Times of London says there was explosion at Iran nuclear site
Top British Paper: Massive explosion believed to have damaged nuclear facility in Iran -Sources http://enenews.com/top-uk-paper-massive-explosion-believed-damaged-nuclear-facility-iran-sources
January 28th, 2013
Title: ‘Blast’ at Iranian nuclear facility
Source: The Times of London* (via The Australian)
Author: Sheera Frenkel
Date: January 29, 2013
h/t pcjensen
A MASSIVE explosion is believed to have damaged Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, which is being used to enrich uranium, Israeli intelligence officials say.
Sources in Tel Aviv said yesterday they thought the explosion happened last week. The Israeli government is investigating reports that it led to extensive structural damage and that 200 workers had been trapped inside.
Israel believes the Iranians have not evacuated the surrounding area. It is unclear whether that is because no harmful substances have been released, or because Tehran is trying to avoid sparking panic among residents. […]
One Israeli official said: “We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is.” He did not know, he added, whether the explosion was “sabotage or accident”, and refused to comment on reports Israeli aircraft were seen near the facility at the time of the explosion. […]
*Wikipedia: By June 2012 The Times’ average daily circulation had fallen to 400,120 copies, compared to The Daily Telegraph’s 573,674, with the two retaining respectively the second-highest and highest circulations among British “quality” newspapers.
More Reports:
- Bloomberg: Iran Rejects Report of Blast at Nuclear Site as Propaganda
- Telegraph: Mystery over ‘explosion’ at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site
See also: Report of huge explosion at nuclear facility in Iran — Major news networks dismiss claim
International Atomic Energy Agency says “no explosion at Iran nuclear site”
IAEA says no indications of blast at Iran nuclear site, SMH, 31 Jan 13, The UN atomic agency said on Wednesday that it had no indications that an explosion took place at an Iranian nuclear facility, as reported by Israeli and US media.
“We understand that Iran has denied that there has been an incident at Fordo. This is consistent with our observations,” said Gill Tudor, spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The reports cited the conservative American news website WND, which said an explosion at the Fordo facility on January 21 had caused major damage and trapped workers.
Iran denied any such blast took place, with a senior lawmaker calling the rumours “Western propaganda” aimed at influencing upcoming talks with world powers on Iran’s nuclear programme…….http://www.smh.com.au/world/iaea-says-no-indications-of-blast-at-iran-nuclear-site-20130130-2dle8.html#ixzz2JbPAQz5z
Why spread an unlikely story of explosion at Iran nuclear plant??
Not for nothing have the major news organizations ignored Kahlili’s Fordow report. Beyond his questionable credibility, there is no supporting evidence. If a large explosion did occur at Fordow a week ago, why have no satellite photos appeared of dozens of vehicles on the site involved in rescue operations? And if there are 240 workers trapped underground, how come no worried relatives have expressed concern on one of the social networks? Iran may have a repressive regime, but tens of millions of citizens are connected to the Internet and are experts at evading the regime’s attempts to monitor and filter their communications. Something would have come out by now.
Who spread reports of an ‘explosion’ at Iran’s Fordow nuclear plant and why?
According to the report, the explosion in Fordow seriously damaged many of the centrifuges in the plant and trapped underground 240 employees who have yet to be rescued. But if this is true, why have the major news networks dismissed it?
Haaretz, By Anshel Pfeffer | Jan.27, 2013 The Internet has been abuzz over the last couple of days with an uncorroborated report regarding a huge explosion in the underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow in Iran. According to the report, the explosion seriously damaged many of the centrifuges in the plant and trapped underground 240 employees who have yet to be rescued.
If this is true, it will be the most serious sabotage caused yet to the Iranian nuclear program. If this is true.
The main problem with the report is that no supporting evidence has appeared so far from any reliable sources to corroborate it, nor has a statements been released from an official source in Iran or any other country. All the main Western news organizations with contacts and sources in the intelligence community have steered well away from the story. (In Israel, only the tabloid Yedioth Ahronoth, which splashed the story on the front page of its Sunday edition, took notice of the story.)
