Israel Matzav

'There is no choice'

Iran and visiting Russian technicians started the process of starting up the Bushehr nuclear power plant on Wednesday and the world - which has stood by silently as Iran developed its nuclear program - called it 'bad news.' Iran says that it now has 6,000 operating centrifuges.

Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran will continue to install more centrifuges and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for future Iranian power plants.

In November 2008, Iran said it had 5,000 centrifuges running at the plant in the central city of Natanz. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to make nuclear fuel. Further enrichment makes it suitable for nuclear weapons.

...

In Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the testing reflected the "Iranians are showing again that they are making progress in their nuclear race."

"This should be understood as very bad news for the whole of the international community," Palmor said, calling for "immediate and very determined steps in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power."

...

It's unclear when the reactor could be switched on. Test runs normally occur a few months before a reactor's start-up.

The plant is to run on enriched uranium, which has worried the West because spent fuel could later be turned into plutonium, potential material for nuclear warheads. Iran has denied it is pursuing nuclear weapons and says its uranium enrichment program is exclusively aimed at generating electricity.

At the Bushehr plant, Iranian nuclear spokesman Mohsen Shirazi said virtual fuel - consisting of lead and meant to imitate enriched uranium because of its similar consistency - was being loaded into the reactor.

Russian nuclear agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko inspected the process with his Iranian counterpart, Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh.

Aghazadeh, who also heads the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the test was going well and the virtual fuel was loaded "in a proper way."

"Today was one of the most important days for the Iranian nation," said Aghazadeh. "We are approaching full exploitation of this plant."

Kiriyenko said work remains to be done to "speed up the launching of the site" but that the Russian-Iranian team was "approaching the final stage" before the plant becomes operational.

"This [test] is one of the major elements of an extensive project," he said. "After the virtual fueling, we will check to see how the reactor will operate."

Meanwhile, Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak (pictured) warns that time is running out.

"Israel's policy is clear: We are not ruling out any option regarding the Iranian nuclear [program]," he said. "We mean it."

"We recommend that others don't rule out any option either," continued Barak in an address at the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, with a possible hint to US President Barack Obama's administration. "A dialogue with Iran should be defined and limited in time."

"Time is running out. Clear and decisive sanctions against the Iranian regime alongside readiness to consider necessary action in case the sanctions don't work are necessary," Barak said. He added that Russia had a crucial role in pressuring Iran, and that sanctions without Russia's participation would be meaningless.

You all see what's coming down the pike here. Russia will not meaningfully participate in sanctions and neither will the Euroweenies. Obama will talk. Israel will act.

There is no choice.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:04 PM