Iran

TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran's nuclear envoy denied Tuesday that the U.N. inspectors' tour of its recently revealed uranium enrichment site has turned up any evidence that the Islamic republic is seeking nuclear weapons.

While the International Atomic Energy Agency report offered no estimate of the facility's capacity, analysts familiar with the agency's work said it appeared to be capable of producing enough material for a warhead but too little for a civilian reactor.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, however, said Tuesday that the IAEA's report proved the country's program was peaceful and that Iran was cooperating with the agency's inspectors.

"The report by the agency showed that there was no deviation in Iran's peaceful nuclear program," he said on Iranian television.

The agency's report said that the facility was in an advanced state of construction with high tech equipment in place ahead of its 2011 startup...

LUXEMBOURG – France said Tuesday it is increasingly exasperated with Iran's strategy in international negotiations on its nuclear program, and pressed for a quick answer as to whether Tehran will accept a U.N. proposal aimed at defusing tension.

France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Iran must make haste in its negotiations with the group of international powers — including the United States, Russia and France.

"It cannot take forever. We wait for answers," he said...

The United States expressed mild disappointment Friday that Iran withheld a decision on whether to accept a U.N.-coordinated plan that could ease fears about Iran's potential for making a nuclear weapon.

The U.S., along with Russia and France, officially endorsed the plan Friday. The State Department said it was unhappy that Iran was not ready to embrace the plan, which calls for Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment. The resulting fuel is to be used for a research reactor in Tehran that makes medical isotopes and is under regular monitoring by a U.N. agency.

The plan is attractive from the U.S. point of view because it would consume a large proportion of Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, thereby limiting the potential for it to secretly convert it into uranium suitable for making a nuclear weapon. Iran denies it has any intention of making a nuclear weapon...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly nine in 10 Americans say they think Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, according to a new national poll.

Eighty-eight percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday say the Iranian government is attempting to develop nuclear weapons.

But it appears that's where agreement ends as the survey indicates there's little consensus on the best approach to addressing the situation -- though the poll does suggest a military response is not as popular as nonmilitary options...

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday sent a message to Iran that pursuit of nuclear capability will not go unpunished, approving legislation that allows state and local governments to curtail investments in international corporations doing business in Iran's energy sector.

The legislation also protects from shareholder lawsuits those investment managers who divest funds from companies that are involved in Iran's energy sector or have provided equipment for the transport of oil or liquefied natural gas from Iran.

The bill passed the House 414-6 and now goes to the Senate...

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that the threat of sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive, resisting U.S. efforts to win agreement for measures if Iran fails to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

Lavrov spoke following talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is trying to gauge Moscow's willingness to join the U.S. in imposing sanctions if Iran fails to come clean on its nuclear activities.

Lavrov said Russia's position is that under current conditions even the threat of sanctions against Iran would be counterproductive...

GENTHOD, Switzerland - Iran and six world powers put nuclear talks back on track at a landmark session that included the highest-level bilateral contact with the U.S. in years. The meeting ended with a pledge to meet again this month, but disputes surfacing shortly after its conclusion indicated a rough road to agreement ahead.

Iran accepted a demand Thursday at the talks in a villa outside Geneva to allow U.N. inspectors into its covertly built enrichment plant, in a move that appeared to defuse tensions that had been building for weeks.

Western officials at the session said the Islamic republic had also agreed to allow Russia to take some of its enriched uranium and enrich it to higher levels for its research reactor in Tehran, a potentially significant move that would show greater flexibility by both sides...

(CNSNews.com) – Striking a defiant pose after being confronted by the West about more clandestine nuclear activity and just days before important international talks, Iran on Sunday began a series of fresh missile launches.

Sunday’s tests included the firing of medium-range rockets at targets up to 420 miles away, while on Monday morning the more sophisticated Shahab-3 missile was launched, Iranian media said.

State television said the surface-to-surface missiles hit their intended targets. They were fired as part of war games known as “Great Prophet IV,” a follow-up to “Great Prophet III” in July 2008...

(CNN) -- Iran test fired two types of long-range missiles on Monday, including the two-stage Sajil, state-run Press TV reported.

"We are still waiting for new reports about the missiles and whether they have hit the targets or not," Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, Iran's air force commander, said on Press TV. "These are ... advanced long-range missiles and they were manufactured by the ... Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."

He said the launches took place Monday morning...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The existence of a second uranium enrichment facility in Iran came to light on Friday, prompting President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France to publicly chide the Islamic republic and threaten further sanctions.

But the United States has actually known about the unfinished site since the Bush administration, according to senior U.S. officials who declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations. French intelligence officials were also aware of the facility for several months at least, a U.S. diplomatic source told CNN.

It wasn't until Monday that Iran wrote a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, revealing the existence of the underground facility on a military base near the city of Qom...