The revelation of another uranium enrichment facility by Iran should not shock anyone. The question to be asked to world leaders is, What will we do about it, especially when Britain, France, and the U.S. have known about it for years.
But why did Iran choose to reveal this plant to the IAEA now?
Iran acknowledged the existence of the facility for the first time on Monday, in a letter to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency. The letter said “a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction in the country,” said Marc Vidricaire, a spokesman for the watchdog agency. “The letter stated that the enrichment level would be up to 5 percent.”
Vidricaire said the Vienna-based agency responded by asking Iran to quickly provide more specifics about the facility — “to assess safeguards verification requirements.” He said Iran told the IAEA “that no nuclear material has been introduced into the facility.”
Didn’t look like anyone forced Ahmadinejad’s hand. Although the U.S., Britain, and France had intelligence about this, they didn’t publicize it until learning of Iran’s letter to the IAEA.
It’s clear that the Iranian leader wants the publicity and to cause a stir. He knows far too well what’ll happen next: meetings, joint condemnation by the West, more time to go back and forth with the IAEA, etc.
In other words, no immediate punishment. Ahmadinejad knows that he can make the West look like a group of paper tigers, and that’ll embolden the spirit of the anti-West world.
