Iran yesterday denounced next month's emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog as "political," but said it was not worried about the crisis over its disputed atomic drive ending up at the Security Council.
"We are not worried by the Security Council, but it is the wrong method," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
"An emergency meeting of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] is not necessary. It is a political act," he added.
Iran faces the threat of being referred to the Security Council for resuming sensitive nuclear fuel research work that Western powers and Israel fear would give the clerical regime the know-how to build a bomb.
Tehran insists such work is legal, given that it has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and has branded atomic weapons "un-Islamic" -- but a lengthy IAEA probe has yet to confirm the claimed civilian nature of the program and has uncovered suspect activities.
Britain, France and Germany have called an urgent meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board for Feb. 2. The meeting is widely expected to result in Iran being referred to the Security Council, despite the reluctance of Russia and China.
"It is clear in advance that the result of a meeting that takes place under the pressure of certain countries will be political," Asefi said, complaining that "we have asked the Europeans to resume negotiations but, lacking any logic, they have not."
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned that his government would not tolerate a "nuclear option" for Iran -- taken to mean Israel would not accept seeing Iran master enrichment work.
On Thursday, French President Jacques Chirac said France might use nuclear weapons against state sponsors of terrorism -- although he did not single out any country.
Iran, however, has been quick to blast Chirac's remarks as "shameful" and "unacceptable."
"It is shameful for the people of France that their president brandishes atomic weapons on the pretext of fighting terrorism," said Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, speaker of Iran's parliament.
Chirac, he claimed, was "trying to restore the prestige of France after the recent unrest, when young people took to the streets and torched hundreds of cars every night."
Meanwhile, Asefi yesterday said that Iran has transferred no money from its foreign accounts, denying reports from the central bank governor that such transfers had begun.
"So far we have not moved any hard currency, we have not transferred it," he told reporters at a news conference.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS