Swiss govt freezes more Iranian assets

The Swiss government has extensive its financial sanctions against Iran by freezing the assets of 11 more companies and people but determined not to take any action against Tehran's central bank, officials said Wednesday.The action against an added eight companies and three individuals was carried out Tuesday and "brings Switzerland largely in line with the restrictive actions the European Union adopted in January, the Swiss Cabinet said. The move aims to pressure Iran to comply with U.N. demands over its contentious nuclear program. 

But an exclusion to the EU's measures "was made for the Iranian Central Bank, upon which sanctions have not be imposed, due to its significance for the Iranian economy," the Swiss government said.It did not recognize the targeted companies and individuals.Iran's denials of military target for its uranium enrichment have failed to convince EU and U.S. officials. 

The Swiss have before frozen Iranian accounts in Switzerland because of U.N. Security Council sanctions compulsory on Iran over its nuclear program. Iran has been subject to U.N. sanctions primarily for refusing to stop a nuclear enrichment program.Swiss banks have frequently been accused of allowing firms and individuals close to the Iranian government to conduct business during Swiss accounts.

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Safety fears for new uranium customer

India, Australia's newest uranium export destination, is to take to pieces its nuclear regulator, replacing the expert panel with a government-controlled body critics say will be a ''sham'' and ''no regulator at all''.Legislation before the Indian parliament would restore the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which has monitor the use, transfer and disposal of nuclear material in India for 28 years, with the Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority.

The NSRA will be answerable to a clutch of government ministers who can straight the regulator, even sack its members, generous rise to allegations that the new body will be captive to government.The controversial move comes as Australian officials arrange to begin negotiations with India about the sale of uranium to its inhabitant nuclear program.

This month the Labor Party overturned a long-standing ban on promotion uranium to India because it refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.India remains steadfastly outside the treaty but has sign other international agreements and is now subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.But nuclear experts say safety will be compromise below the new domestic regulator.

Iran considers moving uranium enrichment facilities to safer locations

Iran may move its uranium enrichment services to safer locations if this becomes essential a senior military commander said on Wednesday, dazzling Iran's worries about a possible military strike against the sites. Both the US and Israel have not ruled out a military option beside Iran's controversial nuclear program, which the West suspects is aimed at making atomic weapons.

Iran denies the charge, saying the program is geared toward generate electricity and producing medical radioisotopes desirable to treat cancer patients. Gholam Reza Jalali, who commands an anti-sabotage unit in the powerful Revolutionary Guard, said the susceptibility of Iran's nuclear facilities from a probable strike is "already minimal" but that the move still may go through for their better protection.

"If conditions require, we will move (our) uranium enrichment services to safer locations," Jalali was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying. Iran's main uranium enrichment site in Natanz in central Iran is built partly subversive while the long-secret Fordo facility was built deep inside a mountain as a safety measure from aerial attacks. Jalili said the existing infrastructure has previously been "a kind of deterrent" against attacks.

Iran, Zimbabwe to cooperate on uranium mining

“Zimbabwe has rich uranium reserves, but is faced with lack of funds and does not possess the technical knowledge and equipment wanted for extracting rich uranium ores,” Mumbengegwi told ISNA in an interview published on Wednesday. “If we can work together on uranium mining, it will get better the economic situation of both countries,” he said. The Zimbabwean official also said that the two countries can have collaboration in the energy sector, particularly in construction of oil refineries. He went on to say that Zimbabwe is willing to buy fuel from Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Zimbabwean foreign minister said it is the best time for the Iranian companies to spend in Zimbabwe, adding when a country’s economy is in a bad condition, it is the best time for making investment in that country because investors will receive many incentives. Commenting on the structure of the United Nations, Mumbengegwi said that the power is intense in the UN Security Council and the members of the council are empowered to make each decision they wish. It is not fair and more power should be move to the General Assembly which has 194 members, he said, proposing that the number of the UN Security Council should be enlarged to 26 countries. He added that the imposition of sanctions on countries should also be accepted by the General Assembly.

On the UN sanctions on Iran and Zimbabwe, he said impressive sanctions on these countries are not accidental. “The Western governments treat the governments that do not allow their dominance in this way and impose sanctions on them,” he said. “The Western governments are skilled at fabricate cause to justify their actions,” he stated, adding each unbiased observer can testify that Zimbabwe is one of the mainly democratic countries in Africa and the human rights are never violated in the country. On Iran’s nuclear program, the Zimbabwean envoy said the Western countries have formed a brouhaha over Iran’s nuclear issue, but according to the international rules all countries have the right to utilize the nuclear energy for peaceful applications.

Russian Minister Calls for Resumption of Iran Nuclear Talks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is calling for the resumption of talks on Iran's nuclear program as soon as possible. The Russian minister said a more productive approach is needed to resolve international concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions. Lavrov said he discussed Iran’s nuclear program with European Union foreign plan chief Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. All agree the dormant nuclear talks should be revitalized as soon as possible. The final round of talks, which were held in January in Istanbul, broke up without any breakthrough on a proposed fuel swap plan. Under the plan, Iran would agree to end its uranium enrichment program in swap for enriched foreign material.

Western powers suspect Iran is planning to construct nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful use. Lavrov said a more detailed approach is required to ensure Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons. Through an interpreter, he said, “The Iranian partners have said that they are prepared to discuss all of these issues, and now we require to do the groundwork for the next round, which, of course, cannot simply be a round where we exchange our positions. We want now to start agreeing on specific agreements. And, the most realistic, I think, is to have a step by step approach, where originally, we re-establish confidence.”

Western countries charge that Iran’s nuclear program breaks the conditions of the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who spoke at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, did not straight deal with this controversial issue. Instead, he lashed out at the major nuclear powers, claiming their enormous stockpiles of weapons pose the greatest threat to the survival of humankind. Salehi said the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty does not give a right for states with nuclear weapons to keep their nuclear arsenals indefinitely.

US intelligence says North Korea may have some uranium enrichment facilities

U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea may have some uranium enrichment facilities to advance its nuclear weapons program and may have received external assistance, America's spy chief said Thursday. Last November, North Korea showed U.S. visitors a facility at Yongbyon that it said enclosed 2,000 centrifuges confirming American suspicions the North has a second way of creation fissile material in count to its plutonium based program. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in written testimony to the House Intelligence Committee there is a "clear prospect" that the North has built further uranium enrichment related facilities in its territory.

That would deepen concern about the extent of the North's nuclear program, which Clapper said posed a "serious threat" to safety in East Asia. He said the communist country has previously conducted two nuclear tests and tests of a ballistic missile that could reach portion of the United States. The United States has said since 2002 that the North has a uranium base program, which Pyongyang denied for years. Clapper said the scale of the capability at Yongbyon and the progress complete in construction showed North Korea had likely been pursuing enrichment "for an extensive period of time." He said to progress so far within the 20 months claimed by North would not be probable without previously conducting extensive research, testing and meeting, or without receiving "outside assistance."

Clapper did not elaborate on where that support would have come from, but he could be alluding to former Pakistani chief nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, who ran a rogue trafficking network until 2003. Clapper recognized North Korea itself as a recognized proliferator which had exported of ballistic missiles and associated materials to some countries, including Iran and Syria. While he said North Korea has the capability to build nuclear weapons, it was not clear if they really had any and if they did, would likely only use them beside the U.S. if it was on the verge of military defeat. 

North’s uranium to be contract with at UN

The international community’s sluggish reaction to the revelation of a new uranium enrichment ability in North Korea is predictable to quicken later this month during a sanctions committee assembly at the United Nations Security Council. The UN Security Council is programmed to hold the meeting on Feb. 23, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said yesterday. “The North Korea sanctions committee is regularly held every three months to review its actions over the,” said the official.

Another diplomatic source said North Korea’s nuclear programs will likely be discuss at the meeting. “There is a high possibility that the uranium enrichment issue will be on the agenda in that it is viewed as breaching UN resolution 1718 and 1874,” the source said. In November, an American nuclear scientist visit the North, Siegfried Hecker, was shown a before unknown uranium enrichment ability at Yongbyon, the site of the country’s plutonium based nuclear facility.

The meeting at the UN will follow a fresh remark by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell that Washington is working with its allies to seek an suitable venue to discuss the North’s uranium program. An internal-panel report just delivered to the committee said the uranium enrichment facility was probably genuine. Analysts said the report will likely be adopt at the upcoming gathering, after which the UN Security Council will have a stronger hand to deal with the issue.

