Iran and U.S. send positive signals on nuclear talks

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Iran and the United States sent positive signals on Wednesday about the possibility of fresh talks on the Iranian nuclear program, which Washington suspects aims to develop atomic weapons.

Iran has given an assurance that it would stop enriching uranium to 20 percent purity if world powers agreed to a proposed nuclear fuel swap, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul.

The offer, conveyed to Davutoglu on Sunday, could bode well for an expected resumption of talks in September between Iran and major powers on the Islamic Republic’s atomic program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes and not for bombs.

Asked about Davutoglu’s comments, the U.S. State Department said Iran had often sent mixed signals but that the United States was “fully prepared” to resume talks among the six major powers and Tehran about Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran last met the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia in Geneva in October, when they discussed Iran sending some low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes.

“We hope to have the same kind of meeting coming up in the coming weeks that we had last October,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. “We are interested in a process — more than one meeting.”

Uranium enrichment is a process that can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or, if carried out to a much higher degree, can yield fissile material for atomic bombs.

IRANIAN LETTER

In February, Iran announced that it had started enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, from about 3.5 percent previously, raising concern that it might be planning to enrich uranium still further and to produce weapons grade material.

Since June, fresh sanctions have been imposed on Iran by the U.N. Security Council, the United States, and, on Monday, by the European Union, increasing the pressure on Tehran.

One of the demands made in repeated U.N. Security Council resolutions is that Iran suspend uranium enrichment entirely.

Turkey and Brazil brokered a deal in May for a nuclear fuel swap in Tehran, hoping that this would draw Iran and major powers back to the negotiating table, but the six powers were lukewarm about the plan. At the time, Iran said it would continue enriching uranium to 20 percent.

Davutoglu, who met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim on Sunday, said Iran was ready to lay to rest concern over its enrichment program if the proposed nuclear fuel swap went ahead.

“Another important message given by Mottaki during his visit to Turkey was that if the Tehran deal is signed and Iran is provided with the necessary fuel for its research activities, then they will not continue enriching uranium to 20 percent,” Davutoglu told a joint news conference with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

Iran sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday, saying it was ready to negotiate the details of exchanging 2,646 pounds (1,200 kg) of its 3 percent enriched uranium for 265 pounds (120 kg) of 20 percent enriched uranium.

HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO

Davutoglu urged that talks on this subject with the so-called Vienna Group, comprising Russia, France, the United States and the IAEA, begin as soon as possible.

“The disagreements should be left aside and negotiations between the Vienna Group and Iran should be started right away,” he said. “As progress is made in those technical negotiations, the two sides will trust each other more.”

Davutoglu said Iran had also confirmed that EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, could meet in early September, after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

NATO-member Turkey has offered to store any swapped uranium and has gone into diplomatic overdrive in an attempt to ease tensions between Western allies and its neighbor.

A U.S. official said Iran may be trying to “have their cake and eat it too,” by swapping some low enriched uranium for nuclear fuel while continuing to enrich at some level.

“A lot depends on the details,” of what Iran is willing to do, he added, saying the West had responded coolly to Iranian initiatives earlier this year because they seemed designed to stymie U.N. Security Council sanctions that passed in June.

“Now that that process is completed, if Iran wants to engage on these subjects we are more than happy to have that conversation,” the official said.

(Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Arshad Mohammed; editing by Patricia Wilson and Mohammad Zargham)

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Ahmadinejad says China-Iran ties unhurt by sanctions

June 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said China’s support for the latest U.N. sanctions against it would not harm ties, but slammed Beijing along with other nuclear powers for wanting to monopolize the technology.

World | China

Ahmadinejad, speaking during a visit to China’s commercial capital of Shanghai on Friday, dismissed Wednesday’s resolution, triggered by a nuclear program the West believes is aimed at developing atomic weapons, as “a piece of worthless paper.”

Asked if Tehran was upset by China’s vote, he highlighted the strength of ties with a country that buys millions of barrels of Iranian crude each year, had opposed new restrictions for months and together with Russia watered down the package voted on.

“There is no reason to control or weaken the relationship (with China). The main problem is the United States,” he told a news conference after visiting the city’s flagship World Expo.

“The U.S. administration is abusing power in the (U.N.) Security Council in order to impose its hegemony on other nations,” the president said, speaking through a translator.

The resolution extended punitive measures against Iran over its protracted refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment activity and open up to U.N. nuclear inspectors.

Ahmadinejad was in Shanghai to attend the Iran day at the ongoing World Expo, and both China and Iran said the visit was purely related to that event.

The president lavished praise on cultural ties and shared values and targeted most of his criticism at Washington, though China was included in a sweeping attack on the U.N. Security Council.

“Five members have the veto rights, nuclear bombs and nuclear energy in their company and they want to monopolize all this technology for themselves,” the president said.

The five permanent members, the only ones able to block resolutions, are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

IAEA INSPECTORS CAN STAY

He said Iran would not suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over the sanctions.

“There is no reason (for inspectors) to leave Iran. We have no problem with our peaceful nuclear program,” he said, adding that Iran would push ahead with making its own enriched uranium and sanctions would act only as a spur to developing technology.

He also thanked Brazil and Turkey, which have negotiated with Iran in recent months, for voting against the sanctions, saying their support signaled the formation of a “new front of independent countries.”

The latest resolution received the least support of four meted out against Iran since 2006.

A senior German legislator said earlier this week Turkey and Brazil made a “big mistake” by voting against the sanctions since this may have encouraged Tehran to think it was not isolated.

Ahmadinejad slammed U.S. policy as deceitful and misguided and said the country’s leader was naive about foreign affairs.

“Maybe he is very immature. I think Mr (Barack) Obama does not know the world very well,” he said, adding that the U.S. president was particularly in the dark about Iran and its people.

