Free Republic

International inspectors this week found Iran has uranium enriched to 84% purity, just 6% below that needed to produce a nuclear weapon, Bloomberg News reported Sunday. The International Atomic Energy Agency is preparing its quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program, and two monitors found the near-nuclear weapon capability — the highest found to date.

After years of lying and deceiving the international community, the United Nations nuclear watchdog issued a significant report placing the spotlight on Iran seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. While there are arguments over how long Iran actually went down this path, with various reports referring to 2003, 2009 and now even beyond that, it should not be forgotten that Iran has lied all along and claimed of never seeking the mother of all weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency (AIEA) has now confirmed that Tehran actually had a nuclear weapons program and continued its efforts in this regard at least...

Russia has seized a consignment of the radioactive isotope Sodium-22 at a Moscow airport from a passenger who was to travel on a flight to Tehran, the customs service said on Friday. "Tests showed that the Sodium-22 could only have been obtained as the result of the work of a nuclear reactor," it said in a statement. "A criminal enquiry has been opened and the materials transferred to prosecutors."

Israel's long-anticipated attack on Iran's nuclear program may come as soon as Friday. Yesterday, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Israel had eight days to strike Iran's nuclear facility at Bushehr before it would become operational. He revised the timeline to three days after word came that nuclear fuel would begin loading on Friday. We're now down to two days and counting.... It's doubtful America will take action. The State Department's response to the latest IAEA report on Iranian enrichment violations merely said, "We are hopeful that Iran will express a willingness to come to the...

During the campaign, then-Sen. Barack Obama made light of what he saw as his predecessor-to-be's lack of diplomatic skill. As Wednesday's U.N. Security Council vote on sanctions over Iran's nuclear program showed, Mr. Obama's team could learn a few things about diplomacy from George W. Bush. The vote sent "an unmistakable message" to Iran about the international community's commitment to stop nuclear proliferation, according to the White House. The vote tally also communicated a secondary point: President Obama is losing the international consensus that Mr. Bush once had. In three rounds of Bush-led U.N. votes on sanctions from 2006 through...

A smoking-gun document has emerged that indicates Iran is closer than ever to developing a nuclear weapon. Top-secret technical notes leaked from deep within the Iranian nuclear program - and making the rounds of Western intelligence agencies - detail research on a neutron initiator, a device that sets off a nuclear detonation. It is the smoking gun's trigger.

Iran is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of more American military personnel than any other country since the Vietnam War. Tehran does not lack the will to stand up to the United States even without nuclear weapons. It's chilling to consider how much more bold Iran will be with an atomic arsenal.

The public is saying that it's worth trying anything to stop Iran, but in the end, we probably will have to fight it out. The Pew survey shows that 61 percent agree that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons even if it requires the use of force. Just 24 percent believe we should accept an Iranian bomb if stopping it necessitates military action.

(AP) – 18 minutes ago VIENNA — Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.

It's beginning to look like peace had its chance with Iran and failed. Tehran is facing a Tuesday deadline to respond to the Group of Six offer to open talks on trade if Iran ends its nuclear enrichment program. The United States should make contingency plans for when Israel takes action.

Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak says Israel's assessment is that Iran did stop work on its nuclear bomb in 2003, just as the United States announced - but that it resumed its efforts

Iran accused the United States on Sunday of steering Europe away from a possible compromise on Tehran's disputed nuclear program. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the U.S. insistence on conditional negotiations over a Western package of incentives has narrowed the scope of possible talks and made it tougher for all parties to reach a solution. The incentives are meant to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process that can make nuclear fuel for a power plant or fissile material for an atomic bomb. "We feel that the Americans are trying to take Europe to a point that...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin called U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday to discuss Russia's talks with the radical Palestinian movement Hamas and negotiations on Iran's disputed nuclear program, the Kremlin said. "Putin and Bush agreed to continue co-ordination on this and other vital issues on the international agenda including the forthcoming visit of the Russian foreign minister to Washington," the Kremlin press service said in a brief statement. It said that Putin had initiated the call. Moscow hosted both the top Iranian nuclear negotiator and a high-level delegation from Hamas this past week, saying it was...