The US and other members of the UN nuclear watchdog agency on Wednesday intensified the pressure on Iran, accusing it of numerous failures to abide by its promise to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities.
In a toughly worded statement to the trimonthly board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, based in Vienna, the US representative, Jackie Sanders, excoriated Iran for what she called its willingness "to cynically manipulate the nuclear nonproliferation regime in the pursuit of nuclear weapons."
She called on the agency to report what she called "Iran's noncompliance" to the Security Council, a move that has been advocated by the US for two years but resisted by most other countries, including members of the EU.
In more moderate terms, Britain, France and Germany -- the "European Union three" that are striving to negotiate a permanent suspension of nuclear activity that is suspected of being weapons-related -- issued a statement expressed "serious concern" and "deep regret" over what they described as violations of Iran's promise to suspend its uranium enrichment and to provide a full account of all its nuclear activities.
While stepping up pressure in Vienna, the Bush administration also indicated a readiness to work with the Europeans trying to use incentives to persuade Iran to end its suspected nuclear weapons program.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to Washington on Wednesday after conferring with top European diplomats in London, where aides said they discussed European proposals for incentives.
US and European officials say the incentives center on trade preferences and the sale of commercial aircraft and aircraft spare parts.
After returning from London, Rice conferred with US President George W. Bush and others about the Iran negotiations, according to Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman.
He added that "the president has been looking at ways that we can help and do our part to make sure we're doing everything we can to support those efforts."
A decision on a possible US endorsement of the European offer of incentives may be made in several days or perhaps next week, European and US officials said. A European diplomat familiar with the broad outlines of the talks in London said Europeans were "relieved that the United States is considering concrete measures, which is a step forward."
The statements in Vienna on Wednesday came in response to an interim report on Iran a day earlier by the agency's deputy director-general, Pierre Goldschmidt, who listed several areas where Iran had continued to block inspections of its nuclear sites and refused to turn over information about its program.
"Dr. Goldschmidt's recitation of events since November provides us with a startling list of Iranian attempts to hide and mislead, and delay the work of IAEA inspectors," Sanders said during a closed meeting. A text of her remarks was later released to reporters.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS