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Iran may limit IAEA access to nuclear sites: MP
Iran's parliament may limit the UN watchdog's inspections of the country's nuclear sites following a new UN resolution against Tehran over its atomic programme, a senior Iranian MP said on Tuesday.
"Iran had generously allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency access to prove its good will but soon the level of the agency's access to our nuclear facilities will be revised," Mousa Ghorbani told the state news agency IRNA.
"There are discussions in parliament to apply some new limitations on cooperation with the IAEA," said the conservative MP, who is a member of the presiding board of the house.
"The issuing of a new resolution by the (UN) Security Council has raised the question of how long we should continue a useless cooperation with the agency," he said.
The Security Council on Saturday adopted a fifth resolution urging Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, the process at the centre of fears about Iran's nuclear programme, as the enriched product can be used to make atom bombs.
The IAEA has been investigating Tehran's nuclear activities for the past six years, but has so far been unable to determine whether they are purely peaceful as the government claims.
The UN watchdog said in a report this month that Tehran refused to provide access to documentation, individuals or sites which could reveal the true nature of its activities.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday urged Iran to "implement all the transparency measures ... required to build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme at the earliest possible date."
Iran stopped applying the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that gives inspectors broader access to its nuclear sites after the nuclear case was referred to the UN Security Council in 2006.
Despite three sets of UN Security Council sanctions the Islamic republic has vowed to press on with its controversial enrichment work, insisting the nuclear programme is solely aimed at peaceful ends. Iran's parliament may limit the UN watchdog's inspections of the country's nuclear sites following a new UN resolution ... more -
EU warns Iran is close to making nukes
According to text of an EU report on Iran's nuclear program released to reporters ahead of it's official delivery to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, they believe Tehran is close to having the ability to make a nuclear weapon, and it appears that Iran has been pursuing a program aimed at developing one. Iran continues to deny these claims, which have also been made by the US and Israel, insisting the nuclear program is for civilian energy production purposes. According to text of an EU report on Iran's nuclear program released to reporters ahead of it's official delivery to the Int... more
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North Korea removes UN watchdog seals from nuclear reactor
North Korea has moved a step closer to restarting its nuclear programme after removing a UN watchdog's seals from its Yongbyon reactor.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the agency's board that Pyongyang had said it would reintroduce nuclear material within a week. Analysts have said North Korea would need at least several months - and probably more - to restart the largely dismantled complex.
On Monday, North Korea asked the IAEA to remove seals and cameras from Yongbyon, its main atomic complex, after vowing to restart the facility, effectively reneging on a nuclear disarmament deal with the US, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
At six-party talks last year, Pyongyang agreed to scrap its nuclear programme in return for aid from the US, and in November it began dismantling the Yongbyon plant.
North Korea announced last month that it had stopped dismantling its nuclear facilities because of America's failure to fulfil a promise to remove it from the US state department's list of states that sponsor terrorism.
Amid reports that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, might be seriously ill, North Korea seemed to harden its position on Friday last week, saying that it no longer wanted to be removed from the list. "We can go our own way," a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.
South Korea today called on North Korea to stop moves to restore its Yongbyon plant and urged its neighbour to return to disarmament talks.
"We express major concern about the North's continued move to restore its Yongbyon nuclear complex," a South Korean official said. "We call on the North to immediately restart the steps to disable it and return to talks on a verification mechanism."
Diplomats and experts said North Korea's decision to restart its nuclear programme was yet another example of its brinkmanship rather than a pressing threat.
The US envoy for North Korea, Christopher Hill, this week downplayed Pyongyang's hardened stance, describing it as part of the "rough and tumble" of negotiations. He said North Korea's actions came at a tough time in the negotiating process amid intensifying efforts to get it to agree to a mechanism on verifying its nuclear programme. North Korea has moved a step closer to restarting its nuclear programme after removing a UN watchdog's seals from its Yongbyon re... more -
North Korea nuclear seals removed
The UN's atomic watchdog says it has removed seals and surveillance cameras from North Korea's main nuclear complex at Pyongyang's request.
North Korea says the move is part of a plan to reactivate the Yongbyon plant, and that it plans to return nuclear material to the site next week.
The move comes amid a dispute over an international disarmament-for-aid deal.
A similar step in 2002 sparked a crisis which eventually resulted in Pyongyang testing a nuclear weapon in 2006.
The removal of seals and cameras "was completed today" at the site, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant, she added.
Pyongyang began dismantling the reactor, which can be used to make weapons-grade plutonium, last November.
However, on Friday it announced that it was working to reactivate it.
North Korea was expecting to be removed from the US terror list after submitting a long-delayed account of its nuclear facilities to the international talks in June, in accordance with the disarmament deal it signed in 2007.
It also blew up the main cooling tower at Yongbyon in a symbolic gesture of its commitment to the process.