Perhaps it’s the identity of the report’s author which leads to the disbelief: Reza Kahlili, an Iranian exile with an interesting past who is well known to many reporters covering intelligence and Iranian affairs. He published the report on the explosion, which apparently took place on Monday, the eve of the Israeli elections, on World News Daily, a veteran website with close contacts to the far-right in the United States. Kahlili himself is a frequent speaker at events organized by right-wing organizations and those that support the right in Israel. It’s not hard to realize why. In an interview he gave Haaretz two years ago, upon the publication of his book “A Time To Betray”, Kalili set out a worldview on Iran that was surprisingly similar to that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also compared the regime in Tehran to that of the Nazis, and called upon Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear installations…… Continue reading
A realistic plan for negotiations with Iran
Devil Is in the Details for Iran Nuclear Deal Anti War.com by Jasmin Ramsey, January 26,2013 After a year of fruitless negotiations that are expected to resume soon, Iranian and U.S. experts are urging both sides to show more flexibility and make more concessions on its nuclear programme.
A letter written this month by seven former Iranian parliamentarians now living in exile urges Iran and the P5+1 – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – to pursue a “win-win outcome” by incorporating four points into an agreement.
The letter states that Iran should be able to enrich uranium up to five percent for peaceful purposes; Iran should be given fuel for its medical and scientific research reactors if it halts its enrichment of 20 percent uranium and allows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to control its existing stockpile; Iran should implement the Additional Protocol as a “confidence-building measure”; and Iran should be provided with a timetable for the lifting of sanctions if it halts its 20 percent uranium enrichment.
“The proposal reminds us that there is in fact a reasonable solution to this confrontation, one that satisfies each side’s core interests and removes any need for war,” Stephen Walt, a Harvard international relations professor, told IPS. “The only question is whether leaders in Washington and Tehran will be smart and far-sighted enough to seize it.”…… http://original.antiwar.com/ramsey/2013/01/25/devil-is-in-the-details-for-iran-nuclear-deal/
Explosion at Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment site. Is this report true?
So far, I have not been able to find corroborating information on this. Please check out the comments below this item – some good points to alert us to the possibility that this is a hoax. And note the video below the blogs – reminder of the effect of the radio program “War of the Worlds” – which panicked people many decades ago. – C.M.
Report: Explosion Destroys Key Iran Nuclear Site http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/122646/report-explosion-destroys-key-iran-nuclear-site A source is reporting much of the underground Fordo site has been hit By Adam Chandler|January 25, 2013 A few major sites that linked to WND story have removed it. I take that as a pretty good indication that this story cannot be confirmed.
According to World News Daily, a massive explosion is said to have destroyed most of Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo.
An explosion deep within Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility has destroyed much of the installation and trapped about 240 personnel deep underground, according to a former intelligence officer of the Islamic regime.
The previously secret nuclear site has become a center for Iran’s nuclear activity because of the 2,700 centrifuges enriching uranium to the 20-percent level. A further enrichment to weapons grade would take only weeks, experts say.
The explosion is said to have taken place on Monday. The nuclear site is a high profile target given that it’s completely underground and recently reached nuclear capacity. Just earlier today, it was reported that the Iran could quadruple enrichment at the Fordo site.
While I am extremely skeptical of this report’s veracity until I hear more, this is potentially a massive development. More to come.
Nuclear anxiety: Arab countries, and villagers living near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant: Contamination Risks Worry Iranian Villagers, Arab Neighbors By Yeganeh Torbati
DUBAI, Jan 23 (Reuters) – For the Iranian government, the Bushehr nuclear power plant is proof to a world worried about Tehran’s intentions that its atomic programme is aimed only at securing a modern, clean energy source for its people.
But for villagers living next to the facility, as well as Arab capitals nearby, the plant poses a potential danger that is less geopolitical and more immediate: the risk of contamination.
“We are extremely worried about our health and the health of our families,” residents of the coastal villages of Heleylah and Bandargah wrote in a statement published on a blog in 2010.
