Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, reaffirmed
Monday that a date would soon be set for the International Atomic
Energy Agency to inspect the planned nuclear enrichment facility near
Qom about which the Iranian government informed the IAEA on Monday a
week ago.
Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it has been building a previously undeclared nuclear facility to enrich uranium, raising fears that Tehran is closer to acquiring an atomic bomb than has been predicted up until now.
The presence of a secret second site - built inside a mountain near the holy Shia city of Qum - has been known about by American and other Western intelligence agencies for some time, although nothing has been revealed until now.
VIENNA - Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon any time soon and the threat posed by its atomic program has been exaggerated, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said in a published interview.
The West suspects Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program. Tehran rejects the charge, saying its uranium enrichment program is a peaceful way to generate electricity.
WASHINGTON - In the face of
mounting pressure from hawks in Washington and the continued threat of
military action from Israel, the Barack Obama Administration has been
taking a harder line in its latest pronouncements about Iran.
Recent media reports
have suggested that the administration is leaning toward an
end-of-September deadline for Tehran to respond to U.S. diplomatic
outreach concerning its nuclear programme, at which point it will
consider stepping up sanctions against the Iranian energy sector.
While I have no doubt that those leftists who support the so
called reform movement in Iran have good intentions, I believe that they have
been misinformed, misguided, and are not aware of the whole truth
about what has been really going on in Iran.
Iranian police have arrested mourners who had gathered at a cemetery in Tehran for a memorial to those killed in post-election violence, reports say.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi tried to join mourners at the graveside of Neda Agha Soltan, whose death became a symbol of post-election unrest.
But reports say he was forced to leave the cemetery shortly after his arrival.
Other witnesses said that mourners clung to his car, chanting "Mousavi, we support you".
Hillary Clinton today signalled a significant shift in US foreign policy by discussing publicly how a nuclear-armed Iran could be contained in the Middle East.
Until today, the shared position of the US, Britain and France was that Iran would not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, and no senior official from any of the three countries would discuss the option of containment.
However, Clinton broke that taboo during a visit to Thailand, when she pledged enhanced US protection for Washington's Gulf allies, implying nuclear protection, if Iran succeeded in building a bomb.
Hundreds more people may have died in Iran's post-election unrest than the authorities have admitted, amid allegations that the death toll has been obscured by hiding victims' bodies in secret morgues.
Human rights campaigners say anecdotal evidence suggests the number of demonstrators killed in clashes with government forces after last month's poll was far higher than the official death toll of 20 and may amount to a "massacre".
Israeli officials have welcomed
comments by US Vice-President Joe Biden that America would not stand in
the way of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear plants.
Mr
Biden contradicted his country's most senior military commander,
Admiral Mike Mullen, when he responded, three times, to questions on
the American ABC's This Week program that Israel was free to do what it needed to do.
WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama
administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge
that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban
in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which
has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.
The new twist in the
charge is that it is being made in the context of serious talks between
NATO officials and Iran involving possible Iranian cooperation in
NATO's logistical support for the war against the insurgents in
Afghanistan.
