Julian Borger | November 5

The Guardian - Exclusive: Watchdog fears Tehran has key component to put bombs in missiles

The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.

The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Robert F Worth & Alan Cowell | Beirut | November 4

NYT - Police firing tear gas and wielding batons clashed Wednesday with anti-government demonstrators in Tehran who sought to turn a rally commemorating the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy into a renewed protest against the disputed June 30 election, news reports said.

The protesters had turned out to display opposition to the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose victory in Iran’s disputed elections last June provoked Iran’s biggest political crisis since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Penny Spiller | November 3

Iran's rulers are considering plans to relocate the country's capital. They say Tehran is in danger of being struck by a major earthquake. So how easy is it to move a capital out of a city, and where might Iran's go?

BBC - Tehran is a sprawling metropolis at the foot of the Alborz mountain range. It is home to some 12 million people, and is the largest city in the Middle East. Not only is it the political and economic heart of the country, the city has a cosmopolitan air with its museums, art galleries, parks and universities. It has been Iran's capital since 1795.

But now a powerful state body, the expediency council, has approved plans by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to end Tehran's days as a capital. The government is said to be reacting to calls from Iranian seismologists, who have long warned that Tehran lies on at least 100 known fault lines, and would not survive a major quake intact.

But the timing of this decision - coming as it does months after some of the worst anti-government riots Tehran has ever seen - is interesting, says Dominic Dudley, deputy editor of the London-based Middle East Economic Digest. more

Tehran | Oct 29

AFP - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that "conditions are ready" for a nuclear deal with world powers following a change in Western policy from "confrontation to cooperation."

Ahmadinejad welcomed the prospect of an agreement on uranium enrichment as Iran prepared to hand over its formal response to proposals drawn up by the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna later on Thursday.

The hardliner, whose presidency had seen Iran on a collision course with the West over its failure to heed repeated UN Security Council ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, said Iran was keen to respond positively to the new approach.

"We welcome fuel exchange, nuclear cooperation, building of power plants and reactors and we are ready to cooperate," the president said in a speech in Iran's second city of Mashhad broadcast live on state television.

He said the West had previously talked of "halting and suspending everything, but now they are talking about fuel exchange, nuclear cooperation, building nuclear power plants and reactors. They have moved from confrontation to cooperation."

He said that as a result "the conditions for nuclear cooperation are ready".

October 27

Tehran Times - The Iranian Oil Bourse was inaugurated on Monday in the Persian Gulf island of Kish as a venue to export oil and petrochemical products.

National Petrochemical Company's Managing Director Adel Nejad-Salim said in the opening ceremony that all petrochemical products will be gradually offered on the market, IRNA news agency reported.

The oil bourse is intended as an exchange market for petroleum, gas, and petrochemicals in various currencies, primarily the euro and Iranian rial, and a basket of other major currencies.

On February 4, 2008 the Iranian Cabinet approved the creation of the oil bourse in two stages - first for crude and second for oil byproducts transactions.

Gary Sick | October 25

The Daily Beast - Last week, an Iranian-American colleague of mine, Kian Tajbaksh, was sentenced in Tehran to 15 years in prison. The indictment included the charges that (1) he was in contact with me; (2) that he was part of the Gulf/2000 network that I manage; and (3) that I am an agent of the CIA.

Normally, I simply ignore silly accusations such as this. They are nothing new. On one hand, it has been intimated that I must be under the influence of Iranian intelligence (by prominent neoconservatives who believe that my views on Iran’s political development and especially its nuclear program are not sufficiently alarmist). I have also been accused (by such worthies as Hossein Shariatmadari, the ultra-radical editor of Iran’s Kayhan newspaper, who is also a representative of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei) of being a CIA agent. I regard these insinuations as badges of honor, since they merely confirm that I do not subscribe to the ideological extremes of either of these groups. I have always felt that my reputation could speak for itself and required no public defense.

Jerusalem | Oct 22

AFP - A representative of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission held several meetings with an Iranian official to discuss nuclear issues in the region, the commission's spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The spokeswoman declined to give details of the meetings, but the Haaretz daily said the officials discussed the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.

"There were several meetings between a representative of our commission and an Iranian official in a regional context," spokeswoman Yael Doron told AFP.

"These meetings were held behind closed doors," she said, adding that they were organised by Australia.

She declined to give further details of the talks, the first between the two archfoes to be officially disclosed since the shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.

Julian Borger | Vienna | Oct 19

The Guardian - The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog said tonight that international talks on Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium were "off to a good start".

Despite fears that negotiations could collapse after Tehran gave conflicting signals, delegates from Iran, the US, Russia and France talked for two and a half hours and agreed to meet again tomorrow morning.

"We're off to a good start. We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed," Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the host of the talks, said today.

If the talks succeed, most of Iran's stock of low-enriched uranium (LEU) would be sent to France and Russia for processing so that it could be used in a Tehran research reactor for making medical isotopes.

Oct 18

BBC -

Several top commanders in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have been killed in a suicide bombing in the volatile south-east of the country.

Iranian state media say at least 20 people have died in the attack, in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, and dozens more injured.

The commanders were in Pishin region for a meeting with tribal leaders.

Iran has previously accused a Sunni resistance group, Jundallah, of terrorist activities in the province.

Sistan-Baluchistan is mainly made up of the Baluchi ethnic group, who belong to the Sunni Muslim minority of Shia-ruled Iran.

The deputy commander of the Guards' ground force, General Noor Ali Shooshtari, and the Guards' chief provincial commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, were among the dead, Irna state news agency reported.

Reuters - Iranian state television cited informed sources as saying Britain was directly involved in Sunday's suicide attack on the elite Revolutionary Guards, which killed several senior officers.

** Iranian official blames deadly bombing on 'U.S. actions'
** Jundallah (Soldiers of God) claims responsibility for the attack

Kaveh L Afrasiabi | Oct 14

Asia Times - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's high-profile trip to Moscow this week to shore up Russian support for tougher sanctions on Iran if talks on its nuclear program fail has been openly rebuffed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

He labeled as "counter-productive" even the mere threat of sanctions at this delicate moment in the Iran nuclear standoff. "At the current stage, all forces should be thrown at supporting the negotiating process. Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counter-productive," Lavrov said.

Robert Tait | Oct 9

The Guardian - The first death sentence has been passed against a defendant accused of involvement in the mass protests in Iran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, prompting fears of a wave of executions against opposition activists.

A revolutionary court in Tehran handed the penalty to Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani, 37, after convicting him of muhabereh – taking up arms against Iran's Islamic system.

The sentence was imposed after he confessed to working for a little-known exile group, the Iran Monarchy Committee, which Iranian officials describe as a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors alleged that he plotted political assassinations with US military officials in Iraq before returning to Iran "aiming at causing disruption during and after the election".

Ali-Zamani admitted guilt during a series of public mass trials that began in August in which scores of senior pro-reformist politicians confessed to fomenting the unrest that followed Ahmadinejad's victory. Opposition leaders condemned the events as "show trials" and say defendants were tortured to force them to confess. Human rights campaigners today challenged Ali-Zamani's conviction and warned that it paved the way for further politically driven executions.

Tehran | Oct 8

Reuters - Iran accused the United States on Wednesday of involvement in the disappearance of a technology university researcher "rumored" to be involved in Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian media reported.

ISNA news agency referred to "some rumors that Shahram Amiri, who went missing during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in June, was an employee of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization who wanted to seek asylum abroad.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not confirm that when he made the allegation against the United States, which suspects the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.

"We have found documents that prove U.S. interference in the disappearance of the Iranian pilgrim Shahram Amiri in Saudi Arabia," he told reporters, according to the website of state Press TV, without giving details.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "We saw that wire story, and we looked into it.

"We just basically don't have any information on this individual," Kelly told reporters.

Motherfucker.

Sorry, I just had to say that.

Am I the only one that read this article in the Times and spit shit out all over my screen in disgust? Really, there is nothing, absolutely nothing new except a whole raft of 'coulds' and 'ifs' jumbled together to make it look like Iran was TeH close to having a bomb, so fuck, the Israelis are going to bomb 'em and we should too!

Sanger writes: "While there is little doubt inside the United States government that Iran’s ultimate goal is to create a weapons capability, there is some skepticism about whether an Iranian government that is distracted by an internal power struggle would take that risky step, as well as the questions about how quickly it could overcome remaining technological hurdles."

Hey David, why don't you actually do some journalism and inform your readers what those 'remaining technological hurdles' are?

I need a drink.

Update: Newshoggers deconstructs, brutally so. Read it.

UPDATE 10/4: Sanger Strikes Again: Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb ~ did they get the data off the internet? ;) and 10/5: Newshoggers' latest Sanger rebuttal
 
original post Sep 10 ~ editors

THE DEPROLIFERATOR -- President Obama's appearance at the United Nations this week was intended as a show with a sideshow. First, he became the first U.S. president to chair an "extraordinary" session of the Security Council, with the nations represented not by diplomats but by actual heads of state, not diplomats. The council approved President Obama's resolution legalizing military action against states daring to weaponize their nuclear power program.

