Iran: No nuclear talks until inauguration of Rouhani.

Iran: No nuclear talks until inauguration of Rouhani.(TI).

There will not be any nuclear talks between Iran and P5+1 until the inauguration of president-elect Hassan Rouhani, the spokesman of Iran Foreign Ministry Abbas Araqchi said on July 9.

During a press conference broadcasted on state TV IRIB, Araqchi said that the transition term between current and next administration must pass, then Iran can schedule a meeting with six powers (France, the US, the UK, Russia, China and Germany).
The inauguration of newly elected President Hassan Rouhani will be held in the Iranian parliament on August 4.
In 2012, representatives of P5+1 group and Iran held three rounds of talks in Istanbul (April 14), Baghdad (May 23-24) and Moscow (June 18-19). None of these meetings resulted in breakthroughs on disputed nuclear issues. Previously talks between the "Six Powers" and Iran were not conducted for over a year.
The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, using nuclear energy for medical researches instead.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

The last time, Iran and the P5+1 group held negotiations on April 6 in Kazakh city of Almaty, which also did not yield any particular breakthrough results.Read the full story here.

Related: Inauguration date of Iran’s newly elected president set on 04 August.

Iran triples installation of uranium enrichment centrifuges, No Agreement Reached with IAEA for New Talks.

Iran triples installation of uranium enrichment centrifuges, No Agreement Reached with IAEA for New Talks.(UOI).(TWT).Iranian technicians have tripled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges they have installed over the past three months to 600, diplomats warned Wednesday.

The high-tech machines aren’t yet producing enrichment uranium, the diplomats said in a CBS report, and some are only partly installed. But the report is worrisome, in that it is another sign of Iran’s move to develop nuclear weaponry, as the West fears.

Iran continues to deny its nuclear program is for anything but peaceful purposes. Just this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad characterized Iran as the peacemaker in the region and decried Western attempts to argue differently.

Iran has dismissed reports about an agreement reached by Tehran and the IAEA for a new round of talks, Press TV reported today. An official source close to the Iranian negotiating team told Press TV on Friday that no agreement had been reached.

On Thursday, the Associated Press quoted anonymous diplomatic sources as saying that Iran and the IAEA had agreed to hold new talks in mid-May. The two sides last met in Tehran in mid-February. IAEA’s ability to inspect a suspected nuclear unit within Parchin military complex has been the sticking issue, with Iran insisting that such visit should be part of a comprehensive settlement with the country over its nuclear program.Read the full story here and here.

Video - Iran unveils new military equipment, including drones.

Video - Iran unveils new military equipment, including drones.(TI).

A military parade is underway in Tehran on Thursday in connection with the Day of the Iranian Armed Forces, Iranian news agency FARS reported. All units of the Iranian Armed Forces, Sepah corps, land forces and military aviation are participating at the parade. It is taking place in front of the mausoleum of Iranian former spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

Azem 2, and Mohajer B drones are unveiled during the military parade, Mehr News Agency reported.

As IRNA reported, Iran also unveiled another new generation drone, Hazem 3 during the parade.

Iran demonstrated Ya-Zahra 3, Mersahd 2 air defence systems, as well as Sayyad 40 electronic interception system.

Earlier Iran manufactured two kinds of drones - Ababil and Shahed-129.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, a number of military commanders and heads of diplomatic missions are watching the parade.

According to the report, warplanes will participate at the parade.

New armored personnel carriers, a new helicopter simulator, as well as achievements in military telecommunications will be demonstrated at the parade in connection with the Day of the Iranian Armed Forces.

Iranian media outlets reported that Iran unveiled four kinds of drones including radar-evading Sarir unmanned aerial vehicle, Azem 2, and Mohajer B and Hazem 3 at the parade.

Fars News Agency reported that Sarir is long-range flight anti-radioation drone.

Update: A military parade is underway in Tehran on Thursday in connection with the Day of the Iranian Armed Forces, Iranian news agency FARS reported.

Azem 2, and Mohajer B drones are unveiled during the military parade, Mehr News Agency reported.

As IRNA reported, Iran also unveiled another new generation drone, Hazem 3 during the parade.

Iran demonstrated Ya-Zahra 3, Mersahd 2 air defence systems, as well as Sayyad 40 electronic interception system. Earlier Iran manufactured two kinds of drones - Ababil and Shahed-129.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, a number of military commanders and heads of diplomatic missions are watching the parade.

According to the report, warplanes will participate at the parade.

New armored personnel carriers, a new helicopter simulator, as well as achievements in military telecommunications will be demonstrated at the parade in connection with the Day of the Iranian Armed Forces.Read and see the full story here, video and photos.

North Korea Announces December Missile Test....With Iranian 'officials' as spectator?

North Korea Announces December Missile Test....With Iranian 'officials' as spectators?(RN). North Korea said on Saturday it will launch a "working satellite" later this month, sparking protests from neighboring South Korea. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), quoting an unidentified spokesman for the North's Korean Space Technology Committee, said the launch will be made between December 10 and 22. South Korea called the launch announcement a "grave provocation," and a "challenge to the international community." Pyongyang launched an Unhua rocket carrying a satellite in April, but the launch was a failure. North Korea's neighbors are alarmed by its rocket tests which they say demonstrate its ambitions to deploy long-range missiles. North Korea has previously tested nuclear weapons.Hmmm.......'Iranian officials observed N Korea's rocket a.k.a. "ballistic missile" launch'.Read the full story here.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak:"Israel did not promise the U.S. that it would abstain from attacking Iran while negotiations are going on".

Defense Minister Ehud Barak:"Israel did not promise the U.S. that it would abstain from attacking Iran while negotiations are going on".(JTA).Jerusalem -- Israel did not promise the United States that it would abstain from attacking Iran while negotiations are going on, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. "We are not committing to anything," Barak told Israel's Army Radio during an interview from Bogota, Colombia. He added that Israel's dialogue on the subject with America is "direct and open." Barak said the current negotiations between Iran and six world powers on Iran's nuclear program taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, need to be "purposeful and results oriented. They need to clarify if Iran is genuinely willing to stop its military nuclear program or not. "For this we don't need months upon months. It requires a few direct meetings where all the demands are put on the table. There you can see if the other side is playing for time, drawing it out through the year, or if indeed the other side is genuinely striving to find a solution." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the decision to continue the talks in five weeks in Baghdad amounts to a "freebie" for Iran, allowing them to continue to enrich uranium " without any limitation, any inhibition." Barak, who is on a five-day visit to Colombia and the United States, told Israel Radio that Israel believes that the talks "will probably not have an impact or bring the Iranians to cease their nuclear program." "Of course we will be happy to be proven wrong," he added. Barak said "The world must find a way of preventing this; not for Israel, but for the stability and peace of the world." Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes; the West fears that Iran may be enriching uranium in order to produce a nuclear bomb. Netanyahu has called on the international community to halt Iran's nuclear production by force if necessary, and has warned that the window in which to prevent Iran's production of a nuclear bomb is rapidly closing. Obama responded to Netanyahu's "freebie" accusation Sunday, saying that "The notion that somehow we've given something away or a 'freebie' would indicate Iran has gotten something. In fact, they've got some of the toughest sanctions that they're going to be facing coming up in just a few months if they don't take advantage of these talks." Barak will be meeting with his U.S. counterpart, Leon Panetta, on Thursday in Washington.Hmmmm.........Richard Dalton, former British Ambassador to Libya and to Iran:"It should be possible to work out a first step this year based on the much-discussed end of 20% enrichment in return for cooperation over fuel supply for the Tehran Research reactor. But talk of a final and closing window for talks is unrealistic: the US simply cannot go far enough for a deal during an election campaign". A full year will be needed.Read the full story here.

'Iranian officials observed N Korea's rocket a.k.a. "ballistic missile" launch'

'Iranian officials observed N Korea's rocket a.k.a. "ballistic missile" launch'.(ZI).Seoul: Iranian officials witnessed the failed rocket test in North Korea last week, a report on Monday said. A “diplomatic source” informed South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that 12 Iranian officials from the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) were in North Korea to observe the launch. The SHIG is the organisation responsible for Iran's ballistic missile programs. “On March 31, 12 Iranians of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) arrived in North Korea,” Yonhap quoted its source as saying. “The Iranians undoubtedly were there to observe the missile launch and receive test data from North Korea.”
A North Korean satellite, which South Korea calls a "ballistic missile", failed to enter orbit after its launch on Friday morning. South Korea said on Friday that North Korea will have to "take responsibility" for the alleged failed long-range rocket launch, which breached a UN ban. The 90-tonne Unha-3 rocket was launched at 7.39 am from the Tongchang-ri launch site but broke into some 20 pieces and fell into sea one or two minutes after the lift-off, according to the South Korean Defence Ministry. Describing the launch as "a ballistic missile test" and a "serious threat", the South Korean Defence Ministry said the broken pieces landed in waters some 100 to 150 km off South Korea's western port city of Gunsan. Pyongyang has said the launch of a rocket-mounted satellite is to mark the birth centennial April 15 of the country's founding father Kim Il-sung. News of North Korea's guests from Iran is likely to cast the spotlight onto the suspected relationship between the two nations in terms of the exchange of ballistic missile technology. One such indication of their collaboration is the Shahab-3 ballistic missile developed by Iran's SHID which is widely believed to be a replica of North Korea's mid-range Nodong missile.Hmmmmm.......On March 31, 12 Iranians of the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group (SHIG) arrived in North Korea, that's a long time ahead for 'simple observation'.Read the full story here.HT: IsraelMatzav.