The Guardian reports today that the International Atomic Energy Agency has asked Iran to explain evidence that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, but Tehran continues to stonewall requests for relevant information and drag its feet at the sputtering talks over its illicit nuclear weapons program. According to a dossier prepared by the IAEA, Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a “two-point implosion” device that could enable Iran to eventually install small nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles. One European official said that “It …
The tentative nuclear deal that the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany) reportedly has reached with Iran has been widely hailed as a success for the Obama Administration’s engagement policy. For example, today a Washington Post article described the deal as “providing a major boost for the Obama administration as it seeks to engage the Islamic republic.” But a closer look at the negotiations gives strong reasons for concern. First of all, the focus on helping Iran to refuel its research reactor in Tehran …
Hopes for a quick diplomatic breakthrough in the long-running stalemate over Iran’s nuclear weapons program have been dimmed by Iranian backtracking on a tentative agreement reached on October 1 in Geneva and Iran’s foot-dragging on future negotiations. Reuters today quoted an anonymous senior Iranian official as saying “Time is on our side” and declaring that Iran plans to slow-walk the diplomatic negotiations that will resume on October 19 by sending junior officials who do not have the authority to make firm commitments. This confirms previous suspicions that Tehran will exploit …
The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held lengthy talks with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov]Tuesday as part of an intense American effort to improve relations, but she made few gains on a top U.S. priority — increasing pressure on Iran. … Emerging from four hours of talks with Clinton, Lavrov told reporters that “threats, sanctions and threats of pressure” against Iran would be “counterproductive.” We wish we were surprised by this news. Unfortunately it fits into a very well established pattern in U.S. policy on Iran:
The Obama Administration made a bombshell revelation on the eve of the G-20 summit about Iran’s continued lying about its nuclear program. Anonymous “American officials” disclosed to the New York Times that U.S. intelligence agencies had uncovered another secret Iranian nuclear facility that Iran had failed to divulge to the International Atomic Energy Agency as required under its nuclear safeguard commitments. The secret facility reportedly is a uranium enrichment plant capable of housing 3,000 centrifuges that is built inside a mountain about 100 miles south of Tehran near the city …
What a shock: Iran has another undeclared nuclear facility that is likely supporting a nuclear weapons program. Yes, that’s right; press reports indicate that earlier this week Iran finally got around to notifying the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency of a previously undisclosed nuclear-enrichment facility on a military base near the city of Qom. Here are seven things to note about this disturbing development, based on what we know this morning: 1. An additional enrichment facility allows Iran to make more enriched uranium faster. 2. If this facility is up …
