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Iran's Presidency Office / Hando / EPA file
A picture released by the Iranian government shows Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspecting the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran in 2007.
In a move seen as a defiant step as world powers look to rein in Iran's nuclear program, the county has started installing sophisticated centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, a U.N. nuclear report confirmed on Thursday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that 180 of the so-called IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings had been hooked up at the plant near the town of Natanz, Reuters reported Thursday. The centrifuges were not yet operating.
The advanced centrifuges are expected to accelerate Iran's ability to process more highly enriched uranium. The West and Israel are fearful that such material could be used to build an atomic weapon.
International nuclear inspectors said Thursday Iran has made significant upgrades in its ability to enrich uranium. The US called this a provocative step – but fortunately the centrifuges were installed above ground where the US can see them. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
"This is yet another provocative step by Iran and will only invite further isolation by the international community," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council. "We continue to believe there is time and space for diplomacy to work, but actions like this undercut the efforts of the international community to resolve its concerns over Iran's nuclear program."
For its part, Iran claims it is only increasing its stockpiles of refined uranium for peaceful purposes — in order to produce energy.
Still, the White House and intelligence officials had been anticipating the report and Iran itself had in fact notified the U.N. nuclear watchdog in January that it intended to take the step.
According to Reuters, the confidential report also said Iran had increased to 367 pounds the amount of uranium refined to a purity of 20 percent. That is a level Tehran says it needs for conversion to reactor fuel. In August 2012, the U.N. watchdog group had reported that Iran had stockpiled 200 pounds of the 20-percent material.
About 530-550 pounds of uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent is required for a single nuclear weapon. That would need to be further refined to about 55 pounds of uranium enriched to a 90 percent purity level, according to the U.N. watchdog.
But the IAEA report also said Iran in December resumed converting some of its more highly enriched uranium to powder that would be used in the production of reactor fuel, Reuters reported. That was seen as an positive step in light of Western concerns.
Israel has warned that it might bomb Iran's nuclear sites as a last resort. In a speech to the U.N. in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that with a nuclear armed Iran, no one in the world would be safe.
This week, Israel's UN Ambassador Michael Oren told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that this summer is the "red line" beyond which Israel would not be confident Iran wasn't secretly reaching the point of no return in its nuclear progress.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren joins Morning Joe to discuss Israel's Iron Dome program, which intercepts rockets fired at Israel from Hezbollah and Hamas. Amb. Oren also discusses President Obama's upcoming trip to Israel and the latest in Syria and Iran.
But a resumption of conversion to fuel, experts told Reuters, means the Israeli "red line" for action could be postponed.
Next week, The Unites States, Russia and European allies are set to resume negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program. The negotiations will take place in Kazakhstan.
NBC News' Andrea Mitchell and Reuters contributed to this report.
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I'm not that lucky.
What's your secret?
Did Iran really redirect their ambitions a few years ago; or did the IAEA redirect their's?
http://www.fpif.org/blog/current_chief_of_iaea_releases_its_brakes_on_rush_to_war_with_iran
Only problem there is, Iran does not subscribe to IPS.
So, Iran is still at it with their Nuclear ambition and the U.N. will just watch. Looks like the "sanctions" will not, nor will ever, work.
Meanwhile, North Korea continues their sabre rattling while sitting in the dark of the night.
Time for Mr. Kerry to step up to the plate and inform the World on this administration's Foreign Policy agenda for these two Rogue countries, that is if he is not too busy on Sundays like a previous Secretary of State.
Seems like the rumblings of a second cold war to me. Iran and Israel have their own "Cuban missile crisis" brewing, and the saber rattling makes me nervous.
I know that the threat Iran poses to the United States is a bit exaggerated, but it still drives fear into my heart thinking of the image of a mushroom cloud *anywhere* in the world in this day and age. Diplomacy can only get one so far, but I'm thinking right now we need to really be pushing that aspect, because Israel has show in the past they will pre-emptively strike a nation they deem a credible threat to their existence.
