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Iran 'has secret atomic bomb project' By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor in Vienna (Filed: 06/02/2004) America has convincing new evidence that Iran is hiding an atomic bomb project despite Teheran's promise to open up all of its nuclear facilities to international inspectors, a senior US official has told The Telegraph. He said the Teheran regime was secretly trying to build a second and more advanced uranium enrichment plant in parallel to the large facilities in the town of Natanz revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last year. Missile on parade in Teheran "There is no doubt in...

Iran to Hold Tender for Power Plants Tehran - P.I.N. - K.Soltani - 2004/01/18 15:56 TEHRAN – Iran will submit tender bids for building six nuclear power plants, the foreign ministry said Sunday, adding that the affair should go through proper channels. The spokesman for the ministry Hamid-Reza Assefi also told a news briefing that Iran’s nuclear programs were peaceful. “From the very beginning we announced that our nuclear technology follows peaceful purposes. We highlighted this issue in our talks with the foreign ministers from the EU troika,” Assefi said, referring to the October 21 agreement signed between Iran and...

Iran signed a protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty today that allows the International Atomic Energy Agency broader rights of access to sites in the country, a move intended to help establish confidence that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful. Iran's former representative at the agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, and Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the agency, signed the protocol in Vienna. The agency is a United Nations organization that promotes atomic energy and monitors its use in military applications. "The protocol for us is an important tool for our work towards trying to establish confidence that the nuclear...

Americans view a potential nuclear crisis in Iran as the highest priority in foreign crises (64% rating as 4 or 5 on the scale). Fighting between Israel and the Palestinians rates a close second on the list of priorities (57%). Fewer than half of Americans assign a high priority to rebuilding Afghanistan (43%). The Foreign Policy Association commissioned Zogby International to determine American opinion about US priorities. The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted September 5 - 9 from Zogby's Utica, NY Call Center, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points. Likely voters were asked...

Iran confirmed it has almost completed a plant which would produce heavy water, an aspect of its nuclear programme which has aroused particular suspicion among arms experts. The announcement came as an Israeli intelligence chief called Iran the "No 1 terror nation" and claimed it was plotting relentlessly to attack Israeli targets. Heavy-water reactors can use natural, non-enriched uranium as fuel, which can then be reprocessed to extract weapons-grade plutonium.

Iran will upgrade its medium-range Shahab-3 missiles that analysts say can hit Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf rather than develop a new, longer range weapon, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday. Acting Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan denied reports Iran intended to build a new missile, Shahab-4, with a 2000-kilometre range, but said the Shahab-3 would be improved. "We will be optimising our Shahab-3 instead," he was quoted as saying in the hardline Siyasat-e Rouz newspaper. Shahab is Persian for shooting star. It was not immediately clear whether "optimising" meant improving the weapon's accuracy, range or...

Iraq was a failure of the United Nations arms-control system, but Iran could very easily be its last hurrah. If the mullahs follow North Korea in going nuclear under the not-so-watchful eye of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that body will have breathed its last. Yet IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei -- who sees 18 years of deception as "no evidence" of a weapons program -- has given no indication he understands what's at stake. Neither has the vast majority of IAEA member states -- especially those most committed to the concept of "multilateralism." The IAEA board recently voted to respond...

Forget, for the moment, Saddam's weapons of mass destruction — or lack thereof. Consider instead the other WMD conundrum: Iran. Events in Pakistan, where two nuclear scientists were arrested last week, suggest the whole issue is about to blow. (Figuratively, that is.) Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, declared, implausibly, that there was no evidence of Iran's trying to build an atomic bomb. Washington was gob-smacked. As with the proverbial duck, Iran's efforts looked like a nuclear-weapons program and sounded like a nuclear-weapons program. The trouble was the lack of proof sufficient to...

Iran is in the hot seat with the international community and is the focus of an investigation of its intentions regarding its nuclear program. The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a watchdog agency, is continuing with its investigation into Iran’s nuclear program. America and the Bush Administration believe there is a covert destructive effort to build weapons of mass destuction in Iran. Israel also strongly believes there is ample documentary evidence and intelligence to support that premise. Iran will have nuclear capability in one year, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. His prediction...

This year saw two major nuclear weapons crises. One, in Iran, found a temporary solution following a showdown between Tehran and the UN's nuclear inspections agency. The other, in North Korea, continues to simmer with no solution in sight. Prague, 10 December 2003 (RFE/RL) -- In 2003, the nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea independently tested the world's ability to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. The Iranian nuclear crisis was most in the news -- thanks largely to a year-long showdown between Tehran and the UN's nuclear inspections agency. The dispute saw the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...

Iran insisted Sunday that it remained committed to an agreement allowing unfettered inspection of its nuclear facilities but gave no date for when it will sign the deal, despite mounting Western pressure. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week he expected Iran to sign a protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ``shortly.'' A Western diplomat in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, suggested Tehran was stalling, and said the United States and other countries were impatient ``for Iran to keep its promises and sign.'' ``From our point of view, it's definite. We have announced to...

Some in the West, particularly in the European Union, view the United Nation’s IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) censure of Iran for concealing details of its nuclear program as a great victory for diplomacy. Unfortunately, nothing in the IAEA statement truly holds Iran accountable for its actions and the prevailing attitude surrounding Iran’s nuclear ambitions could lead the world down the same slippery slope that led to North Korea building nuclear weapons while the free world hoped for the best. At issue in Iran is whether or not the radical Islamist theocracy desires to obtain nuclear weapons. Iran, along with...

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday rejected criticism of its failure to detect Iran's clandestine experiments to make enriched uranium and plutonium, saying they were practically undetectable. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said Iran had yet to sign a protocol accepting more intrusive snap inspections, though diplomats said it was too early to say whether Tehran was stalling. Iran acknowledged to the IAEA in October that it hid a secret centrifuge uranium enrichment programme from U.N. inspectors for nearly two decades.

France is determined to ensure that Iran permanently freezes experiments to make enriched uranium and plutonium, which could be used in nuclear weapons, its foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The spokesman, Herve Ladsous, said he believes a permanent freeze is still possible, despite a senior Iranian official's recent assertion that "there has been and will be no question of a permanent suspension or halt at all." Ladsous, in Washington to meet U.S. officials, discussed the situation in Iran and Iraq and other issues of concern to both nations at a breakfast with a small group of reporters. The U.N.'s...

Despite mounting Western pressure and the implicit threat of sanctions, Iran still has not signed a key agreement to open its nuclear facilities to intrusive inspections, the U.N. atomic energy watchdog said Thursday. Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he expected Iran to sign the accord "shortly." But a Western diplomat suggested that Tehran was stalling, and said the United States and other countries were waiting impatiently "for Iran to keep its promises and sign." Iran agreed last month to open suspect nuclear sites that until now have been off-limits, and to let IAEA inspectors conduct...

Get ready for another high-profile confrontation with Europe over a rogue state bent on developing weapons of mass destruction. As with Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors have made astonishing finds: undisclosed facilities producing nuclear-weapons material, secret supplier agreements to import banned equipment and officials who have engaged in a systematic effort at deception. This time, with Iran, France and its European partners demonstrated more skill in managing the rhythm of events to prevent escalation into crisis. But, despite their efforts, the crisis emerged on Nov. 20 when the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met in Vienna...

IRAN TO BUILD SIX MORE NUCLEAR ELECTRICITY PLANTS TEHRAN, 29 Nov. Iran on Saturday announced its intention to build six more nuclear-powered electricity plants and at the same time expressed confidence that further inspections conducted by the atomic watchdog agency of its nuclear activities will attest to their strictly peaceful nature. In a press conference in Tehran, Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani the influential Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) also challenged the United States to bring forth any secrets it claims it has about Tehran’s nuclear activities. "An American official has recently said that they have new information about...

Iran Pursues lans for Heavy Water Reactor Jane's - By Jack Boureston and Charles Mahaffey/ Nov 14, 2003 Iran has admitted it is in the final phase of designing a 40MW heavy water nuclear reactor at Arak. Officials have said that the basic design of the reactor, called the IR-40, has already been completed, and that work has started on a more detailed design. Construction work is due to begin in early 2004. If this is the case, past historical data on the construction of heavy water reactors suggests that the IR-40 could be completed by 2009. Although the Atomic...

The US President renewed, this afternoon, the "National Emergency Act" with Respect to Iran. "This decision extends the existing sanctions against the Islamic republic regime which were instated during the 1979 Hostages crisis. Most Iranian opposition groups and many Iranians of inside were hoping such extension by rejecting the validity of any establishement of relations between the US Administration and the Clerical regime. Several controversial lobby groups, such as, the self called "American Iranian Council" (AIC), the self proclaimed "National Iranian American Council" (NIAC) and businessmen, such as, "Hassan Namazee", former AIC Board member and current board member of the...

U.N. Unit Details Iran's Clandestine Nuclear Program Washington Post - By Joby Warrick and Glenn Kessler/ Nov 11, 2003 'No Evidence' That Weapons Were Sought Iran manufactured small amounts of enriched uranium and plutonium as part of a nuclear program that operated in secret for 18 years, according to a confidential report by a U.N. agency. The report harshly criticizes Iran for deliberately hiding evidence of its nuclear program from international inspectors and for numerous "breaches" in its nuclear treaty obligations. The 29-page report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says there is "no evidence" so far that Iran...