Iran Enrichment Plants

So Iran building enrichment plants is becoming pretty big news and the country seems pretty determined and on their way to actually succeeding. Alarabia News Channel reports about how the uranium plants are going to be in the mountains, to keep them safe from "any attacks." Compared to other news sources, reporting on the same story, Alarabia seems to concentrate on more statistics about centrifuges and how many the plants would be producing, then talking about world reactions to the talk of uranium plants. They do briefly talk about how the US and its allies want to have the United Nations put restrictions on the plants, but that is about it.

Compared to that is Fox News Channel, which basically a cry for help. They talk about all the bad things Iran could do with the uranium. It is a big worry for people in Washington and around the world. "Iran's enrichment of uranium is the central concern of the United States and other nations negotiating with the country over its disputed nuclear program" (Associated). Fox News Channel uses more adjectives, so the piece has a more emotional touch to it. They make the issue out to be a potentially harmful thing, which is how the United States feels about it.

BBC News had a whole article about the fears of people, and what Iran could do with the Uranium. They are taking a whole article to talk about what could happen, and why people are afraid. ". . . according to an unusually forthright report by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released last week, Iran's level of co-operation with the agency is decreasing, adding to concerns about "possible military dimensions" to its nuclear programme" (BBC). They go through what Iran's plans are with plants, supposedly, and what Iran has been telling the public. How the supreme leader told the public that plants will not be for weapons, and how leaders in Iran have repeatedly told the public that the uranium and nuclear power will be used for electricity.

Al-awwal, Rabi. "Iran to build 2 new enrichment plants in March." Al Arabiya
News Channel. AlArabiya.net., 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2010.
.

Associated Press. "Iran Unveils Plans to Work on 2 New Uranium Enrichment
Sites." Fox News Channel. FOX News Network, 22 Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Feb.
2010. .

BBC News. "Iran 'to build two new nuclear sites this year.'" BBC News. BBC, 22
Feb. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. 8528117.stm>.

Introduction to Iran

Iran, officially known as Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in the Middle East. It was known as Persia until 1935. The country was run by a Shah from the early 1950s till 1979, when he fled the country. After, the country was under the control of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomenei. The country also has a president, which they democratically elect, or so it seems that they democratically elect the leader. Currently the president of Iran is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected in June 2009.

The country has many natural resources, including the much coveted oil. They also have a large abundance of natural gas; their reserves are only second to Russia. Currently the country is trying to enrich uranium, for weapons and for an alternative source of energy. People are worried about the enrichment of uranium, especially the United States.

Iran has begun picking out potential sites for their uranium plants, they have about 20 that they will propose to the president. They want to start construction of at least two plants by next year. (The Iranian New Year is in March.) Iran is trying to stress the point that the plants are for civilian energy. But of course the thought of nuclear weapons looms in the air.

The United Nations nuclear inspection agency has announced publicly that Iran may be working on nuclear weapons. A lot of the information that made the inspection agency publicly make that announcement was from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA wants Iran to do some explaining, like "Whether it has carried out activities involving high-precision detonators fired simultaneously. Some nuclear-weapon designs require such detonations before they explode" (csmonitor).

But, all this worry may be in vain. It seems that Iran is having trouble with the enrichment equipment. So, Iran's uranium plans may be put on hold, at least for a while.






Encyclopedia Britannica

Inspectors: Iran possibly working on nuke. What's the evidence?

Iran weighs sites for uranium enrichment plants, official says