Nuclear Issue
- Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) head Ali Akbar Salehi said domestic critics of Irans suspension of near-20% enrichmentshould show us the place to use 20% fuel so we can produce[more of it]. Salehi also spoke about the current state of Irans nuclear program:
- We have 19,000 centrifuges, of which 9,000 are active.
- Our contract with the Russians will expire after eight years. We must be prepared to secure our own fuelWe are negotiating with the Russians regarding four other reactors.
- Every year, we need 27 tons of 4.1% uranium oxide for the Bushehr reactor.
- Enrichment activities have not ceased.
- The criticism that the dear critics have about this accord is not that they have not accepted our enrichment practically andde facto. Rather, they say that it is been stated in the accord that our enrichment capacity and volume must be accepted by the sides at the last stop.
- They say that the Arak heavy water reactor produced the element of plutonium that can be used in the construction of nuclear weapons. Why are they sensitive towards enrichment and plutonium? [Both] enriched uranium higher than 90% canbe used in the construction of weapons and [so can] an element created in heavy water reactor called plutonium.
- Under normal situation, we would have needed at least two to three years to advance Arak confidentlyWe accepted in the Geneva Accord not to install some major equipment in these six months. In return, we will work on equipment quality and review.
- Some say that Arak reactor activities have ceased. The Arak reactor has not been in operation for it to cease.
- In the Geneva Accord, the matter of ceasing heavy water reactor activities has not been included whatsoever. They have induced public opinion in a way that the populous believes heavy water activities must cease.
- Currently, we are not after establishing reprocessing facilities. Of course, this does not mean that we recant this right forever. The important matter is that [IAEA] cameras are constantly inspecting our nuclear sites. They record fuel movement.
- We announced that we are ready to redesign. We will redesign to reduce the level of plutonium production and take it to the least [amount] instead of ten kilograms. They received this proposal. We will use the opportunity and upgrade the reactor to expand the field of research. The current design is based on previous years and we have upgraded our information.
- We will preserve the nature of the reactor as heavy water [based], but will design it in a way that will alleviate false concerns that they have created from a technical perspective.
- Our advice is not to even discuss the number of centrifuges, rather to discuss the unit isolation power. It is possible for some centrifuges to be different type than others.
Military and Security
- Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Maj. Gen. MohammadAli Jafari discussed IRGC policies to fulfill the slogan of Culture and Economy with National Determination and Jihadi Management issued by the Supreme Leader:
- In the economic arena, the IRGC and Basij are prepared to perform an active and effective role. The honorable administration, however, must request this matter from us and lay the groundwork, and make a demand in reality.
- In the current situation, the Basij has a massive capacity in various economic arenas, especially in resistance economy. It can perform a fundamental role in the arena of resistance economy and making the economy populist.
- The Corps has been present in the arena of culture for some years. Appropriate planning must take place with attention to the Supreme Leaders emphasis on the category of culture and provide depth to previous works
- Law Enforcement Forces Commander Brig. Gen. Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam announced thatIran has yet to have clear evidence that Jaish al-Adl has executed one of the five kidnapped border guards.
- Head of the Foundation for the Preservation and Publication of Sacred Defense Works and ValuesIRGC Brig. Gen. Bahman Kargar wrote a letter thanking the Supreme Leader Ali Khameneifor his exuberant presence in the remembrance ceremony of therahian-e noor, An attempt to keep alive the memory of [the Iran-Iraq] war.
- Supreme National Security Council Secretary IRGC Maj. Gen. Ali Shamkhani stated Our security forces are undertaking good planning to organize the eastern borders and prevent the repetition of such terrorist events.We will [destroy] terrorist groups like Jaish al-Adl soon. Shamkhani added thatWe officials must return Khorramshahr, this city of martyrs and resistance, to its former glory.
- Head of the IRGC Mohammad Rasulollah (Greater Tehran) Public Affairs Office Col. Kurosh Fattahi announcedthe Holding of cultural camps of thought to explain therahian-e noorand convey the message of the martyrs to the youth. More than 80 percent of the young people are interested in the culture of sacrifice, jihad and martyrdom.
- Head of the Basij University Students Organization MohammadHeidari announced readiness to perform [its role] in the cultural and economic arenaswith attention to the organizations experience in establishing jihadi camps towards facilitating development of aiding the deprived.
Politics
- Interim Tehran Friday Prayer Leader and Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah AhmadKhatami criticized Pakistan, the US and a regional Arab government and announced that resistance economy means a move away from a statist economy. He then warned the Islamic Guidance and Culture Ministry and added I tell Judiciary officials to act in a way that the perpetrators ofmonkar[evil] know that the environment is not safe for them and the avoiders ofmonkarare safe:
- For [Pakistans] ambassador to say that they do not have them in the country is erasing the issue. You must answer and set aside your failure in preserving the lives of these four individuals. The Pakistani government must not be a safe haven of terrorists.
- The next point is that an American official said that they are closely following the events. We say that even if we look at the surface, we see the hands of a regional Arab government that is waist deep in the blood of the oppressed. These are your allies and you are partners of their crimes in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
- Officials must adjust their plans within [the Supreme leaders economic and cultural] frameworkIn this matter the goal is making the economy resistant and standing on our own feet. Resistance economy is not state economy, rather it is people-centered.
- The Guidance Ministry does not have the right to give the treasury to books, newspapers and weeklies that undermine the peoples beliefs.
- Religious Seminaries Director and Qom Friday Prayer Leader Ayatollah HashemHosseini Bushehri criticized Pakistan and discussed the Supreme Leaders resistance economy policies in his Friday prayer address:
- We consider the Pakistani government responsible and have a serious charge against them. They must not allow our soldiers to be taken captive like this. We also request the Interior Ministry to take more serious measures, and we hope for their release.
- The Supreme Leaders intention in discussing the economy is resistance economy. An economy that is based on justice and knowledge. The intention is not a state and mathematical economy that isolates us in the world. It uses the countrys internal capacities and human capital to economically advance us.
- National Security and Foreign Policy (NSFP) Parliamentary CommissionMember Mohammad Hassan Asfari stressed that Pakistan is responsible for the lives of the five kidnapped border guardsand If the lives of the Iranian border guards are compromised, [we] will deliver a strong response to the terrorist groups responsible. Asfari added his commission has offered to visit Pakistan to work on necessary diplomatic solutions with Pakistan for the release of the Iranian border guards.
- Advisor to the Representative of the Supreme Leader to [pro-Khamenei think tank]Universities and Ammar Base Central Council member Hojjat al-Eslam Ali RezaPanahian announced Making [culture] resistant must be achieved at any cost and that it must be separated from the political environment.He added I think that the Supreme Leader is sensitive regarding the consolidation of societys cultural growth with the emphasis that he has placed on the matter of culture.
- Assembly of Experts member Ayatollah AbbasKabi said officials must know that Cultural secularism leads to cultural liberalism. Therefore, university and seminary intellectuals must take the responsibility of cultural contents.
- Assembly of Experts member and former Intelligence MinisterHojjat al-Eslam Ali Fallahian stated The gravitation of resistance economy is confrontation [with the West and sanctions]
- Head of the Islamic Sects Approximation Global Association Ayatollah Mohammad AliTaskhiri claimed that the Islamic Republic is also responsible for the spread of extremism among Shiasby not creating the spirit of interaction in the Islamic world. Tashkiri noted, however, that The main agent is the West, meaning Global Arrogance and international Zionism
- Friday prayer leaders throughout the country relayed the Supreme Leaders economic and cultural concernsand emphasized that the enemies of the Islamic Republic have chosen the arenas of culture and economy to confront Iran and that the jihadi management of officials and the responsible participation of the people is the strategy to confront this widespread attack.
- Islamic Revolution Self-Sacrificers Association member Mojtaba ShakerisaidThe martyrdom of the Iranian border guard is a small example of Americas anti-human rights policies. American officials must answer for their support of terrorist groups that commit such atrocities.
By AEI Critical Threat
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
