Temporary nuclear deal between USA and Iran
US and Iran close to temporary nuclear deal SMH, November 7, 2013 Michael R. Gordon Geneva: On the eve of a new round of talks between world powers and Iran, a senior Obama administration official said on Wednesday that the United States was prepared to offer Iran limited relief from economic sanctions if Tehran agreed to halt its nuclear program and reversed part of it.
The official said that suspending Iran’s nuclear efforts, perhaps for six months, would give negotiators time to pursue a comprehensive agreement.
“Put simply, what we’re looking for now is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran’s nuclear program from moving forward for the first time in decades and that potentially rolls part of it back,” the administration official told reporters on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic concerns.
The official said that the details of such a step had already been discussed by international and Iranian officials and suggested that it might be agreed on as early as this week. It would likely include constraints on the level of Iran’s uranium enrichment, the country’s stockpiles of nuclear material and the abilities of its nuclear facilities, added the official, who declined to provide further details. It would also involve verification measures……….
The duration of Iran’s halt on nuclear activity under the agreement has not been finalised, but Western officials said that a six-month suspension was being considered.
The US official would not say specifically what sanctions might be eased but suggested that the degree of relief would depend on the constraints Iran was willing to accept.
Fact Checking Israel’s claims about Iran’s nuclear programme
FACT CHECK: A look at Israel’s claims on Iran’s nuclear program “…..A look at the claims: WP, 6 Nov 13
CLAIM: At an Oct. 27 meeting of the Israeli Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “improvements” in Iran’s nuclear program in the past year would allow it push past the “barrier” of 20 percent enriched uranium — the highest level acknowledged by Iran — to reach 90 percent enrichment within “weeks at most.” Uranium at 90 percent enrichment is close to weapons-grade.
DETAILS: Netanyahu may be talking about the amount of 20 percent material now on hand. This is close to 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Experts say 250 kilograms (550 pounds) would be needed to produce a single bomb by enriching that amount to above 90 percent. There is significant debate over a possible timetable, but many experts say it could be several months or longer, based on the hypothetical scenario that Iran would move ahead with higher enrichment.
Netanyahu also could be referring to the number of centrifuges installed in the past year or upgrades that allow faster production of enriched uranium. Except for a test station, however, none of the new generation machines are running. CLAIM: At the same meeting, Netanyahu said Iran’s planned heavy water reactor in the city of Arak has “no connection with energy for peace, but only for nuclear weapons.”
DETAILS: The heavy water reactor — currently under construction in central Iran — uses a molecular variant of water as a coolant and can use natural, non-enriched uranium as a fuel. Such reactors produce a higher amount of plutonium as a byproduct. The plutonium can be reused in nuclear weapons production, but needs a special extraction and enrichment process that Iran currently does not possess. Iran has not released details on its plans for plutonium, but said the reactor’s main purpose is to produce isotopes for cancer treatment and other medical uses. Iran has said it will allow 24-hour video surveillance at the reactor by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency. Similar around-the-clock monitoring is in place at other enrichment and nuclear sites.
LAIM: Israel’s Security Cabinet said Oct. 15 that Iran has “systematically defied” U.N. Security Council resolutions to halt uranium enrichment.
DETAILS: The U.N. Security Council in July 2006 passed the first in a series of resolutions demanding Iran halt its enrichment program. Iran dismissed the resolution and moved ahead with advances in enrichment, as well as the then-secret construction of a new and fortified enrichment facility built into a mountain south of Tehran……….http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/fact-check-look-at-israels-claims-over-irans-nuclear-program/2013/11/06/ae607770-46dd-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html
Iran DOES have a legal right to enrich uranium
Bottom line: At present Iran has the legal right under treaty to enrich uranium. It may be persuaded to give up that right in negotiations, but there is at present no justification for holding it to this unreasonable demand.
Does Iran Have the Right to Enrich Uranium? The Answer Is Yes Dissident Voice, by William O. Beeman / November 2nd, 2013 Now that serious talks with Iran over its nuclear program are underway, one seemingly insurmountable issue is whether Iran 
has the right to enrich uranium. The short answer is: Yes.
Those who are trying to torpedo the ongoing talks, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, want Iran to be forced to agree to the whole monty–a complete cessation of uranium enrichment and a dismantling of all enrichment facilities.
Iran claims that it has the inalienable right to enrich uranium as guaranteed in the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which it is a signatory.
The NPT treaty language is quite clear. In Article IV of the treaty it states: “Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination and in conformity with Articles I and II of this Treaty.” Continue reading
Iran’s supreme leader curbing hard liners against America
Khamenei tells Iran’s hardliners not to undermine nuclear talks By Yeganeh Torbati 4 Oct 13, DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader gave strong backing on Sunday to his president’s push for nuclear negotiations, warning hardliners not to accuse Hassan Rouhani of compromising with the old enemy America.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments will help shield Rouhani, who has sought to thaw relations with the West since his surprise election in June, from accusations of being soft on the United States, often characterized in the Islamic Republic as the “Great Satan”.
Iran will resume negotiations with six world powers, including the United States, in Geneva on Thursday, talks aimed at ending a standoff over its nuclear work that Tehran denies is weapons-related. Rouhani hopes a deal there will mean an end to sanctions that have cut the OPEC country’s oil exports and hurt the wider economy, but any concession that looks like Iran is compromising on what it sees as its sovereign right to peaceful nuclear technology will be strongly resisted by conservatives.
“No one should consider our negotiators as compromisers,” Khamenei said in a speech, a day before the November 4 anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, a pivotal event in U.S.-Iranian relations, the ISNA news agency reported.
“They have a difficult mission and no one must weaken an official who is busy with work,” said Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran’s dual clerical-republic system, including over the nuclear program. ENEMY WHO SMILES
Hardline factions, who oppose any thaw in relations with the United States, have criticized Rouhani’s negotiating team for not releasing details of the proposal they made to world powers at a previous round of talks in Geneva last month.
They have also resisted calls from moderate Iranian newspapers and prominent figures including former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to drop the “Death to America” chant, often heard at Friday prayers throughout Iran……..
In September, U.S. President Barack Obama insisted that the United States would “take no options off the table, including military options, in terms of making sure that we do not have nuclear weapons in Iran.” http://ca.news.yahoo.com/khamenei-tells-irans-hardliners-not-undermine-nuclear-talks-120352798.html
Iran upbeat about progress in nuclear negotiations with the West
Iran pledges “new approaches” with U.N. nuclear agency CBC News 28 Oct 13, A senior Iranian negotiator was upbeat Monday about the chances of progress in the latest round of talks about a proposed U.N. investigation of his country’s nuclear program, promising “new approaches” meant to end nearly two years of deadlock.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke to reporters after meeting with Yukiya Amano, the head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, and shortly before IAEA and Iranian officials sat down to negotiate again about the terms of the IAEA investigation……
Araghchi did not give details about Iran’s position, but in remarks to reporters loaded with optimism, he spoke of a “very useful and constructive meeting” with Amano, and said he was “very hopeful” that the talks on the proposed probe will break “with a good result.”
Beyond any new Iranian initiative Araghchi’s visit had significance on its own. He and other senior Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed willingness to work on reducing fears about Iran’s nuclear aims since reformist Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office in August……http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57609617/iran-pledges-new-approaches-with-u.n-nuclear-agency/
US State Dept official offends Iran with provocative comments
The Comment That Offended Iranians More Than a Nuclear Threat Iran’s leaders don’t worry we’ll nuke them. They worry we’ll never trust them. By Michael Crowley @Crowley TIME 24 Oct 13, Octogenarian billionaire and GOP megdaonor Sheldon Adelson caused a ruckus Wednesday by suggesting that the U.S. lob a nuclear missile into the Iranian desert. The idea, as Adelson described it, was to issue a warning shot that would show Tehran “we mean business” in nuclear negotiations. American media outlets hyped Adelson’s characteristically hawkish fantasy. But Iran appeared unperturbed by his talk of a nuclear first strike.
That’s because the real furor in Tehran now is over another provocative remark, this one from Wendy Sherman, a senior State Department official who is America’s lead negotiator in talks with Iran. In recent testimony to Congress, Sherman said that the U.S. had to be cautious about cutting a deal with Tehran, because recent experience with the Iranians over their nuclear program—which Iran has repeatedly concealed—shows that “deception is part of the DNA.”
“Sherman’s DNA comment has created a big stir in Iran,” says Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Adelson not so much.”
How could a diplomatic slight like Sherman’s outweigh Adelson’s talk of a nuclear first strike?
One reason has to do with the messengers. Adelson may bankroll Republicans, but he’s not setting American policy. And no one takes seriously his fantasy of a nuclear shot across Tehran’s bow.
Sherman, by contrast, speaks directly for the U.S. government. That’s why conservative leaders and media outlets in Iran are lashing out at what they call Sherman’s insult, uttered at a Senate hearing earlier this month. One hard-line paper is calling for a boycott of the talks if she’s present. A cartoon published by Iran’s Fars news agency depicts Sherman as a broom-riding witch…….
the flap also goes to a core problem with the nuclear talks: mutual distrust. The U.S. worries that Iran is feigning flexibility to win relief from sanctions, with no real intent to halt its nuclear program. Iran thinks America sees the nuclear issue as a stalking horse for regime change. The parallel suspicions could make a deal impossible…… http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/24/the-comment-that-offended-iranians-more-than-a-nuclear-threat/#ixzz2ilvRuSjn
Iran pauses uranium enrichment
Iran temporarily halts 20% uranium enrichment: Tehran (AFP) – 7 News 24 Oct 13 Iran has temporarily halted its production of enriched uranium to 20 percent purity as it has sufficient stocks to fuel its Tehran research reactor, a lawmaker was quoted Thursday as saying.
