| Iran: Nuclear program will be operating by February | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 3:07:21 AM by Blog57 Team | | Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday his country expects its uranium enrichment program to be ready by February to meet Iran's nuclear fuel needs, the national news service IRNA reported. "We will commission some 3,000 centrifuges by this year end. We are determined to master fuel cycle, and commission some 60,000 centrifuges to meet our demands," the president said at a news conference closed to foreign reporters. "Today the Iranian nation possesses the full nuclear fuel cycle and time is completely running in our favor in terms of diplomacy." Ahmadinejad said Iran hopes to celebrate its nuclear success during the "Ten-Day Dawn" festivities at the beginning of February, which mark the country's victory in the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.... | |
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| | | Little-known Arab group in Iran faces persecution / Ahwazis call occupation of their land a plight worse than that of | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 3:06:49 PM by Blog57 Team | | For decades, the Persian shahs and ayatollahs of Iran have uprooted Ahwazi Arabs from their oil-rich region in the southwest corner of the country, forcing an estimated 1.5 million people off the land where their families have lived for generations. The result, Ahwazi activists say, is the occupation of an Arab homeland in the heart of the Middle East that almost nobody knows about -- an occupation, Ahwazis contend, that has stripped Arabs of more land than is at issue in the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. "They came at me like a pack of wolves," said Abu Tarek, who asks that his family name be withheld out of concern for his safety. Abu Tarek is a native of the region that borders Iraq, Kuwait and the Persian Gulf, once known as Arabistan after its ethnic majority but renamed Khuzestan by the Iranian government.... | |
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| | | US hindering Iran-EU nuclear talks: Rohani | | Posted Tuesday, October 31, 2006 1:27:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | LONDON, October 31 (IranMania) - A top security official blamed the United States for creating misunderstanding between Europe and Iran, saying that American officials do not want Europe to resolve Irans nuclear issue. Speaking in a meeting with visiting delegates from German Bundestags Subcommittee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Hassan Rohani, leaders representative in Supreme National Security Council, added that the Paris Agreement can form the basis for ending the deadlock in Irans nuclear negotiations with Europe, IRNA reported. The Europeans clearly acknowledged Irans right to nuclear energy in the Paris Agreement without any discrimination. This can end the deadlock on talks because we have no problem in building confidence about our peaceful nuclear activities, he said.... | |
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| | | Russia balks at U.N. Iran draft | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:06:46 PM by Blog57 Team | | MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Russia's foreign minister on Thursday signaled Russian opposition to a draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposed by European nations that would impose sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Russian news agencies reported Sergey Lavrov as saying the resolution, which imposes limited sanctions on Iran because of its refusal to cease uranium enrichment, is a departure from existing agreements between major powers. Russia and China, veto-wielding permanent members of the council that have strong commercial ties with Tehran, have been reluctant to support sanctions against Iran. "Our goal is to eliminate the risks of sensitive technologies getting into the hands of Iran until the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) clarifies issues of interest to it, while maintaining all possible channels of communication with Iran," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax, RIA-Novosti and ITAR-Tass on a visit to the Russian far north.... | |
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| | | Tired of Iran's rebuffs, EU joins call for U.N. sanctions | | Posted Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:06:22 AM by Blog57 Team | | The European Union said Tuesday that its diplomacy is failing to curb Iran's nuclear program and that the United Nations should act on U.S.-led demands for sanctions against Tehran. EU foreign ministers said the door is open for the U.N. Security Council to discuss sanctions for Iran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a process that can be used for nuclear power or bombs. Europe is offering Iran trade benefits in return for halting the nuclear activity. "It's unavoidable that the Security Council will now take up deliberations with the goal of a resolution and the first step on sanctions," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said: "The Iranians have refused everything.... | |
