New US report on Iran nukes 'makes issue urgent' –> Zionists desperate

The Islamic republic's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2nd L) and Foreign Minister Ali AKbar Salehi (C) listening to an expert during a tour of Tehran's research reactor centre on February 15, 2012.(AFP Photo / Iranian Presidency)

Source: Russia Today

http://www.rt.com/news/intelligence-report-iran-us-294/

Time is running out to contain the Iranian threat, Israel’s defense minister has warned. Israel is raising the alarm following a new US National Intelligence Estimate which says Tehran has made significant strides towards joining the nuclear club.

­US President Barrack Obama was supposed to have received the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) weeks ago, but it was delayed in order to include “new and alarming intelligence information” concerning the military nature of Iran’s nuclear program, Haaretz reports. The report’s conclusions are said to converge with those of the Israeli intelligence community.

The NIE reportedly concluded that Iranian efforts to develop a nuclear capability had made considerably greater progress than initially thought.

Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, said he was aware of an unspecified intelligence report circulating in Washington whose conclusions converged with Israel’s own assessment of Iran’s nuclear intentions.

There probably really is such an American intelligence report – I don't know if it is an NIE one – making its way around senior offices (in Washington)," Reuters cites Barak as telling Israel Radio.

"As far as we know it brings the American assessment much closer to ours … it makes the Iranian issue even more urgent and (shows it is) less clear and certain that we will know everything in time about their steady progress toward military nuclear capability," he continued.

When asked about a comment made last week by former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy, who said “if I were an Iranian, I would be very worried in the next twelve weeks,” Barak did not flinch.

"There is some basis to what Halevy said." We will soon have to make some difficult decisions”, he warned.

"All the options are still on the table, and when we say this, we mean it," he continued.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said he was “not going to comment on intelligence matters" after being questioned about the NIE findings.

Israel has been steadfast in its assertion that it will launch a pre-emptive military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. While the United States maintains it will do everything within its power to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon, Washington has urged Israel to give the sanctions regime against Iran more time to take effect.

However, signs that Israel is losing patience became apparent during a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US defense secretary, Leon Panetta, last week.

“Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program,” he said “This must change, and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out.”

“Neither sanctions nor diplomacy has yet had any impact on Iran's nuclear weapons program,” Netanyahu continued.

While Panetta maintained that the US would keep all options on the table, whether the latest NIE report indicates the US is leaning towards a military solution remains to be seen.

The NIE is an “estimative” product compiled by 16 US intelligence agencies intended to inform the US president and other top government officials on the likely course of future events.

A 2007 NIE report on Iran actually derailed Israeli efforts to rally the international community against Tehran after it found the country had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and had made no efforts to bring it back online.

However, the latest NIE findings could mirror a US military source who claimed the US and Israel had already drawn up war plans against Iran.

Japan offers to enrich uranium for Iran

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119384§ionid=351020104


Japan has offered to enrich uranium for Iran allowing access to nuclear power by the Islamic Republic, the Nikkei business daily reports.

The Japanese proposal is aimed to allay international fears that Iran might be seeking an atomic weapon, according to Wednesday's edition of the report.

The uranium would be used at Tehran's research reactor to produce medical isotopes, the report added.

According to the publication, the Iranian government has not yet responded to the proposal, but the issue was expected to be discussed Wednesday when the visiting Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada meet in Tokyo.

"Japan strongly hopes Iran's nuclear issue will be resolved peacefully and diplomatically ... and that Iran considers a related UN Security Council resolution seriously", a foreign ministry spokesman quoted Katsuya as saying in the meeting.

Iran says that it is a signatory of the NPT and, unlike Israel, neither believes in atomic weapons nor, as a matter of religious principle, does it intend to access such weapons of mass-destruction. Furthermore, Tehran has repeatedly called for the elimination of all nuclear weapon development, production and arsenals throughout the globe.

Iran's nuclear facilities and enriched uranium remain under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, as outlined in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement.

The UN nuclear watchdog has carried out the highest number of inspections in Iran, compared to any other country throughout its history and has found nothing to indicate any diversion toward weaponization.