“According to international standards, the distance between a nuclear power plant and the nearest residence must be at least one kilometre … but the distance between the village of Heleylah and this power plant is just six metres!”
Thousands of people live in the two villages 18 km (11 miles) south of the Gulf city of Bushehr, many of them making their living as service workers at the plant.
Residents living near Iran’s nuclear-related sites told Reuters in interviews by phone and over the Internet that the government stifles debate on the pros and cons of the programme and where its sites should be located, and has not addressed their questions about what would happen in an emergency.
Iran’s Arab neighbours are also nervous. Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates all occupy coastline across from Bushehr, and the plant is closer to five Arab Gulf capitals than it is to Tehran…… http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/bushehr-nuclear-power-plant-contamination-iran_n_2533383.html
Uranium now the justification for invading Syria?
NOW IT’S SYRIA’S URANIUM??? Giza Death Star, JANUARY 17, 2013 BY JOSEPH P. FARRELL Really…it’s getting to be like a bit of theater isn’t it? It would be laughable, were it not for the loss of life and suffering involved. We’ve seen every excuse in the world trotted out, it seems, to justify an “intervention” by the West in Syria, with the usual “human rights” leading the charge. That, of course, didn’t pan out too well. So now, it seems, Syria has a lot of uranium we should all be worried about:
Now the West Is Worried About Syrian Uranium! Must Invade? This, it seems, is the latest scam….. The mention of Iraq in this article may recall, for some who remember the whole fiasco, what happened when we were all lied to about the necessity of the need to invade that country. First we were told that Saddam Hussein was sponsoring terrorism. That one quickly fell by the wayside to be replaced by the prospect of an immanent nuclear Iraq. He was building “weapons of mass destruction” (specifically atomic bombs), and had demonstrated his willingness to use such weapons by gassing the Kurds. No doubt, the man was evil, and may even have used a-bombs had he had them. Of course, Saddam was no fool either, and may not have used them, knowing that it may have called forth a similar response from the west. But in any case, he didn’t have them.
But you’ll recall there was story that was quickly circulated as the invasion was under way, and the evidence for such a program was not forthcoming: Saddam, we were informed, had dismantled his whole program and shipped it, lock, stock, and German-made centrifuge, to…
…Syria.
So in a certain sense, invading Syria would (follow the twisted logic here), be completing what we started in Iraq….. Watch this one carefully folks, because this seems to be what is happening here: a way to piggyback an Iranian project on a Syrian one. Same ole same ole. http://gizadeathstar.com/2013/01/now-its-syrias-uranium/
160 nations endorse doubling of renewable energy – IRENA
Adirec sees consensus on doubling deployment of renewable energy, The Gulf Today,, 19 Jan 13, ABU DHABI: Over 160 countries on Thursday endorsed the growth of renewable energy in a balanced global energy portfolio and noted the leading role of the UAE and Middle East.
Binding religious decree against nuclear weapons for Iran
Iran: Religious decree against nuclear weapons is binding TEHRAN, IRAN http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57564199/iran-religious-decree-against-nuclear-weapons-is-binding/ 15 Jan 13,
Iran sought Tuesday to spell out in its clearest terms yet that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, highlighting a religious decree issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that bans nuclear weapons. Continue reading
Syria’s uranium stockpile a cause for anxiety
Fears raised over Syria uranium stockpile, Ft.com. 8 Jan 13, By James Blitz in London Nuclear experts in the US and Middle East have raised concerns about the security of up to 50 tonnes of unenriched uranium in Syria amid fears that civil war could put the stockpile at risk.
Since the start of the uprising against Bashar al-Assad two years ago, western governments have been heavily focused on the fate of Syria’s chemical weapons and worries that those stocks might be taken over by militant group
But government officials and nuclear experts have also expressed fears to the Financial Times about what may be a significant stockpile of uranium inside Syria.
Concerns go back to the Assad regime’s attempt to build a nuclear reactor at Al-Kibar in the east of the country. yria, with assistance from North Korea, was thought to be close to completing the reactor when the facility was destroyed by Israeli jets in September 2007.
Very little is known about Syria’s nuclear programme and the country has always denied that it ever had one. Syria has also given very little information to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog, about its work……
An IAEA inspection team visited the destroyed Al-Kibar site in May 2008 and only found traces of uranium. This merely added to the mystery of where the 50 tonnes of uranium, if it exists, might be. Such a stockpile would be enough, according to experts, to provide weapons grade fuel for five atomic devices….. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a450b660-5998-11e2-88a1-00144feab49a.html#axzz2HX2YULqD
Mysterious evacuation of Isfahan’s 1.5 million residents near Iran nuclear site
Evacuation of large Iranian city near nuclear site raises eyebrows, legalinsurrection, by Bryan Jacoutot , January 4, 2013 An edict was An edict was issued on Wednesday by Iranian authorities ordering Isfahan’s 1.5 million residents to leave the city because pollution in the area “has reached emergency levels.”
Skeptical of Iran’s explanation for the evacuation, some believe it to have been prompted by more than just your average pollution. (h/t Uncle Samuel)… “Mass evacuations suggest a far more serious problem,” Rubin explained. “There are two possibilities here: There is a radiation leak and the regime is lying or there is really bad pollution and no one believes the regime’s explanations.”….. http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/01/evacuation-of-large-iranian-city-near-nuclear-site-raises-eyebrows/
Turkey now testing all food from Japan for radiation
Report: Turkey begins testing all food from Japan for radiation — Imports suspected to be contaminated http://enenews.com/report-turkey-begins-testing-all-food-japan-radiation-imports-suspected-be-contaminated
January 2nd, 2013
Excerpt From: Turkey to test Japanese products for radiation
Source: World Bulletin
Date: December 30 2012
h/t Anonymous tip
Turkey to test Japanese products for radiation
The arrangement will go into effect on January 1, 2013 and will cover all Japanese products sent to Turkey after March 11, 2011. […]
Fukushima Diary summarizes a Japanese-language report on Turkey’s move:
[…] They state imports from Japan are suspected to be radioactively contaminated.
Big nuclear powers not really motivated towards a diplomatic solution regarding Iran’s nuclear program
‘No real determination in P5+1 to resolve Iran nuclear issue’
http://presstv.com/detail/2013/01/02/281467/no-real-will-to-solve-ncase-in-p51/
An Iranian lawmaker says the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia,
and the United States plus Germany — lacks the determination to
resolve Iran’s nuclear issue. Continue reading
Russia to sell nuclear technology to United Arab Emirates
Moscow to help UAE with region’s largest nuclear energy program
World Tribune ABU DHABI 30 Dec 12 — Russia and the United Arab
Emirates have signed a
nuclear cooperation agreement. The two countries said they would
cooperate in nuclear energy as part of UAE plans to establish a
network of reactors over the next 20 years…..
Officials said the agreement could make Russia’s Atomic Energy
Cooperation, known as Rosatom, a leading supplier to Abu Dhabi’s
nuclear program.
They said the Kremlin was prepared to provide technology, equipment,
nuclear fuel and expertise to a UAE program estimated at $40 billion
and so far led by South Korea….
http://www.worldtribune.com/2012/12/30/moscow-to-help-uae-with-regions-largest-nuclear-energy-program/
UN may be able to inspect Iran’s Parchin military site
Iran may open military site to UN nuclear watchdog
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/12/27/3158283/iran-may-open-military-site-to.html
27 Dec 12,
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian official is saying the country may open a
controversial military site to inspectors of the United Nations
nuclear watchdog.
A Thursday report by independent Mardomsalari daily quotes Deputy
Foreign Minister Hasan Qashqavi as saying the inspectors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency may visit Parchin military site “if
the foreign threats weaken”. He did not elaborate.
As high government officials rarely speak out on such sensitive
issues, Qashqavi’s remarks were seen as echoing the views of Iran’s
leadership.
Earlier this month IAEA inspectors on a trip to Tehran failed to visit
Parchin, where they believe Iran has carried out some nuclear
experiments.
Iran says Parchin is only a conventional military site and denies the
West’s claims its nuclear program has a military dimension.
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