IAEA

Nuclear scientists are not terrorists

by News Sources 01.12.2012

In an op-ed for the New Scientist, Debora MacKenzie writes: Attempts to derail a country’s nuclear programme by killing its scientists “are products of desperation”, says [William] Tobey [of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University] – citing a US effort to kill legendary physicist Werner Heisenberg during the second world [...]

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Former IAEA Inspector: Misleading Iran report proves nothing

by News Sources 11.16.2011
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The Iranian-American game of chicken

by News Sources 11.15.2011

Reza Marashi writes: Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi made headlines recently when he said the Islamic Republic would like to have friendly relations with the United States—but not under the current conditions. He added that while U.S. officials express a desire for discussions, U.S. actions don’t always conform to that expression. In the meantime, [...]

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Russia promotes a “step by step” diplomatic initiative with Iran

by News Sources 11.15.2011

Zvi Bar’el reports: It appears that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can rest easy for now, as voices coming from the European Union suggest a military operation is not in the offing. Not only do Syria and China reject such an attack, but on Monday, Germany, France and Turkey added their voices to those objecting to [...]

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Nuke report unlikely to break the stalemate, could Iran be the new Cuba?

by News Sources 11.13.2011

Tony Karon writes: Game changer? Hardly. As the dust settles on this week’s release of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report on Iran, it’s become clear that pre-release hype from Western officials that it would produce a dramatic shift in the international standoff over that country’s nuclear program appears to be wishful thinking. There’s [...]

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How to set the Middle East aflame

by News Sources 11.11.2011

Karim Sadjadpour writes: The International Atomic Energy Agency’s new report [PDF] on Iran’s nuclear program asserts that Tehran “has carried out … activities that are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device” and that the agency sees “strong indicators of possible weapon development.” In other words, the IAEA has finally reached the same [...]

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Al Jazeera talks to Joe Cirncione about Iran’s nuclear potential

by News Sources 11.09.2011
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Israel may lack capability for effective strike on Iran nuclear facilities

by News Sources 11.09.2011

Bloomberg reports: Concern that a new report on Iran’s nuclear program might spur an Israeli military strike ignores a central factor: Experts say the odds such an assault could succeed are slim. “The Israelis actually have limited means of attacking Iran’s nuclear program,” said Richard Russell, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University’s Near [...]

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IAEA’s “Soviet nuclear scientist” never worked on weapons

by News Sources 11.09.2011

Gareth Porter reports: The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published by a Washington think tank Tuesday repeated the sensational claim previously reported by news media all over the world that a former Soviet nuclear weapons scientist had helped Iran construct a detonation system that could be used for a nuclear weapon. But [...]

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Why are we being readied for war with Iran?

by Paul Woodward 11.07.2011

If you want to start a war with Iran, apparently the lesson from Iraq is not that war is a dumb idea; it’s that the war charge cannot be led by the U.S. administration or a ragtag band of expatriates. The pretext for war needs to be presented by an international body that is perceived [...]

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Israel’s diplomatic bankruptcy

by News Sources 11.06.2011

An editorial in The Observer says: Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons is seen as a threat for reasons partly of Israel’s own making – foremost its absolute reliance on a policy of military supremacy and deterrence to underpin security. A nuclear-armed Iran would hole that policy below the waterline, making it far more difficult, for [...]

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Iran says U.S. plot suspect is anti-Tehran militant

by News Sources 11.05.2011

Reuters reports: Iran has complained to the United Nations about a U.S. accusation it tried to assassinate a Saudi diplomat, saying one of the alleged plotters Washington calls an Iranian military official is really a member of an anti-Tehran rebel group. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday the plot was part of a [...]

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Fresh or refreshed fears about a nuclear Iran?

by News Sources 11.03.2011

Tony Karon writes: President Obama’s point man on Iran, Dennis Ross, had written before joining the Administration that if governments reluctant to impose harsh measures on Iran believed the alternative was Israel starting a war, they would be more inclined to back new sanctions. And there’s certain a new sanctions push in the works, right [...]

