Iran has reportedly grown its uranium stock to 18 times above the limit set by a 2015 agreement.AP
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says that Iran has expanded its uranium stockpile 18 times over the limits set in the now-defunct 2015 agreement with the US and five other world powers, according to a report.
The International Atomic Energy Agency in its latest report on Tehran’s nuclear program “estimated that, as of May 15, 2022, Iran’s total enriched stockpile was 3,809.3 kilograms,” Agence France-Presse reported on Monday.
The 2015 agreement established the limit at 300 kg of a specific compound — the equivalent of 202.8 kg of uranium, the report said.
The IAEA report also said Iran is exceeding the 3.67% limit to which it is allowed to enrich uranium.
Tehran disputed the IAEA report on its undeclared nuclear material.
The 2015 agreement established the limit at 300 kg of a specific compound.AP
“Unfortunately, this report does not reflect the reality of the negotiations between Iran and the IAEA,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
“It’s not a fair and balanced report,” he said. “We expect this path to be corrected.”
The IAEA said it still has questions that were “not clarified” about nuclear material at three sites in Iran — Marivan, Varamin and Turquzabad.
The IAEA report also said Iran is exceeding the 3.67% limit to which it is allowed to enrich uranium. AP
The agency’s report also said Tehran blamed an “act of sabotage by a third party to contaminate the sites” but did not offer any evidence to prove the claims.
The Biden administration has been in talks with the other five nations still in the nuclear deal — China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK — as well as with Iran about reviving the agreement, from which former President Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018.
Damage from a fire at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility near Tehran in July 2020.AP
But those discussions stalled in March after Russia sought guarantees that sanctions imposed by the US over its invasion of Ukraine wouldn’t hamper trade between Moscow and Tehran.
A Russian official has issued an ominous warning to the US that President Vladimir Putin could wipe out the East and West coasts with just four nuclear missiles
Alexei Zhuravlev, a member of Russia’s parliament, proclaimed on the state TV channel Russia-1 Monday that the country has the capability to launch a devastating nuclear attack on the US over its support of Ukraine in the war.
“I will tell you absolutely competently that to destroy the entire the East Coast of the United States, two Sarmat missiles are needed,” the pro-Kremlin pundit said, referring to Russia’s new intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are known as “Satan-2” in NATO countries.
“And the same goes for the West Coast,” Zhuravlev continued. “Four missiles, and there will be nothing left.”
The ultra-hawkish lawmaker was weighing in on a news segment aired by CBS News back in April that talked about what a nuclear strike on New York City would look like.
Russian official Alexei Zhuravlev said Russia could destroy the US East and West coasts with four “Satan-2” missiles.AP
In the program, reporter Tony Dokoupil said that a strike comparable to the one that devastated the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945 would wipe out much of Manhattan and produce a mushroom cloud that would rise above the Empire State Building.
Zhuravlev scoffed at Dokoupil’s assessment, saying that “the mushroom [cloud] would be visible from Mexico.”
He added that in case of a nuclear war, no one should have a false sense of security.
Russian official Alexei Zhuravlev claimed that 5 percent of Ukraine’s population were Nazis.Russia-1
“No one will be fine, but you have to calculate correctly,” he said.
The staunch Putin supporter then turned his attention toward Ukraine, repeating the false Kremlin line that about 5 percent of the neighboring country’s inhabitants, or some 2 million people, are “incurable” Nazis.
“These 2 million people either should have left Ukraine, or they should be denazified, in other words, destroyed. No more than that,” the member of Parliament proclaimed on live TV.
Zhuravelv, who, like many in the Russian establishment, views Ukraine as a breakaway part of Russia, went on to argue that the ongoing war — officially dubbed a “special military operation” by the Kremlin — is a “civil war.”
“It hurts my heart because Russians are fighting Russians,” he said.
Zhuravlev wrapped up his tirade by claiming that Western countries plan to divide Russia into “10 to 15 countries so it never poses any more problems for them,” he said. “They will not succeed.”
This is not the first time that Zhuravlev has threatened Western countries helping Ukraine in its struggle against Russia with destruction.
A month ago, the lawmaker went on state TV and boasted that “one Sarmat and the British Isles are gone.”
Other members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle have made similar threats, with Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s state space agency, Roscosmos, tweeting a week ago that 50 new Sarmat-2 intercontinental ballistic missiles will soon be combat-ready.
“I suggest that aggressors speak to us more politely,” Rogozin said.
After a successful test launch of Sarmat, or Satan-2, last month, Putin said in a televised address that the missile had no competition and would make Russia’s enemies “think twice” before issuing threats.
The Kremlin strongman also warned that the Satan-2 missile “is capable of overcoming all modern means of anti-missile defense.”
The latest Chinese mission included 22 fighters, as well as electronic warfare, early warning and antisubmarine aircraft.
By REUTERS
Published: MAY 30, 2022 17:00
Updated: MAY 30, 2022 19:12
A model of the Chinese Fighter aircraft is seen in front of Chinese and Taiwanese flags in this illustration taken, April 28, 2022. Picture taken April 28, 2022
(photo credit: REUTERS/DADO RUVIC)
Taiwan on Monday reported the largest incursion since January by China’s air force in its air defense zone, with the island’s defense ministry saying Taiwanese fighters scrambled to warn away 30 aircraft in the latest uptick in tensions.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past two years or so of repeated missions by China’s air force near the democratically governed island, often in the southwestern part of its air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.
Taiwan calls China’s repeated nearby military activities “grey zone” warfare, designed to both wear out Taiwan’s forces by making them repeatedly scramble, and also to test Taiwan’s responses.
The latest Chinese mission included 22 fighters, as well as electronic warfare, early warning and antisubmarine aircraft, the Taiwan ministry said.
The aircraft flew in an area to the northeast of the Pratas, according to a map the ministry provided, though far from Taiwan itself.
Taiwan sent combat aircraft to warn away the Chinese aircraft, while missile systems were deployed to monitor them, the ministry said.
Taiwanese F-16 fighter jets fly in formation during an inauguration ceremony in Taichung, Taiwan, August 28, 2020 (credit: REUTERS/ANN WANG)
There was no immediate comment from China, which has in the past said such moves were drills aimed at protecting the country’s sovereignty.
China’s military said last week it had recently conducted an exercise around Taiwan as a “solemn warning” against its “collusion” with the United States.
A response to Biden’s Taiwan policy?
That came after US President Joe Biden angered China by appearing to signal a change in a US policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan by saying the United States would get involved militarily if China were to attack the island.
China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan to accept its sovereignty claims. Taiwan’s government says it wants peace but will defend itself if attacked.
No shots have been fired and the Chinese aircraft have not been flying in Taiwan’s air space, but in its ADIZ, a broader area Taiwan monitors and patrols that acts to give it more time to respond to any threats.
