From the "Hate to say I told you so" department...

"TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters)-- Russia and Iran signed a nuclear fuel supply deal long opposed by Washington on Sunday, paving the way for Iran to start up its first atomic reactor next year.

The agreement, inked by the two countries' nuclear energy chiefs at the Bushehr atomic plant in southern Iran, came as Tehran faced heightened pressure from the United States, which accuses it of secretly developing nuclear weapons.

Iran, OPEC's second largest oil producer, denies the charge and has received strong backing from Moscow, which is keen to play a major role in expanding Iran's nuclear energy program.

"This is a very important incident in the ties between the two countries and in the near future a number of Russian experts will be sent to Bushehr to equip the power station," Iranian state television quoted Alexander Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency, as saying.

A key part of the agreement obliges Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into bomb-grade plutonium, to develop arms."

The Ice Palace notes....

Hmmm... let's see now.. we give radioactive materials to a major oil producing country because they say they need the energy..? To a country ruled by Islamic radicals, who would like nothing better than to have the world at its knees, bowing a few times a day toward Mecca. Does this smack of giving North Korea nuclear technology during the 90s for "peaceful purposes" (thank you Bill Clinton & Jimmy Carter)? The mullahs in Iraq say that they will pass the spent nuclear fuel back to Russia. Who's going to monitor that process? And just how much (or how little) spent fuel is required to enrich in order to develop a cute little nuclear warhead that may find its way to Tel Aviv? Or in a suitcase at customs at LaGuardia airport?

And our "friends" in Russia think this is a good idea? For whom?

-Psycmeistr-