“There is no production at all … as right now there is no need for the production of 20 percent (enriched) uranium,” the parliament website reported conservative MP Hossein Naqavi Hosseini as saying.
Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme is at the core of its dispute with world powers, who suspect it masks a drive for atomic weapons despite repeated denials by the Islamic republic….. Demands that the programme be halted were again put forward earlier this year in the Kazakh city of Almaty, in talks between Iran and the P5+1 group — the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany.
The halting of the sensitive work could be crucial in resolving the long-running showdown in the negotiations, which were revived last week in Geneva and are set to resume in November.
In the talks, Iran is seeking the lifting of international sanctions which have damaged its struggling economy. World powers for their part are seeking to ensure that Tehran is not able to develop nuclear weapons. http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/19538233/iran-temporarily-halts-20-uranium-enrichment-report/
Iran prevents latest nuclear sabotage plan
Iran foils nuclear plant sabotage plot http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=912635 Sunday October 6, 2013 Iran has arrested four people suspected of attempting to sabotage one of its nuclear plants, Atomic Energy Organisation chief Ali Akbar Salehi says. ‘Some time ago, we uncovered sabotage activities by several people at a nuclear plant,’ Salehi said in comments carried by the Mehr news agency on Sunday.
‘We let them continue their activities so that we could gather more intelligence. ‘We arrested them at the appropriate moment and their interrogation is ongoing.’ Salehi did not specify which of Iran’s nuclear plants was targeted.
In August last year, saboteurs blew up power lines supplying Iran’s underground uranium enrichment plant at Fardo outside the central city of Qom.
In 2010, a US cyber-attack, reportedly carried out in collaboration with Israel, hit Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Stuxnet virus was tailored specifically to target uranium enrichment facilities. ‘There are still viruses out there but we have taken the necessary measures,’ Salehi said.
‘Since we uncovered the Stuxnet virus, we have reinforced our protection systems and a special unit has been set up.’ In recent years, Iran has detained a number of alleged US or Israeli agents accused of spying on, or attempting to sabotage, its nuclear program. Several Iranian nuclear engineers have also been killed in what Tehran says were assassinations by foreign intelligence services.
Constructive diplomacy: Iran’s President Rouhani promises a nuclear proposal
Iran president pledges nuclear plan Sky News, September 28, 2013 Iran says it hopes a proposal to be presented to major powers next month will ‘serve as an even more effective step to settle the nuclear issue’.
Iran’s new president was closing a hectic week at the United Nations where his foreign minister held landmark talks with the US.
At a closing news conference, Rouhani said that Iran would present a proposal in talks with six major powers scheduled for October 15-16 in Geneva.
‘We hope it will serve as an even more effective step to settle the nuclear issue,’ Rouhani said.Rouhani said he hoped to resolve the nuclear row in a ‘short period of time,’ a day after his foreign minister said that major powers had set a goal of a deal within one year…….We say explicitly that we do not seek a bomb. We say explicitly that we believe the building of a bomb is dangerous for us, for our region.’
Rouhani said Iran would hold true to promises made in talks with the six powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US.
‘We will never deviate from our commitments,’ he said. ‘We want to provide more assurances if necessary to the world that our program will remain peaceful.’
Rouhani’s latest remarks come after the UN atomic agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said it had ‘very constructive’ talks with Iran. …. http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=910223
West may compromise on Iran’s uranium enrichment
West may drop demand that Iran halt all nuclear work: EU minister ABC News 3 Oct 13, Middle East correspondent Matt Brown reports from Jerusalem A top European diplomat says Western governments may be softening their stand on Iran’s controversial nuclear program and may allow it to continue some uranium enrichment.
The foreign minister of Lithuania, which holds the European Union’s presidency this year, says Iran may be allowed to continue peaceful nuclear activities if it strikes a deal with Western nations.
That would ease a long-standing demand by the UN Security Council to cease all uranium enrichment because of concerns the nuclear program may be aimed at building a bomb.
Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, has repeated claims that the program is entirely civilian but also signaled a softer approach to the West than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-03/iran-nuclear-program-uranium-enrichment-israel-weapons/4995090
Legal opinion on Iran’s right to uranium enrichmen
Iran’s right to uranium enrichment unquestionable: Intl. lawyer An international lawyer tells Press TV that Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes is unquestionable under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).Press TV 30 Sept 13
Alfred Lambremont Webre said Monday that Iranian officials have made it clear that they will not go after weapons-grade uranium enrichment, citing Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s fatwa on the prohibition of nuclear arms production and development.
