Iran's plot to mine uranium in Africa (Sunday Times)

[allemand]

Jon Swain, David Leppard and Brian Johnson-Thomas

IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from the African mining area that produced the Hiroshima bomb, an investigation has revealed.

A United Nations report, dated July 18, said there was “no doubt” that a huge shipment of smuggled uranium 238, uncovered by customs officials in Tanzania, was transported from the Lubumbashi mines in the Congo.

Tanzanian customs officials told The Sunday Times it was destined for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and was stopped on October 22 last year during a routine check.

The disclosure will heighten western fears about the extent of Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons programme and the strategic implications of Iran’s continuing support for Hezbollah during the war with Israel.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2300772,00.html

A strange feeling of deja vu...

[Joanne98]

1. OH! PLEEZZZZEEE!! They need some new writers.

[MaineDem]

2. IRAN is seeking to import large consignments of bomb-making uranium from

Africa.

Now where have we heard something like THAT before?

[mom cat]

22. AFRICA!

Oh my. Here we go again!

[AlamoDemoc]

3. lovely!

[AlamoDemoc]

6. Iran has uranium deposits coming out off their territory assess

they don't need African Ugandan warlord "Lord of Resistance" to ship uranium to them, deposit with them, engage with them, or contact with them. This is ridiculous of a story and rather depository in the ass.

[struggle4progress]

15. Yep:

Update 3: Iran Discovers New Uranium Deposits
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI , 05.02.2006, 10:38 AM

Iran said Tuesday it had found uranium ore at three new sites in the center of the country ... http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/05/02/ap2713923.html


Sunday, 9 February, 2003, 22:39 GMT
Iran mining uranium for fuel

Iran has its own deposits of uranium and has begun extraction to produce nuclear fuel, President Mohammad Khatami has announced ... The Islamic Republic's leader said the uranium was being mined in the Savand area, 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the central city of Yazd ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2743279.stm

[Nickster]

4. OMG, They bust out the exact same story, just change a Q to an N

and they run with it? I'm just scared that people are going to fall for this crap AGAIN.

[struggle4progress]

16. Some authors of the OP story seem to have a history. Take Swain:

Forged for heat of Iraq battle:
Pentagon sent the man at the heart of a ‘fake documents’ scandal to Iraq

by Solomon Hughes
The Tribune, 19 June 2003.
www.globalresearch.ca 26 June 2003
The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/HUG306A.html

IN 1995, the Sunday Times reported .. Iraq was making atomic bombs ... in a series of stories printed over three consecutive weeks and based on documents it claimed came from an exiled Iraqi scientist ...

The Sunday Times passed them on to the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), but decided not to report its findings that the documents were “not authentic” ...

Khidir Hamza, the scientist claimed by the Sunday Times as the source of the fake documents, was sent by the Pentagon to Iraq last month to oversee the country’s nuclear industry ...

Jon Swain, the journalist who produced the original stores about Hamza, still works for the Sunday Times ...

[Supersedeas]

35. when will the Corporate Media shills ever learn!!??!! Thanks for link Str

[fujiyama]

29. It's like Ali G when he was talking to

James Baker and asked "What if the dude flying the plane misheard the Q as an N and bomb the wrong country"?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Just curious about the difference between

'bomb making uranium' and 'power plant uranium'. I was under the impression that mined uranium was mined uranium and that one then had to manufacture the mined uranium to the right state of purity in order to make it weapons grade uranium or power plant uranium, that it didn't come out of the ground this way. But then again I'm a software engineer not a nuclear scientist.

On the other hand wiki seems to agree with my understanding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_enrichment

Once again, I CALL BULLSHIT.

[Ian David]

7. Is it a slam-dunk? Or The Little Boy Who Cried Yellowcake? n/t

[Ghost Dog]

8. Hmm. Iran's Uranium resources & mines:

Ref. 1: http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/mines.htm
Since 1988, Iran has reportedly opened as many as 10 uranium mines, including the Saghand uranium mine in Yazd province, as well otherwise unspecified locations in Khorassan, Sistan va Baluchestan, and Hormozgan Provinces, and in Bandar-e-Abbas and Badar-e-Lengeh Provinces along the Gulf. The Director of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Reza Amrollahi, announced in 1989 that the expected reserves of these deposts was in excess of 5,000 tons.

Uranium resources of Iran are not considered rich. The results of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) exploration activities have shown proven reserves of about 3,000 tons of Uranium so far. According to the discovered indices (more than 350 anomalies) and the results of the field discoveries, the expected resources of Iran could be at the range of 20,000-30,000 tons of U3O8, throughout the country. Therefore Iran's domestic reserves might be sufficient enough to supply the raw material for needed nuclear power plants in future...

Ref. 2: http://www.iranwatch.org/government/Iran/iran-irna-larijani-uranium-mines-043006.htm
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani said here Sunday that given Iran's sufficient number of uranium mines, there is no need for concern about its future supply as a nuclear fuel.

Speaking at a gathering of students from Sharif Technical University, he said that the country's uranium mines are not limited to those in Saghand, Yazd province, as quoted by Expediency Council Chief Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

He added that uranium can easily be quarried from the mines scattered across the country and transferred to nuclear plants.

"We are ready to show the mines to whoever doubts that they exist.

Therefore, the Iranian people should not worry about the uranium requirements in the coming years," he added...

