Iran vs. the West

[Ross]

Me thinks there is much more to this than meets the eye.

"Incensed over what it views as a Western-Arab plot, Iran on Thursday threatened to sue Google for deleting the name Persian Gulf from its online mapping service and leaving the body of water nameless. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, was quoted by the state-run news media as saying that Iran had already warned Google of possible legal action and “serious damages” if the Persian Gulf was not identified as such."

The real issue is ownership of what is UNDER the gulf .

To be precise , at least 66 Trillion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas .

Extract ...

TEHRAN – The latest exploration operations at the Kish gas field, which is located in the Persian Gulf, show that it contains at least 66 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is a rise of 26 trillion cubic feet over previous estimates, according to an official of the National Iranian Oil Company.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/component.../article/97771

[Catbird]

5+1 and Iran = SSDD, to be repeated in June in Moscow.


Reuters:

"Iran and world powers agreed to meet again in Moscow next month for more talks to try to end the long-running dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme, but there was scant progress to resolve the main sticking points between the two sides.

...After discussions in Baghdad extended late into an unscheduled second day between envoys from Iran and the six powers, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said it was clear both sides wanted progress and had some common ground, but significant differences remained.

"We will maintain intensive contacts with our Iranian counterparts to prepare a further meeting in Moscow," she told a news conference in Baghdad.

..."Talks were intensive and long," said Iranian chief negotiator Saeed Jalili. "They were detailed, but are left unfinished."

"The atmosphere of these talks was positive for the two sides to talk about their issues in a clear way. We believe the result of these talks was that we were able to get to know each other's views better and more."

Right, cuz no one knew each others' views before these talks...

NY Times:

...A news conference scheduled after a plenary session was postponed twice while talks continued, a possible indication that both sides were trying to come up with something substantive.

I guess the announcement of further talks in June means that they talked about talking some more. That's diplomacy at it's best...

[Auburn Boy]

June in Moscow..,

That's if the Israelis don't hit them first.

[Grassy Gnoll]

An Ent-moot would be quicker....


"We have decided.... you are definately not Orcs....."

[Catbird]

What a surprise.

"Higher enrichment at Iranian site"

"The U.N. atomic agency has found evidence at an underground bunker in Iran that could mean the country has moved closer to producing the uranium threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles, diplomats said Friday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found traces of uranium enriched up to 27 percent at Iran's Fordo enrichment plant, the diplomats told The Associated Press.

...The diplomats - who demanded anonymity because their information is privileged - said the find did not necessarily mean that Iran was covertly raising its enrichment threshold toward weapons-grade level. They said one likely explanation was that the centrifuges that produce enriched uranium initially over-enriched at the start as technicians adjusted their output."

Regardless of how or why it was done, the bottom line is that Iran can produce uranium enriched to almost 30%. That's a big jump from 20%.

[Auburn Boy]

Yeah, I find it a little hard to believe that the Iranians didn't simply take advantage of their "new configuration" to prove that they could get very close to 30% on the first pass..,

Technical glitch my fat hairy butt.

[Catbird]

"‘Window for Iran nuclear talks closing’: U.S. ambassador to Israel"

"The window for dialogue over Iran’s nuclear program is closing, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said Wednesday, insisting Washington holds no illusions over Tehran’s agenda at the talks.

Speaking at Tel Aviv University a week after world powers held a second round of largely fruitless talks with Iran, ambassador Dan Shapiro insisted Washington would not continue such dialogue forever.

“We don’t intend on continuing talks for talks’ sake. The window is closing,” he told delegates attending an international security conference at the university.

“We have no illusions that Iran may be using this to buy time,” he said. “It is up to Iran to follow through. The burden falls on Iran to prove it is serious.”

The following might have something to do with that window closing.

Reuters:

"The U.N. nuclear watchdog showed new satellite imagery on Wednesday indicating that Iran may be cleaning a site where inspectors suspect it has carried out tests relevant to developing atomic bombs, participants at a closed-door briefing said.

One person who attended the presentation by senior U.N. nuclear agency officials for diplomats accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency said a May 25 image showed "ground scraping activities" at the Parchin military site.

Another envoy said one building also appeared to have been removed from the site, compared with earlier images of the same place."

[Catbird]

Okay...Greece is still in the Euro, France is happily socialist and Egypt is still...Egypt. Now that the Moscow talks are officially a bust, that takes us back to Iran as the crisis de jour.

New U.S. financial sanctions kick in at the end of the month and the European sanctions are due to begin on July 1st.


"Iran, world powers fail to settle nuclear dispute"

"World powers and Iran failed to secure a breakthrough at talks on Tehran's nuclear program on Tuesday and set no date for more political negotiations, despite the threat of a new Middle East conflict if diplomacy collapses.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after two days of talks in Moscow that significant differences remained and that the two sides had agreed only on a technical follow-up meeting in Istanbul on July 3.

If talks fail, financial markets could be hit by fears of conflict in the Middle East and of higher oil prices because Israel has threatened to attack Iranian nuclear sites if diplomacy fails to stop Iran getting the bomb."