Post #3: Iran's President Moves Ahead on Uranium Processing

Click here to read The New York Times article, "Iran's President Moves Ahead on Uranium," dated February 7th, 2010. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, recently ordered the production of a form of uranium for use as a power source in one of Tehran's medical reactors. This move has led to intense lobbying on the part of the United States in hopes of convincing other nations to push sanctions prohibiting the production a potential fuel source for nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, a deal involving the exchange of fuel for uranium has fallen through due to the Iranian leadership. This exchange deal would have resulted in the lack of enough fuel to produce a nuclear weapon in Iran, temporarily appeasing Westerners. Although Iran is trying to enrich large quantities of fuel, progress has been slow due to the occurrence of both technical difficulties and opposition from the West. While Iran claims to be open to making a deal, it insists on certain preconditions which would enable Iran to keep much of its current resource stockpile. The Iranian government has portrayed the enrichment of uranium as a fuel source for medical research in hopes of confronting Western opposition and appeasing its citizens. The United States has given Iran until the end of the year to settle the issue. If Iran makes conciliatory gestures, the impact could be deadly due to the reluctance among many countries to take action, resulting in a potential split of the United Nations Security Council. As of now, things in Iran remain fragile, at best. This article is significant because Iran's potential to develop nuclear weapons could result in global implications. As a result, the enrichment of uranium has become a issue of global concern and the United States has taken steps to convince others of the present dangers. This article also deals with the legitimacy of the government and its accompanying linkage institutions as the government portrays the issue in a light favoring the administration and downplaying the seriousness of the matter via the media.

Thanks to Hamed Saber of flickr for the image of the Natanz Nuclear Facility in Iran.

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