Greenpeace Statement on Iran 3 March 2006 No one can say for sure whether or not Iran has a nuclear weapons programme. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr Mohammed ElBaradei, in a report to be presented to the IAEA Board meeting next week, certainly doesn't know.
The Bush Administration doesn't know; nor do the so-called EU3 (Britain, France and Germany). Russia, which is also trying to convince Iran to abandon its enrichment programme in return for nuclear fuel cycle services involving the weapons sensitive enrichment process taking place in Russia, doesn't know. What we do know is even if Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons it is years away from realising any such ambition. We know that diplomatic options have not yet been exhausted. We know that if the UN Security Council passes any resolution for sanctions that it will entrench Iranian attitudes towards enrichment. Experience tells us that this is not the path to resolving the conflict and will only pave the way for an escalation in tensions and erode the prospects for a diplomatic solution. We know that the technology being pursued by Iran is part of a civil nuclear power programme and can also be used in a nuclear weapons programme. The myth of two types of nuclear technology, or two types of atom, one for peace and one for war, is a dangerous myth which lies at the heart of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. We know that the complex web of nuclear hypocrisy which shrouds the negotiations must urgently be addressed. The recent deal between the US and India is a case in point. The double standards at the heart of the crisis serve only to fan the flames of nuclear proliferation and undermine the arguments of those warning against the development of uranium enrichment in Iran. The nuclear weapons design genie is out of the bottle, the only way prevent further nuclear proliferation and promote nuclear disarmament is to cut off access to nuclear weapons materials and the technology to produce them. This applies world-wide, to all countries without exception, from Iran to North Korea, the US to the UK, India to Israel. There can be no double standards, no hypocrisy, no haves and have nots. The rapid development of a global energy systems based on energy conservation and renewable energy sources is the only way to tackle to of the world's most pressing environmental and security threat, nuclear weapons proliferation and global warming. Once this discussion gets to New York, as seems almost inevitable, there should be a full debate not only within the Security Council but also within the General Assembly. Only the General Assembly will ensure a truly global debate, addressing the urgent questions surrounding the Iran crises, which go far beyond Iran and speak to not only to this proliferation crises but to the global context in which it is taking place. A debate which seeks to once and for all address the many drivers of nuclear proliferation beyond the national state, to address the inequities in the current flawed approach to nuclear weapons possession and acquisition, and advances positive diplomatic solutions such as a nuclear free zone in the region. Felicity Hill Political Adviser on Nuclear and Disarmament Issues direct line: + 31 20 718 2164 mobile phone: + 31 64616 2018 Greenpeace International Ottho Heldringstraat 5 1066 AZ Amsterdam The Netherlands T: + 31 20 7182000 F: + 31 20 5148158 -- The great moral question of the twenty-first century is: If all knowledge, all culture, all art, all useful information, can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone -- if everyone can have everything, everywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone from anything? - Eben Moglen --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ greenyouth mailinglist is the activist support mailinglist for kerala run by Global Alternate Information Applications (GAIA) To post to this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
