Global Security Newswire

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday said his country is on the verge of announcing significant advancements in its disputed atomic program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 10).

"Within the next few days the world will witness the inauguration of several big new achievements in the nuclear field," Ahmadinejad said.

The leader did not elaborate on the milestones, but he reaffirmed Tehran's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program. The U.N. Security Council has adopted four sanctions resolutions aimed at ending the effort, which can produce civilian fuel as well as nuclear-weapon material; Tehran insists its atomic ambitions are strictly peaceful (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press I/Google News, Feb. 11).

Iran might announce its initial production of fuel for a medical isotope production reactor in Tehran, Bloomberg quoted Iran's Fars News Agency as saying on Sunday (Ladane Nasseri, Bloomberg, Feb. 12). Knowledgeable insiders said Iran was days from completing the launch of its underground Qum uranium enrichment complex, the nation's Mehr News Agency reported (Mehr News Agency I, Feb. 12). In addition, Tehran has said it intended to formally begin operation of its Bushehr atomic energy site this year, AP noted.

Separately, Ahmadinejad said his country "is ready for talks within the framework of equality and justice," but it  "will never enter talks if enemies behave arrogantly."

Tehran in January expressed willingness to rejoin discussions with Germany and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The six powers convened talks with Tehran on two separate occasions in December 2010 and January 2011, but neither gathering yielded clear progress toward resolving the dispute (see GSN, Jan. 24, 2011; Karimi, Associated Press I).

Iran's senior diplomatic official on Saturday said the nation "will never ever yield to pressure from outside," Bloomberg reported.

“When you can’t differentiate between people and the government, what does pressure mean?” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi asked (Nasseri, Bloomberg).

Salehi on Friday said threats of armed force against his country lack substance, but Tehran had still made preparations for undesirable outcomes, Mehr News reported. “We consider all threats and have road maps for the worst scenarios,” he said (Mehr News Agency II, Feb. 11).

Iran is capable of defending itself against computer-based strikes, a high-level Iranian armed forces officer said on Monday (see GSN, Aug. 10, 2011). The Stuxnet computer worm in 2010 harmed a number of Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges, according to AP.

"Most enemy threats target nuclear energy sites as well as electronic trade and banking operations," Iranian Passive Defense Organization Director Gholam Reza Jalali said in remarks reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran has spotted two other spyware program, but neither affected the country's atomic or manufacturing facilities, he said.

"Iranian experts possess adequate knowledge to confront cyber threats. All nuclear facilities in the country are immune from cyber attacks," the official added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press II/Google News, Feb. 13)

Meanwhile, Japan is seeking to exempt components of its financial sector from U.S. penalties targeting Iran's central bank, AP quoted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as saying on Friday (Associated Press III/Bloomberg Businessweek, Feb. 10).

Japanese purchases of Iranian petroleum might decrease in light of the nuclear standoff, he said, noting oil imports from the Middle Eastern nation had already dropped by four-tenths since 2007. U.S. legislation enacted late last year targets Iran's petroleum dealings with other countries (see GSN, Jan. 3).

"The trend is that we'll cut oil imports from Iran," Kyodo News quoted Noda as saying. The prime minister said his nation is "making efforts to ensure alternative energy resources and oil" from neighboring Gulf countries (Kyodo News/Mainichi Daily News, Feb. 11).

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is slated to confer with President Obama in the White House on Tuesday, the Kuwait News Agency reported. In addition, the Chinese leader is expected to speak with Vice President Joseph Biden during a trip to the U.S. capital.

Xi would hold discussions with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes added.

"We believe the Chinese share our view that Iran should not be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon and that Iran needs to live up to its international obligations," Rhodes said. "We've consistently addressed with the Chinese the importance of not backfilling the sanctions that are in place, and the Chinese have not done that. And that's allowed us to maintain significant international pressure."

"Similarly, we've also pressed the Chinese on continuing to vigorously enforce sanctions," the official said, adding "that's the type of dialogue we've had with China, and I think it's enabled, frankly, the very robust international pressure that's on the Iranian government" (Kuwait News Agency I, Feb. 11).

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said he planned to "candidly discuss" the nuclear standoff with Iranian Supreme National Security Council Undersecretary Ali Bagheri, Reuters reported. Ma was set on Monday to finish a trip to the Iranian capital he began on Sunday.

"China is willing to ... push forward the early resumption of six-nation talks with Iran, and encourage Iran to strengthen cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure the Iran nuclear issue moves forward on the proper course of dialogue," Ma said in remarks issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry (Michael Martina, Reuters I, Feb. 12).

Paris on Friday urged Tehran to support upcoming IAEA checks on its atomic sites and to rejoin multilateral atomic talks, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton last October invited Iran to enter new talks with the six world powers, and "we still have no answer," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said (Kuwait News Agency II, Feb. 10).

In Washington, U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a Defense Department request for $81 million in funds for updating the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, Fox News reported. The administration was seeking to bolster the bunker-buster bomb's power in light of test findings that it might do insufficient damage to Iran's most hardened atomic sites in a potential strike, according to a previous report (see GSN, Jan. 30; Jennifer Griffin, Fox News, Feb. 11).

NATO is not making preparations for armed action on Iran, Interfax quoted James Appathurai, the alliance's special envoy to the Caucasus and Central Asia, as saying on Friday (Interfax, Feb. 10).

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard's ground branch is set to carry out practice maneuvers before the Iranian year concludes next month, Guard Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour said on Sunday in comments reported by the Iran's Press TV (Press TV, Feb. 12).

The U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet commander on Sunday expressed confidence that the military service could prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, but warned the Middle Eastern nation had increased sea-based deployments and equipped a number of vessels to potentially carry out self-destructive strikes on enemies, Reuters reported. Officials and lawmakers in Tehran previously threatened to close the waterway, a key channel for the shipment of Middle Eastern petroleum, in retaliation to an embargo on oil exports.

"They have increased the number of submarines ... they increased the number of fast attack craft," Vice Adm. Mark Fox said. "Some of the small boats have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device. The Iranians have a large mine inventory."

"We have watched with interest their development of long range rockets and short, medium and long range ballistic missiles and of course ... the development of their nuclear program," Fox said.

"Could they make like extremely difficult for us? Yes they could. If we did nothing and they were able to operate without being inhibited, yeah they could close it, but I can't see that we would ever be in that position," he said. "So when you hear discussion about all this overheated rhetoric from Iran we really believe that the best way to handle this is with diplomacy ... I am absolutely convinced that is the way to go. It is our job to be prepared. We are vigilant" (Warda al-Jawahiry, Reuters II, Feb. 13).

Elsewhere, Iran denied responsibility for Monday explosives attacks on vehicles belonging to Israeli consular officials in India and Georgia, the New York Times reported. A weapon mounted to a car in the Georgian capital was deactivated, but a similar bomb detonated on a vehicle in New Delhi, wounding no fewer than two people.

Tehran previously vowed to retaliate over the deaths of several Iranian atomic scientists in bomb strikes it has attributed to Israel (Kershner/Schwirtz, New York Times, Feb. 13).

Azerbaijan on Monday denounced as "slander" an Iranian allegation, delivered through an official channel, that the government in Baku had supported the lethal strikes on Iranian specialists, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/Now Lebanon, Feb. 13).