Dec 05 2006
Iran And Polonium-210
One angle which has not been explored sufficiently is that of Iran and Polonium-210. It was reported back in Feb 2004 that Iran has produced Polonium as part of their nuclear production efforts:
WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (AFP) — Iran produced and experimented with polonium — used in the timing of nuclear explosions — some time ago, but says it was not used for such purposes, The Washington Post said Tuesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency will include Iran’s experimentation with polonium in a report to be submitted this week at the United Nations, two people familiar with the report told the daily.
Iran has submitted to IAEA inspections to show the world it does not have nuclear weapons ambitions, but its dabbling with polonium coupled with the IAEA’s discovery of components for an advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuge have raised serious doubts about Tehran’s forthrightness.
Iran has acknowledged the experiments with polonium but has offered an explanation involving another of polonium’s possible uses, including power generation.
The IAEA has left the issue “hanging there,” one person familiar with the matter told the Post.
He said the experiments took place “some time ago,” the daily added.
Polonium has some industrial purposes, but in combination with beryllium it can be used to ensure the chain reaction leading to a nuclear explosion begins at the right time.
More here with the clear implication that where you find large amounts of Polonium you may find a nuclear weapon. As we all now know Polonium has very limited use in the general commercial market due to its toxicity. So let’s assume the reports that the Russian production of Polonium has been suspended for two years now and all inventories and exports have been accounted for. That would make the Iranians a plausible secondary source. Let’s connect some dots between Russia and Iran’s nuclear program:
Russia and Iran have signed an agreement for Moscow to supply fuel to Iran’s new nuclear reactor in Bushehr.
Under the deal Iran has to return spent nuclear fuel rods from the reactor, which was designed and built by Russia.
The clause is a safeguard meant to banish fears that Iran might misuse the rods to build nuclear weapons, a concern of the US, Israel and others.
The agreement sets out a time-frame for delivery of the fuel, but officials said the dates would be kept secret.
This kind of arrangement is what many on the left might like to see with Iran as opposed to the Bush administration’s efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. It was hoped this arrangement would avoid Iran having some of the materials to make a nuclear bomb. But it doesn’t appear to address by products that could be made like Polonium-210. And now one more dot for consideration: The Chechen’s:
Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces.
Teams of Chechen fighters are being trained at the Revolutionary Guards’ Imam Ali training camp, located close to Tajrish Square in Tehran, the Sunday Telegraph cited Western intelligence reports.
In addition to receiving training in the latest terror techniques, the Chechen volunteers undergo ideological and political instruction by hardline Iranian mullahs at Qom.
The paper noted that this information would not “go down well in Moscow, which regards itself as a close ally of the Iranian regime.â€
This angle deserves a lot more analysis and may explain why the UK’s AWE initially determined that it was a Russian reactor that created the Polonium-210. Maybe it was just a Russian designed reactor located someplace else.
Mariposa, Yes. The best we can hope for is a detailed report of the investigation and what it did find,
WOG–More likely than the Chechen story is hooey–I believe the Chechen Moslems are predominently Sunni BTW, and I doubt the Irani Shias would help them.
Jerry, his friends who were with him when he died, were reported to have said that was Litvinenko’s original thought, but he changes it before he died. In any event I doubt the Brits would have let Scaramella leave if they believed that. Remember, he voluntarily returned to the UK when Litvinenko died.
That’s a relief. I was worried that bin Laden’s son, reportedly in Iran, was there as a guest, not a prisoner.
Clarice,
“Chechen Moslems are predominently Sunni BTW, and I doubt the Irani Shias would help them.”
Point taken. I know very little about the level of Sunni and Shia cooperation that exists.
I do wonder, however, if the common understanding of cooperation between shia and sunni can be applied in all situations at the outset of even looking into the possibility.
Oh, I do think they cooperate on occasion, and I acknowledge the Iranis gave shelter to OBL’s son, but training potential enemies..I don’t think so.
“Amazing to me is that Lugovoi who says he thinks he knows who did it but won’t tell feels safe at all in Moscow and is happy to stay there and die there probably soon – he was at the British Embassy after his return and could have sought asylum if he were scared – he must be in good with the “alleged murdering Putin regime†to feel so safe from assasination”
Yes, it would seem illogical to someone who is buying into all these notions that the government is running around killing people. I say it isn’t so. Let me put it another way. If the Italian mafia kills someone, do people say that it was the work of the official Italian security services?
Just because some Russian thugs bump each other off and some of them were ex-KGB doesn’t mean the FSB is going around killing people in London. Just because Boris says Putin did it doesn’t mean I believe Boris. Just because Litvinenko says it doesn’t mean I believe it. He said Putin took down World Trade too.
So far the Russians say the British are free to talk to anyone except that guy in jail. The British know exactly where that guy was and know he didn’t kill anyone and hadn’t spoken to anyone involved in the events. I doubt he is of any interest. I would imagine Scotland Yard has the documents in hand that he supposedly smuggled out of prison (conveniant that they are in english, isn’t it!).
Russians are so dramatic.
I can’t see how one could get 100x a fatal dose of polonium from handling a document. It would require that you get 100 micrograms of material inside your body. That’s a lot of dust to breathe. More likely he used the document to distract his attention while poisoning the food, if he did it.
He’s safer i Russia where his keepers know he won’t say anything damaging than in London where fearing he might, they might take matters in their own hands.
Another reason the Iranis are not training chechen terrorists, is that Iran cannot afford to piss off the Russians.
by the way, Clarise, the Times today confirmed below the fold that he will have an Islamic burial.
Yes..that’s already been confirmed by two sources..
Clarice,
It has been reported for quite a while that the Iranians are both training Chechens and attempting to become the center of gravity for al Qaida. Sure, there is a lot of Sunni/Shiite rivalry but it is mainly Shunnis who dislike Shiites, not the reverse. And when it comes to muslim versus non-muslim, the rivalry goes away.
Al Qaida’s second major battle ground after Iraq is Chechnya and Iran appears to be putting aside “sibling rivalry” for the moment.
“Iran is seeking to take control of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qa’eda terror network by encouraging it to promote officials known to be friendly to Teheran, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
According to recent reports received by Western intelligence agencies, the Iranians are training senior al-Qa’eda operatives in Teheran to take over the organisation when bin Laden is no longer leader.”
Link
Any cites on the Iranis training the Chechens?
If this is a smuggling job, then maybe they should have utilized the methods and practices of those who are better at trans-boarder movements: via Drudge: “1 in 7 Mexican workers employed in US”
–Jerry, his friends who were with him when he died, were reported to have said that was Litvinenko’s original thought, but he changes it before he died.–
Clarice, I do not think his friends have anything to do with his death, but your reliance on this reporting — that they are friends – and then dismissive of any reporting that says different is a paradox, I have to say.
“Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels in sophisticated terror techniques to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
Teams of Chechen fighters are being trained at the Revolutionary Guards’ Imam Ali training camp, located close to Tajrish Square in Teheran, according to Western intelligence reports.
In addition to receiving training in the latest terror techniques, the Chechen volunteers undergo ideological and political instruction by hardline Iranian mullahs at Qom.
The disclosure that Iran is training Chechen rebels will not go down well in Moscow, which regards itself as a close ally of the Iranian regime.”
That was from last year:
Link
Thanks, CP. The article is a year old, says the Russians will not take this lightly, and suggests this is a bargaining ploy..We’ll see if it’s a real thing or not. (Bet it was dropped).
Ts-I can’t recall who if anyone was sourced on that, but I believe it was his neighbor and friend–the chechen emigree who Litvinenko asked to drive him home, read the Koran to him and first reported that he had converted who said that Litvinenko had changed his mind re his suspicions about Scaramella.
Basically it would appear that Russia is arming Iran to keep her from meddling in Chechnya. Basically the Russians feel that if they don’t make themselves vital to Iran, she will throw her support behind the Chechen rebels. So it is kind of a mutual blackmail. Iran agrees to keep its nose out of Chechnya in exchange for Russian technology and Russia agrees to protect Iran from international sanctions to keep Iran out of Chechnya.
Problem is that Iran is crumbling internally. Her birthrate among ethnic Persians has plummeted. Azeris and Kurds are doing well but Iran’s main exports these days are oil and Persian hookers. Iranian women aren’t having children. The Iranian economy is stagnating as more money goes for arms and payroll for various “revolutionary causes”. All those bunkers in Lebanon cost many millions of dollars as do nuclear research labs that add nothing to the economy. A weapon doesn’t add a thing once it is built and all it does is eat … it must be maintained or it becomes useless.
Iran is in a very unsustainable configuration. All hell is going to break out there within a decade or so if Iran doesn’t give up their reckless spending and pay attention to her own people and her own economy. You can’t eat a nuclear bomb.
Iran’s outlook is really quite bleak.
Bleaker faster. Please.
Oops, left this in wrong thread
Burn baby burn…disco inferno!!!