However, the US said it would not remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism until procedures by which the North's disarmament would be verified were established.
The North has been locked in discussions for years over its nuclear ambitions with five other nations - South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan.
North and South Korea have been technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty. The UN's atomic watchdog says it has removed seals and surveillance cameras from North Korea's main nuclear complex at Pyong... more -
IAEA: NKorea plans to activate Yongbyon reactor
VIENNA, Austria - North Korea plans to start reinserting some of the plutonium-producing nuclear material into its Yongbyon reactor within a week, the chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Wednesday.
The move is a further sign that the North is making good on threats to restart a nuclear program that allowed it to conduct a test explosion two years ago.
"The DPRK has ... informed the IAEA inspectors that they plan to introduce nuclear material to the reprocessing plant in one week's time," Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency told IAEA board.
He also said that — acting on a North Korean request — his inspectors removed all agency seals and surveillance equipment from the reactor and its immediate area, in "work that was completed today."
The North Koreans "further stated that from here on the IAEA inspectors will have no further access to the reprocessing plant," said an IAEA statement citing ElBaradei.
North Korea in recent days had already signaled it would break out of a six-nation disarmament-for-aid deal, announcing that it was making "thorough preparations" to start up Yongbyon.
The accord hit a snag in mid-August when the U.S. refused to remove North Korea from its list of states that sponsor terrorism until the North accepts a plan to verify a declaration of its nuclear programs it submitted earlier.
The Yongbyon reactor was under IAEA seals in December 2002 when the North decided to order IAEA inspectors out of the country and restart its mothballed nuclear activities, after a deal committing the U.S. to help Pyongyang build a peaceful nuclear program unraveled.
It subsequently quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty in January 2003 and announced it had nuclear weapons a little more than two years later.
A U.N. official who demanded anonymity for divulging confidential information said other nuclear sites in North Korea remained under IAEA purview. She also said agency seals remained on the spent fuel rods that were removed from Yongbyon under the terms of the deal.
(More at link) VIENNA, Austria - North Korea plans to start reinserting some of the plutonium-producing nuclear material into its Yongbyon reactor wi... more -
Iran: secret nuclear bomb? Blocking IAEA probe
"A UN inquiry into intelligence allegations of secret atom bomb research in Iran has reached a standstill because of Iranian failure to cooperate, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said on Monday." "A UN inquiry into intelligence allegations of secret atom bomb research in Iran has reached a standstill because of Iranian fail... more
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India's nuclear plans bombed
A plan, brokered by the U.S., to allow India to trade nuclear supplies was stopped by a group of nations who supply nuclear materials.
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Syria blocks visit by International Atomic Energy Agency
Syria has blocked a new visit by International Atomic Energy Agency experts seeking to follow up on intelligence that Damascus built a secret nuclear program built with the help of North Korea, diplomats told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The diplomats also said Washington was circulating a note among members of the IAEA board opposing a Syrian push for a seat on the 35-nation board. The board normally works by consensus and a seat held by Damascus could thus hamper any investigation into its alleged nuclear activities.
In response, Syria said UN nuclear inspectors could not make a return visit as its agreement with the UN agency allowed only one trip.
A Foreign Ministry official said Syria had told the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was ready to answer any questions.
Syria fears a massive atomic agency investigation similar to the probe Iran has been subjected to more than five years. Syria has blocked a new visit by International Atomic Energy Agency experts seeking to follow up on intelligence that Damascus built a... more -
UN nuclear watchdog back in Iran
The deputy head of the UN nuclear agency has arrived in Tehran for talks on Iran's disputed nuclear programme.
Six world powers agreed to consider further sanctions against Iran during discussions on Wednesday.
This week Iran missed a deadline to reply to an offer of incentives to end its uranium enrichment programme, which could be used in arms manufacture.
France, the US and UK are pushing for new sanctions, but Russia says there is potential for more dialogue.
Correspondents say it is not clear that the visit of Oli Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy head, is directly related to the incentives offer.
The IAEA monitors Iran's existing nuclear activities, and is trying to find out if it is turning peaceful energy-producing technology to military use.
Three sets of UN sanctions have already been imposed on Iran after it defied successive Security Council ultimatums to freeze uranium enrichment.
The fact Iran is enriching uranium has led Western powers to fear it is seeking to develop an atomic bomb.
Tehran insists continuing the process is within its rights as an IAEA member and denies there is any intention beyond peaceful energy production.
'Clear response'
The threat of new sanctions came after a telephone conference on Wednesday between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, the UK and US - and Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had given Iran's chief nuclear negotiator until last Saturday to respond to an offer of no further economic sanctions in return for an Iranian freeze on uranium enrichment.
On Tuesday, Iran delivered a one-page letter to Mr Solana's office, saying it was ready to provide a clear response "at the earliest possibility", but at the same time seeking a clear response to questions it has asked.
