TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told NBC News on Wednesday that his country was justified in barring further visits by U.N. atomic inspectors and challenged other nations to fully disclose their nuclear activities. (more)
The prospect of a nuclear Iran has long been of great concern to the Western world. Yet, last week, when Iran began fueling its first nuclear reactor, the world blinked. (more)
CAIRO (AP) — Iran’s president offered friendship to the United States but also taunted Washington by saying he does not fear an attack by the U.S. because it could not even defeat a small army in Iraq, according to a television interview with the leader aired Sunday. (more)
Iran’s first nuclear plant is expected to go online within the next few days, and some speculate that Israel will take military action to prevent it. Fifty-one percent (51%) of U.S. voters believe the United States should help Israel if it attacks Iran. (more)
Rod Blagovich’s trial, Snooki’s taxed tan, and Brett Favre’s unretiring are all apparently more newsworthy than Iran’s acquisition of nuclear power. Nice job, media. (more)
A Pentagon strike against Iran would rely heavily on the B-2 bomber and cruise missiles to try to destroy the regime’s ability to make nuclear weapons, analysts say, after the top U.S. military officer said a war plan is in place. (more)
Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it will not allow two of its inspectors to enter the country, state media report. (more)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey is still on the table, despite the adoption of new UN sanctions last week. (more)
Russia had earlier insisted on its right to carry out the air defense contract. Its rethink underlined how the tolerance of non-Western big powers for Iran’s disputed nuclear activity is fading, and could deny Iran formidable protection against any military attacks on its atomic installations. (more)
In the last few months, Iran has advanced to the brink of having a nuclear weapon. (more)
As Iran moves inexorably toward the creation of a viable nuclear weapons program recent developments continue to prove that alliances can be bought and sold in the world of diplomacy. Unfortunately, the costs of such alliances are often greater than the outcomes they are intended to produce. While United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced the forward movement of multilateral UN backed sanctions against Iran, one must consider what tangible effect these sanctions will ultimately have in deterring Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and equally important the question of at what cost to long-term U.S. security interests such sanctions will be obtained. (more)
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ leaked memo to National Security Advisor General James Jones (U.S.MC Ret) that said the United States does not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s continuing movement towards a nuclear weapon capability raised some eyebrows. And so it should. But neither the American people nor the White House should need a memo to alert them to this reality. As Fredrick the Great said “Negotiations without arms are like notes without instruments.” The Obama administration’s Iran policy has no melody because it has no threat of arms. (more)
An Iranian firm closely linked to Tehran’s nuclear program acquired special hardware for enriching uranium, despite sanctions intended to keep such equipment out of Iran, according to officials with knowledge of the matter. (more)
Foreign ministers at the G8 meeting in Canada on Tuesday focused on Iran nuclear ambitions and the actions of two capitals very far away. (more)
Six months after the revelation of a secret nuclear enrichment site in Iran, international inspectors and Western intelligence agencies say they suspect that Tehran is preparing to build more sites in defiance of United Nations demands. (more)
PARIS — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says his country is ready to consider new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. (more)
It’s been nearly a year since Secretary of State Clinton promised “crippling sanctions” on Iran. The U.S. House has passed the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA), and the Senate has passed similar legislation, but congressional leaders have failed to start a reconciliation process. President Obama—enmeshed in domestic policy debates—has done little to hasten the congressional process. (more)
Everyone has suddenly noticed an elephant in the room: Play the War Card! So right after Daniel Pipes’ column in National Review Online last week, “How to Save the Obama Presidency: Bomb Iran,” pundits from Arnaud de Borchgrave, to Pat Buchanan, to Sarah Palin rushed to approve or disapprove of the idea. They all bring their agendas to the debate, but they all agree a U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would significantly raise Obama’s disastrous approval poll ratings. Like politics, all warfare is domestic. (more)
“From this site, I vow as the leader of the Jewish state that we will never again allow the hand of evil to destroy the life of our people and the life of our state. Never again.” —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking on Holocaust Memorial Day. (more)
MUNICH — Iran might be close to a deal to have uranium enriched abroad, the country’s foreign minister said Friday. But he proposed a condition that might not be acceptable to the United States and other governments that have been trying to negotiate a compromise over Iran’s nuclear program. (more)
