- #36
jhe1984
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Things are heating up in advance of March 6
March 6 is the date that the IAEA will deliver it's report on Iran's suspect nuclear actions to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
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Israel
In January 2006, the chief of Israeli Military Intelligence said the “point of no return” will be reached in March 2006. If Iran starts to enrich uranium, it can start producing weapons-grade uranium by the end of the year and have enough to produce a nuclear weapon in another three years (Jerusalem Report, (February 6, 2006).****
China
[China's a permanent UNSC member w/ a veto]
BEIJING (MarketWatch) -- China and Iran may sign a pact as early as March to jointly develop the massive Yadavaran oil field in southern Iran, the influential Chinese magazine Caijing said in a report Thursday.
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France
(mail&guardian)
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy branded Iran's nuclear programme for the first time on Thursday as a "clandestine, military" project.
"It's very simple: no civilian nuclear programme can explain Iran's nuclear programme," Douste-Blazy told France 2 television, two days after Tehran confirmed it was resuming sensitive uranium enrichment work. "Therefore it's a clandestine military nuclear programme."
****
US
(the age)
THE Bush Administration has made an emergency request to the US Congress for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount a huge propaganda campaign against the Tehran Government.
In a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the West, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the $US75 million ($A101 million) in extra funds, on top of $10 million already allocated for this year, would be used to broadcast US radio and television shows into Iran, help pay for Iranians to study in America and back democracy groups inside Iran.
****
India
(the asian age)
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking wider support for his government’s policy on Iran, held a meeting of the full council of ministers on Thursday to convince his colleagues that Iran had violated the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that India just could not afford to have another nuclear nation in its neighbourhood. It was clear from the meeting that there was no change in the government’s position despite protests by the Left parties. The Prime Minister will make a detailed statement on Iran in both Houses of Parliament on Friday.
Dr Singh said that he was willing to have a full debate on the issue as well. He addressed the apprehensions of some political allies that the government’s position could impact on the Muslim vote in India by pointing out that Iran was not a Muslim issue and that countries like Egypt and Yemen had also voted against it and in favour of the proposal to report it to the UN Security Council. He pointed out that India had not voted in isolation or just with the United States, but that Russia and China as well as the bulk of the international community had also taken a similar position. The world, the Prime Minister told his colleagues, has changed.
****
Russia
(houston chronicle)
Russia, too, applied pressure.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow's proposal to host Iran's enrichment program was only on the table if Tehran re-imposed a moratorium on such activities at home. He spoke ahead of Monday's meeting in Moscow on the proposal, meant to allay fears Tehran might misuse the technology for weapons.
The meeting is crucial in determining whether international tensions over Iran's program diminish or balloon.
Lavrov, who met with senior EU officials in Vienna on Wednesday, suggested that Russian backing of enrichment on Iranian soil was a long way off.
March 6 is the date that the IAEA will deliver it's report on Iran's suspect nuclear actions to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
****
Israel
In January 2006, the chief of Israeli Military Intelligence said the “point of no return” will be reached in March 2006. If Iran starts to enrich uranium, it can start producing weapons-grade uranium by the end of the year and have enough to produce a nuclear weapon in another three years (Jerusalem Report, (February 6, 2006).****
China
[China's a permanent UNSC member w/ a veto]
BEIJING (MarketWatch) -- China and Iran may sign a pact as early as March to jointly develop the massive Yadavaran oil field in southern Iran, the influential Chinese magazine Caijing said in a report Thursday.
****
France
(mail&guardian)
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy branded Iran's nuclear programme for the first time on Thursday as a "clandestine, military" project.
"It's very simple: no civilian nuclear programme can explain Iran's nuclear programme," Douste-Blazy told France 2 television, two days after Tehran confirmed it was resuming sensitive uranium enrichment work. "Therefore it's a clandestine military nuclear programme."
****
US
(the age)
THE Bush Administration has made an emergency request to the US Congress for a seven-fold increase in funding to mount a huge propaganda campaign against the Tehran Government.
In a further sign of the worsening crisis between Iran and the West, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the $US75 million ($A101 million) in extra funds, on top of $10 million already allocated for this year, would be used to broadcast US radio and television shows into Iran, help pay for Iranians to study in America and back democracy groups inside Iran.
****
India
(the asian age)
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking wider support for his government’s policy on Iran, held a meeting of the full council of ministers on Thursday to convince his colleagues that Iran had violated the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that India just could not afford to have another nuclear nation in its neighbourhood. It was clear from the meeting that there was no change in the government’s position despite protests by the Left parties. The Prime Minister will make a detailed statement on Iran in both Houses of Parliament on Friday.
Dr Singh said that he was willing to have a full debate on the issue as well. He addressed the apprehensions of some political allies that the government’s position could impact on the Muslim vote in India by pointing out that Iran was not a Muslim issue and that countries like Egypt and Yemen had also voted against it and in favour of the proposal to report it to the UN Security Council. He pointed out that India had not voted in isolation or just with the United States, but that Russia and China as well as the bulk of the international community had also taken a similar position. The world, the Prime Minister told his colleagues, has changed.
****
Russia
(houston chronicle)
Russia, too, applied pressure.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow's proposal to host Iran's enrichment program was only on the table if Tehran re-imposed a moratorium on such activities at home. He spoke ahead of Monday's meeting in Moscow on the proposal, meant to allay fears Tehran might misuse the technology for weapons.
The meeting is crucial in determining whether international tensions over Iran's program diminish or balloon.
Lavrov, who met with senior EU officials in Vienna on Wednesday, suggested that Russian backing of enrichment on Iranian soil was a long way off.
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