties by the US and EU have failed to persuade Iran to halt aspects of atomic work that could provide a possible pathway to weapons
production.
Ahmadinejad told the crowd in Tehran’s Azadi Square that Iran had been forced to manufacture nuclear fuel rods – which provide fuel for reactors – on its own as international sanctions ban it from buying them on foreign markets.
Apart from progress on the rods, the upcoming announcement could be about Iran's underground enrichment facility at Fordo or upgraded centrifuges, which are expected to be installed in the central town of Natanz.
Iran has also said it would inaugurate the Russian-built nuclear power plant in the southern port of Bushehr in 2012.
Iran's unchecked pursuit of its nuclear programme scuppered negotiations a year ago but Iranian officials last month proposed a return to the talks with the five permanent UN Security Council
members plus Germany.
'Iran is ready for talks within the framework of equality and justice,' Ahmadinejad repeated yesterday.
But he warned that Tehran 'will never enter talks if enemies behave arrogantly'.
In the past, Iran has angered Western officials by appearing to buy time through opening talks and weighing proposals even while pressing ahead with the nuclear research.
President Ahmadinejad, was joined by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who also spoke to hail the Iranian revolution and denounce Israel'
Washington recently levied new sanctions aimed at limiting Iran's ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenue.
The European Union has also adopted its own toughest measures yet on Iran, including an oil embargo and freeze of the country's central bank assets.
Israel is worried Iran could be on the brink of an atomic bomb and many Israeli officials believe sanctions only give Tehran time to move its nuclear sites underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes.
The U.S. and its allies argue that Israel should hold off on any military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work.
Before Ahmadinejad spoke, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister from Gaza, addressed the crowd.
He congratulated Iranians on the 1979 anniversary of their revolution and vowed that his militant Palestinian group would never recognize Iran's and Hamas' arch-enemy, Israel.
Also at the rally, Iran displayed a full-size model of the U.S. drone RQ-170 Sentinel, captured in December near the border with Afghanistan.
Iran has touted the drone's capture as one of its successes against the West.
State television called the drone a 'symbol of power' of the Iranian armed forces 'against the global arrogance' of the U.S.
The report broadcast footage of other rallies around Iran, saying millions participated in the anniversary celebrations, many under heavy snowfall.
There was no response from the Foreign Office to yesterday’s developments in Iran.
5 comments:
Hi there Friends; my understanding of nuclear weapons is that the neutrons of the warheads have to be in the correct position comparative to the sun and that unless they are the explosive element to ignite the warhead cannot happen. What that means is that there can never be an all out nuclear war. However, what it also means is the potential for a one off strike is also very real and so in that sense the possibility of a first in best dressed type of scenario also exists. That could explain why Israel has threatened a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities out of concern that it is using them to develop nuclear weapons. Furthermore, because Iran has just announced that it has achieved significant breakthroughs on a number of fronts in its nuclear enrichment program Israel has dispatched a number of naval vessels—under cover—into the Arabian Sea, and they are moving into its northern regions, just off Iran. The Israeli vessels have been positioned at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman, which leads to the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to shut down that gateway to the Persian Gulf if further sanctions are imposed against its sale of oil and on its central bank. Accordingly, then what we are seeing unfolding at the moment has the very real possibility to ignite the whole of the Middle East into an event as yet unimaginable. What we now have in place is a waiting game just to see who is going to be the first one to lash out at the other. If I were a betting man I would lay a wager on the fact that it is going to be Israel who is going to crack under the strain and be the first one to strike. However, as there is really no one at all who knows the correct sequence of events relative to the fulfillment of the remainder of the Bible prophecies, so let us just wait and see how all of this pans out as this is not the time for scaremongering or panic. Kindest Regards
I agree that it is not the time for panic or scaremongering. We can assuredly apply Matthew 24.6-7 to the above.
One of the latest commentators on Rapture Ready believes the rapture will happen this year.
Now I am not accusing him of date setting by any means,but......
Hi there Friends; in addition to the aforementioned comments, it now seems that Iran has finally agreed to come to the negotiating table to discuss its nuclear issues? However, that also makes me think that they may have serious concerns that Israel, backed by the US, is about to launch a pre-emptive strike? Which at the end of the day is not really going to serve either side any real and long time lasting benefits other than to achieve the desired effect of bringing forth the Biblical Antichrist, which at the end of the day is what this whole scenario really seems to be about anyway? As that is the case, then wait and see if we are going to see the Antichrist coming forth by the end of this year? In light of the fact that we have an election in the US this year, which means that we may see the Antichrist come forth because of whoever is elected as the next US president? If I were a betting man, I would lay a wager on the fact that is exactly how this is going to pan out. However, as there is really no one at all who knows the correct sequence of events relative to the fulfilment of the remainder of the Bible prophecies, so let us just wait and see how all of this pans out, as this is not the time for scaremongering or panic. If there is no one else listening to these comments, then it may be all right to say that Mitt Romney has been soundly rejected by the conservative Born Again Christians in the US where in other states he has had resounding success, if that is any sort of an indicator at all of what is right around the corner. After all, it is quite common knowledge that the fundamentalists are going to be able to pick the Antichrist when he arrives? Kindest Regards
Hi there Colin; the folks at Rapture Ready have been the cause of quite a lot of disagreement amongst Christian believers for their pre-tribulation stance, when the word of God teaches nothing like a Pre-tribulation Rapture. Rapture Ready writers may come out with whatever statements they so wish, but that still does not make what they say correct unless what they have forecast does actually come to fruition. However, there is actually nothing in the word of God to indicate that there is going to be a rapture this year? Accordingly, once again, all that they are coming forth with is just more of the same of what they have in the past, none of which has ever proven to have any real credibility at all. Rapture Ready writers are entitled to their beliefs. However, in coming forth with what they by saying there is going to be a rapture this year that then raises the very real possibility that there are going to be those who take notice of this outlandish statement and treat is as being factual? If those same persons then act in accordance with what they believe to be true, that in turn may have adverse effects on their lives if what they think is going to happen does not actually eventuate. However, the thing that annoys me more than anything else relative to the Rapture Ready website is that in the eyes of those who run that site, there is no one on their radar permitted to disagree with their own stance relative an alleged Rapture. If there are those who do not agree with their viewpoint, then those same persons are either a heretic or unsaved. On the other hand, there is nothing at all that I can find in the word of God that says to have a belief in a system of a rapture is a pre-requisite to salvation. Accordingly, that should spell the end of all arguments relative to the Rapture of the Church, or at least one would think that would be the case? Nevertheless, I one would imagine that the arguments will continue on until the Lord returns as those with little faith that the Lord is going to see them through the Great Tribulation continue to hang on to their own respective rapture beliefs. Be blessed.
Anonymous,
I agree with much of what you have said.
I agree with Bob to a point that the timing of the rapture is not salvific as such, (not to the repentant thief on the cross at least-though surely this was demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty?).
However I have the total conviction that the pre trib rapture is not taught anywhere in Scripture so if this teaching is not biblical but a man made theory, what are the ramifications for believing this lie?
Our blessed Lord warned us many times about deception.
This unbiblical doctrine reverses the order of end time events, having the Lord come before Antichrist.
Is it a light thing to promote this teaching? Some would call it a heretical teaching. But as most of professing Christianity endorses the 'any moment' coming of the Lord and is inherently pre trib then I don't believe too many would endorse my implication.
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