By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution
Iran promised on Tuesday to be a "reliable partner" to the West if the United States would adopt a more cooperative tone in nuclear development talks.
A senior U.N. official announced progress Friday in long-stalled efforts to resume a probe of suspicions that Iran may have worked to develop nuclear arms, saying the investigation could be restarted by early next year.
The U.N. nuclear agency has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts and other specialists focused on probing allegations that Tehran has been — or is — secretly working on developing atomic arms, according to an internal document shared with the Associated Press.
Inspectors have found traces of uranium enriched at an Iranian site to a level that is slightly closer to the threshold needed to arm nuclear missiles, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday.
U.N. nuclear negotiators seeking to probe Tehran's nuclear program for signs of secret work on atomic-weapons technology spoke of a good exchange of views Tuesday after talks with Iranian officials, who described the meeting as having made progress.
Satellite images of an Iranian military facility appear to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating an attempted cleanup of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
A senior U.N. nuclear agency team will visit Tehran on Jan. 28 with Iran saying it is ready after years of refusal to discuss allegations that it was involved in secret nuclear weapons work, diplomats said Thursday.
In a major setback to Iran's nuclear program, technicians will have to unload fuel from the country's first atomic power plant because of an unspecified safety concern, a senior government official said.
The control systems of Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant have been penetrated by a computer worm unleashed last year, according to a foreign intelligence report that warns of a possible Chernobyl-like disaster once the site becomes fully operational.
Several international envoys — but crucially none from the world powers — got a look inside an Iranian nuclear site Saturday as part of a tour the Islamic Republic hopes will build support before a new round of talks on its disputed atomic activities.
Iran has invited Russia, China, the European Union and its allies among the Arab and developing world to tour its nuclear sites, in an apparent move to gain support ahead of a new round of talks with six world powers.
The U.N. nuclear agency cannot confirm that all of Iran's atomic activities are peaceful because of Tehran's selective cooperation with nuclear inspectors, the agency's chief said Monday.
"Hostile polices of Western countries, including dual track, carrot and stick, sanctions-and-talks polices are doomed to failure," he said in The Jerusalem Post.
Iran vows to partner with West in exchange for softer tone, lighter policies →
"Western countries are advised to change gear from confrontation to cooperation, the window of opportunity to enter into negotiation for long-term strategic cooperation with Iran, the most reliable, strong and stable partner in the region, is still open," he said during a meeting in Geneva on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Iran vows to partner with West in exchange for softer tone, lighter policies →
