North Korea says Willing to Discuss Uranium Enrichment

North Korea  said on Tuesday it was willing to discuss its uranium enrichment program at nuclear disarmament talks, clearing one of the hurdles for the resumption of long-stalled international dialogue.

Pyongyang walked out of six-party talks over two years ago, declaring the process dead, after the United Nations imposed a new round of sanctions for conducting nuclear and missile tests.

Adviser to Ahmadinejad Says West’s Sanctions Have Failed

Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, an adviser to Iranian President Ahmadinejad, told the United States and other Western powers “to stop fooling themselves” into believing sanctions placed on Iran have been working. This statement comes out prior to negotiations tentatively scheduled for Dec. 5th, more then a year after the previous negotiations. It has been difficult to gauge the effect of the sanctions because of the global economic crisis and the Iranian government’s erratic economic policies. Essential its hard to tell if Iran is being hurt by global or internal factors.

Iran has 30 kg of high level uranium: atomic chief

 Iran said on Wednesday it has produced around 30 kilogrammes of 20 percent-enriched uranium, in defiance of UN sanctions imposed on Tehran to suspend the contentious nuclear work.

“We have produced nearly 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium so far,” Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

World powers led by Washington want Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activity, which is at the centre of fears that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons.

Enriched uranium can be used as fuel to power nuclear reactors as well as to make the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Iran Announces Four New Nuclear Reactors

Photo Credit: Reuters

Just a week after the United Nations imposed a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, Tehran seeks to supply its own nuclear plants with locally produced uranium fuel.  President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated many times Iran is determined to maintain its nuclear programme despite the ruinous effects of sanctions on the country’s economy.

“If they think they can use sticks to pressure Iran, we say that the Iranian nation will break all of their sticks,” Ahmadinejad said. 

Western officials believe Iran is determined to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon before it agrees to make concessions to ease sanctions.

Iran warns US to accept ‘final offer’ to end nuclear row

Iranian president Ahmadinejad boldy claims that U.S. president Barack Hussein Obama should accept the deal that Brazil and Turkey brokered with Iran regarding its low enriched Uranium stockpiles. The Administration is trying to pass fourth round of sanctions on Iran. These sanctions are very weak and will not stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The country is already in violation of nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today urged Barack Obama to accept an offer to export the country’s uranium to Turkey as a “last opportunity” to resolve the crisis with Tehran. He also warned Russia not to support new UN sanctions, triggering a furious rebuke from Moscow.

U.S. Officials See Iran Nuclear Bomb Probable in 3-5 Yrs.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe Iran won’t be capable of producing nuclear weapons for at least a year but that it probably would be technically able to do so if it chooses within 3-to-5 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

The timeframe comes as President Barack Obama presses a reluctant China to back swift sanctions on Iran and U.S. intelligence agencies try to finish a classified report assessing how Tehran’s nuclear program is progressing.

Jane Harman, chairwoman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, told Reuters on Tuesday that a revised U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran was “essentially complete” but that it was unclear if any of it would be made public after going to the president.

Western Sabotage Undermines Iran Nuclear Drive: Experts

Iran is running into technical difficulties regarding its nuclear capability according to this article.  Particularly, related to its limited engineering capacity and also Western intelligence in a bid to sabotage the program.

As pressure mounts for new sanctions against Iran, experts say its alleged nuclear weapons program is struggling to find scientists and technicians and faces sabotage by Western and Israeli agents.

Despite already being the subject of economic sanctions and facing the threat of more concerted international action, Iran is pushing ahead with attempts to enrich large quantities of uranium to make nuclear fuel.

In Nuclear Summit, Obama Seeks Global Help in Sanctioning Iran

President Obama Hosts the Nuclear Security Summit

President Obama used an unprecedented summit on nuclear terrorism Monday to press global leaders to support further isolating Iran for its nuclear activities, and the White House said that China’s leader had agreed to cooperate with tightening U.N. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

The Nuclear Security Summit is the first large meeting of world leaders focused on how to keep nuclear materials away from terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. The event drew 36 heads of state and delegations from 10 other countries to the city, which became a blur of flashing police lights and speeding black convoys.

Iran: Sanctions “Will Hurt,” But Not Too Much

Iranian President Ahmadinejad

While Iranian President Ahmadinejad urges Iranians to celebrate the country’s nuclear program on “National Nuclear Day,” the rest of the world is coming together under U.S. leadership to condemn it – and to press for tougher new sanctions aimed at stopping Iran.

The United States is hosting one of the largest international summits ever this week to discuss nuclear nonproliferation and ways to keep loose nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists.

Among the countries not invited is Iran, which the Unites States believes may be trying to make a nuclear weapon, despite frequent claims to the contrary.

Obama Calls for Joint Action to Safeguard Nuclear Stocks

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev and President Obama

President Obama called on world leaders “not simply to talk, but to act” to secure or destroy vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear materials. Obama told fellow leaders Tuesday morning that it was time “not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress for the security of our people.”

Saying that the prospect of nuclear terrorism had emerged as one of the greatest threats to global security, President Obama called on world leaders “not simply to talk, but to act” to secure or destroy vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear materials.

Mr. Obama, addressing a plenary session Tuesday of the 47-nation nuclear security conference he had convened here, told fellow leaders Tuesday morning that it was time “not simply to make pledges, but to make real progress for the security of our people,” according to excerpts of his prepared remarks released by the White House. “All this, in turn, requires something else, something more fundamental,” Mr. Obama continued in his remarks. “It requires a new mindset — that we summon the will, as nations, as partners, to do what this moment in history demands.”