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U.N. nuclear agency sees ‘good’ progress with Iran, much work remains

The U.N. nuclear watchdog signaled its determination on Monday to get to the bottom of suspicions that Iran may have worked on designing an atomic bomb, a day after Tehran agreed to start addressing the sensitive issue. Chief U.N. nuclear inspector Tero Varjoranta said progress had been good during February 8-9 talks in Tehran but that much work remained in clarifying concerns of possible military links to Iran’s nuclear program, in an investigation which Western diplomats say Tehran has stonewalled for years. "There are still a lot of outstanding issues," Varjoranta, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said at Vienna airport after returning from the Iranian capital. "We will address them all in due course." Iran denies Western allegations it seeks the capability to make nuclear weapons, saying such claims are baseless and forged by its foes. Years of hostile rhetoric and […]

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Iran to Offer Oil Investors Better Terms Than Iraq, Adviser Says

Iran , bound by economic sanctions and seeking investment to help develop its oil and natural gas, plans to offer international energy companies more attractive contracts than neighboring Iraq , an Oil Ministry adviser said. The Islamic republic is developing a new type of contract that’s “in line” with international practice and law, Mehdi Hosseini, who leads a ministry committee reviewing oil contracts, said at a news conference in Tehran today. The new model will be more flexible and advanced that those investors encounter in fellow OPEC-member Iraq and will differ from what’s available elsewhere, he said. “Any new model will have to be win-win for all parties involved,” Hosseini said. “The new contract is our own type. We haven’t given it a name.” He reiterated that Iran plans to introduce the new contract at a conference in London in late June or early July. The Persian Gulf state […]

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Iran Offers New Pledges on Nuclear Transparency

Iran agreed to seven measures meant to shine increased light on its nuclear activities, including one that addresses Western concerns the work had a military dimension. Under Sunday’s agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran pledged to provide information on work it did on certain types of detonators that could be used to trigger a nuclear device. It also promised to provide updated plans for a heavy-water nuclear reactor and allow inspectors into a uranium mine and yellowcake concentration plant. Agreeing to detail the work on detonators was a first step to addressing Western suspicions that Iran has worked on a military nuclear program. While the actions promised are relatively modest, Western diplomats said they met the bar for the kind of steps Iran needed to take at this stage. However, some sources of the West’s concern remain shielded from U.N. experts, such as granting the IAEA renewed […]

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Iran Agrees to Provide Data on Its Detonators

Iran’s government committed to providing information on detonators for the first time on Sunday as part of a new series of confidence-building measures it agreed to with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog. The measures include additional inspections of known nuclear sites and clarifications on questions the watchdog organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has asked Iran for years, the semiofficial Iranian Students’ News Agency reported. Under the agreement, Iran will provide more access to and information about uranium mines near the city of Yazd, a facility near the city of Ardakan, laser production, and its heavy-water reactor near Arak. The promise of information on detonator research is part of a dossier that has been heavily influencing Western views on Iran’s nuclear program, which Iran says is for energy purposes only, but the United States and other world powers suspect is a cover for producing a nuclear weapons […]

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Iran to introduce 'new generation' of oil contracts

Iran’s Petroleum Minister says it plans to introduce by June a new generation of oil contracts that are more attractive to investors. Iran’s Petroleum Minister says it plans to introduce by June a new generation of oil contracts that are more attractive to investors. Mahdi Hosseini, head of the contract revision committee in the ministry, told reporters Sunday that sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear activities drove the revisions. He said the new contracts are designed for the "post-sanction era, " but did not provide details. So far Iran has allowed oil companies to work on its fields under contracts known as "buybacks." Hosseini said many companies complained about their costs under this scheme. Iran signed in November a six-month interim deal with world powers in which it stops some nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. It begins negotiations this month to reach a final deal. The […]

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Iran to introduce ‘new generation’ of oil contracts

Iran’s Petroleum Minister says it plans to introduce by June a new generation of oil contracts that are more attractive to investors. Iran’s Petroleum Minister says it plans to introduce by June a new generation of oil contracts that are more attractive to investors. Mahdi Hosseini, head of the contract revision committee in the ministry, told reporters Sunday that sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear activities drove the revisions. He said the new contracts are designed for the "post-sanction era, " but did not provide details. So far Iran has allowed oil companies to work on its fields under contracts known as "buybacks." Hosseini said many companies complained about their costs under this scheme. Iran signed in November a six-month interim deal with world powers in which it stops some nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. It begins negotiations this month to reach a final deal. The […]

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Iraq governor gives Anbar militants one-week ultimatum

An Iraqi provincial governor Saturday gave militants controlling a city near Baghdad one week to surrender as government forces made steady progress in an effort to end a weeks-long crisis. The Anbar governor’s ultimatum was directed at anti-government fighters who have held Fallujah for more than a month. It comes amid a protracted surge in violence with security forces grappling with near-daily attacks nationwide in addition to the fighting in the western desert province. Analysts and diplomats have called for the Shiite-led government to address Sunni grievances in order to undermine support for militants, but with April elections looming, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has taken a hard line. "People of Anbar, criminals have kidnapped Fallujah," Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi said in a statement. "But, I swear to God, we will achieve victory against injustice and Fallujah will return to normal." Dulaimi gave anti-government fighters a week to lay down […]

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Shiite militias in Iraq begin to remobilize

The carnage has raised concerns that the Shiite militias that stalked members of the minority Sunni population in the dark days of 2006 and 2007 could be remobilizing, in response to attacks by Sunni extremists. Members of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an Iranian-backed Shiite group responsible for thousands of attacks on U.S. forces during the Iraq war, admit they have ramped up targeted killings in response to a cascade of bomb attacks on their neighborhoods. “We’ve had to be much more active,” said an Asaib Ahl al-Haq commander who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sajad. “Those who are trying to incite sectarianism, we have to deal with them,” he said, drawing his hand over his throat like a knife. More than 1,000 people were killed in January in Iraq, according to Agence France-Presse. That was the highest death toll since April 2008. Iraq’s Shiite-led government is struggling to […]

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Break in Siege Is Little Relief to Syrian City

Civilians in Homs, Syria, left for a safer part of the city Sunday. Despite a cease-fire, aid convoys were attacked over the weekend. Bassel Tawil/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ANTAKYA, Turkey — A three-day humanitarian cease-fire in the Syrian city of Homs was supposed to be a small breakthrough, a moment of relief for civilians trapped in a grim civil war. But mortar rounds and gunfire struck near aid convoys, damaging vehicles and leaving victims lying in the streets. Snipers fired on civilians as they fled their besieged neighborhood. Others refused to leave, fearing a massacre of those left behind. Limited food made it in, and some of the nearly 700 people who reached safety said they had been surviving on one meal a day and that some of their neighbors had resorted to eating grass. Though few expect the international peace talks that resume in Geneva on Monday […]

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