Iran deputy FM: Little progress made in technical talks with P5+1.

Iran deputy FM: Little progress made in technical talks with P5+1.(Taz).

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said the latest round of technical talks between Iran and the P5+1 have made little progress, the IRNA News Agency reported on December 21.

Araqchi, also a nuclear negotiator, made the comments after the third day of the talks in Geneva.
The two sides will be holding a fourth day of expert-level talks in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the implementation of the nuclear deal struck last month.Hamid Baeedi-nejad is leading the Iranian delegation which includes experts from nuclear, banking, oil and transportation sectors.

Iran and six world powers resumed expert-level talks in Geneva on Thursday to work out how to put into practice a landmark deal obliging Tehran to curb its nuclear program in return for some relief from economic sanctions.

The talks follow four days of similar discussions in Vienna last week.
Discussions on the implementation details of last month's breakthrough accord were interrupted by Tehran diplomats last week, after a decision by the United States to blacklist 19 more Iranian companies and individuals, Reuters reported.

Tehran says the added measures are at odds with a landmark deal reached in Geneva last month, based on which the West had promised not to slap new sanctions on Iran.

Tehran said it's ready to pick up the talks after the E-U Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton assured it that the P5+1 countries, especially the US, would continue the negotiations in goodwill.
Iran left the talks last week, however, diplomats said much progress had been achieved in the four-day meeting on December 9-12 in Vienna and expressed hope they could wrap up the practical discussions at meetings in Geneva on Thursday and Friday.
That could mean the seven countries - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and Iran - would be ready to agree on a date when the accord goes fully into effect.

Specifically, they would decide when western governments ease sanctions and how much prior verification of any Iranian curbs of its most sensitive nuclear work would be needed ahead of time.

Diplomats have said their target time frame was the second half of January, possibly on the day of the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 20, who could approve easing of EU sanctions.

"We were at an advanced stage in Vienna," said a diplomat from one of the six world powers. "A lot of work has been done so we can go very fast."

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned, however, that some western diplomats were concerned Iran could be "more difficult" in the technical discussions because of Washington's decision to expand sanctions this month."I am afraid the Iranians will be tougher now," he said.

The nuclear accord is designed to halt Iran's nuclear advances for a period of six months to buy time for negotiations on a final settlement of the decade-old standoff.
Iran rejects western suspicions that its atomic work is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons and says it is for peaceful purposes only.
U.S. officials have said the new blacklistings should not complicate the practical talks and are part of U.S. efforts to continue exposing those supporting Iran's nuclear program or seeking to evade current sanctions.
Hmmm.....Sounds more and more like nothing was agreed upon in the first place, except further 'never ending' talks.

Video - "Leading From Behind the Golf Course" While Iran Enriches.

More information, visit the Nuclear Threat Initiative's Fordow page

Israel's PM Netanyahu to Focus on Iranian Nuclear Threat at U.N.

Israel's PM Netanyahu to Focus on Iranian Nuclear Threat at U.N.(NYT).


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Tuesday that he would focus on halting Iran’s nuclear program in a meeting with President Obama in Washington at the end of the month and in his annual speech before the United Nations General Assembly, using the Syria situation to increase pressure for a “credible military threat.”

“A recalcitrant state that develops or acquires weapons of mass destruction is certainly likely to use them,” he said. “Only a credible military threat can allow diplomacy or other steps to effect a halt to this armament process.”

Separately, Israel’s minister of strategic affairs expressed skepticism on Tuesday about reports that Iran might be willing to close the Fordo nuclear reactor near Qum.

“We don’t care about talk, we care about actions,” the minister, Yuval Steinitz, said on Israel Radio. “The centrifuges are spinning.”

Though the closing was one of Mr. Netanyahu’s four demands, Mr. Steinitz called it “a small step that on its own is almost meaningless” because Iran has other plants, suggesting that it would simply reduce Tehran’s capacity to produce “seven nuclear bombs a year” to six.

“Iran has to be made to face the following dilemma: Do you want to save your economy? Give up the nuclear program,” Mr. Steinitz said. “If you continue with your nuclear program, you will cause the collapse of the Iranian economy and will bring about the very realistic possibility of a military strike to destroy your nuclear facilities."

Iranian President Prepared to Shut Down Fordo Nuclear Site, which was 'Cleaned' a year ago.

Iranian President Prepared to Shut Down Fordo Nuclear Site, which was 'Cleaned' a year ago.(Spiegel).

International sanctions are taking their toll on Iran’s economy, and it now appears that new President Hassan Rohani could thus be willing to make concessions in the country’s long-running standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

Nothing — not even Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons — is a source of such deep concern for the West and Israel as Iran’s nuclear facilities, such as Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo. The installation at Fordo, not far from the holy city of Qom, is viewed as a particularly grave threat.

Researchers working underground there are using 696 centrifuges to enrich uranium to 20 percent. Afterwards, it only takes a relatively small step to create the material required to build nuclear bombs. Fordo, which didn’t go into operation until late 2011, is reportedly the most modern plant in the Iranian nuclear program which — despite all denials from Tehran — the world believes is designed to give the Islamic Republic the ultimate weapon. What’s more, Fordo is believed to be virtually indestructible. Even bunker-buster bombs would hardly be powerful enough to disable the facility — the enrichment cascades lie 70 meters (230 feet) under the surface.

But the long-smoldering nuclear dispute with Tehran may be about to take a sensational turn. SPIEGEL has learned from intelligence sources that Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, is reportedly prepared to decommission the Fordo enrichment plant and allow international inspectors to monitor the removal of the centrifuges. In return, he could demand that the United States and Europe rescind their sanctions against the Islamic Republic, lift the ban on Iranian oil exports and allow the country’s central bank to do international business again.

Rohani reportedly intends to announce the details of the offer, perhaps already during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month. His foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, will meet Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top diplomat, in New York next Sunday and give her a rough outline of the deal. If he were to make such wide-ranging concessions, President Rohani would initiate a negotiating process that could conceivably even lead to a resumption of bilateral diplomatic relations with Washington.Hmmmm.....So much for a 'new approach' this plan was hatched months ago way before Rouhani's election!

How about the new suspected site?

Update:  

Official: Iran not to close Fordo nuclear facility

Iran signals no scaling back in nuclear activity despite victory of 'moderate' Rouhani.

Iran signals no scaling back in nuclear activity despite victory of 'moderate' Rouhani.(JPost). ST PETERSBURG, Russia - Iran will press ahead with its uranium enrichment program, its nuclear energy chief said on Friday, signaling no change of course despite the victory of a relative moderate in the June 14 presidential election.

Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of the Islamic Republic's Atomic Energy Organization, said production of nuclear fuel would "continue in line with our declared goals. The enrichment linked to fuel production will also not change."

Speaking through an interpreter to reporters at a nuclear energy conference in St Petersburg, Russia, he said work at Iran's underground Fordow plant - which the West wants Iran to close - would also continue. Iran refines uranium at Fordow that is a relatively close technical step away from weapons-grade.

Iran says it is enriching uranium to fuel a planned network of nuclear energy power plants, and also for medical purposes.

But enriched uranium can also provide the fissile material for nuclear bombs if processed further, which the West fears may be Tehran's ultimate goal.

Abbasi-Davani said Iran's so far only nuclear power plant - which has suffered repeated delays - had been "brought back online" three days ago and was working at 1,000 megawatt capacity. A UN nuclear agency report said in May that the Russian-built Bushehr plant was shut down, giving no reason.

"Thankfully in the last days, no concrete defects with the plant have been reported to me," Abbasi-Davani said. Asked whether there would be any change in Iranian policy after Rouhani's election and whether it could suspend 20 percent enrichment, Abbasi-Davani said Iran's nuclear program was aimed at producing electricity and for medical purposes.

"In line with these two goals of course the production of energy will not stop," he said.

Fordow is under the monitoring of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, he said. "So in line with our declared plans ... we will of course continue our work at this center."

Iran will soon hand over to the Vienna-based IAEA a list with plans for new nuclear reactor sites, he said, speaking in front of a model of the Bushehr reactor at the Islamic state's stand at the nuclear industry fair in St Petersburg.Read the full story here.

Shiraz nuclear reactor to be commissioned in Iran in next five years.

Shiraz nuclear reactor to be commissioned in Iran in next five years.(TI).

The place for construction of the nuclear research plant is allocated in the Iranian city of Shiraz. This was stated by the Iranian Vice President and chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization Firudin Abbasi, the asriran.com website reported on Saturday.

According to Abbasi the territory covers 80 hectares. Construction of the plant, which will be built at the expenses of the country will begin soon and completed in the next five years.

The scientific-research reactor with the capacity of 10 megawatt at this plant will be the second such in Iran after Tehran reactor, Abbasi said.

The reactor, which will produce radiopharmaceuticals, will be used for the production of nuclear fuel.

Previously the Governor of Fars province Hussain Sadiq Abeden also stated that the reactor will be constructed in the Zargan settlement of Shiraz.

According to him, the commissioning of the research reactor will contribute to the increase of the level of agricultural development in Fars province.Read the full story here.

Ex-CIA man Reza Khalili: Iran Fordow blast largest sabotage act in decades.

Ex-CIA man Reza Khalili: Iran Fordow blast largest sabotage act in decades.(JPost).HT: IsraelMatzav.Former Iranian Revolutionary Guard turned CIA agent Reza Khalili has told the Jerusalem Post that the destruction of the Fordo uranium enrichment plant is the largest case of sabotage in decades.
Speaking to the Post on Monday, Khalili expressed confidence that the alleged blast will receive "further coverage in the US," and that "more information" will become available to verify the incident.
"This is the center of the Iranian nuclear program. It's essential for the regime, its activities, and its nuclear program. If such a blow was given to Fordow, it definitely harms [Iran] drastically. They were reaching for 20 percent uranium enrichment, and were increasing output," he added. ...
Asked why satellite imagery was not being released of rescue efforts at Fordow, Kahlili said only state intelligence agencies have access to live satellite feeds. "Why don't they put it out? My only assumption is that no one wants to take credit because of what the consequences could be by the regime," he said. "This is a very sensitive time. I'm sure that soon, very soon, more information will leak out. Chatter will get loud enough to provide further information."
Kahlili went on to say that the "first suspicion is Israel" within the Islamic Republic. "I have verified information that there was a meeting [called by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei. A decision was made to act in Lebanon. A request was made to [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah to vacate southern Lebanese villages. Islamic Republic Guards are on their way there. A decision has been made to prepare for missile launch from a certain area in Lebanon against Israel," he said.
Khalili said one of the sources who initially leaked information of the blast came from within the security forces guarding Fordow, adding that precise information of the attack was not being released in order to protect the source. "The source has been collaborating for a long time," he said. A second source came from the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, he said, adding that it was very difficult to safely get information out of Iran.
Iranian authorities have not yet made any progress in their attempt to enter Fordow, Kahlili asserted, adding, "I fear there is radiation involved." Iran's defense ministry dispatched drilling vehicles, "the same they used to carve tunnels and create underground facilities, to see if they can make any headway in opening emergency exists, because they collapsed. Among those stuck in the facility are dozens of foreign nationals. These are contracted scientists," he said.
Kahlili said a second mysterious blast occurred in Tehran last week, at an IRGC base called "21 Hamza." "There are injuries, and there have been arrests of IRGC members who are being questioned. The Intelligence Ministry suspects sabotage," he added.Read the full story here.

Explosion destroys much of underground fordow installation.

Explosion destroys much of underground fordow installation.HT: IsraelMatzav.(WND).A major explosion has hit Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility, where it was enriching uranium for nuclear weapons. The explosion has trapped some 240 Iranian nuclear personnel underground. The source for the report is Reza Khalili, a former intelligence officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who acted as a spy for, and eventually defected to, the United States.
An explosion deep within Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime.

The explosion occurred Monday, the day before Israeli elections weakened Netanyahu’s political control.

According to a source in the security forces protecting Fordow, an explosion on Monday at 11:30 a.m. Tehran time rocked the site, which is buried deep under a mountain and immune not only to airstrikes but to most bunker-buster bombs. The report of the blast came via Hamidreza Zakeri, formerly with the Islamic regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and National Security,
The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast, the source said. As of Wednesday afternoon, rescue workers had failed to reach the trapped personnel. The site, about 300 feet under a mountain, had two elevators which now are out of commission. One elevator descended about 240 feet and was used to reach centrifuge chambers. The other went to the bottom to carry heavy equipment and transfer uranium hexafluoride. One emergency staircase reaches the bottom of the site and another one was not complete. The source said the emergency exit southwest of the site is unreachable.
The regime believes the blast was sabotage and the explosives could have reached the area disguised as equipment or in the uranium hexafluoride stock transferred to the site, the source said. The explosion occurred at the third centrifuge chambers, with the high-grade enriched uranium reserves below them. The information was passed on to U.S. officials but has not been verified or denied by the regime or other sources within the regime.
Though the news of the explosion has not been independently verified, other sources previously have provided WND with information on plans for covert operations against Iran’s nuclear facilities as an option before going to war. The hope is to avoid a larger-scale conflict. Israel, the U.S. and other allies already have concluded the Islamic regime has crossed its red line in its quest for nuclear weapons, other sources have said.
However, this information was not revealed for security reasons until several days ago when sources said the regime’s intelligence agency, through an alleged spy in the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, had learned of the decision to conduct sabotage on Iran’s nuclear sites on a much larger scale than before.
As reported, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called an urgent meeting Tuesday with the intelligence minister, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and other officials to discuss the threat, and now it’s clear the meeting included the sabotage at Fordow.
Sources in the Islamic regime previously have revealed exclusively to WND the existence of:

•A secret nuclear site in Najaf Abad.
•A list of Iranian scientists working on a nuclear bomb.
•A secret uranium enrichment site in Khondab, where the Russians and North Korean scientists are helping with Iran’s nuclear bomb program.
•The secret bio-weapons site in Marzanabad, where, with the help of Russia, Iran has mastered production of eight microbial agents, arming its missiles with biological warheads.
•Another nuclear site at Bonab, where, with the help of Russians, uranium enrichment is taking place using laser technology.

While this is obviously great news assuming that it's true, there is still a long list of other facilities that could potentially endanger countries within bombing range of Iran that need to be destroyed. But getting rid of this facility is definitely great news, because the others apparently can be bombed from the air. I wonder who did this.... Heh. Read the full story here.

Iran’s atomic chief says “explosives” cut power at underground nuclear facility at Fordo last month

Iran’s atomic chief says “explosives” cut power at underground nuclear facility at Fordo last month.(TI).Saboteurs have tried to damage Iran's uranium enrichment plants by bombing power lines to the sites, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoun Abbasi said Monday in Vienna, dpa reported. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) might be involved in the incidents, Abbasi noted. His comments at the IAEA's annual general conference came amid efforts by the nuclear agency to start investigating alleged nuclear weapons projects in Iran. Also Monday, the European Union announced plans to resume nuclear talks with Iran. "Terrorists and saboteurs might have intruded in the agency and might be making decisions covertly," Abbasi said.
On August 17, electric power lines supplying the fortified Fordow enrichment site near Qom were cut with the use of explosives, he said, adding that power outages lead to damages of uranium centrifuges. "Then, in the early hours of next morning, an agency inspectors requested an unannounced inspection. Does this visit have connection to that detonation?" he asked, speaking through a translator. The power lines to the Natanz enrichment plant have also been hit by a blast, he added. Hmmmm.......Anyone interested in a Bridge for sale?Read the full story here.

Iran may be building uranium plant:"Could Break out in Two months" if decided.

Iran may be building uranium plant:"Could Break out in Two months" if decided.(TI).Iran may be constructing a secret uranium enrichment plant outside of international nuclear safeguards, according to a report from the Institute for Science and International Security, Bloomberg reported. "Although suspicions are increasing that Iran is building a secret centrifuge plant, ISIS assesses that it is unlikely that Iran could currently have such a plant or finish one in the next year," according to the report yesterday from the Washington-based research group.
Iran is already increasing its stockpiles of 19.75 percent low-enriched uranium which, with further processing, would be enough to fuel a single nuclear bomb "by early next year," according to ISIS analysts David Albright and Christina Walrond.
If Iran "modestly expands" its capability to make 19.75 percent uranium consistent with its existing plans, it could have enough for a nuclear weapon by the end of 2012, they said. "Production of enough for a second nuclear weapon would take many additional months."
The report comes days before a third round of international negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, which Israel and western nations say they suspect is being used to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran says it is purely civilian and that the 19.75 percent uranium is needed for current and future reactors producing isotopes for medical use. The current stockpiles are monitored by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid diversion for weapons use.
To build a nuclear bomb, Iran either would have to "breakout" of current international safeguards -- providing a signal that could lead to a military strike by the U.S or Israel -- or could try to conduct enrichment secretly. "If Iran seeks to breakout at Fordo only, the time to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon is estimated to exceed two months," the analysts said. "In this case, there is adequate time for both the detection of such a breakout and an international response."
Iran could reduce the time by further processing some of the 19.75 percent uranium using centrifuges at Natanz, its other known enrichment plant, they said. That would reduce breakout times to as little as about a month and require a relatively rapid detection and response, they said. In contrast, if Iran had to rely mainly on its stock of 3.5 percent uranium, a level applicable for nuclear power reactors, breakout times to obtain enough weapon-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon would be several months, they said. Even with a relatively short breakout time of one month, the Natanz site -- regularly visited by IAEA inspectors -- is highly vulnerable to military strikes. "On balance, Iran may feel deterred from breaking out there," the two researchers said. Because the underground Fordo enrichment plant is so deeply buried, they said, "it raises concerns that Iran will try to breakout at this site, believing that the site is impervious to military strikes or that breakout can be achieved prior to a military strike." "The ability to fully destroy the Fordo site is open to debate, but nonetheless the United States and Israel have the military capability to shut down operations at the facility for some period of time," they said.Read the full story here.

UN nuke chief: Iran appears to be stonewalling Access to army site 'priority' in talks.

UN nuke chief: Iran appears to be stonewalling access to army site 'priority' in talks.(JPost).ST GALLEN, Switzerland - Gaining access to a key Iranian military facility will be the priority for the UN nuclear watchdog when it resumes talks with the Islamic state in mid-May, agency head Yukiya Amano said on Friday. Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Vienna-based UN body did not yet have a "positive response" from Iran regarding the request for nuclear inspectors to be allowed to visit the Parchin site. But he told journalists on the sidelines of a conference in the Swiss town of St Gallen, "we would like to pursue this" issue of Parchin, where the IAEA believes nuclear-related military research may have taken place. Iran denies this. "We need to look at all the outstanding issues, but Parchin is the priority and we should start with that," Amano said.
Western diplomats say Iran appears to be stonewalling the IAEA's request to go to Parchin and they suspect it may be "sanitizing" the site southeast of Tehran of any incriminating evidence before any visit, a suspicion Tehran dismisses. Amano has said the agency has noticed some "activities" at Parchin - a choice of words that Western diplomats interpret as suggesting the IAEA also harbors suspicions of possible clean-up work, on the basis of satellite images at its disposal. Asked what he meant by "activities", Amano said on Friday: "We do not have people there so we cannot tell what these activities are." Iran and the IAEA will meet for two days of talks in Vienna on May 14-15, just over a week before the Islamic Republic and world powers are to hold a second round of broader political negotiations in Baghdad on May 23. "In my reading the desire to resolve this Iranian issue through dialogue is stronger now than before," Amano told the conference, referring to the resumption of diplomacy between Iran and the powers in Istanbul last month after a gap of more than a year of escalating tension. "Recently we have witnessed a positive atmosphere but we need to have concrete results," he later told reporters
Meanwhile Iran dismisses West demand to close Fordow underground nuke bunker.Iran said on Friday it will never suspend its uranium enrichment programme and sees no reason to close the Fordow underground site, making clear Tehran's red lines in nuclear talks with world powers later this month.
Last month a senior US official said the United States and its allies would demand that Iran halt higher-grade enrichment and immediately close the Fordow facility at talks over Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told Reuters he saw "no justification" for closing Fordow, which he said was under IAEA surveillance. "When you have a safe place, secure place under IAEA control, then why do you tell me that I should close it?" he said, making clear Iran built the site to better protect its nuclear program against any Israeli or US attacks. "Fordow is a safe place. We have spent a lot of money and time to have a safe place," Soltanieh added."One thing is clear: the enrichment in Iran will never be suspended," Soltanieh said. He declined to comment however on Western demands that Iran halt the higher-grade enrichment, to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, it started in 2010 and has since sharply increased, shortening the time needed for any nuclear weapons breakout.Read the full story here and here.

Hmmmm.........Iran says it may halt nuclear program over sanctions.

Hmmmm.........Iran says it may halt nuclear program over sanctions.(JPost).Iran is considering a Russian proposal to halt the expansion of its nuclear program in order to avert new sanctions, the country’s envoy in Moscow said Wednesday night. “We need to study this proposal and to establish on what basis it has been made,” Ambassador Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi said in an interview at the Iranian embassy in Moscow.
The Russian plan, announced by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov last week, would let Iran avoid a European Union ban on its crude that is scheduled to come into force in July. Iran will ensure it maintains its right to produce nuclear energy, Sajjadi said.
The US and European Union allege Iran is seeking to build a bomb, not just make fuel for electricity production and medical research, as the country maintains. The EU is planning on July 1 to impose an embargo on crude from Iran, which accounts for about 4 percent of the world’s supply, as it works with the U.S. to ratchet up pressure on the Persian Gulf state. Oil prices retreated from a one-week high, dropping more than $1 today on the report. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland dismissed Sajjadi’s remarks, saying the Iranian is “not a central player” in international talks over Iran’s nuclear program. “Frankly, what’s most important is what Iran says and does at the negotiating table,” Nuland said at briefing with journalists. Ryabkov, who leads Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin’s delegation to the Iran talks, said the Russian proposal would be the first in a series of mutual concessions designed to end in an accord that would remove suspicions about Iranian intent regarding atomic weapons. Iran might also be willing to ratify the so-called Additional Protocol, a step urged by the United Nations Security Council that includes more thorough inspections of Iranian facilities, as part of a wider settlement, Sajjadi said. Under the Russian proposal, Iran would stop building centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium, and mothball ones that haven’t been put into use yet. “At that stage, as part of the step-by-step approach, the other side could announce that it will refrain from introducing new sanctions,” Ryabkov said April 17 after the latest round of talks in Istanbul between Iran and the five permanent Security Council members -- the US, UK, China, Russia and France -- plus Germany. The UN’s nuclear watchdog said in February that the number of centrifuges at Iran’s underground Natanz facility had grown 14 percent to 9,156 from 8,000 in November, of which 8,808 were operating. Iran began enriching uranium with more than 300 centrifuges at a different underground site, Fordo, the International Agency for Atomic Energy said in a February 24 report. The IAEA report said Iran had tripled monthly output of enriched uranium from November to 31 pounds (14 kilograms). The country may be able to produce bomb-grade uranium in a matter of months, Olli Heinonen, the IAEA’s former top inspector for Iran, said on April 12. “The proposed plan will keep the capacity to enrich uranium at the current level,” said Elena Sokova, executive director at the Center for Disarmament & Non-Proliferation in Vienna, by e-mail. “Thus it helps to avoid the expansion of enrichment but not to scale it back. In other words, no buildup of the program in exchange for no new sanctions.” The Iranian nuclear program is an “imaginary threat,” Sajjadi said, adding that he was astonished by comments made by Nikolai Makarov, head of the Russian military’s General Staff, warning about the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran in an interview with state broadcaster RT. “There are two ways we can proceed after the Istanbul talks,” said Sajjadi. “Either the West understands that it’s pointless to use the language of force with Iran or their flexibility is a temporary phenomenon. I hope the first is true as we would like to see a resolution.Hmmmmm......." Iran would stop building centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium, and mothball ones that haven’t been put into use yet"...that leaves 8,808 operational centrifuges, producing 31 pounds (14 kilograms)enriched uranium a month?"Read the full story here.

'US, allies to set key demands for Iran nuclear talks'.

'US, allies to set key demands for Iran nuclear talks'.(Jpost).The United States and other Western nations plan to demand that Iran immediately close and ultimately dismantle a recently completed nuclear facility deep under a mountain as part of new talks with Tehran over its nuclear program, the New York Times reported on Saturday. The Obama administration and its European allies also will call for a halt in the production of higher-level enrichment of uranium fuel, and the shipment of existing stockpiles of that fuel out of Iran, the newspaper said, citing US and European diplomats. The diplomats told the Times that they could not imagine any agreement that left Iran with a stockpile of fuel, enriched to 20 percent purity, that could be converted to the grade needed to make an atomic bomb in a matter of months. "We have no idea how the Iranians will react," a senior Obama administration official told the newspaper. "We probably won't know after the first meeting." The opening talks are tentatively set for Friday. These conditions set by western nations reflect Israel's goals for the nuclear talks, as was reported by The Jerusalem Post last week. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Iran must agree to closing the underground facilities at Fordow, and transferring out of Iran all uranium fuel enriched to 20%. In January, major powers signaled willingness to reopen the talks about curbing Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons but said Tehran must show it was serious about negotiations. Iran says its nuclear program is aimed solely at generating power. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are the six powers involved in diplomacy aimed at resolving the long-running row over Iran's atomic plans. Russia and China recently joined the four Western powers in expressing "regret" over Iran's expansion of higher-grade enrichment, most of which is now taking place deep inside a mountain near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom to better protect it against Israeli or US attacks. The focus on diplomacy followed rising tensions between the West, which is seeking to cut Iran's oil sales, and Tehran, which threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz through which almost one-fifth of oil traded worldwide flows. The United States has gradually tightened sanctions on Tehran due to its failure to answer questions about its nuclear program.Hmmm......What's the use when Obama makes backroom deals with his 'messenger' Erdogan?Read the full story here.

'Iran set to expand nuclear activity in bunker', but 'US does not believe Iran trying to build nuclear bomb'.

