Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: Tehran

Showing posts with label Tehran. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Iran scientist's 'killer trained in Israel': report

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_scientists_killer_trained_in_Israel_report_999.html Tehran (AFP) Jan 10, 2011 The alleged killer of a top nuclear scientist who was murdered last year said he was trained in Israel by the Mossad spy agency, state-television reported on its website on Monday. Majid Jamali Fash, identified in the report as "a member of Mossad terrorist network and the main element" behind last year's assassination of nuclear scientist Masoud Ali Mohammadi, said he was trained by Israeli military officers at a base near Tel Aviv.
"On a trip to Tel Aviv, I got acquainted with several senior Israeli officers in a base on a highway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. There, I learned different things such as tailing, stalking and planting bombs under vehicles," Fash was quoted as saying on the website.
He did not say when he had made the trip to Israel.
Fash said he was briefed about Ali Mohammadi and "practised bombing in a base near Tel Aviv several times."
"I was given a very precise model of Dr Ali Mohammadi's house and its whereabouts to be very well acquainted with the real situation of his assassination."
The report said that the details of his interview will be released on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, Iran said it had arrested "spies and terrorists" linked with Mossad who were behind Ali Mohammadi's killing.
The intelligence ministry said in a statement carried by state television that Iran's security forces had "infiltrated" Israeli intelligence and obtained "important and sensitive information on Mossad spies and operations."
"The main elements behind this terrorist crime (assassination) were arrested and a network of spies and terrorists linked to the Zionist regime was dismantled," it said.
In January 2010 Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at prestigious Tehran University, was killed in a bomb attack outside his home which Iran blamed on "mercenaries" in the pay of Israel and the United States.
"Mossad... has had some European and non-European bases as well as bases in some neighbouring countries and used them to direct the unmanly assassination of Ali Mohammadi," the ministry said Monday.
It added that further information about "Mossad's infiltration as well as the dismantling of its espionage networks and the plotting of our prominent scientist's assassination will be gradually revealed in due time."
Iran has also blamed the intelligence services of Israel, the United States and Britain over bomb attacks against two top nuclear scientists on November 26.
Majid Shahriari, a senior scientist involved in Iran's nuclear activities, was killed by a bomb placed against his car, while Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, another top nuclear expert, was wounded in a similar attack.
Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.
Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear programme masks a drive for an atomic weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has steadfastly denied.
Israel and its ally the United States have not ruled out a military strike against Iran to stop its nuclear programme.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

U.S. Dismisses Iran Nuclear Overture from the Council on Foreign Relations

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tehran invited (BBC)

foreign diplomats from China, Russia, and several European Union countries to tour some of their nuclear facilities, including installations at Natanz and Bushehr. However, the United States was excluded from the group of invitees. The U.S. State Department, which has been leading the charge for economic sanctions against the regime, dismissed the gesture (WSJ)

as a "ploy" designed to divide the international community. U.S. and European diplomats have expressed fear that Iran may try to use diplomacy to forestall more economic sanctions while it continues to push forward with uranium enrichment. A spokesman for Tehran reiterated the strictly "peaceful" nature of the nuclear program (Reuters)

and claimed the latest invitation was a signal of "goodwill" and a willingness to cooperate with the international community. In addition, Iran expressed its desire to host the official visit prior to the next round of talks in Istanbul this month, but European officials said the invitation was not likely to be honored (NYT)

, if at all, until after the negotiations are completed.

Analysis:

This Foreign Affairs article discusses the dangers of a nuclear Iran

and the limits of containment policy.

Abbas Milani of ForeignPolicy.com details the rich history behind Iran's current nuclear ambitions and why the United States' denuclearization

drive isn't working.