"Such mutual clarification can pave the way for a speedy and transparent negotiating process with bright prospect," the letter said.
The US administration said the letter appeared to be a stalling tactic.
"We are very disappointed that Iran has failed yet again to give... a clear answer," said US state department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos. The deputy head of the UN nuclear agency has arrived in Tehran for talks on Iran's disputed nuclear programme. ... more -
Plutonium leaks at Austrian plant
There has been a plutonium leak at a site run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Austria.
UN nuclear monitors said pressure had built up and plutonium had contaminated a storage-room at the Seibersdorf laboratory, south of Vienna. Last year the head of the IAEA warned the facility was outdated and did not meet UN safety standards. Austrian officials said the empty lab had been sealed off and no-one was at risk. An investigation is planned.
The lab is used to carry out tests on samples taken during IAEA inspection missions. "Pressure build-up in a small sealed sample bottle in a storage safe resulted in plutonium contamination of a storage room... at the IAEA's Safeguards Analytical Laboratory in Seibersdorf," said the agency. The leak, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, automatically set off an alarm via an air-monitoring system, said Daniel Kapp, a spokesman for Austria's environment ministry. He added that radioactivity in the air would have been completely contained by the lab's filters, and Austrian monitoring centres had detected no increase in radioactivity, meaning no-one was in danger.
Last November, IAEA director general Mohammed El Baradei said the site, constructed in 1970, did not meet UN safety standards. He warned there was an "ever-growing risk" key components of the lab might break down, although the IAEA said there was no connection between Sunday's leak and the modernisation requirements. There has been a plutonium leak at a site run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Austria. ... more -
UN approves India-US nuclear deal
UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has backed a controversial nuclear deal between India and the US, diplomats say.
Approval was granted after the agency's 35-nation board met in the Austrian capital, Vienna, officials said.
India's government recently survived a confidence vote over the deal, and says it is vital to meet energy demands.
Critics say the plan rewards a non-proliferation outsider. IAEA approval is a key condition for enacting it.
India must now win an unprecedented waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) later in August which would allow it to trade in sensitive nuclear materials.
The deal must also be ratified by the US Congress UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has backed a controversial nuclear deal between India and the US, di... more -
The Bush Administration's Secret Biowarfare Agenda
When it comes to observing US and international laws, treaties and norms, the Bush administration is a serial offender. Since 2001, it's:
-- spurned efforts for nuclear disarmament to advance its weapons program and retain current stockpiles;
-- renounced the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and asserted the right to develop and test new weapons;
-- abandoned the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) because it expressly forbids the development, testing and deployment of missile defenses like its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and other programs;
-- refuses to adopt a proposed Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) that would prohibit further weapons-grade uranium and plutonium production and prevent new nuclear weapons to be added to present stockpiles - already dangerously too high;
-- spends more on the military than the rest of the world combined plus multi-billions off-the-books, for secret programs, and for agencies like the CIA;
-- advocates preventive, preemptive and "proactive" wars globally with first-strike nuclear and other weapons under the nihilistic doctrines of "anticipatory self-defense" and remaking the world to be like America;
-- rescinded and subverted the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) to illegally develop new biowarfare weapons; in November 1969 and February 1970, Richard Nixon issued National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDM) 35 and 44; they renounced the use of lethal and other types of biological warfare and ordered existing weapons stockpiles destroyed, save for small amounts for research - a huge exploitable loophole; the Reagan and Clinton administrations took advantage; GHW Bush to a lesser degree;
-- GW Bush went further by renouncing the US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 that prohibits "the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons....;" on May 22, 1990, GHW Bush signed it into law to complete the 1972 Convention's implementation; what the father and Nixon established, GW Bush rendered null and void; "Rebuilding America's Defenses" is his central policy document for unchallengeable US hegemony; among other provisions, it illegally advocates advanced forms of biowarfare that can target specific genotypes - the genetic constitution of individual organisms.
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Much more at link. When it comes to observing US and international laws, treaties and norms, the Bush administration is a serial offender. Since 2001, it... more -
Obama puts fresh pressure on Iran
Excerpt:
Barack Obama said Friday that Iran should promptly accept an international call to freeze its uranium enrichment program, which some nations see as a potential step toward obtaining nuclear weapons, and not wait for the next US president.
The US presidential candidate met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, where they discussed Iran, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change and other issues.
Speaking later at a news conference, Obama said Iran should accept the proposals made by Sarkozy and other Western leaders. He urged Iran's leaders not to wait for the next U.S. president to push them "because the pressure, I think, is only going to build."
The United States and other Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and demand that it freeze its uranium enrichment program. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Obama said that he and Sarkozy agreed that Iran poses "an extraordinarily grave situation." He said the world must send "a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program."
