Showing posts with label Iran's nuclear programme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran's nuclear programme. Show all posts
Friday, October 11, 2013
Inside Story: Is Iran Ready for Change?
Friday, October 04, 2013
Netanyahu: I'm Prepared to Talk to Rouhani on the Phone
The Israeli prime minister said in interviews following his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly this week that he did not rule out engaging in diplomatic contact with Hassan Rouhani.
Having told CNN that he would accept a call from the Iranian president, he was then asked by NPR if he would agree to a meeting. “If I’m offered, I’ll consider it,” said Mr Netanyahu.
However, the hawkish Israeli leader reiterated that nothing less than the comprehensive scrapping of Tehran’s nuclear enrichment scheme would be acceptable to his country.
“The reason they insist on enrichment is because they want to maintain the path to nuclear weapons,” he said, dismissing Iran’s claims the programme is directed at civilian energy production.
Mr Netanyahu also poured cold water on hopes that Mr Rouhani, a relative moderate who last week held a landmark phone conversation with President Barack Obama, could achieve significant reform.
“He is a servant of the regime,” said Mr Netanyahu. » | Jon Swaine, New York | Friday, October 04, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
UN General Assembly: Barack Obama Wants Nuclear Deal with Iran
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Iran Ready to Talk If US Shows 'Goodwill', Says New President
Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has made clear that his government is open to direct talks with the US, in a move that could open the way to breaking the stalemate over the nuclear issue.
But Rouhani added that the US needed to show goodwill and abandon "hidden agendas" with regards to Iran. Two days after he was sworn in to office and in his first press conference as president, Rouhani said on Tuesday he wanted Washington to hear the message of the Iranian elections and show willingness to engage Tehran with "practical steps". The president promised that any constructive move by the US would be matched accordingly. » | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron has personally warned Israel not to take military action against Iran for “now”, he disclosed last night.
In a speech to members of the Jewish community in London, the Prime Minister said he would not tolerate a “nuclear-armed Iran”. But he added that he had told Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to give sanctions more time to work.
Mr Cameron told the annual dinner of the United Jewish Israel Appeal: “I have said to Prime Minister Netanyahu that now is not the time for Israel to resort to military action.
“Beyond the unpredictable dangers inherent in any conflict, the other reason is this: at the very moment when the regime faces unprecedented pressure and the people are on the streets, and when Iran’s only real ally in Syria is losing his grip on power, a foreign military strike is exactly the chance the regime would look for to unite its people against a foreign enemy.
“We shouldn’t give them that chance.”
But he added: “In the long term, if Iran makes the wrong choice, nothing is off the table. A nuclear armed Iran is a threat to Israel. And a threat to the world. And this country will work unwaveringly to prevent that from happening.” » | Robert Winnett, , David Blair and Adrian Blomfield | Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
The top commander in Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Sunday that "nothing will remain" of Israel if it takes military action against Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
General Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iran's response to any attack will begin near the Israeli border. The Islamic Republic has close ties with terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon, both of which border Israel.
Iran has in the past made reference to the destruction of Israel but his comments at a Tehran news conference were unusually strongly worded and detailed.
He also said that Iran warned that oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz will be in jeopardy if a war breaks out between Iran and the United States. Iranian officials have previously threatened to close the waterway, the route for a fifth of the world's oil, but less frequently in recent months. » | Dudi Cohen | Sunday, September 16, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: U.S. officials have reportedly warned Israel that Saudi Arabia will support Iran should the Jewish state launch an attack on Tehran.
Analysts said Israel was keen to strike before Iran moves its uranium enrichment facilities, crucial to the development of nuclear weapons, to the heavily fortified Fordow facility.
Yedioth Ahronoth said American officials passed to Israel a message from Riyadh that reads: "Saudi Arabia would shoot down any Israeli aircraft in its airspace on their way to Iran."
Saudi Arabia has refused to recognise Israel since the state was founded in 1948.
In 2010, Saudi Arabia's UK envoy, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf, said: "It is illogical to allow the Israeli occupying force, with whom Saudi Arabia has no relations whatsoever, to use its airspace." » | Anissa Haddadi | Friday, August 10, 2012
Saturday, February 04, 2012
BUENOS AIRES HERALD: Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would not retreat from its nuclear programme even if its crude oil exports grind to a halt, the official IRNA news agency reported.
But he also called on the European Union, which accounted for a quarter of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011, to review its decision last week to bank Iranian oil imports from July 1.
"We will not abandon our just nuclear course, even if we cannot sell one drop of oil," Rostam Qasemi told reporters, according to IRNA. » | Saturday, February 04, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran slipped further into global isolation on Thursday as China, its traditional ally, warned Tehran against its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"China adamantly opposes Iran developing and possessing nuclear weapons," he said.
China appears to have sent a message to Iran that it could not rely on Beijing's unstinting support by reducing its imports of oil at a time when the US and Europe are promoting an embargo on the country.
The Washington Post reported that China trimmed its oil imports from Iran in January from a daily average of around 550,000 barrels to 285,000 barrels a day.
Chinese foreign policy experts said the statement demonstrated that Beijing would not allow its international position to end up beholden to Iran.
Mr Wen's trip to three of the world's biggest oil-and-gas producers was de[s]cribed by some commentators as an attempt to seek alternative energy sources, although he politely denied this was the case: "Some people said my visit was to secure oil, which is narrow-minded. I came here for friendship."
"Iran would not have wanted China to make this statement, but Iran must understand that if it comes down to a choice China will not alienate itself from the rest of the world for the sake of single country," said Yu Guoqing, a researcher on the Middle East at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. » | Malcolm Moore, Henry Samuel and Damien McElroy | Thursday, January 19, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Erdogan said Turkey always supported Iran's peaceful nuclear activities and thought cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will help settle the issue.
During the meeting Wednesday night, the two officials also reviewed bilateral ties and explored ways of promoting Tehran-Ankara relations.
The Turkish prime minister voiced Turkey's readiness to expand cooperation with Iran in all possible areas.
He also expressed the interest of his country in exchanging views with Iran on regional issues with an aim of consolidating security, peace and stability in the region. » | FNA | Thursday, January 19, 2012
Monday, November 07, 2011
n comments published in the Israeli daily Hayom, Mr Peres said that “the possibility of a military attack against Iran is now closer to being applied than the application of a diplomatic option”.
"We must stay calm and resist pressure so that we can consider every alternative," he added.
The drumbeat of war is expected to grow louder this week when United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, issues its most detailed report to date on nuclear research in Iran.
It will provide what Western officials and experts regard as irrefutable evidence that Tehran is compiling the capacity and skills to build a bomb. It will be used as leverage for a fifth round of sanctions at the UN, but could also provide Israel, with the tacit support of Washington, to finalise plans for an air strike.
Among its findings are that Tehran was helped by nuclear experts from two countries, believed to be Russia and Pakistan. The Washington Post reported that key assistance was provided by Vyacheslav Danilenko, a former Soviet nuclear scientist, hired by Iran's Physics Research Centre. » | Alex Spillius | Monday, November 07, 2011
Related »
The Iranian president warned against a military attack on Iran and again insisted Tehran's atomic programme was for peaceful purposes only.
"Iran's capabilities are increasing and it is progressing, and for that reason it has been able to compete in the world. Now Israel and the West, particularly America, fear Iran's capabilities and role," Ahmadinejad told Egypt's Al-Akhbar newspaper.
"Therefore they are trying to gather international support for a military operation to stop (Iran's) role. The arrogant should know that Iran will not allow them to take any action against it," he said.
Ahmadinejad added that Washington wanted to "save the Zionist entity, but it will not be able to do so."
"This entity (Israel) can be compared to a kidney transplanted in a body that rejected it," he said. "Yes it will collapse and its end will be near."
Ahmadinejad's diatribe against Israel, Iran's arch-foe, come after Israeli President Shimon Peres warned in a television interview on Saturday that an attack on Iran was becoming "more and more likely." » | Monday, November 07, 2011
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Ehud Barak refuses to rule out military strike against Iran: Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, refused to rule out military action against Iran yesterday, heightening expectations that his government is preparing to authorise an attack on Tehran's nuclear facilities. ¶ In an interview with the BBC, Mr Barak said that sanctions and international diplomacy had so far failed to deter Iran from seeking to build a nuclear bomb, a prospect that would, he warned, threaten the stability of the "whole world". » | Adrian Blomfield, Jerusalem | Sunday, November 06, 2011
WATCH BBC VIDEO: Ehud Barak: Middle East is 'tough neighbourhood' – Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has described the Middle East as a "tough neighbourhood" when describing the risks of a confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme. ¶ Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show the former Israeli Prime Minister said "Israel is the strongest country for the thousand miles around Jerusalem, we plan to remain the strongest country around." ¶ "But we are at the same time peaceful, we are ready to make peace at any moment with any one of our neighbours." » | Sunday, November 06, 2011
Sunday, June 06, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Iran is using the Gulf port of Dubai to smuggle sophisticated electronic and computer equipment for its controversial uranium enrichment programme that are banned under United Nations sanctions.
In the latest deal, an Iranian company associated with the regime's nuclear programme has acquired control systems from one of Germany's leading electronics manufacturers. The deal was negotiated with a prominent Dubai trading company, which then sold Iran a range of electronic equipment for use at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility.
Details of the deal have emerged amid mounting concern in the West that Tehran has ended its self-imposed suspension of its nuclear weapons programme. A National Intelligence Estimate issued by US intelligence agencies in late 2007 concluded that Iran had suspended its attempts to build an atom bomb in 2003.
But a detailed assessment of Iran's recent declarations to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna has led Western officials to conclude that Iran has ended its self-imposed suspension, and has now resumed work on its military programme.
This would explain Iran's renewed attempts to smuggle banned equipment through Dubai. In the latest deal, details of which have been obtained exclusively by The Sunday Telegraph, high-grade German equipment including computers, controllers, communication cards and cables have been smuggled into Iran. >>> Con Coughlin | Sunday, June 06, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
BBC: The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has told the BBC that he believes Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons.
Mr Erdogan said he was confident Iran's nuclear programme was for civilian purposes only and described President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "friend". Iran Nuclear Programme ‘Solely Civilian’ – Turkish PM (with video) >>> | Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday, September 28, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Iran has fired one of the longest-range missiles in its arsenal as part of testing it began ahead of a confrontation with foreign powers over a previously undisclosed secret nuclear facility later this week.
Earlier today the Revolutionary Guard is reported to have successfully launched the Shahab-3 missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and has a range of up to 1,200 miles – which would put Israel, most Arab states and parts of Europe, including much of Turkey, within its range.
Iranian television broadcast footage of the Shahab-3 being fired from desert terrain.
Iran’s war games began yesterday after the revelations about the enrichment plant, at a military base near the holy city of Qom. It dramatically upped the stakes for the meeting in Geneva on Thursday between Iranian representatives and those of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. >>> Catherine Philp | Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
TIMESONLINE: Hillary Clinton today vigorously defended President Obama’s recent overtures to Iran, insisting that the US would be in a better position to organise “crippling” international sanctions should diplomacy fail.
Giving her first congressional testimony on US foreign policy since becoming Secretary of State, Mrs Clinton said stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was one of the Obama administration’s highest priorities.
“We actually believe that by following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and as crippling as we would want it to be,” Mrs Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We know the imperative of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” she added. “After years during which the United States basically sat on the sidelines, we are now a full partner” in international talks with Iran.
Iran said today that it welcomed “constructive” talks with world powers and the US, but added that it would press ahead with its programme to develop atomic energy. >>> Tim Reid in Washington | Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has opened the door to talks with the US over his country's nuclear programme, declaring that Tehran wanted negotiations based on 'justice'.
Mr Ahmadinejad delivered a moderate message on Iran's annual "day of nuclear technology". The hardline leader, who rose to power on a tide of anti-American demagoguery, gave his first response to an invitation from the world's leading powers, including the US, to join a new round of talks.
"The Iranian nation has from the beginning been after logic and negotiations, but negotiations based on justice and complete respect for rights and regulations," he said during a speech in the city of Isfahan, where he opened a new nuclear plant.
The president added: "One-sided negotiations, conditional negotiations, negotiations in an atmosphere of threat are not something that any free person would accept."
But a few hours earlier, officials claimed that Iran is now operating 7,000 centrifuges inside its underground plant in Natanz. These machines are used to enrich uranium, a highly sensitive process which could be used to produce fuel for civilian power stations - or the essential material for a nuclear weapon. >>> By David Blair, Diplomatic Editor | Thursday, April 9, 2009
Saturday, September 06, 2008
REUTERS: TEHRAN - Iran dismissed on Saturday a warning by France's president that the Islamic Republic was taking a dangerous gamble over its nuclear program because one day its arch-foe Israel could strike.
Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham accused Israel of threatening global peace but reiterated Tehran's publicly stated view that it was not in a position to attack Iran.
Western powers accuse Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil exporter, of seeking the atom bomb under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denies the charge, saying it only wants to master atomic technology in order to generate electricity.
The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action if the dispute cannot be settled through diplomacy.
During a visit to Damascus on Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran was "taking a major risk in continuing the process to obtain a military nuclear capacity." He added: "One day ... we could find one morning that Israel has struck."
Iran's state broadcaster IRIB quoted Elham, the government spokesman, as saying in response to Sarkozy's statement:
"These threats are because of weakness ... and it reflects the reality and the war-seeking nature of the Zionist regime." Iran Rejects French Warning of Israeli Strike Risk >>> | September 6, 2008
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
YNET NEWS: Revolutionary Guards commander says Tehran's ballistic capabilities act as deterrent to any Israeli strike, warns Iran's allies will also retaliate in event of attack
Israel would not dare launch an attack on Iran for fear of the Islamic Republic's missile array and the support of its Islamic allies in the region, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Wednesday.
"In the event of an attack against Iran, the Israelis know that with the capabilities that the Islamic world and the Shiite world have in the region, they will suffer deadly strikes," the Mehr news agency quoted Jafari as saying, in an apparent reference to Hizbullah.
"Our strategic assessment shows that if the Zionist regime took action, whether alone or with the United States, in minimal time all of its territory would be vulnerable because this country lacks strategic depth and lies within the range of Iranian missiles," Jafari said.
"Iran's ballistic capabilities are such that the Zionist regime, with all the means at its disposal, has no way of countering them," the general added.
Jafari's comments come as Tehran grows increasingly concerned of a possible Israeli raid on its nuclear facilities. Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued an overt warning to Iran earlier this week during his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Israel will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, and no options are being taken off the table," Barak told the secretary. Iran: Israel Too Vulnerable to Attack >>> By Dudi Cohen | August 27, 2008
YNET NEWS:
Iranian Cleric: Ahmadinejad a Major Threat: Religious leader tells German newspaper Iranian president betraying the people >>> Reuters | August 26, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
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