National Post: More proof that the goal of Iran’s nuclear program is megatons not kilowatts, came last weekend. On Sunday, all 247 legislators present in the Iranian parliament voted to resume their country’s uranium enrichment activities, in violation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) restrictions. As if to confirm suspicions regarding their intentions, some deputies shouted “Death to America.”
Heading off a nuclear Iran
Iran, EU nuke talks progress, but no deal yet
Reuters: Tehran is inching closer to a compromise with French, British and German diplomats seeking to persuade
it to give up its uranium enrichment programme, a senior
Iranian negotiator said on Friday.
Russia says UN debate on Iran could be detrimental
AFP: Russia confirmed Friday that it opposed Iran’s nuclear ambitions coming up for debate at the UN Security Council, where it has veto power, saying such a debate could lead to further regional tensions.
“It is very important to refrain from steps that could lead to further tensions,” Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Chinese FM discusses North Korea, Iran with Powell
AFP: China’s foreign minister discussed the North Korea and Iran nuclear issues in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Colin Powell Friday, state media reported, two days after Bush’s reelection.
U.S. prefers diplomacy with Iran, but conflict possible
USA TODAY: Of all the foreign policy challenges facing President Bush in his second term, none apart from Iraq looms larger than Iran. Twenty-five years after Iranian students seized U.S. diplomats as hostages, Iran and the United States are at the brink of a potentially more serious confrontation over Iran’s apparent determination to develop a nuclear bomb.
EU presidency rejects talk of military strikes on Iran
AFP: The European Union’s Dutch presidency dismissed Thursday speculation about a US military strike on Iran to force the Islamic republic to abandon its nuclear drive.
Referring to suggestions that some in the United States wanted to attack Iran, labelled part of an “axis of evil” by the re-elected President George W. Bush, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said “not all people in Washington” endorsed this.
U.S. official’s visit to Iran called cultural ‘outreach’
The New York Times: James Billington, the librarian of Congress, is in Iran this week on the first visit by a notable U.S. government official to that country in 18 years, administration officials said. The unannounced visit was confirmed by the Library of Congress on Wednesday after it was disclosed by the Federation of American Scientists, an independent policy group in Washington.
China’s FM to visit Iran, discuss nuclear issue
Reuters: Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, deeply involved in efforts to end the North Korean nuclear standoff, will visit Iran later this week and discuss the Islamic republic’s own nuclear crisis.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear bombs. It wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to report it at a Nov. 25 meeting to the U.N. Security Council for defying the watchdog’s demands to halt uranium enrichment.
Iranian press says Bush win a victory for violence
AFP: The Iranian press on Thursday derided US President George W. Bush’s re-election as a victory for violence on the 25th anniversary of the storming of the former American embassy in Tehran.
Iran and EU hold last-chance meeting on Tehran’s nuclear program
AFP: Iran and the EU continue last-chance talks in Paris Friday with both sides seeking compromise over Europe’s call for the Islamic Republic to suspend uranium enrichment in order to allay US-led concerns it is secretly developing nuclear weapons. The European Union is no longer explicitly calling
for an indefinite suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment …