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Iran is a signatory of the Non Proliferation Treaty and has not broken it. Iran has always allowed IAEA inspections of its nuclear installations. The US, in spite of being a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty, has broken that treaty numerous times and won't allow IAEA inspections. Its nuclear program is totally illicit. Israel has refused to sign that treaty and won't allow IAEA inspections - its nuclear program too is totally illicit. Obama making such a statement is being totally hypocritical. Excerpt: ... more -
Is Iran ending cooperation with IAEA?
VIENNA (AP) — Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapons work, confirming the investigation is at a dead end a year after it began.
The announcement from Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh compounded skepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance, just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers that it halt activities capable of producing the fissile core of warheads.
Besides demanding a suspension of uranium enrichment — a process that can create both fuel for nuclear reactors and payloads for atomic bombs — the six powers have been pressing Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency's probe.
Iran, which is obligated as a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty not to develop nuclear arms, raised suspicions about its intentions when it admitted in 2002 that it had run a secret nuclear program for nearly two decades in violation of its commitment.
The Tehran regime insists it halted such work and is now only trying to produce fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity. It agreed on a "work plan" with the Vienna-based IAEA a year ago for U.N. inspectors to look into allegations Iran is still doing weapons work. VIENNA (AP) — Iran signaled Thursday that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapo... more -
What did A. Q. Khan sell to Iran?
Muhammad Sahimi: Has Iran answered the IAEA's questions about Pakistan's 'merchant of menace"? (Part 2 of 6)
"When the agency questioned Iran about it [a document from Kahn that pointed to the making of a nuclear weaopn], Iran responded that when they bought the technology for uranium enrichment from the A. Q. Khan network in Pakistan, for the network to sweeten the deal and get a better deal in the future, they also threw in this document without Iran asking for it. And Iran claimed that they actually haven't done anything with the document." Muhammad Sahimi: Has Iran answered the IAEA's questions about Pakistan's 'merchant of menace"? (Part 2 of 6) ... more -
What are Iran's nuclear rights?
Professor Muhammad Sahimi challenges assumptions about Iran's nuclear program.
"Iran wants to put itself in a position such that if an international crisis arises and there is an external threat to the national security of Iran, Iran can be in a position to make a nuclear weapon in an emergency as a deterrent against a foreign threat. Otherwise, Iran has no intention whatsoever of making a nuclear weapon, because Iranian leaders are fully aware that if they cross the line and somehow they make nuclear weapon, that will start a very bad nuclear arms race in the Middle East, which will ultimately will not be in Iran's benefit or in any body's benefit in that region."
Muhammad Sahimi is the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering and professor of chemical engineering & materials science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In addition to his scientific research, which has resulted in over 270 published papers and five books, Muhammad has written extensively on Iran's political development and its nuclear program. In particular, Muhammad has concentrated on the legal and technical aspects of the dispute between Iran and the Western powers regarding Iran's nuclear energy program. He is a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an organization dedicated to making the public aware of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction, as well as polluting the environment. Professor Muhammad Sahimi challenges assumptions about Iran's nuclear program. ... more -
India gives nuclear plans to IAEA
India has submitted its plans for safeguarding its civilian nuclear facilities to the world nuclear regulatory body. The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) approval of the plan is a key condition for putting into effect a nuclear deal between India and US. India has submitted its plans for safeguarding its civilian nuclear facilities to the world nuclear regulatory body. The International... more
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Attack on Iran would turn region into a fireball
After reports of Israeli military exercises as rehearsals for an attack on Iran, and about US administration and Congress sanctioning covert operations against Iran, the Iranian Foreign Minister dismisses the idea saying that Israel is in too much internal turmoil to "resort to such craziness." He adds that the US is in no position to "take another risk in the region." Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff says "opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us." After reports of Israeli military exercises as rehearsals for an attack on Iran, and about US administration and Congress sanctioning ... more
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Forty years of the NPT
The cornerstone of international peace, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, is 40 years old today. On the fist day, some 61 countries signed it and now, all but four nations in the world follow its rules which describe a framework to limit nuclear weapons and allow the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The cornerstone of international peace, the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, is 40 years old today. On the fist day, some 61 countrie... more
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Comment: IAEA chief finds little evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons
"International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei says that his inspectors have not seen "any concrete evidence that there is a parallel military program," though he could not yet swear to its absence. But he does believe that our issues with Iran can be resolved through negotiations - in which it would help if the US were not implicitly threatening war. But it looks as though we have reached a similar stage to when Saddam let in the inspectors. When they found no WMDs Washington cried foul, ordered the UN inspectors out and sent the troops in. The US and its allies will not accept anything short of regime change in Teheran - no matter what ordinary Iranians might want and what the IAEA says ..."
By Ian Williams "International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei says that his inspectors have not seen "any concrete evidence t... more
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