Background:

View an interactive timeline that explores the history of U.S.-Iran relations

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Dangers of a Nuclear Iran Eric S. Edelman, Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr, and Evan Braden Montgomery

The Dangers of a Nuclear Iran

Eric S. Edelman, Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr, and Evan Braden Montgomery

Iran's acquisition of a nuclear bomb would upend the Middle East. It is unclear how a nuclear-armed Iran would weigh the costs, benefits, and risks of brinkmanship, meaning that it could be difficult to deter Tehran from attacking the United States' interests or partners in the region. Read

Monday, December 27, 2010

Istanbul talks can resolve nuclear row: Iran

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Istanbul_talks_can_resolve_nuclear_row_Iran_999.html Damascus (AFP) Dec 27, 2010 A senior Iranian official said in Damascus on Monday that next month's talks in Istanbul between world powers and Tehran could resolve their dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. "We think (the negotiations), in line with the agenda decided in Geneva, could clear the way to resolving problems," said Ali Baqiri, the deputy of Said Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator.
"Continuing the negotiations in Istanbul could bring gains to both the parties concerned," Baqiri told a news conference after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But he criticised the West's two-pronged policy of negotiations at the same time as sanctions, warning it would "lead nowhere."
Despite four sets of UN sanctions slapped on Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme, Iran was "carrying out the most extensive economic programme in its history, showing its level of political, economic and social stability."
Negotiations "based on dialogue and cooperation could bring the other parties out of their impasse," said Baqiri.
Assad, quoted by the state news agency SANA, called in his talks with Baqiri for "a diplomatic compromise guaranteeing Iran's right to possess peaceful nuclear energy."
Last week on a visit to Istanbul for a regional summit, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the world powers to choose cooperation over confrontation at the nuclear talks in late January.
"We think this meeting will be very important," he said.
The negotiations would be the second round between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, United States and Germany -- after talks resumed in Geneva earlier this month following a 14-month hiatus.
"We have suggested that in the forthcoming Istanbul meeting confrontation be replaced with cooperation and... this will be in the interest of all sides," he said through an interpreter.
"In cooperation we will have a win-win situation. There is no failure or defeat for any party.
The West suspects that Tehran is developing am atomic bomb under the guise of a nuclear energy programme. Iran denies the charges and insists its activities have a purely peaceful purpose.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Iran Seeks Foreign Nuclear Scientists, Former Diplomat Asserts

A former Iranian envoy to Norway said his country has pursued scientists from North Korea and other nations to help support a nuclear-weapon program, the London Telegraph reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 22).
Defector Mohamed Reza Heydari recounted facilitating the entry of dozens of North Koreans into Iran as a Foreign Ministry operative based at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.
"Our mission was to coordinate with a team from the Ministry of Intelligence in checking the visas of the foreign diplomatic and trade delegates who visited Iran, with special attention to VIPs," Heydari said.
"We had the instructions to forgo any visa and passport inspections for Palestinians belonging to Hamas and North Korean military and engineering staff who visit Iran on regular basis.
"The North Koreans were all technicians and military experts involved in two aspects of Iran's nuclear program. One to enable Iran to achieve nuclear bomb capability, and the other to help increase the range of Iran's ballistic missiles," Heydari said.
"In all our embassies abroad, especially in the African countries, the staff of [Iran's] Foreign Ministry were always looking for local scientists and technicians who were experts in nuclear technology and offered them lucrative contracts to lure them into Iran.
"The facade of the nuclear program is that it is for peaceful purposes, but behind it they have a completely different agenda," he said. The United States and other world powers have sought for years to negotiate curbs on Iran's uranium enrichment program, which can generate civilian nuclear fuel as well as weapons material.
Signs have emerged that Iran is working on centrifuges based on a North Korean design at facilities not revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency, one Western official told the Telegraph (see GSN, Sept. 25, 2009). The North Korean centrifuges were said to be more technically advanced and greater in size than Iran's standard machines.
"Iran finances North Korea's missile program in exchange for access to technologies; North Korea's Nodong missile series is the basis for Iran's flagship Shahab missile project," former U.S. Defense Department adviser Christina Lin said.
It is necessary to "reassess" the status of Iran's nuclear program while taking North Korea's alleged assistance into account, Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst Simon Henderson added (Damien McElroy, London Telegraph, Dec. 22).
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday called on Tehran to bolster its nuclear transparency, Bloomberg reported.
“Iran must allow IAEA officials on its territory and make it possible to bring the situation under control,” Medvedev said. “This is why there are issues with Iran and sanctions against it.”
Iran has stonewalled certain efforts by the agency to clarify its nuclear intentions. For example, Tehran has refused to elaborate on its contention that Western powers falsified documents, provided to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, that suggest the Middle Eastern state studied nuclear-weapon design in the past (Arkhipov/Meyer, Bloomberg, Dec. 22).