IAEA confirms 20% uranium enrichment in Iran

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118942§ionid=351020104


The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Iran has produced its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment plant.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in his first report on Iran that Iranian experts carried out the enrichment for producing nuclear fuel for the Tehran research reactor between February 9 and 11.

"Iran provided the agency with mass spectrometry results which indicate that enrichment levels of up to 19.8 percent (uranium) were obtained," the report says.

Iran announced on February 9 that it had started enriching uranium to the level of less than 20 percent to meet the country's fuel requirements for the reactor producing medical radioisotopes, after the potential suppliers failed to provide the fuel under a UN deal.

Two days later, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally declared that Iran had successfully produced the first stock of the 20-percent enriched uranium, a declaration which was met with cynicism in the West.

The report noted that Iran started enriching uranium to a higher level in the presence of IAEA inspectors.

"On February 10, when the agency inspectors arrived at the PFEP (Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant), they were informed that Iran had already begun to feed the UF6 (uranium hexafluoride) into one cascade the previous evening," Amano said in his report to the IAEA Board of Governors.

The report also verified the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.

"The information available to the agency is extensive… broadly consistent and credible in terms of the technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people, and organizations involved," the report said.

However, the IAEA called on Iran to further discuss and cooperate on alleged issues.

"Iran has not provided the necessary cooperation to permit the agency to confirm that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities," it added.

"Altogether this raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile," Amano said.

Iran has repeatedly denied it is working on sensitive nuclear materials and insists its uranium enrichment plants and other facilities are only geared toward civilian nuclear energy applications.

Iran starts 20% uranium enrichment

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118235&sectionid=351020104


Iran on Tuesday began enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent at its Natanz enrichment facility under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog.

The move comes after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tasked the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) with enriching uranium to 20 percent in order to meet the demands of the country's cancer patients.

Iran has earlier informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it would start enriching uranium to 20 percent on Tuesday in the presence of the inspectors and observers from the agency.

Iran needs 120 kg (264 lb) of 20 percent-enriched uranium to fuel the Tehran research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients and is soon to run out of fuel.

The Tehran research reactor, which produces 20 different kinds of radio-medicine for cancer patients, runs on 20 percent-enriched U-235.

The AEOI Director Ali-Akbar Salehi on Tuesday confirmed the beginning of uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity level at Natanz plant.

"The enrichment started on Tuesday in a separate cascade from the production line that enriches uranium in Natanz," Salehi told the Islamic Republic News Agency.

"We opened a new cascade, called S8, in Natanz which is more on a lab scale," he said.

The top nuclear official said that doors are still open for talks with Iran about nuclear fuel swap.

"The beginning of the enrichment is not tantamount to the end of interaction and negotiations on a UN-brokered proposal on fuel swap," he said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is still ready to continue cooperation if the negotiation parties act wisely and end wasting time," Salehi underlined

Fresh Calls for Iran Sanctions

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/20102852752669556.html


The United States and France have said new sanctions against Iran are the only option after Tehran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it will begin enriching higher-grade nuclear fuel to a level of 20 per cent.


Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said that Iran should face "strong sanctions" over its nuclear programme, a French official said following a meeting between the two men in Paris.

Earlier on Monday, Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, said that Tehran had handed an official letter to the UN's atomic agency saying that his country would begin enriching the fuel from Tuesday.

Soltanieh said that Iran would use its nuclear stockpile to enrich uranium to supply its Tehran research reactor which produces medical isotopes.

Earlier, speaking to al-Alam, Iran's Arabic-language state television station, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the country's atomic energy organisation, said Tehran planned to build 10 new facilities over the next year where the enrichment could be carried out.


Iran had said in November that it planned to build the enrichment plants but had not given a timescale.

Sanctions call

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, said on Monday that he did not believe Iran had the ability to raise the enrichment level of its uranium and that the move by Tehran was "blackmail".


"One could call it diplomacy, but if that is what is then it is truly negative," said Kouchner.

"That is not serious and we, alas cannot apply anything other than sanctions since negotiation is not possible."

Gates also said more pressure had to be applied to the Iranian government.

"We must still try and find a peaceful way to resolve this issue," Gates said.

"The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track but it will require all of the international community to work together."

Asked about the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran over its nuclear programme, Gates said: "Everybody's interest is in seeing this issue resolved without a resort to conflict."

Kouchner said all the major powers apart from China were in favour of a fourth round of UN-backed sanctions.

However, he said there was no deadline for reaching an agreement and added that he did not fear that any Israeli action was imminent.

Western powers accuse Iran of attempting to build nuclear weapons but Tehran says its nuclear programme is for purely civilian purposes.

Difficult change

Alireza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, said: "It's a new phase in Iran's nuclear achievement, but it is not going to happen overnight.

"A very difficult design process will have to take place. They'll need to change the existing capacity that consists of 4,000 - 5,000 centrifugal machines.

"It will also infringe upon Iran's current capacity for enriching uranium to a level of 3.5 - 4 per cent, which is necessary for its current nuclear programme.

"Regardless, these are the things that many conservatives in Iran think will make the country's hand stronger in negotiations with the West."


Salehi and Soltanieh's statements follow instructions from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, on Sunday that he start the production of higher-grade nuclear reactor fuel.

But Salehi has also suggested that production would be halted if Iran received fuel enriched to 20 per cent from abroad.

Iran has expressed its readiness to exchange its low-enriched uranium for higher-grade fuel, but has demanded amendments to the UN-drafted IAEA plan, under which Iran would export its low-enriched uranium abroad for enrichment.

"Iran would halt its enrichment process for the Tehran research reactor any time it receives the necessary fuel for it," Salehi said.


Draft proposal

The UN plan was drawn up in early October in a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, between Iran and six world powers - the UK, China, France, Russia, the US and Germany - and later refined at a meeting in Vienna.

The talks in the Austrian capital came up with a draft proposal that would take 70 per cent of Iran's low-enriched uranium to reduce its stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level, and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons.

That uranium would be returned about a year later as refined fuel rods, which can power reactors but cannot be readily turned into weapons-grade material.

Ahmadinejad had last week appeared to support the deal in an interview on state television, but on Sunday he blamed the West for the stalemate over the deal.

Ahmadinejad orders 20% uranium enrichment

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118087§ionid=351020104


Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has tasked the country's atomic chief with enriching uranium to 20 percent, in order to meet the demands of the country's cancer patients.

Speaking at the exhibition of Laser Science and Technology Achievements in Tehran, the president called on Ali Akbar Salehi, to start the process.

"Mr. Salehi you start enriching up to 20 percent and we are still open to negotiations on the issue," he told the head of the country's atomic energy organization who was sitting in the audience.

Thousands of Iranian patients, in need of post-surgery drug treatment with nuclear medicine, will suffer if domestic production dries up when a research reactor in Tehran runs out of fuel.

The Tehran research reactor, which produces 20 different kinds of radio-medicine for cancer patients, runs on uranium that is some 20 percent U-235 — an enrichment level higher than what is currently produced at Iran's Natanz enrichment facility.

Iran has requested the International Atomic Energy Agency to arrange for supplying of the fuel to the country. The West has been pressuring Iran to accept a UN-backed draft deal which requires Iran to send most of its domestically-produced low enriched uranium (LEU) abroad for conversion into the more refined fuel that the Tehran reactor requires to produce medical isotopes.

Iran says its concerns over the proposal, which was first floated by the US, should be heeded.

The development comes as Tehran has been trying to find a middle ground with the West over the nuclear swap.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki expressed hope on Saturday that an agreement on the nuclear fuel proposal will soon be reached with the Western side, but with the changes that Tehran seeks.

His remarks were largely ignored by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates who has instead insisted on the imposition of fresh sanctions on the country.

Amid US fury, China stands up for Iran diplomacy

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117952§ionid=351020104


As the US insists fresh sanctions against Iran should be implemented over its nuclear program, China says more diplomacy should be exercised over the issue.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters on Friday that Washington would continue to reach out to other sides involved in the issue, including China, to decide on fresh sanctions against Iran.

“We think it is important that we move now toward looking at what pressure, what sanctions can be brought to bear on the Iranians," Clinton said. "We're going to continue to reach out to all of our colleagues in this effort, including, of course, China."

China, however, continues to resist the US call.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said more pragmatic diplomatic efforts had to be made regarding the Iranian nuclear program, which Tehran says is aimed at the civilian applications of the technology.

“This issue has entered a crucial stage. The parties concerned should, with their overall long-term interests in mind, step up diplomatic efforts, stay patient and adopt a more flexible, pragmatic and proactive policy."

Last month, the six major powers met in New York but failed to agree on a new round of sanctions as Russia and China called for patience and restraint in dealing with Iran.

Since then the US has been lobbying veto-wielding China and Russia to consent to more sanctions against Iran, which is already under three rounds of UNSC sanctions over its nuclear work.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that he would hold talks with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, in Germany.

He said he would try “to convey the position of the [six world powers] about the need for Iran to answer the International Atomic Energy Agency's questions and take certain steps that would assure us of the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program.”

Lavrov said that an agreement on practical issues, such as the question of fuel supply for Tehran's nuclear research reactor, would pave the way for renewing negotiations between the six world powers and Iran.

Lavrov, however, said that the issue would be brought up at the UN Security Council if Iran does not provide a “constructive reply.”

"If we do not see a constructive reply from the side of Iran, we will need to talk about that at the UN Security Council."

The US and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military ends through its nuclear energy program. Iran denies the allegation.

After years of extensive inspections, the UN nuclear agency has not found any evidence that can be used to support US claims against Iran.

Iran: No problem with nuclear plan

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/2010230058976481.html

Iran's president has indicated his country may be ready to ship its uranium abroad for enrichment, in line with a UN-backed proposal.

For months Iranian officials have criticised the plan proposed by six world powers last year for Iran to send out the bulk of its low-enriched uranium to be processed and returned as nuclear fuel to power its reactor.

But on Tuesday, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would have "no problem" doing so.

"Some people made a fuss about it. There is no problem. We will seal a contract and we will give you 3.5 per cent uranium to enrich it to 20 per cent levels in four or five months and return to us," he said in an interview with Iranian broadcaster IRIB on Tuesday.

He dismissed concerns by "colleagues'' that the West would not return the uranium, saying Iran would respond to that by continuing to produce its own enriched uranium.

"If they don't return it, what will happen? We will be proven right, and then it will be proven that the agency [International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA] was not reliable and they will be discredited. Then we will be free to rely on ourselves for our activities."

US response

The US has responded that Iran needs to inform the IAEA if it plans to go ahead with the deal and transfer its uranium abroad for enrichment.

"There is a forum to be able to resolve whether this is a serious offer and that's through the IAEA. If Iran is serious, they can inform the IAEA that they are ready to accept the deal that's on the table," PJ Crowley, a US state department spokesman, said.

Western governments suspect Iran wants to make nuclear weapons but Iran says its nuclear programme is for civilian power generation.

The IAEA proposal would see about 70 per cent of Iran's low-enriched uranium taken abroad, reducing the stockpile of material that could be enriched to a higher level and possibly be used to make nuclear weapons.

The uranium would be returned to Tehran about a year later as refined fuel rods, which can power reactors but cannot be readily turned into weapons-grade material.

Conservative opposition

The proposal was first drawn up in October by six countries – the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – and refined later that month in talks among Iran, the US, Russia and France.

But the deal stalled last year over disagreements about shipping and domestic resistance inside Iran.

Alireza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, said Iran's apparent change of heart had come about after an easing of conservative opposition to the proposal.

"President Ahmadinejad has said .... Iran has the technology at its disposal to produce uranium enriched to the level that could be used as fuel, and now that Iran possesses that technology there is no problem in sending the uranium outside," he said.

"The main problem was within Iran, where some conservatives were trying to lash out at the president because of his willingness to strike a deal with foreign powers, but after months of debate it seems like that obstacle has been removed.

