Iran's foreign minister said yesterday the ongoing violence in Iraq meant the US was not in a position to confront the Islamic republic over its disputed nuclear program.
"We are trying to find a diplomatic solution for our [nuclear] problem, and the US should be aware that it is not in a position to create another crisis in the region," Manouchehr Mottaki told the official news agency IRNA.
"More than three years has passed since the United States invaded Iraq and after all these years they are now asking for help," he said, implicitly referring to Washington's request for talks with Tehran on the insurgency.
Tensions between Iran and the US are mounting amid Tehran's refusal to submit to a UN Security Council demand to freeze uranium enrichment work.
The US is now pushing for tough UN action against Iran, with several US press reports also saying that military options were being looked into.
But Iran, which insists its nuclear drive is legal and peaceful, appears confident it can resist sanctions or an attack.
"You can start a war but it won't be you who finishes it," General Yahya Rahim Safavi, the head of the Revolutionary Guards and among the regime's most powerful figures, said on Friday in one of Iran's boldest statements yet.
Also yesterday, Deputy Chinese Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai (
Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali-Asqar Soltanieh told Khabar news network that besides the start of the uranium enrichment process, the Chinese official was briefed by Larijani on talks between Iran and IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei held on Thursday in Tehran.
Soltanieh said that the Russians had also been briefed on the latest developments, and the information would be used in tomorrow's talks in Moscow where the US, China and the EU are to hold fresh talks on the Iranian nuclear program.
"Both China and Russia want the nuclear issue to stay within the IAEA, and this is also our demand as we have always acted within the IAEA and NPT framework," he said.
Soltanieh however rejected an instant resumption of the IAEA Additional Protocol -- obliging Iran to allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites -- and said that would require time and more assurances.
also see story:
US planned for Iran attack pre-Iraq invasion
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work