Iran upped the ante in its nuclear standoff with countries wanting to refer it to the UN Security Council, warning such action would lead Tehran to immediately forge ahead with developing a full-scale uranium enrichment program.
The message, delivered on Monday by Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, Iran's senior envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reflected Tehran's defiance in the face of growing international pressure over its nuclear program. Enrichment can be used in electricity production, but it is also a pathway to making nuclear weapons.
Deadline approaching
High-level international diplomacy intensified with little more than a week to go until Feb. 2 -- when the IAEA's 35-nation board meets to decide on referral.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, planned to travel to Moscow yesterday for a high-level session on a proposal to have Iran's uranium enriched in Russia, then returned to Iran for use in the country's reactors -- a compromise that would provide more oversight and ease tensions.
A European official said the two sides would discuss a possible additional refinement -- allowing Iran to conduct small-scale experimental enrichment on its own soil if it agreed to move all industrial production to Russia.
The official, who demanded anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential details of the negotiations, refused to say whether Britain, France and Germany -- the key European nations behind the US-supported push for referral -- would tolerate such a deal.
Those European nations and EU representatives also intensified diplomatic efforts, with diplomats saying they were sending senior representatives to Brazil, Russia, China and Indonesia to persuade these key IAEA board members to drop their opposition to referral.
Courting support
While the Europeans believe they have enough votes to get Iran hauled before the council on Feb. 2, they want broad support, including from key developing countries as well as skeptics Russia and China.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said "referral absolutely has to be made" on Feb. 2, while remaining vague on what action the Security Council would take -- and when.
Ending a 15-month commitment, Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment on Jan. 10 and announced it would restart experiments, including what it described as small-scale enrichment -- a move that led the so-called "EU-3" to call for the Feb. 2 emergency board session.
The Europeans also began drafting a basic text for a resolution calling for the Security Council to press Tehran to re-impose its total freeze on enrichment and fully cooperate with the UN agency in its investigation of suspect nuclear activities -- though it stops short of asking the council to impose sanctions.
Soltaniyeh, in comments to the AP, warned against referral, suggesting such a "hasty decision" would backfire.
Whether Iran's suspension of its full-scale enrichment program remains in effect "depends on the decision of Feb. 2," he said. Asked if that meant Iran would resume efforts to fully develop its nascent enrichment activities if the board votes for referral at that meeting, he said, ``yes.''
Iran insists its nuclear ambitions do not go beyond wanting to generate fuel, but concerns are growing its main focus is trying to make nuclear weapons -- something more than three years of IAEA investigations have failed to prove or disprove.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
RSS