New Evidence Suggests Iranian Missile Program

But Iran won't retreat 'even an iota' on right to program

(AP) - Iran will not give up its nuclear program but is ready to cooperate with the West, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech today. It's Western powers that have moved, he said in a speech on state television, “from confrontation to interaction” with Iran on the nuclear issue so that “ground has been paved for nuclear cooperation.” Ahmadinejad's remarks appear to reinforce Iran's support for the general outline of a UN-drafted nuclear deal, but he insisted his government "will not retreat even an iota" over the nation's right to pursue a nuclear program. More»

Worked out deal with France, Russia to process uranium

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama personally stepped in multiple times during the secret multinational talks with Iran that led up to the negotiations that began yesterday in Vienna, White House sources tell Time. When Iran put the word out that it needed enriched uranium plates for its aging research reactor, the Obama administration saw the opportunity for a deal. If Tehran used its own uranium for the harmless plates, they couldn’t use it for a bomb. More»

Its leaders aren't stupid—and deterrence can work: Greenway

(NEWSER) - Iran has no nuclear bomb, but already the old Bush-Cheney chorus has returned to insist it's time for another war in the Middle East. It's true that sanctions may not stop Iran from ramping up its nuclear program, but that doesn't mean that deterrence and diplomacy can't help, writes Boston Globe columnist HDS Greenway. Not unlike the Soviet Union, "Iran is a very calculating and rational society," and it knows full well what the US and Israel are capable of. More»

White House will apply pressure unilaterally on world trading

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration’s plan to sanction Iran looks a lot like that of his predecessor. Officials say that if nuclear talks with Iran fail, they will likely tighten enforcement of Bush sanctions rather than impose new ones, the Washington Post reports. Obama has even retained the top architect of Bush’s effort, Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey, to ensure continuity. Their goal: make it difficult for Iran to trade with the world. More»

(NEWSER) - No matter who wins tomorrow’s presidential election in Iran, the threat of its nuclear program won’t go away, and that’s why Israel should attack sooner rather than later, writes former UN ambassador John Bolton in the Wall Street Journal. Attacking Iran now won’t be safe or easy, but “all scenarios become infinitely more dangerous once Iran has deliverable nuclear weapons.” More»