Iran tested a ballistic missile to strengthen its defense in the face of threats by Israel amid a simmering row over Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Iranian security official said on Thursday.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary, Hassan Rowhani, said his country's nuclear program was aimed solely at generating electricity and not at building nuclear weapons.
PHOTO: AP
Tehran tested a Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile on Wednesday and defense experts said the weapon could reach Israel or US bases in the Gulf. Last month Iran resumed making parts for uranium enrichment centrifuges, which can create bomb materials.
"Iran has been threatened by some Israeli officials. It's very natural that when our country is being threatened by a foreign country we have to prepare ourselves," Rowhani told a news conference.
"But Iran is totally opposed to weapons of mass destruction. The accusations and allegations raised by some of the countries against the Islamic Republic of Iran -- all of them are totally baseless and unfounded," he said during a visit to Australia's capital, Canberra.
Middle East media have speculated that Israel might try to halt Iran's nuclear program by carrying out air strikes on some atomic facilities in Iran. Iranian officials have said Tehran would retaliate promptly and strongly to any such attack.
The US has been pressing the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board to report Iran to the UN Security Council for hiding its uranium enrichment program from the IAEA for nearly two decades.
But Rowhani said Iran did not feel threatened by the US, which led the invasion of Iraq last year in a bid to find weapons of mass destruction. These have not been unearthed.
He said the US was now struggling to stop Iraq from spiralling into anarchy.
"I think the experience of Iraq would be sufficient for the Americans for years to come not to think of invasion against any other country," Rowhani said.
During his three-day visit, Rowhani met Australian Prime Minister John Howard -- a staunch ally of US President George W. Bush -- and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who urged Iran to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog.
"We are going to continue with our cooperation with the IAEA," Rowhani said.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully committed to all disarmament treaties and conventions. At the same time we have also our determination for the applications of nuclear technology for peaceful objectives," he said.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS