Iran has told Europe's leading powers that it wants them to back its right to nuclear technology that can be used to make weapons. US officials said the move has dismayed the Europeans and strengthens Washington's push for UN sanctions against Tehran.
France, Germany and the UK have not formally responded to that demand and others contained in a wish list made available to The Associated Press.
But diplomats said Monday that Iran's conditions effectively stall the European attempt to persuade Tehran to give up the technology that would allow them to make nuclear arms, pushing Europe closer to the US view that it should be hauled before the UN Security Council for violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The Iranian demands, presented in the document last week to the European powers during talks in Paris, include:
A call on the EU Three to back Iran's insistence that it have access to "advanced [nuclear] technology, including those with dual use" -- a term for equipment and know-how with both peaceful and weapons applications;
A demand that they "remove impediments" -- current sanctions -- preventing Iran from having access to such technology;
An assurance that, once the European powers make such commitments, they stick to them even if faced with "legal [or] political ... limitations" -- an apparent allusion to potential Security Council sanctions on Iran;
Agreement by the EU Three to meet Iran's conventional weapons requirements;
And a commitment to push "rigorously and systematically" for a non-nuclear Middle East and to "provide security assurances" against a nuclear attack on Iran -- both allusions to Israel, which is believed to have nuclear arms and to have destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in a 1981 strike to prevent it from making atomic arms.
France, Germany and the UK last year had held out the prospect of supplying Iran with some "dual use" technology, but only in the distant future, and only if suspicions that Tehran might be seeking to make nuclear weapons were laid to rest.
With Iran still under investigation, the presentation of the wish list stunned senior French, German and British negotiators, according to an EU official familiar with the Paris meeting.
Ignoring the list, the Europeans instead urged Tehran to act on their pledge to clear up nagging suspicions about their nuclear ambitions by Sept. 13, when the International Atomic Energy Agency meets to review Iran's nuclear dossier, the official said.
In London, a Foreign Office spokesman declined comment on the negotiations with Iran beyond saying that the UK was "not prepared to stand by and watch them collect the necessary technology to make a weapon."
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
Chinese tech giant Alibaba yesterday denied it helps Beijing target the US, saying that a recent news report was “completely false.” The Financial Times yesterday reported that Alibaba “provides tech support for Chinese military ‘operations’ against [US] targets,” a White House memo provided to the newspaper showed. Alibaba hands customer data, including “IP addresses, WiFi information and payment records,” to Chinese authorities and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the report cited the memo as saying. The Financial Times said it could not independently verify the claims, adding that the White House believes the actions threaten US security. An Alibaba Group spokesperson said “the assertions
LEFT AND RIGHT: Battling anti-incumbent, anticommunist sentiment, Jeanette Jara had a precarious lead over far-right Jose Antonio Kast as they look to the Dec. 14 run Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are to go head-to-head in Chile’s presidential runoff after topping Sunday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime. With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85 percent, compared with 23.93 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said. The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs. Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to
RSS