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.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS