Iran’s rights to nuclear non-negotiable: Ahmadinejad

 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Iran’s right to nuclear capabilities was non-negotiable, ahead of proposed talks with major world powers on its controversial atomic programme.

Western diplomats have made clear they want Iran to address their concerns about Tehran’ nuclear programme in talks that the United States, France, Russia, Britain, Germany and China have offered Tehran later this month.

“We have repeatedly said that our (nuclear) rights are not negotiable … We only hold talks to resolve international problems … to help the establishment of peace,” Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in central town of Qazvin.

Relaunching Missile Defense

Decisions Taken at Next Week’s NATO Summit Will Strongly Affect the Alliance’s Course of Relations with Russia for the Next Decade

On November 19, NATO leaders will convene in Lisbon to vote on the alliance’s new strategic concept. Billed as the blueprint for a “NATO 3.0,” the concept aims to update NATO for the security challenges of the 21st century. Amidst calls for deeper cooperation with Russia, plans for a NATO-wide missile defense program pose a strategic dilemma for President Dmitry Medvedev, who will attend the separate Russia-NATO Council. If Moscow lends its tacit or active support for the missile shield, it could trigger a sea change in its relationship with NATO. Conversely, a return to heated opposition to American-led missile defense would threaten the foundation of Russia’s rapprochement with the United States.

Don’t Stall on New START

It’s time for the U.S. Senate to ratify the new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia (New START).

The treaty‘s benefits are clear and concrete (PDF). Each side would reduce its nuclear stockpile by about one-third. Each side would adhere to an effective, multi-faceted monitoring scheme — including satellite reconnaissance, on-site inspections, and extensive information exchanges — that would ensure compliance with the agreement. The treaty would also set the stage for enhanced U.S. and Russian cooperation on urgent issues such as curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and securing nuclear weapons and bomb-making materials to keep them out of the hands of terrorists. And it would signal to the rest of the world that the United States and Russia — which together account for over 90% of the world’s more than 20,000 nuclear weapons — are serious about their commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The treaty calls for existing nuclear weapons states to reduce and eventually eliminate their arsenals in exchange for other signatories agreeing not to develop nuclear weapons

Mystery ‘missile’ launch likely just a plane, Pentagon says

A mystery vapor trail that was filmed off the coast of southern California and looked like a missile launch was likely caused by a plane, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, closing its case on the incident.

“With all the information that we have gathered over the last day and a half about this condensation trail … we have no evidence to suggest that this was anything other than a contrail caused by an aircraft,” said Colonel David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

Military Says Missile-Like Object Wasn’t Missile

More than a day after a CBS camera caught video of an unidentified projectile leaving a condensation trail off the California coast, the situation remains a mystery, with the Defense Department insisting that it was not a missile.

The Pentagon is still not sure what that was in the sky off the coast of California — except that it was not a missile fired by the U.S. or some other country, reports CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin.

The video of what looks for all the world like the contrail of a missile was shot Monday evening by KCBS cameraman Gil Leyvas from a news helicopter over Los Angeles. 

Iran says to test own model of Russia S-300 missile

Iran has developed a version of the Russian S-300 missile and will test-fire it soon, the official news agency IRNA said, two months after Moscow decided not to deliver it to Tehran to comply with U.N. sanctions.

“The Iranian (version) of the S-300 system is undergoing field modification and will be test-fired soon as other long range systems are being designed and produced,” IRNA quoted Brigadier General Mohammad Hassan Mansourian, a commander in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards, as saying.

World powers are locked in an eight-year-old stand-off with Iran over its nuclear energy programme, which they believe will be used to develop nuclear bombs rather than be devoted to peaceful generation of electricity, as Tehran says.