“I think things are very clear that statements have been made that Iran will not be going forward to enrich at weapons grade, which is over 90 percent. It will be doing under 20 percent down to 5 percent, which is enough for power enrichment,” he said.
“There is no question that under the NPT Iran has the right to enrich uranium of non-weapons grade, that is, of power-station grade, which you would say would be between 5 percent and certainly under 20 percent,” he added.
He said that there was no evidence that Iran was intending to develop nuclear weapons, adding the Islamic Republic was enriching for nuclear power as its “basic legal right.” …..http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/30/326923/iran-right-to-enrichment-unquestionable/
Iran speaks out about Israel’s 200 nuclear warheads
Iranian foreign minister: Israel has an arsenal of 200 nuclear warheads Jerusalem Post, 29 Sept 13 In interview with ABC, Zarif says Holocaust “is not a myth. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused Israel on Sunday of having an arsenal of 200 nuclear warheads, and said it is the source of insecurity in the Middle East.
“Israel has 200 nuclear warheads. Israel is the source of insecurity in our region. Israel is the source of aggression and violation of human rights of the Palestinian people. It should not have the audacity to continue to lie to the American people and to the world and mislead everybody,” Zarif toldABC’s This Week in his first appearance on the show in 26 years……..
Echoing similar statements made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani when he was asked to address the issue, Zarif made the leap from the Nazis’ condemnable crime to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
“We condemn the killing of innocent people, whether it happened in Nazi Germany or whether it’s happening in Palestine. One crime, however heinous – and [the] Holocaust was a heinous crime, it was a genocide, it must never be allowed to be repeated. But that crime cannot be, and should not be, a justification to trample the rights of the Palestinian people for 60 years. We should have abandoned this game and start recognizing the fact that without respect for the rights of the Palestinians we will never have peace in our region,” he said.
Iran’s right for nuclear enrichment ‘nonnegotiable’……. http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Iranian-foreign-minister-Israel-has-an-arsenal-of-200-nuclear-warheads-327408
Rouhani calls on Israel to join Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty,
The Iranians have frequently pointed out that they have publicly renounced nuclear arms and that — unlike Israel — Iran is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear monitor. The Iranians also have countered that Israel is believed to already have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, which it refuses to confirm or deny.
According to the Arms Control Association, a non-proliferation group in Washington, Israel is suspected of having 100 to 200 nuclear warheads.
Iran’s president calls on Israel to join nuclear treaty http://www.smh.com.au/world/irans-president-calls-on-israel-to-join-nuclear-treaty-20130927-2uhgw.html#ixzz2g9sTxNSF September 27, 2013
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran told the United Nations on Thursday that “no nation should possess nuclear weapons,” and that Israel should join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, as Iran did long ago, as part of a grander plan to create a zone free of nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Continue reading
No place for nuclear weapons in Iran – Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani tells UN there is no place for nuclear weapons in Iran ABC News 25 Sept 13 Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani says nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s security and that he is prepared to reach a “framework” for managing his country’s differences with the US.
In his address to the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr Rouhani blasted “violent” international sanctions against Iran and called on US president Barack Obama to avoid the influence of “warmongering pressure groups”……..
Earlier, Mr Obama used his speech at the UN General Assembly to respond to recent friendly overtures from Iran over its nuclear program.
Mr Obama cautiously lauded signs Iran’s new moderate president wants to pursue an agreement…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-25/iran-us-un-rouhani-barack-obama-nuclear-weapons/4979158
No nuclear weapons for Iran: President Rouhani
Rouhani says Iran will never develop nuclear weapons: NBC interview (Reuters) Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Christopher Wilson and Xavier Briand, 18 Sept 13, – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a television interview on Wednesday that his government would never develop nuclear weapons and that he has full authority to negotiate a nuclear deal with the West, NBC News reported.
Speaking to the U.S. network at his presidential compound in Tehran, Iran’s new president also said the tone of a letter he had received from President Barack Obama, part of a recent exchange of messages between the two leaders, was “positive and constructive.”
“It could be subtle and tiny steps for a very important future,” Rouhani said, in another sign that he may be seeking a thaw between Iran and the West after years locked in a standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Rouhani’s comments came just six days before he will be in New York to address the U.N. General Assembly, a speech that will be closely watched for fresh diplomatic overtures.
Echoing what Iranian leaders have said before, Rouhani was quoted by NBC as declaring that his government would “never develop nuclear weapons” under any circumstances………
Since Rouhani was elected president in June, the centrist cleric has called for “constructive interaction” with the world, a dramatic shift in tone from the fiery anti-Western rhetoric of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad……..http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-iran-nuclear-rouhani-idUSBRE98H11S20130918
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