Ever since their first awkward encounter – a hastily arranged meeting in a custodian\’s office at a Washington airport in 2007 – Iran has been one of the few issues on which Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu have been able to find some common ground.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran\’s suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
Russia warned Israel on Wednesday that attacking Iran would be a disastrous and played down the failure of a U.N. nuclear agency mission to Tehran, saying there is still a chance for new talks over the Iranian atomic program.
The European Union banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran\’s nuclear development program.
Iranian and Western sources said on Monday Iran had switched on a uranium enrichment plant deep inside a mountain, a momentous step that aggravates Tehran\’s nuclear dispute with the West.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday an Israeli attack on Iran is not imminent but all options remain open to stop what Israel sees as an Iranian bid to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran\’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States and Israel on Thursday not to launch military action against its nuclear sites, saying it would be met with \”iron fists,\” state television reported.
Iran will triple its uranium enrichment capacity and expand its production of higher-level enriched uranium, its nuclear chief announced.\n
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