Iran said it would not abandon nuclear fuel work as a guarantee against fears it might make nuclear weapons as several countries spoke up on Tuesday for the right to peaceful atomic technology, at a UN conference on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
"Iran for its part is determined to pursue all legal areas of nuclear technology, including [uranium] enrichment exclusively for peaceful purposes," Kharazi said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned on Monday that resumption of enrichment activities by Iran "would lead to a collapse of the talks" with the EU on getting Iran to give guarantees it is not making atom bombs.
Fischer said a breakdown in negotiations would also lead to a push by Europe and the US, which charges that Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, to take Iran before the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions.
The US on Tuesday renewed its call that Iran abandon its uranium enrichment program, which makes fuel for nuclear power reactors but can also be the explosive material for atom bombs.
"There is no reason for them to have an enrichment and reprocessing program," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
But Iran, which Western states say is among the influences undermining the NPT treaty, got some support from Security Council member China on Tuesday.
Chinese delegation head Zhang Yan said China "favors resolving the Iranian nuclear issue within the framework of the IAEA," the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, which verifies NPT safeguards.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Kislyak sounded the same note when he said "current negotiations and consultations" should resolve the Iranian crisis.
China enunciated what is expected to be a key theme at the month-long NPT conference when Zhang said that "the relation between non-proliferation and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy should be put in correct perspective" so that respect is paid to "the rights of non-nuclear-weapons states to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy."
Kharazi said: "No one should be under the illusion that objective guarantees can theoretically or practically amount to cessation or even long-term suspension of legal activity" such as enrichment, which Iran claims is allowed for peaceful purposes under the NPT.
In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Tuesday that Iran would resume some nuclear activities suspended as part of a deal with the EU, despite the threat of international sanctions.
In related developments, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon yesterday warned that the international community was growing impatient over the stalled process of ending a standoff over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.
Ban said efforts to resolve the standoff through dialogue have entered a "critical phase."
"Recent developments have reached a level that is worthy of considerable concern," he said.
Ban said the international community was watching whether North Korea would carry out a nuclear test.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS