'Pakistan, N. Korea aided Iran's nuclear program'

The next IAEA report on the Iranian nuclear program will reveal that Tehran received assistance from several foreign countries, including Russia, Pakistan and North Korea, Western diplomats said Tuesday.

According to several media outlets, including the Washington Post, the UN's nuclear watchdog has concluded

that Iran's nuclear program received assistance from Russian scientists on "how to build high-precision detonators that can be used to trigger nuclear chain reactions."Former Soviet scientist Vyacheslav Danilenko was allegedly contacted by Iran's Physics Research Center in the mid-1990s to assist in its nuclear efforts. Documents obtained by the IAEA suggest he helped design a high-explosive device used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction.

The UK's Daily Telegraph reported the some of the findings substantiate reports suggesting that Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is considered the "father" of Pakistan's atom bomb, gave Iran the necessary blueprints for a neutron initiator – a key element in nuclear bombs.

North Korean scientists have reportedly provided mathematical formulas and codes involved in designing a nuclear device.

The IAEA has reportedly obtained evidence supporting the claim that Iran has implemented a computer simulation of a nuclear warhead.

David Albright, a former IAEA official who reviewed the report's findings, was quoted as saying that Iran "has sufficient information to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device using highly enriched uranium as its fissile core."

While speculations about a possible strike against Iran's nuclear facilities have grown, the United States, UK and Russia have said that "tough diplomacy" has yet to be exhausted.

The international community is pushing for a new round of sanctions on Iran, which experts say are likely to have a more significant "bite."

Israel said it expects the international community to impose "debilitating sanctions" on the Islamic Republic.

"Even if the UN Security Council will find it hard to issue dramatic sanctions, Iran could still suffer from financial sanctions – it has financial interests which are vulnerable," a Jerusalem source said.

Carter calls on international community to support Hamas-Fatah unity deal

Former United States President Jimmy Carter hailed the Palestinian unity government and called on the international community to also support it as well in an opinion peace published by the Washington Post on Wednesday.

"If the United States and the international community support this effort, they can help Palestinian democracy and establish the basis for a unified Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza that can make a secure peace with Israel," Carter wrote in the op-ed. "If they remain aloof or undermine the agreement, the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory may deteriorate with a new round of violence against Israel."

Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah are meeting in Cairo on Wednesday in order to sign a reconciliation deal that would lead to an interim unity government.

The former U.S. president issued a statement on Friday commending the reconciliation, which he said would "begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people."

Carter writes in his opinion peace that with international support, the Palestinian reconciliation "could lead to a durable cease-fire" with Israel. He also wrote that he condemned Hamas rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Israel has rejected the Hamas-Fatah unity agreement, with Netanyahu saying shortly after it was announced that "the Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both. Hamas aspires to destroy Israel and fires rockets at our cities ... at our children."

Carter claimed that Israelis "say that as long as the Palestinians are divided, there is no partner for peace. But at the same time, they refuse to accept a unity government."

The Quartet should work with the new Palestinian government to be able to "jump-start final-status negotiations with Israel," Carter concluded.