Nukes in Iran

[kandrathe]

While Europe feverishly works to get Iran to end enrichment, the US and Russia have in their greed secretly undermined their efforts.

This is old news, but it is new to me and hindsight is 20/20. Way back in 1992, Al Gore and John McCain got together to craft the Gore -McCain Non-Proliferation Act which commits the US to enact sanctions against any nation that aids Iran with advanced weapons. In February 2000, then President Clinton signs the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000, an act which allows him to take punitive measures against any individual or organization that provides any material aid to Iran's nuclear or any other WMD program.

This worries the Russians who have a lucrative "energy" deal with Iran, to aid them to install nuclear reactors. Mr. Gore met with Premier Kiriyenko and crafted the Gore-Kiriyenko Agreement in which the US agreed to allow the Russians carte blanc license to sell their technology to whomever they pleased, including the Iranians. Ironically, Mr. Gore agreed to allow the Russians to violate his own 1992 law, and numerous other nuclear non-proliferation laws including the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000.

Here is a press release from that time by Sen. Brownback calling for an investigation; BROWNBACK CALLS FOR HEARINGS TO INVESTIGATE GORE-RUSSIA-IRAN ARMS DEAL

Most of the above I found on Nuclear Threat Initiative website.

[Jester]

A link that I found informative: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000_11/gorechern.asp

Sen. Brownback's allegations appear to be that the transfer of conventional, not nuclear, arms were in violation of Gore-McCain. The Gore-Chernomyrdin (AKA Gore-Kiriyenko) agreement was to declare and complete all existing non-advanced conventional arms sales to Iran before 1998. The position of the Clinton administration was that none of the weapons sold were in violation of Gore-McCain.

(Edit: Further reading suggests that Gore-Chernomyrdin was an effort by Gore and the Clinton administration to stop the Russians from aiding Iran, rather than to enable it. One must ask the question: if the Russians wanted to sell weapons to Iran, who exactly is going to stop them?)

In addition, there was an implication (from the Washington Times) that there was some nuclear element that the administration failed to disclose to congress. Did this part go anywhere?

I would be interested in links from nti.org giving more detailed information about the specifically nuclear aspect of this issue. The site is rather opaque, and the search function appears to be broken.

-Jester

From Google:

The Washington Times allegations, courtesy of the Freepers: http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a1cb2706270.htm

Another piece of info. from armscontrol.org, on the Russian pullout from the deal: http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000_12/rusirandec00.asp

For a much more Gore-friendly description of events: http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd51/51iran.htm

[kandrathe]

Interesting.

Mr. Chernomyrdin stated that Russian nuclear assistance to Iran is part of a program to build a nuclear reactor, train Iranian technicians in Russia and deliver nuclear fuel to Tehran from 2001 to 2011.
A U.S. analysis of the assistance, which accompanied Mrs. Albright's letter, stated that the Russian aid "if not terminated, can only lead to Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability."
"Such a development would be destabilizing not only for the already volatile Middle East but would pose a threat to Russian and Western security interests," the analysis stated.
Despite Moscow's claim to limit nuclear assistance, numerous U.S. intelligence reports have shown that the aid to Iran is continuing outside the declared limits, U.S. officials have said.

Here is another link I found.

[Jester]

I don't think there is much question that Iran's basic source for Nuclear power materials and expertise is Russia.

However, linking that to Al Gore seems rather suspect. Saying that Gore failed in an attempt to prevent further Nuclear proliferation between Russia and Iran is quite different from claiming that he encouraged it.

The "nuclear" angle seems to rely entirely on a stretched interpretation of the Washington Times letter. (Unsurprising, coming from Human Events.)

But then, neutral reporting would not make a very effective October Surprise.

-Jester

[kandrathe]

I don't think there is much question that Iran's basic source for Nuclear power materials and expertise is Russia.

However, linking that to Al Gore seems rather suspect. Saying that Gore failed in an attempt to prevent further Nuclear proliferation between Russia and Iran is quite different from claiming that he encouraged it.

The "nuclear" angle seems to rely entirely on a stretched interpretation of the Washington Times letter. (Unsurprising, coming from Human Events.)

But then, neutral reporting would not make a very effective October Surprise.

-Jester

I wouldn't say Gore encouraged it, but rather was out negotiated by Russia. They ended up doing whatever the heck they wanted and we never imposed sanctions against Russia.

[Jester]

I wouldn't say Gore encouraged it, but rather was out negotiated by Russia. They ended up doing whatever the heck they wanted and we never imposed sanctions against Russia.

Out-negotiated is an interesting way to describe it. The US had no leverage, and relations with Russia were deteriorating, as they do to this day. I can't see how anyone would have gotten much more out of the Russians than Gore already did, which amounted to quite little.

However, "Gore was out-negotiated" is a very different position indeed from Sen. Brownback or Rep. Cox's position, which was that Gore was lying to congress to protect a secret nuclear weapons deal with Russia.

-Jester