Sunday, December 12, 2010

How Will Iran Respond to NATO's Missile Shield? By Michael Eisenstadt

How Will Iran Respond to NATO's Missile Shield?

By Michael Eisenstadt

The new "Strategic Concept" that NATO is expected to adopt at its Lisbon summit this weekend offers the advantage of an early initial capability to defend Europe against the emerging Iranian ballistic missile threat, even though -- in deference to Turkish sensibilities -- NATO is not expected to identify Iran as the source of the threat. For now, the Islamic Republic is unable to reach targets in Eastern Europe, but that could change as early as 2012 if Tehran decides to commence production of the medium-range Sajjil-2 missile. And because the NATO concept hinges first on the deployment of ship-based missile systems to the eastern Mediterranean, followed later by the deployment of land-based interceptors, it entails certain vulnerabilities that Iran could exploit in the near term.
http://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2010/11/21/how_will_iran_respond_to_natos_missile_shield_99286.html

Friday, December 10, 2010

Global Insights: One Step Forward, One Back for Nuclear Nonproliferation By: Richard Weitz | Column

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/7244/global-insights-one-step-forward-one-back-for-nuclear-nonproliferation

Two developments this week illustrated the "one step forward, one step back" nature of global nuclear nonproliferation efforts. On the one hand, Iran announced further progress in its domestic nuclear program, increasing Tehran's potential ability to make nuclear weapons. On the other, the IAEA voted to establish the first completely multinational nuclear fuel bank.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Iran, Syria in spotlight at UN atomic watchdog meet

Flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency...

Image via WikipediaIran's disputed nuclear drive will top the agenda of a meeting of the UN atomic watchdog this week, a prelude to the resumption of long-stalled talks between Tehran and world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency convenes for its traditional year-end board meeting at its Vienna headquarters on Thursday and Friday, with the latest report on its long-running investigation into the Islamic republic's nuclear activities set to dominate debate.
Those discussions will effectively serve as a curtain-raiser to a much higher-level round of talks in Geneva three days later where Iran is to sit down with the so-called P5+1 grouping of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany for the first time in over a year.
The IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear programme for eight years now to try and establish whether it is entirely peaceful as Tehran claims or whether it masks a covert drive to build a bomb as western powers believe.
In his latest report, circulated to IAEA member states last week, watchdog chief Yukiya Amano complained that Iran was defying UN Security Council resolutions and pressing ahead with uranium enrichment, even if the activities appeared to have run into some sort of technical problems recently.
Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend enrichment of uranium, which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.
And the sense of unease in the Middle East was underlined by the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables in which the Saudi king was described as pushing Washington to take military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad admitted that some of the equipment in the enrichment process had been damaged by a computer malware amid speculation the activities were the target of a cyber-attack.
But he nevertheless insisted that Iran's "right to enrich uranium and produce (nuclear) fuel... is non-negotiable."
The exact agenda of the December 6-7 talks in Geneva is not clear: while the world powers want to focus on the enrichment issue, Tehran wants a wider discussion that includes regional security issues.
The last round of negotiations deadlocked in October 2009.
In addition to Iran, the IAEA's 35-member board of governors will also discuss the agency's latest report on alleged illicit nuclear activities in Syria.
Damascus is accused of building an undeclared reactor at a remote desert site called Dair Alzour until it was bombed by Israeli planes in September 2007.
The IAEA has been investigating the allegations since 2008 and has already said that the building bore some of the characteristics of a nuclear facility.
UN inspectors also detected "significant" traces of man-made uranium at that site, as yet unexplained by Damascus.
In addition, the watchdog has also requested access to three other locations allegedly functionally related to Dair Alzour, but so far to no avail.
Diplomats close to the IAEA say agency chief Amano is growing increasingly impatient with Syria's stonewalling and could soon start pushing for a so-called "special inspection" in Damascus, a rarely-used tool that allows UN inspectors to request more intrusive access to sites. If Syria were to block that request, it could face referral to the UN Security Council.
North Korea will also be on the IAEA agenda, even if UN inspectors have been barred from the reclusive stalinist state.
Earlier this month a US scientist revealed he had been shown a new uranium enrichment plant equipped with at least 1,000 centrifuges at the North's Yongbyon nuclear complex outside the capital Pyongyang.
The news heightened international concern that the communist regime -- which has conducted two nuclear weapons tests -- could produce highly-enriched weapons-grade uranium on top of the plutonium already in its possession.
Finally, the IAEA board is set to discuss a US-backed proposal for a nuclear fuel bank, which countries could turn to if their regular supplies were cut.
Diplomats said they expect the board to adopt the proposal.http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_Syria_in_spotlight_at_UN_atomic_watchdog_meet_999.html

