Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said his country could stop enriching uranium to 20 percent if it received fuel for a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 24).
Iran in February began refining low-enriched uranium from its stockpile to 20 percent. Although the move was ostensibly intended to produce isotopes for the medical research reactor, the United States and other Western powers have feared the process could help Iran produce nuclear-weapon material, which has an enrichment level around 90 percent. Tehran has denied harboring any military ambitions for its nuclear program.
"We were not interested to carry out 20 percent enrichment. They (the U.S. and its allies) politicized the issue. We were forced to do it to support the (medical) patients," Ahmadinejad told AP (Dareini/Heilprin, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Sept. 25).
"Whenever they give us the fuel and we are in possession of it, we can examine a halt" in production of higher-enriched material, Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 25).
Ahmadinejad blasted countries for imposing economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program while offering incentives for atomic cooperation, AP reported. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring the Middle Eastern nation to abandon its disputed nuclear efforts.
"The era of following a policy of carrot and stick is over. Even such words are insulting to nations. It's only good for cowboys and those of retarded people. Definitely it has no effect," the Iranian leader said. "They issued resolutions as talks were under way. Still, we are ready for talks."
An Iranian delegate is likely to meet next month with representatives of the five permanent Security Council member nations and Germany, Ahmadinejad said (Dareini/Heilprin, AP I).
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton unsuccessfully attempted this year to schedule new talks with Iran, AFP quoted U.S. National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough as saying.
"When she hears back, we will know whether they are serious or not," McDonough said (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Sept. 24).
Russia called Saturday for the talks to take place in the near future, Interfax reported.
"I hope that this meeting, which we held at the level of the six countries' foreign ministers, and during which we adopted a very clear statement strongly confirming our readiness to resume talks, will have an impact, and these talks will not be a remote prospect," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a television interview, referring to a meeting last week between top diplomats from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States (see GSN, Sept. 22).
"Our Iranian friends could offer their reaction to this situation more promptly," Lavrov said, adding that Iran "is quite a difficult partner in negotiations."
"As for the contents (of the Iranian nuclear dossier prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency), Iranian partners could be much more constructive, and, I am confident, could respond to IAEA inquiries more rapidly. Certainly, they should have done what they promised us to do," he said (see GSN, Sept. 7; Interfax, Sept. 25).
No evidence exists that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb, but the nation must still prove that its atomic program has no military component, RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying last week (RIA Novosti, Sept. 23).
At last week's International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference meeting, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano only briefly alluded to the Iranian nuclear dispute while Beijing and Moscow expressed little interest in the matter, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Friday quoted Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi as saying. The meeting's lack of focus on Iran represented one of the event's accomplishments, Salehi said (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Sept. 24).
"Mr. Amano must be careful not to lose his legitimacy due to his partisanship for certain policies," Salehi told Der Spiegel in an interview published today.
"We are asking ourselves: Is Mr. Amano interested in providing a pretext for an attack against us?" he asked, referring to U.S. and Israeli threats of military action against Iran's nuclear facilities (Dieter Bednarz, Der Spiegel, Sept. 27).
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday "there are no guarantees" that international economic pressure would prompt Iran to alter its atomic policies, AFP reported.
"This regime has shown itself to be very resistant to observing basic international norms and being willing to engage in serious negotiations around a nuclear program that has generated great fear and mistrust in the region and around the world," he said.
"But we do think that the sanctions raise the costs for the government," Obama said. "Most of these sanctions are targeted at the regime, at its military and we think that over time hopefully there's enough reflection within the Iranian government that they say to themselves, you know, this is not the best course for our people, this is not the best course for Iran" (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, Sept. 24).
Meanwhile, Iranian state media yesterday said a sophisticated computer worm has infected staff computers at the nation's Bushehr nuclear power plant, AP reported.
The worm "has not caused any damage to major systems of the plant," and workers were attempting to wipe the software from multiple infected systems, Iranian media quoted plant project manager Mahmoud Jafari as saying. The isolated infections would not delay the plant's scheduled opening next month, he said.
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization specialists held a meeting last week on possible methods to combat the "Stuxnet" worm (Associated Press II/Google News, Sept. 26).
"The attack is still ongoing and new versions of this virus are spreading," state media today quoted Iranian Information Technology Company deputy head Hamid Alipour as saying, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse IV/Google News, Sept. 27).
The worm appeared to have been designed by a government or well-financed independent group, Symantec Corp. security response operations head Liam Murchu told AP, adding that the worm was intended to hit multiple "high-value targets" (Lolita Baldor, Associated Press III/Google News, Sept. 27).
The United States indicated Friday it was unsure of the worm's origin, AFP reported.
"One of our hardest jobs is attribution and intent," National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center head Sean McGurk said.
"We've conducted analysis on the software itself," he said of the worm. "It's very difficult to say 'This is what it was targeted to do.'"
"We haven't seen any impacts or effects of what it does," McGurk added. "We know that it's not doing anything specifically malicious right now."
"It would be premature to speculate at this time" what entity produced the worm, he said (Agence France-Presse V/Google News, Sept. 25).
Elsewhere, Moscow today argued on behalf of its decision not to export an advanced air defense system to Iran. Some experts expressed concern that Iran could use the S-300 defenses to help protect its nuclear sites from potential airstrikes.
"These supplies fall under an embargo that the (U.N.) Security Council has introduced and force majeure applies here," Lavrov said, referring to contract language ruling out responsibility for an unforeseeable event (Agence France-Presse VI/Zawya, Sept. 27).
Iran in February began refining low-enriched uranium from its stockpile to 20 percent. Although the move was ostensibly intended to produce isotopes for the medical research reactor, the United States and other Western powers have feared the process could help Iran produce nuclear-weapon material, which has an enrichment level around 90 percent. Tehran has denied harboring any military ambitions for its nuclear program.
"We were not interested to carry out 20 percent enrichment. They (the U.S. and its allies) politicized the issue. We were forced to do it to support the (medical) patients," Ahmadinejad told AP (Dareini/Heilprin, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Sept. 25).
"Whenever they give us the fuel and we are in possession of it, we can examine a halt" in production of higher-enriched material, Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, Sept. 25).
Ahmadinejad blasted countries for imposing economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program while offering incentives for atomic cooperation, AP reported. The U.N. Security Council in June adopted its fourth sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring the Middle Eastern nation to abandon its disputed nuclear efforts.
"The era of following a policy of carrot and stick is over. Even such words are insulting to nations. It's only good for cowboys and those of retarded people. Definitely it has no effect," the Iranian leader said. "They issued resolutions as talks were under way. Still, we are ready for talks."
An Iranian delegate is likely to meet next month with representatives of the five permanent Security Council member nations and Germany, Ahmadinejad said (Dareini/Heilprin, AP I).
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton unsuccessfully attempted this year to schedule new talks with Iran, AFP quoted U.S. National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough as saying.
"When she hears back, we will know whether they are serious or not," McDonough said (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Sept. 24).
Russia called Saturday for the talks to take place in the near future, Interfax reported.
"I hope that this meeting, which we held at the level of the six countries' foreign ministers, and during which we adopted a very clear statement strongly confirming our readiness to resume talks, will have an impact, and these talks will not be a remote prospect," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a television interview, referring to a meeting last week between top diplomats from China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States (see GSN, Sept. 22).
"Our Iranian friends could offer their reaction to this situation more promptly," Lavrov said, adding that Iran "is quite a difficult partner in negotiations."
"As for the contents (of the Iranian nuclear dossier prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency), Iranian partners could be much more constructive, and, I am confident, could respond to IAEA inquiries more rapidly. Certainly, they should have done what they promised us to do," he said (see GSN, Sept. 7; Interfax, Sept. 25).
No evidence exists that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb, but the nation must still prove that its atomic program has no military component, RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying last week (RIA Novosti, Sept. 23).
At last week's International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference meeting, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano only briefly alluded to the Iranian nuclear dispute while Beijing and Moscow expressed little interest in the matter, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Friday quoted Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi as saying. The meeting's lack of focus on Iran represented one of the event's accomplishments, Salehi said (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, Sept. 24).
"Mr. Amano must be careful not to lose his legitimacy due to his partisanship for certain policies," Salehi told Der Spiegel in an interview published today.
"We are asking ourselves: Is Mr. Amano interested in providing a pretext for an attack against us?" he asked, referring to U.S. and Israeli threats of military action against Iran's nuclear facilities (Dieter Bednarz, Der Spiegel, Sept. 27).
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday "there are no guarantees" that international economic pressure would prompt Iran to alter its atomic policies, AFP reported.
"This regime has shown itself to be very resistant to observing basic international norms and being willing to engage in serious negotiations around a nuclear program that has generated great fear and mistrust in the region and around the world," he said.
"But we do think that the sanctions raise the costs for the government," Obama said. "Most of these sanctions are targeted at the regime, at its military and we think that over time hopefully there's enough reflection within the Iranian government that they say to themselves, you know, this is not the best course for our people, this is not the best course for Iran" (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, Sept. 24).
Meanwhile, Iranian state media yesterday said a sophisticated computer worm has infected staff computers at the nation's Bushehr nuclear power plant, AP reported.
The worm "has not caused any damage to major systems of the plant," and workers were attempting to wipe the software from multiple infected systems, Iranian media quoted plant project manager Mahmoud Jafari as saying. The isolated infections would not delay the plant's scheduled opening next month, he said.
Iranian Atomic Energy Organization specialists held a meeting last week on possible methods to combat the "Stuxnet" worm (Associated Press II/Google News, Sept. 26).
"The attack is still ongoing and new versions of this virus are spreading," state media today quoted Iranian Information Technology Company deputy head Hamid Alipour as saying, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse IV/Google News, Sept. 27).
The worm appeared to have been designed by a government or well-financed independent group, Symantec Corp. security response operations head Liam Murchu told AP, adding that the worm was intended to hit multiple "high-value targets" (Lolita Baldor, Associated Press III/Google News, Sept. 27).
The United States indicated Friday it was unsure of the worm's origin, AFP reported.
"One of our hardest jobs is attribution and intent," National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center head Sean McGurk said.
"We've conducted analysis on the software itself," he said of the worm. "It's very difficult to say 'This is what it was targeted to do.'"
"We haven't seen any impacts or effects of what it does," McGurk added. "We know that it's not doing anything specifically malicious right now."
"It would be premature to speculate at this time" what entity produced the worm, he said (Agence France-Presse V/Google News, Sept. 25).
Elsewhere, Moscow today argued on behalf of its decision not to export an advanced air defense system to Iran. Some experts expressed concern that Iran could use the S-300 defenses to help protect its nuclear sites from potential airstrikes.
"These supplies fall under an embargo that the (U.N.) Security Council has introduced and force majeure applies here," Lavrov said, referring to contract language ruling out responsibility for an unforeseeable event (Agence France-Presse VI/Zawya, Sept. 27).
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