New York Times report.

A senior Iranian official said on Monday that his country planned to build 10 more nuclear enrichment plants -- two of them within the next year -- and had identified "close to" 20 sites for such facilities.

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, also said the plants would use a new kind of centrifuge, but did not provide details.

Xinhua report.

Russia opposes crippling sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"The term 'crippling sanctions' on Iran is totally unacceptable to us. The sanctions should aim at strengthening the regime of non- proliferation," Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

"We certainly cannot talk about sanctions that could be interpreted as punishment on the whole country and its people for some actions or inaction," Ryabkov said.

Times report.

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has radically increased pressure on Iran by publicly describing concerns over atomic weapons for the first time.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it feared that Tehran could be working on "a nuclear payload for a missile" in its bluntest report yet on Iran's uranium enrichment programme.

The White House responded to the report by threatening "consequences" if Iran failed to co-operate with nuclear inspectors.

In the IAEA's first report on Iran under its new director-general Yukiya Amano, tougher language appeared to signal a sea-change in the attitude towards Tehran.

Hurriyet Daily News report.

A major threat to world peace from Iran's obtaining nuclear weapons would be the kick off of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, in which a number of countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt would seek nuclear weapons, the Israeli prime minister told his Greek counterpart at a meeting in Russia.

Haaretz report.

Israel may lack the military means for successful preemptive strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told Channel 2 news on Saturday.

[...]

"We are taking upon ourselves a task that is bigger than us" Halutz, who stepped down in 2007, said when asked about Israeli leaders' vows to "take care" of the perceived threat.

New York Times article.

With tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions hitting new levels, the United States is mounting a diplomatic full-court press in the Middle East, sending four top diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to confer with Arab and Israeli leaders.

The envoys' visits to Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were planned separately in recent weeks, but they now have a common purpose, administration officials said: to reassure Iran's neighbors that the United States will stand firm against Tehran, and to enlist other countries in a global effort to put pressure on the Iranian authorities.

Economist article.

WHEN a motorcycle was blown up by remote control in Tehran last month, killing Masoud Alimohammadi, a professor of physics, the regime blamed "the triangle of wickedness" -- Israel, America and their "hired agents".

It is no secret that America, Israel and European countries are seeking to impede Iran's nuclear plans, overtly and covertly. Yet the assassination theory was widely dismissed. The professor's known works on particle and theoretical physics did not seem central to Iran's nuclear programme. And his name had appeared on a list of Iranian academics favouring Iran's protest movement. So, ran the prevailing theory, Israel or America had little reason to kill him, though Iranian hardliners may have wanted to do so.

But listen to the whispers of Western spies and diplomats, and the Iranian regime may turn out to be right. Well-placed sources in two Western countries now say the professor was "one of the most important people involved in the programme".

New York Times report.

As security forces clashed with his opponents, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was quoted on Thursday as saying his country had produced a first batch of uranium enriched to a level of 20 percent, taunting the West by declaring that if Tehran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, it would say so.

The Leveretts comment.

Amidst the bravado surrounding President Ahmadinejad's announcement that Iran will start enriching uranium to 20 per cent purity, the Financial Times reported yesterday that China has passed the European Union as Iran's largest trading partner.

...

The finding is indicative of a broader trend: China's growing willingness to work with the Islamic Republic, despite objections from the United States and Europe.

In Foreign Policy.

They're back! The "Bomb Iran" crowd is making a big return to the political center stage after months of puzzlement over what to do about developments in the Islamic Republic. Hawks such as Daniel Pipes and John Bolton are arguing that Iran is dead-set on its pursuit of a nuclear arsenal -- and point to developments such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's announcement this weekend that Iran would enrich its uranium stocks to 20 percent to argue that diplomatic avenues have reached a dead end.

Juan Cole comments.

It is a trick of the Washington Establishment to scare apparently easily frightened Americans into a conviction that some small, poor, third world country is a dire threat to the most massively funded and armed military in the world. Repeating falsehoods is one way the Big Lie is implanted, that then allows US belligerence to be unquestioned at home.

Independent report.

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered his country's atomic agency to begin the production of higher enriched uranium.

He said in comments broadcast on state television today: "God willing, 20% enrichment will start" to meet Iran's needs.

Guardian article.

But despite Mottaki's assurances, the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, today dismissed the idea that a deal was close and said it might be time to push forward with sanctions.

"The reality is they've done nothing to assure the international community" or "to stop their progress toward (building) a nuclear weapon," Gates said.

Independent report.

Iran sees good prospects for clinching a deal with world powers on exchanging some of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) for higher-grade fuel it can use in a reactor producing medical isotopes, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on yesterday.

Such a deal could represent a major breakthrough in the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, but it was not clear whether Iran's conditions would be acceptable to the United States and others.

Laura Rozen in Politico.

In what was being reported as a potentially signficant shift, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Iranian State Television today that Iran is ready to send its uranium abroad.

...

"If Iran has something new to say, we are prepared to listen," a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.