Celebrated American director Oliver Stone has blasted the US media for playing the “Bush game” and fueling US paranoia towards the Middle East. Read the full story

Iran’s president on Wednesday urged US President Barack Obama to accept the Brazilian-brokered nuclear fuel exchange deal, warning that Obama will miss a historic opportunity for improved cooperation from Teheran if the offer is rejected. Read the full story

Brazilian officials have hinted that the US should accept Iran’s nuclear fuel swap declaration since it contained provisions suggested by US President Barack Obama. Read the full story

Major US firms are warning Congress against passing legislation to impose new sanctions against Iran, saying such sanctions will further damage the US economy. Read the full story

Western governments risk creating a new generation of Islamist extremists if they continue to support repressive regimes in the Middle East, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, has told the Guardian. Read the full story

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell says sanctions against Iran will be to no avail as Tehran is “determined to have a nuclear program” not a “nuclear weapon.” Read the full story

As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tours Latin America to recruit support for new international sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, Tel Aviv urges Washington to adopt Cuba-like embargos against Tehran. Read the full story

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Iran has produced its first batch of 20 percent enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment plant. Read the full story

The UN nuclear watchdog has expressed concern that Iran may currently be trying to develop a nuclear payload for a missile. Read the full story

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his country will use its G8 presidency to press the club of world’s richest nations for more Iran sanctions.

“Canada will use its G8 presidency to continue to focus international attention and action on the Iranian regime” and “work with its allies to find strong and viable solutions, including sanctions, to hold Iran to account,” AFP quoted Harper as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

“It is time for Iran to end its defiance of the international
community, suspend its enrichment activity and take immediate steps toward transparency and compliance by halting the construction of new enrichment sites, and fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” he said.

Harper’s comments come after Tehran declared that it would begin the process to enrich uranium at 20 percent for use in its research reactor after the IAEA failed to help the country buy it.

Iran needs the uranium to produce radioisotopes— which are used to treat patients — at the research reactor.

Under international law, the IAEA is obliged to provide Iran with nuclear fuel required for peaceful purposes.

The West has been exerting pressure on Iran to force the country into delivering the stores of its low-enriched uranium in exchange for 20 percent enriched uranium after a considerable delay.

Officials from the United States, France and Russia said Monday serious measures should be taken against Iran after the country informed the UN nuclear agency of its plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity for a medical research reactor in Tehran. Read the full story

Iran began enriching uranium to 20 percent purity level Tuesday in defiance of world powers but under the supervision of inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, state media reported. Read the full story

China’s foreign minister on Friday urged the world to be patient and keep up diplomatic efforts with Iran to try and find a solution to Teheran’s nuclear ambitions. Read the full story

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Friday that dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program was continuing, Reuters reported. Read the full story

The West has long been suspicous of Iran’s nuclear program. SPIEGEL has obtained new documents on secret tests and leadership structures that call into question Tehran’s claims to be exclusively interested in the peaceful use of the technology. Read the full story

 But according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister said Saturday. Speaking to reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Manochehr Mottaki said Iran agreed with a U.N. deal proposed in October in which up to 2,600 pounds of its uranium would be exchanged for fuel rods to power its research reactor. Read the full story