On Wednesday, Iran’s first nuclear power plant was tested at Bushehr nuclear power plant. “Dummy” fuel rods, packed with lead substituted for enriched uranium (used to stimulate nuclear fuel), were used to test the pressure, temperature, and flow rate of the plant to guarantee that they were at appropriate levels.
Officials released that the next test will utilize enriched uranium but whether or not the plant will eventually become fully operational remains to be seen. Sergei Kiriyenko, the director of the Russian nuclear agency and Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the director of Iran’s nuclear agency, oversaw the first test.
Construction of the plant began in 1974 but stopped abruptly with the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. However In 1998, the Iranian government administered a $1 billion contract with a Russian company to resume the plant’s construction. Atomstroiexport, Russia’s nuclear power equipment and service export company, is completing the plant under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Along with the US, several other European countries and Israel worry that Tehran is attempting to obtain the capacity to construct nuclear weapons, but Iran insists that it’s nuclear program has peaceful intent. An IAEA official who prefers to remain anonymous supports Iran’s peaceful claims by saying that their stock of low-enriched Uranium would have to be converted into highly enriched uranium in order to be considered “weapon-grade” material; this hasn’t been done.
President Obama is expected to sanction a proposal to remove most combat troops from Iraq within the next 15 months. It is suspected that the final decision will be released on Friday at Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina.
During his campaign, Obama promised to withdraw combat troops within 16 months but not long after being sworn in he requested that the Pentagon provide him with alternative time frames; the Pentagon presented him with 16, 19, and 23 months. Supposedly, the final plan will withdraw the majority of troops but maintain an estimated 50,000 in Iraq to act as military trainers or advisors.
For the last couple of months, the U.S. Central Command has been discussing how equipment and personnel will be removed from Iraq. It is undecided what equipment might be returned to the U.S., moved to the Iraqi or Jordanian government, transferred to Afghanistan, or destroyed. It is assumed that the U.S. military will utilize exit routes through Jordan and Kuwait.
The human rights group Amnesty International is requesting the United Nations place an arms embargo on Israel and the Palestinians. Amnesty International is in such favor of the embargo because they argue that both sides used weapons provided from abroad to attack civilians throughout the three-week conflict in Gaza.
On Sunday night, Amnesty International published a 38-page report that explained the “Evidence of war crimes and other serious violations of international law by all parties”. Israeli forces utilized white phosphorus (supplied by the U.S.) to kill hundreds of civilians and wreak havoc on their homes. The use of white phosphorus is constrained by international law, but Israeli officials have claimed that the only shells execute in Gaza were within the grounds of “international law”. However, Amnesty International reported finding munitions fragments in school playgrounds, hospitals, and homes after the fighting ended. The majority of the munitions that the Israeli army used were supplied by the U.S. and funded with American taxpayer’s money. Amnesty reported that the U.S. is set to provide $30 bullion in military aid to Israel according to the 10-year agreement that is in effect until 2017.
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