Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant ’starts operating’

AFP— Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr has started operations, the nation’s atomic chief said on Saturday, media reported.

"Without any propaganda and fuss we sealed the cover of the reactor and all the fuel rods are in the core of the reactor," Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.

"We hope that electricity produced at the Bushehr plant will be connected to the national grid in a month or two," he added.

Iran criticizes Egypt FM remarks on interference in Iraq, Lebanon

ISNA-An Iranian Foreign Ministry official said remarks of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit seeks diversion of the world’s public
 opinion from continuous violation of Egyptians’ basic rights.

"Recent comments of Egyptian Foreign Minister on relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran with some Arab states are resulted from deteriorating conditions in Egypt and seek diversion of the world’s public opinion from constant violation of Egyptians’ basic rights," the Iranian official said.

"We recommend that Mr. Aboul Gheit heed more attention to the Islamic World unity and think of security and rights of Egypt which is permanently violated by Zionist regime instead of securing rights of evil-wishers of the region which is creation of discord among Islamic states."

"Powerful Persian Gulf neighbouring states are capable enough to create regional security and they are the only qualified ones to make comments on the matter," the Iranian official noted.

Egyptian Foreign Minister accused Iran of interference in internal affairs of Iraq and Lebanon.

Iran says IAEA cannot make demands beyond safeguards

Tehran Times – Nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi has said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can not make any demand from Iran that goes beyond the IAEA safeguards agreement including an inspection of Iran’s heavy water nuclear facility.

“Cooperation with the agency has been defined. The agency cannot make any demand beyond the safeguards agreement… (but) we are ready to cooperate if they make demands within the framework of the agency’s safeguards agreement” Salehi, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (IAEO), told the Mehr News Agency on Thursday in response to a demand by the agency to inspect Iran’s heavy water nuclear plant.

According to the Associated Press, IAEA director Yukiya Amano in his newly released report called on Tehran to implement the additional protocol to allow for more comprehensive inspections of the nation’s nuclear program including the heavy water facilities. Iran stopped voluntary implementation of the protocol in 2007.

Salehi said the inspection of Iran’s heavy water nuclear facility is not part of the agreement, explaining that the heavy water is covered under an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the implementation of the additional protocol is not compulsory.

He went on to say that the Westerners suppose that they can impose their demands on Iran through pressure, but the experience has proved that such pressures have failed to force Iran into shifting its nuclear policy. Continued…  

U.S. engagement on Iran must be realistic: U.S. military

The Gazette - The United States needs to be realistic about its efforts to engage Iran, whose leaders are lying about Tehran’s nuclear program and are on a path to building nuclear weapons, the top U.S. military officer said.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in comments released on Friday that the U.S. military has been thinking about military options on Iran "for a significant period of time" but added that diplomacy remained the focus of U.S. efforts.

"I still think it’s important we focus on the dialogue, we focus on the engagement, but also do it in a realistic way that looks at whether Iran is actually going to tell the truth, actually engage and actually do anything," Mullen said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS due to air on Sunday.

Iran has agreed to meet with a representative of the six big powers over its uranium enrichment drive, but diplomats and analysts see little chance of a breakthrough in the long-running dispute.

Still, U.S. officials, including Mullen, have warned that a military strike will only delay, not halt, Iran’s nuclear program and say convincing Tehran to abandon its nuclear program is the only viable long-term solution.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates went further last week, warning a strike would also unite the divided country and saying sanctions were biting harder than expected.

The West believes that Iran aims to use its uranium enrichment program to build atomic weapons, which Iran denies. Both Israel and the United States have said all options remain on the table to deal with its nuclear ambitions, a position Mullen reaffirmed to CNN.

Asked whether he believed Tehran’s vows that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes, Mullen said: "I don’t believe it for a second."

"In fact, the information and intelligence that I’ve seen speak very specifically to the contrary," he said.

"Iran is still very much on a path to be able to develop nuclear weapons, including weaponizing them, putting them on a missile and being able to use them."

CNN released a transcript of the interview, which was recorded on Nov. 24.