Iranian nuclear program

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Amid Mideast Tensions, a New Claim by Iran

Nation says it launched satellite into space on rocket built by Iranian paramilitary group

(Newser) - Iran launched a satellite into space on Saturday with a rocket built by the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program. Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such...

Iran's Supreme Leader OKs Talking to 'Enemy' US on Nukes

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says there'd be 'no harm' in talking to US about Tehran's nuclear program

(Newser) - Iran's supreme leader opened the door Tuesday to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country's rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was "no harm" in engaging with its "enemy." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks set clear red lines for any...

Iran Has More Enriched Uranium Close to Weapons Grade: UN

Agency has warned there's enough to build several nuclear bombs

(Newser) - Iran has further increased its stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels, according to a confidential report on Monday by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the latest in Tehran's attempts to steadily exert pressure on the international community. Iran is seeking to have economic sanctions imposed over its...

Iran: Construction Has Begun on $2B Nuclear Plant

300-megawatt power plant will take 8 years to build, announcement says

(Newser) - Iran on Saturday began construction on a new nuclear power plant in the country's southwest, Iranian state TV announced, amid tensions with the US over sweeping sanctions imposed after Washington pulled out of the Islamic Republic's nuclear deal with world powers. The announcement comes as Iran has been...

Iran Issues 'Written Response' in Nuclear Deal Talks

State-run media outlet suggests Tehran won't accept the proposal

(Newser) - Iran said Tuesday it submitted a “written response” to what has been described as a final roadmap to restore its tattered nuclear deal with world powers, the AP reports. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency offered no details on the substance of its response, but suggested that Tehran still...

Iran's Nuke Chief Makes 'Rare' Claim on Atomic Bomb

Country has capability to build bomb, though it doesn't plan to right now, says Mohammad Eslami

(Newser) - Iran could build an atomic bomb if it really wanted to—it just doesn't plan to, at least at the moment. So said Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, on Monday, according to the Fars news agency, echoing similar remarks made last month by a...

Iran: We Could Build a Nuke If We Wanted To

Comment from Khamenei adviser comes soon after Biden's Middle East trip

(Newser) - Iran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb, though the country hasn't yet decided whether it will do so, according to a senior adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "In a few days we were able to enrich uranium up to 60% and we can...

Iran Has Defiant Response to Attack on Nuclear Site

Tehran will significantly increase its uranium enrichment

(Newser) - After an attack on one of its nuclear facilities , Iran is more than doubling down. A Tehran official announced Tuesday that the nation will begin enriching uranium to 60%—a significant increase from its earlier mark of 20% and much closer to the 90% required for weapons-grade material, reports the...

Iran to Raise Enrichment Level
Iran Increases 
Nuclear Tension
Jan 2, 2021 5:15 PM CST

Iran Increases Nuclear Tension

20% uranium enrichment will be the high point since the 2015 deal took effect

(Newser) - In the biggest violation yet of an international nuclear agreement, Iran is going ahead with enriching its uranium to 20% purity. A nuclear bomb requires 90% purity, but the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 had limited enrichment levels to less than 4%, the BBC reports. Iran has violated provisions of...

Assassination Complicates Biden's Plans

Analysis: Israel may have achieved two goals with Iranian's death

(Newser) - The killing of a top scientist was a major blow to Iran's military nuclear weapon efforts. And it damaged Joe Biden's chances of returning to the nuclear deal President Trump abandoned even before the president-elect takes office. Israel might have intended to do both, says an analysis by...

President of Iran Has a Message for Biden

Hassan Rouhani calls on America to re-enter the nuclear deal

(Newser) - Iran's president called on President-elect Joe Biden to "compensate for past mistakes" and return the US to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a state-run news agency reported Sunday, per the AP . Hassan Rouhani's comments mark the highest-level response from Iran to Biden and Vice...

Zarif Accuses US of 'Economic Terrorism'

'You do not negotiate with terrorists,' he says

(Newser) - Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif says Iran's supreme leader will not meet President Trump unless Washington halts its "economic terrorism" that has hurt ordinary Iranians. Zarif says the removal of US sanctions could also help salvage the Iranian nuclear deal, which the US unilaterally withdrew from last year,...

Iran Busts Another Tanker Carrying 'Smuggled Fuel'

Revolutionary Guard says it has seized a third tanker, detained 7 crew

(Newser) - Iran's Revolutionary Guard has seized an oil tanker carrying 185,000 gallons of "smuggled fuel" in the Persian Gulf, the AP reports via Iranian media on Sunday. State TV and the semi-official Fars news agency reported that seven crew members were detained when the ship was seized late...

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits
Iran Breaches Uranium Limits
Jul 8, 2019 3:41 PM CDT

Iran Breaches Uranium Limits

It's now enriching uranium to 4.5%

(Newser) - Iran on Monday began enriching uranium to 4.5%, just breaking the limit set by its nuclear deal with world powers, while it is still seeking a way for Europe to help it bypass US sanctions amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The acknowledgement by the spokesman of the...

Bad Milestone: Iran Has 660 Pounds of Enriched Uranium

Tehran breaches limit set out in 2015 accord

(Newser) - Iran has hit an unwelcome milestone—the nation says it now has 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) of enriched uranium, a limit it was not supposed to reach under the 2015 international accord. However, Tehran also said the move is "reversible," reports Reuters . The move means that the...

Iran Answers Trump on the Chance for Negotiations

'No prospect' at the moment, spokesman says

(Newser) - "I really believe that Iran would like to make a deal," President Trump said Monday about possible talks concerning its nuclear program, "and I think that’s very smart of them, and I think that’s a possibility to happen." He received his answer on Tuesday....

Trump: War Would Be 'Official End of Iran'

'Never threaten the United States again!'

(Newser) - President Trump warned Iran early on Monday not to threaten the United States again or it'll face its "official end," shortly after a rocket landed near the US Embassy in Baghdad overnight. Trump's tweet comes after he seemingly sought to soften his tone on Iran following...

Trump Publicly Breaks With His Top Intelligence Officials

He tweets his thoughts on ISIS, Iran, North Korea

(Newser) - President Trump disagrees with his top security officials, and he made that publicly known on Wednesday. His morning tweets to that end followed the testimony given before Congress on Tuesday by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Gina Haspel as part of what the AP reports is...

Iran Hawks Raise the Pressure on Trump

Some lawmakers want Iran removed from SWIFT

(Newser) - A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president's biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be re-imposed on Iran early next month won't be tough enough, the AP reports. As President Donald Trump prepares to re-impose a second batch of...

Israel Claims Iran Has 'Secret Nuclear Warehouse'

'What Iran hides, Israel will find'

(Newser) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran on Thursday of keeping a "secret atomic warehouse" just outside its capital, despite the 2015 deal with world powers that was meant to keep it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Hours later, Iran dismissed the allegation. Holding up a poster-board map of an...

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