Free Republic

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency took a dramatically tougher line with Iran yesterday after months of diplomacy, setting an Oct. 31 deadline for the Islamic republic to prove to the world that it is not secretly building nuclear weapons. Iranian representatives to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna walked out in protest after the agency's 35-nation governing board unanimously approved the U.S.-backed deadline. In an ominous turn, the leader of Iran's delegation warned that the country may cease cooperating with U.N. nuclear inspectors, prompting fears that Iran could follow North Korea in renouncing international treaty obligations that prohibit...

NAVY LOOKS TO LASERS The U.S. Navy is eyeing a significant expansion of its work in countering ballistic and cruise missile threats, the July 8th Aerospace Daily reports. Capt. Roger McGinnis, who heads the Navy's directed energy weapons program, tells the Daily that his office is seeking increased funding for ship-based laser weapons, including approximately $150 million over four years to fund development of a solid state laser for Navy vessels. McGinnis also said that the Navy hopes for greater funding to enable expanded work on free electron laser technology and a proposed test center for maritime directed energy weapons...

Iran Says It Won't Allow Soil Sampling 2 hours, 7 minutes ago By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran - A confrontation is brewing between the United States and Iran, with the Islamic country vowing to continue to put limits on U.N. weapons inspectors and the Bush administration urging them to do more about Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it expected Iran "to grant the agency all access deemed necessary" to defuse suspicions Tehran is operating a clandestine nuclear weapons program. President Bush (news - web sites), who has called Iran and North...

After Iraq, Iran? After the frying pan, the fire? If the more excitable European statesmen and American pundits are to be believed, the U.S. is on the verge of invading Iran in order to advance its strategic plan to reshape the entire Middle East along democratic lines. Or if not actually invading Iran, then the U.S. is planning to overthrow its government. Or if it is not planning actually to overthrow the mullahs in Tehran, Washington intends to help the Iranian opposition. Or maybe the U.S. will simply shake its fist threateningly and mouth insults. Or, in the immortal phrase...

Mar. 10, 2003 US rejects Iran's claim that its nuclear facilities are for energy By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON The White House rejected Iran's contention that its nuclear program is strictly for energy production, charging anew Monday that Tehran seeks atomic weapons and calling it a "matter of great concern." The Bush administration has long expressed such concerns, but new reports suggest Iran is moving closer to building a nuclear weapon than international authorities had previously believed. "Iran now openly says that it is pursuing the complete nuclear fuel cycle," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, referring to the process...

The fall of the Baghdad wall (Filed: 19/01/2003) The teams of UN inspectors sent to investigate Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction arsenal made a stunning breakthrough last week when they uncovered evidence of Iraq's attempts to build an atom bomb. Con Coughlin and Julian Coman in Washington reportT hursday evening turned into a wild night at the al-Hyatt hotel in Baghdad, for the 150 or so United Nations weapons inspectors who have made it their home. Jordanian-imported wine flowed, glasses of whiskey were handed round and, as one witness put it, "the men from the UN with their blue...

Iraq's record of inspections a maze of deceit Finding the truth of Saddam's suspected arms program would be easier if a few defectors could give the inside trackBy Khidhir Hamza Saturday, Dec 07, 2002,Page 9 The UN weapons inspectors are now at work in Iraq, trying to determine how many weapons of mass destruction have been developed in the last four years. If the track record of previous inspections holds true, Iraq will not come clean, and the inspectors will have to work their way through a maze of deception and distortion. In 1991, a team from the International Atomic...

After reports about North Korea supplying nuclear weapons technology to Pakistan, a former official of the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) has said that Saudi Arabia has been financing Islamabad's nuclear and missile programme purchases from China. Quoting reports, DIA's senior China analyst Thomas Woodrow said in a research paper that "Saudi Arabia has been involved in funding Pakistan's missile and nuclear programme purchases from China, which has resulted in Pakistan becoming a nuclear weapon-producing and proliferating state". There was also a probability that Riyadh was "buying nuclear-capability from China through a proxy state with Pakistan serving as the cut-out",...

Experts ponder why unmanned vehicle was there at all WASHINGTON - There are red herrings and crossed wires a-plenty when it comes to the strange story about an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that appears to have been shot down on a surveillance mission over Northwestern Iran. Apparently the UAV was overflying Iranian facilities suspected of manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. Two in particular -- the Mo'allem Kalaych plant, which allegedly houses gas centrifuges used to enrich uranium for bombs, and Qazvin, a chemical weapons plant -- have been attracting Washington's attention. The curious thing is, keeping on eye on...