From CNN Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott
Iran and world powers are inching closer to a deal at talks on Iran’s nuclear program, senior Obama administration officials and Iran’s Foreign Minister said.
The U.S. officials say the sides are working toward an agreement in Geneva to curb Iran’s nuclear program and providing some relief from economic sanctions that have crippled its economy.
On Thursday, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - as well as Germany began talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
Zarif told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that he hoped the parties could start drafting a framework agreement to announce at the end of talks Friday
“It's a framework that we have agreed upon,” he said. “We are prepared to address some of the most immediate concerns that have been raised and then we expect reciprocally for our concerns to be met.”
FULL POST
By Elise Labott
World powers and Iran hope to reach an initial agreement at talks this week on Tehran’s nuclear program, diplomats and Iran’s foreign minister said.
If Iran agrees at talks in Geneva to take steps toward curbing its nuclear program, a senior U.S. administration official said Iran could see some relief from economic sanctions that have crippled its economy
"What we're looking for is a first phase, a first step, an initial understanding that stops Iran's nuclear program from moving forward and rolls it back for first time in decades," the senior U.S. administration official told reporters in Geneva on the eve of a fresh round talks between Iran and world powers.
In exchange, Washington would be willing to offer Iran "very limited, temporary, reversible sanctions relief,” the official said.
FULL POST
It was on its face disturbing, even shocking news – two military officials in charge of the nation's nuclear arsenal sacked within days of each other.
But Major General Michael Carey and Vice Admiral Tim Giardina (fired amidst rumors of misbehavior involving alcohol and gambling) are just the latest in a recent rash of firings in the military's top ranks.
The firings come as leadership in the military try to send a message of "zero tolerance" when it comes to bad behavior.
The military has been here before – last fall a string of incidents involving improper behavior among top brass resulted in then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordering a review of ethics standards.
Officials tell CNN that in the case of the nuclear commander fired Friday that no sensitive nuclear weapons operations were impacted.
By Jamie Crawford
None of the 107 nuclear facilities in the United States are protected against a high-force terrorist attack, and some are still vulnerable to the theft of bomb-grade nuclear fuel, or sabotage intended to cause a nuclear meltdown, a new report says.
The Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas released the report Thursday. It wants to shine a light on the security gaps that still exist more than 10 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"It would be a tragedy if the United States had to look back after such an attack on a nuclear reactor and say that we could have and should have done more to prevent the catastrophe," said Prof. Alan J. Kuperman, co-author of the report.
The study was done at the request of the Defense Department after the Pentagon commissioned an academic study of the security vulnerabilities of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear power reactors and three civilian research reactors.
FULL STORYBy Jamie Crawford
North Korea may be increasing its ability to enrich uranium at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, according to an analysis of recent satellite imagery.
The Institute for Science and International Security report concluded that North Korea appears to have greatly expanded a building in the fuel fabrication complex that is used for gas centrifuges in the uranium enrichment process at the reactor facility.
The development amounts to a doubling in size of the complex from its original construction.
Construction on the building expansion appears to have preceded an announcement by the North Korean government earlier this year that it planned on restart all the nuclear facilities at the previously mothballed site.
FULL POST
North Korean and Chinese officials have called for the resumption of six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear program, Chinese authorities said Wednesday.
The announcement came as North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, was in Beijing for bilateral talks.
Kim and China's Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui issued statements Wednesday calling for the resumption of the talks to "peacefully solve nuclear issues through dialogue" with all relevant parties.
North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, the United States and Russia met last decade to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons program but those meetings had been discontinued.
FULL STORY