AFP: Iran’s powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani insisted Friday ahead of renewed talks with Europe that Tehran would pursue its atomic energy programme including uranium enrichment “at all costs”. “Iran wants to possess all the branches of nuclear technology, including enrichment, and it will do so at all costs,” he said at the weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran.
Rafsanjani says Iran will pursue nuclear progamme ‘at all costs’
US consults Germans on reported Iranian shipment
AFP: The United States has sought clarification from Germany on the reported shipment of a German crane for possible use in Iran’s missile program, a senior State Department official said Thursday. “It’s something we’re following, something
we’re talking about,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’re in contact with the Germans abut it.”
European Parliament censures Iran rights abuses
Iran Focus: Brussels, Apr. 29 The European Parliament adopted a resolution yesterday, calling on Iran to end its increasing human rights violations. The EP resolution said
that it was very concerned that the human rights situation has deteriorated in the last two years and calls on the Iranian authorities to make a serious commitment to reversing this trend.
European Parliament censures Iran rights abuses
Iran Focus: Brussels, Apr. 29 The European Parliament adopted a resolution yesterday, calling on Iran to end its increasing human rights violations. The EP resolution said
that it was very concerned that the human rights situation has deteriorated in the last two years and calls on the Iranian authorities to make a serious commitment to reversing this trend.
Iran Hints Talks on Ending Its Nuclear Program Are Near Collapse
New York Times: A day before major negotiations were to resume in London over Iran’s nuclear program, the foreign minister increased the pressure for a quick deal, warning that his country would resume uranium enrichment if there was no progress Friday in the discussions.
Russia plans nuke fuel shipments to Iran mid-2005
Reuters: The Russian nuclear fuel trader TVEL should start fuel shipments for a Moscow-built nuclear reactor in Iran six months before the unit becomes operational in early 2006, a senior company official said on Thursday. Russia is building a 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant in Iran despite strong opposition from the United States, which believes Iran could use Russian know-how to make nuclear weapons.
Ship en route to Iran tests WMD proliferation deal
Reuters: A German crane on a ship to Iran is testing a U.S.-led global agreement to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Three weeks after the ship left Hamburg and a day before it was due in Iran, it appeared unlikely that Germany or the U.S. navy could stop the crane being delivered to what Berlin has belatedly identified as a blacklisted Iranian company suspected of making ballistic missiles.
Iran ‘pessimistic’ ahead of EU nuclear talks
AFP: A key Iranian negotiator Thursday said Tehran was “very pessimistic” on the eve of new talks on his country’s controversial nuclear programme with the EU which he said had been dragging its feet. “Up until now and from the start of the process, especially since the Paris meeting (March 23), the Europeans have not undertaken any serious step to bring it to a close,” said Hossein Mussavian, spokesman for the negotiating team.
Iran Says Will Restart Enrichment if Talks Fail
Reuters: Iran will restart its uranium enrichment program if talks with European Union heavyweights France, Britain and Germany fail on Friday, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said on Thursday. “If there is no agreement and negotiations collapse, there is no choice but to restart the program,” Kharrazi told reporters in The Hague after talks with his Dutch counterpart Bernard Bot.
Putin Says Iran Must Do More to Ease Concern on Nuclear Program
Bloomberg: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Iran must do more to assure the world that its nuclear program is peaceful and not designed to build a bomb. Putin, speaking today at a news conference in Jerusalem, said Iran must go beyond the agreement it signed in February to return the spent nuclear fuel it buys from Russia.
