Israel

Iran Update 162

  • Talks continue over nuclear program without clear progress
  • IAEA Director General’s latest report on Iran’s nuclear program shows growth in enrichment capabilities, but analysts speculate over implications
  • Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran and U.N. General Assembly opening in New York draw more attention to crisis
  • Sanctions effects deepen; Canada closes embassy
  • Concerns rise over Iranian plans for Arak facility

Istanbul event supporting 2012 conference on a WMD-free zone in Mideast

BASIC held a roundtable in Istanbul, on October 24 and 25, 2012, in support of the 2012 conference on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East.

The Track II event, held in coordination with the office of the conference facilitator, Jaakko Laajava of Finland, was attended by expert and government representatives from the region and beyond. 

Read the final report from the roundtable: here.


Iran news update: Israel raises the temperature

A flurry of media reports in the past week have sounded the alarm over purported advancements in Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme and Israel’s willingness to launch a first strike to prevent Iran obtaining a bomb. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak have raised the stakes in the full knowledge that the U.S. is less than three months from a presidential election.

Getting to Zero Update

Officials from China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (“P5”) held their third special forum since 2009 to discuss nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, this time in Washington, DC. Separately, representatives from Iran and the P5 plus Germany, have met at various levels without producing a breakthrough over Iran’s nuclear program amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

Iran sanctions bill

The U.S. Congress is poised to consider an Iran sanctions bill this week that may shut down any transactions with the Iranian oil industry and tighten financial loopholes as part of tough international moves aimed at pressuring Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

Iran Update: Number 160

  • Moscow talks leave both parties frustrated
  • Latest IAEA-Iran talks end without making progress; Iran produces fuel plates for reactor
  • Putin proposes Iranian involvement in Syria crisis
  • Iran announces development of nuclear-powered submarine
  • Iranian and British representatives hold difficult bi-lateral meeting