Sunday, November 28, 2010

US considers military options against Iran

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_considers_military_options_against_Iran_999.html Washington (AFP) Nov 28, 2010 Suspicious of Iran's nuclear capacity, the United States is weighing military options in the face of Tehran's announcement it had a nuclear power plant up and running, the top US military officer said Sunday. "We've actually been thinking about military options for a significant period of time," Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said in an interview with CNN.
Mullen said he doesn't believe that Iran's nuclear plant is for civilian use "for a second."
"In fact, the information and intelligence that I've seen speak very specifically to the contrary. Iran is still very much on a path to be able to develop nuclear weapons, including weaponizing them, putting them on a missile and being able to use them," he said.
Mullen said the United States was focused on dialogue and engagement about Iran's nuclear ambitions, but "in a realistic way."
"They've got a history of gamesmanship that certainly doesn't include closing on significant steps to indicate to the international community that they're not doing this," he said.
On Saturday, Iran said its first atomic power plant built by Russia in Bushehr had begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers over the country's controversial nuclear drive.
"Without any propaganda and fuss we sealed the cover of the reactor and all the fuel rods are in the core of the reactor," atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency, without specifying when.
But Salehi said the authorities in the Islamic republic "hope that electricity produced at the Bushehr plant will be connected to the national grid in a month or two."
Iran says it needs the plant, which had been under construction since the 1970s in the southern port city of Bushehr before it was completed by Russia, to meet growing demand for electricity.
But Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear program masks a drive for an atomic weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has steadfastly denied.

Iran says first nuclear plant begins operating

http://www.nuclearpowerdaily.com/reports/Iran_says_first_nuclear_plant_begins_operating_999.html Tehran (AFP) Nov 27, 2010 Iran said Saturday its first atomic power plant built by Russia in Bushehr has begun operations, ahead of a new round of talks with Western powers over the country's controversial nuclear drive. "Without any propaganda and fuss we sealed the cover of the reactor and all the fuel rods are in the core of the reactor," atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency, without specifying when.
But Salehi said the authorities in the Islamic republic "hope that electricity produced at the Bushehr plant will be connected to the national grid in a month or two."
Iran says it needs the plant, which had been under construction since the 1970s in the southern port city of Bushehr before it was completed by Russia, to meet growing demand for electricity.
But Western governments suspect Iran's nuclear programme masks a drive for an atomic weapons capability, an ambition Tehran has steadfastly denied.
Salehi's announcement come ahead of the likely resumption of stalled negotiations between world powers and Iran on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme in Geneva on December 5.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said this week she had received "informal confirmations" from Iran about the date and location for the talks, "but I want a formal confirmation."
Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time since October 2009, but two sides diverge on what issues should be on the table.
The world powers want the talks to focus on Iran's uranium enrichment programme but Tehran wants a wider discussion that includes regional security issues.
Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.
Last month Iran said it has begun loading fuel -- provided by Moscow which also recovers the spent fuel-- into the reactor core of Bushehr plant, a move which brings the facility closer to generating electricity after decades of delay.
Iran had begun transferring the fuel to the facility on August 21, a process which was described as the "physical launch" of the power plant.
On October 4, Salehi said the power plant would be ready to generate electricity by January -- two months later than previously announced.
The process of loading the fuel has suffered some hiccups, which Salehi has previously blamed on "severe hot weather" in Bushehr.
Early October, Salehi said a small leak in a pool beside the Bushehr reactor has delayed the start-up of the nuclear plant and four days ago, he also repeated previous denials by Iranian officials that an extraordinary computer worm, Stuxnet, had in any way harmed Iran's nuclea

Iran: Bushehr Nuclear Reactor Fully Loaded -- Voice of America

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Iran-Bushehr-Nuclear-Reactor-Fully-Loaded-110905769.html
Iran's nuclear chief says the country's first nuclear reactor is fully loaded and could be operational within months.

