qom

It’s still not a definitive rejection of the deal reached in Vienna to reprocess Iran’s uranium abroad into a matter unsuitable for a nuclear weapon, but it’s not nothing, either:
Iran’s foreign minister said in remarks reported Wednesday that he opposes sending the country’s enriched uranium abroad under a tentative deal negotiated with the United States [...]

The International Atomic Energy Agency, after inspecting the recently disclosed nuclear facility at Qom, suspects there may be more:
International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report on Monday that the country was concealing other atomic facilities. [...]

So, what was at Iran’s nuclear facility at Qom, anyway?
U.N. inspectors found “nothing to be worried about” in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.

Today is the day: about an hour ago, talks got underway in Vienna between Iran, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S., Russia and France to see if an initial deal last month will indeed result in sending 75 percent of Iran’s low-enriched-uranium to Russia for reprocessing into fuel, which would be a concrete step [...]

Andrew Sullivan publishes a stirring communique from distinguished Iranian-Americans about the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and the so-called p5+1 nations. The bottom line taken is that the negotiations ought to proceed, but human rights need to be a component. Check it out.
The analysis of Iranian negotiation strategy — which appears to represent a step [...]

I don’t really feel like getting into an argument about Israel today, but Eli Lake at The Washington Times reports:
President Obama has reaffirmed a 4-decade-old secret understanding that has allowed Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, three officials familiar with the understanding said.
This despite Obama’s desire to work for [...]

The president on today’s Iran negotiations in Geneva:
First, Iran must demonstrate its commitment to transparency. Earlier this month, we presented clear evidence that Iran has been building a covert nuclear facility in Qom.  Since Iran has now agreed to cooperate fully and immediately with the International Atomic Energy Agency, it must grant unfettered access to [...]

Multilateral talks with Iran over its nuclear program are underway in Geneva. There are reports that there has been one breakout meeting between chief U.S. negotiator William Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, and his Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili, but nothing yet about its substance. But one substantive shift: Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing [...]

More from the “size and configuration” files regarding Iran’s heretofore-concealed nuclear facility at Qom. You’ll recall on Friday the Obama administration stated in a background briefing for reporters that it believed Qom was “designed to hold about 3,000 centrifuge machines.” That was a key piece of evidence for the case that the facility is probably [...]

This morning the president emphasized the years of concealment of the as-yet-unfinished nuclear enrichment facility at Qom as the most serious problem posed by the Iranian nuclear file. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad parried that he wasn’t in any specific violation of Iran’s international obligations. A day’s worth of cable chatter has already portrayed sanctions — which last [...]