Uranium Enrichment: Aussie Rules as Iran Drools!

Kofi Annan urged the world today, to avoid confrontation with Iran over its nuclear goals, after Tehran told him it wanted a negotiated solution but would not halt uranium enrichment before any talks.

On many occasions Iran has stated that it’s nuclear goal is to create Nuclear Power as an energy source. Every country should have the right to produce Nuclear power. A country should also have the right to Nuclear Technology to defend itself. If we look from a historical perspective the threat of Nuclear Technology in the cold war acted as a deterant to start a war, it sustained peace and brought the two nations together - I believe it will do so in today’s environment.

On 29 January 2002 President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address said: "Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom... States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil... these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists... the price of indifference would be catastrophic".

He seemed to forget that it was not so long ago in the 1970’s, the US and its allies encouraged the Shah of Iran (a brutal dictator) to start Iran's nuclear energy program at a time when it had no economic justification. Nuclear capabilities did not materialise for Iran but India, South Africa, North Korea, Israel and Pakistan to did join the UK and the US in the nuclear club.

Whilst the US, UK, Israel & Germany are waiting to pounce on the chance to put sanctions against Iran and possibly invade it, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned the US that any attack on Iran will have devastating consequences and send oil prices soaring. "If the United States attacks Iran... oil could reach $100 (£52) a barrel or more," he said. "Moreover, Iran has said it would attack Israel, and I know they have the wherewithal to do so".

Yesterday, Australia made a statement assuring its neighbouring countries that it was not promoting an arms race by considering whether to enrich uranium that can be used in nuclear weapons.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer pledged that if Australia produced enriched uranium in the future, it would never be used in a nuclear arsenal.

"I would have thought that international security would be better served by enriched uranium coming from a country as secure, as stable, as democratic and as responsible as Australia," Downer said.

His message sounds similar to statements made in the past by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but Ahmadinejad cannot be trusted by the US.