Iran defies West more enriched uranium

Iran says it has enlarged its stockpile of uranium enriched to top levels, in defiance of United Nations demands that it halt the program. The Vice President, Ali Akbar Salehi, also says Iran has build a plant to create nuclear fuel plates and rods in Isfahan. That would allow Iran to make its own reactor fuel. But Western specialist have disputed whether Iran has the technological ability to produce plates and rods when Tehran has complete similar claims in the past. And Israel's departure intelligence chief, Meir Dagan, said last week that he believe Iran will not be able to construct a nuclear weapon before 2015 at the earliest.

The Israeli newspapers Yediot Aharonot and Maariv, gave famous coverage to Mr Dagan's leaving after eight years as the director of Mossad, the intelligence service, and his astonishingly upbeat assessment of Tehran's nuclear ability. The assessment, which pushed back other Israeli guess by a year or more, was base on the obstacle Iran has faced, including technical difficulty and covert action beside its nuclear program by intelligence agencies. But Mr Salehi, who is also Iran's performing foreign minister, said on Saturday that Tehran currently has 40 kilograms of uranium enriched to 20 per cent, up from 30 kilograms statement in October.

Uranium enriched to 20 per cent is sufficient to make fuel for a medical research reactor but far below the more than 90 per cent necessary to build fissile material for nuclear warheads. A deal for the West to give fuel for the reactor has fallen separately in the deadlock over Iran's broader nuclear program, which the West suspect is planned to expand atomic bombs. Iran denies the allegation, and says the plan is peaceful. Iran says fuel for the Tehran research reactor that create the medical radioisotopes will run out in September, exit it without the materials wanted to diagnose and treat 850,000 cancer patients across the country.

Stuxnet study recommends Iran enrichment aim: experts

Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm of unidentified origin that attacks command modules for industrial equipment, is explain by some experts as a first of its kind guided cyber missile. Thanks to the worm's sophistication, doubt has lingered about its origins and exact aim since German company Siemens first educated in July that the malware was attacking its widely-used industrial control systems. Some analyst point to unexplained technological problems that have cut the number of working centrifuges in Iran's uranium enrichment program as evidence that its nuclear goal may have suffered sabotage.

Diplomats and safety sources say Western governments and Israel view sabotage as one way of slowing Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspect is aimed at making nuclear weapons but Tehran persist is for peaceful energy purposes. New research by cyber security company Symantec contains proof that actually supports the enrichment sabotage theory, pointing to tell tale signs in the way Stxunet's changes the behavior of gear known as frequency converter drives. An incidence converter drive is a power supply that can alter the regularity of the output, which controls the speed of a motor. The higher the frequency, the superior the motor's speed.

Stuxnet "sabotages" the systems the drive control, a paper posted online by Symantec researcher Eric Chien said. "We have connected a dangerous piece of the puzzle." Stuxnet's approach is to monitor the regularity of these drives and only attack ones that run between 807 Hertz (Hz) and 1210 Hz very tall speeds used only in an incomplete set of applications, including gas centrifuges. Once process at those frequencies occurs for a period of time, Stuxnet begins modify the behavior of the frequency converter drives and in result sabotages it, Symantec said. Ivanka Barzashka, a research connect at the Federation of American Scientists, said in an email that if Symantec's findings were true they were very important.

China, Russia urges Iran to show nuclear plans peaceful

The West suspects Iran of seeking nuclear weapons in a main threat to international safety under the guise of a civilian research program. Tehran says its extensive concealed uranium enrichment drive is aimed only at generating electricity. "The three foreign ministers know Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy," they said in a combined statement released on the Chinese foreign ministry's website after a meeting in China's Wuhan city. "At the same time, Iran should return the faith of the international community of the completely peaceful nature of its nuclear activities," they added. "The only path to resolve the Iran nuclear issue is throughout dialogue, negotiations and other such peaceful methods."

European Union foreign relationships Chief Catherine Ashton wrote to Iran's chief nuclear representative on Friday compliant an offer to meet in Europe early next month to discuss Tehran's nuclear program. Following consultation with the six world powers which she will stand for the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany Ashton wrote to Saeed Jalili compliant the offer of a meeting on December 5, but recommended Switzerland or Austria as the venue. If talks are approved they have been under discussion for almost six months it would be the first time in more than a year that Iran has met to talk about nuclear program.

Iran envoy dismisses tougher conditions for atom fuel swap

Western diplomats say economic sanction are beginning to have an force on Iran, and it may be possible to revitalize the fuel exchange plan if it also accepts broader talks they hope will lead to Tehran approving to curb its enrichment drive. They have prepared clear any new deal must be updated to take into account Iran's enlarged holdings of low enriched uranium (LEU) material which can be used to build bombs if refined much further, and its work to enrich to top levels since February. "I'm afraid there is no sense for these kind of statements," Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters when asked about a U.S. media statement that Iran would be required to part with some two metric tons of its uranium stockpile under a correct proposal.

