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TEHRAN, Iran - Iran warned Sunday it will start large-scale uranium enrichment if it is referred to the U.N. Security Council because of international concerns over its nuclear program. ADVERTISEMENT The International Atomic Energy Agency will meet in Vienna, Austria, on Monday to discuss Iran's nuclear program and decide whether to refer the issue to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic and political sanctions on the Islamic republic. Iran maintains its program is for generating electricity, but the United States and other Western nations fear Tehran is trying to build a bomb. "If Iran's nuclear dossier...

TEHRAN. Feb 25 (Interfax) - The beginning of Russian nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran for the initial core fuelling of the nuclear power plant under construction in Bushehr will be discussed during Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko's visit to the plant's construction site on Sunday, a source from the Russian delegation accompanying Kiriyenko on the trip said. Russia's offer to establish a joint venture for uranium enrichment on Russian territory was not discussed at Saturday negotiations between Kiriyenko and Iranian Vice President for Atomic Energy Qolam-Reza Aqazadeh, although they discussed fuel supplies, the source said. The...

That October, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the CIA heard from another intelligence service that officials in Niamey, capital of Niger, had agreed to "ship several tons of uranium to Iraq," according to a 2004 report by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Wilson and the U.S. ambassador to Niger concluded that a sale, although possible, was highly unlikely. "It was a French-owned mine, so any Nigerien government deal would have to go through the French company," he said. "Secondly, the size of the sale would have an impact on the national economy. The number of trucks would have been...

Tape recordings released over the weekend show that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons program at least as recently as 2000 - but the press has decided the bombshell development isn't newsworthy. Speaking at the Intelligence Group Summit in Arlington, Va., Saddam tapes translator Bill Tierney revealed that in one recorded conversation, the Iraqi dictator can be heard discussing a plan to enrich uranium using a technique known as plasma separation. Though U.S. weapons inspectors found that 1.8 tons of Saddam's 500 ton uranium stockpile had been partially enriched, they failed to turn up any evidence of an ongoing...

Has the media forgotten the danger of dirty bombs? Who is keeping track of the quantities of enriched uranium being produced? This situation has reached a point of ACTION! A dirty bomb can go off anywhere and Israel is the closest target. The Media continues to feed the masses with their reporting dived out through "sippy straw" myopic lenses. They only mention the threat from the context of a nuclear bomb. Is the concern over Iran's enrichment predicated on development of a nuclear bomb? NOT! A dirty bomb is just as dangerous as a fission bomb. If it occurs the...

TEHRAN – The second round of nuclear talks between Iran and Russia concerning a joint uranium enrichment project has been canceled, an informed source told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday. Iran and Russia were scheduled to sit for a second round of negotiations on February 16 in Moscow regarding Moscow’s proposal to enrich Iran’s uranium on Russian soil. In the first round of talks, held in early January, Tehran insisted on its legal right to enrichment on Iranian soil.

TEHRAN, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Iran have reached agreement on certain points of Russia's proposal to form a joint venture to enrich uranium on Russian territory for Iran's nuclear energy program, the Iranian foreign minister said Saturday. "Russia's plan is at a stage of serious consideration, and negotiations on it are ongoing. Agreement between Tehran and Moscow has already been reached on certain points of Russia's proposals, in particular on increasing the number of participants in the project," Manouchehr Mottaki said. The countries have not yet discussed proposals on the location of the uranium enrichment program. The...

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Iran has not excluded the possibility of conducting its uranium enrichment in Russia -- a proposal that could be a way out of escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear program. Putin, speaking after a meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, said "one of the main problems is the enrichment of uranium.

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was very upset last week that the US had shipped about 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium and other radioactive material out of Iraq for disposition in the US. One would think that the IAEA would have appreciated our work in assisting them in the implementation of the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in this particularly volatile region of the world. But one would be wrong. The actions, or more appropriately, the inactions of the IAEA regarding Iraq since the end of Gulf War I, betray the agency’s true agenda....

Wilson didn't say boo about Bush's SOTU address or the famous "16 words about uranium" until after he was an advisor on the Kerry campaign.  It wasn't for lack of opportunity, since Wilson was on several news programs between the SOTU and when he began his jihad against Bush in June/July. Such as the program he did with Bill Moyers a month after the SOTU.    In it he said nothing about Yellowcake or Bush's duplicity at all. As you know, Wilson as CERTAIN Saddam had WMDs and would use them against us. As this exchange shows. NOW with Bill Moyers. Transcript. Bill Moyers...

By April 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, Saddam Hussein had stockpiled 500 tons of yellowcake uranium at his al Tuwaitha nuclear weapons development plant south of Baghdad. That intriguing little detail is almost never mentioned by the big media, who prefer to chant the mantra "Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction" while echoing Joseph Wilson's claim that "Bush lied" about seeking more of the nuclear material in Niger. The media's decision to put the Wilson-Plame affair back on the front burner, however, may turn out to be a blessing in disguise for President Bush - giving his administration...

"I am saying that if anyone was involved in that type of activity which I referred to, they would not be working here." - Ron Ziegler, press secretary to Richard Nixon, defending the presidential aide Dwight Chapin on Oct. 18, 1972. Chapin was convicted in April 1974 of perjury in connection with his relationship to the political saboteur Donald Segretti. "Any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president. They wouldn't be working here at the White House if they didn't have the president's confidence." - Scott McClellan, press secretary to George W. Bush,...

PARIS (Reuters) - An Iranian exile accused Tehran on Thursday of secretly purifying uranium for use in nuclear weapons at a recently-constructed underground facility at a military complex called Parchin. "Iran has completed an underground tunnel-like facility in Parchin, which is now engaged in laser enrichment," said Alireza Jafarzadeh, an Iranian exile who has reported accurately in the past about hidden atomic facilities in Iran. "This underground site is camouflaged and built in an area of Parchin that deals with the chemical industry," he told Reuters by telephone from Washington, citing "well-placed sources inside the Iranian regime." Iranian officials were...

NATANZ, Iran (AP) - An Iranian official confirmed Monday a uranium enrichment plant in central Iran is underground as a protection against airstrikes, but insisted that is not a sign the program aims to produce nuclear weapons. U.S. officials have said building nuclear facilities underground is inconsistent with Iran's contention its atomic program is intended only for the generation of electricity. The Iranians deny Washington's accusation that they are trying to build nuclear weapons. Ali Akbar Salehi, a nuclear affairs adviser to the foreign minister, said U.S. and Israeli threats forced Iran to take precautions to protect its technology, including...

German police have arrested two suspected al-Qaida terrorists – one who was allegedly trying to buy enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb and other planning a suicide attack in Iraq. According to a German prosecutor, the arrests, which occurred early Sunday, came after months of investigation, Knight-Ridder reported. The suspects were nabbed after early morning police raids in Mainz and Bonn. President Bush is scheduled to visit Mainz next month, which heightens the security concerns in the city. It was determined today there was enough evidence to keep the pair in custody pending possible charges. Authorities described one suspect, Ibrahim...

Just days before Christmas, a secret flight took off from the Czech Republic heading for Russia. Until it touched down amid tight security, the details of the flight were kept highly classified for fear of terrorists intercepting the cargo - four specialised transport canisters containing 6kg of highly enriched uranium which could be used for nuclear weapons. The flight marked a further step in an increasingly aggressive programme to secure nuclear material by Russia and the US amid continuing fears that gaining nuclear material is a priority for al-Qaeda. Meeting in London on 4 January were the two top officials...

PARIS - Iran possesses a nuclear installation it uses for military purposes and which it has concealed from the international community, the French Daily Liberation reported on Wednesday. The newspaper based its report on information it received from an Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin, which claims that the hidden nuclear research facility was located within former army barracks at Lavizan, near Teheran. The site reportedly took over activities formerly carried out at installations at Shiyan, which were torn down in 2003 before the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was able to inspect them. “This centre houses military research activities...

Clinton reopens book on Iraqi bid to buy uranium in Africa Michael White, political editor Monday July 19, 2004 The Guardian Tony Blair's ally and former US president Bill Clinton yesterday reopened the sensitive issue of Saddam Hussein's attempts to buy uranium in Africa. Speaking on BBC1's Breakfast with Frost, Mr Clinton, who is promoting his memoirs, said there was "no evidence" the CIA had ever told George Bush about the claim. Though it has not been stated in the four official inquiries into British intelligence, London's source for its claims about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium - widely repeated...

I heard on the Hugh Hewitt show today a brief mention that Libya may have been enriching Uranium for Iraq ... or that story will break in the next month? Anyone have any information on this.

United Nations officials are complaining that the U.S. Energy Department failed to consult with them before removing nearly two tons of low-enriched uranium from Saddam Hussein's sprawling al Tuwaitha nuclear facility last month. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a U.N. official said there was some concern about the legality of the U.S. transfer because the nuclear material belonged to Iraq and was under the control and supervision of the IAEA, the Associated Press reported on Thursday. "The American authorities just informed us of their intention to remove the materials, but they never sought authorization from us," Gustavo Zlauvinen, head of...