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To isolate Iran, U.S. presses inspectors on nuclear data

by News Sources 10.17.2011

The New York Times reports: President Obama is pressing United Nations nuclear inspectors to release classified intelligence information showing that Iran is designing and experimenting with nuclear weapons technology. The president’s push is part of a larger American effort to further isolate and increase pressure on Iran after accusing it of a plot to assassinate [...]

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Do we have Ahmadinejad all wrong?

by News Sources 01.13.2011

Reza Aslan writes: Is it possible that Iran’s blustering president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, long thought to be a leading force behind some of Iran’s most hard-line and repressive policies, is actually a reformer whose attempts to liberalize, secularize, and even “Persianize” Iran have been repeatedly stymied by the country’s more conservative factions? That is the surprising [...]

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Stuxnet could cause Bushehr meltdown

by News Sources 11.22.2010

On the eve of the release of a new IAEA report on Iran, officials linked to the UN nuclear oversight agency have added to speculation on the possible impact that the Stuxnet malware may have had on Iran’s nuclear program — including the possibility that it could lead to the meltdown of the reactor in [...]

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Turkey’s diplomatic persistence with Iran may pay off

by Paul Woodward 07.28.2010

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran has pledged to stop enriching uranium to the higher grade needed for a medical research reactor if world powers agree to a fuel-swap deal it outlined earlier this year with Turkey and Brazil, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Wednesday. The offer marks the latest in an international tug-of-war [...]

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Is Obama’s word worth anything?

by Paul Woodward 05.28.2010

President Obama is either a liar or he has lost control of his own administration. In a letter he sent to the president of Brazil in late April, Obama spelled out the terms on which the US would support a diplomatic initiative by Brazil and Turkey who hoped to revive a nuclear swap agreement that [...]

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IAEA set to focus on Israel

by Paul Woodward 05.08.2010

The Associated Press reports: Israel’s secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press. A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA’s June [...]

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US lifting the veil on Israel’s nuclear status

by Paul Woodward 05.02.2010

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. is negotiating with Egypt a proposal to make the Middle East a region free of nuclear weapons, as the U.S. seeks to prevent Iran from derailing a monthlong U.N. conference on nuclear nonproliferation that begins Monday. U.S. officials familiar with the move call it an important step in [...]

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Atomic agency views Iran’s stepped-up enrichment of uranium as a violation

by Paul Woodward 02.12.2010

The New York Times reported: Iran’s surprise move this week to begin enriching its uranium to a level closer to weapons-grade violated an agreement with atomic inspectors in Vienna, diplomats said, very likely providing the United States with another piece of evidence that Iran is not living up to its international commitments on its nuclear [...]

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Iran hails nuclear advance on Revolution Day

by Paul Woodward 02.11.2010

Australia’s ABC News reported: Hundreds of thousands of people have rallied across Iran to make the anniversary of the country’s Islamic revolution. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used a massive pro-government rally in Tehran to boast that the Islamic republic is now a nuclear state and on the brink of having the means to produce weapons grade [...]

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Iran plans to get one small step away from producing weapons-grade nuclear fuel

by Paul Woodward 02.10.2010

Iran’s formal notification on Monday to the IAEA that it is going to start producing 20 percent enriched uranium in order to supply its research reactor that produces medical isotopes, means that it will be taking a major stride towards producing weapons-grade fuel. The Washington Post reports: …enriching uranium under the guise of medical needs [...]

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Gates scoffs at Iran nuclear claim

by Paul Woodward 02.06.2010

The New York Times reports: As Iran’s foreign minister met with the chief of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency here, the United States and Germany rejected Iran’s assertion that it was close to accepting an international compromise on its nuclear program. Western officials expressed deep skepticism toward Tehran’s contention that a deal was close [...]

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