“We reached self -sufficiency on nuclear technology despite sanctions and we will export nuclear technologies in near future,” Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoon Abbasi announced on Tuesday. (more)
Political memory in the United States can be remarkably short. At the end of the Bush administration and throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, it became clear that the majority of Americans wanted U.S. domestic and foreign policies to change for the better. Weary from two wars and a near economic collapse, America’s call for change culminated with the 2008 presidential election. 52.9% of voting Americans opted for a president who openly supported an Iran policy centered on “diplomacy without preconditions” to resolve the outstanding issues that have long fueled U.S.-Iran tensions. Nearly two years after taking office, direct U.S. negotiations with Iran have been limited to four days, and a (eerily familiar and unconvincing) campaign for war has begun. How we got here is predictable: the same special interests and partisan politics that influence many U.S. foreign policies. How to avoid another unnecessary war in the Middle East requires a sober understanding of the inevitable costs to America. Three key issues stand out: (more)
Some folks are alleging that Tehran and Caracas have inked a deal that will establish a joint ballistic missile base in Venezuela, where Iranian missiles, potentially capable of reaching the United States, would be stationed. (more)
Iran’s nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders’ adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the United States and Europe say. (more)
Iran’s nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders’ adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the United States and Europe say. (more)
In January 2008 we wrote EU and Iran: No Chance for Sanctions to Work. Eight months later we made the case for The Coming War with Iran in view of Teheran’s ideologically-driven intransigence over its nuclear program. In the latter, we not only asserted that military action was almost inevitable if Teheran refuses — as it obviously has — to play diplomatic ball, but that an Israeli-US strike would not only not lead to an ensuing “conflagration across the Middle East” as “experts” repeatedly tout, but it would be actively welcomed by Iran’s regional neighbors. (more)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Assailants on motorcycles attached magnetized bombs to the cars of two nuclear scientists as they were driving to work in Tehran on Monday, killing one and wounding the other, Iranian officials said. The president accused Israel and the West of being behind the attacks. (more)
Iran’s nuclear program has experienced serious problems, including unexplained fluctuations in the performance of the thousands of centrifuges enriching uranium, leading to a rare but temporary shutdown, international inspectors are expected to reveal Tuesday. (more)
# 10. An Out-moded, Unreliable Nuclear Arsenal Is No Deterrent. New START offers no assurance that the U.S. nuclear force will be an effective deterrent in the future. President Obama has already declared he won’t replace and modernize the nuclear arsenal. Yes, he said he would spend billions on the supporting infrastructure and called that “modernization.” But that’s like saying you’ll take your car to Jiffy-Lube and calling it a transportation system “modernization” initiative. Furthermore, Obama’s budget still underfunds our nuclear support structure — and delays most of the funding to out-years after the president’s term expires. Obama’s claim to the mantel of nuclear modernization is bogus. (more)
Iran has begun loading fuel into the core of its first nuclear power plant, state television has reported. (more)
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly late last week. He reminded America and the free world just what a crazed worldview he holds when he called for an investigation into whether the United States government was behind the attack on the World Trade Centers on 9/11. It was brilliant theater and a classic distraction technique to be sure. What he didn’t want you and I to focus on was what his brutal, menacing regime is doing to its own people, to its neighbors, and to the world. (more)
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)
Russia will begin loading fuel rods into Iran’s new nuclear reactor on Friday. Ultimately, the Bushehr complex will produce Plutonium (Pu239) much faster than centrifuges can deliver Uranium (U235), and Pu239 is better material for atomic weapons. But unlike attacks on similar reactors in Iraq (1981) and Syria (2007), the Israelis will not attempt to destroy Bushehr in the next two days or, indeed, two months. Why not? (more)
WASHINGTON – Israel has only mere days to launch an attack on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor if Russia makes good on its plan to deliver fuel there this weekend, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton warned Tuesday. (more)
Tehran, Iran (CNN) — Iran plans to begin construction of 10 uranium enrichment centers across the country by next year, state-run media is quoting Iran’s nuclear chief as saying. (more)
The retired general also indicated that the return of three American hikers held in Iran for the past year would be an “important gesture”. (more)
