IRAN'S NUKES

MAYBE NOW EUROPE WILL TAKE IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS MORE SERIOUSLY. NOW, THEIR MISSLES CAN STRIKE BEYOND ISRAEL TO SOUTHERN EUROPE.

Iran Claims Missile with 2,000-km Range
(Reuters/Financial Times) Iran can launch a missile as far as 2,000 km (1,250 miles), former President Rafsanjani said Tuesday, substantially increasing the announced range of the Islamic state's military capabilities. Such a missile would be capable of hitting Israel or parts of southeastern Europe.

Iran Moves Toward Nuclear Production.
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has produced “a few tons” of the gas needed to enrich uranium, a top nuclear official said Wednesday, confirming the country has defied international demands and taken a necessary step toward producing nuclear fuel — or nuclear weapons. Uranium hexafluoride gas is the material that, in the next stage, is fed into centrifuges used to enrich uranium. Uranium enriched to a low level is used to produce nuclear fuel to generate electricity and enriched further can be used to manufacture atomic bomb. Iran said last month that it has started converting about 40 tons of raw uranium being mined for enrichment — plans the international community specifically said it found alarming. Iran maintains its intentions are peaceful energy purposes. “We have converted part of the raw uranium we had and produced a few tons of uranium hexafluoride gas,” said Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency told The Associated Press in an interview. He would not specify how much.