Actually, Iran and N. Korea terrify me. They don't have the ability to produce large numbers of missiles. What terrifies me is that they're both now entering space (albeit tentatively). Put a nuke in a satellite, detonate it over Kansas, and you'd have an EMP that would wipe out almost the entire US power-grid, almost all transportation, and medical facilities. The life loss would be more than if they nuked New York. Yes, we'd have some places that would be safe and we'd retaliate, but it's much easier to create a "mutually assured destruction" scenario. Here's the page for the commission founded/funded by Congress to look into an EMP strike against the US.
http://www.empcommission.org/
Iran is following the nuclear non proliferation treaty by keeping the IAEA and the world informed. They are only 1% of the threat that North Korea is. The Ayatollas do not want Tehran to be incinerated, but I'm not sure if Kim Jung-un would care the same about Pyongyang.
ED: My concern is Iran's willingness to sell to the "highest bidder" e.g. rogue factions with nothing to lose. NK is so isolated, not to mention China being next door, I think the Chinese are essentially going to "leash" them if they don't start behaving better.
Hey Matt - Please tell us how you know that Iran would sell to the highest bidder. You don't have clue about what Iran may or may not do. It appears your only source of informtion on Iran comes from Israeli propaganda, which is posted weekly in the Zionist controlled media.
In the first place, Iran's enrichment is monitored by the IAEA, so they will not and can not even try to further enrich to the 97% required for a nuclear device, without the entire world knowing immediately
Ed is 100% correct. All 16 US intelligence agencies concluded Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, which trumps anything any of the Zionists on this forum can say.
Here is what the ahole Nutanyahoo said in 1992.
'1992:'Israeli parliamentarian Benjamin Netanyahu tells his
colleagues that Iran is 3 to 5 years from being able to produce a nuclear
weapon – and that the threat had to be "uprooted by an international front
headed by the US"'.
It is 2013 and still no nukes. The Israeli are so full of s-t. All they do is lie and exaggerate and our media prints it as if it were gospel. Notice it is always Israel thtreatening Iran, not the other way around. It is Israel with 150 nuclear warheads, not Iran. Iran has none and no missile to deliver one.
No more wars for Israel.
If their enrichment refinery's radioactive products are destroyed with a blinding flash and a mushroom cloud -- either by mishandling (human error) or by an outside attack -- will anyone be surprised? I don't think so. If the plant was destroyed, even the Iranian locals will have anticipated that possibility, so it wouldn't surprise any survivors that knew about it. The rest of the Iranians will be pissed-off though, so you already know who they'll blame.
Ralph - Is always there to protect the Iranian fanatical regime. While Iranian mullahs are busy supporting Assad regime killing their citizens (while fearing this same scenario will happen in Iran pretty soon), Ralph is busy doing his usual cut & paste of propaganda and lies pointing the finger of blame at "zionist controlled media".
That is the same media that is owned 100% by Qatar government, which was sold to them by Al Gore as the major investor, or muslim ownership of CURNT TV in US, or their plans for expansion of AlJazeera partly paid for by the Iranian mullahs, or the $8 million facility paid for by SA at Harvard for "advancement of islam". Of course, "zionist" controlled media. Your lies and half-thruths are shameless.
Ralph and Ed -
"Iran's enrichment is monitored by the IAEA, so they will not and can not even try to further enrich"
And here is what IAEA said just two weeks ago about Iran:
Nuclear watchdog confirms no agreement in
discussions in Tehran
The IAEA team leader Herman Nackaerts said
Friday that two days of intensive discussions in Tehran had failed to produce an
agreement on access to Iranian nuclear facilities, but another round of talks
will take place on Feb. 12 in Tehran.
So you need to stop lying to people.
Why should Iran be concerned the U.N. is doing nothing about North Korea's nuclear program either. And surely Mr. Obama is too busy worrying about our gun rights, gay rights, and illegal immigration to do anything to address either of these rogue countries.
Dictators love to "inspect" everything.
Israel never warns--it acts. Just remember that.
Well it's been warning for 20 years now so it seems you are wrong.
yeah just like they did with Iraq wasn't it? Just went in and blew the place up! With North Korea going against even China (not sure just how reel that one was) this will only embolden Iran even more. They will keep building up to the point until their first nuke test, then it's too late.
So what? Did you expect Iran to install old or used equipment? I could care less if Iran get's a bomb either today, tomorrow or in 10 years, the fact is that Iran, Egypt, North Korea and at least 10 other nations WILL HAVE a nuclear arsenal in the next 10-20 years no matter what. You cannot go around bombing every nation that wants to have a bomb, it's just not that simple.
