March 1, 2010 9:08 pm
Newsmax, “Obama Plans to Eliminate ‘Thousands’ of U.S. Nuclear Warheads”
by Jim Meyers
The Obama administration is formulating a new nuclear weapons policy that would include the elimination of thousands of warheads and the possible withdrawal of all tactical warheads from Europe.
Obama is also under pressure to abandon the Bush Doctrine allowing preemptive action, including the use of nuclear weapons, against any nation threatening American security, The New York Times reported on Monday. The new strategy will be included in a document called the Nuclear Posture Review, which every president must complete.
“It will be clear in the document that there will be very dramatic reductions — in the thousands — as related to the stockpile,” a senior administration official told the Times. Many of those warheads are in storage.
Newsmax article continues here.
February 23, 2010 1:49 pm
Yahoo! News (AFP), “Iran to ‘hide nuclear plants inside mountains’”
by Jay Deshmukh
Iran said on Monday it is considering plans to build two new uranium enrichment plants concealed inside mountains to avert air strikes, drawing condemnation from the United States.
The announcement from Iran’s atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi came soon after top US General David Petraeus warned that Washington would now pursue a “pressure track” against Iran to thwart its galloping nuclear programme.
“Inshallah (God willing), in the next Iranian year (starting in March) as ordered by the president we may start the construction of two new enrichment sites,” Salehi told ISNA news agency.
Yahoo! News (AFP) article continues here.
February 18, 2010 8:04 pm
Fox News (AP), “U.N. Watchdog Concerned Iran Is Working on Nuclear Weapon”
The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday said it was worried Iran may currently be working on making a nuclear warhead, suggesting for the first time that Tehran had either resumed such work or never stopped at the time U.S. intelligence thought it did.
The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency appeared to put the U.N. nuclear monitor on the side of Germany, France, Britain and Israel. These nations and other U.S. allies have disputed the conclusions of a U.S. intelligence assessment published three years ago that said Tehran appeared to have suspended such work in 2003.
The U.S. assessment itself may be revised and is being looked at again by American intelligence agencies. While U.S. officials continue to say the 2007 conclusion was valid at the time, they have not ruled out the possibility that Tehran resumed such work some time after that.
Fox News (AP) article continues here.
February 11, 2010 11:59 am
Mail Online, “Iran is now a ‘nuclear state’ says Ahmadinejad as thousands take to the streets”
Iran is now a ‘nuclear state’, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced this morning.
He spoke as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Tehran to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
There are fears of violence as opposition and pro-government supporters are expected to meet at rallies in a show of popular strength unmatched since the revolution itself.
Today Ahmadinejad told scores of cheering Iranians that the Islamic Republic is capable of producing weapons-grade uranium.
Mail Online article continues here.
February 8, 2010 8:19 pm
Breitbart (AFP), “Iran anniversary ‘punch’ will stun West: Khamenei”
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a “punch” that will stun world powers during this week’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
“The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned,” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country’s top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran’s air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979.
His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country’s nuclear drive is peaceful.
Breitbart (AFP) article continues here.
February 7, 2010 5:28 pm
Yahoo! News (AFP), “Defiant Iran set to begin higher enrichment of uranium”
Iran will begin enriching uranium to 20 percent from Tuesday, the Islamic republic’s atomic chief announced on Sunday just hours after being told to do so by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The decision raises the stakes in a dispute with the West less than a week after Iran had appeared to accept a UN-drafted nuclear deal on the supply of fuel for a research nuclear reactor in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad’s move drew fire from Britain and the United States, and analysts said it was a bid to exert pressure on Washington and drive a wedge between the six powers over attempts to impose new sanctions on Tehran.
Yahoo! News (AFP) article continues here.
February 3, 2010 9:56 pm
Times Online, “Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plays game of cat-and-mouse with West over nuclear deal”
by James Bone and Catherine Philp
President Ahmadinejad demonstrated yesterday that he has become a master of playing cat and mouse with the West — and this time the mouse was real.
Once again, the Iranian leader offered a last-minute concession to head off the West’s drive for new sanctions against the Islamic republic. At the same time, Iran thumbed its nose at UN restrictions on its ballistic missiles programme by sending a rocket into space carrying a mouse, two turtles and some worms.
In an interview on state television, Mr Ahmadinejad said that Iran had no problem shipping enriched uranium abroad in a deal that Tehran had resisted for months. The surprise announcement came as the West prepared to ask Russia and China to back UN sanctions on the Iranian energy sector, central bank and Revolutionary Guards — the first UN sanctions since March 2008.
Times Online article continues here.
February 1, 2010 10:47 pm
Yahoo! News (AP), “Obama pushes nuclear energy to boost climate bill”
by Dina Cappiello and Matthew Daly
President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation.
Obama singled out nuclear power in his State of the Union address, and his spending plan for the next budget year is expected to include billions of more dollars in federal guarantees for new nuclear reactors. This emphasis reflects both the political difficulties of passing a climate bill in an election year and a shift from his once cautious embrace of nuclear energy.
Yahoo! News (AP) article continues here.
Yahoo! News (AP), “Obama seeks money for nuclear weapons work”
by Sue Major Holmes
President Barack Obama is seeking increased funding for nuclear weapons research and security programs next year, even as his administration promotes nonproliferation and has pledged to reduce the world’s stockpile of nuclear arms.
The administration on Monday asked Congress for more than $7 billion for activities related to nuclear weapons in the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of $624 million from the 2010 fiscal year.
Yahoo! News (AP) article continues here.
January 21, 2010 3:44 pm
Reuters, “Russia says to start Iran nuclear plant in 2010”
by Guy Faulconbridge
Russia will start up the reactor at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant this year, the chief of Russia’s state nuclear corporation told reporters on Thursday.
“2010 is the year of Bushehr,” Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Moscow.
“There is absolutely no doubt that it will be built this year. Everything is going according to schedule,” he said.
Reuters article continues here.