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| | | Iran yr/yr inflation to Aug up to 12.9 pct-c.bank | | Posted Monday, October 09, 2006 3:05:40 PM by Blog57 Team | | TEHRAN, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Iran's year-on-year inflation was 12.9 percent to Aug. 22, compared with 12.0 percent year-on-year to July 22, the central bank reported on its Web site. Parliament and the press have become increasingly critical of the government for failing to rein in price rises, which economists blame on profligate state spending policies. The Central Bank of Iran said in its monthly report on its Web site (www.cbi.ir) that the average rise in consumer prices in urban areas was 10.5 percent in the year to Aug. 22, compared with 10.4 percent in the 12 months to July 22. Analysts say the year-on-year figure, rather than the average, is a better reflection of inflation but say the official figures in general tend to underestimate what the Iranian public has to pay for goods in shops and bazaars.... | |
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| | | Iran says its nuclear program is "irreversible" | | Posted Sunday, October 01, 2006 3:06:34 AM by Blog57 Team | | TEHRAN, Iran In yet another rejection of a Friday U-N Security Council deadline to cease enriching uranium, Iran says its nuclear program is irreversible. Earlier this month, Iran announced for the first time that it had enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges. It was a step toward large-scale production of nuclear fuel that can be used either in atomic weapons or civilian nuclear reactors. The United States and some allies charge Iran is using the program as a cover for weapons production. Iran says it is designed only for power generation. A spokesman says a Russian plan for joint uranium enrichment in Russia is still on the table. Iran's envoy to the U-N nuclear watchdog agency said yesterday that Iran has reached a "basic deal" with the Kremlin. Copyright 2006 Associated Press.... | |
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| | | Ahmadinejad Says Iran Seeks Nuclear Accord Guarantees (Update1) | | Posted Thursday, September 21, 2006 11:11:07 PM by Blog57 Team | | Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Iran seeks guarantees for any nuclear agreement, and preliminary talks with the European Union ``are moving on the right path,'' President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at the United Nations today. Iran seeks a negotiating ``framework'' for any broader talks about limiting its nuclear work in exchange for economic incentives. Iran wants it to be ``clear who will support the decisions taken as a result,'' Ahmadinejad told reporters at a press conference. Iran may have just two weeks to begin formal negotiations on its suspected nuclear-bomb development effort, including the suspension of uranium enrichment, before a push for sanctions begins at the UN, a European diplomat said yesterday. The U.S. has pledged to join its European partners in negotiations with Iran if the country halts enrichment and the action can be verified.... | |
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| | | Russia not to abandon nuclear plant in Iran | | Posted Tuesday, September 12, 2006 5:05:45 AM by Blog57 Team | | Moscow, Sept 12. (PTI): Russia said it has no plans to abandon construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran over Teheran's refusal to stop uranium enrichment. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described as "absolutely untrue" the reports in a section of media that Moscow would stop building the plant. "They are not even based on any indirect information," Lavrov said in an interview to pro-Kremlin daily 'Vremya Novostyei' published on Monday, adding "whoever circulates these reports, it's a provocation." By circulating these "outright lies", they are playing into the hands of those who want to frustrate all chances of starting talks with Iran on its controversial nuclear programme, he added. "It's an attempt to trick the public into thinking that Iran would oust the International Atomic Energy Agency experts sooner or later, while Russia would have to close down the nuclear power plant in Bushehr," he said.... | |
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| | | Oil Is Near 10-Week Low as Gasoline Demand, Iran Concerns Ease | | Posted Monday, September 04, 2006 11:18:44 AM by Blog57 Team | | Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil pared gains in New York, trading little changed near a 10-week low, on speculation that U.S. gasoline demand is poised to ease and on signs the United Nations may resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear program without oil flows being affected. Summer gasoline use, on average 5 percent higher than in the rest of the year, typically declines after today's Labor Day holiday marks the end of the U.S. vacation season. Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, wants a negotiated ``solution'' to the dispute over its uranium enrichment, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said yesterday. ``We've got to the end of the U.S. summer without any big incidents,'' said Tobin Gorey, commodity analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd. in Sydney.... | |
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