US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice carried strong NATO and EU backing for fresh UN sanctions against Iran's nuclear program as she headed to talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday.
It will be Rice's first face-to-face test with Lavrov since a US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) published on Monday suggested Iran shelved work on an atomic bomb in 2003.
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said NATO and the EU vowed late on Thursday to keep up pressure on Iran, saying: "Everybody agreed that we should not change our position" despite the report.
Russia and China suggested that the new intelligence undermined the US case for a third round of sanctions.
When she flew to Brussels on Thursday for meetings with EU and NATO diplomats, Rice argued that the report shows that international pressure caused Iran to change course in the past and would do so again.
"I don't see that the NIE changes the course that we're on," Rice said.
Rice added that Iran -- even if it is now known not to be actively pursuing a "weaponization" program -- remains dangerous because it refuses to suspend enriching uranium which could be used in the nuclear fuel cycle.
The US argument has carried the day in Brussels, De Gucht said.
The US has led efforts to impose tougher UN sanctions on Iran, while EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has tried to persuade Tehran to halt uranium enrichment in exchange for political and economic incentives.
"The reason we have to sanction on one hand and to deal on the other hand remains entirely valid," De Gucht said.
"The whole process of enrichment only makes sense when it's part of a process of producing a nuclear weapon, if not the whole process does not make sense," he said.
"Once they have the fissile fuel they can decide at any moment to produce an atomic weapon," De Gucht said.
The West fears the Islamic republic has been trying to develop a nuclear bomb covertly behind the screen of a civilian atomic program. Tehran insists it only wants to produce electricity by nuclear means.
The NIE report said that Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program four years ago probably came in response to international pressure, such as sanctions.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband reinforced the Belgian foreign minister's points yesterday.
"The issue for all of us is the enrichment program Iran has been pursuing in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and there was unanimity around the table that there is a clear choice for Iran," Miliband said.
"Iran can see the outstretched hand of the international community if they are willing to join the drive against non-proliferation," he said.
"If Iran insists on defying the will of the United Nations Security Council then there must be further sanctions," he said.
In Paris, France yesterday also pushed for continued negotiations to tighten international sanctions against Iran, saying its concerns about Tehran's nuclear program were not allayed by new US intelligence.
"Negotiations should continue so that we can reach possibly a worsening of the sanctions regime," French presidential spokesman David Martinon said.
"We need to increase pressure on Iran and the only way to do that is sanctions," he said. "For us, the sooner the better."
He urged Iran to cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency and suspend uranium enrichment.
"The demands of the international community are more pertinent than ever," he said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS