While the rest of the world cautiously welcomed the surprise election of Hassan Rowhani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood virtually alone in swiftly dismissing the Iranian centrist as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And when Iranian news agencies misquoted Rowhani as calling Israel an “old wound” that must be removed, Netanyahu was quick to…
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday he was ready to be the first human sent into orbit by Iran’s fledgling space programme, Iranian media reported. Iran declared last week that it had successfully launched a monkey into space and retrieved it alive, which officials hailed as a major step towards their goal of sending humans…
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday dismissed his only female cabinet minister, Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, after she criticised her colleagues for failing to provide funds to import vital medicines. Appointed in 2009, Dastjerdi was the first woman government minister since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979. While seen as politically conservative, the…
The U.N. nuclear agency made no progress in a year-long push to find out if Iran worked on developing an atomic bomb, its chief said on Thursday, calling for urgent efforts to end Tehran’s standoff with the West. Yukiya Amano said he would not give up seeking to end what Western diplomats describe as Iranian…
Six world powers agreed on Wednesday to seek renewed talks with Iran as fast as possible, reflecting a heightened sense of urgency to resolve a long rift over Tehran’s disputed nuclear activity and avert the threat of war. Their call coincided with growing evidence of Iran expanding nuclear capacity in an underground bunker virtually impervious…
Iran is set to sharply expand its uranium enrichment in an underground site after installing all the centrifuges it was built for, a U.N. report said, a move that could increase Western alarm about Tehran’s nuclear course. It also showed that Iran’s stockpile of its most sensitive nuclear material – which could relatively quickly be…
President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he will renew efforts for a diplomatic resolution to Iran’s suspected attempt to build a nuclear weapon, but denied that any talks with Tehran were imminent. Obama told a news conference that reports that emerged before his re-election on Nov. 6 of impending U.S. talks with Iran were…
The reelection of President Barack Obama could create an opportunity for new negotiations with Iran on its nuclear programme as sanctions pile economic pressure on its theocratic leaders. With no more elections to fight, Obama, who has so far resisted calls in the United States and Israel for military action against Iran, appears free to…
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