For those of you out there yelling bomb 'em be careful what you ask for because they can strike at the US at the same time, maybe not as spectacular but bombing a Mall here and a train station there but still attacking us. What we need to do is is focus on unemployment, better roads, bridges, better standards of living, etc before we start being the watchdog of the world, why should it all fall on the US to do this?
The mission is to not let them get that far, as most of these crack pots will most likely use one. The monetary cost now is nothing compared to the human cost if these nuts aquire and use them. I'm with the Prez on this one regardless of what the neo cons say. We need to exhaust all diplomatic options before allowing Isreal to make them extinct.
Torch, I hear what you are saying. Of course we don't want them to build a bomb but the notion that we fire a couple of missiles at them is only going to delay not stop them. Are we ready to occupy Iran for the next 10 years? That is basically what it will take and that will be really nasty and deadly and VERY COSTLY, we can't afford it right now.
If Israel want's an all out war with Iran I say let them go for it, they have the best technology in the Middle East and plus about 250 nuclear missiles, I don't see why they would need any assistance at all from the US to do this.
I agree with you HarleMan, they are getting a bomb. I don't think we can stop them from doing so. What concerns me is the idea of a bomb in a satellite wiping out our power grid via EMP, and truthfully there's little we can do to stop it. I'd like to delay them, however, as long as possible, while we build the infrastructure needed to minimize the damage. I'd like to upgrade our power grid to be more isolated and capable of withstanding a hit to a region, stockpiling replacement transformers, particularly the largest LPTs, which the US has thousands, and the lead time for replacements is in the best of times 5 months.
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Large%20Power%20Transformer%20Study%20-%20June%202012_0.pdf
Very well put Brad, you hit the nail on the head...what we need to do is spend billions getting prepared rather than spend billions trying to delay the inevitable and then have to spend more billions upgrading our technology.
/Agree that we are not going to be able to stop anyone from getting the bomb if they really want it.
Also tired of us being the world police. We have to much to do here at home. we have our own crackpots right here to deal with. I don't care who is responsible for the current state of the union. I just want us to concentrate on getting it fixed.
I realize we cannot look weak at that will invite trouble, but backing Israel on any preemptive attacks is Way off base. First of all "preemptive attack" is just another way of saying we declare war in my opinion. If you blow up a country, you should expect them to fight back. We should be avoiding war at all costs, and definitely not being the aggressor in any more conflicts nor letting Israel start it and then the war mongers would say, Oh, just say we are just helping our Ally. We need to Make it Crystal Clear to Israel, bomb them and your on your own, else they will just drag us in. This is why Obama is slightly cool to them right now, the rhetoric they are using in their comments about striking Iran speak loud and clear. I am behind Obama on this one at least.
I believe Harleyman is right, it will lead to home grown terrorists. Attack Iran, and they will have no reason at all not to attack back. Diplomacy wins the day.
None of you posting above understands the ME mentality and the Iranian mentality. Diplomacy means nothing to them. Negotiations mean "stall" tactics, and diplomatic exchanges mean weakness. This misunderstanding of the ME custom is one of the key failures to US foreign policy. And you just underlined the weakness.
HELLO.....HELLO....... SEAL TEAM 6......we have another assignement for you!!!! First Iran...then on to N Korea!!
Well they should take our guns because there is no way Iran or North Korea will ever come over here.
What is you and your neighbors gun's going to do against an invading Army? No one is going to take your toys away from you and where in this article did it even mention that?
Since the Iranians have put their nuclear facilities underground, we can't actually destroy them from the air, but we can certainly engage in a denial of access for those facilities. Just bomb the entrances to rubble, then bomb them again every time they try to reopen them. Iran desperately wants nuclear weapons and will stop at nothing to deploy them against the 'west' once they have them. They will also export nuclear material for dirty bombs to as many terrorist organizations as possible, so why are we standing idly by and allowing them to continue working on their nukes? Iran cannot be allowed to build nuclear weapons.
You think it's that easy, don't you think that would have already been done. Bombing them only will make them more determined to speed up the process, in reality Iran WILL GET A BOMB within the next 5-10 years no matter what we do.
