Iran Nuclear: Joint letter (14/06/2008): A joint letter stating the basis for negotiation, signed by the foreign ministers of UK, US, China, France, Germany and Russia handed over to the Iranian Foreign Minister.

To Talk or to Sanction, Obama’s Iran Dilemma National Iranian American Council, by Trita Parsi on September 8, 2009. Widespread fraud and irregularities in the elections, and perhaps more importantly, brutal repression of Iranians protesting the fraud, have left the Obama administration with a terrible dilemma. While US national interests still necessitate talks with Iran, diplomacy with Iran in the aftermath of the election coup could not come at a worse time. Pursuing new sanctions can be a death knell for Obama’s overall Middle East policy, since it closes down the diplomacy option.

United States-Iran Talks to Begin on October 1, by Robert Dreyfuss, 14 Sep 2009, Agence Global (for The Nation): The hawks, neoconservatives, and Israeli hardliners are squealing, but the U.S. and Iran are set to talk. “We can only hope, now, that the U.S. and the rest of the P5+1 will table an offer to Iran to allow Tehran to maintain its uranium enrichment program, on its own soil, combined with a system of stronger inspections. That’s the end game: not regime change, not Big Bad Wolf threats of military action, not Hillary Clinton-style “crippling sanctions,” not an Iran without uranium enrichment – but an Iran that ushered into the age of peaceful use of nuclear energy, including enrichment, in exchange for a comprehensive settlement.”

How to Talk to Iran Roger Cohen, New York Times, Sept. 16, 2009: The time is approaching for the United States and its allies to abandon “zero enrichment” as a goal – it’s no longer feasible – and concentrate on how to exclude weaponization, cap enrichment and ensure Iran believes the price for breaking any accord will be heavy.

Zbig Brzezinski: Obama Administration Should Tell Israel U.S. Will Attack Israeli Jets if They Try to Attack Iran, Political Punch Blog by ABC Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper, Sept. 20, 2009: “We are not exactly impotent little babies,:” Brzezinski said. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch? … No one wishes for this but it could be “Liberty’ in reverse.”

The U.S.-Iranian Triangle , The New York Times, Sept. 28, 2009, By ROGER COHEN, Op-Ed Columnist: Sanctions are the feel-good option, but won’t work. Zero enrichment is by now a non-starter. The U.S. negotiator is William Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, who must seek to open a parallel bilateral U.S.-Iran negotiation covering at least these areas: Afghanistan and Iraq (where interests often converge); Hezbollah and Hamas (where they do not); human rights; blocked Iranian assets; diplomatic relations; regional security arrangements; drugs; the fight against Al Qaeda; visas and travel.

Iranian Minister Makes Rare Visit to Washington by Robert Burns, AP, Sept. 30, 2009: Iran’s foreign minister made a rare visit to the U.S. capitol Wednesday on a visa granted with unusual speed by the State Department one day before the start of nuclear talks in Geneva. (Note: officials of countries in the U.N. which are hostile to the U.S. are not allowed to travel beyond 20 miles of New York City except with State Department approval)

Top Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True, by Juan Cole, October 1, 2009: General beliefs stated against reality, eg, Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the US. Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war (in) modern history (unlike the US or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of “no first Strike.”

West Skeptical of Iran Nuclear Deal by Warren P. Strobel and Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers, Oct. 2, 2009: Iran agreed Thursday to ship most of its enriched uranium to Russia for refinement to be used to make isotopes for nuclear medicine. Iran pledged to allow inspections of the previously covert uranium enrichment facility.

New Doubt Cast on US Claim Qom Plant Is Illicit Friday 02 October 2009, by: Gareth Porter  |  Inter Press Service There are fresh doubts that the Qom plant violates Iran’s obligations to the IAEA. If construction did not begin until 2008, it would have been after Iran had withdrawn from an IAEA agreement, which would nullify the obligation.

IRAN DIPLOMACY SHIFTS TO U.N. WATCHDOG By Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2009 The IAEA has been tasked to firm up the Oct. 1st agreement in principle for Tehran to transfer its low-enriched uranium for further processing in Russia and France. But skepticism remains deep in Washington and Europe about ElBaradei’s ability to serve as an effective broker.

Report Says Iran Has Data to Make a Nuclear Bomb, New York Times, By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER, October 4, 2009. Senior IAEA staff have concluded in a confidential analysis that Iran has acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” atomic bomb. A senior U.S. official said U.S. was now re-evaluating its 2007 conclusions.

Is the U.S. Preparing to Bomb Iran? ABC News, by Jonathan Karl, October 6, 2009: The Pentagon is shifting spending from other programs to fast forward the development and procurement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 30,000-pound bomb designed to hit targets buried 200 feet below ground, to be delivered on B-2 aircraft.

Living with a nuclear Iran Yaakov Katz, Jerusalem Post, October 6, 2009 If the US and Russia reach a deal with Iran, Israel may have to live with Iran having a breakout capacity. Ilan Mizrachi, a former head of the National Security Council and deputy head of the Mossad, says Israel would not be able to oppose a deal under which Iran’s uranium is enriched in Russia. “Israel will have difficulty not agreeing to a deal under which the enrichment is done outside of Iran,” Mizrachi said. “With the right control and supervision, we might be able to live with it.

Leaked Iran Paper Based on Intel that Split IAEA Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, 6 Oct Excerpts from an IAEA internal draft report show claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon are based almost entirely on intelligence documents which have provoked a serious conflict within the agency. Contrary to sensational stories by AP and New York Times, the excerpts reveal that the IAEA’s Safeguards Department only has suspicions, not real evidence of Iran working on nuclear weapons in recent years.