"At the beginning there was a lot of fuss inside the parliament and elsewhere in the public domain about the government backing down against foreign powers, but little-by-little things have changed."

Position unclear

However, it remains unclear how much of a concession or acceptance Ahmadinejad's comments represent.

His timeframe of four or five months for the uranium processing overseas appears a long way off from the one year that Western officials say it would take for the process – a failure to bridge that difference could allow Iran to accuse the West of foot-dragging.

He also did not say whether Iran was ready to ship out most of its uranium stockpile in one batch - another condition of the proposal designed to delay Iran's ability to make a nuclear weapon.

The US and its allies have been pushing for a fourth round of UN sanctions to be slapped on Iran for not complying with UN resolutions over its nuclear programme, but Russia and China are not in favour of any new penalties.

Possible prisoner swap

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad suggested in the same interview that Iran would free three jailed US hikers in exchange for Iranians held in US prisons, adding that there are "some talk under way to have an exchange".

The US responded cautiously, saying it had asked to meet the hikers, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, currently held in Iran.

"If President Ahmadinejad's comments suggest that they are prepared to grant us access through the Swiss and resolve the cases of the three hikers and other Americans in custody, we would welcome that step, Gordon Duguid, a state department spokesman, said.

The three were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border into Iran, their families said.

US issues China ultimatum on Iran sanctions

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=117373§ionid=351020104


In unusually blatant remarks aimed at China, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday assailed the country for not joining the US-led front in imposing fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear work.

Clinton said she understood China's unwillingness to impose new penalties on Iran, one of the country's biggest oil suppliers, but warned against “longer-term implications” if Iran did not stop its nuclear program.

"We understand that right now it seems counterproductive to you to sanction a country from which you get so much of the natural resources your growing economy needs. But think about the longer-term implications."

The US accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weaponry. Iran says its nuclear program is directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

Clinton said from now on, China will be under “a lot of pressure” to accompany the US campaign.

"As we move away from the engagement track, which has not produced the result that some had hoped for, and move forward on the pressure and sanctions track, China will be under a lot of pressure to recognize the destabilizing impact that a nuclear-armed Iran would have in the [Persian] Gulf, from which they receive a significant percentage of their oil supplies.”

The US has been lobbying China and Russia, two veto-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), to approve more sanctions against Iran.

Earlier this month, the five permanent members of the UNSC plus Germany (P5+1) met in New York but failed to agree on a new round of sanctions as Russia and China called for patience and restraint in dealing with Iran over its nuclear program.

Netanyahu, Merkel to discuss Iran

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116437§ionid=351020104


After a secret meeting with US President Barack Obama's advisor Dennis Ross, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Berlin on a visit focused on Iran.

An Israeli delegation comprising Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have headed to Germany to attend the second German-Israeli cabinet meeting in the German capital Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are to host the meetings originally scheduled for November.

Netanyahu last week secretly met with Dennis Ross, a senior advisor to the Obama administration on Iran, who had accompanied US National Security Advisor James Jones to Israel.

“On the agenda is obviously, among other issues, international pressure on Iran,” the prime minster's Spokesman Mark Regev said on Monday.

A spokesman for the Merkel administration had earlier confirmed that Tehran and the failed Mideast peace process would be high on the agenda.

An Israeli official talking to reporters in a briefing ahead of the Berlin talks said Israel feels its time "to act to upgrade sanctions" against the Islamic Republic.

Both the United States and its close ally Israel have refused to rule out the possibility of a military attack against the country of more than 70 million people, should Tehran fail to heed their demands over its nuclear energy program.

Tel Aviv claims Tehran's nuclear program poses a threat to its security. This is while Iran's nuclear activities have been inspected more than that of any other country by the UN nuclear watchdog and there has been no evidence to justify Israeli claims.

Iran has not initiated a war with any country for more than a century.

Russia says further anti-Iran sanctions futile

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116378§ionid=351020104


Moscow said on Saturday that imposing additional sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear energy program will most likely prove to be of no avail.

