Nuclear Program

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said yesterday. If imposed, the declaration would signal a more confrontational turn in the administration's approach to Iran and would be the first time the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations. The Revolutionary Guard is thought to be the largest branch of Iran's military.

U.S intelligence agencies have concluded in a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in fall 2003 and that Tehran is now "less determined to develop nuclear weapons." The new findings will make it more difficult for the Bush administration to gain domestic and international support for the use of military force against Iran. The findings also will complicate efforts to arrange a third round of U.N. sanctions against Iran and could open the door to a policy of diplomatic engagement.

. TEHRAN, Iran --Iran is barring 38 inspectors from entering the country in retaliation for a United Nations resolution aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear program, a senior Iranian lawmaker said yesterday. The announcement came days after Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Iran's senior dissident cleric, criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defiant stance against the West on the nuclear issue in a speech Friday, calling it provocative. His comments were the first direct public attack on the president's nuclear policy by such a senior cleric.

VIENNA, Austria -- Defying the international community, Iran has sharply upgraded its capacity to enrich uranium in recent months while the outside world's access to and grasp of Iran's nuclear program "has deteriorated," according to a unusually blunt report yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency. As two U.S. aircraft carriers and a flotilla of warships steamed into the Persian Gulf for previously unannounced exercises, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency warned that it could not "provide assurances about ... the exclusively peaceful nature" of Iran's expanding nuclear effort.

WASHINGTON -- As six leading world powers prepared for a crucial meeting today to respond to Iran's defiant nuclear-enrichment activities, the Iranian president remained undeterred and unapologetic yesterday, saying the nuclear program had no "reverse gear." That comment, by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, drew a simple retort from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said: "They don't need a reverse gear. They need a stop button." Rice emphasized that she remained ready for high-level talks - anytime, anywhere, on any topic - if Tehran would simply halt its nuclear work.

BERLIN -- Iran has answered more questions about the history of its nuclear program but is restricting access to its nuclear work and expanding its enrichment of uranium in defiance of the Security Council, a United Nations watchdog agency reported yesterday. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has not provided "full transparency" about its current activities and now has nearly 3,000 operating centrifuges - the number required to produce enough enriched uranium in one year for a nuclear weapon.

WASHINGTON -- The recent nuclear tests show that India is ahead of Pakistan in the size and sophistication of its nuclear-weapons program, possibly putting new pressure on Pakistan to catch up and making the standoff in South Asia even more tense, experts said yesterday.The relative weakness of Pakistan will likely cause its scientists to keep testing, thereby prolonging the regional arms race, said David Albright, who heads the Institute for Science and International Security."Pakistan feels pressure to develop thermonuclear weapons," Albright said.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton adopted a new, more conciliatory tone toward Iraq yesterday, saying he was "encouraged" by Baghdad's cooperation with United Nations weapons inspectors and suggesting he may soon cut the U.S. force buildup in the Persian Gulf.The president held out the hope that by October, the United Nations would be able to scale back its inspections of Iraq's nuclear program and switch to more passive long-term monitoring."We are encouraged by the level of compliance so far with the U.N. inspections and by the evidence that has been [gleaned]

WASHINGTON -- Worried that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, the Clinton administration is increasing its efforts to discourage Russia and China from selling atomic reactors to Tehran that might help it become a nuclear power.Ignoring pleas from Washington, Russia has signed an $800 million contract to finish construction of two large reactors in Iran, while China is negotiating to sell reactors there.In recent weeks, the administration has increased its pressures in the hope that Moscow and Beijing will relent.

TEL AVIV, Israel -- Iran is much closer to producing nuclear weapons than previously thought, and could be less than five years away from having an atomic bomb, several senior U.S. and Israeli officials say."The date by which Iran will have nuclear weapons is no longer 10 years from now," a senior official said recently, referring to previous estimates."If the Iranians maintain this intensive effort to get everything they need, they could have all their components in two years. Then it will be just a matter of technology and research.

BEIRUT - -The latest United Nations report on Iran's nuclear program questioned Tehran's credibility regarding a recently disclosed facility built into a mountain near the holy city of Qom. The International Atomic Energy Agency report issued Monday noted Iran's contention that it began work on the nuclear facility in 2007 in response to Bush administration threats of war as part of a plan to safeguard sensitive "organizations and activities" that...

WASHINGTON - - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Sunday that the severe sanctions the West is threatening against Iran could force a change in the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions, especially since the country already is under severe economic distress. Speaking as officials from six world powers were preparing to meet with Iranian negotiators this Thursday to discuss Tehran's nuclear program, Gates noted that the unemployment rate is 40 percent among Iran's young people and asserted that past economic sanctions "are having an impact."

BEIRUT, Lebanon - -Iran's political crisis is likely to prevent it from making any swift move to ratchet up its nuclear program, said analysts and officials, potentially giving President Barack Obama and Western allies more time to grapple with the issue. Yet the ongoing chaos over the disputed re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad further muddles the question of just who calls the shots in Tehran, and what a possible deal with the Islamic Republic would mean. The Obama administration, concerned that Tehran is seeking to amass the materials needed to manufacture nuclear weapons, set an informal deadline of September for Iran to respond positively to an offer to discuss the matter rather than risk new economic sanctions.

WASHINGTON -Amid increasing suggestions that Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned this week that such a strike would have dangerous consequences, and he asserted that Tehran's acquisition of a bomb can be prevented only if "Iranians themselves decide it's too costly." Using his strongest language on the subject to date, Gates told a group of Marine Corps students that while a strike probably would delay Tehran's nuclear program from one to three years, it would unify Iran, "cement their determination to have a nuclear program, and also build into the whole country an undying hatred of whoever hits them."

BEIRUT - Iran announced its first-ever successful satellite launch yesterday, a step into the space age as well as a showy demonstration of firepower amid continued concerns about Tehran's nuclear program and regional ambitions. The satellite, called Omid, or "hope," was apparently launched into orbit late Monday or early yesterday using an Iranian-made Safir-2 carrier rocket, the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA, reported. State television showed fire erupting from a rocket painted with the red, white and green colors of the Iranian flag as it rose against a pitch-black sky. A U.S. Pentagon official and other analysts confirmed the launch.

Pressure on Iran could backfire badly In her column "Facing the Iranian threat" (Commentary, Dec. 9), Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi criticizes the Bush administration for not pressuring the Swiss, Dutch, French, British and Indian governments into cutting off gasoline exports to Iran, maintaining that such an action could force Iran's leaders to negotiate a cessation of their nuclear program. However, while this end is certainly appealing, we must also consider the possibility that Iran might obtain gasoline from other sources rather than succumb to this tactic.

When President-elect Barack Obama introduced his national security team, he identified "preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran and North Korea" as a priority, and for good reason. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported Nov. 19 that Iran is increasing its production of nuclear fuel while denying IAEA inspectors access to sites or documents connected to Tehran's nuclear program. That same day, Iran's nuclear chief said that Iran has increased the number of centrifuges enriching uranium from 4,000 to 5,000 since August.

CHICAGO - Workers lose their jobs, but they won't leave Workers who got three days' notice that their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won't go home without assurances they'll get severance and vacation pay. About 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts yesterday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind. Leah Fried, an organizer with the United Electrical Workers, said the Chicago-based vinyl window manufacturer failed to give 60 days' notice required by law before shutting down.

Explosions in India leave 67 dead, 210 wounded NEW DELHI: A series of apparently synchronized explosions tore through four towns in the troubled state of Assam in northeastern India yesterday, killing at least 67 people and leaving more than 210 wounded, according to witnesses and police. The bombs targeted crowded markets and government buildings like courts and police stations, witnesses said. The attacks, among the bloodiest in recent months, left streets littered with bodies and the wreckage of cars and motorcycles, according to witnesses and photographers at the scene.

2 die as wildfires force evacuations near L.A. LOS ANGELES : Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles yesterday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths. More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 4,700-acre Marek fire at the northeast end of the San Fernando Valley and the 5,000-acre Sesnon fire at the west end. Residents downwind were warned to remain alert into the night, as winds were forecast to roar over 60 mph. Authorities confirmed more than three-dozen mobile homes burned in the Marek fire and TV news helicopter crews counted about 10 homes destroyed by the Sesnon fire.