Moscow has shown yet again that it is determined to protect Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Russia and China have asked Yukiya Amano, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) director general, to stall U.S.-backed plans to publicize information on Iran’s nuclear program. This information is available in a diplomatic note acquired by the Associated Press. As the leaked IAEA document suggests, Moscow and Beijing should not provide international cover to Tehran’s burgeoning nuclear program. Even the Soviets knew better than that. The “reset” policy paradigm between U.S. and Russia continues to …
Iran’s uranium enrichment program has increased its production rate by 17 percent in recent months and by 84 percent since 2009, according to a new study by the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. Author Greg Jones projected that Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to fuel a nuclear weapon in about 62 days if it chose to do so. Jones based his estimate on data drawn from the May 24 report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which spelled out in greater detail than ever before the growing concerns that …
Iran is getting dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon, according to Richard Weitz’s recent article, which is informed by the documents and reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA believes that Iran could acquire nuclear weapons within one to five years. Iran has continuously ignored IAEA’s requests for information about its nuclear facilities and heavy water projects, and it refuses to provide information about its Fordow Enrichment Site near Qom. In addition, the IR-40 reactor that it is building in Arak is very similar to reactors …
Although Iran and North Korea have received far more attention, Syria is belatedly becoming a prime focus of international concern over nuclear proliferation. On December 1, the Institute for Science and International Security released satellite photos of suspected Syrian nuclear sites linked to the covert Al-Kibar nuclear reactor that Israeli warplanes bombed in 2007, shortly before it could begin operations. The CIA later confirmed that the site contained a North Korean–designed nuclear reactor that would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. Syria blocked inspectors from the International …
Iran on Saturday began fueling its Bushehr nuclear power plant, a process that is likely to take many days. The reactor’s operations must then be tested before it starts producing electricity, which is expected in about two months. Russia’s Rosatom state nuclear power company, which built the reactor, has assigned Russian technicians to jointly operate the reactor for several years, as Iranian technicians gradually gain full control over the operations. The startup of the reactor is another sign of Iran’s steady progress across many nuclear fronts. Although the Bushehr reactor …
According to The Wall Street Journal’s announcement, Moscow will start to load fuel into Tehran’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr on Saturday, August 21. Moscow also guaranteed a 10 year supply of the fuel to the reactor. From the moment the first drop of fuel is loaded, the plant will be considered a nuclear-energy installation as defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency. And the ayatollahs will have the potential to produce the plutonium necessary for an atomic bomb, experts say. Additionally, “Bushehr gives Iran the pretext for needing …
Congress put the finishing touches on a long-awaited Iran sanctions bill yesterday when House and Senate lawmakers agreed to a final version of the sanctions, which will penalize Iran for its nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and human rights abuses. This latest round of sanctions would disrupt Iran’s energy and banking operations by cutting off access to the U.S. market for firms that supply Iran with refined petroleum products such as gasoline, ship Iran’s crude oil abroad or insure its oil shipments. U.S. banks would be banned from conducting business with foreign …
The international hullabaloo over the tragic deaths provoked by violent “peace activists” seeking to undermine the Israeli arms blockade on Gaza has set back efforts to contain and neutralize the threats posed by the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group Hamas and its chief foreign bankroller, Iran. The United Nations Security Council, which was focused on intense negotiations over imposing another round of sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear defiance, now has been diverted to focus on Israel’s alleged transgressions against anti-Israel activists who clearly were spoiling for a fight. Politico’s …
The sham agreement signed on May 17 by Iran with Brazil and Turkey to swap low enriched uranium for fuel for the Tehran research reactor has been widely exposed as little more than Iranian effort to divide and confuse the international community and buy time for the construction of a nuclear weapon. Iran, aided and abetted by the leaders of Brazil and Turkey, structured the deal to give the illusion of diplomatic progress without addressing the core issue involved in Iran’s nuclear defiance: Iran continues to enrich uranium in flagrant …
Diplomats based in Vienna leaked some interesting news on Friday: IAEA nuclear inspectors have discovered that Iran has removed equipment that was the focus of an investigation into experiments to advance Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program. The inspectors are concerned that the Iranians may be involved in yet another cover-up: “At issue is pyroprocessing, a procedure that can be used to purify uranium metal used in nuclear warheads. Iran in January confirmed to the agency that it had carried out pyroprocessing experiments, prompting a request from the nuclear agency for …
