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Iran slams Europeans over nuclear deal stance

Iran slams Europeans over nuclear deal stance – Press TV  https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-slams-europeans-over-nuclear-deal-stance-press-tv-2021-12-12/Reuters  DUBAI, Dec 12 (Reuters) – European countries have failed to offer any constructive proposal or initiative amid efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator told Press TV on Sunday.

“European parties fail to come up with any initiatives to resolve differences over the removal of sanctions (on Iran),” Ali Bagheri said, referring to Britain, France and Germany, which are among the big powers trying to salvage the deal.

December 13, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Iran nuclear talks pulled back from the brink as Tehran shifts stance

Iran nuclear talks pulled back from brink as Tehran shifts stance, Cautious optimism as Tehran revises its position after pressure from Russia and China   Guardian,  Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor, Fri 10 Dec 2021 Efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal have been hauled back from the brink of collapse as Tehran revised its stance after pressure from Russia and China and clear warnings that the EU and the US were preparing to walk away.

The cautiously optimistic assessment came at the start of the seventh round of talks on the future of the nuclear deal in Vienna. It follows what was seen as a disastrous set of talks last week in which the US and the EU claimed Iran had walked back on compromises reached in previous rounds.

The Russian ambassador to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said: “We managed to eliminate a number of misunderstandings that created some tension. Everyone confirmed their commitment to productive work [to restore the nuclear agreement].”

Nevertheless, Joe Biden warned that the United States was preparing “additional measures” against Iran, amid lingering fears that the talks could still fail…………..  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/09/iran-nuclear-deal-pulled-back-from-brink-of-collapse-as-talks-resume-in-vienna

December 11, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Scenarios of the release of radioactive ions if high precision missiles were to strike Middle East nuclear reactors.

Report: Missile strike risks to Middle East nuclear reactors,  A new study explores potential radiological fallout and evacuations from a missile strike on commercial nuclear power plants.  Aljazeera,   By Patricia Sabga, 8 Dec 21   ” ………………Scenarios and reactors

To illustrate the potential vulnerability of a nuclear power facility to a high precision missile strike, NPEC analysed four current and planned nuclear power plants in the region for three scenarios involving the radiological release of caesium-137 (Cs-137) into the atmosphere.

“Caesium-137 is one isotope that is particularly concerning for several reasons and it’s one of the most common isotopes looked at when evaluating the danger of a nuclear accident or some kind of radioactive release,” the report’s lead researcher Eva Lisowski told Al Jazeera. “It’s dangerous enough and lasts long enough that it can cause a significant increase in the chances of developing cancer.”

Significant contamination with Cs-137 can result in hundreds of thousands of people being evacuated from their homes, the report warns, and they may not be able to return for decades, given it has a 30-year half-life.

The first scenario Lisowski modelled examined what would happen if a nuclear reactor containment building is breached by an air strike, resulting in the core being released. The second scenario mapped what would happen if a spent fuel pond were hit and a fire broke out. The third scenario assessed what would happen if a spent fuel pond that is densely packed with radioactive rods were targeted and caught fire.

The four facilities chosen for the scenarios include the UAE’s Barakah power plant, Iran’s Bushehr, the plant under construction at Akkuyu in Turkey, and the site of Egypt’s planned commercial nuclear power station at El Dabaa.

The study focused only on select commercial nuclear power reactors. Research reactors, such as the one Israel maintains at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona, Iran’s Tehran Research Reactor, Egypt’s research reactor at Inshas, or Algeria’s research reactor at Es-Salam were not included in the study.

Sokolski also notes that containment buildings and spent fuel ponds are not the only targets for potential sabotage.

“You can go after the electricity lines that go into the plant that are necessary to keep the cooling system operating. You can go after the emergency generators, you can calibrate any number of effects with precision against that kind of sympathetic target,” he said.

The findings

The amounts of Cs-137 released in each scenario, as well as the estimated number of evacuees in each contamination zone, were simulated for four different months of the year based on 2020 weather patterns: March, June, September and December.

The simulations all include neighbouring countries that could be affected by mandatory evacuations.

The report examined scenarios for both a large release of Cs-137 (75 percent) and a smaller release (10 percent or 5 percent) to illustrate the potential differences between a densely-packed spent fuel pool catching fire, versus one that is not full.

The three scenarios involving a missile or drone attack on the Barakah nuclear power plant predicted average population displacements ranging from 800 mandatory and 40,000 voluntary evacuations in a low-radiological release simulation involving a core breach, to 4 million mandatory and 8 million voluntary evacuations if a densely packed spent fuel pond is hit resulting in a high release of Cs-137.

The three scenarios involving a missile or drone attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant predicted average population displacements ranging from 53,000 mandatory and 120,000 voluntary evacuations in low-radiological release simulation involving a core breach, to 6.7 million mandatory and 4.8 million voluntary evacuations if a densely packed spent fuel pond is hit resulting in a high release of Cs-137.

The three scenarios involving a missile or drone attack on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant predicted average population displacements ranging from 1,000 mandatory and 28,000 voluntary evacuations in low-radiological release simulation involving a reactor core breach, to 4.6 million mandatory and 10 million voluntary evacuations if a densely packed spent fuel pond is hit resulting in a high release of Cs-137. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/12/8/report-missile-strike-risks-to-middle-east-nuclear-reactors

December 9, 2021 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, radiation, Reference, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Guarded optimism among Western diplomats, as Iran nuclear talks progress in Vienna.

Progress in Iran nuclear talks as Tehran agrees to discuss compliance

Western diplomats express guarded optimism after first day of negotiations in Vienna, Guardian,   Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editorTue 30 Nov 21,  Western diplomats have expressed guarded optimism and relief after the first day of resumed Iran nuclear talks in Vienna made unexpected progress when Tehran formally agreed to discuss steps to come back into compliance with the 2015 agreement.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Enrique Mora, said Iran had agreed that the talks could resume largely where they had ended in June, rather than with an entirely new agenda.

There had been fears that Iran’s new harder-line administration, elected in June, would rip up the progress made in the first round of talks and insist the sole legitimate issue for discussion was the list of economic sanctions that the US must lift.

Mora said: “There was a sense of urgency to bring an end to the sanctions and the suffering of the Iranian people … “The Iranian delegation recognises the work we have done in the past six rounds and the fact that we will build on this work going ahead.”

The Russian ambassador to the talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, also described the opening of the talks as successful.

Ali Bagheri, the new Iranian chief negotiator, said he was optimistic, but that he was looking for a US guarantee that it would not only lift a swath of economic sanctions but also promise not to reimpose them in the future.

The talks are due to last at least two further days, with Tuesday dedicated to negotiating the sanctions that will be lifted on the basis that they are linked to the nuclear agreement, and were not imposed due to continuing Iranian human rights abuses or terrorist activity. There are still differences between the two sides on how to classify sanctions.

Iran has also agreed that on Wednesday it will discuss the steps it would need to take to come back into compliance with the agreement. Iran regarded the sequencing of the discussion as significant.

After Donald Trump took the US out of the deal in 2018, Iran responded by taking a series of reversible but escalating steps that breached the agreement’s terms, including stockpiling enriched uranium and stepping up use of advanced centrifuges at sites to which UN nuclear inspectors say they do not have full access.

The talks are between Iran, Russia, China, Germany, France and the UK. The US is excluded from direct negotiations by Iran, but its delegation in Vienna is being consulted on each Iranian offer.

Although there is a mood of optimism, at least in contrast to the gloom leading up to the talks, many hurdles remain to an agreement and there is still a suspicion in some western capitals that Iran is playing for time as it develops its nuclear technology…………….

Israel is isolated in the Middle East to the extent that the Gulf states now follow the US lead in accepting that a revival of the nuclear deal would be good for stability in the region. But that isolation may prove temporary if the talks do not manage to make any progress.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/29/iran-hopes-to-covertly-advance-its-nuclear-programme-says-israel

November 30, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

UK and Israel pledge to stop Iran gaining nuclear weapons

UK and Israel pledge to stop Iran gaining nuclear weapons

Israeli FM Yair Lapid visits London and Paris to discuss Iran, as talks on the 2015 nuclear deal restart in Vienna. Aljazeera, 29 Nov 21,

The United Kingdom and Israel will “work night and day” in preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power, the foreign ministers of the two countries wrote in a joint article.

“The clock is ticking, which heightens the need for close cooperation with our partners and friends to thwart Tehran’s ambitions,” the UK’s Liz Truss and her Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid wrote in The Telegraph newspaper on Sunday.

Lapid arrived in London on Sunday for a two-day trip to the UK and France, a day before talks on Iran’s nuclear programme restart in Vienna.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said earlier in the day that his country was “very worried” that world powers will remove sanctions on Iran in exchange for insufficient caps on its nuclear programme, as negotiators convene in Vienna on Monday in a last-ditch effort to salvage a nuclear deal…………………..  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/29/uk-and-israel-pledge-to-stop-iran-gaining-nuclear-weapons

November 30, 2021 Posted by | Israel, politics international, UK | Leave a comment

UN chief calls for nuclear weapons-free Middle East

UN chief calls for nuclear weapons-free Middle East,  UN News,  The UN Secretary-General on Monday called on all Middle East States to transform the vision of a region with no nuclear weapons, or other weapons of mass destruction, into a working reality.   

Antonio Guterres was speaking in New York at the second session of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction.  

Since 1967, five such zones have been established around the world: Latin America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Africa and Central Asia. They include 60 per cent of all UN Member States and cover almost all of the Southern Hemisphere.   

For the Secretary-General, expanding such zones would help build a safer world.   

“That is particularly the case in the Middle East, where concerns over nuclear programmes persist, and where conflicts and civil wars are causing widespread civilian casualties and suffering, undermining stability and disrupting social and economic development”, Mr. Guterres explained.  

The UN chief also reiterated his call for all parties to exercise restraint and avoid escalation. 

In this context, he highlighted the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as Iran Nuclear Deal, saying that the return to dialogue is “an important step.” ……….  https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1106732

November 30, 2021 Posted by | MIDDLE EAST, weapons and war | Leave a comment

UN nuclear watchdog fails to reach access deal with Iran.

UN nuclear watchdog fails to reach access deal with Iran

IAEA head says failure to gain renewed access to sites casts doubt over chances of restoring 2015 deal, Guardian,  Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor  24 Nov 21,  The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said he has failed to reach a deal with Iran over renewed access to key nuclear sites after talks in Tehran.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the failure was seriously affecting the agency’s ability to do its work and the chances of a restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

He told a press conference he was “close to the point when I will not be able to guarantee continuity of knowledge”, adding: “We must reach an agreement. We must do it.” No date has been set for a further meeting, although Grossi said he would continue to contact Iran.

The failure may endanger the wider talks due to start next Monday in Vienna about restoring the deal that inspectors are supposed to police…………………..

The failure to reach agreement came when Grossi visited Tehran on Monday and Tuesday to discuss access to the sites with Mohammad Eslami, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organisation, and the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. It was the first time Grossi had met the minister since a new hardline government was elected in June.

Iran feels the west and the IAEA have not been willing to condemn what it alleges are repeated covert Israeli attacks on its nuclear installations, or the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020.

Grossi acknowledged there was pressure on the IAEA not to declare the entire inspection regime defunct since it would provide a difficult backdrop for the broader talks in Vienna, starting on 29 November. The talks, in abeyance since June, could conclude with the US rejoining the nuclear deal, the lifting of most economic sanctions on Iran and an end to Iran’s non-compliance with its non-proliferation obligations under the deal.

In a report last week, the IAEA said Iran’s high-concentration uranium levels had reached new records, and well beyond the stockpile limits set in the nuclear deal. The IAEA said Iran possessed 17.7kg of enriched uranium at a concentration of 60%, compared with 10kg in September.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/24/un-nuclear-watchdog-fails-reach-access-deal-iran

November 25, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

The U.S. Is Bracing for Blows With Israel as Iran Nuclear Talks Near


The U.S. Is Bracing for Blows With Israel as Iran Nuclear Talks Near,   U.S. officials say it’s already much more difficult to carry out a cyberattack to set back Iran’s nuclear program as Iran improves air defenses and places nuclear facilities underground.   Amos Harel, Haaretz, 22 Nov 21,
The closer we get to the scheduled renewal Monday in Vienna of the talks to restore Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers, the more the psychological warfare between the sides escalated. Oddly, perhaps, very few of these skirmishes are between Tehran and its negotiating partners. Most of them are between two countries that won’t have a foot in the door at the talks. The first is the United States, whose representatives will be in Vienna but won’t be participating in the direct talks on account of Iranian opposition. The other is Israel.

……………………. President Joe Biden’s hope that in his first year in office he could return to the agreement and afterward focus on a “longer, stronger” deal, has been dashed, in light of Iran’s intentional delaying policy. The regime in Tehran delayed talks during the period of the presidential elections in Iran, and waited a few more months after the hawkish President Ebrahim Raisi, entered office.

This is the current U.S. position, but the conclusion that goes along with it is interesting. According to the administration, not only has the policy of maximum pressure led by former president Donald Trump collapsed. Israel’s sabotage campaign against Iran’s nuclear program has also failed.   Moreover, paradoxically, it seems that these actions have only served to move the Iranians closer to their goal…….. over the past 20 months Israel assassinated the head of the Iranian nuclear project, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh and caused significant explosions in four nuclear and missile facilities in Iran, in the hopes of delaying the ability of Iran to build a bomb. But the result, according to U.S. intelligence officials and the international inspectors, was the opposite of what was intended. The Iranians quickly restored operations at the sites and installed new centrifuges that can enrich uranium more rapidly.

…………….  the sources in the U.S. administration believe that Iran wants to reach the status of a nuclear threshold state, which will leave it a very short distance from manufacturing a bomb if it wants to. This gloomy conclusion underscores the most recent report of the Institute for Science and International Security. In the report, published Sunday, the chief researcher of the prestigious U.S. think tank, David Albright, writes that Iran has enough uranium enriched to near-20 and 60 percent to produce sufficient weapon-grade uranium for a single nuclear weapon in as little as three weeks. Albright adds that some of the major advances are due to the installation of advanced centrifuges.

If Iran wants to manufacture a nuclear weapon, it still needs to execute the military part of its program – installing the bomb as a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile, a process that according to various experts could take another one to two years. And yet, Albright’s conclusion shows how much the Iranians have advanced while the administrations in Washington – first Trump’s and now Biden’s – persuaded themselves that they were dealing well with the problem.  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-the-u-s-is-bracing-for-blows-with-israel-as-iran-nuclear-talks-near-1.10407853

November 23, 2021 Posted by | Israel, politics international | Leave a comment

COP 27 in Egypt: growing concern that civil society groups will have restricted access

Concern is growing over plans to host a UN climate conference in Sharm
el-Sheikh next year, in what will be a crucial summit if the world is to
limit global heating to 1.5C. Several green experts and human rights
activists have told the Observer they fear the ability of civil society
groups to protest at the summit will be curtailed by Egypt’s
authoritarian regime, reducing the pressure that can be brought to bear on
leaders and ministers from the nearly 200 countries expected to take part.

 Guardian 21st Nov 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/21/cop27-is-in-egypt-next-year-but-will-anyone-be-allowed-to-protest

November 22, 2021 Posted by | climate change, Egypt | Leave a comment

China and Saudi Arabia blocking progress towards a deal at COP26

China and Saudi Arabia are blocking progress towards a deal at Cop26 by
refusing to accept that they must be fully transparent about their
greenhouse gas emissions. Senior negotiators at the climate change
conference in Glasgow said that both countries had objected to proposed
reporting requirements aimed at resolving concerns that some nations
conceal the extent of their emissions.

The dispute is delaying progress on
other ingredients of a deal, including rules on establishing a global
market for carbon offsetting. China is understood to object because its
climate target is based on a reduction in emissions per unit of GDP,
meaning that full transparency would reveal data it wants to keep secret
about its economic growth.

Saudi Arabia’s emissions are strongly
influenced by its biggest company, the oil giant Saudi Aramco, and it is
thought to be concerned about revealing information about its performance.
China and Saudi Arabia are also objecting to proposed wording in the final
text that emphasises the need to limit warming to 1.5C, meaning the coal
and oil on which they depend would have to be phased out more quickly.

 Times 9th Nov 2021

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chinese-and-saudis-thwart-moves-towards-climate-deal-5pr86frjv

November 11, 2021 Posted by | China, climate change, Saudi Arabia | Leave a comment

Austria Backs Result-Oriented Nuclear Talk, re Iran


Austria Backs Result-Oriented Nuclear Talks, Financial Tribune , 7 Nov 21,

ustrian Foreign Minister Michael Linhart said that as an active host to negotiations on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, Vienna would do its utmost to support a successful outcome of the talks.

“We strongly hope that all sides return to full and effective implementation of the agreement,” he told IRNA ahead of the resumption of the talks that have been at pause for nearly five months.

The Vienna negotiations started in April to work out how the United States and Iran can return to full compliance with the nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action……………….

Iran’s position is that all US sanctions must be removed before it reverses its countermeasures.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington believes it remains possible to reach and implement an understanding in relatively short order if the Iranians are serious, but this window of opportunity will not be open forever.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi stressed that the negotiations that Tehran is considering are result-oriented ones.

“We will not leave the negotiating table … but we will not retreat from the interests of our nation in any way,” he said.

Iran also demands a guarantee that the US would not abandon the deal once again, saying the talks would fail otherwise.  https://financialtribune.com/articles/national/111022/austria-backs-result-oriented-nuclear-talks

November 8, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Iran: Nuclear talks with world powers to resume on November 29

Iran: Nuclear talks with world powers to resume on November 29

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator says the resumption of negotiations is aimed at removing US-imposed sanctions. Iran has said it will resume multilateral talks on November 29 in Austria’s capital, Vienna, aimed at reviving the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, who became Tehran’s chief negotiator in mid-September, said on Wednesday the date was set in a phone call with European Union mediator Enrique Mora……

The European Union also confirmed the news about the resumption of talks and said the negotiations would be chaired by Mora on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides,” said the EU’s European External Action Service in a statement, which added that the remaining JCPOA signatories would be represented.

……..The European Union also confirmed the news about the resumption of talks and said the negotiations would be chaired by Mora on behalf of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell…………https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/3/iran-nuclear-talks-with-world-powers-to-resume-on-november-29

November 4, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

USA in talks with allies on getting Iran to agree to nuclear deal- Blinken

U.S. in talks with allies on getting Iran to agree to nuclear deal -Blinken, By Kanishka Singh and Jonathan Landay  Oct 31 (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the United States was “absolutely in lock step” with Britain, Germany and France on getting Iran back into a nuclear deal, but added it was unclear if Tehran was willing to rejoin the talks in a “meaningful way.”

Blinken’s remarks in an interview with CNN on Sunday come a day after the United States, Germany, France and Britain urged Iran to resume compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal in order to “avoid a dangerous escalation.”……….

ran’s foreign minister said separately on Sunday that if the United States was serious about rejoining Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, President Joe Biden could just issue an “executive order,” the state-owned Iran newspaper reported.

“It is enough for Biden to issue an executive order tomorrow and they (U.S.) announce they are rejoining the pact from the point where his predecessor left the deal,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said…….

Talks between Iran and world powers aimed at salvaging the deal, which started in April, are slated to resume at the end of November, the Islamic Republic’s top nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday.Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Jonanthan Landay in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Bill Berkrot   https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-says-us-talks-with-allies-getting-iran-agree-nuclear-deal-2021-10-31/

November 1, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

Likud MK: Israel must strike Iran by year’s end if there’s no new nuke deal

Likud MK: Israel must strike Iran by year’s end if there’s no new nuke deal, Times of Israel, 

Tzachi Hanegbi says opposition party will give full backing if government decides to attack Tehran’s nuclear program

By TOI STAFF   31 Oct 21, Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi said Saturday that in the absence of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Israel should carry out a strike on the Islamic Republic by the end of the year, adding that the government would have the full backing of his party on the matter……….  https://www.timesofisrael.com/likud-mk-israel-must-strike-iran-by-years-end-if-theres-no-new-nuke-deal/

November 1, 2021 Posted by | Israel, politics international, weapons and war | Leave a comment

U.S. imposes new sanctions on Iran, sanctions that are unrelated to nuclear activities

U.S. hits Iran with sanctions ahead of key nuclear talks,  PBS NewsHour 29 Oct 21, WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Friday hit Iran with a fresh set of sanctions as President Joe Biden prepares for a key weekend meeting with European leaders to discuss the possible resumption of nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic.

The Treasury Department announced the new penalties against two senior members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and two affiliated companies for supplying lethal drones and related material to insurgent groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen and to Ethiopia, which has been fighting rival Tigray forces for almost a year.

Although the sanctions are unrelated to Iran’s atomic program, the Biden administration has said it wants to build on a potential agreement to revive the languishing 2015 nuclear deal to include Iranian support for such groups and curtail its ballistic missile development………… https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u-s-hits-iran-with-sanctions-ahead-of-key-nuclear-talks

October 30, 2021 Posted by | Iran, politics international | Leave a comment

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