The Iranian government and parliament yesterday discussed the next steps to be taken following the UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran, the Khabar news network reported.
In a closed-door session, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki briefed deputies on developments following UN resolution 1737, which imposed sanctions on Iran for defying suspension of its uranium enrichment programs.
No details have yet leaked out from the meeting but Khabar quoted Mottaki as saying after the session that the government would follow all relevant parliamentary decisions.
The parliament had proclaimed on Sunday that it would approve a bill obliging the government to revise, reduce or even end cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Mohammad Saeidi, the deputy of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, however, told Khabar on Monday that all nuclear programs would stay under IAEA supervision.
the oil card
Iran has repeated threats that it was ready to use its massive oil exports as a weapon to defend itself if it felt necessary in an international dispute over its atomic program, the Fars news agency said yesterday.
"If necessary, Iran will use any weapon to defend itself," Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said.
The Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to impose sanctions on Iran's trade in sensitive nuclear materials and technology, in an attempt to stop uranium enrichment work that could produce material to be used in bombs.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that those who backed the UN resolution -- drawn up by Britain, France and Germany but supported unanimously by the Security Council -- would soon regret their "superficial act."
Vaziri-Hamaneh urged European countries to prevent "inappropriate" decisions if they wanted Iranian oil to flow.
Vaziri-Hamaneh has repeatedly said the world's fourth biggest crude producer would prefer not to play the oil card.
oil crisis
Meanwhile, a US researcher said in a report made public on Monday that Iran's nuclear ambitions are motivated not just by a desire for regional supremacy but by a potentially devastating crisis in its oil industry.
Iran's image is of a muscular oil producer with plentiful reserves, but in fact it could soon face its own energy crunch owing to failing infrastructure and lack of investments, Roger Stern of Johns Hopkins University said.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the professor of geography and environmental engineering said Iran's oil problems have the potential to topple the clerical regime.
Stern said there was no reason to doubt US-led accusations that Iran's drive to develop nuclear energy has more sinister ends in mind -- to entrench the regime in power and fend off US military hegemony in the Gulf.
"But it cannot be inferred from this that all Irani[an] claims must be false," he added.
"The regime's dependence on export revenue suggests that it could need nuclear power as badly as it claims," Stern wrote.
Many of Iran's oil deficiencies are of its own making, he said, noting that generous domestic subsidies for gasoline have meant that Iran's national oil company is unable to make money at home and therefore needs to export as much as it can.
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