Monday, October 19, 2009

Off to a good start!

That's a quote from the Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, with which Reuters leads a story on today's nuclear powwow between Iran and Russia, the US, and France. Er, strike that; Iran has refused to negotiate with France as the former claims the latter "has failed to deliver nuclear materials in the past".

And to demonstrate the seriousness with which it views the talks, Iran sent only "a lower-level technical delegation" to Vienna. Oh by the way, did we mention that Iran issued an ultimatum prior to the meeting that it would purify uranium to yield the 150-300 kg of material it needs for its nuclear reactor "if the Vienna talks do not bring about Iran's desired result." Then there's this vote of confidence:

Tehran has also denied Western accounts that it had tentatively agreed to major aspects of the proposal in Geneva.

And finally, this from Iran's nuclear energy agency spokesman, Ali Shirzadian:

We will never abandon our right (to enrich).

One has to hand it to Reuters: they actually report all of the above while spinning it madly to appear that all is well.

If it wasn't so deadly serious, it might be amusing.

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