Ali Akbar Salehi told state-run television Saturday workers had finished loading fuel rods into the core of the Bushehr nuclear plant, and that it could start generating electricity by February.

Salehi said officials are just waiting for the water in the reactor to heat to the right temperature before moving ahead.

Read more ....

More News On Iran's Nuclear Program

Iran Says Its First Nuclear Power Reactor Will Start Operating by January -- Bloomberg
Iranian nuclear plant nears national electricity production -- CNN
Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant to join national power grid in two months -- Xinhuanet
Iran says first nuclear plant begins operating -- AFP
Reactor started at Bushehr nuclear power plant -- ITAR-TASS
Iranian Nuclear Plant is Powering Up -- Arutz Sheva
Iran Nuclear Power Plant Completes Fueling -- CRIEnglish

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

US stresses Iran's 'continued failure' to comply with IAEA

US sanctions have failed: top Ahmadinejad aideWashington (AFP) Nov 24, 2010 - Despite Western nations tightening the screws on Iran, a top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said increasingly tough sanctions had failed, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. On the eve of fresh negotiations with Western powers tentatively set for December 5, Ahmadinejad confidant Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi said it was time for them to "stop fooling themselves" over the effectiveness of measures designed to pressure Iran into abandoning its uranium enrichment program. Banning Iranians ships from European ports, a fuel blockade against Iran Air, growing financial restrictions and other punitive measures have had "no noticeable effect," he added in an interview with the Post. "The delay in the negotiations has been a good opportunity for the other side to realize the effects of its political decisions."

He also claimed the failure of sanctions had prompted the West to relaunch the long-stalled talks, a direct contradiction of the US position. Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which is at the center of fears about Tehran's atomic ambitions. It has also faced military threats and alleged technological attacks on its controversial nuclear program. Tehran and the so-called P5+1 that groups the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time since October 2009 for a meeting tentatively scheduled to take place next month in Geneva.

If Western powers do not respond to Iran's request to broaden discussions beyond its nuclear program to also discuss Israel's alleged nuclear weapons stockpile and declare they are committed to nuclear disarmament, Iran would be forced to take a harder position, Samareh Hashemi said. It would mean "they have not chosen the path of friendship," he added. "Not answering these questions will mean they have decided not to commit to nuclear disarmament and support the Zionist regime being armed with nuclear weapons." But the 52-year-old foreign policy expert also said Iranian negotiators will consider proposed changes to a nuclear fuel swap proposal that failed at the talks last year.

Washington (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 The United States Tuesday criticized Iran for its "continued failure" to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, after a new report by the agency said Iran was still refusing to halt uranium enrichment. "We're obviously studying the report, but the key point is that it underscores Iran's continued failure to comply with its international nuclear obligations and also a sustained lack of cooperation with the IAEA," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
The IAEA's restricted report, a copy of which was obtained in Vienna by AFP, said Iran was still uncooperative after nearly eight years of attempting to determine if its nuclear program is military or, as Tehran insists, peaceful in its objectives.
The report demands full access to Iran's nuclear facilities, equipment and related documents, and said its uranium enrichment activities inexplicably came to a halt at least one day earlier this month, amid rumors it encountered technical problems.
The nine-page document has been circulated to IAEA member states and will be discussed by the agency's 35-member board of governors at the beginning of December.
Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which is at the center of fears about Tehran's atomic ambitions.
Iran and the six world powers involved in nuclear negotiations -- the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- have agreed to return to the negotiating table for the first time since the talks stalled in October 2009.
The negotiations will likely resume on December 5 in Geneva, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Monday.

Iran denies problem with uranium enrichment

Iran's nuclear programme suffered one-day outage: IAEAVienna (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 - Iran's uranium enrichment activities came to a complete halt for at least one day this month, a new restricted UN report revealed Tuesday, amid speculation the activities were the target of a cyberattack. "On November 16, no cascades (of uranium-enriching centrifuges at Iran's Natanz enrichment nuclear plant) were being fed with UF6 (uranium hexaflouride)," the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in a restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. During a visit on November 5, IAEA inspectors had verified that more than 4,800 such centrifuges were being fed with nuclear material. And almost the same number were up and running again on November 22. There was no indication yet how long the outage lasted, or whether it was longer than just one day, according to a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation. The IAEA report did not contain any explanation about the possible reasons for the outage.

