Reuters: Iran has told France, Britain and Germany it wants more than promises of future benefits if it suspends its controversial uranium enrichment programme, but the Europeans have refused, Western diplomats said on Thursday.EU takes tough stand on Iran nuke freeze-diplomats
Reuters: Iran has told France, Britain and Germany it wants more than promises of future benefits if it suspends its controversial uranium enrichment programme, but the Europeans have refused, Western diplomats said on Thursday.Iran says will give response on nuclear deal Thursday
AFP: Iran will probably give its formal response Thursday to Britain, France and Germany on whether it will agree to a suspension of some of its nuclear activities in order to avoid possible UN sanctions, a top official told AFP. “We will very probably give our response by tonight,” said senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian. Iran in Deadlock With Europe on Halting Production of Uranium
New York Times: Iran and European negotiators have become deadlocked in their effort to reach a final agreement for Iran to suspend its production of enriched uranium in exchange for possible economic and political incentives, European officials said Wednesday.Iraqi health authorities fret rise in drug abuse, blame Iran
AFP: Iraqi health officials are worried about a surge of drug addicts in Iraq and accuse neighbouring countries such as Iran of supplying narcotics through the country’s porous borders. There are no accurate figures on the extent of the problem, but
it is definitely serious, admitted Iraq’s interim Health Minister Alaeddin Abdul Sahib Adwan.
Iran Official Warns of NPT Pull-Out if West Presses
Reuters: Iran will pull out of the nuclear Non-ProliferationTreaty (NPT) and develop its atomic program in secret if Western nations threaten or put pressure on Tehran, a senior Iran diplomat was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Iranian government officials have in the past repeatedly said Tehran had no intention of following North Korea’s example of withdrawing from the NPT.
Iran bars four photographers from exhibiting ‘insulting’ work in Paris
AFP: Iran has blocked four local photographers from exhibiting some of their work in Paris after certain pictures were deemed to be “against Islamic values and mocking the image of Iranian women.” Sources close to the dispute said Tehran’s state-run Museum of Contemporary Art had been due to support the photographers by paying for the packing and shipping … EU-Iranian nuclear talks hit snag: diplomats
AFP: EU-Iranian nuclear talks to get Iran to suspend uranium enrichment in order to avoid possible UN sanctions have hit a snag, even as deadlines are beginning to fall in the crisis, diplomats told AFP Wednesday. The deadlock, which one diplomat said had Europeans becoming pessimistic about finalizing an agreement, comes as the UN atomic agency is about to issue a report for a meeting that will decide … Iran at ‘crucial point’ in nuclear stand-off, issues fresh warning
AFP: Iran is at a “crucial point” in its stand-off with the UN’s atomic watchdog, one of the country’s most senior figures was quoted Wednesday as saying, as another official warned too much pressure could push nuclear activities “underground”. “We should have patience and fortitude to pass through these tough times,” former president and top regime cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. German FM says war not an option in Iran
AFP: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed “great concern” about Iran’s nuclear technology programs but said he did not expect Western allies to go to war with Tehran over the issue. “I do not think that we are heading anytime soon into a confrontation similar to the one in Iraq,” Fischer told German news weekly Stern in an issue to be published Thursday.
Bush extends Iran sanctions
AFP: President George W. Bush on Tuesday extended for one year a range of financial sanctions first imposed on Iran in November 1979, the White House announced in a statement. “Our relations with Iran have not yet returned to normal,” Bush said in a letter to the US House of Representatives.
