WORLD NEWS TRUST: Iran In The Crosshairs (Jeremy R. Hammond)

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Jeremy R. Hammond -- World News Trust

The IAEA's latest report on Iran's nuclear program was circulated to the Board of Governors this week. It has not been released to the general public, but it is widely being hailed as a damning condemnation of Iran by the mainstream media.

The Washington Post headline read, "U.N. Agency at 'Dead End' as Iran Rejects Queries on Nuclear Research." The article states that "The apparent standoff was detailed in a report that also described substantial gains by Tehran in its efforts to make enriched uranium, the fuel used in commercial nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons." The Post fails to point out that the IAEA has also confirmed that Iran has produced only low-enriched uranium, not the highly-enriched uranium required for nuclear weapons.

The Post quotes Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, as saying, "After numerous inspections there was no evidence on diversion of nuclear activities and materials for military objectives." But it fails to point out that this is not only attributable to Iranian denials, but to the IAEA report itself, which states that the IAEA "has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."

That line is taken verbatim from the IAEA's previous report last May. Just before issuing that report, IAEA Secretary General noted, "We haven't seen indications or any concrete evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon and I've been saying that consistently for the last five years."

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