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Posts Tagged ‘Iran’

Iran, Russia to Discuss Plan for Resuming Atomic Dialogue

August 15, 2011 1 comment

gsn

A senior Russian official is set on Monday to discuss with Iranian leaders a blueprint for rekindling multilateral dialogue over the Middle Eastern nation’s atomic activities, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 12).

Presidential Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, who is expected to meet in Tehran with his Iranian equivalent as well as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would discuss Moscow’s proposal for addressing U.S. and European concerns that the Persian Gulf nation’s atomic efforts are geared toward weapons development (see GSN, July 14). Iran, which has maintained its nuclear ambitions are purely nonmilitary in nature, most recently joined discussions with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany in January; the meeting yielded little progress on the atomic issue (see GSN, Jan. 24).

Iran might prove more open to a Read more…

Categories: Iran, nuclear technology, Russia Tags: , , ,

Iran, Brazil discuss expansion of ties

August 12, 2011 Comments off

Ali Ahani

presstv
During the meeting, the two sides called for “the speedy implementation of agreements” reached by Iran and Brazil in the past, IRIB reported.

The Iranian and Brazilian officials also emphasized the importance of further interactions among political, economic and parliamentary institutions of the two countries.

The Brazilian deputy foreign minister described Iran as one of “the important partners of Brazil” and an “influential” country in the world.

Louisa noted that Tehran and Brasilia will attempt to Read more…

Categories: Brazil, Iran Tags: , , ,

China And Iran To Bypass Dollar, Plan Oil Barter System, And A Deeper Dive Into The Iranian Oil Bourse

July 25, 2011 1 comment

zerohedge

One of the more notable events in the past week was the previously discussed reopening of the Iranian Oil Bourse, an attempt by Iran to launch a venue that bypasses US sanctions against Iran which has prevented payment in the world’s reserve currency for Iranian goods. “Big deal”, some will say, this is not the first time Iran has attempt to upstage the Great Satan. Well, true, although as OilPrice said last week, “what it would take for Iran’s new exchange to survive and flourish are some heavy-duty customers that Washington would be wary of picking a fight with, and Tehran already has one – China… China, the world’s largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, has renewed its annual import pacts for 2011. In 2010 Iran supplied about 12 percent of China’s total crude imports. According to the latest report of the China Customs Organization, Iran’s total oil exports to China stood at Read more…

Categories: China, Iran, Oil Tags: , , , , , ,

Iran Opens Oil Bourse – Harbinger of Trouble for New York and London?

July 21, 2011 Comments off

Oil Price

The last three years of global recession have dealt a major blow to American capitalist ideas trumpeted throughout the world on the value of “free markets.” Wall St has been revealed as a form of casino economy, with the bankster insiders gambling with other people’s, and eventually, the government’s money in the form of bailouts. As the Republicans in Congress, scenting victory in the 2012 presidential elections, hold a gun to the Obama administration’s head and rating agencies consider downgrading U.S. government bonds in light of Washington’s possible defaulting, many ideas around the world that previously seemed implausible because of the dominance of the U.S. economy are garnering renewed interest.

Not surprisingly, many of these concepts originate in countries not enamored with Washington’s influence, perhaps none so more than “Axis of Evil” charter member Iran, which has seen its economy Read more…

Categories: Iran, Oil Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

US Spy Drone Shot Down by Iran

July 20, 2011 Comments off

farsnews

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Iranian legislator confirmed earlier reports saying that a US drone has been shot down by Iran over Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in the Central Qom province.
Member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari said on Tuesday that the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Air Defense units brought it down.

The official stated that the US drone was on a mission to identify the location of the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant and gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA, Dafsari stated.

Earlier this year, a senior Iranian military official had Read more…

Categories: Iran Tags: , , , ,

Iran’s acceleration of its nuclear programme angers the west

July 20, 2011 Comments off

guardian

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspecting the Natanz nuclear plant

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, inspects the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran. Photograph: Iran’s Presidency Office Handout/EPA

Western capitals have reacted angrily to an announcement by Iran that it is installing more advanced centrifuges in a uranium enrichment plant with the aim of accelerating its nuclear programme.