And the diplomat also refused to speculate that it was caused by a computer worm, called Stuxnet, that has infiltrated Iran's nuclear facilities recently. Last week, the computer security firm Symantec said Stuxnet may have been specifically designed to disrupt the motors that power gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium. That has given rise to speculation the worm was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities in Iran, especially the Russian-built atomic power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. The report revealed that Iran has now amassed a stockpile of 3,183 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium in defiance of orders by the UN Security Council to halt all such activity. Low-enriched uranium or LEU can be used to make nuclear fuel, but can also be refined still further to build an atomic warhead.

The West accuses the Islamic republic of seeking to build a bomb, a claim Tehran vehemently denies. The IAEA has been trying to determine for seven years now the exact nature of Iran's nuclear drive, but has so far been unable to say it is entirely peaceful as Tehran claims. Earlier this year, Iran also began enriching uranium to 20 percent, ostensibly for use as fuel in a research reactor that makes radioisotopes for medical treatment. As a result of its decision to move to higher enrichment, the Security Council slapped a fourth round of sanctions on Iran. According to the new report, Iran has since amassed 33 kilogrammes of 20-percent enriched uranium. IAEA inspectors found that while Iran was feeding nuclear material into more and more uranium-enriching centrifuges at its plant in Natanz, the actual daily rate of production of LEU was not increasing significantly. That also could be an indication of possible technical problems, experts say.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_denies_problem_with_uranium_enrichment_999.html Tehran (AFP) Nov 23, 2010 Iran denied on Tuesday claims that its sensitive uranium enrichment work has been hit by technical problems and said its nuclear programme has not been harmed by the Stuxnet computer worm. Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi also rejected allegations by Western powers that Iran lacks the know-how to make nuclear fuel plates and was adamant it would be producing fuel for a research reactor by September 2011.
And he welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report on Iran, saying his country had "cooperated" with the UN nuclear watchdog.
An IAEA report obtained by AFP on Tuesday said that "on November 16, no cascades (of uranium-enriching centrifuges at Iran's Natanz enrichment nuclear plant) were being fed with UF6 (uranium hexaflouride)."
There was no indication yet how long the outage lasted, according to a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation.
The report did not say what the reasons for the outage might have been.
And the diplomat refused to speculate that it was caused by a computer worm, called Stuxnet, that has infiltrated Iran's nuclear facilities recently.
Computer security firm Symantec said last week that Stuxnet might have been designed to disrupt the motors that power gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium.
That has given rise to speculation the worm was intended to sabotage nuclear facilities in Iran, especially the Russian-built atomic power plant in the city of Bushehr.
Salehi "denied (media) reports and what has appeared in the IAEA report about a one-day halt of enrichment activities in Natanz," the ISNA news agency said.
"In an enrichment plant centrifuges are always being installed, operated, repaired and replaced and this is natural," he said.
He made a similar denial earlier in the day before the IAEA report was made public.
He appeared to be reacting to comments by Olli Heinonen, former IAEA deputy director, who said on Monday that technical problems were slowing down Iran's uranium enrichment.
Centrifuges for enrichment were operating at only 60 percent of capacity and Iran for some reason has removed hundreds of the machines, he said, and "this indicates there is a problem."
In February, Iran started refining uranium to 20 percent purity after a deadlock over a nuclear fuel swap deal drafted by the IAEA and aimed at providing fuel for the Tehran medical research reactor.
Salehi said on Tuesday the enrichment process was continuing apace.
"By the month of Shahrivar next year (September 2011), we will produce fuel for the reactor," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
He also repeated denials by Iran that Stuxnet had harmed its nuclear programme.
"This virus bumped into a dead-end, a wall, and the enemies could not achieve the goals they had hoped for in the past one and a half years," he said.
Iran has been slapped with four sets of UN Security Council sanctions over its refusal to suspend enrichment.
Enriched uranium can be used as fuel to power nuclear reactors as well as to make the fissile core of an atom bomb. Tehran has repeatedly denied Western accusations that it is working to produce a nuclear bomb.
The IAEA report revealed that Iran has now amassed a stockpile of 3,183 kilogrammes (7,003 pounds) of low-enriched uranium and 33 kilos of 20 percent enriched uranium.
Stalled negotiations between world powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme are now likely to resume on December 5 in Geneva, according to top European Union diplomat Catherine Ashton, for the first time since October 2009.
Referring to the IAEA report, Salehi said it had "improved in comparison with the past and we regard this as a good sign. However, the content is similar to those before."
"There might be different interpretations of cooperation, but Iran will continue to cooperate with the agency within the safeguard agreement and there is no reason to cooperate beyond that," he added.
The report complained that little had changed by way of the IAEA's overall investigation.
It also said Iran was refusing to halt enrichment and to answer questions that the nuclear watchdog has had for the past two years about a possible military dimension to its nuclear work.
The nine-page document has been circulated to IAEA member states and will be discussed by the agency's 35-member board of governors at the beginning of December.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Exclusive Report: Evidence of Iran Nuclear Weapons Program May Be Fraudulent

Exclusive Report: Evidence of Iran Nuclear Weapons Program May Be Fraudulent
Gareth Porter, Truthout: "The Obama administration says there can be no diplomatic negotiations with Iran unless Iran satisfies the IAEA fully in regard to the allegations derived from the documents that it had covert nuclear weapons program. That position is based on the premise that the intelligence documents that Iran has been asked to explain are genuine. The evidence now available, however, indicates that they are fabrications."
Read the Articlehttp://www.truth-out.org/the-iaea-and-fraudulent-iranian-nuclear-documents65241

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Iran Holds ‘Biggest’ Air Defense Drill Yet Over Nuke Sites from Danger Room by Adam Rawnsley

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/11/iran-holds-biggest-air-defense-drill-yet-over-nuke-sites/
All this week, Iran’s military will be strutting, flexing its muscles and showing its tail-feathers around its nuclear sites. Begun, this “Guardians of the Islamic Skies” air defense drill has.
Today, Iran kicked off one of its periodic air defense exercise, dubbed “the biggest” yet by Tehran’s state-run media. The drills, packaged with bravado about Iran’s air defense capabilities and focused on the protection of its nuclear infrastructure, are part of the Mullahs’ periodic saber-rattling against rumors of attacks by the United States and Israel.
This exercise will last five days and feature Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary Basij forces joining in. Already this week, Iran has tested its radar and air defense missile systems against Iranian planes playing enemy forces, according to the wargames spokesman Brigadier General Hamid Arjangi. Its radar systems, Arjangi says, have already identified 194 previously unknown flying routes outside the country’s airspace and four within it.
Iran has a history of dubious weapons claims. So take with about a ton of salt any bragging from the Islamic Republic about its cool new military toys. In the past, Iran has tried to spin a SCUD as a “space missile,” oversold the capabilities of its homebrew drone, announced a “new” anti-aircraft artillery that wasn’t quite so new and photoshopped a purported Shahab-3 missile launch to make it look more fearsome.

With that in mind, keep your eyes out for any hint of a substitute for the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles it thought Russia was going to deliver. The S-300 missiles would have upgraded the range of Iran’s air defense systems to 200km – a boost from the 10km range provided by the TOR M-1 air defense missiles – and put a severe crimp in any U.S. or Israeli plans to bomb the country’s nuclear facilities. But the Russians recently nixed the long-promised system as a result of pressure from and improved ties with the United States. Iran may try to pretend that it’s already get a better missile system in its back pocket.
With some smack-talking and legal threats against Russia thrown in for good measure, Iran has made contradictory claims about its plans for an S-300 substitute. In August when the missiles’ sale was looking particularly imperiled, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency floated a story, disputed by western intelligence services, that the country had received four S-300 systems from Belarus. That same month, Iran’s defense minister announced the country would build its own damn S-300. And wouldn’t you know it, last week Iran said the homemade S-300 it had waited years for the Russians to deliver was already undergoing field modification and ready for testing just three months later.
Iran has made similarly bold claims about a new advanced and indigenously-built air defense radar. It announced this week that it was building an upgraded air defense radar system with a 3,000km range, an apparent improvement over its older 400km range systems. So far, the country has been unable to build a comprehensive, overlapping and interconnected radar network and has thus opted for a point defense, focused on protecting specific strategic facilities. In 2009, Iran restructured its military and created a distinct air defense command, split off from its air forces and placed under Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, in order to increase the maneuverability and coherence of its air defenses.
Photo: Mehr
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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Military exercises carried out near nuclear sites - Iran

Iran Air Force General Ahmad Miqan

Military Exercises Carried Out Near Nuclear Sites - Iran -- Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has carried out military exercises near its nuclear facilities, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying on Sunday.

