US depicts Iran as mega threat to global security

As Iran expresses optimism for an agreement on the nuclear fuel proposal with its desired modifications, the US tries to depict Iran’s nuclear program as the greatest threat to global security.

“Hanging in the balance is a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and greater proliferation world-wide,” claimed the US National Security Advisor James Jones on Saturday. “I can think of no greater concern at the moment to our collective security.”

“Tehran must meet its responsibilities or face stronger sanctions and perhaps even deeper isolation,” he threatened.

Jones, who was speaking to security experts and senior officials at a conference in Munich, noted that the door for diplomacy with Iran remains open

However, he claimed, “Tehran’s puzzling defiance… now compels all of us to work together as allies and partners on a second track of increased pressure.”

Jones remarks come after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the country would have “no problem” sending out its stock of low enriched uranium (LEU) to be further refined into the nuclear fuel required for the research reactor in Tehran.

“Even if we sent our 3.5-percent [enriched] fuel abroad, it would cause no problem,” Ahmadinejad said, adding that the controversy about the nuclear swap deal was unnecessary.

Under a deal backed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran would send most of its domestically-produced LEU abroad for further enrichment.

The 20-percent enriched uranium then would be used to fuel the Tehran research reactor that produces medical isotopes for cancer patients.

Iran had earlier called for the swap deal to take place on its own soil, arguing that if it ships out the bulk of its low enriched uranium, there is no guarantee that the enriched fuel would eventually be returned to the country, given the fact that Western nuclear powers have breached their nuclear contracts with Iran with no accountability.

Such concerns by the Iranian side have been ignored by the IAEA and the western powers that keep making threats of sanctions against Tehran, accusing it of pursuing a weapons program, a charge fiercely denied by Iran.

Tehran has repeatedly called for the abolishment of all nuclear weapon arsenals, programs and testing amid continuing efforts by some nuclear powers, namely the US, to test and develop new-generation atomic weaponry.