The U.S. Congress is expected to pass additional sanctions on Iran, possibly as early as this month, and European leaders may agree next week on the need for further restrictions.

(Additional reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Ben Blanchard)

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IAEA report shows Iran’s nuclear defiance says U.S.

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – The latest report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog underscores Iran’s refusal to comply with international requirements needed to allow constructive talks on its nuclear program, the White House said on Monday.

World

“This latest IAEA report clearly shows Iran’s continued failure to comply with its international obligations and its sustained lack of cooperation with the IAEA,” White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said.

He was referring to a confidential report obtained by Reuters that said Iran has been preparing extra equipment for enriching uranium to higher levels.

President Barack Obama’s administration is leading a push for new U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. The West accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says its purpose is strictly for civilian electricity generation.

Iran first started refining small batches of uranium to 20 percent purity in February, saying it wanted to produce fuel for a medical research reactor. This raised Western suspicion because that takes enrichment closer to the 90 percent purity needed to make atomic weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency report said Iran has added a second set of 164 centrifuges — nuclear enrichment machines — to help refine uranium to 20 percent purity.

“Most notably, the report outlines Iran’s continued uranium enrichment at both 3.5 percent and near 20 percent levels, construction of a heavy water research reactor, and refusal to permit the IAEA the access necessary to answer the ongoing questions regarding Qom and long outstanding questions that surround a possible military dimension to its nuclear program,” Hammer said.

“In sum, the IAEA’s latest report underscores that Iran has refused to take any of the steps required of it by the UNSC (U.N. Security Council) or IAEA Board of Governors, which are necessary to enable constructive negotiations on the future of its nuclear program,” he said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Israeli PM rejects “flawed” U.N. nuclear declaration

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a U.N. declaration that urged his country to put its nuclear facilities under U.N. safeguards, saying it singled out Israel while letting Iran off the hook.

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In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast on Sunday night, Netanyahu said he did not think Israel would participate the U.N. resolution’s implementation.

The declaration adopted on Friday by all 189 parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the United States, called for a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

The creation of such a zone could ultimately force Israel to sign the NPT and abandon any atomic weapons it has.

The document urged Israel to sign the NPT and open its nuclear facilities to U.N. inspection.

“I thought that was a particularly distorted and flawed resolution because it singled out Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East and the only country anywhere on Earth threatened with annihilation,” Netanyahu told CBC.

“It failed to mention Iran, which brazenly violates the Non-Proliferation Treaty, is racing to arm itself with atomic weapons and openly expresses its wish to see Israel wiped off the face of the Earth,” Netanyahu said.

Israel is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it. It is the only Middle East state that has not signed the NPT and, like India and Pakistan, which have exploded nuclear devices, did not participate in a month-long U.N. meeting in New York to review the NPT.

The declaration contained plans for further disarmament, strengthening global non-proliferation efforts and ensuring access to technology for peaceful uses. It called on North Korea to return to the NPT, which it left in 2003.

The Obama administration opposed efforts to single out Israel and said it would not put the Jewish state under any pressure to do anything that would undermine its security. The White House deplored the document’s failure to mention Iran.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful generation of electric power. The United States and other Western countries suspect it is aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu said the U.N. should be focusing on Iran.

“The greatest threat to mankind today … is if a radical Islamic regime meets up with nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons meet up with a radical Islamic regime,” he told CBC,

“The first is called Iran and the second is called the Taliban takeover of Pakistan. These developments could … change the world,” Netanyahu said.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, editing by David Stamp)

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Conference on Mideast WMD ban gets go ahead

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Signatories of a global anti-nuclear arms treaty — nearly all of the world’s nations — called on Friday for a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

The creation of such a zone could ultimately force Israel to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and abandon any atomic weapons it has.

But U.S. officials, disappointed at efforts to single out the Jewish state, made clear the proposal might go nowhere, saying the Middle East could not be declared WMD-free until there was broad Arab-Israeli peace and Iran curbed its nuclear program.

The call came in a declaration adopted by consensus by all 189 parties to the treaty, including the United States, after a month-long meeting in New York to review the NPT that at times had seemed on the brink of failure.

The 28-page document said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key states would arrange a conference that would include all nations in the region, by implication including bitter foes Israel and Iran.

At the same time, the declaration urged Israel to sign the NPT and put its nuclear facilities under U.N. safeguards, and also called on India and Pakistan, which have exploded nuclear devices, to join the pact.

The chief U.S. delegate at the meeting, Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher, had opposed naming Israel in the declaration, saying it undermined the idea of the 2012 conference.

But Washington ultimately acquiesced on that point.

FOCUS ON ISRAEL

Afterwards, Washington — named as one of the co-sponsors of the proposed conference — quickly cast doubt on its chances of ever taking place.

While welcoming agreements on a range of non-proliferation issues at the U.N. meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “We strongly oppose efforts to single out Israel, and will oppose actions that jeopardize Israel’s national security.”

U.S. national security adviser Jim Jones criticized the “gratuitous” attention paid to Israel and said it was deplorable that the resolution failed to mention Iran as the “greatest threat of nuclear proliferation” in the region.

Israel is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it. It is the only Middle East state that has not signed the NPT and, like India and Pakistan, did not participate in the review conference.

Tauscher said Washington would work with countries in the region to organize a successful conference in 2012.

But she added that the U.S. ability to do that “has been seriously jeopardized because the final document singles out Israel in the Middle East section, a fact that the United States deeply regrets.”

Gary Samore, who oversees policy on weapons of mass destruction at the White House, said U.S. Vice President Joe Biden had warned Arab ambassadors in Washington this week that naming Israel in the final document would be a bad idea.

“The political symbolism of mentioning Israel in this way is very destructive,” he told reporters on a conference call.

“I don’t know whether this conference will even happen,” Samore said. “We’re not going to convene a meeting unless we believe the conditions are right for having that meeting.”