'Iran set to expand nuclear activity in bunker', but 'US does not believe Iran trying to build nuclear bomb'.(JPost).VIENNA - Iran is believed to be carrying out preparations to expand nuclear activity deep inside a mountain, diplomats say, in a further sign of defiance in the face of intensifying Western pressure to curb its sensitive uranium enrichment drive.
Increased capacity at the Fordow underground site would probably heighten Western suspicion of Iran's intentions, after it last month started refining uranium there to a level that cuts the time it would need for any nuclear weapons bid.
A senior team of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) failed again this week to get the Islamic state to start addressing their mounting concerns about its nuclear work and returned empty handed to Vienna after two days of talks in Iran.The UN agency is now putting the finishing touches to its next report on Iran, expected to include information on the Tehran talks as well as more detail on the status of the Fordow plant near the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Qom."I think we will see a jump in the potential state of readiness of the facility," one Vienna-based envoy said.
Fordow is of particular concern for the West and Israel as Iran is shifting the most controversial aspect of its nuclear work, refining uranium to a level that takes it significantly closer to potential bomb material, to the site."As Israel sees it, the nuclear program represents a serious threat; the time when Iran's putative efforts to build a bomb will become immune to a strike is fast approaching; and military action in the near future - perhaps as early as this year - therefore is a real possibility," it said.A Western official said Fordow was a very sensitive issue: "I'm not quite sure the Iranians understand they are playing with fire there."Iran last month said it had started to refine uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, compared with the 3.5 percent normally used for nuclear power plants, at Fordow.Soon afterward, it doubled production capacity to a total of more than 600 uranium enrichment centrifuges at Fordow, diplomats have told Reuters.Iran now appears to be making preparations for a further increase in the number of the cylindrical machines, (3.000) spinning at supersonic speeds to increase the concentration of the fissile U-235 isotope, at the facility."They are working towards full installation," said another diplomat in the Austrian capital. "But they are not installed and ready to operate yet."
Iran said last year that it would transfer its highest-grade uranium refinement work to Fordow from an above-ground research and development facility at its main enrichment plant at Natanz, and sharply boost capacity.It says it will use 20 percent-enriched uranium to convert into fuel for a research reactor making isotopes to treat cancer patients, but Western officials say they doubt Iran has the capability to do that on an industrial scale.
In addition, they say, Fordow's capacity - up to 3,000 centrifuges - is too small to produce the fuel needed for nuclear power plants, but ideal for yielding smaller amounts of high-enriched product typical of a nuclear weapons program.Iran disclosed the existence of Fordow to the IAEA only in September 2009, at least two years after construction began, after learning that Western spy services had detected it.
Meanwhile US intelligence agencies do not believe that Iran is actively trying to build a nuclear weapon, The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday, citing a highly classified intelligence assessment from early 2011.According to the report, the intelligence estimate holds that Tehran halted efforts to develop and build a nuclear warhead in 2003.The Los Angeles Times claims that the report, representing the input of 16 US intelligence agencies, indicates that Iran is conducting research that could eventually enable it to develop a nuclear weapon, but that it has not sought to do so.Read the full story here and here.
Hmmmm........Iran’s declaratory policy today disavows any nuclear weapons intention, on spiritualas well as political grounds. The Islamic republic’s diplomats point to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 2004 fatwa against the development, production, stockpiling, and use ofnuclear weapons. The inviolability and permanence of the fatwa is open to some interpretation, however, and in earlier days, Iranian leaders made little secret of their intentions. In 1991, Deputy President Ayatollah Mohajerani stated that Iran should workwith other Islamic states to create an ‘‘Islamic bomb.’’ Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani,characterized today as a pragmatist, in contrast to hardliner Ahmadinejad, in 1988 explicitly called on Iran to equip itself both in the offensive and defense use of chemical,bacteriological and radiological weapons.’’ By then, as then-Speaker of the Majlis and Commander in Chief, Rafsanjani had already won Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s approval to resume the Shah’s nuclear program and to begin secretly importing material and conducting experiments in violation of Iran’s safeguards agreement with the IAEA.Source.

Israeli Defense minister Ehud Barak implies a strike on Iran nuclear program is near.

Fordow

Israeli Defense minister Ehud Barak implies a strike on Iran nuclear program is near.(CSMonitor).By Joshua Mitnick.Tensions between Israel and Iran are on the rise after a group of top Israeli leaders engaged in a round of saber-rattling on Thursday and Iran’s Supreme Leader answered on Friday with a pledge to "remove" Israel.Speaking at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center's annual conference, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak compared the current standoff with Iran to the "fateful" period before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, when Israel launched a preemptive strike against Egypt.At the same conference, Israel’s military intelligence chief, Aviv Kochavi said that Iran had enough nuclear material to make four bombs, and could construct a missile within three years. Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon warned that "an unconventional country can’t be allowed to have a nonconventional weapon" and that "a nuclear Iran would be the nightmare of the West."
Even though Israeli leaders have been heartened by international sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, which Iran insists is for peaceful purposes only, the chorus of warnings from Israel reflect growing anxiety among some leaders that Iran may still obtain a nuclear bomb.  "The temperature is rising in Israel," says Meir Javedanfar, an Iran analyst in Tel Aviv. He says that if the defense minister sees the current period as similar to the run-up to the [1967] Six-Day War, "that gives credibility to those who think Israel is going to launch an attack."Comparing Iran’s regime to Nazi Germany, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is Israel’s right to act to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon.Hmmmm.......On Thursday Khamenei then claimed the current century as the century of Islam and promised that human history is on the verge of a great event and that soon the world will realize the power of Allah.IMHO: THE ONLY THING THAT THIS COULD BE IS EITHER A TEST OF A NUKE OR THE USE OF A NUKE.Read the full story here.