Has anyone else noticed that this sudden breaking news comes right at the time that 15 British soldiers have been kidnapped and an American formber-FBI agent is assumed missing in Iran?

It seems that the Bush administration is building toward another unnecessary war.

There are two things the United States should be doing at this time. 1) Continue to pressure the international community to in turn pressure Iran. 2) Conduct convert operations to destabilize the Iranian economy in the hopes that the people of Iran will rise up. The United States must show no weakness in this regard.

I'd like to know where this info is coming from on Irans Nuclear processing.

If it's the same as Iraq and from Bush and his friends.

Beware of their voices. WE don't need another needless war on our hands over lies like we're in now.

Jim

Ah, "sources." Who could argue with ironclad evidence like that??

I believe that a visit from Hillary Clinton and then a threat to leave her in Iran would be enough to bring the Irani hard liners to heel.

It looks like it may be up to Israel again.

Maybe we should just try to be nice to them and they will like us. duh

Thanks for tonight's World News and for limiting the ads.
The reports on Iran's nuclear facility and on Kiribati were very good.
KP

I hope that we have learned something over the past 6 years and that we don't buy into this load of garbage that we are being fed again. Sounds like "WMD's" all over again.

They are out of control and need to be stopped immediately before this world becomes a deadly playground.

Name the sources!

Otherwise, rational Americans can only assume it's more Bush administration lies.

"sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News."

Ok, let's have it. Who, in fact, are your "sources". We want names, titles, positions, experience and political affiliations.

All this reminds me of the movie "The wizard of oz". Iran with its defiance of U.S. demands is removing the symbolic curtain and exposing that the Oz is nothing but a little midget!

Who are your mysterious 'sources'? Sounds like the same b.s. that was fed to us during the lead up to the Iraq war. How long will the government and news agencies continue to conspire and lie to us before we all wake up?

Without a decent source, this story sounds like propaganda to whip up public opinion to favor (or at least tolerate) the coming war. Is it true or is it an outright lie? Can you say Tonkin Gulf? What exactly do you have to back up these claims?

Two things fascinate me: 1) the media supposedly has one slant, then, publishes stuff that one would think would help the Prez start another war.

2) People on both sides see what they want to see.

If the kind of thinking in the above comments are a majority thinking in America then we are all doomed.

How can anyone in their right mind not take this at the upmost seriousness.

This article is not from the White House,State Department or Pentagon folks.

I am not a big fan of the main stream media nor trust the majority of their so called journalism but this time I am paying attention considering whatnews agency it is coming from.

This story should even be published. Who are "sources"?

The sources say the unexpected expansion is taking place at Iran's nuclear enrichment plant outside the city of Natanz, in a hardened facility 70 feet underground.

Bush lies Bush lies... that is the only thing the left can come up with. If ABC wants to do a service to the country they will create and air a special detailing all the DEMOCRATS who stated unequivocally that Saddam had WMD before Bush ever came to office. I am sick of hearing the LIES of the loony left concerning WMD and Iraq. The history is clear, everyone including Democrats thought Saddam had WMD even prior to Bush being elected. The only lies in this whole sorted mess are the ones repeated by the liberal hate Bush above all else crowd.

Who among you really believe that Iran, which has extremely vast amounts of oil/natural gas, really needs nuclear electricity....?

Ahmajinidad talks daily about wiping out Israel with one great flash of light - What do YOU think he means???

I'll teel you - A nuclear explosion in the atmosphere over Israel. This would send out an electromagnetic wave that would put Israel back to the 19th century, and posibly 'dud' most all their ability to hit back.

typical liberals, Iran has lied about their nuclear facilities many times in the past, they admit they are developing nuclear material, but liberals want proof of this. Why can't they add up one plus one and come up with two. How hard do you have to slap these people in the face with the obvious before they get it. Maybe the day Iran test a nuclear weapon then they might believe it, oops it will be too late then to do anything about it. And no don't name the sources I would rather have those spies keep their identity secret, Hell lets just disband our network of informants and spies that is basically what you are asking. The intelligence isn't perfect but no administration looks at one piece of intelligence they build a case with all the intelligence they have

These are the facts:

Iran has 70 Million population and growing fast. Iran has plenty of Uranium ore. It has the technical know-how to build nuclear power plant and extract nuclear fuel from raw uranium. Fossil fuel reserve is ought to be depleted in the future, it is highly pollutant and an expansive investment. The nuclear industry can not be set-up overnight and needs at least 10-20 years preparation. An average Uranium enrichment faciltiy which extract fuel from UF6 needs 30 000 centrifuges to work in cascade to produce nuclear fuel needed for 10 megawatts of electricity per year. Setting up a cascade of 1000 centrifuges is not a lot for the purpose of starting a nuclear fuel industry in the next 5 years.

the motives of US/UK/Israel are much more suspicious than Iran's.

Let me remind all of you Bush haters that the intel you're complaining about didn't come from the Bush administration. There are dozens of great quotes from Clinton administration folks about the imminent threat posed by Saddam and his WMD's. Take a reality pill and realize that Bush wasn't the one who made it up and there are evil people in the world that are actually trying to attain weapons to harm the West... and trying to be nice to them and appease them isn't going to solve anything.

It is really sad that because of the Iraq fiasco that most of the world is going to turn a blind eye to the biggest threat that the world has seen since WWII. People need to put aside their hatred for Bush and look at what we are facing here. This is a regime that hates all that we stand for and will do whatever it can to destroy us!

It's amusing how all you "we need sources" posters show up on stories like this but not on any of the many stories that appear to implicate America as being "bad" or somehow to blame for something bad that has happened.

I would be careful with simply assuming that just because you believe the Iraq war was started under false pretenses there can't be any other real threats lurking out there. Especially in cases when the country in question has flat out stated that they primarily exist to destroy Israel and its allies (America).

The hypocrisy is borderline hilarious and unquestionably ludicrous.

How can you not see that?

Are we all to buy into this again? I would like the sources name and title. This sounds like the begining of what happen six years ago. They still think we don't have brains, ahh... we do and we use them, they don't however.

The hostage situation is NOT a figment of our imagination and it wasn't done by the US or the Brits.

You can pretend that WE did this to try to start something. The UN is politely asking them to return the hostages. If they don't do it the UN may even pass another resolution!

How is it that any war seems unnecessary to the lefties. They only fight they are prepared to wage is against there own countries. Is it a good thing for Iran to have nuclear weapons in the hands of extreme fanatics. Please no more stupid "George Bush is dumb" jokes. It's tired. He made a promise after 9/11 and I expect him to fulfill it before he leaves office, because I am certain that whomever is the next President will not have the courage to do what needs to be done.

Reality Check... Bush and the administration have repeatedly told us that the security of the nation is an energy security issue. The control and access to vast amounts of OIL is essential to the U.S. economy. The current lynch pin to that security is IRAN. They are the only nation that can possibly disrupt the U.S. empire in the near term. The War is for Profit (Oil) and a sustainable economy. The American people would not support a war directly for profit so the Propoganda machine must spin a socially acceptable reason to invade... "WMD" "Nuclear Build-up" "British Hostages"... Just Google "PEAK OIL" and you will see why the U.S. is living in fear!

For all those who continue to perpetuate the myth that Saddam having WMD's was a great big lie - there are tens of thousands of corpses in Irag (Kurds) and Iran (1980-1988 war) that beg to differ. In fact, the U.S. DID find chemical weapon shells in Iraq - buried leftovers manufactured prior to the 1991 war. The CIA was wrong about more recent production, but the track record and inherent capability was unmistakable. So if Iran's intentions are peaceful, why is their president running around threatening to incinerate Israel. I know, must be more Bush administration lies! Maybe they hypnotized him.

When the Iranian A-bomb goes off in Israel or New York City, will everyone who hates George Bush right now blame George Bush for inaction?

If the fools who are suggesting that ABC is a stooge for Bush really think that, I guess they think CNN and Howard Dean are too. It's like the whole Democratic party has the mentality of the British PM in 1939.

Wow you guys are more ignorant then ever. Bush did not lead a war into Iraq over some hearsay of a couple people he and there. he was told by high ranking official as well as leaders of other nations. he never blatenly lied at all to start a war in iraq. if you believe that you are the one who needs to wake up and stop listening to what people are telling you and find out yourself before you make such an idiotic untrue statement.

I guess we should wait till we're all dead then go after Iran. If todays left was running the show during wwii the UK and all of europe would still be goose-stepping.

Another wolf? Who is yelling "WOLF"
this time? or was that "WMD" ? Huh?

You don't even use the phrase unnamed
sources. When you use "sources", it probably means lies. We do not trust our own government, or mainstream media. We did once, and that got us into Iraq, is this more lies to get us into Iran?

Although I disagree with the outcome of the Iraqi war I do not believe in back-dooring our President and our troops on the field. Iran is playing a dangerous game with the world and the US is the only nation with the means to control the situation. With commets like, "wipe the Israeli's off the face of the earth" and threatening to use sleeper cells in the US, I strongly support an invasion of Iran and doing the same thing over there.

Here we go again. More of the anonymous "sources" propaganda. It's hard to believe Bush and the corporate media think we are so stupid that we will buy this twice, but they do believe it. And from some of the posts here, they are right. To quote a GOOD American president: "You can fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

We need to stop Iran. I see what is going on over in Iraq everyday. These IED's and weapons that are being used against use arent being made by the Iraqi's.

Chris G
Balad, Iraq

My summation of the Bush haters is that they are still bitter that Bush won by around a 1000 votes. Then Bush won a close election against Kerry. If Bush is that bad as a president, then Kerry must have been an awful candidate to lost to him.

Here we go again. More of the anonymous "sources" propaganda. It's hard to believe Bush and the corporate media think we are so stupid that we will buy this twice, but they do believe it. And from some of the posts here, they are right. To quote a GOOD American president: "You can fool some of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

If Iran had a nuke would they use it? I don't think so because they are looking down the barrel of a gun. One move of hostility and it is goodnight.

Till it hits a non-US media source I'll consider this American propaganda.

This doublespeak will soon have our young men and women spilling blood upon the ground of another country unless the people rise and reclaim their sovereign right to say no to a federal government rabid with the virus of EMPIRE...

God help us all if Iran gets the bomb.

First they have to produce a weapon small enough for their missile fleet to deliver which will take years. Second, they have to develop a guidance system that will deliver the warhead reasonably close to the target and Third, the Quods force isnt making a particularly complex new explosive device. A directional shaped charge can be made with a piece of pipe and a coffee can. The more we patrol in vehicles, the more will be blown up.

I can't believe Americans are stupid enough to be fooled by unatributed sources again! It's lies, all lies!!

Maz, It's easier to steal elections than to know how to lead.

For all the fanatics blaming Bush for WMD's in Iraq fail to remember every intelligence agency in the world believed Iraq had them. Britain, Germany, and France all said Iraq had WMD'S so give me a break.

But what if they are right and Iran has NUKES. And we simply could not muster the political will to stop them because people are upset with George Bush. Don't let your hatred for Bush allow the Iranian regime to acquire the means to destroy other countries. It will be the same people who will blame Bush if Iran does acquire the bomb and we did nothing.

May I ask why Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear power? Isreal has it America has it Russia has it. It is not the place for America to tell the rest of the world what they should do,

If the US strikes Iran it will be this year or not at all. Remember 2008 is an election year. Nine months to go.

Sleep well America. Pelosi and the liberals are running the country.

Excuse me. But as a soverign nation Iran has every right to enrich uranium for use in a nuclear fuel cycle or in nuclear weapons should they see fit to develop them.

If you don't like that, then it is up to you to enter into a treaty with Iran - negotiate and offer them someting that is more valuable to them than their nuclear fuel cycle.

I guess Iran is in a hurry to get more electricty. I mean I beleive them when they say its for peaceful purposes. I don't believe them when they say they want to wipe Israel off the wipe. It's Bushes fault! Only Bush lies and America is evil!

You may ask James,but not knowing the answer is disturbing to say the least. How many other countries are threating to wipe out and to destoy other countries(Israel and the US)? Who else has suicide bombers running around threating the civilized world? What country is supporting terrorists worldwide? What country is run by religious fanatics hoping to bring Armageddon to the world. Are you serious?

So just because Iran is a sovereign nation they get to have nukes. Wow! That's easy.Lets just go home and pray. How many other countries are threating to wipe out and to destoy other countries(Israel and the US)? Who else has suicide bombers running around threating the civilized world? What country is supporting terrorists worldwide? What country is run by religious fanatics hoping to bring Armageddon to the world. Are you serious?

Perhaps the people that believe that Bush is making this up should note that it is Iran, not the US, that is boasting of the speed in their production. Perhaps they should also note that our intelligence agencies remain skeptical that it's as fast as they say but still growing at an alarming rate. Maybe Bush deserves the "little boy who cried wolf" treatment, but it's clear where Iran is headed. Anyone who thinks this is a conspiracy is a fool.

Hey,
Don't you realise that it's not about the wmd's,iran, or propaganda? It's about the children and their safety..that's right, everything is about the children! They are our future! Wait...hold on a minute, maybe it is about propaganda, but who cares? What is ANYONE going to do about it? Vote? =)

Perhaps the people that believe that Bush is making this up should note that it is Iran, not the US, that is boasting of the speed in their production. Perhaps they should also note that our intelligence agencies remain skeptical that it's as fast as they say but still growing at an alarming rate. Maybe Bush deserves the "little boy who cried wolf" treatment, but it's clear where Iran is headed. Anyone who thinks this is a conspiracy is a fool.

Iran is clearly not a threat. If they were, the Bush Administration would have invaded them INSTEAD of Iraq in 2002. Furthermore, Col. Oliver North, the right-wing's favorite son, sold 1000's of weapons to Iran in the 1980's during the Iran-Contra affair. If Oliver North doesn't think Iran is a threat, and thinks they can be trusted with any manner of weapons, why should anyone else be afraid of them?

Put up or shut up: No more "sources say." That's the same bogus tactic that took us into an illegal war in Iraq.

All you 'Bush lied, people died' can't see past your own bias to maybe think for a minute that Iran is dangerous? You know, these are the same people that:

1. have taken our people hostage before.
2. are well known terror sponsors.
3. whos leader wants to 'wipe the Zionist nation off the face of the earth', along with OUR COUNTRY!

Just take the Iranian man at his word: he wants a war. Why can't you see that?

The centrifuges may be real or imagined but that is not the issue. The ABC source for this story is not some spy or any other person in Iraq, but some person here in the USA. But if this person is in the Bush administration then the story is pure spin (truth being irrelevant for this administration).

JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION.

"negotiate and offer them someting that is more valuable to them than their nuclear fuel cycle." -Scott Nudds

How about this: shut down your enrichment facilities and we'll let you live. That's a negotiation.

David Albright is the same Bush liar that got around real evidence with his pathetic hypothesis that Iraq was a Nuclear threat. He is a LIAR! He also only has a master's degree. LOL

Those who doubt ABCNews might have a point...but blaming the Iranian "nuclear issue" on Bush is absurd.

Either Iran will have nuclear weapons in 2009, as predicted by some...or by 2015 as predicted by others.

Either way, the result is the same: A method to attack Israel and "finally" get rid of the Jews...a goal which Iran has been very public about for years.

So...pick your date. Either way it will come.

Then, as nuclear clouds descend on to the ME, Africa and Western Europe... the leftist anti-war activists will ask the question: "Who let this happen?"

The answer. THEY did. By creating the perception that Iran is not a threat.

sanjosemike

Iran is building a bomb, and will use it once completed. Then and only then the world will wake up. Bush should have gone after the real source of terrorism in the World IRAN. It is not too late yet. The only way out of this to take Molla's regime out, and US is the only answer world has.The regime who killed 1000's of it's own people to stay in power will kill more of others to achive its stability

Out of Iraq and into Iran!! While your at it, get rid of that region in Pakistan that is a hot bed of terrorists.

Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons to defend against an US attack. Iraq was never a real target; it was just a strategic way point on the way to Tehran. Afghanistan, then Iraq and now Iran is surrounded. This is madness.

The prediction that it would take 10 years for them to get a bomb was always ridiculous. It took us 3 years with 1940's technology, and we didn't even know if it was possible. It is equally dubious that Iran would threaten us with nukes if they did get them. Having nukes would force them to behave responsibly or be anhililated.

This is the 21st century. We can't buy peace with blood. We can't change hearts and minds with guns. We must talk. We will be experience a cooperative and peaceful relationship at some time in the future. This is an absoulute certainty. Why must we sacrifice innocent life to get from here to there?

To SFC D. Glad to hear to hear you have a cogent and up-to-date report on the right-wing and Oliver North. The people who point and accuse Bush of lies and the the misfortune in Iraq will also be first in line to blame him for either doing too much or not enough when the day comes that we rue Iran's "peaceful" nuclear program. I remember how peacefully they held the US hostage (under Carter) for 444 days. Incidentally, the reason Iran should not have nuclear weapons is that they signed (1972) the Nuclear NonProliferation treaty. Simple.

Iran will be very dangerous if they get a nuclear weapon. Given their statements denying the holocaust, I believe they would not be rational with a nuke. Therefore, I'm in support of taking out their capabilities at whatever the cost.

Everyone seems to be hung up on the notion of Bush vs media lies. Truth is, Saddam was the liar. He fooled the world's intelligence communities into thinking he was building CBWs. He miscalculated the response of Bush. That may be what the Iranians are doing now to foment dissent and divide their adversaries. We should be as careful about Iranian lies - either about having HEU or only wanting it for power plants - as we are about Bush and the media.

There's no one here to get in bed with.

"sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News" and "sources say the unexpected expansion is taking place"

-

Ah, yes, the same good old zionist "sources" who brought us Saddam's nuclear program. Their motto where the US and middle eastern countries is simple: "Let's you and him fight".

I think that sanctions cannot prevent Iran to produce enriched uranium. Nigotiation shall be the only way to settle the problem. Iran should have the right to use the nuclear energy peacefully but should be under the surveillance of the UN.

We have a huge stockpile of nukes and they are in the hands of Bush/Cheney. Just think about that for a moment.

It's a shame that people can't distinguish between "lies" and misinformation. I consider myself a liberal but find this current knee-jerk assumption that everything is a "lie" insulting and stupid. First, this information isn't coming from Bush, and there is unanimous agreement world wide that Iran is up to no good. Even China and Russia are on board. One would have to be mega-stupid to think that Bush or anyone wants to go to war with Iran. I suspect it's the last thing in the world the administration wants right now, given its problems with Iraq. Use your heads, folks. This is a terrible, but very real and dangerous situation. The only lies are coming from Iran.

As far as the Islamist are concerned, Bush did not go to war with them. WE, The United States of America went to war with them. Spent many years in the Middle East, those guys really hate every single one of us. And there is no way you can change their mind. So, stop blaming Bush and ask yourself "are you truly involved in the democratic process?" or do you sit at home on election day and blame Bush for everything. The buck stops at the doorstep of each and every one of us Americans.

I don't know y any country can't have the nuclear energy if it needed to cope up with their growing demand of energy requirement.If the world wants a nuclear free world than why the powerful countries are still having nuclear weapons.Why are we always having war if we want to live in peace?Japan,Vietnam,Afganistaan,Somaliya,Iraq and now Iran is also targeted, do you think there are no human beings in this countries?Stop the war against humanity.Live and let live should be the policy of every one.

This doesnt surprise me at all. What does, are all the people posting comments like 'needless war' or 'more lies' you are hopelessly naive. sigh.. Iran wants to be the power in the middle east. They also WANT a confrontation with, and the destruction of the west. So... what should be done? Something involving firepower.

No senseless war for Israel and oil profits, driven up by shortages on the world market artificially created by our own military disruptions in the Middle East!!!

2009 or 2019, some day, terrorists will get a nuke.

If we are unwilling to stop them, then we shouldn't act supprised when they use it on us. Hopefully it will just be one bomb, and not ten.

Iran tells the world they have a nuclear program. North Korea says they are going to attain nuclear weapons. Iraq insist they don't have either. But that's the country we go to war with, while we ask the U.N. to impose sanctions on Iran and try to talk N. Korea out of an arms race. Kudos to everyone who voted for our current president the first and second time.

Blair doesn't have the backbone to stand up to the Iranians; the French are appeasing them as usual; the Russians and Chinese are helping them; so I guess the only grownups in the world--the US and Israel--will have to take care of business--again. The rest of the world will hide behind our shield and complain about us, but that comes with the territory when you're king of the hill.

So... Iraq had no WMD's? Anybody remember when Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons to wipe out Kurds in his own country? So we didn't find any when we invaded... they probably weren't stupid enough to keep them there when an invassion based on their existance was about to occur. We should always be vigilant. Iran, North Korea, etc. should all be watched. Turn a blind eye and you have yet another "Perl Harbor". Maybe your loved ones will bite it in the next one?

Iran will likely target the UN building to shut it up. Is Bush going to attack IRAN before his term is up? He is technically permitted a full scale attack for 2 month without any approval from congress senate. Simple speak, the democrats can't stop him before it's too late.

To anyone who does not consider this to be a threat you must be really stupid. Bush has not promoted this - but we really need to verify as much as possibhle the data. And lets be real about it - can you ever fully know for sure and the answer is NO. You won't have all the answers but you will have to go with what you do have. I don't forget the threat against Israel - how could they be so confident unless something was going on??