The international community was yesterday weighing its options after Iran responded to an offer aimed at ending a nuclear crisis with a call for "serious talks," but no indication it would freeze uranium enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council.
Europe said Iran's response required careful analysis as signs of a split began to emerge among world powers over how to respond, with the US pressing for sanctions and China appealing for patience.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tehran was ready for "serious talks," but no details were made public of its response to a package of incentives offered by world powers in return for a moratorium on enrichment by an Aug. 31 UN deadline.
The response is "obviously disappointing as it overlooks the key condition," a Tehran-based Western diplomat said. "Iranians signal they want serious talks, but they do not appear to be willing to make significant concessions."
An Iranian official confirmed Tehran's refusal to suspend enrichment, but insisted: "We can discuss all the items of the proposal; this is a sign of flexibility on Iran's part."
Washington suspects the nuclear program is a cover for an attempt to produce a bomb. Enrichment can make fuel for nuclear power stations or be extended to create the core of atomic weapons.
However, Iran insists it is purely for peaceful power generation and that it has the right to the technology as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all key policy issues, said on Monday the Islamic republic was determined to press ahead with its nuclear program.
Tehran gave the written response to representatives of the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany which drew up the package of trade, technology and security incentives.
"Iran is ready for serious talks with the `five plus one' group from Aug. 23 over the offered package," Larijani was quoted as saying.
The US began urging punitive action while Russia said it was important to explore "nuances" in Iran's response and Tehran's major trade partner China said sanctions were not the way to resolve the crisis.
"We will obviously study the Iranian response carefully," US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said. "But we are also prepared -- if it does not meet the terms set -- to proceed here in the Security Council ... with economic sanctions."
The White House also warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be "dangerous" to the world.
Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear power plant, said it would continue to press for a political solution and wanted to keep the UN nuclear watchdog -- not the Security Council -- at the center of the process.
China's special envoy to the Middle East, Sun Bigan, said too that Beijing sought a "peaceful settlement rather than resorting to force or threatening sanctions."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he would remain in contact with Larijani, adding that the Iranian document that "requires a detailed and careful analysis."
The Iranian press gave a mixed reaction to the nuclear response, with conservative newspapers urging the Islamic republic to reject a nuclear freeze.
"The only way ahead is to leave the NPT and put an end to this ridiculous game," wrote Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hardline Keyhan.
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
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
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
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