Ref. 3: http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/facility/saghand.htm
The Saghand uranium ore deposit in Yazd covers 100-150 square kilometers, with reserves estimated at 3,000-5,000 tons of uranium oxide. The U-235 content is estimated as between 0.08% and 1.0%. As of the mid-90s exploratory and preparatory work was in progress at the deposit, though exploitation and extraction work had not begun.

A production plant for processing the uranium ore into concentrate is reportedly planned for the area. In October 1989 Iran announced plans to build a uranium milling plant near the Saghand mine. The Argentine National Institute for Applied Research, INVAP, signed an $18 million contract to build a series of unsafeguarded facilities for processing uranium ore, although Argentina announced in January 1992 that it was withdrawing from the project under US pressure. China may have subsequently contributed to completing this plant...

[D-Notice]

9. Not Niger then?

Which security service will forge the "evidence" ths time around?

[MaineDem]

10. Is it refined?

I may have missed that in the article.

Refined U238 could be a bit of a bother.

[tocqueville]

12. by a Congolese heavy enrichment facilty ?

damned Congolese... where did they get the thousands of centrifuges from ?

[MaineDem]

34. I am such an idiot!

Duhhhh

::blush:

[jpak]

14. LOL beat me to it

I'd like to see 'em try to build a bomb using 238U...

(it's not fissile)

:evilgrin:

[5X]

17. U238 is the unwanted byproduct of trying to get U235,

U238 is the main component of depleted uranium

<http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/du.htm>

[tocqueville]

11. some facts about Iran's uranium ressources

Uranium Mines
Since 1988, Iran has reportedly opened as many as 10 uranium mines, including the Saghand uranium mine in Yazd province, as well otherwise unspecified locations in Khorassan, Sistan va Baluchestan, and Hormozgan Provinces, and in Bandar-e-Abbas and Badar-e-Lengeh Provinces along the Gulf. The Director of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, Reza Amrollahi, announced in 1989 that the expected reserves of these deposts was in excess of 5,000 tons.

Uranium resources of Iran are not considered rich. The results of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) exploration activities have shown proven reserves of about 3,000 tons of Uranium so far. According to the discovered indices (more than 350 anomalies) and the results of the field discoveries, the expected resources of Iran could be at the range of 20,000-30,000 tons of U3O8, throughout the country. Therefore Iran's domestic reserves might be sufficient enough to supply the raw material for needed nuclear power plants in future

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/mines.htm

there is nothing like "bomb-making" uranium. And if the Iranis needed more uranium it would be easier to import it from Russia.

And Israel imported its uranium from South Africa (without problems) and has about 6000 tons in phospate ores in the Negev desert.

[Jacobin]

13. Thank you for the information

Its really too bad that the media is so utterly propaganda oriented and so few journalists do nothing more than print the propaganda faxed from Rumseld's office.

[daleo]

18. Couldn't they hire a new script writer?

Honestly, you would think they could come up with a fresh lie.

[Robb]

19. UPDATE: Sunday Times intercepted email:

REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

I am barrister Momoh Sanni Momoh. I represent Mohammed Abacha, son of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who was the former military head of state in Tanzania.

Be rest assured that this transaction is 100% risk free as all modalities have been put in place for a smooth and successful conclusion. However, should you be intrested in assisting us, I will not hesistate to furnish you with the access code of the secret account, code which you will present at the Central Bank....

[Zhade]

20. LOL!

:rofl:

http://frontalot.untimelydeath.com/mc_frontalot_-_message_no_419.mp3

[6000eliot]

21. Are they really going to try this again?

[acmavm]

23. Is this another Ghorbanifar/Ledeen special? (Don't know if the first name

is spelled correctly, but you all know who I mean, right?)

Why don't they just make a tape loop and play it whenever they want to start some shit?

[Vidar]

24. Sometimes "yellow cake" is just a lemon.

[Blackhatjack]

25. Deja vu All over Again?!!! Sheesh, Bush must have come up with this

Sitting at his little desk in the Oval Office next to Uncle Dick, just before he went off to summer camp in Texas for an extended vacation, little Georgie probably said "it worked before with Iraq, let's try it again with Iran."

"You're right, no imagination ...." The Italian Job.

[Kool Kitty]

26. Oh, no.

I wonder which CIA agent is going to get "outed" this time.:hide: :crazy:

[superconnected]

27. told ya'all we were going to war with iran no matter what.

Pretty soon they'll be playing the "they'll welcome us with open arms and flowers", and the "we're freeing them to be a democracy" tapes again.

Oh and lets not forget "how they're a terrorist threat to us and THEY are responsible for 911", and "If you're against attacking them, you hate america and don't want to keep it safe."

[HuffleClaw]

28. fool me once...

really, how stupid do they think the public is? recycling an old story and replacing the 'q' with an 'n' is pretty lazy propagandizing.

[Jazzgirl]

30. Pure bullshit.

n/t

[Eurobabe]

31. yawn, same fake memo

let them eat yellow cake...

[CJCRANE]

32. Hmmm:

“There were several containers due to be shipped and they were all routinely scanned with a Geiger counter,” the official said.

I guess we'll have to take his word for it. Does anyone know if it's SOP to use Geiger counters in Tanzanian ports?

[jdadd]

33. My Question is......

Who's supplying the aluminum tubes?