WASHINGTON, Mar. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran has enough
material to build a nuclear bomb, said U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Michael Mullen on Sunday.
"We think they do, quite frankly," Mullen told CNN's
"State of the Union" presided by John King, when asked if Iran had enough
nuclear material to build the nuke.
File photo taken shows that Chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen (R) speaks to the
media alongside U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during a press
conference at the Pentagon in Washington, January 22, 2009.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
"And Iran having a nuclear weapon, I've believed for
a long time, is a very, very bad outcome for the region and for the world," said
the top U.S. army officer.
In a report submitted last month to the UN Security
Council, Mohamed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) said Iran still refused to fulfill UN's requirement of stopping
its uranium enrichment activity.
Responding to the IAEA report, Iran has vowed to
continue its nuclear work.
Iran's uranium enrichment program is questioned by
many parties. Western countries like the United States claim that Iran intends
to secretly develop nuclear weapons, while the UN Security Council also requires
Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activity.
However, Iran insists that its nuclear plan is only
for peaceful purposes, and continues its uranium enrichment activity despite the
pressure from the western countries and relevant resolutions and sanctions of
the United Nations.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Iran Thursday lashed
out at the U.S. statement on its nuclear program and alleged engagement in
terrorism, calling such allegations "baseless and absurd."
In a letter circulated to the UN Security Council
president, the Iranian permanent representative to the United Nations, Mohammad
Khazaee, said, "It is unfortunate that the Security Council yet again heard some
baseless allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran by the representative
of the United States in today's meting of the council on Iraq." Full story
JERUSALEM, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister
Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that Israel will not rule out any option regarding
the Iranian nuclear program.
His remarks came hours after the report that Iran
launched a test run of its first nuclear power plant built by a Russian
contractor near the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr. Full story
BUSHEHR, Iran, Feb. 25
(Xinhua) -- Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization,
said Wednesday that Iran has not changed its nuclear plan and will continue to
install more centrifuges.
"Our plan to install and run centrifuges is not based on
political conditions. We have a plan and we will go ahead with it," Aghazadeh
told a joint press conference with Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's Rosatom
state nuclear energy corporation. Full story
TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki said here on Monday that Iran had not talked with any U.S.
officials, the official IRNA news agency reported.
"No official or non-official talks were held between
(Iran's senior presidential advisor) Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi and any U.S.
official," Mottaki was quoted as saying. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Accusing Tehran of
violating international regulation, the Obama administration on Friday called on
the international community to "work together" on and address Iran's nuclear
issue as soon as possible.
"This is an urgent problem that has to be addressed
and we can't delay addressing," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, after a
UN report claimed Tehran has been still carrying out its uranium enrichment
activity. Full story
