Global Security Newswire

Iran has a stockpile of low-enriched uranium that with continued refinement could fuel roughly "one-and-a-half nuclear bombs," the head of research for Israeli military intelligence told lawmakers in Jerusalem yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 7).

Iran has amassed nearly 4,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium, the Jerusalem Post quoted Maj. Gen. Yossi Baidatz as saying.

Israel, the United States and several European nations have expressed concern that Iran's uranium enrichment program could produce material for nuclear weapons, but Tehran has maintained its nuclear program has no military component.

"In the last year, two things have happened: Iran has advanced its military nuclear program, and Iran has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the international community," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said

"Our highest interest is in preventing Iran's (nuclear) armament," he added (Rebecca Anna Stoil, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 8).

Russia, which has resisted Western calls for harsh punitive measures against Iran, yesterday appeared to take a firmer stance against Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions, the Associated Press reported. This came after Iran last month said it planned to construct an additional 10 uranium enrichment facilities.

"I'll say it openly: Moscow has no interest in expanding the nuclear club," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said (David Nowak, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Dec. 7).

In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday made the case for his administration's approach to Iran's nuclear work during a White House meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"I indicated to the prime minister how important it is to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capacity in a way that allows Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy but provides assurances that it will abide by international rules and norms. I believe that Turkey can be an important player in trying to move Iran in that direction." Obama said at a joint news conference with Erdogan.

The Turkish leader, though, stressed that his country would not back new economic penalties against Tehran.

"We believe that the role of Iran can only be changed through diplomacy," Erdogan said, adding that current penalties were not pressuring Tehran as intended (Desmond Butler, Associated Press II/Washington Post, Dec. 7).

"For the formation of WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) or chemical weapons, those problems can only be solved through diplomatic means," he added, according to Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Dec. 7).

The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board voted last week to denounce Iran's delayed disclosure of an unfinished uranium enrichment site, a move Erdogan criticized as "a very rushed process because certain steps could be taken in a more consultative fashion" (Jim Mannion, Agence France-Presse II, Dec. 8).

Tehran responded to the resolution in letters to the IAEA governing board member states, the Iranian Students News Agency reported (Iranian Students News Agency, Dec. 8).

Turkey has suggested it could work as a "negotiator or a mediator" in the nuclear dispute, the prime minister added (AFP II).

Iran, though, today said its position "is quite clear and there is no need for a third party to mediate," Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

"Many countries have an interest in mediating, including Turkey, but Iran's need for civil nuclear technology is clear and its stance irrevocable ... therefore there is no need to clarify it again through a mediator," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Earth Times, Dec. 8).

The official also called on Western powers to offer more amenable terms for providing Iran with uranium refined for use at at Tehran medical research reactor, AFP reported.

France, Russia and the United States backed a U.N. proposal -- aimed partly at resolving immediate concerns that Iran could produce enough material for a new nuclear weapon -- that called for the rapid transfer of much of the Middle Eastern state's uranium to other counties for continued enrichment. Tehran, though, ruled out supplying the bulk of its own nuclear material for the project.

"We never said we will not do this (nuclear fuel deal)," Mehmanparast said. "The question is the attitude of some Western countries in the past. They have lost trust and have never kept their promises."

"We can't listen to them easily. If they can provide conditions that can gain our trust, we are ready to exchange the fuel," he said.

The spokesman also brushed off indications that Tehran could face additional economic penalties over its nuclear activities. The country is already the target of three U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions.

"This is the continuation of the same incorrect approach of the past. Such threats and deadlines do not work. Sanctions are nothing new for Iran," Mehmanparast said.

"At every stage of sanctions, we have reached a higher level of self-sufficiency and gained further independence. If there is another round of sanctions we will be more serious" in developing nuclear capabilities, he said (Agence France-Presse III/Yahoo!News, Dec.8).

Mehmanparast also indicated that an Iranian nuclear scientist who disappeared during a visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this year was turned over to the United States by Saudi authorities, AFP reported today (see GSN, Oct. 7).

"Shahram Amiri, Iran's nuclear scientist who had gone to hajj in Saudi Arabia, was handed over by Riyadh to Washington," he said. The statement was Iran's first confirmation that Amiri worked on nuclear matters (Agence France-Presse IV/Spacewar.com, Dec. 8).

"The Americans did abduct him. Therefore we expect the American government to return him," said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki (Agence France-Presse V/Spacewar.com, Dec. 8).