The West suspects Iran of seeking nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian research programme and is worried about the threat to international security. Tehran says its long concealed uranium enrichment drive is aimed only at generating electricity.

Read more ....

More News On Iran Conducting Military Exercises At Its Nuclear Sites

Iran 'holds defence drills' at nuclear plants -- AFP
Iran Carries Out Military Exercises Near Nuclear Sites -- Radio Free Europe
Iran launches military drill on Tuesday -- ISNA
Report: Iran to hold five-day, air defence war games, to unveil locally made radar system -- Canadian Presshttp://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTER45113520101114
Iran plans to upgrade anti-aircraft systems -- Tehran Times (Iran)
Iran to produce 3000-km-range radar -- Press TV (Iran)
Senior Commander: Israel Too Weak to Threaten Iran -- FARS News Agency (Iran)

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Iran readies missile defense system?

TEHRAN, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Tehran plans to test a domestic version of the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, an Iranian military official declared.
Russia pulled back on a deal to sell the S-300 system to Iran, citing recent U.N. sanctions on Tehran regarding its nuclear program. However, following a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in October, Moscow opted to sell Venezuela its S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
Tehran wanted the system to protect its nuclear installations from a possible aerial attack by the Israelis, who bombed an Iraqi nuclear facility in the 1980s. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said there were no plans to find an alternative supplier now that the Russian deal had fallen through. More at:

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/11/11/Iran-readies-missile-defense-system/UPI-55301289494980/

Monday, November 8, 2010

Iran ready to hold nuclear talks in Turkey

Turkey ready to host Iran nuclear talks: reportAnkara (AFP) Nov 7, 2010 - Turkey is ready to host talks between Iran and six world powers over its disputed nuclear programme after a receiving a request from Tehran, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. "Turkey has made lots of efforts since the start of the process for a diplomatic solution to be found," the news agency quoted a diplomatic source as saying. "We are ready to do whatever is in our power," the source said. The date and location of the talks is still to be determined, the report added. An Iranian conservative newspaper, Vatan Emrouz, on Sunday reported that the negotiations would be held by the end of November, without quoting a source.

At the same time, the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the world powers in the Iran negotiations, said Sunday that she was still waiting for official word from Tehran. "We have taken note of these reports. But we have not yet received an official proposal from Iran in this regard," a spokesman for her office said. The spokesman said the EU would respond once it had received an official proposal including a specific time and place to meet. The nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States -- have been deadlocked since October 2009 when the two sides met in Geneva.

by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Nov 7, 2010 Iran said on Sunday it was ready to hold talks in Turkey with the six world powers on its controversial nuclear programme following a one-year break, turning to a neighbour seen as an ally. The European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the world powers in the negotiations, said she was awaiting official word from Tehran on a specific time and venue.
A response would follow after consultations with the major powers, her office said in Brussels.
Ashton proposed last month to hold the talks in Vienna -- headquarters of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency -- starting from November 15.
"In the last two or three days, we informed our Turkish friends that we agree to hold negotiations in Turkey," Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters in Tehran.
Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili informed Ashton in October that his country was prepared to resume nuclear talks after November 10 at a time and place agreed by both sides.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Ahmadinejad slams Russia for 'selling out to Satan'

by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Nov 3, 2010 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at Russia on Wednesday, saying it had "sold out" Iran to arch-foe the United States by cancelling a deal to supply S-300 ground-to-air missiles. "Some people who are under the influence of Satan (the United States) thought that if they unilaterally and illegally cancel some defence agreements that they have with us, it will hurt the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said in reference to the missile deal between Moscow and Tehran.
"They went and sold us out to our enemies by unilaterally cancelling the agreement for which they have been paid," he said at a public rally in the northeastern city of Bojnourd broadcast live on state television.
"I want to tell them on your behalf that we consider the deal to still be valid. They should execute it. If they don't, the Iranian people will seek its rights, the losses and the fines on it," he told a cheering crowd.
The remarks were Ahmadinejad's first direct reaction to Moscow's decision to cancel the delivery of the S-300 missiles.