Reuters: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he was prepared to consider more sanctions against Tehran and that the world was at risk from its nuclear ambitions. By Jeffrey Heller
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he was prepared to consider more sanctions against Tehran and that the world was at risk from its nuclear ambitions.
“We are ready and will push for further sanctions against Iran,” he told a news conference after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Iran’s refusal to halt work that can be used to make fuel for power plants or, if it wants, material for warheads, has prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose two sets of sanctions.
Olmert said he supported the British stance and hoped the European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana would echo the message when he met his new Iranian counterpart Saeed Jalili later on Tuesday.
“Economic sanctions are effective … but they are not sufficient. So there should be more,” he told the same news conference.
He said the sanctions should reach the point “up to where Iran stops its nuclear program”.
Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Larijani resigned on Saturday before talks in Rome due on Tuesday with Solana.
The West suspects Iran of working to make its own atomic bomb and wants it to halt the nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful and has vowed to go ahead with it.
“I think there is a new axis which hasn’t been as powerful as it is now, with the United States, Great Britain, and France as its spearhead … to lead this campaign (against Iran) that is so crucial,” Olmert said at a later meeting in London.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday his country would not retreat “one iota” from its nuclear program.
“We are in favor of talks but we will not negotiate with anyone about our right to nuclear technology,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by Iranian state television during a trip to Armenia. “Iran will not retreat one iota.”
