Archive for the ‘iran’ Category
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Saturday it would not back down “one iota” in its nuclear row with major powers, voicing defiance on the day of an informal deadline set by the West over Tehran’s disputed atomic ambitions.
Western officials gave Tehran two weeks from July 19 to respond to their offer to hold off from imposing more U.N. sanctions on Iran if it froze any expansion of its nuclear work.
That would suggest a deadline of Saturday but Iran, which has repeatedly ruled out curbing its nuclear activities, dismissed the idea of having two weeks to reply.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear warheads under cover of a civilian power program. Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, denies the charge.
“In whichever negotiation we take part … it is unequivocally with the view to the realization of Iran’s nuclear right and the Iranian nation would not retreat one iota from its rights,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
He made the remark in a statement posted on the presidential website after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad visited Tehran a few weeks after he said in Paris he would respond to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s request and use his good relations with the Islamic Republic to help resolve the nuclear stand-off.
The statement quoted the Syrian leader as saying that based on international agreements, all countries had the right to enrich uranium and have nuclear power stations. Continued…
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said on Saturday it would not back down “one iota” in its nuclear row with major powers, voicing defiance on the day of an informal deadline set by the West over Tehran’s disputed atomic ambitions.
Western officials gave Tehran two weeks from July 19 to respond to their offer to hold off from imposing more U.N. sanctions on Iran if it froze any expansion of its nuclear work.
That would suggest a deadline of Saturday but Iran, which has repeatedly ruled out curbing its nuclear activities, dismissed the idea of having two weeks to reply.
The West accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear warheads under cover of a civilian power program. Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, denies the charge.
“In whichever negotiation we take part … it is unequivocally with the view to the realization of Iran’s nuclear right and the Iranian nation would not retreat one iota from its rights,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
He made the remark in a statement posted on the presidential website after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad visited Tehran a few weeks after he said in Paris he would respond to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s request and use his good relations with the Islamic Republic to help resolve the nuclear stand-off.
The statement quoted the Syrian leader as saying that based on international agreements, all countries had the right to enrich uranium and have nuclear power stations. Continued…
Iran nuclear talks under way
Posted on: July 21, 2008
Jalili, Iran’s negotiator, has spoken ofhis “positive intentions” [AFP]
Iran officials have ruled out any halt to uranium enrichment, as widely anticipated talks on its nuclear programme began in Switzerland. There had been a positive mood before the meeting on Saturday, the first time in almost thirty years that senior US and Iranian diplomats had met face-to-face, but the remarks were likely to cast doubt on the value of the talks.
“Suspension, there is no chance for that,” Keyvan Imani, a member of the Iranian delegation, told reporters gathered in the courtyard of Geneva’s city hall.
Iran’s comments dampened hopes which had been raised by upbeat statements ahead of the talks, following Washington’s decision to send William Burns, the US under-secretary of state, as an observer. ‘Positive intentions’Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, had said he hoped the meeting would be “positive and constructive”. While Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, spoke “positive intentions” when he arrived in Geneva on Friday.On the European side, Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU’s diplomatic chief, said “the basis for successful negotiations is very substantial”.
“We are very flexible about how to work towards our expectations … we are ready to look at creative manners that allow negotiations to start,” she said.
A Western diplomat described the atmosphere of Saturday’s talks as “fine”, but confirmed that the Iranians were unwilling to address suspending uranium enrichment, or freezing it at current levels.The US has repeatedly said that real negotiations can only begin after Tehran halts its nuclear work.”That remains the US position and it will continue to be the US position,” Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said in Washington.De-escalation ‘vital'”We’ve seen a lot of resistance from various parties in the US to any escalation that may lead to a use of the military option against Iran,” Riad Kahwaji, who works for the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, told Al Jazeera. “It’s become very vital for both sides to de-escalate to try and reach a solution.”
The presence of Burns at the talks marks a policy shift for the US [EPA]
“Both sides are willing to make concessions but they’re trying to come up with a formula so that they don’t lose prestige in front of their own people or have to give up too many of their demands.”
The attendance of Burns, the number three official at the US state department, had widely trumpeted before the talks got under way, as a major policy shift by Washington, which has not had any diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 following the Islamic Revolution.
“The key story here [in Geneva] is the presence of William Burns,” Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reporting from Geneva, said.
But she said Burns was keen to be seen as an observer.
“When they broke for lunch … Burns was keen not to be photographed with the rest of the delegates,” she said.
The US has said it is in Geneva just to listen to Iran’s response and not negotiate.
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The Bush administration hailed an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra as a “bold decision” that shows the country’s security forces are capable of combating terrorists.
At least 18 people were killed in clashes yesterday between fighters loyal to Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Iraqi troops, as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged to restore security in the southern oil hub.
“This is what we have been wanting to see the Iraqis do,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Washington yesterday. “This is one of the first times that they’ve had such an entrenched battle and we’ll be there to support them if they need it.”
The fighting is a test for Iraqi forces, who took over responsibility for security in Basra from the U.K. military in December. Iraq’s ability to tackle extremists will influence the pace at which the U.S. withdraws its forces from the country, as the conflict enters its sixth year.
Al-Sadr had repeatedly called on fighters from the militia, the Mahdi Army, to obey a cease-fire declared in August. Some elements of the group continue to target other militias and U.S.-led coalition forces.
Shiite Groups
Shiite groups including al-Sadr’s followers, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and the Fadhila party have clashed in a struggle for dominance in Basra, the site of Iraq’s second- biggest oil refinery.
Al-Sadr threatened to instigate protests nationwide if the raids by Iraqi forces weren’t stopped. “If the government does not respect these demands, the next step will be civil protests in Baghdad and the provinces,” his spokesman Hazam al-Aaraji said yesterday, reading a statement from the cleric at a news conference in Najaf aired on state television.
Fighting spread late yesterday to Sadr City in eastern Baghdad and Kut and Hilla, south of the capital, Agence France- Presse reported, citing unidentified security officials.
Footage on state television showed plumes of smoke rising above Basra city as police and ambulances raced down otherwise empty streets.
Basra has been plagued by the smuggling of “oil and its derivatives, weapons, drugs and other prohibited materials,” al-Maliki said yesterday in a statement carried by state television. The government “is firmly resolved to restore security and stability and to impose law.”
The U.S. military has said it is open to negotiations with al-Sadr’s followers. Before the cease-fire, the U.S. viewed the Mahdi Army as “the most dangerous accelerant of potentially self-sustaining sectarian violence in Iraq,” the Defense Department said in a 2006 report.
The U.S. has about 158,000 soldiers in Iraq. That force is scheduled to drop to about 140,000 by July.
Bush will announce his decision on future troop levels after General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, testify before Congress April 8-9, according to the White House.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net; Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net.
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