VIENNA: The UN atomic watchdog will still have a hard time answering crucial questions about whether Iran seeks nuclear weapons despite winning better access for inspectors, the UN’s top inspector Yukiya Amano told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview Monday at the agency’s headquarters here. Amano said the main problem going forward is that… Keep reading →

    Iran’s decision to accept and implement the nuclear deal struck in November has undercut the US Congress’s drive for new sanctions designed to increase the pressure on the Islamic Republic. President Barack Obama said the deal should be given a chance to work and that sanctions could alienate Iran and torpedo the diplomacy. Congress, so… Keep reading →

Occasionally journalists find a gem, buried in the Potomac muck. They’re hard to find and often even harder to convince they should be seen by the public. Harald Malmgren spends most of his time buried deep in the darkest muck of Washington — that almost impenetrable stuff surrounding economics. But he sometimes rises forth and… Keep reading →

The nuclear deal reached with Iran in Geneva opens a new era in US-Iranian relations, even if the agreement is a tentative one. For the first time since Iran’s secret nuclear work was discovered in 2002, the two nations have outlined a way to allay fears the Islamic Republic is building nuclear weapons. The Geneva agreement… Keep reading →

VIENNA: Iran has not significantly accelerated its nuclear program in recent months, UN nuclear chief Yukiya Amano told Breaking Defense. This could be a sign that Iran hopes to create favorable conditions for a deal with the United States, which wants the Islamic Republic to freeze its program at its current level and not add to its… Keep reading →

GENEVA: The marathon nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva last week faltered because of fundamental differences — not because the French are spoilers. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters upon arriving in Geneva that “nothing is settled” and then was blamed for imposing new conditions that torpedoed an all-but-written settlement that Iran would not… Keep reading →

GENEVA: Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is confident an agreement to end the Iranian nuclear crisis will be reached soon and that he would be able to sell it back home in Tehran despite hardline opposition there, he told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview. “I would not agree on something if I didn’t believe… Keep reading →

GENEVA: Iran and six major powers appear close to a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, with US Secretary of State John Kerry set to join the talks Friday, a late-breaking surprise here. It could signal the beginning of the end of the decade-old crisis sparked by fears Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. US… Keep reading →

GENEVA: The United States and Iran head into Thursday negotiations full of growing optimism that a deal can be reached on the future of Iran’s nuclear program. One of the key reasons for this optimism is the apparent willingness of the US Congress and of major American Jewish groups to refrain from demanding new sanctions… Keep reading →

GENEVA: The Iranian plan to resolve their nuclear crisis proposes a framework for talks but still needs a lot of work, a source close to the talks here told Breaking Defense. Iran’s plan presented today to the United States and five other world powers was designed to show Iran’s good will and to lay the… Keep reading →