AFP: Iran vowed on Saturday to retaliate if the UN Security Council imposes new sanctions after the latest UN atomic agency report on its nuclear activities spoke of progress.
Iran vows reprisals against any new UN sanctions
Iran says more sanctions won’t halt nuclear plan
Reuters: World powers can pass U.N. sanctions resolutions for 100 years without deterring Iran from its nuclear ambitions, Iran’s president said on Saturday.
France: Iran should suspend enrichment as demanded by UN Security Council
AFP: France urged Iran on Saturday to halt sensitive activities to allow talks on its nuclear programme to resume, as the latest report by the UN atomic watchdog gave fresh impetus for new sanctions.
Iran to back OPEC oil cut at March meet -Web site
Reuters: The Iranian oil minister said in remarks published on Saturday that Iran would back a cut in production by OPEC when it meets in March and expected the group to take such action.
Iran raises the heat in Afghanistan
TIME: “We haven’t chosen these neighbors,” joked Afghanistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Said Tayeb Jawad, as he shined the red dot of a laser around the edges of a map of his homeland. He was addressing a room full of government analysts, scholars and journalists Wednesday, and when asked about Iran’s current influence in Afghanistan, the joking stopped. “Iran has become a more and more hostile power,” he said.
Iran car maker criticizes China bank moves: report
Reuters: Chinese moves to cut back banking business with Iran are affecting cooperation between China’s Chery Automobile Co and Iran Khodro, the Middle East’s biggest car maker, its head was quoted as saying on Friday.
U.S. seeks support for sanctioning Iran
Washington Post: The Bush administration stepped up its campaign for tougher sanctions against Iran yesterday after a U.N. report concluded that Tehran had not fully come clean about past activities that U.S. experts say were part of a secret nuclear weapons program.
Nuclear agency says Iran has used new technology
New York Times: The International Atomic Energy Agency described for the first time on Friday the evidence it has shown to Iran that strongly suggests the country had experimented with technologies to manufacture a nuclear weapon, but reported that Iranian officials had dismissed the documents as baseless and fabricated.
Defiant Iran upbeat ahead of nuclear report
AFP: Iran on Friday remained defiant and positive ahead of a crucial UN nuclear watchdog report on its contested atomic programme, telling the UN Security Council to stay out of the nuclear crisis.
IAEA: Iran disputes atomic arms evidence
AP: The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Friday that Iran is defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment and accusing the U.S. and its allies of fabricating information to back up claims that Tehran is making nuclear weapons.
