Key Nations Delay Iran Debate
Various | 29.09.2007 15:39 | Anti-militarism | World
Six key nations agree to delay talks on Iran sanctions until November
By Reuters
Six key nations agreed Friday to delay until November a new United Nations resolution that would toughen sanctions against Iran in efforts to prevent the Islamic republic from enriching uranium.
A joint statement from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany said they would finalize the new resolution and bring it to a vote unless reports in November from the chief UN nuclear official and the European Union's foreign policy chief show a positive outcome of their efforts.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters after foreign ministers of the six countries met Friday morning that "we have to wait to take into account the two reports."
Before the meeting Friday morning, Russia's foreign minister made clear that Moscow demands to see a report from the UN nuclear agency on Tehran's past suspicious nuclear work before considering new sanctions.
Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged sharp words at a luncheon Wednesday when Rice pushed for tough new sanctions to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment (and further leverage planned Aggression), and Lavrov said Moscow wanted to give nuclear inspectors time to do their job, according to the Russian minister and U.S. and European officials present.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Thursday that Russia and China refuse to discuss possible new sanctions against Iran until the UN nuclear agency reports on Tehran's disclosure of its past activities at the end of the year.
He said he did not think the council would be able to take up a new sanctions resolution until after December when the International Atomic Energy Agency's report is due.
"I think that it would be very difficult to convince the Russians and the Chinese before," Kouchner told international reporters at a breakfast meeting.
"We'll do our best to convince them, but honestly, the position was difficult to tackle."
Lavrov refused to comment on Kouchner's assessment but told reporters Thursday night that the IAEA's progress with Iran is obvious, and Moscow wants to see the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program.
"Any Security Council measures must be proportionate and commensurate with what Iran is actually doing - and as long as Iran is doing something which satisfies part of the demands of the Security Council, I believe we have to caliber our action in the Security Council and elsewhere," he said.
(Not to mention that the NPT allows them to do what they are. The phony 'crisis' is of the US and Israel's making.)
Lavrov's comments to ITAR-TASS and RIA-Novosti earlier Thursday were stronger.
"Interference by means of any sanctions would undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts," Lavrov was quoted as saying. The UN Security Council measures on Iran should be balanced and respond to the steps taken by Tehran itself that obliged to answer all questions.
While Rice and her top aides want to capitalize on international frustration with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for declaring on Tuesday that the nuclear issue is closed and vowing to defy any Security Council move for more sanctions, Lavrov was adamant in his support for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
We want to get this information, professional assessment by the inspectors, Lavrov told reporters Thursday night.
Lavrov told The Associated Press that he had strong words with Rice about whether the time was right for new sanctions when the IAEA has struck an agreement with Iran about its past activities.
Lavrov said the United States wanted to ignore the IAEA - as it has in the past - but we want to rely on IAEA expertise.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Iranian officials agreed in July that Tehran would answer questions from agency experts by December on more than two decades of nuclear activity - most of it secret until revealed more than four years ago.
IAEA technical officials returned to Tehran this week to start probing outstanding questions, some with possible weapons applications.
Earlier this month, ElBaradei urged nations critical of the pact to hold their horses until the end of the year - when the deadline for Iran to provide answers runs out.
Two U.N. resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran have failed to persuade the country to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists the program is aimed at producing energy for civilian use, but the U.S., its (few) European allies and many others (Israel) fear the program's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons.
(They don't actually, and that's why they can't support their allegations with evidence. This is really about feigning a justification for a war planned by the same US/Israeli Extremists who LIED to the world in order to attack Iraq.)
Kouchner said sanctions are not working and tougher measures are needed to pressure Iran to suspend its enrichment program, amid growing 'international' concerns that Tehran was working to produce a nuclear bomb.
The French minister said that when he used the word war recently, it was to prevent not to impose war over Iran's nuclear program.
This is life and death, Kouchner said, explaining that if Iran gets nuclear weapons it will be the start of proliferation in the region, and that is absolutely dangerous, more than dangerous.
(But not a justification for war. In fact, using the US/Israeli 'Hawks' own conditions for 'pre-emption', Iran would be within its rights in attacking either state, as they've plotted to attack Iran ...)
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, on Thursday used similar language, telling reporters that the agreement with the IAEA cannot be used as a shield to protect Iran from its violation, lack of cooperation, lack of implementation of the demands of the Security Council on the nuclear issue.
(Investigations are currently underway to probe allegations that the US employed economic coercion in getting countries to vote with them at the UN.)
Khalilzad said that Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a level usable for weapons is a threat to international security and stability. It is one of the most important, perhaps one of the defining issues of our time.
(But that capacity is much different than the capacity needed to produce electricity. Khalilzad, of course, is the author of "The Grand Chessboard", and presided over several US criminal Acts of Aggression in the past.)
A united diplomatic front, he said, increases the chances that diplomacy will succeed. Those who will not cooperate on the diplomacy of this, with regard to pressure on Iran, sanctions on Iran, bear some responsibility should diplomacy, God forbid, fail.
(But 'diplomacy' cannot fail, because there is no legitimate crisis. However, it also cannot succeed, because it's designed to fail, and is only a smokescreen for US/Israeli measures being taken to obtain the 'legal' leverage for an Act of Aggression that the Extremists ruling those states view as inevitable.)
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/907981.html
INTERVIEW WITH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST SEYMOUR HERSH
'The President Has Accepted Ethnic Cleansing'
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has consistently led the way in telling the story of what's really going on in Iraq and Iran. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to him about America's Hitler, Bush's Vietnam, and how the US press failed the First Amendment.
www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,508394,00.html
US, NATO and Israel Deploy Nukes directed against Iran
by Michel Chossudovsky
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20070927&art
Iranian Jews Slam US Protest Against Ahmadinejad
www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-
By Reuters
Six key nations agreed Friday to delay until November a new United Nations resolution that would toughen sanctions against Iran in efforts to prevent the Islamic republic from enriching uranium.