The sideshow, at which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represented the United States in a conference "complementary" -- as opposed to extraordinary -- to the Security Council session, produced a general recommitment to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). 

Sept 25/26

Iran atom chief: IAEA to inspect uranium-enrichment plant

The head of Iran's Atomic Organization said Saturday that agreements have been made with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect the new uranium-enrichment plant near Tehran.

'Considering the suitable cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, there will be an inspection of the new plant in due time,' Ali-Akbar Salehi told state television without giving a precise date.

He said the new plant is located 100 kilometres south of the capital Tehran and would become operational in more than one year. The country's first enrichment plant Natanz is located in central Iran.

Salehi, who is also one of the ten vice-presidents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expressed bemusement over the harsh international reaction to the new plant.

'We are indeed very surprised because whatever we did was within the legal framework and in line with all IAEA regulations,' Salehi said.

Salehi said that, according to IAEA regulations, any nuclear plant should be brought to the attention of the IAEA six months before going operational.

'In the case of the new plant, we did it even more than a year (before the operational phase),' he said, indicating that the plant would not become operational before the end of 2010.

'We are really surprised about the international reactions - there is no basis for them,' he added.

Iran tells IAEA it is building 2nd enrichment plant ~ original post

Iran has told the U.N. nuclear watchdog it has a second uranium enrichment plant under construction, a belated disclosure sure to heighten Western fears of an Iranian bid for atom bombs.

continued after the jump, also check comments for current articles

Mark Landler & David E. Sanger | Washington D.C. | September 11

NYT - The Obama administration said Friday that the United States would accept Iran’s offer to meet, fulfilling President Obama’s pledge to hold unconditional talks despite the Iranian government’s insistence that it would not negotiate over the future of its nuclear program.

The decision to engage directly with Iran would put a senior representative of the Obama administration at the bargaining table, along with emissaries from five other nations, for the first time since Mr. Obama took office.

The decision is bound to raise protests from conservatives who contend that unconditional talks are naïve, and from human rights groups that say the United States should not legitimize an Iranian government that appears to have manipulated its presidential election in June and crushed protests after the vote.

In advance of Friday’s announcement, senior administration officials said that their offer to negotiate directly with the Iranians, for what could turn into the first substantive talks since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, was, as a senior official had earlier put it, a “bona fide offer.”

James Sturcke | Sept 2

The Guardian -

General Ahmad Vahidi – wanted for Buenos Aires attack that killed 85 – is due to be confirmed after no objections by MPs

The Iranian parliament is expected to approve today the nomination for defence secretary of a man wanted in connection with the murder of 85 people at a Jewish centre in Argentina.

General Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by Interpol, has been chosen for the post by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad despite international condemnation.

Vahidi faces charges in Argentina over his alleged role in masterminding the bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994. At the time, Vahidi was the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's al-Quds force.

His nomination triggered an uproar in Argentina, but the Iranian parliament, the majlis, signalled its defiance yesterday as deputies chanted "death to Israel" when Vahidi addressed the chamber.

One member of parliament, Hadi Qavami, interrupted a speech by Vahidi to say he had initially opposed his nomination but had changed his mind after "the Zionists' allegations" and would now vote for him.

Under parliamentary rules, two MPs can take the floor to oppose a ministerial nominee. No one did in the case of Vahidi, a sign the legislature will back him.

At New Paradigms Forum, Christopher Ford writes that an attack on our military and commercial satellites "would be no less an act of war than attacking one of our naval vessels on the high seas." This past spring, he explains, the Obama administration "agreed to Chinese and Russian demands that the U.N. begin discussions on preventing an 'arms race in outer space' [by enacting] 'a worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites.'"

United Nations | Aug 29

AFP - The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean weapons bound for Iran in violation of UN sanctions, a diplomatic source said Friday.

The diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said UAE government officials had informed the UN Security Council's sanctions committee, which is responsible for implementing sanctions on Pyongyang.

"It is an issue that is being processed by the committee," said the source, who declined further comment on details on the weapons.

The UAE mission to the United Nations also declined comment on the case.

The Financial Times reported earlier Friday that the ship was seized "some weeks ago," and identified some of the armaments as basic weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.

The arms had been falsely labeled as "machine parts," the Times reported.

