Iran Enriching Uranium Program

Despite nearly a year of negotiations, Iran and six major powers are unlikely to meet a November 24 deadline to reach a final deal to lift international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, officials say.

Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like to see more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.

Iran has turned all of its enriched uranium closest to the level needed to make nuclear arms into more harmless forms, the United Nations' nuclear agency said Sunday.

Since the start of talks on Iran's nuclear program, Iran has asserted it has a right to enrich uranium - and the United States has disagreed. Both have refused to budge over nearly a decade of negotiations.

The Obama administration said Thursday it would support tougher economic pressure on Iran if the Islamic republic doesn't begin slowing the pace of its uranium enrichment activity and opening its stockpiles of nuclear material to greater inspection, and reassured its critics that the US would not be played for "suckers" by the moderate tone of Iran...

The United States believes Iran is enriching uranium to levels that could be used in nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, a defiant step that will worry Western powers, ahead of a resumption of talks with Tehran next week.

Iran acknowledged on Tuesday that it was converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, a move that could help to prevent a dispute with the West over its nuclear program hitting a crisis in mid-2013.

United Nations inspectors have found uranium particles refined to a higher-than-expected level at an Iranian underground site where Tehran has installed more than 50 percent more enrichment centrifuges, a UN watchdog report said on Friday.

Iran has sharply stepped up its controversial uranium enrichment drive, the United Nations' nuclear agency said on Friday in a report that will further inflame Israeli fears that the Islamic Republic is pushing ahead with atomic bomb plans.

Iran will insert its first domestically-produced nuclear fuel rods into a research reactor in Tehran on Wednesday, a top Iranian official said. "Because western countries were unwilling to help us, we began enriching uranium to 20 percent to make nuclear fuel rods," Ali Bagheri, deputy chief of Iran's National Security Council, said in an interview...

Diplomats on Monday confirmed a report that Iran has begun uranium enrichment at an underground bunker and said the news is particularly worrying because the site is being used to make material that can be upgraded more quickly for use in a nuclear weapon than the nation's main enriched stockpile.

Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes, a leading hard-line newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.

Despite nearly a year of negotiations, Iran and six major powers are unlikely to meet a November 24 deadline to reach a final deal to lift international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, officials say.

Iran is ready to work with the United States and its allies to stop Islamic State militants, but would like to see more flexibility on Iran's uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian officials told Reuters.

Iran has turned all of its enriched uranium closest to the level needed to make nuclear arms into more harmless forms, the United Nations' nuclear agency said Sunday.

Since the start of talks on Iran's nuclear program, Iran has asserted it has a right to enrich uranium - and the United States has disagreed. Both have refused to budge over nearly a decade of negotiations.

The Obama administration said Thursday it would support tougher economic pressure on Iran if the Islamic republic doesn't begin slowing the pace of its uranium enrichment activity and opening its stockpiles of nuclear material to greater inspection, and reassured its critics that the US would not be played for "suckers" by the moderate tone of Iran...

The United States believes Iran is enriching uranium to levels that could be used in nuclear weapons, but Tehran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

Iran has begun installing advanced centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, a defiant step that will worry Western powers, ahead of a resumption of talks with Tehran next week.

Iran acknowledged on Tuesday that it was converting some of its higher-grade enriched uranium into reactor fuel, a move that could help to prevent a dispute with the West over its nuclear program hitting a crisis in mid-2013.

United Nations inspectors have found uranium particles refined to a higher-than-expected level at an Iranian underground site where Tehran has installed more than 50 percent more enrichment centrifuges, a UN watchdog report said on Friday.

Iran has sharply stepped up its controversial uranium enrichment drive, the United Nations' nuclear agency said on Friday in a report that will further inflame Israeli fears that the Islamic Republic is pushing ahead with atomic bomb plans.

Iran will insert its first domestically-produced nuclear fuel rods into a research reactor in Tehran on Wednesday, a top Iranian official said. "Because western countries were unwilling to help us, we began enriching uranium to 20 percent to make nuclear fuel rods," Ali Bagheri, deputy chief of Iran's National Security Council, said in an interview...

Diplomats on Monday confirmed a report that Iran has begun uranium enrichment at an underground bunker and said the news is particularly worrying because the site is being used to make material that can be upgraded more quickly for use in a nuclear weapon than the nation's main enriched stockpile.

Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site built to withstand possible airstrikes, a leading hard-line newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.