Countdown Iran » uranium enrichment

Washington Post: U.N. Report Says Iran Stockpiling Enriched Uranium

C.I. — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:47:54 +0000

SEPT. 7 – Iran is steadily stockpiling enriched uranium, even in the face of toughened international sanctions, according to a U.N. inspection report that raises new concerns about the ability to monitor parts of the nation’s nuclear program that could be used to make a bomb, according to a report in the Washington Post newspaper.

Iran Begins Further Uranium Processing

C.I. — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:21:12 +0000

FEB. 9 – “Brushing aside international calls for stricter sanctions against it, Iran said Tuesday it had begun enriching uranium for use in a medical reactor to a higher level of purity, raising the stakes again in its dispute with the United States and other countries over its nuclear program,” reports the New York Times.

Iran’s President Moves Ahead on Uranium Processing

C.I. — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:00:09 +0000

FEB. 7 – “Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ordered the nation’s atomic energy agency on Sunday to begin producing a special form of uranium that can be used to power a medical reactor in Tehran, but that could also move the country much closer to possessing fuel usable in nuclear weapons,” reports the New York Times.

Debka: Iran Crosses Red Line, Can Enrich Uranium Up to 20%

C.I. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:03:45 +0000

JAN. 26 – “Attaining the ability to enrich uranium up to 20 percent grade brings Iran dangerously close to “break-out” point for a nuclear weapon capability,” Debkafile’s intelligence sources report.

Report: Iran Rejects Nuclear Fuel Exchange Offer

C.I. — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:17:12 +0000

JAN. 19 – The Associated Press reports that Iran has rejected a Western offer to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. See also this report by the Canadian Press.

Reuters Report Discusses Iran Nuclear Program’s ‘Stagnation’

C.I. — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:02:38 +0000

JAN. 14 – Reuters examines Iran’s vigorous denial of a recent Haaretz report that Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment program for two months as a gesture of “good will” toward the West.

Iran Denies Haaretz Report on Uranium Enrichment Suspension

C.I. — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:28:04 +0000

JAN. 11 – Al Bawaba reports that Iran is refuting today’s Haaretz report that Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment program for two months as a “gesture of good will.”

Israeli Expert Cites West’s ‘Inept’ Iran Nuclear Policy

C.I. — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:49:45 +0000

JAN. 5 – Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Israel, has characterized the West’s handling of Iran and its suspected weapons program as “inept.”

France Rejects Iran’s Nuclear Counter-Proposal

C.I. — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:44:14 +0000

JAN. 4 – Israel Radio is reporting this morning that France has rejected Iran’s ultimatum to the West that it has to accept Iran’s counterproposal to a United Nations’ brokered deal aimed at slowing the Iranian nuclear program.

The report cites the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, who told RTL Radio, “We are not the ones who have to decide whether to accept what they want to impose on us. No, this is not the way it is done.”

Iran has threatened to begin enriching its nuclear fuel stockpile on its own at the end of January.

Israeli Press Features NY Times Story

C.I. — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:33:10 +0000

JAN. 3 – The Israeli print and broadcast media are giving prominence, this morning, to the New York Times report that Obama Administration officials feel Iran’s nuclear program has been “seriously derailed.”

Is Iran’s New Year Ultimatum a Diversion?

C.I. — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:45:45 +0000

JAN. 2 – It is being suggested that a New Year ultimatum issued on Iranian state television by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, that the West has one month to accept Iran’s counter proposal for enriching its nuclear fuel stockpile, is but an effort to “push a confrontation with the West to divert public attention from political and social troubles at home.” So reports Michael Slackman in his dispatch today for the New York Times.

NY Times: Iranian Nuclear Program ‘Seriously Derailed,’ Leaders ‘Vulnerable’

C.I. — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:55:49 +0000

JAN. 2 – The New York Times is reporting tonight that according to the Obama administration, domestic unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected trouble in its nuclear program are making Iran’s leaders, particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions.”

The Times also reports that according to Obama administration officials, Iran’s bomb-development effort was “seriously derailed” by the exposure three months ago of the country’s secret enrichment plant under construction near the holy city of Qum.