Iran S Nuclear Program

China insisted Tuesday that it has not shifted its approach on Iran's nuclear program, despite White House claims on Monday that Beijing had become more open to sanctions on Tehran. Jiang Yu, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing that "China has always believed that sanctions and pressure cannot fundamentally resolve the issue" of concern about Iran's nuclear program, according to the official New China News Agency. She said that China "upholds its consistent stance on the Iran nuclear issue."

WASHINGTON - In what would be a significant concession, Obama administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to maintain a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if Tehran took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue enriching uranium up to 5% purity, which is the upper end of the range for most civilian uses, if its government agrees to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded.

Given the instability in its neighborhood, Iran's nuclear program is a serious threat to world peace. To cancel the program, more persuasion than your June 22 editorial suggested may be needed. First, the Bush administration should declare to a nervous world community -- and an even more nervous Iran -- that Iran is not on a short hit list as part of the "axis of evil." Second, we should encourage Israel, with its robust nuclear bomb program, to adopt a "no-first-strike" policy. The risk of doing nothing is borne by all parties; therefore, adversaries must be willing to step back from the precipice together.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Iran and six world powers took a modest step toward resolving their dispute over Tehran's nuclear program, agreeing to negotiate their differences and to meet again next month in Baghdad. The much-anticipated daylong discussion, however, appeared to leave the two sides far from even an interim agreement on how to overcome the dispute, which has raised fear of a spiraling war in the Middle East. Yet Western officials said Iran's agreement to even talk should be counted as progress, as the Islamic Republic has repeatedly walked away from attempts to force it to negotiate curbs on its nuclear program.

Iran has significantly boosted its supply and output of reactor-grade nuclear material, according to a quarterly report issued Friday by the United Nations' arms control division. Meanwhile, in Syria, international inspectors reported finding unexplained particles of modified uranium at a lab in Damascus, far from an alleged nuclear site.

Talks aimed at resolving an international standoff over Iran's nuclear program ended in Moscow with no sign of progress, but Tehran's top negotiator labeled the two-day meeting "positive and constructive." Some Russians voiced concern that Iran was using a proposed Kremlin compromise to stall for time and avert international sanctions. The proposal, backed by the U.S.

China's military leadership on Monday assured U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that it opposes a nuclear-armed Iran. But to the disappointment of Pentagon officials, on a visit here for talks on a range of military issues between the two countries, it appears the Chinese position on Iran's nuclear development, for now, will be no more than words.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin arrived in the Iranian capital today amid a swirl of speculation about whether Moscow would follow or reject Western plans to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. Putin and an entourage arrived here for a summit of the leaders of the five states bordering the energy-rich but ecologically threatened Caspian Sea. His visit is the first to Iran by a Russian head of state since 1943, when Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D.

What to do on Iran Re "A fateful choice," Opinion, Feb. 2 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may indeed be the decider this time around in choosing to attack Iran, but the whole world will then have to deal with the aftermath. Just like in the buildup to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, you can already see the stream of editorials around the world, such as this one, making the case for striking Iran. Never mind that Netanyahu's decision is likely to be based more on fear and placating his extremist base than on actual facts.

The European Union slapped new sanctions on Iranian individuals, companies and organizations Thursday in response to a report alleging that Tehran had pressed ahead with ambitions to build a nuclear weapon. European governments also kept up their condemnation of the ransacking of the British Embassy in Tehran on Tuesday by an angry mob of protesters. Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have temporarily recalled their ambassadors from Tehran in solidarity with Britain, which shut down its embassy Wednesday and gave Iranian diplomats in London 48 hours to leave the country.

Years of credible evidence indicates Iran may be secretly working to develop a nuclear weapon, the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency said Tuesday in a strongly worded report that renewed debate among Western powers over how to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions. The report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency cites a series of suspect activities that raises "serious concerns" about "possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program. " Iran's leaders ordered a halt to an extensive nuclear program in 2003, the report says, but clandestine work on high-speed detonators and other weapons-related research "may still be ongoing.

The United Nations nuclear inspection agency has "serious concerns" about "possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program," according to a report released Tuesday. Citing a thousand pages of documents, satellite photos and intelligence information from 10 member states, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran has taken steps to develop a nuclear bomb, despite Iran's contention that its program is entirely for civilian purposes. "Credible ... information indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device," the report says.

A deal between beleaguered Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his opponents has given control of Iran's crucial Oil Ministry to a commander of the Revolutionary Guard who is under international sanctions, according to analysts and a former industry official in Tehran. Ahmadinejad, his rivals in parliament and leaders of the Revolutionary Guard put aside months of differences this week and appointed four new Cabinet members, including the controversial Brig. Gen. Rostam Ghassemi as overseer of the country's vast oil and natural gas riches.

The tale of the Stuxnet worm is one of those seemingly good-news stories that grows more worrisome over time. Security experts first became aware of the mysterious Stuxnet malware last summer, but it wasn't until months later that they agreed on its likely target: Iran's secretive nuclear weapons program. The worm hid itself benignly in personal computers, spreading (often through USB drives) until it could infect machines made by Siemens that control motors and other industrial equipment.

Just a few months ago, U.S. and Israeli officials were warning that Iran was a year away from having the capability to rapidly build a nuclear weapon. Speculation was intensifying that Israel would launch airstrikes to prevent that from happening. But as the new year dawned, Western officials, with little fanfare, significantly revamped their estimates of Iran's nuclear progress. Israel's strategic affairs minister, Moshe Yaalon, said Dec. 29 that the Islamic Republic was at least three years away from a bomb.

Tehran and Washington are seeking to expand their regional influence ahead of another round of talks over Iran's nuclear program, which has become a source of widespread international concern. On Saturday, Iran feted its newly designated caretaker foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, with a reception in Tehran. Salehi announced that he would seek to strengthen ties with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, a Sunni Arab-led power that has bristled at Shiite Iran's growing influence in the Middle East.