Natanz

The headlines from last month's Iranian nuclear talks in Istanbul could not have been more misleading: "Iran is ready to resolve nuclear issues. " The accumulation of historical fact in this long crisis proves just the opposite: The Iranian regime is bent on acquiring a nuclear weapon, and will take full advantage of diplomacy toward this end if allowed to do so, including this week's talks in Baghdad. Indeed, the Iranian strategy of exploiting diplomacy to further advance the nuclear program is a matter of regime policy.

The headlines from last month's Iranian nuclear talks in Istanbul could not have been more misleading: "Iran is ready to resolve nuclear issues. " The accumulation of historical fact in this long crisis proves just the opposite: The Iranian regime is bent on acquiring a nuclear weapon, and will take full advantage of diplomacy toward this end if allowed to do so, including this week's talks in Baghdad. Indeed, the Iranian strategy of exploiting diplomacy to further advance the nuclear program is a matter of regime policy.

TEHRAN -- Iran turned away UN inspectors from an underground site meant to shelter its uranium-enrichment program from attack, diplomats said yesterday, while the country's supreme leader said Tehran will not give up its contentious nuclear technology. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments came on the eve of a self-imposed deadline to respond formally to Western incentives aimed at curbing its atomic program, deflating hopes that Iran will accept a UN Security Council demand that it freeze enrichment by Aug. 31 or face the possibility of sanctions.

TEHRAN - Thousands of mourners chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" yesterday during the funeral of a slain nuclear expert whom Iranian officials accuse the two nations of killing in a bomb blast this week as part of a secret operation to stop Iran's nuclear program. The assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan has raised calls in Iran for retaliation against the United States and Israel, and an independent news website yesterday said Iran is preparing a covert counteroffensive against the West.

VIENNA - Iran has lifted a yearlong ban and allowed UN inspectors to visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor and has granted greater monitoring rights at another atomic site, diplomats said yesterday. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visited the nearly finished Arak heavy water reactor last week, the diplomats said. They added that Iran agreed last week to agency requests to expand monitoring of the Natanz uranium enrichment site, which produces nuclear fuel that can be further enriched into warhead material.

TEHRAN - Iran has increased the number of operating centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant to 4,000, a top official said yesterday, pushing ahead with the nuclear program despite threats of new UN sanctions. The number was up from the 3,000 centrifuges that Iran announced in November that it was operating at its plant in the central city of Natanz. Still, it is well below the 6,000 it said last year it would operate by summer 2008, suggesting the program may be behind schedule.

TEHRAN -- Iran said yesterday it had arrested a group of spies, including several who passed the country's nuclear secrets to the country's foes, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi did not name any of the arrested but said members of the Mujahedin-E-Khalq, an armed opposition group, were the main players in the spy operation. "The Intelligence Ministry has arrested several spies who were transferring Iran's nuclear secrets out of the country," the news agency quoted Yunesi as saying.

VIENNA — Nuclear inspectors monitoring Iran found the country’s enrichment program temporarily shut down a week ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported yesterday, reflecting a possible setback for the cornerstone of the country’s nuclear activities and source of national pride. Beyond noting that Iran continued to enrich in defiance of the United Nations Security Council, a report by the UN nuclear monitor also said that Tehran for the second year continued to rebuff attempts to investigate suspicions it had experimented with components of a nuclear program.

TEHRAN -- An increasingly defiant Iran called yesterday for Europe to open talks on Tehran's intention to enrich uranium, dismissing as psychological warfare a veiled Bush administration warning of military action against Iranian nuclear operations. Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, named a hard-line Cabinet, a move that looked certain to intensify Iran's confrontation with the West. While Iran says it would use enriched uranium only to power nuclear reactors for generating electricity, Tehran's past concealment of parts of its atomic program has created...

TEHRAN - Iran announced yesterday it now has 5,000 centrifuges operating and enriching uranium, the country's latest defiance of UN demands to halt its controversial nuclear program. Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran will continue to install more centrifuges and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for future nuclear power plants. In August, Iran said it had 4,000 centrifuges running at its plant in Natanz. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel, but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in nuclear weapons.

LONDON - A bomber on a motorcycle killed a scientist from Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment site and his bodyguard-driver yesterday during the morning commute in Tehran, Iranian media reported, in an assassination that could further elevate international tensions over the Iranian nuclear program and stoke the country's growing anti-Western belligerence. It was the fourth such attack reported in two years and, as after the previous episodes, Iran accused the United States and Israel of responsibility.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — It seemed a clockwork killing: Motorcycle riders flashed by and attached a magnetic bomb onto a car carrying a nuclear scientist working at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility. By the time the blast tore apart the silver Peugeot, the bike was blocks away, weaving through Tehran traffic after what Iran calls the latest strike in an escalating covert war. The attack — which instantly killed the scientist and fatally wounded his driver on Wednesday — was at least the fourth targeted hit against a member of Iran's nuclear brain...

TEHRAN — Iran said yesterday that it had invited the European Union and some other world powers — but apparently not its chief critic, the United States — to tour nuclear sites before the next round of international talks in late January on its disputed nuclear program. The Associated Press reported the invitation to tour the facilities on Monday, citing a letter from a senior Iranian envoy that suggested Jan. 15-16 for the visit. A diplomat familiar with the letter said Iran invited Russia, China, Egypt, the group of nonaligned...

VIENNA — Nuclear inspectors monitoring Iran found the country’s enrichment program temporarily shut down a week ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported yesterday, reflecting a possible setback for the cornerstone of the country’s nuclear activities and source of national pride. Beyond noting that Iran continued to enrich in defiance of the United Nations Security Council, a report by the UN nuclear monitor also said that Tehran for the second year continued to rebuff attempts to investigate suspicions it had experimented with components of a...

VIENNA — Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently in a move that defies the UN Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Iran has started using a second set of 164 centrifuges linked in a cascade, or string of machines, to enrich uranium to up to 20 percent at its Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant. Another cascade there has been producing uranium enriched to near 20 percent since February.

VIENNA - Iran is stonewalling the United Nations nuclear watchdog on “possible military dimensions’’ to its suspect nuclear program, officials said yesterday, urging the regime to clarify the mysterious role of a foreign explosives specialist and shed light on other issues. A senior Iranian envoy angrily denounced the assessment as “fabrication,’’ insisting his country has gone out of its way to be transparent and cooperative. In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it has pressed the Islamic Republic to clarify its...

VIENNA — Iran has activated equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently in a move that defies the UN Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Iran has started using a second set of 164 centrifuges linked in a cascade, or string of machines, to enrich uranium to up to 20 percent at its Natanz pilot fuel enrichment plant. Another cascade there has been producing uranium enriched to near 20 percent since February.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — It seemed a clockwork killing: Motorcycle riders flashed by and attached a magnetic bomb onto a car carrying a nuclear scientist working at Iran's main uranium enrichment facility. By the time the blast tore apart the silver Peugeot, the bike was blocks away, weaving through Tehran traffic after what Iran calls the latest strike in an escalating covert war. The attack — which instantly killed the scientist and fatally wounded his driver on Wednesday — was at least the fourth targeted hit against a member of Iran's nuclear brain trust in two years.

VIENNA - Iran has lifted a yearlong ban and allowed UN inspectors to visit a nearly completed nuclear reactor and has granted greater monitoring rights at another atomic site, diplomats said yesterday. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors visited the nearly finished Arak heavy water reactor last week, the diplomats said. They added that Iran agreed last week to agency requests to expand monitoring of the Natanz uranium enrichment site, which produces nuclear fuel that can be further enriched into warhead material.

TEHRAN - Iran announced yesterday it now has 5,000 centrifuges operating and enriching uranium, the country's latest defiance of UN demands to halt its controversial nuclear program. Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Iran will continue to install more centrifuges and enrich uranium to produce nuclear fuel for future nuclear power plants. In August, Iran said it had 4,000 centrifuges running at its plant in Natanz. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel, but further enrichment makes it suitable for use in...