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Negotiations grind on toward a fourth U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Iran's nuclear weapons program, even as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York to address the Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. Sanctions advocates acknowledge that the Security Council's ultimate product will do no more than marginally impede Iran's progress. In Congress, sanctions legislation also creaks along, but that too is simply going through the motions. Russia and China have already rejected key proposals to restrict Iran's access to international financial markets and choke off its importation of refined petroleum products, which domestically are in short supply. Any new U.S....

Iran wins seats on four UN commissions, a considerable achievement for the Islamic Republic as two of the organizations deal with global human rights issues. The commissions include the high profile UN commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) and the world body's Human Settlements Program, also known as UN-HABITAT. The two others are the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for the United States to be suspended from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Iranian leader opened a two-day nuclear conference in Tehran Saturday, just days after the U.S. held a similar summit in Washington and pointedly did not invite Iran. Mr. Ahmadinejad launched a broad attack on the world's nuclear monitors, slamming the structure of the U.N. atomic agency, the U.N. Security Council, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT. He said nuclear armed countries, in particular the United States, should not be part of the IAEA. That would also include Iran's most powerful...

WASHINGTON: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who arrived in Washington on Sunday afternoon to attend a two-day nuclear summit, launched Pakistan’s campaign for international acceptance as a responsible nuclear state soon after his arrival.

Iran announced Friday that is had developed a new, faster generation of centrifuges for uranium enrichment, signaling its determination to press on with its nuclear work despite possible new sanctions being sought by U.S. President Barack Obama. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had indicated earlier in the week that a "momentous" development was in the offing about Iran's nuclear program and Friday's announcement of a new generation of centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment facility came as little surprise. Both Mr. Ahmadinejad and Iran's atomic energy head Ali Akbar Salehi spoke at a ceremony marking Friday's "Nuclear Energy Day," amid pomp and media...

Less than 24 hours after six world powers meet to discuss sanctions against Islamic Republic, head of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization says President Ahmadinejad to announce new centrifuges 'which have a separation power 10 times that of the first generation' Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will unveil new "third generation" centrifuges later on Friday capable of much faster uranium enrichment, the head of the Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said. "Iran will demonstrate third generation centrifuges today which have a separation power 10 times that of the first generation," Ali Akbar Salehi said at a speech marking Iran's annual national nuclear day,...

THE White House is rushing to complete an agreement on new sanctions against Tehran, but could be forced to accept limits demanded by Russia to avoid "a slap, a blow, a huge shock for the whole (Iranian) society". Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in private talks with Barack Obama yesterday, put strict limits on what Moscow would accept in punishing Iran for its nuclear program. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov underlined Russia's concerns, warning that Moscow had ruled out sanctions on petrol and other oil products. "These types of things that shock the fundaments of a society or country are...

A proposed communiqué calls for leaders from more than 40 countries to endorse a global crackdown on the illicit trade of nuclear material at a summit in Washington next week. The communiqué, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, calls for tougher criminal prosecution of traffickers, better accounting for weapons-grade nuclear materials and more international collaboration in such cases. The international community must "effectively prevent and respond to incidents of illicit nuclear trafficking," the draft says. The U.S.-led initiative comes as Washington has been pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran in connection with Tehran's nuclear program. Though Iran isn't...

Iran recently managed to obtain equipment critical to its uranium enrichment efforts, and which is banned by UN sanctions against the country, through a Chinese company, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. According to the report, the hardware – which included valves and vacuum gauges for enrichment centrifuges – was bought by an Iranian research firm which is linked to the country’s atomic energy organization. It was purchased from an intermediary representing a Chinese company - Zheijiang Ouhai Trade Corp. According to the report, news of the purchase reached Western officials after an email detailing the sale was sent to...

An Iranian firm closely linked to Tehran's nuclear program acquired special hardware for enriching uranium, despite sanctions intended to keep such equipment out of Iran, according to officials with knowledge of the matter. In recent weeks, the officials said, an Iranian procurement firm obtained critical valves and vacuum gauges made by a French company that until December was owned by U.S. industrial conglomerate Tyco International. The French and U.S. firms said they knew nothing of the case. Western authorities are still struggling to understand precisely how the valves and gauges in question reached Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency is...

US President Barack Obama has decided to abandon any serious effort to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He is determined instead to live with a nuclear Iran, by containment and, if possible, negotiation. This is the shifting tectonic plate in the Middle East. This is the giant story of the past few weeks which the world has largely missed, distracted by the theatre of the absurd of Obama's contrived and mock confrontation with Israel over 1600 apartments to be built in three years' time in a Jewish suburb in East Jerusalem. Iran is the only semi-intelligible explanation for Obama's...

Should Israel attack Iranian nuclear facilities, it would probably carry out precision strikes while making every effort not to hit the oil sector or other civilian sites. Past Israeli operations, such as the 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak atomic reactor and a similar sortie against Syria in 2007, suggest a strategy of one-off pinpoint raids, due both to military limitations and a desire to avoid wider war. A simulation at the Brookings Institution in Washington last December theorized that Israel, intent on halting what the West suspects is Tehran's covert quest for atomic arms, would launch a sneak attack against...

Abstract: The Obama Administration's engagement policy toward Iran has failed to defuse the nuclear standoff. Instead, Iran has continued to conceal and lie about its nuclear weapons program in an attempt to stall until it can present the world with a nuclear fait accompli. A nuclear-armed Iran not only will have a dramatically increased ability to threaten its neighbors and U.S. interests, but will also trigger a destabilizing nuclear arms race in the already volatile Middle East. The Administration's best option is to press both its allies and the U.N. Security Council to impose the strongest possible sanctions on Iran...

Iran's Islamic Revolution had a busy week preceding its 31st birthday yesterday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Sunday that Iran would enrich uranium to 19.75% purity for Tehran's research reactor. Yesterday he claimed to have done just that, making Iran "a nuclear state." Earlier, Tehran boasted of making advances in radar-evading drone aircraft. Its ambassador to Moscow said that Russia promised imminent delivery of S-300 air-defense systems that could preclude Israel from attacking Iran's nuclear program. And to intimidate protesters, the regime disrupted communications networks, made widespread arrests, and executed dissidents. Antiregime demonstrations yesterday were met with force. Unfortunately, President...

Statements out of Washington and other Western capitals suggest a shift from engagement to confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme. "What we are going to be working on over the next several weeks is developing a significant regime of sanctions that will indicate to them how isolated they are from the international community as a whole," President Barack Obama told journalists earlier this week. The president sounded not unlike his predecessor George W Bush, who worked for years to contain Iran, a sign that Mr Obama's policy to engage with the Islamic Republic has failed. The question now is...

BRITAIN tried to oust the man leading the international campaign to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapons programme while he was in the middle of negotiations with Tehran, Scotland on Sunday can reveal. Classified British government documents detail Tony Blair's attempts to stop Mohammed El Baradei getting a third term in charge of the UN's nuclear inspectorate, amid claims that he had lost the confidence of the United States.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Iran's president on Wednesday dismissed Western concerns over its nuclear program as "a big lie," a day after key U.N. Security Council members agreed to present Tehran with a choice of incentives or sanctions in deciding whether to suspend uranium enrichment. Meanwhile, in a letter to Time magazine published on its Web site, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered new options for solving the impasse with the United States and its allies. Hassan Rohani, Iran's former top nuclear negotiator, said Tehran would consider ratifying an International Atomic Energy Agency protocol that provides for intrusive...

President Bush has issued a statement on "Ten Years of Democracy in South Africa," conveniently ignoring the fact that South African President Thabo Mbeki is a Marxist who has surrounded himself with followers of radical Islam. The other curious omission is that while the president complimented "South Africa's commitment to progress at home and around the world," evidence is emerging that South Africa has played a role in nuclear weapons proliferation, including to Iran. The evidence is contained in a hot new book, Iran's Nuclear Option: Tehran's Quest for the Atom Bomb, by journalist Al Venter. Some people forget that...

Yellowcake Found in Rotterdam Harbor May Have Originated in Iraq By Toby Sterling Associated Press Writer Published: Jan 15, 2004 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - A recycling company found uranium oxide - a radioactive material also known as yellowcake - in a shipment of scrap steel it believes originally came from Iraq, the company said Thursday. Paul de Bruin, spokesman for Rotterdam-based Jewometaal, said that the shipment was passed on last month from a Jordan metal dealer who was unaware it contained any forbidden materials. "I've dealt with this man for 15 years and he says he's sure it came from...

ISLAMABAD: Foreign bank accounts of two senior Pakistani nuclear scientists, who allegedly received money for passing nuclear technology to Iran, have been traced by investigators even as the government ordered all ministries and departments not to invite Dr A Q Khan, the father of the country's atomic bomb, to any official function. The foreign bank accounts in which the proceeds from the transfer of some nuclear technology to Iran have been deposited were traced back to at least two senior nuclear scientists , unnamed officials were quoted as saying by the local daily The News on Sunday. These accounts were...