US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned up the heat on Iran over its nuclear ambitions after a bruising trip to Russia and ahead of a meeting yesterday with key ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Rice, who arrived in London on Saturday, also warned Tehran against stoking the insurgency in neighboring Iraq after Britain alleged that recent attacks on troops there may be linked to Iran and the militant group Hezbollah.
In its defense, Iran's envoy to Britain rejected Washington's belief that the Islamic republic sought to develop nuclear weapons and insisted it needed nuclear energy to replace oil stocks when they run out. Ambassador Seyed Mohammed Hossein Adeli also denied that his country was involved in Iraq's insurgency.
Rice said Iran must resume negotiations with the EU on finding an acceptable solution to the nuclear issue.
In an interview with the BBC, she said referral to the UN Security Council was on the cards "when the diplomacy has run its course."
"The Iranians need to go back to the negotiating table," said Rice.
Talks with the so-called EU-3 -- Britain, France and Germany -- broke down in August. At that time, Iran ended a freeze on fuel cycle work by resuming uranium conversion -- a precursor to potentially dual-use enrichment work.
"They need to come to a conclusion that will allow them, if they wish [for] civil nuclear energy, to do that without raising concerns in the international community," Washington's top diplomat said.
Iran also said yesterday that it wanted to return to nuclear negotiations with the EU, but gave no ground on the EU's key demand that it halt all nuclear fuel processing before talks can resume.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi accused the US of upping the pressure on IAEA board members to refer Iran to the Council.
"America and Rice are pressuring other countries to vote against Iran, but we hope those countries act independently," Asefi said.
"The Council cannot be used as a Sword of Damocles against Iran. We cannot be threatened by referral," he said.
The US and the EU-3 have been lobbying members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities.
The agency's governing council is due to meet again on Nov. 24, but Rice avoided setting this date as a deadline for a decision.
"The Security Council option is there, at a time of our choosing," she said.
However, not all IAEA mem-bers back the move.
Russia rallied behind Iran when Rice paid a brief visit to Moscow to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin earlier Saturday following a whirlwind tour of Central Asia and a trip to Paris.
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)