Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Iran

Iran Rejects Moscow Offer To Enrich Uranium In Russia

Workers at Iran's uranium-enrichment facility at Isfahan in March (epa)

Tehran, 25 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Iran today rejected an offer from Russia to enrich uranium for its nuclear program in Russia.

TEXT SIZE - +

December 25, 2005

Russia's Foreign Ministry repeated the offer yesterday, saying it would be possible for a joint Russian-Iranian project to enrich the uranium for use in Iranian reactors on Russian territory instead of in Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said at a news conference today that Tehran had still not received a concrete offer from Russia.

"Regarding the [Russian nuclear] plan you are talking about -- some ideas have been mentioned about it, but we have not yet received any specific proposal," he said.

But Asefi said in any case the Iranian government wanted to exercise "the right of the Islamic republic to carry out enrichment on its own soil."

Iran's nuclear program has raised concerns among many countries, particularly the U.S., which says Tehran is using the program to secretly develop nuclear weapons.

Russia has been helping Iran build nuclear power facilities and has tried to act as a mediator between Iran and countries opposed to Iran's nuclear program.

(AFP/ITAR-TASS/Radio Farda)

RFE/RL Iran Report

SUBSCRIBE For regular news and analysis on Iran by e-mail, subscribe to "RFE/RL Iran Report."

Many Iranians have been claiming that their access to social networks and Internet-based e-mail sites has been blocked in recent days.

Iran Tightens Internet Control

Iranians are reporting that their access to Facebook and Internet-based e-mail sites like Gmail has been blocked, without any explanation from the government. Not even the strongest antifiltering programs have penetrated the firewall, they say. Some speculate the move is related to Iran's plan to launch a national internet, which might sever Iranians' ability to access the World Wide Web. More

Web-savvy Iranian oppositionists are renowned for their ability to use proxies and other means to circumvent Tehran

Explainer: Iran's National Internet

Reports that Iran has stepped up its Internet censorship in recent days -- as evidenced by a general slowdown of the web, Internet blackouts, and the blocking of sites such as Google -- has raised speculation that the country might be testing its controversial "national Internet." More

A cardboard Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini arrives in Tehran to mark the 33rd anniversary of his triumphant return to Iran following the Islamic Revolution.

Iran's 'Cardboard Khomeini' Faces Criticism, Condemnation

Iran's "Cardboard Khomeini" is fueling a firestorm of criticism in the Middle Eastern country after cutouts of the Islamic republic's founder appeared at a number of events, and photos mocking the mock-up went viral. More