There was no immediate reaction from Israel.

‘DIFFICULT COMPROMISE’

The White House insisted it would not put the Jewish state under any pressure nor encourage it to do anything that would undermine its national security. It also denied entering into a deal with Egypt and other Arab states on the WMD-free zone.

“There is no deal between the U.S. and Egypt or any countries with regard to that particular issue,” Jones told Reuters in Washington.

Diplomats familiar with the talks, however, told Reuters the United States had agreed with the Arabs not to block consensus on the declaration while making clear it would condemn the naming of Israel.

British delegate John Duncan told the meeting the text on the Middle East had involved “difficult compromise for all parties involved.”

U.N. diplomats have said that one of the reasons Washington agreed to negotiate with the Arabs on the WMD-free zone was to secure their support for new U.N. sanctions against Iran.

Tauscher said that “Iran is the only country in this hall that has been found … to be currently in non-compliance with its (NPT) nuclear safeguards obligations.”

The declaration also contained plans for further disarmament, strengthening global non-proliferation efforts and ensuring access to technology for peaceful uses.

The 1970 NPT is intended to stop the spread of atomic weapons, though it allowed the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia to keep their arsenals while calling on them to negotiate on disarmament.

The conference called on North Korea to give up nuclear weapons and return to the NPT, which it left in 2003.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; editing by Eric Beech and Mohammad Zargham)

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FACTBOX – Why is the West sceptical about Iran’s fuel offer?

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran has outlined a plan to the U.N. atomic watchdog under which it would give up some of its nuclear material but diplomats say the gesture would have no effect on a push to widen sanctions against Tehran.

Under the plan agreed with Brazil and Turkey last week, Iran would transfer 1,200 kg (2,646 lb) of its low-enriched uranium — enough for an atomic bomb if enriched to higher levels — to Turkey within a month.

A year later the Islamic Republic would get special nuclear fuel rods for a medical research reactor which makes isotopes to help treat cancer patients.

Why is the West cautious about this proposal?

TIME LAPSE

Western officials say the landscape has changed in the seven months since they brokered a similar plan with Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a way to ease tensions over Tehran’s atomic work.

Iran has continued enriching uranium and taking away 1,200 kg now would still leave Iran with enough for a bomb if it wanted to build one. Tehran says it has no intention of doing this and says its work is for peaceful purposes only.

Some observers say the swap is still worth it because it would remove half the material. Others say the deal has now lost its value because the bomb risk would remain and it fails to build confidence.

HIGHER ENRICHMENT

Iran also started enriching uranium to higher levels in February, saying it wanted to make fuel for the reactor itself, but the move unsettled Western powers because it takes the material closer to the grade needed for atomic weapons.

Tehran said it took the step because it said it was tired of waiting for the original deal to be agreed. Western officials say it was Iran which stalled progress, with a series of new conditions for the swap which it knew would not be accepted.

Iran has vowed that it will not stop its higher enrichment, even if the fuel supply agreement goes through and has started setting up more equipment for it.

Western diplomats have described this refusal to halt higher enrichment as a likely deal-breaker. They also question why Iran would still need to continue this process — which like its lower-grade enrichment violates U.N. sanctions — when countries are prepared to give it the fuel rods it says it needs.

They say Iran lacks the capability to make the specialized fuel assemblies in the short-term, so it makes no sense to produce more highly enriched uranium for a reactor that Tehran says will run out of fuel by the end of the year.

LACK OF DETAILS

Unlike the IAEA plan, brokered by former IAEA-chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the new proposal does not included detail on who would make the fuel rods, who will pay for the process and what will happen to the low-enriched uranium stored in Turkey after the swap has been completed, Western officials say.

Without this sort of information, they say they cannot begin serious negotiations on Iran’s offer, which many of them see as an attempt to stall sanctions negotiations.

Some Western officials say the Iranian move fits into a familiar pattern of Tehran offering concessions when punitive measures loom.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Diplomats also say that with its promotion of the new proposal, Iran is trying to give the impression that it was the fuel deal which was at the centre of problems with the West, rather than its nuclear ambitions as a whole.

They acknowledge that the original IAEA-plan was always intended as a first step towards resolving the nuclear issue, not a solution.

But they say Iran’s lack of cooperation with the agency on questions about its atomic programme and its delay in engaging on the fuel deal, have left negotiators feeling wary.

They also fear that Iran may go back on its word.

Talks over the original deal suffered from internal Iranian disputes. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first appeared to favour the U.N. deal as a way to shore up his own power.

But he faced stiff opposition from rivals who did not want to see him reap credit for a breakthrough. Some voiced misgivings about parting with the nuclear material, which is seen as a strategic asset.

But analysts in Iran believe Ahmadinejad wouldn’t have agreed on this deal without the blessing of the supreme leader.

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Iran may escape censure at nuclear treaty meeting

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran may escape censure at a meeting of the 189 signatories of a global anti-nuclear arms pact, despite growing concerns that Tehran might be developing atomic weapons, according to a draft declaration.

The United States and other countries say Iran is in breach of its obligations under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a landmark arms-control pact that has been the focus of a month-long conference and review wrapping up this week.

A draft declaration prepared by conference president Libran Cabactulan of the Philippines fails to mention Iran or its nuclear program, though it names India, Pakistan and Israel as NPT holdouts. Diplomats said Iran had threatened to veto any final declaration if it was named.

The draft also names North Korea, which pulled out of the NPT several years ago.

Delegates say they hope a final version of the declaration, which calls for improved compliance with the treaty and further disarmament steps, can be agreed before the NPT conference ends on Friday. NPT decisions are made by consensus.

There is only an indirect reference to Iran in a paragraph of the 29-page draft declaration, obtained by Reuters, that says the NPT review conference “expresses its concerns with cases of noncompliance of the Treaty by States parties.”

In February 2006, the governing board of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution that referred Tehran’s nuclear program to the Security Council due to what it said were “Iran’s many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement.”

Western officials say that IAEA resolution amounted to a finding of Iranian noncompliance with the NPT. Iran denies violating the NPT and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The IAEA resolution also opened the door to three rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program. The council is currently negotiating a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran.

U.S., EGYPT HOPE FOR MIDDLE EAST DEAL

Ray Acheson of Reaching Critical Will, a nuclear disarmament group, said the Iranian delegation had insisted that if it were named, the United States and others should be as well for “serious noncompliance with Article I of the NPT.”

Article I of the NPT obliges the five nuclear powers — the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia — not to transfer nuclear weapons technology to other countries.

Diplomats said the reference to Article I violations was a dig at Western support for Israel, which is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies it.

The draft calls on NPT holdouts Israel, India and Pakistan to sign the treaty and allow U.N. inspectors to inspect their atomic facilities. It also says the conference “deplores” nuclear tests by North Korea, which left the NPT in 2003.

A deal on a declaration, Western envoys say, now hinges on whether Arab delegates are willing to compromise on a possible conference to discuss ways of making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Such a plan could eventually force Israel to give up any atomic arms it has.

The draft calls for a conference on creating such a zone in 2012 to be organized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon involving all states in the region. But diplomats said any language on this issue would be drafted by the Arabs in agreement with the five permanent Security Council members.

“If we can’t get a Middle East deal, there will be no outcome document and we’ll have another failure,” a Western envoy said on condition of anonymity. “The Arabs have to decide whether they want something (on a WMD-free zone) Israel can participate in, or if they just want to beat up on Israel.”

As the meeting enters its final days, diplomats are hoping to avoid a repeat of the last NPT review conference in 2005. That one failed due to Egypt’s frustration at the lack of a deal to pressure Israel over its atomic program and developing nations’ anger at the U.S. repudiation of disarmament pledges.

Both Egypt and the United States are eager to avoid another failure. Cairo does not want to be labeled as a spoiler, while Washington wants an outcome that backs President Barack Obama’s determination to move toward a world free of nuclear arms.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

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As tensions rise, Israel launches air raid drill

May 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Israel launched its biggest air raid exercise on Sunday to test its preparedness against possible missile strikes from Iranian-sponsored militant groups as international tensions rose over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Israel has called for strong economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear plans but, in a hint of possible military action, has said all options were on the table should diplomacy fail to resolve the dispute.

Israeli officials said the exercise, which will include sounding air raid sirens on Wednesday, would focus on municipal authorities’ responses to a scenario in which missiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas Islamists, and by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Both are allies of Iran.

In public remarks at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel’s biggest civil defence exercise as a routine, protective move and said the government sought only “quiet, stability and peace”.

The air raid sirens will sound on Wednesday nationwide in a signal to Israelis to take cover in shelters or designated secure areas for 10 minutes, and much of the public is expected to take part in this drill.

In a test of an emergency warning system, the military’s Home Front Command will also send text messages that read — “Have a nice day” — to cellphone owners in certain areas of the country, the army said in a statement to test communications.

Rescue services will be put on a practice emergency footing, while a partial distribution of gas masks is also planned, in addition to air raid drills to be held at schools and hospitals.

FIVE-DAY DRILL

The five-day drill dubbed “Turning Point 4″ has sparked nervousness in the region as diplomatic efforts intensify to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which the West and Israel believe are aimed at building atomic weapons.

Iran denies its uranium enrichment programme is a quest for nuclear arms and says it is purely for power. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.

Itamar Rabinovitch, an expert on Middle East affairs and a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, said Israel must prepare for the possibility Iranian leaders would encourage Hamas and Hezbollah to fire on Israel in the event of stiffer U.N. sanctions against Iran.

“We must show we don’t intend to be sitting ducks in the event of such an attack,” Rabinovitch said.

Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 rockets into Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war. Hamas carried out numerous cross-border rocket attacks in the past, and Israel launched a war in the Gaza Strip in late 2008 with the aim of ending such strikes.

Israel has held a country-wide civil defence exercise annually for the past three years and military officials said the current drill is the most extensive in its 62-year history.

Hezbollah rockets did cause significant casualties during the Lebanon war, and Israeli officials have said that since the conflict ended, the group has bolstered its arsenal with more powerful and longer-range weapons.

Rockets fired from the Gaza Strip have rarely caused fatalities in Israel and carry a relatively small warhead. But Hamas has said it now has rockets that can reach deep into Israel.

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Iran complains to U.N. over U.S. nuclear “threat”

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Iran complained to the United Nations on Tuesday over what it called a U.S. threat to attack it with atomic weapons, accusing Washington of nuclear blackmail in violation of the U.N. charter.

World

President Barack Obama made clear last week that Iran and North Korea, both involved in nuclear disputes with the West, were excluded from new limits on the use of U.S. atomic weapons.

A letter from Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council and General Assembly presidents called on the United Nations to “strongly oppose the threat of use of nuclear weapons and to reject it.”

Statements by Obama and other U.S. officials were “tantamount to nuclear blackmail against a non-nuclear-weapon state” and breached U.S. obligations under the U.N. charter to refrain from the threat or use of force, Khazaee said.

“Such remarks by the U.S. officials display once again the reliance of the U.S. government on (a) militarized approach to various issues, to which the threats of use of nuclear weapons are not a solution at all,” he added.

They also posed “a real threat to international peace and security and undermine the credibility” of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the envoy said.

Obama is urging other global powers to agree to a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Iran denies.

He pressed the case for sanctions at a 47-nation nuclear summit in Washington on Tuesday, at which he won pledges from world leaders to take joint action to prevent terrorist groups from getting nuclear weapons.

