Nuclear Energy - Nuclear Weapons

AUSTRALIA: Uranium Exports May Boomerang

By IPS Correspondents
As a high-level committee appointed by Prime Minister John Howard is developing plans for a major expansion of the Australian nuclear industry, concerns are being raised that increased uranium exports, especially to China and India, will facilitate further proliferation of nuclear weapons.

POLITICS: A Thaw in Egypt-Iran Relations?

By Adam Morrow
The recent visit to the Egyptian capital by a high-level Iranian official has reignited speculation about the state of Egyptian-Iranian diplomatic relations, officially frozen since 1979. Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is the highest ranking Iranian official to visit Egypt in the last 27 years.

POLITICS-US: Strategy Paper Reveals Bush Won’t Attack Iran

By Gareth Porter
In every statement on Iran, officials of the George W. Bush administration routinely repeat the party line that "the president never takes any option off the table".

RIGHTS: Scholar’s Long Detention Dents Iran’s Image

By IPS Correspondents
Seven weeks on, the initial shock caused by the detention of Iranian political theorist Ramin Jehanbegloo in Tehran is giving way to serious concern, consternation and protest among the intelligentsia - and not just in Iran.

POLITICS: Testing Times for Indo-US Nuclear Deal

By IPS Correspondents
As the United States and India held yet another round of intensive talks this week to flesh out the landmark nuclear deal they signed in July, it became clear that they will both explore how far they can push each other for concessions that would ease Congressional approval.

POLITICS-CHINA: Ahmadinejad Invited to Shanghai Meet

By IPS Correspondents
China is taking a step further in asserting itself as a major player in Central Asia and the Middle East by inviting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the summit meeting of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), this week.

POLITICS: Why China Blocks Sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Burma

By Thalif Deen
The People's Republic of China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and one of the world's prolific arms producers, continues to remain a major stumbling block to U.S. efforts to impose economic and military sanctions on three countries: Sudan, Burma (Myanmar) and Iran.

POLITICS: Bush Iran Strategy Suffers Major Diplomatic Defeat

By Gareth Porter
Despite claims that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has regained the diplomatic initiative from Iran with a conditional offer to join multilateral talks with Tehran, the real story behind the policy shift is that the administration has suffered a decisive defeat of its effort to get international sanctions for possible military action against Iran.

POLITICS: Common Interests Bring India, US Closer

By IPS Correspondents
One of the enduring mysteries in international relations has been the hitherto cool relations between the United States and India. Both are proud democracies, suspicious of Islamic fundamentalism and deeply concerned with the rise of China. And yet, the two nations ended up in opposite camps during much of the Cold War.

JAPAN: U.S-India Nuclear Deal Shakes Pacifist Position

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
A controversial agreement on nuclear energy between Washington and Delhi is proving to be a diplomatic headache for Japan, say analysts here.

DISARMAMENT: U.N. Urged to Host World Summit on Nukes

By Thalif Deen
An international commission on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons has urged the 191-member U.N. General Assembly to convene a world summit on disarmament, non-proliferation and terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

POLITICS: Gulf States Rethink U.S.-Led Security Alliance

By IPS Correspondents
Amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, the George W. Bush administration is courting the Persian/Arab Gulf monarchies with the same proposal it offered them 15 years ago after the first Gulf War - purchase U.S. armoury in the billions and Washington will protect you against your Persian nemesis.

U.S./IRAN: Conditional Offer for Talks Seen as a Gamble

By Jim Lobe
Wednesday's unprecedented offer by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to join multilateral negotiations over Tehran's nuclear programme was hailed as a positive step by Iran specialists here, who warned, however, that its conditional nature could prove problematic.

PAKISTAN: Villagers Pay the Price of Nuclear Ambitions

By Zofeen Ebrahim
''We've been treated worse than animals,'' says Nazeer Buzdar, his voice cracking with emotion over the telephone. "We were the ones who helped make Pakistan a nuclear power. But now that we're suffering, there is no one to even hear us out."

POLITICS-US/IRAN: Khamenei in Control and Ready to “Haggle”

By Gareth Porter
For months, the U.S. news media, the attention of pundits and elected officials have been riveted on the aims of ultra-conservative Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

POLITICS: India, US Tighten Nuclear Handshake

By IPS Correspondents
The United States and India have taken yet another step towards finalising the nuclear cooperation agreement they signed in July last year and more key lawmakers in Washington have expressed support for the deal.

POLITICS-US: Pressure Grows on Bush to Engage Iran Directly

By Jim Lobe
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is under increasing pressure - both here and abroad - to engage Iran in direct talks despite the continued opposition of pro-Israel neo-conservatives and Vice President Dick Cheney.

IRAN: Letter to Bush Lands With a Resounding Thud

By Omid Memarian
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent letter to U.S. Pres. George W. Bush, which was quickly dismissed by the administration as offering no useful concessions, has found new critics in Tehran amid the uncertainties surrounding Iran's nuclear programme.

POLITICS: Iran Proposal to U.S. Offered Peace with Israel

By Gareth Porter
Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and to cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel's 1967 borders, according to the secret Iranian proposal to the United States.

POLITICS: Iran Target of Apparent Disinformation Ploy

By Jim Lobe
A story authored by a prominent U.S. neo-conservative regarding new legislation in Iran allegedly requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive colour badges circulated around the world this weekend before it was exposed as false.

POLITICS: Reversing Policy, U.S. “Froze” Iran Talks in March

By Gareth Porter
In yet another apparent episode of the inability of the White House to steer a consistent diplomatic course in the Middle East, a new report says that the George W. Bush administration ordered U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in March to postpone indefinitely the talks with Iran on Iraq for which Khalilzad had previously gotten White House approval.
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