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Iran ‘making’ atomic bomb, says Bahrain Web posted at: 11/3/2007 4:25:47 Source ::: REUTERS london • Bahrain’s crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so, British press reports said yesterday, the first time a Gulf state has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear drive. In interviews with London’s The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers in the capital Manama, Sheikh Salman also urged a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the West and Bahrain’s close neighbour. “While they don’t have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it,” the crown prince said, warning that “the whole region” would be drawn into any military conflict. The Crown Prince called on India, as well as Russia, to help find a diplomatic solution. “There needs to be far more done on the diplomatic front,” he said. “There’s still time to talk,” he added, according to The Times. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet, the main American carrier battle group tasked with securing the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the world’s oil supplies must pass. Bahrain is a Sunni Muslim-ruled state with a population that is 60 per cent Shi’ite. “We need to be very well aware that this could escalate. And we think that is not advisable,” The Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying. “I want to see the region being fully consulted,” The Independent quoted the crown prince as saying. “We were not fully consulted when the Iraqi regime was removed. Iran is an even bigger issue... We want to be part of any arrangement that deals with Iran. We don’t want to wake up one day and suddenly find our skies darken and sirens blaring on every street.” Sheikh Khalid Al Khalifa, the Foreign Minister said: “We are a country like Iraq and Lebanon, and we are the only one that is functioning properly”. In a newspaper editorial this summer, a close associate of President Ahmadinejad rekindled an old claim on Bahrain as Iran’s 14th province, with echoes of Saddam Hussein’s designs on Kuwait in the late 1980s that were picked up from London to Washington. The claim “touched on the legitimacy of our country”, the Foreign Minister said. Big six press sanctions Meanwhile, six world powers agreed to push ahead with a third round of tougher sanctions against Iran unless reports later this month indicate Tehran has tried to address their concerns about its nuclear programme. Senior officials from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and China will meet again on November 19 to assess reports from Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations atomic watchdog, and from European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters on her way to Turkey, said Washington had had some “tactical” differences with China and Russia about the timing and the “depth or breadth” of a new UN resolution. Russia slams Saudi proposal moscow • Russia’s nuclear chief said only full nuclear powers should create centres for enriching uranium, in a swipe at a Saudi proposal for Arab states to help supply Iran with enriched uranium. Sergei Kiriyenko said Russia had received no official information about the proposal. “In our opinion there should be many such centres but it is obvious that such centres must be in countries which have the full technology for enrichment (of uranium) so that this technology doesn’t spread around the world,” he said. >link<

I never saw a single piece of evidence to substatiate the princes claim. The rhetoric being trumped up for war with Iran is eerily similar to the same rhetoric before the Iraq war. Does the prince have some connections inside the Iranian government that has given him undoubtable evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program? Where is the piece of intelligence he has about Iran's nukes?

Until I get that info, I'll stick to Mohammed ElBaradei's work.

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/world...3618794445.html

No evidence Iran is making nuclear weapons: ElBaradei

Washington
October 30, 2007
CHIEF UN atomic regulator Mohamed ElBaradei says he has no evidence that Iran is building nuclear weapons and has accused US leaders of adding "fuel to the fire" with recent rhetoric.

"I have not received any information that there is a concrete active nuclear weapons program," the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency told CNN. "At this stage we need to continue to work through creative diplomacy."

The White House on Friday rejected parallels between its Iran rhetoric and the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

AFP

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Originally posted by Q5echo Iran ‘making’ atomic bomb, says Bahrain Web posted at: 11/3/2007 4:25:47 Source ::: REUTERS london • Bahrain’s crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa has claimed that Iran is developing atomic weapons or the capability to do so, British press reports said yesterday, the first time a Gulf state has openly accused Tehran of lying about its controversial nuclear drive. In interviews with London’s The Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers in the capital Manama, Sheikh Salman also urged a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the West and Bahrain’s close neighbour. “While they don’t have the bomb yet, they are developing it, or the capability for it,” the crown prince said, warning that “the whole region” would be drawn into any military conflict.

That's a big OR right there. If he is so sure they are, why would he give us such broad choices? I mean, if he has reliable information that they are developing the bomb, that would definitely be news. But to say they might or they might develop the capability to do so, which everyone already knows, is nothing more than a cry for attention. You are right, Bahrain has just joined the Chorus, nothing new.

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Poetry>Byron//Blog>TheMean

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Orbax At that point you kind of crossed the rubicon and you might as well lay siege to Rome

To be fair, Bahrain's intelligence services are very highly respected around the world, in fact, the only reason nobody has ever heard of them is because they are far far superior to Mi6, CIA, KGB (or whatever they're calling themselves these days!), Stassi, all put together!

Or, perhaps a better explanation to Bahrain's claims is this information from the article:

quote:

Bahrain is a Sunni Muslim-ruled state with a population that is 60 per cent Shi’ite ... In a newspaper editorial this summer, a close associate of President Ahmadinejad rekindled an old claim on Bahrain as Iran’s 14th province

Hmmmm indeed! Who would have thought that a Sunni Arab Monarchy would have ANY bad words to say about Iran!