When they get their bomb they will not attack the US or Israel as you are lead to believe, they will simply become part of the growing list of nations on the DO NOT INVADE list. Whether you like it or not Iran and more nations will have nuclear weapons in the next 20 years and they will remember the bombing and shellacking that according to you we should be doing now. It's not that easy to just go around bombing nations in this dangerous time that we live in, we could be inviting terrorist attacks like never seen before.
harlman:
"they will simply become part of the growing list of nations on the DO NOT INVADE list"
You are dead wrong on this statement. 1) Not a single country ever threatened to invade Iran before the radical theocrats took over and began threatening the world. 2) Their ambition is not limited to "do not invade", it is for transfeering the small, "dirty" bombs to their terrorist proxies who will easily use it against any country by smuggling them in and placing them in civilian areas. Like your neighborhood. Hezbolah already has bases in Venezuela, Argentina and Mexico and is working with the Mexican cartel and their smuggling thugs.
do we wait until the warhead is in the air, heading towards us, before we attempt to shut this maniac down? you know, there were a lot of people saying hitler wasn't so bad about 80 years ago, and we know how that turned out...
I wouldn't be surprised at all to find out Iran is helping N. Korea and vise versa. They'll either put up or shut up before the republicans get back into office because they know we'll be coming to close up shop.
That is exactly why you lost the election david. Americans are tired of wars and having the economy in shambles. You want to run this country into the ground more than it is. Good luck getting into office, that is precisely why you won't.
David- You wouldn't be surprised? Newsfash! We have intelligence agencies which would let us know if Iran was colluding with N Korea. Our intelligence agencies have said "Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program". Can you morons understand those words?Here are more words from our intelligence community:
Despite
the hype surrounding Iran’s
pursuit of nuclear technology, the country's leaders are “not likely” to
develop weapons unless attacked, the panel said.
The
same goes for plans to close the vital Strait of Hormuz
waterway, according to General Burgess. Though Iran can close the strait
(“at least temporarily”), launch missiles, and even tap terrorist surrogates
worldwide “if attacked,” military-intelligence officials assess that it is
“unlikely to initiate or unintentionally provoke a conflict.”
What’s
more, senior intelligence officials expressed some doubt that Iranian officials
are actively interested in developing a nuclear weapon.
2007:
President Bush warns that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to "World War
III." Vice President Dick Cheney had previously warned of "serious
consequences" if Iran did not give up its nuclear program.
2007:
A month later, an unclassified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran is
released, which controversially judges with "high confidence" that
Iran had given up its nuclear weapons effort in fall 2003.
The report, meant to codify the received wisdom of America's 16 spy agencies, turns
decades of Washington assumptions upside down.
In a recent interview with CNN, Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey said
he believed the Iranian regime was a "rational actor" when it comes to the nuclear program. Dempsey said Iran would likely weigh the
ultimate costs and benefits of building a nuclear weapon before doing so. James
Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, recently told a Senate panel
that a decision had not yet been made by the regime in Tehran.
Ralph - Do you take people here as being stupid? You just cut and paste some garbage without a single reference and believe that people will be fooled? I know that you believe if you tell a lie often enough people tend to believe you, but that is only stupid people you are thinking about, as stupid as your Iranian theocratic masters who put you here to post propaganda while your fanatical regime threatens and kills Americans. You should take your shameless behind out of here.
Stop falling for the propaganda that Washington is feeding you, it's only to take your attention off their incompetence and inability to govern itself since 9/11/2001. The US is selling fear and it's working, you are in danger of losing your jobs, your income is falling, gas is rising, taxes are through the roof, forget about a tax refund, inflation is creeping up ans our society is going down. Iranians? I am more scared of Washington and their inability to balance the budget, cut spending, etc. Sorry guys, worrying about Iran and the bomb that they may or may not be producing is way down on my list of worries.
And how do you know that the international concern about Iranian nuke program is only "propaganda"? what do you know that the rest of us don't know? I agree 100% that our domestic concerns are greater than it has been in recent history, but that does not make Iran a lesser threat, does it? Your bleeding heart will hardened very quickly when a US enemy place a smuggled dirty bomb in your kid's school. Time to wake up while playing down the danger and protecting Iranian theocratic murderers.
