Countering the Conniptions Over Qom
Anti War / Antiwar
07-Oct-2009 (one comment)

Reporting that China is skeptical about the new claims, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com said, "Shouldn’t the American media infuse its coverage with some of that same skepticism, along with a similar desire to see actual evidence to support the claims being made? Isn’t that exactly the lesson every rational person should have learned from the Iraq War?"

What are the facts? In 1974 Iran signed its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA. Code 3.1 of the Subsidiary Arrangements of the Safeguards Agreement stipulated that Iran must declare to the IAEA the existence of any nuclear facility no later than 180 days before introducing any nuclear materials into the facility. That is why, despite much propaganda, the construction of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility was perfectly legal.

>>>
Shah Ghollam

A must read on Iran nuclear issue manipulations

by Shah Ghollam on Wed Oct 07, 2009 09:29 AM PDT

In 1992, the Board of Governors of the IAEA replaced the original Code 3.1 with the modified Code 3.1, which requires a member state to notify the IAEA “as soon as the decision to construct or to authorize construction has been taken, whichever is earlier” (emphasis mine).

On Feb. 26, 2003, Iran agreed to voluntarily implement the modified Code 3.1 until the Majlis, Iran’s parliament, ratified it. But in February 2007, the Board of Governors of the IAEA sent Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council. Iran contends that the IAEA acted illegally.

In retaliation, Iran notified the IAEA in March 2007 that it would no longer voluntarily abide by the modified Code 3.1. Iran reverted to the original Code 3.1. Although the IAEA contends that Iran cannot revert to the original agreement without its consent, Iran’s argument is on solid ground, because the Majlis never ratified the modified Subsidiary Arrangements. It also presented evidence that the preliminary work on the Qom facility may have begun in the early 1990s, when the 180-day advanced notification was required.


Balatarin
Share/Save/Bookmark