Free Republic

550 metric tons of yellowcake uranium worth millions of dollars were shipped out of Iraq to Canada. The uranium was transported in 37 military flights in 3,500 secure barrels. Though the yellowcake had been in Iraq for some time and had been discovered by the United Nations inspectors after the first Gulf War in during the Senior President Bush’s presidency the material has finally been removed. This is a fact the Democrats don’t want publicized and the MSM will oblige.

TEHRAN, Oct 28: Iran on Saturday confirmed it had successfully enriched uranium from a new cascade at a nuclear plant despite the threat of sanctions, hailing the move as a step towards industrial-scale enrichment. The cascade of 164 centrifuges to enrich uranium is the second to be installed at the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran, joining an already established first cascade of the same number of centrifuges. “The new cascade at Natanz has started work in the last two weeks,” Iran’s deputy atomic energy organisation head Mohammad Ghannad told the Iran newspaper. “The products of the two cascades of...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran initially enriched uranium from China but is now using domestically processed uranium in its nuclear programme, an Iranian diplomat said on Friday after some doubts were cast on his country's recent enrichment claims. Iran said last month it had enriched uranium to the level used in power stations for the first time, crediting its own scientists for the breakthrough. The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed this from samples taken in Iran. But diplomats in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based, said on Thursday that the processed uranium, uranium hexafluoride (UF6), that Iran purified...

INSPECTORS from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are asking Iranian officials for samples of machinery taken from a nuclear site bulldozed in 2004 to confirm whether it bears traces of bomb-grade uranium. Diplomats close to the IAEA in Vienna said yesterday that they want to establish whether the Physics Research Centre at Lavizan, northeast of Tehran, could have been involved in an illicit weapons programme. The IAEA request follows a preliminary finding that one piece of equipment from the site does have traces of highly enriched uranium. The latest development is bound to intensify suspicions in America and other...

Vienna — The UN's atomic energy agency has found traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian site linked to the country's Defence Ministry, diplomats said Friday, adding to concerns that Tehran is hiding activities aimed at making nuclear arms. The diplomats, who insisted on anonymity in exchange for revealing the confidential information, said the findings were preliminary and still had to be confirmed through other lab tests. But they said the density of enrichment appeared to be close to or above the level used to make nuclear warheads. Still, they said, further analysis could show that the traces match...

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is producing fuel rods for nuclear reactors, state radio reported Thursday in the government‘s latest attempt to boost a nuclear program that world powers are trying to curb. "After sanctions from the U.S., experts from Iran‘s atomic energy organization have produced better quality rods than the foreign samples," the radio reported. Enriched uranium can be used in the production of nuclear energy or weapons. Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, insists its nuclear program is aimed only at producing electricity. But the United States, France...

Though President Bush didn't mention it in his speech yesterday rebutting critics of his administration's use of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, experts say that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled enough partially enriched uranium to produce at least one full-fledged nuclear bomb. Commenting on Saddam's enriched uranium stash after the U.S. Energy Department removed it to Oak Ridge, Tenn., in June 2004, top physicist Ivan Oelrich told the Associated Press: "[Saddam's] 1.95 tons of low-enriched uranium could be used to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a single nuclear bomb." Oelrich, a leading member of the Federation of...

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran rejected Europe's proposal for ending the standoff over Tehran's nuclear program, saying Saturday it was "unacceptable" because it did not give the country the right to enrich uranium. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the package of incentives offered fell short of Iran's "minimum expectations" and the government would send its official rejection to the Europeans later Saturday or Sunday. "The European proposals are unacceptable ... the package is against the spirit of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and against the provisions of the Paris agreement," he said on state radio. "The proposals do not meet...

Despite another round of talks with European diplomats, Iran has reaffirmed its determination to continue pursuing nuclear technology. That outcome is hardly unexpected. The diplomatic effort led by Britain, France and Germany is touted as a reasonable way to settle the dispute over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program without any losers. By enticing Iran to the negotiating table, we are told, the West can avoid a military confrontation, while Iran gains "economic incentives" that can help build its economy. But this deal--backed also by the Bush Administration--can only strengthen Iran and turn it into a greater menace. What Iran desires...

US wakes up to Osama's nuke dreams CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA TIMES NEWS NETWORK ASHINGTON: Alarm bells are clanging in the US and other western establishments over reports that Osama Bin Laden may have acquired or developed crude atom bombs with help from renegade Pakistani nuclear scientists. Accounts of Bin Laden's pursuit of nuclear weapons has been in the air for some time, but they acquired an added urgency this week following the arrest in Islamabad of two retired Pakistani nuclear scientists whose activities in Afghanistan were being scrutinised by western intelligence agencies. The scientists were reportedly taken into custody for questioning ...

The recent announcement of a deal for Israel to acquire thousands of Precision-Guided-Munitions (PGM) went largely unheralded by Elite-Media, who mostly yawned and ho-hummed the sale. One source, the Seattle Post Intelligencer did little more than the intellectually lazy approach, recycling an AP report but the numbers in the report were very telling: 3000 2000-pound laser-guided bombs, 1000 1000-pound laser-guided bombs and 500 500-pound precision-guided bombs. The most important number noted above is the huge number of 2000-pound PGM’s – these are heavy, penetrating munitions needed to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities. The PGM’s also have a satellite-targeting option allowing the...