Israel hands over list of Russian scientist helping Iran nuke operation to Moscow

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama has assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the four-decade-old secret Israel-American accord, allowing Israel to keep a nuclear arsenal without opening it to international inspections, would continue. According to the Washington Times, the US since 1969 has not pressured Israel to disclose its nuclear weapons or to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which could require Israel to give up its estimated several hundred nuclear bombs.

September 26th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Iran to allow immediate inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the Islamic republic's second uranium enrichment facility, Russian media reported Saturday. Medvedev said the announcement by Iran of a second facility had created difficulties for the international community in the row over Tehran's nuclear capabilities.

September 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Israel has rejected reports which suggested that it has ruled out using military power to counter Iran's nuclear weapon programme. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel can not guarantee it will not strike Iran.

September 20th, 2009 Medvedev: Israel not planning Iran strikeMOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says Israeli officials have assured him that they are not planning a military strike on Iran. In an interview with CNN television broadcast Sunday, Medvedev also confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret visit to Moscow this month that included a meeting with the Russian president.

September 10th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's foreign ministry Thursday said it has no official information on an alleged unannounced visit to Moscow by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week. Israeli newspapers, including Haaretz, have cited unnamed officials as saying that Netanyahu was in Moscow Monday to discuss Russian-Iranian arms deals.

September 8th, 2009 Russian FM denies S-300 missiles on hijacked shipMOSCOW — Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected speculation that a hijacked Russian-crewed freighter was carrying S-300 missiles possibly destined for Iran. Russia said the freighter Arctic Sea was seized by pirates in the Baltic Sea in late July after leaving a Finnish port.

August 31st, 2009 LOS ANGELES - If Iran does not accept international proposals to roll back its nuclear programme by next month, it faces an imminent Israeli strike, a newspaper article said. In an opinion piece Sunday authored by Micah Zenko who is a political scientist with expertise in national security issues, the Los Angeles Times said Israel will act alone to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon.

July 11th, 2009 MOSCOW - Israel has ordered at least 25 US F-35 stealth fighter aircraft to counter any potential threat from the delivery of Russian advanced air defence systems to Iran and Syria, an Israeli daily said. Tel Aviv earlier said the purchase of F-35 fighters would effectively eliminate the threat from Russian-made S-300 air defence systems because a series of computer simulations had clearly demonstrated that new US stealth fighters outperform the Russian missiles.

July 10th, 2009 MOSCOW - A Russian nuclear submarine that is to be leased to India and which was damaged in an accident that killed 20 people resumed sea trials Friday after extensive repairs, a defence official said. "The sea trials of the Nerpa nuclear submarine will continue for two weeks.

June 17th, 2009 JERUSALEM - The chief of Israel's intelligence agency has expressed fear over Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb by 2014, which he claims, could have "an existential threat to Israel." "Iran wants to be like Egypt was in the 1960s and 1970s. There is a lot of cooperation between Iran, North Korea and Syria.

June 16th, 2009 MOSCOW - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Russia for a summit Tuesday despite protests over alleged election fraud in the Islamic republic's presidential polls last week. Ahmadinejad will attend a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Yekaterinburg, central Russia, and later meet with journalists, Russia's Itar-Tass and Interfax news agencies said.

June 12th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel has said that even if former Iran Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi wins Friday's presidential elections, his country's quest for being nuclear-armed will not diminish. As more than 46.2 million eligible Iranian voters choose their president in elections on Friday, senior Israeli defense officials have stressed that the outcome is unlikely to have any impact on Teheran's continued race toward nuclear power.

May 4th, 2009 Russian ship frees Iranians seized with piratesMOSCOW — Iran's embassy in Moscow says a Russian warship has freed eight Iranians who were seized along with suspected Somali pirates last week. The embassy says the Iranians had been held captive by the pirates for almost three months, and has praised the Russian Navy for the rescue.

April 28th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak has described Iran as the country posing the most central threat not only to the Jewish state, but also to the entire world. "Iran was "a threat to the entire world, as it is interested in changing the entire international order and is a source of instability in the Middle East and throughout the world," the Jerusalem Post quoted Barak, as saying.

January 16th, 2009 LONDON - Celebrated Russian conductor Veronika Dudarova has died, aged 92. Dudarova led Moscow orchestras for 60 years after becoming a conductor at the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in 1947, reports contactmusic.com.