US, Canadian and Australian officials walked out of a meeting of United Nations nuclear watchdog agency when the Iranian envoy accused Israel of genocide. Joseph Macmanus, the US ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, stormed out of the meeting in Vienna on Wednesday after Ali Asghar Soltaneh made the accusation, as did Canadian and Australian officials, according to a Reuters report. Macmanus earlier had accused Iran of "deception, defiance and delay" in its dealing with the agency. The meeting …More

Iran has activated its Arak heavy-water production plant, satellite images published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph show. The photographs, taken February 9, show a cloud of steam indicating heavy-water production at the Arak plant. Heavy water is necessary to operate a nuclear reactor capable of producing plutonium, which can be used to make a bomb. Stuart Ray of McKenzie Intelligence Services, a consultancy firm, analyzed the images. "The steam indicates that the heavy-water plant is operational and the …More

According to diplomats from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has resumed converting small amounts of enriched uranium into nuclear fuel, which may signal that the Muslim theocracy is trying to buy more time for diplomacy. Iran made a similar maneuver last year by converting around 100 kg of its 20 percent enriched uranium to fuel. Last week, experts at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) conference on Iran stated that at the current …More

Rob Lattin is Jspace News' Foreign Affairs Correspondent. In addition to covering foreign affairs for Jspace, Rob is a blogger on Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for the Foreign Policy Association, as well as a freelance writer. He can be reached by email at rob@jspacecorp.com. This past week saw the failure of yet another attempt by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to shed light on Iranian nuclear developments. The IAEA, whose mission is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, has …More

An inspection team from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency will make a one-day visit to Tehran in an effort to jump-start talks on Iran's nuclear program. The seven-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency was scheduled to meet with Iranian nuclear officials on Thursday. The team also was planning to attempt a visit to the Parchin military complex, which the IAEA has been trying to see for the last year. Satellite photos of the site near Tehran indicate that it has been used for nuclear …More

Iran is nearly finished installing 2,800 nuclear centrifuges at one of its main plants, according to a report this week by Reuters. The international world has been closely watching reports out of the Fordow nuclear plant, a site of particular interest for its position under a near unreachable mountain. Unnamed Western officials told Reuters that the Islamic republic has just finished installing the last 640 of a planned 2,800 centrifuges at the plant, putting the regime closer than ever to acquiring a nuclear …More

New satellite images show possible recent nuclear activity at the Parchin facility in Iran as well as attempts to hide evidence of past activity. A May 25 image of the facility east of Tehran revealed “ground-scraping activity” and the presence of bulldozers, according to diplomats quoted by international news services who attended a closed-door briefing by United Nations nuclear agency officials on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Institute for Science and International Security posted a similar image on …More

Israeli spies are searching Iran for evidence of nuclear progress, reports the Sunday Times. The British newspaper holds that Israel established a secret base in northern Iraq, from which it dispatches undercover troops to conduct the covert Iran operations. Israeli forces disguised as Iranian soldiers measure the levels of radioactivity and magnitude of test explosions to find “smoking gun” evidence of Iran’s intent to weaponize its nuclear program. According to the paper, such missions have …More

Former US Secretary of Defense William Perry on Monday endorsed Israeli assessments that put Iran's nuclear weapons program just months away from crossing a point of no return. He made the comments in Moscow during a press conference held by the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe. Asked by The Jerusalem Post to respond to comments made by Defense Minister Ehud Barak to CNN in November, in which he said that in under a year it would be too late to stop Iran, Perry said, "I agree with …More

Iran says it will bomb Turkey if the United States or Israel tries to destroy its nuclear facilities, according to comments made by its air defense commander. “Should we be threatened, we will target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey and then hit the next targets,” said General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Hajizadeh added that his warning was part of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's new strategy of responding “to threats with threats.” Turkey recently agreed to host an NATO early …More

An Iranian general on Saturday threatened retaliation against Israel if any of its nuclear or security sites are attacked. "If Israeli missiles hit one of our nuclear facilities or other vital centers, then they should know that any part of Israeli territory would be target of our missiles, including their nuclear sites," General Yadollah Javani of the Revolutionary Guards told ISNA news agency. …More

Satellite surveillance shows increased activity at a suspected Iranian nuclear testing site, according to sources from three IAEA countries, the Associated Press reported this week. One official interpreted the action as Iran’s attempt to sanitize the site in advance of an IAEA inspection. Intelligence officials noted an unusual amount of activity at the Parchin complex, including the movement of a large number of vehicles. “Freight trucks, special haulage vehicles and cranes were seen entering and …More