Iran promises retaliation for Israeli action against nuclear facilities

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Iran is referencing the conditions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as justification for defending what it believes is its right under Article IV of the NPT to have nuclear technology and hold on to its developing nuclear program, despite great pressure from the West and others to abandon certain nuclear technological capabilities. Article IV defines ...the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.

The Associated Press reported today that Tehran is planning a retaliation contingency against Israel should the country go forward with a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in early March, as Ariel Sharon said may occur, before he suffered a debilitating stroke in December 2005.

General Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Iran's minister of defense, articulated Teheran's position on any military action against Iran's nuclear capability, saying that "Zionists should know that if they do anything evil against Iran, the response of Iran's armed forces will be so firm that it will send them into eternal coma, like (Ariel) Sharon". He also proceeded to question the resolve of the United States and Israel to attack Iran on the grounds of violating international conventions concerning nuclear energy.

The United States government says that it wants Iran to comply by discontinuing uranium enrichment in its facilities, and said Iran will be sent to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over this dispute if Tehran maintains its refusal to comply with the international community

Both sides are clearly determined in their position, which leads to an interesting development of Mohammad elBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying that the US and other nuclear powers should themselves disarm as well if they don't want to be hypocrites, ArabicNews.com reports. Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty states that: Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control. The United States has signed the NPT, but Israel has not.

Another development which may foment further controversy also came Wednesday when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States for a series of bombings in Ahvaz, a town near the border of Iraq, which left at least nine civilians dead. "Traces of the occupiers of Iraq is evident in the Ahvaz events. They should take responsibility in this regard," Ahmadinejad remarked to Iranian state television stations today.

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Sources

Learn more about Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on Wikipedia.

"ArabicNews.com Iran determined to safeguard its nuclear right" — ArabicNews.com, January 25, 2006
Associated Press. "Iran: We'll put Israel in eternal coma" — Jerusalem Post, January 25, 2006
"THE TREATY ON THE NON-PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS (NPT)" — Department for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations, July 1, 1968

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