“The installation of new centrifuges with better quality and speed is ongoing,” Ramin Mehmanparast, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters at his weekly press briefing.

“We have announced it and the agency [the International Atomic Energy Agency] has full supervision of them. They are fully aware that Iran’s peaceful nuclear activity continues to progress. This is another Read more…

Categories: Iran, nuclear technology Tags: , , ,

Earthquake-prone Iran moves nuclear enriching facilities underground

July 15, 2011 Comments off

alarabiya

Iran’s Fordow site in Qum. (File Photo)

Iran’s Fordow site in Qum. (File Photo)

By MARY E. STONAKER
Al Arabiya

Following its discovery by US intelligence officers, Tehran has acknowledged the existence of the underground bunker at Fordow, a shelter designed to see uranium enrichment from current claims of 20 percent to the 90 percent purity required of a nuclear weapon.

The bunker is designed to withstand air and missile strikes so the mere acknowledgement of its existence does not necessarily threaten it, which is why Iran has acknowledged it publicly. Nevertheless, some experts claim that up to 90 percent of Iran is covered by fault lines, a safety risk more pronounced after the devastation at Read more…

Categories: Iran Tags: , , , ,

China Violating Missile Proliferation Controls, Cables State

July 14, 2011 1 comment

globalsecuritynewswire

Recently leaked U.S. diplomatic memos assert that China has flouted missile proliferation controls by selling the arms and their components to Pakistan, Iran and Syria, the Washington Times reported on Wednesday (see GSN, June 2).

A classified September 2009 State Department memo written ahead of a meeting of the 34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime repeatedly references a “lack of political will” on Beijing’s part to block Chinese firms from proliferating missile technology.

The Missile Technology Control Regime is a voluntary coalition of nations that aims to constrain the sale of missiles with traveling distances in excess of roughly 185 miles and explosive payloads weighing more than 1,100 pounds. It also works to head off the proliferation of missiles designed to carry weapons of mass destruction.

“Chinese authorities and firms fail to Read more…

Categories: China Tags: , , , , , ,

Vice Premier: Iran, Hezbollah behind Lebanon protest over Israel sea border

July 11, 2011 Comments off

haaretz

The Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said at a meeting of cabinet ministers on Sunday that Iran and Hezbollah are behind the government of Lebanon’s petition to the United Nations concerning the maritime border with Israel.

martime border - Haaretz - July 10 2011 Schematic diagram of Northern Maritime Border.
Photo by: Haaretz

Ya’alon said that Iran and Hezbollah are purposefully trying to create a new source of friction with Israel.

“We signed an agreement with Cyprus that is in keeping with its agreement with Lebanon,” said Ya’alon. “When we announced our gas drilling, the Iranians and Hezbollah decided that it would be a good excuse for conflict with us.”

“They decided to sketch a new border south of the line that was agreed to in talks between Lebanon and Cyprus, and basically entered Read more…

Categories: Iran, Israel, Lebanon Tags: , , ,

N. Korea Purchased Pakistanis Nuclear Tech

July 8, 2011 Comments off

cbn

WASHINGTON — The founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program claims that in the late 1990s North Korean officials paid kickbacks to senior Pakistani military figures in exchange for critical weapons technology.

Abdul Qadeer Khan has given a United States-based expert documents that appear to show North Korea’s government paid more than $3.5 million to two Pakistani military officials as part of the deal, the expert told The Associated Press Wednesday.

To back up his claim, Khan released what he said was a copy of a North Korean official’s 1998 letter to him, written in English, that purports to describe the secret deal.

Khan gave the documents to Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, an authority on Pakistan’s weapons program. He did so because he has been accused by his government of running a covert nuclear smuggling operation without official knowledge or consent.

“He gave it to me because he regarded it as showing that the story, the perception that he had Read more…

Categories: North Korea, nuclear technology, Pakistan Tags: , , , , ,