Turkey and Brazil Throw a Monkey Wrench in America’s Plans

The American administration spilled the beans at last. It has revealed the reason why America scrapped the nuclear fuel swap deal, in which Turkey and Brazil have been trying to calm the storm that surrounds Iran’s nuclear program through diplomatic and peaceful means, and why the United States introduced a new sanctions draft, which consists of only fluff, to the UN Security Council. In fact, the swap agreement was put forward by the U.S. but they have never wanted it to happen! Because as long as Israel puts the U.S. president, Barack Obama, through the mill, it won’t matter how sincere he is about the matter. And If the U.S. wants to take the upper hand against Iran in the nuclear weapons game, that would just be considered “regime change.” But how will the U.S. achieve this?

Later I will touch on which beans were spilled and how, but first of all I will explain the matter of the “uranium swap,” which became tangled because of technicalities. This is necessary to understand America’s syntax magic.

The “Restriction of Enrichment”

When he became president in the beginning of 2009, what was Obama’s most significant step in his political “program” regarding Iran? Although the Bush administration made a complete stop of uranium enrichment as a precondition for direct talks, Obama backed down from that condition, which he called “unrealistic.” In any event, Bush’s position was weird. Iran has the right to enrich uranium up to 20 percent and use nuclear technology for the energy and medical purposes. This is based on international law and the UN International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA). This body is also responsible for nuclear inspection and the upkeep of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Regardless of these provisions, Iran quickly became a potential suspect for overenrichment, and thus, weapon making. The idea is that if a country manages to enrich uranium to 20 percent it can enrich 90 to percent and then produce nuclear weapons as well. Easier said than done! According to the experts, it is almost impossible for Iran to enrich uranium to 90 percent, let alone produce weapons — that is another issue entirely.

From Samore to Baradey

In this environment, the U.S. revived the “swap deal” in the fall, the brainchild of Gary Samore, Obama’s WMD Coordinator. The former president of the IAEA brought forward the following proposal: Iran would ship at around 1200 kg of uranium enriched at a rate of 3.5 percent (LEU, or Low Enrichment uranium) to Russia to enrich the uranium to a rate of 20 percent; then Russia would turn the uranium over to France for them to turn it into 120 kg of fuel rods, seeing as France is the expert on this subject. The obtained fuel would be returned to Iran for a medical research reactor in Tehran. This agreement would develop trust because of Iran’s agreement on transferring 80 percent of their LEU; this would prove that Iran doesn’t intend to produce nuclear weapons. Iran agreed in principle but insisted on swapping in its own land because they didn’t trust the west not to confiscate their assets, as they did during the Islamic revolution. The U.S. is worried about the uranium being enriched in Iran. Then, Turkey and Brazil persuaded Tehran to agree to the same swap that Baradey proposed. The agreement stipulates that Iran will send a notice to the IAEA in one week and will send 1200 kg of low enriched uranium to Turkey one month after that. Iran will give the west, most likely France, one year and a few extra months to produce and deliver fuel rods. In other words, Iran will lose 1200 kg of uranium, build up trust and not look like a potential threat. But if the issue is to “convince someone to accept malaria upon threat of death” then there are lots of things one could propose! Iran already possesses 2,000kg of LEU; why are there objections to Iran sending half of it out in a month? Besides, the sanction draft Russia and China brought to the Security Council on the behest of the U.S. won’t even hurt Iran, let alone “paralyze” it.

Spill the Beans

Now it comes to the matter of the bean spilling. Finally, Philip Crowley, State Department spokesman, announced, “Iran has failed to suspend its uranium enrichment program.” Obama is really not concerned with this, but rather Iran’s nuclear program, although Obama excluded it from any statements.

But why? First of all, don’t interpret “regime change” to mean the same this as it did Iraq. If Iran gives up the independence of its nuclear program, which has been a symbol of national pride for 50 years, that could be considered a regime change. If a country doesn’t have uranium enrichment technology it can be considered a dependent state. A country then gives up all of its rights, buys this technology from its elder brothers and sits still. If this happens, Iran won’t be as effective in defending the Palestinians against the atrocities committed by Israel. Previously, Samore offered to give the guarantee of lifting economic sanctions, abstaining from regime change and even normalizing relations with Iran in exchange for Iran giving up its enrichment program. I am not sure if Iran really wants to have nuclear weapons yet but it is obvious that it wants to be seen as a power that “possesses nuclear technology.” Iran won’t have that opportunity if it gives up on its nuclear program. Iran will be humiliated in front of the world, including Israel, which is the only country in the Middle East to possess nuclear power illegally as a result of their not signing the NPT, thanks to America. This is will pave the way for a series of policies in the Middle East that will look out for Israel’s interest.

How Many Becquerel, the U.S. Will Count Them as Well

The United States’ main goal is to enable Israel to be safe from opposition and competition. This is all about nuclear technology monopolization. In other words, it is the concern about developing countries not adhering to current international treaties and making their own nuclear policy. Turkey might want to produce nuclear energy in the future. Remember what Davutoğlu said last week, “You cannot say nuclear technology just belongs to one person; this technology can be used only by any state and its use does not necessarily mean that a country is a suspect to build a bomb. Then there won’t be any international law.” This is why the negotiations about uranium swapping are nothing but show and it seems that Brazil and Turkey are just trying to thwart the U.S. plans.

In short, the nuclear reaction started via Iran, but the end result is not an atomic bomb. There are now two radioisotopes of the new multipolar world: Turkey and Brazil. How many Becquerel do they count for? The U.S. will be sure to count them when strategizing in the future! Enriched uranium must be very powerful!