Europe and the US were at odds on Monday over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program, as Israel's intelligence chief said it posed a threat to the very survival of the Jewish state.
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels that Iran had been honest so far over its nuclear programme and he hoped it would not be reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
But the US disputed Solana's conclusion on the program, which Washington says is designed to make nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran strongly denies, saying its nuclear policy is entirely peaceful and devoted to generating power.
In Washington ahead of a trip to Europe, US Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed surprise at Solana's comment, saying: "I wouldn't have gone quite as far."
Powell, due to meet EU foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday, reiterated the State Department's stand that a leaked report from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which said Iran was not developing nuclear arms was impossible to believe.
With time running out before a Board of Governors' meeting of the Vienna-based IAEA on Thursday, France, Britain and Germany have circulated a draft resolution for the board which does not meet US demands, diplomats said.
Iran has been under pressure from the IAEA to explain its nuclear policy and explain traces of enriched uranium on some equipment. Oil- and gas-rich Tehran says its nuclear programme is for power generation but the US is sceptical.
Washington wants the IAEA to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and escalate the issue by reporting Tehran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
A diplomat from one IAEA board member state said the Security Council was not mentioned in the draft by the European trio. Nor was non-compliance, violation or breaches of the NPT.
"None of those words is used. It's very weak," he said. That is unlikely to satisfy Washington.
Powell said after meeting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Washington: "The Iranians have provided us a great deal of information. It confirms what the United States has been saying for some time...that the Iranian nuclear programme was for more than just the production of power, that it had an intent to produce a nuclear weapon."
In Jerusalem, Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan warned Israeli legislators that the Iranian program threatened Israel's very existence, an official said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number