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Iran is moving ahead with a nuclear program that U.S. officials said would be frozen, and it is now clear the USA and other world powers are willing to accept an Iranian enrichment program that Iran refuses to abandon, say analysts.
Iran has continued research and development on new, far more efficient machines for producing uranium fuel that could power reactors or bombs, and its stockpile of low enriched uranium has actually grown, according to a report by Institute for Science and International Security.
The Iranian regime has also trumpeted recent tests of new ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver a future warhead while its pariah economy has begun a modest recovery.
Analysts watching the movements say the U.S. easing of economic sanctions against Iran to induce it to make compromises on a long-term nuclear agreement may not be having the desired effect.
"If Iranians believe they can erode the sanctions without making additional nuclear concessions, then the improvement in the economy makes a comprehensive deal less likely," said Gary Samore, a former principal arms control adviser to President Obama.
"The Iranians are advancing their nuclear program, moving ahead on the program in areas not covered" by the interim agreement with world powers in November, says Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has backed a tough new sanctions bill pending in the U.S. Senate. "The likelihood of a comprehensive deal on acceptable terms diminishes."
In recent weeks Iranian officials have said they will not dismantle elements of their nuclear program of concern to the West, including centrifuges, enrichment facilities and a heavy water reactor under construction that, once operational, would produce plutonium that could fuel a bomb with further processing. Among the concerns identified by Institute for Science and International Security and other sources.
Iran continues research and development work at its Natanz Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, and has installed casing for a new eighth-generation centrifuge. Aliakbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, has said the new design is 15 times more powerful than the IR-1 centrifuge, according to Iran's state broadcaster IRIB.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, reported no new progress on addressing its questions related to past military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. It has yet to gain access to Parchin, a military site where the IAEA seeks to investigate concentric explosive devices that could be used to demolish bridges or detonate a nuclear warhead.
Iran received $7 billion in sanctions relief as part of an interim six-month deal agreed to in November that requires it to limit the growth of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, convert or dilute its uranium that is close to bomb-grade, and not install any new machines for producing uranium fuel.
http://www.courier-journal.com/usatoday/article/5835935
Iran has continued research and development on new, far more efficient machines for producing uranium fuel that could power reactors or bombs, and its stockpile of low enriched uranium has actually grown, according to a report by Institute for Science and International Security.
The Iranian regime has also trumpeted recent tests of new ballistic missiles that could be used to deliver a future warhead while its pariah economy has begun a modest recovery.
Analysts watching the movements say the U.S. easing of economic sanctions against Iran to induce it to make compromises on a long-term nuclear agreement may not be having the desired effect.
"If Iranians believe they can erode the sanctions without making additional nuclear concessions, then the improvement in the economy makes a comprehensive deal less likely," said Gary Samore, a former principal arms control adviser to President Obama.
"The Iranians are advancing their nuclear program, moving ahead on the program in areas not covered" by the interim agreement with world powers in November, says Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has backed a tough new sanctions bill pending in the U.S. Senate. "The likelihood of a comprehensive deal on acceptable terms diminishes."
In recent weeks Iranian officials have said they will not dismantle elements of their nuclear program of concern to the West, including centrifuges, enrichment facilities and a heavy water reactor under construction that, once operational, would produce plutonium that could fuel a bomb with further processing. Among the concerns identified by Institute for Science and International Security and other sources.
Iran continues research and development work at its Natanz Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant, and has installed casing for a new eighth-generation centrifuge. Aliakbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, has said the new design is 15 times more powerful than the IR-1 centrifuge, according to Iran's state broadcaster IRIB.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, reported no new progress on addressing its questions related to past military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program. It has yet to gain access to Parchin, a military site where the IAEA seeks to investigate concentric explosive devices that could be used to demolish bridges or detonate a nuclear warhead.
Iran received $7 billion in sanctions relief as part of an interim six-month deal agreed to in November that requires it to limit the growth of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, convert or dilute its uranium that is close to bomb-grade, and not install any new machines for producing uranium fuel.
http://www.courier-journal.com/usatoday/article/5835935
