Iranians mining uranium in Venezuela?

This morning, I read in Weasel Zippers about the Chinese ratting out the Islamic Republic to the International Atomic Energy Agency (link to AP article)

Diplomats say that China has given the U.N. nuclear watchdog intelligence linked to Tehran’s alleged attempts to make nuclear arms.

The development is surprising because Beijing, along with Russia, has opposed U.S.-led attempts to impose harsh penalties on Tehran over its nuclear defiance of the U.N. Security Council.

I thought it was pretty strange given the fact that it’s pretty likely the Chinese gave Iran the technology (at least indirectly) for the nuclear program in the first place. But then I read over on The Jungle Hut that there’s some evidence that Iran is mining uranium in Venezuela. Jungle Mom links to this World Check article;

* An interesting postscript; Nasar’s whereabouts were known to the United States, but no attempts were ever made to capture or neutralise the man who was most likely the most dangerous terrorist to ever set foot in the Western Hemisphere. Claims have been made that he was subsequently captured by local authorities in Pakistan, and subsequently turned over to American agents, but no public confirmation has ever been issued. Exactly where is the man understood to be one of Al-Qaida’s leading theoreticians?

* Did Al-Qaida take possession of some of the Venezuelan Uranium? most of it is presently being refined in Iranian laboratories, but was some diverted by Nasar?

* For those who still doubt that Venezuela is now, with the able assistance of Iranian engineers on-site, processing Uranium for eventual use in weapons of mass destruction, please note that a number of Venezuelan publications have detailed the locations of the mines, and a senior Venezuelan governmental officials has, coincidentally, advised that any unauthorised aircraft overflights in the region where the mines are situated, are strictly prohibited, and that such aircraft will be subject to deadly force, and shot down.

Gateway Pundit wrote about it last September and linked to another article a year older at VCrisis which raised the specter of Venezuela’s plans to help Iran with their program;

Camilo Ospina, on the day he was sworn in as Colombia’s new ambassador to the Organization of American States, stated in a speech…stated further that “if you were to go straight in the direction of Arauca, arrive at the border and penetrate about 400 kilometers beyond, you will find two factories, one is a bicycle factory and the other a motorcycle factory. These two factories are a façade for a uranium excavation.”

And he concluded: “Venezuela has no means of enriching uranium, but Iran does. If that came about, we would have a real problem.”

This article in Spanish from Noticias24 mentions the important fact that Raul Reyes’ laptop mentioned 50 kilos of uranium, but Colombian police only found 30 kilos the other day. UK’s Spectator asks similar questions;

…Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is known to be in cahoots with Iran and has given free passage to people associated with al Qaeda, Hamas or Hezbollah. Which makes him a pretty dangerous kind of guy. But a few days ago Reuters reported something which raises the stakes and should ring the loudest possible alarm bells: that the authorities in Columbia have seized at least 30 kg of uranium from the FARC terrorists — who have received financial support from Chavez.

Since the FARC revolutionaries don’t themselves appear to want to make a nuclear bomb to incinerate Bogota, it is most likely that the uranium stash was destined to be sold to a bidder who did want to make such a bomb. So to where was it destined — and where might other uranium from the same source have ended up?

It may just be that Iran’s program is advancing faster than China expected due to this new source of uranium.

Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez, Society, Terror War