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.
German FM says war not an option in Iran
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.
Iran’s nuclear program will be discussed at conference on Iraq: Powell
AFP: An upcoming conference on Iraq will be a chance to talk with Iran about its nuclear program at a time of intense world pressure on Tehran to renounce nuclear military activity, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said here Tuesday.
The conference will be held at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at the end of November, and Iran has been invited.
Former Iranian president cautions Europeans over nuclear deal
AFP: A top Iranian regime official has warned Britain, France and Germany that the Islamic republic could harden its stance if they failed to show flexibility in a crucial stage of talks over a nuclear stand-off, press reports said Tuesday. “If the Europeans are rational, we can make some assurances… but if they put their foot down, then our attitude will change,” powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was quoted as saying by the Hamshahri newspaper.
US sceptical about Iran-EU nuclear deal: arms control assistant secretary
AFP: The United States is skeptical about the EU’s efforts to cut a deal with Iran to get it to give up uranium enrichment that could be used to make nuclear weapons, a senior US official said here Tuesday.
Assistant Secretary of State for arms control Stephen Rademaker said the United States is “very sceptical of Iran’s good faith in these negotiations.”
Iran able to churn out medium-range missiles
Reuters: Iran says it is now able to manufacture large quantities of its medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile, which defence experts say is capable of hitting Israel or U.S. bases in the Gulf. “We have the capability to mass-produce Shahab-3 missiles,” Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani told reporters on Tuesday. His comments, reported on several
local news agencies, were confirmed by the Defence Ministry.
Iran: Web Writers Purge Underway
Human Rights Watch: The Iranian government is moving to silence Internet and Web-log communications, the last remaining outlet for freedom of expression in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Many of Irans most high-profile civil society activists rely on the internet to get their message out.
Iran Claims Draft Accord With Europe on Uranium
New York Times: Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi of Iran on Monday praised the outcome of weekend talks with European negotiators, saying that a preliminary agreement had been reached to suspend Iran’s production of enriched uranium immediately. But he emphasized that any suspension would
be only temporary.
Iraqi delegation to deliver written message to Iranian president
AFP: An Iraqi delegation is to deliver a written message from Iraq’s leadership to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during a visit here Tuesday, an Iraqi diplomat told AFP Monday, amid fresh complaints from Baghdad over alleged Iranian interference. Iraq’s ambassador to Tehran, Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh, said the letter had been written by interim President Ghazi al-Yawar and interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, but …
EU “pretty close” to Iran nuclear deal
Reuters: The European Union’s three big powers are “pretty close” to a deal with Iran that would freeze Tehran’s nuclear
fuel enrichment and reprocessing activities, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said. Solana told Reuters in an interview that if an agreement was reached there would be no reason to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions over its disputed programme.
