Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BUENOSAIRES666
2007-04-10 16:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION; IRAN'S INDUSTRIAL-SCALE NUCLEAR FUEL

Tags:  KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0019
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0666/01 1001618
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101618Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7769
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000666 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC,
WHA/EPSC
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; IRAN'S INDUSTRIAL-SCALE NUCLEAR FUEL
PRODUCTION; US IMMIGRATION REFORM 04/10/07; BUENOS AIRES


UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000666

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC,
WHA/EPSC
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; IRAN'S INDUSTRIAL-SCALE NUCLEAR FUEL
PRODUCTION; US IMMIGRATION REFORM 04/10/07; BUENOS AIRES



1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

All local papers report Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
announcement that Iran has begun industrial-scale nuclear fuel
production in defiance of the international community. Also,
daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an opinion piece regarding the
planned US immigration reform.


2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS

- "A decision that will feed the dispute with Tehran"

Leading "Clarin" carries an opinion piece by international analyst
Oscar Raul Cardoso, who penned (04/10) "If one clings to yesterday's
announcement by polemic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Natanz, Iran has
taken the most important step in its nuclear program since 1974...

"According to Ahmadinejad, Iran has already reached the enriched
uranium industrial production stage... Uranium enrichment is a
complex uranium purification process which, to a certain extent, can
serve to manufacture the basic material required for nuclear bombs.

"Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran only plans to use nuclear energy
for peaceful purposes.

"The new element now is that, according to Ahmadinejad, this process
has been transferred to at least some of the 54,000 Tehran
centrifuge plants that Tehran is reported to be installing in
Natanz. If these figures are true, experts believe that Iran would
be in a position to manufacture some twenty nuclear weapons per
year.

"... In any event, just the announcement, whether it is strictly
true or not, will surely increase international tension over the
Iranian case. There is also the possibility that Iran could restrict
even further the IAEA inspectors' action... Additionally, Tehran
could waive the NPT, withdraw from it and get rid of all
international surveillance."

- "Change of direction"

Claudio Mario Aliscioni, international columnist of leading
"Clarin," comments (04/10) "The latest edition of 'Foreign Affairs'
magazine makes a noteworthy remark on Iran 'It is an opportunistic
power that seeks to ensure its prevalence in the neighborhood
without resorting to war.'

"As a matter of fact, the US is going through its worst nightmare
due to the fact Bush misinterpreted the concrete reality contained
in said definition.

"Now, once again, the ball is in Washington's field. It could either
pressure for the toughest UN sanction, thereby burying the most
elementary caution or it could change its policy and come to the
realization that it can do little against a country that already
sees itself as indispensable.

"If it does so, the White House will perhaps notice that this
natural shift in Persian Gulf power could also suit it well."

- "Bush's strong bet on immigration reform"

Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (04/10) "Without a positive
result in sight for Iraq, which is the shadow hanging over the
entire country, (US) President George W. Bush decided to bet on the
domestic front in search for a legacy of his term in office. For
this purpose, his staff has been discreetly negotiating an
immigration reform with key members of Congress.

"For the first time, Bush spoke about those negotiations while in
Yuma, one of the Arizona towns closest to the (US) border with
Mexico...

"The plan becomes another major challenge for his administration,
which is weakened by an over five-year-long 'global war on terror.'
Bush will have to find a point of agreement between the defenders of
12 million undocumented immigrants who live in this country and
those who even propose to criminalize them all.

"... As per an already circulating draft, millions of undocumented
immigrants should return to their countries of origin and ask for
3,500-dollar-worth three-year-long, renewable work visas and pay a
10,000-dollar 'fine' for having illegally entered the US.

"According to the White House, it is only a point of departure, but
it has already sparked a reaction from the organizations that defend

immigrants, which consider it 'unacceptable.'"

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our
classified website at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

WAYNE