A draft UN resolution on Iran's nuclear program does not call for any harsh sanctions, Russia said, and the Iranian president said new measures would not deter the country's pursuit of nuclear technology.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that the draft encourages countries to be vigilant in their dealings with Iran to prevent the illegal transfer of nuclear material, but "does not foresee any harsh sanctions."
He spoke a day after the draft was approved by the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany.
These terms "will be enforced until the International Atomic Energy Agency's concerns are resolved," Lavrov said, referring to the UN's nuclear watchdog.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed new sanctions as irrelevant.
"From our point of view, the issue is over. The issuance of a new resolution won't have any impact on the behavior of the Iranian nation," Iran's official news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Iran has condemned as illegal two previous resolutions that ordered a ban on the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Those sanctions also imposed an asset freeze on key Iranian companies and individuals named by the UN.
Saeed Jalili, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, said the country would continue with its civilian nuclear program.
"We have been committed to our obligations and did a lot of things beyond our obligations, but we also insist on our rights," Jalili said from Brussels, Belgium, where he was meeting with members of the European Parliament. "We need 20,000 Megawatts of nuclear electricity and for this we have to build 20 nuclear power plants."
The process of uranium enrichment can produce material needed to make an atomic bomb. Iran says it aims to use the technology only for generating power.
In November, 18 months of negotiations collapsed after EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana failed to persuade Jalili to suspend Iran's development of its nuclear program.
Solana and Jalili had a working dinner late on Wednesday in Belgium in their first meeting since the talks collapsed, but they appeared to make little progress.
Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for Solana, said the two discussed nuclear issues "without entering in details."
"The meeting was designed to keep the channel of communications open," Gallach said, adding that Solana did not see the talks as a negotiating session.
The new draft was not publicly released, and details of its content were sketchy.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS