Free Republic

A high ranking Kremlin official emphasized Wednesday, "Iran's right to take advantage of nuclear power for peaceful purposes must be internationally recognized," the official Iranian news agency reported today. Speaking to his country's official Itar-Tass news agency, the Russian official who spoke on condition of anonymity added, "Russia believes it is appropriate for the international community to recognize Iran's right to continue its nuclear programs, since that would solve the current crisis and save unnecessary problems." Meantime, IRNA reported that: senior Iranian officials warned the European Union Wednesday to stop pressuring the Islamic republic to limit its nuclear activities and...

The Bush administration has justified its softly-softly approach to the Iranian nuclear program on grounds it has firm commitments from the Europeans to get tough should diplomacy fail. Those promises are about to be put to the test now that Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency of its intention to resume uranium enrichment. The suspension agreement was inked last November after what turns out to have been nearly 20 years of Iranian deception vis-à-vis the IAEA. And it can be argued that diplomacy has at least bought time, assuming--and it's a big assumption given how many times Iran...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday for the first time accepted that Iran can develop civilian nuclear programs, backing an EU proposal that would allow Tehran to pursue atomic power in exchange for giving up fuel work. In a compromise that completed a gradual shift in U.S. policy, Washington acquiesced because it believes the EU offer has enough safeguards to prevent Iran diverting its civilian work into making nuclear bombs. "We support the (Europeans') effort and the proposal they have put forward to find a diplomatic solution to this problem and to seek an end to Iran's nuclear...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 - In a first test of the new leadership in Iran, European negotiators have prepared a sweeping proposal that raises the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear reactors and fuel, and of achieving a full political and economic relationship with the West, if it ends nuclear activities suspected to be part of a weapons program, Western diplomats said Thursday. The European offer, drafted with the tacit approval of the Bush administration, is to be transmitted by the end of this weekend as the latest step in a European-American effort to get Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear arms...

VIENNA, July 16 KYODO - The International Atomic Energy Agency seeks to put eight to 10 nuclear facilities, including ones in Japan, the United States, Russia and Finland, under international management, diplomatic sources close to the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Saturday. They include a reprocessing facility in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, while some of the others may be newly built under the initiative, they said. The IAEA plans to submit a draft to address the initiative to a board of directors meeting in September and put it into practice by 2010, when the next Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference will...

Howard seizes NT uranium THE HOWARD Government has seized control of uranium mining in the Northern Territory to give "certainty" to the industry and ensure the expansion of exports to meet growing demands for nuclear energy worldwide. In a move defying an election pledge by Clare Martin's Labor Government to block new mines, federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane declared in Darwin that the Territory was "open for business" The move also puts new pressure on federal Labor's controversial three-mines policy, with Mr Macfarlane saying he would like to see another uranium mine within five years. Mr Macfarlane said the mining...

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has always acknowledged Iran's right to develop a nuclear fuel cycle (NFC), although it urged countries without an NFC to avoid developing nuclear programs, a source at the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, Rosatom, said Tuesday. He said the resumption of work on NFC development would not affect scheduled deliveries of nuclear fuel from Russia to Iran. Russia is finishing the construction of the first power-generating unit with a 1,000 MW capacity at the Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) on the Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf. The plant will become operational...