Daily Telegraph: The diplomatic storm surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme intensified yesterday as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog held an emergency meeting to discuss sanctions against Teheran. There were also credible but unconfirmed reports that Iran had resumed the manufacture of centrifuges, used in producing weapons-grade uranium, despite an earlier promise to stop.
UN nuclear watchdog debates sanctions as row with Iran deepens
Iran and EU in nuclear impasse
The Guardian: Iran came under concerted international pressure yesterday to back off from a confrontation with the west over its nuclear programmes as Europe’s main powers sought to salvage an ambitious mediation effort.
An emergency meeting of the 35-strong board of the UN nuclear authority, the International Atomic Energy Agency, convened in Vienna to try to plot a path out of a dangerous impasse.
Iran Rejects Halt in Atom Activity, but Is Likely to Continue Talks
New York Times: Iran on Tuesday rejected calls by European leaders to halt its renewed nuclear activities, but indicated a willingness to continue negotiations over its program, perhaps by offering a proposal of its own. “There is no reason to suspend this activity,” Sirus Naser, Iran’s chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters after an emergency meeting here of the agency’s governing board on the matter.
Rumsfeld Says Weapons From Iran Found in Iraq
Washington Post: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that weapons have been found in Iraq that were “clearly, unambiguously” from Iran and that the weapons would ultimately become a problem for Tehran.
Bush Suspicious of Iran’s Nuke Ambitions
AP: President Bush said Tuesday that he’s deeply suspicious about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but that the country’s new leader has indicated a willingness to negotiate. Bush said he got word Tuesday that the newly elected president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he is willing to work with other nations amid concerns that his country is developing nuclear weapons.
Bomb cache found in Iraq believed to be from Iranian Revolutionary Guard: official
AFP: US intelligence believes that a cache of manufactured bombs seized in Iraq about two weeks ago was smuggled into the country from Iran by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, an intelligence official said Tuesday. “We believe they came from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards,” the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Iranian opposition calls for UN action on nuclear standoff
AFP: An exiled Iranian opposition group Tuesday called on the United Nations nuclear watchdog to take Iran’s resuming uranium enrichment work before the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions. The head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Radjavi, addressed the group’s appeal to the governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meeting in
emergency session in Vienna.
Halt uranium conversion “without delay”, Russia tells Iran
AFP: Russia called Tuesday on Iran to halt work on uranium conversion “without delay.”
“The wise decision would be to stop work that has begun on uranium conversion without delay,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Iran vows to ‘resist’ pressure on nuclear programme
AFP: Iran will “resist” mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme and is not worried about threats of UN Security Council intervention, a top minister said on Monday. “Should we accept humiliation, the sanctions, see ourselves
be punished, or should we resist? I think that we should
resist,” Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani told journalists.
Iran dissident Ganji stops hunger strike-judiciary
Reuters: Jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has broken his eight-week-old hunger strike after calls by family and friends concerned about his deteriorating health, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday. “Thankfully his condition is better than before … He has recently broken his hunger strike,” he said.