But Khazaee said that Iran, as a victim of weapons of mass destruction — a reference to Iraq’s use of poison gas against it in a 1980-88 war — was firmly committed to a world free from such weapons.

The United States, the only country to have used nuclear weapons — against Japan in World War Two — “continues to illegitimately designate a non-nuclear weapon state as target of its nuclear weapons and contemplates military plans accordingly,” he said.

U.N. members “should not condone or tolerate such nuclear blackmail in (the) 21st century,” the Iranian envoy said.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Obama: al Qaeda bid to go nuclear is top threat

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday that efforts by al Qaeda to acquire atomic weapons posed the biggest threat to global security, and world leaders meeting this week must act with urgency to combat this danger.

Barack Obama

Obama, speaking on the eve of an unprecedented 47-nation summit in Washington aimed at thwarting nuclear terrorism, said he expected “enormous progress” at the conference toward the goal of locking down loose nuclear material worldwide.

“The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security — both short-term, medium-term and long-term — would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama told reporters.

“We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using,” Obama said before talks with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Nuclear non-proliferation experts say there are no known instances of terrorist groups obtaining highly enriched uranium or plutonium that could be used to make a crude nuclear bomb but note there have been 18 cases of nuclear material being stolen or going missing since the early 1990s.

“This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come,” Obama said, warning of the potential consequences if a nuclear bomb were detonated.

Obama’s goal at the two-day summit is to get nations to agree to secure vulnerable nuclear material within four years and to take specific steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.

WIDE-RANGING TALKS

The president held talks on Sunday with the prime ministers of nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and South Africa’s Zuma. He will see Chinese President Hu Jintao, Jordan’s King Abdullah and the leaders of Malaysia, Ukraine and Armenia on Monday.

Signaling the U.S.-led push for new sanctions on Iran is on leaders’ minds even if not on the summit agenda, the White House said Obama told Zuma a “strong and unified international response” is required over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The West wants further sanctions to deter Iran from what is seen as a covert nuclear weapons development drive, while Tehran says it has only peaceful nuclear ambitions.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani “indicated his assurance that Pakistan takes nuclear security seriously and has appropriate safeguards in place,” the White House said. It said Obama reasserted to Gilani “the importance of nuclear security, a priority he has reiterated for all countries.”

Nuclear non-proliferation experts say Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear material is heavily guarded but the threat from al Qaeda and the Taliban make the country one of the areas of greatest concern.

Pakistan is still trying to move out from the shadow cast by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was at the center of the world’s biggest nuclear proliferation scandal in 2004. He has confessed to selling secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

In his 50-minute meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Obama heard a litany of concerns about India’s neighbor Pakistan, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who briefed reporters.

Singh talked to Obama about the activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, “and also the fact that unfortunately there was no will on the part of the government of Pakistan to punish those responsible for the terrorist crimes in Mumbai,” Rao said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 and several smaller conflicts, including one in 1999. Both nations conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

KAZAKHSTAN AS MODEL?

White House officials said Obama praised Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev as a model leader in their meeting for the steps he has taken to denuclearize his central Asian nation.

The former Soviet Union carried out nearly 500 atmospheric and underground nuclear test explosions in Kazakhstan between 1949 and 1989. Nazarbayev closed the testing site in 1991 and has disposed of more than 100 nuclear warheads.

The Kazakh government has erected posters around Washington ahead of the summit highlighting the country’s decision to get rid of its nuclear arsenal, once the world’s fourth largest.

White House officials said Obama would also meet Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the summit. A U.S. congressional committee last month voted to label the World War One-era massacres of Armenians by Turkish forces as genocide, angering Ankara and prompting it to recall its ambassador from Washington.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Susan Cornwell; editing by Eric Walsh and Todd Eastham)

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Obama: al Qaeda bid to go nuclear is top threat

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday that efforts by al Qaeda to acquire atomic weapons posed the biggest security threat, and world leaders meeting this week must act with urgency to combat this danger.

Barack Obama

Obama, speaking on the eve of an unprecedented 47-nation summit in Washington aimed at thwarting nuclear terrorism, said he expected “enormous progress” at the conference toward the goal of locking down loose nuclear material worldwide.

“The central focus of this nuclear summit is the fact that the single biggest threat to U.S. security — both short-term, medium-term and long-term — would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Obama told reporters.

“We know that organizations like al Qaeda are in the process of trying to secure a nuclear weapon — a weapon of mass destruction that they have no compunction at using,” Obama said before talks with South African President Jacob Zuma.

Nuclear non-proliferation experts say there are no known instances of terrorist groups obtaining highly enriched uranium or plutonium that could be used to make a crude nuclear bomb but note there have been 18 cases of nuclear material being stolen or going missing since the early 1990s.

“This is something that could change the security landscape of this country and around the world for years to come,” Obama said, warning of the potential consequences if a nuclear bomb were detonated.

Obama’s goal at the two-day summit is to get nations to agree to secure vulnerable nuclear material within four years and to take specific steps to crack down on nuclear smuggling.

WIDE-RANGING TALKS

The president held a series of wide-ranging talks with foreign leaders on Sunday, including the prime ministers of nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and South Africa’s Zuma.

Nuclear non-proliferation experts say Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear material is heavily guarded but the threat from al Qaeda and the Taliban make the country one of the areas of greatest concern.

Before leaving for the United States, Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani assured the international community that Pakistan’s nuclear program was in “safe hands.”

Pakistan is still trying to move out from the shadow cast by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was at the center of the world’s biggest nuclear proliferation scandal in 2004. He has confessed to selling secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

In his 50-minute meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Obama heard a litany of concerns about India’s neighbor Pakistan, according to Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who briefed reporters.

Singh talked to Obama about the activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, “and also the fact that unfortunately there was no will on the part of the government of Pakistan to punish those responsible for the terrorist crimes in Mumbai,” Rao said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 and several smaller conflicts, including one in 1999. Both nations conducted nuclear tests in 1998 and are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

White House officials said Obama praised Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev as a model leader in their meeting for the steps he has taken to denuclearize his central Asian nation.

The former Soviet Union carried out nearly 500 atmospheric and underground nuclear test explosions in Kazakhstan between 1949 and 1989. Nazarbayev closed the testing site in 1991 and got rid of more than 100 nuclear warheads.

The Kazakh government has erected posters around Washington ahead of the summit highlighting the country’s decision to get rid of its nuclear arsenal, once the world’s fourth-largest.

White House officials also said Obama would meet Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the summit. A U.S. congressional committee last month voted to label the World War One-era massacres of Armenians by Turkish forces as genocide, angering Ankara and prompting it to recall its ambassador from Washington.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Iran to complain to U.N. over Obama nuclear “threat”

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Iran will lodge a complaint with the United Nations about what it sees as U.S. President Barack Obama’s threat to attack it with nuclear weapons, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

World

Obama made clear last week that Iran and North Korea were excluded from new limits on the use of U.S. atomic weapons — something Tehran interpreted as a threat from a long-standing adversary to attack it with nuclear bombs.

“The recent statement by the U.S. president … implicitly intimidates the Iranian nation with the deployment of nuclear arms,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised meeting with military and security officials.

“This statement is very strange and the world should not ignore it since in the 21st century, which is the era of support for human rights and campaigning against terrorism, the head of a country is threatening to use nuclear war.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran would lodge a formal complaint to the United Nations, a move backed by a letter signed by 255 of Iran’s 290 members of parliament.

Obama is pressing other global powers to agree to a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear work that the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Iran denies.

Reflecting fears of attack on its nuclear sites from the United States or its closest Middle East ally Israel, the defense ministry said Iran had started producing a prototype of an advanced anti-aircraft missile system.

“The Mersad air defense system … is able to destroy modern aircraft at low and medium range altitude,” the ISNA news agency on Sunday quoted Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying.

“The mass production of this product has begun and in the course of the current year a large number of them will be delivered to the armed forces,” he said.

While Iran hopes the development of its own system will make it more self-sufficient in weapons defense, it is also urging Russia to resist Western pressure not to deliver the S-300 missile defense system it has ordered.

On Friday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran’s nuclear program was “irreversible” despite limits on importing foreign technology and the threat of new sanctions, and he unveiled a prototype of an improved centrifuge which would enrich uranium faster than existing models.

Western analysts say Iran has exaggerated progress in the past to bolster domestic pride about its nuclear program and to improve its bargaining position with major powers.

The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization played down the idea that Iran faced big technical hurdles.

“Iran’s nuclear issue is not a technical issue … we are not in a hurry. Second generation centrifuges will be mass produced in the next few months … in a year we will have prototype cascades of the third generation,” Ali Akbar Salehi told ISNA.

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy and Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Netanyahu pulls out of nuclear summit

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled his plans to travel to Washington next week to take part in president Barack Obama’s 47-country nuclear security summit conference.

He made the decision after learning that Egypt and Turkey intended to raise the issue of Israel’s presumed nuclear arsenal at the conference, a senior government official said.

Israel is believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East but has never confirmed or denied that it possesses atomic weapons.

Foreign analysts believe it has been a secret nuclear power for 40 years and may possess a sizeable arsenal.

Based on estimates of the plutonium production capacity of its Dimona reactor in the Negev desert, experts say Israel could have between 100 and 200 advanced nuclear explosive devices.

“The prime minister has decided to cancel his trip to Washington to attend the nuclear conference next week after learning that some countries, including Egypt and Turkey, plan to say Israel must sign the NPT,” the official said.

Israel has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Dozens of world leaders are due in Washington next week for the unprecedented conference, with Mr Obama hoping they can agree on how to keep atomic bombs out of the hands of terrorists.

The summit will not focus on individual nations, but the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, as well as possible new UN sanctions against Tehran, are expected to come up.

Both countries are excluded from the meeting.

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Ahmadinejad attacks Obama on nuclear ‘threat’

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s president made a scathing and personal attack on US president Barack Obama as an “inexperienced amateur” who was too quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against enemies of the United States.

Commenting on new US policy restrictions on the use of atomic weapons which sent a stern message to nuclear-defiant Iran that it remained a potential target, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Mr Obama that Iran would not yield to threats.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Mr Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television.

“American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Mr Obama had made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after he took power in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist”.

But since then a confrontation has intensified over Iran’s nuclear activities which the West suspects aims to develop an atomic bomb and which Tehran says is for civilian use.

Mr Obama has recently urged UN Security Council members to back new sanctions against Iran.

His changes to US weapons policy were announced before a nuclear summit in Washington next week. He renounced the development of new atomic weapons and ruled out the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear armed states.

But this came with a condition. Countries would be spared a US nuclear response only if they are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iran and North Korea would thus not be protected and be potential targets.

“Yesterday some news was published saying that he [Mr Obama] has threatened to use nuclear and biochemical weapons against countries that don’t comply with America and which do not yield to America’s pressure,” Mr Ahmadinejad said.

“We hope these reports are false.”

Iran will host its own Nuclear Disarmament Conference on April 17-18 which China, courted by Mr Obama to support sanctions against Iran, has said it might attend.

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CORRECTED – FACTBOX – Reaction to new U.S. nuclear policy

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Obama administration announced restrictions in the U.S. use of nuclear arms on Tuesday, renouncing development of new atomic weapons and heralding cuts in America’s stockpile.

It also announced plans to pursue high-level bilateral talks with Russia and China to promote “more stable and transparent strategic relationships,” according to a Defense Department document.

The following is selected reaction to the move:

SPOKESWOMAN FOR U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON

“The Secretary-General welcomes President Obama’s reaffirmation of his commitment towards a nuclear-free world.”

“Following the recent successful conclusion of negotiations between the Russian Federation and the U.S. for a successor agreement to the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), the release of this new Nuclear Posture Review is a timely initiative in that direction.”

REPUBLICAN SENATORS JOHN MCCAIN AND JON KYL

“The U.S. has had a long-standing policy, embraced by administrations of both parties, of retaining all options to respond to an attack on it or its allies by any state using weapons of mass destruction.”

“In fact, one reason that we got rid of chemical and biological weapons is that we were told that we would always have the nuclear deterrent available. Unfortunately, the NPR released today confuses this long-standing policy.”

“The Obama administration must clarify that we will take no option off the table to deter attacks against the American people and our allies.”

LISBETH GRONLUND, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS

“We applaud his decision to strengthen U.S. ‘negative security assurances’ by pledging that the United States will not use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon state that is a signatory in good standing of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty … However, the new policy does not go far enough to reduce the role of nuclear weapons.”

KEVIN MARTIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PEACE ACTION, A U.S. ANTI-NUCLEAR WEAPONS GROUP

“The president’s Nuclear Posture Review, released today, appears to be too beholden to outdated Cold War thinking, and it doesn’t measure up to his vision of a nuclear-free world. It’s certainly better than the one released by the Bush administration, which called for the possibility of using nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states. The Obama administration reversed that.”

“President Obama also stated the U.S. would not build new nuclear weapons like those the previous administration wanted but Congress thankfully blocked. Nonetheless, the document leaves room for the possibilities of new warheads in the future.”

KIRK LEOPOLD, FORMER COMMANDER OF USS COLE AND SENIOR FELLOW AT MILITARY FAMILIES UNITED

“The president’s goal of a world free of nuclear weapons is a noble idea. Unfortunately, it remains unrealistic and naive in a world that has yet to embrace this notion.”

“As long as nations like North Korea and Iran continue to flout international agreements and other nations like Russia and China continue to improve and enhance their nuclear arsenals, the United States must retain the full and flexible use of nuclear weapons as a vital component of U.S. deterrent strategy.”

“In addition, the surety of our nuclear force must be modernized and maintained for the foreseeable future.”

DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE EDWARD MARKEY, FOUNDER OF HOUSE BIPARTISAN TASK FORCE ON NONPROLIFERATION

“This marks a sea change in America’s nuclear strategy. For too long, we have kept in place a stagnant Cold War era policy that failed to recognize the shifting geopolitical landscape.

“These long overdue changes in our nuclear policy will make us more secure by downgrading the role that nuclear weapons play in our defense and emphasizing that such weapons exist only to deter their actual use.”

TOM DONNELLY, DIRECTOR OF DEFENSE STUDIES, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

“The release of the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is part of a larger set of policies that look to the past rather than preparing the United States for the nuclear future.”

“Arms-control advocates are as prone as any generals to refight the last war rather than prepare for the future. The quality of our nuclear forces — their modernity, flexibility and strategic utility — are now more important than the quantity.”

“Bilateral arms treaties do little to protect us in the emerging, multipolar nuclear environment. The threat of nuclear terrorism, as worrisome as it is, is not the only proliferation concern.”

SHARON SQUASSONI, DIRECTOR OF THE PROLIFERATION PREVENTION PROGRAM, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

“This NPR says we don’t need nuclear weapons to deter a wide range of threats, we need them to deter a narrow range of threat. And the focus is on improving conventional flexibility to deter threats that we would have previously deterred with nuclear weapons.

“So, it probably doesn’t go far enough to appease the most ardent nuclear disarmament advocates but that’s OK.”

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by John O’Callaghan)

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Iran’s president attacks Obama on nuclear “threat”

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s president issued a scathing personal attack on U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday, calling him an “inexperienced amateur” who was quick to threaten to use nuclear weapons against U.S. enemies.

Commenting on new U.S. policy restrictions on the use of atomic weapons which sent a stern message to nuclear-defiant Iran that it remained a potential target, hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Obama that Iran would not yield to threats.

“Obama made these latest remarks because he is inexperienced and an amateur politician,” Ahmadinejad said on Iranian television. “American politicians are like cowboys. Whenever they have legal shortcomings, their hands go to their guns.”

Obama made a diplomatic overture to Tehran soon after taking office in 2009, urging it to “unclench its fist”.

But since then a confrontation has intensified over Iran’s nuclear activities which the West suspects are aimed at developing an atomic bomb and Tehran says are for civilian use.

Obama is urging U.N. Security Council members to back new sanctions against Iran.

His changes to U.S. weapons policy were announced before a nuclear summit in Washington next week. He renounced the development of new atomic weapons and ruled out the use of nuclear arms against non-nuclear armed states.

But this came with a condition. Countries would be spared a U.S. nuclear response only if they are in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran and North Korea would thus not be protected and be potential targets.

“Yesterday some news was published saying that he (Obama) has threatened to use nuclear and biochemical weapons against countries that don’t comply with America and which do not yield to America’s pressure,” Ahmadinejad said in the speech from the northwestern city of Urmia. “We hope these reports are false.”

Iran will host its own Nuclear Disarmament Conference on April 17-18. China, which has been courted by Obama to support sanctions against Iran, has said it might attend.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Wednesday that China would join talks with the United States, Britain, Russia, France and Germany in New York on Thursday to discuss possible sanctions against Iran

But he indicated this was not necessarily a sign that China was dropping its resistance to sanctions.

“Negotiations will be long, will they be over by the end of April? I hope so,” Kouchner said.

IRAN WARNS ISRAEL

Iran repeated warnings to Israel not to attack.

“If they (Israel) attack Iran, possibly no trace will be left from the Zionist regime (Israel),” Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency.

Israel has hinted it could strike Iran in an effort to halt the nuclear activities. Iran has threatened to retaliate for any attack by firing missiles at Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal.

A deputy of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the elite Revolutionary Guards made similar threats on Tuesday.

The United States and its allies hope to get new sanctions imposed in the coming weeks over Iran’s nuclear enrichment work, after failing to reach a fuel-swap agreement with Tehran.

Iran, which says it needs nuclear technology to generate power and for medical reasons, says it would hand over its low-grade enriched uranium in return for higher-grade uranium, but the swap must be carried out inside the country under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“We have a positive attitude towards the fuel swapping idea … provided it is done within Iran,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference on Wednesday.

Russia, which, like China, is under intense Western pressure to support tougher U.N. sanctions has so far failed to deliver a S-300 anti-aircraft system Iran has ordered, a move which has irritated Iranian officials.

But Defence Minister Vahidi said Russia had no intention of breaking the agreement to sell the missile system. “Russia is committed to our agreements over the S-300 system. They have told us that the system will be delivered to Iran on time.”

Analysts say the S-300 could help Iran to thwart any attempt by Israel or the United States — which have refused to rule out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the atomic row — to bomb its nuclear facilities.

The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and travels at more than 2 km per second.

(Additional reporting by Ramin Mostafavi and Hossein Jaseb, Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Noah Barkin)

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Germany charges two over Iranian missile programme

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

German federal prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged two Iranians for attempting to procure technology for Iran’s missile programme.

Acting on the instructions of a senior figure in Iran’s missile programme, prosecutors said the two men, identified as Mohsen A., 52, and Behzad S., 49, had acquired a vacuum sintering furnace for 850,000 euros from a German firm.

In breach of Germany’s foreign trade law, they exported the furnace — which is used to shield warheads from heat — to Iran, then contracted the manufacturer to assemble it for them.

“Both of the accused knew that the machinery was to be used for the Iranian missile programme,” prosecutors said.

Behzad S., who holds German and Iranian citizenship, was used as a go-between in the operation, they added.

As it began assembly in Tehran in 2008, the German firm that made the furnace discovered that a company owned by the 52-year-old was suspected of working for the missile programme. It then stopped the work so the furnace could not be used, prosecutors said.

Western powers suspect Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, though prosecutors made no explicit reference to this. Tehran denies it is attempting to develop atomic weapons.

Mohsen A., has been in police custody since October last year, but the younger man is still at large, prosecutors said.

A number of goods with military applications have been subject to Germany’s export ban to Iran since April 2007, among them vacuum sintering furnaces, they added.

(Writing by Dave Graham; editing by Noah Barkin)

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U.S. plans help German nuclear arms removal – minister

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington’s plans to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons will bolster efforts to remove the last remaining U.S. nuclear arms in Germany, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Wednesday.

Westerwelle said Tuesday’s announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama that the U.S. aimed to renounce development of new atomic weapons was a “historic” step that brought the vision of a Germany free of nuclear arms closer to reality.

“The German government wants the last tactical nuclear weapons removed from Germany,” he said in a statement in Berlin. “This provides a tailwind to the government’s aims.”

Westerwelle, a member of the Free Democrats (FDP) who rule in a coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, has made disarmament his signature issue.

He announced the day after last year’s federal election that he wanted talks on removing the last U.S. nuclear warheads from Germany, calling them “relics of the Cold War”.

According to unofficial estimates, the United States still has around 20 nuclear weapons stationed at a base in the western German town of Buechel.

Westerwelle said removal of the weapons should involve the “closest cooperation” with Germany’s allies and promised to address the matter at an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Tallin on April 22-23.

He said Obama’s plans also sent out a signal that Iran should desist from any moves to acquire nuclear arms.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; editing by Noah Barkin)

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US nuclear doctrine ‘could go further’

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A top Australian nuclear disarmament diplomat has welcomed the new United States doctrine limiting the potential use of its nuclear weapons, but says it could have gone further.

The US says it will only use atomic weapons in “extreme circumstances”, will not attack non-nuclear states and has pledged that no new nuclear weapons will be developed.

The former Australian foreign minister and co-chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Gareth Evans, says the new US doctrine takes a step in the right direction by ending a long-standing policy of ambiguity and states clear limits to US nuclear weapons use.

But Professor Evans says the doctrine would have been better if it declared that US nuclear weapons existed only to deter their use by others.

“The US stopped short of that unhappily in this agreement, whereas it would have been a big step forward if it had gone the extra mile,” he said.

“But that said, we do have in president (Barack) Obama, and in the shape and the flavour and most of the content of this latest statement, a quite different approach to these issues than we’ve seen in the past.”

Professor Evans says the new US policy is one of several important steps aimed at eventually eliminating the world’s 23,000 nuclear weapons.

“I think it’s very positive, particularly when you look at it in the context of what’s also happening in the next week – the signing of the US-Russia bilateral agreement and the Nuclear Security Summit,” he said.

Professor Evans says countries like China need to be more transparent about their nuclear arsenal.

“It’s one thing for China to say it has embraced a no first use doctrine, which is very important. It’s one thing for China to say that it’s very committed to a nuclear weapon-free world,” he said.

“But who can get into any kind of serious dialogue with the Chinese when they won’t acknowledge the number of weapons they have or the nature of their deployment?”

Message for Iran

It is the first time a US administration has held an unclassified review of its nuclear posture and is in keeping with Mr Obama’s promise to move towards a world without nuclear weapons.

US defence secretary Robert Gates says the doctrine supports countries in compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But he says it sends a message to countries such as Iran and North Korea, who are not in compliance.

“If there is a message for Iran and North Korea here, it is … if you’re not going to play by the rules, if you’re going to be a proliferator, then all options are on the table in terms of how we deal with you,” Mr Gates said.

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