Iran has assembled 1,300 centrifuges at its Natanz nuclear plant and has begun the process of enriching uranium, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed. The International Atomic Energy Agency said eight cascades of centrifuges, the machines that spin uranium gas into enriched material, were now operating.
Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on Wednesday he was not paying attention to talk he could be replaced as minister and said he had the support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “I don’t pay attention to such rumours … The president has always supported me,” he told a news conference, adding that he had not had any discussions with the president about being replaced.
The State Department said Wednesday it is expanding appeals for information about a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran more than a month ago. Frustrated by the lack of a response from Iran to three previous formal requests made through Swiss intermediaries about the welfare and whereabouts of Robert Levinson, the department said it is now asking other nations with ties to Iran for help.
Recent events in the Middle East have put the spotlight on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Guard naval units seized 15 British service personnel in the waters of the Persian Gulf last month, and Revolutionary Guard agents have been accused of aiding insurgents and terrorist groups in Iraq and Lebanon. VOA correspondent Gary Thomas gives us a look at the Revolutionary Guard and its role inside and outside Iran.
Radio Farda: If the people of Iran were to ask you what exactly is your position, the U.S. position, regarding the government of Iran, what would you tell them?
Members of the Iranian parliament have protested against widespread arrests of teachers and students. Sixteen lawmakers today called on police and security forces to respect the “legal and professional rights” of teachers and students. Dozens of student activists and teachers who had demonstrated for a salary increase have reportedly been detained in Iran over the past weeks. Some of them have been released. ISNA news agency reports that the teachers’ arrests have forced the closure of several schools in the northwestern and northern provinces of Hamedan and Mazandaran. Human rights groups have criticized the Iranian government for detaining and summoning the teachers and students.
Source: Radio Farda
