Nasser Karimi
Iran: Enriched uranium traces a ‘technical issue’
TEHRAN,Iran (AP) — A top Iranian nuclear negotiator said traces of enriched uranium discovered at an underground bunker came from a “routine technical issue,” the country’s official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday.
Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran’s envoy to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, was responding to a report by the nuclear watchdog in which it said it had found radioactive traces at an Iranian site.
The uranium found was at level that is slightly closer to the threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles than Iran’s previous highest-known enrichment grade.
The IAEA said Friday in the report that it was asking Tehran for a full explanation about the traces. But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally increasing the level of its uranium enrichment.
Iran said the find was a technical glitch, according to the report. Analysts and diplomats said Iran’s version sounded plausible.
Soltanieh said the issue was blown out of proportion for political reasons.
“This issue shows that some intend to damage the existing constructive cooperation between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he was quoted as saying.
The West suspects Iran is pursuing a weapons program. Tehran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes like power generation and cancer treatment.
UN nuclear chief in Iran on key mission
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano, left, talks with reporters during a news briefing at the conclusion of his meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, right, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, 21, 2012. The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived Monday in Tehran on a key mission that could lead to the resumption of probes by the watchdog on whether Iran has secretly worked on an atomic weapon. It would also strength the Islamic Republic's negotiating hand in crucial nuclear talks with six world powers later this week in Baghdad. (AP Photo/IRNA,Adel Pazzyar)(Credit: AP) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The head of the U.N nuclear watchdog, in Tehran on a key mission that could lead to the resumption of probes on whether Iran has secretly worked on a nuclear weapon, said Monday that he met with Iranian leaders amid a “good atmosphere.”
The one-day visit by Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency — his first since becoming the IAEA chief in 2009 — is focused on getting Iran to agree to terms that will allow IAEA inspections of suspect Iranian sites, including the Parchin military complex where the agency had reported suspicious activities in the past.
Continue Reading CloseReports: IAEA inspector killed in Iran car crash
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A U.N. nuclear inspector from South Korea was killed Tuesday and a colleague was injured in a car crash near a reactor site in central Iran, news reports said.
There were no immediate indications of foul play. But the crash is likely to undergo intense scrutiny.
The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the International Atomic Energy Agency inspector died when the car overturned around a heavy water reactor being built in Khondab, about 150 miles (250 kilometers) southwest of Tehran.
Continue Reading CloseAhmadinejad’s rivals ahead in parliamentary runoff
An Iranian woman casts her ballot for the parliamentary runoff elections, in a polling station, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, May 4, 2012. The country has begun runoff elections for more than one-fifth of parliamentary seats. Friday's report says 130 hopefuls will compete for 65 seats in 33 constituencies including the capital Tehran with 25 undecided seats. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)(Credit: AP) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Early returns in Iran’s parliamentary runoff elections show conservative rivals of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead in many constituencies.
The semiofficial Mehr news agency says the president’s rivals appear to be winning most of the 65 seats that were up for grabs in the second round held Friday.
The runoff was expected to cement the victory of Ahmadinejad’s opponents, who already won an outright majority in the 290-member legislature in the first round of voting in March.
Continue Reading CloseReport: Iran unplugs oil facilities from Internet
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian oil ministry’s computer network came under attack from hackers and a computer virus, prompting the Islamic Republic to disconnect the country’s main oil export terminal from the Internet as a preventative measure, a semiofficial news agency reported on Monday.
Mehr said the Sunday cyberattack affected some data, but the ministry had backed it up. It said oil operations were otherwise unaffected.
But the Kharg Island oil terminal, the ministry headquarters, and other facilities were all taken offline, the agency quoted Hamdollah Mohammadnejad, deputy oil minister in charge of civil defense, as saying. Some 80 percent of Iran’s daily 2.2 million barrels of crude export goes through the Kharg facility, located off its southern coast.
Continue Reading CloseAhead of nuclear talks, Iran floats compromise
FILE- In this April, 9, 2007, file photo Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaks at a ceremony in Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, 300 kms (186 miles) south of capital Tehran, Iran. Critical nuclear talks between Iran and world powers could begin this week in an atmosphere of impasse.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)(Credit: AP) TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s nuclear chief signaled Tehran’s envoys may bring a compromise offer to the talks this week with world powers: Promising to eventually stop producing its most highly enriched uranium, while not totally abandoning its ability to make nuclear fuel.
The proposal outlined late Sunday seeks to directly address one of the potential main issues in the talks scheduled to begin Friday between Iran and the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany.
The U.S. and others have raised serious concerns about Iran’s production and stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which could be turned into weapons-grade strength in a matter of months.
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