The Iranian bomb

If you don’t read other blogs, you probably haven’t gotten this story yet. Iranian clerics were briefed — by the man who led nuclear negotiations for two years — on how he lied to the West while Iran rushed to finish building its nuclear program. And ladies and gents, it’s not a power plant he’s talking about.

The man who for two years led Iran’s nuclear negotiations has laid out in unprecedented detail how the regime took advantage of talks with Britain, France and Germany to forge ahead with its secret atomic programme.

In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics, Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with the so-called EU3 until last year, revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.

He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake – a key stage in the nuclear fuel process – at its Isfahan plant but at the same time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.

[…] In his address to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Mr Rowhani appears to have been seeking to rebut criticism from hardliners that he gave too much ground in talks with the European troika. The contents of the speech were published in a regime journal that circulates among the ruling elite.

He told his audience: “When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site. There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan.”

Funny. Most of us could smell a rat from the get-go, yet the IAEA, the UN, and Europe simply couldn’t grasp the fact that the Iranian regime is full of liars.

Of course the big question is: Will this change anything?

One would hope so. One will probably be disappointed.