I wish for World Peace..yes being a 65 year old male fart..I'm a long shot to win the Miss World beauty pageant.
I think that N.K, China, And Iran are all in bed with each other !
Oh, I forgot Russia...
I keep saying: The U.N. has no teeth and no balls. Iran is watching North Korea give the sometimes united nations the finger. Iran figures if Kim can tell the world to go f*** itself, so can Iran. I say bomb them both to smithereens. Collateral loss is worth it for the security of the rest of humanity.
If Any Country used a nuclear weapon, It would be wiped off the map by the rest of the world. Nobody, not North Korea, nor Iran, nor China, nor Russia, nobody, is stupid enough to actually use it. With that said I think either nobody in the Middle East / Southeast Asia should have them. If one does then they all should be allowed. I do not like to hear Israel is going to start bombing another country. They have no right. Believe it or not, Iran is within its rights to have nuclear reactors for Fuel. Thus far, and I have done my reading on this, Iran has been following the guidelines for Nuclear Fuel Enrichment.
Either all the countries get rid of nukes, or let the others have access to the technology. Sigh, but I momentarily forgot, as we are the World Police, US and our allies do as we wish.
The US, Russia, and Europe are meeting with Iran next week for negotiations? I thought we didn't negotioate with terrorists?
Just let Israel deal with it. They're the ones that created this middle east problem
My guess is even if Iran or N.Korea were able to launch a war head, it would be shot down be for it reached maximum altitude.
Iran build nuclear weapons to wipe out of the jews and christians. What the odds when you believe in the devine allah that everyone else is worth less than a dog!
No it's not Iran, NK but the US and Russia who could be the cause of the next nuke to go off above ground
"Yet decades of fitful commitment by the U.S. government to retrieve bomb-grade uranium have left the world no safer, a Tribune investigation has found. Today, roughly 40 tons of the material remains out of U.S. control--enough to make more than 1,400 nuclear weapons."
Atoms for Peace Program - a US Program
Just think for a second
There's about 40 tons of bomb grade uranium we willingly gave to selective countries to start nuclear energy programs but not bomb programs. Now is that stupid and naive or what???
That is and has been our biggest threat
The Ruskies back in the day did the same and may have much "unaccounted" for as well
Israel should not worry about Iran. Sanctions will bring Iran to its knees. Silence is the glory of leaders. By keeping silence, leaders of Israel could bring terror in the heart of the Iranian leadership. Give sanctions some time and wait for the right moment to strike Iran. Israel can wipe these garbage Iranians anytime. My advise to Israel would be, not to worry but wait for time. Israeli neighbors knows the military strength of Israel and none is a fool to challenge Israel through arms. Israel is much much superior in armaments when it comes to its neighbors and those who have inferior armaments cannot win against those who possess superior armaments. Israel victory is assured in any war with its neighbors. Israel should not worry about Iran or any one.
It is interesting to read how naive some posters are. If the US or any of it's allies show off tjheir muscle or threaten to attack another country, most of you would foam at the mouth (and rightly so), but if NK or Iran does it, you defend them. Why is that? Is this a liberal thing? Iranian theocratic ayatollahs have attacked and killed Americans since 1979, and still do by suuporting Afghans, and anti American forces in Iraq and Pakistan.
These pedophile filthy mullahs still murder anyone who dare to speak out in Iran, as families still disappear in the middle of night. Is any one of you bleeding hearts aware of any of these? Do you have a clue what that fanatical regime will do with a nuke technology against the rest of the world? Do you understand it when their ayatollah Khameini speaks in Farsi to their populace?
Soem of you need to take your blinds off and understand what is going on in Iran, their regime meddling in ME and Africa, their hand in killing civilians in Syria, and their plans in smuggling dirty bombs (read ayatollah's speaches) into the US via Mexican borders, with Mexican cartel, while their bases are active bringing weapons and agents into Venezuela and Mexico.
Wake up and read other international news organizations, left and right, and educate yourselves, not just liberal or government controlled muslim, anti American, pro terrorist or socialist news. Even Iranian news will open your eyes and you will quickly stop defending them.
Why would the Mexican cartel help destroy their biggest customers/consumers?
Yes it's a lib thing , they always side with the ahole on pretty much everything .
If it's going to be in kazakistan , I wonder if Borat will be the head speaker ?