Julian Borger | Aug 29

The Guardian - The UN's nuclear watchdog reported today that Iran was continuing its uranium enrichment programme in defiance of UN security council resolutions, setting the stage for possible oil and gas sanctions by the west.

In a report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also repeated its regular complaint that Iran was not co-operating with its inspectors over unanswered questions about evidence of efforts to militarise the programme and produce a warhead.

In his last report on Iran before leaving his post, the IAEA director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the evidence pointing at military aspects of Iran's programme "appears to have been derived from multiple sources over different periods of time, appears to be generally consistent, and is sufficiently comprehensive and detailed that it needs to be addressed by Iran with a view to removing the doubts which naturally arise about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme."

The report said the number of centrifuges installed at the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz had grown by about 1,000 in the last two months, to 8,000.

Julian Borger | Aug 21

The Guardian - • IAEA officials admitted to controversial reactor
• Concessions seen as move to deflect UN criticism

Iran has made significant concessions to UN nuclear inspectors days before a highly critical report on the country's nuclear programme is due to be published, diplomats said today.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Iran's nearly complete heavy water reactor near the central town of Arak last week, after having been barred from the site for a year. Western officials say the reactor could be used to make plutonium, but Tehran maintains it is for research and the production of medically useful isotopes.

IAEA inspectors became alarmed when they were no longer allowed access to the site last year and a roof was constructed over the reactor so they were no longer able to keep track of its progress from satellite photographs.

Diplomats also told the Guardian tonight that the Iranian government had made concessions over IAEA monitoring at Iran's highly controversial uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.

Simon Tisdall | Aug 9

The Guardian - Senior police commander says head of Tehran prison dismissed after evidence of abuse but denies anyone died

Iran's police chief admitted today that protesters arrested after June's disputed presidential election had been tortured while in custody in a notorious prison in south-west Tehran. But he denied any of the detainees died as a result of their mistreatment.

In remarks reported by state-run media, General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam said the chief of the Kahrizak detention centre had been dismissed and punished.

"The head of the centre has been sacked and jailed. Three policemen who beat detainees have been jailed as well," the official IRNA news agency quoted Moghaddam as saying.

Human rights groups had previously identified at least three detainees who they say died as a result of torture at Kahrizak, which was closed last month on the orders of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Moghaddam denied the abuses were responsible for any fatalities there, claiming an unspecified "viral illness" had caused the deaths.

Kaveh L Afrasiabi | Aug 8

Asia Times - Analysts and recent events suggest that now may be a good time for the White House to start referring to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad as the elected leader of Iran. In fact, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs did just that on Wednesday before quickly retracting the remarks under alleged political pressure.

Such contradictions from the Barack Obama administration are symptomatic of larger problems within its Iran policy. These disconnects have been characterized by half-steps and aborted initiatives. Experts now believe the Obama administration must soon get its act together on Iran to avoid repeating the failures of the five preceding US administrations.

With three American backpackers now in Iranian custody for allegedly illegally crossing over the border from Iraqi Kurdistan, this may be a fortuitous time to break the decades-long diplomatic standoff. There are inevitable comparisons between their situation and that of two American journalists held by North Korea in March but released this week after a surprise visit by former US president Bill Clinton.

Some US pundits have loudly pondered if Clinton could pull off a similar breakthrough with Tehran.

Gibbs' fleeting acknowledgement of Ahmadinejad's electoral victory would have been a tiny step in this direction. Nevertheless, he was forced by anti-Iran forces in Washington to reverse his statement, and then repeat the alleged question marks over the validity of Iran's election results.

Ol Bill could stop by here on his way back from Korea

August 1

BBC -

Iran's biggest reformist party has dismissed the court appearance of 100 people, including leading opposition figures, as a "laughable show trial".

The accused are on trial for alleged involvement in post-election violence, on charges including acting against national security and vandalism. Pro-government media reported what they said were confessions by some of the leading reformists. But the party, Mosharekat, said the "confessions" had been forced. It said "even a cooked chicken" would laugh at the charges.

Kasra Naji, special correspondent for BBC Persian Television, says the timing and scale of the trial came as a surprise and suggests Iran's leadership wants to send a message to stop any more protests.

At the trial, pictures from the packed courtroom showed seated defendants wearing prison uniforms and with guards next to them. The defendants included supporters of opposition leaders Mr Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi - both defeated in the election - and aides of former reformist president Mohammad Khatami.

'Show trials' tend not to end well...

 
from Juan Cole: