All Blog Posts from World Watch

Iran has experimented with a nuclear warhead design so advanced, it's still a secret in both the U.S. and Britain, according to a report in Friday's Guardian.

The British newspaper reports that intelligence suggesting the isolated Islamic regime tested components of a "two-point implosion" warhead has been handed over to Iran by the U.N. nuclear watchdog as part of a dossier of matters requiring explanation.

Parts of the International Atomic Energy Agency's dossier has been published in the past, but this is the first claim that Iran has sought such advanced weaponry — a claim nuclear experts called "breathtaking" when asked by the Guardian.

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This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer in Vienna. CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals in London contributed to the report.

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Updated, 7:59 a.m. Eastern:

Diplomats from Iran, the U.S., Russia and France agreed Wednesday to a draft proposal that would see Iran ship about 75 percent of it's enriched uranium to Russia by the end of this year.

Each nation's government will still need to ratify the agreement individually by Friday, and it's unclear whether Iran's hard-line rulers intend to do so.

Iran's envoy was upbeat following the morning talks. Lead negotiator Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters upon emerging from the closed door meetings that a side deal attached to the proposal includes an historic first: a proposed direct transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Iran, including "control, instrument and safety equipment" for the research reactor at Tehran University.

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This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer in Vienna.

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Senior diplomats from the U.S., Iran, France and Russia missed a noon deadline Tuesday to start talks aimed at hammering out a historic deal on Iran's uranium stockpile.

At first, the negotiations at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria seemed to hold real promise. After the introductory round of talks late Monday, a senior U.S. official said the Iranians had "engaged constructively".

Officials said Iran forced Tuesday's delay by suddenly announcing that France should be excluded from the talks — apparently the latest twist in a long-running business dispute.

Diplomats are now wondering whether Iran's last-minute objections to France's presence at the table in Vienna are in fact a thinly disguised attempt to derail the whole process.

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Going into Thursday's high-stakes negotiations with Iran, President Obama will soon see for himself the corner into which the Islamic Republic has thrust his predecessors.

Iran has the world over a barrel, literally. The country's vast oil reserves will undermine Obama administration efforts to increase U.N. sanctions, and Iran knows it.

U.N. sanctions only work when they are airtight. Despite the White House's message that the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council (the P5 as they are called: the U.S., Russia, France, China, and the U.K.) and Germany are unified in their response and that the Iranian missile tests of last week were a game changer, they are dodging the harsh reality that China is not even close to being "on board" for tough sanctions.

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Huddled behind doors for three hours, the U.N. Security Council tried but failed to agree to a statement regarding North Korea’s missile launch. The U.S. sent its top U.N. diplomat, Ambassador Susan Rice, and China’s Ambassador Yesui Zhang rushed to the closed-door session. Japan’s Ambassador said the launch was a clear violation of international law.

Ambassador Rice said the North Korean launch violated the 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution (1718) and the Security Council should act with a clear and strong response.

“We need to see where we come out. The U.S. view is that the most appropriate action would be a Security Council resolution,” she added.

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Iran has dismissed President Obama's decision to renew economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic as "childish".

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the U.S., "thought that with childish and ugly behavior they could stop a great nation and its capable experts from moving towards accomplishment."

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President Barack Obama has pioneered a route towards Syria that is distinctive from that of his predecessor President Bush, dispatching congressional delegations and signaling a rare authorization to sell Damascus plane parts for repairing two aging Boeing 747s.

The overture comes as this Mediterranean country recently signed a memorandum to purchase 50 passenger jets from Airbus (a deal purportedly worth billions), despite Washington's trade sanctions begun in 2004 over Syria's alleged aid to militants in Iraq and destabilization of Lebanon.

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