Global Security Newswire

Iran today rebuffed a report that it has worked to develop technology key to detonating a nuclear weapon, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Dec. 15).

The London Times yesterday reported that an internal document indicated that Iran as recently as 2007 conducted operations related to preparing a neutron initiator -- a component exclusively used in nuclear weapons. The finding contradicts a controversial U.S. intelligence conclusion that Tehran suspended nuclear weapons development in 2003 (see GSN, Oct. 16).

"Some countries are angry that our people defend their nuclear rights," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

When Western nations "want to pressure us they craft such scenarios, which is unacceptable," he added. "This claim has political aims and it is psychological warfare which has no basis at the International Atomic Energy Agency."

The United States and several European powers suspect Iran's nuclear program is geared toward developing nuclear weapons, but Tehran has consistently denied the allegation (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Dec. 15).

The information in the alleged Iranian memorandum "sounds very much like the elements of a nuclear weapons design," Mark Fitzpatrick, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told Reuters. "The implications are very serious because it means that Iran is marching closer to producing a nuclear weapon. And I don't think Israel will let that happen," he said.

Jerusalem has refused to rule out the possible use of military force aimed at curbing Tehran's progress toward acquiring a nuclear bomb (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, Dec. 14).

Intelligence on Iran suggests the Middle Eastern state is becoming increasingly proficient in producing sensitive nuclear technology indigenously, the Washington Post reported today.

"They're slowly weaning themselves off a reliance on importing critical technologies, in favor of being able to manufacture critical components themselves. Achieving an indigenous production capacity is right up there with mastering uranium enrichment," a capability that can produce nuclear-weapon material as well as fuel for power reactors, said former Energy Department intelligence chief Rolf Mowatt-Larssen.

The Iranians are "eliminating bottlenecks in the process of creating a reliable nuclear warhead," said David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. "I have no evidence of an Iranian decision to build them. On the other hand, doing the kind of work described in this document is a far cry from the common belief that Iran stopped work on nuclear weapons in 2003 and has not restarted."

Iran last month indicated it had produced a quantity of heavy water discovered by U.N. inspectors at the country's Isfahan uranium conversion facility (see GSN, Nov. 17). Heavy water has various civilian applications; it can also be used in the production of plutonium.

"It was a complete surprise," one European diplomat said. "We assumed that the Iranians had purchased it from elsewhere, but no one really knew. No one believes they could have made it at" the nation's Arak heavy water reactor site (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, Dec. 15).

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday reaffirmed the Obama administration's willingness to pursue new economic penalties if Tehran continues refusing to seek a resolution to the nuclear dispute, AFP reported.

"We have reached out. We have offered the opportunity to engage in meaningful, serious discussions with our Iranian counterparts. We have joined fully in the P-5+1 process. We've been at the table," Clinton said, referring to Germany and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

"I don't think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of positive response from the Iranians," she said.

Washington intends to work with other governments to prompt more constructive action by Tehran, Clinton added.

"And certainly additional pressure is going to be called for in order to do that," she said (Lachlan Carmichael, Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Dec. 14).

Some experts saw moves toward new economic penalties becoming increasingly likely, the Washington Times reported.

"My sense is that it's going to come to a head. If we get to the end of the year and nothing unexpected happens on the Iranian side, the administration is left with very few options," said Richard Fontaine, an analyst with the Center for a New American Security.

The U.N. Security Council "may go in the same direction" as Washington by enacting "travel bans and asset freezes on some of the same people" already targeted by unilateral U.S. penalties, said Kenneth Katzman, an Iran expert at the Congressional Research Service.

New sanctions would be expected to target the Iranian shipping sector's ability to insure its cargo, Katzman said (Matthew Mosk, Washington Times, Dec. 15).

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is also moving to implement a new wave of independent penalties against firms affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Newsweek reported.

“It’s important for Obama that the United States do exactly what it says it’s going to do,” said one high-level Obama administration official.

“We said at the end of the year we would turn to sanctions” if Tehran failed to respond constructively to negotiations, the official said. “Nobody is going to say to the United States, ‘You’re just like the Bush administration.’ We tried the engagement route” (Hirsh/Isikoff, Newsweek, Dec. 12).

Logistical problems forced China to request the cancellation of a meeting planned for next week with the four other Security Council member nations and Germany, the Associated Press reported. The talks would have addressed the Iranian nuclear dispute. A conference call is now scheduled for Dec. 22 (George Jahn, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Dec. 14).

The United States should withhold IAEA funding until the U.N. nuclear watchdog ends technical backing for Iran's nuclear program, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) wrote in a column published yesterday by the Los Angeles Times.

Iran's disputed nuclear policies could only be swayed by "overwhelming and crippling sanctions," Ros-Lehtinen wrote.

"That is why the United States must be prepared to act alone, if necessary, and with every weapon in its political and economic arsenal," she said, urging Washington to enter the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act into law, reject Iran's contention that it has a right to indigenous uranium enrichment and take additional action to prevent Tehran from obtaining sensitive equipment and materials.

"Responsible nations should impose a ban on travel by senior Iranian regime officials and their families to Europe and the U.S. We should strengthen bilateral and multilateral efforts to shut down accounts of those doing business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or its affiliated entities; deny Tehran access to euros and U.S. dollars; and freeze the assets of those who violate U.N. sanctions on Iran. Concurrently, we should offer our full support to the Iranian people and increase funding for Iran democracy programs," she added (U.S. Representative Ileana Ros Lehtinen, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 14).

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday said that European Union nations would begin examining new sanctions proposals in early 2010, the Press Association reported. New measures should incorporate "serious financial sanctions" as well as a "tough new inspections regime" on goods moving in and out of Iran and a prohibition on new European investments in the country's energy sector, he said (Mason/Woodhouse, Press Association, Dec. 14).

Iran's recently disclosed Qum uranium enrichment facility is a "warning sign" that Tehran intends to build nuclear weapons, Israel's military intelligence chief said today.

The Iranians "are also improving long-range missiles with solid fuel propellant, are also developing nuclear detonators and taking other steps that do not fit Iranian claim that its program is for civilian purposes," the Jerusalem Post quoted Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin as saying (Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 15).

"We still believe that it's time for diplomacy, tough diplomacy," Israeli Defense Ministry Ehud Barak said yesterday, according to AP. "There is a need for tough sanctions ... something that is well and coherently coordinated to include the Americans, the EU, the Chinese, the Russians, the Indians."

"There should be a time limit for all these attempts to block them through sanctions," Barak said, adding that a nuclear-armed Iran would "clearly ... initiate a nuclear competition."

"Think of Egypt, or Turkey or Saudi Arabia. They can hardly afford not being nuclear if Iran turns ... nuclear," he added (George Jahn, Associated Press II/Google News, Dec .14).