A report by the UN's nuclear watchdog says Iran has ignored a UN Security Council call to suspend all nuclear fuel enrichment by yesterday's deadline and has accelerated the program, diplomats said.
They said the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said Iran had done little during a 30-day grace period to answer questions meant to determine whether its nuclear activity is solely for civilian purposes.
The report was being sent to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions against Iran. Tehran has said its enrichment policy is irreversible and it could withstand any consequences, whether financial penalties or military attack.
"Iran was supposed to suspend, but since they continue to do experiments, they have not suspended enrichment efforts. The information available to us shows they have not heeded the request for compliance so far," said a senior official close to the IAEA.
The report said inspector tests confirmed Iran's claim this month to have enriched uranium with a cascade of 164 centrifuges to the low level needed for fueling nuclear power plants. It must be purified to a much higher level to set off the chain reaction required for a bomb.
Iran was also building two new cascades of 164 centrifuges at its underground enrichment plant. IAEA inspectors were monitoring the construction.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier poured fresh scorn on the UN and boasted Iran could soon become a "superpower," official media said yesterday.
"Iran does not give a damn about such resolutions," the firebrand president said in a speech on Thursday in the northern province of Zanjan.
"The bullies of the world should know that nuclear energy is a national demand, and thank God our nation is a nuclear nation today," the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
"The Iranian nation's achievement of peaceful nuclear energy is so important that it could change the world equation," Ahmadinejad told one of several rallies in the province.
"The Islamic republic of Iran has the capacity to quickly become a world superpower," he said. "If we believe in ourselves ... no other power can be compared to us."
"We do not need weapons or military expeditions, because our position in the world is rising and Iran's words have now influenced all the world's equations," the firebrand leader asserted.
The ISNA news agency said he promised Iran would "soon have more good news."
The last time Ahmadinejad promised "good news" was earlier this month. He said scientists had enriched uranium to make reactor fuel, and declared Iran had "joined the nuclear club."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique