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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rocket-launch plays ’cat and mouse’ with West

03 February 2010 23:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran demonstrated today that he has become a master of playing â€œcat-and-mouseâ€ with the West - and this time the mouse was real, APA reports quoting timesonline.co.uk web-page.
Once again, the Iranian president offered a last-minute concession to head off the Westâ€™s drive for tough new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
In an interview on state television, Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran had â€œno problemâ€ shipping enriched uranium abroad in a swap deal that that Teheran had resisted for months.
The surprise announcement came as the West prepared to ask Russia and China to back new UN sanctions targetting Iranâ€™s energy sector, central bank and Revolutionary Guards - the first new UN sanctions since March 2008.
Political directors from the â€œBig Threeâ€ EU powers - Britain, France and Germany - are to hold a telephone conference call with their US counterpart on Friday before consulting with Russia and China later in the day.
But Western officials acknowledged today that Iranâ€™s about-face on the uranium swap would undercut their case.
At the same time, Iran thumbed its nose at UN restrictions on its ballistic missiles programme by sending a rocket into space carrying a mouse, a turtle and two worms.
State TV showed the the Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) rocket blasting off from a desert launchpad with what it called â€œliving organisms.â€ The ISNA news agency said the capsule later returned to earth with its â€œpassengers.â€
Mr Ahmadinejad hailed the launch as a breakthrough that would help break â€œthe global domineering systemâ€ of the Western powers.
Speaking at a ceremony unveiling a new satellite, he said Iran hoped to send astronauts into space soon.
But Western experts suggested the civilian space programme provided cover for Iranâ€™s development of long-range missiles capable of carrying a nuclear pay-load.
The White House denounced the rocket launch as a â€œprovocative act.â€