Olmert pays a secret visit to Dimona nuclear reactor, after reports of Iranian retaliatory strike

Olmert pays secret visit to Dimona nuclear reactor

Date: 02 / 07 / 2008 Time: 12:55
Jerusalem – Ma'an –

Israeli occupation government prime minister, Ehud Olmert, on Tuesday paid a secret visit to the Dimona Israeli nuclear reactor and listened to a report by the new manager Audi Adam.

Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu had said 20 years ago that Israeli prime ministers used to visit the nuclear reactor regularly and observe it from the Golda Meir balcony.

Israeli sources abstained from publishing details of the visit which came two days after reports that Iran might strike the reactor if Israel carries out threatened attacks on Iranian nuclear reactors.

Audi Adam, leader of Israeli northern command who was dismissed after the 2006 war against Hizbullah in Lebanon, was appointed the new manager of the Dimona reactor only two months ago.

The Dimona reactor was established in the 1960s with French support, and current Israeli president Shimon Peres is believed to be the organizer of the project.

According to Vanunu, Israel has already produced hundreds of nuclear bombs at the Dimona reactor.

Israel shelled Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, and is now threatening now to strike the Iranian reactors.

The Israelis also assassinated the second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in 1988, accusing him of sending a Fatah-affiliated group of fighters to attack an Israeli bus transporting nuclear technicians to the Dimona reactor. Current Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak supervised the assassination.

The Dimona reactor is heavily guarded and aviation is banned around it.

Oil minister: Iran to give strong response to any military attack

Tehran, July 2, IRNA

Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran is to give a powerful response to any military attack which might launched by the US or the Zionist regime.

Nozari made the remarks on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

Speaking to reporters, he said that Iran is a big and powerful country and the current situation calls for exercising rationality on the issue.

No one is after igniting flames of war in the Middle East where most of the world's oil is produced, he said.

To a question on whether Iran would halt oil export in case of a military attack on the country, he said Iran has always tried to maintain its quotas in OPEC as well as in the world market.

On investments by American companies in Iran's oil sector, he said they themselves should provide a suitable ground to enter Iran's oil market and Iran will not to create any hurdle to this end.

Nozari arrived in Madrid on Monday at the head of a delegation to take part in the 19th International Oil Congress.

The 19th International Oil Congress in which some 3,000 oil officials and distinguished experts are participating, opened Monday in a ceremony attended by Spanish King Juan Carlos.

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Director of International Energy Agency Nobou Tanaka, oil ministers from scores of oil producing and consuming countries as well as managers of major international oil companies including ExxonMobil, Gazprom, Rosneft and Sell are among the top participants in the event.

Deputy Oil Minister for refinery and distribution affairs Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, director of National Iran Oil Company's Researches Department Emadi as well as a number of Oil Ministry officials are accompanying Nozari on the trip.

Iran pledges to react fiercely to any attack

www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-02 21:07:00

MADRID, July 2 (Xinhua) --

Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari warned on Wednesday that any attack on his country would meet with fierce reaction and have severe consequences in the already volatile oil markets.

"For Iran, if there would be any kind of activity of any sort, it is not going to be quiet and it is going to react fiercely," Nozari told reporters on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

"Nobody can even imagine what would be the reaction of Iran now," he said, without specifying possible actions from his oil-rich country.

World oil prices have been hovering above 140 U.S. dollars per barrel, fluctuating toward new highs amid concern over increasing tension between Iran and the West.

The United States and Israel have never ruled out the possibility of a military attack against Iran.

"We do not think that wise people in the world even think about any action like that," Nozari said, adding any attack at this moment would severely affect the oil markets.

"Can you imagine if any action happens ... what would be the result in the oil market?" he asked.

Editor: Wang Yan

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.