Iran Keeping Nuke Options Open

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

According to the  CIA’s annual report to congress, Iran has expanded their nuclear infrastructure and uranium enrichment plan in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.  The report specifically stated that Iran “continues to develop a range of capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons.”  The report also discussed that North Korea has the ability to produce strong nuclear weapons.

A newly released CIA report claims that Iran “continues to develop a range of capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear weapons,” and despite their program having technical issues, they are “keeping the door open to the possibility of building a nuclear weapon,” the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

According to the annual CIA’s report to congress Iran expanded their nuclear infrastructure and uranium enrichment plan in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions, which since 2006 have required Teheran to cease the program.

Kim Jong Il May Visit China Amid Stalled Arms Talks

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il

South Korea has announced that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is going to visit China.  This could be the North Korean leaders’ way of starting the nuclear disarmament talks.  Because China’s support is crucial to secure an adequate supply of food and materials for the North Korea, it would be in there best interest to cooperate and begin the nuclear discussion.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is set to visit China, South Korea’s government said, in a move that may signal the nation’s return to nuclear disarmament talks.

“There is a high level of possibility that Kim Jong Il will pay a visit to China,” presidential spokesman Cho Hyun Jin said today by phone. “We are closely monitoring the situation.”

Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. in CIA ‘Intelligence Coup’

An Iranian nuclear scientist, who has been missing since June 2009, has been accounted for on U.S. soil. Shahram Amiri has  defected to the CIA.  The CIA says Amiri helped to confirm U.S. intelligence assessments about the Iranian nuclear program.  Amiri’s disappearance was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect. The CIA reportedly approached the scientist in Iran through an intermediary who made an offer of resettlement on behalf of the United States.

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, “an intelligence coup” in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran’s nuclear program.