Iran has said it is prepared to meet with the powers involved in efforts to defuse the argument over its nuclear program the United States, Germany, France, China, Britain and Russia afterward this month at a time and place still to be determined. It would be the first such gathering in more than a year and also the first since the United Nations, the United States and the European Union forced harsher sanctions on Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, earlier this year. But the Islamic Republic is performance no sign of backing down over uranium enrichment work it says is designed to produce electricity but the West suspects has military aims.

The major powers want Iran to suspend all such actions. Iran has every time rejected this demand, saying it is its national right to develop nuclear energy. Last week, the U.S. State Department said Washington and its European allies were ready a new offer to Iran on the fuel exchange, seen as a potential confidence building step. The New York Times said it would need Iran to send about 2,000 kg of LEU out of the country. That would represent a more than two thirds' increase from the amount necessary under a tentative deal a year ago that later collapsed. Iran would also need to stop manufacture of nuclear fuel it is enriching to 20 percent, a key step toward bomb-grade levels, and agree to consult on the future of its nuclear program, the Times said.

Rossing Uranium Mine Officials value Iran's Shares

"We believe we are complying with UN Resolution 1929," the Anglo Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said in a report. The UN Security Council Resolution 1929 bans Iran from acquire any interest in any commercial action involving uranium mining, enrichment, reprocessing and the manufacture or use of nuclear materials and technology. Iran has owned a 15 percent stake in the Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia in southern Africa, which is mass owned by Rio Tinto, since 1975. According to World Nuclear Association data, Rossing mine is the world's third biggest investor of nuclear fuel and the largest open pit uranium mine, accounting for 7 percent of the global deliver.

On October 18, the company's director for corporate communications and external relations Jerome Mutumba told Reuters that "Rossing Uranium Limited is check with with the Government of Namibia to find a solution to deal with the UN Resolution." "Iran does not gain access to any nuclear technology through its investments. It has no uranium merchandise off-take rights," Rio Tinto said in the statement. The US-led West accuses Iran of trying to expand nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have not at all presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purpose only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to give power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would ultimately run dry.

Despite the rules enshrine in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling each member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanction for turning down West's calls to provide up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressure merely consolidate Iranians' national decide to continue the path. Political observers believe that the United States has remain at loggerheads with Iran mostly over the independent and home grown-up nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the possible to turn into a world power and a role model for other third world countries.

Iran start loading uranium fuel rods into nuclear reactors

Iran started completely loading fuel into its only nuclear reactor on Tuesday, after a leak in the Russian-built reactor's basin late the process for months, state media reported. Iran's Atomic Energy Agency (IAEO) said a series of test had been run and that it had currently started loading 163 fuel rods into the reactor's core. Russia is supply the uranium fuel for the plant, for 10 years, at an enrichment level well below what is wanted for a nuclear weapon. The 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant is expected to start generate electricity in about three months, more than 35 years after the start of building, IAEO head Ali Akbar Salehi told state television. The original service provider was a German company.

The plant, located near the Persian Gulf city of Bushehr, is not extensively regarded as a threat by Western countries, which fear Iran is creation a nuclear weapon, something Iran denies. Rather, it is a symbol of the Islamic Republic' s progress in spite of sanctions against the country. At the start of fuel loading tests in August, the U.S. State Department said it did not view the plant as a proliferation risk but harassed its continued concerns about Iran's nuclear program. At that time, Israel, which says Iran is planning to create a nuclear weapon, also said it was not particularly worried about the plant, but required Iran to stop enriching uranium. The loading of fuel is oversee by International Atomic Energy Organization, Iranian officials said.

Envoy Underlines Iran's Opposition to Nuclear Weapons

Addressing the viewers at the Complutense University of Madrid on Wednesday, Saffari dismissed allegation that Iran was seeking a covert military nuclear program and said the charge were piece of a psychological warfare against the Islamic Republic. He additional pointed out that the US was seeking to falsify facts regarding Iran's nuclear program in an effort to advance its policy of Iranophobia in the world and to pile up force on the country. Iran's nuclear program has been politicized by the United States, he goes on to say. The envoy also discarded sanctions against the country's nuclear program and said that despite sanctions, the volume of trade between Iran and European countries has been enhanced by 20 percent during the past six months.

