Iran: Uranium centrifuge goal reached

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 2, 9:11 AM ET

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's president claimed Sunday that his country is now running 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for its controversial nuclear program — a long-sought Iranian goal.

The claim contradicted a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday that put the number much lower — at close to 2,000. The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said enrichment had slowed and Iran was cooperating with its nuclear probe, which could fend off calls for a third round of sanctions.

"The West thought the Iranian nation would give in after just a resolution, but now we have taken another step in the nuclear progress and launched more than 3,000 centrifuge machines, installing a new cascade every week," Ahmadinejad told a group of students in remarks carried by the state television Web site.

Iran previously announced operating 3,000 centrifuges in April, but the IAEA said at the time that Iran had only 328 centrifuges operating at its underground Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.

In the latest report, drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the organization put the number of centrifuges enriching uranium in Natanz at close to 2,000 with another 650 being tested.

The 2,000 figure is an increase of a few hundred of the machines over May, when the IAEA last reported on Iran. Still the rate of expansion is much slower than a few months ago, when the country was assembling close to 200 centrifuges every two weeks.

"The recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agrees with Iran's approach and the dispute over Iran's nuclear case has ended," Ahmadinejad said. The latest IAEA report noted an increased willingness by the Iranians to answer questions after years of stonewalling.

The U.N, Security Council has so far passed two sets of sanctions targeting Iranian individuals and businesses involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs. The resolutions also ordered countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology for these programs.

The latest announcement could spur renewed calls for a third set of sanctions.

U.N. officials have suggested that Iran had slowed its program and increased its cooperation with the agency investigators to avert new sanctions.

Iran's ultimate stated goal for the Natanz facility, the only site now open to full IAEA monitoring, is to run 54,000 centrifuges — enough for dozens of nuclear weapons a year.

Uranium gas, spun in linked centrifuges, can result in either low-enriched fuel suitable to generate power, or the weapons-grade material that forms the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

Iran insists it wants to master the technology only to meet future power needs and argues it is entitled to enrich under a Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty provision giving all pact members the right to develop peaceful programs.

Iran to file lawsuit against Russia

Fri, 10 Aug 2007

Iran is to file a lawsuit against Russia at The Hague over its nuclear rights.
An Iranian MP says that Iran is to file a lawsuit against Russia at The Hague, because Russia has not fulfilled its undertakings towards Iran.

Rashid Jalali, a member of Foreign Policy and National Security Commission, said that Iran is to file the lawsuit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the next few days, according to the Aftabnews website.

"Russia has violated a treaty which obliges it to provide the nuclear fuel necessary for Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant."

Jalali pointed to the recent remarks made by Russian officials who have said no nuclear fuel will be sent to Iran unless Iran carries out the provisions of the UN Securoty Council sanctions and added that "our agreement with Russia should not be affected by political affairs since Iran's nuclear activities date back to some 35 years ago, but the West and Russia are politicizing Iran's nuclear programs."

"As far as nuclear activities are concerned, we have always maintained that Iran should not rely on the West and Russia and we should develop it ourselves," Jalali concluded.

Iranian guards are terrorists, US to declare

Move aimed at increasing pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme

Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Thursday August 16, 2007
The Guardian

The Bush administration is preparing to ramp up its confrontation with Iran by declaring part or all of the country's Revolutionary Guard a "global terrorist" organisation and targeting its extensive financial interests.

The move is extremely provocative, given that the 125,000-strong Revolutionary Guard Corps is an integral part of the state rather than a group outside the law. It has its own navy, air force, and ground troops, as well as specialist wings.

The Bush administration is trying to force Iran to abandon what the US claims is its ambition to build a nuclear bomb, and to end its support for Hizbullah, Hamas and other groups in the Middle East. "We are confronting Iranian behaviour across a variety of different fronts, on a number of different battlefields, if you will," said Sean McCormack, the state department spokesman. He would not comment on the Revolutionary Guard because he did not want to give them a heads-up, or advance notice, on any sanctions.

The plan is the first concrete illustration of a shift in balance from the "doves" in the Bush administration - Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, and Robert Gates, the defence secretary - to the "hawks" around Dick Cheney, the vice-president, who has expressed frustration over a lack of progress by diplomats and supports eventual military action. The labelling of the Revolutionary Guard is a concession by Ms Rice and Mr Gates to Mr Cheney.

The plan is at an advanced stage: Ms Rice has informed the foreign secretary, David Miliband, of the US intention.

White House, state department and Treasury officials refused to comment publicly yesterday. The Iranian foreign ministry dismissed the suggestion of sanctions as "propaganda and psychological operations".

Throughout the year the Bush administration has been intensifying its pressure on Iran, a policy that included the dispatch of a second carrier group to the Gulf. Iran's commander-in-chief, Yahya Rahim Safavi, shrugged off the US build-up yesterday, saying: "Our coast-to-sea missile systems can now reach the breadth and length of the Gulf and Oman Sea, and no warships can pass in the Gulf without being in range of our coast-to-sea missiles."

The Revolutionary Guard has an economic portfolio which includes ownership, or part-ownership, of oil companies, hotels, and other businesses.

The White House claims the Revolutionary Guard has been sending sophisticated explosives and other weapons to Iraq, and arming the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Ms Rice has still to formally approve the labelling of part or all the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation. The label could be applied solely to the Revolutionary Guard special unit, the Quds (Jerusalem) Force, which has been accused by Washington of involvement in Iraq, rather than the whole organisation.

The designation would mean the US regarding the Revolutionary Guard as having "committed" or posing "a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of US nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or the economy of the United States".

As well as putting pressure on Iran, the plan is aimed at influencing the United Nations security council, where China and to a lesser extent Russia are resisting further sanctions against Iran.

The Bush administration is warning the security council that, if it is not prepared to shift, then the US is prepared to act unilaterally. Ms Rice's delay in labelling the Revolutionary Guard is partly to give the security council an opportunity in which to act.