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BERLIN - Europe's major powers have agreed to set a November deadline on Iran to meet demands meant to banish concerns that it is secretly trying to make nuclear weapons, in a confidential document made available Saturday to The Associated Press. The draft resolution was prepared by France, Germany and Britain for Monday's start of a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The draft contains a so-called "trigger mechanism," warning of possible "further steps" - which diplomats defined as shorthand for referal of Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council. The draft is likely...

Iran 'Can Create' N-Bomb. July 27, 2004 The Times, London The Statesman, India Iran is just 'months away' from having the capability to enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb, Western diplomatic sources said yesterday. Through diplomatic manoeuvring, Teheran had bought time to complete its research on constructing a centrifuge system to produce highly enriched uranium, the sources told The Times, London. The Iranians had clearly chosen that track for developing bomb-grade material over creating plutonium from its nuclear reactor facility at Bushehr, they said. 'Iran appears to be further advanced in acquiring the relevant nuclear technology than we had initially...

Iran Razed Nuclear Sites THE US today accused Iran of destroying nuclear sites to hide banned nuclear activity. "It's deplorable but not surprising that Iran's deception has gone to the extent of bulldozing entire sites to prevent the IAEA from discovering evidence of its nuclear weapons program," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "I can't give you any independent information, but commercial satellite photography shows the complete dismantling and the razing of a facility at Lavizan Shiyan. "And that's a site that was previously disclosed as a possible Iranian weapons of mass destruction-related site," he said. During a press conference,...

For years, the Iranian government has been playing games with the world about its nuclear program, claiming that they were only interested in peaceful nuclear development. That lie is about to be disproved in the most terrible way possible -- by the emergence of Iran as a nuclear power. For reference, ordinary natural uranium has an atomic weight of 238. Only .72 percent of naturally-occuring uranium consists of an unstable isotope with a weight of 235. Various complex methods can be used to separate the lighter uranium from the mix, but the most common is by gas centrifuge, of the...

<p>According to a report issued last week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tehran continues to respond to inspections of its nuclear facilities with stonewalling and defiance. With the next IAEA board meeting scheduled for Monday in Vienna, the critical question now is whether three EU nations — Britain, France and Germany, also known as the "EU 3" — are prepared to join the United States in stepping up pressure against the Iranian regime.</p>

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Key European powers on Tuesday presented a draft resolution that takes Iran to task for lagging cooperation with a U.N. atomic agency probe into its suspect nuclear activities. The draft "deplores" the fact that Iran's "cooperation has not been complete, timely and proactive," a diplomat quoting parts of the text to The Associated Press said. At the same time, the diplomat said, the draft, written by France, Britain and Germany, "acknowledges Iranian cooperation" in granting agency inspectors access to sites and locations in their investigation. The draft was circulated informally among delegations representing the 35-nation board...

IAEA Draft Resolution Slams Iran For Lack Of Cooperation June 08, 2004 AP VIENNA -- Key European powers Tuesday presented a draft resolution that takes Iran to task for lagging cooperation with a U.N. atomic agency probe into its suspect nuclear activities. A diplomat quoting parts of the text to The Associated Press said the document "deplores" the fact that Iran's "cooperation hasn't been complete, timely and proactive." At the same time, the diplomat said, the draft "acknowledges Iranian cooperation" in granting agency inspectors access to sites and locations in their investigation. The draft was circulated informally among delegations representing...

Iranian Mps Warn of NPT Pullout June 01, 2004 Agence France Presse afp.com TEHRAN -- Iran's new conservative-controlled parliament will consider pulling the Islamic republic out of a key nuclear arms control treaty if the UN's atomic energy watchdog is deemed to be too pro-American, two deputies warned Tueday. "If the IAEA again acts in the way that the Americans want and if the big powers use the Non-Proliferation Treaty to pressure Iran, parliament will examine leaving the NPT," MPs Ali Abaspour and Hossein Nejabat told the hardline Jomhuri Islami newspaper. The warning comes ahead of a June 14 meeting...

Nuclear watchdog off to Iran 30/03/2004 20:37 - (SA) Vienna - UN atomic agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei is to hold talks in Iran next Tuesday to urge the government to co-operate fully with international monitoring of its nuclear program. It will be the third visit to Iran by ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, since the IAEA began in investigating February 2003 whether the Islamic Republic was secretly developing atomic weapons, as the United States alleges. The purpose of the visit is "to consult on outstanding issues relevant to the IAEA's verification of Iran's safeguards agreement"...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - U.N. nuclear agency inspectors returned to Iran Saturday for the first time since Tehran reversed a decision to bar them because of allegations the country was hiding some banned activity. The International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors will inspect two nuclear facilities and quiz top Iranian officials on the country's atomic program. They are trying to verify Iran's claims that its nuclear activity is for peaceful purposes only. IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told The Associated Press in Vienna that the inspectors have already begun their work. Two weeks ago, Iran had barred inspectors after the IAEA issued...

Compromise Struck With Europeans to Delay Referring Iran's Nuclear Program to United Nations Mar.10, 2004 By Barry Schweid/ The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has struck a compromise with European nations that defers a showdown with Iran at the United Nations on its nuclear programs yet deplores its failure to come clean with the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency. A draft resolution, in circulation at a high-level conference of the U.N. agency in Vienna, Austria, catalogues Iran's acquisition of centrifuge technology in what the U.S. intelligence community is convinced is pursuit of nuclear weapons, an American official...

U.S., Europe Agree on Draft Resolution on Iran's Nuclear Activities Mar 9, 2004 By George Jahn/ Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Accepting painful compromises, the United States agreed with key European nations on Tuesday to tone down criticism of Iran for its continued nuclear secrecy. Washington also accepted a draft resolution containing some praise of Tehran's willingness to open its nuclear programs to outside inspection. Both sides signed off on the draft document prepared for a high-level conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency after days of grueling negotiations aimed at finding the proper mix of praise and...

A secret Israeli intelligence unit, known as Unit 8200, broke a sophisticated Iranian code enabling Israel to monitor communications, including contacts with Pakistan regarding the development of Iranian nuclear weapons, the New Yorker magazine reported on Tuesday. "On a trip to the Middle East last month, I was told that a number of years ago the Israeli signals-intelligence agency, known as Unit 8200, broke a sophisticated Iranian code and began monitoring communications that included talk between Iran and Pakistan about Iran's burgeoning nuclear-weapons program" Investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh wrote in the article. According to the report, Israeli intelligence has...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran acknowledged on Sunday that it bought nuclear components on a shady black market amid mounting concern that the Islamic Republic may still be concealing sensitive nuclear research. Disclosures by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, have in recent weeks lifted the lid on the global trade in nuclear technology that could be used to make atomic bombs. Khan has admitted to leaking nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea (news - web sites). Unlike the other two countries, Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. "We have bought some things from...

Iran can produce nuke warhead in days Cleric-led regime covertly developed uranium enrichment facilities Iran has secretly developed its uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz, which is now considered the linchpin of the nation's nuclear weapons program, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. U.S. officials said that Iran transferred research, development and assembly operations to Natanz in an effort to transform the site into the main facility for the Iranian gas centrifuge program. Iran has ambitious plans for Natanz. Currently, the site includes centrifuge assembly areas and a pilot fuel-enrichment plant slated to hold 1,000 centrifuges. A production-scale fuel-enrichment plant...

<p>Anyone who still believes the "international community" had the will to contain Saddam Hussein through inspections need only look at the non-functional non-proliferation process now taking place in neighboring Iran.</p> <p>This week's report from the International Atomic Energy Agency is as close as could be expected to smoking-gun proof that Tehran's hardliners are building an atomic bomb. The country has been shown to be running multiple uranium-enrichment programs -- all of which it originally failed to declare to the U.N. inspectors, and the more sophisticated of which it kept hiding even when given a chance to come clean in an international agreement last October.</p>

U.N. Inspectors Report Evidence That Iran Itself Made Fuel That Could Be Used for A-Bombs By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER Published: February 25, 2004 NYTimes Despite Iranian disavowals, International Atomic Energy Agency experts in Iran have found evidence of indigenous production of a concentrated fuel that, if pure enough, can be used to make nuclear weapons. They said in an inspection report that equipment made there showed many traces of the fuel, highly enriched uranium. Iran has consistently argued that any traces of concentrated fuel must have come from equipment contaminated before it was imported, presumably from...

WASHINGTON - Faced with the imminent release of a report by international nuclear inspectors, Iran has acknowledged publicly that it secretly purchased components for its nuclear programme from a network of international suppliers. But it continues to insist that its programme is for electricity production, not weapons. The Foreign Ministry statement came after Mr Hassan Rohani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, met Mr Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in Vienna. European and American diplomats believe Mr ElBaradei summarised the results of a report the IAEA is expected to release this week about Iran's...

<p>WASHINGTON — Despite serious misgivings about Iran's nuclear activities, the State Department said Friday it is prepared to give the country more time to meet its commitments to end these programs.</p> <p>Spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States is giving Iran until a March 8-10 meeting of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (search) to comply with promises made late last year. If Iran is found not in compliance, the United States could urge that the IAEA board refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions or other options.</p>

United States sets Iran March deadline Deutsche Welle - World News Feb 14, 2004 The United States has given Iran a deadline to end its nuclear weapons programme. The US State Department said Iran has until a March meeting of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency to comply with promises made late last year. If Iran is then found not to be in compliance, the United States could urge that the IAEA board refer the matter to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions or other options. The United States accuses Iran of continuing to hide information on weapons from...