But Iran will not give up its "inalienable" nuclear rights under growing political pressure from the United States, he added. "Iran will keep resisting US unjust policies and will not back away from its right to use nuclear energy," Saffari reiterated. The US-led West accuse Iran of trying to expand nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never obtainable any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charge and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursue a civilian path to provide power to the rising number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling each member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanction for turning down West's calls to provide up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed West's strain as politically tainted and illogical, stressing those sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national decide to continue the path. Political observer believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mostly over the independent and home grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which give the Islamic Republic the possible to turn into a world power and a role model for other third world countries.

Iran Blasts West for nonstop Attempts to Bar Nations' Scientific Progress

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad slammed the West for its nonstop attempts to block other countries' scientific progress, saying that the western countries are extremely worried and fearful of the other nations' advancement in different fields, especially acquisition of the civilian nuclear technology. "By depriving certain countries like Iran of rising nuclear technology, the West is blocking other nations' path to science and knowledge," President Ahmadinejad said, address Lebanese educational and student at Beirut University on Thursday. "They develop nuclear technology themselves, but they want to deprive us of this technology," he added.

The Iranian chief executive pointed out that knowledge, including nuclear technology, can bring welfare to nations but the West associate nuclear know-how with bombs when it comes to nuclear activities of other countries. The US led West charge Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the envelop of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to give power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would finally run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitle every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is currently under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to provide up its right of uranium enrichment. Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically stained and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national decide to continue the path. Political observer believe that the United States has stay at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the free and home grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the possible to turn into a world power and a role model for other third-world countries

Iran’s uranium holding

Despite international sanctions intended to derail Iran’s nuclear program, the Islamic Republic legally owns 15 percent of the third biggest uranium mine in the world. How is this possible? Ask the organization of Rossing Uranium Limited in the southern African nation of Namibia. According to the company’s most fresh annual report, Iran has owned a sizeable stake in it since the early 1970s. The United Nations has made it unlawful to sell fissile material to the Iranians, but it somehow allows them to own a main stake in a uranium mine. This is a loophole that wants to be addressed at Turtle Bay.

The Namibian government insists last year that it did not enter into profitable deals to supply Iran with uranium. Under Namibian law, the Windhoek government must support all uranium exports. And Rossing’s most current report to stakeholders declares that the company is in full compliance with International Atomic Energy Association directives on Iran. Nevertheless, from Washington’s viewpoint, Rossing could be a legitimate aim for financial sanctions. Presumably, Iranian personnel have contact to the site. Indeed, two Iranian legislature of the Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) sit on Rossing’s board of directors. One of them, Seyed Nezameddin Ashrafizadeh, is an proficient chemical engineer.

Are the Iranians acquiring technical knowledge from Rossing’s experts and transfer it to Iran’s domestic uranium mines? This is illegal, according to the inclusive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act, which President Obama signed in July. It may also be prohibited under UN Resolution 1929, which states that “Iran shall not gain an interest in any commercial activity in another state involving uranium mining.” Additionally, IFIC, the unit that holds Iran’s 15 percent share of Rossing, is the mullahs’ sovereign wealth vehicle. The U.S. Treasury placed IFIC on the Iranian Transactions Regulation list in August, creation it unlawful for Americans to do business with it.

Report: North Korea moving toward nuclear weapon

North Korea may be moving ahead with a program to enrich uranium to create nuclear weapons, according to a report Friday by the Institute for Science and International Security. Pyongyang has moved beyond laboratory scale work and is now able of building a "at the very least, a pilot-scale" plant of centrifuges to enrich uranium, said the report based partially on information about North Korea's equipment purchases from other nations. The centrifuge programs "is an avenue for North Korea to boost the number and sophistication of its nuclear weapons and for it to proliferate to others who seek to build their individual centrifuge programs," said authors David Albright and Paul Brannan.

"As a result, the priority is finding ways to either stop the program or to delay its progress through a mixture of negotiations and sanctions." The report is just the newest warning about Pyongyang's broader nuclear program. The institute earlier this week said that satellite images from Sept. 29 show new construction in the area around North Korea's nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, where the reclusive regime produced plutonium. And Kim Tae-hyo, the South Korean president's deputy national security adviser, warned in comments this week that the threat posed by the North's nuclear program has reached an "very dangerous level."

North Korea regularly buys items for its uranium enrichment program in China or uses China as a transshipment point, said Friday's report. "There is no evidence that the Chinese government is clandestinely approving or willfully ignoring export to North Korea's centrifuge program in an effort to strengthen North Korea's nuclear weapons program," the report said. "Nonetheless, China is not apply enough resources to detect and stop North Korea's illicit nuclear trade."

Israel say Iran's nuclear programme 'completely unacceptable'

Israel has said that the fuelling of Iran's first nuclear reactor is "totally unacceptable" and urged better world pressure to force Tehran to stop any further uranium enrichment. Iranian engineers apparently began loading fuel into the country's first nuclear power plant with the help of Russia on Saturday, mark a milestone in Tehran's development of what it insist is a peaceful nuclear energy program. "It is completely unacceptable that a country that so blatantly violates international treaties should enjoy the fruits of using nuclear energy," Fox News quoted Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy, as saying in a report. "The international community should enlarge pressure to force Iran to abide by international decisions and cease its enrichment activities and its building of reactors," Levy added.

Iran has insisted that it would continue to enrich uranium despite a caution from the White House last week, which said that the Bushehr progress underscore that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions, as it states, are for a peaceful nuclear program. arlier, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had said, "If the Iranians are genuine in a peaceful program, their needs can be met without undertaking its personal enrichment program, which call into question its motives." However, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that Iran wants the uranium to supply future power reactors. "The country's large scale need to energy is clear and that is the reason why we want to produce the required fuel ourselves," Mottaki added. (ANI)

In Russia set Date for Key Iran Nuclear Step

In a move definite to disappoint United States diplomats trying to halt Iran’s nuclear program, the atomic energy agency of Russia said Friday that it would take a central step later this month toward starting Iran’s first nuclear power plant. The agency said that technicians would move tons of low enriched uranium fuel from a storage space site into the reactor on Aug. 21, the first of three steps in a month’s extended process for starting it up. “The event will represent that the period of testing is over and the stage of physical start-up has begun,” the Russian atomic energy agency said in a report.

The United States had asked Russia to put off moves to create the plant until Iran assuaged concerns that it is using its resident nuclear program to also build a bomb. The creation and startup of the plant, located near the southern Iranian city of Bushehr, have been plagued by dozens of delays since Russia take over the work there in the mid 1990s. Russian officials, who are also disturbed about Iran’s nuclear progress, had long appeared to use the plant construction schedule and the drawn-out startup process as influence with Iran’s leaders and in wider Russian diplomacy in the Middle East. Often, delays for apparently technical reasons have come just days after a Russian leader makes a political statement critical of Iran.

For months, the Russians have been set out an August start date for the plant, but it seemed plausible that the date could be pushed back. From the Iranian standpoint, the start-up has been possible since roughly February 2009, when the reactor core was effectively tested. In the step set for Aug. 21, fuel will be shifted from storage to the reactor hall. The second involves loading the fuel into the tough stainless steel core. The final step is bringing the fuel rods closer jointly to begin the nuclear reaction. Once the fuel is irradiated in the finishing step of the start-up, it will begin to generate plutonium that could be used in an atomic weapon, which is why Russia had insisted on its return as a situation of completing and fueling the plant.

Iranian airplane Denied Fuel in UK, Germany, UAE - Official

An Iranian airline official says that since the United States implement new sanctions against Tehran last week, Iranian planes have been refused fuel at airports in further countries. The Iranian news organization ISNA Monday quoted Mehdi Aliyari, secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union, as saying airports in Britain, Germany and the United Arab Emirates have refused fuel for Iranian plane. He said the refusals began after Thursday, when U.S. President Barack Obama sign a new sanctions package into law.

Those sanctions aim Iran's energy and banking sectors. They aim to make it harder for the Iranian government to purchase superior petroleum, excluding from U.S. markets those companies involved in selling gasoline, jet fuel and other such products to Iran. Mr. Obama said Thursday that the new sanctions will strike "at the heart" of Tehran's skill to fund and extend its alleged nuclear weapons program.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western nations think Tehran is trying to build weapons. The new U.S. measures also avoid foreign banks from accessing the U.S. financial system if they do business with key Iranian institutions or Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Last month, the U.N. Security Council accepted a fourth round of sanctions on Iran because it has refused to stop its uranium enrichment program. The European Union then imposed its hold sanctions against Iran, including a ban on new asset, technical assistance and transfers of technologies to Iran's oil and natural gas division.