A joint statement from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany said they would finalize the new resolution and bring it to a vote unless reports in November from the chief UN nuclear official and the European Union's foreign policy chief show a positive outcome of their efforts.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters after foreign ministers of the six countries met Friday morning that "we have to wait to take into account the two reports."
Before the meeting Friday morning, Russia's foreign minister made clear that Moscow demands to see a report from the UN nuclear agency on Tehran's past suspicious nuclear work before considering new sanctions.
Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged sharp words at a luncheon Wednesday when Rice pushed for tough new sanctions to pressure Iran to suspend uranium enrichment (and further leverage planned Aggression), and Lavrov said Moscow wanted to give nuclear inspectors time to do their job, according to the Russian minister and U.S. and European officials present.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Thursday that Russia and China refuse to discuss possible new sanctions against Iran until the UN nuclear agency reports on Tehran's disclosure of its past activities at the end of the year.
He said he did not think the council would be able to take up a new sanctions resolution until after December when the International Atomic Energy Agency's report is due.
"I think that it would be very difficult to convince the Russians and the Chinese before," Kouchner told international reporters at a breakfast meeting.
"We'll do our best to convince them, but honestly, the position was difficult to tackle."
Lavrov refused to comment on Kouchner's assessment but told reporters Thursday night that the IAEA's progress with Iran is obvious, and Moscow wants to see the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program.
"Any Security Council measures must be proportionate and commensurate with what Iran is actually doing - and as long as Iran is doing something which satisfies part of the demands of the Security Council, I believe we have to caliber our action in the Security Council and elsewhere," he said.
(Not to mention that the NPT allows them to do what they are. The phony 'crisis' is of the US and Israel's making.)
Lavrov's comments to ITAR-TASS and RIA-Novosti earlier Thursday were stronger.
"Interference by means of any sanctions would undermine the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts," Lavrov was quoted as saying. The UN Security Council measures on Iran should be balanced and respond to the steps taken by Tehran itself that obliged to answer all questions.
While Rice and her top aides want to capitalize on international frustration with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for declaring on Tuesday that the nuclear issue is closed and vowing to defy any Security Council move for more sanctions, Lavrov was adamant in his support for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
We want to get this information, professional assessment by the inspectors, Lavrov told reporters Thursday night.
Lavrov told The Associated Press that he had strong words with Rice about whether the time was right for new sanctions when the IAEA has struck an agreement with Iran about its past activities.
Lavrov said the United States wanted to ignore the IAEA - as it has in the past - but we want to rely on IAEA expertise.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Iranian officials agreed in July that Tehran would answer questions from agency experts by December on more than two decades of nuclear activity - most of it secret until revealed more than four years ago.
IAEA technical officials returned to Tehran this week to start probing outstanding questions, some with possible weapons applications.
Earlier this month, ElBaradei urged nations critical of the pact to hold their horses until the end of the year - when the deadline for Iran to provide answers runs out.
Two U.N. resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran have failed to persuade the country to suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran insists the program is aimed at producing energy for civilian use, but the U.S., its (few) European allies and many others (Israel) fear the program's real aim is to produce nuclear weapons.
(They don't actually, and that's why they can't support their allegations with evidence. This is really about feigning a justification for a war planned by the same US/Israeli Extremists who LIED to the world in order to attack Iraq.)
Kouchner said sanctions are not working and tougher measures are needed to pressure Iran to suspend its enrichment program, amid growing 'international' concerns that Tehran was working to produce a nuclear bomb.
The French minister said that when he used the word war recently, it was to prevent not to impose war over Iran's nuclear program.
This is life and death, Kouchner said, explaining that if Iran gets nuclear weapons it will be the start of proliferation in the region, and that is absolutely dangerous, more than dangerous.
(But not a justification for war. In fact, using the US/Israeli 'Hawks' own conditions for 'pre-emption', Iran would be within its rights in attacking either state, as they've plotted to attack Iran ...)
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, on Thursday used similar language, telling reporters that the agreement with the IAEA cannot be used as a shield to protect Iran from its violation, lack of cooperation, lack of implementation of the demands of the Security Council on the nuclear issue.
(Investigations are currently underway to probe allegations that the US employed economic coercion in getting countries to vote with them at the UN.)
Khalilzad said that Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a level usable for weapons is a threat to international security and stability. It is one of the most important, perhaps one of the defining issues of our time.
(But that capacity is much different than the capacity needed to produce electricity. Khalilzad, of course, is the author of "The Grand Chessboard", and presided over several US criminal Acts of Aggression in the past.)
A united diplomatic front, he said, increases the chances that diplomacy will succeed. Those who will not cooperate on the diplomacy of this, with regard to pressure on Iran, sanctions on Iran, bear some responsibility should diplomacy, God forbid, fail.
(But 'diplomacy' cannot fail, because there is no legitimate crisis. However, it also cannot succeed, because it's designed to fail, and is only a smokescreen for US/Israeli measures being taken to obtain the 'legal' leverage for an Act of Aggression that the Extremists ruling those states view as inevitable.)
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/907981.html
INTERVIEW WITH INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST SEYMOUR HERSH
'The President Has Accepted Ethnic Cleansing'
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has consistently led the way in telling the story of what's really going on in Iraq and Iran. SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke to him about America's Hitler, Bush's Vietnam, and how the US press failed the First Amendment.
www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,508394,00.html
US, NATO and Israel Deploy Nukes directed against Iran
by Michel Chossudovsky
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20070927&art
Iranian Jews Slam US Protest Against Ahmadinejad
www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-
Various