On Feb. 19, New York Times reporters David Sanger and William Broad filed a story about the International Atomic Energy Agency’s latest report [.pdf] on its inspection and monitoring work in Iran. The lead of story, "Inspectors Say Iran Worked on Warhead," announced the Feb. 18 report’s shocking discovery: "The United Nations‘ nuclear inspectors declared …
Continue reading “Read the IAEA Reports on Iran”
Here we go again. A report issued Thursday by the new director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, has injected new adrenaline into those arguing that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon. The usual suspects are hyping – and distorting – thin-gruel language in the report to “prove” that Iran …
Continue reading “New Grist for Hype on Iran”
Did Robert Gibbs let the cat out of the bag? Last week, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the world that Iran, unable to get fuel rods from the West for its U.S.-built reactor, which makes medical isotopes, had begun to enrich its own uranium to 20 percent. From his perch in the West Wing, Gibbs scoffed: “He …
Continue reading “Is Iran Running a Bluff?”
New revelations about two documents leaked to the Times of London to show that Iran is working on a "nuclear trigger" mechanism have further undermined the credibility of the document the newspaper had presented as evidence of a continuing Iranian nuclear weapons program. A columnist for the Times has acknowledged that the two-page Persian language …
Continue reading “New Revelations Tear Holes in Nuclear Trigger Story”
U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency official. Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official …
Continue reading “Giraldi: US Intel Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forged”
Finally, something to praise Obama for, says Ivan Eland
When I was a kid, the boy next door once played a nasty trick on my brother, Paul. Our neighbor held his cat in his arms, brought it within a few inches of Paul’s face, and pulled its tail. The suddenly angry cat bit Paul’s face. My brother and I were upset; we both thought …
Continue reading “The Case Against Iran Sanctions”
Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group – the five permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council plus Germany – began on Oct. 1. Iran’s negotiating team was led by Saeed Jalili, the hard-line secretary-general of its Supreme National Security Council and an ally of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The U.S. team was led by …
Continue reading “Will Tough Sanctions Against Iran Be Effective?”
Iran’s nuclear program is once again center stage, the dominant subject of discussions at the national and international levels. On Sept. 21, Iran sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informing it of the construction of a uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom, 90 miles south of Tehran. In …
Continue reading “Countering the Conniptions Over Qom”
That Iran is building a secret underground facility near the holy city of Qom, under custody of the Revolutionary Guard – too small to be a production center for nuclear fuel, but just right for the enrichment of uranium to weapons grade – is grounds for concern, but not panic. Heretofore, all of Iran’s nuclear …
Continue reading “Is Iran Nearing a Bomb?” 
