Iran Is Now a 'Nuclear State'

[Gnnr]

Ahmadinejad Says Iran Is Now a 'Nuclear State'

(Feb. 11) -- As hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and riot police clashed with anti-government demonstrators, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a pro-regime rally today that their country is now a "nuclear state."

Addressing a crowd that had gathered in the central Azadi (Freedom) Square to celebrate the overthrow of the pro-Western Shah in 1979, Ahmadinejad revealed that Iranian scientists had produced their first batch of enriched uranium. "The first package of 20 percent fuel has been produced. We are now a nuclear state," he said. "We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it."

America and many of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program -- which it says is creating fuel for power plants -- as a cover to build atomic weapons. They argue that Iran does not have the scientific know-how to turn enriched material into fuel rods for a reactor, and so must be planning to use the uranium -- which, if enriched to 90 percent, can be made into a bomb -- for something more dangerous. The Obama administration is pushing for tough U.N. sanctions to halt the country's nuclear ambitions, and on Tuesday the Treasury Department froze the assets of affiliates of Iran's influential Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iranian security forces stand guard as pro-government demonstrators hold a rally to mark the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran on Thursday.
AFP / Getty Images
Iranian security forces stand guard as pro-government demonstrators hold a rally to mark the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Tehran on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad warned the U.S. and the West to stop meddling in its affairs, claiming its nuclear program was entirely peaceful. "When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb," he told the crowd. "If we wanted to manufacture a bomb, we would announce it."

Iran's Islamic regime had hoped to use the Revolution Day celebrations to show the world that it still had the people's popular support, as repeated demonstrations from the opposition "green movement" -- which claim Ahmadinejad was fraudulently re-elected in June -- have shaken the government's claims of legitimacy.

In the run-up to the anniversary, the Revolutionary Guards and police attempted to scare opposition members out of staging Revolution Day protests by warning they would forcefully crack down on any demonstrations. "If anyone wants to disrupt this glorious ceremony, they will be confronted by people, and we too are fully prepared," police chief Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam told the official Fars news agency on Wednesday, noting that some would-be protesters had already been rounded up. The same day, the judiciary also sent a strong message to the opposition by sentencing one protester to death and eight to prison for participating in demonstrations in December.

However, according to opposition Web site Rahesabz.net, many green movement members ignored these threats and overcame the security lockdown to stage a "very large" rally at Sadeghieh Square, about half a mile west of Azadi Square. Staging a protest on Revolution Day is a statement from the opposition, as one of their leaders -- former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who lost the June election -- declared earlier this month that the 1979 revolution had failed as the "roots of tyranny and dictatorship" still exist in Iran.

Hossein Karroubi, the son of opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, told the AFP that these pro-democracy demonstrators were attacked by policemen and plainclothes security officers wielding knives and shooting tear gas grenades. He added that cars containing his father and another leading opposition figure, former President Mohammad Khatami, had had their windows smashed by regime supporters, on their way to Sadeghieh Square. Hossein said his father was "not injured, but his guards who were accompanying him were."

Rahesabz.net also reported that Khatami's brother Mohammad Reza and his wife, Zahra Eshraghi, were briefly arrested but later released.

The world is a fucked up place.