Word: qum
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...Another reason for the different estimates is that Iran has multiple nuclear programs. We are likely to find out that the nuclear facility revealed recently near Qum is under the control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Long suspected of building its own bomb, the IRGC has a well-funded, experienced, clandestine procurement network capable of buying and operating centrifuges to enrich uranium as well as building triggering devices. The IRGC already possesses missiles that could deliver a nuke...
...last claim is palpably untrue. Iran has refused to provide all the information required under the treaty, which is why it is the subject of U.N. sanctions. The Qum facility may not be a smoking gun - it hasn't even been loaded yet - but it is a covert operation of some sort, perhaps a bomb-making facility, perhaps a research-and-development shop. It is the latest evidence in Iran's history of attempting to hoodwink the rest of the world about its nuclear program. A similar game was played with the uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, which was exposed...
...least some of the concerns about its nuclear program. At a meeting in Geneva with officials from Western powers, Russia and China, Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect a hitherto secret uranium-enrichment facility under construction near Qum. President Obama and his allies expressed grave concern last week about the site after revelations of its existence, and they made the demand for its inspection a key benchmark of Iran's willingness to cooperate in resolving questions about its nuclear intent. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana announced...
...perspective, then, the meeting appears to have succeeded beyond (diminished) expectations, and Iran's representatives seem to have demonstrated sufficient flexibility to warrant further talks. "Iran has told us that it plans to cooperate fully and immediately with the International Atomic Energy Agency on the new enrichment facility near Qum," Solana said, "and will invite experts from the agency to visit soon - we expect in the next couple of weeks." He also disclosed that the delegates had agreed in principle that Iran would transport some of the low-enriched uranium it had produced to a third country for further enrichment...
...significant ground. Certainly, the diplomatic game that got under way in Geneva on Thursday is unlikely to produce quick or even necessarily satisfactory results - and it may force Western powers to accept more limited goals than persuading Iran to forgo enrichment altogether. But Tehran's agreement to inspections at Qum and other signs of cooperation are a positive start. And given the limited potential for sanctions to change Iran's behavior, it's not as if the Western powers have much of an alternative to pursuing diplomacy, with all its pitfalls...