Middle East
Publisher: Bloomberg
12 Nov 2014
Iran Signs Russia Reactor Deal as Nuclear Talks Falter
Iran signed an agreement with Russia to obtain as many as eight new reactors, as world powers struggle to reach an accord capping the Islamic Republic s nuclear program. The deal was signed in Moscow yesterday by Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran s Atomic Energy Organization, and Sergei Kiriyenko, the chief executive of Rosatom Corp.
Publisher: The XX Committee
14 Oct 2014
Snapshot of the Secret War
Little of this story generally appears in the media, though a current trial in Hamburg has offered a rare glimpse into the secret struggle that is waged every day without the public having any real clue of what's going on. The case is fascinating, involving as it does three men - one German and two others of Iranian origin - who are charged with exporting 92 German-produced specialized valves for use in Iran's Arak plutonium reactor and arranging the shipment of 856 nuclear-usable valves from India to Iran in 2010-11. The report, by the German scholar Matthias K ntzel, is worth quoting at length:
Publisher: National Post
30 Sep 2014
Israel didn’t assassinate Iranian physicist in 2007 – Revolutionary Guard did, sister says
When Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshir Hosseinpour was gassed to death in 2007, the finger of suspicion was immediately pointed at Israel. Now, his sister claims he was murdered by Iran s Revolutionary Guard (IRI) because he would not cooperate with its efforts to divert nuclear work from peaceful purposes to building an atomic bomb. If Mahboobeh Hosseinpour s account can be confirmed, it could affect the next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany
Publisher: NYTimes
6 Sep 2014
Iranian nuclear R and D centre ‘visited by UN inspectors’
UN inspectors have gained rare access to an Iranian nuclear facility, giving them a "better understanding" of Tehran's disputed programme, it has been reported. They observed a plant where centrifuges for enriching uranium were developed as part of a transparency deal but acknowledged that Iran remains resistant to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation.
Publisher: The Guardian
8 Jul 2014
Iran needs greater uranium enrichment capacity, says Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran's supreme leader said on Tuesday that his country would need to significantly increase its capacity to enrich uranium if it was to meet its long-term energy needs, in an unusually detailed speech highlighting the obstacles to a deal on its nuclear programme. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei conceded that Iran would not need to immediately increase its capacity but made clear that his government sought the right to carry out industrial-scale enrichment in order to be self-sufficient in nuclear fuel for its research reactors and a Russian-built power station at Bushehr.
Publisher: WSJ
21 Jun 2014
Iran Could Outsource Its Nuclear-Weapons Program to North Korea
Tehran could outsource the completion of a bomb to its longtime ally, North Korea. As a venue for secretly completing and testing a nuclear bomb, North Korea would be ideal. North Korea is the only country known to have tested any nuclear bombs since India and Pakistan both performed underground tests in 1998. Despite wide condemnation, it has gotten away with three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Pyongyang threatened to carry out a fourth test in March, which it said would take an unspecified "new form."
Publisher: NYTimes
13 Jun 2014
Building Nuclear Weapon Would Take Years, Not Months, Iran Says in Report
The Iranian government this week published its first detailed study of how long it estimates it would take its scientists and engineers to assemble a nuclear weapon, saying that with its current infrastructure, "the required time span is in years.: Iran described the estimate as entirely hypothetical, and it was clearly intended to allay fears that Iran has the ability to race for a bomb.
Publisher: LA Times
24 May 2014
IAEA assessment plan presents new hurdle in Iran nuclear talks
The United Nations is unlikely to complete its assessment of whether Iran has conducted research on nuclear weapons before the deadline set by six world powers for a deal to curb the country's nuclear activities, a new complication in the international negotiations.. In its latest quarterly report released Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said it would conduct a comprehensive "system assessment" of all evidence on the sensitive issue of whether Iran has sought to gain nuclear weapons capability.
Publisher: Al Jazeera
24 May 2014
Iran cuts nuclear stockpile, IAEA says
Iran has neutralized most of its stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium that could be turned quickly into the core of a nuclear weapon, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, leaving the country with only about a fifth of what it would need for such a purpose. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a in a quarterly report that Iran now has less than 90 pounds of the material
Publisher: Rooz Online
19 May 2014
Annual Loss of Nuclear Program $160 Billion Dollars
As the fourth round of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 major world powers stalled in Vienna last week, the White House issued a warning that time was not limitless and a senior cabinet minister in Ahmadinejad s administration revealed that the nuclear program cost the country some $160 billion Dollars annually. These and other developments have cast a shadow of doubt on the success of the talks and informed sources have leaked that the differences are over Iran s military programs.
Publisher: OK24 News
16 Apr 2014
AP NewsBreak: Iran cuts nuke weapons ability
The United Nations will release a report this week certifying that Iran's ability to make a nuclear bomb has been greatly reduced because it has diluted half of its material that can be turned most quickly into weapons-grade uranium, diplomats said Tuesday. The move is part of Iran's commitments under a deal with six world powers in effect since January that mandates some nuclear concessions on the part of Tehran in exchange for a partial lifting of sanctions crippling its economy.
Publisher: EA WorldView
25 Jan 2014
Iran Special Rouhani and Supreme Leader Deal – Protecting A Nuclear Agreement, Giving Up Political Prisoners and “Freedom”
President Rouhani has struck a deal with the Supreme Leader to protect the Government against hard-line criticism of the interim nuclear deal and further negotiations with the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, Germany, China, Russia, and France), according to well-placed sources in Iran. In return, Rouhani has pledged to back away from pursuit of measures to open up Iran s political and cultural spheres. He has also agreed not to seek the freedom of high-profile political prisoners, such as 2009 Presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.
Publisher: CNN
25 Jan 2014
Zakaria: Iran nuclear agreement a train wreck on the way
Rouhani said that there would be no destruction of existing centrifuges "under any circumstances." It seems he is going even going further than what his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, told CNN s Jim Sciutto this week. What's going on here? Because there could be, potentially, some sort of fundamental disagreement between Iran and the United States.
Publisher: NYTimes
24 Jan 2014
Rouhani Says Iran Has No Plan for Nuclear Weapons
Publisher: NYTimes
23 Jan 2014
Khamenei’s Business Empire Gains From Iran Sanctions Relief
One of the chief beneficiaries of this week's easing of Iranian sanctions is the country's ruler - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei controls a massive business empire known as Setad that has invested in Iran's petrochemical industry, which is now permitted to resume exports. Under a six-month deal between Iran and world powers, Tehran has promised to scale back its nuclear development program in exchange for the suspension of certain economic sanctions, including curbs on the export of petrochemicals.