"I believe that in this particular situation, the effectiveness of [additional] sanctions is highly doubtful," said Russian Foreign Ministry Deputy Sergei Ryabkov, who represented Moscow at the meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1).

Meanwhile, an EU official said the six powers would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to the issue. However, he added that the P5+1 members — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US plus Germany — would also begin considering new sanctions.

"We will continue to seek a negotiated solution, but consideration of appropriate further measures has also begun," senior European Union security adviser Robert Cooper, who chaired the meeting, said on Sunday, without specifying the possible measures.

Although Cooper said that his statement was made on behalf of the P5+1, Ryabkov stressed that the six powers decided against new sanctions on Tehran.

The Russian deputy foreign minister added that the six powers had agreed to study new political methods to solve the issue.

"We will look at which measures can be developed in order to stimulate political and diplomatic solutions to the problem at hand," said Ryabkov.

"This does not mean that we have made a decision in regard to sanctions, this is the fulfillment of the mandate given by our ministers to complete a collective evaluation of the situation to decide what can be done further," the Russian official added.

"We do believe there is still time for meaningful political engagement, and efforts to find a solution. That's something that Russia has always advocated," he said.

P5+1 members had come together in the US capital to discuss possible new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Russia and China reportedly opposed any new measures. Beijing even sent a lower-level diplomat to show its reluctance to support tougher sanctions pushed by the West.

The US and its European allies were seeking to impose a new round of sanctions against Tehran, targeting certain high-ranking officials from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and some of its affiliated companies.

Washington and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, has repeatedly said that it has found no evidence supporting the allegation.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, confirming the non-diversion of nuclear material in country's functional and under-construction plants.

Iran also denies the allegation, saying that it needs nuclear energy to produce electricity to meet the country's growing demand.

P5+1 meeting on Iran 'inconclusive'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116327§ionid=351020104


Diplomats from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) have ended a meeting over Iran's nuclear energy program without reaching an agreement.

"We had a very sober assessment," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters. "It is inconclusive in the sense that we did not make any decisions right away," he added, AFP reported.

The P5+1 members — Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States plus Germany — had come together to discuss possible new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Russia and China reportedly opposed any new measures, while Beijing sent a lower-level diplomat in a signal of its reluctance to back tougher sanctions pushed by the West.

The US is seeking to impose a new round of sanctions, targeting certain high-ranking officials from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and some of its affiliated companies.

Washington and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, has repeatedly said that it has found no evidence supporting the allegation.

The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, confirming the non-diversion of nuclear material in country's functional and under-construction plants.

Iran also denies the allegation, saying that it needs nuclear energy to produce electricity to meet the country's growing demand.

China sends low-ranking diplomat to 5+1 talks

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116266§ionid=351020104


China is slated to send a low ranking diplomat to a meeting of six world powers on Iran's nuclear issue as the country keeps expressing reluctance to support tougher sanctions against Iran.

"Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei will not be able to attend because of scheduling issues, in the current circumstances, we hope that the relevant parties can continue seeking a diplomatic resolution, and demonstrate flexibility," said the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The six countries, which are known as the P5+1 group, are set to meet in New York on Saturday to hold discussions on whether to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

China's decision to send a low-ranking representative caused dismay among the US and its allies, who had expected the Asian state to send a higher-level diplomat to the talks.

Beijing and Moscow have been seeking diplomatic solutions to the dispute over Iran's nuclear dossier, saying that tougher sanctions against Iran would be premature.

"We are aware that their representation will be below the level of political director, but it will be a useful meeting to have regardless of the Chinese representation," US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters on Thursday.

"…the United States will continue to work with China and other countries to convince them that the urgency of the situation requires not only additional engagement, which China does support, but additional pressure, which obviously China is still working through," he added.

Earlier on Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the meeting would focus on the degree and kind of sanctions.

The United States and Western countries accuse Iran of harboring military aspirations under the guise of civilian work, a claim categorically denied by the Iranian government.

Iran says it seeks to advance its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, particularly the generation of electricity for domestic use.