Natanz

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Images Show Flurry of Work at Iranian Underground Site

Analysts see no signs the goal is making bombs after US, Israeli strikes

(Newser) - Beneath a remote mountain in Iran, construction has surged at a secretive underground site, just months after US and Israeli airstrikes targeted the government's key nuclear facilities. Satellite imagery and analysis show the work in progress at the underground site in the Zagros Mountains, the Washington Post reports....

Report: US Destroyed Only One of Three Iran Nuclear Sites

Two other facilities remain damaged but could restart enrichment soon

(Newser) - A new US assessment of damage inflicted on nuclear enrichment sites in Iran concludes that only one of three was put out of commission for the long term, reports NBC News . The other two could conceivably be operating again in a matter of months. NBC's report is based...

Iran Accuses Israel of Sabotage at Nuclear Plant

It may have been a cyberattack at the Natanz site

(Newser) - Iran on Monday blamed Israel for a sabotage attack on its underground Natanz nuclear facility that damaged the centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium there, warning that it would avenge the assault, per the AP . The comments by Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh represent the first official accusation leveled against...

Pence Helped Talk Trump Out of Bombing Iran: Report

'New York Times' says president asked advisers about strike before he leaves office

(Newser) - The election isn't the only big matter on President Trump's mind. The New York Times reports that he asked top aides last week about bombing Iran. According to the story, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were among those who talked the president out...

Iran's Nuke Centrifuges Getting Massive Upgrade

New generation plants to process uranium 5 times faster

(Newser) - Iran insists its uranium enrichment program is just for peaceful purposes—and now it is poised to start making a lot more of it. Tehran plans on mounting as many as 3,132 new-generation, IR-2m centrifuges; the machines are capable of enriching uranium five times faster than its current equipment,...

New Cyberattack on Iran Plays AC/DC

Virus hits Natanz nuclear site

(Newser) - Cyberwarfare has taken a turn for the awesome. A man claiming to be an Iranian nuclear scientist sent a letter to the security research group D-Secure yesterday saying that the country's Natanz facility had been hit with possibly the most rocking cyberattack in history, Geek-O-System reports. "The automation...

Obama Ordered Stepped-Up Cyberattacks on Iran

He boosted program started by Bush, 'NYT' finds

(Newser) - President Obama inherited a third war from the Bush administration, and he has stepped it up significantly, the New York Times finds in a detailed look at American cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program, based on 18 months of interviews with dozens of insiders. The program—America's first sustained...

Israel, Iran Terrorists Are Killing Scientists: Officials

Mossad funding, training People’s Mujahedin of Iran, sources confirm

(Newser) - As Iran has long claimed, Israel is indeed behind the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, providing financing, training, and weapons to the Iranian terrorist group that carries out the attacks, US officials confirm to NBC News . Five Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed since 2007, reportedly by the People’s...

Car Bomb Kills Iranian Nuke Expert

Israel suspected in hit on Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan

(Newser) - Yet another Iranian nuclear scientist has been murdered, this time after two assassins on a motorcycle attached a magnetic bomb to the 32-year-old chemistry expert's car. The death of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan comes almost exactly two years to the day since another nuclear professor was killed. Roshan, a...

Iran Recovered Quickly From Stuxnet Sabotage

It caused barely a dent in uranium enrichment: Report

(Newser) - The mysterious Stuxnet worm attack on Iranian nuclear centrifuges was devastatingly effective—until the centrifuges it destroyed were quickly replaced, the Washington Post reports. UN cameras recorded cartloads of equipment being removed after they were rendered useless by the cyber-weapon—more than 900 centrifuges are thought have been destroyed—but...

Iran Kicks Off 5 Days of War Games

Drill meant to boost air defense of nuclear facilities

(Newser) - Iran today begins large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's nuclear facilities, state television reports, adding that the five-day drill will cover a third of the country, including regions that are home to Iran's nuclear facilities. The drill involves both Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, the paramilitary Basij...

Iran Poised to Create Nuke Next Year

Country mastered warhead deployment in 2003: Times of London

(Newser) - Iran has the capability to build a nuclear weapon within a year, and has either started to do so or is waiting for the go-ahead from Ayatollah Khamenei, sources tell the Times of London. The 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate that reported that Iran had halted nuclear research in 2003...

Iran Nears Nuke Breakthrough
 Iran Nears Nuke Breakthrough 
Jan 28, 2009 2:46 AM CST

Iran Nears Nuke Breakthrough

Iran could have nuclear weapon by 2010

(Newser) - Iran may be mere months away from amassing enough low-enriched uranium to begin the next step in developing nuclear weapons, reports the Daily Telegraph. If the regime overcomes certain technical hurdles and further enriches its uranium to weapons grade, it could potentially develop a nuclear warhead by next year, reports...

Bush Blocked Israeli Strike on Iran, OK'd Covert Ops

President refused requests for missiles, but began covert sabotage missions

(Newser) - Washington stopped Israel from bombing Iran last year and told the Jewish state of covert plans to undermine Iran's nuclear ambitions, the New York Times reports. Israel asked President Bush to aid the strike with bunker-busting bombs and a free pass over Iraqi air space, which he refused—but he...

Is US Preparing Iran Air Strikes?
Is US Preparing Iran Air Strikes?
Oct 25, 2007 5:09 AM CDT

Is US Preparing Iran Air Strikes?

White House asks for bunker-buster funding

(Newser) - A recent White House funding request has heightened speculation that the US is preparing air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, reports ABC News. The Bush administration has asked for $88 million in emergency funds to modify B-2 stealth bombers so they can carry 30,000 "bunker buster" bombs to...

Iran Boasts of Nuke Potential
Iran Boasts of Nuke Potential
Sep 2, 2007 12:05 PM CDT

Iran Boasts of Nuke Potential

Ahmadinejad claims 3,000 centrifuges, after UN praises its probe cooperation

(Newser) - Iran is operating 3,000 centrifuges in a bid to enrich uranium for its nuclear program, president Ahmadinejad said today, contradicting a UN report that listed far fewer. But the Iranian president praised the report by the UN nuclear watchdog, which said the country’s rate of enrichment activities had...

Cheney Pushing Bush Toward Military Option On Iran

Winning debate against Rice & Gates

(Newser) - Dick Cheney is winning a West Wing power struggle, pushing the president toward the threat of military action against Iran, the Guardian reports. After an internal review over the last month, Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates favor continued diplomacy, but are said to be losing the argument. "Bush is...

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