Thursday, February 16, 2012

Iran

Negroponte Says U.S. 'Reluctant' To Hold Direct Talks With Iran

John Negroponte (center, in file photo) (epa)

January 31, 2007 -- U.S. President George W. Bush's choice for the No. 2 position in the State Department says the United States is reluctant to hold direct talks with Iran until there is progress in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear program.

TEXT SIZE - +

January 31, 2007

John Negroponte, who is expected to move to the State Department after having served nearly two years as the first-ever director of National Intelligence, made the comment on January 30 to a Senate panel considering his nomination.

Washington accuses Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge that Iranian officials reject.

The UN Security Council has imposed limited sanctions against Iran in an effort to persuade it to stop its uranium-enrichment activities.

The United States has not had official diplomatic relations with Iran since the hostage crisis that followed the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Some experts advocate opening a direct dialogue to address contentious issues that include Iran's nuclear activities and security and stability in Iraq.

The congressionally appointed Iraq Study Group recognized Iran's ability to influence events in neighboring Iraq and recommended dialogue with Iran and Syria as an avenue to boosting Iraqi security and stability.

Bush labeled Iran -- along with North Korea and Iraq -- part of an "axis of evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address.

Talking Technical

A control panel at the Bushehr nuclear power plant (Fars)

CASCADES AND CENTRIFUGES: Experts and pundits alike continue to debate the goals and status of Iran's nuclear program. It remains unclear whether the program is, as Tehran insists, a purely peaceful enegy project or, as the United States claims, part of an effort to acquire nuclear weapons.
On June 7, 2006, RFE/RL correspondent Charles Recknagel spoke with nuclear expert Shannon Kile of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden to help sort through some of the technical issues involved. "[Natanz] will be quite a large plant," Kile said. "There will be about 50,000 centrifuges and how much enriched uranium that can produce [is] hard to say because the efficiency of the centrifuges is not really known yet. But it would clearly be enough to be able to produce enough [highly-enriched uranium] for a nuclear weapon in fairly short order, if that's the route that they chose to go...." (more)

Tehran Says It Is Working On Advanced Nuclear Fusion

Would Light-Water Reactor Suit Tehran's Needs?

Satellite Images Raise Questions About Iran's Nuclear Program

Centrifuges And Political Spin?

How Close Is Iran To Getting Nuclear Bomb?

Iran: The Worst-Case Scenarios

THE COMPLETE STORY: RFE/RL's complete coverage of controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program.

CHRONOLOGY

An annotated timeline of Iran's nuclear program.

India -- Investigators work at the site where a vehicle exploded near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, 13Feb2012

Alleged Attacks Tehran's Way Of Lashing Out?

(INTRO) Israel has blamed Iran for two bombings targeting its diplomats in India and Georgia this week, as well as for a botched bombing in Bangkok that Thai intelligence officials said were aimed at top Israeli diplomats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran's "terrorist activities" have been exposed, but Iran has denied any involvement. RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari spoke to Juan Zarate, senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism about the attacks and Iran's alleged role. More

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad (center) looks on as scientists unveil a fuel rod at the Tehran Research Reactor.

Iranian Nuke Still One-To-Three Years Away, Says Expert

Iran on announced on February 15 that it has installed its first domestically produced nuclear fuel rods in a reactor in Tehran. Tehran also announced that it activated a new generation of centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear facility. RFE/RL spoke with nuclear physicist Frank Barnaby about what the advances reveal regarding Iran's uranium enrichment abilities, which Western countries allege are aimed at secretly building a nuclear weapon. More

Iran has stepped up its pressure on activists using the Internet

Iranian Activists, Journalists Receive Threatening E-mails

A number of Iranian activists and journalists based inside and outside the country have told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda they have been threatened in anonymous e-mails. More